A/N: I wanted to say a big thank you to the very lovely James Birdsong and also another wonderful guest who has been supporting this story (and others previously) throughout. Your comments mean a lot to me, and always make me smile. Thank you for being you!

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Chapter 7 - Cho and Ginny

Harry was glad that Sirius and Remus weren't too disapproving of the DA as, if they had been, he'd have just had to have done it anyway.

Sirius was very helpful in providing inspiration for defensive spellwork.

"You know so much!" Harry said in amazement as his godfather listed off about a dozen shield charms he'd never even heard of before.

Sirius shrugged. "Defence was always my best subject at school. And it came in pretty handy after too. Unlike bloody herbology… How many flutterby bushes have I pruned since leaving Hogwarts? Not one!"

There was a huge sense of satisfaction that came from seeing the DA members master the defensive spells he taught them. But something else that was bringing him a lot of pleasure too was…

"Cho." Sirius said, smiling knowingly as Harry shared another chat with him in the fire one evening. "She's the one you asked to the ball last year, isn't she?"

It still amazed Harry how interested his godfather was in his life.

He nodded. "Yeah, but Hermione says she's…" he cast his mind back to what his friend had said. "Emotionally unavailable."

Sirius frowned. "What the f..laming hell does that mean?"

Harry shook his head, feeling as bewildered as Sirius looked. "I don't know. Can you ask Remus?"

Sirius promised that he would (though Harry wasn't sure he believed him) and he carried on the DA sessions as normal, being hit by a fair few stunners as his eyes were so often fixed on Cho.

Harry had never had a girlfriend before. He knew Hermione and Krum had dated in their fourth year, but outside that the Gryffindor fifth years didn't seem to have too much experience in the world of romance.

Dean was still teasing Seamus for asking out (and being rejected by) a mortified Hannah Abbott and Ron never mentioned his love life outside the disastrous time he'd asked Fleur Delacour out.

His best friend was still more than happy enough to interfere in his sister's though.

"Michael Corner." He said, picking sulkily at the tassels of a cushion in the Gryffindor common room. "What does she see in a git like that?"

Harry wasn't particularly interested. His mind was still on Cho.

"Well, he's in Ravenclaw." He said vaguely. "He must be clever."

Cho was clever. She'd got nearly all 'outstanding's in her OWLs last summer and her defensive work was very good too.

The only problem was the conversation with him…

She'd told him already how difficult she was finding things since Cedric had died. Of course Harry knew this would be the case. She had been his girlfriend after all, but he really didn't know what to say to her about it and quite honestly he'd have rather talked about just about anything else.

"So, what do you think our chances are of winning the quidditch cup this year?" Ginny said, sidling over to their corner of the common room and causing Ron to glower mutinously at her.

"What's the matter with you?!" She said, looking affronted.

"Michael Corner." Ron said again. "What do you see in him?"

Ginny flicked her long red hair back over her shoulder. "That, Ron, is none of your business." And she sat down across from Harry. "So, how's it going with Cho?" She said, leaning forward eagerly with her elbows on her knees.

Harry had to admit he was enjoying Ginny's company more and more this term. In the first few years of knowing her she'd barely said more than two words to him, but she seemed to have come out of herself a bit more recently, and she was much friendlier for it.

"It's not, really." Harry said, shifting his gaze awkwardly away. "She keeps wanting to talk about Cedric. How am I supposed to find a chance to ask her into Hogsmeade when she's doing that?"

Ginny considered him. "Well, have you told her how you feel?"

"What do you mean?"

Ginny rolled her eyes at Hermione who raised her eyebrows and smiled in response from where she was sitting working on her charms homework.

"Boys." Ginny said, shaking her head despairingly. "You've got to be honest with her." She said, turning back to Harry. "Tell her you'd like to spend more time with her but that you'd rather not talk about Cedric because it's not very pleasant to be reminded of. Which should be quite obvious really." She added a little impatiently.

This was one of the many things Harry liked about Ginny. He wondered if it was perhaps growing up with six brothers that gave her the no-nonsense approach to things he rarely saw with the girls in his year.

