The days leading up to the Yule Ball had been something Hermione had been wishing for but now with McGonagall's rule, she was dreading it more and more as the day grew closer. It was a good thing that Viktor had only expressed a desire for friendship or Hermione knew she would have reacted badly. Even hearing Cho talking about Diggory to other Ravenclaw girls was something Hermione was barely tolerating. Two days before the Yule Ball Hermione walked by Cho talking animatedly about Diggory and making it sound like she was dating him. She waited until Cho's friends had walked off before Getting Cho's attention and finding a place where they could talk.
An abandoned classroom was just the thing Hermione needed. She pulled Cho inside and shut the door before saying, "What in bloody hell was all that in the hall?"
Cho looked down at the floor and said, "None of it was true. The whole time I was standing there talking about that boy, you were the only thing on my mind. I don't like it anymore than you do Hermione. I hate having to pretend to be something I'm not. When Yule Ball ends I'm going to tell Diggory the truth. I want him to know."
Hermione was still fairly mad with Cho. She tried to control her anger as she spoke. "Why does he have to know? I haven't had to tell Viktor about any of this."
Cho let her frustration out on Hermione. "You haven't had to pretend to be his damn girlfriend! You're the one that I want to be with, not that damn fool of a boy. When will you get it that I am not enjoying having to act like this in front of everyone? I hate that McGonagall forced us into this. I hate the whole damn thing about keeping this quiet." Cho calmed down for a moment and then continued. "It's days like this that I really want everyone to know so I don't have to hide behind lies. That's why I want to tell Cedric. I want to be able to just let it out and just be able to say that you're my girlfriend. I just...know I can't do that."
Hermione sighed as she realized that this whole mess hadn't just been hard on her. It had been hard on Cho as well. She walked over to Cho and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry Cho. With everything that's been going on this year I seem to have forgotten that this whole thing has been hard on both of us. I wish McGonagall had let us go together but we have to deal with this the way it's been laid out for us. I can promise you one thing though."
Cho smiled slightly and said, "Oh? And what would that be?"
Hermione smiled and said, "I will go to the Yule Ball looking my best simply because you will be there and you are the person I want to stop and take notice. I'm sure it will gather the attention of the boys that are there but as long as I can capture your attention as well I'll be happy."
Cho gave Hermione a kiss and said, "You've already captured my attention. I'll make sure to see you while we're at the Yule Ball. It should be easy enough to find an excuse to steal a moment away from our escorts."
Hermione smiled at this and agreed to Cho's plan. Trying to slip it past the teachers wouldn't be terribly hard either. Hermione knew they would be a little too preoccupied by the Yule Ball and various other things to notice that she and Cho had slipped off by themselves for a minute. She only hoped that they would be able to handle this for the next couple of days. The amount of stress she was under felt like it had during her third year. It was only a small thread holding it all together and preventing Hermione from just breaking down and letting all of her worries and frustration out on someone.
The day of the Yule Ball itself came far faster than Hermione had expected it to. It was odd to think that once this evening was all said and done that she could simply be Cho's girlfriend and not have to worry about Viktor or Cedric and the rumours surrounding all of them. Hermione knew exactly how she wanted to look for the Yule Ball itself and spent a good portion of her day getting ready. When the time came to actually go down to the Ball she waited for her escort Viktor, who arrived right when he said he would. His comment on her looks was something Hermione was wishing she would hear Cho say. Viktor had taken one look at her and said, "You are looking amazing this evening Hermione."
Hermione smiled slightly and said, "Thank you Viktor. I know it's hard for you to say my name right so I'll try and say it slowly so you can see if you can get it sounding better."
Viktor brightened at this and Hermione immediately dove into teaching him how to say her name. Her success was limited though. She gave up and politely told Viktor that it was simply close enough. Part of her was wondering why she was even going to those lengths when she knew nothing could or would ever come of this evening. As she walked into the Great Hall the students that were there looked surprised and several took a minute to figure out that it was Hermione.
Cedric and Cho were already there and Viktor stopped near enough to Cedric for Cho to lean over to Hermione and say quietly, "You look absolutely beautiful Hermione. I almost didn't recognize you."
Hermione blushed slightly and replied, "Thank you Cho. Words escape me for how good you look tonight."
Cho blushed a bright red and Cedric slid into the conversation, "Hello there Hermione. I see you met my beautiful date for tonight. You must know Cho Chang from Ravenclaw, after all she does play Seeker for their Quidditch team."
Hermione smiled and politely said, "Yes, Cho was just complimenting me on how I looked and I was returning the favour. You are certainly lucky to have her for this evening."
Hermione mentally kicked herself for referring to Cho by her first name but luckily Cedric did not catch it. He simply smiled and said, "Well, it's nice the two of you got along so quickly. You must be driving the girls here at the school absolutely crazy with you being Viktor's date. Especially those Beauxbatons girls. Some of that crowd look like they have it out for you."
