Some of you asked for a sequel, and the story started to live it's own life, so I decided to write it down. Here it is: Cho's and Harry's Christmas, part two! Please review this!
"Support CEDRIC DIGGORY –
the REAL Hogwarts champion!"
the badge Malfoy bore read. "Like them, Potter?" he asked. "And this isn't all they do – look" The message on the badge was replaced by another one, which read:
POTTER STINKS
Suddenly the room was filled with Slytherins. All of them bore badges that read "POTTER STINKS". Harry could feel the anger rising. Before he knew, he had taken out his wand. He pointed it at Malfoy, and screamed "Avada Kedavra". He heard the soft voice of a body hitting the stone floor. He pointed it at the other Slytherins. "Crucio!" he screamed. "Crucio, Crucio, Avada Kedavra, Crucio!"
The air was filled with screams. All of the Slytherins screamed. Harry laughed. He laughed, and his voice became colder and colder, higher and higher. Harry laughed, and with him, inside him laughed Lord Voldemort.
Harry screamed. It took him several seconds to realize, that Malfoy wasn't there. That he was in a bed in the hospital wing. That he most certainly hadn't killed half of the Slytherins with the Unforgivable Curses. Harry closed his eyes. "It was just a dream", he kept telling himself. "Just a dream."
"Harry! What is it?" Ron's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Harry refused to open his eyes. When he started to speak, he spoke slowly. "Tell me it was just a nightmare. That I am in my own bed in the dormitory, and that Cedric hasn't died. Lord Voldemort can't be back. It was just a nightmare, wasn't it?" He opened his eyes, looking pleadingly at Ron. "Tell me I didn't put Cho's life in danger last night."
Ron looked at Harry. "Harry…" he started.
"It's true then, isn't it?" Harry said bitterly. "That I almost killed Cho? Voldemort is back, isn't he? It's all true." He closed his eyes again.
"Could you go and get a toast or two, Ron?" Hermiones voice asked gently. "Why?" Ron asked, and Hermione whispered something to him. "Please?" she said then. Harry heard Ron's steps move away.
"Open your eyes, Harry" Hermione said. Harry didn't answer. He felt Hermiones hand stroking his hair. "Just talk to me, then" she finally said. "What happened?"
"How is Cho?" Harry asked.
"She is fine, Harry" Hermione said gently. "She's in a separate room, she needed to be alone, she said."
"I can see why", Harry said bitterly. "First my mom, then Cedric, now her. Why do I bring bad luck to people?"
"Stop accusing yourself", Hermione said firmly. "You couldn't know. You couldn't have done anything differently."
"I should have known. I should have protected Cho."
"Harry, you drove Voldemort away", Hermione said quietly. "You saved Cho's life. Just look at me, Harry. This is me, Hermione. You can look at me."
Harry turned his head away. "I could look at you. I could maybe even look you in the eyes. But I can't look Cho in the eyes, nor can I look Neville in the eyes. For Gods sake, Hermione, I couldn't look my parents in the eyes. I used the Killing Curse." Harry turned towards Hermione, opened his eyes and looked at her. "I used Avada Kedavra."
Hermione breathed in sharply. Harry saw her flinch at the thought. "You see" he said, and his voice sounded tired. "I didn't mean to, of course. But that doesn't make any difference. I still did try to kill Voldemort. It would maybe be better if I just quitted."
"You told Dumbledore?" Hermione asked.
"Of course I told Dumbledore", Harry said. "As Moody said: 'Dumbledore is trusting man. He believes in second chances.' Dumbledore didn't say anything, but…" Harry's voice died out. He closed his eyes again, and hid his face with his hands.
Hermione took a firm grip of his wrists. "Stop it", she said. "You couldn't do anything else. Now get dressed, Ron is getting some breakfast. I'll wait outside."
Harry started to put his clothes on. When Ron got back, he was finished. "I'm not hungry", he said to Ron, who offered him toast. Hermione took the toast from Ron, and put it firmly in Harry's hand. "Now eat. And stop feeling sorry for yourself. We'll go and write to Sirius."
