#bamf!cho

Characters : Fem!Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory, Cho Chang, Blaise Zabini.

Pairings : Fem!Harry x Cedric Diggory

Summary : Cedric is jealous that his love is dancing with someone else in the Yule Ball. So with some good advice from his partner, he decides to take matters into his own hands.

P.S. I suck at summaries

Fem!Harry - Rosalie “Rose” Potter

Cedric was not happy. That would be an understatement. He was sulking, which was quite unusual for the heartthrob of the school known for his charming smile. To be honest, he had nothing to complain about. He was donned in dashing robes, he had a grand entrance at the opening ceremony and he was dancing with one of the prettiest girls in the school, Cho Chang. Everything seemed to be perfect, except for the fact that since the opening he hadn’t even looked at his partner. He was busy burning a hole on the person across the room with his gaze – Blaise Zabini, who had his arms wrapped around none other than Rosalie Potter, the girl he had fallen in love with.

This evening just before the ball, when he saw her at the top of the staircase, he was completely blown away. She was donned in stunning green robes which brought out the beauty of her emerald green eyes. Her silky raven hair was tamed into a half bun and the rest gently came down in ringlets. She had done light make up, but still, she had managed to make every boy swoon and every girl green with envy. And as she glided down the staircase, he had almost stepped forward, only to stumble back, when he saw Zabini at the bottom of it, greeting her by taking her right hand and placing a kiss on her knuckles. He was shaking with anger for that simple action.

To be honest, Zabini didn’t deserve his ire. Nor did Ms Chang. Cedric had no one to blame for this but himself. Wasn’t he the one to stop talking with her? When her name got out of the Goblet of Fire; when that bloody Skeeter wrote that scandalous article mentioning her secret relationship with Ronald Weasley? And now, he felt like hitting his head with a bludger for that.

“This is torture.” He broke out of his thoughts at the disapproving voice of Cho. He met her eyes and saw the level of annoyance in them. He tried to school his features and spoke as charmingly and politely as possible, “Sorry? I didn’t hear…”

“You very well did.” She snapped, then continued, “It is torture to stay here while you give longing looks to Rosalie Potter.”

Cedric felt guilt inside of him. He didn’t want to upset his partner, especially on a night like this. He looked down sheepishly, “I’m sorry.” He spoke, then taking a deep breath, he continued, “I’ll be more attentive now.” But Cho had had enough of this.

“If you wanted so much to be with her tonight, why didn’t you ask her?”

“I did.” He said quietly.

Cho raised her brows at that, so he continued, letting out a sigh.

“It was a week ago. She was sitting in the courtyard reading some book when I finally worked up the courage to ask her.” He paused.

“And…” she urged. Well, this was a thing to hear about after the prolonged awkward silence they shared since the opening.

“I did…ask her. In my best way possible. She looked a bit surprised…but she refused. She said that she had already asked someone else. Although we now know who that someone is.” He gave a nasty glare at Zabini who just smirked. Even Cho gave a glance to the couple, and then scoffed, “Well, I was wrong then!”

“What?”, Cedric asked, confused.

“I thought you were stupid not to ask her, which is why she came with him. But now, I think you’re both stupid.”

“What? Why?”

Cho gave him an incredulous look, “Are you blind? Look at her! She’s not enjoying at all.”

That is when Cedric gave a good look at his love. He was so busy glaring at Zabini who had come with her as her date, that he hadn’t noticed her fallen face that he was seeing now. It wasn’t like she was sulking like him. They were having great conversations in which she was occasionally laughing. But most of the time, she was giving the same longing look to him that he was giving her. He thought that he should be happy by that, but he was not. It was worse than being jealous of seeing her with someone else. And to have realized that he was the one to cause this made his heart ache.

“Well…are you gonna go talk to her?”

“I…I don’t know.”, and it was true. He had no idea what to do at this moment.

“Oh, for Merlin sake!” Cho shook her head in exasperation. “It is so clear that you two want to be with each other. And to be honest, I can’t bear to see this for one more minute. So, grow a pair and take your girl back!”

For the first time, his mind started to get clear. Yeah, he could do that. Just go there, and ask her for dance now. It’s not like you have to stick with your partner the whole night. But then…

He looked at his partner, “But, what about you?”

Cho scoffed again sarcastically, “As if I’m having the greatest night ever.” She raised her brows at him, to which he looked down sheepishly, “I’ll be fine with my friends. Now go get her lover boy!”

