"Are you sure?"
"Mm, yes. I'm just not comfortable with everyone always surrounding me and not letting me eat a single meal in peace."
"And you've brought me along because…?"
She shrugged. "I needed the conversation and, to be truthful, I'm a bit tired of hearing Marietta's voice."
"If you're doing this to get away from everyone, why would you need any conversation?"
"Because I just do."
"People will say things, you know."
"Well, at least it's not the Astronomy Tower. Then they'd really have something to discuss." Cho said, walking up the staircase towards the tapestry. "Besides, the Room of Requirement is the last place they'll expect us to be."
Ron gave her a skeptical look, to which she answered with an exasperated glance at the ceiling, "All right then, about the second place they'd look for us. You have to admit, though, it's the ideal hiding spot."
"Can't quite argue there," he said, keeping close behind her.
"Ready?" she asked as they both reached the tapestry. They deliberately walked past it three times and pulled back the drapery to reveal a door; he opened it and motioned for her to enter first, which she did gratefully, while he followed behind her, closing the door behind him.
A medium-sized table with chairs stood alone in the middle of the room, a few platters of food resting on it, as well as silverware, two cups, and two golden plates, a set of windows lighting the room, bright beams of sunlight shining in through the clean glass. She walked towards the table, slightly in awe and sat down in the chair nearest to her and began filling her plate, Ron doing the same.
"So," she said, ladling some soup into her bowl, "how were your morning classes?"
"Horrible," he said simply, making a face.
"Would you care to share why?" she asked, an amused twinkle in her eye.
"Well, first I had double Potions with the Slytherins," he began, taking a bite out of the bread roll he had just picked up and Cho making a face in return at the word "Slytherin."
"I would classify that as a bad start to the day," she said, pouring pumpkin juice from the pitcher into her cup.
"And Snape was in a terrible mood, so, when I stirred my potion to the right one time too many, it all went downhill from there. How was your day?"
"It could've been better, I'll admit, but it was bearable. I've still got to catch up to the rest of the class, though. I'm seriously considering private lessons at this point."
"That would be too much for me… the regular class times are just barely within my tolerance," he said.
"Well, I don't really have a choice, do I? I need to be on top of things if I expect to graduate from Hogwarts this year with the rest of my classmates. Plus, you have my parents to consider, who still live under the delusion that I'll actually graduate as valedictorian." She replied, shaking her head slightly.
"Why not? You're in Ravenclaw, aren't you?"
"Yes, but that doesn't mean I'll be the best of the best."
"You've still got time," he reminded her.
"True. It might mean that I'll have to cut down on my leisure time, though."
"Not necessarily. You'd just have to study harder with the time you've got."
"I doubt that would help very much." She said hesitantly, frowning a little.
"Then you'll have to make the most of what spare time you have for pleasure," he said, shrugging. "Do Hogsmeade weekends count?" he asked innocently, as if he didn't know.
"Of course they do, don't be silly," she said, smiling again. "By the way, when is the next one? I've been meaning to go look on the announcement bulletin board in the Ravenclaw common room, but I haven't gotten a chance yet."
"Let's see, there's one… this weekend, I believe." He said, squinting his eyes a bit as a sign of some quick, but hard, thinking.
"I… don't suppose you're doing anything, are you?" she asked after a moment's pause.
"No… are you?"
"No… why don't we—" She paused uncertainly.
"Go… together?" he finished.
"Yes, if it's all right with you. We can do our Christmas shopping."
"Sounds like an excellent idea to me."
"Good, good." She said, letting out a small sigh of relief as his eyes traveled back to his own plate. "Meet me at the gates, say… 10:00? In the morning, of course," she added.
"Ten works for me." He replied, struggling to keep his voice steady as his heart sped up a few beats in excitement.
She nodded and continued to eat, letting the conversation come to a halt as they both ate, each, in slight panic, wracking their brains for something interesting to say to keep the discussion going.
"So," began Cho slowly, "have you thought of anything to buy your friends and family yet?"
"Not really. I usually just browse around in shops until I find something for everyone."
"Really? I actually find that I can't work that way, being an extremely organized person. My procedure is to write out a list to give me a general idea of what to look for when I'm shopping and then I see if I can find everything on that list."
"And if you can't…?" he asked, looking curious.
"I try to find something else that'll do just as well."
"We should leave now, if we don't want to be late for class," said Ron suddenly after taking a casual look at his watch.
