War and Passion

Chapter 2
Friends and Lovers

Harry looked down the table to where Ginny sat. He noticed that she looked bored and irritated as Colin chatted with her. Her long red hair hung down her back. Harry loved it like that. She would put it up on her way to class most likely. She didn’t really bother with all the make up and hair styling most girls did. She didn’t need to. At sixteen she was turning out to be beyond beautiful. She knew it too. It showed in a hundred different ways. The way she walked, laughed, smiled. One thing was for sure, she was not the shy little girl who had a crush on him all those years ago. Ginny turned, her eyes locked with his. As she looked at him a slow smile crossed her lips. She tossed her hair behind her and raised one eyebrow at him in a silent question.

“Harry, hello are you listening?“ Ron was yelling in his ear.

“What?” Harry said as he turned around. Leave it to Ron to ruin a moment.

“I was talking to you. Did you hear a word I said?” Ron looked down the table to see who Harry was looking at. “Oh, God. I should have known. You know I think all those curses really did rattle your brains.” He looked sickened as he looked at his sister who had turned her attention back back to Colin.

“What were you talking to me about?” Harry said in a clear attempt to change the subject.

“What does she see in that guy?” Ron, apparently, wasn’t taking the hint of dropping the subject as he watched his sister talk with her boyfriend. “I mean it’s embarrassing. God, I hope they don’t get married. I could never put up with that bloke as a brother in law.” He turned to Harry and shook his head.

“Anyway, I was asking you if you wanted to come with me down to the Ravenclaw common room tonight. After what I have just seen, I highly recommend it.” Ron looked almost stern.

Harry was about to say no when the mail came. He spotted Hedwig right away. She dropped a letter on his lap. Then took a quick drink of his juice and flew off again. Harry picked up the note and recognized Cho’s hand writing immediately.

Dear Harry,
We need to talk. I will be in my room at eleven. Come with Ron he can get you in. Be discreet.

Love,
C

Harry knew she wanted him to use his invisibility cloak. They had always been extremely secretive about their relationship. She said talk. Cho was usually pretty straight forward. If she said talk she probably meant it. Harry looked up from his letter to the Ravenclaw table. Cho was watching him. He knew she was waiting for an answer. So he gave her a brief nod. She smiled at him then turned back to her friends.

“Ron, I think I will go with you tonight.” Harry said as he laid down his letter.

“Really?” Ron was shocked. He looked at the letter lying on the table and smiled.

“Ah, the lovely Cho makes a come back.” Ron winced as Harry punched him in the arm.

“You’re going to see Cho tonight?” Hermione leaned from around Ron to look at Harry. “Did she break up with David?” Disapproval rang in her voice.

“No, she just wants to talk,” Harry said while he glared at Ron.

“You must think I’m really naive if you expect me to believe that.”

“It’s true, I saw it on the note, and don’t worry we happen to *know* your not naive.” Ron said as he lifted his hand at Josh who was approaching from the Ravenclaw table.

“Be nice,” Hermione hissed. She smiled at Josh as he walked up.

“Boy, she sure turns sweet as sugar when he’s around. If he only knew,” Ron whispered to Harry as Hermione scooted over to make room for Josh between her and Ron.

Josh was an ordinary looking guy with brown hair and eyes. He was on the thin side. He was also Head boy. He loved rules more than Hermione. That was part of the reason Harry and Ron had been so shocked about what they saw on the map.

“Do you mind if I join you?” Josh said with a pointed look at Ron.

“Yes,” Ron growled as looked at Josh with distaste. He jumped when Hermione kicked him. The look she was sending him could freeze hell over.

“I meant yes, join us,” Ron mumbled as he moved closer to Harry.

“Hermione, would you like to meet in the Library to study, tonight?” Josh asked as he leaned down to give Hermione a brief kiss on the cheek.

“Now, that does sound exciting.” Sarcasm dripped from Ron’s voice. Harry realized this situation could only get worse. So, he quickly gathered their things while Ron glared at Hermione and Josh deep in conversation.

