Balancing
(Shut up, you know what's coming.)

A wild thought arose in Cho's mind.

"Ced—" she tried to say. It didn't really come out. By the time her voice was working, she felt stupid; the wizard in front of her was Amos Diggory, not his son... and he showed no signs of recognizing her. They'd only met once, anyway, before the Third Task.

She had gone to find Cedric that morning. They ran into each other in the hallway. Cedric seemed lost in thought, staring at his feet, but he looked up when he saw her and grinned.

"Good morning," he said.

"Morning," she replied, slipping in next to him. They started walking toward the Great Hall. "Nervous?"

"Incredibly."

She smiled. "Well, remember, I'll be waiting for the first person who comes out of that maze." She paused, and a dreamy expression fell over her face. "Maybe it'll be Krum."

He seemed not to notice. She punched him in the arm. "Hey now. Pay attention while I'm threatening you."

"What? Oh, sorry," he said. "I was just picturing myself gallantly rescuing Fleur from a savage beast." She scowled at him.

"Fine, fine," she said, smiling. "I guess I won't take that risk."

They stopped outside the Hall. Cedric sighed as he turned towards the door. Cho turned serious.

"So, your parents are finally here?" she asked. She glanced down. "You sure you want me to come with you?"

Cedric's jaw hardened. "Yeah, I'm sure," he said. A moment. He seemed to be debating whether to continue. "I don't want you to think I'm scared of—of showing you to my father, but, I mean, I've told you how he is. Not very... diplomatic."

She squeezed his hand. "It's okay. You're not your dad. It's not your fault, and anyway, what could happen?"

Cedric mock-groaned. "Now you've done it. That's the oldest jinx in the book." He glanced slyly at her. "'Cept maybe the spell you put on me."

Cho rolled her eyes. "Keep saying things like that and I'll have to cast some real jinxes on you."

He grinned. "Shall we go?"

They went in, and passed through the hall to the side chamber. Taking a deep breath, Cedric went in, and Cho followed. Only a few people were inside. It was easy enough by process of elimination to spot the Diggorys—scratch the teachers, the ones with red hair, the ones with platinum blonde hair, the ones with grim faces...

"There you are, Ced," his father said, clapping Cedric on the shoulder bracingly. "Ready?"

"Maybe," Cedric replied. "Anyway, Mum, Dad, this is my—my friend Cho."

She flashed a quick smile. "Hello, Mr. Diggory."

Mr. Diggory quickly scanned her up and down. A slight frown creased his face. "Well, Cho," he said, "I've heard a few things about you."

"Really?" She smiled. "Positive, I hope." Cho idly wondered if there was a Disarming spell for social situations like these.

"Mm," grunted Mr. Diggory. "You play Seeker for Ravenclaw?"

"Yeah."

"Parents own some kind of shop in Diagon Alley..."

"Right."

"Haven't been involved with any other young m—"

Cho felt herself coloring.

"Dad," Cedric said.

Mr. Diggory turned to him. "Ced, it's my job as a parent to make sure you don't make any mistakes." He looked back at Cho. "No offense, Miss Chang, but you can't be too safe. Especially when Ced's all lined up to beat Harry Potter. Sure, he's hogging the spotlight now—"

"Please don't get started on that again, Dad," moaned Cedric.

"Right," said Mr. Diggory. "Anyway, when Ced wins, all the young witches'll be lining up..."

"This isn't really better," Cedric muttered. He glanced furiously over at the professors for some reason.

"...and that's why I've got a duty to find out if someone you're dating is respectable," finished Mr. Diggory.

"Respectable," Cho said. She heard her heart beating rather furiously. "Well, Mr. Diggory, I—"

She didn't get the chance to offend Cedric's father as she wished, because Professor McGonagall stepped over to them.

"Amos, I hope you won't mind if I borrow these two. Would you mind finding Potter and getting him down here?"

"Typical," Cedric's father muttered, "late for his own banquet. Right, Minerva, that's fine, plenty of time."

And so Cedric and Cho departed. As soon as they were out, Cho turned to him. "I'm not going back in there," she said.

"I don't expect you to," Cedric said heavily. "Sorry."

"You could've said something."

"I know, I know. I don't like going against him, Cho. He's my father. He—he really means well." He sighed. "What's best for me. He just... doesn't know."

"Then tell him," she said shortly. "If that's how he is to my face..."

Cedric sighed. "I'm sorry, okay?"

There was an awkward silence as they walked along.

"Do you want me to tell him off?" said Cedric. "Argue with him and get disowned or something?"

Cho admitted to herself that she didn't really have anything specific in mind. She didn't want him to argue with anyone on her account, least of all his family, as unlikeable as Mr. Diggory was.

"No, you don't have to do that," she grumbled. "I've argued with my parents about you before, you know. I'd like it if you'd at least say something and not sit there and silently agree with him."

"I don't agree with him at all." Cedric's tone was slightly frustrated. "Okay. Fine. I'll tell him to go hang next time."

"I told you, don't do that. It doesn't really matter anyway." Cho turned away. "Look, I'm starving. Think you can find Harry without my help?"

"Yeah," he said. "Go on, eat. Leave me all alone in the uncharted wastelands. I'll just go die from pining for you excessively."

Cho chuckled. "Whatever. See you around."

"See you."

As it turned out, she didn't actually end up seeing him around after that.

---

A/N: Make some assumptions to fill in the gaps. Cedric and Cho are serious. How serious? I guess they never found out. Amos probably is suspicious of that damned foreigner. Mrs. Diggory doesn't actually have vocal cords.

You may wish to notice that chapters aren't really chronological yet.