-Don't pretend you're sorry

I know you're not (know your not)

You know you got the power

To make me weak inside (inside)

And girl you leave me breathless

But it's ok-

So this is what it's like. Harry thought, gazing dreamy-eyed at Cho. She sat across the table from him, accented on each side by her clique. That didn't matter to Harry. Cho was closer to him than she had ever been. He had wondered for so long about what it would be like in a real relationship, with Cho as the star of his romantic fantasies. Not long ago all those crazy desires had fulfilled themselves, and what was there for Harry to do but walk on air? Cho was his very own now, and he did nothing less than worship her. Her hair was not plain black in his mind, it gleamed a halo of raven. Her eyes were not Mary Jane brown to him, they oozed tempting dark chocolate. He could write poems about the way she ate, sign ballads based on her sleep.

-Cuz you are my survival

Now hear me say

I can't imagine a life without your love

Even forever don't seem like long enough

Every time I breathe I take you in

And my heart beats again-

Harry kept a running list of all the ways Cho smiled, waved, walked. If there was an outfit she wore that he didn't know of, or a laugh he hadn't heard, he strove to identify it. When they walked together, held hands, even stared at each other, he could feel his insides bursting with love. Every nerve of his was tuned to the brush of her creamy skin. He spent each moment of the day thinking of her, and each wink of sleep caught in a dreamland with Cho's memory. She even tainted his Quidditch playing, dragging him down when he should have been playing the best games of his life. The fact was, his mind was so intent on Cho that he didn't have time to concentrate on catching a Snitch. By the time Cho began to affect his grades, Hermione was suspicious.

-Baby I can't help it

You keep me drowning in your love

And every time I try to rise above

I'm swept away by love

Baby I can't help it

You keep me drowning in your love-

"Harry, what is wrong with you? Charms isn't that hard, you knew the material, you should've aced this quiz-but that's not what this is about, is it?" The realization dawned on Hermione. "You haven't been spending much time with me or Ron anymore," she remarked, "it's just Cho. Cho, Cho, Cho. Harry, you can't let this happen. There's more to life than Cho." Her protests were certainly longer, and much more articulate, than I can describe, but to no avail. Harry was at Cho's side or dying, babbling on about her incessantly. There was no doubt about it-Harry was deep in the throes of obsession.

-Maybe I'm a drifter

Maybe not

Cuz I have known the safety

Of floating freely in your arms

I don't need another lifeline

It's not for me-

Ron's reaction to Harry's relationship with Cho was perhaps not the most gracious. In the back of his mind he knew he should be happy for Harry, but a more insistent part of his brain was reminding him that, yet again, Harry had beat him to the prize. Wasn't it enough that he was the star Seeker? The Boy Who Lived? And, to top it off, the owner of a small fortune? Ron had yet to show real talent in Quidditch, could never be the 'Boy Who Lived', and had holes in his pockets the size of the London Underground. The fact that he had never won the affection of girl was terrible. That Harry had-and that the girl was the one he desired-was worse. Ron just wanted something for himself, but what was left? Head Boy? They both knew that wasn't in store for Ron. What next? Ron gloomily wondered. Victory over Voldemort-once and for all? Immediately he was ashamed.

-Cause only you can save me

Oh, can't you see

I can't imagine a life without your love

And even forever don't seem like long enough (don't seem long enough)

Every time I breathe and take you in

My heart beats again-

Ron should be hoping Harry defeated Voldemort without a scratch-not dreading it! Who knew what ruthless things Voldemort would do, given his power? Ron half-expected a lightning bolt to strike him as he was, just for thinking such a hideous thought. He still was, of course, infuriated with Harry. How dare he leave Ron behind? Ever since Cho came into the picture, they hadn't said two words to each other. She was a drift in Ron and Harry's relationship, tugging them apart until breaking, forcing the two best friends away. He hadn't forgotten Hermione, although things just weren't the same without Harry. As Harry had once confided to him, "When Hermione's your best friend, there's a lot less laughing and lot more time in the library, studying."

