Lovers and Friends

chapter one : just friends

"Don't look now, Cho, but you know who is staring at you…again!" Cindy Reynolds, one of Cho's good friend, squealed at her.

Cho winced as her friends went into a fit of giggles. It's not that she didn't like Harry, but she just didn't really know him all that well. She briefly turned around and gave him a small smile, which shocked him so much that he accidentally dribbled some water down his front.

"He's going to burn a hole right through you if he keeps staring at you like that!" Cindy continued to giggle.

"I dunno. Looks like Cedric Diggory might be the one who burns the hole through Cho first," Justine Jones said as the girls' attention quickly shifted over towards the Hufflepuff table.

"Don't be stupid. He could have been starring at one of you girls, definitely not me," Cho stated as she saw Cedric smirk cockily at her.

"Cho, stop being so damn modest!" Cindy joked as she winked at Cho. "SO! Who would you rather go out with: Cedric or Harry?"

"Harry, of course!" Padma Patil chimed in. "He's waaaay cuter!"

"Erm…" Cho said

"Are you mad? Cedric is so much better than that Potter loser, right Cho?" Marietta said in disgust. Now the girls' gave all their attention to Cho, waiting eagerly for her opinion of which boy was cuter.

"Er…I dunno. Doesn't Cedric seem a bit…Golden Boy-ish?" Cho finally said. Marietta's mouth dropped in defeat as Padma punched the air in triumph.

"I knew you fancied Harry!" Cindy squealed.

"If anyone acts like a Golden Boy, it's Potter! The way he gloats around like he owns the school," Marietta scowled as several girls gasped in disagreement.

"I don't fancy Potter! I don't even know the boy! And I'm sure he does not gloat. As for Cedric, he just seems…too perfect. I mean he can any girl he wants, he has top marks on all his classes, he's a prefect, not to mention Quidditch Captain, and now he's one of Hogwart's Champion for the Triwizard tournament! How can someone be all that and still be a nice guy? Seems kind of fake if you ask me," Cho said exasperatedly.

"Wow, Cho," Cindy smirked. "Looks like someone's been keeping a close eye on Diggory, eh?" The girls all went into another fit of giggles.

"No! Urgh, let's stop talking about boys. Let's talk about Quidditch! Any of you ladies planning on trying out for the team?" Cho said, desperately trying to steer the conversation away from her. This failed as the girls said nothing in reply and stared at her in a odd way.

"Cho, could I have a word with you about…um…Quidditch?" A masculine voice came up from behind her and Cho, thankful for the distraction, gratefully followed Roger Davies out of the Great Hall while her friends giggled harder than ever.

"What'd you want to talk about, Captain?" Cho said cheerfully.

"Heh…" Roger laughed nervously as he started to fiddle with the sleeves of his robes. "It's just…you've been a really great friend to me for the last couple of years…and you know friendships…when they become as close as we have…the friendships usually blossoms into something….more…"

Cho's face tightened as she realized what Roger was going on about.

Oh no! He's going to ask me to be his girlfriend! I can't do that! He's like my older brother. How am I going to escape this one? She thought

"…and so I was wondering…if maybe you'd…if you'd—" But Roger was cut off by another masculine voice.

"Cho! Roger! So nice to bump into you two," Cedric Diggory said gladly as he stepped into their conversation.

Cho gave Cedric a confused look as Cedric threw her a reassuring look as if knowing that she needed to be saved.

"Diggory," Roger said, annoyed. "We're kind of in the middle of something here."

"Ahh…yes, I see that but Madame Pince has just informed me that Cho has checked out a book of hers and in 10 minutes, it will be branded as late if Miss Chang doesn't return it right away or the consequences will be severe," Cedric finished with a dramatic tone.

"Um…" Roger stared at Cho for confirmation. Cho was still in awe at Cedric's clever lie until Cedric nudged at her side, hinting that she should say something.

"Uh…yeah…it must have completely slipped my mind," Cho said finally. "I should be going before Madame Pince gives me detention for a week. Can we talk about this some other time, Roger?"

"Yes, of course," Roger said as he glared at Cedric who smiled innocently at him.

Cho and Cedric headed off the opposite direction of Roger.

"Um…thanks for that…back there…" Cho said awkwardly as Cedric smiled his million dollar smile at her.

"No problem," Cedric replied, cheerfully. "I wouldn't want other blokes to be taking advantage of someone as pretty as you." Cho laughed at his extremely cheesy attempt to hit on her.

"Okay, that might work on some other girl, but keep in mind, I'm a Ravenclaw and I can see through you," Cho said cleverly as Cedric only smiled wider at her.

"Wow, I haven't yet mastered seeing through people. You must teach me how to do that sometime," Cedric joked. "Only joking!"

"You can't fool me with that whole nice boy front, you know. No one can be that perfect," Cho said as they reached the entrance of the Ravenclaw common room.

"So you think I'm perfect?" Cedric grinned as Cho rolled her eyes at him.

"Okay, I'm going to go now," Cho said as she turned to leave but Cedric quickly blocked her path.

"Okay, Cho. All jokes aside," Cedric started and Cho looked at him quizzically. "I just want to be your friend. Honest!"

Cho raised an eyebrow at him. "Just friends?" Cedric nodded at her. "I'll be keeping a close eye on your Mr. Diggory. Don't try anything funny." Cho smiled as she made her way through the door. Cedric skipped all the way back down to the Great Hall.

A/N: My first attempt on a Cho/Cedric story. I thought Cedric was just absolutely adorable in the Goblet of Fire and had to write something about him. x) I hope you guys like it. If not, I'll probably discontinue it. Reviews are appreciated x)

disclaimer: i don't own any harry potter stuff