100 Moments
folder
Harry Potter › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
100
Views:
10,637
Reviews:
52
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › General
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
100
Views:
10,637
Reviews:
52
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Guilt
Title: Guilt
Author: ianthe_waiting
Rating: T
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter books and their characters are the property of JK Rowling. This is a work of fan-fiction. No infringement is intended, and no money is being made from this story. I am just borrowing the puppets, but this is my stage.
Genre: Drabble
Warnings: None
Summary: #45 – Guilt. She had been carrying around tiny bits of guilt for too long.
Word Count: 809 words.
Author's Notes: Drabble: a slice of fic in less than 1500 words.
Prompt 45 – Guilt
It was not his fault.
Cho knew that she had to stop torturing herself. She knew she had to deal with the grief and the guilt and move on with her life. Easier said than done, she thought.
It had started simply, with a kiss that she botched by letting guilt consume her. Cho wondered if her crying during their first kiss irreparably traumatized Harry Potter. She stressed about it for weeks afterward. She understood why he pushed her away; Cho Chang was an emotional basket case.
She blamed so much on Cedric, and then everything on Harry for not saving Cedric. It was illogical she knew, but she only knew in hindsight.
For years after Cedric and the disastrous kiss, she tried her best to be just ‘okay.’ She fought next to the DA in the Battle of Hogwarts; she buried friends and nursed others. She finished her education, she had a flat in Diagon Alley, and she considered what to do with her adult life.
A letter had come the day before, totally unexpected, and one that made her heart beat too quickly.
Harry Potter wanted to see her, perhaps take her to lunch. She was not sure what to make of the letter.
She had been working at St. Mungo’s, on a volunteer basis, while taking courses in law at King’s College. Her income was meager and she hoped that when Harry sent a reply to her affirmative it was not a lunch in a pricier restaurant.
He was going to meet her in the Leaky Cauldron at noon.
Cho’s hands shook as she brushed out her hair, making sure the side part was straight, making sure her makeup was not too much, and not too little. She adjusted the right strap of her brassiere, and smiled at herself in the mirror. She did not look too nervous when she smiled, it just every other time that her lips trembled along with the rest of her.
At noon, she found him waving her over from a secluded booth, the pub too dark and smoky for her to see him clearly until she moved to him. When she sat down, he smiled in the muted lamplight. He had grown up.
“I wanted to apologize to you, Cho,” he said later, after they had finished with small talk and tried to eat. Cho had only picked at her food.
She had mastered herself somewhat, her lips no longer quivering.
“When… When we kissed that time, and when Ginny was so short with you the day of the battle.”
She tried to look surprised or perhaps bemused; instead, she felt her face become still, her eyes boring into the rough tabletop.
“I never wanted to drift so far away that we could not at least be friends.”
Friends, it was a quaint idea, she thought. She had so few nowadays. Harry Potter, the Saviour of the Wizarding world, wanted to be her friend.
Even as he walked her back to her flat, she knew that people were watching. Harry was a celebrity, and she? She was a nobody. She had been Cedric Diggory’s girlfriend once upon a time. She still had the clippings about the Tri-Wizard Tournament with a picture of her and Cedric at the Yule Ball.
“How about lunch next week? You can tell me all about University life…”
He was leaning against the doorframe of her flat door, smiling blithely, his eyes moving over the bare walls of her the flat, to the obsessively neat sitting room, to the spotless kitchen.
She could not maintain the façade any longer. He was being far too nice. He had not mentioned Ginny Weasley; he had not mentioned his work. All that they had talked about over lunch was people they knew at school, dancing around the subject of Cedric.
She felt her hands begin to tremble again, her face begin to crumple.
“Cho? What’s the matter?”
He sounded honestly concerned.
When she moved, it was reminiscent of days playing Quidditch at school. Her hands grasped his coat, pulling him into the flat. It was clumsy, and they fell, hard. He was flustered, embarrassed, and tried to be a gentleman to help her off him.
Cho would not move, her face buried into his chest, inhaling the scent of him, feeling the warmth of him. He was no boy, no longer too skinny, too gawky.
She kissed him, and there were no tears. It was not the chaste, innocent kiss of years before; it was a kiss that she should have given him. It was deep, wet, and passionate. For years, she had carried millions of tiny guilts, and one of them had been not taking what she wanted with Harry.
