My Obsession

She could still remember him.

The curve of his jaw, the shade of his hair, the softness of his lips.

She could remember the way he looked at her, his eyes as deep and intense as black holes. They were truly entrancing eyes. She could remember being lost in them, locked into their gaze, unable to look away. She could remember the way his fingers felt upon her skin, lightly tracing circles on her arms and upper body, caressing her cheeks, touching her lips. She could remember the way he kissed her, urgently, passionately, as if kissing her was everything he needed to stay alive.

And she would never forget him.

*~*~*

It was June.

The heat was almost stifling. A tiny breeze wafted lazily through the air in a manner that suggested that it simply couldn't be bothered. It caused tiny ripples on the dark waters of the Lake, and occasionally blew the odd leaf into the face of an unsuspecting student. It was barely strong enough to make even the smallest twigs on trees sway slightly. All in all it was like sitting in a furnace but with more attractive surroundings.

Three Ravenclaw fourth year girls were sitting in the shade of a large oak tree. All three of them had removed their robes due to the heat and they lay in a pool of black fabric near their feet. One of the girls had also thrown her jumper carelessly aside and hadn't noticed the squirrel which was now investigating it. Two of the girls were chatting happily whilst the other was sitting with her nose in a large, leather bound book.

Their names were Marietta Edgecombe, Sarah Fawcett and Cho Chang.

Marietta, who had a large amount of curly auburn hair and a prominent chin was deep in conversation with Sarah, who was blonder and prettier. They obviously found their subject extremely amusing because there was a lot of high-pitched giggling going on. Occasionally Marietta glanced pityingly at the dark-haired Cho who was reading before carrying on with her riveting conversations.

Finally the annoyance of having a silent companion became too much for Marietta and she turned to Cho and said, "Are you going to actually socialise with us or are you going to sit there with your head in a book?"

"I'm going to sit here with my head in a book, thanks," said Cho, pleasantly, not looking up. Marietta scowled and Sarah rolled her eyes, possibly at either of her friends.

"The exams are nearly over, Cho," said Marietta, pointedly. "All you have is Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology left. And that's a Defence Against the Dark Arts book."

"I find it fascinating," said Cho. "You'd be surprised; some people actually find their school subjects interesting. Just because you're bored with everything we do it doesn't mean that I have to be too."

"It's all terribly boring, in my opinion," said Marietta, airily. "It's such silly baby stuff we do. Care of Magical Creatures is a joke now that we have that Professor Hagrid teaching us. He's terrible. If I'd known Kettleburn was going to retire a year after we took the subject up I wouldn't have signed up for it. I would have done something more worthwhile, like Divination."

"Divination would be good if the teacher could teach," said Sarah. "Trelawney has no gift at all. I wish we had a proper Seer teaching us; that would be great. We might actually learn how to see things as opposed to what we're currently doing. Only gullible idiots like Jennifer Locksley go for any of the crap that Trelawney spews out."

"Anyway, Divination is a pretty pointless subject," said Cho. "I just can't see the point in staring into a glass orb for a few hours. You'd be taken far more seriously with an OWL in Care of Magical Creatures than in Divination, Marietta. Your potential employers don't need to know about the syllabus that you've covered, just that you have the OWL."

Marietta yawned widely and obviously.

"You're very career-centred, aren't you, Cho?" she said. "I think you need to lighten up a bit."

"Nothing wrong with having ambitions," said Cho. She still hadn't looked up from her book throughout the entire conversation, but her eyes hadn't moved for minutes.

"It is when you hate half the subjects on your timetable," said Sarah. "You're only taking a load of them to satisfy your parents. After all, you took Arithmancy. That's just tedious."

Cho didn't reply, so Marietta did it for her.

"Cho wants to go places in her life, I suppose that's a good thing," she said, looking as if she didn't mean a word of it. "After all, she wouldn't want to end up as just Harry Potter's trophy wife, would she?"

Cho finally looked up, surveying Marietta with something that was in between scorn and anger.

