Chapter 2 - Arrival
Cho Chang…
A flash of the last time I had seen her crossed my mind...
*** Flashback ***
It was during their sixth year. Hermione and Ron were at the Great Hall having some breakfast. It was their last day at Hogwarts before going back home for the summer. Harry hadn't come down yet. He had gone to bed late, because he had been Cho's date for her Graduation Ball the night before.
Even though Harry had pretty much forgotten about Cho at the end of his fifth year, she had kept close to him during that year. She had said she wanted to be her friend, and Harry, for some odd reason, had accepted. That was why she had invited him to her prom. Or at least that was what he had told Hermione and Ron.
Hermione had just sat on the Gryffindor table when an outraged Cho stormed in the Great Hall and walked right towards her.
"YOU! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" she had yelled, startling everyone who turned to look at whoever was making such a fuss so early in the morning.
Hermione stared at her, surprised. "What?" she asked, blinking.
But Cho didn't say anything else and got out of the Great Hall as fast as she had arrived. Hermione hadn't seen her anymore after that.
Later, when Harry showed up, she had told him about Cho's attitude. Harry had looked a little bit flushed, but he said he had no idea what had gotten into her.
**** End of Flashback ****
The last thing I knew of Cho, was that she had moved to China, where part of her family lived, right after Hogwarts... She had played for some Quidditch team there all this time. And now she was back in England...
Why was I worrying, anyway? She was just a regular woman... Of course, she was incredibly beautiful and Harry's first crush, but that didn't mean anything. It had been a long time since either of us had seen her.
I felt stupid. There was no reason in the world to feel that tingle in my stomach.
"She's going to be really good for us!" was saying Oliver, thrilled. "She's responsible for her team winning four years in a row..."
I looked at the guys. Most of them were staring at Cho pretty dazzled. Probably they couldn't believe their luck. The one girl in their team could well be appearing in a Playwizard magazine cover. Alan Wagner, however, didn't seem interested at all, and was swinging his Beater club absent-mindly. I turned my gaze to Harry. He seemed a little surprised, but was smiling anyway.
"My God, I can't believe I have to see HER again!" muttered Ginny, quite upset. I remembered that Cho had actually stolen her boyfriend when she was at Hogwarts, so it wasn't weird at all that Ginny would despise her.
"Hello everyone," I heard Cho's voice and turned my attention to her. It seemed that Oliver had let her introduce herself. She was beaming at the guys, in quite a flirty-way if you ask me. "I only want to say that I'm really happy to be here, the Chudley Cannons has always been my favorite team."
The team cheered. I couldn't believe she was so cynical! Wasn't she a fan of the Twisters or something? Ron had cornered her once about her loyalty to that Quidditch team...
"I'm sure that I won't have any problems in getting used to all of you. Let's win this year Cup, boys!" she finished, and more cheering and applauses followed. Harry was clapping with rest, but at least he wasn't yelling. Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes in pure disgust.
Most of the players approached to Cho to greet her. Harry turned to us instead.
"Isn't it unbeliavable? I didn't think I would get to see Cho again!"
I smiled weakly. What did he mean 'I would get to see Cho again'? It sounded as if he was hoping something like that would happen... Oh, snap out of it, Hermione. Why are you feeling jealous about someone who's way buried in your past?
"Hermione!!" Oliver's voice made me jump. He was approaching to me with big steps, and I noticed Cho following him. "I'm so glad you finally decided to make an appearence!"
"Hi, Harry. Long time no see," Cho said, smiling at him with the sweetest of smiles.
Harry smiled back. "Definitely. It's great to have you in the team, Cho. I've heard you're one hell of a Chaser."
"You bet she is," Oliver commented, proudly.
"Better than a Seeker, anyway," Cho said, shrugging and I didn't believe for a minute her fake modesty. She turned to me and a smile crept in her face, although it was a very different smile from the one she had given to Harry. "Hermione Granger, isn't it? I didn't expect to see you here... I suppose you don't play for the team, do you?" she let out a soft laugh.
"Of course not," Oliver said, quickly. "Hermione wouldn't get on a broom even if her life depended on that!" I shot him a nasty look. Actually, I had gotten on a broom once when I was trying to mend the mess I had caused with Ron's wedding, and it hadn't been a pleasant experience. "Hermione brings us lunch..." Oliver explained. "By the way, did you get my special 'Tony sandwich'?"
Cho's eyes twinkled. "Oh I see... So you're like the... breeder."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Here's your sandwich, Oliver," I said, giving it to him and ignoring Cho.
"No, she's not," Harry interrupted. "She's my good luck charm, isn't she, Oliver?"
