All Along the Watchtower

Chapter 7- Once Upon a Pretty Night

He was late, the Leaky Cauldron was a lot further away than Kaden let on; it was four miles through the city. He knew the way but traffic was terrible, he had to stop and start constantly in the London traffic.

He was worried about how to tell Cho but Kaden was right, he would still see her over the rest of this summer. Hedwig might be a bit annoyed at him but she could deliver a letter or two. He often wondered why he bought an owl but Harry wouldn't trade Hedwig for anything. He bought her just before the start of his second year. He had stepped into the Menagerie to have a look, he found Shan about there a few years before. When he stepped through the door his eyes were drawn to the beautiful snowy owl. Hedwig stared back at him with the most inquisitive amber gaze flecked with obsidian shards. Harry asked the young shop assistant at the time why nobody had bought her and dark haired girl relayed that they had sold her many times but no one kept her. She said Hedwig was uncooperative, refused to do deliveries and disappeared for days on end. Harry went back two days later with his mother and bought her. She was difficult at first but eventually settled into her mothering act where she would hoot at him for not doing homework or when he was studying and forgot to eat.

One thing never changed, she hated when he asked her to deliver letters, he got the feeling she still thought herself above such common antics.

Harry took his attention back to the road, he always found it amazing the way that muggle London light up at night. He rarely experienced such a thing. Harry had grown up in Hollow Manor, in the small country town of Godric's Hollow and like most wizards was blissfully ignorant of most, if not all muggle invention until he went to school. Before Harry assumed muggles where lesser, but they had an answer for almost everything magical and if not they were working toward it. That was admirable considering the crutch of magic wizards had.

Now Harry had a taste of the muggle world Kaden had introduced him to, he didn't want to go back to the archaic ways back home. When he thought about it, most young wizards would probably have the same attitude. He enjoyed the comfortable furniture in comparison to the Victorian style he had to settle with at home, or the modernized kitchen of the apartment which was easy to get around. He didn't have to ask Dobby, Winky or one of the other Elves just to find something in an ostentatiously large kitchen.

Harry pulled in across the street from the Leaky Cauldron and got out. He leaned on the car to wait; it was cold for a summer night and he pulled the jacket around him. He stared directly at the Leaky Cauldron and watched as witches and wizards flittered in and out in a steady stream, some disappearing in apparition and others sauntering off into muggle London.

Harry waited, playing with his phone until he heard a soft voice.

"Harry?"

"Cho?" Harry managed to choke out in surprise as he turned and found her under the yellowed light of the aging street lamp and he looked at her like it was the first time. Unlike Danielle who had worn a dress Cho wore a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a dark almost black top with a light blazer. Her ebony hair flowed out, framing her porcelain face perfectly; her chocolate brown eyes twinkled upon noticing his observations. Harry made his way around the car until he was standing next to her. "I'm kinda late, sorry; you must have thought I was standing you up. Which by the way I would never do and you look amazing." Harry added quickly, though he inwardly scolded himself for sounding so pathetic.

"You were late?" Cho asked and she bit her lip confusedly. "I thought I was late." She admitted, shifting nervously.

"C'mon, let's go."

"Okay." Cho said a little too quickly as she stumbled to open the car door.

Harry settled himself in the seat before being interrupted by Cho's soft, inquisitive voice. "Is Kaden rich?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Well first you have a rather expensive mobile phone he gave you on a whim and you're picking me up in a car that looks as it should be on the front of a magazine." Cho explained simply.

"I guess he kinda is but this is his brother's car." Harry said shrugging; he knew Connor and Kaden's cars weren't a common sight. "You don't mind if we go somewhere to talk first do you?"

"What do you want to talk about?" Cho asked.

It was obvious to Harry that her natural curiosity couldn't be satisfied by a simple answer. "I have to tell you some things." Harry said evasively. "There's a park around the corner from our apartment, we can go for a walk, is that okay?" And you can decide to ditch me and go back to Diggory, Harry added silently.

Cho nodded and gave him a smile.

Harry smiled back.

xxxxx

Harry looked up to find the sky perfectly clear, a rarity in London. Usually it was overcast all night, but the clearer sky made it much colder than it should have been and had forgone his jacket to her. It was only a nicety for him. Harry was wondering when to drop his news when Cho spoke.

"What do you want to tell me Harry?" There was a hint of trepidation in her tone.

