A/N: We know this update is a bit late- we've both been busy as of late and have gotten pretty far ahead in the story as a result even though we haven't been posting.
Things we can tell you about this:
The title has changed, as you all can see. 'The Not So Simple Life' was making people think of that goofy Paris Hilton show and we didn't want that. So this new title, "The Time of Their Life" ties into Dirty Dancing a little bit more, rather, that particular theme song at the end we all know and love.
Also, this story will go somewhere between 30 and 40 chapters… and that's just a guesstimate. The plot is pretty complex, and it involves all couples so therefore we're trying to give H/Hr the most time, since that's what you all love most, while giving the other couples ample screentime as well.
One more thing- when you're done reading, we DO appreciate reviews. Constructive criticism is fine, as long as you don't try to mask said criticism with complaining and nothing else. But all comments ARE welcomed! Just because we're not giving out CD's with this story shouldn't mean there's no reason to leave us a few words telling us what you liked and disliked.
Last chapter we had 1088 hits and 39 reviews. We know it's easy to just click off and not review but we're taking between 3 and 5 hours a night to work on this story, and 10 seconds of your time for encouragement is hardly a sacrifice.
Anyways- thanks for reading this extra long and we're sure, very boring A/N but we do hope you enjoy this chapter!
Hermione smiled at Harry's retreating back as he went into the bathroom for a shower. It was rather late in the evening and they had classes the next day but true to his word, once everyone had left Harry had pulled her straight into the bedroom.
Their lovemaking that night had been hot- their anger from the night before had spurred their passion and Hermione reckoned it was a good thing they set a silencing charm on the room.
She pulled on one of Harry's button down shirts and went downstairs to the living room to retrieve her bags from the sofa she'd dropped them on when she came home.
Cho looked up from her perch on the couch when she'd heard footsteps on the stairs. The only light downstairs was from the lamp beside the couch and she was reading a pregnancy magazine that she'd picked up at one of the newsstands earlier. "Hi, Hermione," Cho said warmly looking up from the magazine.
Hermione stopped in her tracks. "Oh... hi Cho..." she said. She was a bit ashamed of herself, but she couldn't help feeling a bit uncomfortable around the other woman still. "What are you doing?"
"Reading," Cho said, flipping through the magazine. "I should probably go to bed, but I'm not sleepy."
"Oh," Hermione picked up her bags. "I just came down to get my clothes I bought today."
"You sure bought a lot," Cho said. "Want to show me what you got? I can live vicariously through you and remember that at one time I could fit into clothes like that."
Hermione half smiled. "I would... but maybe tomorrow? I'm quite tired and I've got early class in the morning."
"Oh," Cho said, trying to hide her disappointment.
Hermione felt bad. "Well... it's mainly just things to wear after I finish University," she explained.
Cho nodded. "And you changed your hair, too?'
"Oh yeah," Hermione unpinned her hair and it tumbled past her shoulders. "Just straightened it so it's not as unkempt."
"I thought it looked nice before," Cho said, meaning it as a compliment, but knowing as soon as the words were out of her mouth that Hermione wouldn't take it that way.
"It looked awful," Hermione replied. "I just never really had a reason to do anything with it until now."
"And what was the reason?" Cho asked, hoping Hermione wasn't thinking she had to change to please Harry. She knew for a fact that Harry loved Hermione just the way she was.
"Because I was tired of looking like a mess," the vision of the perfect Isabella Marconi flashed before her eyes again. "I'm tired of people looking at me and wondering what the great, handsome Harry Potter was doing with such a waif." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "And like I already said- I want to look more professional. My bushy hair was fine for when I was in school. But now no one is going to hire me if I look unkempt."
"You never looked unkempt, Hermione," Cho said in disbelief. "You're the most together person I know. And since when have you ever cared what other people thought?"
Hermione sighed. "It's not for you to worry about Cho." she replied quietly.
"But I do worry," Cho said genuinely. "You're my friend, Hermione."
"I should really get to bed," Hermione blurted out. "Good night." she turned on her heel and rushed out of the room.