"I don't intend to be Harry Potter's wife full stop," she said. "What on Earth makes you think that either of us would be interested in each other?"

She was lying, of course. She liked Harry, although it was more of a fondness than a crush. He wasn't the best looking guy in the world, but there was something about him that melted Cho's heart whenever she looked at him. Although there were other boys that she preferred.

"Don't be dim, Cho, you know Harry fancies you," said Marietta, rolling her eyes exasperatedly. "Ever since the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor Quidditch match he's been staring at you across the Great Hall. When you wished him luck on the Slytherin/Gryffindor game I thought his head was going to fall off, he blushed so much."

Cho smiled, going a little pink herself.

"It's hardly worth mentioning," she said. "Harry barely knows me."

"He could be your toy-boy, Cho," said Sarah, giggling again.

"Oh shut up," said Cho, pulling a load of grass out of the ground from next to her and throwing it at Sarah, who sneezed.

"Sod off, you know I have hay fever," she complained. "Anyway, you shouldn't throw things at me just because I made a suggestion. And he would be your toy-boy. He's in the third year."

Cho smiled. Secretly she would quite like to go out with Harry Potter, although she would rather die than admit this to her friends. But there were other boys - more important boys - on her mind.

*~*~*

She had first laid eyes on him when she was only a girl of twelve, and even at such a young age and with such a large age gap she'd been instantly infatuated with him.

His strong, steady form caught her eye immediately. He was tall and muscled, and he rode a broom with such apparent ease that it looked as though he had been made to fly. His hair blew about in the wind and remained sexily tousled as he landed. Sometimes he ran his long-fingered hands through it, and it became messier still. His robes clung to him like a rind to its fruit, seeming almost too small for him. She thought they fitted him perfectly, though. They emphasised every muscle and made him look even stronger.

The second she saw him she plotted to have him. The three year age gap didn't stop her; the fact that she was twelve and he was fifteen was completely irrelevant. She plotted ways to casually bump into him, to make him notice her. Finally, after months of endeavouring to find out his timetable and following him around, attempting to look nonchalant as she walked past him for the fifth time that day, she decided to join the Quidditch team.

*~*~*

Cho wasn't quite sure how she ended up talking to Oliver Wood.

She was surprised that she had the confidence to even look at him. He'd always been one of Cho's private fantasies, ever since her second year. Of course, back then she'd been the over-confident twelve-year-old who almost stalked him in the corridors, trying to catch his attention. However Cho had soon realised that the older Gryffindor Quidditch captain was not going to take any notice of her, and she set her sights lower and stopped following him around, leaving him as just an idle fantasy.

Cho put it down to luck. She was searching in the library, looking for a book on Greek magical plants that would help her in her Herbology exam, when he happened to appear at her shoulder and start browsing through the books. Cho had to admire his hands as he rifled through the volumes carelessly. They were tanned and long-fingered. They were hands that belonged on a broom handle, yet Cho secretly liked to believe that they were also artistic hands that could have other, more romantic, uses.

She didn't know if she'd done it on purpose - she wasn't sure if she had the nerve - when she reached for the same book as he did. Either way, she slipped her hand under his and grabbing the book. His hand ended up brushing over hers. He withdrew it quickly, met her gaze for a second, looked away again and gruffly muttered, "Sorry."

"Oh, no worries, this isn't the one I'm looking for anyway," said Cho, checking the title and handing it coyly over to Oliver, who took it. He glanced at the cover and put it back, saying, "No, it's not the one I want either."

"What are you looking for?" asked Cho, with a spurt of bravery whose origin she wasn't sure of. "I might have seen it."

"Oh, an NEWT Runes book," he said, looking through the books. "Nothing specific."

"Oh. Well...eh...if I were you I wouldn't be looking for a Runes book in the Herbology section," volunteered Cho, nervously. He looked at her this time. It was a calculating look. Too calculating, almost, as if it didn't really belong on his face. Oliver wasn't known as stupid, not at all, but he wasn't renowned for being intelligent. It was Quidditch first, education second with Oliver Wood.

