Chapter 20
Relationship Vs. Friendship
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Harry Potter. It'd be nice though. I could know what happens at the end of the 7th book! MWUAHAHAHAHA!!!!! (Okay, that was a bit freaky there).
Author's Note: Hey, people! OK, recap: So basically, Quidditch field is fixed and the Quidditch season begins. Ravenclaw loses to Hufflepuff, and Harry starts practicing with his team (and he loves it). SO here's the next chapter! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Harry was so overwhelmingly happy by Cho's recovery that he had spent a lot more time with her than he ever had before. It was as if every day they spent some time together, whether it was talking to each other between classes, during lunch, after classes, or just being together. Harry had even spent countless times during classes thinking about the tingle of holding Cho's hand, or the next time he and Cho would see each other again.
As Harry thought back about the years before, at least 3 years ago, he remembered how he had had a small crush on Cho. After a while, it had become a bigger crush which had been ruined by their horrible date on Valentine's Day, but his feelings for her soon came back to him during the summer. That year, his crush for her had turned into love. He was so glad that he could share those feelings with such a beautiful girl.
Unfortunately, the more he saw of Cho, the less he saw of his friends. Once in a while, one of his friends would ask him if he wanted to stay with them and study, to go to the library or to hang out in Joy's rooms. Most of the time, he had refused those offers and the look of discouragement always appeared vividly on their faces. Nonetheless, Harry still kept going out with Cho. He knew that his friends understood about his feelings towards Cho.
The trip to Hogsmeade was quickly approaching and everyone was getting ready for the Hogsmeade weekend. Those who were going couldn't stop talking about it, and those who weren't going couldn't stop moaning about it. Harry was excited to go to Hogsmeade with Cho because it was where they had their first date.
A few days before the Hogsmeade trip, Ron had gone up to Harry in the common room to ask him something.
"Hi, Harry!" he said.
"Oh hello, Ron!" greeted Harry, who was sitting on the sofa, reading a few of the chapters in his Transfiguration textbook that were assigned. "What did you come here for?"
"Joy, Hermione and I wanted to ask if you could join us on our plan to explore Hogsmeade together," said Ron eagerly. "We haven't spent much time together since Cho got out of the hospital wing."
"I'm sorry, Ron," said Harry. "I'm going with Cho."
"You're always with Cho," said Ron. "Why don't you stay with us for a while?"
"Sorry, I already promised her," said Harry. "Maybe next time?"
"I guess so. Don't you at least want to ride in Joy's car?"
"No, I was going to ride with Cho. Sorry."
"Sure, whatever..."
Disappointed, Ron went back to doing his assignment for Charms and his Prefect duties. Harry was rather sad that he couldn't go with them, but he was really looking forward to spending time with his girlfriend.
The exciting day had finally come and all the Hogwarts students who were in their 3rd year and above loaded onto the Hogwarts Express to go to Hogsmeade. Harry had met up with Cho before going onto the Hogwarts Express, and had managed to get a private booth together.
"It's so wonderful to have our own private booth, isn't it?" asked Cho to Harry.
"Yeah, it's great."
"I heard that the boutique that Princess Joy's mom owns is having a sale. Why don't we go?"
Harry wasn't too excited about that. He didn't really care for clothes, and besides, wasn't that store for girls? He wasn't too comfortable with the idea, but whatever made her happy, he would do it.
"Sure, we can go," he replied.
"It's so strange," said Cho. "This reminds me of one time Cedric Diggory and I shared a private booth in the Hogwarts Express. Strangely, I had a dream about him last night. It was horrible."
"Er... Okay..."
Harry didn't know how to respond to that. Why was she trying to talk about Cedric? He was her boyfriend now, she didn't need to talk about her previous one.
"You know, sometimes I wish Cedric would still be alive. I cried for days last year thinking about him. It's been so wonderful being with you, Harry. Knowing that you had known him and seen him for his last seconds on Earth kind of makes me feel better. It's so wonderful to have you for a boyfriend, Harry!"
It was the last sentence that had spread a smile on Harry's face. He kind of felt uncomfortable those times Cho had asked about Cedric, but the times Cho had given him compliments and had said wonderful phrases such as, 'You're wonderful, Harry!' or,
'There's no one I'd rather be with than you!', had always warmed Harry's heart.
During the time they had dated, Cho had asked and talked about Cedric. She asked how he died, and what Harry knew of him his last year alive. Harry kind of understood what Cho had went through. Losing a loved one was very hard, and that feeling was fresh in his mind since he had lost Sirius last year.
He just felt a bit weird when Cho brought up his death however. She had also done some strange things that Harry didn't understand at all. Once, Cho had wanted them both to get new hairdos at the salon, which completely freaked-out Harry. There was also a time that year that she got suspicious about Hermine and him (again, just like in Harry's 5th year). He had come to realize there were just some things that he would never understand about girls.
The train had finally arrived, and both of them got off and walked into Hogsmeade. They first went to the Three Broomsticks, where they had a Korean-meal special. Harry remembered when Remus and he had gone over to Cho's house for a Korean meal, which was absolutely delicious. Cho had missed her parents' cooking and had wanted to try out the special. Harry agreed to the idea and they both went to the Three Broomsticks.
After their delicious Oriental meal, they went to the boutique that Cho had talked about on the train. The store had beautiful dress robes, normal robes and other forms of apparel that were nicely designed, and were 40% off. Witches were going mad inside the boutique, looking at all the beautiful robes. Cho had looked at a display full of nice dress robes. She looked at each one and held it up to herself in the mirror.