Harry didn't look at her. "It's about school Cho?" And he looked over to find Cho's face alight with a brilliant smile.

"What about it? When we go back we beat Gryffindor and Slytherin into the ground." Cho looked up at him with happiness burning like a crimson inferno in her eyes. "Well, so long as my star seeker will be there."

Harry stopped walking; his face betraying his thoughts.

Cho turned to him, her face dropping.

"That's the thing Cho; I'm not going to be there." He said regretfully.

"Why not?"

Harry shifted, uncomfortable at the thought of lying to her. "I've been offered a place at the Auditore Institute of Magic."

Cho nodded to herself, it only accepted the finest magical talent in Europe, the reigning Tri-Wizard Champion was just that. "Why?" Cho asked shakily, Harry's admission threw her, it should have been too late for him to leave; they had come too far to stop.

"Cho I have nothing at Hogwarts." Harry looked up at her with weariness dulling his gaze. "I've got a total of three friends if you include Hagrid, who's going to miss me? Most people see me as the other boy-who-lived and we both know what's coming, I need to be ready and Hogwarts can't help me do that."

"What about Kaden?" Cho asked. What about me?

Harry shook his head dismissively. "He's leaving, he's seventeen and can't be bothered staying on, the wizarding world doesn't suit him."

"Why?" Cho asked; not that she was ever a fan of Kaden, but if Kaden left Harry had reason to stay. Before Kaden came to Hogwarts Harry was often bullied by his brother and his friends. Not that Harry wasn't an exceptional duellist but when it was odds of five and three to one; his luck wore thin on a few occasions. The only thing Cho liked about Kaden, he stood with his best friend and didn't leave him on the line alone.

"School's not his thing and with me leaving he doesn't see a point in sticking around." Harry said.

Cho's face screwed up in confusion. "Harry, why are you lying to me?" She took a stab in the dark.

Harry looked up, his eyes widening. "What? Why do you think I'm lying?"

"You tell me?" Cho said accusingly, her eyes alight with indignation now she smelled deceit.

Harry backed away. "Where is this coming from?"

"Look me in the eye and tell me you're not!" Cho challenged.

Harry stood barley a foot from her and met her hazel stare. "I'm not-" Harry growled in frustration. "Why can't you just accept that I'm leaving like everyone else? Why do you care where I'm going?" Harry took a deep breath.

"You're my…friend, of course I care!" Cho said, insulted by his insinuation otherwise.

Harry scoffed. "You care? Cho, you've known me for what? Six years, you borderline ignored me like everyone else for three of them until forth year. Then the Tri-Wizard Tournament came along and I finally think we're getting on, maybe more and then you run off with Diggory for a year and a half and all of a sudden you care? Why, because I got onto the Quidditch team? Because I have a rich best friend?" Harry accused venomously, he was still bitter about Diggory and he knew his family was not as rich as Kaden's but they made a fair stab at it.

Cho gaped at him. "I've always cared about you, if I didn't why would I listen to this shit?"

"If you don't want to listen to my shit, go back to Diggory, I sure he'll take you." Harry spat angrily.

"I like you, you bloody idiot, you!" Cho near shouted, red faced with anger. "I've always liked you. You're the one who asked that…that girl from Beuxbatons to the ball and you were nearly inseparable."

"That girl has a name. Her name is Karen, and she's Kaden's sister, it's hard avoiding her when Kaden wants to see his sister and she's my friend. I only asked her after only I stumbled across him asking you in the first place!"

"I turned him down the first time he asked, I didn't want to go with him, I wanted to go with you." Cho said thoughtfully, she expected Harry to ask her after all the time they spent together before and after the First Task. There were even rumours flying around the girl's dorm they were seeing each other. She remembered turning down Cedric and returning to the common room to find everyone muttering about how Harry asked a Beuxbatons girl in the middle of the Great Hall at dinner.

Harry gave Cho a confused look. "You turned him down at first?"

"Yes."

"That's a coincidence and a half isn't it?" Harry admitted with a nervous laugh. Harry couldn't stop the smirk that formed on his face. "So you like me?"

Cho tried to scowl at him but it turned into a silly grin. "Yes and you like me too!"

Harry grinned too ruffling his hair. "If you hadn't figured that out yet then the sorting hat should give up its job."

