At the Ball

I pulled my navy blue dress over my head, careful not to mess up my hair. I gave myself one last quick look over in the mirror, and headed to the dance alone. Cedric had told me earlier that day that he would be late because he and the quidditch captain were going to be working on some plays up until the dance. I was a little upset at first, but after many months of dating I’m pretty much used to Cedric freaking out before every quidditch match.

I arrived at the dance at the same time as the Patil sisters and decided to hook myself to them until Cedric arrived. Padma, Parvati, and I were engaging in small talk when Luna approached us. She seemed slightly concerned but there was always the possibility that Luna was just eccentric. Parvati and Padma excused themselves and left me and Luna to chat.

“You look lovely, Luna.”

“Well thank you. I don’t much like myself in green, but it’s the only color that doesn’t attract the narrgles. I actually came over to talk to you out of a bit of concern for Harry Potter. He had asked why you weren’t here with Cedric and sounded as though he was a bit concerned for your safety. I told him I had no clue, but I would make a point to find out. So here I am now, asking you where Cedric is, despite that there is a surplus of narrgles floating above your head.”

I swatted around my head for a moment before I remembered that narrgles aren’t real. “Cedric actually had to work on a few quidditch plays before he came. He always freaks out before a match, but why did Harry want to know?”

“I’m afraid I’m not sure, but if you’ll excuse me I can go find out.”

“Oh, no Luna. Don’t worry about it.” I tried to stop her from asking but she was already gone.

Just as Luna walked away, I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist. I knew it was Cedric immediately. He whispered something in my ear and I giggled, happy to see him. He took my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor, wrapping his arms around my waist. As he pulled me closer to him, all I could smell was the cologne I had bought him last Christmas. He smelled delicious and I rested my head on his shoulder, looking at the people around us. Many couples were dancing and a few people stood off on the side, chatting with their friends.

My eyes wandered around the room until they landed on Harry Potter. I was shocked to see him dancing with Parvati and couldn’t take my eyes off the pair as they moved about. Cedric pulled away from me and said something about leaving that I couldn’t quite understand. My attention was too focused on Harry dancing with that ugly twat. I had no reason to call the poor ugly Patil sister a twat, but at that time the insult did seem fit. She should know better than to dance with the boy I once had so many feelings for. The boy I had almost dated instead of Cedric.

A hand placed itself on my shoulder and I turned around to find Pansy standing behind me.

“Can I speak to you a moment?”

I nodded and followed her off the dance floor to a corner in the back. Although this corner did seem like the perfect place to commit an awful crime, I didn’t think Pansy had any reason to dislike me so I refrained from trembling in my very painful, 6-inch heels.

“I hate to be the one to tell you this,” Lie. Of course Pansy would love to bring about any bad news on anyone, “But I saw Cedric and Ginny outside together. I don’t have much else to say. I’m sure you can fill in the details yourself. I don’t much care whether or not you believe me. I just thought you should know.”

That certainly wasn’t the most gentle way to find out your boyfriend was cheating you. Of course, there was always the chance that Pansy was lying to me and Cedric really wasn’t with Ginny, but I highly doubted that. Pansy was a lot of things but she wasn’t a liar.

Now that Pansy had found out about Cedric’s unfaithfulness, I had to confront Cedric about it. Pansy was sure to tell other people and I wasn’t about to let Cedric make me look like a fool. I had to find a way to turn this situation around. He would already look like a jerk for cheating on me and breaking my heart, but I was sure there would be other ways to make this worse for him. I was going to make sure he learned his lesson and never cheated on another girl again.

Moments later, Cedric re-entered the ballroom. He towered over most of the other students, his bright hair shining in the white light. He pushed his way through the crowded dance floor and made his way toward me. Tears formed in my eyes the moment I saw him.
As soon as he was close enough to hear, I blurted out, “Tell me the truth, Cedric. Do you want to be with me?”
“No.”

Ouch. That one hurt. I took a deep breath and decided it was time to make a scene.

“Cedric, how could you do this to me? I gave you everything and you’re leaving me for that girl. She’s only a third year, Cedric! Do you realize how wrong that is? She’s a little girl and you’re manipulating her, making her think all these things that will never be true. You’re Cedric Diggory. You’ll never be able to commit to just her. You’re going to shatter her heart into a million little pieces, just like you’ve done to me. Just like you’ll do to a thousand girls after her. Think about what you’re doing. Do you really want to be responsible for that? Do you really want to be the one to show this girl that guys are never as good as we think they are? I can’t believe this is happening. I am going to walk out of this room right now, and after that, I never want to see or speak to you again. Goodbye Cedric.”

I stormed out of the ballroom as half the room stared at me walking away, and the other half’s eyes were fixed on Cedric. I walked out of the castle and kicked off my heels, carrying them as I ran to the lake.

My feet were throbbing and the cold snow helped numb them. I stepped out onto the beach of the black lake, where the snow hadn’t formed over the sand. I let myself fall to the ground, as tears flooded my face. I soon found that I could no longer control my sobbing. The combination of tears and falling snow blurred the dark figure approaching me.

