Chapter Fourteen: Confusion

The following week was nothing short of agony for Harry. Between having to lie to Ron and Hermione about his relationship with Ginny, missing Ginny terribly, and having to hang around Cho-who he still lusted after-and pretend to act somewhat normal, he felt like he might well lose his mind.

Ginny was true to her word; the few times she, Harry and Cho were together she did all she could to make Cho jealous. Harry was simply too mentally drained to stop Ginny when she crawled into his lap or kissed him on the lips or made yet another very bawdy comment about Harry's skills in bed. That he was caught in the middle of two very beautiful, very smart, very sexy young women where before he was lucky to have even a homely one give him the time of day gave him no joy whatsoever.

The one bright spot to it all was that due to Ginny's busy practice schedule, Ron didn't question Harry spending so much time along with Cho, especially after Harry assured Ron (repeatedly) that it was thoroughly fine with Ginny for Harry to do so. Ron accepted this (grudgingly) and in short order was spending his usual amount of time with Hermione (which was every day for hours at a time). The reprieve gave Harry no small sense of relief. At least he could participate in this crazy plan without Ron breathing down his neck.

Cho, meanwhile, was only making things worse for Harry. Every time they were alone she flirted with him, rather brazenly. She seemed to own and wear only clothes that showed off as much of her gorgeous skin as possible. She was constantly licking her lips and tossing her luxuriant hair. She backed off only when Ginny was around, but Harry had the distinct impression that this was not out of respect for Ginny but because Ginny was always crawling onto Harry's lap.

Toward the end of the week Harry got so frustrated by it all that he took Ginny aside one evening when they were out strolling Diagon Alley.

"Can you ease up a BIT?" he asked.

"Why, is it turning you on?" Ginny asked archly.

"Yes!" said Harry furiously. "I can't bloody concentrate."

"Relax, Harry, it's just one more day and then I'm dumping you," said Ginny, smiling a bit sadly.

"Oh," said Harry. "Uh, right."

"Walk me home, okay?" she said. "Then you and Cho can go back to your place."

He nodded, and the three of them walked back to Ginny's flat, not saying much. Harry didn't really want to think about being 'dumped' by Ginny tomorrow. It's not real, you prat, he told himself. But it felt real.

Harry walked Ginny to her door; Cho hung back, staring down at her fingernails as though they had become the most fascinating thing in the world.

"G'night," she whispered.

"G'night," he said, suddenly wanting to carry her through the door, lock it behind him and never come out.

"One last kiss," said Ginny, her voice a bit strangled. "Make it good, okay?"

Harry tried to speak, but he couldn't. One last kiss? That was it? He was never going to taste her peppermint tongue again? How could he stand it?

Ginny looked up at him, her eyes both expectant and a bit sad. He swallowed and took her face in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers.

Harry kissed her slowly at first but then felt overcome by something, and suddenly he was kissing her harder, wrapping his arms around her tightly, tangling his hands in her hair, her silky red hair.

Ginny broke the kiss. "Harry," she whispered. "Cho...she's watching."

"Yeah," said Harry, feeling miserable as he let go of Ginny.

"Hey," she said, smiling. "Cheer up. The girl of your dreams is here, remember?"

He looked at Ginny and smiled, but it felt forced. "Yeah," he said again.

"'Bye, Harry," said Ginny, touching his face with her palm. She turned and walked inside, shutting the door firmly behind her.

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"Ready to break up?"

"I guess so."

Ginny took a deep breath. They were in Harry's room; the door was open. Cho was downstairs in the living room reading Witch Weekly. It was time for the show to begin.

"I hate you, Harry!" Ginny screamed. "I'm sick of being with you!"

"Yeah?" yelled Harry, feeling an ache in his chest, "I...I hate you, too!"

"I never want to see you again!" Ginny cried, and she stomped dramatically out of his room and down the stairs, sobbing out loud.

Wow, thought Harry, she's pretty convincing.

"I don't want to see you again, either!" Harry yelled, stomping after her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cho look up from her magazine and stare at them.

"You think you're so great," said Ginny. "Well, you're NOT! The only things you're good at are Quidditch and...and fucking!"

Harry started to retort but he couldn't.

"Yeah," Ginny went on, feigning tears. "I mean, so what if you gave me the greatest sexual pleasure I've ever known?! It's over! We're through!"

"Fine by me!" Harry hollered, torn between wanting to laugh out loud at Ginny's performance-what idiot would believe something so over the top?-and wanting to run screaming from the room. He'd wanted to do that a lot lately.

"Fine!" Ginny yelled, stomping to the front door. "And I don't care that you're hung like a horse or that you gave me multiple orgasms every night! I don't even care that you fucked me up the arse!"

Harry's mouth dropped open. He was standing behind Cho, who was staring at Ginny. He felt his mouth curl into a smile in spite of himself, but then Cho whipped her head around and he quickly put on a devastated kind of pout.

"Good-BYE!" Ginny screamed, and she flung open the front door and stomped out, slamming it behind her so hard that the walls shook.

Harry and Cho were silent, staring at the place where Ginny had just stood.

Cho turned to Harry, her face a mask of sweetness and sympathy.

