Dead Ends and Burning Bushes
Hokai, so this is actually a slight re-write. I started this story when I was in high school. A few years later and I feel my writing has vastly improved. I wasn't going to keep this story going, but I got a lot of really positive reviews from you guys, so I decided to revamp this baby.
DISCLAIMER: Title is a reference to Jewel's "Standing Still." I don't own any characters I may or may not mention. Cho's comment about the spring is taken from the manga Fruits Basket, which I also don't own. I'm a closet Theodore Nott/Cho Chang fan. That being said, I also believe that Cho and Cedric are meant for each other, and no, a little thing like him being dead doesn't stop my love. =P (Although that would lead to necrophilia, so I think I'll just have to say no for now.)
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The winter moonlight filtered in through the window in the hallway leading out of the Great Hall, and outside she could see the snow glistening in the refracted light from the windows. The rest of the girls she had been walking with continued on their way, as if they didn't notice she'd strayed off to the side. Cho smiled softly at their retreating backs and folded her arms across her chest, leaning over the windowsill to peer outside.
"What're you looking at?"
The unfamiliar voice pulled Cho from her thoughts and she blinked at the sallow-looking boy who had seemed to appear out of nowhere at her side. "The snow," she replied.
The boy raised an eyebrow. "It's just snow."
Cho shrugged. "It's pretty."
"I suppose." He mimicked the way she was leaning over the windowsill. "It's too dead. Too cold."
"It doesn't have to be." Cho tilted her head. "When it melts, it means spring's coming."
He laughed quietly, awkwardly, as if the sound was foreign to his lips. "You're strange."
"No, I'm Cho, but I guess strange works too."
The boy looked over at her with mild curiosity. "You're that Ravenclaw girl who was dating Diggory last year."
Cho shut her eyes for a moment. "Yes."
"I'm Theodore." He said, shifting a lazy brown-eyed gaze over to her.
"I don't believe we've met."
"We haven't," Theodore assured her. "People from my house don't normally speak to … well, anyone." He let his arm fall to his side and Cho saw the Slytherin decal on his school robes.
"You aren't like the others." Cho said, her gaze returning to the snow.
Theodore shrugged. "Define 'the others.' Malfoy and his gang of halfwits, or Parkinson and her flock of sheep?"
She cupped her hands on the window, then blew out a puff of air and began to trace a design on the frosted window with her fingertip. "I see."
Theodore raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "See what? The window's all fogged up."
"I didn't mean I saw with my eyes." She smiled, almost amusedly.
"Then what did you mean?" He watched her finger create more of the design, and through it he was able to see the moon's reflection in the parts of the lake that hadn't frozen over yet.
Cho continued to draw.
Theodore watched her, eyebrows furrowed. "Why haven't you called me a Death Eater in training yet?"
She shrugged. "Haven't given me a reason."
"I thought you'd hate all Slytherins because the Dark Lord was one, and he killed your boyfriend."
"Why are you asking me to hate you?"
Theodore glared briefly, then looked away again. "You're not like the others, either."
"I know."
"The Hat considered putting me in Ravenclaw," Theodore said. "but it put me in Slytherin because I thought it would be easier."
"Easier than what?"
"Dunno."
Cho rocked back and forth on her heels for a couple moments. "Than being a geeky, head-in-the-clouds Ravenclaw, right?"
"I suppose."
"It's nice being in Ravenclaw." Cho said.
Theodore looked at her, as if considering something. "Do you like challenges?"
Cho's eyes locked with his, "What are you asking?"
He turned to face her all the way, and thin strands of dark brown hair hung in front of a pale face. "Talk to me again. Tomorrow. After dinner."
Cho's gaze was curious as she watched him. "All right."
"I should go." Theodore said, as a few more students began trickling into the hallway. There were always a few stragglers after dinner. "Don't stand me up."
"I wasn't planning on it." Cho said, watching as he soon melted away into the stream of students. She turned back to the window and trailed her finger through the angel, then walked away.