A Camp Story

Draco had been waiting at the Leaky Cauldron since 8:00, fearing the possibility that Cho might be early and then miss him. He had paced in front of the Leaky Cauldron exactly 208 times when Cho showed up at 9:08. Draco saw her first as he was leaning against the wall having a fag, hidden by a butt-ugly tropical plant of some kind. He saw her when she turned the corner, he saw her tighten her jacket, as it was very chilly. He saw her as she glanced around looking for him. He saw her brush a strand of hair out of her eyes and he nearly set the butt-ugly tropical plant on fire as he dropped his fag.

As he frantically batted at the little cloud of smoke, Cho spotted him.

"Bunny!" she cried out and started running towards him. Draco forgot about the plant and ran towards her as well.

"Snookums!"

Some pedestrians stopped to stare at them; it was kind of comical and romantic at the same time. A tiny, almost dwarf-like Chinese girl with her long black hair flying behind her as she ran towards a tall, slim and almost albino-like boy who was also running towards her as a butt-ugly tropical plant behind him burst into flames. But they were both so good-looking, despite being albino and a dwarf. So they stared.

They finally met and clung to each other so tightly that neither of them could breath, but then again they didn't even notice because they hadn't been breathing since they started running. Quidditch is really good for your lungs. And your thighs and butt. The best broom of the millennium is the Nimbus 2001! Go buy one now and exercise your gluts! [End of Advertisement] Draco picked Cho up so that she was at face level with him and hugged her to him even more tightly.

"Oh, Snookums! You look even more beautiful than when I last saw you!" Draco shouted out as he finally set Cho down to gaze into her face. The bystanders quickly went about their business; it was very clear that the two of them didn't understand the concept of "get a room" or "PDA is extremely nauseating, please go jump off a cliff for the sake of society."

"Oh, Bunny, you look even taller! Is it possible to have a growth spurt in 3 weeks?" Cho asked breathlessly.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder, Snookums. That's why I look taller," Draco answered and leaned in for a kiss. That lasted another five minutes until both of them became aware of shouting behind them. Apparently the fire from the plant was now spreading to the wooden Leaky Cauldron and the proprietor had come outside to put it out.

"What on earth?" Cho asked as she stared at the charred and smoking plant.

"Don't worry, it looks much nicer now than it did before. Here, I bought something for you," Draco said shyly as he took out a giant slab of chocolate wrapped in gold foil from the bag he was carrying.

"Oh, wow, Bunny! Thank you so much! You know how much I love chocolate! And my favourite brand too, awww!" she said as her eyes widened with joy. "I bought something for you too," she said as she took the chocolate and put it in her own bag. "Here," she said while handing him a letter.

Draco looked at her questionably but she just prompted him to read it. As he scanned the letter Draco's face brightened even more.

"Oh wow, Snookums! This is such wonderful news!" Draco cried out ecstatically and hugged Cho again.

"I knew you would be happy for me! But I have no idea why I got chosen, I mean, there are so many much more qualified girls than me! Especially considering the way my marks plummeted last year," Cho said modestly, sixth year had humbled her immensely.

"As if! I would have been insulted if they didn't choose you! Head Girl, my god, my very own Snookums is Head Girl! It's good to finally see some proof that Dumbledore isn't as senile as he looks," Draco muttered.

"Draco," Cho said in a warning tone, "I hope you know that the only reason I'm Head Girl is because of Dumbledore. Before the summer holidays started, Dumbledore called me into his office and he said that I was going through a really difficult period and he listened to me. I must've blabbered for over two hours and he actually listened. So please don't call him senile."

"I'm sorry, Cho. I didn't know. Have you got the badge with you? Lemme see," Draco asked, quickly changing the subject. Cho pulled it out of her pocket, a shining badge declaring "Head Girl."

"Oh wow, Snookums...I'm stunned! But what else can you expect? Beauty and Brains, it's a lethal combination. Wow, it's really shiny!" Draco said, turning his head as the badge caught a ray of sunlight and resembled a laser beam. He gave Cho a peck on the cheek.

Cho blushed furiously and grinned like there was no tomorrow. "Urm...yeah...I've polished it a few times. Anywho, this is what I wanted to tell you. I got the letter right after I got home and I had wanted to tell you straight away, but I thought I would surprise you instead. Did you like the surprise?"

