December 3rd

I feel a hundred times better than I felt a couple of days ago that's for sure. I haven't actually seen Harry around. I suppose he's quite busy with other things. Ever since the forbidden forest incident… it's made me more wary. I keep checking the newspapers for anything…. warnings…sightings…. But it's been pretty quiet. I'll try not to let it bother me so much….so the good news is that it's a few weeks till Christmas! That means presents, which also means shopping so I will have to stop by Hogsmeade one of these days.

December 5th

It is so cold! My teeth are chattering. I can see from the dorm window that it's snowing right now. Perhaps it will last till Christmas…I hope they have snow back at home…a white Christmas…that would really be a first!

Everything is so Christmassy at Hogwarts. Flickwick was up with all the prefects putting the decorations up in the Great Hall. It's all gold and glittering…. lots of carol singing and snow fights. But I can't really join in because I have a hole in my gloves so the cold gets to my fingers really quickly.

It's funny how you don't see some people for ages even though you are in the same place… like I saw Roger Davies today and we caught up. He's stressing out over his exams. Know the feeling.

December 6th

We're doing a secret Santa in the dorm room. But we have to go shopping by ourselves otherwise we'll all guess who got who. I had Tomasin and I got her this

witchy Victoriana kinda dress. She'll love it. She's into that weird gothic clothing in the muggle world.

Then I bumped into Harry. He was on his way into the Hogshead to meet Ron and Hermione. He didn't say anything about the other day. It's bit like… what happened between us should be left in the forest. An unspoken pact and that we should never breathe a word about it. Fine. I was fine about that….I am fine…Am I? Yeah I am…but how am I supposed be when I'm around him?

He invited me to go in and join them. At first I was a bit apprehensive about it. I wondered exactly how much they knew…how much had Harry told them and had he said anything about me?

I felt really uneasy and nervous but I went in anyway because I was really cold! Ron and Hermione were sitting together in the corner at a table by a crackling fire. She was holding his hand but I think he's quite embarrassed about public displays of affection because he was kind of muttering at her to "let go"

Boys.

I was just standing there staring at them. I didn't know what I was supposed to say. Perhaps I should start with an apology or should I just pretend nothing happened?

Hermione smiled and pulled out a chair for me, "You're among friends"

"Yeah" said Ron.…he did not sound too friendly I guess he couldn't trust me. I sat down, shrugged off my winter coat and pulled off my gloves.

"What drinks do you guys want?" said Harry.

Hermione spoke first, "Butter beer for me…. and Ron wants one too. Don't you Ron?"

"Yeah…I guess," said Ron. He was looking at a drinks menu.

"I'll have a Butter beer too… and Harry…I'll help you carry the drinks," I said quickly. I didn't really want to be alone with those two.

"Hey…." said Ron peering from the drinks menu, "Forget the butter beer… Can..can you get me a Firewhisky instead?"

"Er…I can't order that…" said Harry shiftily, "I'm underage remember?"

"Oh… I know that…but Cho isn't"

I keep forgetting he's a year younger than me.

"RON!" Hermione was shaking her head and looking quite disapprovingly at him.

"What?" said Ron, "Cho is old enough to buy it for us!"

"No…Harry…Ron…No" Hermione had her arms folded across her chest. She obviously didn't like this idea at all.

"I wouldn't mind trying one myself." said Harry to me, "You don't mind do you?"

"Oh go on Cho…don't deny a man his first drink. It is a rite of passage….Let's savour this very special moment," said Ron.

I felt their eyes on me and they were trying to make me say yes

Put me in between a rock and a hard place why don't you?

I shrugged my shoulders. Ron rubbed his hands together and quickly pulled out his knuts and sickles along with Harry. Well if anything good was to come out of this it seemed that purchasing the firewhisky made me more agreeable in Ron's eyes.

Back at the table, Ron was guzzling it down.

"Not too fast Ron! You'll get really drunk," said Hermione holding his glass.

"You're not my mum," he said seizing it from her, "Come on," he was stroking her face, "let this lovely wild hair down and drink with me."

She relented with a blush and took a sip.

"Too strong!" she said wrinkling her nose.

Ron was leaning over the table and announced to everyone, "Believe it or not this is not my first drink."

