Disclaimer: All the characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The rest belong to me, but if you guys can tell, I based it on a TV show, can ya guess what it is?
Expectations
by: me, Sunburn
"Sooooooo Harry! Ready for your date with the one and only Cho Chang?" Seamus asked as Harry was dressing in his best robes for his first date with Cho.
Harry just ignored him as he tried uselessly to comb and tame his hair, but to no avail, he gave up.
"Just leave him alone." Ron stated as he helped Harry gather his things back into his trunk. "Have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't do." He said as Harry left the Gryffindor Common Room.
He was going to meet Cho down by the lake.
"Hello."
"Hello."
Harry's pulse was racing. Cho was beautiful! Small and simple, but amazingly gorgeous. Why was she out here on a date with him instead of some other more mature man with equal beauty?
During the date, they just talked. Talked about their pasts and what kind of future they wanted, till Harry got around to last year's Triwizard tournament.
"The night Professor Dumbledore told us about the tournament, I instantly wanted to enter, but when he said that you had to be at least 17 years of age, I was disappointed. But, I had a dream, I was older and I had won the tournament. And...and...the only face I saw was yours, Cho. Out of the millions of people there, your beautiful face was glowing." Both he and Cho blushed.
So, Harry moved onto a different subject, but every time, he'd just blurt out something about her he found facinating.
"Y'know, I actually started liking you in my 3rd year." Harry stated.
"Really?" Cho said surprised. "Wow, that's 4 years you've waited to ask me out."
Harry chuckled sheepishly, "Yeah,"
They sat in silence for a few moments.
"Well, I best be going if I want to wake up early tomorrow morning." Cho said as they both got up.
"Alright. Um.....I'll see you tomorrow? " Harry asked unsure.
"Okay. Same place, same time?" Cho asked.
"Sure."
As they approached the Ravenclaw Common Room, Cho said a silent goodnight to Harry and entered.
Never in Harry's life had he been so happy.
~*~TOMORROW NIGHT~*~
"...and I felt so bad when I saw you crying at the ceremony last year." Harry said to Cho. Tonight, they had talked about Cedric and the tournament.
Cho nodded. "He wast he first boyfriend I ever had. He was kind, sweet and generous, but there was something missing that I could never figure out."
"Really?" Harry asked staring back at her. "Did you ever find out what it was?"
"No..." Cho said sadly avoiding Harry's gaze.
Harry looked at his watch and cursed slightly, "Damn, I got to go. I haven't finished my Transfiguration essay, and it's due tomorrow!"
Cho shook her head and laughed. "Good night, Harry."
~*~TOMORROW MORNING~*~
Harry approached the Ravenclaw table in order to ask Cho out tonight. He'd been having such a wonderful time just sitting there, under the moonlit lake, talking with her.
"Cho? May I speak to you for a moment?" Harry asked quietly.
"Sure."
As they got the side of the Great Hall, Harry asked her out tonight.
Cho sighed and looked down, "Harry, I've been thinking, and I don't really think this relationship is going to work."
Harry just stared open mouthed at her. "B-but, I love y-you."
Cho looked back up at him with regret and anger in her eyes, "You don't love me, Harry Potter, I can assure you that!" she cried and ran down the hall.
Harry numbly walked all the way up to the Gryffindor Common Room and sat down in one of the armchairs. He sat there thinking about what Cho was talking about. Of course he loved her!! Didn't he?
Ron and Hermione entered the Common Room just then wondering why he had left so suddenly.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked noting Harry's expression.
"Cho just yelled at me saying that I don't love her and that we shouldn't be seeing each other anymore."
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Dunno, probably missed something in our dates."
"What'd you say to her during the dates?" Hermione asked.
Harry told her everything that he told Cho. "Whoa, no wonder!" Hermione said.
"What?" Harry and Ron asked, both puzzled how only girls knew this kind of stuff.
"She's right, Harry. You really don't love her. You love the IDEA of being with her, but never actually got to know her. The real Cho. Not the In-your-dreams/fantasy one, but the genuine Cho. You've probably scared her into thinking that she would need to fulfill all of these fantasies of yours to make you like her. Maybe you'd find out that she wasn't perfect and be disappointed." Hermione guessed.
"But why would she think a thing like that?" Harry frustratingly yelled out.
"Maybe she thought she wouldn't live up to your standards." Ron replied, "think about it, Harry. You've had a crush on her for 4 years. All of your judgments about her have been clouded from the start. You saw her as a beautiful seeker for another Quidditch team with popularity and intelligence, whilst others would just say she was another ordinary girl."
"But, why would my judgement be clouded from the start?" Harry asked curiously.
"Well, probably because of your intense infatuation towards her."
Harry thought about it for a while.
"Harry, did you ever think about her faults?" Hermione asked
Harry was about to say that she had no faults, but then caught himself. That's probably why Cho didn't want to see him anymore. Because he didn't think of her as a person.
"I gotta go," he said as he walked out.
"Good luck," both of his friends said before the opening closed.
~*~AFTER RAVENCLAW QUIDDITCH PRACTICE~*~
"Hey, Cho!"
"Cho! Can I talk to you? It'll only take 10 minutes!"
Finally Cho turned around and looked at Harry. "Fine, you have only 10 minutes."
They walked to their usual spot next to the lake. "Okay, I'll start," Harry sighed, "Cho, you're short."
"Excuse me?"
"You're short, your nose has a little ski jump at the end of it, and you talk too quietly." Harry said all in a quick breath. Oh, how he was gonna pay for that.
"Well, thanks a lot for your survey of me, but I know a lot of other people who can say it a lot nicer than you just did."
"No, I didn't mean it that way..."
"Then, what did you mean?"
"Uh...well, what I was trying to say was that I accept you. I accept all your flaws and faults."
"Oh, so you couldn't find anyone to fit your standards so you accept me as the closest thing to it? Harry, I don't feel like this right now. Good bye"
"NO!" Harry yelled. "I don't want to find anyone that fits my standards perfectly. I just want you! You're my one and only, Cho. I can't live without you and I love you. The REAL you."
Cho glanced up at him. She looked deeply into his eyes searching for truth. Every word he said was true. She was the happiest girl in the world.
She looked up at Harry. Their heads grew close together until their lips touched and they savored every moment.
"Hey Harry?" Cho gasped as they parted.
"What?"
"I think I figured out what was missing."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You."
~*~TOMORROW MORNING~*~
Harry sat at the Gryffindor table alone, thoughts going back to the previous night.
"Hey,"
He turned to see a very sleepy Ron sit down next to him.
"What's up?" he asked.
Harry grinned, "Cho and I made up last night."
Ron grinned back taking full meaning of his words, "Really, now?"
Harry shook his head and said "Yeah, and you know what?"
"What?"
"It wasn't, at all, like I imagined."
Ron clapped his back and they sat in the peaceful silence that truly showed how love is hard work.