Disclaimer: Same as before…

Chapter Eight

Cho Chang's first Quidditch match of the season was today. Clasping on her blue Quidditch robe, she was already hyped up. She couldn't wait to get on that pitch again with everyone watching; the pit in her stomach started to flip at the memory of last year came through her. She shook head and inhaled as she heard the noisy people over her head taking their seats.

"Ok everyone!" said Roger Davies, as his teammates faced him. "It's our first match of the season! So, just do your best and win!"

The team cheered and gestured their arms in the air.

"Hey, Roger!" said Bradley, "Who is it that we're playing?"

"The team who we spent detention with," Roger said, in a disgusted tone.

Cho's eyes grew wide and gasp. That means she'll see Draco Malfoy. She made a funny noise as she followed her team to the pitch. She was frustrated and embarrassed at Draco. For one thing, she was mad at him for not showing up at tutoring. And another, she was still embarrassed about what happened a few days ago.

The Ravenclaw team exited out to the pitch, greeted by loud cheers and applause. Cho looked up, but place her hand over her eyes from the bright sunlight, as she saw everyone clapping and yelling. She looked over to where the Ravenclaws sat, and saw someone holding a blue cardboard. She squinted her eyes and smiled, as her friends held up a sign in white handwriting: GO CHO GO! At least she has support from her friends. The blue's and the green's headed towards the middle of the pitch, in between them was Madam Hooch.

"Now, I want a nice clean game," she said, sternly. "From all of you! I'm hoping your detention has taught all of you a lesson."

The blue's and green's glance at one another, then towards each other. Cho avoided looking at Draco, but looked at Madam Hooch. She stood behind one of her teammates.

"Captains shake hands."

Roger and Warrington shook hands, not wincing as they tried to grasp hard at each other.

"Stop killing each other's hand!" cried Madam Hooch as she pulled them away. "Do you want me to cancel this game?"

The Captains shook their heads as they glared at each other.

"Mount your brooms," said Madam Hooch. She waited until everyone was ready. She kicked the Quidditch box then out came the bludger and the Golden Snitch, flying in different directions. She grabbed the Quaffle and threw it up in the air. "GO!"

Cho didn't bother looking who grabbed the Quaffle first, but soared up high. She looked down, and all she could she was tiny green and blue blurs flying across the Quidditch pitch. She dived a little lower to get a better view to find the Snitch. She scanned around for the Snitch as she paused in the air and realize that Draco wasn't around either.

"Where is Malfoy?" She said to herself, still looking for the Snitch at the same time.

"Looking for me," drawled a voice from behind. Cho took a second to look behind her. Draco glared at her, as Cho flew a couple of feet away from him.

'Stupid thing to say, Cho!' she thought to herself, 'Should've known!' She ducked as a bludger went right after her. She heard the crowd "Oo'd" and applauded. Then she saw it, a tiny golden light sparkled at the end of the pitch. She grinned and went after it. She heard a whoosh pass her and saw that Draco found it, too. Cho accelerated her speed. Cho was neck and neck with Draco.

"You followed me didn't you?" said Draco, his eyes still on the Snitch.

"No. You followed me!" said Cho. She punched him in the arm and was about an inch in front of him.

"Ouch, Chang," said Draco, falsely. "You hit like a girl." The snitch moved to a different location and both went after it.

"That's because I am, Malfoy!" said Cho, as Draco whooshed beside her. "Or did you already forget what the opposite sex looks like."

Draco and Cho glared at each other. Still flying towards the snitch but flew out of sight, and they didn't even notice.

"Watch out!" yelled someone.

Draco and Cho looked in front of them, and swerved to the left, nearly hitting the stand.

"Oh great!" Cho groaned and halted her broom. She scanned around the pitch again hoping to find the Snitch appear out of nowhere.

"Thanks to you, Chang, I can't find the Snitch," said Draco, who was in the air beside her.

"Why do you always blame me?" Cho narrowed her eyes at Draco, who was scanning the Snitch himself.

"Because everything is your fault!" He looked up and glared at the raven-haired girl. Cho grinned and grasped her broom tight as she saw the golden ball floating behind Draco. She zoomed across him, nearly knocking him off the broom. The Snitch flew away from her and she quickly accelerated her pace.

"Come on, come on, come on," Cho chanted as she patted the broom's handle. The Snitch was now a foot from her, all she had to do was stretch out her arm and catch it. But she was shoved by her opponent who smirked and went after it. Cho continued to accelerate her speed as Draco stretch out his arm. She smacked his arm out of the way and reached out. They were leveled and both were reaching out for the ball. Cho closed her fingers together around the Snitch, but Draco grabbed her wrist. Loosing each other's balance, they fell off their broom, Draco falling on his back, as Cho fell on top of him, still holding the Snitch. It was a good thing they were a couple of feet from the ground.

Draco groaned in pain at the impact from both his back and front. Cho's head was on Draco's shoulder and quickly removed herself from him, waving the Snitch in the air. The crowd cheered and applauded as Madam Hooch announced: "Ravenclaw Wins!"

Cho looked down at Draco who was holding his abs and had a look of hurt and anger. Cho tucked back her hair and hesitated asking him if he was all right.

"Um… are…are you alright?" Cho asked uneasily.

"Do you think I look alright?" Draco snapped.

Madam Pomfrey came along and placed Draco on a stretcher. Cho wanted to ask Madam Pomfrey if he was going to be fine but was pulled and hugged by her fellow teammates.

"We won! We won!" Roger said in a sing-song tone, suffocating his Seeker.

"Uh… Roger, I can't breath…" said Cho, laughing.

"Oh, sorry… but we won!"

