The Day After Tomorrow

LEAVE THE LIGHT ON

44 - LEAVE THE LIGHT ON

"WHERE did the Greengrass' go?" Asked Blaise, stretching up from the seat. He vaguely recalled them shoving past him when the final horn had blown and wondered if maybe one of them had had too much butterbeer. The Slytherin team were hugging fiercely on the field, each of them shaking Draco with rough jabs of celebration. The conjured serpent had danced about them and then dissolved in a brilliant burst of emerald light like confetti.

Cho shook her head, searching for the Greengrass sisters' identical dark heads. She'd almost thought they were twins the first time she'd seen them. Both delicate and small in stature with dark hair and eyes that made them out to appear quite aristocratic and moody. "I'm not sure." Said Cho and then stopped abruptly. She caught the gaze of another pair of dark eyes staring back at her. These ones were narrowed, the lips beneath them an elegant twist. "But I found Parkinson." Cho stayed rooted to the spot.

"Ah." Said Blaise pleasantly.

Blaise Zabini was one thing, but Pansy Parkinson felt intimidating, especially when she was staring at Cho like she was something mildly irritating and amusing that had appeared. Cho didn't feel like waiting to hear the words that accompanied that expression.

She strained her neck trying to find the spot she'd last seen Hermione and Luna and saw them making their way up an aisle. "I've got to go catch the girls." Cho said quickly at Blaise, she saw his expression flicker confused like he was trying to find the source of her sudden departure. She softened a fraction, leaning up to meet his dark eyes. "Thanks for today." She felt shy when she remembered. "I'll send you an owl. About the dancing."

"About the date." Blaise corrected with a small smirk and saw her blush flustered, but her dark eyes remained on his, steadfast and resolved, unafraid.

Cho did her best not to give into that swarm of butterflies or waver from his gaze. "Yes. The date." She turned quickly before he could make her swoon with more snarky remarks and shoved her way through the crowd, cursing how sweaty her palms were and how hot her neck felt.

Sometimes she felt as clueless and inexperienced as he'd described her to be. Like she was fumbling with her feelings, unsure what to do with them.

Blaise watched her go, a warm glow settling into the pit of his stomach. Draco had caught the snitch, and he knew it sounded ridiculously soppy, but it felt a little like, Cho Chang had caught his heart.

"I saw you with Chang." Observed Pansy with a smug superior tone as she made her way towards him. He looked joyful, content even. Her eyes trailed after Chang's retreating figure as she found Granger and Lovegood.

"I saw you drooling over the Weasley." Returned Blaise quick as a whip and had the pleasure of witnessing Pansy Parkinson, the Ice Queen flush.

She scowled deeply at him, her eyes flicking away from the girls to Blaise. "I wasn't drooling."

"What do you call that then? Ogling?" Supplied Blaise smirking from beside her as they joined the last stream of students exiting the stands.

"Ew no Blaise." Pansy frowned, her mouth opening and closing as she tried vainly to search for a more searing retort. But she couldn't not really, because she had been ogling, or drooling or whatever you wanted to call it. She'd been so caught up in the match, she'd felt smug watching every time a green robed figure smacked a quaffle through the goal posts and Ron Weasley had struggled to block it. "I was merely observing." She'd have to add that to the long list of things she secretly liked about him.