"This is the Herbology section?" he asked.

"Uh...yes. Yes it is," said Cho, blushing. "You...you don't come in here very much, do you?"

"No," sighed Oliver, running a hand through his hair exasperatedly. "Never needed to until now. Well, I did need to. Couldn't be bothered to until now would be more accurate. But now I've got the Quidditch Cup under my belt I've suddenly realised that I have a Runes NEWT in two days and I need to study or I'm screwed. I suppose you do come in here a lot?"

"Oh, all the time," said Cho. "I like reading."

"Can't stand it, myself," said Oliver. "I would have thought you'd be out flying rather than sitting in here with a book. You're a pretty good Seeker, you know. No match for Potter of course, but good nonetheless."

"Uh...thanks," said Cho. "And anyway, Potter has a much better broom than me. Just because he can afford a Firebolt and I can't that doesn't make him a better Seeker than me."

Cho was an extremely proud Seeker. She'd tried out for the team last year just before her Oliver infatuation had blown over and in doing so had discovered a natural talent for flying. She'd never been that good at the lessons but had found when she was actually playing the sport she was good. And she was good. She had only ever not caught the Snitch in two games, and one was against Harry Potter and his Firebolt.

"Rubbish," said Oliver, airily. "He's a natural. After all, he just won us the Quidditch Cup."

"Against Draco Malfoy," said Cho, sceptically. "He's pretty appalling."

"You're just jealous because Potter is better than you," Oliver said, raising his eyebrows. Cho frowned. "Although maybe he wouldn't be if you memorised the sections in the library less and practised more."

"I do not memorise the sections in the library!" said Cho indignantly. "I happen to know my way around. And at least I don't put a school trophy before my exams and career, and potential future happiness!"

Oliver laughed.

"Flying is part of my future career," he said. "I don't need an NEWT in Ancient Runes to get a Keeper job, to my knowledge."

"You have to be realistic," said Cho, waspishly. "The Quidditch industry is incredibly competitive. You need another profession to fall back on in case you don't manage to make it."

"How old are you? Fourteen?" asked Oliver, his brow creasing.

"I'm fifteen, actually," said Cho. "It was my birthday in October."

"Yeah, well, six months difference," Oliver said, ignoring Cho's mutter of, "Eight months, actually." "You're fifteen, right? And you're lecturing me, an eighteen year old who's about to leave school and enter the Big Bad World of Jobs and Industry, about my career?"

Cho flushed.

"You have to take things seriously," she said, staring at the floor and wishing that she'd never plucked up the courage to talk to Oliver Wood. She could feel her attraction to him decreasing rapidly now she'd discovered what he was like. "Just because I take my prospects seriously it doesn't mean I'm as boring as you seem to think."

"I don't think you're boring, necessarily," said Oliver, exasperatedly. "I barely know you. I don't even know why I'm talking to you. I just think that from the brief conversation I have had with you my first impression is that you take life way too seriously."

"Everyone seems to think that," said Cho, darkly. "Even my so-called friends."

"Eh...then maybe you do take life too seriously?" suggested Oliver.

"I don't!" snapped Cho. "Sure, I take it seriously, but not too seriously. I know how to have fun. I play Quidditch, as you know. I hang out with my friends all the time..."

"Whilst reading," put in Oliver.

Cho gaped at him.

"How do you know that?" she said, so astonished that he knew this that she forgot to even try and deny it.

"I've seen you," shrugged Oliver. "Is it a big deal?"

"Well, no," Cho lied. Secretly she was quite pleased that Oliver Wood, the former object of her affections, had noticed her hanging out with her friends and remembered her enough to know that she read a lot while the other two talked. "And I don't read all the time!" she added, remembering the cause that she was fighting for. "I don't usually bring a book out when Mari and Sarah and I go and sit in the grounds, although I do sometimes. You've probably just seen me on the few occasions that I decided to read."

