“Harry... can you stay a minute?”


A few months ago, the phrase had filled him with nervous excitement that was more pleasant than terrifying. Now, he felt a tinge of annoyance, an then one of guilt for being annoyed. He looked up at the speaker, then around the room, where the members of the DA were breaking up from the evening's lessons, preparing to make their ways back to their respective common rooms in ones and twos. He noticed Ron, Hermione, and Ginny looking at him, their blank expressions painfully transparent.


“Yeah, Cho, I can stay,” he said with a sigh, wincing at the flash of pain that crossed her face at his weariness. He shrugged slightly – in his defense, he had a lot to be weary about.


She nodded, then went off to a small knot of Ravenclaws, presumably to tell them about the change in plan. A few shot Harry a quick look, interspersed with more than one glare, but none came over to confront him, or make a scene amongst the DA. Harry sighed again, so much for small mercies, he thought, hiding a rueful grin .


At last, the room was all but empty, Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot leaving together, just after Hermione and Ron. He was, he realized as an icy dread landed in his stomach, alone, with Cho Chang, in the Room of Requirements.


Know how this song goes, he thought uncharitably. She was, he noticed, standing in the same place as she had that night, wringing her hands together and playing with the end of her scarf. She was nervous, but he waited – he wasn't going to be the one to push this... whatever this was. Then he saw her face, and the horror threatened to overwhelm him. She's going to cry. Oh, Merlin, she's going to cry again.


“We can't meet again,” she finally said, shakily. Harry looked up, shocked and confused – he was fumbling to remind her he wasn't sure why they were meeting in the first place. Before he could, she took a breath, then barreled on. “The D.A. - you have to hold off the meetings for a while. Marietta... she's under a lot of pressure from home her mum works for the ministry and things have gotten really bad and -” she stopped, realizing she was babbling.


Harry stepped closer, slowly, as if confronting a frightened animal. He reached out, enveloping on of Cho's hands in his. “Cold,” he blurted stupidly, flushing slightly after he did. She gave him a wet smile, though didn't meet his eyes. “Marietta is going to betray you to Umbridge,” she whispered.


As Harry took that in, Cho lost what ounce of composure she had left, collapsing bonelessly into Harry's chest, sobbing. Awkwardly, he put his arms around her, trying to sooth her best as he could. “Thanks, Cho,” he mumbled, though that only seemed to make her cry harder. Cursing himself, he refrained from saying anything else, willing if not content to simply hold her.


“It's okay,” he whispered at last. “Everything is going to be okay.”


He returned to the dormitory an hour later, not truly surprised to see his friends still awake, sitting around the dying embers of the common room hearth waiting for him. Their looks were inquisitive and far too assumptions – Ron's every-so-slight smirk, Hermione's preparedness to lecture... even Ginny seemed less than thrilled. He said nothing, shaking his head before collapsing into one of the chairs, too drained to even begin to explain what had just happened. Closing his eyes, he let out a deep breath.


“DA is canceled until further notice. We need to spread the message.” He said at last.
“What!” was the universal response. “Harry... what happened? We need the DA – you can't quit now. Whatever did Cho say?” Hermione asked at a frantic pace. Ron and Ginny nodded, leaning forward in silent demand for Harry's response.


“It's nothing... nothing to do with Cho,” Harry said at last, turning back towards the fire. “And I'm not quitting – we'll pick it up again, I promise. It's too risky, meeting every week like this. We need to take a break, throw the schedule off a bit. We'll see where we are with Umbridge in fortnight and go from there.”


He hadn't actually answered the questions, and was relieved when none of them seemed to notice. Instead, Hermione nodded, though she still looked pensive. “The secrecy spells though – she won't find out from anyone in the DA... you think we could be being watched?”


Harry smiled, grateful for such a friend. “Maybe, it's possible – so many students sneaking back, wouldn't be hard to find out something was going on. But tell me, Hermione, could someone on the inside betray us? It might hurt them if they did, but could they do it?”


Hermione paused. “Yes,” she said at last, sullenly. “They won't be happy if they do, but they could... you don't think anyone is going to, do you?” she said in alarm.


“No, no,” Harry said quickly, feeling the need to reassure her as best he could without betraying Cho. “Was just wondering – don't worry, we will start up again, I promise – just not right away.”


Everyone nodded, seemingly satisfied.


“Right then,” Ron broke in, and in doing so broke the last remnants of tensions between them. “I'm about to fall over dead – and we have potions tomorrow. Think I'm off to bed.”


Harry nodded, suppressing a yawn. “Me too, see you all in the morning. Night. Hermione, Ginny.”


“Night, Harry,” they replied.

-----------------------------------

The night had almost been a complete disaster.


Almost.


