Harry was desperate to talk alone with Ron and Hermione about what happened with Cho, but he never got the chance until Monday’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Ron didn’t come back to the dormitory until late on Saturday night, and although Sunday, they hung out with Katrina, Neville, and Ginny. Harry liked having them with him, but he didn’t want them around when he talked to Hermione and Ron about this. That day during class, Drew Fordson divided the class into groups of two or three to work on an assignment. Katrina and Neville moved to another part of the room to be partners, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were a group of three. With everybody concentrating on their projects, Harry decided that now was the time to tell Ron and Hermione about his date with Cho Chang.
When he finished telling them everything he could, without mentioning the name of the girl that he liked now, he noticed his tow best friends were staring at him in awe.
“But Harry!” yelled Ron, looking very stupefied, “You were crazy about Cho Chang last year! Everybody knew you were, you should have told her yes.”
“No,” said Hermione. “Harry, you did the right thing. You knew that you didn’t love Cho, and it would be wrong for you to date someone when you knew your heart was somewhere else. That should a lot of maturity.”
“That showed a lot of stupidity. Cho is a really pretty girl! You should have said yes.” exclaimed Ron.
“I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.” Harry told him.
They noticed Drew Fordson walking toward their table. They knew they would never get in trouble for talking about personal matters in his class, but they lowered their tones of voice because they didn’t want their teacher, no matter how cool he was, to hear about what they were talking. It would have been much too embarrassing for Harry.
“I just don’t get it!” Ron said, shaking his head. “Cho likes you, apparently she likes you a bloody lot, and you told me last year that you liked her!”
“Do you guys need any help?” asked Drew.
“Nope, we’re doing okay.” Hermione assured him.
“Well, of course you would.” said the teacher grinning. “With a genus like you, Miss Granger, in the group, of course you wouldn’t have any problems.”
Hermione beamed.
“Too bad I didn’t have any smart friends like you to work with when I was in school.” he teased, turning away.
“You know, I don’t think Drew Fordson is such a bad teacher, after all.” said Hermione as they were leaving class that day.
************************************************************************
The Quiditch season began late that year. Dumbledore had the start of the season pushed back because all the teams had to add so many new players, and all the staff decided it would be best to make sure the teams had plenty of times to practice before their first games.
The very first game of the season was Gryfindor vs. Ravenclaw.
Harry was dreading the game because he would have to see Cho. Even though he promised Cho that they would still remain friends, he was very nervous about the idea of seeing her again, and there would be no way to avoid her on the Quiditch field.
Ron, one the other hand, was very excited about his first game. Fred and George were thrilled about their debut as co-captains.
But before the game could come, there was breakfast ,and classes.
Ron was very excitable that morning at breakfast. He was telling Harry and Hermione in a very brisk voice about all the things he was planning on doing when he was on the field. Hermione seemed to be a bit annoyed by the constant Quiditch chatter and asked, “Where’s Katrina?”
“I dunno.” said Ron, who was very displeased with being interrupted. “You share a dormitory with her, not us. Shouldn’t you know?”
“I’ve got no idea. She wasn’t there when I came downstairs this morning. None of the girls knew where she was.”
“Maybe Neville knows.” Harry suggested. “He’s her best friend.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” said Hermione.
“Hey, Neville! Ron called down the table to Neville, who was busy buttering his toast. “You seen Katrina this morning?”
“Nope.” said Neville. “Ask Percy. I bet she’s with him.”
Harry’s stomach turned. He was worried about Katrina. It was not like her to be missing, because she always told Harry where she was going, and always, for some reason, wanted to know where Harry was going. The idea of Katrina being missing unsettled him because she had a knack of getting into trouble. But even worse, was the idea that she would sneak off so early in the morning for a rendvue with Percy.
But just then, Katrina made her appearance in the Great Hall, and all eyes were on her. Harry had no doubt why.
