If you haven't noticed - I gave up on disclaimers a long time ago. But just as a reminder:
I still do not own Harry Potter!

A/N: I hope I'm not losing readers over this Cho thing... I don't particularly like her either,
and neither does anyone in this chapter. Harry just makes interesting decisions sometimes...
Keep reading, it will get better!

Chapter 19 
After a filling dinner, Harry headed back towards the dormitories with Ron and Hermione.

"I think I'll start that chart for Astronomy, and maybe my essay for Ancient Runes..." Hermione
began, looking thoughtful. The sixth years had thought that homework had been bad last year, but
this year it was just getting worse. At least there wouldn't be an overload like there had been
5th year just before the O.W.L exams; they didn't have to take their N.E.W.T.'s until 7th year
and Harry thanked his lucky stars for that. "Are you researching tonight for Potions?" Hermione
asked Harry. He opened his mouth to answer but suddenly turned as he heard someone calling his 
name.

"Harry! Harry Potter, wait up! Wait for me!" Rachel pushed herself through the crowd that was 
leaving the Great Hall. Harry stopped, somewhat nervously. Ron glanced at him and gave him a
wink, continuing on towards the common room and pulling Hermione along with him. Rachel finally
struggled through all of the students to where Harry was. "Hey," she said breathlessly.

"Hi," he answered, looking down. She looked up at him and his eyes met hers. He's so tall, 
Rachel noticed, seemingly for the first time. She cleared her throat.

"I was just wondering if you were mad or something, I haven't talked to you in days..." she trailed
off. Harry glared at her.

"YOU were the one who didn't want to go on prefect duty with me! I got stuck with Malfoy because of
you!" He said, his voice raised. Many of the students in the crowd around them looked up to see
what the commotion was. Lowering his voice, he said, "Maybe we should have this conversation somewhere
else." Rachel nodded and grabbed his sleeve, walking towards the right. After going down a few more
hallways, they came to the Room of Requirement and Rachel stopped. "How... how did you know...."
She grinned.

"I'm not that dumb, Potter," she replied, walking past the statue three times. A door appeared, and
Rachel grasped the handle and entered. Feeling frustrated, Harry walked in after her.

The room was small but cozy and contained a single loveseat in front of a blazing fireplace. Rachel
sat down first and Harry sat awkwardly beside her; to him, they seemed uncomfortably close.

"So prefect duty... Malfoy..." Harry began angrily, stumbling over his words. Rachel sighed. 

"Okay, so yes I was mad at you. You act like a stupid git sometimes, Harry. You need to learn to 
control your temper." Harry's face flushed.

"I do NOT have a temper-"

"You see what I'm saying?? I'm just trying to talk to you and already you're getting mad." She leaned
back, crossing her arms.

"Okay, okay," he muttered defeatedly. "So I have a temper. I'm sorry." She grinned.

"That's better. Are you still mad at me?"

"No. Are you still mad at me?" He asked.

"No." She smiled again. "Friends?" she asked, holding out her hand. He smiled back and shook it.

"Friends." They sat near the fire, talking for what seemed to be hours. Suddenly, Harry glanced at his
watch.

"Rachel, it's nearly curfew! We have to get back," he exclaimed. She laughed.

"Harry, we're prefects anyway, who's going to catch us?" She asked, still laughing. 

"Oh yeah," he muttered, embarassed. She smiled and got up.

"Come on, let's go back upstairs. I still have homework to do." Harry nodded and followed her.
After walking Rachel to the Hufflepuff common room, he entered his own to find it nearly empty except 
for Ron and Hermione. Hermione gave him a tired wave as she yawned. Ron grinned up at him expectantly.

"So? What happened? Did you ask her to the dance?" he questioned insistently.

"Ron!" Hermione cried, slapping him on the arm. "That's a little personal, don't you think?" She turned
to Harry. "Well? Did you?"

"I thought you just said that was personal!" he cried. Hermione laughed.

"Well, I wasn't the one that asked the question."

