Chap 26: Christmas Together

Cho did not have a good start to the Christmas holidays, not at all. She woke up at the start of the Christmas holidays intending to spend time with Harry before heading off to her family's house but found out that Harry had mysteriously disappeared together with the Weasleys. Hermione was as clueless as Cho about what happened, resulting in Cho having a panic attack. Thankfully, after seeking help from Professor McGonagall, they found out that Harry saw Mr Weasley getting attacked and they were brought to Grimmauld Place where they currently reside. Hermione cancelled her holiday plans on the spot, choosing to go to Grimmauld Place while Cho was faced with the tough decision of choosing her family or spending time with Harry. Thankfully for Cho, her father made the decision easier for her, delivering the message to Cho through McGonagall to spend time with Harry for a few days before she either came back to the family home or they would come to spend time at Grimmauld Place themself. With that, Cho and Hermione quickly left Hogwarts through McGonagall's Floo Network, finding themselves in Leaky Cauldron where they were met by Cho's father who side-along apparated them to a secluded area close to Grimmauld Place where after placing a Disillusionment Charm on all 3 of them, they made it to Grimmauld Place.

Entering the familiar yet creepy hallway, they heard some chattering in the kitchen and when they finally reached it, Cho saw Sirius and Harry talking to each other, seemingly engaging in a casual conversation. Cho immediately ran towards Harry, embracing him tightly.

"Whoa whoa, don't need to kill me with that hug, it's been only a day," Harry replied, taken aback by her violent and crushing hug.

"You stupid idiot," Cho cursed, "do you know how worried I was when Hermione said that you went missing."

"I'm sorry Cho, it was an emergency and I had no time to leave a message."

"You couldn't send Hedwig?" Cho asked, glaring at Harry who genuinely looked a little afraid.

"I got her back only an hour ago," Harry replied, "it was really an emergency, sorry."

"You better not do this stupid shit again," Cho cursed, her glare softening up as she released him, "I was really worried."

"I won't," Harry said firmly, "and if I have to, I will make sure you know as soon as possible."

"You better," Cho said, a smile now back on her face.

After watching Hermione embrace Harry, expressing the same worry that Cho did, though in a less physical and threatening way, Cho went up to Sirius, giving him a similar hug.

"Good to see you, Sirius," Cho said warmly.

"And you too Cho," Sirius replied happily, "it's always great to see my godson's girl, now tell me, any new embarrassing stories to tell about Harry?"

The room erupted with laughter as Harry glared at Sirius before turning to Cho giving her a pleading look.

"There are a few, but he has been quite well kept together during the term," Cho said truthfully, "however, having a girlfriend and a huge contract does get to his head a little at times."

"I don't let that get into my head," Harry complained, "ok, maybe at times for the first part."

The room erupted with laughter again as the Weasleys all came down, all of them greeting Cho and Hermione with excitement, Ron especially, giving Hermione a hug, something that raised a few eyebrows.

"You have to tell me about them," Sirius whispered to Cho's ear, making her giggle as she nodded happily. It was always great to have an adult who was as immature as them.

"Wait Cho, Mr Chang, why aren't you guys at your house in Scotland?" Harry asked.

"I've decided to spend some time in London first because Arthur is a good friend of mine and I feel responsible for helping out his family when he is recovering at St Mungo's" Mr Chang replied, "Cho here of course would not complain, she was already contemplating abandoning her family to spend time with you."

"I did not contemplate abandoning you all," Cho said in exasperation, "I would have come back and spend time with y'all anyways."

"Ya ya excuses," her father replied.

"无聊," Cho muttered, that phrase becoming one that she used more and more often.

"How is Mr Weasley?" Hermione asked the crowd, turning the mood a little more serious.

"He is recovering, Molly told us that it would take at least a week but he would make a full recovery, they got the poison and blood loss thing settled but they are having problems closing the wound," Sirius replied.

"Trouble closing the wound?" Cho asked confusedly.

"The snack that attacked Arthur wasn't just any other snake, its attacks leave behind cursed wounds, cursed wounds rarely fully heal, Arthur is lucky that the wounds aren't badly cursed like werewolf wounds, it would leave a scar yes, but it should not be anything more than a scar like Harry's," Sirius explained, gesturing towards Harry. Cho then remembered about Harry's involvement in the attack, turning to look at Harry, he gave her an understanding nod, mouthing that he would explain later.

