Midnight, Astronomy Tower

Midnight, Astronomy Tower

Sirius, Sirius, where are you? You're supposed to be right...there, Cho thought, frowning into her telescope as she scoured the sky for the Dog Star. With a sigh, she dejectedly blew on the drying, black blots that were supposed to be Capricornus, rolled up her star chart and tucked it carefully into her bag. Glancing around to make sure that she had all her belongings, Cho descended the tortuous, stone staircase down the Astronomy Tower. She crept on her toes. Her shoes clicked sharply against the stone floor. The dormant castle was quiet, save for her feet.

"Out in the halls at this hour?" A drawling voice sounded so unexpectedly behind her that Cho yelled, whipping her wand out. She recognized the sneering face of the pale Slytherin Seeker, and frowned. He was a Sixth Year, the son of a Death-Eater recently captured, Harry's personal, daily tormenter. What was his name?

"Five points from Ravenclaw, Chang!" he sang, interrupting her train of thought. The pale, blue moonlight that flowed through the windows sat like a glowing crown on his hair. His eyes, though shaded, glittered maliciously silver as ripples of soft light glanced his irises.

Cho sputtered, "You can't dock points! I have a right to be here. I was finishing my Astronomy homework."

The boy shrugged and flicked his wrist, as though physically brushing off her just protests. "Another ten points, then, for arguing with a prefect."

"But - "

"Another ten for trying to knock me off my broom during the Quidditch match, fifteen for telling Li to tail me with the Bludger, and thirty for being a hero-worshipper," he recited in one breath. To cap it off, he smirked that horrible, lopsided smirk, and looked down at her as though he had won the last word. Cho glared at him furiously.

"That's it, then. Off to bed you go, now," he chided happily, and even dared to nudge her towards the Ravenclaw towers. Without a word, Cho turned on her heel, threw her shoulders back, and stomped away in as dignified a manner as she could.

"Five points for making too much noise when you walk," he called after her.

Cho shot what she hoped was a very mean glance back at him, muttering, "Wouldn't I just love to stuff a Bludger up his a - "

"What was that you said?" he asked, taking quick, big strides towards her.

"Nothing."

"No, I believe you wanted to stuff a Bludger up somewhere?"

"I said, 'Wouldn't I just love to stuff a Bludger up...the chimney,'" Cho finished lamely.

"Ah, good," he smirked again. "But, I cannot tolerating students defiling school property, now can I? So that's another - "

"Oh, shut up, you," said Cho, but she was determined not to let him triumph. "And I am not a hero-worshipper."

The boy snorted, almost laughed. "Oh, come off it. Do you think no one can see how you mope around after Potter?"

"That's not true!" Cho protested, but even to her own ears she sounded lame.

"Everyone laughs at you! Do you think no one sees you staring pathetically at him every morning at breakfast, then at lunch, and dinner? The only person who probably hasn't noticed is him, your saintly golden boy, and that's not saying too much!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"He's not yours, you know? He is little Weasley's now; he went to the Yule Ball with her. Did you see?" he asked viciously. He wanted to shake her, to tear her from her pathetic tendrils of hope. The blue moonlight spilled onto her hair, overflowing onto her twisted, angry face. He glittered softly blue too.

"You're pathetic," he said softly, as though he were telling her some romantic secret.

He didn't even see her hand fly up to his face, and only yelped after she had slapped him with her red and stinging palm. She left a blazing handprint on his pale cheek. He stood still, blue hair falling into his pale eyes, his face frozen in the position her brutal hand had sent him. She gazed at him coldly, "You deserved that. I'm sorry."

He finally turned to her, slowly, and she winced to see the burning mark she had left on his face.

His eyes shone beautifully dark against his white lashes; she could feel his warm breath escape his parted lips and hit the hollow of her neck in short little gusts. He was impossibly close. So close that she could count every thread of silver in his grey eyes that glowed against the whites of his eyes. When she dared to breath, she found that he smelled pleasantly of cinnamon and grass and perfumed soap.

