Providence's Helix

by Relena Mishima

Sequel to Line of Life. Sometimes things don't go like we want, like they should. Sometimes things get twisted beyond anything we ever expected, and not for the better. Voldermort is back and the entire wizarding world knows, Hermione is with Pansy and Harry with Cho. Things should be going well. Why don't they seem to want to?

13. Friends and Fights

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and am making no money from this.

Cho

Prefect rounds are something I generally enjoy. A few hours to wander the castle, time to think; it's a good thing. It lets me have time alone with my thoughts without the socially awkward issues of getting lost in internal monologues during conversations where I'm expected to respond.

Unfortunately today, the thoughts I'm lost in are unpleasant, and my brain seems determined to circle back to the same unpleasant places, no matter how much I try otherwise. Fights with Ron Weasley (real or imagined), fights with Harry, it's just one thing after another. Hardly how I hoped my last year at Hogwarts would go.

For variety now and then, my mind manages to consider Fleur, pondering if I do have actual attraction to her. If I were single it would be a far more enjoyable consideration; ego affirming even. Capturing the attention of a Veela is certainly something most people would brag about, a sign of their attractiveness and desirability. For me the entire question stands as an indictment of my relationship with Harry, and its general crumbled, decrepit state.

As if by magic (yes, I appreciate the irony of the phrase) I hear the source of my potential Sapphic affections coming up behind me. Technically, it's the sound of high heels on stone, but besides myself only two girls in the castle habitually wear them: Fleur and Pansy, and Pansy is almost certainly with Hermione enjoying their private time.

"Patrols are boring things, no?" Sure enough, it's Fleur. "I always thought so, at least." I can't say I'm surprised she was a prefect at Beauxbatons; she was their champion after all.

"A bit of time alone to think can be a good thing," I reply.

"Don't you get lost in your thoughts enough without several hours a day wandering an empty castle?"

"Sometimes. It depends where my thoughts take me, I suppose. What about you, nothing more exciting to hold your attention than finding me?"

"I thought I told you at the Yule Ball, you certainly something special and exciting."

"I'm flattered." I'm also unsure if she's flirting or just having a small joke at my expense.

"Also there's absolutely nothing to do in this castle at night, and that village is no better."

"You can't Apparate to London or something?"

"I can, but it's a long walk to get outside the wards, and I don't particularly enjoy hiking through the snow at night."

"Ah. Clubbing clothes are bad for that, yes," I agree. "So I'm the next best use of your time then?"

"You sound surprised."

"Perhaps a little. I know prefect rounds aren't the most interesting of things, Hermione and Pansy's usage of them aside."

"There's no reason these rounds have to be boring, not if you have someone to talk to. That seems to be something you need, no?"

"I suppose you have a point there." Actually, someone to talk to is something I've missed of late. The Weasley campaign of annoyance has done real damage in that regard.

"Have you even told anyone about the Quidditch contract?" Fleur asks.

"The Ravenclaw team."

"So not the others."

"I haven't spoken to any of them since breakfast, really."

"I thought not. A pity, but still, what I expected."

"You must be so proud to be right," I deadpan.

"Why would I be? Who wants to be right about their friend being unhappy?"

"Sorry, that was a cynical thing to say. Apparently I'm becoming conditioned to expect the worst in people here."

"No, no, don't apologize. You need a friend. That's nothing to be sorry for. Things should never have gone this far, but that isn't your fault."

Fleur has a point; a friend who I shouldn't expect the worst from is something I dearly miss. I'd like to say a friend with no agenda, but I'm not entirely sure that describes Fleur. Fleur has been coy about her attraction to me, but I feel safe in concluding that if I were single, or even with anyone other than Harry she would have been rather aggressive in her efforts to win my affections. Still, attraction doesn't affect her trustworthiness or value as a friend.

On the other hand, is her attraction really so terrible a thing? My last interaction with Harry ended poorly, and our relationship was in a sorry state even before that. Would it really be so bad if there were an alternative? I've never attempted a relationship with a female, or even gave one any real thought, but I can't say that the idea is repulsive or somehow fatally flawed. It would be decidedly out of my comfort zone, but since the start of last year I've made a point of stepping outside of my comfort zone in many areas and those choices have made me into someone I'm much happier to be. This choice might work out as well.

It's all hypothetical at this point, however. I am still in a relationship, however strained and damaged that it might be. Simply jumping into a new relationship would not be appropriate at all. Harry and I never made any agreement to be excusive, but I doubt Harry ever thought of proposing such a thing; to him it simply is understood. So as long as my relationship still exists in at least some state thoughts of a Veela girlfriend are simply flights of fancy.

