Chapter 6: Hogsmeade

It was 1 week after the eventful day of the second task and today was the day Harry was finally able to meet his godfather, Sirius Black again. Harry thought about the last time he had seen him in person, it was together with Hermione and they saved him from the Dementors Kiss, arguably one of the worst fates a human can ever face.

Getting out of his bed, Harry woke Ron up and after getting changed, they went down for breakfast, meeting Hermione there. They gobbled down their food and quickly left for Hogsmeade. They both were a little annoyed at how much Harry was chasing them but Harry didn't care, he had valuable time to share with 2 people and he couldn't stand wasting them eating breakfast.

As they were leaving for Hogsmeade, Harry caught a glimpse of Cho leaving with her group of friends, secretly wishing that he didn't make this appointment with Sirius to spend a whole day with Cho.

You will still have dinner with her, be patient, he chided himself.

Before meeting Sirius, they went to different shops, gathering various assortments of food, ranging from chicken to butterbeers to sweets. They then proceeded past Dervish & Bangers. Harry soon found a familiar looking black dog wagging its tail in front of him.

"Hey Sirius." Harry said.

Then soon followed him and climbed a mountain into a cave before meeting Sirius in person.

"Sirius!" Harry shouted, hugging his Godfather, embracing the only family he had left.

"Hello Harry." Sirius said, before greeting Ron and Hermione.

"Come on, we have a lot to talk about." Sirius said, inviting them into makeshift chairs.

They discussed the Triwizard tournament and the possible identity of the person who placed Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire while Sirius gobbled through the food they brought him, a luxury which he could not enjoy without their assistance.

"This brings me to the topic I'm most interested about." Sirius said, before whipping out an article from the Daily Prophet.

Harry cursed under his breath. He recognised the article Sirius was holding, it was none other than the one Dumbledore warned them about. The article from Rita Skeeter.

Skeeter largely, well, largely is an understatement, Skeeter completely fabricated the events that transpired that fateful day, saying that both Cho and Harry attacked her, casually forgetting to mention the provocation being it, adding that Dumbledore, despite seeing the events, still blamed Skeeter for starting it, protecting his star student who could do not wrong. In addition to this, Skeeter had a 2nd article following that incident on the supposed love triangle Harry. However, what truly pissed Harry off was what she wrote about Cho, bringing up a supposed Chinese cult ritual which ensnares a boy under their grip, making him blinded by love and willingly follow the woman, stating that they use this ritual to sacrifice guys to the devil to make them more powerful. In other words, Skeeter wrote the most racist thing Harry has ever seen in his life.

Harry angrily recounted what transpired that day to Sirius, from him attacking to the meeting with Dumbledore, with Sirius listening intently to every detail. Ron and Hermione were equally intrigued as Harry chose not to recount the event to them, due to how annoyed it made him.

"Skeeter is really a devil! How can she come up with something so racist!" Hermione exclaimed in disgust.

Sirius nodded, however, a rather dark and thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

"What is it, Sirius?" Harry asked.

"As outrageous as this is, many people will side with her, for various reasons at it, some might not like you Harry, after all the negative press she had made about you, but those who like you and are a fan will believe that this Cho girl is truly putting you in danger. This is truly one masterstroke of a move from her, uniting both sides to her words." Sirius said darkly, Harry unfortunately had to agree with this line of thinking.

"Thankfully, Dumbledore has calculated this and is actively protecting the girl from hate mail, I would also assume that Dumbledore is probably keeping an eye on her if she is at Hogsmeade at the moment, probably getting a friend of his to watch over her, in case anyone decides to perform something stupid." Sirius continued.

At this news, Harry's mind went into a frenzy, he didn't think of it as much as Sirius, he had not considered the danger she might be in now.

I should be there with her now. Harry thought.

"She would be fine Harry, Dumbledore does not play with student security, he has shown that one too many times, especially with the warning signs from this article." Sirius reassured Harry, seeing how anxious Harry looked. To which Harry nodded.

