Lucky

Lucky

This is a story about a girl named

Lucky...

Cho Chang was the most popular girl at Hogwarts. She had everything - all the boys, all the grades, and all the looks that made her so wonderful. She should be the happiest person in the world.

So why wasn't she?

Cho woke up stone cold and covered with sweat... she had had the dream again. The dream where Cedric had died.

Cho hated that dream. She had fallen in love with Cedric a year ago, and they had hardly been separated since. And then he went off and died last June...

There was a knock on her door.

Early morning.

She wakes up.

Knock, knock, knock

On her door.

"Cho?" came a female voice. "You'd better make with the make-up... it's almost time for breakfast!"

"I am, Michelle," Cho called. "Thanks." She sighed and reached for her lipstick.

It's time for make-up,

Perfect smile.

It's you they're all waiting for.

Cho preferred lipstick to Lip-Reddening Charm for quite a few reasons. First off, it gave her something to do with her hands. Often nowadays if she wasn't moving about, being busy with one thing or another, she would start to shake from nightmares. They were too awful for her to remember.

Another reason was because her mother had always used lipstick. Cho's mother had taught her how to apply lipstick when she was only five years old.

"Lipstick is a girl's best friend," her mother had laughed. "I find it more efficient than Lip-Reddening Charms."

Cho had strongly disagreed there - Lip-Reddening Charms were more efficient, but the lipstick reminded her of her mother, who had died of cancer a few years ago.

But the most important reason she went through the trouble of putting the red pasty stuff on her lips was - him.

Cedric Diggory.

Cedric had loved her lipstick. Her mother had given her a special tube once - a tube that was charmed to never run out and smelled like roses. Cedric had loved it. He had said it was like smelling a little of heaven. Cho had laughed at that. It's just lipstick, she had told him.

Maybe, Cedric had teased, but on you it's what's behind the make-up that makes it even more special.

Cedric had always saying things like that, things that made her blush. She had loved him so dearly... why had he had to die?

Why couldn't she tell even Michelle, her best friend, about these dreams?

She knew why. If Michelle knew, eventually the whole school would find out. Everyone would stare at her and think she was psycho for getting all worked up over a few dreams. Cho's image was one of the few things she still had to be proud of...

Hermione sighed as she straightened out her hair. Not that it would really matter. No one would notice it. Well, maybe Ron, but... that really didn't matter, did it? She didn't want to think about Ron at the moment.

No... what she wanted to think about was Harry.

But she stopped herself from that, too. Thinking about Harry always ended with her crying. Why didn't Harry notice her?

Well, Hermione knew why. It was all that stupid Cho Chang's fault. Harry would fawn over her to no end, while Hermione sat in the background watching him, and he came to her when he was so disappointed that she never noticed him.

She had a boyfriend, Harry! She thought furiously. She's still mourning over Cedric, for Merlin's sake! What about me? I may not be as pretty or as popular but I'm always there for you when you need me, and I took care of you when you were sick, and I helped you when you were hurt, I always help you, always, so why don't you notice me instead of her?

Hermione wished that, just for one day, she could be Cho Chang. Then, maybe, people would notice her. Maybe Harry would notice her

They go,

"Isn't she lovely,

This Hollywood girl?"

Oh, how Cho despised walking into the Great Hall every morning. Everyone would look at her and try to talk with her, try to comfort her, but really all they were doing was bothering her.

Couldn't they see she wanted to be left alone?

Then there was Harry Potter. He would stare at her, mouth wide open, before Hermione Granger would snap him out of it. Cho hated that Potter so much... he had killed Cedric... so then why did she find herself smiling back at him?

If there was one thing Cho hated more than Potter, it was having to keep up her image.

And then there was Hermione Granger, that Muggle-born. Cho wasn't sure what to think of her. She seemed nice, but then she was a friend of Potter's. And she was always looking sideways at him, like he always did to her... and she would always glare at Cho... was it possible that Granger liked Potter the same way Potter liked her? Was it possible that she was... jealous?

Cho didn't have the first clue how jealous Hermione Granger was.

And they say,

"She's so lucky,

She's a star."

Cho hoped Granger was jealous of her. That ought to help her image, though she wasn't sure how.