"Which one do you like the best?" asked Cho.
"I - Er... You'd look good in all of them," responded Harry.
"Seriously, tell me which one is the best."
Harry looked at the robes, which all seemed pretty to Harry. Cho was holding up four robes in particular: a pink one that had a hem sewn with purple beads around the edges, a green one with lace at the edges, a blue one that was ruffled at the bottom, and a shorter summer-robe that was mauve with an embroidery on the front, that was slim-fitted near the chest and waist with a bit of beads in the middle.
"The mauve one is nice," said Harry. "It's very girly and it's short for the summer."
"Really?"
She looked at herself with the mauve robe in the mirror.
"It's a wonderful choice, but is it me?"
Harry looked at her strangely from that question. How could a robe be 'you'? It didn't make sense at all.
"Yeah, I suppose..." said Harry, who didn't know what else to say.
"You're right, it's beautiful. I'm so glad to have a boyfriend with such good taste," she said, as she gave Harry a kiss on the cheek. His face blushed and he felt great inside. I have good taste, thought Harry. She thinks I have good taste!
Harry and Cho hurried to the cashier where they bought the dress. Cho was very happy about her purchase and Harry still couldn't get over the fact that he had good taste. They explored the village some more and had something to eat for dinner before their time to leave had arrived. The two of them found another private booth they could share, and talked a bit about the Quidditch game and the Cup.
Once the train had arrived at Hogwarts, they walked to the castle hand-in-hand and kissed each other goodbye to go to their separate common rooms. By the time Harry had gotten to the Gryffindor common room, Joy, Ron and Hermione were already sitting down on the couches.
"How was your date?" asked Joy, as Harry sat down on a couch in the room.
"It was pretty good," said Harry. "Cho said I have good taste."
"Wow," said Hermione. "I never knew that."
"Neither did I," sighed Harry.
"Harry, do you want to go to the library with us to do research on that Herbology project?" asked Ron.
"I'm not too sure," said Harry. "I might be doing something with Cho."
"You're always doing something with Cho!" scowled Ron.
"Hey, she's my girlfriend, all right?"
"Really?" shouted Ron, who stood up. "So I suppose you put your girlfriend, who you've only really known since this year, in front of your friends, who you've known and have been by your side for 6 years!"
"You're obviously not standing by my side anymore!" shouted Harry back. "Can't you understand that I'm in love with this girl?"
"That doesn't give you the right to put off all of us! We've been trying to hang out with you for the past while, but no, you always want to be with Cho!"
"I haven't seen her in a long time," said Harry. "She was in the hospital wing for a month!"
"So? You visited her almost every week. Plus, it still wasn't nice of you to completely forget about all your friends!"
"I haven't forgotten about you!" said Harry. "I still hang around you!"
"Barely!" shouted Ron. "You've abandoned us for that girl!"
"She's not just a girl, she's my girlfriend!"
"WOULD YOU LISTEN TO ME?" shouted Ron loudly. "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH WITH YOU AND CHO! I UNDERSTAND YOU'RE IN LOVE, BUT BECAUSE OF IT, YOU TREAT ALL OF US LIKE- "
"You're exaggerating!" said Harry. "None of those things are true."
"Are you sure?" questioned Ron. "Then tell me, Harry, when was the last time we all actually hung out together?"
Harry tried to reply, but he couldn't find an answer. It had been a long time since he'd spent quality time with them.
"I- I'm not too sure," he answered. "I know I haven't spent much time with you, but you've got to understand that I love her."
"You still shouldn't ignore us," said Ron.
"But you always get to be with Joy," said Harry. "I can't."
"Even when I'm with Joy, I always make sure to hang around you and Hermione."
"It's true," said Hermione, who spoke for the first time. "I'm dating Viktor, but I don't dedicate my life to him."
"I thought you'd understand, Hermione!" said Harry.
"I think you're getting a bit carried away," said Hermione. "You shouldn't forget about your friends when dating, but you have! You take it so seriously."
"What's so wrong about that?" asked Harry. "And Joy, you agree with them?"
"Harry, we miss you," said Joy. "Every single time we ask you to hang out with us, you say you're doing something with Cho. Ron's right; you've abandoned us."
"It's not true," said Harry. "It isn't."
"You're going to spend more time with us now, right?" asked Joy. "You realize now that you're ignoring us?"
"No, I'm not going to spend more time with you!" said Harry. "If you can't realize that I want to spend time with Cho and how much she had suffered, then I don't want to spend more time with you."
After saying that, he ran up to his dormitory and shut the door. He entered the room and flopped on his bed. How could they say those things? thought Harry to himself. They know she suffered a lot, and they know I love her. Why can't they understand?
He decided that the only one he could trust and he could talk to was Remus. He took out a piece of parchment, a quill and a pot of ink and dipped it quickly into the ink as he started writing his letter to him.
Dear Remus,
I've had a huge fight with my friends. You remember my girlfriend, Cho, and that she was attacked, right? Well, she's out of the hospital wing now. We've been spending a lot of time together, and there may have been times that I didn't spend much time with my friends. My friends, especially Ron, are mad at me that I don't spend time with them and that I've ignored them for the past while. Why can't they understand how I feel about her? Please answer back and lend me some advice.
