Author's Notes:
Okay, I feel like some apologies are in order, due to the it's-taking-forever nature of this update. I won't bore you with the sordid details, but I got caught up in a lot of stuff and couldn't find a lot of time in between to write. That's all over with though, and I'm happily back on the keyboard; I was seriously almost going into withdrawal. Apologies again, and rest assured that my update frequency is back on track - for real this time.
Oh, and fair warning for this chapter: you already know most of what they'll be talking about; this is just to set up some future interactions. And don't worry, "Dumbledore's Army" meetings are just around the corner :)
Okay, on with the chapter, and thanks for reading :)
Harry sat upon a desk in an abandoned classroom on the third floor, his fingers once again twisting around each other out of sheer nerves at what he was about to do. He checked his watch - and as though in answer to this simple action, the door opened.
There it was - the strange feeling that he got in his stomach whenever he laid eyes on her. Cho Chang stood framed in the doorway, looking every bit as beautiful as he had always thought she was. Her shiny black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, which gave Harry a much-appreciated look at her face. Her cheeks turned rosy as their eyes met and she hastily looked down, shuffling her feet slightly.
'Hi, Harry,' she said to her shoes.
'Hi, Cho,' answered Harry as he got to his feet; he was determined to behave as best as he could towards Cho. 'Er, I'm sorry for having you come here on a free afternoon, but I really need to talk to you.'
'It - It's no trouble at all, Harry,' Cho said, shutting the door behind her. The slight thud seemed to herald all loss of sound, for the two fell silent and just stared at each other for the longest time. Deciding that he ought to take the lead, Harry cleared his throat - which felt as though it had rocks in it - and said, 'Er, why don't you sit down?'
Cho gave a small smile and a nod then crossed the room to sit on the desk that Harry himself had just vacated. He eyed the space next to her, wondering if he dared to seat himself there.
'Harry? Aren't you going to sit?'
Harry jumped; he hadn't realized that he was just standing there staring. He hastily sat next to Cho and instantly felt his heart increase its pace. He was truly amazed at the reactions that this girl's presence always evoked in him. They had, to his frustration, barely ever spoken; he realized that during the start of the year when they would run into each other and chat a bit. They had fallen back into a small lull of late, but apparently that had done nothing to diminish his feelings for the pretty Asian girl. He thought briefly of Astoria and his arrangement with her concerning Malfoy and wondered if it could end up sabotaging whatever small chance he may have had with Cho. Harry shook his head to clear it; he would worry about that later, he had something else he needed to discuss with Cho.
He decided to get right to it.
'Cho, I wanted to talk to you about - about Cedric and the night he died.'
She had been gazing at him with a quizzical look on her face since she took her place on the desk, but her expression instantly turned to one of sorrow. Tears welled up in her eyes.
Harry took a deep breath, well aware of how taxing this particular conversion could be. 'I - I decided that I want to tell everyone what happened that night, but I think that you deserve to hear it first, and straight from me - I owe you and Cedric that much. It isn't a pretty story, but will you hear me out?'
The tears were falling now, though Cho didn't make a sound. She was staring at him, fear evident in her dark eyes - fear of what Harry would tell her, of what she would learn and have to live with. Her breathing hastened even as she raised a hand up to her mouth to cover it and fight the sobs that threatened to escape her. Harry waited, feeling all the tension of a stretched rubber band tighten his body. He looked right back into her eyes, both enamored and terrified by what they showed him. He didn't say anything - he couldn't move even if he wanted to.
Cho abruptly nodded and produced a handkerchief from a pocket of her robes and dabbed at her eyes with it. She would listen to him. Harry gulped, took a deep breath and began his tale, following the script that he had laid out for himself.