-Baby I can't help it

You keep me drowning in your love

And every time I try to rise above

I'm swept away by love

Baby I can't help it

You keep me drowning in your love-

Hermione was not the only one to note the drooping of Harry's marks. Professor McGonagall hounded him after Transfiguration one day, making it clear that she wanted his work to improve. "Your performance, Mr. Potter." She said tightly, thin lips pressed together. "What about it?" Harry questioned innocently if dazedly. "It has-" she paused, searching for the right word. "Debunked." She narrowed icy eyes at him. "How so?" Harry demanded. "Last I checked, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall reprimanded, voice dry, "Mice do not retain antennas after being transfigured into a two- way radio and back." Harry left Transfiguration class with his mind on Cho, and later couldn't recall if McGonagall had said two-way radios obtained mice after being transfigured into an antenna or if antennas transfigured first into two-way radios and then into mice.

-Go one and pull me under

Cover me with dreams, yeah

Lend me mouth to mouth now

You know I can't resist

Cause you're the air that I breathe

Every time I breathe I take you in (every time I breathe, yeah)-

Ron confronted Harry shortly after his conversation with the Transfiguration teacher. Harry was linked to Cho's side, bustling with her and the rest of her crew through a crowded hallway. It took all of Ron's strength to unhook Harry and haul him aside. "Harry," Ron hissed, "what is happening to you? You waste every second of your day on this girl, and hardly ever talk to me! What's so great about her, anyway? I thought I was your best friend!" Ron glared at him. Harry, on the other hand, was pushing Ron aside out of the way to catch up with Cho. "Cho, wait! Wait up, Cho!" Harry called. Ron sneered. Harry was taking this just a bit too far…

-And my heart beats again

Baby I can't help it (baby I can't help it)

Keep drowning in your love

Every time I try to rise above

I'm swept away by love

Baby I can't help it-

"Harry, get me some sausages? Oh, thank you, you're such a doll. Pour me a bit of pumpkin juice, too, honey? Thank you, thank you." Such were Cho's usual morning comments at the Ravenclaw table, where Harry had recently been sitting. Truthfully, her words to him weren't much different during lunch and dinner, except then she was asking, "Harry, pass me the rolls? The turkey? The gravy?" For anyone else the job of serving her would have been tedious-for Harry, it was heaven. Mostly, Cho's gossipy or friendly remarks were pointed toward her clique, all of whom Harry seemed to adore as well. They could order him around as they liked, demanding him to 'ladle me a drop of soup', or 'bring me my salad dish', or whatever other petty chore was at hand.

-Keep drowning in your love

Ooooohhh

Baby I can't help it

Keep drowning in your love

Drowning

You got me drowning, drowning in your love-

"Harry, study Potions with me." Hermione suggested in vain. Harry was wrapped around a lumpy armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room, gazing off into space. He jerked from his reverie at the sound of Hermione's voice. "Oh, I, uh, already studied." He lied. With that he flopped over onto his back, closed his eyes, and promptly fell asleep. Hermione watched him soundlessly, noticing the way an ebony lock of hair that had strayed onto his forehead fluttered as Harry lightly snored. Hermione's Potions book dropped off her lap as she, too, reverted to sleep in order to forget her problems. How she awoke in her own bed the next morning she didn't know, and didn't bother to ask. Harry was pressing on her mind like a vice.

-Baby I can't help it

Can't help it

No no

Every time I breathe I take you in (take you)

And my heart beats again (oooh)

Baby I can't help it (baby I can't help it)-

"I don't believe them," Fred observed, watching as Harry and Cho flew across the Quidditch field alongside one another, hand in hand. "You'd think that once they'd slept together they couldn't go any farther. Guess I was wrong." Hermione gasped. "They slept together?" She whispered, eyes wide with disbelief. "Oh, not like that," George quickly asserted. "Him and her, they were doing homework one night real late, and they just…conked out. Anyways, I was the one who found 'em, and trust me, everything was G- rated." "I was there, too." Fred put in, and elbowed George playfully in the ribs. Hermione didn't want to stare as the twins wrangled in a friendly wrestling match any more than she did as Harry and Cho practiced their Public Displays of Affection.

-Keep drowning in your love

And

Every time I try to rise above

I'm wept away by love (love)

Baby I can't help it

Keep drowning in, your love-