"Shut up." Cho said as she threw a playful slap at his shoulder. Cho took the opportunity, knowing Harry would never be so forward and slipped her arms around his neck. "Since you like me so much, are you going to tell me the truth?"

"I can't." Harry admitted.

"Why not?"

"I just can't." Harry answered honestly.

"Is it because of Kaden?" Cho asked with a frown.

"He's coming with me, put it that way."

"Does it have anything to do with what happened during the First Task?" Cho asked tentatively, fidgeting, she knew she was treading on thin ice with that question.

Harry pushed her off and put a good distance between them. "Cho I'm going to ask you this once and be very careful about how you answer. What the hell did are you talking about?" Harry arm burned with pain as it was sheathed in violet flame and his eyes took on the piecing emerald glow.

Cho eyed his flaming hand and brilliant emerald eyes warily. "Cedric mentioned how unusual the ability was, I even read a letter where he was telling his dad about it and asked him why he was so interested. It mentioned something about Kaden too. He said you had to be an Elemental, whatever that means."

The flame in Harry's hand extinguished and he calmed.

"Sorry, you freaked me out a little." Harry said and Cho barrelled into him. Her arms encircled his waist and her head buried into his chest. Harry took a moment and realized how easily they fit together. Harry was reasonably tall and his past few years of Quidditch training gave him a lean physique and muscle enough to speak of whereas Cho was as slight as they came, coming up to just under his chin. Her hold tightened and Harry shook with laughter. "Cho, I need to breath every once in a while."

Cho pulled away and wiped her watery eyes. "Sorry."

Harry placed a hand on her cheek and wiped the tears away for her. "I'm sorry; I overreacted. Most people don't know what the word Elemental means, never mind that we still exist, Merlin knows the Prophet came up with their own theories about me."

"Is Kaden one too?" Cho asked, leaning into his touch.

Harry nodded. "Don't tell him I told you." Harry said and drew closer to her until he could feel her breath on his lips. Closing his eyes Harry tilted his head slightly, making sure it wouldn't end up like their first kiss where they only succeeded in crashing noses.

For Cho the kiss was delicate. His lips were soft and Harry didn't control her like most guys would. He let her control everything, he wasn't rough and didn't try to devour her mouth. Cho, impatient with Harry's chivalry and opened their mouths slightly allowing her tongue to invade his mouth slowly and teasingly. Until a spark of magic ran through them for the second time in a week and they both pulled away from one another in shock.

"Second time in two weeks," Harry said with a grin.

"It was worth it." Cho said taking his hand, ignoring the next jolt. "C'mon we've got a party to get to!"

Harry groaned and Cho laughed, thinking of all the times Harry and Kaden spilled into the Common Room fresh from Hogsmeade absolutely smashed. Usually they would embarrass each other and then stagger off to bed. Cho would always laugh at their antics; they were much more entertaining than her usual bookish housemates. Drunken Harry was a refreshing change and it was after a Hogsmeade trips they started talking again. "It's fun to watch and I'm curious to see what kind of girl could put up with Kaden for more than ten minutes."

Harry laughed thinking about Kaden and Danielle. "Danielle's a special girl." Damn right she was, a Princess too, Harry would say it till the end of his days. Kaden did not deserve such a cool girl.

Cho tugged at his hand impatiently and Harry allowed her to lead him away.

xxxxx

"Who's going to be up there?" Cho asked as they stepped into the elevator.

"Just Kaden and 'Kay's friends, I'll get Danielle to introduce you to some of the girls, you met Fleur didn't you?" Harry slid his key into the keyhole next to the button for the penthouse.

"Fleur Delacour is going to be up there?" Cho questioned.

Harry nodded, thinking of his former competitor. "Karen knows her from their time at Beuxbatons."

Cho nodded as the elevator came apart revealing the apartment. But it wasn't an apartment; it was more like a club. It was dimly lit by low intensity UV lights creating just enough light to see, with lasers painting the high ceiling. Cho only thought it would be a few people but the room; well club was packed with people. "Kaden knows this many people?"

Harry shrugged; it looked like half the Academy was there. "C'mon we'll find Danielle and she can show you around?"

"Why can't you?" Cho asked.

"I need to talk to Kaden about something, it's nothing too important." Harry lied.

"Okay." Cho said quietly as they squeezed through the crowd. Harry made his way to the kitchen but a full length bar stretching from one end of the already enlarged living room to the other was in its place. It was made of clear glass with neon lighting glowing at the edge.

