Happy Birthday, Cho Chapter 7
A/N: First of all, thanks to all my reviewers. Looking at my reviews for Chapter 6, I noticed that there was some confusion over the beginning where Professor McGonagall was yelling at Harry. That was a dream that Harry was having. I tried to make it clear by having Cho's voice coming out of McGonagall. Maybe I didn't do that well enough and I apologize for that. Anywho, I now acknowledge my reviewers.
Psycho Queen- Thanx for the Japanese lesson
lim-cho- Thanx for the Chinese lesson
Catgrl52- See above note. Glad you like it though
zou-chang- Thanx a bunch
Stephie- Thanx a bunch. Your story is awesome and I can't wait to read more
Matrix Kai- I totally agree. I personally am on the H/C ship but I read other romance stories as long as they're STRAIGHT. H/D is just disgusting as is any other homosexual relationship in my opinion. If you (meaning people reading this other than Matrix) like that, I'm not telling you not to like it. I just felt like a rant.
I Love Cho- Wait and see, my friend, wait and see
WhiteWizard101- Well, two things, A. read the above note and B. Harry and Cho did NOT engage in sexual intercourse. This is a clean story
PeZ-yUaN- Wait and see
indigal- You hit the nail right on the head
Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter. Cho's friend Stephanie is the only character that I own at this time
Well that's the end of that Author's note. Please Review. It is appreciated. And now, without further ado, I give you Chapter 7 of Happy Birthday, Cho.
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It had been a great couple of weeks since April 27th. Harry and Cho had gotten together a couple of times. Usually they had their dates in the Room of Requirement. They even double dated with Ron and Hermione once. Mostly they had dinner and then talked and made out. Harry felt better now than he had during any part of his life. He loved being with Cho. He never wanted to be apart from her. He loved the way her lips felt against his. He loved holding her hand in his and most importantly of all, he loved Cho. It was more than love. Harry didn't know what to call it but whatever it was, it was great.
The most recent date that he and Cho went on was just three days before the big Quidditch match. Harry needed an opportunity to have a serious conversation with Cho so he arranged the date differently than the other ones. They didn't have dinner; instead the room had a fireplace with a large sofa facing it. Harry sat on the couch and Cho positioned herself so that she lay across Harry's lap. Harry ran his fingers through Cho's satiny, black hair.
"What are we gonna do, Harry?" Cho asked after a time.
Harry sighed heavily and Cho turned her head away from the fire and looked at Harry with her beautiful brown eyes
"I don't know," Harry said. "I know how much the cup means to you."
"And I know how much it means to you," Cho replied immediately.
Harry sighed again.
"You know, Cho," he said. "I still have another year to win the cup. It's always possible that I could…"
"No," Cho said. "If I'm going to catch the snitch and win the match, I want it to be in a fair match. I also don't want you to do that to your teammates. You should play this match like any other. Just don't treat me like you would Draco."
Harry laughed then kissed Cho on the forehead. "Don't worry, Cho. The feelings I have for you are the exact opposite of the ones I have for Draco. I would never, ever, treat you like I would that little ferret."
Cho laughed. "I heard about that. I also heard what he said about us. If I were you I would've punched him right then."
"But then I probably would've got a detention and that was on your birthday."
"Come to think of it, I'm glad you didn't punch him," Cho said
"I did warn him about saying anything about you though."
"Thank you, Harry," Cho said and Harry kissed her forehead again
"I love you, Cho"
"I love you too, Harry," Cho said and she sat up and Harry put his arm around her. Cho snuggled up against him. "There's no place I'd rather be, Harry." Cho said and she kissed Harry on the cheek. "No place in the world."
Harry didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He looked over and the girl sitting next to him and her eyes met his. The look they shared said everything that Harry couldn't. They sat next to each other and talked little. If anybody were to look in at them, there would be no doubt in anybody's mind that those two were in love. In fact some people would think that it was the most in love they had ever seen two people. They may have been the most in love of any two people and even if they weren't they were pretty close
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"I'm in love, Ron," Harry said. If he had said this last year, Ron wouldn't pay much attention to it but since Ron knew what Harry felt he knew something to say.
"I know, mate. I am too." Ron said truthfully
"Yeah," Harry replied "But you don't have to face Hermione for the Quidditch cup tomorrow."
"I thought you and Cho talked about that."
"I did but I still don't know what to do," Harry said.
"Listen, mate," Ron said. "Cho says that she doesn't want to be handed the cup. She wants to earn it, right?"
Harry nodded
"Well," Ron continued. "Then don't play any differently than you normally would. She wants to win but I don't think you relationship will be over if she loses. You two love each other and it is true love. True love won't be broken by a Quidditch match."
"I guess you're right, Ron."
"I know I'm right." Ron said and Harry smiled at him. "Now, come on. Ravenclaw's got the pitch tonight and we have to go over the plan. The whole team's supposed to meet in about ten minutes."
Harry went up to the dormitory and got his game plan. He had written that last night and wasn't about to let his emotions change it. He did want to win but he still wasn't sure if he would be doing the right thing by playing his usual aggressive style. Harry brought the game plan down stairs and the whole team gathered around the table with him as he layed it out.
