A/N - A different pairing for me to be sure, but I have found that I kind of like it. :) This was written for Round 12 of the Quidditch League Comp. This round was all about fairy tales and my prompt was The Little Mermaid. I have leaned more toward the Disney version.

Also written for Advanced Classes - Muggle Studies, Lesson 2 at the Hogwarts Fair on HPFC.

Word count for judging - 3285

Thanks to asebi for betaing!

"It was bad enough when you were an Obliviator," her father snapped. "But now you are working for the Muggle Liason office?" Cho sighed. She was tired of having this argument.

"I know you don't approve-" Cho began, but her father cut her off.

"Of course I do not approve!" he thundered. "You are wasting your intellect! You should be an Unspeakable or a Healer. Not wasting your time with Muggles!"

"I'm not wasting my time," Cho insisted. "I was talking with Hermione Granger the other day and -" but once again her father interrupted.

"Hermione Granger," he spat. "The 'brightest witch of her age' squandering her intelligence in the Magical Creatures Division." He shook his head in disgust.

"If you would let me finish," Cho said through gritted teeth. "Hermione and I were discussing the difficulties that Muggle-borns have when they first come to Hogwarts. Not to mention that their parents have no idea what to do about accidental magic or even what it is. It might be a good idea to contact these families earlier and explain what is going on, as well as give the children an introduction to the magical world."

"You know how I feel about Muggle-borns living with Muggles," her father retorted.

"We cannot just kidnap babies from their parents because their parents aren't magical," Cho said in exasperation.

"It is not kidnapping," he argued. "When the Book of Admittance records a birth, the Muggle-born child is adopted by a Wizarding family, and the Muggles' memories modified. There is no danger of being rejected by their parents for having magical talent and Muggles do not have to try and understand something they clearly cannot." Cho shook her head.

"I never realized how prejudiced you really are," she said sadly.

"It is not prejudice," her father protested. "I do not have any problems with Muggles. They are free to live their lives as they wish. Our worlds should just remain separate, completely separate, that is all."

"And what of witches and wizards that choose to marry Muggles?" she asked. He shrugged.

"If they choose the Muggle world over their own, then they should live as Muggles," he replied. "There are ways to strip one of their magic." Cho shook her head again.

"I have to get to work," she said and turned to the Floo. She looked over her shoulder before she stepped in. "You can dress it up as pretty as you like, Dad, but it's still prejudice." She stepped into the flames, leaving her annoyed father behind.

Cho stalked to her office, disgusted with her father's attitude. While he had always felt that magical children belonged in the magical world, his stance on snatching babies away from their parents was relatively new. If Cho's mother were here, she would have given him that look she always did and he would have backed away from whatever ridiculous position he had taken. Her mother had kept her father more even-tempered and less extreme in his thinking. But her mother had died just after the war, caught in a skirmish between Aurors and a few remaining rogue Death Eaters in Diagon Alley and her father's rigid thinking had continually gotten worse.

Sighing as she sat down at her desk, she pulled out the notes she had taken while she and Hermione had discussed the issues with Muggle-born children. Cho wanted to put everything into a coherent report before she raised the subject with her boss. She tapped her quill against her lips. Perhaps she should talk to a few more Muggle-borns. It wouldn't hurt to have as many viewpoints as she could.

Cho spent the rest of the morning making a list of the all the Muggle-borns she knew. She spent the afternoon talking with those that worked in the Ministry and then after work visited a few others. It was late when she left Justin Finch-Fletchley's flat. He lived in Muggle London and he had spent quite some time showing her all kinds of Muggle electronics and other gadgets.

It was quite amazing, Cho mused as she walked, what Muggles could do without magic. She had taken Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, much to her father's dismay, but even everything they had learned in class wasn't the same as actually seeing it. She wished her father could understand that, but anytime she had tried to show him something, he had just brushed it aside as inferior.

She yawned and realized it was quite late. She should find somewhere she could safely Apparate. She began scanning the street and saw an alley a bit further up the block and began to walk towards it.

Movement ahead of her caught her attention and she saw a man walking towards her, his face buried in a newspaper. A cross-street separated them, but Cho could see that he had no idea he was about to step directly into the street. Nor did he notice that there was a large city bus heading straight for him.

She shouted and he looked up, but it was going to be too late. Reacting without thinking, Cho pulled her wand and shot a spell at the man, causing him to fly backwards. He knocked his head on a lamppost and fell unmoving to the sidewalk.

She swore as she ran towards him. Miraculously, either the bus driver hadn't noticed anything or didn't care because the bus never stopped, just careened around the corner and continued on its way. She was sure that there had been people on the bus that saw what happened, but she couldn't worry about that right now. At least there didn't appear to be anyone else on the street.

She reached the man and realized he was unconscious. She did a basic diagnostic scan. Despite what her father thought, she had considered being a Healer. He seemed to be all right, just had a nasty bump on his head and probably a concussion. She needed to get him to a Muggle hospital and if she knew where one was, she would just Apparate them there.

"Is he all right?" a voice asked and Cho whipped around to see an old woman walking towards them. "I called for the ambulance." Cho breathed a sigh of relief.

