Detention and Confessions

DETENTION AND CONFESSIONS

"You've got to talk to her, honestly."

"Yeah, you have to, you know."

"I dunno..."

It was half past ten, and unlike the usual, Gryffindor Tower was already quiet. Not a single breath of wind can disturb the silence, from the upper dormitories - where the exhausted Gryffindors slept, all of whom were tired from the journey to Hogwarts and full from the start-of-term feast - right to the almost deserted common room, where three fifth years sat deep in conversation, huddled in front of the dying fire in the grate.

"I can't see why I should, at a time like this," said Harry distractedly, running his fingers over his untidy hair, looking at Ron and Hermione, which were next to him, both looking anxious.

"Harry, don't you understand?" Hermione was saying. "It will surely make her feel better, you know, after what happened to Cedric."

"Yeah, Harry," Ron added. "Look at it this way. She's depressed, and if you come to her with your - er - confession, she would recover from Diggory's death sooner. And don't forget, you'll have her stuck to you, 'cause I think she likes you too. She's already in sixth year, and you're right, she's really pretty. At least you won't worry about competition once you tell her you care."

Harry looked away, feeling confused. Seeing this Hermione broke in.

"Harry, you'll be fine! You can do it, we know you can. After all, you're brave, aren't you?"

"Besides," said Ron, "we'll be here for you if it doesn't work out. We'll always be there for you."

At these words, Ron paused, thinking. Something was going on at the back of his mind. He grinned at these thoughts (whatever they were), just beyond Harry' s and Hermione's range of vision, because at that moment, Harry stood up, Hermione doing the same.

"All right," Harry said. "Leave it to me. Just wait for me at lunch tomorrow. I'll do it alone. For now let's go to bed, it's late.

* * * * *

The next day, Harry barely paid attention to class. His mind was buzzing. Okay, Harry, he thought. Relax, just relax. Tell her you want a word. It'll soon be over. . .

When the bell for lunch rang, Harry hurriedly walked out of the Charms classroom, after a hurried goodbye to Ron and Hermione. He paced the corridors, looking for Cho. His stomach dropped as he caught a glimpse of her emerging from the Transfiguration classroom. He froze, staring dumbstruck at her, lost for words. He didn't think he could go on, until . . .

Cho caught sight of him. After a moment of jangling nerves, Harry made up his mind. He waved his arm at her, then made gestures telling her to come over. She approached, smiling weakly.

She's still out of it, Harry thought. Here's your chance, don't lose your head now . . .

"Er - hi, " he began. "I've got something to tell you."

Cho looked mildly surprised. She seemed almost nervous.

"Yes?" she asked curiously, but the word had barely left her pinkish lips when a loud, familiar voice made the both of them jump.

"Ta - dah!" Ron shouted to the deserted corridor, appearing from inside an empty classroom a few feet away. He was holding his wand out, and was pulling something out from his pocket.

It was a Dungbomb. Ron, obviously thinking it was a Filibuster Firework, did not hesitate. Instead, he shouted again.

"Hurray!" he bellowed, throwing the Dungbomb into the air. It landed on the floor, right between Harry and Cho. Ron, still looking cheerfully and excitedly at the two of them, tapped his wand in the direction of the Dungbomb. Then he danced away, singing happily. Grinning from ear to ear, he turned to a corner and disappeared from view.

"What's going on?" came Professor McGonagall's voice. She had barely come out of her classroom when the Dungbomb exploded.

The three of them disappeared in a momentary reign of smoke from the explosion. When the smoke had cleared away, Harry's first vision was a very angry Professor McGonagall, who immediately screamed herself hoarse at him.

"Of all people! I thought you had more sense than to do this, Potter! Wreaking havoc, just like your father, but you, you had the guts to find a female accomplice - she looked coldly at Cho, who was slightly coughing. Very well, I'm sure you two shall enjoy yourselves immensely - spending a whole evening in detention!"

She stormed away, looking very purple in the face. Neither Harry nor Cho made a move or sound. Both of them stood there, transfixed, their heads hung. Then slowly, Cho walked away. Harry wanted to say something, but couldn't. Professor McGonagall's yells seemed to have taken the voice out of his mouth. Forgetting lunch, he walked slowly and uncertainly back to Gryffindor Tower.

Harry entered the completely deserted common room, absentmindedly dropping his bag on the floor, and collapsed into a chair. He closed his eyes roughly, picturing the very vivid flashback of what had just happened. Cho got into trouble. And it's because of him, because of Ron.

Nice going, Ron, he thought. Harry knew that Ron had meant well, that he obviously thought that Cho already knew, and that he had set off a Dungbomb by a mistake. He wasn't worried about that . . .