Hermione had taken a curse to the stomach, the long purple flame seared into his memory as it had almost seared her. She was a few beds over from him, behind a curtain and snoring softly – drugged up on all sorts of potions. Ron was actually at St. Mungo's proper and not the Hogwarts hospital wing, being treated for Merlin-knows-what the brain things had done to him. Luna and Ginny had come out the best, with only minor injuries and had been allowed to return to the dormitories. Neville, with the fool's luck that struck him as genuinely Harry Potterish, hadn't received so much as a scratch.


As Madam Pomphrey had said while healing him, he would have a nice long time to contemplate his actions tonight. Regrowing an arm and a leg with skelegrowgave him a night that promised to be long and painful, ample time to consider what his bullheaded approach had almost caused.


Even so, he couldn't resist a pained smile. He had had two limbs obliterated to pieces, but he'd taken out three of Voldemort's inner circle before it happened, only succumbing to Bellatrix. And then Sirius! He had swooped in with the Order, fighting Bellatrix to a near standstill before Dumbledore could reinforce him. He shivered at the memory even so – there had been many close calls in the past few months – had Umbridge been able to marginalize Dumbledore, had the cavalry arrived even minutes later because of it...


He shook his head, groaning at the spasm of pain it caused. It wasn't worth thinking about. Instead, he stared at his arm and leg, both elevated and utterly boneless – the image was so ridiculous it forced a wheezy chuckle from his lips – he stopped dead, noticing a figure in the doorway.


“Hello, Harry,” came a whisper from the shadow.


His breath caught as it – she – moved forward, and into the dim torchlight of the room. The light played across her soft brown skin, her arms bare as she came forward, clad only in a white cotton nightdress. She gasped softly on seeing his condition, her mouth forming a small 'o' as she continued to move closer, a soft, small hand resting against his forehead as she sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to joggle him.


“You're okay,” it came out equal parts statement and question, compounded by the mixture of relief and doubt in her eyes.


“Hey, Cho,” Harry whispered back, unable to fight back a smile as her hand massaged his scalp, softly ruffling his hair. “Yeah, I'm alright.”


“I'm so sorry,” she continued to stroke his hair, seeming not to notice what she was doing. “I should have come with you – been there. We went through it all this year but when it really mattered we –”


“Hey, it's okay,” he interrupted softly. He smiled, “sometimes, you're as bad as Hermione.”


For a moment, he wondered if he'd just stuck a Hagrid-sized foot in his mouth, but she continued to smile at him – though her eyes darted to Hermione's bed for a moment. “I wish I was,” she said at last, before looking back down at him.


“Well... I don't!” he replied, feeling strangely inspired (or at last feeling the effect of the pain lessening potions). “I love Hermione, but she's Hermione. I want you to be Cho.”


She visibly brightened, then moved again, awkwardly rearranging herself so she was lying next to him fully, her free hand taking hold of his good one. “And what does that require, exactly?” she asked, voice as light and teasing as he'd ever heard from her. He blushed a brilliant crimson, grateful that it wasn't nearly so visible in the near-darkness of the hospital wing.


“I dunno,” he mumbled, shrugging his shoulder as he did. He hissed in the movement, and a moment later his hand was free, Cho's hand moving up to caress the injured arm. “How about we find out – a blank slate?”


It was, he realized, as forward as he'd ever been – and it had happened far too quickly to even worry about the ramifications. Now, it was out there, and he felt the familiar return of ice to his veins...


“No, we can't,” Cho replied, and he felt an ache that had nothing to do with the duel. “We've moved on... but maybe we can try and move on together, if that's okay with you.”


The ache disappeared, to be replaced by a delicious warmth that made it's way throughout his body, even the parts he couldn't currently feel. Smiling brightly, he turned slightly, eager to look at her face to face once more. “I'd like that,” he said quickly, earning him a quick giggle from Cho.


“Good,” she replied, before reaching out and pressing a kiss against his forehead. “No snogging now,” she replied impishly, “you'll hurt yourself. We'll sort everything out in the morning.”


Harry nodded, realizing just how drowsy he was – with the pain blunted and the adrenaline wearing off, he was weary to the bones. “Yeah, we will,” he affirmed. “Night.”


“Night,” came the sleepy reply, whispered soothingly in his ear.


He turned around slightly, making himself as comfortable as one can when two of one's limbs are regrowing themselves. With a sigh, he thought about tomorrow – no doubt he'd have a talk with Dumbledore, and with Sirius. He grinned – while he had known in truth for two years now, it brought home the fact that someone truly cared for him, would knowingly risk everything for him He had a family.


His grin widened further as he came back to the present, feeling Cho's arms wrap around him cautiously but firmly, her breasts pushing into his back as he molded herself up against him, the soft wind of her breath brushing against his cheek. Maybe he had something else, too.