"I see my being here is working," Fleur interrupts my thoughts.

"Hmm? What's that?" I fear I was ignoring Fleur while indulging in thought.

"You look happier. Obviously my being here is a good thing for you."

"Maybe it is at that."

Oddly, I hear someone coming; two people in fact. One is in high heels, the other not. "Pansy and Hermione?" I ask, talking to myself. A moment later my guess is confirmed when I see the lesbian couple approaching us from a previously deserted corridor.

"Ah, Cho, I'm glad I found you," Hermione greets.

"Hermione? Don't usually see you during prefect rounds." It's widely speculated that Hermione and Pansy use their time during rounds for intimate encounters. I've never personally seen evidence either way, but the theory does make sense.

"Yes, I was hoping we could speak a bit, and I've been off campus all day. Do you have a moment?"

"Off campus? Where?" Yes, I ignored Hermione's question. Where she was has me far too curious to not inquire about.

"Parkinson Manor. The family name and all the assets were returned to Pansy. We were dealing with the paperwork for it today."

"Ah really? Well that's wonderful, I'm happy for you both, Pansy especially."

"Thanks," Pansy grins. "It's good to be rich again."

"I'm sure." It's something I'll know firsthand soon enough. I won't have anywhere near the sort of fortune the Parkinson family has, but my contract will put well into the range most people would consider as rich.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Ron," Hermione pulls things back to the reason she sought me out.

"What about him?"

"I've spoken to him about the ongoing issues. He and Ginny will leave it in the past, as I hope you will as well."

"How did you accomplish that?"

"I spoke to him rationally, like an adult."

"She threatened," Pansy chips in.

I appreciate Hermione trying to settle a dispute between two of her friends (three if you count Ginny), but I can't claim to be confident that her efforts will bear fruit. Not that I think she's lying, rather I think all her best efforts and threats will accomplish is abating the worst and most obvious of Ron's efforts; the more subtle and passive-aggressive campaign will remain.

"So you came here to tell me about this armistice, make me play nice, so to speak?" I ask.

"Yes, though I hope it might be more than a sort of cease fire. This has gone on for long enough, after all," Hermione explains."

"It was long enough before Ron made sure to ruin the Yule Ball."

"I know you're upset about that, but for this to work you have to let that go, Cho."

"Because you've never gone to absurd lengths to get the date you wanted on that night."

"I know it's an important night, and as you say, yes, I schemed to make last year's Yule Ball a night to remember, but what's done is done. But no amount of bitterness or holding a grudge will change how this past year's Yule Ball went. So please, we all used to be friends, we should act like that again."

"A 'friend' I've had fantasies of getting in a physical fight with."

"Shame I didn't get to see that. It'd have been fun seeing the idiot weasel get his ass kicked," Pansy comments.

"Ron's rather tall, not the sort you can instantly write off in a fight," Hermione responds to Pansy.

"The odds aren't entirely relevant," I interrupt the couple. "Not that I think my chances would have been poor in a physical confrontation. I've actually gotten rather good at those Muggle martial arts, but you're quite correct that Ron is not small. I think he'd be reluctant about hitting a girl, but once the fight started he'd likely forget that principal quickly. But regardless of the outcome, at least it would have solved something."

"What do you mean, it would have solved something?"

"I mean when a fight is over, it's over. One person wins, the other loses. Maybe they're on the floor, maybe heading to the infirmary, but it doesn't matter; things are settled. There's one person who clearly won and one who clearly lost. It's a finality that's very attractive, especially when juxtaposed against the current situation."

"Well there's a finality to it now," Hermione announces. I rather suspect found my urge to fight Ron and the reasoning behind it are surprising for Hermione, but she seems ill inclined to inquire further at this time.

"You actually believe Ron will honor his word in this?" I ask.

"I do."

"And Ginny?"

"She'll behave as well," Hermione reassures.

Hermione seems quite certain this is over, a sentiment that I find difficult to share, though I keep that to myself. Still, regardless of her odds of success, I'll give her plan a fair chance; I will play nice, as they say. At least until Ron or Ginny fail to do so.

As it turns out, it isn't a Weasley that my next conflict is with. It's a Malfoy. Just outside the Great Hall before breakfast the next morning I come across Draco Malfoy. Since he received his out of school suspension months ago I've barely given him a second thought, and even then only in the context of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Seeing the sneer on his face I instantly miss his absence.

"If it isn't my favorite slant," Draco greets me with a racial slur.

"Ah, Malfoy, how I've missed you," I make sure even he can detect the insincerity in my voice. "It's a wonder how Pansy could have ever left you."