"But you wanted to know the answer, and I got hit for asking!" Ron exclaimed, rubbing his upper arm.
They both turned their attention toward Harry. "So?" Ron asked expectantly.

"Er... well actually, I'm going with Cho..." Ron looked shocked; Hermione seemed crestfallen.

"Cho?" Ron asked uncertainly. "But blimey, mate, after last year..."

"I know," he mumbled. "But she apologized for last year!" he added hopefully. Ron shrugged. 

"It's up to you, Harry," Ron said nonchalantly. Hermione said nothing; however, she was frowning and her
eyes looked sad and dark. Harry said goodnight and went upstairs. Lying in bed, he smiled to 
himself. He had made up with Cho and Rachel in the same day! Plus he had a date to the dance.
Grinning into his pillow, he fell asleep quickly, images of both girls floating through his mind.

********************

After a quiet dinner with Adele in the hospital wing, Remus returned to his office. Adele's cousin had
come to visit and he felt that they should be left alone to reaquaint one another. Plus, he had felt
so odd listening to Genevive and Adele converse in French, their voices chatty and flowing. He had taken
French, but it had been years ago; he hardly remembered any. The only reason he had taken the class in the
first place had been for her, he remembered, rubbing his face tiredly. 

Slowly, he sat down at his desk. He was happier than he had been in years, but also exhausted. On top of
grading papers and teaching classes every day, he spend hours upon hours with Adele; he had barely any
time to himself anymore. Guiltily, he thought of the reason Dumbledore had appointed him as a Professor
this year: to help Harry get past his grief. I'll talk to him tomorrow, he promised himself. And
I will introduce him to Adele...
********************

**
Rachel stood in front of Harry, wearing her dress robes and with her hair in a strange updo underneath
a stuffed vulture hat similar to Neville's grandmother's perched on her head. She was screaming.

"Why didn't you ask me, Harry? Why? You ask her, she's been so mean to you, I was always nice but still
you didn't ask me!" He reached out towards her but she seemed to just get further and further away.

"But Rachel... Come back!" he yelled. She kept walking away. He turned and saw Cho behind him.

"Harry!" Cho called, tears streaming down her face. "I can't do this, I'm not strong enough." He looked
at her, confused. 

"Wha-What? I don't understand." She took his hands.

"Dance with me," she whispered, as they began a waltz to what Harry thought was some very unfamiliar
music. He stumbled; he had no idea how to dance! The music began to speed up and they spun faster and
faster.

"Cho... I don't like this..." he said nervously. She began to cry again.

"Why won't you dance with me, Harry?" she managed to choke out. Her face began swirling in his mind 
until he could no longer see her clearly...

**

Harry woke up, gasping. That had to be the weirdest dream he had ever had. (A/N: Did you all think I was
going insane there? Probably, lol.) He ran his hands over his face, trying to erase the thought of it.
He rolled over and looked at his clock; it was 5:45. Sighing to himself, he gave up trying to sleep again
and got up to get a glass of water. He got dressed quietly and went to the common room to work on homework
for a few hours until everyone else got up. Hermione would be proud, he thought to himself.
Hopefully he could get back on her good side, she hadn't looked very happy last night. Wonder why?
he thought, but he didn't have to wait for long. Hermione, usually an early riser, had also come into
the common room for some before-breakfast studying. She looked shocked to see him there.

"Oh, hi Harry, I wasn't expecting you," she said, smiling a bit. He shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep," he grunted, pouring over his Herbology book. She set her books down on the floor and
sat in the chair across from Harry, facing him directly.

"We need to talk," she said. Harry looked up from his book. 

"Okay..." he said hesitantly, worried about the coming conversation. Hermione frowned.

"Why did you ask Cho to the dance? You know what she's like. Do you really think she's going to be 
different this year?" she asked.

"Yes," Harry answered defiantly. "She apologized. Besides, you don't know her like I do. She's nice."

Hermione looked down. "I guess," she replied. "I just thought that you would have asked Rachel."

