Disclaimer: I wrote this when I was 12 to 13 in 2003. Harry Potter is hereby © to J.K. Rowling. Everything else is © to me, or its respective owners.

Chapter Ten: Christmas Holiday

Hagrid dismissed the class and gave them no homework and sent Lavender and Parvati to the hospital wing. By then, Thanksgiving had come and gone, Christmas was upon them, and snow covered the grounds. Cho and Harry would spend nearly every night together sitting by the fire in the common room. Ron and Hermione were in the library 'studying', and Akira and Liam had made the mistake of walking underneath mistletoe, making Ron grin. Last year, Peeves had disguised himself as the Fat Friar and had a sprig of mistletoe in his hand and made Ron kiss Hermione. The Gray Lady had also flown over to Akira and Liam with mistletoe, but they avoided having to kiss by Akira directing her over to Cho. But now there was no escape for them. Ron was laughing, and several people looked at him like he was crazy.

"Hey! Liam! You have to kiss her now! No tricks this time!" Ron snickered.

"Hey, it's not like I mind anymore." Liam replied.

He put an arm around Akira's shoulder pecked her on the lips, then walked away and saluted Ron and took a seat in one of the soft squashy armchairs. Akira smiled nervously and joined Liam in a vacant seat nearby. Ron stood there thunderstruck and in complete shock.

"Oh come off it, Ron. It's too late to get revenge now…" Harry said from behind him.

"Yeah, I guess…" Ron agreed.

"But it isn't too late to keep someone company…" Cho said, motioning at Hermione.

Hermione was sitting at a table hiding behind a mountain of books.

"Huh?" Ron asked.

"Just…be yourself, don't be an idiot, help her, alright?" Cho said, pushing him in Hermione's direction.

"Whoa! Stop!" Ron shouted, as he was almost knocked into the giant stack of books inches from Hermione's head.

Cho giggled and sat down.

"Ok…I shouldn't be doing anymore of that…" She said, sounding slightly out of breath.

"You alright?" Harry asked.

"Yeah…just fine." Cho replied.

Harry glanced at her, trying to find any problem on the surface, but suddenly noticed she looked just the same as she always had been. There was no sign that she was gaining any weight or even expecting a child for that matter.

"Hey um Cho, shouldn't your stomach be like um…?" He asked, his words failing him.

"It's a charm. It makes the seer except myself see me normal. I see myself as I really am. Everyone else sees me just like as I was last year. The charm makes the seer see what I want them to…rather, it mirrors their eyes so they can't see what is really there. With all these rumors going about, I don't want people to have them confirmed for them…" Cho answered.

"Yeah…I know what you mean…but that's cool about that charm thing." Harry replied.

"I'm really tired, and I want to get some rest…Christmas is coming…and I have a few questions for Whitney…she should be having her baby soon, you know?" Cho said.

"Yeah…so when do you think it'll be born?" Harry wondered.

"Well, I heard from Alyssia, everyone's placing their bets on what day it'll be born. The funny thing is, Whitney, Alyssia, Tom, Draco, Hermione, and I all guessed sometime in late January to early February…"

"When you go visit Whitney tomorrow, let her know I'll bet five galleons that it's going to be born on a holiday." Harry said, pressing five gold coins into Cho's hand.

"That I will. Goodnight." She said, kissing him on the cheek and rushing off to the girls dormitory.

Harry grinned and turned in shortly after.

The following morning was Christmas Eve, and Cho woke bright and early, and woke Harry up.

"Morning!" She said brightly.

"Morning…" Harry replied sleepily, putting on his glasses. "What time is it?"

"It's about seven o' clock…" Cho answered.

"Ok…I'll be downstairs in about an hour…besides, you need to go see Whitney don't you?" Harry said.

"Yeah…well, I'll see you at breakfast…or either that, just have breakfast on the grounds. Because that's where I plan on going to talk with Whitney." Cho said.