"Are we going to going to visit him soon?" Hermione asked.

"Probably not," Sirius replied, "we can't draw too much attention to the Order and visiting him now won't exactly be productive, Molly said that he isn't really in the condition to talk, he is rarely awake as well, recovering from those wounds takes a large amount of energy."

"But we would visit him right?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, we are aiming to visit him around Christmas itself, the Healers estimate that he would be almost healed by then," Sirius replied, "no need to be worried about him for now, he would be fine, we should now spend some time doing more enjoyable things, who wants to share more about Umbridge or as Harry puts it, the Pink Toad, her stories sounds pretty interesting, for all the wrong reasons of course."

For the rest of the day, Cho continued to spend time together with the entire group, sharing stories while drinking butterbeer, where Sirius got all those butterbeers from, she had 0 idea. To her relief, the Weasleys' mood continued to improve throughout the day and it significantly improved when Mrs Weasley came back to deliver them more good news about Mr Weasley's condition. However, Cho still had something at the back of her mind, how was Harry involved? Entering Harry's bedroom for the scheduled meeting, Cho found Hermione and Ron already sitting next to Harry, both of them looking nervous.

"Alright we are all here, close the door for me Cho, no one can hear about this," Harry said. After closing the door and taking her seat next to Harry, Harry resumed.

"Ok, this knowledge is something that Dumbledore told me about after the attack, the only other person who knows about this is Sirius," Harry said, "this has to remain a secret alright."

"Ok, just to bring you up to knowledge," Harry said, looking at Cho and Hermione, "I had a vision of Mr Weasley getting attacked while I was asleep."

"A vision?" Cho asked worriedly.

"Yes, I saw the attack happen from the point of view of the snake's eyes, essentially, I was in the snake's mind."

There was silence among the group, Hermione looked confused yet worried, Ron still looked uneasy about his father's attack and Cho, she felt worried, not about the attack or the visions, just about Harry's mental well-being. No one wants to see themself attack someone they care about. Taking Harry's hand, he continued

"Dumbledore explained to me later that the reason why I could see the attack," Harry took a deep breath before continuing, "was because I had a magical connection with Voldemort."

"A connection?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, Dumbledore said that after his attack on me, he somehow created a connection between both of us which allows us to peer into each other minds easier, hence why I could see the attack."

"Fucking hell," Ron muttered, "but it is a benefit no? You did save Dad after all."

"Dumbledore does not think so, while yes it saved Mr Weasley this time, Dumbledore reckons that if Voldemort learns about this connection, he can use it to his advantage, plant false visions which would do more harm than good," Harry said, Cho could feel him tensing up as if he was bracing for what he was going to say next, "or even possess me."

"P - Possess you?" Cho asked confusedly, her hand squeezing Harry's even tighter.

"Yes - Yes," Harry stammered, "Dumbledore theorised that it was possible, that's why he wants me to learn Occlumency, to protect myself from him mentally."

"But you have been learning it no?" Hermione asked, "Yet you still saw the vision."

"I had a tough night of Occlumency before the attack, McGonagall pushed my defences to the limit which weakened my mind when I went to sleep, count it as a blessing I guess but the Occlumency practise allowed me to see the vision," Harry explained.

"If you master Occlumency," Cho said slowly, deep in thought, "would you be able to end this connection?"

"I don't think I can end this connection unless Voldemort dies," Harry replied, "but I would be able to stop him from looking into my mind and stop myself from seeing visions from him."

"What about the possession," Cho said softly.

"Dumbledore said that it would potentially stop him from trying it in the first place, and if he tries, it would help me defend myself from it," Harry said, without much confidence.

"In that case, you would master it and you would stop Voldemort from ever tormenting you mentally," Cho said, trying to place as much confidence into her words as possible, "you would, I know you would."

Harry laid his head on her shoulder, grabbing her hand as tightly as she did, physically showing his thanks.

"Last but not least, Dumbledore said that when I must Occlumency, he would start teaching me how to defeat him, he said that he would train me up and teach me about his past," Harry said.

"That's brilliant," Ron said in awe, "getting taught by the greatest wizard in the world, that would be brilliant."