"Oh, so soon?" she said in surprise, looking at her watch as well and then beginning to gather together her belongings.
"Well, I enjoyed our conversation and the lunch. Thanks for keeping me company," she said as soon as they were out in the hallway again.
"It was nothing," he said modestly.
"I guess I'll see you at dinner then?"
"Definitely."
"'Bye," she said, giving him a quick hug and walking away, already absorbed in her own thoughts about her next class.
"'Bye," he called after her, turning in the opposite direction, book bag on his shoulder and hands in his pockets, to go to class as well.
************************
Cho clutched her thick cloak tightly around herself, trying to keep warm in the nearly freezing temperature characteristic of the Hogwarts grounds in the middle of December. She let out a breath, causing a puff of steam to float up into the air, before pulling back her woolen sleeve a bit in order to see her watch. 9:55, it read. It was still early. Five minutes more and, hopefully, Ron would be there, ready to go. In the meantime, she was forced to sway from side to side and bounce up and down slightly to keep herself warm. She was most definitely more than ready for the spring to come, bringing flowers and warmer weather; it was only last night that a considerable amount of snow had fallen on the ground and it was now the cause of her agony, making the very air around her seem as though she was breathing in small knives as sharp stabs of air pricked the inside of her nose.
She had barely dodged Marietta's usual onslaught of questions as she noticed her getting dressed in warm clothing, keeping her fingers crossed and hoping that her friend wouldn't latch herself onto her for the rest of the day, not comprehending the small hints slipped to her. Thankfully, she had entirely too much homework built up over the past week to bother with going out, and so, reluctantly, Cho had been released from her clutches.
"Perfect," she thought sarcastically as it began to snow again, distracting her other thoughts. "Just what I need. More bloody snow…"
Normally, she would've loved the fact that it had just begun to snow, and that she had the opportunity to stand outside in it as it fell to the ground, but under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have already been outside for ten minutes, the wind mercilessly blowing all around and stinging her face, numbing her fingers and toes.
She took another look at her watch; only about a minute and a half had passed since the last time since she had checked it. She gave a long sigh, irritated at how peculiar time was, playing games with her and speeding up when she wanted it to slow down, and slowing down when she wanted it to speed up. Each second seemed to drag by heavily, the flow of time slowed by her growing impatience and wishes for it to speed up for her own benefit. Another glance showed that the hands on her watch had made still little progress and her eyes wandered around, looking for somewhere to sit while she waited. A bench underneath a large tree near the gates caught her attention and she immediately began to make her way towards it, looking with a bit of disappointment at the bare limbs of the tree, seeing that it couldn't really offer her any real protection from the bitter cold. It would have to do. She finally reached it after trudging through the snow and sat down, the cold stone managing to penetrate through the thick layers of clothing she was wearing, much to her discomfort. Staring down at her gloved hands, she began to think of what Christmas gifts to buy, and who to buy them for. Which reminded her…
Should she buy one for Ron? They were friends, of course, but wouldn't it be awkward if he got her something and she had nothing in return? Then again, it would be just as uncomfortable if she had gotten him something and he hadn't gotten anything for her. She should probably get him something, just in case… in that case, what would she get him? What were his interests…? Music? Didn't quite seem like it. Clothing? He could probably care less. Sports? Quidditch… his favorite team was the Chudley Cannons, if she recalled it correctly. Perfect.
The sound of snow crunching underneath a pair of shoes approached her at a steady pace, and she looked up to see Ron, looking a bit surprised and confused at the same time.
"You're a bit early," he said simply.
"I didn't really have anything else to do, so I just came and sat out here," she said, shrugging her stiff shoulders.
"Is something wrong?"
"No," she said, beginning to be a bit perplexed herself. "Why?"
"You just looked a little… upset, that's all."
"Well, I've been told by my friends that I look as though I'm upset when I'm actually just thinking, although I can't see why I would."
"Oh," he said. "Shall we go?" he added, holding out a hand to help her up. She nodded, taking it and helping herself stand up, with some difficulty, and they both walked through the gates towards the snow-covered village.
"How long have you been waiting?" he asked after a minute or so of silence as they walked.
"Not long. Only about fifteen minutes or so," she said, trying to sound as though she wasn't freezing to death, her teeth beginning to chatter and her body starting to shake and shiver as well.