"Oh, yeah..." Wood said, biting his sandwich. "Makes us win all the matches!"
I smiled at Harry's comment. Cho looked at both, a glimpse of curiosity in her face.
"She's much more than that," Ginny said, finally speaking, although her tone wasn't very gentle. "She's Harry's girlfriend too."
It was just a brief moment, but I could swear that Cho's eyes clouded a bit. Her smile danced just a little, only to be replaced by a huge grin. Ginny on the other hand, looked pretty satisfied by being the one who had told her the 'big news'.
"Really?" Cho said, now turning to Harry. "I would never had guessed that you two... were together."
"Oh, but they are," hissed Ginny, and I realized it was better to get her out of there as soon as possible.
"Hey Potter, since you know Chang way better than me and the rest, I'll leave it up to you to have her settled. I want you to explain her how we work and make sure she gets a place to live and stuff..."
"You don't have a place to live?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Well, Oliver called me yesterday and I got here immediately this morning. It all happened very fast..."
"Don't worry, leave it to me," Harry said in a friendly tone.
I didn't really like what I was hearing. Why did Harry have to get her an apartment? Why couldn't she do it herself? But I was not going to let that tiny thing bother me. Harry was just being nice to an old friend. Isn't that how he is? Always helping others?
"Well, I have to go back to work," I said, and Harry stopped talking to Cho and turned to me. He grabbed my arm and led me a few steps away from the others. With the corner of my eye, I saw Ginny giving Cho a really murderous look.
"I'll see you tonight?" he asked, smiling.
I shook my head. "I'm staying at the office tonight. I still have too much to do..."
He looked at me, concerned. "I don't want you to overdo it. You'll get sick if you keep working like this."
"Just two more days, Harry. On Saturday everything will be back to normal," I assured him.
* * *
"I can't believe you, Herm," Ginny said once we went back to my office.
"Huh?" I asked, sitting behind my desk and looking at the amount of files scattered around.
"No 'huhs', missy! You actually left Harry alone with that bitch?"
"Ginny!" I scolded her. "And they are not alone, they are with the whole Cannon's team."
"Right, like that's going to stop her!"
"Stop her from what?" I asked, taking a quill out.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe from STEALING YOUR MAN!" Ginny exclaimed.
I stared at her calmly. "She's not going to do that."
"You don't know her... Don't you see it? She's here for that! She came here for Harry!"
"She came here to play Quidditch," I corrected her. "Besides, what makes you think she feels something for Harry? They hadn't seen each other in years. Their relationship lasted less than a sigh, so I really don't see why..."
"She's evil, I'm telling you."
I laughed. "Come on, don't be paranoid, Gin. And even is she had those wicked intentions, I trust Harry completely, so I really don't have anything to worry about."
"Fine, don't say I didn't warn you," Ginny said, and grabbed one of the files.
* * *
"OK, we're done for today! Good job everyone!" Wood yelled, and a swarm of orange Quidditch robes landed in the grass of the Cannon's Pitch.
Harry, still holding the golden Snitch he had just captured, put his broom over his shoulder, and started to walk towards the lockers. It was nice to see Oliver in such a good mood after what had happened the day before. But his mind wasn't precisely in the training... He was thinking about the whole proposal thing. He still had to get a ring. And think about how he was going to ask her. It couldn't be just a 'would you marry me?' question... It had to be something more...
He remembered Ron and Liz's reaction when he had told them. They'd say they were expecting it. Was Hermione expecting it too? Maybe she was prepared... Maybe she had really been waiting this whole year for him to ask. But he hadn't do it only because he had thought she needed time... It was her the one who needed to be sure about their relationship, because it had been a long time since he had stopped doubting she was the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
"It was a good catch, the last one."
Harry whirled around and saw that Cho was walking beside him. He hadn't even noticed that someone was near.
"Thanks," he said. "You did pretty well yourself."
"I still have to get used to my new companions," she replied, shrugging. "But I like it here. It's nice to be back in England."
"You really didn't take any time to consider Oliver's offer," Harry commented.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I was hoping I would get a chance to come back. China was getting too boring..."
Harry nodded. They had reached the lockers. He opened his with a tap of his wand and got out his clothes.
"Oh that's right! I said I'd help you looking for an apartment! You know, I think I saw a couple downtown. Do you want a muggle area or a wizard area?" he asked.
"You really don't have to do this, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"I really don't need you to help me. I can do it myself. So don't feel like it's your duty."
"I don't," Harry said, closing the locker. "I said I'd help you and I will. Besides, it's been a long time since you were in England, isn't it? We want you to feel at home."
"But won't you have trouble with your girlfriend?" Cho asked, casually.