"He's my godfather. Don't I have anything to say about it?" asked Harry.
"No, unless you were going to say that you'll write to him."
Half an hour later Harry knocked politely to the door to the hospital wing. When Madame Pomfrey opened, he asked if he could see Cho.
"Oh, I'm afraid you can't", Madame Pomfrey said. "She said, that she preferred to be alone." She saw Harry's disappointed expression. "She's going to go back to the Rawenclaw tower soon, maybe you can do her company. She'll leave any minute now."
Harry sat down outside the door to the hospital wing, and waited. As Madame Pomfrey had said, Cho came soon out through the door.
"Er… Cho?" Harry said.
"What? Oh, hi Harry." Cho turned to go.
"Wait, Cho. I'd like to talk to you" Harry said. Cho didn't look him in the eyes. "Listen, I've got to go," she said. She started to go. "Some other time, then." she just said.
Harry sat down at a table in the common room of Gryffindor, his face buried in his hands. He didn't even notice Parvati, before she spoke.
"Hi", she said. Harry looked up. "Oh, hi, Parvati."
Parvati sat down opposite him. "Would you like me to read your fate from the cards", she offered. "I've got Tarot-cards."
"Maybe not right now", Harry answered. "The last thing I need now is a death omen." he added pointedly. Parvati blushed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I should have thought… But I wasn't going to read any bad omens."
"Just keep them to yourself, and treat me like I would die any day now?" Harry asked. Parvati bit her lip. "I maybe should be going", she said. Her voice sounded like she was close to tears, but she forced a smile.
"No, not at all. I'm sorry," Harry sighed. "It's just… well everything seems to fail today. It's not your fault."
It seemed Parvati couldn't think of anything to say. "Is it true, that Ron and Hermione are having a date?" she finally asked, just to break the silence.
"Ron and Hermione?" Harry looked startled. "I don't know. It could be true, I suppose…" Harry remembered Cho, and sighed.
"May I ask you something?" Parvati asked carefully. "Would you like to go out with her?"
Harry looked amazed. "Me? With Hermione?"
Parvati looked slightly happier. "You're not in love with her?"
Harry shook his head. "No, I'm not in love with her. Where did you get that idea from?"
Parvati ignored the question. She just smiled happily. Harry couldn't understand that he was talking about this with Parvati. Parvati, who giggled every time a boy's name was mentioned. And he hadn't been able to talk about these things even with Ron and Hermione, not until recently.
"What happened to you and that boy from Beauxbatons who you met at the Yule ball?" he asked Parvati. She looked startled. "Who? Oh, him… It didn't work out. He was nice, but…" She shrugged. "Maybe he just wasn't the right." She threw a meaning look at Harry from under her eyelashes, but he didn't notice it.
"Parvati," Harry said. "Could I ask for a huge favor?"
"Anything," she smiled. "Anything at all…"
"Your sister, Padma, is in Rawenclaw, isn't she?" Harry didn't notice how icy Parvatis expression became, so he continued: "Could she ask Cho how she feels? She doesn't want to speak to me, and… well, it is kind of my fault that she…"
Parvati bit her lip. "Of course", she said and forced a smile. "I must go and send an owl now, but… I'll talk to her about it," she promised with a sigh. Harry didn't notice the sadness in her appearance. "Thanks, Parvati", he smiled.
"Don't mention it," she just said, before leaving towards the girls' dormitory.
Ron and Hermione sat in a quiet corner of the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Are you still together with Krum?" Ron asked Hermione. She looked startled. "It's actually non of your business", she said, "but if you must know, yes, I am, kind of."
"Kind of?"
"Well, he lives so far away…" Silence fell between the two of them.
"Are you in love with him?" Ron broke the silence.
"Well, this is most certainly none of your business!" Hermione said indignantly. "But yes, I do love him. Why?" Then she saw the expression on Ron's face, and suddenly understood. "I'm sorry, Ron," she whispered. Ron tried to look normal, but two great tears appeared in his yes. "It's OK," he said, turning his head away, so Hermione wouldn't see him cry. He looked sternly at the stone wall, blinking. "I'm not going to cry," he thought. "I'm not going to cry."