Harry had just come out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist, when he saw Hermione come back into the bedroom. "I thought you were going to join me," he said, not noticing the look on her face as she walked past him and deposited her shopping bags into the closet.
"I already showered," she said. "I didn't put this stuff away earlier so I wanted to before we went to bed."
"Everything alright?" he asked, dropping the towel and putting on his boxer shorts and an old grey t-shirt.
"Just fine," Hermione removed her new slim cut black robes from the bag and carefully hung them up. "Why do you ask?"
"Just worried about you is all," he said simply.
"I'm fine," Hermione smiled at him. "There's no need to worry. I'm not made of glass Harry, I'm not going to shatter because we had a fight."
"I know that," he said. Still, he sensed something was still wrong with her. But, he didn't want to push the issue since they'd made up. He watched as she pulled a low-cut, red top from one of the carrier bags. "I think you may have gotten your bags mixed up with Lavender's," he said.
"Why do you say that," Hermione asked, turning back to him. "Just because I bought some clothes that I wouldn't normally wear?"
"If you wouldn't normally wear them, why did you buy them?" he asked with a bemused expression on his face.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Because Harry, like I said before. I just want to start looking nicer that's all. I didn't realise it would be such a huge bloody deal to everyone!"
"Hermione," he said with sigh, hoping that what he was about to say didn't set her off again. "Does this have something to do with Isabella? Don't look at me like that! You know that we were doing perfectly fine last night until she showed up and now you seem to be doubting yourself and me and our relationship."
She rolled her eyes again and he crossed the room and looked at her as seriously as he could. "I never felt for anyone what I feel for you. I don't know what more I can do to prove that to you."
"It's not you Harry," Hermione replied. "Why don't you believe that? What happened last night has just made me realise I want to look nicer. For myself. That's ALL."
"Okay," he said, not really wanting to drop the issue, but knowing if he didn't, they'd just have another row and he didn't want that at all. "So, Luna tells me that she, Lavender and Cho are going to take you out for a girls night out for your birthday," he said, changing the subject.
"That's what they told me," Hermione also decided to let the issue drop. "I'm really looking forward to it but I can't help but wish you would be here," she finished hanging up her new clothes and turned to him.
"You and me both," he said wistfully. "So do you want your gift before I leave or when I come back?"
"Whenever you want to give it to me," Hermione grinned at him. "Or are you just using your libido on me again?" she asked, straddling his lap.
"Well there's that," he said cheekily, "but I do have something for you. And I can see by the look in your eye that you're trying to figure out what is, but no one knows, but me. And your co-conspirator Miss Cho Chang has tried, but failed to get it out of me, so don't even think of asking for her help." Harry didn't notice the smile faltered a bit on Hermione's face at the mention of Cho.
"Well I suppose a little waiting never hurt a girl," she murmured, pressing her lips to his.
"I thought we were going to go to bed early tonight," he teased.
Hermione smiled back at him. "Are you complaining about me kissing you Potter?" she asked.
"No, of course not," he said huskily. "But don't go blaming me when you're tired tomorrow."
"I love you, Harry Potter." Hermione said winding her arms around his neck.
"I love you, too," he said, kissing her slowly. His hand went to the buttons on her shirt and he stopped and looked at her with twinkling eyes. "You're wearing my shirt again."
"You say that like it's such a bad thing," she teased, kissing him lightly. "Would you rather have me walk about the house naked?"
"I wouldn't have a problem with it personally," he replied. "Being as we have a houseguest now, she might take issue with it."
"Right," Hermione said, her tone a bit quieter.
"Speaking of Cho, I should probably go check on her before we go any further," Harry said. "She was a little nauseous earlier."
"All right," Hermione slid off him and onto the bed as Harry left the room.
Harry bounded down the stairs and into the living room where Cho had settled down to read when he and Hermione had gone upstairs. "Hey you," he said.
"Hey," she said quietly.
"Shouldn't you be in bed by now Mum?" he teased, sitting next to her.