Oliver raised his eyebrows again.

"Sure, Chang, whatever," he said. "I can't be bothered to argue with you about this one. I'm sure you know yourself a lot better than I do. I've only just met you, after all. Who am I to judge whether you're too serious or not?"

"I am not too serious!" Cho said hotly, earning herself several shushes from surrounding studiers. "Don't make snap judgements just because I read a lot! From what I know of you all that goes through your head is Quidditch and you rarely think about anything else! I heard you haven't even had a girlfriend, you're so Quidditch-obsessed!"

Oliver looked a little bit taken-aback, and Cho kicked herself for saying it. That was mean. And too personal, especially considering she hadn't spoken to him before. She started to apologise, but Oliver spoke first.

"You heard right," he said. He didn't seem too bothered, to Cho's relief. "I barely have time for myself, let alone anyone else. And I am Quidditch-obsessed; I'll come out and admit it. It's not a big secret. I'm not really that bothered, to be honest."

Cho frowned slightly.

"So you're basically proud that your life revolves around a sport and you don't care much about you, your friends, your life in general that isn't spent on a broom?" she summarised.

"Not proud, exactly," said Oliver. "More like...I've accepted it. Hopefully one day you'll accept that you don't know how to have fun properly. Once you've done that it's really a lot easier. Denial is a boring thing to have to put up with."

"I am not in denial!" she said, crossly. "How many times to I have to tell you? Just because I appear to be a bit on the serious side it doesn't mean that I am! Because I'm not!"

Oliver rolled his eyes, which made Cho scowl even more.

"Don't scowl, Chang, it doesn't do anything for your face," he said. "You're not bad-looking, you know, so you shouldn't be wondering around with that glower on your face all the time."

Cho smiled. Not because Oliver had told her to stop frowning, but because he had said that she was pretty. Well, not pretty. His exact words were "not bad-looking". But that was praise indeed from Oliver Wood, especially with the retrospective age gap and the fact that this was the first time they'd ever spoken to each other.

"Oh, well, thanks," she said, blushing again.

"No problem," said Oliver with a look that Cho couldn't decipher. He glanced down at his watch. "Good God, I've been standing here for ages. I was meant to be finding that book. Do you know where the Runes section is, seeing as you've memorised this place?"

Cho let it go with a great deal of effort and pointed towards the Runes section.

"It's over there."

"Cheers, Chang," he said, wondering off in the direction that she had pointed in. "Nice talking to you."

And for Cho, knowing that Oliver Wood had found it nice talking to her was a far better feeling than winning any Quidditch match, against Harry Potter or otherwise.

*~*~*

He was finally acknowledging her. Now when they passed in the corridors, he'd nod and say hello, and if she was lucky she'd get a small smile. It wasn't the best relationship she'd ever had with a person, but every smile made her heart-rate double and her stomach churn. Usually a larger smile would form on her lips and stay there for several minutes.

Her infatuation with him had returned after laying dormant for a couple of years, and in greater amounts now that she had got to know him. Ironically, he was taking far more notice of her now she wasn't stalking him this time. She didn't follow him around like she had before but then she had a lot more experience of boys than she had had before.

And a lot less self-assurance.

*~*~*

Cho was beginning to despair now. It was nearly the end of the year and Oliver would be leaving school. She might never see him again. Scrap that, she would almost definitely never see him again. He intended to go into Quidditch and Cho did not. The chances of them meeting out of school were less than slim.

Cho was clever. She knew that getting obsessive over something that she wasn't going to have was a bad idea. It was unhealthy and only led to misery and stress. So she decided to forget about Oliver again. She'd done it before. She could easily do it again. It might take a while, but she would manage it. She could forget about Oliver Wood.

If it hadn't been for that one night then Cho would have been able to forget him.

It just so happened that Cho had won a prize earlier that year for Charms Club and she often liked to visit the trophy room to see her trophy. It gave her a buzz to see the small, elegant silver cup with her name inscribed on it and to know that it marked her victory. Cho was always very driven. She was the sort of person who got kicks through getting good grades and academic achievements.

