xHx: Thanks again for the interest. I'm glad to keep the story fresh for you. But it will be a while before the history of Marietta's lover is revealed, unless someone well versed in mythology can figure it out. But I hope no one does, because that would spoil the surprise.

Black's Phoenix: Yea, barely restraint, because of other accusations that he's mental, and we also see that it's not always about Gryffindor good/ Slytheren bad. Harry just had a bit of pent up rage that accumulated with him needing to tear into Malfoy.

Summet: Glad to see it's keeping your interest. Hope you liked the chapter from Marietta's point of view.

Here it is! Finally! The chapter where Harry and Cho really get to talk. My head was about to explode. But we see that at least for now that Harry and Cho have different ideas about what each other wants. And Hermione and Ron also have some conflict of interest that will need to be ironed out. I hope everyone likes, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

Chapter 18: Fear of a Commitment

Cho Chang was deep into her book as Harry walked towards her. She was still beautiful to him and that feeling in his stomach came back, but more subtle than last year. He wasn't in love with her. She was just a crush last year, and really there wasn't much to her personality, but he still couldn't help admiring her physical beauty. He gazed at her enchanting almond-shaped eyes, her cute button nose, soft olive complection skin, and beautiful raven-black hair. Her face carried the same sadness that it had so often since Harry had known her. She was the only student in the library, and the librarian was in the back putting up some books. Cho was focusing so hard on reading that she didn't even notice him walk up to her. Harry concentrated on the first words carefully before he spoke, as things had not been left well between the two of them last year.

"Um, hello Cho. How was your summer?" He asked softly. Cho jumped with surprise. And tried to stammer out a reply.

"Oh! Harry…I…you startled me. Uh… my summer? It was just okay. She lied. "How was yours?" Harry shrugged.

"Oh, you know, okay." He lied as well. "May I sit?" He asked politely. Cho's mouth dropped open. Her stomach churned inside, and her head felt numb. She was glad she was sitting, because she knew that if she tried to get up her legs would fail her. She couldn't believe that Harry wanted to sit by her.

"God yes!" She blurted out instantly embarrassed. "I mean yes, please." She said in a voice she tried to keep calm. Harry did so with a slight smile on his face. Harry looked over at Cho's parchment. It was five feet of notes in very small handwriting, dealing with potions, and diseases. The book that Cho had been reading from was very thick and smelled of new paper. It didn't look like a book that one would find in the Hogwarts library at all. Harry closed it, keeping his finger between the pages so Cho wouldn't lose her place. "What are you reading Cho?" He asked at the same time reading the title: The Oxford Cancer Institute: Advanced Brest Cancer Treatment Medical Files Volume 4. Cho looked embarrassed and pulled the book away from Harry, putting it in her book bag. Harry pulled his hand back.

"Oh. I…I'm just doing some research, for…a class. For potions class. We have to study Muggle…um…drugs. Yes that's it; we have to study how muggles make potions called drugs." Cho said nervously. Harry was taken aback by Cho's behavior, but remembered that Luna had told him that Cho thought that he hated her, and Luna had also said that Cho and Marietta were no longer friends, but bitter enemies.

"Um look Cho… I haven't seen you in the great hall since the feast. Where have you been?" Harry asked. Cho's eyes went wide.

"You mean…you were looking for me?" Cho said with a weak smile beginning to come across her face.

"Well…kind of. I mean I noticed that you were not at your table. Look last year…we left things…well, I talked to Luna, and she told me that you thought I hated you. It's not true. And I'm glad to hear that you and Marietta are not friends anymore. I just wanted to let you know that I don't want things to be weird between us anymore. We can be friends. I mean if you would like." He finished casually. Cho's heart was beating so fast that it hurt. It felt as if it had risen up into her throat. She grabbed Harry from across the table, in a tight embrace as tears fell from her eyes.

"Thank you Harry! Thank you Sooo much!" she cried. Harry could swear that he felt his ribs crack under Cho's squeeze; she seemed very strong for someone so small. He put his arms around her, and gave her a pat on the back.

"No problem. I'm glad that we can be friends again. Um so where have you been at every breakfast, lunch, and dinner?" Harry asked recalling again that Cho had not been in the great hall at anytime to his knowledge.