He took note of this and nonchalantly said, "You must be freezing, out in this weather."
"I'll be fine," she said persistently, waving it away, although silently begging him to suggest going inside the inn to warm up and get a drink.
"Even if you're not cold, I am, so why don't we go to the Three Broomsticks Inn to buy a few butterbeers and warm up?" he suggested, starting to worry as he saw that her lips had turned a shade of light purple.
"I'm all right with it, if you really want to do that," she said, a faint hint of relief in her voice. He smiled, his hand involuntarily finding it way and clasping hers as they made their way towards the pub, sending a momentary rush of excitement through her body and the cheerful scenery they saw from the windows beckoning them to keep coming closer. A small bell tinkled softly as the door opened, small flurries of snow rushing in after them and bringing a cold gust of wind hat made everyone near the door shiver.
"The door keeps opening," a witch sitting at the bar muttered in complaint to herself, rubbing her arms to warm them up again.
"I'll go save a booth. Could you buy the butterbeers?" said Cho. Ron nodded and she handed him a few coins to pay for her drink before making her way towards the nearest empty seats while he simply walked forward towards the bar counter.
"Hello dear, what'll you have today?" asked Madame Rosmerta kindly, leaning one elbow on the counter and putting her other hand on her hip.
"I'll have two butterbeers," he said, giving her the money.
"Give me a moment and I'll be right back," she said, giving a nod and walking away.
Cho sat at the table, head propped on her hands, elbows on the tabletop, watching through the window beside it as snow continued to fall down, but heavier than when she had been waiting for Ron. Absent-mindedly, she took a hand away from her face and began to tap her fingers on the smooth surface of the table, listening to each nail make a small clacking noise, still looking out the window. She barely noticed the snow after a while, beginning to lose herself in her thoughts, her eyes idly following passersby every now and then.
"There's Ginny and Ernie Macmillan," she thought to herself as the younger girl's red hair caught her eye in the crowd.
"There goes Neville Longbottom, with Harry and Hermione behind him." She thought again, before her eyes shot open wide in shock and panic.
"Harry and Hermione…"
The words repeated themselves over and over again in her mind, her heart's rate increasing as the door to the inn opened with another small ding and she felt a bit of wind blow on her back, bumps raising on her neck, but not from the cold…
"Hermione, you wouldn't mind getting the drinks for us, would you?" asked an all-too-familiar voice.
Almost moaning, she slid down in her seat and turned her head to the side as Harry and Neville brushed past her booth, not noticing her, being busily engaged in their own conversation and keeping their eyes facing directly on the path they had mentally marked in front of them. Ron walked over moments later, looking a bit white, his lips firmly pressed together; evidently, he knew.
"Did you see—" he half-whispered, half-said.
She nodded slowly before he could finish his sentence and he leaned back in his seat, letting out a long sigh, his face gaining a greenish tinge.
"What should we do?" she said in a low voice as he pushed a butterbeer across the table to her.
"I don't know," he said quietly, opening his drink and, instead of taking a sip from it, beginning to fiddle with its bottle cap nervously.
"Maybe—we should ignore them?" replied Cho, twisting a dark wisp of hair around her finger.
"Probably… they didn't see us just now, so hopefully, they won't see us at all, right?" he said hopefully.
"Right," she said, calming herself.
"Harry, you're a Sickle short—" they heard Hermione say.
"Well, come here, then, and I'll give you one," he replied from somewhere behind Ron.
As her footsteps neared, Cho began slumping down in her seat again, facing towards the window again to complete her form of camouflage; Ron chose to finally take a sip from his butterbeer as she walked by, hoping she wouldn't recognize him. The two of them let out a sigh of relief as she walked past them without a single pause and tensed again as she approached their booth again. She wasn't stopping. Her footsteps were light, happy, and most importantly, steady. She was halfway past their table… when she stopped.
"Ron?" she asked tentatively.
He gulped hard and looked up at her, forcing a fake grin onto his face.
"And… Cho?" she said, looking towards her, who was still staring out the window fixedly.
"What? Oh! Hello, Hermione," she said naturally, looking almost genuinely pleased to be talking with her, if her hands, which had balled into fists, the knuckles turning white, hadn't given her away. She caught Ron staring at them and quickly put them in her lap, widening her eyes slightly for a moment as a signal to him.
He caught it, and, clearing his throat, managed to choke out, "Hello."