She didn't smile or laugh at his attempt at humour. Her mind was still on the conversation she'd had with Hermione earlier.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked, noticing her downcast expression. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and was dismayed when she began to sob.
"I-I shouldn't have moved in here," she managed to choke out. "I've made things worse for you and Hermione. I try to help and I've only made things worse."
"What are you talking about?" Harry was bewildered. "You haven't done anything wrong!"
She shook her head. "Hermione hates me, Harry."
"That's silly," Harry answered. "She understands about us Cho. She told me so!"
"Yeah, that was before she knew I was your first," Cho said wiping a tear from her cheek. "She was perfectly fine with me until I opened my big mouth!"
"And she still is fine," Harry said gently, grabbing a tissue off the table and giving it to her. "Look... everything is going to be fine. I don't want you getting upset over this. It's not good for the baby to have you so stressed out."
"I'm fine," Cho said dismissively. "And she's not fine, Harry. She came back from her shopping trip with new clothes and a new hairstyle because she thinks that she's not pretty enough for you. And she can say she's doing this for herself all she wants, but I don't think even she believes it."
"I agree with you," Harry replied quietly. "She won't admit it to me but I know you're right. I don't know what else I can say to convince her that she's the only one for me, ever."
"I think I should move out," Cho said. When Harry vehemently shook his head, she put a hand on his arm. "Harry, you know that it's the best solution. When Hermione looked at me this evening, I could almost hear the voice in her head saying 'Harry's seen her naked'."
"You know what- I don't care." Harry said. "I want you where we can keep an eye on you. This is the best place for that!"
"At the expense of your relationship?" Cho asked him.
"Hermione and I aren't going to break up over this," Harry said firmly.
"You won't if I move out," Cho said stubbornly.
"We won't even if you stay here," Harry said. "I will NOT have you living back at the Leaky Cauldron!"
"I'm not going to change your mind, am I?" she asked.
"No." Harry replied. "I want you here Cho. Hermione does too despite all this."
"Okay, okay," Cho said with a sigh. "I'll stay, but Harry, this issue with Hermione...it's not going to go away."
"We will work it out," Harry squeezed her hand.
"We better get to sleep," she said with a yawn. "I've got work tomorrow and you've got training."
"Take it easy," Harry said. "No more stressing over this, over anything."
"Easier said than done," she said, allowing him to help her to her feet.
"Good night," Harry helped her up the stairs and she gave him a half smile as she disappeared into her room; he went back into the one he shared with Hermione. "I thought you'd be asleep by now."
She looked up from her book and smiled. "I was waiting for you."
Harry smiled as he slid next to her, pulling her book out of her hands and putting it on the nightstand. "Can I ask you something?" he said.
"Of course," she answered.
"Are you angry with Cho?" Harry asked directly. "Because she was in tears just now thinking that you hate her."
Hermione's face fell. "I don't hate her, Harry."
"She thinks you do," Harry said. "And that bothers me as well."
She sank back into her pillow and wondered what she could possibly say. She felt terrible for making Cho think that she hated her. Nothing could be further from the truth. "I don't know what you want me to say," she said, avoiding his probing gaze.
"Tell me the truth," Harry stated. "Tell me if you really are angry with her over this. If you're angry at anyone it should be me. I don't want to beat around the bush with this Hermione. I've told you countless times that I love you and that you have nothing to worry about from Cho, Isabella or any other woman. Ever." he added pointedly.
"You want to know the truth?" she asked him. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she hoped to keep them at bay until she'd managed to get this off her chest. "I wish I had a time turner where I could go back to yesterday morning when I didn't care about how I looked or what I didn't have."
She took a long breath before continuing. "I looked at this Isabella person---who's blonde, tall and stunning. Then, I look at Cho---and she's exotic and dark and beautiful. Then, I look at me. And I'm just-- Hermione."
