Chapter 2

Harry opened his eyes, and gave a deep sigh. The top of his four-poster had never seemed quite so beautiful. He spent a good five minutes examining every little detail, memorizing it. Eventually, though, his stomach gave a tremendous growl, and Harry slid off the bed, threw his Charms textbook at Ron's sleeping back, and trotted off to the showers, scratching his head. After a brief but refreshing shower, and an even briefer wrestling match with his hair, Harry and Ron made their usual way down to breakfast in silence.

"So," Ron said, sitting down at the table, "you didn't wake me up today with a curse word today."

"That's true." Harry said, trying and failing to look thoughtful for a second. "I guess I didn't."

"Oh come on, don't leave me hanging, what's going on?"

"What do you mean, nothing's going on!" At this, Ron just snorted, which turned out to be a bad idea while drinking pumpkin juice. A bit came out of his nose, and back into the cup, so Harry turned away. And immediately choked on his toast. Cedric was standing beside Cho, at her table, smiling brightly. Cho looked like she was going to start crying at any moment. Slowly, ever so slowly, Cedric's expression reversed completely, and he let off a strangled cry of "WHAT!"

Harry was trying to move the rest of his toast into his mouth while still looking at the developing crisis two tables over. He completely forgot about the toast in his hand when Cedric began to walk quickly down the length of the Ravenclaw table. He turned abruptly, drew his wand, and began at the same pace down the Gryffindor side. By this point, most of the occupants of the Great Hall, including a fair few of the teachers, was watching Cedric, wide-eyed. Dumbledore, however, seemed completely unconcerned, and continued to eat his porridge as if nothing had happened.

"Uh, mate, I don't think this is a social call." Ron whispered in a high voice.

"Ohhhh, shit." Harry whispered, more to himself than anyone else.

FUCK! He obviously didn't take the news well.

Dick.

Well, I can either fight him, or I can just deflect and hope he'll stop.

Who are you kidding, Potter? What would you do if you had Cho, and then you lost her?

Yeah, that's... fuck. Fight it is, then.

"Protego!" Harry enunciated, as a Stunner flew his way. He jumped out of his seat, and paused. Cedric was about to speak.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"I... don't think you want me to answer that." Harry blurted out, only just realizing that he had just riled the Hufflepuff up even more.

"You..." Cedric took a deep breath, "stole her. From me."

"I didn't steal her, she LEFT!"

"SHE WAS MINE! YOU BASTARD!" A white jet of light erupted from Cedric's outstretched wand, but Harry was ready before the spell even left. He waved his own wand, clearly said "Finite!" and Cedric's spell blipped out of existence, just faded away. However, he was forced to erect a Shield charm when three more jets shot towards him. Harry promptly decided that it was time to stop the bullshit.

"Impedimenta, Stupefy, Protego!" Harry yelled in quick succession. The force of his spells against Cedric's shield actually pushed the Hufflepuff back a few feet, but he remained on his feet. "Expelliarmus!" Both boys yelled at the same time, and two identical jets of light impacted halfway between them, but Harry's completely overtook Cedric's, and Cedric was knocked right onto his back, his wand halfway across the hall, in front of the teacher's table. Cedric was scrambling back to his feet, ready to continue with his fists, but Harry knew he had to finish this in style if anyone was going to learn not to duel Harry Potter.

"Aguamenti!" Harry shouted, and a massive amount of water burst forth from his wand, impacting and covering Cedric in a split second. "Congela!" Harry shouted again, and the water froze into a solid block-like shape around the Hufflepuff.

Do it, Potter. Show him what YOU'LL do for Cho!

NOW!

GO!

DO IT!

Oh for fuck's sake, all right, already!

Harry locked eyes with Cedric, whose own eyes were darting around his frigidly cold prison. "DEPULSO!" The block of ice containing the Hufflepuff flew like out of a cannon, and smashed into the far wall, shattering into a million crystals, and dropping a shivering and terrified Cedric onto the floor. Harry stowed his wand back into his pocket, and walked straight out of the Great Hall, not bothering to look back. He seemed to walk purposefully, but really, Harry had no idea where he was going. He only stopped when he realized he was at the shore of the lake, and plopped down on the grass staying that way until the sound of footsteps forced him to turn around.

