Disclaimer:
I don't own J.K. Rowling's characters nor her locations nor her ideas.
Chapter 9: Resolution
Harry looked at Cho as soon as the
men left. He smiled and put his hands on her shoulders, then started bringing
his head towards her to kiss her.
She suddenly pushed him back. "No,"
she said. "We're not kissing until we're married."
Harry and the others were stunned.
"What?" Harry asked. "Not till our marriage?"
"Yes." She shrugged, and then saw
that everybody was staring at her.
"This is your parents' rule, right?"
Harry asked.
"No, it's mine."
Harry hesitated, and then smiled.
He put his hands on her shoulders again. "Stop joking around and kiss me."
He leaned towards her again.
"I said no!" She said as she pushed
him away more forcefully than before. "Sorry if you object to it, but I'm
not budging on my rule."
Harry paused and sighed. He said
finally, "No, I don't have a problem with courtship. Can we get married
over the summer, then?"
"No!" she said emphatically. "Harry,
marriage is years away. We have school, and work, and . . " She trailed
off.
"As soon as possible, then," said
Harry.
"Impatient are we?" Cho said. A
smile formed on her face.
"What? Not until you're married?"
Ron said incredulously. He paused. "She's worth it," he finally said.
Hermione glared at him.
"Well it's true," Ron said sheepishly.
"You two are gonna have the cutest,
most spoiled little babies," Ginny said.
"Indeed," said Harry. "Someday there
will be more Potters than Weasleys." He grinned mischievously at Cho. Cho
was fighting back a smile.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that,"
said Ron. He looked at Hermione and raised his eyebrows.
"Oh honestly!" she said.
On the last day of school, Cho left
with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in the black carriage that would take
them to the Hogwarts Express. They had decided earlier that, since Cho
had no living relatives and thus no place to stay, that they would owl
the Weasleys at the Burrow to see if they could temporarily accomodate
her. Harry raved about her for so many pages that Ron had to intervene
for Pig's sake and throw pages out. The Weasleys' response was that they
would love to have Cho stay at the Burrow over the summer. And so, Harry
and his friends boarded the train and, sooner than they had hoped, they
arrived at King's Cross Station. Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione.
Hermione, being unavailable this year, decided not to kiss Harry on the
cheek this time. Harry and Cho had a difficult time saying goodbye.
"I'll really miss you," Harry said.
"I'll write," Cho said. She saw
Harry's not fully content expression. "I'll write a lot," she added brightly.
"Me too," Harry said. "I hope Ron
doesn't get on your nerves too much. But if he does, let me know, and I'll
fly over there personally and give him a punch in the nose."
Cho giggled. "Good bye," she said
softly. "I love you, you know." She smiled.
"Bye," said Harry. "I love you too."
They parted. Cho left to join the
Weasleys, who were smiling and waving at Harry. Harry turned around and
saw something that surprised him: the Dursleys' facial expressions were
in a state of shock.
"That's your girlfriend?" Dudley
blurted out when they got to the car.
"Yeah," Harry said as he loaded
his luggage in the back. "She's some girl."
Another year at Hogwarts drew to
a close.
A/N: I'm not sure whether Hermione's
Oh honestly's are mentioned in the canon, but I know they are prevalent
in wotan's "Yours and yours and yours." If they are indeed wotan's idea,
then I give credit to him or her.
The original story was fueled by
a week of inspiration. Cho needs a defined flaw, I think, to make her more
believable. Any ideas on that would be welcome :-)
I hope that you, the reader, enjoyed
it!
Philip (Pottermaniac) Gonzales 4/21/01