"Harry?"

Harry was greeted by the sight of Karen. "Hey 'Kay, do you have any idea where Kaden is?"

"Give me a second." Karen said as her ice blue eyes shut, "over next to the DJ booth."

"Thanks." Harry said and turned away until Karen interrupted.

"You're not going to drag Cho around looking for my brother are you?"

"I was going to get Danielle to show her around." Harry said quickly, Karen and Cho didn't exactly get along very well and he knew it was because of him.

"I can keep her company." Kari supplied with a smile, managing to sound excited about it, despite the look Cho was giving her.

Harry turned to look at Cho and he flashed a grin. Karen was that girl from Beuxbatons. "Sounds like a good idea, you okay with that Cho?"

Cho nodded, feeling apprehensive as Karen came to her side.

"C'mon we'll go and get drink." Karen said pulling her away from Harry's side.

Harry smiled, watching the two walk away. Hoping their mutual animosity would fade once they got to know one another. They were both very important to him. Wading through the dancing crowd towards the DJ booth Harry kept a lookout for his friend and spotted him. The music being blared from the speakers wasn't his thing. Kaden had always liked dance music but Harry never bothered with it. Reaching his friend Harry had to shout over the music. "Kaden!"

He turned and Harry could have sworn it was Kaden, but the boy was slightly younger looking and when he spoke, his voice held a distinct American accent. "You talking to me?"

"Yeah I'm looking for Kaden Blackwood. Do you know where he is?" Harry asked eyeing the boy warily.

He extended a hand to Harry. "You're the new Reaper."

"How did you know?" Harry asked.

"I'm Kaden's cousin, Andrew James Blackwood, just call me AJ." AJ said taking a drink of his beer.

"Have you got any idea where he is? Karen said he was over here. I need to talk to him." Harry said.

"He left with Connor; we were catching up with family stuff." AJ said looking over Harry's shoulder in the direction they disappeared.

"Do you know where?" Harry asked, looking around.

"Rossi!" AJ shouted, trying in vain to be louder than the music.

Harry turned to see where Rossi was and found him walking toward them reached. "Everything alright kid?"

Harry nodded in response and turned to AJ.

"And mini-Blackwood too, what the hell's your skinny American arse doing this side of the pond?"

"I'm over seeing my uncle about a transfer. Sariel's with me too, I left her with Danielle." AJ said.

"Fair enough, what do you want?" Rossi asked; wanting to get back to the brunette he abandoned.

"Harry's looking for Kaden, something important." AJ shrugged.

"Give us a minute then AJ and don't drink too much kid." Rossi said with a grin.

"I'm not a kid anymore." AJ muttered as he left them.

Rossi turned to Harry. "So what's the crisis? I thought you were here with your girl?"

"She's not really my girl-"

"-yet, she's not your girl yet Harry. You'll get her before the end of the night, trust me." Rossi interjected confidently, Harry underestimated just how much the Reapers knew about him.

"Thanks, but I have information on a possible Paradyne Knight at Hogwarts." Harry said calmly.

"Who?" Rossi asked, his face dropping and violet eyes widening in alarm.

Harry knew he could trust Kaden's XO. "Diggory, I think he knows about me and Kaden."

"Follow me." Rossi said dropping his beer. Rossi led Harry back through the crowd of revellers to the patio overlooking the city, he closed them over behind. Rossi's eyes shut in concentration. "The Captain's coming."

"How did you do that?"

"The Reaper tattoo acts like a magical beacon, it's not specific but you can get his attention." Rossi paused. "Harry this had better not be a joke 'cause if it is, it's a bad one." Rossi said; if Diggory was a Paradyne and knew the Captain was an Elemental; it was bad. That would reveal Connor by family extension, his and Paul's disappearances from the Wizarding World would not go unnoticed either. Everyone knew him and Connor where best friends in the few years they spent at Hogwarts. That led to their Father, the head of a multi-national corporation. An obvious financial backer for the Elemental Order and beyond that he had his adopted parents and little sister to think about. She was just about to start Hogwarts.

"No joke."

"You never got close to him, close enough for you to get hit by with a tracking spell or for him to plant something on you." Rossi cycled through a list of possible spells or items that could thwart the wards of the Academy.

Harry shook his head. "Never, I barley talked to him, except at DA meetings in fifth and sixth year." Harry and Rossi turned as they heard the doors open.

