Chap 19: The Flying Swan

"Cho? Why are all the Ravenclaw's looking at us like that?" Harry asked. It was breakfast time again and Harry was eating with his usual group, something that was a daily occurrence now. Looking at it on the surface, it looked really weird, 4 Gryffindors, 3 Slytherins and 2 Ravenclaws, how on earth were they supposed to get along with each other? But when you look at it beneath the surface, they were all there because of Harry reaching out to them, and because they were all easy to get along with. This group, however, was probably one of the most protected ones in the castle, they were all firmly loyal to each other, with the top 3 students of the 5th year inside, the top of the 6th year, 2 Quidditch captains who have their team firmly loyal to them, willing to fight on their behalf and last but not least 4 Prefects. Together, no one can truly touch them, Malfoy and his gang had tried isolating one of them to attack them, but there would always be someone close by who would put them back in their place.

"Oh! Urm…" Cho stammered, "How do I say this…"

"She yelled at the Ravenclaw House yesterday to defend me," Luna blurted out, staring at the ceiling in a dreamy state.

"Huh?"

"They hid Luna's shoes, and I got pissed when I confronted them, so I yelled at them," Cho said, slightly embarrassed.

"So are they staring because they want to kill us or because they are terrified of you?" Harry asked, a small and mischievous smile on his face.

"The latter, no one had seen Cho yell before, she is rather scary you know?" Luna answered dreamily.

"Was it that bad?" Daphne asked, looking amused by the situation.

"I think so?" Cho answered, "I was pretty damn angry."

Before Harry could say anything, they were interrupted by Professor Flitwick,

"Ah Ms Chang, I would like to speak to you about… the interesting situation yesterday night," He said, a sad smile on his face.

"Yes Professor?"

"Well, Mr Sow informed me about your outburst yesterday,"

"And?" Cho cut him off, sounding a little agitated.

"Well, he apologised for his failure to perform his duty and informed me about the widespread toxicity within the House itself," Flitwick said guilty

"Oh…"

"Yes, Mr Sow and I worked together to find out the main culprits in all the bullying and toxicity and we will be handing out consequences for this, I would also like to apologise to you Ms Lovegood, I have failed you as the Head of the House,"

"Oh it's alright Professor, I've never sought help as well," Luna shrugged.

"Regardless, I have failed as the Head of House," Flitwick said guiltily, before turning back to Cho,

"Ms Chang, I would like to thank you for giving the House a wake-up call to the toxic culture within, for your actions, I would reward 75 points to Ravenclaw and make you a Prefect should you accept the role."

"Prefect? What about Alyssa?"

"I'm stripping her of the title because she has been actively participating in the bullying of students, Mr Sow and I talked to her earlier today and she confessed," Flitwick answered, "You are the most deserving student to become a Prefect, I didn't choose you last year because I believed that you are too quiet and reserved to effectively be a Prefect, but ever since the start of this year, you have been repeatedly proving me wrong."

Harry was internally overjoyed at Flitwick's request, he always knew that Cho had it in her to become a Prefect and the fact that she wasn't one in the first place was rather surprising.

"I accept the role Professor, I promise that I will do my job well," Cho answered, beaming with pride.

"I know you will Ms Chang," he replied before leaving, a larger and happier smile now on his face.

"So we have 5 Prefects at this table now I guess," Neville commented.

"Yeah. good job Cho," Hermione said.

"You are so fucking amazing Cho," Harry said, hugging her and giving her a peck on her cheek, turning her bright red.

"Oh fuck," Daphne suddenly cursed.

"What?" Harry asked.

"With Cho as a Prefect, this means that you won't do patrols with me anymore, you are just going to spend all the time with her," she answered, looking a little flustered.

"Don't worry Daphne, I won't abandon you, who would save you if another prick tries to woe you again."

"I can protect myself well enough alright, in case you forgot, I 2v1 Parkinson and Malfoy."

"Well, they are hardly considered as opponents, I reckon a ghoul can duel better than them," Harry replied, leading to a roar of laughter.

"On a separate note, Harry, I'm done inviting everyone I want to invite already, we will be meeting at Hog's Head on the next Hogsmeade date," Hermione said.

"For the Slytherins, it's just us 3 plus my sister, others are probably too scared to be seen with me now that Malfoy has targetted me as an enemy," Daphne added.

"Fantastic then, we shall all meet at Hog's Head, don't be late Harry."

