‘Who?’ said Harry quickly.

‘Who?’ said Harry quickly.

‘Ginny Weasley,’ said Katie.

Harry gaped at her.

‘Yeah, I know,’ said Angelina, pulling out her wand and flexing her arm, ‘but she's pretty good, actually. Nothing on you, of course,’ she said, throwing him a very dirty look, ‘but as we can't have you ...’

Harry bit back the retort he was longing to utter: did she imagine for a second that he did not regret his expulsion from the team a hundred times more than she did?

‘And what about the Beaters? he asked, trying to keep his voice even.

‘Andrew Kirke,’ said Alicia without enthusiasm, ‘and Jack Sloper. Neither of them are brilliant, but compared to the rest of the idiots who turned up ...’

The arrival of Ron, Hermione and Neville brought this depressing discussion to an end, and within five minutes the room was full enough to prevent Harry seeing Angelina's burning, reproachful looks.

‘OK,’ he said, calling them all to order. ‘I thought this evening we should just go over the things we've done so far, because it's the last meeting before the holidays and there's no point starting anything new right before a

three-week break—’

‘We're not doing anything new?’ said Zacharias Smith, in a disgruntled whisper loud enough to carry through the room. ‘If I'd known that, I wouldn't have come.’

‘We're all really sorry Harry didn't tell you, then,’ said Fred loudly.

Several people sniggered. Harry saw Cho laughing and felt the familiar swooping sensation in his stomach, as though he had missed a step going downstairs.

‘—we can practise in pairs,’ said Harry. ‘We'll start with the Impediment Jinx, for ten minutes, then we can get out the cushions and try Stunning again.’

They all divided up obediently; Harry partnered Neville as usual. The room was soon full of intermittent cries of ‘Impedimenta!’ People froze for a minute or so, during which their partner would stare aimlessly around the room

watching other pairs at work, then would unfreeze and take their turn at the jinx.

Neville had improved beyond all recognition. After a while, when Harry had unfrozen three times in a row, he had Neville join Ron and Hermione again so that he could walk around the room and watch the others. When he

passed Cho she beamed at him; he resisted the temptation to walk past her several more times.

After ten minutes on the Impediment Jinx, they laid out cushions all over the floor and started practising Stunning again. Space was really too confined to allow them all to work this spell at once; half the group observed the

others for a while, then swapped over.

Harry felt himself positively swelling with pride as he watched them all. True, Neville did Stun Padma Patil rather than Dean, at whom he had been aiming, but it was a much closer miss than usual, and everybody else had

made enormous progress.

At the end of an hour, Harry called a halt.

‘You're getting really good,’ he said, beaming around at them. ‘When we get back from the holidays we can start doing some of the big stuff—maybe even Patronuses.’

There was a murmur of excitement. The room began to clear in the usual twos and threes; most people wished Harry a ‘Happy Christmas’ as they went. Feeling cheerful, he collected up the cushions with Ron and Hermione

and stacked them neatly away. Ron and Hermione left before he did; he hung back a little, because Cho was still there and he was hoping to receive a ‘Merry Christmas’ from her.

‘No, you go on,’ he heard her say to her friend Marietta and his heart gave a jolt that seemed to take it into the region of his Adam's apple.

He pretended to be straightening the cushion pile. He was quite sure they were alone now and waited for her to speak. Instead, he heard a hearty sniff.

He turned and saw Cho standing in the middle of the room, tears pouring down her face.

‘Wha—?’

He didn't know what to do. She was simply standing there, crying silently.

‘What's up?’ he said, feebly.

She shook her head and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

‘I'm—sorry,’ she said thickly. ‘I suppose ... it's just ... learning all this stuff ... it just makes me ... wonder whether ... if he'd known it all ... he'd still be alive.’

Harry's heart sank right back past its usual spot and settled somewhere around his navel. He ought to have known. She wanted to talk about Cedric.

‘He did know this stuff,’ Harry said heavily. ‘He was really good at it, or he could never have got to the middle of that maze. But if Voldemort really wants to kill you, you don't stand a chance.’

She hiccoughed at the sound of Voldemort's name, but stared at Harry without flinching.

‘You survived when you were just a baby,’ she said quietly.

‘Yeah, well,’ said Harry wearily, moving towards the door, ‘I dunno why, nor does anyone else, so it's nothing to be proud of.’

‘Oh, don't go!’ said Cho, sounding tearful again. ‘I'm really sorry to get all upset like this ... I didn't mean to ...’

She hiccoughed again. She was very pretty even when her eyes were red and puffy. Harry felt thoroughly miserable. He'd have been so pleased with just a ‘Merry Christmas'.

‘I know it must be horrible for you,’ she said, mopping her eyes on her sleeve again. ‘Me mentioning Cedric, when you saw him die ... I suppose you just want to forget about it?’

Harry did not say anything to this; it was quite true, but he felt heartless saying it.

‘You're a r-really good teacher, you know,’ said Cho, with a watery smile. ‘I've never been able to Stun anything before.’

‘Thanks,’ said Harry awkwardly.

They looked at each other for a long moment. Harry felt a burning desire to run from the room and, at the same time, a complete inability to move his feet.

‘Mistletoe,’ said Cho quietly, pointing at the ceiling over his head.

‘Yeah,’ said Harry. His mouth was very dry. ‘It's probably full of Nargles, though.’

‘What are Nargles?’

‘No idea,’ said Harry. She had moved closer. His brain seemed to have been Stunned. ‘You'd have to ask Loony. Luna, I mean.’

Cho made a funny noise halfway between a sob and a laugh. She was even nearer to him now. He could have counted the freckles on her nose.

‘I really like you, Harry.’

He could not think. A tingling sensation was spreading through him, paralysing his arms, legs and brain.

She was much too close. He could see every tear clinging to her eyelashes ...

He returned to the common room half an hour later to find Hermione and Ron in the best seats by the fire; nearly everybody else had gone to bed. Hermione was writing a very long letter; she had already filled half a roll of

parchment, which was dangling from the edge of the table. Ron was lying on the hearthrug, trying to finish his Transfiguration homework.

‘What kept you?’ he asked, as Harry sank into the armchair next to Hermione's.

Harry didn't answer. He was in a state of shock. Half of him wanted to tell Ron and Hermione what had just happened, but the other half wanted to take the secret with him to the grave.

‘Are you all right, Harry?’ Hermione asked, peering at him over the tip of her quill.

Harry gave a half-hearted shrug. In truth, he didn't know whether he was all right or not. ‘What's up?’ said Ron, hoisting himself up on his elbow to get a clearer view of Harry. ‘What's happened?’
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