Hermione touched his arm carefully. "Ron, look at me!" she said. "We can still be friends, can't we?" she pleaded. "I don't want to lose you as a friend."
"It's easy for you to say!" Ron muttered bitterly.
"Ron, please…?"
He refused to answer. "I'm not going to cry," he thought. "I'm not going to cry."
"Listen, Ron. I wouldn't like to say this like this, but you won't listen otherwise. I can't force myself to love you. I still want to be your friend." Ron didn't answer. "Look at me, Ron!" Hermione said impatiently. He didn't turn his head. Hermione looked at him in silence for a long time.
"Fine, then," she finally snapped. "It's my friendship or nothing, Ron!" She stood up, turned on her heels, and run up the stairs to her dormitory. Up there, she threw herself on her bed, and buried her face in her pillow. She tried to cry, but she couldn't. She could only feel bad. The sound of muffled sobs from the bed next to hers interrupted her thoughts.
Ron went outside. He headed towards the Forbidden Forest, but in a corner of his eye, he saw the Whomping Willow. The branches of the tree made a wailing sound in the wind. The sound irritated him. He changed direction, and walked to the tree. "Shut up!" he screamed. The tree ignored him. "Shut up!" Ron screamed again. He kicked the tree. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" He didn't even notice the branch that lowered itself to the level of his head. He started to hit the trunk with his fists. "Shut u…" his screaming stopped abruptly when the branch hit him hard in the head. Then it threw him away, like he was a rag doll. He was flung several yards away from the Whomping Willow, where he then lay motionless. It started to snow, heavy, wet snowflakes, that melted to icy water the second they hit the ground.
"What is it, Parvati?" Hermione asked. The sobs from the other bed stopped abruptly. "It's nothing," Parvatis voice said. "I just…"
"Just what?" asked Hermione, when Parvati didn't finish her sentence.
"Nothing," Parvati said. She came out, her eyes were red, but she tried to smile. "I'm fin," she said. "Really." She looked at her watch. "I must go and see Padma," she said and hurried out through the door.
Harry sat down at the Gryffindor house table in the Great Hall. He started on his portion of sausages and potatoes, when Hermione sat down beside him. Harry smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. "Harry, I need to talk to you," she said. "Or, actually, I need you to talk to Ron."
"What has he done now?" Harry asked.
"He hasn't done anything… It's just… He is in love with me…" Hermione said. "Don't laugh, Harry…" she added pleadingly. "He told me this afternoon."
"And you're not in love with him?" Harry asked. Hermione shook her head. "No. He can't accept that we're just friends."
"Where is he, by the way?" asked Harry.
"I don't know," Hermione answered. "I think he's up in your dormitory. I haven't seen him since three o'clock."
"Harry?" Parvati said, while passing him on her way out. "I asked Padma. Cho refused to say anything to her. I think you should talk to her yourself, but Padma said Cho is afraid to set her foot outside the Rawenclaw tower." Parvati looked very pleased with herself, although her eyes reflected sadness beyond words.
"What was that about?" asked Hermione.
"Well, I asked her to ask Padma how Cho is." Harry explained. Hermione looked shocked. "Don't say you asked Parvati to find out how Cho is?" she exclaimed. Harry looked confused. "Why shouldn't I?" he asked.
"Harry, are you blind? Parvati is in love with you. She's been ever since first grade, I think. Why do you think she was so mad at you after the Yule ball? You didn't pay any attention to her, you didn't care about anybody but Cho!"
"But… I thought she liked that boy from Beauxbatons…" Harry protested. "She was going on and on about him…"
"She tried to make you jealous, Harry! Parvati is in love with you, and you asked her to find out how Cho is… Harry, how could you!" sighed Hermione, forgetting, that she herself had been so blinded by Krum that she hadn't noticed Ron's affection.
It took a moment, before Harry understood what she had just said. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "Oh no!"
Well, this is turning out to be a pretty good series. Thanks for all the positive reviews I got for the first part! Please review this, too!!!