"I loved it!" Draco declared while also blushing because he remembered what he had thought Cho was going to tell him. "We'll be the brightest couple at Hogwarts, Snookums. All the other couples will pale in comparison with us," he said proudly.

Cho laughed and punched him in the arm so hard that Draco knew he would find a bruise there tomorrow. He had come back home covered in bruises, Cho may look small, but all the food she ate went straight into her right hook. "You're crazy, Bunny! But I'll be damned if you aren't right!" laughed Cho as she put the letter away and the badge back in her jacket pockets.

Now that the initial drunken joy was starting to wear off, they gave each other a thorough once-over. Cho had dressed in Muggle clothing because she had taken the bus and walked here. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with a thin grey jacket over it. Draco was wearing some thick black wool robes with folded-down black collars. They each thought the other was the hottest thing since the invention of Pepper Imps.

"You must be freezing, Snookums," Draco murmured worriedly as he noted how thin her jacket was.

"No, I'm fine. I've got a sweater under this," Cho said and unzipped her jacket to show him the form-fitting white sweater she was wearing underneath. Draco had to fight the urge to take her right there and then on the sidewalk.

Cho must've sensed the hormones wafting in her direction because she locked onto Draco's grey eyes. That was all it took to set them off and they were soon snogging with Draco lifting Cho up while she wrapped her legs around his waist. Some parents taking their kids to Diagon Alley scurried past them while shielding the children's eyes and telling them not to look at the "bad people."

After what seemed like a lifetime, they broke apart and gasped for air.

"Bunny, have you been smoking?" Cho asked.

"No! Of course not! Why would you think that?" Draco denied vehemently.

"I thought I tasted smoke in your mouth. I hate that taste, ugh!" Cho said with an awful grimace.

"Then for sure I'm not smoking!" Draco said while making a mental note to buy some strong mints. Fags were the only thing that kept him from the mental ward during the past three weeks, he was gonna need them more in the future.

"Let's go, Bunny. I've got lots of stuff to buy," Cho said and they set off towards Diagon Alley.

They reached the brick wall and Draco whipped out his wand and tapped lightly at the third brick from the left above the trash bin and the wall opened to reveal an archway. "Head Girl first, Snookums." Cho giggled gleefully. And the two of them set off, holding hands and walking in a way that was bordering on skipping. If one saw them, one would be very compelled to think they were being paid to be an advertisement for some kind of erectile potion for youths with erectile difficulties, especially with the giant grins that were pasted on their faces.

"Let's see...I've got my new text books, two sheaves of parchment paper, four new quills, three bottles of ink, some erasing fluid, three new novels and I've still got to visit the Apothecary and Gringotts," Cho said while checking things off a list with a tiny stub of pencil. "How about you, Bunny? What places do you still need to visit?"

"Well, I've visited the same places as you and need to go to the same places, but I also need to visit Madam Malkin's as well. Would you mind if we went to Gringotts, first, Snookums? I've got some business to settle," Draco asked, muttering the last sentence with a grim face.

"Sure, I've got to fill up my pouch too. I didn't bring enough coins. And I've got some business to settle too," Cho mimicked. Draco laughed and gave her another kiss on the cheek. [I swear to god, I'm not being paid enough to tell this story. It barely covers the hospitalisation costs from the months I had to stay in the psychiatric wing at St. Mungo's after enduring their "romance," which many would call "torture."]

It was now noon and they had spent the past three hours shopping for their supplies and doing some window-shopping as well. They had spent an hour just at Flourish and Blotts as Cho browsed shelf after shelf for a novel and bought three instead.

The walked to the end of the cobbled street to where Gringotts, a white marble building, was located. They passed a series of goblin guards and were finally escorted by two goblins down to the vaults in a little cart. One goblin lead Cho to vault 816, her vault, while another lead Draco down to vault 310, his vault. They agreed to meet above when they were finished.

Cho's goblin produced a tiny gold key and she opened her vault, which was a very tiny compartment (because it only held a tiny sum) on a wall filled with many other tiny little compartments. Everything in the vault was what Cho had scrapped together through saving mercilessly since she was eight, everything from gifts from relatives to summer jobs.

"How much?" Cho asked eagerly after she deposited the 400 Galleons that she had earned this summer (Jack had been true to his word).