"Oh, I've been here mostly. I have to catch up on work. I'm really behind. I…didn't do very well last school year. I need to make it up. And well I've been using some of my lunch periods to try and catch Marietta doing something well bad." Cho finished. Harry gave her a strange look. What do you mean…bad?" he asked curious. Cho looked around the room, only the librarian, who was in the back of the room reading, and Filches cat, who could not understand what they were saying were present. She leaned forward to Harry speaking in a whisper.

"Well… the other night, Luna and I…we were hiding under a table in our common room…and well we overheard Marietta and Daniel Forester talking about a bewitched room in the castle. Someone that Marietta was seeing in it, that's what they were talking about." Harry interrupted her.

"Bewitched room? What kind of room?" Harry asked.

"Well I think it's a ghost proof room. The two of them, Marietta, and Danielle were talking about how the ghost mite come across it, and they were worried about the head master finding out. And yesterday I came across the Gray Lady sniffing, and licking the stone on Filches office, and asked her what she was doing. She said that over the summer, Filche's twin brother had been here with Marietta, and bewitched the office, to make it ghost proof. Well in doing so it became something that the ghost could touch, and smell, and even taste. So they hang around there a lot until Filch shoos them away. The Gray Lady said it was like euphoria just to touch the walls of the office. But Filch wants to keep it private whatever's in there." Cho finished. Harry had a look of shock on his face.

"So it was Marietta with Filch and his brother over the summer" Harry said. Cho looked surprised.

"Oh! You knew about it already? I just found out yesterday when I talked to the Gray Lady." Cho said. Harry told Cho about his conversation with Sir Nicolas at the beginning of the week.

"So who ever she was going to go see was in Filches office that night…I think…" Cho interrupted him.

"Oh no Harry, Marietta was talking about a second bewitched room. One in a part of the castle that the ghost usually didn't visit." Cho stated. Harry scratched his head.

"Second room? Where?" He asked. Cho gave a shrug.

"I don't know. I've been following her around every other day, but she hasn't done anything out of the ordinary. Luna's watched her on the days when I had to do work like today." Cho stated. The five minute warning bell rang for the students to get to class. Cho started putting up her books, and stood up uneasy as she was still in awe of being in Harry's presents.

"Wait, where are you going?" Harry asked. Cho looked at him confused.

"Well we have to get to class. That was the warning bell." She stated plainly. Harry put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Hold on I want to hear the rest of this. Let's skip class." Harry said quietly. Cho gave him a terrified look.

"But…but…Harry that's against the rules. We can't do that!" Cho said nervously. Harry gave her a pat on the back.

"Don't worry we won't get caught. I know just the place to hide." He said confident. Cho gave him a disapproving look.

"Well that's not the point Harry. It's against the rules. I mean if every student went around doing that all the time no one would get any of their work done. And well…as a sixth and seventh year, we have to set a good example to others." Cho said pleadingly. Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He shook his head.

"Come on Cho don't be a goodie two shoes. Haven't you ever broken the rules before?" Harry asked. Cho gave an embarrassed look.

"Well twice, but I promised myself it would never happen again. I felt so guilty." She said ashamed as she started for the door. Harry followed her and saw Mrs. Norris watching them.

"Err, maybe your right Cho. It would be best to go to our classes right now, as to not break the rules." Harry said very audible. Then he put his lips close to Cho. She could feel his warm breath against her cheek, and felt that she mite faint. Harry whispered in her ear. I'll send you an owl tomorrow night. Stay awake late. Don't tell anyone, Okay?" He finished. Cho felt dizzy and although she was very happy she felt she might throw up. She nodded her head and Harry gave her a firm handshake before he left down the opposite direction of where she was to go.

Cho staggered into class and sat down and opened her transfiguration book. She wasn't thinking about anything but her conversation with Harry, and she did not notice the other students confused looks, as many of them stared at her. She was in class for fifteen minutes before professor Flitwick shook the sleeve of her robe, and yelled…

"Miss Chang!" Cho jumped from her stupor.

"What? Oh sorry, is it my turn to answer?" Professor Flitwick looked at her very concerned.

"Yes, it's your turn to answer Miss Chang. The question is this: In this room one student is very different than all the rest. One student does not belong in this class. I want you to look around and tell me which student doesn't belong here." he finished. Cho looked around at the other students in the room. It didn't take her long to find out which student did not belong, as she observed that she was in a class full of eleven year olds, wearing crest of green and silver, with a snake on them, or crest with yellow and black, with a badger on them. Also odd was that Professor Flitwick was teaching a Transfiguration class. It dawned on Cho very quickly that she had entered the wrong classroom, and not even realized it.