"Ah, Harry. I'm terribly sorry to disturb you," Dumbledore spoke, his beard fluttering in the wind. "You must be very angry at the moment, but I thought I should let you know that a certain Ravenclaw can be found in the Charms corridor."

"You mean Cho?" But Dumbledore had already walked away, hands behind his back. Harry stood up, and sprinted to the Grand Staircase. On the way up to the fifth floor, he noticed that more than a few people were looking at him differently, almost... with respect. Harry turned a corner, and saw a small figure huddled in a corner beside a suit of armor. Harry paused, standing completely still. The silence was complete, and Harry was certain that Cho wasn't crying. He approached her as silently as possible. About halfway there, Cho heard Harry's shoe scuff the floor, and her head shot up, looking straight at him. Nothing was said as Harry reached her, and sat down beside her, their backs against the wall.

"Are you angry at me?" Harry asked cautiously.

"What?" Cho looked shocked. "No, of course not. I just wish... Cedric shouldn't have attacked you."

"I'm sorry about that, but- I had to stop him. And at the end... I guess I just wanted to, I dunno, teach him a lesson." Cho snorted. "And did you hear him talk about you? Bloody hell, I think he had a leash he wanted to put on you!" Cho smiled at this, and looked back at him.

"Well, I want nothing to do with him anymore." Cho wondered for a second if she had made the right decision the previous night, but then she remembered what Harry had done for her, expecting nothing in return. Harry watched her facial expression change a few times, before deciding to speak up.

"Cho?" She turned her head to him, and pushed herself at him, landing somehow draped over his legs, their lips already touching. Harry was blown clear out of the water by her reaction.

I don't understand females. But I don't understand them in the most pleasant way possible.

The kiss was light and fleeting, but to Harry, it felt as if it lasted a good 15 minutes. She looked up into his eyes, smile a tiny smile, and sighed.

"Thank you. For standing up for me. And.. for the dress. And shoes." Cho had begun to blush again, looking down at her hands, still somehow sitting in Harry's lap. Wanting to avoid an awkward moment, Harry put his arms safely around her waist, careful not to touch anything he shouldn't (yet), and hugged her tightly.

Hey! You feel those things against your chest? What do you suppose THOSE are?

SHUT. UP. I don't need to hear you right now. What if I get... oh God. See what you did? Now what?

QUICK! Take her to the lake! STAND UP I SAY!

"Cho." Harry thought for a second that she had fallen asleep, but he had a developing crisis in his pants, so he could waste no time.

"Yes?" She answered, looking sweetly up at him. Harry couldn't resist pecking her quickly on the lips, before pulling both of them off the ground, and taking her hand. Cho blushed at the sudden kiss, not initiated by her this time.

"Let's go to the lake." Harry said, not waiting for an answer, and began walking with her down the corridor. Cho just smiled slightly, and continued to walk with him. As they went down the Grand staircase, various people stared at them. Cho's smile widened dramatically, and Harry blushed, as they walked out of the Entrance Hall, and onto the grounds. She started running towards the lake shore, but Harry didn't, instead choosing to let her go ahead. His gaze wandered, and eventually came to rest on her pleasantly round bottom.

You're doing it again. Not that I disagree, that is quite a nice piece of-

STOP. Cease. And desist. Can't I just have five minutes of innocent, non-perverted PEACE?

No. I swear to you, by the end of the night, you will have felt that. In your hands.

What do you mean, night?

Today, my good man, is the Yule Ball. And that bottom is your date.

YOU KNOW, that bottom is attached to a PERSON!

And thank the Lord for that.

Harry slid to a halt beside Cho, and lay down on the grass. She fell backwards, and ended up with her head on his chest, both of them looking up at the clouds. They stayed like that, each pretending to study the clouds, but secretly contemplating the contact they were making with each other.

"So. The Ball is today." Cho said quietly, still staring at the lake. She felt Harry's arms tense slightly.

"Not having second thoughts, are you?" Cho sat up abruptly.

"NO! Of course not." She laid back down.

"Oh that's good. I haven't forgotten that the Ball is tonight."

A/N: Might add more to this chapter, or maybe just put it in the next one. Awk ending, yeah.