Harry
Harry glared at his quill, which was one of the quills that Ron gave him for his birthday. He felt so angry at Ron that he wanted to chuck it out the window, but he decided not to; he would be mature about this. He rolled up the letter and slid it under his bed. He would bring it to Hedwig in the Owlery later. As he thought back at what Ron and his friends had said, his insides trembled at the thought that his best friends couldn't understand him. With this, a tear fell from his cheek as he fell asleep.
*****
For a while, Harry didn't talk to any of his three friends. He decided instead to talk to Neville, Dean and Seamus, who were glad to speak to him. If they think they're being ignored, I'll show them what it is to be ignored, he thought to himself. He did indeed try to ignore them, but not because of revenge. He couldn't stand to look at their faces from the things they had said. There had been times when Joy went up to Harry with a kind expression to talk to Harry, but he couldn't stand to talk to her. Even if she was royalty, he still didn't want to speak with her or any of them.
As they kept a distance from each other and completely ignored one another, the whole school witnessed the dream team not speaking to each other. Malfoy laughed at the matter, as did Snape, but Professor McGonagoll and a few of the other teachers thought it unusual and unfortunate.
The morning after he wrote the letter, he sent it off to Remus with Hedwig. He was now waiting for a reply any day.
One day after classes, he saw Cho and caught up with her. She was very glad to see him, and he was obviously glad to see her.
"Hi, Cho!" he greeted happily.
"Oh hello, Harry!" she greeted back. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to ask if you and I could maybe take a walk around the castle like we did last week."
"Harry, I'm sorry," apologized Cho. "I already have plans to hang around with my friends. I haven't spent time with them in so long."
"We haven't seen each other much because you were in the hospital wing," said Harry. "I really wanted to spend the night with you."
"Harry, I can't spend all my time with you," she said. "My friends are a large part of my life, and so are you. I've already spent a lot of time with you. I have to go. I'll see you soon."
After saying this, she left Harry to catch up with her friends, leaving Harry alone. How could she do this to me? he thought to himself. I thought she understood how important it was to be together! Tears of fury dripped from his eyes down to his cheeks. He ran out of the hallways and to the entrance to the common room. The Pink Lady, who was enjoying a cup of tea, looked down at Harry, who was rather depressed.
"Passw- Harry, what happened?" she asked him.
"Nothing," he said back. "Just nothing."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm sure! Dragonus firinus!"
"As you wish," sighed the Pink Lady, as she opened the entrance to the common room. Harry rushed up the stairs and into his dormitory bedroom. He lay on his bed and stared out the window.
"Why won't Remus hurry up with his letter?" asked Harry to himself. "Sirius would have been quicker about it."
At the thought of his deceased godfather, another rush of sorrow swept over him, and a few other tears fell down his face. He wiped them quickly and went back into the common room. He had a lot of homework that evening, and as always, he dragged himself along to finish it. He felt that he was always dragging himself through life, but since the end of term last year, he was dragging himself through life without a godfather.
*****
The next morning, Harry sat at the Gryffindor table eating his breakfast with Seamus Finnigan. He glared at Ron, Hermione and Joy, who were deep into a conversation. As he put his fork of bacon to his lips, he heard the fluttering sound of wings from high above him. He glared up to see that the Owl Post had finally come, and he was eager to read Remus' reply. Hedwig swooped down from the ceiling and rested on the edge of where Harry was sitting with a letter in her mouth. Harry took the letter from her and petted her affectionately. He quickly opened the letter to read it.
Dear Harry,
I'm glad your girlfriend has been released from the hospital wing. She suffered quite a lot. On the other hand, I'm very disappointed in you. How could you do that to your friends? Cho might be the love of your life now, but she might not be in a few years. I'm not saying that your relationship with Cho will never work out, but teenage romances don't usually last for a life time.
Friendship, unlike romances, can go on for as long as you live, but as long as you take care of your friendship. Having friends like you have is such a precious thing that you shouldn't blow it all off for a girl, even if she's 'your love'. You have to find a balance between them both. I remember when I was your age and James and Lily were going out. Despite that he was going out with her, he made sure that he spent enough time with his friends. You've got to understand that too.
Because we worked hard at our friendship, your father, Sirius and I were friends for a long time. Look what happened to Pettigrew; he left us and now he's dead from the war because he was with Voldemort. You've all got to stick together, no matter what.
I really hope you take what I've said into consideration. Please make up with your friends and repair your friendship.
Sincerely,
Remus Lupin
Harry looked up from the letter he was reading. Remus had given him a whole new perspective to the situation at hand. How could he have been so stupid? Ron was right; Ron and Hermione had been supporting him and had been on his side for the past 6 years, and Joy was doing the same that year. How could he risk something so valuable? As Hedwig flew back to the Owlery, Harry rolled the letter back up, put it in his pocket and walked to his friends. When they realized he was beside them, they stared up at him.
"What are you doing here?" asked Ron.
"I wanted to apologize," said Harry. "I was such an idiot. I hadn't realized how valuable all you three are to me. You've helped me out and I've underestimated how precious our friendship is. You two, Hermione and Ron, have been with me for so long. You helped me save the Philosopher's Stone from Professor Quirrell, you helped me get into the Chamber of Secrets and you helped me find out that my dear deceased godfather, who probably left to a better place, wasn't the criminal I thought he was. And Joy, if it wasn't for you, Lord Voldemort would still be at large, we wouldn't have found half the stuff that we found out this year, and you've made our year a lot more enjoyable. I'm tremendously sorry for what I've done. Will you ever forgive me?"
"Of course we will," said Hermione, smiling. "We had an idea you'd come to your senses sooner or later. We're glad to have you as a friend too."