"I already hate this plan," Harry muttered under his breath, something that only Cho heard.

Entering the Hog's Head with Cho, Harry looked around the bar and observed the surroundings, like Hermione mentioned, it was a lot less popular as compared to The Three Broomsticks. The bar was dirty and smelly with the chairs and tables worn out and dirty, the bright side of this look, no students ever came to this bar.

"This do not look pleasant at all," Cho whispered to Harry.

"Makes it a pretty good option for a secret meeting," Harry replied, both moving towards Hermione and Ron who were already seated.

"So, how many people are coming?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Urm, a couple…" Hermione responded, not maintaining eye contact with Harry.

"Yeah, a couple," Harry snorted, "I'm so going to regret this."

Just as Harry said that, a whole horde of people started walking into the pub, Harry counted the group and roughly 30 to 35 students showed up.

"Oh Hermione, you are so dead," Cho said, laughing at Harry's reaction.

"Hermione, you owe me one," Harry growled, "You are handling all the speaking."

After everyone got their butterbeer, Hermione rose and gave her speech with a rather squeaky voice. The crowd looked excited and engaged until Hermione mentioned Voldemort, something that Harry felt she was brave for since she called him by his name. The group however, had a mix of reactions.

"Who says that You-Know-Who is back?" said a Hufflepuff boy rather aggressively.

"Well Dumbledore and Harry did," Hermione responded.

"They said that he was back, but that doesn't mean that he is actually back," he protested.

"So you are implying that I'm lying?" Harry spoke for the first time to the crowd, saying it coldly, catching everyone especially the boy himself off-guard.

"I - I'm just saying that there is no proof," he replied nervously.

"What's your name?" Harry asked the boy.

"Zacharias Smith."

"So tell me then Smith, did Cedric just drop dead," Harry snarled, something that the boy had nothing to reply to.

"I competed with Cedric, he was one of the most brilliant and talented person I've ever met, one of the kindest too, he had every reason to hate me and wear the 'Potter Stinks' badge like so many of you did (a few of the audience gulped at that statement), but he didn't, so are you telling me that he would drop dead and I would lie that Voldemort was the one who killed him?" Harry said, tone filled with menace and pain.

"I - I," Smith said, unable to articulate a response.

"If any of you here expect me to tell you the story, you can fuck off now," Harry said, voice full of pain, "None of you know how it feels to see a friend murdered in front of you because someone wants you dead, none of you do."

Silence filled the bar, all the smiles were wiped with Smith as pale as the Bloody Baron.

"If you still don't believe Harry, maybe think about why the Ministry is trying so hard to defame him," Cho said, her hand now squeezing Harry's thigh, comforting him and reminding him that she was there, "Why there was coincidentally 3 dementors on the muggle street we were on."

"Aunty told me that Fudge was trying to incriminate him at the trial as well," a Hufflepuff girl added, "He placed Harry in front of the entire Wizengamot to stress him into a bad defence and interrogated him like he was a murderer but he remained calm and collected, if that doesn't prove that the Ministry is trying to silence him I don't know what is."

"Who are you?" Harry asked curiously.

"I'm Susan Bones, My aunt is Amelia Bones, the Head of Law Enforcement," Bones answered proudly.

"Ah, your aunt is a legend, I've never seen Fudge so worried and anxious in his life," Harry replied, a smile now back on his face.

"My father agrees with what Bones said too, said that placing Harry in front of the entire Wizengamot was utter bullshit," Daphne added, making Harry appreciate her so much more.

"Don't mind me, but what are the Slytherins doing here?" a boy Harry recognised as Michael Corner asked.

"They are here because I trust them with my lives, more than almost everyone here," Harry replied, intentionally glaring at Smith who shrank even more.

"Alright, with that settled, I have a piece of parchment here," Hermione continued, sounding confident now, "If you wish to sign up, just write your full name here."

"Hermione, remember what we agreed," Harry added, staring at her. Before the meeting at Hog's Head, Cho had found that Hermione placed a curse on the parchment, ensuring that if anyone intentionally snitched on the group, they would have the word 'SNEAK' written in acne on their face.

"Oh yes, just a warning, this parchment is a magical contract, if anyone who signs their name snitches on the group, you will have the word 'SNEAK' written in acne on your face," Hermione added, leading to everyone looking stunned.

