Cho moaned and rolled over in her bed as she heard the usual morning bustle in the Ravenclaw girls' dormitory start up, with occasional pillow fights and lots of chattering, accompanied by rustling sheets as each girl made her bed. In happier times, she willingly joined in this mass of gossip and happy morning routines; in the darker periods, she snapped at the other girls to keep quiet and was incredibly sulky. Now, she merely smiled and shook her head before reluctantly getting out of bed and joining in the fun.
"So, it looks like someone had a good night's sleep last night," Laura said, noticing that the bed directly in the middle no longer had the deep blue curtains closed and that its occupant had added her voice to the harmony of the other girls'.
"Yes," was all Cho said before turning to the dresser beside her bed to take out her uniform.
"So," June, Laura's friend started, "what happened to Michael?"
Laura and a few other girls shot June looks that clearly said, "You are absolutely tactless."
"What?" said Cho, startled at the sudden question.
"What June meant to say was, 'Why aren't you dating Michael anymore?' " Laura said, trying to cover up for her friend's mistake.
"Oh." Cho said, before going back to rummaging through the top drawer of her dresser. She pulled out a pair of socks and said, "He-" and stopped again as she sensed every single person in the room, not moving at all and drinking in every word that escaped her lips, hungry for facts to back up the rumors they had heard. "They have no lives, do they?" Cho thought, extremely amused.
"Well," she started again, still aware of the intensity with which she was being watched and listened to, "he wrote me a short letter the other day,"
She had changed into her uniform and was sitting on her bed, now occupied with putting on her socks.
"And?" said Marietta eagerly.
"And it said- oh wait. Where are my shoes?" she said, intentionally delaying her response to torture her listeners. She got down on her knees and looked under her bed, knowing very well that she had left her shoes elsewhere.
Never before had she found her shoes so quickly. The words were barely out of her mouth when all of the girls whisked around, searching frantically as if for their lives before one girl cried out triumphantly and handed the shoes to Cho, and all settled down once again, gathered in one large group around her bed now. She was comically reminded of being ambushed, for some reason.
"Go on," June said.
"Now, where was I? Oh yes, so he wrote me a note and it said- wait a minute, this isn't my shoe," she said, holding up the shoe that wasn't hers.
Everyone groaned audibly before rushing around again to find the right shoe. After this had been accomplished, they crowded even more closely around her (if that was even possible) and begged her with their eyes to continue.
"Ah yes. Thank you girls," was all she said before slipping on the other shoe and picking up her brush from the top of her dresser and starting to brush her hair.
She pretended not to notice as they all continued to stare at her until someone in the back cleared her throat and she was forced to go on with her story.
"Oh!" she said, feigning surprise. "I'm sorry, were you all waiting for me?"
"Just get on with it," Laura said impatiently, looking like a child eagerly anticipating Christmas day, but close to fainting from how far away it seemed.
"Anyway," she started calmly, "so I was just sitting up here, catching up on some of my homework and his owl tapped on the window and gave me a letter from him. Naturally, I opened it, read it, so on and so forth, and it turns out that he was breaking up with me."
Several faces softened in sympathy, while others darkened in anger towards him. Nobody spoke, and she gratefully took in the sympathy she was receiving by smiling and trying to keep her voice cheerful as if to say, "I'm all right,"
"So how did Ron come about?" asked someone eagerly as the sad moment passed.
"Well-" Cho started again, panicking as she strained to think of something logical and believable to say. Thankfully, she was saved at that moment when Joan, the Quidditch captain had remembered that she had wanted to prove that she was ready to play for the team again, thus the knocking on the door.
"Sorry to ruin your fun girls," she said, taking Cho by the wrist as soon as she was let into the room, "but I need to talk to my star player about this Saturday,"
Everyone, excluding Cho, groaned again and they unwillingly let her go.
As soon as the door closed behind them, however, the conversation went on, for what had been said there was more than enough to go on with as a topic for gossip.
"Well, that's half the story, but what's the rest?" said June, still looking dissatisfied.
