Chapter 5: Confrontations
Harry met Cho at the witch's statue
and they used the secret passageway to get into Hogsmeade.
"I've corrupted you, too," said
Harry when they arrived in Hogsmeade. "You know, now you're a rule-breaker."
Cho smiled nervously. "I had no
choice. I'm not breaking the rules to cause trouble, am I? You're the only
one here who's corrupt." Cho winked at him and she started leading the
way toward the cave. Harry stared at the Sword of Ravenclaw in a sheath
strapped on her back.
Harry smiled. "I guess it runs in
my blood," he said. And then he jogged to catch up with her.
The conversation with Sirius became
more pragmatic than Harry or Sirius expected. Sirius repeated the same
story to Cho that he had told Harry. Cho listened intently and then said
that she believed him. "Who could have done it?"
"A Death Eater," said Harry. "One
who got lucky and stumbled on your family's secret hiding place. Someone
who may have secretly eavesdropped when you or your parents mentioned the
location. Those are my theories."
"We never mentioned the location
to anybody except ourselves, and all those conversations took place at
the secret place itself. The eavesdropping theory doesn't work. Stumbling
on them by pure chance, that's also improbable, don't you agree?"
"Yeah," said Sirius. "Who else has
that kind of power? They've been in a coma for how long now? A few days?"
"In my opinion," Cho said, "it looks
like a threat on my life. They were' killed, but they weren't the primary
targets. Nothing was stolen, either."
"I agree," said Sirius. "You should
be careful, Cho."
Cho nodded. "I'm sorry that you
couldn't visit them, Sirius. They told me in a letter that they considered
you a pretty funny guy."
"It's okay," said Sirius.
Ron and Hermione were talking in
the common room. Ginny and the twins looked on curiously.
"I am not jealous," Hermione said
irritatedly. "I'm just concerned that he might tell her too much. And,
well, you have to admit that he's spending decreasingly less time with
us, because he's spending more and more time with her."
"Good for him," Ron said. He shrugged.
"No," Ginny jumped in. "It's bad.
Harry's bringing her into his world way too fast, and he's getting sucked
into hers."
"Not so," said Fred. They all looked
at him as he sat down next to Ron. "I'll put myself on the 'Defense of
Cho' side of the room."
"Yeah, with all the guys coincidentally,"
said Hermione sarcastically.
"Yes, with the guys. Anyway, what
I'm saying is that Harry and Cho can take care of themselves. They own
the secrets, so they can share them if they want. End of story."
Ron gave his brother an approving
look.
"Cho isn't good for Harry," Ginny
began. Ron groaned. "No, let me finish, Ron. This is just like Percy and
Penny. It's an interhouse relationship, and those fail 9 times out of 10,
from what I gather. Separate common rooms and all. They're also different
ages; moreover, she's older than him! They don't even have any classes
together, so there's no real point studying in the library together. Not
the best first dating experience for a person. It could really dim their
outlooks for life."
"Not at all," said an approaching
Lee Jordan. "My older brother Chris went here a few years back and dated
an older girl in Hufflepuff. They're married now and they're doing great.
You can't just generalize." He then sat on the boys' couch opposite the
girls.
"Ha!" Lavender brown said as she
made her way to the couch where the girls were sitting. "Cho's a dangerous
person to be with. Like there isn't enough danger in Harry's life. Cho's
parents attacked and there's no suspect? That's scary, my friends."
Ron had enough. "You girls are all
just jealous!"
Hermione shouted back. "You boys
are all smitten!"
Just then, they heard a familiar
voice. "Hi," said Harry. No one had noticed him standing there.
"How long have you been there?"
Ginny said blankly.
"I just got here," said Harry. "I
was out with Cho and--"
"--doing what?" Ron asked eagerly.
"Seeing the godfather," Harry
said with irritation in his voice. Ron and Hermione weren't offended at
all. The code word, though never used before, was obvious to them.
"Okay, you don't want to talk about
it," Lavender said.
"Not really," said Harry.
"Hey Harry," Ron said. "Does Cho
have any quirks? Imperfections? Some of us are genuinely curious."
Harry was stunned to see several
heads nodding in agreement around the room. "No, honestly, she's far from
it," Harry said.
"Well?" Lavender said.
"She's a bit over-competitive, sometimes
she thinks too much for her own good. She doesn't have much money. Her
father wrote for a weekly newspaper that no one's ever heard of and her
Mom had difficulty getting her poems published. And, well, she can unintentionally
be very manipulative. Her parents must have let her get away with it."
Harry stopped. What had he said? How could he speak ill of them at a time
like this? "I shouldn't have said that," he said solemnly. "In fact, I
really shouldn't be talking about her behind her back like this." He looked
down at the floor.
"Bad Harry," Ron said. "Harry's
going to bang his head against the wall as punishment."