With that, she practically shoved him backwards. He steadied himself and did a courteous nod to which she nodded back. Then he turned around to look for his girl.

There she was! Near the table that contained drinks, laughing with Zabini. He clutched his palms into fists at the sight, but then he calmed himself. No, this was not the time for being jealous. He slowly took a step forward, and at the same time, Rosalie seemed to be taking leave, as Blaise took her hand again, planting a kiss, after which he went towards his gang. She stood for a moment, and then made for the entrance of the Hall, giving a glance at him. Needless to say, Cedric followed her. He first thought that she was making way for the Gryffindor common room, but as he reached the entrance hall, he saw her sitting at the courtyard at a bench, facing her back.

He took steps towards her slowly, careful not to startle her. It was snowing outside, and although the temperature was magically controlled especially for the Ball, it was still cold; which is why he saw her shivering, as he reached an arm’s distance. She hadn’t any outer robe on; Cedric shook his head exasperatedly as he removed his own and gently wrapped it around her shoulders. She stood up at once at the touch, as if struck by a lightning and whipped around to face him. Her eyes were wide with shock and disbelief, and…are they glistening?

“What are you doing out here?”

“I…I…”, what’s happening to him? He was being a complete mess in making sentences tonight.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Cho?”

“I came to see you.”

“Why?” she inquired, then with a bitter smile she continued, “So you can gloat on my misery?”

Cedric shook his head vigorously, “No, I…”

“And what’s this for?” she pointed to the robe wrapped around her.

“It’s snowing.”

“It isn’t that cold.”

“You were shivering. I saw it?” Cedric grounded.

“Why do you care?”

“I always care about you.”

“No, you don’t.” she snapped, her voice rising, “Otherwise you wouldn’t have done what you did. Do I need to recall you what you said, when you ended it all?”, her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, but those emerald orbs looked like they were blazing in fire, “You said, this…”, she gestured with the movement of her index finger back and forth between them, “…cannot continue since we are going to be rivals, isn’t it?”

Cedric looked down guiltily, “I’m sorry…”, he spoke quietly.

“Huh.” She scoffed, “I don’t need your sorry…or your pity…or even this…” she furiously unwrapped his outer robe and threw it on the ground. Then she turned around and started walking further away from him.

Cedric looked up at the back of her retreating figure in a daze, but suddenly a realization brought him to his senses. The enchantment was limited at a fixed radius; and the way Rosalie was striding away, she would cross the range very soon. The biting cold of late December was strange to no student in Hogwarts. If she stays out for long, she would freeze to death!

He hurriedly picked up his robe and started following her at a greater pace.

“Rosalie! Rosalie!”, he shouted but was paid a deaf ear.

“Come back to the castle.”, again no answer, and she started to walk faster.

With an annoyed voice, he snapped, “Stop walking!”

“Stop following me!”, she snapped back. They were close to the frozen lake.

“Rosalie! Rose! My Rose!” his voice was desperate now. It was, maybe the nickname with which he called her for the first time, or the way he said, that she slowed down for a moment. And Cedric, taking advantage of it, caught up to her, and grabbing her right arm, he whipped her around to face him.

“Would you just LISTEN!!”

Rosalie looked up at him with slightly widened eyes but still held her ground. “Leave me alone,” she muttered through gritted teeth.

By this time Cedric could feel the blasting cold wind chilling his bones. He quickly took out his wand and pointed it to his outer robe.

“Engorgio!”

The robe grew in size to the point where two people could easily fit in when he stopped the spell. In addition, he cast a warming charm on it and wrapped it around both of them. Fortunately, Rosalie didn’t protest. Maybe her stubbornness finally caved in front of the harsh weather.

Cedric was now fully able to take in her sight, although she was avoiding his eyes. She was blushing furiously due to how close they were; her eyes were slightly puffed due to the crying but her emerald orbs were sparkling; her hair was laden with tiny bits of snow which seemed to form a halo over her head; and though her makeup had become slightly smudged, she still was a sight to behold. The warmth radiating from her body was making him go weak in his knees, suddenly increasing the urge to just kiss her to ten times higher. But he restrained himself. He had to make this right. This was his only chance.

He slowly slid his hand under her chin to make her look at him. “Rose,” he started, with a voice that sounded so strange that even the said girl shivered hearing it, “I was miserable as well…the whole night.”