"Thank you for the warning." Hermione said, still trying to be polite and holding herself back from smacking Cedric.
She hated to see her girlfriend with Cedric. She imagined Cho felt the same way about the whole mess. It was only wishful thinking now that McGonagall would suddenly change her mind. As uncomfortable as she was Hermione knew that she might actually be able to enjoy this if she just ignored her thoughts for a moment. She sighed slightly as she learned that the various school champions and their dates were to lead off the start of the Ball.
As the Yule ball finally got under way Hermione found herself actually enjoying it a bit more than she thought she would. She let herself forget her worries for as she danced to the music that filled the Great Hall.
After several songs Hermione felt like she actually wanted to take a break and look for Cho. She politely asked Viktor to get her something to drink. As soon as he was out of eyesight she started to look around for Cho. A light tap on her shoulder was accompanied by a voice that said, "Glad to see you got a moment away from your date Hermione."
Hermione turned to face Cho who looked about as out of breath from dancing as Hermione was. Hermione smiled and said, "Looks like you managed to do the same. Do you mind if we try and find somewhere a little less noticeable?"
Cho nodded and said, "Of course I don't mind. I did tell Cedric that we would have one more dance though so we can't be too long."
"I told Viktor the same thing." Hermione said as they worked their way out of the Great Hall.
As soon as they were by themselves Cho gave Hermione a hug and a passionate kiss. They kissed for a couple of minutes before Cho slowly broke the kiss. She smiled at Hermione and said, "You know, ever since Professor McGonagall told us that we couldn't take each other I thought I wouldn't be able to enjoy today. This makes it all worth it though. Being able to be with you like this even just for a moment. It makes all of the lies and all of the stress and pain worth it. I still don't like dancing with someone other than you though. What I hate is having to tell Cedric about us at the end of all of this. He really does like me but I can't return the sentiment because my heart belongs to you."
Hermione sighed and said, "I don't think anything like that will be easy. At least I know your heart is in the right place though. I never doubted it, but it is nice to hear. I really do love you more than I know how to put into words."
Cho blushed and kissed Hermione again. "I know exactly how much every time I kiss you. You don't have to put it into words for it to be felt. We should get going back before anyone notices we're gone."
Hermione nodded and followed Cho back to the Great Hall. She wished they could have just stayed there together for the rest of the evening. She knew that everything needed to be straightened out between Cho and Cedric before they could move on with life. It felt like everything was about to become far more complicated than it needed to be.
The Yule Ball slowly came it a conclusion and everyone slowly made their way back to their dorms. Hermione tried to find Cho once more before the end of the night and finally found her after a few minutes of searching. She noticed that Cho was still talking to Cedric and Hermione decided it was best if she stayed out of it for now. That was until she saw Cedric give Cho a kiss. Hermione felt her heart break as she watched someone else kissing her girlfriend. She saw that Cho had seen her and Hermione turned around and ran off.
Tears filled her eyes as she tried to find a quiet place to just sit and cry. Hermione knew better than to jump to conclusions but this was one too easily jumped to. Cho had broken her trust not a few hours after saying everything she had to her. Hermione thought to herself, 'Why would Cho be kissing someone else if her heart truly belonged only to me?'
Cho finally found Hermione and was breathless from running after her. She was slowly catching her breath as she said, "Thank God I found you. I know what you saw and probably what you thought you saw. Cedric was only giving me a kiss on the cheek and a wish that you and I would be happy together. He understood that I loved you Hermione. It wasn't what you thought."
Hermione looked up at Cho, her eyes filled with tears. "It still hurt Cho. It felt like my heart was breaking apart, seeing you with someone like that."
Hermione simply broke down crying again. Cho hugged Hermione tightly, not caring if anyone could see them like this. "I'm sorry Hermione. You must think I'm horrible for allowing that to happen. He surprised me when he did it. As soon as I saw you standing there I knew that you had thought it was something else. I know that no explanation will ever help to get rid of the hurt you felt. I love you, I really do. Dumbledore must have known something like this would come up and that's why he warned us that this whole thing would test our resolve to love each other."
Hermione held onto Cho tightly as she slowly finished crying. "I know you love me, but it just felt absolutely horrible to see that. It was the doubt placed in my mind more than anything else." She wiped her eyes and looked at Cho. "He really understood this whole thing?"
Cho nodded and said, "It surprised me. When I told him I expected him to just be shocked and want to have nothing to do with us. Instead all he said was, 'I understand. That's why you felt a little distant the entire time. I really do wish you and Hermione the best of luck. Everyone deserves to be happy'. I think he simply liked me enough that simply my being happy was his only wish for me. It was nice to finally be able to say that I love you to someone our age and hear them say something like that."
