A/N - Hey HP femslash readers, I have a new side-project here for any Hermione x Cho fans! I've wanted to write one of these for a long while now, but never got the chance to start. And here we are, the first chapter. I say this is a side-project because it won't be too high on my priorities for FFN. It's just to try a new pairing, which I rather like to read about. I hope you like the first chapter!
Oh and as always, femslash couple ahead. So let's keep it civil, if you don't feel comfortable reading girl on girl fics, then just turn the other way. :)
Disclaimer - I don't own Cho OR Hermione. Or any of their friends/boyfriends/family members that are used in this story. No suing please.
Collisions
Hermione rushes away from the Great Hall, her books stacked haphazardly in her arms as she makes her escape. Harry just had to bring up Cho, she thinks, and Ron just had to ask how he's getting on with her. Of course she couldn't blame them, they were being normal teenage boys. Not me, though. I'm the one who's to blame, the one who has to run away whenever Harry starts talking about her. Whenever anyone starts talking about her, Hermione adds bitterly, hurrying down a quiet corridor.
Because Harry isn't the only one who thinks that Cho is pretty, that she's smart, or perfect. And Hermione isn't talking about Cedric, either.
She first noticed it at that quidditch match a couple months ago. The one with Gryffindor against Ravenclaw. She went, of course, with Ron. It didn't start out any different, she'd brought a book along just in case the match ended up being longer than usual. But just as the clock hit an hour and a half later, and Hermione was searching for her place in her current read, did everyone start screaming and egging the seekers on. It was then that Hermione noticed the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho, with her freckled face screwed in determination, her silky, long hair flying about as the wind rushed in her ears while she went head-to-head with Harry for the tie-breaker.
She couldn't take her eyes off the older girl, and she was glad she had an excuse to stare like she did. Harry. She could watch Cho and say she was watching Harry, she could stand to the side when he spoke with the seeker in the halls and admire her sophisicated features. But that was about it. Ron had already caught her staring off to the Ravenclaw table, then berrated her about it, asking who she was staring at.
And that's when Harry said her name, that's when she thought he'd figured it out. But he just wanted to talk about her and now Hermione's running through the school, her books still teetering in her arms. She feels a burning sensation that she knows too well begin to spread throughout her throat when she collides with something hard and everything goes flying, including Hermione.
"Hermione!" Someone exclaims, leaving the brunette to scowl on the floor. Great, I just had to knock into someone I know.
But sitting up, she realizes it's even worse. "Cho?"
"Wow, you've really got some upper body strength to have me on the ground, too." The Ravenclaw joked, a boyish grin tugging at her lips as she pulls herself up to a stand.
Hermione doesn't say anything, but stares at her best friend's girlfriend, her sleek hair as neat as ever, her dark eyes twinkling with laughter. She had always loved that quality in someone, when their laughter reaches their eyes, the life very clear in the strands of colour.
"Hermione? You alright?" Cho asks, looking down at her with a concerned expression, her hand outstretched to help her up.
"What?"
Again Cho laughs. "Unless you like sitting on the cold floor, why don't you let me help you up?"
"Oh," Hermione says, breathily. She's about to actually touch Cho's hand, the same hand she uses to catch that glittering snitch, the gold reflecting in her eye as she reaches that last inch toward the flittering ball. She notices Cho staring at her, her eyes slightly narrowed, and shakes herself out of these thoughts, even if just for now, and takes the hand offered. Cho pulls her up with ease, dusting her shoulders off and Hermione nearly gasps with the sudden contact.
"You sure have been acting odd lately, Hermione. Don't think I haven't noticed." She says, much to Hermione's dismay. Since the Ravenclaw seeker had started dating The-Boy-Who-Lived, it wasn't unusual to see her with the golden trio these days. In fact, Hermione and Cho have gotten quite close through the last few months, studying in the library, talking by the lake, goofing off in Hogsmeade with the two boys. But still, Hermione's surprised that Cho noticed the change in her lately.
"I thought it was something with Ron at first, but then I saw him sharing a snog with that Lavender girl from your house, so I suppose that's not it." She continues slowly, helping Hermione recover her books off the stone floor. "So who is it, then?"
Wide eyed and heart hammering, Hermione barely manages a stammered response. "W-what?"
Cho gives her a look that very plainly said Hermione couldn't lie to her and shouldn't even try.
"Oh, that who is it..." The Griffindor starts slowly, painfully knowing full well she couldn't possibly say who the person, who the girl is. "It's nobody." She finally says, her eyes on the floor as she grabs the last book and turns to leave.
"Hermione?" Cho calls, taking her gently, but firmly by the shoulder and turning her back to face her, brown eyes staring into the dark strands in front of her, the feeling so intense it makes Hermione feel constricted in her chest. And if she didn't know any better, she'd say that Cho's chest was rising more rapidly than normal, matching her own ragged breathing from being so close to each other. "Hermione I-"
"Forget it, Cho. Sorry I knocked you down." She says, apologizing. "I, I better go."
And with that she twists out of the seekers grip and hurries away, her mind whirring with what had just occurred.
A/N - Well, there goes chapter one! Next chapter, Hermione tries studying but ends up reflecting. Let me know what you think about this pairing and the first chapter of this story. Hope to see readers for the next chapter!