"You're so touching!" said Ron sarcastically, as he pretended to cry. "No, I'm joking. You mean a lot to us, Harry! We really missed you."
"Did you really mean all those things that you said?" asked Joy.
"Of course I did! You guys mean the world to me!"
"This calls for a group hug!" shouted Ron, as all of them gave each other a hug.
"We're so glad to have you back that you won't believe it!" said Joy with one of her famous smiles. "So, what do you want to do tonight?"
"Why don't we go see Hagrid?" suggested Ron. "He told me we can get a sneak-peak at what he's showing us next class."
"I don't know," said Hermione. "I wanted to do my good copy for Astronomy-"
"Let me guess," said Ron. "Now you're going to abandon us for your homework, who is, of course, the love of your life?"
"Ron!" scolded Joy.
"I'm kidding!"
"Don't worry, it won't take me long to do it any," said Hermione.
"It's glad to be back," said Harry.
*****
After Remus' letter and his conversation with his friends, Harry spent more time with his pals and a little less time with Cho. He had now what one would call a 'balance' between his relationship and friendship. He later wrote a letter back to Remus, thanking him immensely for his advice. Harry's life wasn't dragging along anymore.
A week after he had gone back to being with his friends, there was a large meeting of all the Ministries for Magic at the Ministries of Magic Council Auditorium, which was located in London and was hidden from Muggles, just like Grimmauld Place and St. Mungo's Hospital. The meeting was concerning if the Wizarding World should keep their Monarchy or be a republic, and the meeting took place on a weekend. From the school, Dumbledore, Joy and Glory would attend the meeting, and both princesses didn't look very well in the morning. Glory was a nervous wreck, and Joy stared blankly into space many times as she sat at the Gryffindor table during breakfast.
"You're going to be fine," said Ron to Joy, who was sitting right next to him. "They seriously can't take away the Monarchy. You both are amazing!"
"Besides, it's just a meeting to discuss the topic," implied Hermione. "They're not going to make any decisions today."
"They're going to make the decision next meeting though," said Joy, clutching her fork tightly.
"Don't worry," said Harry. "No matter what, we'll be with you when you get back, comforting you."
"Thanks!" she said. "I'm so glad to have all of you as friends."
"May I please see Princesses Glory and Joy?" said Professor Dumbledore at the head of the Great Hall.
"I have to go," said Joy. "We're going to be getting ready to leave. I'll see you at the end of the weekend. Goodbye!"
"Bye!" they all said.
Stumbling with nerves, Joy stood up from the Gryffindor table and went to Professor Dumbledore with her sister, Glory. They left the Great Hall shortly after.
"I hope everything goes well," said Hermione.
"I'm really going to miss her this weekend," said Ron.
It was a very sorrowful weekend, indeed. All three of them were constantly worried about Joy. They had been worrying about Joy when she was sick, but this time it was a bit different. When Joy was sick, they knew she would get better. For this weekend, the Ministries of Magic were talking about the future of their friend and their decision at the next meeting could change their friend's life dramatically. Who knew if the matter would 'get better'!
By Sunday evening, the weekend came to an end and Harry, Ron and Hermione waited impatiently in the common room for Joy to come back from the meeting. Ron was the most nervous, for he was walking back and forth with sweat pouring out of him, while Hermione lied down on the sofa and Harry sat on the edge of his chair. No one else was fidgeting or worried at all.
Just when they were at the peak of their anxiety, Joy entered the Gryffindor common room with a faint smile on her face. Harry and Hermione rose from where they were sitting or lying down and Ron jumped, and approached Joy quickly.
"So, did everything go well?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, our side is winning," said Joy. "More and more ministries are supporting the Monarchy. At least three quarters of the Ministries of Magic are on our side."
"That's wonderful!" shouted Ron. "That's absolutely wonderful!"
"I know," said Joy.
"When's the next meeting?" asked Harry.
"It's the day after we leave Hogwarts," said Joy. "Anybody's welcome to come."
"Really?" said Ron. "We can come?"
"Of course," she said. "There will be special benches for guests to sit."
"I'm just so happy everything went well!" said Ron as he hugged Joy tightly.
"I'm glad too," said Joy.
As they all sat down, Seamus passed by them, wondering what was going on.
"Hello, folks!" he said. "What was all the commotion about?"
"Did you know about that meeting with all the Ministries for Magic?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, I heard about that. I can't believe they're thinking of taking the Monarchy away. It's so sad that some magical nations let block-heads ruin the Wizarding World."
"I hear you!" agreed Ron.
"So what happened?" asked Seamus.
"Our side is winning," said Joy. "Three quarters of the Ministries want to keep the Monarchy."
"That's great!" said Seamus. "How was Glory?"
"She was a nervous wreck as usual," said Joy. "She vomited before we went in the council room. She's laying off the nail-biting though. She only bit her nails twice during the whole thing."
"Poor thing," said Seamus. "I heard everyone's welcome to the last meeting."
"Yes, anyone can come," said Joy.
"I'll be there! Bye!"
"Bye!"
Joy told Harry, Ron and Hermione all that had happened at the meeting. Harry hoped for the best for his friend, for the decision could change the Wizarding World and Joy and Glory's lives, for better or for worse...
Author's Note: Next chapter's called, "Game for the Cup". It's a Quidditch chapter where Gryffindor and Hufflepuff play for the Quidditch Cup, which makes Harry a nervous wreck 'cause he's captain!