Her image.

Cho hated her image so much. It always interrupted her thoughts, as if... as if the private Cho Chang didn't exist, as if only the public version mattered...

Did anyone care that she sat up late at night, crying her eyes out over her mother, Cedric, her Cedric, and the loss of her life to publicity?

But she cry, cry, cries

In her lonely heart,

Thinking,

'If there's nothing

Missing in my life,

Then why do these

Tears come at night?'

Cho lived her life in a dream. Each day she would wake up, put on her lipstick, eat breakfast, try not to drown in anger and sorrow, go to class, act smart, eat lunch, go to class, act smart, try not to drown in sorrow and anger, eat dinner, take off lipstick, and cry until she fell asleep.

Lost in an image,

In a dream,

Where was the fun and happiness in that? Was life even worth living anymore? Would anyone try to bring her back to Earth?

But there's no one there

To wake her up.

Hermione bit her lip as she watched Cho pass her by on the way to the Ravenclaw table. She glared at Cho. Cho smiled widely back.

Hermione hated Cho so very much.

So why did she want to be like her?

Then Hermione looked at Harry. He was gaping at Cho. Hermione wanted to slap him, to wake him up, to make him realize that there's more to love than a pretty face.

Do you like her because she's pretty, Harry? You shouldn't. I should be beautiful to you... do you love her because she's beautiful or is she beautiful because you love her? I have a feeling it's the first one, Harry... there's so much more that I could give you... why did you choose her? What does she have that I don't?

Hermione felt that her head was about to blow up.

And the world is spinning,

But she keeps on winning...

Hermione wondered grimly what would happen if Cho disappeared, or if she wasn't popular anymore, or if she was ugly. Would Harry love her then? Would Harry love Cho even if she was unpopular, even if she was ugly, even if she was gone?

If he would, then Hermione might as well give up. If he wouldn't, then she should smack him.

But tell me,

What happens when it

Stops?

Draco Malfoy watched Cho Chang from across the Great Hall with a slight smile on his face. She was so pretty. If he could only touch that hair...

"Draco?"

Draco looked away and saw Crabbe, trying to see what he was looking at. "What are you looking at?" he asked, finally giving up.

"There are peas splattered all over the wall over there," Draco answered irritably. "I was trying to use telekinesis to make them fly at Potter's head."

"Oh," Crabbe said dumbly. "All right, then."

Draco would have been surprised at his easy acceptance of such a pathetic answer if he hadn't known Crabbe for fifteen years.

"Dumb as a doornail," Draco muttered.

"What'd you say?"

"I said, 'Oh! I've got a hangnail.'"

"Oh. You ought to visit Madam Pomfrey."

Draco rolled his eyes and returned to staring at Cho. She was so charming and delicate... and Cho Malfoy sounded pretty good, too...

They go,

"Isn't she lovely,

This Hollywood girl?"

Harry Potter stopped gaping at Cho Chang when she reached the Ravenclaw table and glanced quickly at Hermione, who was looking over at Cho too, with an unpleasant look on her face. She glanced at Harry and Harry looked away.

"Hello there," Ron said cheerfully, kissing Hermione on the cheek as he sat down. Harry swore that Hermione had a disgusted look on her face before she smiled at Ron.

"Toast?" she asked.

"Nah, just pass the marmalade," Ron said.

"Orange or grape?"

"Orange, please."

Hermione slid the orange marmalade down towards Ron, who placed a disgustingly large amount of it onto a roll and popped it into his mouth. "I wike marmayade," he said through a stuffed mouth. Hermione laughed.

Harry bit his lip and looked down at his plate. Hermione was always doing that to him - making him look away because he was terrified that one day she would see him staring at her.

Harry had fallen in love with Hermione in his third year at Hogwarts. He wasn't sure how it had happened - one day during History of Magic class he had just glanced at her and had just thought absentmindedly how great it would be to kiss her... from there things had just gone downhill.

Harry's love for Hermione now bordered obsession. He thought about her every waking moment, and sometimes, just when he was starting to forget, he saw or heard something that reminded him so strongly of Hermione and how beautiful she was when she laughed or smiled or just existed... it was too much for him.