Near to the end of term, it was a hot night and Marietta and Sarah weren't around. Cho didn't know where they were, but she thought that she'd go to the trophy room again before she went to look for them, just to see her cup one more time. She was quite surprised when she walked in to see Oliver Wood scrubbing the floors, therefore, if not a little embarrassed.

"Oh, hello," he said, looking up at her from the floor. It made Cho feel quite good being so high above him. What with him being so tall and her being quite short, it wasn't going to happen again. "This isn't a good time for me; Filch caught me sneaking Dungbombs in my bag and decided this was the best way to punish me."

"Should I go?" asked Cho, nervously.

"If you want," said Oliver, shrugging. "He isn't going to be coming back for a while, I can tell. He took my wand to make sure I don't use magic, the bastard. So if you want to stay I wouldn't mind the company."

Cho felt extremely elated that Oliver wanted her company, so she stayed.

"Maybe you shouldn't have bought Dungbombs?" she suggested. Oliver gave her an amused look.

"I should have expected that reaction," he said, smiling up at her. "I bought Dungbombs because I appreciate that the immature things in life can be extremely fun. I forget sometimes that you don't know how to have fun."

Cho scowled.

"I have told you before," she said, hotly, "I do know how to have fun!"

"Sure you do," said Oliver. "Why did you come up here, anyway?"

"Oh...looking for my friend," lied Cho. Luckily Oliver didn't pursue the matter. "If you want, I could do these floors. I have my wand with me."

"Oh yeah!" said Oliver, his face brightening. "Would you?"

"Sure," said Cho. "No bother. Just a simple charm."

Oliver looked quite surprised as Cho performed the charm and the floors instantly became a lot cleaner.

"You're fifteen and you can do that?" he said.

"Uh...yeah," said Cho, blankly. "It's easy."

"I couldn't do that until the sixth year, practically," he said, wistfully. "But then I've always been a bit on the thick side. Lessons leave me completely cold."

"You're not thick," said Cho, in what she hoped were reassuring tones.

"You barely know me," said Oliver, looking straight into Cho's eyes. They were dark brown. They looked black in the poor light of the trophy room. They were the kind of eyes that she couldn't look away from. "For all you know I could have no OWLs and not know what a Mandrake is."

"Do you?"

"Yes, but that's not the point," he said. "Don't judge me before you know me. You're overestimating me."

Cho frowned.

"So it's ok for you to judge me as too serious but it's not ok for me to judge you as intelligent?" she said, frowning.

"No, it's a ridiculous double-standard, but then I'm a flaming hypocrite," said Oliver. Cho gave him a Look, which made him laugh. Not the desired effect, Cho felt.

"Look, Chang, you're obviously far too nice for your own good," said Oliver.

"Hardly," said Cho. "The first time I ever spoke to you I accused you of being crap with girls."

Oliver frowned. He looked as if he was trying to remember something.

"Oh yeah," he said. "Well, if you feel any better it's true. I am pretty crap with girls."

"There are rumours," said Cho, smiling shyly. "Not that I believe them," she added, quickly.

"What kind of rumours?" asked Oliver, looking interested. "Oh don't look so stricken; it's not like you started them. I'm not going to kill you if you tell me what people say about me."

"Well, there is one about you and...uh..."

Cho couldn't say it. She collapsed into giggles. Oliver watched her with an amused expression on his face until she finally finished, gasping for breath and trying to look sombre.

"Spit it out."

"Well...ummm...about you and...uh...Percy Weasley."

She was off again, but at least this time Oliver was laughing too, possibly harder.

"Percy Weasley?" he said, in tones of amused surprise. "God, even if I was gay...which I'm not," he added, quickly, "I would never go for Percy Weasley! Geez, talk about a bad match."