The goblin took out a giant book and flipped through it. "2015 Galleons, 10 Sickles, and 17 Knuts," it grunted out.

"Really? Are you sure?" Cho asked, barely believing her ears. She hadn't asked for a balance in two years because she liked to surprise herself, but even this was much more than she had anticipated. She had approximated 1500 Galleons, not over 2000!

The goblin just glared at Cho for the insinuation he didn't know what he was talking about. Goblins were very serious about money.

"I mean, I haven't checked it in a long time and had guessed a different amount," she quickly explained.

The goblin took up a large rock and grunted out Cho's vault number and asked her to touch her wand to it, which she did. The rock started writing out columns of numbers on a piece of parchment that was emerging from it (though Cho couldn't see a visible outlet on the rock). The rock finally stopped writing and the goblin passed the parchment to Cho. Cho glanced at the list of transactions and her eyes caught at one entry. A pre-ordered deposit of 500 Galleons by Cedric Diggory, vault 810, two weeks after he died.

On my birthday...he must've done it before he died as a surprise for me because he knew I loved surprises. Well, thanks Cedric, I'm surprised all right. Oh Christ, Cedric, why are you so good? Cho felt tears welling up in her eyes as the figures on the parchment blurred. He knew that I wouldn't have accepted that present from him if he had given it to me. But I wouldn't have taken it anyways, Cedric. It's not like there's a difference between giving me the present and giving me the money. Well, I guess it does now because I can't give it back to you. Goddamn you, Cedric. Just let me live, you already know I can never forget you!

After the Harry Fiasco Cho had promised herself that she would let Cedric rest in peace and go on with her life like he had never existed. Cho had gone through all the stages of grief following his death and even more because she never found out what happened to him. Cedric's parents told her the same thing that Dumbledore had told the rest of the school: Cedric was murdered by Voldemort. Other than that, there was nothing. Cedric was gone, he wasn't going to show up outside her Potions class and walk her to Herbology. He was dead. The only people present when he died were unknown Death Eaters, You-Know-Who, and Harry Potter. Cho knew Harry had a crush on her because he had asked her to the Yule Ball. So when sixth year rolled around Cho resolved to get to the bottom of it and find out what happened.

What she didn't resolve was that she would cry whenever she mentioned Cedric or that Harry had also resolved never to talk about what happened that night. She had liked Harry, really, she was very lonely after Cedric's death because ever since she was 12 he had played such an integral part in her life. And Harry seemed just like Cedric, a nice and sweet boy. Even Cedric had nice things to say about Harry, despite the Triwizard problem. But it turned out Harry was still a little boy and Cho was the one putting all the moves. She had basically asked him out and she was the first one to kiss him (she couldn't help it! It had been a long five months without any loving!). Not that the kiss led to anything, it was like kissing a famous block of wood with glasses and a lightening-shaped scar who just stared.

Then she realised not only was Harry still a little boy, but he was also a scared little boy with no experience whatsoever when it came to girls. His experience had been limited to Hermione and Cho sincerely doubted Hermione would have girl talks with Harry and Ron. Harry had no mother to learn from and this left Cho in the extremely awkward position of teacher, which she was not prepared for in any way. Cho wasn't exactly Marilyn Monroe, either. Cedric had been her first and only boyfriend and she had no experience playing the field. At first she was nervous as hell and acted like the dumbest bimbo on the block. Then she was insecure and acted like the bitter ex-girlfriend every guy hopes he never encounters. Along with this already wonderful pot of experience, emotions, horniness, and resolutions, Harry had no tact whatsoever when it came to girls and threw around the names of other girls like it was confetti without expressing his own feelings at all. Unlike Cedric or Draco, he never said anything to reassure her that he felt for her what she felt for him.

Cho's marks were falling drastically, her parents kept telling her to get over Cedric and move on, her friends kept telling her to get over Cedric and move on, her flying was horrible and she could hear her teammates muttering darkly behind her back after practices. Her chances of getting a Healer apprenticeship got bleaker and bleaker. Her once certain Head Girl future was not so certain. Her once certain captainship of the Ravenclaw team was now so laughable it made her sob in the washrooms between classes. The worst thing that had ever happened to Cho before Cedric's death was when she kept losing in Quidditch to Harry. Now she would be happy if she even lost to Harry instead of an inexperienced Gryffindor on a broom as ancient as hers was. Cho was insecure as quicksand and she learned that everyone had his or her own troubles and no one wanted to add on the weight of another person's sorrow. The once popular and perpetually perky Ravenclaw was reduced to a weeping heap of blue and bronze robes who grabbed at 80's desperately when in the past she would've scorned anything below a 97%.