'Well, you remember the Third Task?' He waited for Cho to nod again before continuing, 'The Triwizard Cup was in the center of the maze. Cedric and I made it there at the same time; Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum had already been eliminated by then. We ran into an Acromantula, though, and my leg ended up a little worse for wear. I couldn't make it to the Cup before Cedric even if I tried, so I told him to take it - but he refused. He said that I deserved to win. You see, I knew before the fact that we were going to be facing dragons in the First Task and I told Cedric about it and in the Third Task, I stopped Krum, who'd been Imperiused, from torturing Cedric. I guess he felt like he owed me. I was a little angry, to be honest; all he had to do was take a few steps and take the Cup. There was absolutely no way I could have beaten him short of cursing him, but there he was, insisting that I should be the one to win. So I proposed that we take the Cup together; we would tie, but it would still be a Hogwarts victory, and we would both get our way. I also thought it would make for a nice little upset: the first Triwizard Tournament held in so many years would also be the first one to have more than one victor.'
Harry paused, the self-loathing that he had felt during the summer at having hatched this plan threatening to consume him once more. Cho was watching him with rapt attention; she was still crying, but a small smile adorned her face, no doubt in amusement to the solution that he had posed to Cedric in the maze. That smile almost had him running out of the room; she would soon find out that that brilliant idea of his would play a very big part in Cedric's death.
He took a deep breath to brace himself. 'The Cup was a Portkey; as soon as Cedric and I touched it, we were transported to a graveyard in Little Hangleton - I know the name of the place, but I don't know exactly where it is. We weren't sure if this was a part of the Third Task or not, so we didn't really try to leave. By the time I realized that we were in danger, it was too late; someone joined us in the graveyard - two people, actually.' Harry paused. He didn't know how Cho would react to this next part, but she needed to know. 'Do you know about Sirius Black?'
She gasped. 'He - He was there?'
'No, no.' Harry shook his head sharply. 'If you know about Sirius, then you must know about Peter Pettigrew, am I right?'
'He was the man that Sirius Black killed along with those Muggles, wasn't he? Apparently they had been friends.'
'Yeah, they had been friends in school - friends with my dad and Professor Lupin too, in fact.' Harry watched Cho's eyes widen at this revelation. 'But Sirius didn't kill those Muggles - Pettigrew did. He didn't kill Pettigrew either - Peter framed Sirius and escaped.'
Cho's mouth was slightly open now. Harry watched her, wondering how she would react to what he was telling her. No doubt she would not believe him; the story would no doubt sound insane to anyone who had grown up hearing the tale of Sirius Black, mass murderer and Voldemort's most stounch supporter. He knew that he was going off on a tangent in telling her about Cedric's death, but he had determined that she needed to know these things, as personal as they were to him. She needed to know exactly who was truly to blame for Cedric's death. She needed to know, sordid as it was, that they had this in common: people that they could seek their vengeance upon.
Cho spoke after what felt to him an eternity. 'Are you serious?' In response to his solemn nod, she asked, 'B - But why would Pettigrew frame his friend?'
'Because he had been a spy for Voldemort during the last war.' Cho gave a little squeak at the Dark Lord's name. 'My parents had gone into hiding right before the war was to end because Voldemort was after us. They used the Fidelius Charm - do you know about it?' When Cho nodded, Harry continued, 'They'd originally wanted to use Sirius Black as the Secret Keeper since he was my dad's best mate, but they switched at the last moment because Sirius felt that he would be too obvious a choice - and they chose Peter Pettigrew.'
Harry watched as Cho gasped and understanding shone through her eyes.
'He betrayed your parents - that's why You-Know-Who found them even under the Fidelius Charm.'
Harry nodded, feeling an age-old bitterness fill him up. He hastened to continue the story to prevent himself from being swallowed by it.
'Sirius, of course, knew that Pettigrew had been the real Secret Keeper, so he went looking for him. When he found him, Peter shouted about Sirius betraying my parents, blew a crater in the street - which is what killed all those Muggles - then cut off his finger and transformed himself into a rat to escape; Peter was an unregistered Animagus, you see.'
Cho was staring at him with widened eyes again. He couldn't see any disbelief in her expression, only shock.
