That's What Friends Are For

"Cho?"

She closed her eyes as she lay on the floor and braced herself mentally, trying to gather some shreds of her dignity before opening them again.

"Hello, Roger."

The greeting was forced out. Embarrassment in Roger Davies's presence had become a bad habit. Starting with the toe-curling moment when he'd asked her out - and she'd had to mumble an awkward rejection, because she didn't want to lose her chance with Harry in Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day.

"Want a hand to get up?"

Then there'd been the utter disaster in the tea-shop when that relationship had come apart at the seams, in front of not just Roger but what seemed like half the school - the memory no less mortifying because Harry actually had turned out to have a good reason for going off to meet Granger.

"No thanks, I can manage."

And then there'd been the Quidditch team meetings last year when everyone, including Roger, had been walking on eggshells around her and obviously Making Allowances - culminating in the wake in the Ravenclaw common room after the last match when, despite her finally discovering some decent form, Ginny Weasley had beaten her to the Snitch. (Of course, the Weasley girl had ended up losing Michael to her, so it wasn't all bad - but she'd much rather have come out ahead both times.)

"Sorry, Cho, I wasn't looking where I was going. Mind you, I didn't expect anyone to suddenly appear there ..."

At least he was apologising rather than laughing at her. She picked herself up from the floor, suppressing a slight wince as she rubbed a bruised elbow. "It doesn't matter, Roger," she said resignedly, hoping to end the conversation as quickly as possible. "I was just taking ... um, a short-cut to the common-room. I should have checked it was clear on this side of the tapestry."

"There's a secret passage behind it, then?" he said, pushing it aside and causing the stitched version of Primus the Peculiar to wave a fist at him indignantly. "Damn, I've been here all this time, and I never found that one. Where does it lead?"

"Comes out near the library," she said offhandedly, hoping he wouldn't pay too much attention. She hadn't actually found it herself, just spotted it on Harry's map last year.

Her luck evidently wasn't in. He stopped to work it out in his head for a moment, then blinked. "The library? That's not exactly a short-cut - it'd be quicker just to use the stairs, wouldn't it?"

"Well ..." She blushed slightly, to her annoyance. That was far too revealing a reaction, if he realised what it meant. He wasn't the only one in whose presence she'd repeatedly felt embarrassed.

Unfortunately for Cho, Roger wasn't in Ravenclaw for nothing. He regarded her closely for a moment as he put two and two together, then sighed and shook his head. "I see. Right. Cho, you can't keep ducking into secret passages to avoid him."

"Why not?" she said defensively. Not that it was actually any of his business, anyway.

"Because the 'Chosen One' doesn't exactly fade into the background, does he? And he's doing N.E.W.T.s now, he'll be in the library a lot. You're bound to keep running across him. You'll have to play against him at some point."

Cho was somewhat mollified that Roger still automatically thought of her as the House's best Seeker, but that didn't mean she was going to take non-Quidditch-related advice from him. "It's not easy you know. Every time we run across each other, we can't even meet each other's eyes!" She was avoiding Roger's eyes too, just as she had for months.

"Why ever not?" he said, mystified. "I mean, I know you were going out together, but it wasn't really that serious, was it?"

"No, but ... I would have liked it to be." His eyebrows rose in inquiry, and, realising that having said that much she would have to offer some explanation, she reluctantly added, "I thought he might be the one other person who understood. I'd hoped we might help each other get over ... well, you know."

A look of comprehension appeared on his face. "And you didn't?"

"No," she said, looking away. "Didn't work out. We spent half the year at each other's throats."

"Ah. Sorry." He hesitated - evidently wondering what to say, just like all last year - and she felt a flash or irritation. "I suppose that was kind of predictable, you know, Cho," he said eventually.

"What? Why?"

"Well ... after what he said in that interview, I'm not surprised he didn't want to talk about it much."

"Oh, so it's my fault again, is it, just like always?" she said, firing up in indignation. "Like I'm to blame for getting Cedric killed, I suppose? I held the wand and said the K ... K ... Killing Curse, did I?" She bit her lip, refusing to let herself cry any more.

"No! Look, Cho," he said helplessly, "no-one blames you for any of it. But Harry Potter wasn't the only one you could have talked to. You've got housemates, you know."

Cho took a moment to process that, and then her temper flared again. "Yeah, right, it's not like any of you ever cared!" she yelled. "Except Marietta, she was the only person who ever stuck by me all the way, and look where it got her! Those spots still haven't quite gone yet!"

"We were all sorry about Cedric Diggory, Cho! We wanted to help you, but you've been neglecting your friends too ..."

"Friends! Yeah, right. I certainly found out who my friends were last year!"

"Did I ever let you down?"

The simple question startled her. "What? Well ..."

"Cho, believe it or not, I wanted to help," he said, sounding stung by her words. "We've known each other since we started Hogwarts ..."

"Yeah, well, a lot of good you were!" she said, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "What did you ever do for me last year?"

"Well, I didn't throw you off the team for a start," he said, with a pointed look. "It was obvious you were feeling terrible, and why you were feeling terrible, but I thought you deserved a chance to play through it." He snorted. "And I wasn't going to let those two Beater prats I inherited tell me what to do just because they'd been playing a year longer than us."

"Oh, is that all?" she said bitterly. "Right, thanks."