Harry nodded, and Cho rushed off downstairs…

A few hours later, Cho and Whitney were talking on the grounds by the lake, and Harry and the others were a little further away, eating breakfast that Tai whipped up, and they were accompanied by Sirius and Remus.

"I wonder what those two are talking about…" Tai thought aloud.

"Why don't you go ask?" Alyssia suggested.

"That'd be plain stupid. It'd be like meddling into their privacy." Tai replied.

"Oh…" Alyssia said.

"Well…if you really want to know, then you should ask…if you're concerned…" Remus said, sipping some tea.

"You know I wouldn't do that…I can't be nosing into my sister's business all the time. She needs her own personal time, and time to spend with people that are going through the same things she is." Tai said.

"So Tom, how's Whitney been?" Alyssia asked, changing the subject.

"Oh she's been good…" Tom answered.

"Tai, you never did tell us her name." Sirius said.

"Who's name?" Tai asked defensively.

"The one you fell in love with." Sirius responded.

"Oh…her…Ushio Yamazaki." Tai answered.

"Taichi! You've never ever told any of us anything about her!" Akira exclaimed.

"Yeah well, it's been bottled up for a while, and I guess…now…I feel ready to talk about it…" Tai said shrugging his shoulders.

"So this Ushio girl, what did she look like?" Akira wondered.

"Probably the most beautiful girl I've ever seen…" Tai replied, his voice sounding far off.

"Hey! Lover boy! Snap out of your dream and tell all of us who can't read your mind what the hell you're thinking about!" Akira snapped, annoyed.

"Oh um…right…anyway, she had very pretty long dark brown hair that was straight and flowed down to her waist and she had these gorgeous almond-shaped lavender eyes. And I met her in our third year…She was carrying loads of books, and Moaning Myrtle flooded the bathroom again. I had just come in from Quidditch practice, and she slipped on a wet spot on the floor, and her books went flying out of her arms, and I caught her from falling, and saved her books. When I first looked into her eyes, and I looked into hers-" Tai said, being interrupted.

"Ok thank you! You don't need to tell us in such a detailed way!" Akira said, still annoyed.

"Hey, it looks like Cho and Whitney have finally finished talking!" Ron said, sounding slightly excited.

All of them whirled around and saw the two girls approaching them. Both sat down in the snow and remained silent for a moment.

"So er, did you get all of your questions answered?" Tai asked, breaking the silence.

"Hm? Oh…yeah, I did." Cho answered.

"You alright? You both just seem kind of quiet now…" Tai said.

"We're just fine…Honestly!" Cho said.

"If you say so…" Tai muttered.

"It's really cold out here…perhaps we should go inside?" Whitney suggested.

"Yeah." Everyone agreed.

They all went inside the castle and went to either their offices or dormitories.

Cho fell asleep early that night. When she awoke, it was almost noon on Christmas day. She saw a stack of present for her at the foot of her bed, and opened each one. Hermione had got her a book, Ron got her lots of chocolate frogs, Akira and Tai sent her a silk scroll with a beautiful picture painted by the both of them, Whitney sent her a hand knitted scarf and little socks for a baby, Remus and Sirius gave her a package of Honeydukes chocolate, and Harry had put together a photo album with pictures from their fifth year and sixth year, as well as two silver bracelets that would alert her of important events. She dressed and put the photo album away in her trunk and slipped the bracelets on and went downstairs to the common room.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Akira, Liam, Alexa, Alicia, Angela, and Nick were all downstairs talking. They looked up when they saw Cho on the stairs. They waved and motioned for her to join them. Cho walked over and took a seat in an armchair next to Harry.

"Well good morning! Happy Christmas to you!" Akira said brightly.

"Oh…yeah, well thanks…and I got the gifts…they were beautiful." Cho replied.

"We're glad you liked them." Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Akira said.