"You think you're so funny, acting like you own the castle, strutting around with your idiot boyfriend, taking advantage of the Slytherin replacement Quidditch team. Well let me tell you, all that is over. There's no more free run of the castle for any of you. So you just watch yourself, Chang. I'm already dealing with the mud blood and that blood traitor whore Parkinson, but I can add you to my list real easy."

"Yes, yes, Malfoy, you're very scary." I patronize him further, but a part of me wanted to threaten him instead. Not to dismiss his weak allusions to a hit list, but to actually tell him that if he and his friends want to try what they did with Hermione that I won't run and hide, I'll put them all down.

"Don't you dare mock me," Malfoy raises his voice. "People who do won't come to good ends." And with that he storms off, apparently having decided I've been sufficiently threatened.

Malfoy has hardly entered the Great Hall before Harry rushes over. "Cho, are you all right?"

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be?"

"I heard Malfoy threatening you."

"Yes, what of it?"

"He's dangerous."

I know I shouldn't, but I can't control myself; I laugh. "Dangerous? Malfoy? Please, he's a meaningless cretin."

"He tried to kill Hermione. Twice. And Parkinson the second time too."

"Yes, Harry, I know. I am Head Girl, I do hear things." Even if I wasn't Head Girl and in the know for major disciplinary actions taken, the entire school heard of that incident. Thirteen students suspended out of school was unprecedented.

"So you should know what he's capable of. He probably knows the killing curse for God's sake."

"Yes, I imagine he does," I agree. "What of it? It isn't particularly difficult to cast."

"Then he can kill you. Don't you get that, Cho? You're a smart girl, what's so hard about this?"

"So what if he can kill me. I'm sure half his house can, at least they know the curse to do it. Again I ask, what of it?"

"So you're in danger. This isn't a joke," Harry insists.

"Oh please. Malfoy wants to hurt or even kill you too, I hardly see you quivering in terror."

"That doesn't mean I just ignore the threat."

"Ignore the threat? I don't ignore, I simply view it as a rather minor threat. Actually, I'm not even at the top of Malfoy's list at the moment. Given that I haven't killed any of his relatives, I rather suspect I'm third, at the highest. Though I suppose it is possible I still rank beneath you. He did allude to the Slytherin replacement Quidditch team and its losses, however, so that may raise my priority as a target, however. So given that, I do think I may surpass you and rank third."

"Cho, this isn't some logic puzzle to figure out," Harry practically yells at me.

"Don't be melodramatic, Harry; it's not like Malfoy is going to kill me in the next few seconds, so analyzing the matter is not the waste of time you make it out to be. Besides, I seem to recall a bit of a tiff about a piece of combat magic I used in the DA, something a certain overprotective halfwit relative harped on ad infinitum?"

"What? This isn't like the DA at all. That's just practice, this is real."

"What about being shot in the back is practice? Which by the way, I thought was something your house was supposed to frown on. Curious how that fact was conveniently omitted from everyone's recollections."

"You're going on about that now? Cho, I think you're really missing the point here."

"Yes, yes, we can't harp on such dishonorable tactics. Though in all fairness how can you harp on something that was essentially never mentioned in the first place?" I don't wait for a response; instead I walk into the Great Hall to get breakfast.

"This has nothing to do with that and you know it." Harry chases after me, raising his voice so I (and the entire Great Hall) can hear him."

"And what does it have to do with? That I can be simultaneously too violent a girl to be around and a helpless damsel? Marvelous talent I have. Or is the former simply a bit of proselytization and the latter your personal opinion?"

"Cho, I really wish you would talk to me like a normal person rather than just using the biggest words you can think of."

I turn on my heel and stare down Harry. "You don't want me to use small words right now."

"Yes I do."

"Oh do you now? Fine." This might be a bad idea, but I'm past caring. "Ron Weasley shovels shit for weeks and you treat it like gold. I'm some violent sociopath too dangerous to be anywhere near, right up until your overprotective urges kick in and them I'm some helpless little girl."

"That's not what I said, Cho," Harry insists.

"Oh yes it is. You never once stood up for me against all of Ron's crap. And then you think I should cower in terror from Draco fucking Malfoy? I didn't cower in the last Quidditch game I played against him, and I won't start now."

"You were hurt in that game."

"That was nothing, a few broken ribs. And then you try and make a huge production of it. A bit hypocritical there, Harry? Maybe you remember something about Dementors during a game?"

"Just because I did something doesn't make it a good idea or an example to follow."

"No, but it does make you a hypocrite if you act like that and then try to be some overbearing mother hen."

"I am not a mother hen," Harry insists.