"I think he'll be fine," she said. "He just seems to have a bump on his head."

"Did that bus hit him?" the woman asked.

"No," Cho replied.

"Then what made him fly through the air like that?" the woman wondered. Cho swore in her head.

"Fly through the air?" Cho questioned. "I didn't see him fly through the air. He just seemed to stumble backwards and hit his head on that post."

"No, dearie, I definitely saw him fly through the air," the woman said. Cho closed her eyes and shook her wand into her hand. She pointed it at the woman and muttered the memory modification charm, changing the woman's memories to match what Cho had said. Cho hated doing it, but had no choice. The woman blinked a few times and then smiled at Cho.

Cho looked back down at the man. He was large, but a muscular large, and had blonde hair that currently hung a bit in his eyes. She gently brushed his hair away from his forehead and he groaned, shifting. She could hear the sirens getting closer and she knew that she should modify his memory as well. But something held her back from doing so. She told herself that it was because of his concussion. She didn't want to make things any worse.

The ambulance finally arrived and Cho made to stand when a hand grasped her arm. She gasped and looked down as blue eyes looked up at her.

"You're going to be all right," she said soothingly.

"Who," he began as his eyes drooped closed and then opened again, "are you?" Before she could answer the Muggle Healers were there. Cho moved back and with one last look at the man on the ground, she slipped away into the darkness.

The next day, Cho was still worried about him. She wished she had stayed to make sure he was all right, although she was quite certain that he was. Still, concussions could be tricky things and it was her fault that he'd gotten one. Of course, she was sure that he would rather have a concussion than be dead. Shaking her head, she looked back at the newspaper lying open on her desk.

Part of her job was to scan the Muggle newspapers each day, in case there was something in them that could obviously be contributed to magic. They would then send out the appropriate department, the Magical Reversal Squad or the Obliviators to take care of the situation. Most days there wasn't anything of interest.

She turned another page and gasped. There he was, the man that she had rescued. She quickly read the article which was a story about a small gym in the area and their training of local youth. The man, whose name she discovered was Dudley Dursley, had taken up boxing as a teen and attributed it to helping him change his attitude as well as his physique. She wondered if he had been reading this very article when he had stepped into the street the night before.

Well, at least now she knew his name. Perhaps she could find his address and just check to make sure he was all right. She knew how to use a telephone book. Smiling, she cast a severing charm and removed the article from the paper, putting it into the pocket of her robes.

That evening, she found herself across the street from a house in Surrey. She didn't even want to think about the amount of time it had taken her to get here. She had been standing behind this tree, under a Disillusionment charm, for almost an hour now and she hadn't seen anything except a very large man arriving in a very large car. Her stomach was growling loudly and she knew that her father would be worried. Sighing, she turned and disappeared with a small crack.

The next night, she found herself in the exact same spot, and the next night and the next. So far, she had seen the large man return home each night and she had also seen a tall, bony-looking woman as well, but Dudley hadn't made an appearance. She told herself she kept coming here just to make sure he was all right, but that small annoying voice in her head told her that wasn't the only reason. Normally, she mentally smacked that voice and shoved it to the far corner of her brain.

On the fifth day she had finally decided to give up, when the front door opened and Dudley walked out.

"Mum, I'm fine," he was insisting.

"But Dudders, the doctor said-" the woman that Cho had seen earlier began. But Dudley interrupted her.

"The doctor said a lot of things Mum, but not being allowed to take a walk wasn't one of them," Dudley said. "I'm tired of being cooped up in the house."

"Let me just come with you then," his mother said.

"No!" Dudley insisted. He closed his eyes and took a breath. "Mum, I'll be fine. I've got my mobile."

"Let the boy go, Petunia," a voice from inside the house called.

"Don't be gone long," the woman said worriedly.

"I won't be," he assured her.

Cho watched him walk down the drive to the sidewalk. He looked fine, but she had similar feelings to his mother. What if something happened? She convinced herself that was why she followed him, not because she was curious about him.

He walked to a small park and sat down on a bench, turning his face up to the sun that was slowly sinking lower in the sky. She stood a few feet away and simply watched him. He still appeared to be all right, no worse for wear, but she couldn't make herself leave.

After a few minutes, he turned around and looked behind him, his eyes darting around the park. She held perfectly still, knowing that any movement by her could be detected by him, Disillusionment or not.

"Is someone there?" he called, still looking around. Cho held her breath. Finally, he shook his head slightly and turned back toward the sun. She moved carefully away and walked around the corner before Disapparating.

She stayed away from Surrey for three days before she finally gave in and went back. She had given up trying to argue with that little voice in her head about her reasons for going. She Apparated to the park this time and had just stepped out from the copse of trees before she realized she hadn't cast the Disillusionment.

"It's you," she heard a voice say and she turned around, coming face to face with Dudley.

"I, I," she stuttered, instantly terrified at what he might have seen.

"You're the one that saved me," he said with a smile.

"Saved you?" she questioned, her mind flustered at being caught out.

"Yes, remember, the bus," he said. "You shoved me out of the way somehow." Her mouth opened and closed like a fish. She should have Obliviated him when she had the chance.