"Ok guys," he began. "Tomorrow is the biggest match we've had all year. We face Ravenclaw for the cup. Now, as you all know, I have emotions tied up in this match but that does not mean you should. Four of you have not been on a cup winning team and we are the two time defending champions. Don't play this game any different than any other. Now here's our basic offensive." He said as he unrolled the parchment and pointed at it with his wand. "We will use the triangle weave offense. Ginny, you start out in the middle. Seamus, you start out on the left and Abby, you start out on the right. If you pass the Quaffle to someone you go and taken their place. The person with the Quaffle will stay in the middle until you get three quarters of the way down the pitch then go with whatever you think will get the Quaffle in the hoop."
Ginny, Seamus and Abby Weisel (A Fourth year) nodded their understanding.
"The defense is simple. Ron, stop everything you can. Patrick, Bob, you guys hit the bludgers at everyone in blue. Pretty simple."
Everybody chuckled and nodded.
"That's all for now," Harry said. "I want everyone to get a good night's sleep so we can be rested for tomorrow. I'll go into the game plan a little more in the lockerroom. Thanks everyone."
The team got up and they all went back to what they were doing before the meeting except for Ron who sensed that Harry was still fighting an emotional battle.
"Don't worry, mate," Ron said comfortingly. "It's gonna be all right."
"I hope so, Ron," Harry replied then got up
"Where are you going," Ron asked
"To bed," Harry replied
"It's early."
"I don't care. I just need to lie down."
Ron nodded and Harry went up to the dormitory and layed on his bed for quite some time before sleep found him. He didn't hear anyone else come up and he hoped that Ron and Seamus wouldn't spend too much time downstairs.
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After a night riddled with dreams about Cho (not all of them good), Harry woke up and went down to breakfast with Ron and Hermione. Harry didn't eat much nor did he look over to the Ravenclaw table to spot Cho like he usually did. Cho took this as Harry concentrating for the match later even though she didn't feel like eating much either. Harry got up before anyone else and made his exit not hearing anything that the Slytherins had to say. He made his way to the Gryffindor lockerroom and sat on a bench with his head in his hands. He wanted to just disappear. He didn't want to go through this match but he couldn't let his teammates down. Then someone sat down next to him.
"Harry," came a voice that seemed distant. "Harry, look at me"
Harry looked over next to him and saw Ginny.
"Harry you can't beat yourself up over this," Ginny said soothingly. "Cho loves you. She loves you more than anything I've ever seen. She is not going to take it badly if you win. She'll love you just the same no matter how this match turns out. I know this, Harry. I know that it's gonna be hard but you can do this."
Harry felt slightly better.
"Now where's the Quidditch Captain that trained us all year for this? He wouldn't mope around before a big match like this," Ginny said in mock sternness that Harry couldn't help smiling at.
"Thank you, Ginny," Harry said
"What are friends for?"
Harry was thinking that he could do this. He didn't want to but he could do it.
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After the pre-match going over of the game plan, Harry led the team onto the field. The crowd was cheering raucously as the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams converged on the middle of the pitch where Madame Hooch was waiting.
"Okay," Madame Hooch said once the teams were assembled. "This is, as you know, the match to determine the winner of this year's Quidditch Cup. I expect a good, clean match. I don't think I have anything to worry about with these two teams so I certainly don't want you to prove me wrong. Captains, shake hands and we can get under way."
Harry thought he saw her smile slightly as she said the last sentence. Harry and Cho shook hands and Cho smiled at him. Harry couldn't help smiling back. She was wearing the dragonfly hairclip.
"Mount your brooms," Madame Hooch said as she let the bludgers and the snitch go and blew her whistle as she threw the red Quaffle into the air and both teams quickly followed it.
Harry went up high above the ground circling the entire Quidditch pitch looking for the snitch. He wanted to make the match short.
Surprisingly, after only a couple minutes, not even enough time for there to be any score, Harry saw the snitch floating innocently about fifteen feet from the ground. Harry seized this opportunity and dived down towards it like a red bullet. Little did he know that someone else had seen the snitch and was also diving towards it like a blue bullet.
Harry continued his rapid descent and the snitch still remained motionless. As he got closer he reached out his right hand towards it only to notice that another hand was reaching for the snitch and it was getting closer and closer but so was Harry.
Harry and Cho both wrapped their fingers around the snitch at exactly the same time. Harry's brain registered that this was not going to be an easy one to call but that was the only thing that it registered before he and Cho collided and fell to the ground.
There was an audible "Oooh!" from the crowd but neither Harry nor Cho heard it as they were unconscious before they hit the ground, their hands still around the snitch, and in about the same place on the pitch that they fell asleep on two weeks ago on Cho's birthday.
Yes, in more ways than one, this was not going to be an easy one to call.
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A/N: That's chapter 7 and I bet none of you saw THAT coming. I may have Chapter 8 up this weekend but I just started school again and I probably will have homework so be patient. I still have a bit planned in this fic. It started out fluffy but now it has a little bit more storyline I think. Well, keep writing those reviews and I'll keep writing the story.
Thanx
ruhnas