"Yeah, it would be eye-opening for sure," Harry said with a genuine smile, "I would obviously share with you all as much as I can, or at least as much as Dumbledore would allow."

That revelation raised the spirits of the group, they 3 were excited to learn more magic, especially Hermione who began going on and on about the things that Dumbledore can teach. Cho and Harry mostly tuned it out while Ron did his best to take in everything she said, offering his opinions here and there which Cho realised was something that Ron liked doing. As much as they may quarrel, Ron always respects Hermione and her opinions but is always willing to give his own, not afraid to comment on Hermione's shortcomings or mistakes, something she finds admirable. While Cho was equally happy about getting to learn more magic, Cho was more happy about the way Harry phrased his sentence, he said when he learned it, not if. That simple word gave Cho all the relief in the world, at least Harry believed in himself for this, something that he rarely did with how humble he is. Perhaps this holiday would be more enjoyable than it originally seemed like it would.

The holidays continued rather pleasantly for Cho, to her delight, her mother and Cheng all arrived in the middle of the first week to stay at Grimmauld Place for a while. Thankfully Grimmauld Place was rather large now after intensive cleaning processes which cleansed most of the house of suspicious artefacts. Her parents and her sister moved into a room together while Cho continued to stay with Hermione and Ginny, something that she did not mind at all as it gave way to some interesting late-night chats. Harry thankfully seemed unaffected by the bombshell that was his connection with Voldemort, something that he attributed to Dumbledore's chat with him. Throughout the week, many Order members showed up to spend some time, her favourite being Lupin, Tonks and Bill who were all great company every time they arrived. Professor McGonagall also showed up a few times during the week to continue training Harry in Occlumency. She thankfully learnt her lesson of not pushing Harry too hard in the lessons to prevent the weakening of his defences too much, something that Harry said he was thankful for.

Cho woke up early in the morning on Christmas morning, looking at her watch, she realised that it was 7 in the morning, way before anyone would normally be awake. Looking at the foot of her bed, she realised that it was filled with presents, more than she had ever received in her life. Managing to somehow carry all of them, she brought them into an empty room before running up to Harry's room. Entering it silently, she saw that Harry and Ron were still fast asleep, slowly approaching Harry, she gave him a shake and a peck on his lips, successfully waking him up.

"Morning Zhu," she whispered.

"Cho, what are you doing here," Harry said with a yawn, stretching his arms as he got up.

"Waking you up so that we can spend Christmas morning together," Cho replied, "come on sleeping beauty, I want to open my presents."

Not needing another command, Harry carried his gifts with some help from Cho into the room where she had already placed her gifts.

"You start," Harry said, "but do not open mine yet, we will save our gifts for each other for last."

"Aw so romantic," Cho teased, before excitedly tearing into her first gift.

The first gift she opened was from Hermione who gave her a new set of quills, this set looked a lot more grand and seemed to be specifically for more important works. Excitedly opening her second gift, it turned out that it was from Ron who gave her a Tunshill Tornado poster with a note that said Chudley Cannons were still better making her and Harry laugh when they read it. Opening the next gift, it realised that it was from Ginny who had given her a box of chocolates, a simple gift but something Cho was happy about as she and Ginny had a rocky friendship. Moving on to the next, she opened a small box from Fred and George which had a slip of parchment that said 'February 19th, 5 pm, all around the castle', looking at Harry confused, he began to explain.

"I might have told them about Chinese New Year and the tradition of lighting fireworks, I might have also told them that we both would not be on duty at that time and that we had a free period at that time," Harry smiled playfully.

"Oh my days," Cho said after realising what Harry was hinting would happen, "they will get into a shit ton of trouble."

"Trust me, they know how to get away with something like that," Harry said confidently, "to this day, no one has an idea what happened to Malfoy after he got you into the Hospital Wing."

Cho laughed at that memory, while having all that substance thrown onto her and having to stay in Hospital Wing for a day wasn't fun, the memory of Malfoy's panicked face was still one that she couldn't forget.

Moving on to the next gift, she realised that it was a gift from Luna, unwrapping it, she was astounded to find a painting of a guy and a girl who looked like them from behind, the girl leaning her head on the guy's shoulder, sitting on a platform facing the Great Lake, upon closer inspection, she realised that it was the exact spot where the platform during the 2nd task was located at.

