International Relations
The Ravenclaw Common Room was uncharacteristically noisy this Sunday evening. Typically, the common room had the air of a library or a concert hall, the only loud noise was Marietta on her cello or Thomas on his bassoon. Tonight there was an overall chirruping of excited girls and nervous boys. She’d been asked no less than six times to retie a bow tie and her excellence at minor glamor charms had come in handy fixing frazzled hair or wrinkled robes.
Her own gown had the traditional high collar favored by her Mother influenced by wizarding fashions of Eastern origin. It stood out against the mix of taffeta and shimmer. White pearl with golden scenes of dueling dragons embroidered down the sides. She doubted Cedric would even notice, but she’d specifically required the dragons to be Swedish Short-Snouts to commemorate his success in the first task of the Triwizard tournament. He’d been terribly hard on himself about coming in second, but she’d never seen anything as brave as Cedric facing down that dragon. The terror that had gripped her heart when the dragon had turned away from the dog had been the most extreme fear she’d ever experienced. She’d missed Fleur and Viktor’s turns entirely as she’d run out to the champion’s tent. Her hours of volunteer work in the hospital wing paid an unexpected dividend as Madame Pomfrey allowed her through the barricade to hold Cedric’s hand while the burns were magically healed. She hadn’t even had time to be nervous or embarrassed about meeting his parents.
Now, she was experiencing more nervousness than she’d ever felt before any exam or Quidditch match. Would Cedric like her dress? Would he hate it? Was it too…foreign? As the first generation of her family born on British soil, Cho often felt like she didn’t quite fit in anywhere. She wasn’t British enough for her British friends, she wasn’t Chinese enough for her cousins in Beijing.
Knowing that there were special expectations of the Champions, Cho had to be ready earlier than the others. They’d concocted a plan to meet in the western stairwell about 20 minutes before the Champions were expected to line up. The overly punctual and precise Cho began exchanging hugs, and saying her goodbyes to the others 15 minutes earlier than that, and found herself exiting the common room about 10 minutes before there was any chance that Cedric Diggory would make an appearance.
So it was…surprising…to say the least when Cho exited the secret door and found that she was not alone in the hall. Her companion was not her tall and ridiculously handsome escort, however, it was a willowy and ridiculously beautiful blonde young woman.
“Fleur…” Cho said with a startled smile. “I didn’t expect to see you here…” They hadn’t had much in the way of interactions but had been briefly introduced following the first championship task.
“Ms. Chang, just zee person I was hoping to find. I could not decipher how to open your magic door,” Fleur smiled, and Cho couldn’t help but smile more brightly in return. Fleur was ordinarily beautiful, but in her finery and all done up for the ball, she looked like a fairy princess straight from a romantic story. And there was so much kindness and friendship radiating from her pretty face that Cho could not understand why the other girls thought that Fleur was cold.
“Please, call me Cho,” the dark-haired Ravenclaw said quickly.
“Cho is not…Chinese,” Fleur’s kind face wrinkled with curiosity. Cho’s face colored, and the Triwizard champion quickly held up her hands. “I mean no offense.”
“No, no, no offense taken…it’s just, I’ve known every girl in that common room for at least six years…and none of them have ever noticed,” Cho chuckled, and wrinkled her nose in a gesture that made her look younger and more adorable. “My real name is Chao-Xing Zhang. But, my Father adopted Chang when he immigrated, and none of my friends could say Chao-Xing. I preferred Cho to Xing-Xing, which was the other most common nickname…by the time I got to Hogwarts, I guess it had just….kind of stuck.”
A delicate pale hand lightly touched Cho’s arm, and Fleur stepped slightly closer. “You should go by whatever name you prefer. But do not let zees…persons…determine who you are. You are exceptional, I saw it in the Healer’s tent. You were so quick to help me. Someone you don’t even know. Someone who is a rival to your friend. I wanted to repay ze kindness.”
“That…isn’t necessary, Fleur, but I appreciate the kind words,” Cho said with her usual self-deprecation.
“Not necessary. But a gesture of friendship,” Fleur withdrew a small crystal flower from her small evening bag. “Ze lily grows in my garden at home. It means friendship. I turned it into a hairpin with a transfiguration spell.” She turned her head and Cho could see several glittering pins securing the girl’s marvelous blonde mane. “I thought you might like to wear one?”