The near identical brothers, Connor and Kaden stepped through. Kaden spoke first. "Hey what's going on? We've got a party going on and you two are out here."

"What's up I was in the middle of something?" Connor asked.

"Our favourite Order of Elemental killing fuckwits have a spy at Hogwarts." Rossi said.

Kaden shrugged nonplussed. "I covered my tracks well enough, but everyone knows Harry's one of us. That whole cyclone of fire was in the Daily Prophet for weeks, still makes the pages on a slow day. They can't kill him but; it'd attract too much attention, who do you think it is?"

"Diggory, Cedric Diggory of all fucking people." Harry spat in disgust, his past and present feelings tearing through.

"Harry." Kaden said with a laugh. "We've known about that prick for a long time. Why do you think the dick was seeing Chang? He was trying to get closer to the two of us after the First Task, we weren't the most subtle and anyone looking for it would've corrected my appearance and your powers, god knows the Old Man gave me hell for it."

Connor turned on Kaden, a scowl contorting his normally calm features; Harry could have sworn he saw a flash of fang.

"You knew about a Paradyne Operative at Hogwarts and you didn't tell me?" Connor said, angrily grabbing Kaden by the shirt.

Kaden's face darkened as he pushed his brother back. "You would've killed him, I needed a cover and it's me that usually does the stupid shit not you, now shut up or take it up with Dad and the Council!"

Connor pushed Kaden back hard, very hard; he flew back like a rag doll, bouncing off the brick wall next to the glass doors. "I think I might Captain." Connor said and with a light crack he disappeared.

Harry rushed over to his friend who was rubbing the back of his head. "What was that all about?" Harry asked.

"He's still…just forget about it." Kaden answered wiping away a small amount of blood. "Give me a minute?"

"No problem, Captain." Rossi said and went back to the party.

"Thanks." Kaden muttered and turned his attention to Harry. "How did you find this out?"

"When Cho was going out with him she saw some stuff talking about me and you, letters, about me being an Elemental." Harry said, in his slightly naive mind he had no reason to distrust her.

Kaden sighed. "I thought it would be something like that, would she lie to you?"

"No." Harry stated, perplexed by Kaden's insinuation.

"Harry, how much do you know about her?" Kaden asked, hoping to put his point across as easily as possible. "Can you trust her with everything? She's a smart girl; she will figure it out eventually. Why you have to cancel on her all the time, mysterious injuries, being gone for weeks at a time…it's a lot harder than you think to cover up, give it a year of lying and see how you feel, you're not a liar like me Harry." Kaden said, Harry was an honest person, Kaden knew it would kill him to lie to someone he loved but it was the nature of their business.

"I trust her Kaden," Harry said.

"Good but I'm setting her up with a tail." Kaden stated. He was Harry's superior in the Order and couldn't put personal feelings before duty. He had to eliminate every threat to the Order, one way or the other.

Harry was taken aback by Kaden's mistrust. "Why? I trust her, so should you…she wouldn't lie to me."

"Its standard procedure," Kaden assured, hoping to ease Harry's thoughts. "An operative will check her out for a few days. I'll pick up the report and she'll be cleared. It's not a big deal."

"Can't be all that bad," Harry supposed and deep down he knew Kaden was right; it was sound logic.

Kaden brightened and pulled Harry towards the door. "C'mon we've got pair of stunning girls waiting on us!"

xxxxx

Harry groaned as he left his room; making sure to close the door as quietly as possible, vague remnants of memory pounding in his skull. Feeling dehydrated and a bit sick, Harry made his way across the living room. Harry was grateful Rossi put a timer on his spells, because he doubted he would've been able to reverse them in the state he was in. He remembered leaving the patio with Kaden; necking a few Firewhiskeys and finding Danielle and Cho. They had fun, laughing, dancing and drinking. Cho even warmed up to Kaden a bit since he wasn't messing about with any of her friends and Harry could almost see her attitude changing.

Harry also met more of Kaden's family, namely AJ's twin sister Sariel. Harry found it extremely strange that Kaden and Karen were twins as were AJ and Sariel. Harry soon found that by some magical coincidence that in the Blackwood family all firstborn children were twins, specifically, a boy and a girl. Even Connor had a sister, but Kaden didn't mention her much, Harry assumed she must have died.