Relationship Vs. Friendship
Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Harry Potter. It'd be nice though. I could know what happens at the end of the 7th book! MWUAHAHAHAHA!!!!! (Okay, that was a bit freaky there).
Author's Note: Hey, people! OK, recap: So basically, Quidditch field is fixed and the Quidditch season begins. Ravenclaw loses to Hufflepuff, and Harry starts practicing with his team (and he loves it). SO here's the next chapter! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Harry was so overwhelmingly happy by Cho's recovery that he had spent a lot more time with her than he ever had before. It was as if every day they spent some time together, whether it was talking to each other between classes, during lunch, after classes, or just being together. Harry had even spent countless times during classes thinking about the tingle of holding Cho's hand, or the next time he and Cho would see each other again.
As Harry thought back about the years before, at least 3 years ago, he remembered how he had had a small crush on Cho. After a while, it had become a bigger crush which had been ruined by their horrible date on Valentine's Day, but his feelings for her soon came back to him during the summer. That year, his crush for her had turned into love. He was so glad that he could share those feelings with such a beautiful girl.
Unfortunately, the more he saw of Cho, the less he saw of his friends. Once in a while, one of his friends would ask him if he wanted to stay with them and study, to go to the library or to hang out in Joy's rooms. Most of the time, he had refused those offers and the look of discouragement always appeared vividly on their faces. Nonetheless, Harry still kept going out with Cho. He knew that his friends understood about his feelings towards Cho.
The trip to Hogsmeade was quickly approaching and everyone was getting ready for the Hogsmeade weekend. Those who were going couldn't stop talking about it, and those who weren't going couldn't stop moaning about it. Harry was excited to go to Hogsmeade with Cho because it was where they had their first date.
A few days before the Hogsmeade trip, Ron had gone up to Harry in the common room to ask him something.
"Hi, Harry!" he said.
"Oh hello, Ron!" greeted Harry, who was sitting on the sofa, reading a few of the chapters in his Transfiguration textbook that were assigned. "What did you come here for?"
"Joy, Hermione and I wanted to ask if you could join us on our plan to explore Hogsmeade together," said Ron eagerly. "We haven't spent much time together since Cho got out of the hospital wing."
"I'm sorry, Ron," said Harry. "I'm going with Cho."
"You're always with Cho," said Ron. "Why don't you stay with us for a while?"
"Sorry, I already promised her," said Harry. "Maybe next time?"
"I guess so. Don't you at least want to ride in Joy's car?"
"No, I was going to ride with Cho. Sorry."
"Sure, whatever..."
Disappointed, Ron went back to doing his assignment for Charms and his Prefect duties. Harry was rather sad that he couldn't go with them, but he was really looking forward to spending time with his girlfriend.
The exciting day had finally come and all the Hogwarts students who were in their 3rd year and above loaded onto the Hogwarts Express to go to Hogsmeade. Harry had met up with Cho before going onto the Hogwarts Express, and had managed to get a private booth together.
"It's so wonderful to have our own private booth, isn't it?" asked Cho to Harry.
"Yeah, it's great."
"I heard that the boutique that Princess Joy's mom owns is having a sale. Why don't we go?"
Harry wasn't too excited about that. He didn't really care for clothes, and besides, wasn't that store for girls? He wasn't too comfortable with the idea, but whatever made her happy, he would do it.
"Sure, we can go," he replied.
"It's so strange," said Cho. "This reminds me of one time Cedric Diggory and I shared a private booth in the Hogwarts Express. Strangely, I had a dream about him last night. It was horrible."
"Er... Okay..."
Harry didn't know how to respond to that. Why was she trying to talk about Cedric? He was her boyfriend now, she didn't need to talk about her previous one.
"You know, sometimes I wish Cedric would still be alive. I cried for days last year thinking about him. It's been so wonderful being with you, Harry. Knowing that you had known him and seen him for his last seconds on Earth kind of makes me feel better. It's so wonderful to have you for a boyfriend, Harry!"
It was the last sentence that had spread a smile on Harry's face. He kind of felt uncomfortable those times Cho had asked about Cedric, but the times Cho had given him compliments and had said wonderful phrases such as, 'You're wonderful, Harry!' or,
'There's no one I'd rather be with than you!', had always warmed Harry's heart.
During the time they had dated, Cho had asked and talked about Cedric. She asked how he died, and what Harry knew of him his last year alive. Harry kind of understood what Cho had went through. Losing a loved one was very hard, and that feeling was fresh in his mind since he had lost Sirius last year.
He just felt a bit weird when Cho brought up his death however. She had also done some strange things that Harry didn't understand at all. Once, Cho had wanted them both to get new hairdos at the salon, which completely freaked-out Harry. There was also a time that year that she got suspicious about Hermine and him (again, just like in Harry's 5th year). He had come to realize there were just some things that he would never understand about girls.
The train had finally arrived, and both of them got off and walked into Hogsmeade. They first went to the Three Broomsticks, where they had a Korean-meal special. Harry remembered when Remus and he had gone over to Cho's house for a Korean meal, which was absolutely delicious. Cho had missed her parents' cooking and had wanted to try out the special. Harry agreed to the idea and they both went to the Three Broomsticks.
After their delicious Oriental meal, they went to the boutique that Cho had talked about on the train. The store had beautiful dress robes, normal robes and other forms of apparel that were nicely designed, and were 40% off. Witches were going mad inside the boutique, looking at all the beautiful robes. Cho had looked at a display full of nice dress robes. She looked at each one and held it up to herself in the mirror.