“Cedric, I told you I didn’t want to speak to you.”

“Cedric is inside, but I can go get him if you’d like.”

I recognized the voice immediately and smiled to myself, “Harry, what are you doing out here?”

“I couldn’t very well let the girl who once held my heart sit outside in the snow crying alone, could I?”

“Well, considering I did the same thing to you, I wouldn’t blame you if you did.”

“You didn’t leave me crying in the snow.”

“Well, all of that minus the snow part.”

“Cho, I’m a boy. Boys don’t cry.”

“Oh right, I forgot.”

Harry sat down next to me, taking off his jacket and placing it over me.

“Harry, I have something I want to tell you, but I don’t want you to think I’m only saying it because Cedric and I just broke up.”

“I can’t promise I won’t think that, but you can try.”

“Well, a long time ago, before Cedric and I were together, you and I were talking.”

“I remember that,” Harry said, running his fingers through the sand.

“You didn’t let me finish. I nearly picked you over Cedric. Did you know that?”

“What stopped you?”

“You’re a year younger than me, Harry. People would talk.”

“You care an awful lot about what other people talk about.”

“Because what people say about you defines you. You, for example, are The Boy Who Lived, and that’s all you’ll ever be. If I were to date you, I’d be The Girl Who Dates Younger Guys. It doesn’t have quite as nice of a ring to it as yours does.”

“So you chose to be Cedric’s Girl instead?”

“It sounds bad when you say it like that.”

Harry nodded and we both fell silent. I suddenly became aware of how unusually warm I felt. The snow was piling over the grass and beginning to stick to the sand. My feet were bright red and my hair was glittered with snow, but I didn’t feel any of that. Maybe it was because my body had grown used to the temperature or because my mind was too busy thinking about other things to focus on the cold. Either way, I was certain I’d rather catch my death outside than face everyone in the castle.

Harry said my name, almost in a whisper. I wondered how long he had been talking but didn’t think to ask him.

“Yes, Harry?”

“Tell me the truth. What’s the real reason you chose Cedric over me? You won’t hurt my feelings, I swear.”

I paused, trying to make my words as gentle as possible. “Because you’re Harry Potter.”

Harry rolled his eyes, smiling at me, “Clearly.”

I didn’t want to say it, but I had to. I took a deep breath, staring at the sand, “You’re not worried about You Know Who?”

Harry remained stationary, focusing towards the sky and the lake. “Well, of course I am. I think about Voldemort all the time, but I can’t let him stop me from living. I worry every day that he’ll hurt someone I love just to get to me, but I do everything in my power to protect them. They know all the risks of being my friend and they choose to accept them. I don’t blame you for not wanting to date me Cho. If I was in your place, I might’ve made the same decision.”

“I just want you to know, Harry, that I felt way more for you than I ever did for Cedric, but I was scared. I didn’t choose Cedric over you. I chose my safety over you.”

Harry took his eyes away from the lake and looked at me. Placing his hands on my chin, he turned my gaze towards him. “You don’t need to explain anymore, Cho. I understand.”

Then I didn’t know was it was, that solemn look in his eyes, but I do now.

He moved his hand away from my face, but before it could take its place on the cold sand, I grabbed it, bringing it back towards my cheek. He smiled at me and leaned closer. The moment our lips touched, I melted. My heartbeat slowed, my cheeks warmed up, and everything fell into place.

“But I do Harry. I don’t want you to think it’s because I didn’t have feelings for you. I didn’t choose Cedric over you. I chose my safety over you.”

“Let’s just drop it.”

“No, Harry. I don’t want to just drop it. I had forgotten all about you when I started dating Cedric, until the day we talked in the library. It was the first time you and I had spoken since Cedric and I had gotten together, and it was the moment I realized dating Cedric was the biggest mistake I had ever made. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since then. I saw you and Parvati in there dancing and it set my veins on fire. I need you to believe me, Harry. I need you to believe that every day I wish I would’ve chosen you instead.” To my surprise, the entire time I was talking I had managed to remain calm. I was nearly begging Harry to be with me, and it appeared to have no effect on him.

“I suppose if we want to get technical, we could blame this whole thing on me.”

“What do you mean, Harry?”

Harry smiled to himself, “Well, just a few hours before Cedric asked you to officially be your girlfriend, I had a talk with Ron about you and I. I kept insisting that I didn’t want to put you in harm’s way, but Ron convinced me that I should let you decide that for yourself. I was actually on my way to have that talk with you, when I heard the news about you and Cedric. Basically, if I hadn’t been such a pussy and had been a little bit quicker, I might have beat Cedric to the punch and you would have been mine.”

I smiled, “Too bad you missed your chance.”

“Missed my chance? No way.” Harry leaned over and placed a hand on my cheek, pulling my face towards his.

The moment our lips touched I melted. Kissing Harry made me feel like everything that had happened between me and Cedric didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that Harry and I had missed our chance together so long ago. It made me feel like we could have a chance to be together now.