"Yes you are. Though that hardly is my point."

"What is your point anyway? You seem to just ramble on about Ginny and Ron and then curse at me. Which by the way is weird; girls other than Parkinson aren't supposed to do that."

"You wanted small words. Four letter words qualify I think."

"Oh come on, Cho."

"No, you treat me like some unhinged danger to everyone around me, and then a helpless girl, then you complain about how I speak. It's enough already, Harry. I am not a little girl; in point of fact I am one year older than you, it's time you acted like it."

"Why are you so difficult today? I mean really. All I said is to be careful, what's the big deal about that? Can't you be reasonable here? You probably didn't even talk to Fleur like you said you would."

"Like I said I would? I said no such thing. Actually you ordered me to. As in, how one speaks to a subordinate, not a friend, girl or otherwise."

"Fine, whatever, I'm sorry. I was upset."

"Yes, very convincing, Harry."

"Damn it, what do you want from me, Cho?"

"What about a little sincerity? Perhaps taking my side once, maybe even telling someone slandering me to put a stop to it? Not taking me for granted, perhaps even taking my word on a matter without requiring further evidence? Honestly I can't claim to have felt any respect from you for weeks now. Instead I'm ordered around like some servant. And Merlin forbid you simply believe me when I tell you about what happened with Fleur or take the tiniest interest in my life."

"Take an interest in your life? What am I not interested in?"

Nothing, Harry. Nothing at all." I haven't told Harry about the Quidditch contract, and obviously that will not change here.

I sit down at a vacant area of the Ravenclaw table, the first time in a long time I haven't sat with Harry. Thankfully, my vexatious boyfriend takes the hint and goes to his own table to eat. A moment of peace at last.

Hermione

Lunch looks to be as awkward an affair as breakfast was. Pansy and I sat at the Gryffindor table like usual, though Cho and Fleur were at Ravenclaw. We heard all about Harry and Cho's fight from Harry. To hear him tell it, it was an unprovoked and baffling assault by an emotional girl without even the most basic sense of self preservation.

Harry and Ron are already at the Gryffindor table, while Cho and Fleur are once again at Ravenclaw. I head for the Gryffindor table, but Pansy's hand on my arm stops me.

"No. No way in hell we're doing that again."

"Doing what?" I ask.

"Sitting with Potter and the idiot weasel. Endless fucking whining about how unfair Cho was and how he's a fucking saint. And of course the idiot's backing him up, trying to act like he isn't fucking tickled that the two are having trouble. God, what a fucking dick."

"Harry and Cho had a fight, what did you expect them to talk about?"

"Not the point. I'm not sitting through more of the idiot weasel's gloating. It just isn't happening."

"So what, you want to skip lunch?"

"No, I want to sit with Cho and Fleur," Pansy answers.

"Harry and Ron are my best friends."

"Yeah, and we've been sitting with them since last year. Sure, there's no one in Slytherin I've wanted to sit with, but if there was anyone who wasn't an asshole there we'd have been splitting time, wouldn't we? I don't exactly think I'm being unreasonable here."

"All right, fair point." Actually if Pansy and I were to split time as she said, the way things went I'd owe her the entire rest of the year, easily. So I'll let Pansy have her way on this..

"Mind if we join you?" I greet Cho and Fleur as we sit down.

"Of course," Fleur greets us.

"Not sitting with the Gryffindors?" Cho asks, though 'not sitting with Harry and Ron' is what she clearly means.

"Fuck no; had enough of that shit already," Pansy answers. "Potter maybe, though his account sounded like bullshit. Nothing's his fault and all that crap. But whatever, I've heard that shit a million times before. The idiot weasel though, God, fuck that guy. So proud and self righteous, like he's all proven right and Harry's seen the light and shit."

"Come on, Ron didn't say anything nearly approaching that," I disagree.

"Yeah, maybe, but he was thinking it. And it's not like he was that far from saying that crap, you know."

"Thinking it and saying are not the same thing."

"Yeah? Doesn't change the fact that idiot needs someone to set him straight, because his weird bullshit view of the world isn't even close to true. But then, Potter's just as delusional."

"Harry's led an unusual life, you know that. Is it really a surprise his view of the world should be unique?"

"I didn't say unusual, I said delusional and bullshit. There's a difference." I assume that's all Pansy has to say on the subject and is content to let it drop, but instead she continues. "Seriously, you're a smart girl, you must have figured it out. I mean, them? Aurors? You should know exactly what their careers will be like.