"Which one do you like the best?" asked Cho.
"I - Er... You'd look good in all of them," responded Harry.
"Seriously, tell me which one is the best."
Harry looked at the robes, which all seemed pretty to Harry. Cho was holding up four robes in particular: a pink one that had a hem sewn with purple beads around the edges, a green one with lace at the edges, a blue one that was ruffled at the bottom, and a shorter summer-robe that was mauve with an embroidery on the front, that was slim-fitted near the chest and waist with a bit of beads in the middle.
"The mauve one is nice," said Harry. "It's very girly and it's short for the summer."
"Really?"
She looked at herself with the mauve robe in the mirror.
"It's a wonderful choice, but is it me?"
Harry looked at her strangely from that question. How could a robe be 'you'? It didn't make sense at all.
"Yeah, I suppose..." said Harry, who didn't know what else to say.
"You're right, it's beautiful. I'm so glad to have a boyfriend with such good taste," she said, as she gave Harry a kiss on the cheek. His face blushed and he felt great inside. I have good taste, thought Harry. She thinks I have good taste!
Harry and Cho hurried to the cashier where they bought the dress. Cho was very happy about her purchase and Harry still couldn't get over the fact that he had good taste. They explored the village some more and had something to eat for dinner before their time to leave had arrived. The two of them found another private booth they could share, and talked a bit about the Quidditch game and the Cup.
Once the train had arrived at Hogwarts, they walked to the castle hand-in-hand and kissed each other goodbye to go to their separate common rooms. By the time Harry had gotten to the Gryffindor common room, Joy, Ron and Hermione were already sitting down on the couches.
"How was your date?" asked Joy, as Harry sat down on a couch in the room.
"It was pretty good," said Harry. "Cho said I have good taste."
"Wow," said Hermione. "I never knew that."
"Neither did I," sighed Harry.
"Harry, do you want to go to the library with us to do research on that Herbology project?" asked Ron.
"I'm not too sure," said Harry. "I might be doing something with Cho."
"You're always doing something with Cho!" scowled Ron.
"Hey, she's my girlfriend, all right?"
"Really?" shouted Ron, who stood up. "So I suppose you put your girlfriend, who you've only really known since this year, in front of your friends, who you've known and have been by your side for 6 years!"
"You're obviously not standing by my side anymore!" shouted Harry back. "Can't you understand that I'm in love with this girl?"
"That doesn't give you the right to put off all of us! We've been trying to hang out with you for the past while, but no, you always want to be with Cho!"
"I haven't seen her in a long time," said Harry. "She was in the hospital wing for a month!"
"So? You visited her almost every week. Plus, it still wasn't nice of you to completely forget about all your friends!"
"I haven't forgotten about you!" said Harry. "I still hang around you!"
"Barely!" shouted Ron. "You've abandoned us for that girl!"
"She's not just a girl, she's my girlfriend!"
"WOULD YOU LISTEN TO ME?" shouted Ron loudly. "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH WITH YOU AND CHO! I UNDERSTAND YOU'RE IN LOVE, BUT BECAUSE OF IT, YOU TREAT ALL OF US LIKE- "
"You're exaggerating!" said Harry. "None of those things are true."
"Are you sure?" questioned Ron. "Then tell me, Harry, when was the last time we all actually hung out together?"
Harry tried to reply, but he couldn't find an answer. It had been a long time since he'd spent quality time with them.
"I- I'm not too sure," he answered. "I know I haven't spent much time with you, but you've got to understand that I love her."
"You still shouldn't ignore us," said Ron.
"But you always get to be with Joy," said Harry. "I can't."
"Even when I'm with Joy, I always make sure to hang around you and Hermione."
"It's true," said Hermione, who spoke for the first time. "I'm dating Viktor, but I don't dedicate my life to him."
"I thought you'd understand, Hermione!" said Harry.
"I think you're getting a bit carried away," said Hermione. "You shouldn't forget about your friends when dating, but you have! You take it so seriously."
"What's so wrong about that?" asked Harry. "And Joy, you agree with them?"
"Harry, we miss you," said Joy. "Every single time we ask you to hang out with us, you say you're doing something with Cho. Ron's right; you've abandoned us."
"It's not true," said Harry. "It isn't."
"You're going to spend more time with us now, right?" asked Joy. "You realize now that you're ignoring us?"
"No, I'm not going to spend more time with you!" said Harry. "If you can't realize that I want to spend time with Cho and how much she had suffered, then I don't want to spend more time with you."
After saying that, he ran up to his dormitory and shut the door. He entered the room and flopped on his bed. How could they say those things? thought Harry to himself. They know she suffered a lot, and they know I love her. Why can't they understand?
He decided that the only one he could trust and he could talk to was Remus. He took out a piece of parchment, a quill and a pot of ink and dipped it quickly into the ink as he started writing his letter to him.
Dear Remus,
I've had a huge fight with my friends. You remember my girlfriend, Cho, and that she was attacked, right? Well, she's out of the hospital wing now. We've been spending a lot of time together, and there may have been times that I didn't spend much time with my friends. My friends, especially Ron, are mad at me that I don't spend time with them and that I've ignored them for the past while. Why can't they understand how I feel about her? Please answer back and lend me some advice.
