Chapter 5: Nobody Puts Cho in the Corner

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Never have, never will. If I did, I wouldn't be here, would I?

(A/N: OK, OK, this was on a deadline. Also, the title of this chapter is based upon the Fall Out Boy song title, "Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner." So... yeah... anyways... enjoy!)

Cho awoke to the sounds of owls tapping at the windows and girls brushing their hair. Cho got out of bed and prepared for the first class of the day: Potions. Great, Cho thoughts, this is just great. Time to go get slaughtered by Snape's icy stare.

The day passed by slowly and lazily. By 9:00 PM, Cho had finished all of her homework and was walking the halls by herself, quill and parchment in hand. Cho was scribbling down random bits of poetry. She found herself doing this more and more often; was there something wrong with her? Was there something wrong with loving to write? I find myself writing so much these days, Cho thought to herself as she jotted down some lines. In fact, within a few minutes, she had a whole poem. She stopped in the corridor to read her finished work.

"Pushed Aside"

There's so much that I want to say, to do

Too little time, too few people that care

Nobody pays attention to the young people

All the adults push you aside

I would like to tell you elders: we teenagers have voices, too!

I'm just a seventeen-year-old witch, but I've got a heart and a mind

Just like anybody else

Don't push me aside

Don't push me aside

I'm not a rag doll

I'm a living, breathing girl

I've got eyes and a nose and breasts

I am alive, alive, ALIVE!

I am here in front of you

Nothing more than what you see

And you only see me.

Cho smiled and rolled up the parchment, happy with the results she had gotten. She headed down the hallway, towards the Ravenclaw common room, when a figure suddenly cornered her.

Draco Malfoy, smirking.

Cho's eyes widened when she saw Draco. He pushed her into the corner of the corridor, fingering her jet-black strands of hair. "Cho," Draco purred, "you know that you can't elude me. You can't escape me forever, so don't even try. Submission is the only answer." His words flowed like the sweetest merlot wine, like the kind Cho had had a cup of at last year's holiday gala at home in London and gotten woozy off of. Cho was trapped, being smothered by Draco and his evil eyes. Draco and his slithery, smooth talk.

Draco and his obvious need for attention and affection.

So Cho decided it was time to fight back.

"NOOOOOOO!"

Cho screamed and slashed wildly at Draco's face, her pretty pink nails leaving narrow crimson-colored marks on Draco's cheeks and nose. She pulled his a fistful of his hair out, and spat at him.

Draco fell back onto the marble floor, speechless. He whispered a reply.

"I-I-I don't know what came over me. S-s-sorry, Chang."

And with that, Draco fled the scene, leaving a very distraught Cho to collapse onto the floor, sobbing. It would be morning before Professor McGonagall found her and escorted her back to her common room to clean up and get ready for her classes.

Nobody suspected a thing.

(A/N: Ah, didn't see THAT coming, did you? Well, now that you've read, please review.)