That was why he had to pretend to like Cho. He would stare at her as she walked by or try to talk to her in the hall... he knew he made a fool of himself, but it was better than Hermione ever guessing his feelings for her.

Yes, his love for her was worth this pain.

Hermione hated when Ron kissed her. It was like... like kissing her best friend. It just wasn't right. It wasn't meant to be.

Ron certainly thought it was, though. He thought it was as right as Quidditch, and he went around the whole day grinning like a bloody idiot, smiling at her goofily and she tried to smile back encouragingly but often she failed, although he never noticed.

She glanced at Cho again. Whenever she was troubled or angry, she always looked at Cho, and how much she hated Cho, how much she wanted to be like Cho...

The thing Hermione hated about Cho most of all is that she made her jealous. She was so lucky to have a boy like Harry after her, and she didn't even notice his existence.

And they say,

"She's so lucky,

She's a star."

Cho looked down at the owl she had just received yet again, a look of longing and joy and surprise on her face. She sighed outwardly as she read it again.

Cho-

Meet me outside the library at midnight.

-Your Secret Admirer

Great, she thought inwardly. An evening with Potter. As if I don't have better things to do. Like sit around and brood. Anything would be better than this.

But she cry, cry, cries

In her lonely heart,

Thinking,

'If there's nothing,

Missing in my life,

Then why do

These tears come at night?'

She kept her face looking cheerful, though... she looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw Potter staring at her again. She winked at him, waved the letter towards him, and nodded.

Harry was confused.

Cho was waving a piece of parchment at him and nodding. She had winked at him.

What was going on?

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh...

Hermione took a deep breath. She read her note over and over again.

Harry-

I love you. If you want to know who I am, meet me outside the library at ten past midnight.

-Your Aficionada

Simple enough, she thought. Very straightforward. Vague, in a sense, but not to the point that it was annoying. She had cast a Disillusionment Spell on it so that he could not figure out whose handwriting it was, and, with a final sigh, placed the note on his bedside table. She scuttled out of the boys' dormitory, thanking Merlin that Arithmancy had been cancelled so she had had time to put the note there.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh...

Harry read the note over and over again. What was this? It was insane. Harry sat on his bed and thought.

It had to be a Gryffindor, only they knew their password. And Harry could think of only one person who would understand the term aficionada...

But it couldn't be. It wouldn't be. She would have just told him. Harry would not get his hopes up. He sighed and put his face in his hands.

What a twist to add to his already warped love life.

Cho Chang paced the corridor outside the library nervously. Potter wasn't there yet, and if she stood here much longer she would get caught...

"Cho?" came a confused voice. "What are you doing here?"

Cho sighed. "Harry, you told me to be here. And you're late."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. "I got this note that said..."

Cho grabbed the note from his hand and read it. "I didn't write this," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "And what does aficionada mean, anyway?"

"Well what are you doing here, then?" Harry challenged.

"I got this owl..." She handed it to him. "I thought it was from you..."

"From me?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't even like you, Cho!"

"But you're always staring at me..."

"So? I just... oh, never mind. I didn't write that."

"Then... who did?"

They both sat in silence. Suddenly there were footsteps coming from both ends of the corridor.

"Filch!" Harry said, horrified.

"And the other must be Mrs. Norris..." Cho whispered. "What should we do?"

But before they could come up with anything, the two figures came into focus. And it was neither Filch nor Mrs. Norris.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Potter?" Draco said, surprised.

"Chang?" Hermione said disgustedly.

"Granger?"

"What are you doing here?" they all said at the same time.

"I asked Harry here..." Hermione said defensively.

"You did?" Harry asked, twirling around and facing here. "You - you wrote this?"

Hermione opened her mouth and looked around, as if seeing if she could make up a plausible excuse. "Well..."

"Then what are you doing here, Malfoy?" Cho said, wrinkling her nose. Draco looked at her longingly and kissed her on the lips.

"EWWWW!" Cho exclaimed. "Get away from me, Malfoy!" And she ran off. Draco stared after her for a moment before tearing after her. Harry and Hermione looked at each other, blinked, and tried to forget what they had just seen.