Harry
Harry glared at his quill, which was one of the quills that Ron gave him for his birthday. He felt so angry at Ron that he wanted to chuck it out the window, but he decided not to; he would be mature about this. He rolled up the letter and slid it under his bed. He would bring it to Hedwig in the Owlery later. As he thought back at what Ron and his friends had said, his insides trembled at the thought that his best friends couldn't understand him. With this, a tear fell from his cheek as he fell asleep.
*****
For a while, Harry didn't talk to any of his three friends. He decided instead to talk to Neville, Dean and Seamus, who were glad to speak to him. If they think they're being ignored, I'll show them what it is to be ignored, he thought to himself. He did indeed try to ignore them, but not because of revenge. He couldn't stand to look at their faces from the things they had said. There had been times when Joy went up to Harry with a kind expression to talk to Harry, but he couldn't stand to talk to her. Even if she was royalty, he still didn't want to speak with her or any of them.
As they kept a distance from each other and completely ignored one another, the whole school witnessed the dream team not speaking to each other. Malfoy laughed at the matter, as did Snape, but Professor McGonagoll and a few of the other teachers thought it unusual and unfortunate.
The morning after he wrote the letter, he sent it off to Remus with Hedwig. He was now waiting for a reply any day.
One day after classes, he saw Cho and caught up with her. She was very glad to see him, and he was obviously glad to see her.
"Hi, Cho!" he greeted happily.
"Oh hello, Harry!" she greeted back. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to ask if you and I could maybe take a walk around the castle like we did last week."
"Harry, I'm sorry," apologized Cho. "I already have plans to hang around with my friends. I haven't spent time with them in so long."
"We haven't seen each other much because you were in the hospital wing," said Harry. "I really wanted to spend the night with you."
"Harry, I can't spend all my time with you," she said. "My friends are a large part of my life, and so are you. I've already spent a lot of time with you. I have to go. I'll see you soon."
After saying this, she left Harry to catch up with her friends, leaving Harry alone. How could she do this to me? he thought to himself. I thought she understood how important it was to be together! Tears of fury dripped from his eyes down to his cheeks. He ran out of the hallways and to the entrance to the common room. The Pink Lady, who was enjoying a cup of tea, looked down at Harry, who was rather depressed.
"Passw- Harry, what happened?" she asked him.
"Nothing," he said back. "Just nothing."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm sure! Dragonus firinus!"
"As you wish," sighed the Pink Lady, as she opened the entrance to the common room. Harry rushed up the stairs and into his dormitory bedroom. He lay on his bed and stared out the window.
"Why won't Remus hurry up with his letter?" asked Harry to himself. "Sirius would have been quicker about it."
At the thought of his deceased godfather, another rush of sorrow swept over him, and a few other tears fell down his face. He wiped them quickly and went back into the common room. He had a lot of homework that evening, and as always, he dragged himself along to finish it. He felt that he was always dragging himself through life, but since the end of term last year, he was dragging himself through life without a godfather.
*****
The next morning, Harry sat at the Gryffindor table eating his breakfast with Seamus Finnigan. He glared at Ron, Hermione and Joy, who were deep into a conversation. As he put his fork of bacon to his lips, he heard the fluttering sound of wings from high above him. He glared up to see that the Owl Post had finally come, and he was eager to read Remus' reply. Hedwig swooped down from the ceiling and rested on the edge of where Harry was sitting with a letter in her mouth. Harry took the letter from her and petted her affectionately. He quickly opened the letter to read it.
Dear Harry,
I'm glad your girlfriend has been released from the hospital wing. She suffered quite a lot. On the other hand, I'm very disappointed in you. How could you do that to your friends? Cho might be the love of your life now, but she might not be in a few years. I'm not saying that your relationship with Cho will never work out, but teenage romances don't usually last for a life time.
Friendship, unlike romances, can go on for as long as you live, but as long as you take care of your friendship. Having friends like you have is such a precious thing that you shouldn't blow it all off for a girl, even if she's 'your love'. You have to find a balance between them both. I remember when I was your age and James and Lily were going out. Despite that he was going out with her, he made sure that he spent enough time with his friends. You've got to understand that too.
Because we worked hard at our friendship, your father, Sirius and I were friends for a long time. Look what happened to Pettigrew; he left us and now he's dead from the war because he was with Voldemort. You've all got to stick together, no matter what.
I really hope you take what I've said into consideration. Please make up with your friends and repair your friendship.
Sincerely,
Remus Lupin
Harry looked up from the letter he was reading. Remus had given him a whole new perspective to the situation at hand. How could he have been so stupid? Ron was right; Ron and Hermione had been supporting him and had been on his side for the past 6 years, and Joy was doing the same that year. How could he risk something so valuable? As Hedwig flew back to the Owlery, Harry rolled the letter back up, put it in his pocket and walked to his friends. When they realized he was beside them, they stared up at him.
"What are you doing here?" asked Ron.
"I wanted to apologize," said Harry. "I was such an idiot. I hadn't realized how valuable all you three are to me. You've helped me out and I've underestimated how precious our friendship is. You two, Hermione and Ron, have been with me for so long. You helped me save the Philosopher's Stone from Professor Quirrell, you helped me get into the Chamber of Secrets and you helped me find out that my dear deceased godfather, who probably left to a better place, wasn't the criminal I thought he was. And Joy, if it wasn't for you, Lord Voldemort would still be at large, we wouldn't have found half the stuff that we found out this year, and you've made our year a lot more enjoyable. I'm tremendously sorry for what I've done. Will you ever forgive me?"
"Of course we will," said Hermione, smiling. "We had an idea you'd come to your senses sooner or later. We're glad to have you as a friend too."