"Oh Professor, I'm sorry. I didn't realize…I'll just get back to my class now." She said nervous. Professor Flitwick gave another concerned look.

"Miss Chang, are you okay? You seem a bit lost, are you ill?" He said. "Cho hung her head.

"No Professor, I just…I wasn't paying attention. I'm sorry." She said. Flitwick just shook his head, and frowned.

"Miss Chang, you have to stay focused. I know that you're still upset over what happened at the end of term the year before last. Believe me, we all regret it happened. And I know that the two of you were close, but you have to put it behind you. At some point the grieving process has to stop, and a year is quite enough time. Now I think that professor McGonagall is waiting for you. Just stay focused in her class. I'm not going to take off any points, as I expect that she will be doing that, but I would remind you that I wouldn't' t mind having the House cup in our common room for a change. So please try and keep your head about you this year, every point counts. Cho nodded her head.

"I understand Professor. It's not about Cedric, but I'll make up any points I lose today. I promise.

"Good Miss Chang, now…get the hell out of my class, I'm trying to teach. He smiled. Cho left in a run for Transfiguration class around the corner.

"Harry was having trouble focusing in Potions as well. He had brushed against Cho's soft skin when she touched him, he had felt the warmth of her body against him when they hugged, and he had caught a whiff of Cho's hair, when he had whispered into her ear. It had smelled like vanilla, he had even tasted one of her tears as they hugged, and all that combined, had made him a bit dizzy with thought. Did he still have feelings for her? No. He couldn't possibly…she's a beautiful girl, and he would have felt the same if any beautiful girl had given him a hug. But there was something else. It was a feeling that he couldn't describe. No. He told himself, she'll most likely start crying again if you get back together with her. I promised myself that I would have a good year at school, and being romantic with Cho would just complicate things. I have to start casually dating. "I'm glad I let Cho know that I just wanted to be friends." He said to himself under his breath. Now things won't be weird. And now I'll have some new clues to add to the mystery of what's been going on here this summer. Harry started thinking about what he would do to discover the secrete, he would have to sneak out one night soon. But when? Hermione, Ron and himself would meet with Hagrid on Saturday, maybe he could bring Cho. No, he thought, at some point they would discus order business, and he wasn't allowed to let Cho know about that. She wasn't a bad person, but the company she keeps was still questionable, aside from Luna, Harry didn't know anything about her other friends, and even if Marietta and her were no longer speaking to each other, who knows how many other friends she mite have like that. Better to talk with Cho after he discussed things with Hagrid and the others. Harry made it through Potions class, and transfiguration and joined Ron and Hermione at dinner. They were arguing and the debate was heated.

"I don't understand why I'm not enough for you! Why can't you just be content with just me? Why do you want to shag every other girl in the school before you can commit to me?" Hermione said in a highly audible voice. Ron raised his hands in protest.

"Look Hermione, I'm not talking about shagging anyone, I just want to… to date other people as well. I mean I want to spend my first Hogwarts weekend at Hogsmead with you. You must believe me. I'm just not ready for what you want right now. But I want you to see other guys as well. I mean except for Victor. I want to end up with you, but I don't want you to be the only girl I ever dated. I just want to casual date for a while, that's all. And please keep your voice down a little. This is a private conversation. Ron stated exhausted.

"What's so wrong with being with just me? If you know that we are meant to be together, than why do you need to be with anyone else? I can make you happy. We've wasted so much time already, that we could have spent together." Hermione pleaded.

"What did I miss?" Harry asked a bit nervous to enter the fray. Hermione gave him a hurt look.

"Ron doesn't want to commit to a permanent relationship with me. He wants to go gallivanting around lusting after every piece of arse in school. Harry tell him he's being unreasonable." Hermione pleaded.

"That's not what I want at all! Look, I've only just turned sixteen, and well I just want to play the field for a bit. I want to date you a lot Hermione, but I want to well date other girls a little as well, just for a little while. You know have a taste of the different spices of life. Harry tell her that she's over reacting, and that we have plenty of time for… well commitment. We're only both of us just turned sixteen. Harry knew that he had stepped into a virtual hornets nest, but needed to help his friends to come to a peace. He sighed.