"Be thankful you heard anything," another girl said, "just a few hours ago you were so desperate, you would've given everything you own just to hear something about it straight from her mouth,"
"That's true," Laura said, "but you can't help but feel like you'd feel better if you had all the facts,"
Everyone murmured their agreement before returning to their morning preparations.
"Meet me at the field at 5:00 after you've finished all your classes and had some time to work on your homework, all right?" Joan said.
Cho nodded. "All right, 5:00 it is,"
"Good. Be on time!" she said before saying, "C'mon, I'll walk you to breakfast,"
"Um…" Cho started. "I'm sort of supposed to meet someone outside the dining hall,"
"Ah, say no more," she replied, walking away briskly.
Cho gave a sigh of relief and followed her down the stairs, not stopping until she had gotten to the Great Hall and seen the red hair that stood out in the crowd of oncoming Gryffindors heading to breakfast.
"Had a good night's rest?" she asked sweetly, weaving her fingers into his and standing on her tiptoes to drop a kiss on his nose as soon as he came up to her and she saw Michael out of the corner of her eye.
Ron saw him as well, and replied loud enough for him to hear, "No, I stayed up all night thinking about you,"
Cho's face couldn't be seen by him, but it made his blood boil all the same to see her lean her forehead against Ron's and murmur something in a sentimental tone.
Making a noise of disgust, he walked past them as quickly as he could, trying and failing to ignore them and the gossip that accompanied them.
"Good one," Cho said as soon as he was out of earshot.
"Thanks, you too," Ron said, smirking.
"He looks so adorable when he does that…" she thought dreamily before realizing what she had just thought and slapping herself mentally.
"Here they come," Hermione muttered to Harry as she spotted them.
He shrugged and said, "I thought you didn't care."
"I don't," she said, although her eyes were still glued on the two of them. Struck with a fit of jealousy, she was suddenly filled with a longing to make Ron feel the same unpleasant emotions that she was, and desperately said, "Harry,"
He turned his head and she kissed him just as the two of them walked by, causing another stir amongst the students. Ron's lips tightened and his ears turned red, causing Cho to whisper out of the corner of her mouth, "Ignore them,"
This cleared his head for more rational thought and he turned his head the other way, as he had been ordered to and concentrated instead on her. Today he gave her a kiss on the cheek instead of the other way around and he sat down more hesitantly than he had ever done before. By now, Harry and Hermione had finished their rushed kiss and were now calmly eating their breakfast, pretending that nothing was going on.
Their serene and fake obliviousness to the entire situation drove him out of his wits; thankfully, he managed to hide his emotions with very convincing and differing actions and words, keeping the plan in mind and making sure that he stayed by his resolution.
After breakfast, he rose quickly to make sure that he caught Cho before she headed to her first class so that he could walk with her. She smiled as she saw him rushing towards her and took his hand as soon as he was close enough, leading him back to the Ravenclaw dormitories.
"Where are we going?" he asked, confused. "The Transfiguration classroom is in the other direction,"
"I know," she said, laughing, "but I need to get my textbook for that class; Joan dragged me out of the room before I could get it. Wait here," she added when they had gotten to the entrance to the common room.
She muttered the password, making sure that Ron didn't hear it and dashed inside, and came back out two minutes later just as quickly as she had entered.
"Wow, that was quick," Ron said, amazed that she could have retrieved it at that speed.
"Yeah," she said, blushing slightly. "I keep my things organized and neat so that I can find them whenever I need to. You should see my desk at home though… it's so cluttered and piled up with all sorts of rubbish, my mum's started to threaten me about clearing it out," she said, laughing lightly.
"Mm…" Ron said, smiling. "I'm just messy through and through,"
"We'd best be going now," she said, putting her book away in her bag and taking his hand again, leading him down the hallway back the way they had come. He nodded and started walking faster to catch up with her, which was actually quite a challenge since she walked rather speedily. Once he had seen her off in the front of the classroom and she gave him a hug and yet another smile, he walked towards his own class, his hands in his pockets.
