"How do you feel? Are you ready?" Cho said, looking just as anxious and jittery as Ron did.
"Fine, how about you?" he replied, his voice a pitch higher than usual.
"I'm ready,"
She drew in a shaky breath while he self-consciously wiped his sweaty palms repeatedly on his pants and shooting glances down the hallway.
"Well, this is it," she said finally, straightening his collar and brushing whatever small specks of dust had settled into the shoulders of his robes.
Neither one of them had slept much the previous night due to the feelings of excitement and anticipation that haunted them all throughout the late hours. Time had seemed to slow down just for them, making each minute of waiting absolute agony, but eventually, although they couldn't exactly recall how it had happened, sleep claimed them. Nevertheless, both woke up at precisely the moment the sun had inched across their faces, for they hadn't been sleeping heavily.
They had met each other in the Great Hall as originally agreed upon and were now standing before the entrance to the dining area, a bit afraid to walk in, but determined to accomplish their mission. So, after all their last-minute adjustments, they steadied their composures, readied their lover-like expressions, and walked in hand in hand.
The effect certainly was what they had been hoping for on the most part.
Hermione, who had been absorbed in her library book, didn't notice right away, but with a prod in the arm from a wide-eyed Harry, she reluctantly put it down and looked where he had been pointing. Her jaw dropped in disbelief as she watched Ron and Cho walk down the narrow aisle between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables, looking like they were completely infatuated with each other.
Michael had noticed right as they walked in, and even though he was just as shocked as everybody else, the anger he felt showed more clearly than any other emotion. He glared at the two of them as they swept past him and kept his piercing stare on Cho as she gave Ron a swift kiss on the cheek and sat down opposite of Marietta.
The reactions of the rest of the school were similar. Due to the pair's prolonged entrance, they were the last ones to arrive for breakfast, unknowingly making themselves more likely to be noticed than if they had walked in early, and, when the doors swung open, the entire student body turned as one to see who had walked in so late. Many gaped, a few of the more dramatic gave huge gasps and put on extremely shocked faces, being the type of people who enjoy having an excuse to put on a show, and all turned abruptly to his or her neighbor to whisper and speculate what the two of them were up to.
"I told you so Laura! After what happened on the train…" Ron heard as he was buttering his toast.
"Well, I thought he was dating Hermione, but I guess I was wrong. You know what I heard about her?" Laura's friend replied.
"What?!" she practically squealed back.
"Well…" she leaned in and started whispering. In a few minutes, both broke out into a fit of the giggles.
"Well, that is something new. Cho Chang and Ron Weasley. Together. I'd never have thought that they were interested in each other in that way," a Hufflepuff whispered to his friend sitting across the table from him.
"Maybe they're up to something, maybe they're not, but all I know for sure is that they actually look good together, did you notice that?"
"You know, I never thought I'd live to see the day that I'd admit this or even think of this, but you're right… although Ron and Hermione Granger were a good couple too…"
"Yeah… I'd have to say that Cho was the better looking one of the two girls though, no matter if the other got a make-over…"
"Yep, Weasley's one lucky bloke,"
However, although this was a new topic for gossip, it was soon forgotten as the conversations at each table branched off into different subjects, as they do in mysterious ways; one minute the newest couple is being discussed, the next, the latest boyfriend or girlfriend troubles someone has been having, then, what to wear on the next date, and the rest is history.
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"You never told me that Ron had asked you out," Marietta said accusingly as she and Cho walked to their first class, Transfiguration. "In fact, you never told me that Michael had broken up with you. What's going on?"
"Marietta," Cho said calmly, "right now, it's best if you just accept things as they are and don't question it."
"What do you mean, don't question it? Of course I'm going to question it, startling all of us like this,"
"Hush Marietta,"
"But-but-" she stuttered.
"No ifs, ands, or buts," the other Ravenclaw warned. "Just trust me on this one."
"Oh- all right. But just this once," Marietta said, smiling.
Cho let out a sigh of relief when her friend wasn't looking and walked into the classroom with a slightly lighter load on her mind, for Marietta wasn't the first to question about her new boyfriend, if he was actually her boyfriend, and everything else that could be thought of and she certainly wasn't going to be the last. Michael had approached her first after breakfast, practically running in front of everyone else (or over, for that matter) to make sure that she didn't escape his confrontation.
"So. So." he said once he had captured her attention. She stood in front of him, tapping her foot impatiently while looking at him as though he were nothing more than a fly.
"So what?" she said, feigning innocent ignorance.
"You know very well what!" he snapped.
"Actually, I don't." Cho said, furthering his anger. "If this is all you stopped me for, I don't have time for it; Professor McGonagall isn't going to excuse me for being late, especially not if I tell her that my ex-boyfriend wanted to have a word with me."
"I stopped you," he began through gritted teeth, "because I wanted to talk to you about what you did this morning,"
"Hmm, well, let's see. I woke up, got out of bed, got dressed-"
"You know very well what I mean!"
"You know I'm not sure I do- now don't start that again. Just spit it out."
"You- you have the nerve to waltz in there with him right in front of me!" he hissed.
"Well, technically, we didn't waltz, we walked like normal human beings do, and we didn't walk in front of you the entire time, or we wouldn't have gotten anywhere." She said coolly, reveling in his fury as he turned from pink to absolutely red.
"Well, I- I- I didn't mean it literally! And besides, you might as well have waltzed in with him, you would've made just as big an appearance," he replied disgustedly.
"Really? Well, thank you, I appreciate your support," she said pleasantly.
"I DIDN'T MEAN IT THAT WAY!" he yelled.
