Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Seriously.
A/N: Written for Challenge #208 ~ Past Prompts Revisited: #005 ~ The Dead of Night at slashthedrabble.
A/N2: A prequel to 'All I See Behind Closed Eyelids'.
A/N3: I have never written Cho/Padma before and I don't know whether I did the pairing any justice. Hopefully I did. If I didn't, please accept my apologies. I've been feeling a distinct lack of inspiration. Probably because exams are approaching. So I might not be writing as frequently as I have been recently. Hopefully that is not the case.
A/N4: As always, review please. It makes me incredibly happy.
Cho likes to sneak into Padma's bed in the dead of night because no one else is ever awake at such late hours to listen to Cho's latest rendezvous. Cho does not mind that Padma never looks interested, that Padma is always immersed in a book of some sort whenever she comes by.
Perhaps she enjoys the sound of her own smitten voice resounding within the boundaries of Padma's four-poster bed. Perhaps she needs to give form to the rushing of blood in her veins, the splashing of colours behind her closed eyelids as she pours forth tears for each shattered piece of her heart or for every mended one (as she falls in and out of love).
Cho is abstract and dramatic in her rendition of what and how love is and should be. She is her own actress and the world is her stage. The boys she meets up with are her passing side characters. What role Padma plays she will never know (but at least she is not another passing character).
When she has exhausted her emotions and her tears for the night, Cho always whispers 'Good night', kisses Padma sloppily on the cheek (the scent of some nameless boy's aftershave reeking off of her) and falls promptly asleep in Padma's bed.
The first time (the kiss on her cheek) has surprised Padma. The second time has been somewhat more expected. By the time it will be the third time, Padma has found herself waiting, almost ... hoping for the kiss to come (a little to the right, where Cho's lips will land on hers).
Padma knows it is but an empty dream (the scenario is set, it will not change).
Cho still comes every single night to speak of another boy that has caught her fancy. After which she whispers 'Good night', kisses Padma on the cheek (as Padma tries not to notice that her lip-gloss is a little smeared, that the taste left on her cheek is a mixture of Cho and some boy) and falls asleep. Padma will then close her book (still on page 215 after two weeks) and cover Cho up, bend down and discreetly kiss Cho on the cheek (lingering a little, just for a little) before whispering 'Good night' to no one in particular.
Then she will sleep (with a hand carefully positioned over Cho's) and hope Cho comes again.