"This is just a precaution, this spell only works if you intentionally snitch on the group of your own free will, if you are tortured or drugged, it won't write the word 'SNEAK' on your face, it will instead just light up your name on the parchment, meaning that we will know who did it without embarrassing them" Hermione added.

"Isn't this kinda wrong?" Terry Boot asked.

"It's a precaution Boot," Ron replied, "If you are no snitch you won't be affected."

"We are not forcing you to sign guys," Harry said, feeling increasingly weary, wanting to be done with this meeting so that he can spend the day with Cho, "You guys know how much Umbridge wants to expel me, the last thing I need is her on my ass even more."

"Yeah, what Harry said," Ron continued, "If you do not want to sign you can just not join, we don't have all day here, chop-chop."

Cho then stood up and went straight to the list, immediately signing her name. Slowly but surely, everyone else in the room signed their name and were all leaving to continue their day.

"That is all, thanks Harry," Hermione said, beaming with satisfaction.

"Yeah, but since you owe me one, you will pick up all my Christmas gifts on the next Hogsmeade date," Harry said, smiling happily since a small burden was now lifted from his shoulders.

"Fine, Ron you are helping me," Hermione said, turning to the red-haired boy.

"Wait, why me?"

"Because I clearly can't ask Cho because they will be spending time together, I could go and ask Neville but I might as well ask you instead," Hermione said in a matter-of-factly way.

"But-"

"Oh my days, come on Ronald," she said, pulling Ron away from them.

"You know, despite all the arguments, I genuinely reckon that they are adorable together," Cho mentioned, now walking hand-in-hand with Harry around Hogsmeade.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I also reckon that they might have feelings for each other, just that they do not want to admit it."

"Why so?" Harry asked, clearly very confused.

"Well the first sign was the Yule Ball, Ron was clearly pissed that he did not have a partner he wants, but I reckon that he was more jealous than pissed because Hermione went with Krum, Hermione also looked very hurt because of what Ron said, it did really look like they to a certain extent had feelings for each other."

"Then why did neither of them ask each other out?"

"Would you have asked me out if Hermione didn't force you to?" Cho asked Harry.

"Well, yeah? Just that I might have dragged it out a little because of how scared I was to ask," Harry answered honestly.

"Good thing that Hermione forced you, Cedric asked me a day after you did."

"Cedric asked you out?"

"Yeah, and if you didn't I would have probably gone out with him."

"We do owe Hermione something then," Harry said, counting his blessings for Hermione's actions.

"Well, let's try and get Ron and Hermione together then," Cho said, "Operation Matchmaker?"

"Bet," Harry laughed.

"Well, the first step will definitely be to get them to acknowledge their feelings," Cho continued.

"Yeah, Hermione shouldn't be too hard but Ron, that will take a while, he is still immature and stubborn."

"Agreed, but hopefully we can get him to admit to it, they are also spending more time with each other these days, hopefully, that makes them more aware and confident."

"Mhm, anyways, wanna sit down, I'm feeling a little hungry."

Moving to the outskirts of the town, something that they tended to do to avoid crowds, they entered a cafe and settled down.

"How has your Quidditch team been?" Harry asked.

"Trying to gather information about my team Zhu, tsk tsk, you have to do better than that," Cho teased.

Catching Cho off guard, Harry leaned in to give a kiss on her lips.

"Is that better?" Harry asked, a sly grin on his face.

"I suppose," Cho replied, "Training has been fine, everyone is on the same page now thankfully."

"Are the new players gelling well together?"

"Yeah, definitely, Lila looks better than I thought, turns out all she needs is some confidence to shine."

"Oh, Ron is like that too," Harry commented.

"Hm? How is he doing?"

"Alright I guess, when there is no one watching he performs pretty well, but when some Slytherins came to watch one of the games, he kinda cracked under the pressure, played terribly, the few easy mistakes that he makes don't help his confidence either."

"You think he will be ready for the Slytherin game?"

"I think he will struggle a lot, the Slytherins will be taunting all game and that will destroy his confidence and he will make more and more mistakes," Harry replied, looking really worried and flustered

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"Yes, it usually helps him but he will make another mistake afterwards and we will be back to ground zero," Harry sighed.

"He needs game experience I guess."

"I agree, the game against Slytherin is a make-or-break one if he plays terribly, it will set the tone for the rest of the year, having 3 siblings on the team doesn't help either, you know how he is with insecurities and low self-esteem."