She was going to take it now, and feel the load lighten as one guilt turned into satisfaction.
Author: ianthe_waiting
Rating: T
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter books and their characters are the property of JK Rowling. This is a work of fan-fiction. No infringement is intended, and no money is being made from this story. I am just borrowing the puppets, but this is my stage.
Genre: Drabble
Warnings: None
Summary: #45 – Guilt. She had been carrying around tiny bits of guilt for too long.
Word Count: 809 words.
Author's Notes: Drabble: a slice of fic in less than 1500 words.
Prompt 45 – Guilt
It was not his fault.
Cho knew that she had to stop torturing herself. She knew she had to deal with the grief and the guilt and move on with her life. Easier said than done, she thought.
It had started simply, with a kiss that she botched by letting guilt consume her. Cho wondered if her crying during their first kiss irreparably traumatized Harry Potter. She stressed about it for weeks afterward. She understood why he pushed her away; Cho Chang was an emotional basket case.
She blamed so much on Cedric, and then everything on Harry for not saving Cedric. It was illogical she knew, but she only knew in hindsight.
For years after Cedric and the disastrous kiss, she tried her best to be just ‘okay.’ She fought next to the DA in the Battle of Hogwarts; she buried friends and nursed others. She finished her education, she had a flat in Diagon Alley, and she considered what to do with her adult life.
A letter had come the day before, totally unexpected, and one that made her heart beat too quickly.
Harry Potter wanted to see her, perhaps take her to lunch. She was not sure what to make of the letter.
She had been working at St. Mungo’s, on a volunteer basis, while taking courses in law at King’s College. Her income was meager and she hoped that when Harry sent a reply to her affirmative it was not a lunch in a pricier restaurant.
He was going to meet her in the Leaky Cauldron at noon.
Cho’s hands shook as she brushed out her hair, making sure the side part was straight, making sure her makeup was not too much, and not too little. She adjusted the right strap of her brassiere, and smiled at herself in the mirror. She did not look too nervous when she smiled, it just every other time that her lips trembled along with the rest of her.
At noon, she found him waving her over from a secluded booth, the pub too dark and smoky for her to see him clearly until she moved to him. When she sat down, he smiled in the muted lamplight. He had grown up.
“I wanted to apologize to you, Cho,” he said later, after they had finished with small talk and tried to eat. Cho had only picked at her food.
She had mastered herself somewhat, her lips no longer quivering.
“When… When we kissed that time, and when Ginny was so short with you the day of the battle.”
She tried to look surprised or perhaps bemused; instead, she felt her face become still, her eyes boring into the rough tabletop.
“I never wanted to drift so far away that we could not at least be friends.”
Friends, it was a quaint idea, she thought. She had so few nowadays. Harry Potter, the Saviour of the Wizarding world, wanted to be her friend.
Even as he walked her back to her flat, she knew that people were watching. Harry was a celebrity, and she? She was a nobody. She had been Cedric Diggory’s girlfriend once upon a time. She still had the clippings about the Tri-Wizard Tournament with a picture of her and Cedric at the Yule Ball.
“How about lunch next week? You can tell me all about University life…”
He was leaning against the doorframe of her flat door, smiling blithely, his eyes moving over the bare walls of her the flat, to the obsessively neat sitting room, to the spotless kitchen.
She could not maintain the façade any longer. He was being far too nice. He had not mentioned Ginny Weasley; he had not mentioned his work. All that they had talked about over lunch was people they knew at school, dancing around the subject of Cedric.
She felt her hands begin to tremble again, her face begin to crumple.
“Cho? What’s the matter?”
He sounded honestly concerned.
When she moved, it was reminiscent of days playing Quidditch at school. Her hands grasped his coat, pulling him into the flat. It was clumsy, and they fell, hard. He was flustered, embarrassed, and tried to be a gentleman to help her off him.
Cho would not move, her face buried into his chest, inhaling the scent of him, feeling the warmth of him. He was no boy, no longer too skinny, too gawky.
She kissed him, and there were no tears. It was not the chaste, innocent kiss of years before; it was a kiss that she should have given him. It was deep, wet, and passionate. For years, she had carried millions of tiny guilts, and one of them had been not taking what she wanted with Harry.
She was going to take it now, and feel the load lighten as one guilt turned into satisfaction.