"And you're beautiful," Harry stroked her cheek. "Hermione, I didn't fall in love with you because you are a stunning, exotic beauty. You have a way about you, of confidence, that took me by surprise. That first day I saw you in the parking lot at Hillsdale I could barely take my eyes off you. You have a different kind of gorgeousness about you that most women would kill for, including Isabella."
Hermione didn't know what to say and the tears that she'd been trying to hold off began to fall freely down her cheeks.
"Come here," Harry gathered her tightly in his arms. "I hate it that you don't believe me when I say that Hermione."
"I do Harry," Hermione wiped at her eyes.
"Then why are you so upset?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," Hermione whimpered, her face buried in his shoulder. "I'm just scared, deep down that someday you'll take back what you just said to me and want to leave."
Harry felt his heart nearly break in two. "Hermione please look at me," he said, raising her chin with his index finger. "I feel the same way sometimes- that you'll decide you're too smart to stay with an idiot bloke like myself. I love you," he said slowly. "I want to be with you forever."
He looked so serious and honest that Hermione began to cry again. "I would never want to leave you," she bawled.
"And I don't ever want to leave you," Harry replied, his own eyes slightly damp. "So can we please, please put this behind us now Hermione?"
Hermione nodded. "Okay," she whispered, finally meaning it. "And I'll talk to Cho tomorrow."
"Thank you," Harry said in relief. He leaned in and kissed her hungrily. "I have to start my new training class tomorrow so I might be a bit late."
Hermione nodded as they slid underneath the covers together, Harry's fingers coming up to stroke her new smooth hair. "I love you," she uttered softly as her eyes closed.
"I love you too," Harry held her tighter as they both fell asleep.
*** *** ***
Hermione sat at her desk in class, writing notes furiously as the professor droned on and on. She enjoyed her advanced charms class but the teacher was certainly no Flitwick- he liked to hear himself talk more than anything.
"In closing," the professor said as the bell rang and there was a large scuffle of students getting their things together. "I have some extra credit charms research for any of you looking for a little extra work."
Hermione's head shot up and she nearly raced to the front of the room. "What sort of charms research is it Professor?" she asked as Gordon came up on her right side.
"I need these charms researched, the counter charms, and side effects." He produced a foot long parchment with a long list of charms written on it. "If you're all willing to work on this we can divvy it up." He waved his wand and the list immediately divided itself into section. "Pick a partner and have this to me by day after tomorrow."
Gordon smiled at Hermione. "Shall we?" he asked lightly, picking up one of the lists.
"Of course," Hermione replied. "What charms have we got?" she pulled his hand down so they could both look. Gordon tried not to be obvious at the pleasure he felt from the scent of her hair and the soft touch of her hand. "These are pretty difficult charms- even though there's only five on the list it'll take us a good few hours to do."
"We should get on it then," Gordon replied, standing closer.
"Would later today work for you?" Hermione asked, brushing a stray lock of hair from her eyes. "I've really got a couple things I have to do at home during this break but later today I'm free."
"Sure," Gordon nodded. "Maybe if we get it all done we can catch dinner later?"
"Maybe," Hermione looked at the parchment again. "We'll see how late it gets. I want to be home when Harry gets back so I can hear about his new training program."
"Of course," Gordon barely suppressed a sneer. "By the way," he added as they got their books and left the classroom. "Your new hairstyle looks fantastic."
"Oh, thanks." Hermione blushed slightly. "Just sort of something I did on a whim yesterday with my cousin."
Gordon smiled. "Well it does look lovely on you."
Hermione felt slightly uncomfortable underneath his gaze. "Thanks," she repeated. "I've got to run now- I've got to meet Harry and Cho back at the house." She shoved the parchment in her bag. "I'll see you next class okay?" she jogged away.
"See you later!" Gordon called after her, shoving his hand in his pocket so she wouldn't see his tightly clenched fist.
*** *** ***
Cho stared miserably at her hands as she sat at the kitchen table at Harry and Hermione's house. This was without a doubt the worst day of her life. If she could feel any lower, she'd be scraping the floor.
She'd gotten sacked that day.