"When did you get to be such an expert?" Ron said sulkily, one of the red tassels from the cushion now detached from its source and clutched uselessly in his fist.

"Oh Ron it's not difficult." Ginny said, rolling her eyes again. "You've just got to be yourself."

Taking Ginny's advice, Harry tried a more direct approach with Cho.

It was the end of one of their DA meetings. She, Ginny, Hermione and Ron were helping Harry clear up the cushions they'd used to practice stunning spells with.

Ginny seemed to have spotted an opportunity and she and Hermione quickly bade Harry goodbye, dragging a clueless Ron out of the room of requirement with them.

Grateful though he was to finally have an opportunity to talk alone with Cho, he couldn't help slightly wishing his friends were still with him. His heart was pounding and his palms were slightly sweaty as he watched Cho, her shiny black hair falling in her face as she bent to gather another cushion.

"Leave it." He said and she turned to look at him, appearing to notice too that the pair of them were alone.

She smiled a little nervously.

Harry gestured awkwardly at the little pile of cushions they hadn't yet gathered up. "Er, do you want to…?"

Fortunately, she got the message and sat down, smiling invitingly at Harry who, mouth very dry, moved over to join her.

She really was incredibly pretty. She sat across from him, legs crossed, watching him. Waiting for him to speak.

"Er…"

Oh why must he lose his nerve now. Why?!

"You're really good at this." He managed. "The defence work, I mean." He clarified. It was true, and words that were true usually came easier.

Cho smiled. "You're a really good teacher."

Harry felt his insides inflate a little at her words.

"Thanks." He smiled. "I… well, it's important, isn't it? Being able to do this stuff…"

Cho nodded. Then she looked away. "I sometimes wonder whether if Cedric had known it…"

Oh no, not again.

"Look, Cho." He said, remembering Ginny's words and deciding to follow them before he could bottle it. "I really like you, but can we please not talk about Cedric?"

Cho turned back, looking very affronted. "Why not?"

"Er…" well, wasn't it obvious? "I'd just… rather not. It was horrible what happened to him, but I just think the best way to move on is to prepare ourselves to fight Voldemort."

Cho glared at him. "I'm disappointed in you, Harry. I would have thought you'd want to talk about what happened."

"Er…" Why on earth would she think that?!

"I mean, you saw him. You were there when it happened, weren't you? Don't you… need to talk about it?"

Harry considered this. He remembered the nightmares he'd had over the summer. The times Sirius and Remus had comforted him when he'd woken up in distress, images of Cedric's lifeless form flooding his mind.

"Well… I have I suppose." He admitted, thinking of how good Remus had been at making him talk about what had happened. It hadn't been easy, but he supposed it had helped.

"But you can't be… over it." She said, her eyes beginning to tear up now.

Oh this was really the last thing Harry wanted.

"Look Cho." He said again, doing his best to be calm and understanding. "I don't think I'll ever really be over what happened to Cedric, but we have to move on. I have to move on. And… If you'd like… maybe we could go to Hogsmeade together some time?"

But Cho didn't return his smile. "No thanks, Harry." She said stiffly, getting to her feet. "I think I need to be with someone a bit more… emotionally available."

"Er, let me get Remus." Sirius said quickly as Harry relayed his conversation with Cho to him in the common room fire that night.

"I'm sorry, Harry." Remus said consolingly as he told him what happened. "But for what it's worth it doesn't sound like she's the right girl for you."

Harry sighed. "Maybe you're right. But then who is?!"

Unfortunately, it wasn't just his love life that was going badly for Harry at the moment.

Umbridge had given him and George Weasley a lifetime ban on playing quidditch, following a fight they'd had with Malfoy at the end of their game against Slytherin.

"If he's anything like Lucius, I don't blame you." Sirius said, wrinkling his nose as Harry told him what had happened. "But to ban you from playing quidditch?! That's just cruel."

If it wasn't for the support of his godfather and Remus, Harry might have found the weeks that followed impossible to bear.

He was still being called a liar by Umbridge and the Daily Prophet, as well as many of his fellow students. Stupid Seamus Finnigan still wasn't talking to him.

Having the DA gave him something to keep fighting for, and he was glad to see that Sirius seemed to be taking him more seriously since its inception.

