Lovers and Friends
chapter two : hormonal teenage wizard
Cho Chang was silently flipping through the pages of her Advanced Transfiguration book when an eerie feeling at the pit of her stomach told her that she was not the only one in the library late after curfew. Frowning, she glanced over her right shoulder, pausing and listening hard for any indication of another human being, ghost, or creature.
"What are you looking at?" came a deep voice, completely shattering the utter silence of the vacated library.
Cho instinctively whirled around her chair, wand at the ready, and was prepared to hex the person or thing in front of her to Jupiter.
"Whoa there…I promise you I don't bite," Cedric Diggory assured her with his hands up in the air as if he were surrendering to her. Cho let out a long breathe of relief as her heart started beating at normal speed again and the Goosebumps on her arms started to fade away.
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were stalking me," Cho said suggestively, trying to be angry with him but failed miserably when he smiled his lopsided grin and ran a hand through his golden brown hair.
"I guess I'm not the only egotistical one around here then," Cedric teased as Cho raised an eyebrow to indicate her confusion. "I'm actually out here on Prefects duty." Cedric flashed Cho the small, shiny badge with a large P on it that was pinned neatly on his robes.
Cho's face immediately turned a fair shade of pink. "Oh…um…nevermind…sorry" Cho said awkwardly as she stared down at her thick, worn out book. She immediately looked up when Cedric's mock laughter reached her ears. "I'm so glad that you find my humiliation so amusing …"
"You know I can give you detention for saying that and for staying out waaay over curfew," Cedric threatened but smiled teasingly at her the whole time.
Cho leaned across the table so that she was face to face with Cedric and stared deep into his gray eyes. "Then do it."
Cedric swallowed the large lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. "Well…I…um…I guess…erm…" Cedric suddenly lost all his ability to speak properly and looked away from Cho's manipulating hazel eyes.
"I never knew you were so articulate," Cho giggled as she began to stuff her books back into her leather carrying bag.
"Fine. I'll let you get away with it this time but don't think I'll be so awesomely cool about it next time," Cedric, regaining his capability of speaking, said in a deep, authoritative voice. Cho choked back her laughter and just smiled reassuringly at him.
Cho opened the door of the library and exited quietly, hoping to not to run into another prefect. As she tip toed down the hall, she noticed that Cedric was following her a few feet away. She kept glancing back at him every so often, assuming that he would leave her at the next corner. Realizing that he was probably not going to leave her anytime soon, Cho stopped on her tracks and listened closely. Sure enough, the footsteps behind her had come to a halt as well. Cho did this two more times before turning around and stared questioningly at Cedric Diggory who just smiled innocently back at her.
"Why are you following me? And don't say you're not because I know you are," Cho said.
"I'm just making sure that a fine lady like yourself is returned safely back into her common room," Cedric replied innocently. "You never know what evil is lurking behind these walls." He added as they continued walking.
"Oh how lucky of me to have one of the strong Triwizard Champion to protect me from evil," Cho mocked but quickly refrained from laughing once she glanced at Cedric's suddenly solemn face. "Weird how Harry's name just came out of the goblet…wonder who put it in…"
"Yeah," Cedric said skeptically.
"He's a good guy. I don't think he put his name in," she said after sensing his doubtfulness. Cedric decided to break the seriousness of their conversation and broke out in a chuckle.
"Seems like someone fancies a certain Hogwarts Champion whose name isn't Cedric," he said sardonically.
Cho rolled her hazel eyes at him. "You sound like Cindy," she said as they reached the front of Ravenclaw's common room. "Anyway, thanks for walking, or rather following, me back."
"It was my pleasure," He said. They both stood in silence for a bit until Cho spoke up.
"Cedric?"
"Hmm?" He said in a daze.
"No offense or anything, but I don't want a certain hormonal teenage wizard to be sneaking into the Ravenclaw common room on a count of me accidentally slipping the password at his presence, so could you…leave?" Cho smiled as Cedric laughed.
"Aw…you ruin the fun out of everything," he joked as he began to turn to leave. "Sweet dreams, Cho."
"Sweet dreams, Cedric."
