Summary: In which Cho comforts Harry after his encounter with his fifteen year old father (set after Harry was caught looking inside Snape's pensieve and saw his father and Sirius tormenting him)

Disclaimer: Nothing is my own.

Chapter 2

Hadn't he seen what he saw in Snape's pensieve, Harry would have probably dreaded the moment he'd face Cho again. But now, he had no time or motive to think about what to tell her, or how to act around her after that kiss for every thought of his was plagued with images of his godfather and father's delighted faces as they humiliated and tortured another student just because they were bored and because they didn't like him but, worse than that, the look of pure hatred in his mother's face as she confronted his father. He didn't understand how they ended up together in the first place and he couldn't help but admit that Snape has been right about his father and it made him even more miserable.

And it's in that state of total misery that Cho found him the next day, wandering aimlessly around the castle.

"Hi Harry." She smiled at him.

"Hi," he responded in a dead voice.

"I've been looking for you," she said brightly.

"Oh."

Cho eyed him suspiciously then looked suddenly awkward and out of place. "Is it about the last time?" she asked carefully."You know," she fidgeted, "the, th-the kiss…"

"Oh," Harry said turning pink, "no it's not about that. There's just, I—I have something in my mind, that's all."

"Do you want talk about it?" she offered gently but Harry shook his head.

Taking a step closer, Cho put a sympathetic hand on his arm. "It doesn't probably seem like it, but I'm a good listener, you know? Come on, try me."

Harry sighed. How he wished he could talk about it with her, but he couldn't even bring himself to open up about it with Ron and Hermione, how was he supposed to do so with Cho, who he barely knew? But then again, the reason why he didn't want to tell his best friends is because they knew how he'd looked up to his father and he didn't want them to change the way they think about him. But Cho doesn't know anything; she'd certainly listen to him objectively.

"Why not?" he finally said.

Cho beamed at him "Let's go for a walk outside," she said hopefully, but Harry stopped at once. He had no desire to go outside and see the lake or the things around it. It would just remind him of Snape's memory.

"I'd rather not," he said, "let's just walk around."

Cho looked at him with confusion, but eventually shrugged, and so they start walking.

"I don't know where to start," he said.

"Well," said Cho, walking very close to him, "start by telling me what is it about? Is it the D.A? Umbridge? Your O. ?"

"It's about my parents," he said gloomily.

"You never knew them, right?"It was more a statement than a question.

Harry nodded. "I've found out things about them that…disappointed me."

"And what are those things?" Cho asked gently.

"This man's been telling me for years that my father was arrogant and an attention seeker and…" Harry deflated.

"And you don't want to admit it, but he's kind of right," Cho said for him to which he frowned. He wanted nothing more than to argue with her, but he knew she was simply telling the truth.

For a moment Harry didn't talk, he just walked with his head bowed, looking at his scuffed shoes.

"I'm not just disappointed," he said with a frown, "I feel betrayed and I hate to admit it, but I'm ashamed for what he's done to that other man."

"But you feel guilty by just thinking that because your father is dead, don't you?" Cho asked surprising him. She looked at his face and smiled sadly, "I know that because that's how I felt and sometime still feel when I'm with you," she admitted. "I like you and I enjoy your company, well it's not just about you, it's about life in general. Every time I laugh, smile, or just am happy, I feel guilty because Cedric is dead and can't feel those things anymore. So I understand what you feel Harry, even though it's not exactly the same thing."

"So what do I do about it?" Harry asked wanting to just forget the feeling of utter misery and shame he gets every time he thinks about his father.

"For a start," Cho said, "get the idea that your father was perfect out of your head. It's just going to hurt and disappoint you because he wasn't perfect. He was human, just like you and me." She then grinned and playfully bumped him in the shoulder. "We've made mistakes too, haven't we? But we moved on and so did he."

Harry had a vague feeling that she wasn't talking about them being young and human, but more about them being something like a couple, however he decided to ignore it for the moment.

"So you want me to just forget about it?" he asked.

"No, accept it and forgive him. Does knowing what you now know affect your love or affection for your father?"

"No," responded Harry at once. Of course not, he still loves his father no matter what.

"Then it's alright. My uncle once did something that hurt his family very much and when my cousins came at our house hurt, ashamed, and swearing that they'd never talk to their father ever again, my father told them that a child must never repudiate his own father."

"I guess you're right," admitted Harry with a sigh, although he wasn't still convinced. Of course what Cho said made perfect sense, but the image of your own father torturing and humiliating another person wasn't an easy thing to forget. "But it's not just about my father," he said.

"Your mother?" asked Cho.

"She hated him," said Harry in a pained voice before clarifying, "my father I mean. She even told him she'd rather go out with the giant squid than with him. And I—"

But he was cut short by Cho's laughter. He looked at her with irritation and she tried very hard to calm down but couldn't.

"I'm glad you find it funny," he spat.

"Oh," said Cho taking his hand in hers. He would have protested if it wasn't for the fact that Cho's hand in his felt good in the cold weather. "I didn't mean to mock you. But you have to admit that it was funny!"

"Well," said Harry turning his head away but not freeing his hand from her grasp, "I don't find it funny at all."

"Of course you don't. It's your parents, after all, but you know what they say," she insisted earning a raised eyebrow from him, "that opposite attracts. I bet deep down she liked him, well she had to because you wouldn't be here otherwise."

"Hermione and Ron fight a lot," stated Harry, "and I'm sure they'll end up together one day, but they are friends and she doesn't look at him with disgust and hatred!"

Cho looked at him stunned and it took Harry a moment to realize that he had mentioned Hermione in front of Cho who had this irrational hatred towards her…

"You—you mean, Hermione and Ron like each other?" she asked incredulously.

Harry blinked. "Everyone probably knows that except them. But that's not the point here," he insisted, not wanting to talk about his best friends' love life.

"If your mother ended up marrying him and having his baby," Cho finally said after clearly forcing herself not to ask further questions about Ron and Hermione, "it's probably because he grew up and shed all his pretentiousness on the way to finally reveal the true him. And she must have seen it. There's more in a person than meets the eye you know?" she asked softly.

"Like you," he stated looking at her.

"And you," she smiled, putting her right hand on his cheek and leaning in until their lips brush. This time the kiss was not a hungry one or an angry one. This time, they kissed gently, softly, and slowly, taking their time to taste each other.

R&R

A/N: Thanks for all the supports! And once again, thanks to my beta Laura 001. English is not the main language in my country, we don't speak it daily, and we don't speak it in school so her help has been really precious.