"We're still doing guard duty at the department of mysteries." His godfather relayed. "And following known death eaters of course, but that's not proving particularly fruitful. Remus is doing some undercover work with the werewolves so he's away a lot with that…"

His godfather trailed off at this and Harry noticed the familiar distant, haunted look in his grey eyes.

"Are you OK, Sirius?" He asked him.

"Yeah." Sirius said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "I'm fine. Just keep your head down eh, Harry? And I'll see if I can't get a few dungbombs sent to Umbridge's office for you. As I managed to send you a firebolt in your third year without it being traced back to me, I'm sure I can manage that." He grinned again and then he was gone.

Sirius did indeed manage to send some dungbombs to Umbridge's office. Harry had to wonder how the man had acquired them, but perhaps his godfather just kept a permanent stash under his bed.

Umbridge was late one morning to her fourth year DADA class and, as Ginny told them delightedly, when one of the class went to see where she had got to, they were greeted by a repulsive smell and Umbridge's shrill voice shrieking that she 'needed a minute'.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, Dean and Terry Boot of Ravenclaw all wrote to Sirius to thank him.

Fred and George also contributed to the chaos and disruption (at least more than they usually did) through their skiving snackboxes. These were almost perfected, and provided great amusement for everyone.

"Why would turning into a canary help me get out of class?" Neville asked as he was restored to human form after eating a custard cream one of the twins had hexed.

"We're not sure we'll be putting those in the snackboxes. They were more just for our personal enjoyment." George explained.

"Though in answer to your question Neville, they would help a great deal." Fred added. "You could just fly out of the window!"

It was unbearable for Harry to watch the Gryffindor quidditch team practicing without him. They'd taken Ginny on as seeker in his place, and Harry had to admit she was very good.

She and Michael Corner had broken up a few weeks ago. Harry didn't know what it was about, but Ginny didn't seem at all upset.

Though it pained him enormously not to be up there with them, he did take to sitting in the stands and watching some of their practices from time to time.

Ginny was very light and speedy on a broom. Her long hair whipped across her face as she flew, shining different shades of red in the winter sunlight.

"I wish you wouldn't watch me!" She complained to Harry as she deposited her broom back in the shed and walked back up to the castle with him. "I know I'm not a patch on you."

"That's not true." Harry said, catching a whiff of her flowery perfume on the air as she walked. "You're really very good."

Ginny turned to smile at him. "Coming from you that means a lot." And then she did something she hadn't done for a while and blushed.

They were quite alone now, Harry realised. The rest of the team had already vanished into the castle.

His heart was suddenly beating very fast in his chest. He had a sensation in his stomach like he'd just swallowed gillyweed. Nothing was making sense. Why did he feel like this?

And then it was as if a drop of clear water fell in a murky pool and suddenly everything was crystal clear. If he hadn't known it before, he certainly knew it now. He fancied Ginny Weasley.

He steeled himself. He had to say it. Please say it…

"Ginny…" he began tentatively. "Do you think there might ever be a chance you'd…"

"Harry! Ginny!"

Harry had been wrong. The rest of the team hadn't all gone up to the castle.

Doing his best not to show his disappointment, he turned to greet Ron, who was running towards them both.

Harry knew things between Ron and Ginny were not good at the moment. Ginny was getting sick (and quite rightly so) of Ron telling all the other players what to do while letting half a dozen goals in himself, and Ron didn't like how Ginny seemed to be doing better in the world of romance than him.

Harry felt his stomach lurch to realise how close he had just come to doing something he promised he'd ever do. Betray his best friend.

For that's surely how Ron would see this. He hated that Ginny was so popular with boys and he'd despised Michael Corner for going out with her. How would he feel towards Harry if he tried anything with her? What an idiot he'd almost been…

"Hiya, Ron." Harry said in a falsely cheery sort of voice as his friend reached them. "Er, good flying." It was a lie of course, but he didn't think honesty was quite the best policy with his friend right now.

"Thanks." Ron said. "Bye, Ginny." He called after his sister.

For Ginny, at her brother's arrival, had thrown her bag over her shoulder and marched off up the grassy banks without them both.