"No, I, erm," she trailed off and he looked at her in confusion.

"It was you, wasn't it?" he asked.

"No, I mean," she shook her head and took a breath. "Yes, it was me, but I just shouted and you looked up and then you stumbled back."

"That's not how I remember it," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, you did hit your head pretty hard," she pointed out. "Sometimes that makes things a little hazy." His eyes narrowed as he studied her.

"I guess you're not who I thought," he muttered.

"I'm sorry?" she said in puzzlement.

"Forget it," he said. "Thank you, for shouting." She smiled.

"You're welcome. How are you feeling?"

"I'm all right," he said. "I had a mild concussion so I'm sort of stuck without much to do right now. My mum is driving me crazy." She chuckled. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh, I was, um, visiting a friend," she managed. He nodded, seeming to believe her.

"I'm Dudley by the way," he said holding out his hand. "Dudley Dursley."

"Cho Chang," she replied shaking his hand.

"Well, Cho Chang, would you let me take you to dinner?" he asked. "To thank you properly."

"I'd like that," she said with a smile.

The two of them were nearly inseparable the next few weeks. They went out almost every night and Dudley took her all over Muggle London. Cho loved every minute of it and was growing fonder of Dudley with every passing day. She suspected that he felt the same way about her. She kept him a secret from everyone, especially her father. She knew her father loved her, but she wasn't sure that would win out over his attitude towards Muggles.

The only thing that was bothering her was that she hadn't told Dudley she was as witch. She'd tried, but every time she opened her mouth it was like she had been struck dumb. The words got jumbled in her head and she just couldn't seem to get them past her lips. She knew she had to tell him, but just wasn't sure how.

She came home late one night after a very romantic date with Dudley and walked quietly to her room with a dreamy smile on her face. She stopped short when she had lit the lamps saw her father sitting in her armchair.

"Where have you been?" he asked.

"Out with Marietta," she replied.

"Then why did Marietta Floo here this evening looking for you?" he asked. Cho swore in her head.

"Fine, I was on a date," she said with a sigh.

"With whom?" her father questioned.

"That's really none of your business," Cho responded.

"You are my daughter," he snapped. "Of course it is my business."

"I'm twenty years old," Cho retorted. "I'm not a child."

"Were you out with this Muggle?" he demanded holding up the newspaper clipping of Dudley, as well as a strip of photos they had taken at a kiosk in the shopping mall.

"You went through my things?" she asked incredulously.

"No daughter of mine will date a Muggle," he pronounced. Cho's eyes narrowed.

"I will date who I like," she said lowly.

"Then you are no daughter of mine," he returned. She gaped at him in astonishment, but he turned his back on her. The tears came instantly to her eyes, but she refused to let him see.

"Fine," she said, grabbing a rucksack and shoving some clothes into it. She picked up the pictures and the newspaper article where they had fallen. She stared at her father's back, but he did not move. "Good-bye Daddy." And then she Apparated away.

"I want you to meet my cousin," Dudley said, tugging her toward the café. Cho laughed a bit trying to keep up with him. They stepped inside the café and made their way to a table in the back. Cho was a bit nervous. This was the first of Dudley's relatives she had met.

"Here she is Harry," Dudley said as they reached the table. The man at the table looked up and Cho's jaw dropped.

"Harry?" she said incredulously.

"Cho?" he replied just as surprised. Dudley looked back and forth between the two of them.

"You two know each other?" he questioned.

"We went to school together," Harry said, still obviously in shock. Cho looked at Harry and then Dudley and spun and ran from the café. He would know now, Dudley would know and she knew that Harry's relatives didn't like magic. She was going to lose him, just as she'd lost her father. The thought that Dudley was actually speaking to Harry didn't cross her mind.

"Cho, wait!" she heard Dudley call, but she didn't stop. He was faster than her however and caught up to her before she could cross the street.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked taking hold of her arms. She shook her head, the tears streaming down her face.

"I tried, I did, so many times, but I couldn't, I didn't know," she trailed off and sobbed harder. Dudley pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head.

"I knew it," he said.

"What?" she asked.

"I knew you used magic to save me that night from the bus," he explained. She blinked and he wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.

"And you're not furious with me?" she questioned.

"From keeping me from being flattened?" he quipped. She smacked his chest.

"Not that," she replied.

"Well, I do wish you would have told me sooner," he admitted. "But I don't plan on losing you anytime soon Cho. Besides, after talking with Harry all these weeks, I've become rather intrigued by magic." He smiled at her.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"I know," he responded and then he kissed her.

Two years later, Dudley made good on his promise. Dudley's father did not attend the wedding, but Cho was sure that she saw his mother in the back. Cho's father had ignored the invitation as well, but when Cho prepared to walk down the aisle, her father appeared at her side.

"Are you happy daughter?" he asked as she looked at him in shock.

"Yes, very happy," she managed. He nodded once and then walked her down the aisle.

A/N2 - All right, so this was actually my third attempt to write this fic, as the previous two refused to stay under the word count limit. As such, I have the same story from Dudley's POV almost completely written. So, once judging is over in a few weeks, I will probably add a second chapter. :)