Harry Potter had a world to save and no time for a blubbering girlfriend; Cho didn't blame him. Cho had just lost her boyfriend and her life was expendable, but Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived and without him the whole wizarding world would collapse. All that at only 15. Cho didn't realise this until after any chance she and Harry had was swimming around in Moaning Myrtle's toilet. And she also didn't realise until after that no matter what, it wouldn't have worked out. Harry was too close to Cedric's memory and there was no way she could be around him without thinking of Cedric. She had liked him for all the wrong reasons, because he was like Cedric, because he knew what happened to Cedric, because he would fill up the gap that Cedric had left. No, she was going about it all wrong. Cedric was Cedric and no one could ever replace him, but she failed to recognise Harry for Harry. It was the textbook case of a rebound.

Marietta had stuck with her throughout it, but then even Marietta no longer offered any comfort when she caved in to Umbridge. Nonetheless, Cho defended Marietta because Marietta was her friend and when Cho had been under the weather, she had been there for her. So that was the end of Harry and also the end of Marietta. Cho felt betrayed, too, by what Marietta did, but she would have never forgiven herself if she had left her in the centre of a whirlpool of wrath.

And in the end, Cho, a girl who always offered a sympathetic ear and a shoulder to cry on, found herself facing the death of Cedric completely alone. She gathered herself up and swallowed everything in and for the sake of all those around her, she assumed her normal role in life. She learned that what she had with Cedric could never, ever be erased and it would be much better for her if she never talked about it again.

Was she shocked that she would find comfort in Draco Malfoy? Of course! If you had said, "Draco Malfoy will help you get over Cedric and help you to learn to love again" to Cho after Cedric had died, she would've burst into tears and broken your jaw. Then she went to Camp Medea to find out more about the people who killed Cedric and gained a whole new perspective. And after the Harry incident, she learned that in order to give Cedric up, she had to stop trying to find someone just like him to fill his shoes because that would be impossible.

In the end, Cedric and Draco were very alike and Cho discovered that what you want is truly the last place you'll look. But she made sure that she never involved Draco in what she shared with Cedric like she had done with Harry. She made sure that Cho and Draco was Cho and Draco, not Cho and Cedric II.

All in all, Cho was a much better person now. Sixth year was reality's bitch slap to her pretty little face. With the title of Head Girl in her hands, she was back to her former self, only with a subdued ego and a much more composed and mature attitude. Little children in Afghanistan danced with joy and sang hymns at the knowledge that Cho Chang was now a better person and Head Girl of Hogwarts.

The goblin started grunted uncomfortably and Cho realised with a start that she had lost herself so deeply in her sorrow that she had been standing there weeping silently for the past ten minutes.

"Error with balance?" the goblin grunted a little more kindly.

"No," Cho whispered with a smile as she wiped her face. "But I was wondering if Cedric Diggory had left a note or card of any kind to give to me when he made this deposit," Cho asked hopefully.

The goblin checked his book again and then shook his head.

"Oh, okay. Well, thank you anyway. Thanks a lot," Cho murmured gratefully. She felt as if this goblin had just showed her one last glance of Cedric again.

The goblin grunted his welcome awkwardly while starting to fidget. Cho knew what she was going to do; she knew why Cedric had given her this money in the first place. He wasn't rich, but he had a steady job during the summer for quite a long time and earned good money.

The goblin took Cho back up and she went outside to do what she had to do. When she finished she picked up a copy of Transfiguration Today. They had the best articles! She waited for another 15 minutes inside Gringotts for Draco and decided to go down to see what was taking him so long. When the track stopped near Draco's vault she told the goblin that she was going to find Draco so he left her alone after pointing out where she should go.

As she walked towards vault 310 she heard Draco's voice haggling with a goblin. She peeked around a corner and saw Draco standing like a powerful god with a goblin in front of an open vault that appeared to have a dragon sleeping atop a pile of gold in it.