"So then... you wrote this?" Harry asked. Hermione didn't answer; she hung her head. Harry went on.

"I can't believe it... after all these years... I didn't want to believe it... oh, Hermione, why didn't you tell me before?"

"I... I don't know..." Hermione whispered. "But... I couldn't take it any longer... I'm sorry, Harry..."

"Merlin, Hermione, I thought... I thought... you could have told me a long time ago and saved both of us the very scary sight of Malfoy kissing Cho!"

And with that, Harry tilted Hermione's chin upward. He gazed into her eyes for a long time before kissing her lightly on the lips.

Isn't she lovely,

This Hollywood girl?

BANG!

"Malfoy, I'm warning you, get AWAY from me!"

"But Cho..."

"ARGH!" There was another bang. Hermione could only imagine what was going on.

"We'd better run..." Hermione whispered. "Filch will be here any second..."

"Good idea," Harry muttered. They sprinted up two flights of stairs.

"Howler monkeys!" Harry breathlessly told the Fat Lady, peering over his shoulder to make sure Filch wasn't coming.

"My goodness, what are you two doing out so late?"

"Just open up!"

Grudgingly, the portrait opened and Harry and Hermione ran inside, closing the door behind them. They collapsed onto the couch and looked at each other.

"That was close," Hermione said with bated breath.

"Yea," Harry muttered. He coughed. "Umm... what about Ron?"

"What about him?"

"He couldn't have known that you..."

"Oh," Hermione said, blushing. "I broke up with him. About an hour ago."

"Why?" Harry's mouth was open in shock. "Why did you choose me over him?"

Hermione looked Harry in the eye and covered his open mouth with hers. Hermione felt herself go weak in the knees as Harry reacted, moving his mouth with hers. When they broke apart, Hermione answered him.

"Because... because I love you, and not Ron."

Harry smiled weakly.

"I love you too, Hermione."

Hermione smiled.

She was sitting here with Harry, who said he loved her, while Cho was probably off sobbing somewhere, trying to decontaminate her lips of Malfoy-ness. And now she and Harry would be together forever, and she had finally gotten back at Cho Chang.

She felt lucky.

She is so lucky...

Cho sobbed into her pillow. Her life was ruined. Her mother and Cedric were dead and Malfoy had fallen in love with her.

So much for being the happiest person in the world.

But why does she cry?

If there is nothing

Missing in her life, why do

Tears come at night?

Hermione Granger walked to the Great Hall the next morning holding hands with Harry Potter. There was much muttering about this and Hermione could just imagine the rumors forming. But that didn't matter anymore.

She and Harry would face it together.

And they say,

"She's so lucky,

She's a star."

Cho watched Harry and Hermione walk into the Great Hall. That could have been her... Harry hadn't killed Cedric, he had tried to save him... why had she been so stupid...?

Hermione caught her eye and smiled widely at her. In your face, Cho could hear her thinking. Cho suppressed a sob.

But she cry, cry, cries

In her lonely heart, thinking...

Draco looked at Cho longingly. She had turned him down in the worst possible way. He had thought he had fallen in love with her... was love supposed to hurt this much...? Was he even capable of falling in love?

Just then he saw Granger and Potter walking into the Great Hall together. And suddenly he understood.

Draco Malfoy had thought he had everything. He had money, he had looks, he was popular (well, amongst the Slytherins anyway), and he had power. But there was one thing he was missing.

'If there's nothing

Missing in my life, then...

And that thing was the most important thing of all.

It was the lack of that one thing that caused Draco to be so irritable, it was that one thing that made him hate everyone who had it while he was missing out, it was that one thing that made his life a living nightmare, and it was the lack of that one thing that sometimes caused Draco Malfoy to cry himself to sleep at night.

It was love.

'... Why do these

Tears come at night?'

Draco's realization hit him like a cannonball. He glanced at Cho.

At least she had Cedric, he thought. Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all...

She is so lucky...

Cho collapsed on her bed that night and unsuccessfully fought the tears in her eyes. Why had she been such a snob... she could have had it all... but she thought she did... so she got nothing...

But she cry, cry, cries in her lonely heart,

Thinking,

If there is nothing

Missing in her life,

Why do tears come at night?