'Th - That's quite a story, Harry. Don't get me wrong, I do believe you, but what does all that have to do with Ced -' She stopped, her mouth hanging open. She gulped, then said, 'Peter Pettigrew was there in that graveyard, wasn't he?'
Harry was impressed that she could put the pieces together so fast - in fact, it reminded him a little of Hermione. She truly was a Ravenclaw.
'Yeah, he was - and so was Voldemort. He didn't die that night that he tried to attack me, despite what the Ministry would like everyone to believe; he just lost his powers and his body. I don't know how or why, but the Killing Curse that rebounded on him didn't kill him. Pettigrew tracked him down and helped him make a sort of temporary body. Then they found out about another Death Eater who was free: Barty Crouch Junior.'
Cho gasped again. Harry noted with some concern that her hands were shaking slightly. He looked at her in worry, but the expression on her face told him that she wanted him to continue, and so he did.
'They got Crouch Junior on their side and put Senior under the Imperius Curse. They already knew that the Triwizard Tournament was going to be held at Hogwarts, so they decided to use it to get to me - that's how my name got into the Goblet of Fire. It makes sense when you think about it; the Goblet should have known that only three schools compete in the tournament, and that only one champion could represent their school, so why would both mine and Cedric's names have come out of it? Someone tampered with it, we knew that much at the time, but we didn't know who. Well, I found out at the end of last year: Barty Crouch Junior, disguised as Mad-Eye Moody.'
Harry took a pause, waiting for Cho to take this in before he cleared his throat and continued, 'It worked; I made it to the graveyard, and Pettigrew and Voldemort were there waiting for me - but Cedric was there too. Voldemort ordered Peter to kill him, and he did it with Voldemort's wand. I - I couldn't do anything, believe me, Cho. I'm not sure exactly why, but my scar hurts really badly when I get close to Voldemort; I was in so much pain that I couldn't even see straight, let alone stand.' He knew that he sounded like he was trying to absolve himself of guilt, but he couldn't help it.
Cho had broken out in tears again, but this time sobs accompanied them; she abruptly stood and went to lean against a wall, her body shaking with grief. Harry got to his feed but stayed where he was, fearful that even moving a muscle would end in some sort of disaster. He stared at Cho's back as she cried and cried. In that moment, he was struck by just how much Cho had cared for Cedric and he felt a pang of despair at the thought despite himself. Would he ever amount to mean the same to this girl - perhaps more - just as he'd wanted since third year? Harry chastised himself for thinking that way; this was not at all about him, after all.
'Ch - Cho, I know that that's a really hard thing to hear, and in all honesty, I won't blame you if you're mad at me -'
'No!'
Harry's eyes widened as the Ravenclaw girl turned back to face him; her eyes were red, and the sadness that adorned them was indescribable - but so was the rage. In that moment, Harry was truly terrified of Cho Chang.
Her face instantly softened when she caught sight of his expression. 'I'm not mad at you, Harry, I'm mad at them. They've put you through so much - they destroyed your life. Then they kill Cedric just - just like that, as if he was nothing, nobody. No, it certainly isn't you that I'm angry with, Harry.'
Harry gulped; he could swear that Cho's tears had turned into liquid flame.
Cho gave a gulp of her own and said, 'I - I was scared that he might have died painfully, but it sounds like it was q -quick.' She took a deep breath. 'Th - Thank you for telling me all of this, Harry. I know it can't have been easy; a lot of it sounded really personal for you.'
Harry couldn't believe that she was worried about him in this situation. 'I know it must have been hard to hear as well,' he said, running a hand through his hair. 'Thank you for hearing me out.'
Cho nodded as she forced down another sob that tried to leave her. After a long pause in which the two did their best to avoid looking at each other, Cho said, 'I really liked Cedric, you know.'
Harry didn't know where she was going with this, but he was pretty sure that he didn't want to hear it.
'I didn't at first, though; I always thought he was a nice guy, but I didn't really have feelings for him.' That got Harry to look up and watch Cho intently. 'I was really surprised when he asked me to the Yule Ball; I honestly can't describe how much.' She paused. 'Harry, y - you like me, don't you?'