"Well…um…Hermione, didn't you just say that you were okay with Ron and you taking it slow awhile ago? I mean…I thought that you two had already agreed on it." Harry said diplomatically. Hermione gave a gasp.

"I… I was in shock! I didn't know what to say. But now… now I'm sure that we need to be together. It's true that I was using Victor to get Ron jealous, because I wanted to hear him say I love you to me. But he wants to date other people. He wants me to date other people. Why Ron?" Hermione said still in an audible that carried over to the Ravenclaw table next to them. Some students from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were both looking towards the commotion. Ron was turning red with embarrassment.

"Look Hermione, please…be quite." He said. Hermione gave him a last look of pleading.

"Ron, I don't want to be you're on and off again girlfriend. You have a choice to make me exclusively, or anyone but me. And you can't go out with that…that…Loopy Lunatic at all…I forbid It." she said in an authoritive tone. Ron looked at a couple of Gryffindor boys snickering at his chastising by Hermione, and felt he was losing face. He turned to Hermione with a look of anger.

"Look Hermione! Your not going to tell me what to do, and who I can and can't see, your being over dramatic! I will never understand girls till the day I die. And if you don't want to go out with me fine. I'll take Luna. You can come back when your ready to act like a mature, reasonable adult, and not an over pretentious git!" Ron finished at the limits of his patients. Hermione started to tear up.

"And you can go to hell Ronald Weasley!" She said as she stormed off in tears. A couple of Gryffindor girls who were listing in on the conversation followed Hermione out of the great hall to lend moral support. Harry looked at Ron.

"Err…look Ron, I understand about you wanting to just casually date for a while, but… well it's just that Hermione is right about you two having wasted a lot of time already. I mean how long has their been an awkwardness between you two that just screamed intimacy. I just think that you should maybe consider if you really want to casually date at this time." Harry said calmly. Ron looked at Harry seriously.

"Harry if I committed to Hermione it would be for life, so I don't want to do it. We're young, and we have all the time in the world. She's just being well unreasonable, and I'm just not in the mood to deal with it right now. She'll eventually come to her séances, but until she does, I'm not going to play her drama queen game, she'll come back to me, and I'll have dating experience under my belt, so that I'll know what to do when I'm with her." Ron stated flatly. "Um by the way Harry, who are you taking out for the first Hogsmead weekend?" Ron asked curiously. Harry gave it a moment of thought.

"Well…I thought maybe Fiona Burrows, the Slytheren girl I met at Diagon Alley. What about you Ron?" Harry countered. Ron thought for a minute as well.

"I think either Luna, or Padma Patil." He said. "Oh! Harry, how did it go with Cho?" Ron asked trying to steer the subject in another direction. Harry smiled happily. Well I made it perfectly clear that I just wanted to be friends, and that I didn't want things to be weird anymore. So were cool. She had some interesting stuff to tell me but I want to wait until we talk to Hagrid to give details." Harry said. "Oh! But you remember that I told you about my chat with Sir Nicholas the other day?" Harry asked. Ron nodded his head. Harry leaned in closer to him. "Well apparently the Ravenclaw girl who was with Filch and his brother was Marietta Edgencombe.

Cho sat on her bed smiling a genuine smile for the first time in what felt like a very long time. She was truly happy. And the tears that now ran down her cheeks were tears of joy. Harry wanted to be friends again, and Harry had looked for her each day, at her table, and he had noticed her gone for every meal. He still cared about her. At least she thought he still cared about her. Had Harry and his girlfriend broken up? Cho didn't know, but she hoped that they would, with a twinge of guilt. She had indeed lost twenty points for being late to transfiguration class, but she didn't care. She was happier than she had been in a long while, and she would work hard to make up the points later. The only downside was that she could not concentrate on the extra transfiguration homework that Professor McGonagall had given her, because she would constantly drift off in a day dream of Harry. She reached over to her night stand and picked up her already repaired picture of Harry, wishing that she had a more recent one. If she could only remember the name of the Gryffindor boy who always had the camera, maybe she could get a new one. She admired every detail in it, and looked around to make sure that no one was at the door, and then kissed the glass over the picture. "I miss you Harry." She said to the photo. Cho couldn't wait until tomorrow night, and she wished that she could have breakfast in the great hall, but knew that she had too much work to do. Eventually unable to concentrate on her assignment she fell asleep with a good dream for a change. One about being with Harry. Cho would have a well deserved rest this night.