"Well, it's… nice to see the two of you here," Hermione said, smiling uncertainly.
"And you," Cho said, nodding. "So, are you here to do some Christmas shopping as well?"
"Yes," she said. "I still haven't started buying anything for anybody yet, though. I suppose I should hurry."
"We haven't bought anything either. We got a late start this morning, actually. I believe we're going to begin after we finish our drinks." She said, raising a hand to spin another tendril of hair around a finger habitually.
"Right," said Ron hoarsely.
"That's nice…" Hermione said, still looking a bit uneasy.
A long pause occurred then, none of them finding anything else to say. Ron began to fidget fretfully with the bottle cap again, and Cho's smile became less and less earnest seeming, bit by bit, while Hermione stood there, with Harry's Sickle still clutched loosely in her hand.
"I suppose I should—not that I don't want to talk to you two or anything, but—Harry's waiting for his butterbeer," she said, motioning awkwardly towards the bar with the clenched hand.
"We understand," said Cho, her smile becoming wide again, and more sparkly and happy than ever.
"Well, I'll see you around then." She said. "'Bye."
Cho waved and gave Ron a look, who automatically raised his hand and gave a short wave before abruptly setting it down again to play with the cap. As her footsteps faded away, the smile slid off of Cho's face and was replaced by a less gracious expression, before changing to a look of worry as she whispered, "Are you all right?" to Ron.
He swallowed, still not quenching his dry throat, rendering him unable to speak. Lifting the bottle, he took a large gulp of the drink and forced it down, before finally saying slowly, "That was… interesting."
She nodded in agreement, and they had both emptied their drinks before anyone spoke again, although they had drunk rather quickly.
"Want to leave now?" she asked, pushing aside her bottle.
"Definitely," said Ron, sounding relieved as he stood up and followed her out the door, pulling up the collar of his cloak to cover his neck as they braved the intense winter weather. She pulled her own cloak closer to herself than ever, trying her best to fight the wind with what little body mass she had.
"Why don't we go in there?" she yelled over the roaring wind, which was whistling in their ears and freezing them from head to toe.
He looked towards Honeydukes, the store she had pointed at, and yelled back, "All right," before making his way towards the store.
Sighing in relief as they entered the warm store, they loosened their grips on their coats and even ventured to take them off and drape them over their arms.
"I think I'll need another butterbeer before the day's over," he said, smiling.
"That's a guarantee," she said, smiling back.
The candy store, always full to bursting with candy, had taken to a more festive theme for the holidays, with specialties that were only found during that certain time of year. Delicacies such as miniature ornaments made of pure sugar and found in all the colors of the rainbow that melted in the mouth, rock candy made to imitate icicles, with the same frozen feeling as they were eaten, but with a burst of sugary flavor, and, of course, the traditional mint red and white candy canes, occasionally with an added green stripe, with a twist—after finishing only one of these treats, the eater's tongue would be turned striped for at least half an hour, and the flavor faded about an hour later—became commonplace. Still, the sight of all these lavishly stocked treats never failed to awe and amaze the students of Hogwarts, in addition to causing many a sweet tooth to be more than satisfied.
"It's amazing how creative candy makers have gotten over the past few years," said Cho, sampling an ornament.
"I personally wouldn't mind going into the business myself," replied Ron, helping himself to a piece of especially rich toffee from a sample tray.
"It would be an interesting profession, wouldn't it?" she said, thoughtfully chewing on the remainders of the sugar ornament. As he turned his back, she slipped the cashier a few coins, winking, before grabbing a bag of the very same toffees that Ron couldn't seem to keep his hands out of and hiding it in her purse before pulling on her cloak.
The saleswoman winked in return and said merrily, "Good luck with your shopping!" as Cho pulled Ron out of the store, only giving him enough time to slip his coat on, afraid he would finish off the candy before anyone else could sample a piece. He gave a moan of protest and she smiled, saying, "We'll go back later."
Pouting slightly, he nodded slowly in agreement before following her towards the trinket shop. Suddenly struck with an idea, he said quickly, "Cho, why don't we go our separate way for now, and then meet at the Three Broomsticks Inn at, say, 3:00 this afternoon?"
"What time is it?" she asked, hiding her suspicion. He was up to something… there was no mistake about it.
"About twelve," he said casually.
"All right, three o'clock it is," she said, turning to walk in the other direction.