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Ron saw to it that day that he was on time to walk Cho to each one of her classes as soon as he had been dismissed from his own and somehow managed to be punctual for each one of his lessons as well as hers; he supposed it was due to the pace they always walked at, which was fast enough to make everyone else's heads spin.
The gossip, if possible, increased as word spread that he was now walking her to her classes, a privilege Michael hadn't been allowed until the beginning of the school year that Ron was enjoying after dating her for only twenty-four hours. Michael was seen off to the side, constantly sulking, but apparently content to keep his mouth shut, for when Cho was at her best, she was more likely to win in a battle of wits and tongue, especially against him, who always seemed to fall into her literal wording traps when he was angry… which he easily was.
Ron's friendship with Hermione and Harry, however, was one thing that he felt that he had to do without, for a tangled web of lies and deceit that had been woven had disrupted it. That, he had decided, wasn't the type of thing that true friends would do, so, as he sat in the common room across from the two of them, he avoided any conversation or eye contact with them, trying to fool himself into thinking that they weren't even present. This having failed, he decided that a walk would do him some good as soon as he saw Hermione lean in towards Harry again and, feeling slightly nauseous, he headed towards the library, which was usually Hermione's refuge, but for now was his.
He walked past row after row of dusty volumes, trying his best to restrain his mind from unearthing and unpleasant memories from the last time he had been in there. He chose a lengthy book entitled Uncommon Quidditch Strategies and sat down at the nearest table, amusedly imagining scenarios for the game on Saturday in which he would find chances to use these strange, yet still legal tactics and in doing so, finally gave himself at least an hour of peace of mind.
Meanwhile, Cho was making good progress in a different matter.
"Very good Cho, I can see that you've really had time to clear your head and work everything out," Joan praised, obviously pleased with her progress.
"Thanks," Cho said, a bit out of breath, due to lack of proper exercise for the last few weeks and being unused to such strenuous physical activity. Joan had run her through the usual warm-ups before releasing the snitch to let her show off her abilities while she herself stood on the ground with a timer.
Joan had seemingly come out of nowhere, transferring from the United States, supposedly stealing what everyone thought should have been Cho's: the position of captain. That is… until they had seen her play for the first time. It seems that she was heaven-sent and the Ravenclaws were now sure that they had a good chance, for once, of winning the Quidditch Cup. Cho had agreed as well that Joan was an exceptional player and deserved the position more than she had, and besides that, she was more than just their Quidditch captain; she was a leader, she was the one to go to for help, and most importantly, she was the team's friend. She was able to laugh and joke with the rest of them, but she was also serious and expected the team to work to their best ability. Playtime was after practice and violators of these rather loose regulations, considering what they'd had before, suffered the great consequences. What were the penalties? And who were the first offenders? That only the imagination can explain…
"This is wonderful! You're definitely playing in the game Saturday," she said firmly after Cho had made a particularly splendid capture in record time for the fifth time in a row. "We need you… I'm not sure that Lovegood girl would've made a very good seeker anyway. She was always busy either staring off into space during practice when we were in the air, or she was reading the Quibbler while I was showing the strategies that we'd be using for the games, explaining what to practice, you know."
"I'm just glad I'm going to be able to play in a game again." Cho said, now panting heavily, but steadily catching her breath again. "I was afraid to come to the last one, and I knew we had lost by the looks on everyone's faces."
Joan's face darkened slightly. "It was Luna; she can be an okay person to hang around every now and then, but she really isn't suited to play Quidditch,"
"What exactly happened?"
Joan groaned and said, "Never mind about that, we need to train you up for the game. We changed a few of the techniques we're going to use, including one for the seeker, so I'd like to run through that with you,"
"All right," Cho agreed, still ecstatic with her success.
That night Cho underwent vigorous training, probably the most challenging she had ever undergone before, but afterwards she felt that it had been worth it; it was lucky that the weather was no longer summery, with soft breezes and comfortable temperatures as opposed to high temperatures and humidity. After a quick shower, Joan walked her up to the castle, chatting genially before finally getting to the subject that she had been most anxious to discuss.
