Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Most of them belong to J.K. Rowling. I do own any characters that never appeared in the Harry Potter series.
Words in italic are thoughts
Chapter 3
"Hi"
Harry's stomach leapt uncomfortably when he heard that voice. "It can't be"
"Harry you there?"
"Cho?"
"Yes?"
He had meant say hi in return but the words got lost on the way to his mouth and he muttered instead "How did you get my telephone number?"
"Er… I had gone to Diagon Alley a few days back for a walk when I walked passed a shop called Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. It had sounded so familiar to me so I can't help myself and went it, it was only when that I saw the Weasleys twins then I remember they had left school to open a joke shop. Anyway I kind of chatted with them about Quidditch when they mentioned about how where you doing and are you still at the Dursleys. So I kind of found this number inside the phone book and thought I would try my luck."
"Oh." Harry was slowly picking himself up from the shock of having Cho call him.
"Thank god I got it right the first time. Anyway" Harry heard an unmistakable sniff at the end of the line. "Is there any chance that you be free during the holidays...? I was wondering if you wanted to come out… walk around a little..."
"Huh? Is she asking me out… this must be a dream…" Harry thought to himself.
"Of course it's alright if you don't want to." Harry heard the unmistakable sniff again. "Well then… see you when school starts."
"Wait Cho! Of course I'm free, where do you want to go?"
There was a sudden silence, as if she had already hanged up. Harry was about to hang up when suddenly she spoke again. "I haven't thought about that yet… Why not we fix a time and place first…?"
"Yeah, no problem"
"This Friday, 11 in the morning at Diagon Alley?"
"Oh… So I'll guess I'll see you on Friday…?" Harry replied quite lamely.
"Yes… see you there… and thanks Harry" With that, Cho hanged up, leaving a bewildered Harry sitting on the bed.
"I'm going out with Cho… I'm going out with Cho…" Harry started dancing around the room in happiness. He would have danced around the room for the whole day if not for a certain porky boy who knocked on the door.
"You finished with the phone…? Can I have it back now?"
"Yeah" Harry skipped over to pass over the phone to Dudley, thinking it's going to be a great holiday after all.
~
The next few days went by fast. Harry was still progressing fast in both his magical and his physical training, he mastered a few offensive curses (supposed to be difficult) and his better build is obvious even when he wears Dudley's old clothes. He had also begun reading into the night, the many books he had had became very interesting as he's now able to actually practice magic. He read deep into the night, finding new spells to try and learn. Soon Thursday had arrived. But the first thing he noticed when he woke up was not the sunny day, but that there are 3 extra owls inside his room, and one of them was Pigwidgeon, and he recognized the other one as Errol, the Wesleys' owl, the third was a barn owl. He was still sleepily wondering what on earth so many owls are doing in his room when Hedwig landed on his stomach and started to poke him with her beak.
"Yes yes I'm awake" Harry slowly climbed up and promptly removed all the parcels on the owls, Pigwidgeon has again resumed zooming around his room, obviously happy that he made the delivery, Errol, however was lying down on his bed, obviously tired out; Harry had to carry it to Hedwig's cage, where he gave a thankful hoot and started to drink some water; Hedwig had settled herself on top of his wardrobe and the barn owl had flown away. It was his birthday today and as usual, his friends had sent him some presents, although he normally only gets two, one from Ron and another from Hermione, so he didn't know who gave him the other two presents.
He first turned to Ron's present, which turned out to be muggle clothes – a pair of black jeans and a white tee. There was a note underneath it:
Dear Harry,
Hope you like the present. I bought it with some help from Hermione from a muggle shopping mall. Fred and George had given Mom some money from their shop and she had dragged me off to muggle London to shop for clothes. Hope the muggles are still treating you well. Mom said that you can't come at all during this holidays, reason is an "Order secret".
How did you get 12 O.W.Ls? I can't believe it! Mom's driving me bonkers over the difference of my score and yours and Hermione's. Hermione had let it out when we were shopping. I can't wait till September.
Anyway she did say you can join us when we are going to Diagon Alley. We are going on the last week of the holidays. Hope you can join us.
Ron
Harry picked up the clothes and hanged it in his wardrobe. "Guess I don't have to worry about what to wear tomorrow." He then turned to the parcel Hedwig carried; it turned out to be a present from Hermione. It was a book called "Curses and Counter-Curses". There was also a note attached:
Dear Harry,
Happy Birthday!!!
Hope you like the present. Please try to come to London. I seriously doubt I can stand Ron teasing me about my 18 O.W.Ls. He had been so sarcastic ever since I let it off that you had 12 O.W.Ls compared to Ron's 7. Anyway what do you think You-Know-Who is up to? He has been awfully quiet.
Hope you are still fine. See you soon
Hermione
P.S: Hope the book will be good for future DA lessons.
Harry chuckled slightly; he and Hermione had secretly set up a group to learn some practical defense against the dark arts when their professor had refused to teach them anything but theory stuff.
He placed the book down and looked at the other two parcels, finally deciding to open Errol's parcel first. There was a box of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes and a note with it:
Dear Harry,
How are you? Muggles still getting you down? Anyway thought we would send you a box of Skiving Snackboxes in case you get another professor like Umbridge. These babies will only give you a fever, we didn't think you like to vomit that much. Anyway we have also decided to give you a percentage of our profits since it wouldn't be possible for us to be what we are without your sponsorship. From this month onwards you will receive 5% of our profits, the gold will be in your bank account. And believe me; we are so rich now that 5% accounts to a lot of gold, but Mom says when the war actually starts we are going to be out of business, so we are saving most of the money. Come find us some day, you don't have to pay for anything, unless you are going to empty our shop. See ya around
Fred and George
It had been the end of Harry's 4th year in school when Harry forced the twins to accept the 1000 galleons that he had won during the Triwizard Tournament; the gold only reminds him of bad memories…
Pulling himself away from the twins' present, he un-wrapped the last parcel. Inside there was a small box, a book, a birthday cake and a piece of parchment.
Dear Harry,
Happy birthday Harry! Hope you are fine. The cake was from all of us from the order. Hope you have a pleasant holiday.
Remus
P.S: The book was from Mundungus. It's kind of illegal so make sure nobody sees it. Anyway regarding you leaving your home on Friday, Tonks will be following you, hope you don't mind.
"Yes!!!" Harry exclaimed. He had owl-ed Remus immediately on that day to check if he was able to go out, although he was thinking to go even if they don't allow him. Now all he need is Uncle Veron's agreement to let him go out tomorrow and he can see Cho. Totally losing interest in the last book and the unopened present he quickly folded the parchment and carefully placed the books by his bedside and the remaining unopened present in his trunk. Then, he skipped down to find Uncle Veron. He found him sitting on the sofa reading the day's newspapers.
"Er… Uncle Veron?"
Uncle Veron grunted to show that he was listening.
"Is it alright for me to go out tomorrow?"
Grunt. Harry assumed that to be a yes.
"Yes!" Harry thought, as he practically skipped up into his room. "It's going to be a fine day tomorrow"
~
Finally done… Actually this should be posted on Friday… But fanfiction was down… so anyway… R/R… hope I don't have that much errors this time round… needed to repost chapter 2 2 times because of errors… _ remember to review!!!
chris-warren876 : Thanks for the idea… im going to use it… its gonna be in the next chapter so just keep on reading
ilovedave : Thanks for the help, hopefully it'll work
Next chapter : The Date!!!