Hermione was mopping the table and I heard her mutter under her breath. "Well you're certainly acting like it is…."

Her eyebrows were knitted together and her face was stony as she stared hard at Ron.

"Oh Hermione…don't be angry with me!" he said grabbing her hands in a drunken stupor, "You know I love you!"

Her brown eyes seemed to shine completely and then she smiled. But then she realised her mistake and quickly fixed her expression back furious. It was then that I knew she would forgive me for the firewhiskey fiasco. I watched as she looked at Ron's lazy smile and she slowly let her own smile creep back onto her face.

She held his hand hopefully, "Ron, that's the first time you've……"

He clutched at his stomach and then got up from his chair, "I think I'm going to be sick".

He ran out with his hands covering his mouth. Hermione leapt up from her chair and ran after him… still smiling.

Harry was quiet but he seemed quite happy.

He said, "hey…how come you're not having any?"

"I'm not a very good drinker… goes to my head." I said.

"It feels really nice," he said and then he laid his head on the table.

I said, "You know what… maybe you should stop….because…"

Now Harry was trying to lie on the table, "The room is spinning…or maybe I'm spinning."

I pulled him away from his drink, "Harry let's go…."

"No…this is great…it's a rite of passage"

He had a dopey look about him and he could barely stand on his own two feet. He was swaying so much that I even had to put on his coat and gloves for him. Quite a few people in the pub were staring with amusement.

"More…Accioyo…acciyo firewhisky." he said reaching in the air. I supported him under his arms and we pushed our way through the crowd for the exit.

"Whoa…mind the nargles…" He said pointing at something above us.

"What nargles?" I said looking up and then he left a wet kiss on my cheek. It was the mistletoe hanging over the entrance.

I wiped off his spittle and opened the door. We were engulfed in a cold blustery wind. I looked around the street but I could see no sign of Ron and Hermione so we decided…well I did…I decided we should go back to Hogwarts.

"You have to sober up Harry…before we get back to Hogwarts!" I said under my breath, "We could get into so much trouble."

Then Harry threw a snowball at my head.

The journey took about twice as long because he was dawdling…pointing at things…staring…he became quite mesmerised by the frozen lake so I made him sit down at the top of the hill. I was hoping it would give him time to sober up so I suggested to him that we should watch the sunset. So there we were sitting at the top of the hill. Harry tugged at my sleeve and then he pulled out something from under the pelt of his winter coat. It was another bottle of firewhisky. My eyes widened.

"Where on earth did you get that?" I said grabbing the bottle from him.

"Accio firewhissskey….." He said taking it away from me.

I had created a monster, "But you were drunk…you couldn't possible accio it …You really have to sober up before we get back!" I said in a panic.

He twisted the lid open and we heard the firewhisky sigh into the crispy air.

I grabbed it off him again and he let out a gasp, "Don't spill it!" he cried. He grabbed it back and took a really long swig of it, "You better have a sip of this because it's not fun doing this alone…plus don't you find this quite manly?"

"Watching the sunset?" I said.

"Watching the sunset…and having a firewhisky….it's a man thing" He took another swig, "So come join me."

Wow. Nice way to make me feel like I wasn't even a woman!

I tried to think of a good excuse, "I'll need to find my way back to my dorm room…. if I was drunk I'd get into the wrong bed or something and that would scare everyone."

He laughed, "I'll help you into bed…we can go by invisibility cloak "

"I don't think so." I said as I took the bottle from his lips.

"Oh relax Cho… I wouldn't touch you with a barge pole."

I don't care… I don't care… I don't care

"Look I am not drunk at all," he said quite seriously, "I am in fact pretending to be drunk."

And then he smiled. It was the dopiest drunken smile I had ever seen in my life. He was drinking from the bottle again. At the time I was thinking that if he drank anymore of that stuff his behaviour would worsen. So it took it away from him and let the last gulp of firewhisky flow into my mouth. My cheeks grow rosier and my eyes felt tired. It was like I was being enveloped by a nice warm bubble bath.

I almost didn't care anymore about how drunk Harry was… I was floating away up into the sky.

Suddenly he said excitedly, "Hey…..did you know my patronus is a stag and it's got hoofs that can trample you?"