"Yeah, he really struggles with that unfortunately," Cho sighed, "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm trying everything, I banned the Weasleys for making fun of him for any mistakes and they are thankfully understanding, I probably will need to really support him during the game though, like talking to him throughout the game to not let them get into his head, will probably tank my performance but I'm willing to risk it against Malfoy, thank god our first game isn't against you, otherwise we will get destroyed."

"Thanks for raising my ego," Cho teased, "But we will still destroy you guys regardless."

"Cap, the only way you win us is if you catch the snitch against us, I really don't think anyone can outscore my girls."

"Unfortunately, I think you are right, they are scary in the sky, I can't wait for Angelina and Alicia to leave the school so that they can stop terrorising me."

"Oh I won't be so excited if I were you, Ginny and Demelza look amazing, especially Ginny, she is not far from Angelina in terms of chasing and she will probably start for Hufflepuff and Slytherin for her seeking as well."

"Really?" Cho looked at Harry in horror, "Why does every talented player go to Gryffindor god damn it, this isn't fair."

"Well, we just got lucky that Bill was good at spotting new talent and that Wood was a really good coach, truthfully, we should be the most thankful for the Weasleys, they have given us 5 quality players."

"Arghh, the Weasley buff, the bane of my existence," Cho said in mock annoyance, making Harry chuckle.

"Honestly though, the Weasleys were really a gift from Heaven, sometimes I feel that they are the final gifts my parents left for me," Harry said thoughtfully, "They gave me my best friend, a parental figure, a house to live in and are the first people in memory to show me love."

"And they won't be the last," Cho smiled, "So many people love you Zhu, me, the Weasleys, Hermione, Snuffles, my parents, you are more love than you know."

"It still feels surreal, from growing up thinking that no one would ever love me for 11 years to now, sitting in a cafe with my girlfriend, surreal."

"And you deserve every bit of love you receive, don't for a second think that you do not deserve it Zhu."

"I know, thanks to you all, I know," Harry said emotionally.

"Anyways, scrap this depressing talk, how have your lessons with Flitwick been?" Harry asked.

"Oh it's been amazing, crazy difficult, but amazing, the magic that he has shown me is fascinating, a real eye opener," Cho said, eyes twinkling with wonder.

"That's amazing, you are his first student in a while no?"

"Yeah, 5 years to be exact, apparently the recent cohorts haven't been impressive enough to warrant his time."

"You are going to be amazing Cho, you have always been," Harry said, making Cho blush a little.

"Flatterer," she scoffs even though she clearly liked it, "it will be a long journey though, becoming a Grandmaster takes an average of 10 years."

"You will make it, you always do," Harry said, "So what, become a Charms Professor afterwards?"

"Maybe, I don't know, I'm still hoping that I can go professional at Quidditch," Cho admitted, "Though I would ideally want a sponsorship before I commit to that path."

"Oh, a sponsorship will be coming trust me, you are an excellent seeker, your flying itself is better than anyone in the school."

"Better than you?" Cho asked playfully.

"Nah, lions don't compare themselves to humans," Harry said smugly, resulting in both roaring in laughter till their faces were both red.

"That was the most cringe thing that you have ever said," Cho said, stammering due to the laughter.

"Agreed, but seriously though, you would probably get a sponsorship by the end of the year or even in the middle of the year."

"You reckon?" Cho asked.

"Yeah, definitely, I can probably pull some strings with Marcus as well."

"Would that work?"

"Yeah, Nimbus will kill for a couple deal, that shit will dominate headlines," Harry said confidently.

"Hopefully that's the case, it's been a dream to play for Tutshill Tornado," Cho said dreamily.

"As long as you work hard, you definitely would be able to."

"What about you?" Cho asked curiously.

"I don't know, not sure I really want to go professional for Quidditch."

"Why? Won't that be really cool?"

"It would, but I think I can live with less attention in my life,"

"But if I go professional, won't that bring attention to us?"

"It would, but in that case, people will be fawning over you, I can live with that."

"Valid then," Cho concluded, "You do really hate the fame don't you."

"Indeed, I would kill for a quiet date with you for once without any reporters snapping pictures of us and trying to listen in," Harry said, tilting his head to his right where he observed a person holding a camera busily snapping pictures of them, Cho turned her head and noticed him too, sighing in exasperation.

"Come on Cho, let's find a quieter place to spend the afternoon," Harry said, grabbing the hand of Cho and leaving the cafe.