Chapter Six: Promises

"How can you say that? I've been nothing but nice to you!" Draco protested as they walked down the sidewalk hand in hand. "All the warm nights, all the kisses..."

Cho only chuckled. "If you will remember, in the beginning, it wasn't quite like that. I remember something along the lines of threatening to owl Harry to get me out of here."

"Nah, that was the drunk me. You should have learned that by now." Draco said with a smile as he squeezed her hand. "I've liked you all along."

She smiled as he continued. "In all honesty, I'm glad you came. You pulled me out of a rut, Cho, and I thank you. I was ridiculous to let myself become all reclusive and drunk."

"Don't try to sell yourself short, Draco." Cho said encouragingly as they took a seat on a nearby park bench. "I find your situation called for some 'alone' time, to get yourself back together. To find a life without your parents, without what you had been raised to become."

Draco wrapped his arm around her shoulder and, pulling her close, kissed her cheek. "This is why I like having you here with me. You're so uplifiting and inspiring. You make me want to do crazy things like... get a life, a job." he joked.

"Well, what's so crazy about that? I have a job." she laughed.

"You know, I never did ask you what your job is." He said, now intent on her.

Cho swallowed. That was not a good direction to take this conversation.

"You want the truth?"

Draco smirked. "No, I want you to lie to me."

She smiled. "I'm Harry's partner in the Ministry."

"Really? Now that is impressive. I would have figured that know-it-all Granger or Weaselby would have done that."

"Well, Ron and Hermione are married now, and she teaches back at Hogwarts." She said, and noted Draco's eyebrows rise with obvious impression. "I'm sure you've heard of Ron, now the Star Keeper for the Chudley Cannons... but oh wait, you never get out of the house, do you?"

"Go on with your story," Draco said with a roll of his eyes.

"Harry married Luna Lovegood a while back-"

"Harry and Looney Lovegood!" Draco gasped. "How did that one happen?"

"Even I can't explain it, you'll have to ask Harry about that one." she giggled.

"I really would love a chance to sit down and talk to him. After all he's done... see, that's another thing I regret." Draco sighed. "I never really gave Harry enough credit. He really was a good kid, and I was only going along with the things I was force fed, you know?"

"I do know." she nodded. "It's not your fault."

"Okay, we're not going through that again." He smiled. "Keep talking, I want to know how you got placed with Harry, of all people."

Cho could feel her pulse speed up as she thought about her past with Harry. This could get ugly.

"Well, Harry and I got talking after he came back from... well, from the incident at your mansion. He got called as Head Auror, while I was still in training. And he requested me as his partner."

"And why is that?" Draco asked. "To make up for lost time? To make up for your ridiculous relationship?"

"To make up for something he did." Cho said carefully. "He owed me, and he knew it. So he got me the one thing he knew I wanted: Head Auror."

Draco looked at her skeptically. "Wow, that sounds intense. Care to share the darker side of the story?"

She shook her head. "You don't want to hear this part, Draco."

"Oh, sure I do. I always love a good intrigue."

She only sighed. "I don't know how intrigued you'll be after I tell you..." she said in a quiet voice.

"That bad, huh?"

She nodded. "That bad."

He pulled her into his arms comfortingly. "Well, you go ahead and start at the beginning, that's probably the best place. Back at school, I'm assuming?"

She nodded again. "It was our graduation party. Last night of Seventh year at Hogwarts. Do you remember?"

Draco gave a dry laugh. "Sadly, no. I was too wasted that night to remember much of anything, but I do know I woke up with Parvati and Padma Patil the next morning."

Cho laughed and shook her head. "Why am I not surprised?" When Draco gasped, she continued. "But it's okay, you weren't the only one drunk out of your mind that night..."

Cho could hardly see clearly, from all the liquor she had downed and all the people that were crowding the bar. She could vaguely tell that some of the crowd was students, and that they shouldn't have been there, but then again, she was a student too. And it surprised her how she could have drunk so much of the nasty drink that had polluted her mind.

She only saw a few recognizable students, other Ravenclaws she was close with. But the other students were in no way familiar. Some were half clothed and passionate with other students, others had liquor bottles half way down their throats. It was almost a disgusting sight, but then she saw Draco, and he busy with one of the Patil twins. Working his hands beneath her clothes until she finally pulled away from his kiss with a moan. While her drunken body was aroused at the sight, she also grew angry. "Get a room!" she wanted to say. But instead, Draco looked up and caught her eye. He motioned her to come over and join in the fun, but Cho only gave him a middle finger before marching towards the back of the bar.

No good ever came of this night and no one ever remembered anything.She was disgusted with herself and with all the students. How could she have let everything escalate in the wrong direction? She desperately looked for a familiar face, someone who would walk back to the school with her, and help her sleep it off. But when she turned around to head towards the door, she found herself face to face with Harry Potter.

"Harry..." she said almost breathlessly. She hardly noted the lipstick marks on his neck and lips, all she knew was that Harry was a good kid and he would walk back to school with her.

