Love in Motion: GoyleCho
Word Count: 386
She doesn't expect to find comfort after Cedric's death. Even her friends have been avoiding her like she has dragon pox. She is damaged goods— a broken girl to be left behind and forgotten.
Cho certainly doesn't expect to find comfort in a Slytherin, of all people. Life is funny like that sometimes. One moment, she's trying to find the nearest empty room the break down in; the next, she realizes she's not alone.
She's seen him around before. He's one of those thugs that cling to Malfoy. From what she knows of him, his heart is stone.
"Sorry," she says, though she isn't sure why she should apologize to him. He is cruel, uncaring. He doesn't deserve her words.
"You're crying." His head tips to the side curiously, dark eyes narrowing as he studies her.
She waits for the joke. It always comes. Cho's grief has become just another punchline, something to laugh at.
But he doesn't laugh. He moves closer, wiping a tear away with his thumb.
"You shouldn't cry," he says. "Too pretty."
Before Cho can even think of a response, he's gone.
…
She doesn't know why her thoughts keep going back to the Slytherin boy. There's nothing special about him. He's cruel and stupid.
But he hadn't been cruel that day. He had been kind and soft.
"What are you looking at?" Marietta asks.
Cho quickly pulls her gaze away from the younger boy at the Slytherin table. "Nothing," she mumbles. "Nothing."
…
The abandoned classroom becomes their little hiding spot. Cho talks about her grief, how Cedric had been her everything. Gregory talks about his friends, how they don't care about him at all.
"I guess we're both broken in our own ways," she muses.
His hand rests in hers, and she notices the way it trembles. He may look strong and scary to the rest of the world, but he is still human; he still has things to fear, reasons to be nervous.
"I don't want you to be broken," he tells her, leaning closer.
The kiss is unexpected. There is no magic behind it; it doesn't make her feel like everything will be okay, and she will be free again. But it causes a little flutter of hope in her stomach, and Cho remembers that she can heal.