Hermione looked scandalized. "Ron!"
she said. "That's not funny!" She paused. "Did you leave her outside the
portrait hole? Or did you walk her to her common room?"
"She walked with me to our portrait
hole." Harry looked glum. "I had to say goodbye of course, and I couldn't
enter until she had turned around the corner--so that she wouldn't hear
the password. Stupid rules," he said bitterly.
Ginny gave Ron a gloating look.
Hermione hesitated. "Yes, they are
stupid. Come on Harry, let's bring her in the common room!"
Ron looked at her as if he had just
seen a ghost. "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione?"
Hermione giggled. "Come on then,"
she said suddenly. "She can't be that far off yet." She got up and Harry
and Ron followed her. Ginny got up and followed as well.
They eventually caught up with Cho,
because Harry knew the way she would be taking back to the Ravenclaw common
room. He yelled when he saw her. "Cho wait!"
She turned around. "Harry! What
is it?" Then she saw Ron, Hermione, and Ginny catch up.
"Come back with us into the common
room," Hermione said. "Please?"
Cho hesitated. "Isn't that against
the rules?"
"Cho," Harry said. "You're corrupted.
It happens to anyone who hangs out with me."
"Yes," Ron said. "Harry is a rebel."
Cho giggled. "Thanks for the invitation.
I'll go with you, then."
At the common room, all the Gryffindors
focused their attention on Cho. She was assailled with questions. Harry
figured that most of the younger guys had only heard about her. Those guys
feigned interest no matter what she talked about. Cho showed a remarakable
ability to remember names in the course of her conversations, though.
Finally, the room quieted down somewhat.
"Your common room has more color than ours," Cho said to Harry.
"Your common room's not ugly?" Harry
asked.
"It's plain and simple," she clarified.
"Minimalist, then?" Hermione asked.
She was smiling and she was walking towards them with Ginny.
"Yes, that's the word" Cho said
brightly.
"Who wants to play chess?" Ron said
loudly while approaching them.
"Could he be any more obvious?"
Hermione asked Ginny under her breath.
"Big showoff," Ginny whispered back.
She giggled.
Ron ignored them. "Care to challenge
the master, Cho? I've only beat one top student so far."
Cho smiled. "Okay, chessmaster.
Let's go."
By 10 PM, no work had been accomplished
in the common room, but a lot of wizard chess had been played. Ron went
undefeated for 20 straight games before all the challengers had played
him. "Care for another game, Cho?" Ron asked.
"You bet," said Cho. They played
four more games in a row. In the fourth game, Ron lost by one move. Everyone
who was watching stared at Ron, and Ron stared at the board. "I haven't
lost to anybody since my Dad beat me seven years ago," he confessed.
Her competitiveness is showing again,
thought Harry, though he was still impressed.
Ron put away the chess set and Cho
moved over to where Harry was siting and sat down next to him. "You have
some great students here," she said.
"I know," said Harry. "Almost all
of my friends are here." He looked at the clock on the wall. "I'd better
escort you out of here. McGonagall checks around this time somedays." She
nodded and said goodbye to the others, then Harry reluctantly led her out
the portrait hole.
That night, Hermione couldn't sleep.
Eventually she checked the clock and saw that it was 4 AM. Hermione quit
and decided to take a Muggle book, Pride and Prejudice (for you Heidi Tandy!),
and read for a while in the common room. She descended the stairs and saw,
to her surprise, that she would not be alone. Harry was sitting in a chair
facing the fireplace, reading what she recognized to be the textbook for
History of Magic.
"Harry?" she said.
Harry was startled to hear her voice.
He turned around and saw that her hair was messier than usual from tossing
and turning. "I was just reading."
"You do this regularly, don't you?
You're trying to get really good grades to impress Cho."
"Yeah, I admit I am. Sit down if
you want." She did so.
"You already have her affection,"
Hermione said solemnly.
"Well, then, this is a good habit
anyway I think."
"Sleeping is a good habit too, I
think," Hermione teased.
"Yes it is," said Harry. He placed
his bookmark and shut his textbook. Hermione's words sunk in a bit more.
"Cho already likes me?" Harry asked eagerly.
"Of course she does," Hermione said
casually. "You two are perfect for each other."
The next day, Harry asked Cho out
at dinner.
She smiled happily and hugged him.
"Of course, Harry," she said into his ear. Most of the Gryffindors and
Ravenclaws, who had a habit of staring at Harry and Cho over mealtimes,
suddenly erupted in applause. The Hufflepuffs joined in when they realized
what was going on. Harry mused to himself that only Draco and a flask of
love potion could screw things up now.
A/N: Don't throw tomatoes at me!
Let's agree to disagree in shipping preferences. Besides, I might change
things . . . Sorry if that was too fluffy for you, but the meat of the
action commences in the next chapter.