----(---(---
"Ooh! Yes! Mail's finally here! My mum's supposed to be sending me some extra shopping money!" Marietta said eagerly as a swarm of owls corrupted the Great Hall.
"Oh! Look at that owl!" Cindy screeched and pointed at a large, chestnut owl soaring around the Great Hall as if it were more superior than the rest while clinging on to a bouquet of white roses. "It's coming this way!"
All eyes were now tracing this particular owl as it flew gracefully toward the Ravenclaw table.
No! No! Go past me! Don't stop! No! You bloody bird…
"Cho! They're for you!" Padma Patil clarified as if the owl dropping the roses in front of her was not obvious enough.
Cho tried to block out all the 'aw's' and 'ooh's' from the crowd around her as she hastily looked for a signature or card revealing the mysterious sender.
"Looking for this?" Justine smiled wickedly as she held up a white envelope addressed to Cho that she found near the roses. Cho made a horrible attempt to snatch the card away from Justine but failed miserably.
"Justine!" Cho said exasperatedly as she made another attempt at the card.
"Open it!" Cindy cried out as the girls around her giggled and gathered around Justine. Cho cursed the long tables that blocked her path to Justine. The only way she could get to Justine was if she climbed over or under the table or if she ran all the way around it.
"'A dozen times more beautiful than a dozen white roses,'" Justine began in a sing-song voice as Cho started to panic. "'Now can I have the password to the Ravenclaw common room? Love, a hormonal teenage wizard. P.S. Only joking about the last part.' Cho! Who is this hormonal teenage wizard sending you love notes!"
"And what are you doing giving out our password? You little hussie," Cindy teased as the girls began to talk excitedly about the note. Cho watched the girls, horrified at what they would think.
No! What am I going to do? Wait a second…I'm a witch, which means I have a wand, which means I can get my letter back! Duh…
"Accio Letter!" Cho said sternly as the letter flew out of Justine's hands and returned safely into her possession.
"Cho! Tell us who it's from!" The girls eagerly chimed, waiting for an answer. Cho couldn't help but smile as her eyes wandered over the Hufflepuff table at a certain hormonal teenage wizard.
"Oh! Vat eez that boys name!" a heavily French accent interrupted their one way conversation. All their attention was now drawn to the Beauxbaton champion, Fleur Delacour who was grinning seductively over toward the Hufflepuff table.
"Which boy?" Padma asked as she followed Fleur's eyes to the next table over.
"Zat one!" Fleur pointed at the handsome face of Cedric Diggory who was laughing at a joke his friends just told him. "Ee eez so handsome! Ever since ve met at ze Triwizard meeting, I could not stop zeeinking about him."
"And yet you don't remember his name," Cho said bitterly. She suddenly found her accent incredibly annoying and wanted to tell her off for it. Fleur, however, did not catch Cho's sour attitude and continued to gaze dreamily at Cedric.
"That's Cedric Diggory!" Padma answered for her. Fleur's mouth curved seductively as the boys around her all of a sudden began to take more notice of her.
"I vill be right back," Fleur said as she made her way toward the Hufflepuff table, leaving a trail of drooling boys on the way.
Cho was mentally sending daggers at Fleur as she watched her turn on her Veela charm at Cedric. She watched as Fleur flipped her shiny, silvery blonde hair several times. She watched the way Cedric gave Fleur his full attention and had that goofy lopsided grin plastered on his face. Cho then mentally sent daggers his way too.
Wait a minute, why do I care so much anyway? You don't like him, remember?
Cho looked at the bouquet of white roses before her and suddenly felt empty.
"Um, I'm going to go back to the common room. I suddenly don't feel too well," Cho said as she got up to leave.
"Aw! But Cho, you didn't tell us who this mysterious guy is!" Cindy whined as Cho forced a smile.
"It's not important. I'll see you girls later," Cho gave one more glance at Cedric and Fleur before turning away and exiting the Great Hall.
A/N: Aw, thank you to my reviewers. I wrote this chapter in a bit of a hurry. I stole that "dozen rose" line from How to Lose a Guy in 10 days (except he used 100 instead of dozen) because i suck with those love note type thingys. x) Reviews are appreciated x)
disclaimer: i don't own Cedric Diggory...sadly. :( Or any of the other Harry Potter characters/settings.