“Ron, lets go. Hermione, we’ll see you at Potions,” Harry said as he tugged on Ron.

“All right, I coming.” Ron jerked his arm out of Harry’s grasp as he got up.

Neither Ron nor Harry spoke on the way to the dungeons. They had arrived early for once. Which turned out to be a bad thing. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had also arrived early. The five of them alone in a corridor is never a good mixture.

“Well, it it isn’t Potty and the Weasel,” Malfoy snarled.

“Jesus, do you ever learn?” Harry crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall with a bored look on his face. Ron, however, was grinning. Harry knew he was itching for a fight and Malfoy had picked a real bad time to annoy him.

“Where’s the mudblood whore to--” Bad mistake on Malfoy’s part. He didn’t even have a chance to finish his sentence before Ron had hexed him. Malfoy was now lying on the floor with twitching muscle spasms. Crabbe and Goyle looked slightly dumbfounded. They looked at each other then made a move towards Ron. Harry had a barrier around them before they moved more than a few steps.

“What did you do that for?” Ron knew that Harry had thrown the barrier for their safety not Ron’s.

“They’re not worth detention. I’ve got somewhere to go tonight and so do you.” Harry was still leaning against the wall watching the scene before him with vague interest.

“True,” Ron said, though still sounding disappointed. Ron walked over and performed a counter curse on Malfoy. Harry waved his hand, Crabbe and Goyle fell to the ground as the barrier was dispelled.

“Now, are we ready to play nice?” Harry asked with a half smile. The three Slytherins ignored him as they got up and dusted off their robes.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Harry then leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, waiting for Snape to arrive.

As Harry laid on his bed that night he was beginning to wish he had said no to Cho. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. A late night discussion with Hogwarts' Head Girl just didn’t seem as appealing at 10:30 at night as it did that morning. Ron pulled back the curtains to Harry’s bed.

“Are you ready?” Ron looked anxious to get get going. He obviously didn’t want to keep whatever girl he was meeting waiting.

“Yeah, lets go.” Harry stopped at his trunk and pulled out the map and his cloak.

Harry didn’t bother with the invisibility cloak until they were around the hallway to the Ravenclaw Tower. He slipped on the cloak and followed behind Ron as he headed towards the portrait. They waited for a few minutes then the portrait swung open and a pretty seventh year with long blonde hair peered out. She broke into a huge smile when she spotted Ron standing there.

“Were you waiting long?” she asked as she pulled Ron into the common room. Harry followed close behind. Trying not to bump into her.

“No, not long at all,” Ron replied as he pulled her close to him.

Harry poked Ron in the back, letting him know he made it inside. Then he hurried up the stairs that led to the Head Girl bedroom. Leaving Ron to his distractions.

Harry knocked on Cho’s bedroom door. The door opened and Cho peeked her head out to make sure the hallway was empty then she opened the door wider. Harry walked in and pulled off the cloak as she shut the door.

Cho had her hair up in a bun with two sticks poking out of the top. She had on a two piece sleep set that Harry found very distracting. He realized that he was staring and looked up. Cho was smiling ear to ear.

“Hello, Harry. Miss me?” Cho asked as she walked up and hugged him.

“More then you know. You look good.” Harry leaned down and kissed her cheek as he said this.

“I’m not the only one.” She looked at him and smiled as her hand ran up his arm. They stood like that for a moment, then a picture of David flashed in Harry’s brain and he pulled away. He walked over to the chair next to Cho’s bed and sat. Cho sat on edge of the bed facing him and dropped her foot in his lap. Out of habit, Harry picked it up.

“So, what do we need to talk about?” He asked as he rubbed her foot.

“Oh, nothing important, really. I just realized it had been ages since we sat down and just talked. I missed it.”

“And here I was, beginning to think you called me up here for a foot massage.” Harry smiled as she leaned back on her elbows.

“You do give great foot massages.” She closed her eyes as he ran a thumb up the center of her foot.

“Good to know I was good for something.”

“Oh, you were good for a lot more then this.” Cho sighed with a sexy smile on her face.