"Oh, Harry," she whispered, putting a hand on his arm. He looked at Cho and found that he had nothing to say. She stood up and pulled him into a hug. He tried not to think about Ginny as he put his arms around Cho.

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"I heard about you and Ginny," said Ron, sounding annoyed, as he, Harry and Cho ate breakfast the following morning. "What'd you to do piss her off so much?"

"She dumped me, mate," said Harry, glancing at Cho, who gave him a sympathetic face. Harry tried not to smile.

"You must have done something," Ron insisted.

"I'm telling you, I dunno what I did," said Harry firmly.

Ron glared at him, then at Cho, then at Harry. "Uh huh."

"Ron, I was there," Cho said quickly. "It was really quite a row. Ginny just sort of exploded and dumped Harry right in front of me and then she stormed out."

Ron nodded, but still looked a bit suspicious. Harry quickly changed the subject.

"So, uh, I do still want to go to the World Cup," said Harry. "That is, if it's okay with you."

Ron looked at Harry but then nodded. "I guess so," he said. "I mean, I've got the tickets, don't I? Might as well use them."

"The Quidditch World Cup, I can't wait," said Cho, smiling, taking a sip of orange juice.

"Uh, what?" said Ron, a bit rudely. "Who said anything about you going?"

"Ron!" Harry snapped, appalled.

"Oh," said Cho, blushing very red. "Uh, well, I just thought, you know..."

"You DO have a ticket for Cho, don't you?" said Harry severely. "Ron?"

Ron swallowed his cereal. "Well, uh, no," he said. "I mean, I didn't think she'd be going."

"Oh," said Cho, looking very awkward.

"What do you mean, not going?" Harry said angrily. "Of course Cho would want to go, she played Quidditch, remember?"

"Yeah, well, I forgot, okay?" said Ron defensively.

"You forgot," said Harry, exasperated. "That's great, Ron. Because of you I have to miss the World Cup now. Thanks."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, but Cho spoke over him.

"Oh, no, Harry, you shouldn't miss the match on my account," she said.

"I'm not leaving you here by yourself, am I?" said Harry, furious. He couldn't believe it. If there was ONE thing he'd wanted to do tomorrow it was see Ginny fly in the World Cup. He didn't know when he'd ever get the chance to do it again. But Harry couldn't leave Cho alone, not when she'd made such an effort to come and visit him.

"Harry, I'm sorry," said Ron, standing up as Harry snatched up his cereal bowl in disgust and practically threw it into the sink.

"Forget it," said Harry, not wanting to look at Ron just then. Ron said nothing, but put his own bowl in the sink and left the kitchen, looking very embarrassed.

Harry felt more wretched than ever. He missed Ginny; he still wasn't sure how to deal with Cho.

She'd certainly been sympathetic to him yesterday; they'd gone out to dinner together and he'd made a big show about how much Ginny had meant to him. Except that it wasn't entirely a big show. Ginny DID mean a lot to him. But didn't Cho? Hadn't he always wanted to make things work with her?

Harry ran a hand through his hair as he dumped the rest of his orange juice down the drain. He had never been so confused in his life. Was it even possible that he could care about two girls at the same time?

Ginny doesn't want me, Harry thought. She told me as much. Cho does-she's been throwing herself at me since she got here. What's your bloody problem? You're wasting time moping over a girl who doesn't want you when Cho, beautiful, sexy Cho, is practically ready to attack you on the spot?

Harry turned back to Cho.

"I guess we'll have to make other plans for tomorrow night," he said.

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking up at him with her big brown eyes.

"Positive," said Harry.

"Okay," said Cho, standing up, looking pleased. She crossed to him and hugged him, and Harry hugged her back. She smelled good. Like lilies. Not as appealing as gardenias, but nice.

She pulled back just a little. "I missed you, Harry," she said, smiling, her voice low and seductive. Harry felt the familiar stirring in his jeans, and suddenly she leaned in and kissed him, very slowly. Tingles went up and down his spine when he felt her tongue.

They kissed for several more seconds, Harry enjoying it, liking the way her hair felt in his hands. Her soft red hair.

Black hair! a voice in his head shouted.

Harry broke off suddenly.

"Harry?" Cho asked. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry," said Harry, backing away. "I just...uh...you know, it's a bit...a bit soon...maybe..."

"Oh!" said Cho, looking upset. "You're right! I'm so sorry!"

"No," said Harry quickly. "It's okay. But...can we just, uh, just hang out? You know, like we've been doing?"

Cho gave him a look that told him very plainly that she was disappointed, but she nodded. "Of course."

"Great," said Harry, feeling relieved and not quite knowing why. He'd liked kissing her. What was the problem?

"I have a great idea," she said suddenly. "Why don't I cook you dinner tomorrow night?"

"Okay," said Harry. "Uh, I didn't know...can you cook?"

Cho laughed. "Of course! I learned from my mum and dad," she said brightly. "Do you like Asian food?"

"Sure," said Harry, although he really hadn't had any Asian food.

"Excellent," she said. "I'll cook a real, traditional Chinese/Korean feast, okay?"

"Sounds fantastic," said Harry, smiling and thinking of Ginny's marvelous cooking.

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Author's Note: The books do not specify Cho's ethnic origins. She's quite clearly Asian, but I'm going with a mixture of Chinese and Korean because Chang is a common name in both nationalities.