"Wow," Harry said, unable to quantify his amazement at Luna's painting.

"Wow," Cho said in agreement, "I knew that she loved art but I did not know that she was that good at drawing."

"Same, but I guess we now know who drew all those creatures in the Quibbler, she really has a talent for arts."

"Agreed, the gift she gave you looks like a painting too, you want to open it?" Cho asked Harry who nodded enthusiastically, carefully tearing away the wrapping to find a painting, this one however was different, in the painting, Harry and Cho were sitting on a broom together, drawn in the same manner as in Cho's painting.

"She made 2 of these?" Harry said in amazement, "Now I feel bad about my gift to her."

"What did you give her?" Cho asked.

"I gave her a necklace, it's rather nice but as compared to this painting, it's below subpar."

"It's fine Zhu, she would love it still," Cho replied.

"I would have to give her something better next year, what did you give her then?" Harry asked.

"I gave her a magical painting brush, one that you have to just load water into and it would magically change it into paint and into any colour."

"That is actually a brilliant gift," Harry replied, "is mine as amazing as that."

"It is better, but that's for later, now let me finish opening the rest."

Cho blasted through the rest of the gifts, Daphne had given her a new cauldron, something that she needed since hers was rather old, Neville gave her some sweets, and Tracey and Blaise both gave her a fictional romance book which Cho was interested in read about as Tracey had previously stated that it was actually a great read. Katie, Angelina and Alicia all gave her a book as well, this one on Quidditch tactics with them pasting a note on the book telling her not to read it until after the Gryffindor game making her laugh. To her surprise, Mrs Weasley gave her a blue jumper with a big C on it, something that apparently she gave to her children and Harry and Hermione (who she considered her children), Harry looked visibly overjoyed at this gift while Cho felt a mixture of relief and happiness. She knew that Mrs Weasley was really warming up to her and treating her more and more like her own child, but this solidified that thought for her. She excitedly put on the jumper before continuing to other gifts from her family. Her father had given her a new set of earrings, something that she excitedly put on as well, her mother on the other hand, gave her a new perfume, one that after smelling, she immediately put on. Last but not least, Cheng gave her a small sculpture of a swan, something that Cho believed her parents helped craft after Cho told them about her Patronus form.

"Pei-pei gave that?" Harry asked.
"Mhm, Pa Ma probably made it for her," Cho said, examining it, its design was very intricate, what caught her eye however was her Chinese name being written at the bottom.

"That's brilliant," Harry commented, "it's genuinely a very creative gift."

"Pei-pei is amazing," Cho said in agreement, "come on, your turn now."

Cho watched as Harry unwrapped his gifts, a box of every flavour of beans from Ron, a diary from Hermione which seemed rather aggressive, a book on advance potions filled with personal annotations from Daphne, something that Cho thought was excellent as Daphne's potions ability exceeded even 7th-year students, largely a result of her family's history as potioneers. Cho watched as Harry unpacked his next gift from Neville which was a potted lily plant with instructions on how to keep it alive, something that Cho watched as Harry got a little emotional looking at it due to it carrying his mother's name. He however, braved it and moved on, taking a look at Tracey and Blaise's gift which was a new broom servicing kit, something Cho was pretty sure was Blaise's idea. Harry then opened a large box which was from Fred and George, containing every single product that they had made and was planning to release when they opened their shop. Inside, there was also a note which read 'for that one blond git' making both Cho and Harry burst into laughter, both knowing who they were referring to. Katie gave him a bottle of cologne with a thank you note for helping her get the contract (even though Harry said that he did nothing, Cho was convinced that Harry's captaining helped extract the best out of the Chasers performance and Harry's support for them in the media helped them a ton), Angelina gave Harry a book about tactics, the same one that Cho had, Harry however received a thank you note similar to Katie's. Alicia on the other hand gave Harry a training snitch which he immediately started playing with. Ginny gave Harry a photo of him after the Slytherin win, arms stretched wide and celebrating with the snitch in hand, something that Cho commented won't happen the next time that they play. Harry also received a combined gift from the other reserve players, all of them giving him a life-size replica of the Quidditch Cup.

