Harry Potter and the Serpent Slayer

Chapter 11: Words and Fists

Everyone woke up late on Boxing Day after having spent the entire night awake. For Harry, he groaned as the rush of a headache hit him full-force. After the Yule Ball, Harry had escorted Cho back to the Ravenclaw Tower before returning to Gryffindor Tower, where he spent the rest of the night drinking more Firewhiskey with Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia and Katie. At the time it had been fun, and Harry had felt himself loosen up more than he had in months. He little gathering had turned into a full-blown afterparty with almost everyone from fourth year and over joined. But nobody told Harry about the searing hangover that would follow, and he groaned again.

"Is there such a thing as a hangover cure potion?" he grumbled to himself.

"Yeah, but I don't know how to make it," came Ron's voice from another bed.

Harry sighed and stared up at the ceiling of his four poster, then felt a grin spread across his face as he remembered everything before the afterparty. After the brief altercation with Snape, Harry and Cho had gone to another part of the gardens and- well, did a bit more kissing. Okay, maybe a lot more. It was... nice. Harry wasn't stupid- although he'd never seen a lot of affection from the Dursleys, he knew that kissing and holding hands was something that people who liked each other did. He never thought in a million years that it would happen to him though.

"What are you smiling at?" asked Ron in a grumpy tone.

"Nothing," said Harry quickly as he sat up, only to groan again as the headache grew worse with the movement.

"Not nothing, something happened last night, didn't it," said Ron. His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked intently at Harry.

Sighing, Harry scratched the back of his head and gave his best friend a sheepish smile. "Yeah, something did," he admitted.

"With Cho?" pressed Ron.

"Yeah."

"You kissed?!"

Harry pounced on Ron and clamped his hand over his mouth, looking at the three other beds frantically. Thankfully, none of the other boys woke up from Ron's outburst, though it looked like Neville was already awake and had left the dormitory.

"I'll tell you more later, when Hermione's here," said Harry quietly.

"Fine, fine," said Ron, looking miffed that he wasn't going to get anything out of Harry yet. He also didn't look happy at the mention of Hermione, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

Hermione met Harry and Ron in the common room, her hair bushy again. To Harry's simultaneous relief and discomfort, Ron and Hermione had made an unspoken treaty with each other, choosing to forget last night's row. Annoyingly though, they were far too formal with each other and it started to get on Harry's nerves. In order to get them to stop being so stiff, Harry cleared his throat.

"So Ron, about what I was saying earlier..." he started.

Ron perked up. "Oh right, you said something about Cho?" he said.

Hermione too instantly turned her attention on Harry. "I was meaning to ask how your night with her was. From what I saw you looked like you were having fun," she said.

"Yeah, it was," said Harry sheepishly.

"Did Cho enjoy it too?" asked Hermione.

"I think she did, we ended up kissing," said Harry.

Both Ron and Hermione's eyes widened. "I bloody knew it," muttered Ron in vindication.

"You... you kissed? Already?" exclaimed Hermione.

"Yeah," affirmed Harry.

"How... how was it?" asked Hermione.

"Which one?"