"Now, now Michael, you shouldn't yell inside. Save that for the Quidditch match this Saturday," she responded, just as calm as when the conversation had started. "If you'll excuse me," she said as his mouth opened again to say something, "I have to get to class. And with that, I bid you good day, sir," and with that, she turned and began walking away at a brisk pace, leaving Michael mouthing like a fish out of water and the rest of the school laughing at him and applauding her.
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"Ronald Weasley, I have no idea what to do with you! Where, when, how, and why?" Hermione demanded. She had cornered Ron as he was coming out of the prefects' bathroom and was now standing in front of him, preventing him from moving another step.
"What are you talking about?!" he said.
"Don't play dumb with me! Cho! That's what I'm talking about!"
"Why do you care?" he said coldly.
At this she seemed unsure of what to say.
"Listen, Ron, I- I just want to make sure that- that-"
"Well Hermione, you listen. I'm not breaking any rules or anything, I broke up with you yesterday and I asked Cho out and she said yes. No big deal. Drop it."
Then he slipped past her and disappeared around the next corner, leaving behind a very irritated girl.
All that day, she pleaded, scolded, and demanded to know everything and each time she asked, no matter how she phrased the question or the tone she used, he stood his ground and gave her no satisfactory reply. This frustrated her deeply, for the answers to her questions couldn't be found in a book , it was clear that Ron wasn't going to tell her anything, and she refused to ask Cho. She wasn't used to knowing the answers to something for once and the knowledge of this drove her wild.
"Think, Hermione, think. Use your logic to solve this," she thought as she sat in an armchair in the Gryffindor common room, unable to do her homework. "Why on earth would Ron suddenly be interested in Cho…? He did break up with me yesterday, and I suppose Cho dumped her boyfriend or vice versa… why can't I figure this out?!"
Although she was the top student in her class, the first one to finish homework assignments, and the first one to figure out logic problems, she was unable to see that the only thing the problem needed was a bit of common sense and the ability to see what was in front of her very own nose.
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Ron had gone into dinner early and had finished before everyone else so that he could have some alone time to think things through some more about the plot that he and Cho had put to action. He was now pacing restlessly in the common room, wracking his brain for ways to carry out their plan further. That morning had been everything he had expected and imagined, and a bit more as well, which is a very rare occurrence. He was well aware of how lucky they had both been to have their wildest dreams fulfilled all in one morning and was busy dreaming up more little tableaus of similar victories yet to come.
He was busy replaying each event of that morning one by one in his mind and found himself lingering over the memory of the kiss that Cho had bestowed upon his cheek. With his eyes closed, he visualized this, remembering how soft it had been and unconsciously lifting a hand to that same cheek before shaking himself mentally and returning to his brainstorming.
He rested his chin on his fist and stared into the fire, contemplating the choices that they had and his mind finally formulated an idea, and, with this accomplished, he sat down at a table to write out his note.
Cho was sitting in her dormitory, answering letters at her desk, when Pig tapped on her window.
"Oh! What a cute little owl you are! I wonder whom you belong to," she cooed as she opened the window and let the small messenger in. It was a rough, windy night and Pig's feathers stuck up in wild angles and all directions in a comical manner, as she noticed while she untied the small scroll tied to his foot before letting him flop down on her desk from exhaustion to rest for a little while.
Cho-I heard about Michael! In my opinion, the bloody prat deserved it… Hermione was fairly angry as well. Yes, I'd definitely say that stage one of Operation Revenge was a success, wouldn't you? Now, about tomorrow, I was thinking that you could mail me back your schedule so that I could start walking you to your classes, stir up a bit more tension? (*winks*) Well, write back soon.
Your partner in crime,
RonCho couldn't help but smile as she tore off the bottom of the scroll and wrote an equally short note with her schedule and a short reply to his remarks. She lightly prodded Pig in the side when she was finished, who, in turn, opened one eye, gave a feeble hoot, saw the paper in her hands, became extremely excited, and carried off the letter faster than she would have thought possible.
She shook her head, still smiling at Ron's crazy owl. She yawned, and with a glance at the clock had realized that time had flown by in a startlingly rapid speed and, signing off on the last letter she had written, changed into her pajamas, put out the light, and, for the first time in months, fell asleep straight off and had a full night's rest with no interruptions or nightmares.
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"Harry? Can I ask you something?" Hermione said, from her position across the table from Harry in the library.
"You just did, 'Mione."
She glared at him, causing him to say, "Just kidding, what's on your mind?"
"It's about Cho and Ron…"
"Oh."
"It's just that- I wanted to know if you cared about the two of them being together."
"No, not really, why?" Harry said before dipping his quill into his ink again, looking as though he was a trifle bored of the subject already. "It was a shock, but if he's moved on already, good for him. I honestly don't care. Do you care?"
She blushed slightly and lied as well as she could, "N-no, not really. I guess not… I don't know why I want to know if you're bothered by it any, it's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything," she added quietly.
"You're not?" he said, pretending to blink vacantly. "Well then, I guess we'll have to change that."
"You-you're not serious are you?" she said, shocked at his sudden, although indirect offer.
"Dead serious," he replied. "So, is it yes or no?"
"Yes," she said breathily, after thinking, "Maybe I'll be able to get Ron back after all," and formulating a plan not unlike his…
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A/N: Short chapter, I know, but I was so eager to show that I hadn't died or anything, and this is what came from it… thanks to everybody who reviewed, I love it when I hear from you!
To wandless: It's all right… at least you took the time to review. I'm glad you like it so far!
To LogicalRaven: You're right; Harry does sound more like Sirius than himself… maybe we can say that Sirius's spirit has possessed him and will continue to do so for the rest of the story. And yes, they are evil!
To asiega: Don't worry, I'm definitely going to finish this. I've just been insanely busy for the past few weeks. But thanks for your really complimenting review; I enjoyed reading it. And about the medieval thing and how it reminds you of things that you've done before? Me too… J