Hermione smiled slightly and said, "I think though, that the doubt is still going to be on my mind for a while. I love you, but part of me is still worried that you're going to leave me."
Cho gave Hermione a gentle kiss and quietly said, "I don't even want to hear you thinking about me leaving you. That's something I'll never do."
The memory slowly faded again as Hermione once more pulled them out of the Pensieve.
"But she did leave you. Despite everything you two said, you didn't stay together." Ron said quietly as he noticed Hermione was holding back tears.
"It was Cedric's death that finally tore Cho and I apart. She hadn't meant to, but I think a part of Cho's heart fell for Cedric during the Yule Ball. Everything seemed to spiral right out of control after Harry came back with Cedric's body and we all learned that he had died." Hermione said quietly. "I'm not going to relive that. You remember how she was after that though. Cho was a wreck afterward. I think, part of it was the fact that Cedric had only wanted her to be happy and by letting her go he managed to keep part of her with him. Letting go of Cho was the hardest thing I've ever done."
Ron looked at Hermione and said, "You can simply tell me, instead of having to relive all of this. I can see it still hurts, even after all this time."
Hermione smiled slightly and said, "Fifth Year. Literally the first week of it. That's when Cho and I finally broke it off. Part of it was what happened during Fourth Year and the other part of it was Umbridge's fault. We got caught in Fifth Year by her during one of our walks out on the lake. Even then we both knew it was already going to end soon. Umbridge simply told us to end it or she would."
"So it wasn't entirely your choice then." Ron said trying to think it through.
"No. We were going to end it that evening anyway. We had talked about it and knew that that was going to be our last walk by the lake as a couple. At least we left on good terms with each other." Hermione said with a slight smile.
A rustling noise came through the window as an Owl flew into the house, disrupting the mood. It dropped a letter into Hermione's hands and then flew off.
"Who's that from?" Ron said as he looked at the note.
Hermione stared at it and then quietly said, " I can't believe it. It's from Cho. I haven't gotten an owl from her since Fourth Year. I wonder why she's sent me this."
Hermione opened the letter and inside on a piece of parchment the letter read, 'I know I haven't sent you anything in years but I wanted to send you this. Please, come see me in Diagon Alley this Friday. I'll explain why I sent you this then. Signed, Cho Chang.'
Hermione still stared at the letter as she read it twice more. After a couple of minutes she handed it to Ron. Ron read the note and said, "Why, after all this time does she send you something like this?"
"I don't know. I want to find out though. Besides, there are still some things we never really resolved from when we were still together." Hermione said as she looked at the parchment again. "Seeing everything as it once was has me thinking about it all again and I'm finding I'm wishing things had gone differently."
Ron sighed and said, "You know. When you first told me about this I thought you were raving mad. Having seen what you've shown me though I've come to see that there really was another side of you none of us ever expected. You should go and see her. I'm not going to stop you. You have to do what your heart tells you to do. I think that's what Dumbledore was really saying about everything. Looking back at it he's really was a brilliant genius."
Hermione gave Ron a hug and said, "Thank you. For everything. You really don't mind that all of that is in my past, do you?"
"You said I wouldn't understand until I saw everything. I think that now, I really do understand. You fell in love with someone and had it all fall apart right in front of you. You've been through something that I can only begin to imagine at how hard it was. I just want you to be happy. After all, that's why I married you." Ron said with a smile.
Hermione gave him a kiss. "Now that you know, I think it's time I told Harry as well. I guess, after all this time I should have told you earlier. Maybe it was right of me to wait though."
Ron smiled and said, "You did what you thought was best for everyone. You've always been like that. I don't think I would have taken this as well as I have if I had been younger."
The rest of the day went smoothly eve with Hermione thinking about Cho's letter. After all these years it surprised Hermione to get something like that. Friday was only two days away and the wait was going to annoy Hermione. She wanted to know why Cho had sent her this now instead of years ago. Her dreams that night were of the years during school when she had been with Cho and not of the usual ones she had been having since.
Friday came around and Hermione went out to The Leakey Cauldron and entered into the hidden place that was Diagon Alley. She hadn't been back here in over a week. As she walked up the road, a familiar voice said, "It's good to see you again, Hermione."
Hermione turned to see Cho standing there with a smile on her face. "It's good to see you too Cho. I feel like asking you everything at once but I know you'll probably want to find somewhere to talk."
"If you don't mind, we can talk as we simply go for a walk through Diagon Alley." Cho said as they started to wander down the street. "You know, this reminds me of those walks down by the lake at school. How we always used to talk about things."
"Why did you send the owl after all this time?" Hermione asked, hoping she would get a decent answer.
