A/N: Thank you all who reviewed my story last time. It really means a lot to me! Now, read!

*

Hermione lay sobbing her misery to her pillow. Why, oh why, did she have to fall in love with Harry? Why was she cursed with a love that made her burn whenever she looked at him, made her long to put her arms around him? What had she done to deserve such a love that made her miserable to see him with anyone else?

Harry, she sobbed, oh, Harry. Can't you see? Can't you see how much I love you?

*



"How is she?" Ron asked, peering into the darkness of Hermione's half-open door.

"She's been crying ever since she left during dinner," Lavender said, watching him as he turned from Hermione's door. "She won't tell any of us why." She followed him down the stairs to the common room, and into a corner, where a few empty chairs and a lamp sat on a table. When he turned to look at her, she looked straight into his bright brown eyes. "You know, don't you? Why she's so upset?"

Ron nodded. Then he shook his head. "I said I wouldn't tell," he said, sitting down on one of the chairs.

"Oh, I'm not stupid," Lavender said. "I know it's Harry. But I didn't know it went that deep."

Ron gaped at her.

"I think she's in love with him," he said at last, very softly.

Lavender nodded. "That would explain it."

Ron ran his hands anguishedly through his hair. "She told me this afternoon," he explained, very quietly so that no one else would hear. "I was going to ask Harry how he felt about her, so she would know whether to ask him out, but when we came in Cho was .." he trailed off. "Why is Harry so stupid sometimes?" he said furiously. "I mean, you've noticed! I've noticed! I bet we could ask everyone in here, and they'd all say they noticed how much Hermione likes Harry! It's like he's blind!"

Lavender stared at Ron for a long time. "That's .. that's .. that's .. so thoughtful! Oh, Ron!" And she leaned forward, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him on the lips.

"Huh?" Ron said, as soon as they'd finished kissing. "What was that for? I mean, I'm not protesting or anything .. but what made you do that?"

"Oh, Ron!" Lavender said, loudly enough for almost everyone in the common room to hear, "I'm sorry I said you were insensitive! That's so nice of you to care about Hermione so much!" She hugged him tight and Ron, bewildered but happy, wrapped his arms around her waist.

"That's all right," he said.

"I love you," she whispered into his ear.

"I love you too," he told her, squeezing her once more. Oh, it felt good to have her in his arms .. he hadn't realized he'd missed her so much..

Suddenly, scaring them nearly out of their skins, the whole common room burst into applause. Someone wolf-whistled. Everyone was clapping at them.

Ron's ears turned red. Suddenly, he jumped up, put his arms around Lavender, lifted her into the air, twirled her around, and set her down, kissing her. The common room burst into applause once more, laughing and whistling. Lavender burst out into giggles. "Oh, Ron," she said. Ron grinned down at her and set her carefully down.

*



Harry stood at the bottom of the stairs for a long time, staring up at the place where Ron had disappeared. When he finally moved, it was not to continue up towards Gryffindor Tower, but downstairs to the Great Hall. He found himself wandering the halls, finally entering the main entrance. Though it was definitely taking a chance, he slipped out the front doors and wandered out towards Hagrid's pumpkin patch.

The pumpkins were enormous, as usual. They were like giant coaches glinting in the moonlight, like Cinderella's story. He found a bench, absentmindedly brushed the Stinging Chokevines off it, and sat down.

He thought of the anger on Ron's face when his best friend had yelled at him there on the stairs. He thought of Cho's pretty face, laughing at his poor jokes and sitting flirtingly close to him all through dinner. Then he remembered Hermione's face just before she had run off.

For once, can't all my friends agree?

He buried his face in his hands. Ron's friendship was not worth giving up .. was it? He remembered how miserable he had been in his fourth year during his fight with Ron over the Triwizard Cup. Was Cho as a girlfriend worth Ron?

A twig snapped behind him. He jumped.

A silvery voice came out of the shadows. "Harry?"

"Cho, is that you?" Harry said, not believing his ears. "What are you doing out here at this time of night?"

"Let's make a deal, shall we?" she said, stepping out of the shadows behind him and smiling at him. Harry nearly fell over at the smile. She was so pretty, with those big dark eyes .. and she was wearing only a light blue nightgown. He dragged his eyes away in time to catch her sentence: "..You don't ask me why I'm here, and I won't ask you."

"Fair enough," he agreed, tripping over his words as she sat beside him, wrapping her arms around her chest. "I'm so cold," she said, and her voice was suggestive. "It was stupid of me, not to bring a jacket.."

"Here," Harry said awkwardly, opening his arms and letting her get closer. Cho snuggled beside him. It didn't feel quite right, somehow, though; Harry got a vague sense that something was wrong ..

"Ron mad at you?"

"Yes!" he said, surprised. "How did you know?"

"Oh.." she whispered, and Harry had to draw closer to hear her words, which he thought was her intent: "I think he's jealous of you and me."

"What?" Harry was startled out of his vaguely suspicious thoughts. "Why?"

"Oh, you know he and Lavender just broke up... and he doesn't want us to be together, I think .. he wants you to be his friend only."

"You really think so?" Harry asked, rubbing his hands together and blowing on them. It really was rather chilly, and Cho was right. It had been stupid of him not to bring a jacket.

"Uh - huh .." she said, drawing closer to him. "Are you cold?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine," Harry said, but really he wasn't. It had been a very tiring Quidditch practice, and Cho was starting to feel like a dead weight on his side.

"Let me warm you up," she said softly, and leaning closer to him she reached up and kissed his cheek. "Better?" she asked with a smile.