As for the gifts from the adults, Harry received the same jumper from Mrs Weasley, a series of books about defensive magic from Lupin and Sirius, something that Harry excitedly flipped through, commenting about teaching them to the DA, Tonks had given Harry a toy-sized version of the Nimbus Lightning 1 which Harry turned on and watched it zoom all around the room. Cho's parents on the other hand gave Harry a set of dress robes, something that Cho had a role in getting as she selected the specific design. Last but not least, Cheng had given Harry a similar sculpture, this time of Hedwig which looked scarily real with Harry commenting that he could have easily transfigured it alive and have 2 Hedwigs, making Cho laugh as she knew that Harry could actually do that.

"Alright, this just leaves our gifts for each other," Harry said, beaming at Cho, "you first."

Without hesitating, Cho unwrapped Harry's first gift for her, to her surprise, it was a photo frame with a photo of both of them at the Yule Ball together. Surprising her even more, the picture changed into one where they were both on the platform after the second task, both watching as the judges gave them their scores

"You said before that you wanted a picture of us together so I had the idea of collating all of them into one photo frame," Harry said.

"How did you get all these pictures?" Cho said in amazement watching the photo now change to them in the Great Hall together before the 3rd task.

"Thankfully for me, Colin Creevy is a little of a stalker," Harry said with a smile, "I approached him to see if he had any pictures of us and to my surprise and worry, he had quite a few, I then gave him consent at the start of the year to continue taking pictures of us whenever he thinks that it makes for a good moment, I did tell him to not overly stalk us though so don't be worried about that."

"This is amazing," Cho said softly, engrossed as she watched the pictures change, watching their moments throughout the year play out in front of her eyes."

"I have 1 more gift you know," Harry teased, snapping her out of her trance. Picking up the last gift, Cho found a bracelet in it.

"Aw, this is amazing," Cho said, putting it on, noticing that her name was carved onto it with a small swan symbol beside it as well.

"Oh it's isn't just a bracelet," Harry chuckled, "it's a Protection Bracelet."

"What's that?"

"It has 2 functions, you see the swan symbol? If you press that twice, it will alert me that you are in trouble," Harry said, showing her his very own bracelet.

"Other than that, it has some runes carved into it which would protect you from most spells, like normal stunners, Severing Charms, Bludgeoning Hexes, it would take time to recharge and repair the shield but it will protect you from getting hit, allowing you to have an advantage, if you ever get attacked in school, it would protect you," Harry explained.

"That's some advanced magic," Cho commented, "how much did you spend on this?"

"Not too much, you have to remember that I'm already making quite a lot through my contract and that I already have a healthy reserve, this would not make a dent and your safety is more important to me," Harry explained.

"Thanks Zhu," Cho said, giving him a peck.

"No problem, but now, it's my turn," Harry said with a smile, opening his first gift which was a wand holster.

"That's a wand holster, it's quite a handy one at it, you just put it next to your waist and you can put your wand inside," Cho said as Harry tested it out.

"It would magically store your wand if you want your wand back out, just think about it and it would fly out of the wand holster," Cho said as Harry did just that, catching it quickly with his seeker instincts.

"Damn, that's actually pretty cool," Harry said happily, testing it out again, "I probably need to get used to it though."

"You would, and now for my last gift."

"Last gift?" Harry asked confusedly before Cho's lips met his.

Author's note

Heyyy what's going on guys, I'm back again and this time the 4 chapters to make up for the 2 that I did not post last week. I went on a school trip to Hong Kong and just returned on the 28th so mb for not posting. I'm going on another overseas trip next week but fret not, I will still be uploading 2 chapters per week and I'm already on chapter 38 so I'm very far in front.

Just some information about the story as a whole, I took a break from writing this story for a while (2 or 3 weeks I reckon) but I'm truly back now, rewatching the 4th and 5th movie on the plane did really reignite my desire to write (especially bcus Cho was in both). I'm still confident that I will finish the 7th book and I will complete the story so don't worry and keep reading the story. The story in the next 10 chapters will change a shit ton (like a shit ton) and I'm really excited to share the AU I've created, I hope that all of you continue to enjoy this story as it progresses and thank you for all the positive reviews for this story, it truly motivates me to continue posting, till next week

Infinitesalts