Chapter 3: The Stag

"Perhaps a Bubble-head charm?" Cho suggested.

"Hm… that might be one way…" Harry replied

"But it might be a little hard to perform, and since you will be underwater for around 1hr, its effects fade away near the end." She continued

Harry sighed, why has no wizard come up with an easier solution for this, he thought.

"We shall save this for in case then." Cho said cheerfully.

It was a Saturday morning and both were scouring through the books that they had picked up from the library. They had done this for the past few weeks and the deadline for the task was drawing closer.

"Haiz, let's keep looking." Harry sighed.

The past few weeks have been some of the most stressful but most enjoyable of the year. On one hand, he had the 2nd task coming up and both Hermione and Cho were giving everything, trying to help him formulate a good plan to complete it. He was thankful for both of them, very much indeed, he probably wouldn't have survived the dragon if not for Hermione, and probably would not be as prepared as he is at the moment without Cho. However, they were still far from complete, they had most of the pieces together, other than most important of course, how to breathe underwater.

However, the past few weeks have been the most enjoyable Hogwarts has been in a while, having Cho by his side to keep him company is probably worth all the suffering he had to go through at the start of the year. While he had Hermione's company, she was nowhere near Cho, Hermione was always focusing on preparing Harry for the task. Cho on the other hand, did place focus on the task, but paid a closer attention to his emotional state. For Harry, that was rare. Learning more about each other also did make his day better.

Harry thought about the Yule Ball, what a night it was, the ceremony and the dance didn't strike him that much, but the time spent with Cho in the hideout certainly did. That few hours were the first time he had felt so comfortable with someone in a while.

Cho really looked stunning that day didn't she… He thought

He thought about the dress she wore, she had explained to him that it was inspired by a traditional Chinese dress. He personally loved it, her representing what she was, her roots and all. He admired that about her, she was never caught up on what others did or said about her, she always stayed true to herself and avoided any drama.

That's someone he wants to be with. He thought

Thinking about this, he recalled the peck she gave him at the end of the night, what does it mean, he thought. Does she have feelings for me as well? And the nickname, Zhu… what on earth does that mean? One thing is for a certain, we are definitely getting closer.

"Harry?" Cho asked, waving her hand to get his attention

"Oh! Sorry, what did you say?" Harry replied, snapping back to his senses

"I said that there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up next week."

Being the hermit that he is and focusing solely on the second task, he had completely forgotten the date it was as well as the Hogsmeade schedule.

"Oh! I completely forgot… Do you have any plans?" Harry asked.

"No… I was thinking maybe we can go together?" Cho said, giving him a smile with her cheeks turning slightly pink again.

"O-Oh! Sure" Harry said.

Judging by how Cho was trying to hold a giggle in, Harry could safely assume his cheeks were about as red as a tomato.

That day soon came and Harry was at the main gate, waiting for his "date" to show up, and show up she did.

Cho walked towards him, bidding her friends goodbye while they giggled at her. She was wearing a simple dress, with a blue jacket over it and a beanie that matched. Despite it being simple and very much a casual outfit, she still looked like the most beautiful person Harry had ever seen. If this was a month ago, Harry would probably be a nervous wreck again with his face bright red. Thankfully, the many meetings they had after the Ball ensured that this wasn't the case.

"Hi Cho, you look amazing." Harry commented when she finally reached him.

"Thanks! Urm, should we go then?" She replied.

"Where do you want to go?" Harry asked, unsure himself.

"Urm, let's just walk around first."

Walking around the streets of Hogsmeade, Harry felt truly relaxed, no stress about the second task or what the school thought about him or the possible threat of someone trying to get him killed. Damn, this is barely half the school year and someone is already trying to kill me, what a surprise, he thought.

As they did some window shopping, rain started falling and they ran for shelter, entering the three broomsticks for some drinks.

"So… your parents moved into Scotland as a couple and married a few years later and soon gave birth to you?"

"Yeah, China was rather unstable during the 60s, the wizarding world managed to largely get by unbothered in the beginning but it started getting pretty bad so they decided to leave for Scotland"

"Have you been to China then?"

"A few times, but only for short visits, Pa and Ma are always busy so they can't afford to stay for long."

"What do they work as?" Harry asked curiously.

"Ma works at her chinese restaurant, Pa is an Auror"

"Interesting mix of careers."

"Very much so, she chuckled, "They always said I took on both of their talents."

"The talent of an Auror I can see, you are very talented, but as a chef?"

"You don't think I can cook well?" She asked with a slightly accusatory tone.

"Whoa whoa I did not say that." said a worried Harry, making Cho laugh

"Kidding. But yeah I can cook pretty well, mostly chinese cuisine though, Ma made sure that I can cook, she always said that no man will marry me if I can't cook him a good meal, a chinese thing apparently."

This comment made Harry laugh, Harry couldn't confirm what she said, in fact, she was the first Chinese he had ever met. He didn't really care about it, it only made her more unique.

"You should come to her restaurant one day, she is an excellent cook." She added.

"Yeah, I would, but I'm more interested in your cooking."

"Fine, if you come, I will make sure you are impressed." She said, filled with determination.

Haiz, why couldn't life be this simple sometimes, no dragons or mermaids (at least they think he will need to face one). He hoped that he would ever have the chance to go to the restaurant, knowing how busy he is, well not really busy, more controlled when he thought about it.

"They are always busy" Cho commented, with an unusually sad smile, "They probably got it from their grandparents, traditional chinese thinking, grind as hard as you can so you can enjoy when you are older."

"They weren't there for you when you were growing up?" Harry asked.

"Well they were, but not much. Ma always had to run the restaurant, she left early and came back late. Pa was always busy, going on long assignments for the Ministry, gone for weeks sometimes, but when he came back, he usually had a week or 2 of holiday, those were always the best. But when he was on assignment, it can get a little lonely, especially when I was younger. We had a caretaker for a short while but for most of my childhood, it was me alone at home." She reflected. "But that was when I got good on the broom." she chuckled, "Pa used to play Quidditch back in China, he taught me a little here and there when he wasn't on assignment, but whenever he was gone, I will sneak into broomshed and took his broom to fly, he eventually caught on when he noticed I was getting good unusually fast, didn't tell Ma, she would probably kill me if she found out, became our little secret."

"Ah so you do have a naughty side to you." Harry teased.

"What, you think I'm always the polite and reserved Cho Chang, you haven't seen all of me then." She laughed

Interesting thought indeed, a slightly more playful side of Cho, definitely something I want to see, thought Harry.

"But eventually I had a baby sister, when I was around 7 I reckon, her name is Cheng, Pa named her after the Cheng Pei-pei, a chinese action star in the 60s seeing how she was always kicking Ma when she was pregnant, she's around 8 now, I call her Pei pei sometimes because it's cuter, she's adorable, kept me company before I left for hogwarts and every holiday." She said, reminiscing about those times.

"That's so cute, at least you have someone to keep you company now," said Harry with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess I do." She said.