Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything with it…just the plot and stuff.

Depression

Chapter 6

Let's Play Pretend

"Cho! What…what is your problem? What the heck did I ever do to you? What'd Hermione ever do to you?"

"Well, it's kind of a double whammy here. See, remember when we had that date back in 5th year? And we went to—"

"Yeah, that crazy tea place? With all those people snogging all over the place? Madam Puddifoot or whatever? What about it?"

"Don't you remember how you just had to go and meet your dear Hermione right after our date? It was like you had multiple dates!"

"What? Did I not explain to you that I was seeing Hermione for…what was it? Oh, yeah. It was to meet Rita Skeeter so I could publish my story. It had nothing to do with a date!"

"Oh…well, I've been jealous of her for quite some time anyway. Then when we broke up last year—"

"You mean when you dumped me because I was too sad over the loss of the person who meant the world to me?"

"I was supposed to mean the world to you, Harry! We were together! Yet, all you could do was mope and mourn!"

"You mourned for a year and a half over the loss of Cedric Diggory, and he was just your boyfriend at the time! Sirius was my godfather, like a second father to me. Seeing as how I didn't have any parents, Sirius was the only thing I had! I cannot believe you're criticizing me for missing him 4 months after he died!"

He heard Cho sniffle and he said, "Oh don't you go crying now. If you were strong enough to take Hermione, you're strong enough to keep your crocodile tears in."

"Fine, Harry. Fine. I still love you, and I want another chance with you…"

"Too bad I'm with Hermione." He said sarcastically.

"I could torture her into breaking up with you…or wipe her memory so that she doesn't even know you got together…or maybe I should just kill her right here?"

"Cho, where is she?"

"She's in this room. But she's got a Silencing Charm on her, so don't think she'll tell you where she is. And it's completely dark, so you won't find her."

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled.

"Protego!" Cho yelled back instantly.

Harry dodged his Stunning Spell as she said, "Don't you remember, Harry? You taught me that in the D.A."

Harry concentrated on how to cast spells without speaking. He closed his eyes and held up his wand, pointed straight at Cho. In his mind he yelled, Stupefy! Red light shot out of his wand and hit Cho before she could react. Harry heard her hit the ground and he said, "Lumos." His wand tip ignited and he shone it around the room. He checked all of the corners without moving and then started looking behind spare desks.

When he finally realized he couldn't find her, that Cho had lied, Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map. He opened it and scanned it. He found himself on the map and Cho's still dot in the back of the room. Hermione wasn't in the room.

"Unless…" He glanced around the perimeter of the room on the map and saw a few rooms that branched off. Following different paths through many different rooms and doors, he finally saw a tiny dot in the corner of one room labeled, 'Hermione Granger'. He smiled and quickly set off on his path, opening a door on his right and continuing on into room with 6 doors. He glanced at the map again to navigate and chose the second one on the left. Hold on, Hermione. I'm coming.

After going through 4 different rooms, he opened a door and saw a bushy haired girl sitting with her head on her knees in the corner. He couldn't hear her, but he saw her trembling. She must be crying…

"Hermione!"

Her head snapped up and a smile spread across her face. Harry lifted the charm as she jumped up and ran to him hugging.

"Oh, Harry! I knew you'd come!"

They embraced as Hermione said, "Harry, it was Cho Chang! She took me!"

"I know. I just stunned her to get here. Speaking of which, we better try and get out of here before she wakes up."

With Harry still using the map for a guide, they made their way back out of the dungeons and into the dark corridors of the castle. Harry draped the Invisibility Cloak over them and they made their way to Gryffindor Tower.

They reached the tower safely and entered the deserted Common Room. Harry re-ignited the fire with his wand and they sat down on a couch in front of it.

"So how did Cho take you?"

"She lured me into a broom closet."

"How…?"