"No!" He sounded annoyed, but then softened his voice. "Look, Cho, I tried to cheer you up a bit when I could, didn't I? I'm not saying I was great at it, but I might have done more if you'd let me -" he forestalled her comment with a raised hand "- but I'm not blaming you. I could have tried harder, I'll admit I didn't really know how to approach you when you were crying. But I did try to help whenever I could."

"Yeah, right, because you wanted to get in ..."

He interrupted. "And no, I didn't just do it because I fancied you!" He seemed genuinely offended by that, and Cho realised that she might have lashed out just a little too much.

"Why then?"

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "I did it because you're a friend and I like you! Why do you think, Cho?" He sounded hurt. "You're such a decent person really, I hated seeing you so miserable all year - crying all the time, but brushing me off whenever I tried to speak to you!"

"Oh!" She blushed. "Sorry. I thought everyone but Marietta was fed up with me."

"Not fed up, no ... You were a bit of a strain, to be honest, but you know ... that wasn't your fault. None of us had lost someone like you did," he added uncomfortably. "We all wanted to help you get through it. Honest."

"Oh," she said quietly. "Then I ... I ... I'm sorry. I suppose I ... I sort of hid myself away, didn't I?"

"A bit, yeah." He smiled. "But I don't hate you for it, or anything stupid like that. I'm just glad you seem to be feeling better this year. Even if you think you have to avoid Potter now."

"Yes, well ... it's just awkward, Roger. He never cared that much about my feelings! Well -" she blushed, remembering some of her encounters with Harry last year "- all right, I don't suppose I did him much good, either."

"Right. Well, tough luck for Potter, but he's got his Gryffindor friends to help him out." He hesitated for a moment, then added cautiously, "But you're a Ravenclaw, so you must know you going to keep meeting him. How long have you been ducking into secret passages to avoid him now?"

"All term," she said, embarrassed.

"Right. Don't you think that maybe it's time you started sticking it out?" As Cho hesitated, he added kindly, "You don't have to actually talk to him or anything - I mean, I know how uncomfortable it can be with an ex - but you've got as much right as he does to be anywhere in Hogwarts, Chosen One or not."

"I suppose ..."

"And we'll back you up. I'll come and extricate you if I see you getting into an awkward spot, OK? Talk about team practice or something."

"Yeah." She smiled in apology, feeling rather crestfallen. "Sorry, Roger. I haven't been a very good friend recently, have I?"

"Don't be daft," he said with a sympathetic smile. "You've been the one who needs our help, we can put up with a bit of crying without dumping you. That's what friends are for and all that." He hesitated, and tentatively held out a hand. "Mates still?"

She smiled, blinked away a threatened tear, and hugged him instead. "Yeah. Thanks, Roger. I ... I've missed talking to you."

"No problem. Just don't knock me over again, eh?"

She grinned. "Promise."

"Good."

They walked towards the common room in a companionable silence, which Cho broke as they approached the door. There was one thing she really needed to clear up - and since she'd barely said two words to Roger over the last few months unless the subject had been Quidditch or schoolwork, this was the first time she'd had a chance to ask. "You don't ... you really didn't mind that I said no? Harry and me sort of ... well, fell to bits, and then Michael asked me out and he's been really sweet ..."

"I was fine with it," he said firmly. "Young Mike seems to have been good for you, boy probably can't believe his luck." He hesitated, and then with an embarrassed look of his own, added, "Listen ... I just asked on impulse, to be honest, and I probably shouldn't have, it wasn't fair. I'll admit I fancy you, most blokes do, but it was probably as much down to me fancying myself as the big protective bloke you needed."

Cho supposed her expression must have matched her astonishment at this very un-Roger-like analysis, because he hastened to explain, "As Beth kindly pointed out to me when the subject came up. At considerable length. Before telling me to drop that whole approach if I wanted to keep going out with her."

Cho giggled all of a sudden. She hadn't done that for a while, and it felt good to be able to do it again. "How's it going with you and Beth? I haven't been able to look her in the eye either since ... well, that fiasco in Madam Puddifoot's." She blushed again, although she had felt mildly indignant that he'd paired up with Beth Wilkins so soon after asking her out.

"Fine." He grinned. "The way things went, you did me a favour turning me down."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'll admit I only chatted her up in the first place because I didn't want to look a prat going into Hogsmeade solo on Valentine's Day ... but as it turned out, she'd always fancied me, and she's really nice. And just my type. Merlin's Mount." He put a gentle hand on her arm as the common-room door swung open. "And she said she'd like to help as well if you want her to, all right? She always liked you, even if you've never been best friends."

"Oh! Then ... tell her thank you from me." She climbed through the door and turned to look at him, meeting his eye properly for the first time in months. "And Roger ... thanks to you too, yeah? I've missed having friends around me like I used to have. They sort of ... dropped off."

"Well, fair-weather friends do. But we're sticking with you. Just remember that, OK?"

She smiled. "I will. Thanks, Roger!"

Cho positively bounded up the stairs to the dormitories; all of a sudden, she felt much more at ease with her housemates, not to mention far more at ease with herself. It was a nice feeling, as if she could look a lot of people in the eye again now.

She gazed at her reflection in the mirror and broke into a wry grin, acknowledging to herself that Harry might not be one of them yet. But, she resolved, from now on - if either of them were going to duck into secret passages to avoid the other, it was going to be him.