It was midnight. Cho sat beside the fire in the Ravenclaw common room, her daintily-featured face in her hands, tears dripping from her cheeks and splattering on the hearth. She had just been dumped ─ again. Apparently it didn't matter if you were pretty, and had lots of friends, and had dated the two most popular guys at Hogwarts. Apparently that wasn't enough.
Was she wrong for asking for just one more free date meal in Diagon Alley, just one more diamond necklace after the show? Was she wrong for wanting more than just a boy to walk the corridors with and kiss maybe once or twice? Cho wanted that knight in shining armor who would provide for her every need. Her mother had once told her, men and boys weren't always the best all by themselves. But a little help, a little nudging here and there, could go a long way towards making them dateable.
Cho thought she was perfect for the job. She had the body, the brains ─ practically everything needed to snatch up whoever she wanted. She had worked on the cream of the crop: Diggory, than Potter, but each time something fell in the way. And this time it was Potter himself, not some outside force.
What more did they want?
So while her boyfr─ her ex, Cho corrected herself, wiping away her tears ─ dated Ginny Weasley, that insufferable lunatic, she, Cho Chang was crying in her own common room.
Pathetic.
She had to do something about it. She couldn't just keep crying there, somebody would find out and then she'd never get another guy. Cho Chang, she told herself, you have to get up, fix your robes, and act respectable. Either you'll get another guy, and he'll be perfect, or no one here is acceptable, and you can at least say you tried.
Just as Cho was starting to rise and head for her dormitory, a figure appeared at the doorway. Cho's entire demeanor changed in an instant.
"Excuse me?" she said to the person standing there and looking at her. She crossed her arms and marched towards him or her. "What are you doing here, go away!"
"Cho," replied the person. The voice was feminine, and somewhat familiar, but Cho couldn't place it. It couldn't have been anyone in her year, but perhaps the year above? Or below?
"It's me, Padma." With that she muttered, "Lumos," and waved her wand in an arc. "See?"
"Oh, hi Padma," answered Cho quickly. She recognized the girl from the Ravenclaw table at meals, but for some reason hadn't ever spoken directly to her. "Look, I'm kind of busy, so if you wouldn't mind─"
"I-heard-you-crying," Padma interrupted. Cho's eyes widened in outrage. The girl had seen her. This was bad, very bad. Already Cho had developed a fluttering in her stomach that she could only assume meant fear.
"What? I wasn't crying. Why would you think that?" she stuttered, a combined effect of her anger and her sadness. "Look, I don't know why you even came here, and what you heard, but I was not crying."
"Hey," replied Padma softly, putting a hand on Cho's shoulder. "I get it. But give me a chance. Besides, I come bearing gifts!"
"Gifts?" said Cho, her natural curiosity piqued. 'Gifts' was a favorite word of hers. She noticed for the first time that Padma was wearing satiny teal pyjamas and slippers under a cloak. Cute, she thought.
"Yep. Honeyduke's best chocolate! I always hide some in my trunk," said Padma confidentially, then paused. "I hope no one heard that!" she giggled.
Cho reached forward to take the candy, unwrapping the crinkly foil to reveal a corner of dark chocolate. Then a thought occurred to her.
"Nothing's the matter with this, right?"
"Nah," replied Padma. "You're just the lucky beneficiary of my kindness. Now eat, or I'll take it back.
"Chocolate is good for fixing crying," she added matter-of-factly.
I told you I was not─" Cho began, feeling stubborn. Why wouldn't the girl simply let her have her own way in this, like usual? Padma was beginning to seem like an interesting character. But not that interesting, she corrected herself. After all, the girl was younger than her.
"Is it good?" asked Padma, after a moment of silence when nothing could be heard but the crinkle of the foil wrapper, and the snap of chocolate breaking in two in Cho's surprisingly greedy mouth. "I ask only out of curiosity. You should finish it."
Cho hesitated after she comprehended what Padma was saying. She hadn't considered that Padma had wanted any. But the girl had said she didn't! There was no reason to stop eating. And it was a small bar, not large enough to share anyway.
Another flutter made itself known in Cho's stomach. Maybe that meant she shouldn't, in fact, have eaten the whole bar. Or maybe not. Cho suddenly wasn't sure what to think.
"So, why are we still talking?" asked Cho brashly. Immediately she regretted her words. "No, sorry, I didn't mean that."
"I am fascinated by you," said Padma simply. "You're a Ravenclaw, but you're not the nerdy, quiet, type like people say I am. You're popular, yet you're sitting here crying in the middle of the night. You've dated countless boys, but I know for a fact that you're feeling something new, because you haven't actually sent me away yet, like you normally would. You're curious."
Cho gaped. This girl had hardly spoken to her for five minutes, and already she was analyzing everything about her! She knew she should be furious, normally she would, but something about this girl made her want to listen. To listen closer, and hear what she had to say.
"So what I was wondering is whether you'd like to go with me to Hogsmeade tomorrow," said Padma. She didn't hide behind any fake emotion, or ask some other kid to tease her for her, or do any of the jealousy games that Cho knew only too well. She didn't do any of those things. She just stood there, in the middle of the night, and asked Cho out. Honestly, Cho was completely and utterly shocked.
But she listened to the feeling in her stomach, that was lingering on throughout the conversation, and piping up whenever something caught its fancy. And it telling her yes.
Cho, as a rule, didn't date girls. But something about Padma was different from everyone else. Yes, it made her confront someone who was practically a stranger in the common room in her pyjamas, but Cho wasn't exactly disappointed about that, to be honest. She could deal. And actually, she couldn't have been much of a stranger to the girl. After all, from what Padma had said to Cho, she must have been watching her or something. How else would Padma know who Cho really was?
The question that had been phrased as a statement was still there, waiting to be answered. Cho collected her thoughts, and made her choice. She had tried boys. How well had that turned out? And here was a pretty girl, who obviously liked Cho, that somehow made Cho start to like her back. The answer seemed to be clear. All Cho Chang had to do was say it.
"Okay," she said. "Let's." Cho saw Padma try unsuccessfully to conceal her happiness in response to this answer.
Was she wrong for saying yes to the girl?
There was no way to know.
But for the sake of her aching heart, Cho hoped not.
Written for the Ship 'Til You Drop Bi-Weekly Competition, Pairing: Padma/Cho
Written for the Amateur Divination Game Challenge, Q: If Liza were to go to the nearest convenience store, what would she buy? A: chocolate
Written for the Let's Dig Holes! Competition, Prompt: "Am I Wrong" by Nico & Vinz (song)