Cho smiled and looked at Draco, levitated in his stretcher by Madam Pomfrey.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next two days, the students continued to congratulate the winning team. Cho felt relieved and delighted for the first time since she came back to Hogwarts; she felt like her team had already won the Quidditch Cup. Whenever she went to class, she was greeted with a "great job, cho!" or "You're the only girl who can catch the Snitch better than the boys!" She certainly liked that and her smile formed ear to ear. The memory from last year was quickly forgotten and was replaced by her victory.

Roger kept telling her what a great Seeker she was every time he had a chance to see her. Cho blushed and walked towards her friends and suddenly felt grateful what good friends she had.

"That was great, Cho!" exclaimed Joy, as she sat down with her friends.

"Yeah! Awesome job!"

"Who can be a better seeker than Cho!"

"Uh… no one!" Her friends laughed.

"And the best female seeker!"

"Ok, you guys. That's enough," Cho grinned, "That was yesterday. It's not like we won the Quidditch Cup."

"But we soon will!" exclaimed Marietta.

"Yeah," said Cho, quietly, "I hope so…"

Cho's friends continued to chatter, but was soon muted by Professor McGonagall's tapping glass.

"Professor Dumbledore has an announcement."

Dumbledore gracefully stood up and smoothed out his robe and white long beard. The students politely listened to their Headmaster.

"I would like to award you all for your outstanding achievements and hard work since the last first months of school. Since the Yule Ball was a success two years ago, the staffs and I, as well as your parents and guardians, have agreed to have another similar ball this Christmas."
The students whispered excitingly to one another and applauded before Dumbledore continued. Cho's friends grinned at each other before focusing on Dumbledore again. Cho frowned and watched as everyone cheered at the announcement. She wanted to get up and run out the Great Hall, away from everyone. She reached out a shaking hand, picked up her goblet that almost splattered from her unsteady hand, and took a sip. The clapping ceased as Dumbledore raised up his hand and smiled.

"We have not decided what the name of the dance shall be called, but if anyone has any suggestions, please inform Professor McGonagall. Other information about this dance will be posted in your dormitories. Thank you. Oh, and we all like to congratulate the Ravenclaws for winning their first Quidditch game. Congratulations!"

The staffs and students clapped their hands together at the Ravenclaw table, who were punching the air in their enthusiastic spirit. Cho gave out a weak smile as everyone looked her way; beaming and clapping.

"Let the dinner begin!" declared Dumbledore, as each table began to fill up with food.

"Oh my gosh! What am I going to wear!" said Marietta, waving her hand in excitement.

"Besides our wardrobe, what about dates?"

"Oh! I hope Craig ask me!"

"Who said Craig is taking you?"

"I'm only kidding, Linda!"

"Yeah right. Anyway, any takers?"

Cho started poking her steak with her fork while her friends talked about their dates and what they were going to wear.

"Hey, Cho? Who do you think you're going with to the dance?" Marietta took a bite of her mash potatoes.

"I'm not going," said Cho, glumly.

"What!" exclaimed her friends in unison.

"Cho, you're joking, right?"

"Yeah! You gotta go!"

"I just….I'm busy…"said Cho, still poking her steak.

Her friends gave each other an uneasy look.

"Cho, I know…we know what you're going through…" said Marietta, perturbed. She rubbed Cho's back and looked at her other friends to say something.

"Yeah…about…about Cedric…." Linda stuttered at saying his name.

"Listen," Cho looked at all her friends and forced her tears back. "I don't want to talk about it, ok."

"Ok." said Linda, quietly. "But just think about…well, you know, the dance. It's our last year in Hogwarts. Let's just enjoy it before we go on with our lives."

Cho nodded and started taking small bites of her mash potatoes. Her friends followed suit but taking big bites of their meals; eating quietly.

~~~~~~~~~~

Cho took her time walking to do her tutoring session with Draco (if he would come). She wasn't sure if he was going to come today but she didn't mind.

She went in the room and placed her things on the table. She took out one or two books out her bag and positioned it on the table where Draco would sit (If he would come). She walked around the room for awhile, glimpsing at old book from the rusty shelves and gently putting them back. She heard footsteps and walked back to her table.

Draco entered, without any grievance, and placed his bag on the table. Silence overcame for awhile, both looking down at the floor, standing.

"So…uh…you all right? You know from the Quidditch match," said Cho, stuttering a little. She picked up a book trying to keep steady.

"Yeah…Madam Pomfrey healed me," said Draco.

Silence fell back again.

"You weren't here the other day," said Cho evenly , while flipping through pages from her book.

"I had stuff to do," said Draco, leaning on the table.

"You could have told me," said Cho, still flipping through her book, pretending to look for something. "Instead of waiting here for you and wasting my time." Cho's voice suddenly rose a little.

"Look, I didn't have time to tell you," snapped Draco.

"Oh!" said Cho, sarcastically. She slammed her book shut and glared at him. "You didn't have time." Cho didn't know what she was doing. "Wasn't it you who said 'at least I know how to balance my time.' huh?"

"I just said I-"

"And you didn't bother telling me! Because you didn't have time! Is that it!?! Malfoy's never have time for things do they? Malfoy- "

Draco pulled her close by the waist and shutting her up by locking lips. She didn't see this coming at all. Feeling Draco's soft lips caressing her's, her legs began to tremble and wrapped her arms around Draco for support before she fell. She kissed him back and felt his hand snaking around her body. Cho caressed his hard chest and shoulder blades. Her mind started to spin and turned foggy, then a voice emerged in her head - "Do you actually like him?"

The answer was already in her lips. It felt so right and true…

A/N: Finally Draco and Cho are together!! Next chapter I think it's about the dance. Any idea what I should call the dance? The Christmas Dance perhaps? haha… just let me know… Please Review!!! ^.^