“Why?”, she laughed bitterly, “You were with the prettiest girl of the school after all.”

“But it wasn’t you.” Cedric licked his lips and continued, “Since the Yule Ball was announced I had wanted to go with no one else but you!”

“But then…you said…you had already asked someone else…Zabini.”

“Wasn’t it obvious?” Rosalie asked haughtily, “You thought I should have expected you to show up and ask me…especially after –”

“Yes I know…but because I was jealous...and stupid...not because I stopped loving you!” Cedric interrupted, grabbing her shoulders lightly. Her eyes widened at the statement.

“You…wh-what?”, she asked in disbelief. And for the second time the night, Cedric felt like hitting his head with a bludger, as he realized this was the first time he spoke to her her about his feelings. For that also, he had to blame himself as he had realized it much later when they had already broken up. He never meant to confess his love like that. He wanted it to be a grand gesture, with flowers, him getting on one knee, etc.

“When…?” she whispered. Cedric racked through his mind for a perfect answer, which is when a voice came from inside of him, Be honest. Yes…no grand gesture, no flowers, just him saying what he truly felt. He took a step closer to her, which made her suck in a breath and cupped her cheek with both hands.

Gazing into her eyes, he started, “I-I don’t know…when it happened...”, he moved closer, “Maybe the agony with which I spent every day without you…”, closer, “Maybe when I listened to your emotionless voice the day you came to me to give me the tip about the dragons…or…”, Cedric moved closer, so now their noses were almost touching, “Maybe the realization that…this tournament…it means nothing to me…if I lose you in the process.”

Rosalie eyes widened at this. She always knew that they liked each other’s company, which had started from being fellow Quidditch players to friends, which had turned to casual dating. She had started to fall for him after the Quidditch World Cup, but she never confessed, thinking he would never feel the same because of their age difference and it would also ruin what they had. This is why she was devastated when he just suddenly stopped talking with her at all.

To hear that his feelings for her ran this deep and for this long was an unimaginable situation. She searched through his grey eyes for any sign of fallacy, but there was none. His gaze was burning with passion and love and it was all for her! Still, there was one question lingering in her mind.

“If this is the case, then why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

Cedric looked solemn, “I tried…believe me I did…but I always thought you wouldn’t want to see my face after what I did…that day I had worked up the courage to ask you…so that, I could confess to you everything that I said tonight.”, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “You have no idea how much my heart aches for you!”

For a moment no one spoke. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of music and chattering coming far away from the castle. They had no idea, what time it was. They didn’t care. They didn’t care that their hair was becoming wet with snow. They didn’t care that their robes were dampened. They were just lost in each other’s eyes, green eyes locked with grey. Rosalie hadn’t even realized that her hands had moved from her side and went up to Cedric’s chest, feeling every muscle even through his robes. His body heat had encased her like a blanket. She was well aware of his lips which were almost touching her own. Blood started rushing to her cheeks, making them as red as a winter rose.

“I had no intention of making you jealous or hurt.” She started after a long while, “I was just trying to get this ball over with, and I knew Zabini was a good dancer.” Cedric raised his brows as she continued, “I wanted to move on tonight…but…I couldn’t. All I wanted was to be in your arms, and…”, tears started to well up in her eyes, “…seeing someone else in them…it made my heart ache!”, a lone tear fell on her cheek.

As soon as he heard those words, his heart swelled with joy. She loved him! She loved him back! That was the only thing filling his mind as he moved his lips upwards and kissed her falling tears. Then, with one swift motion, his lips claimed hers. 

At first, she stiffened in surprise, but then she melted into the familiar taste. Their lips moved in sync, as his hands left her face and slowly went down the sides of her body, making her shiver, finally placing on her waist. Her hands now went up to his hair, pulling its roots, causing him to groan and deepen the kiss. He flushed her to his chest, causing her to gasp, which is when he darted his tongue to her mouth, exploring its insides. His hands were roaming around her back, pulling her more towards him, as if clinging on to her for dear life. After what seemed like an eternity, they broke the kiss, when the need for air had become necessary, and Cedric rested his forehead against hers, locking his grey eyes with her green.

“My Rose. My beautiful Rose…”, Cedric murmured to her satisfied hum, “Please give me another chance…and I promise…I would do everything right by you.”