I was watching the dusky gold colours paling in the bowl of the sky. "Yeah so what? Mine's a swan…A swan can break a human's leg just by flapping its wings."

He belched and staggered to his feet, got his wand out and pointed it into the sky, "I'm going to show you what my patronus can do…"

Harry pointed his wand swiftly into the air shouting, "Inspector Gadget!" …but nothing happened. He shook his wand "Why isn't it working Cho? I can defeat Voldermort when I'm a baby doing absolutely nothing but now I can't even say Eggpect a …Patronuas.."

"That's what it is..…remember Ex-pec-to-Pat-ron-us" I said making an extra effort to say it correctly and hoping he'd keep it in his mind.

He was readying himself and saying it under his breath.

"Expecto Patronum." His wand let out something white wiry and silvery.

"That wasn't very good." I said in his ear.

Harry was getting irritated but I wanted to help him make the best patronus ever so I took out my wand as well.

"Expecto Patrons" I said.

"Excpoecto copter" He said.

Soon we were both shouting at the top of our lungs, shouting into the lake and the mountains, into the cavernous caves and into the trees. Our voices rose and fell over the frozen lake and we kept on shouting unless we were almost breathless. But we kept on going…

We were shouting in the wind and then suddenly together we chanted,

'Expecto Patronum!"

Through both our wands…..out they came. In a heat of white light, a Majestic Stag came out running and along aside it was a graceful snow white Swan flying against the inky darkness of the night.

Harry and I sat down astounded at their beauty. Looking back I'm quite surprised we managed to do that whilst we were tipsy but our minds were empty and our hearts were happy.

"Hey…. where did the sun go?" said Harry gazing up at the starlit sky.

I fell on my back again to look at the stars, "I think all DADA lessons should be taught under the influence."

Harry was resting his head on the ground, "Yes. Bring in alcohol…to all lessons! Get Snivellus drunk and make him trip over his robes…then we can see his pants!"

"You want to see his pants?" I said.

"I've seen them "

"I'd see Dumbledores."

"WHY?'

"Cos he's a weird old man… he'd probably choose something quite quirky."

We heard footsteps ascending the hill. Ron and Hermione were coming towards us.

"Hey……look it's Ronerminey." Harry pointed at them excitedly.

"They're both drunk!" said Hermione, "I think we should give them a detention…we are prefects after all."

"Hermione we can't do that," said a sober-ish Ron looking at the empty bottle.

"You scared us you know that Harry?" she was speaking to him like he was a child, "Why were you doing the patronus spell?"

Harry was throwing his glasses around, "No Harry…" Hermione was running after him, "You need to see through these…stand still….Harry…"

I was lying on the floor trying to sober up. Hermione helped me up and then Ron picked up Harry.

"Get off…I'm a seriously dark wizard" said Harry, his arm around Ron's neck, "I can get this wand and do some serious mojo on all of you…oh Ron…Ron…why are you with Hermione? She always spoils the fun!"

"Uh dunno mate," said Ron helplessly shrugging at her.

Harry sidled up to her, "I'm sorry….forgive me oh and mind the nargles."

Hermione looked at Ron,"The what?'

"Nargles!" said Harry and then he left a wet kiss on her cheek. Hermione wiped herself and looked at Harry again.

Harry laughed and said, "Sorry Ron…it was only the cheek… I would never kiss her…. it would probably be like kissing your sister…not Ginny…but if Hermione was your actual sister…. I'm an only child you see so I don't know what kissing a sister would be like…how is it for you?…."

Ron pulled a face at him and Harry continued muttering, "I can't say Cho is like my sister…. but we could be adopted or something…I kissed her…she's like that…she's my Hermione…."

"Whatever you say Harry." said Ron.

I could hear Ron whispering to Harry, "Next time…share your firewhisky with me!" and then Harry answered in a high pitched voice, "I PROMISE"

Hermione led me back to the Ravenclaw entrance and luckily I was pretty sober by then. I found my way in the darkness and crawled into my own bed, my head crushed against the soft pillow and the warm feather duvet pulled around me. My eyes were closed and I remember wondering what on earth Harry meant behind the words…

'She's my Hermione.'