Harry felt as though the ground had opened up and swallowed him whole. 'Er…' That was all he could come up with.
'It - It's okay, Harry; I - I like you too.'
Now he felt like he'd been slapped. 'Er…'
She continued talking, apparently unfazed by his lackluster responses. 'I've liked you for a while, actually - ever since the Quidditch match we first played against each other, to be honest. I always thought you were cute, but you're also sweet, kind and considerate. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when you asked me to the Yule Ball too late; I'd been waiting, you know. But when Cedric asked me, I accepted, figuring that if you were going to ask me, you would have done it by then.'
Harry felt his own foot kick him in his side at those words.
'I started seeing Cedric, and I grew to really like him - as much as I do you, possibly even more.' She paused, glancing at Harry to see how he would react to her last statement, but the boy seemed to be made of stone. 'I decided to put my best into my relationship with Cedric right before the Third Task came up - then he was taken from me.' Cho shook her head, fighting the urge to cry again. 'I was so terribly sad, and when we got on the Hogwarts Express, I came looking for you so that we could talk about what happened. But when I saw you, all these feelings came rushing back, and I didn't know - don't know - what to do. I'm still dealing with Cedric's death; I haven't gotten over him yet. I know that it really isn't the time to be thinking about another relationship or anything, but I took so long to commit to Cedric despite my feelings and he was gone just when I'd decided to do it. I really don't want to make the same mistake again, and I'm sure he'd agree if he were here right now. I like you, Harry, and I really want to give us a shot, but I don't think it would be fair to either of us at the moment - not until I sort out my issues concerning Cedric.'
Even in his wildest fantasies, Harry had never dreamed that Cho would say such things to him. His brain was still lagging behind though, and he could do nothing but stare at her.
She suddenly gave a little laugh. 'S - Sorry, I'm being really presumptuous, aren't I? Here I am assuming that you'd want to date me when you haven't actually said anything about it -'
'No, I definitely want to date you,' Harry said at once - then cringed at the speed with which the words had left his mouth.
Cho didn't seem to mind, though; she was smiling. 'That's good, I was starting to feel like I was being a bitch to you.' She suddenly looked nervous. 'So, um, what's going on with you and Astoria Greengrass?'
Yes, his deal with Astoria would definitely be a hindrance where he and Cho were concerned. He decided that honesty was definitely the best policy in this situation.
'It's kind of an arrangement we have; she told Malfoy that I was interested in her and that she's playing with me so that he'll get off her back about associating with me.'
Cho looked very amused at this - and happy. 'So you aren't dating?'
'W - Well, we agreed to go on a few dates to really convince Malfoy, but it isn't…you know, official or anything. She doesn't like me that way,' Harry answered, fidgeting heavily as though he would dearly like to bolt out of the room.
'That's great,' Cho said, looking legitimately like it was the best news that she had received in a long while. 'In that case, would you be open to a few dates with me? I'm certainly not ready for a relationship right now, but I don't think there's anything wrong with getting to know each other better, do you?'
'No, of course not,' Harry said, once again, horrified at how quickly his response had come.
Cho's smile widened. 'Good. In that case…' She sidled towards Harry, who couldn't take his eyes off her. She came right up to him, placed her hands on either side of his face and planted a soft, lingering kiss on his lips. His first kiss. He tasted cherries. Saying he loved it would be a severe understatement. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, feeling a flood of sensations and emotions flare into being within him.
When they pulled apart, they both had goofy grins on their faces.
'I really like you, Harry,' Cho whispered in a sultry voice that caused Harry's arms to erupt in goosebumps. 'That was just something to remind you of that fact if you happen across another girl. I may not be ready to take this further at the moment, but I will be, I promise. Will you wait for me?'
Too stunned to speak by the feel of her against him, Harry simply nodded, which resulted in another kiss.
Long after Cho Chang had left the room, Harry Potter stood there, looking every bit as petrified as though he had just met a Basilisk - at least, if you didn't count the smile.