"Those two will get the nobody shit jobs, the crap investigations that other Aurors don't want because they go nowhere, they're just crap made up shit like most of the idiot weasel's conspiracy theories, or they're cases about to blow up. That's what Potter will be really good for, being the fall guy. The Prophet slandered him plenty; people will be ready to believe more.

"To the higher ups Potter will be a threat; with his celebrity status, they'll just see someone ready to replace them, so they'll make sure his career goes nowhere. And it's not like Potter will play politics to get ahead; seeing how he took an instant hate to Malfoy is proof of that. So his high and mighty morals will make fast enemies of all the senior Aurors.

"Sure he bumble fucks his way to success sometimes, so yeah, he'll make sergeant, maybe even lieutenant if he's freakishly lucky, but that's it; captain is out. I'm sure he'll tell himself that he's making a difference with every case he solves and every person he helps and shit like that, and you know he'll go on about how when the spells start flying it's him the other field Aurors listen to, not the captains, but so fucking what. He'll be a nobody outcast like Mad Eye Moody that in the end changes nothing, accomplishes nothing and winds up a cautionary tale for new Aurors."

"That's a, um, a rather bleak prediction," I finally answer.

"You think I'm wrong? I know you've warned him about the Ministry and the fact that they'd like to see him just plain go away."

"I've warned him as well," Cho interjects. "He dismissed it as paranoia."

"See? Total dumb fuck."

"I think you might be letting your personal feelings for Harry and Ron color your predictions, Pansy," I point out.

"What, because I think they're dumbasses and like Cho more than them? So what. I'm still right. I mean really, let's face it, our futures are not that hard to predict."

"Ah, so you know my future then?" I challenge Pansy.

"Yeah, yours isn't hard. The way I see it, it can go one of two ways. One, you're at Parkinson Manor with me, you work to change the wizarding world, do what you can, yeah, you use the Parkinson money. I'd say influence, but we kind of have jack shit for that in the wizarding world now that I'm in charge. We do have money though, and yeah, I'll let you use that; as long as you don't bankrupt us. Now normal pure bloods could have benefits and charities and shit, but again, not gonna happen here. So basically you'll do what you can and sure, it'll help some, but in the end it won't change the world. That or you finally take over the country like I keep saying you should."

"You want Hermione to take over the nation?" Cho asks.

"This is new," Fleur comments.

"Nah, not new at all; I've been telling Hermione she should do it for months now. She hasn't gone for it yet, but I think it's just a matter of time. The girl's got potential there."

"Thank you for your high praise," I cut off that particular line of discussion. "And your somewhat bleak prediction for my future as well."

"Hey, you'll be with me in Parkinson Manor. That's not a bad life at all."

"As amusing as it would be to hear Pansy's predictions of my future, I think I can predict it on my own: I'll be playing professional Quidditch for the Appleby Arrows." Cho is unable to hide her grin at the news.

"Ah, you were offered a contract?" I ask the obvious question.

"That's right; Madame Hooch told me the day we got back from Christmas break," Cho replies.

"Ah, congratulations." As soon as I say it, however, another thought strikes me. "Wait, you knew right when we got back from break? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Ron's news about Wormtail preempted me, then things went downhill after that. And of course Harry never bothered to ask about what was going on in my life or what I was preoccupied with."

"Shit boyfriend, eh?" Pansy asks with a surprising amount of sympathy. "Guess Potter and Draco are both shit. Makes sense in a funny kind of way, like symmetry, you know? Both are so obsessed with themselves that they don't give a fuck about anyone else."

"While I do love symmetry of situations, but in this case it's not precisely so. You make it sound as if Draco is self absorbed, which I must say, is unsurprising. With Harry it isn't that, it's more there's a filter on what information he chooses to process. Is someone talking about something Harry really cares about, like Voldermort? Is Ron Weasley speaking? Unless the answer to one of those questions is yes then odds are whatever is said will be filtered out."

"I thought Harry really cared about Quidditch though?" I sidestep the core of Cho's point.

"A lot less so now that the Gryffindor team is in no danger of winning the cup."

There's no doubt Harry can have tunnel vision, as Cho suggests, but at the moment I think her judgment is colored by their recent argument to a large I don't think it's nearly as bad as she says. But then to be fair I thought Harry was somewhat exaggerating the situation when he told us about the fight at breakfast; the truth is no doubt somewhere in between.

But I'll be sympathetic; after all, Cho is my friend, and Pansy obviously likes her more than Harry. Still, if I'll be eating all my meals at the Ravenclaw table with Cho, Fleur and Pansy I'm sure I'll be hearing about it from Harry and Ron.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long time between updates. Just how things went. Anyway, thanks to that-fan for his help like always. Also thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. It's much appreciated.