"But putting that aside, would you like to introduce this Cho Chang to me? I'm highly interested in what girl James' son would choose, I will judge for him whether he would approve." Sirius said with a sly smile.

Harry felt his face burning hot and Hermione protesting against what Sirius said.

"Relax Hermione, it was only a joke. But seriously though Harry, I want to know."

Seeing no way out of this awkward situation, Harry sighed and began to answer the question.

Harry started from the start, from quidditch in year 3 when he played against her and first started to develop a crush for her. Sirius, Hermione and Ron all listened intently, he wasn't surprised about Hermione and Ron, truthfully, Harry has not told them much about their relationship and Hermione forbade Ron from asking him anything.

Harry continued to narrate his story, from the Yule Ball to the library meetings, leaving out only the detail of the occasional pecks she gave.

"But she isn't my girlfriend though, we are just really really good friends." Harry protested.

Sirius snorted before saying

"Really Harry, you take us 3 as idiots do you, you 2 might not have officially tied the knot as a couple but it's pretty easy to infer that you are essentially there, just that neither of you want to officially say it yet." Sirius chuckled before continuing, "despite all your similarities with James, you are very different from him for this, James called Lily his girl the moment it seemed like they bordered on that region, afterall, he did wait for nearly 7 years did he."

Harry laughed at this statement, but he couldn't help thinking what his parents would think if they were still here… maybe this conversation would not be with Sirius in the cave, perhaps it would be in Godric Hallows with both of them by his side, interrogating him about every detail…

"So… you told us your story but not about her, tell me about her and what you like about her." Sirius said, pressing Harry for more information.

Ah… This day will never end will it, Harry thought.

"Well she is a Chinese Scottish, borned and raised there, her parents shifted from China to Scotland when they were dating. Urm… She is a very talented witch, excellent at quidditch, she can keep up with me even with a slower broom, if she had a Firebolt, she probably can beat me at being a Seeker. Academics wise, she has always excelled, she's very talented at processing information quickly. She helped me improve at that. Urm… she's also pretty popular in the school, at least her friend group is, she isn't really like them though, they are loud and gossipy while she is quiet and doesn't give a damn about drama, kinda like me in a way." Harry said, trying to think of more to say.

"I assume she is very beautiful then." Sirius said, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, very…" Harry said, thinking about the dress at the Yule Ball which he hasn't exactly gotten over yet.

"Ah… you sound like James when he was busy fonding over Lily, couldn't ever shut up about her." Sirius said, with a smile, reminiscing about his life before everything was turned upside down.

Harry wanted to ask more about it till he noticed Hermione looking at him, tapping on her wrist. Harry looked at his watch and realised that he had to meet Cho soon.

"Urm Sirius, I have to get going, gotta meet someone."

"Hm… I wonder who this someone is?" Sirius teased, feigning to be deep in thought, to which they all laughed at.

Harry was out of breath from rushing down from the cave to the main street at Hogsmeade, he was running late to his meeting with Cho but thankfully, he was going to make it just on time. Dashing to the meeting point outside of Three Broomsticks, he saw Cho standing there, looking around, searching for any sign of him. She eventually found him running towards her, with her expression being a mix of confusion and happiness.

When Harry finally reached her, he was panting too much to talk, taking a few moments before he could finally speak.

"Hi Cho." Harry said.

"Why are you so out of breath, you looked like you just ran a marathon or some." Cho said with a tinge of worry in her voice.

"I was running late, my bad." Harry said, mustering up a smile. "Urm… where should we go?" he asked.

"Are you sure you don't need a short rest?"
"Nah, I'm fine, let's not waste any time." Harry said determinedly.

Figuring that there was nothing that she could say to change his mind, Cho shrugged and grabbed his hand, dragging him to have a walk with her in the streets of Hogsmeade.

As they walked in comfortable silence in the streets of Hogsmeade, enjoying each other's company, the sun began to set and soon, the streets turned into a beautiful and romantic one to walk at. This is the life that he wanted, Harry thought, no drama to deal with, no dark wizards to fight, just him and the person he loved, walking down streets of Hogsmeade, hand in hand.