Holy crap, it isn't just a rumour after all. Cheese Whiz!

"Listen, Sohad, I want you to increase the amounts and that's final. I know very well what's going on with Fudge, no, don't you dare deny it, I know. Right now there's still over 770,000 Galleons in there, not to mention various valuables and priceless heirlooms. I want all of it moved by November 21, understand?" Draco asked frostily.

"Mr. Malfoy, you have to understand that I can't move anything out of your father's vault without his permission and what I've done is already a big no-no," the goblin grunted out in a much more polite tone than Cho's goblin had used with her.

"I'm his sole heir! He's locked up in Azkaban and that's why he hasn't been down here, in case you didn't know. Everything he has goes to me by default unless he states otherwise and he hasn't, has he? No, I thought not. How do you think other people would react, the Sangupuros or Trucidoms for example, if they found out you were going against the law of inheritance because Fudge ordered you to?" Draco said in a tone laced with deadly intent.

"But, Mr. Malfoy, you father isn't dead so that's why I am not allowed to move the money. If he were dead, there would be absolutely no problem, you understand that, right?" the goblin pointed out.

"Sohad, don't pull your goblin mind tricks on me. My father is as good as dead and you know it. He's in Azkaban and has been sentenced to life imprisonment. For all we know, he can still live another fifty years! But that's only his body that's living, any other function he has as a human being is gone. He's been locked up for over a year and no one has heard from him or seen him since. What's the difference except a heartbeat? I hope you realise this, but I'm not just a Malfoy here. I'm a Malfoy with many, many influential friends. And those friends have even more friends. Gringotts isn't the only bank in the world; you comprehend that, right, Sohad?" Draco continued authoritatively in a manner that accepted nothing less than absolute obedience.

Cho saw the goblin nod meekly with his head bowed down.

"Now, I want it written up in a magical contract, yes, you heard me, a written magical contract, that you will move everything from my father's account into mine by November 21 this year," Draco said.

The goblin quickly threw off his meekness and said firmly, "No, I cannot, Mr. Malfoy! What would happen if Minister Fudge found out about this?"

"Nothing would happen because Fudge won't be able to carry out his plan. He can't punish you, can he? You have a perfectly logical reason; I'm Lucius Malfoy's sole heir. My name is the first one on his will and he has stated this long ago that everything he owns will be mine. Since he is in Azkaban and will be until he dies, he has no use for this money, does he? Therefore it is just like if he had died. If Fudge does try to punish you or pull a fast one, I'm sure you will find a way around it. You're a goblin for a reason, Sohad. And I don't know what he's enticing you with, but you do the math and you think nice and hard about who has more to offer, him or me? Fudge might be thrown off any moment and you know that, he won't be Minister forever, especially with the way things are going these days. I, on the other hand, am still young and will always be a Malfoy. I already have over 530,000 Galleons in my own account (Cho almost died of shock, Draco wasn't doing as badly as she had feared) and almost 150,000 in my mother's. I can multiply what I have right now in a year and if you get on the wrong side of me, you will have lost a valuable client for life. And not just one valuable client, remember, but several valuable clients. So can I have the contract before I leave?" Draco inquired as if it was all settled.

Sohad was silent for a few moments and then grunted, "I cannot make this decision alone, Mr. Malfoy. I have to discuss this with my colleagues."

"You're the Chairman, you can if you want too. However, if you insist on stalling for time, I can come back in three hours at 3:50. How does this sound to you?" Draco asked with a generous smile pasted on his face.

The goblin's mouth thinned, but he agreed to inform Draco of their decision in three hours.

"Wonderful. And I want the dragon moved into my vault as well, put that into the agreement too," Draco said as Sohad closed the vault. Clearly he anticipated that the goblins would agree to Draco's plan.

Cho panicked as Sohad finished closing the vault. Bloody hell, I don't want him to catch me here! It looks really bad, really, really bad! She fled down a tunnel in the hopes of coming to her own vault so she could emerge from it as if she just finished checking her account. Next thing she knew, she met with dead end at vault 910. When she tried to retrace her steps, she came to another dead end at vault 34. After what seemed like a lifetime of passing identical looking tunnels with different numbers, she realised with heavy dread that she was lost. Little children in Afghanistan cried.