But he was worried about something else. Cho hadn't known yet. Harry closed his eyes tighter. He dreadfully wondered how loud Cho's voice would be when she would start telling him off in detention. His plan to cheer her up had backfired. He might not get another chance to tell her. It didn't happen, he thought hopelessly. It was just a dream . . .

Harry had never been able to pay attention to his other classes that day. He hadn't been able to notice Ron or Hermione either. Cho was obviously still on his mind. Skipping dinner, he went back to Gryffindor Tower. Once again, he collapsed onto a chair, then closed his green eyes tightly. His thoughts seemed to be going in circles. He just kept muttering to himself, it didn't happen, it didn't happen, it didn't hap -

The portrait hole opened suddenly. Hermione came in, with Ron walking jerkily behind her. Ron had obviously realized what had happened, judging by the almost scared look on his freckled face.

"Harry, what happened?" Hermione asked, standing beside him.

"I - I'm sorry, Harry," Ron said abruptly, looking like he had just come from a state of slight shock. "I heard the explosion halfway down the staircase. It never occurred to me that I had Dungbombs in my pocket with the fireworks. Then I just heard Professor McGonagall scream, so I kinda chickened out."

Harry didn't answer. He was still thinking about Cho. He just kept his eyes closed.

"I only wanted to - you know, surprise both of you. Didn't mean to meddle in your affairs, Harry, but I thought you had told her already. I didn't realize you needed - er - privacy. I'm really sorry," Ron broke off, slightly shaking.

"S'alright," Harry muttered quietly, eyes still closed. He had opened them quickly, however, when he heard another person enter the room.

It was Neville. He was holding a folded piece of parchment as he looked at the three of them.

"Hey, Harry," Neville said, quite cheerfully. "Professor McGonagall wanted me to give this to you."

He brandished the parchment at Harry, who took it hurriedly. Neville stared.

"Thanks, Neville," he said. Harry unfolded the parchment. It said:

Potter,

Your detention with Miss Chang shall take place at eleven o'clock this evening. Meet Professor Snape in the entrance hall.

Professor McGonagall

Sheer silence followed upon Harry's reading of the letter. He changed the subject abruptly, before Ron, Hermione or Neville could ask anything.

"So, do we have any homework for tonight? I wasn't quite listening on class," he said, with an unconvincing tone of casualty.

* * * * *

At eleven o'clock that evening, Harry proceeded downstairs to the entrance hall. He had obviously arrived a bit early, because he saw no black greasy bat of a professor or short, beautiful fourth year there. All around him were torches lit with blazing, comfortable fire. He never noticed this, though. His mind was floating about Cho, floating so fixedly it was almost like he was under a trance.

A few moments more, his heart was pounding, as he waited with bated breath. He was dreading the moment he would spend detention with Cho, who would obviously give him a look of pure hatred at the very least. And Snape, Harry thought bitterly. Snape giving Harry detention sounded like a vicious cat with its paws tightly grasping a small canary. Just what he needed, a worse kind of detention with Cho.

Harry's heart pounded faster. He thought he couldn't feel more nervous. But after a minute of tense waiting, his heart sank horribly as he saw Cho coming down from the marble staircase.

Harry looked away. He didn't meet Cho's eyes, he didn't even see the expression on her face at the sight of him. He turned his gaze to the staircase that led to the dungeons, where his nerves, instead of faltering from dread, rose so high that he almost fainted. Snape was coming up from the staircase, wearing a sickening look of pleasure and loathing on his greasy face.

Already here, Potter?" he said breathlessly. He caught sight of Cho, then spoke again, in an excited voice, "good, good. Follow me." He went down again, his usual black robes billowing behind him.

Snape led them to his dungeon classroom, where another door was to be found. Harry realized that it led to only one place - Snape's private store.

Harry marveled at the thought of what Snape was going to make them do. He had never been inside this room before, but he knew it contained ingredients of forbidden potions at Hogwarts, as Hermione had sneaked in there three years ago.

As Snape magically opened the door, he beckoned Harry and Cho inside, with a nasty smirk playing around his lips. Harry went in, slightly coughing. He had walked into a small room, which had looked a lot smaller because of the several cramped shelves inside it. Harry felt that this night was going to be a long one, mainly because the room was very dusty and disordered. What's more, the shelves held different sizes of jars, which had volumes of slimy, floating things in them.

"You two shall spend the rest of your evening tidying this chamber," siad Snape, not removing the smirk on his face. "It's obviously going to be easy, so I won't allow both of you to use magic." He turned to go. "And if either of you breaks something, it's an extra hour of work for BOTH of you. Have fun, Potter." And he left, closing the door behind him.