"You're so touching!" said Ron sarcastically, as he pretended to cry. "No, I'm joking. You mean a lot to us, Harry! We really missed you."
"Did you really mean all those things that you said?" asked Joy.
"Of course I did! You guys mean the world to me!"
"This calls for a group hug!" shouted Ron, as all of them gave each other a hug.
"We're so glad to have you back that you won't believe it!" said Joy with one of her famous smiles. "So, what do you want to do tonight?"
"Why don't we go see Hagrid?" suggested Ron. "He told me we can get a sneak-peak at what he's showing us next class."
"I don't know," said Hermione. "I wanted to do my good copy for Astronomy-"
"Let me guess," said Ron. "Now you're going to abandon us for your homework, who is, of course, the love of your life?"
"Ron!" scolded Joy.
"I'm kidding!"
"Don't worry, it won't take me long to do it any," said Hermione.
"It's glad to be back," said Harry.
*****
After Remus' letter and his conversation with his friends, Harry spent more time with his pals and a little less time with Cho. He had now what one would call a 'balance' between his relationship and friendship. He later wrote a letter back to Remus, thanking him immensely for his advice. Harry's life wasn't dragging along anymore.
A week after he had gone back to being with his friends, there was a large meeting of all the Ministries for Magic at the Ministries of Magic Council Auditorium, which was located in London and was hidden from Muggles, just like Grimmauld Place and St. Mungo's Hospital. The meeting was concerning if the Wizarding World should keep their Monarchy or be a republic, and the meeting took place on a weekend. From the school, Dumbledore, Joy and Glory would attend the meeting, and both princesses didn't look very well in the morning. Glory was a nervous wreck, and Joy stared blankly into space many times as she sat at the Gryffindor table during breakfast.
"You're going to be fine," said Ron to Joy, who was sitting right next to him. "They seriously can't take away the Monarchy. You both are amazing!"
"Besides, it's just a meeting to discuss the topic," implied Hermione. "They're not going to make any decisions today."
"They're going to make the decision next meeting though," said Joy, clutching her fork tightly.
"Don't worry," said Harry. "No matter what, we'll be with you when you get back, comforting you."
"Thanks!" she said. "I'm so glad to have all of you as friends."
"May I please see Princesses Glory and Joy?" said Professor Dumbledore at the head of the Great Hall.
"I have to go," said Joy. "We're going to be getting ready to leave. I'll see you at the end of the weekend. Goodbye!"
"Bye!" they all said.
Stumbling with nerves, Joy stood up from the Gryffindor table and went to Professor Dumbledore with her sister, Glory. They left the Great Hall shortly after.
"I hope everything goes well," said Hermione.
"I'm really going to miss her this weekend," said Ron.
It was a very sorrowful weekend, indeed. All three of them were constantly worried about Joy. They had been worrying about Joy when she was sick, but this time it was a bit different. When Joy was sick, they knew she would get better. For this weekend, the Ministries of Magic were talking about the future of their friend and their decision at the next meeting could change their friend's life dramatically. Who knew if the matter would 'get better'!
By Sunday evening, the weekend came to an end and Harry, Ron and Hermione waited impatiently in the common room for Joy to come back from the meeting. Ron was the most nervous, for he was walking back and forth with sweat pouring out of him, while Hermione lied down on the sofa and Harry sat on the edge of his chair. No one else was fidgeting or worried at all.
Just when they were at the peak of their anxiety, Joy entered the Gryffindor common room with a faint smile on her face. Harry and Hermione rose from where they were sitting or lying down and Ron jumped, and approached Joy quickly.
"So, did everything go well?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, our side is winning," said Joy. "More and more ministries are supporting the Monarchy. At least three quarters of the Ministries of Magic are on our side."
"That's wonderful!" shouted Ron. "That's absolutely wonderful!"
"I know," said Joy.
"When's the next meeting?" asked Harry.
"It's the day after we leave Hogwarts," said Joy. "Anybody's welcome to come."
"Really?" said Ron. "We can come?"
"Of course," she said. "There will be special benches for guests to sit."
"I'm just so happy everything went well!" said Ron as he hugged Joy tightly.
"I'm glad too," said Joy.
As they all sat down, Seamus passed by them, wondering what was going on.
"Hello, folks!" he said. "What was all the commotion about?"
"Did you know about that meeting with all the Ministries for Magic?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, I heard about that. I can't believe they're thinking of taking the Monarchy away. It's so sad that some magical nations let block-heads ruin the Wizarding World."
"I hear you!" agreed Ron.
"So what happened?" asked Seamus.
"Our side is winning," said Joy. "Three quarters of the Ministries want to keep the Monarchy."
"That's great!" said Seamus. "How was Glory?"
"She was a nervous wreck as usual," said Joy. "She vomited before we went in the council room. She's laying off the nail-biting though. She only bit her nails twice during the whole thing."
"Poor thing," said Seamus. "I heard everyone's welcome to the last meeting."
"Yes, anyone can come," said Joy.
"I'll be there! Bye!"
"Bye!"
Joy told Harry, Ron and Hermione all that had happened at the meeting. Harry hoped for the best for his friend, for the decision could change the Wizarding World and Joy and Glory's lives, for better or for worse...
Author's Note: Next chapter's called, "Game for the Cup". It's a Quidditch chapter where Gryffindor and Hufflepuff play for the Quidditch Cup, which makes Harry a nervous wreck 'cause he's captain!