Chapter 4: Admiration
It was a Thursday. The hallway was full of people going to and from class, the light from the wall mounted candles preventing kids from bumping into each other. Ron and Hermione were just ahead of Harry as they left History of Magic, Hermione's head noticeably lower than Ron's shoulder as they walked in cadence.
A hand reached out from the sea of people and grabbed onto Harry's right arm like a man on the verge of drowning would grab at a lifesaver.
Harry turned to his right, and saw Cho looking at him mischievously. "Gotcha," she said. Her hair was shorter now, curving in towards her shoulders on both sides of her neck.
"Hi," said Harry.
"Can you tell me your story now?"
Harry had a few hours before his next class, Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. "Yeah."
"Come on, then." She started pulling him across the hall into an empty classroom, Harry complaining with mock pain along the way.
She shut the door and crossed her arms. "Well?"
"Can we sit down?"
They did so, Harry pulling a chair to sit across the desk from her.
Harry took a deep breath. "Maybe I should start from the beginning."
He told the entire yarn up to the end of last year, fully aware that this act of confiding was bringing her into a private circle that had previously included only his closest friends. She listened attentively, and, at the end, looked like she might cry. As before, telling the story had left him emotionally and physically drained.
When he was done, he added, "I don't know what's become of Sirius, and Remus, and the others. Hagrid is being really secretive. And I'm not even going to try to get any information from Snape."
Her face had paled. "Harry, I'm so worried about you. I mean, I admire what you've done. And Cedric, too . . . I can't bear to think about anything bad happening to you. Harry . . . "
She looked even closer to the verge of tears than before, and Harry hated to see her cry. He reached out and put his hand firmly, yet gently, on top of her trembling hand. "You're not going to lose me like you lost Cedric, Cho. I just know I'm going to get through this. I don't know how I know; I just do."
She smiled sadly, lifted his hand off, and then pulled out a hankerchief from her pocket to wipe her tears. "You'd better," she said sternly. "You're exhausted, Harry. Do you want to take a nap?"
Harry stifled a yawn. "It's okay. I'd . . . like to know about Cedric."
She took a deep breath. "I met him shortly after we played each other in Quidditch last year. He had won that game, barely, but he stopped me in the hall to tell me how impressed he was with my play. My friends were there too, and we all chatted, Cedric listening quite attentively. Finally, my friends and I said good-bye, and then suddenly he blurted out that he liked me. You can imagine everyone's surprise.
Shortly after that, to my amazement, he mustered up the courage to invite me to the ball. He joked about his previous 'outburst'; I was glad he could laugh about it.
We went to the ball together. He danced with a charming self-consciousness.
I learned about his family, his dreams . . .
I supported him in the tournament, though I was absolutely amazed when I learned that you had thrown away your chances of winning the second event in order to save Gabrielle--or at least that's what you thought. And you arrived there looking like something the cat drawn in. Now that you've told me that you had just woken up . . ."
She giggled, but then continued. "When I learned of Cedric's passing, I felt a mixture of grief and guilt. He wanted me to know that he adored me, and yet I never told him that I only wanted to be friends. You have an idea of how I felt, right?"
Harry nodded. She was obviously referring to Ginny.
She looked at the clock. "When I learned at the closing banquet of your involvement, I had to know what happened. So I wrote to you, the principled boy shrouded in mystery, with trembling hands and raging doubts.
I'm so grateful that you've told me everything, Harry. I'm just awestruck by the fact that you refused to take the cup. I . . . really admire your sense of fairness--your nobility."
Harry blushed. "Thanks," he mumbled self-consciously. She admired him? All he had done was survive. She was the one who could write a profound and highly entertaining novel in three months.
"I'm sorry I took so long," she said, smiling self-consciously.
"No, don't be."
"My Mum's been wondering if she's the last descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw. She took up genealogy as a hobby, and told me the answer in a letter that I received this morning."
"And?"
"And I'm the heir of Ravenclaw!" she exclaimed.
"Really?"
"Yes. So we're both heirs. What are the odds?" There was an amused smile on her face.
"And that we'd be friends, too," added Harry. He looked at her hands. "Look, Cho, about taking your hand . . ."
She looked into his eyes. "It's OK. I'm glad you did it."
Harry looked at the girl before him. This whole scene had been going somewhere, and she was implying that he do just what he had been dying to do for months.
"Cho?" he said. "Will you go out with me?"
Her eyes lit up. "I'd love to."
Harry grinned. "I love the way you said that. That was rehearsed, right?"
"It was not," she said with mock indignation.
Harry looked at the clock. There was a sense of relief and peace in Harry that he had not felt in a long time.
"You're not expecting anything more than a kiss from me, are you?" said Cho.
"No," he said truthfully.
"Good."
"How were you as a child, Cho?"
"Happy. Loved. My Mum involved me in books; she's a school-teacher. I grew up with Shakespeare, Austen, Atwood, Poe, and Dickinson. My Dad, who works for the ministry, brought religion into my life, where it still plays a big part."
"I've seen you at the services in that small Church a quarter mile from the castle."
"I know. I've seen you too. Anyway, my friends were mostly athletically oriented girls. They taught me some sports. I was born a pureblood, and I discovered I was a witch when I was five. Does that cover it?"
Harry chuckled. "Yeah. Did you know that Ron and Hermione are going out? I found out last night."
"I knew it!" she exclaimed. "Good for them."
***