She had cut her hair to her shoulders, but that’s not the reason why it was catch attention. Her hair, which was naturally aurborne, was now decorated with alternating gold and bright Crayola red stripes. Her face, which most of the time has very little and very natural looking makeup, had bright red lipstick, glittery gold eye shadow, and a big red lion painted on each of her cheeks. Her clothing, which was always very bold, was a red and cold ty-dyed baby tee, with a matching lion and the words GRYFINDOR KICKS BUTT painted on. On the back of her shirt, it said GO POTTER! GO WEASLEY! She wore super short mini skirt that Harry could tell she made herself. The skirt had diagonal alternating scraps of red and gold fabric sewed together, with lots of slits in between. The fabric had cartoon broomsticks, and said GRYFINDOR. She obviously had bought it from some Hogwarts supply store that Harry never knew exists. The skirt looked like something a Muggle cheerleader might wear. The cheerleader theme was built upon with one red and one gold pom pom, and her one red, one gold flip flops.
When she sat down in an empty seat next to Harry, everyone stared at her for a while without speaking.
Finally, Ron interrupted the silence.
“What the bloody hell are you supposed to be?” he asked.
“I was up all night making this costume to support you guys! Do you like it?” she said beaming. “I think it turned out really good. I’m so proud of myself!”
“It’s looks wonderful.” Harry lied.
She beamed.
Where ever she went, Katrina got attention for elaborate costume. Lots of people liked it. Some people chuckled at her, but all in all, Katrina was very happy with the response.
When they arrived at Potions, the Slytherins had plenty to say.
Draco Malfoy seemed to be very interested in her look.
“How about you support a real winner and wear green and silver instead?” he suggested, in a silky voice, trying desperately to flirt with her.
“Uh, Slytherin isn’t playing today! Dur!” she said. “Besides, I am a Gryfindor! An I’m proud to be one!”
When Snape entered the class room, he was interested in Katrina’s hair.
“What happened to your hair, Miss Figg?” he asked. “Since this is only the beginning of class, I assume a foul potion did not blow up on you.”
“Um, it’s called hair dye.” Katrina said, meekly.
“Hair dye?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah, it’s this thing Muggles use to dye their hair.”
“Hmm.” said bewildered Snape. “Never heard of it. I assume it’s a relatively modern invention?”
“It was invented last year!” Hermione called out, trying not to giggle.
**************************************************************************
The day progressed quickly, and before Harry knew it, he was on his broom looking for the Snitch. Not much had happened in the game so far, and there was no sign of the Snitch, so Harry decided to stay the heck out of the way as much as possible. Cho Chang seemed to be observing the same tactic, and she didn’t pay much attention to Harry.
All of a sudden, there it was! High, high above them was the Golden Snitch!
Cho must have seen it too, because they were both racing for it as fast as they could. Up, up, up, the flew until the crowds below them were tiny little pin pricks.
Suddenly, Harry noticed that Cho’s broom was buckling. It was doing the exact same thing that had happened to Harry his year!
One good jolt, and Cho was hanging from her broom by one hand.
“Cho!” he yelled, desperately trying to grap hold of her. They were very high up in the air, from trying to catch the Snitch. Harry knew that if she slipped, she would be hurt terribly. “Cho, please! Grap hold of my hand. I’ll put you on my broom, and take you to the ground where it’s safe. Please Cho.” he said desperately.
Cho reached forward with her free hand, trying to hold Harry’s hand, but the broom began to vibrate so hard, that couldn’t do it. All she could do was try to hold on to her broom.
Harry threw his arm, trying to hold her waist and pull her onto his Firebolt, but it was no use. Her broom jolted her up again, even higher than they were before. Much higher than Harry. Harry tried to fly up to her, but her broom kept on flying up an dup. Harry glanced down for a split second, and he could no longer see the stadium.
“We must be hundreds of feet above the stadium!” he cried, as he sped higher and higher trying to get to Cho. Her broom had stopped rising, and Harry had been able to catch up to her. It was standing completely still, and Cho was riding on it, holding very tightly.
“I think I’ll be okay now, Harry.” she said to him. “Let’s fly down now.”
“Climb on to my broom.” Harry commanded her.
“No,” she said, sounding very shaken. “I’ll be okay, I can handle my broom.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, her broom did an upside down spiral, and threw her completely off.
Harry sped off towards the ground as she fell, fell, fell, fell, but it was no use. They were too high, and she was flying too fast.
Harry tried his best, but he was always just behind her, forced to watch the young woman he used to like so much, fall hopelessly down down down.
**********************************************************************************************