The Order of the Phoenix - Harry Potter Male Reader Insert

35: Careers Advice

"What do you want?" said Harry coolly.

He was just on his way for dinner. Halfway across the entrance hall, he found himself face to face with Cho Chang. He was already in a bad mood due to his Occlumency lesson with Snape after dinner.

Cho faltered under his sharp tone. The message was clear, he was still very much angry with her remark about Hermione, and was not planning on forgiving her any time soon. Any chance to pursue a romantic interest had been pretty much destroyed with a single accusation.

“N-no, it was only... Well, I just wanted to say... Harry, I never dreamed Marietta would tell...”

“Yeah, well,” said Harry moodily. "She did, so that's that."

"I suppose - but, oh Harry -"

"Are we done, here?" said Harry, turning to leave.

Cho stumbled on her words as Harry turned her back on her. It truly was all over.

"What do want from me?!" she shouted.

Stopping his stride, Harry turned again, this time facing her.

"What I did was wrong..." she said, in a voice just above a whisper. "but is that all it's going to take for you to be done with me? You've liked me for years, haven't you?"

Harry's rage gave way to utter astonishment, then gave way to rage again. He twisted his face into the ugliest sneer he could manage. "Full of yourself, aren't you?" he spat. "So you knew I liked you, then you chose Cedric. I was fine with that. But once he was gone, you went straight to me? You thought I would serve as his replacement, did you? You knew I liked you. And you used that."

At the mention of Cedric, like an automatic reflex, the tears started building up again. "Don't - d-don't you dare -"

Harry gave a dry laugh. "Enough already. I'm done with you. I think you are too."

The tears were falling freely now.

"But," said Harry, and Cho looked up for his voice was much gentler than it had been. "I truly am sorry for the pain I caused you. You've been through a lot, I'm sorry I couldn't be the person who could comfort you during that time, but you'll find that person soon. It just - not me."

Cho furiously wiped her face with her sleeve. "Right," she said shortly.

Without another word, Harry turned and made for the Entrance Hall. He found Y/N, Hermione and Ron there. None of them were speaking to each other. Ron was, as usual, wordlessly stuffing his face at the dinner table, and Y/N and Hermione sat and ate in a sort of tense silence.

"What's up?" said Harry, as he sat down with them.

Y/N and Hermione stayed quiet. But only one of them seemed to be the stubborn sort of silence. Hermione was apparently sulking, a tight, knotted expression on her face and pursed lips made it clear that she was unhappy, and it didn't take a genius to figure out the person she was unhappy with was Y/N.

Speaking of which, Y/N's silence was not due to stubbornness or displeasure, more a sort of - distant expression, similar to the one he had whenever he was lost in thought. He was frowning, but not due to anger or irritation, but more of reminiscence. Clearly, they had not argued, but Hermione was in fact unhappy with Y/N, and Y/N was oblivious to it.

"Hermione's sulking," said Ron through a mouthful of pie, in answer to Harry's question. "Y/N's been ignoring us all day."

As if to prove his point, Ron flicked his dirty fork right ag Y/N, an action that would normally mean certain death, but the piece of cutlery simply ricocheted off Y/N's head with no visible reaction from him. He simply continued to stare into space, a slight frown marring his features. "See?" said Ron, through his mouthful of food.