Someone to Love

This is it, Harry thought. He was so excited he was practically skipping down the halls, but it had occurred to him that this might cause his Invisibility Cloak to fall off, so he exercised some will power. Despite the fact that it was well into the night, the warm June air filled the castle. By this time tomorrow, he would be back at Grimmauld Place for the summer before his 7th year at Hogwarts. Since turning 16, he was no longer required to spend summers with the Dursleys, which he was more than thrilled about. However, this was not the reason for Harry's near delirious joy. He was on his way to see his girlfriend, Cho. This was actually her last night at Hogwarts, a night that Harry had been anticipating more than anyone. Not that he would want to see her go, but Harry knew that Cho wouldn't want to leave Hogwarts a virgin.

They had come so close so many times, but Cho always said she wanted to wait. It took Harry a while to figure it out, but she had wanted to wait until this night. Finally, he reached the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. At least we're not Hufflepuffs! He whispered the password, knowing the trouble Cho would be in if anyone found out that she gave him the password for their late night snog sessions.

When he finally entered her dormitory, she was the only one there standing alone by her bed packing her things. Harry threw off the cloak and almost gave Cho a heart attack. "Harry! How many times have I told you? Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, sorry. I know, but I wanted to surprise you!"

"Well good job." Cho looked unusually annoyed with him.

"You sound a little tense."

"I'm not, it's just hard, you know my last night and all." She turned back to her packing.

"Yeah, I figured you would need some comforting." Harry wrapped his arms around Cho, but she pushed him away.

"Harry, I think we need to talk." She said, looking him in the eye for the first time since he had entered the room.

"About what exactly?"

"Us."

"Oh no I was kind of hoping we could avoid this."

"Well, I've been avoiding it long enough... ok, you know how I got that job at Gringotts? Well I got transferred, or rather, I asked to be transferred. Harry I'm moving to Paris." Harry took a moment to take this all in.

"But what about us?"

"That's the thing Harry, this just isn't working." Harry looked as though someone had socked him in the stomach.

"What do you mean it's not working?"

"Harry, don't fool yourself, you knew this wasn't going to last."

"But we've been practically inseparable since Christmas! Not to mention that you almost lost you virginity to me numerous times!"

Cho took a moment to collect her thoughts. She stared uncomfortably at the floor and after an awkward silence she spoke.

"Harry, I have a confession to make. I'm not a virgin."

"What? But...When? Who?

"Cedric, after the Yule Ball. Harry, please understand, he was my first love, my only love really."

"Ok, Cedric, that's ok, I mean it was just him, right?"

"Well..."

"There were more! How many more?"

"Harry, why are you doing this to yourself?"

"Because I'm glutton for punishment, now tell me!"

"Alright, alright, including Cedric, ten."

"Ten! There are at least ten other guys in this world you would rather shag than me! Who were they!?"

"Harry..." Cho was actually whining now.

"Tell me, damnit! You owe me that much!"

"Ok, ok. Well, after Cedric died I was a wreck. I used sex to escape my pain. There were seven guys that summer. None of them meant anything to me; I care about you more than I could ever care about any of them."

Harry knew that ten guys weren't "nothing" as she had put it, but he was on a rampage and didn't take even a second to realize what she had actually just said.

"Ok. Well, there were still two more."

"Right, yes. Well, as the summer came to a close, I was starting to heal; I came back to school, and we went through our little dramatic period, and then there was Michael."

"So you slept with Michael Coroner."

"Yes, and then we had our infamous breakup." Harry remembered that day on the Hogwarts Express. It was just last September. He and his friends were sitting in a compartment when they heard screaming. When they opened the doors they saw Michael screaming at Cho, who was in tears. The entire train saw everything, and Cho was completely broken hearted, not to mention humiliated.

"Ok, so Cedric, Michael, seven random meaningless guys, so who was number ten?"

"Harry, it's getting late, maybe you should..." She was starting to sweat and was getting jittery.

"Cho! I want to know; I need to know!"

"Why? Why do you need to know, if it's only going to hurt you!"

"Because, I just do! There isn't any reason for it, I just need to know the guys you would sleep with, the guys who are better than me!"

"Damnit Harry! Just because I slept with them doesn't mean they're better than you!"

"Cho, tell me!" At this point Harry was so furious he took out is wand and pointed it directly at Cho.

"Harry..."

"Tell me and I'll go."

"Fine! It was our first night back and I was still upset over Michael. I was wandering the halls late, and I was walking past the astronomy tower when someone heard me. I knew it was a prefect, but I didn't care. I was just so miserable, and he was there, and he knew everything that had happened, so he took advantage of that. Harry it meant nothing, I was hurt, and he would never compare to you, but he was there..."

"Cho, who the Hell are you talking about?!"

"Malfoy! Ok! There you have it, lonely depressed Cho Chang fucked the slimiest git that ever walked these halls, Draco Malfoy!"

Harry lowered his wand and looked like he had stopped breathing. "Harry, say something."

"You whore!"

"Harry..."

"Save it! You're a damn whore and you know it!" Cho was in tears now. "Harry, I'm so sorry!"

"That's the way you deal with everything isn't it? Tears and sex! And you know what the sad part of it is, about five minutes ago, one would have worked!" Harry turned to leave. "Enjoy Paris, and if the Gringotts job doesn't work out, you could always try the Moulin Rouge!"