"Rachel and I are friends. Nothing more," Harry said honestly, deeply wishing that it weren't true.
Hermione nodded. 

"Well, I'm going to breakfast now. Care to join me?" she said, attempting a smile. 

"Sure," Harry replied, glad to be done with the topic. 

*********************

"Finally Friday!" Ron said happily. For Harry, this was not necesarially a good thing; the dance was
only a week away. All their classes were done and the trio was heading back to the common room to drop
off their things before dinner. As they passed the Hufflepuff common room, the door burst open and 
Rachel nearly fell into Harry.

"Oops," she laughed, blushing a bit. "Sorry about that, Harry." He laughed.

"It's okay. Where are you off to in such a hurry?" She sighed.

"Well, I don't have dress robes for the dance, so I thought I'd owl my mother and ask her to buy me
some and ship them here, but I'm not sure how long that would take, I don't know if I would have them
in time... I was counting on going to Hogsmeade last week but I had so much homework I ended up staying
back." She told the story rapidly and took a deep breath as she finished. 

"I have an owl you could borrow, if you'd like," he said. Ron nudged him, eyebrows raised.

"You can do better than that mate..." he said, grinning. Harry understood and grinned back.

"You're right, Ron." He turned to Rachel. "Stay here; I'll be back in five minutes!" Harry ran off.

What is going on here? Rachel wondered.

Five minutes later, Harry returned. Rachel was confused because he was still carrying his backpack.

"I thought you went to put that away?" she asked. He was still grinning.

"I took all the books out," he said slyly. "Now come on, follow me." Slightly unsure, she walked along
with him. He stopped suddenly in what seemed to be the middle of the hallway.

"Um, Harry, what are we doing?" she asked skeptically. He withdrew his wand from his cloak and grinned
again, turning to face a statue of a one-eyed witch that Rachel had never really noticed before.
He pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and checked it carefully before stuffing it back in
again. Rachel watched quietly. Has he finally lost his marbles? she wondered.

"Dissendium, he whispered, tapping the statue. Rachel gasped as it moved, creating an opening
which seemed to lead into a dark passageway. 

"Harry! What are you doing?" she hissed. "What if someone walks by?" He held out his hand.

"Do you trust me?" he asked. She nodded. "Good," he replied, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside.
The witch moved back to its original position, closing the passageway from passers-by.

**********************

Remus Lupin entered the Gryffindor common room and was surprised to see Ron and Hermione without Harry.
"Have you seen Harry lately?" he asked them. Nervously, they looked at one another.

"He's in the library -"
"He's visiting Hagrid -" Both spoke at the same time. Hermione cringed, clenching her eyes shut.
Remus merely raised his eyebrows and didn't ask. 

"Well, when he returns from wherever he has gone, tell him that I would like to meet him in my office
tonight at 7." Ron and Hermione nodded, relieved. They quickly escaped from the common room and
headed to dinner.

"That was smooth, Ron," Hermione moaned as they headed down the hallway. Ron grimaced and shrugged.

"Well, what were we supposed to do?" he asked, a little defensively. He added, with a sigh, "Well, at
least Lupin didn't ask much. Y'know, they did stuff like that too when they were in school, I'm sure of
it..."

"That's true," Hermione replied thoughtfully. 

After dinner, Hermione convinced Ron to head over to the library to do a bit of research for Potions. 
Grumbling, Ron agreed, and an hour later the two of them were surrounded by books in the silence of
the library. Completely engulfed in 1001 Ways to Change Your Life: Self-Improvement Potions, 
Ron heard an unfamilar voice ask him, "Where's Harry Potter?"

"With Rachel," he mumbled, not looking up. He heard Hermione gasp and looked up at her. Her eyes were
wide with fear, and her attention was focused on the end of the table. 

"Ron," she whispered, still looking in the same direction. Hesitantly, he turned his head to see who 
had asked the question. A furious-looking Cho Chang stood with her hands palms down on the table, leaning
in menacingly toward Ron.

"Who's Rachel?" she asked in a low, dangerous-sounding voice.

************************