“So, how’s David?”

“He’s good. How’s Ginny?”

“Hey, no fair.”

“You started it.” Cho opened her eyes and looked at him. “Look, let’s not fight. I wanted to congratulate you on the Quidditch Cup. It was a great catch.” She seemed genuine which was surprising considering the play off game had been against her own team. He had beaten her to the snitch. It made for a very bittersweet victory.

“Thanks, that means a lot. I felt terrible that night.”

“Why? The best person won. You deserved it.” Her eyes closed again as he hit a sensitive spot on her foot. “You know, in two more weeks school is over. We may not see each other again for a long time,” she said in almost a whisper.

“It is probably for the best. You need to start your life. I was only holding you back. It’s a good thing you’ve found something with David.” It hurt Harry to admit that. It was true that their relationship had given Cho an excuse for not seeing other people.

“You never held me back. You helped me heal. Who else but you could understand what I was going through?”

“Well, you helped me too. So, I guess we’re equal.”

“Now that, I’m not so sure about. I think I gave you an excuse to stay away from Ginny.” Cho looked at him with the same guilty expression she got every time they talked about Ginny.

“No, I would have stayed away, anyway. You were never an excuse. You’re one of my greatest friends. You’re pretty good in the sack, too.” Harry said with a playful smack on her foot. He dropped it and reached for the other one.

“You’re not to bad, yourself. I have *missed* you.”

“Yeah, I’m sure David can keep your mind off of me.” Harry was kicking himself for bringing this up.

“We never really said goodbye. You just stopped coming around, one day.” Harry realized that she had intentionally overlooked his David comment.

“You were dating, David. I didn’t think he would appreciate me shagging his girlfriend.” Harry stopped rubbing her foot and looked at her.

“I know why you did it. I just wish that we had one final night together. Then, I could move on. I can’t stop thinking about it. I feel like it‘s incomplete.” Cho got off the bed and stood in front of him. She ran her fingers though his hair, stopping to drag her nails lightly over the sensitive skin on the back of his neck.

“Oh God, Cho don’t do this to me,” Harry pleaded. She knew all his soft spots. Harry took a sharp breath as he felt the desire run through him. He closed his eyes against it “This isn’t right.”

“It’s right for us. I’ll always have that regret if we don’t.” She got on her knees in front of him. She put both her hands on his face and waited for him to open his eyes. He did.

“Please Harry, give me one last night.” Harry realized with frustration that he simply couldn’t say no.

He put one hand around her waist to bring her closer. His other hand reached into her hair and pulled the sticks out. Harry watched it fall down around her in silky black waves. He brushed the strands away from her ear and leaned down to trail soft kisses up her neck. He murmured his acceptance as she melted into him with a sigh.

Harry watched Cho sleep. He hated to wake her but he had to go. He brushed the hair away from her face. She blinked several times before she looked up at him from where she lay across his chest.

“You have to go?” She mumbled sadly.

“Yes, you know how early I have to get up in the morning.” He said as he stroked her cheek.

She rolled off of him and he got up to look for his clothes which lay scattered around her room.

“Harry”

“Hmmm?” He slipped his trousers on and turned around. She was laying on her side with her head propped up on her hand.

“I want you to promise me that you’ll get Ginny back.”

“I can’t, you know that.”

“If you let Voldemort keep you apart, he wins.” It was the first time Harry had ever heard her say Voldemort’s name. He put on the rest of his clothes as he thought about what she just said. It was a perspective he had never thought of.

“At least think about it,” Cho said to clear the silence in the room.

“I will, I promise.” Harry sat beside her on the bed. He leaned down and kissed her deeply. When he pulled away he saw tears running down her cheeks. He cupped her face with his hand and brushed away a stray tear with his thumb.

“You’re a good friend,” He said as he stood up.

“I know.” She wiped away her tears and smiled at him.

Harry walked towards the door. With his hand on the knob he stopped to look at her.

“Goodbye, Cho,” he sighed in a low voice. Then he turned and walked out.