"Harry please, I never meant to hurt you!"

"Oh go shag a French poodle!" With that Harry threw the Invisibility Cloak over his head and walked out of the room, leaving Cho in a pile of tears on the floor.

When he was finally back in his dormitory, Harry threw off the Invisibility Cloak. Everyone else was asleep. He collapsed on the bed and thought back to where this all started. Not to the Quidditch pitch where he first saw Cho, but to Grimmauld Place, only last summer.

FLASHBACK

It was only a few days after Harry's sixteenth birthday. Dumbledore had finally agreed that he was now old enough to leave the Dursley's permanently. Since Sirius' death Harry had become quite jaded. He hardly spoke anymore and he never showed any sign of emotion. Sometimes Ron would have to give him a little shove, just to make sure he was still alive. He spent most of his days wandering around Grimmauld Place, trying to find something anything that would give him a window to see the kind of person Sirius was. Old pictures, letters, anything. It wasn't until mid-August that he found the courage to go into Sirius' old room. This is where he found what he had been looking for. Actually, he found more than what he was looking for. He saw, sitting across the room, a pensieve. Harry didn't even think about what he was doing. He walked over to it and stared in.

Almost immediately he felt everything change. He was no longer in the dark, dank room, but in a small, but bright room, no wait, it was a small tent. Honestly, he didn't take much notice of the room; he was focused on the four men in it. He recognized all of them, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs: the Marauders. They were all nicely dressed in tuxedos.

"I can't believe she roped you into having a Muggle wedding! I can only imagine what else she's got in store for you!" Harry thought he would never hear that voice again. It was Sirius. He was standing in front of James, attempting to do his tie.

"Oh, I don't know mate. I tried to say no, but then she gave me the look. There was no turning back after that."

Sirius gave a bark-like laugh, "Oh man, if she can get you to do all this with a look!" Sirius was now laughing so hard he couldn't finish his sentence.

"Hey, you just better hope she doesn't teach her friends any of her tricks! That would certainly but a damper in your bachelor-like ways." Sirius stopped laughing.

"Nah, I'm way to strong for that." But everyone could tell from his nervous expression he was lying through his teeth.

"Damn this stupid thing!" Sirius finally grew tired of the tie and threw it on the floor. Remus stood there laughing.

"You think it's funny? Let's see how well you do wolf-boy!" Without saying a word, Remus picked up the tie and clipped it on to James' shirt. "Apparently your bride doesn't hate you quite as much as Padfoot here thought."

James, Peter, and Remus burst into laughter as Sirius stared menacingly at the tie.

"Blasted piece of Muggle crap!"

"Now, now clam yourself Padfoot." Said Peter in his soft squeaky voice. After Remus helped Peter and Sirius, who was a bit more reluctant for the assistance, a beautiful woman with dark brown hair poked her head into the room. "Come on boys, we're about ready to start."

Harry followed the Marauders out of the tent and into the beautiful springtime atmosphere. Harry looked around at the chairs filled with guests. He walked over to them so he could get a full view of everything going on. The music started and James walked down the isle. Everyone began whispering about how happy he looked. Then he saw Sirius arm and arm with the beautiful dark haired woman from before. He looked as happy as Harry had ever seen him. Then he noticed Sirius look at James, motion to the woman and give his old friend a thumbs up sign. Harry thought this had gone unnoticed by everyone else, until the woman elbowed Sirius hard in the stomach right before they separated. He walked over to James doubled over in pain as the crowd broke out in laughter. Remus and Peter walked down the isle with two other girls, and after the flower girls and ringer bearer came, the music changed to the traditional "Here Comes the Bride". That wasn't all that had changed; his father's expression was completely different. Harry couldn't quite point it out, but James Potter looked happier than any man Harry had ever seen. Then he stood up and saw what everybody else did, his mother. Lily was beautiful. Her wavy red hair was pinned up but some pieces still fell elegantly in her face. Her green eyes were so brilliant that they were noticeable, even from behind her veil. She held a large bouquet of, what else, lilies, which were so beautifully colored that they perfectly meshed with her pure white, off the shoulder, beaded wedding dress with a train that seemed to be a mile long. When she finally reached James and the crowd was seated, and Harry realized who was going to be marrying his parents: Dumbledore.

Dumbledore made one of his usual captivating speeches, but Harry could not take his eyes off of his parents. Both of them wore bright smiles and never took their eyes off each other. Harry could feel the emotion in their voices as they recited their vows, which sounded beautiful as he remembered, but the words were blended in his mind with everything else. The last thing Harry remembered was their kiss. He had seen and experienced his fair share of kisses, but he had never seen one so filled with love, not the kind that most of the guys used to get some of the girls into bed, but pure genuine love that would never die.

Before he had even realized what had happened, he was back in Sirius' room.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Since that day the pensieve had mysteriously disappeared. It made no difference to Harry though. What he had seen that say was enough to last a lifetime.

From that moment on, Harry knew what he wanted out of life. He wanted what his parents had. He wanted to be that much in love with someone and have them love him back that much. In that respect, he realized that Cho was right. He knew things would never last between them, or at least part of him knew. He wanted so much to be in love that he had in a way convinced himself that he and Cho were meant to be. He still hated her for sleeping with Malfoy, but he wasn't quite heart broken, just deeply stung, and disappointed that she hadn't been the one.