She had gone in a half hour before her shift, ready to go and in uniform, charm firmly in place to hide her stomach, when she had been called in by her manager. It seemed that one of her co workers had seen her at the club on Saturday night in all her pregnant glory and immediately had run to rat her out.
Her now ex manager had given her two weeks severance pay and had ordered her immediately off the premises. He had said that she was a disgrace to the pub to try and fool them this way and that she shouldn't think of getting any good references from him.
So Cho had come back, watching as the charm wore off and her no longer needed work skirt ripped, and cried. She had no idea how long she sat there, her hands rubbing her stomach as tears fell from her eyes until she heard the front door open.
"Harry? Cho?" Hermione called out. She heard some noise in the kitchen and was stunned to see her black haired friend sobbing at the table. "Cho what's wrong?" Hermione dumped her books and cloak on the counter and rushed to her side.
"Oh Hermione…" Cho bawled. "My life is such a mess!"
"What happened?" Hermione pulled her chair closer and slipped her arm around Cho's shaking shoulders.
"I got sacked because my boss found out I was pregnant," Cho sniffed.
"WHAT?" Hermione was shocked. "Did your charm wear off?"
"No, but one of my stupid catty co workers saw us at the club, rather- she saw my pregnant stomach and blabbed first thing today." Cho said bitterly.
"What a bloody bitch," Hermione was furious as well. "Are you sure it wasn't Ginny in disguise?"
Cho let out a weak laugh. "No, but she's just like her," she replied. "I don't know what I'm going to do now for work," she sighed.
"Don't worry about working," Hermione said. "You kick back here and relax."
Cho looked at Hermione for a long moment. "Are you sure you want me to?" she asked.
"Of course I do," Hermione replied. "Look…" she dropped her arm from around Cho's shoulders and looked at her lap. "I'm not angry about what you told me. Really, I'm not. I just was confused but I'm not angry."
"I don't want to be a thorn in your side," Cho replied.
"You are so far from that," Hermione hugged her. "You've been an amazing friend in the short time I've known you. You've done so much for me and for Harry that I can't even begin to thank you."
"I was beginning to feel like you didn't want me around," Cho said, hugging her back. "Honestly Hermione, I thought Harry had told you… and I have no romantic feelings for him at all, I swear."
"You don't have to convince me," Hermione said. "I was being a fool, I know I was. Harry loves me and that's really all I need to know. He would have been forgiving it the shoe was on the other foot."
"So you didn't need to change after all," Cho tried to tease.
"Well," Hermione pulled her hair around her front. "I actually think I might have done this eventually anyway. It's so much easier to take care of, especially since I have no time in the mornings to really put it up properly like I did before, now that I have this extra bonus project."
"It really looks nice," Cho replied. "You were pretty enough anyway Hermione."
"Thanks," Hermione replied. "I appreciate that." The two women looked at each other and laughed.
"This is nice," Cho said. "I needed to laugh after this morning."
"Well… I've not got class until three, so what do you say to lunch?" Hermione asked, wanting to cheer her friend up.
"I say yes, me and the little one are absolutely starving," Cho agreed.
*** *** ***
Every single muscle in Neville's body was hurting. In the past four hours, he'd figured he'd either sprained, strained or tore some vital parts of his body. When he'd signed on for this, he'd known that the physical aspect of it would be tough, but he'd had no idea it would be this tough. To say it was gruelling would have been a gross understatement.
It was lunchtime and there was a plate of food in front of Neville on the coffee table. He, however, didn't think he'd be able to move from his stationery position to pick it up.
Harry, on the other hand, didn't look worse for the wear. He was happily eating away on his own sandwich and seemingly oblivious to his friend's plight. "I hate you right now," Neville said crossly to his friend.
"Why?" Harry looked up innocently.
"We undergo torture for nearly four hours and I'm thinking I'll never be able to move again and you're over there looking as if you went on a marathon run and didn't even break a sweat," Neville said, wincing as he tried once again to sit up.
"Well I do exercise a lot. You know the dancing bit?" Harry asked. "You could have done it but you chose to head up sound instead."
