The Boy In My Dreams -HEDRIC (1)

19.(HC) family should never be abandoned

"How are you, Harry?" Cedric came up to ask him.

His concerned tone did not go unnoticed.

A clumsy "great" was all Harry could answer.

It wasn't a lie, just that it was the right answer if you asked him how he was feeling at the moment. In any other, "awful" and "stressed" were the correct ones.

"Has Cho talked to you yet?"

"What?"

Cedric opened his mouth as if he had said something he shouldn't.

"Talk to me about what?" Harry insisted.

He didn't get a quick answer. Cedric commented that she had mentioned to him that she would do it, but he wasn't sure what it was about. It occurred to Harry that he wasn't entirely sincere. Anyway, he followed another topic of conversation as they walked around the Hogwarts grounds for a while on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Cedric offered to help him study if he needed it. Harry would have agreed if it wasn't for the fact that it was one way to get quite the opposite result.

Maybe next year , he said.

LV

Thanks to Cedric's warning, Cho didn't catch Harry off guard when she called out to him in the middle of a hallway two days later. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure."

The fact that the girl in front of him seemed reluctant to speak made him nervous and confused. What did she have to tell him? And if she didn't want to, why was she there?

"The other day," Cho began to explain, never taking her eyes off his face, "after the match, I wasn't nice to you. I know we don't know each other and maybe you didn't notice, but Ced said it would be better if... I don't know, he's usually right about these things."

The way she said his name. Ced.

Cho took a breath. "It was kind of intimidating playing against you and Gryffindor, and I tend to be a bit defensive, you know."

"That comes with the job, I guess," Harry tried to tease, not knowing where she was going. "I understand it."

"It seemed to me that you didn't even try to win, and I thought of the worst reasons that could justify that. Gryffindor is known to be quite competitive. And all of you have been friendly to us. Sorry if I misunderstood."

Of all the ways Harry had expected to be confronted, this was one he hadn't pictured at all. He took a step back, how could he justify himself?

"You don't owe me an explanation or anything," she clarified, moving a few inches closer. He was relieved, because he didn't have any good excuses ready. "You must think I'm crazy. I guess this is my way of welcoming you. You're a friend of Cedric's, and if he likes you that much, I'm sure there must be a good reason. He doesn't make mistakes with people."

"Welcome?"

Harry was stunned.

Cho smiled with a sudden shyness.

"Friends," she offered, holding out her hand.

When he took it, Harry was sure he was sweating.

Maybe he did sort of fancy her.

She was straightforward, nice and accompanied him to his next class.

But just a little bit, Harry recognized the difference.

What he didn't understand was where that left him regarding Cedric.

LVI

He had to get out of his head to focus on exams.