Cho smiled at them all. No one said anything after that. It was a complete awkward silence. Cho admired the silver bangles on her arms, and before she even realized it, her hand was in Harry's. He gently caressed her fingertips, and kissed her hand.

"Hey, umm, why don't we go and get some butterbeer and eggnog from the kitchen?" Hermione suggested.

Everyone took the hint except Nick.

"Wha-why?!" He asked.

Angela dragged him away forcefully by the collar of his shirt. Once out of earshot, she released him and looked at him, thoroughly annoyed.

"You're so thick, you know?! We're merely giving Harry and Cho some time to themselves! Honestly! You and your girlfriend-if you had one-wouldn't be caught dead snogging in front of your best friends!" Angela said through gritted teeth, her olive green eyes flashing menacingly.

"For your information, I have a girlfriend!" Nick replied.

"Oh? And who would that be?" Angela asked, sounding amused.

"You wouldn't know her." Nick said defensively.

"Try me." Angela said, grinning.

"Alright. She's a Ravenclaw-" Nick began.

"It's Katherine Kim, isn't it?!" Angela exclaimed.

"No. You've never met her." Nick finished.

Angela pouted, and stared Nick in the eye.

"So who is she? Who is this girl? Is it one of Cho's childhood friends? That Yuri girl I heard stories about?" Angela wondered.

Nick sighed, and rolled his eyes.

"She doesn't know any of us except me and Alicia. Yeah, that's right, Alicia knows her. They're good friends…"

"Could you quit blabbing and tell me her name?!"

"Fine! God! Her name is Kira Kumiko. Are you happy now?"

Nick was very annoyed, and Angela was happy and dancing with glee that she finally got the answer she wanted.

"Yes. I'm very happy now." Angela said, twirling her long red hair between her fingers.

Nick suddenly felt like he was being watched, and looked around. Everyone in the common room was staring at them. Angela started laughing, and couldn't stop. She started pointing and laughing and backed away a few steps, and finally ended up tripping over a small table and falling over onto her back. Then Nick started laughing, but not for long. Angela got up and rubbed her back then walked over to Nick and pushed him into a chair, making him fall over. Then everyone in the common room started laughing.

In the end, Nick and Angela were badly bruised and several chairs and tables were broken. Plus, they had several splinters, and their bodies were aching, so they decided to turn in and go to their dormitories. Once the atmosphere had returned to normal, everyone went down to dinner, now realizing that Nick and Angela's quarrel had made them all miss lunch and leave them a few minutes until dinner. Cho, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Akira, Liam, Alexa, and Alicia went out through the portrait hole and were halfway down a flight of stairs, when a pretty fourth year Ravenclaw approached them.

"Have you seen Nick?" She asked.

"Hi Kira! Nick is in his dormitory right now. He kind of got into a fight with Angela…" Alicia said.

"Oh…well…when you get a chance, give him this. It's a Christmas present for him." Kira said, putting a parcel into Alicia's hand.

Kira walked away and joined a group of Ravenclaw girls.

"So that's Nick's girlfriend?" Ron asked.

"Yep." Alicia answered.

"Wow…" Ron said.

Hermione elbowed him forcefully.

"Ow!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione grinned, seeming very satisfied. Alicia spotted one of her other friends and ran off with them. Alexa also saw one of her many friends in a pack and joined them. Ron, Hermione, Harry, Cho, Akira, and Liam were left alone together. They all proceeded down to dinner and were joined by Whitney, Tom, Draco, and Alyssia.

No one said a word. The group went to dinner, and to their surprise, Tom, Whitney, Alyssia, and Draco joined them at the Gryffindor table.

"Pansy and the others have kicked us out of our own house. They've disowned us. So we aren't allowed at the table anymore. We can only stay in our dormitories…but I doubt that we'll be staying in the Slytherin dungeon for very long…" Draco explained.

Dumbledore suddenly stood up from his seat, and the hall fell silent.

"There has been an attack…"