Cho had meanwhile realised that she was in one of those situations in which she couldn't stop laughing. She didn't even know why. It wasn't even that funny. It was probably mainly hysteria that she was talking to Oliver Wood, almost as a friend.

It shut her up, however, when she realised his mouth was on hers.

Cho was so surprised she couldn't even enjoy the moment. Luckily for her he pulled away relatively quickly.

"What?" she spluttered.

This seemed sufficient enough as a question, however, as Oliver said, "Sorry. Don't know why I did that. Call it a lapse in concentration if you will. It's just that you look quite cute when you laugh."

"Cute?" said Cho. "Cute? Like a child? Do you think of me as a child? Because I am not a little girl!"

"I know, I know, calm down!" said Oliver, hands raised in a peace-making gesture. "God, you're touchy. It's just...you know, you're quite attractive, ok? Even if you are a bit young for me. You act a lot older, anyway. You act older than me."

He looked surprisingly dejected.

"I don't," said Cho, feeling awkward now. Also quite disappointed. The first - and probably the only - time Oliver Wood had kissed her and she had been too shocked to enjoy it. "I'm just too...serious."

"Wow, you finally admitted it," said Oliver, giving her a small smile.

"Oh shut up," said Cho.

"Come here," said Oliver, and he held his arm up. Surprised and pleased, Cho moved closer to him. It felt nice to know that she was sitting snuggled up to Oliver Wood, who she'd had a crush on for years. For some reason Cho felt oddly vindicated. But then her more intelligent side caught up with her, and she moved away.

"What's wrong?" asked Oliver, looking concerned.

"How do I know you're not just going to try and get into my knickers?" Cho demanded, frowning. "You've never shown any interest in me before and now you're all...kissing me and...stuff."

"What do you mean?" asked Oliver. "I've always been interested in you."

"Have you?" said Cho, forgetting her indignation for a second.

"Yes," said Oliver. "I'd never admit it, obviously. You're three years below me and you're on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Also there was pretty much no chance of anything happening. But I noticed you properly last year and...well, you're bloody pretty, I have to say, even if you are a bit of a..."

"Girly swot?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

Cho sat back. There was something about this that wasn't quite right. Oliver Wood was interested in her. He wanted her, Cho Chang, boring bookworm. He hadn't spoken to her many times in about four years yet he claimed that he was "interested" in her.

Nothing big was going to come of this; Cho could tell. But she may as well enjoy the moment.

With uncharacteristic bravery, she leaned up towards Oliver the exact second that he leaned down towards her. Their lips met, and this time Cho was ready for it. Ready to enjoy it.

She was vaguely aware of his hands on her waist, moving onto her stomach or her arms. She felt herself move slowly backward so she was lying on the stone floor and he was practically lying over her. His kiss was more urgent now, more passionate. Cho was getting more into it too; her hands were moving up and down his back and she was making moaning noises that she was sure were only made by melodramatic actresses in romance films.

His hands were unbuttoning her shirt now. She should have stopped him, but she didn't want to. She knew perfectly well what was going to happen and that he was probably taking advantage of her, but she didn't care. She wanted him too much.

She was clever enough to think, though. She reached for her wand and muttered the incantation for the contraception spell. She may be succumbing, but she wasn't stupid.

"Good idea," muttered Oliver in her ear. "You're smart."

He began to kiss her neck, little kisses up to her ears and down to her collarbone. Cho was hazily conscious that she was now undoing his shirt and - to her immense surprise - his trousers.

She couldn't remember the exact events of what came next, but she knew one thing. She had enjoyed it.

*~*~*

She had never predicted that when she lost her virginity she would be fifteen and in a trophy room. At the time she was just happy not to get caught by the caretaker.

He apologised to her on the last day of the year. She was ready for it. She knew it could never have lasted. But that didn't mean she enjoyed it. Her friends all wondered why she was so upset, bursting into tears at odd moments. Even the next year she was gazing wistfully into nothing, tears sparking in her eyes for no particular reason.

She got over him in the end and she swore that she'd try and forget him.

She never did.