"Hey, Cho!" Was his slurred reply. He took hold of her hand and kissed it sloppily. "You havin' fun tonight?"

"I think I've had a little too much fun tonight, Harry." she commented, his loud voice pulsing in her head. " Are you about ready to head back to the castle?"

"Nah, I'm just lookin' for a little girl to sex me up." he said, eyeing her up and down greedily. "As a matter of fact, how about you and me go find a little room upstairs?"

"I don't think so Harry." she said, yanking her hand away. She found the thought of sleeping with Harry tantalizing, but she knew she would regret it if she did.

Suddenly, Draco and both Patil twins staggered by, half naked with liquor in hand. "Watch it, Potter." he snarled.

Cho once again grew hot, and decided to take Harry up on his offer. She took hold of his neck and pulled his mouth over hers. She found that he was only half responsive because he was only half there, considering he was also quite drunk. His hands moved over her tiny form, lighting the fire in Cho; now she only wanted it more. They stumbled up the stairs to the empty bedrooms of the bar, where many students were probably occupying them.

Harry and Cho slammed the door and peeled off each others clothes, she was left merely in her underclothes when he pulled her to the bed. It was then that she realized exactly what she was doing, and she suddenly grew fearful. Harry's mouth was insistent and when she tried to pull away, his hands grew tighter on her arms.

"Harry, let me go." she said against his lips.

"No," he growled. He kissed her again, and when she felt his fingers below the elastic of her panties, she sat up in the bed.

"What are you doing?" Harry said angrily.

"I said let me go." she said firmly once again trying to pull her arm out of his grasp. But he yanked her again.

"And I said no."

Cho was now blazing with fear and anger, and she knocked Harry in the side of the head with her clenched fist. He landed on the floor unconscious. Cho tearfully dressed and gathered her things, and silently made her way back to Hogwarts alone...

"Are you telling me that no good... son of a... he tried to..." Draco was now seething after her story and he was ready to Apparate back to the Ministry and give Harry a piece of his mind.

"We were both drunk, Draco." Cho said calmly. "I hold no qualms with Harryand I forgave him a long time ago."

"It doesn't matter!You should never let anyone take advantage of you like that!" Draco almost shouted. "I'm proud of you for doing what you did, but you shouldn't have even gotten yourself into that situation!"

Cho only shook her head. "You're one to talk. If I do recall, you were in the same situation that night."

"Yeah, but that's different. I'm me and you're... you."

"And that makes a lot of sense." She smirked.

"I don't like the thought of you getting taken advantage of, Cho." he said, taking hold of her hand. "You are special to me."

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, cause you're pretty special to me too." she said with a smile.

"I'm serious, Cho." he said. "Just think about how the one experience has changed your life. It probably ruined your graduation party, set you up for a weird relationship with Harry, and has made you leery of anyone of the male gender ever since."

She nodded. "And rightfully so."

"No, Cho. Your last night at Hogwarts should have been happy. You should still have the same innocent relationship that you had with Harry back at school. And not all men are worth dropping just because of one drunk ass."

Draco froze as Cho grew uncomfortable in his arms. "Listen Draco, let's not talk about this anymore. I'm tired and we should probably get back to the house and-"

"You're scared of me." he said, suddenly.

She held her breath. "What?"

"You think that I'll hurt you." he said as she shook her head. "You think I'll leave you or take advantage of you or something like-"

"It's not you, Draco." she said, tears growing in her eyes. "You had time to get over your past, and I need a while to get over mine. It's only fair."

"Cho, look at me." he said firmly. "Please?" She slowly turned her head in his direction, and he gently took hold of her chin to lock with her gaze. "I would never, ever, hurt you."

"I know that, Draco."she said in a tearful whisper.

"Just as long as you know." And with that he pulled her close in his arms.

She felt so warm, so at peace, at home in his arms, that she felt guilty for even thinking that Draco would do such things. But like she said, Draco had had time to come to terms with his past. Now she just needed time to deal with hers.

And for the first time in a long time, in the loving warmth of his arms, she cried.

A/N: Okay so I lied, I am truly a terrible person. I didn't mean for my little hiatus to last this long, but I've been totally swamped with school, and I didn't have any time to even write up the next chapter to tell you all that I'd be on a break without breaking the ff dot net rules and risk getting my account deleted. So here's the next chappy, and I know it's along time to wait, but it will probably be another month or so before I can get the next chapter up. School gets out mid-December (THANK GOODNESS) and after that, though I am starting again in January, I should have more time to update.

I want to thanks everyone who remained faithful and those who have kept with me for so long, all the encouraging reviews, anxiously awaiting the next chapter. Many hugs and kisses along with cookies go out to everyone who patiently waited for me to get back on track. I particularly liked this story and I hope that, despite my lengthy absence, you can enjoy it too. This chapter has been a long time coming and I know it's a wee bit short, but it got the job done, so I hope you like it. Reviews are much appreciated!