And all too quickly he woke up with a splitting headache in his bed with Cho wrapped around him, and it didn't help that they were half-naked either. Harry shook his head as he traipsed across the living room sluggishly, to the kitchen. Thankfully the box of yellow filled vials was in the same place, the small cupboard beneath the breakfast bar. The Potion was a mix of Pepper-Up and a vague cleansing Potion to expel toxins, together they were a rather fantastic hangover cure.

Harry grabbed two and drank one. Harry swallowed the sour tasting liquid and the relief was instantaneous, his sluggish brain kicked back into gear and the toxins where expelled or dulled, Harry wasn't sure how it worked. The dehydration was still a problem so he grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, when he made to sit he found Kaden grinning at him like an idiot. "What?"

"So what happened last night?" Kaden asked with the smug grin. "The state you were in! Honestly you have no idea how proud I am; you were still standing! Mind you Miss Chang was worse for wear too, when the two of you disappeared I-"

"-shut up!" Harry near shouted, Kaden knew exactly how to trip his temper. "Merlin! Would it actually kill you to help me for once?"

"I help all the time." Kaden was indignant, taking a seat and placing an arrogant smirk on his face. "So you nailed Chang and don't remember?"

"Fuck you!" Harry snapped, sipping his water.

"You two were all over each other before you disappeared, forgive me the assumption."

"What!" Harry spluttered; coughing as his water went down the wrong way.

Kaden laughed. "Only joking mate."

Harry sighed in relief.

"Okay that was a lie." Kaden admitted. "You two did disappear and you were all over each other, but the state you were in, you would've passed out when you hit the bed." He shrugged.

"Any helpful suggestions about what I should do?" Harry asked.

Kaden shrugged. "Take the potion, a glass of water and wake her up. It'll be just as awkward for her, you've lived through worse." Kaden's gaze flittered to Harry's arms; a long sleeved t-shirt covered his arms.

"Is Danielle awake?" Harry pulled at his sleeves.

"She's still sleeping, but later she's going home to France for a few days." Kaden said, pretending not to notice the gesture.

"Don't worry about it. She'll come back."

Harry stood. "Wish me luck."

"You don't need it."

xxxxx

Harry hesitated as he reached for the doorknob but before he could chicken out or over think, Harry opened the door. His room was calm, a gentle breeze came through the open window and Hedwig's perch was empty, a touch unusual during the day. Shan was in his basket hiding, he didn't react well to new people encroaching on his territory. That left the beautiful raven haired girl in his bed, sleeping and snoring lightly.

Harry walked over until he came to her side of the bed and took a seat on the edge, his weight shifted the mattress and she rolled until her she faced him. Harry put the glass of water and potion vial on his bedside table and was about to wake her but took a moment, she looked peaceful. Her skin was flawless, perfectly smooth, her ebony hair splashed out over his blue pillow but Harry did however, notice a long white scar which dragged along her shoulder. He tried to ignore but it was warm and glittered slightly; he could feel magic surrounding it.

Harry placed a hand on the shoulder, feeling the indentation of the skin and shook her gently. "Cho it's time to get up."

Cho rolled away with a groan. "Five more minutes…"

Harry laughed. "C'mon, it's almost past twelve."

She moaned, pulling a pillow over her head.

"I've got a potion for you." He said, knowing it would entice her.

She rolled back over and opened her eyes.

Harry could tell she had a bad hangover. Her eyes were dulled and her hair was all over the place. Cho was a perfectionist and didn't give a care for her wayward hair as she sat up against the headboard, pulling the sheets tightly around herself. Wordlessly he handed her the potion and her face twisted in disgust as she swallowed it and then she visibly relaxed, sinking back against the pillows.

Harry fidgeted nervously as their silence stretched.

"This is awkward," Cho stated.

Harry nodded. "Yeah, here was me thinking we were past that stage."

They both laughed.

"Did you have fun?"

Cho nodded with a smile, "From what I can remember, yes." Her face twisted again and she groaned and placed her head in her hands, "I'm never drinking that much again."

Harry laughed. "What time do you have to be back?"

Cho shrugged. "My Gran won't bother; I said I was staying at Padma's. Why do you want to get rid of me?" Cho pouted playfully.

"Stay as long as you like." Harry said before thinking.

"As long as I like?"

"As long as you can stand to be around me," Harry joked.

Cho smiled wickedly, "That could take a few hours…"