Harry sighed deeply, and noticed that Cho had done the same behind him. Silently they cleaned the room, Harry in charge of the shelves, which rose up to the high ceiling. He kept taking sidelong glances at Cho, who was neatly rearranging the jars. Twice she nearly broke a jar, which turned out to have disgusting essences of animal parts on the outside as well as inside. Harry prevented both from happening, though. His hands quickly supported Cho's soft ones whenever the jars would slip. Unfortunately, Harry never got to enjoy this. It was hard to tell whether this was because he thought Cho was still mad at him, or that he didn't think he could stand an hour more of Snape's detention.

An hour after they had started cleaning, Harry's suspicions about Cho being angry with him were proven wrong. Both of them had been completely quiet throughout the last sixty minutes, bustling around and tidying up Snape's store. Then Cho broke the silence.

"It's an odd place to continue a conversation, isn't it?" she said, quite kindly. "So, what were you trying to tell at lunch?"

Harry stopped dead. His heart was pounding worse than ever. He didn't answer.

"Harry?" Cho said, making a move to go over to him. "Are y - "

CRASH.

The jar Cho was holding, which had as much essence of dragon liver on the outside as well as on the inside, had slipped from her hands and fell on the floor. The crash seemed to bring Harry back to his senses. He stooped quickly to retrieve the jar just as Cho did the same. Her head had painfully hit his, making them fall backward onto the floor too. At that moment, the door opened, and Snape stuck his head inside.

"Well, well," he said. "Did I tell you that you two would be here for another hour? I must be mistaken in that. I think I'll make it two. Now stop fooling around, and clean this mess. Now." And he disappeared, slamming the door shut.

Harry got gingerly to his feet and helped Cho get up. Then he bent down and started cleaning up the sticky mess from the broken jar. Cho bent down too, picking up the shattered glass remains of the jar. Harry felt himself going red.

"No, it's alright," he muttered to Cho. "Don't bother, I can do it. Besides, you might get hurt."

"It's okay," Cho said nicely. "I did drop the jar, you know."

"No, it's just - " Harry began, seizing the moment to confess. "I don't want you to get hurt."

Cho paused, looking puzzled.

"Why?"

Harry froze. He hesitated, then said, "I said I don't want you to get hurt because I - I," he broke off as he stood up.

"What?" Cho asked him. She made to stand up too, but she lost balance and fell to the floor yet again. Harry bent down quickly and held her hand to help her up, but he didn't. Instead he moved his head closer to her.

"I - I know this isn't the right time for me to - " he began, holding her hand tightly. "I mean - " he took a deep breath, then continued speaking.

"I care about you. I now Cedric cared for you, and you cared for him too. His death is still unbearable for you, I believe. But I wanted to tell you something I've been meaning to tell you since the Yule Ball last year. I -"

But Harry's words were interrupted by Cho, whose free hand held his lips, making him startled, and indeed, silent.

"Me too," she said, sitting up, but not removing Harry's hand from hers. Instead she held her free hand to his, their heads incredibly close to each other.

"You - you do?" said Harry blankly, accidentally letting go of her hands in surprise.

"Yes," Cho added, now holding the hand that had released hers. "Cedric had been my friend, that's all. Yes, I was sad about his death. But I do, Harry, care about you . . ."

Harry smiled upon hearing this statement. It had been the first time since she had said his name with feelings. It sounded so solemn, so sincere . . . so sweet. He now noticed her breathing, as their heads were an inch apart from each other. It sounded quite uneven. Was she nervous?

Cho hung her head. She muttered softly, "I'm sorry. I was already asked by Cedric to the ball last year, Harry. I couldn't turn him down, he seemed so nice to me. I was looking forward to going with you, to tell you the truth . . ."

"It's alright," said Harry, patting her arm gently. "You were lucky, you know. I mean, he's handsome and quite famous."

"You're famous too," Cho said kindly, looking up at him. "And of course - handsome."

"Really?"

"Really," said Cho, and without another word, she put her lips to his, giving him a short, sweet kiss. She then embraced, Harry and muttered, "I love you."

When they broke apart, Harry tilted his head up and looked at Cho, and their eyes met. He moved his face slightly and their lips met in a kiss that grows to fire, a fire burning with passion and longing. Not bothering to stop, Harry pulled out his wand and waved it, making the room spotless and tidy. Neither of them bothered to lock the door from inside, as they were sure Snape wouldn't be back for two more hours. Both of them just fell into each other's emotions and went on kissing. From the back of his mind, Harry grinned. His thoughts just said, This has been the best detention I've ever received. Thanks a lot, Ron.