Harry look at her, confused. "Why would I have trouble with Hermione?"
"Well, I don't think she'd like the idea of you hanging out with me... Just the two of us," she said, looking at her nails.
Harry laughed. "You don't know Hermione. She won't have any weird thoughts about this... And why should she, anyway?"
Cho shook her head. "You're right. Well, then, let's go and have a look at those flats."
* * *
"This is where I live," Harry said, turning on the lights of his apartment and holding the door for Cho to come in.
"It's lovely... Did Hermione decorate it?"
"No, I did," Harry replied. "Do you want something to drink?"
"OK, thanks," Cho scanned the living room. It was pretty neat to be a single guy's apartment. Maybe Hermione cleaned it for him. She spotted a book on the center table. She grabbed it. 'Hogwarts: A History' was marked in golden letters in the front cover. "Do you seriously read this stuff?" she asked, incredously.
Harry looked at the book and smiled. "Oh no. It's Hermione's. She must've left it there."
"Oh... She lives here, with you?"
Harry gave her a glass of orange juice. "No, she lives next door."
"It must be great to have her so close," she commented. "And where is she now?"
"She'll stay at her office tonight. I'll be here on my own... all night," Harry said, staring at her.
Cho left the glass of juice in the table and approached to him, until their faces were inches apart. "Poor boy," she said, playing with his hair, "Wouldn't you like me to stay with you?"
He smiled at her and she closed the gap between them, kissing him with passion...
A loud sound startled me and I jumped. I was at my office... It seemed I had fallen asleep over the desk. What was that sound I had heard? I looked around, still sleepy, and noticed that several books had fallen right under the desk. I bended to pick them up, and when I was lifting my head, I hit myself with the table.
"Shit!" I muttered, rubbing my head.
"So that's what you do when you're alone in your office... Sleep and curse," a slightly amused voice commented.
I looked up. Harry was sitting on a chair, staring at me, with his hands folded in front of him. He had a lop sided smile. I remembered what I have been just dreaming... Cho and him, together, in his apartment... It was just a dream, I repeated myself. Why had I dreamt that anyway?
"Harry," I said, leaving the books on the desk again, and pulling back the hair that had come to my face. "How long have you been there?"
"About an hour..."
I checked my watch. It was half past 1 o'clock in the morning. Had I been sleeping all this time!? I was supposed to be working. Even with Ginny's help I was really late with my inventory...
"You've been sitting there for an hour?" I asked, trying to awake myself.
He nodded. "When I got here, you were already fast asleep. I didn't have the heart to woke you up, so I just stayed here, quietly."
"You should have woken me up," I said, frowning. "What if I had just kept sleeping until everyone came back to the office?"
Harry laughed softly. "I'm sorry. It's just that you look so beautiful when you're sleeping... I guess I was a little bit selfish."
I tried to hide a smile grabbing a file. "So, what did you came here for?" I asked.
"I wanted to see how you were doing... Make sure that you wouldn't be tucking caffeine inside your organism to keep yourself awake... Obviously, I was wrong," he added with a smirk.
I glared at him playfully, but deeply thankful for his concern. He was always thinking about me, while I had those terrible nightmares of him cheating on me.
"Harry, is late, you should go to bed, you have training tomorrow..." I started, but he cut me off.
"I'm not sleeping if you aren't. I'll stay here and help you. And there's nothing you can say that'll make me change my mind," he said when I was about to protest.
"Fine," I sighed. "Here you are," I gave him a carpet full of files.
We started revising them. I had to admit that having Harry there was making my work far more interesting. Actually, I was having fun.
"Did Cho find a place to live?" I asked, about two hours later.
"Yes, a flat in Diagon Alley, but I'm not sure she really liked it," Harry said, still focused on his file.
"How long it took you to find it?" I asked, trying to sound casual. Actually, I wanted to know how much time they had spent together.
"Not that long, two hours at most," he replied. "I helped with her bags and then we had some pizza, that's all."
I lifted my eyes and looked at him. "You had pizza?"
He nodded. "Since she doesn't have anything in the apartment yet, she wasn't going to cook anything for dinner... Can you believe that she didn't know what Pizza is? Sometimes I'm really thankful for having some muggle blood..."
Since Harry was looking at the file, he didn't notice my expression. I tried to forget about my dream. It was ridiculous. He had just ate pizza with her, not ask her out for dinner, for Christ's sake...
I didn't want to start acting like a jealous and posessive girlfriend, so I changed the subject. But I couldn't stop thinking about what Ginny had said about Cho. Her voice was so loud in my head that sometimes it didn't let me hear what Harry was saying.
"You better be wrong, Gin," I thought to myself, grabbing another file.