His relationship with Cho was progressing more quickly than he expected, largely due to Cho making most of the moves, from giving him pecks to holding hands. Harry never dared to make these initiatives himself, he was too scared to make a mistake by taking things beyond what Cho was comfortable with, he rather let Cho make the move to show that doing something was a green flag.

Perhaps I have to be more active, Harry thought, making it a note to discuss with Hermione after this walk.

Hermione has been Harry's only go to for advice on what to do in his relationship, Harry never really shared much detail with her, but whenever he required advice on something, Hermione was the first person he approached. Afterall, she was the person who started everything by forcing him to ask her out. For that, Harry will be eternally grateful to Hermione for.

"What do you think about this restaurant Zhu?" Cho asked him, pointing at an Italian restaurant.
"Yeah sure!" Harry said, before entering the restaurant together with Cho.

When they entered the restaurant, they were greeted by the owner, who upon seeing Harry, had a huge smile on her face, which turned into a scowl when she saw Cho which made Harry frown, till he remembered the article again.

"I can't believe how stupid people are nowadays, blindly believing everything they read." Harry commented as they took their seats.

"Yeah, I guess so, Dumbledore really was spot on when he warned me about this." Cho said with a shrug, before continuing, "I've been getting these looks throughout the day, a little annoying if you ask me."

"I swear, if I ever see Skeeter again, she will experience something worse than getting sacrificed." Harry said, making Cho laugh.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, are you Mr Harry Potter?" said a wizard who was standing beside their table, looking intently at Harry.

Confused, Harry replied "Urm… Yes, who are you exactly?"

"Good evening Mr Potter, I am Marcus Wood, I'm a representative from Nimbus Racing Broom Company, I have some things to discuss with you… Privately." He said, glancing at Cho.

Cho looked at Harry confusedly, before getting up to leave.

"No, Cho, stay. It's either she stays or you go." Harry said.

Wood glanced between Harry and Cho before shrugging and pulling an additional chair to the table and sitting down.

"Mr Potter and…" He paused, looking at Cho, unsure of what to call her.

"Cho Chang."

"Right, Mr Potter and Ms Chang, I have to add that whatever I say here is extremely confidential and this can only stay between us 3 for the moment." Wood said.

"The Hogwarts Inter-house Quidditch tournament is starting to become more and more publicised over the years and there have been talks to potentially broadcast it to the world, in hopes that this will provide the most talented of players a better opportunity to potentially sign with a professional team when they leave the school due to the talent drought in the professional leagues at the moment." He continued, "At Nimbus, we see it as a potential opportunity to get more involved in the quidditch industry by investing in the future of the sport. This is why I'm here today to talk to you about a potential partnership."

"Partnership?" Harry said, completely confused.

"Yes, a partnership, after watching some of your performances in the games and seeing you fly against dragons, we have decided to sign a sponsorship deal with you, for you to fly our brooms in your games."

Harry was stunned, yes, he knew that broomstick companies liked to sign players to fly their brooms, in hopes that when they do well, more customers will buy their broom, but signing a student? That was unheard of.

"Would you want to hear more details about this deal?" Wood asked, to which Harry nodded.

"This deal will be a yearly deal which we will renew at the end of the year if we believe the partnership is going well. All you will have to do is to fly our broom, which we will be providing. We are working on a new broom which would be a better match against the Firebolt, we will provide it to you really soon if you decide to sign with us. In terms of what you get, you will earn quite a handsome sum of money for flying our broom, with bonuses whenever you catch the snitch. Last but not least, if you ever decide to go professional, we would sign you as a brand ambassador and help you to find your favoured team. The only catch is that you will have to fly our brooms and our brooms only, so no more Firebolt." He said.

Harry sat there in contemplation, this was really a unique opportunity for him, monetary wise he will be earning a decent sum and if he turns professional, it will really help. But he will have to give up his Firebolt, easily the fastest broom in the world at the moment, a huge advantage. But the new broom that Nimbus is making might be a match for the Firebolt as well…

"So Mr Potter, what do you think about this deal?" Wood asked.