Cho smiled and said, "I wanted to see you again. It's been so long since the fight with Voldemort that I was forgetting what you looked like. That and I wanted to know why things never fixed themselves between us. I mean, I know there were things we never could have fixed but I just...want to know why we didn't try harder to stay together."
Hermione sighed and said, "I think we both just knew that, even if we had tried to fix everything it just wouldn't have been like it once was. We would have always known that there was something between us." She paused for a minute and then said, "I told Ron. More like showed him, actually."
Cho shot Hermione a surprised look. "You used a Pensieve to show him what was between us? Wasn't it hard on you, having to relive all of that? I mean, I know I wouldn't have been able to."
"It was hard to see it all over again. It was more knowing how it all was going to end that made it horrible." Hermione said as they finally found a small quiet place to sit.
Cho looked at Hermione and said, "You know, I haven't stopped loving you. Even after all this time and after everything that has happened. I just wish there was some way we could take back the time during the Yule Ball. I know that's where it all really started."
"We really did fail Dumbledore. We weren't able to continue to be together. You're right though. It was the whole thing surrounding the Yule Ball that tore us apart in the end. That stupid git Umbridge didn't help matters much either." Hermione said quietly. "I don't think you left my heart either. After showing Ron all of the memories of us I realized that I still cared for you."
"Not much we can do about it though. You're married and I'm headed that way." Cho said with a sigh. "I guess, part of me just wanted to see you again. I'm glad you came to see me. I wasn't sure what you would think of the owl after all this time."
"I almost didn't come. Ron was the one who told me I needed to do what my heart told me to. He figures that was what Dumbledore was trying to tell us." Hermione said as she looked up at the clouds passing by.
"Maybe we didn't fail him after all then. Our hearts both told us it was time to let go of each other and we did." Cho said as she watched the various wizards and witches go by. "You know, I haven't told anyone about what was between you and me since I told Cedric. Sometimes, when I'm at work or at home, I'll find myself thinking about you and about the past. I guess, letting took a lot longer than I thought it did."
Hermione smiled and said, "I don't think we ever really let go of each other. We just realized that we couldn't continue to be together. That doesn't mean we simply stopped loving each other. It just meant we knew that we couldn't be together like we once thought we could. Ron said it was weird hearing us say things like 'I won't leave you' and yet we ended up having to."
Cho gave Hermione a gentle hug and said, "It's hard to think about all of this. One of these days we should get together with our memories of the past and watch it all over again. Even though I imagine it would be really hard for us, it would be a very interesting story to watch after all this time."
"Yes, we should. Besides, there still one more person I want to tell." Hermione said as she returned Cho's hug.
"You're going to tell Harry, aren't you?" Cho asked as she stared at Hermione.
"I just want him to know. He's been a great friend and of everyone that was friends with me there that didn't know, I think he deserves to hear it." Hermione said as she blushed slightly under Cho's stare.
The two of them got up from the bench they had been sitting on and as they began to walk away Cho gently hugged Hermione and gave her a kiss. Hermione was surprised by, just like it had surprised her the first time Cho had kissed her. This time she let herself sink into the kiss and returned it with the passion their kisses had once held. The kiss slowly broke and Hermione smiled at Cho. "You're still a great kisser and you still know how to surprise me." Hermione said as they walked back to the Leakey Cauldron.
"I kind of felt like seeing you again wouldn't be worth it if I didn't get to do that once more." Cho said as they walked out of the Leakey Cauldron and out into Muggle London.
They exchanged goodbyes and promises of letters as they went their separate ways. Hermione wanted to take the long way home to think about things. As she walked she bumped into someone and immediately said, "Oh! I'm so sorry sir. I wasn't watching where I was going."
The person she had bumped into turned and said, "That's okay Hermione. I know how you like to get lost in your own thoughts."
Hermione was surprised and said, "Harry! It's good to see you again. What brings you down to London?"
Harry smiled and said, "Oh nothing much really. James and Albus got into a scuffle and one of their books was destroyed in the process so I came down to get a new one."
Hermione laughed at this and then said, "You know. There's something I've been meaning to tell you. Something about when we were at school. Something that I think you should know."
Harry looked at her confused and then said, "Sure Hermione. What is it you want to tell me?"
Hermione smiled and began to tell Harry about Cho and about the memory within the Pensieve that she wanted him to see. As Harry accepted her offer to come over, she knew that it wouldn't be so hard seeing it all over again. She knew in her heart that she would always love Cho and that the feelings between them hadn't really ended when she thought they had.
(Author's note: So, here I am at the last chapter. This was certainly at lot longer than anything else I've written so far. Hopefully everyone who has read this has enjoyed it. Like most readers I don't like to see stories end but everything has to end sooner or later. Read and enjoy. A new story will be on its way soon. Thank you to everyone who commented , read and generally kept me writing this story."
Shinobi of the Onyx Sands