Harry felt his face beginning to burn with embarrassment. "Better," he managed, with a wry smile. "Listen, Cho, I think we'd better go. My Gryffindor friends are going to worry about me. Not to mention your friends."

"Oh, all right." There was definitely disappointment in her voice, Harry thought with a mixture of emotions. They were silent until they reached the Great Hall, and parted ways. "I suppose I'll see you tomorrow in Hogsmeade, then? 5 o'clock at the Three Broomsticks?"

"Yes," he agreed. "Bye, Cho."

"Bye, Harreeeee!" she sang softly as she padded away towards Ravenclaw. "See you tomorrow!"

*



The next day, Halloween, was a Saturday, fortunately. The students prepared excitedly for the Hogsmeade Halloween trip. Ron avoided Harry's eyes when they passed each other on the way to breakfast, and he sat with Lavender at the opposite end of the table from Harry. Harry sat down, feeling a little lonely without either of his friends - for Hermione had not come down at all.

When they arrived in Hogsmeade, the village was overflowing with Halloween decorations and merchandise. Bats were swooping in and out of the stores, carved pumpkins changed expression as people went by, and there was a black-cat-show going on in Herbin's Magical Pets. Best of all, Honeydukes' was full of glowing chocolate pumpkins that really flickered and tiny marzipan bats that fluttered their wings. And even the ancient goblin-rebellion museum featured a dusty row of gallows and a sale on witch-burning books.

Harry saw Cho in Honeydukes, and waved at her. Together they bought packs of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans - Halloween Special Flavors, which included pumpkin seeds, apple pie, and burning leaves; Cho bought a Licorice Hanging-Rope, and Harry got a box of Quiksand Caramel - "Really Get Stuck In It!". It was even stickier than Hagrid's treacle candy and Harry chewed with difficulty as he and Cho headed for the Hogsmeade lake - which Cho insisted they visit.

When they got there, they stood and looked at the lake for a while - Cho thinking of Cedric, and Harry remembering darkly his second Triwizard Task, wherein he had spent two hours underwater.

"Why don't we follow that trail a while?" Cho said after a while, pointing towards a path leading into the forest.

"I don't know," Harry said, shading his eyes and following her finger. "We might not have enough time to get back for the Hogwarts Express to bring us back to the castle."

"Then we'll walk there, won't we?" Cho said, drawing close to him. "I'm sure you could protect me."

Harry smiled, but fidgeted a little. He didn't quite like the way she was hanging on him.

"All right," he said at last. "Let's go."

The trail curved upwards for a long time, but Cho gave him no opportunity to suggest stopping and starting back down. She talked nearly nonstop about Quidditch and anything else that came into her head. Harry was beginning to get tired, and hungry. The Quiksand Caramel seemed a long time ago. The sun was dipping quickly over the horizon, and the stars were visible.

"Think we ought to go back now, Cho?" he said at last, finding a gap as she stopped to breathe.

"Aw, let's go just a little bit further!" she said. Her mind was whirling furiously. The clearing where the brown-haired friend of Cedric's had told her to bring him was a few meters away. Was he here? She hoped so. Her voice was beginning to give out.

Then she caught the signal they had agreed on. A glint of something silver through the trees. She stopped talking abruptly, and Harry looked at her. "What's up? You've been kind of weird lately, Cho. I mean, you drag me all the way up here, one minute you're talking a blue streak and then the next -"



Hermione sniffed into her pillow, then sat up abruptly. She had just felt a jolt of something - fear? surprise? - in her stomach. Something was wrong. She looked around her bedchamber. Nothing was wrong. Had she imagined it? ...

..or was it something else?

Could it be Harry?



Harry never finished his sentence. He caught something - a movement out of the corner of his eye - and drew his wand out of his robes. "Cho!" he hissed. "Cho! I think there's something behind us!"

Cho turned slowly around. Harry did the same. Five black-hooded men were standing there in a circle around them. They were all staring at them. No, Harry though, not at them - at him. They were entirely ignoring Cho. A sudden, horrible thought flashed through his head. Oh, no..

"Good work," said one of the shorter men, in a horribly familiar voice. Harry cringed, the very sound of the voice swirling unwanted memories back into his head. Wormtail.

He backed up against Cho. "Leave her alone!" he shouted, his voice cracking. "Take me, leave her alone!"

One of the men came at him. Harry whipped his wand up. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted with all his might; the man was blasted backward into a tree, where he lay still.

"Get his wand away," Wormtail said, gesturing. Harry held his wand up defensively. "Leave me alone .." he said warily. "I've had lessons .. I know how to disarm you!"

And then his wand was plucked out of his hand from behind. He whirled. Cho was there, holding his wand away, her face twisted with hatred.

"Cho? What are you doing?" he whispered hoarsely.

Something smashed him hard on the back of the head, and he tried to twist around. But someone else had him by the arms. He twisted wildly, panic overflowing. The Death Eater hit him again, hard. He slumped to the ground, barely hanging onto consciousness. He could only stare at Cho, as her face appeared upside-down over his.

"You killed him," she whispered, staring into his eyes with hate-filled blue ones. He knew who she was talking about and he felt sick to his stomach. "No," he tried to whisper, "no, I couldn't do anything .. it was Voldemort .."

And pain surged through him. He could no longer fight down the blackness, and he slumped into darkness.

*



A/N: Hahahaha! I'm sorry, I really am. I truly do hate cliffhangers. I just love them when they're mine! ;) Review, it'll make the next part come faster if I know someone's waiting! Cya!