“Oh…oui s'il vous plaît,” Cho fumbled in French. “It’s beautiful.” Fleur’s hands guided Cho to turn, and she slipped the fancy hairpin through Cho’s dark locks, perfecting her updo with a flick of her fingers and some wandless veela magic. Cho could see her own reflection in the brass decor along the walls and whatever the girl had done for her, it had made Cho look perfect. More confident. More beautiful than before. She turned and wrapped Fleur in an impromptu embrace. “Merci…merci beaucoup.”
“Bù kèqì,” Fleur replied in traditional Mandarin Chinese. Their hug was interrupted by the nervous clearing of a male throat.
“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Cedric smiled, leaning casually against the wall behind the pair. Cho’s breath left her as her eyes fixed on him, and she didn’t think she’d ever seen anything as handsome as the Hufflepuff boy leaning casually against the wall in his formal robes. Fleur noticed Cho’s distress and didn’t entirely let go of the younger girl as they separated. “Fleur…are you trying to pilfer my date for the evening.”
“Not at all, Cedric,” Fleur smiled and gave him the slightest curtsy of greeting. “I simply wished to thank her for tending my wounds after the dragon trial.”
“She did…” Cedric’s gaze drifted between the two before settling on Cho. “Of course she did, my girl is already trying to qualify to be the Lead Healer at St. Mungo’s before graduating Hogwarts.” At the words ‘my girl’ the casual way his words claimed her, Cho’s fingers tightened reflexively around Fleur’s and she heard the older girl laugh gently under her breath.
“I will…give you two a moment alone before the festivities, I need to go retrieve my own date or I will be the first Triwizard Champion to enter ze Yule Ball all alone…” Fleur teased, nudging Cho’s ribs.
“You’re not really worried about that, are you?” Cho asked suddenly, her native kindness asserting itself even in her love-fuddled haze. “Cedric could escort you for the first dance if you…”
“Cedric barely recognizes that I’m standing in ze hall,” Fleur chuckled. “And no, I am not worried. I have a date. And a backup date. And a backup to ze backup date. If collecting dates were one of ze Triwizard tasks, none of zees boys would stand a chance.” Fleur released Cho and looked back at her and winked. “Have fun, Chao-Xing.” The young woman paused as she passed Cedric on the stairs. Her lyrical voice lowered so that only Cedric could hear. “Mr. Diggory, I’m sure you know ze legend of ze veela? Very beautiful. Absolutely deadly when scorned. If you hurt zat girl…no one will ever find your body.”
The Hufflepuff boy chuckled softly at the threat but nodded. “Message understood.” He didn’t turn to look at her as he walked away, his gaze was absolutely transfixed on the vision before him. The moment they were alone he stepped forward and offered Cho a flower of his own, a white rose on a pale gold ribbon. He took her right hand in his and leaning over it pressed the briefest kiss to her trembling fingers, and then his eyes never leaving hers, he affixed the corsage delicately to her wrist. Keeping her right hand in his left, his own right hand went to her chin and he tilted her face up to look at him. “You look beautiful.”
“I think Fleur did something to me…” Cho confessed with a laugh.
“No,” he shook his head. “But you do something to me.” He echoed her nervous laughter. “Shall we go?” He let his fingers fall from her chin and offered her his arm.
Cho’s lips pressed together firmly and she nodded for a moment, but then just as suddenly, she shook her head, the few loose curls framing her face bouncing as she did so.
“No?” he chuckled, his dark eyebrows raising in surprise. “Well, I’m game to ditch if that’s what you want…but, I think Dumbledore and McGonagall will be very mad at us…”
“Not no…” Cho chuckled nervously. “Just…not yet. There’s something…something I have to do first…”
“What…?” his voice cut off as her slender arms wrapped around his neck and she tugged him down toward her. Thanks to their position on the stairwell he didn’t have quite the usual height advantage, but the sudden press of her lips to his nearly knocked them both off balance. Cedric froze as Cho’s petal-soft lips parted against his and her tongue eagerly begged admission to his mouth, but the moment of hesitation passed and his arms went tightly around her, half-lifting her into his body and returning her kiss with equal intensity and longing. They spent the next few minutes lost to the intensity of their kissing before Cedric finally found restraint for both of them and lowered her gently, his hands on her hips, lightly pushing her away. “Cho…” he gasped against her, as his forehead lowered to rest against hers. They were both breathing unsteadily as they stood on the stairs, trembling with all the fervor of new love. “What was that?”
“I just…I didn’t want you to be worrying if the night would end with a kiss…so I started it with one…” she grinned up at him cheekily, half drunk on the high of his affection.
“You’re gonna be the death of me, Chang…” he chuckled. “Come on…we have a ballroom to dazzle.”