"I wonder if I can do this…" Ron thought to himself, letting out a long breath and making his way towards the jewelry shop.
************************
"Are you sure you bought enough?" Ron complained as she loaded him down with bag after bag and box after box to free her hands and allow her to use them to take off her cloak.
"You do know you can set them down on your seat, right?" she asked, watching him struggle with her purchases and his own with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I… just hadn't exactly thought of that option yet."
"Of course." She said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked apprehensively.
"Nothing," she replied quickly, taking off her cloak and then relieving Ron of her purchases.
"So," she began in a low voice, "did you decide to buy Hermione and Harry anything?"
"I thought I ought to, just in case they got me something. After all, I'm only treating them the way they treat me."
"Do you think I should still consider sending Harry that Howler?" she said, grinning evilly.
"It all depends, really," he replied, shrugging. "You'd probably regret it if he got you something nice and then you'd sent him this really nasty Howler in return."
"True, true… but since when would he be giving me a gift for Christmas? We didn't even exchange presents during the short while we were going out last year." She said, absent-mindedly fiddling with the straw for her butterbeer.
He shrugged again.
"I'm just saying, theoretically, wouldn't you feel guilty if that happened?"
"Of course I would, but the temptation is very hard to resist."
"You should exercise the same sort of restraint on yourself as I am," he said smirking. "I've been very tempted to send Hermione something for Christmas that will explode in her face or something similar, but I've decided to do that only if she's done the same to me. In the meantime, I got her a charm bracelet with a book charm on it."
"Ingenious, very ingenious," she said, smiling and raising her bottle to clink it to his in a toast. "I'll just have to plan something special for Harry. Besides, we've got our little plan, and it's almost foolproof, human psychology playing into it and everything."
"And congratulations on your excellent plotting," he said, giving a nod.
"Thank you," she said gratefully, taking a sip of her drink.
"Now, if we have a smooth course the rest of the way, we'll do just fine," he said thoughtfully.
"Don't worry. I think we will," she said, smiling and sending a jolt down his spine.
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A/N: All right, this is a lot speedier than the past two chapters or so, and I hope you've enjoyed it! And, about the question I asked earlier… well, I got so many mixed answers, I'm confused as to whom to choose! However, after careful deduction and a lot of asking around for this story, as well as with my other story, Dear Harry, I've narrowed it down to either Marietta or Pansy. Pick one and get back to me about it! Here are my replies to your reviews:
To LogicalRaven: Yep, you are definitely one of my most faithful reviewer/reader! You bet Harry's in for it… wow, I never thought I'd be excited about torturing Harry, did you? :-) Stay awesome!
To centaur219: Mwahahahaha! And the evil cliffhanger strikes again! Anyway, thanks, I think I'm an all right author, but you really made my day all the same!
To shortywithbrains: See, that's what's so strange. I'm Asian too, and so is my cousin. Weird, isn't it?
To Magic Crystal Rose: Nice name, by the way. You know, I'm glad I haven't really read any Cho-bashing fics yet, because they must be really cruel, by the way you describe them. Anyway, I'm glad you like the story, and I hope you keep reading/reviewing!
To Siriusly Serious: It's all right; I'm usually overly eager in my reviews as well. :-) I personally think that it's all the more flattering… Now, as for Malfoy not being in the picture at all as of now, I have given that a bit of thought, and my theory is that when you've hit rock bottom, he's always there to hand you a sledgehammer, you know? So, when it hits a really depressing part in this story, he'll come along to make things sink even lower. Don't worry. Plus, I'm in the process of pre-writing a Hermione/Draco fic that I'll hopefully put on ff.net after I finish it. Whenever that is… oh, and thanks for answering my little poll question!
To Sheen Rox: I agree; Cho does seem to need to sort herself out… anyway, thanks for answering the question! Oh, and did you watch that Valentine's Day Jimmy Neutron special? It was hilarious!
To glitterfairxoxo: Ah, yes, their plan. Keep pondering!
To ChoChang100: Thanks for answering the question; I'll take your answers into serious consideration… anyway, on a less professional note, that's an interesting idea you have there. Hmm… if I come up with something, I'll tell you about it, 'kay? :-)
To fairy-lights1: You know, I usually leave the Ron-worshipping to one of my best friends, but I think I'm beginning to like him more and more with this story! And yes, I am evil. Cliffhangers are evil, too… :-). Thanks for your answer to my question!