"Well, I heard a strange noise inside, like someone was hitting the wall really hard. So I opened the door, and I sort of had this conversation with the voice inside, well, Cho, I suppose. I didn't know it was Cho until she came out and grabbed me. Then we sat in the broom closet all day, Cho put a locking charm on it so no one would open it and find us. I mean, Filch is a Squib, so he couldn't use Alohomora now could he? And who in their right mind would be that desperate to get into a broom closet when there are tons of empty classrooms around? Anyway, when it got dark and pretty much everyone was in their Common Rooms, we came out. I was blindfolded so I didn't see where she took me. All I know is that we went down a lot of steps, presumably to get to the dungeons, and then we went through a lot of doors. Finally she threw into a corner. I think she checked her watch because she said, "Damn. Only 11 o'clock. He won't be here for another hour!" Then I heard her walk away and the door slammed behind her. As soon as I was sure she was gone, I took off the blindfold. After waiting for what seemed like forever, you came. And now we're here." (A/N—try saying 'soon as I was sure she was gone' five times fast. You can add the rest of the sentence if you want, but this part is the harder part!)

"Wow…okay, from now on, you don't go anywhere alone."

"Harry!"

"What?"

"You can't just stick a buddy on me like this!"

"And why not? I don't want this happening again."

"Me neither, but what are the odds of it happening again?"

"Actually, they're pretty high. Cho's still out there, and now she's angry…at me and you."

"Still, I'll be more prepared if it looks like it's going to happen. Okay?"

"Alright, fine…but don't go thinking that I'll be the one to save you when it happens again." He smiled.

"Harry!" She slapped his shoulder.

"I was just joking…just joking…"

Ginny woke up early the next day, eager to start Draco's plan. She thought to herself, You know, he's really not the scum bucket I made him to be…I mean, he did follow me all that way…of course that part was for just an apology…but still, he offered to help me, and I find that to be sort of sweet. Oh, I can't wait to see the look on Dean's face when I eat breakfast right across from him, with Draco by my side. Oh, sweet, sweet revenge. This is going to be so much funShe got up and went to the bathroom to shower.

When she got back to her room, she dressed and headed out to the Common Room. She reached the bottom of the stairs as Dean Thomas had reached the bottom of the Boy's Dormitory steps. Ginny felt like giving him an icy glare and slapping him straight across the face, but she knew that she had to pretend to be completely calm. She had to pretend that she was happily with Draco now and she wasn't bothered a bit by Dean and his new girlfriend, Lavender Brown. (A/N- I meant to say who Dean's new girlfriend was in the chapter where Ginny saw them (Was that chapter…4?) but I forgot.)

"Hi, Dean!" She said enthusiastically.

"Uh…hi, Ginny…"

She smiled and said, "Off to meet Lavender?"

"Yeah." Dean seemed to ease up a little bit now that the immediate danger of Ginny slapping him was clear.

"That's nice. I'm off to see Draco myself."

"Draco?"

"You know Draco Malfoy? He's from Slytherin? You must know him? He's in your year."

"Uh, yeah. I know him…I didn't know you fancied each other."

"Oh yes! He's been waiting on me to be available for a while. Good thing we broke up, right?"

Dean tensed back up.

"Uh…yeah…"

Ginny saw Draco approaching and said, "Well, see you later, Dean!"

Dean stopped in his tracks as she rushed to Draco and threw her arms around his neck.

"Hey, Draco!"

He smiled a rare smile. Ginny could feel Dean's eyes on them. Draco and Ginny broke apart and Draco grabbed her hand and they continued down the hall. Ginny thought, Let's play pretend!

A/N-

Hey guys. What's up? Sorry this story's been so dormant for so long. If you hadn't noticed, I have like 6 stories in progress and it's very difficult for me to update them all. Plus, this story is a lot different than my other stories…probably because it's my only Harry Potter story at the moment…so inspiration doesn't come so easy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you keep reading! Kindly review on your way out!

Love,

DC