"Because I have two left feet," Neville said simply. "Could you stop being so smug for five minutes and be a mate and hand me that plate?"
Harry bit his lower lip so he wouldn't laugh as he pushed the plate towards his friend. "Would you like me to cut it up for you in slices too?" he asked. "I'm sure I could do that really quickly. I could also feed it to you with a fork."
Neville glared at him. "If I could move, I'd hit you." He finally managed to muster the strength to sit up. "You all ready for this weekend?"
"I guess so," Harry rubbed his neck. "I'm still pissed of all weekends we'll be gone this one."
"Yeah," Neville agreed. The prospect of being away from Cho wasn't one he was looking forward to either.
Harry stuffed last bite of sandwich in his mouth as he heard the front door open. A second or two later Hermione and Cho came into the living room, laughing their heads off about something.
"I can't believe you said that to him!" Cho gasped for breath. "The look on his face was just bloody priceless!"
Neville would have stood up, but he was still quite sore. He cringed when he tried to turn his head in the direction of the girls.
Hermione was laughing so hard she head tears in her eyes. She tried to maintain control as she saw her boyfriend looking at her with a bemused expression on his face.
"What's so funny?" Harry asked, happy to see his two favourite girls in the world laughing and joking around with each other once more.
"Well..." Cho finally calmed down. "This morning was really very bad- I went in to work..." she told them about how she lost her job. "Well Hermione came back from class and we went to lunch, and after that she decided to stop in the Succubus Stop and tell my now ex boss exactly what she thought of him..." she began to laugh again. "It really wasn't all that funny but if you'd seen the look on his face..." she began to tear up from giggling so hard.
"If I could move I'd go give that arse a piece of my mind too," Neville said angrily. "He had no right to sack you. That's discrimination that is!"
Harry nodded. "We can go give him a piece of our minds if you want Cho," he pissed off too but Hermione put her hand on his arm.
"He probably got the message from me," Hermione said smugly. "I think he's learned his lesson."
"What did you say to him?" Harry leaned back and put his arm around Hermione as Cho slid next to Neville as gracefully as she could in her state.
Hermione grinned. "Well first I went in there acting quite nice, and I told him I'd had a wonderful waitress named Cho the last time I was there and I wanted to get her again. He told me she'd decided to 'quit' just that morning and I asked him if that was true, she really seemed to love her job." she paused for a moment. "Then the real reason came out and he actually admitted that they couldn't keep anyone pregnant on staff!"
"I was standing near the door but I heard every word," Cho added. "You should have seen the look on his enormous face! He was practically crying by the time Hermione finished telling him exactly what she thought of him for sacking an expectant mother." Hermione smiled proudly as Harry and Neville laughed.
"Oh, it hurts to laugh," Neville said flinching as Cho situated herself better on the couch.
Hermione looked at Neville. "Why haven't you moved since we walked in the door?"
Harry laughed. "Neville's a bit out of shape."
"Harry's a bit of a bastard," Neville retorted.
Hermione stifled a laugh as she gave Neville a sympathetic smile. "What did they have you guys doing this morning anyway?"
"Every physical thing you could think of... except shagging," Harry said, earning a hard whack on the shoulder from his girlfriend.
"And of course twinkle toes over there did great," Neville said. "I, on the other hand, got lapped twice by the only two girls in our training class."
Harry laughed. "And lapped twice he means."
"You enjoyed that a little too much," Neville said crossly.
"Can you blame me?" Harry snorted. "Watching those two kick your ass was the best entertainment I've had all day!"
"Ha, ha, ha," Neville said sarcastically. "Well, at least, I don't have a shadow following me everywhere we go. You two won't believe this, but even in our training class, Harry has his own little fan club of one."
"Really," Hermione said.
Harry glared at Neville. "It's just this one girl," he shrugged as he pulled Hermione closer. "Bit annoying really."