"I will need to think about it, don't get me wrong, I'm interested but I will need time. Do you really think the new Nimbus will be a match for the Firebolt?" Harry asked.

"Well the tests we are running at the moment have been successful, we are still modifying it a little to make it even better. Whether it will be a match for the Firebolt, I cannot be sure, but I can safely say that it will not be far off from the Firebolt." He said confidently. "In fact, we can send you the prototype next month if you want it."

"Yeah, I would like to try it out."

"Then it's settled then, I will give you time to think about the deal itself, the contract can be negotiated later. I will send the prototype to you early April so that you can perhaps test it out a little, it will be disguised as a Nimbus 2001 to ensure secrecy." Wood said, a relieved smile appearing on his face before he got up and prepared to leave.

"Wait, Mr Wood!" Harry called out.

"Yes?"

"I can't help but to ask, are you related to Oliver Wood?" Harry asked.

"Ah yes, Oliver is my nephew, he has spoken quite highly of you Mr Potter." Wood said, a wide smile on his face.

"How is Oliver doing? Last I heard, he was Puddlemere United's reserve keeper."

"Ah yes, He is improving very fast, there have been talks of promoting him to the main keeper in a few years when their current keeper Mackle Holland retires."

"That's great, tell him I said hi." Harry said, glad to hear that his ex-captain is doing well.

"I will, it's been a pleasure meeting you Mr Potter." Wood said, shaking Harry's hand.

"No problem, also, you can just call me Harry, I don't like how formal Mr Potter sounds." Harry said.

Wood laughed before leaving the restaurant.

"So, Nimbus brand ambassador huh." Cho said

"Yeah, can't say I expected it."

"You deserve it though, especially after the first task, that's some of the best flying I've ever seen."

"Nah, I still got burnt." Harry said awkwardly.

"Always so modest," Cho said sarcastically.

"What can I say, I'm the best aren't I." Harry said, making Cho laugh.

"So, have you ever thought about going professional?" Cho asked.

"Truthfully, no, not at all, I always saw it as a passion rather than a career path."

"Then what do you want to be?"

"No idea, maybe an Auror." Harry shrugged.

"Auror?"

"Yeah, Professor Moody suggested it." Harry recounted.

"Professor Moody? He definitely thinks highly of you then, he is the best of them after all."

"Yeah, I guess so."

Harry never really thought about career paths before, he was always distracted with the exams themself and the professors don't really talk about career paths till year 5.

This reminded Harry, Cho was in year 5, what does she want to do in the future?

"What about you, what do you want to be?" Harry asked.

"Honestly, I don't exactly have a clue, maybe an Auror as well, like my father? Or work as a judge, or even a healer. I don't actually have a clue, so I'm just keeping most doors open." She said

"What about quidditch, you are a really good seeker." Harry suggested.

"Yeah, I've thought about it before, but it's a tough career path if you don't get scouted in the school years itself, like Oliver Wood, he is an excellent keeper but he wasn't scouted during his Hogwarts days, that's why he is stuck in the reserve team." She said

"I think you will get scouted eventually, you fly better than me."

"Well, it's hard to really impress without a top tier broom, flying a Comet will not really catch the eye of a team for them to send a scout." Cho shrugged.

Harry wanted to argue with that logic but he had to agree with that assessment, in the professional quidditch world, you do need a top tier broom, he was convinced that if Krum flew a Comet, there would be no way that he would be considered the best in the world. The flyer of the broom means everything but the machinery they use matters as much as well. At this moment, a brilliant thought stuck in his head. Cho's birthday was 23rd April and that date was drawing near, he knew exactly what to give her for her birthday.

"Why are you smirking like that?" Cho asked.

"Nothing." Harry said, still unable to get rid of the smirk.

"There's clearly something, what is it?" Cho said, a little annoyed.

"You will find out soon enough, in other news, we do have to sprint back to the castle unless you want to get more detentions." Harry said, looking at the clock behind.

"Shit, race you there, loser pays for the next date " she grinned.

Harry chuckled, he knew that if his wallet had a face, it was definitely grinning too.