In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 4: Nebula

Chapter 166: I Hope I Was Your Favorite Crime

HARRY:

I had an uncomfortable feeling in a pit of my stomach for the entirety of the day after Valentine's Day. Reliving the night Cedric died had been horrible. Lucy's contribution had made me feel even worse. On top of everything, the way my relationship with Cho seemed to be hanging in the balance was disorienting, and I truthfully just wanted the world to stop for a moment. The day passed in a whirlwind of anxious O.W.L.-level classes, though, meaning I never really got the chance to catch my breath.

At dinner, Cho walked in without looking at me and sat down with her back firmly to the Gryffindor table. I sighed and figured I should mention to the people nearby what I had done in the Three Broomsticks the day before.

Dean's eyes widened. "Can't wait to see what Umbridge thinks of you going public."

"It was the right thing to do, Harry," Neville said.

Seamus offered no comment, but I knew he was listening.

"It must have been... tough... talking about it," Neville continued. "Was it?"

"Yeah, but people have got to know what Voldemort's capable of, haven't they?" I replied.

Neville nodded emphatically. "That's right... and his Death Eaters too... people should know."

"Was Lucy there too?" George asked. "For all of her talk of O.W.L. revision, I didn't see her in the common room when Alicia and I got back yesterday afternoon."

"She was there," I said with a nod. "She talked to Rita Skeeter a bit once practice ended."

"Speaking of, I hope that's sooner than later," Fred commented. He glanced up at the ceiling. "As fun as it is playing in thunderstorms, it would be unfortunate if someone got electrocuted before Saturday."

George shoved one last mouthful of food into his mouth before rising to his feet. "Let's go see if we can convince Angelina to end practice. You're right, electrocution wouldn't help our chances against Hufflepuff."

They disappeared, and Neville and Dean and Seamus left shortly thereafter. Hermione glanced over at the Ravenclaw table and spotted Cho.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you! What happened on your date with Cho? How come you were back so early?"

I bit back a sigh. "Er... well... it was... a complete fiasco, truthfully."

I repeated the story for Hermione. When I'd told Lucy the story, she hadn't made me feel stupid in the slightest. She'd been understanding, and honest in a gentle, almost shy, almost apologetic way. Hermione, however, had no such reservations in her evaluation of the events of the previous day.

She sighed heavily. "Oh, Harry. Well, I'm sorry, but you were a bit tactless."

"Me, tactless? One minute we were getting on fine, next minute she was telling me that Roger Davies asked her out, and how she used to go and snog Cedric in that stupid tea shop!" I burst out. "How was I supposed to feel about that?"

"Well, you see, you shouldn't have told her that you wanted to meet me halfway through your date."

"But — but — you told me to meet you at twelve and to bring her along, how was I supposed to do that without telling her — ?"

"You should have told her differently. You should have said it was really annoying, but I'd made you promise to come along to the Three Broomsticks, and you really didn't want to go, you'd much rather spend the whole day with her, but unfortunately you thought you really ought to meet me and would she please, please come along with you, and hopefully you'd be able to get away more quickly? And it might have been a good idea to mention how ugly you think I am too."