Before Cho could open the oak doors, Joan stopped her and said, "Cho, I want to ask you to do me a favor,"
"Sure, what?" she said, wondering what kind of favor she needed to do.
"Ron Weasley… is your… boyfriend now, right?"
"Yeah…" she said slowly.
"Well, you know, he is on the Gryffindor team and we're playing against Gryffindor this weekend and… well… I would appreciate it if you didn't say anything to him about our plans or anything."
"What?!" she said, surprised. "What makes you think I would tell him anything about our tactics?"
"Oh, you know, girls, particularly pretty, easily persuaded ones who have boyfriends, are subject to fall into traps like that,"
"Don't worry Joan, you can trust me, I promise."
"Do you swear?"
"I swear upon my honor as a Ravenclaw and a witch."
"Good. Well, what are you waiting for?" she said. "I'm starving! I wonder what's for dinner…"
They both laughed, and walked in together, feeling light-hearted and happy.
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Cho-
Thanks for giving me your schedule; it was brilliant to see the impact we had on everyone, especially Michael. Hermione, I'm not so sure… she's "officially" dating Harry now, as you probably noticed this morning, and I can't help but think that she might be on to our plans. Anyway, how did your meeting with Joan go over? Are you playing in the game on Saturday? And if you are, may I say that I do believe that Gryffindor shall prevail over Ravenclaw… just kidding. Write back soon.
-Ron
Cho smiled. She supposed the letters from Ron were going to become a sort of daily ritual now, although she wasn't particularly surprised when she saw Pig tapping at her window again. In fact, she had almost been longing to see the small owl again, if only to bring a mere scrap of parchment with a few words scribbled on it. She opened the middle drawer in her desk and took out a fresh piece of paper and began to write.
Ron-I wouldn't be surprised if Hermione doesn't know exactly what we're up to; she's the clever type who can read all sorts of small hints. On that matter, make sure that no one gets their hands on these letters that we're sending back and forth to each other. Even if she already knows, we can't take the chance of letting everyone else know about it. On a lighter note, my meeting did go well and I'm pleased to say that I'm playing Saturday after all, and if you're not careful, we'll snatch a victory from under your noses!
-Cho
Having finished her letter, she tied it onto Pig's leg before releasing him back outside again to deliver her reply. She had changed into her pajamas and now crossed the room to her bed; she needed a full night's rest for the next day.
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A/N: Yes, I know, another insanely short chapter, but I promise the next chapter will be longer!
To LogicalRaven: You know, it's funny, because I thought that since I wrote that chapter in such a rush that it would be the worst one yet, but you thought it was the best one! lol To tell you the truth, I really hate the Hermione/Harry pairing too, which is why it's not going to work out… are the celebration fireworks going off now? But thanks for your sweet compliment about how this story is so well written.
To Wanchu: I know; I just absolutely loved torturing Michael! I'm so evil… anyway, I'm sorry that you can't find any other Cho/Ron stories, but after I finish this one, I'm thinking about doing a sequel, and I might do a couple of songfics with them or something, but I'll definitely keep writing C/R just for your sake, okay?
To toxiclove1: Yes, tension! Anger! REVENGE! Don't ask, I'm on a weird kick…
To hippogriff82: Aw, thanks for such a sweet review! I think the reason why we can't say what we want to say exactly when we want to say it is because we're so flustered, the words just can't seem to come, you know? But it is frustrating and I feel your pain!
To Cho100: It's all right if you've reviewed before, I love hearing from everybody, so review as many times as you want! But I'm so happy you love my story, I was starting to lose self-confidence when I had only gotten like, two reviews for the first chapter and then seeing all these stories with only one chapter and 30 reviews didn't help, so you just made my day by reviewing! And yes, Cho and Ron will start liking each other for real and will be boyfriend/girlfriend eventually.
To lady-centaur101: Thanks, you're awesome!
To glitterfairyxoxo: I think she still hasn't made up her mind yet! lol Thanks for your complimenting review!
Big hugs for everybody!