"Megan Reilly," Neville related to the two girls. "And she's been fawning over Harry since we began. She's always offering to get him a towel and asking if he'll give her some extra help. In fact, as she was passing me, I noticed that her eyes weren't on the finish line, but on Harry's arse."
Harry felt Hermione sneak her arms around his waist. "Everyone wants a piece of you love," she smiled and Harry was almost relieved at her cavalier attitude, for it meant she had finally given up that ridiculous notion that she wasn't pretty enough for him.
"Well there's only one witch in this world allowed to have me," he grinned.
"Allowed to have him?" Cho repeated sardonically. "Hermione, you may have to build on to this place to accommodate your boyfriend's rather large ego."
"Ha, ha Cho, you're so funny," Harry wove his fingers in with Hermione's. "How was your day other than telling off Cho's boss?"
"Same old, same old," Hermione answered. Her face brightened a bit as she remembered the project. "Oh, I'm going to be doing some charms research for one of my professors. It's going to be an awful lot of work, but I'm really looking forward to it."
"That's great," Harry replied. "I know you love all that extra credit."
Hermione blushed. "It's really interesting. Gordon thinks it'll be time consuming, but I can tell he's just as excited about it as I am."
Harry's face fell slightly at the mention of the other man but he held his tongue. "When do you start work?" he asked instead.
Hermione looked absently down at her watch, but when she glanced the time, her mouth dropped open. "I was supposed to meet him in the library twenty minutes ago!"
Harry watched as she literally flew off the sofa. "Hermione calm down!" he said.
She didn't hear him as she quickly gathered up her books and threw them haphazardly into her bag. With a quick peck on the cheek to Harry she quickly made her way out the door.
Harry shook his head. "She gets entirely too worked up over this stuff sometimes." he grabbed his empty plate. "I see you two made up just fine," he looked at Cho.
Cho nodded happily. "She was really great to me when she came home this afternoon. I think we're okay now."
"Good," Harry replied. "You ready to head back in a minute Neville?"
"Not really," Neville grumbled. "If this afternoon is anything like this morning, I figure I'll be taking up permanent residence at St. Mungo's."
Cho laughed as Harry took their plates into the kitchen. "You'll be okay," she said, moving her hands to his shoulders and rubbing them.
"That feels quite nice actually," he said relaxing.
She continued to massage his aching shoulders and they sat there in silence, the only sound coming from the kitchen where Harry was busily washing the dishes. "Do you have anything planned for tomorrow evening?" he asked her finally.
"Now that I'm jobless, no." Cho replied.
Neville laughed. "How about you let me take you to dinner?"
"That sounds good to me," Cho replied, continuing to massage him as best she could. "Where do you want to go?"
"My Gran really wants to meet you," he said, turning slowly around to face her. He grimaced at the pain such a small movement caused him.
"Does she? Or did you want her to meet me?" Cho asked. "Neville, what's this going to look like- you bringing your pregnant girlfriend home? She's got to know the baby isn't yours."
"I haven't exactly mentioned that you were pregnant," Neville admitted sheepishly. "But she does want to meet you and I want you to meet her."
Cho sighed and sat back down. "She's not going to think I'm good enough for you- especially now with what you've just told me." She pushed a lock of glossy black hair over her shoulder. "What if she doesn't want you to be with me?"
Neville put a hand on her arm. "Cho, she's going to love you just like I do. I'll admit she's not the easiest person to get to know..."
"She used to hit girls with her umbrella if they got too near you on the platform when we used to catch the train for school," Cho pointed out.
"That was years ago," he said flippantly.
Cho sighed. "Look... if you really want me to come meet your Gran then I will." she conceded.
Neville smiled. "You mean it? You really want to go?"
"For you I'll do just about anything Longbottom," Cho said, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Could you keep doing what you were doing before?" he asked cheekily. "Because that was quite nice actually."
"I thought you had to get back to training," Cho replied laughingly.
"You sure no how to kick a bloke when he's down," Neville said with a chuckle. "Well, if you can't do that...could you do something else for me?"
"Sure," Cho replied.
"Help me up?" he asked her seriously.