Halfway into Charms class, there came a knock upon the door. Professor Flitwick hopped off of his stack of books and waddled to the door. It opened before Flitwick could reach it. It was Professor Dumbledore. The headmaster and professor talked to each other over the mumble of students who were curiously watching the two. Flitwick turned around and looked at me. He motioned for me to come. I stood up and stuffed my wand in my pocket.

"Bring your things, Miss Chang," said the professor.

I nodded and went back and picked up my bag and my book. I walked out of the room as I put my book back into my bag and Flitwick shut the door behind me.

"You are not in trouble, Cho, don't worry," Dumbledore said to me as we began to walk. We were going to his office, I could tell before I had even climbed the stairs. "I heard that Mr. Malfoy was giving you and Mr. Diggory a hard time this morning."

"Oh, someone told you?" I asked.

"Cedric had something on his mind while he was walking to class. I just happened to be heading to the library at the time and stopped to talk to him. He told me that Mr. Malfoy mentioned something about your family that you didn't want anyone else to know." There was a twinkle in the headmaster's eyes.

"Oh well, yes… I don't want Cedric to know. That's why I haven't told many people, Professor."

"That's perfectly understandable, Cho. It seemed to bother Cedric though."

"I know…" I replied as we entered Dumbledore's office.

"It's hard for the people at the Ministry."

I nodded. "With the appearance of the Dark Mark at the Quidditch World Cup…I can only imagine how hard it is…"

"Headmaster," said a cold voice. It was Professor Snape with Cedric behind him. Cedric was taller than Snape so Cedric's forehead was visible. "You called for Mr. Diggory, sir?"

"Yes," said Dumbledore, "thank you, Severus."

Snape nodded and left.

Cedric walked over to me and smiled.

"You two may leave now if you wish."

We both nodded and left.

"You ran," Cedric said when we were clear from Dumbledore's office.

I nodded. "I couldn't help it, Cedric. I'm sorry…I really didn't mean to…"

He shook his head as we walked up the first flight of stairs. "It's alright, Cho. I'm not upset, I'm just curious. What did Malfoy say that made you so upset?"

"Nothing…really," I said, gripping my bag around my shoulder, "it was nothing."

"You don't have to tell me anything, Cho, if you're not ready."

A small smile spread across my face. "Well, I'm not ready just yet…" Maybe in a couple of weeks…

                   *                 *                 *                 *                 *
          When Friday came I was beginning to truly see Cedric from the inside and out. It was easy for me to see that he was becoming nervous about the first task. He wasn't at breakfast that morning: he spent his only minutes in the library as if he knew what was going to happen at the first task. I found him in the back of the library forty-five minutes before classes started. I didn't even finish my breakfast but quickly went to look for him after the mail had arrived.

Cedric was flipping through the pages of a book about dragons. I stared at him in bewilderment.

"Dragons!?" I said.

"Dragons," Cedric stated.

"How do you know that the first task is going to be about dragons?"

A small smile spread across his face. "Let's just say a little bird told me."

I smirked. "Cute, Cedric."

He chuckled and Madam Pince hushed him. He closed the book and put it back on the shelf. "Let's head on out of here, shall we, Cho?"

"Good idea. I'm getting hungry."

"You didn't eat breakfast?" he asked as we walked out of the library and down the first flight of stairs.

"I did but only a little. I was looking for you."

"I would have come."

"I know…but still…"

Cedric and I split when we entered the Great Hall. I watched him walk to his friends who smirked and looked over at me. Emily moved over and I saw beside her. Marietta was eating silently at the corner of the table.

"What's up with Marietta?" I asked.

Emily looked at me. "You wanna know?"

I nodded. "Of course I do."

"Well, I mean, I've never seen her but someone told me that she's been out snogging with a sixth year Slytherin."

I stared at Emily, my mouth wide open. I peered over at Marietta. "Who told you that?"

"I overheard some Slytherins talking about it. They were being very mean and rude about it."

"What else did they say?" I asked.

"I'm sure most of them have never seen what Marietta looks like but they were saying that she's ugly."

"She is not."

Emily nodded. "I know that. I don't know if Marietta has heard about any of this or not but I don't want to be the one to tell her." She looked at her watch. "I think we better get going. We can't be late for Potions. Snape'll kill us."

"Yeah, I'm coming." I was concentrating more on Marietta than on Emily. I never really focused on Marietta but it was strange…the way she was acting lately. She was never the biggest attention-seeker but she did love a good crowd. I wondered why she was letting herself meddle with the Slytherins. I picked up my bag and sat myself beside Marietta.

She looked at me, anger flashed in her eyes. "What?"

"I want to talk to you, Marietta."

"What about?"

"How come you've been acting so strange lately? I mean, you haven't been hanging around with Emily and me and I was just wondering if something was wrong with you."

"Nothing's wrong, Cho, but thanks for asking."

"I've heard stuff…"

"What about?"

"You…and…erm…some Slytherin boy."

"Who told you?"

"Emily…well, she said that she overheard people talking about you…"

"So?"

I could tell that Marietta wasn't going to crack so easily. "Ah…never mind. I'll see you later." I stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. Emily was waiting for me.

"What did she say?" she asked as we began to walk toward the dungeons.

"I think she is with a Slytherin…but I want to know why. I thought Slytherins don't mess with other Houses."

"Maybe the Slytherin is tempting her."

"Doubtful, Emily, but then again you never know." Then something came to mind. "You think she is jealous?"

"Of what?"

"Of me."

"Why would she be?"

"Hasn't she said that she likes Cedric?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, Cho, it's been a long time."

"She must have said it, Emily. Think about it. She was never acting like this before."

"Maybe she thinks that you are spending too much time with Cedric and not enough time with your friends."

"You don't think that, do you?"

She shook her head. "No way. I understand that now you've got Cedric you don't need lots of time with your friends. I'm sure you and Cedric have been keeping yourselves" – there was a small hint of humor in her voice – busy." She smirked.

Together we walked into Potions class with ten minutes to spare. Professor Snape wasn't anywhere in sight so we continued to chatter along with the other students.

I could tell that Emily was playing around. "That's not funny!"

Emily giggled. "It is too. Besides, you know you'll kiss him eventually!"

I blushed.

"See! You're blushing! Ha!"

I smirked. "That doesn't matter! There's more to a relationship than kissing!"

"Sure there is…"

I hit Emily playfully on the arm. "It's not funny, Emily," I said. She seemed to be full of the giggles. It's not true… Kissing Cedric is a long time from now. Boy, was I ever wrong about that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: Yeah, Marietta is being a bit of an erm…grudge in this chapter and maybe some other ones. Thanks, Gkey for the thought of making Marietta get together with a nasty Slytherin! ^.^