His lips touched hers gently, shyly. He was warm and pink and sweet like fresh pumpkin juice. His blue-blonde hair tickled her forehead, interlaced in her own dark tresses, and grazed her eyes. Their mouths parted hesitantly together, and Cho trailed the tip of her pink tongue along his upper lip, inside his sweet mouth. They found each other easily in the dark and clung tenderly to each other, witnessed only by the silent, half-lidded moon. He cupped her head with his right hand, and she reached behind him to grasp his left.

But he pulled away violently, clutching his left wrist with his right hand.

"Five points from Ravenclaw for inappropriate touching," he said, visibly trying to control his fluttering breath. He straightened his robes and brushed the hair from his eyes, and Cho saw the hideous black mark marring his white wrist when the sleeves slipped back a bit.

"Back to your dormitory, Ravenclaw, before I deduct more points," he menaced, very annoyed. She nodded and turned to leave without protest, but one lingering thought turned her around.

"What's your name, Slytherin?" she asked.

"Forget him."

"What? But I asked you - "

"Seventy-five points from - "

---

The morning owls were swooping into the Great Hall in a massive, fluttering cloud of white, browns, and grays. Cho chewed morosely on a dry piece of toast, dreading her first class: Astronomy. Not only had she not finished her star chart, she had also neglected to finish the essay on Venus and its Muggle-pagan Patroness. Sighing, Cho picked up her books and her bag, and followed the throng of students leaving for their morning classes. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, inching forward as the blob of students congested at the door, then burst through. She was almost to the door when an ear-splitting scream echoed from the front hall.

"Move!" Several girls shrieked as Professor Snape trampled over a row of students to see what had happened. Professors McGonagall and Sinistra hurried closely after, worry and fear etched into their faces.

Padma Patil, one of the Ravenclaw prefects, stood rigid and wide-eyed, staring at the big glass that tallied House points. A wide circle of students and teachers had formed around her, all wondering at what Padma was screaming.

"How could this have happened?" she yelled, waving her hands about and looking accusatorily at her Housemates.

"What is it, girl?" Professor McGonagall asked, her face blanched and taut.

"The house points - they - they - but we were winning!" Padma cried. Professor Snape looked as though it were taking him a lot of effort to keep from rolling his eyes. Cho shrunk sheepishly into the mass of students.

"Professor McGonagall, ours too! We had two-hundred-and-thirty points last night - I know because I counted at the end of patrol. We only have one-hundred-and-fifty-five now," Hermione Granger said, pointing at the spare Gryffindor glass. "All Gryffindors were in the common room or in the dormitories last night; I checked to make sure. How can we be seventy-five points short?" Harry Potter and Ron Weasley stared at the glass, looking mutinous. They were undoubtedly guessing who had docked so many Gryffindor points, and probably had guessed correctly as well.

Cho's head shot up and she searched frantically for a white-blond head, but she found only dark and tawny ones around her.

"All right, all right. We'll get this sorted," Professor Flitwick squeaked, pushing a few confused first years away. Little by little, the students went to their classes - those who had Potions first positively ran to the dungeons. Only Cho and a few of the more reluctant students remained.

"You, you're Hufflepuffs, aren't you?" a familiar voice barked. A group of straggling second-year girls nodded, frightened. "Well? Get to class, then! That's fifteen points each for dawdling!" The girls looked close to tears.

Cho grinned when she saw the nameless prefect from the previous night, feeling as though they were conspirators in some crime. He, however, did not smile, but scowled when he spotted her and stalked over.

"Well, Chang?" he sneered, although a flicker of a smile lit his face. "Care to lose any more points for Ravenclaw? You know that I don't play favorites, so you'd better get to class."

He shouldered her roughly as he swept pompously past, but leaned close to her ear for a fraction of a second. "Midnight, Astronomy Tower."