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Walking home from school with Hermione was always a comforting experience for Harry. It was nice to have someone by his side who'd been his friend since they were both just small children; the only downside was that for Hermione, the schoolday never actually seemed to end. As they both walked with their bookbags slung over their shoulders, Hermione in her usual fashion was walking and reading a book at the same time, chattering to Harry about what she'd learned from it:
"So the Carolingians conquered the Merovingians under Charlemagne's father, and then Charlemagne became the first Holy Roman Emperor, which possibly showed sexism on the Pope's part, since the Byzantine Emperor at the time - who should have had that title - was a woman, but then the Empire was divided into three parts under Charlemagne's grandsons..."
But as Hermione droned on in a manner reminiscent of the stern (yet also slightly boring) Mr Binns, Harry lost interest in which -ingians had conquered which other -ingians and who had been emperor of what - particularly as something else caught his eye. They were walking past the football field by now, and there was an Asian girl practicing alone on it. She wore their school football team's uniform, had her black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and was kicking her way down the field with impressive speed and agility.
Harry completely stopped walking, only vaguely aware that Hermione's mouth was still making sounds. Having made a powerful kick into the net, the girl now walked over to the goal and bent over to pick her ball back up. At fourteen, Harry was still two years away from finding girls "sexy" instead of just "pretty", but something in him did notice that this girl had a nice pair of legs - and bent over, there was a roundness to her bum that had a certain odd appeal to it as well, although he couldn't say why. However, it also occurred to Harry that this was perhaps not the best part of a girl to be looking at, so he instead turned his gaze to her head. What he didn't anticipate was that she would make direct eye contact with him as he did, or keep the eye contact as she stood up, smirking more than actually smiling.
"Hey, guy with the glasses!" the girl called in an accent that wasn't explicitly Scottish but did at least indicate a background from the north of England. "See something ye like?" Harry looked away from her and back toward Hermione, who had snapped her book shut indignantly and was looking back at him with a rather unamused expression.
"No, don't look at her!" came the girl's voice. "She's not the one talking to you right now!" Harry looked back in her direction, fully aware that Hermione wasn't going to bail him out of this situation. In a short amount of time, the girl had walked across the field with the ball under her arm and now stood directly in front of him, still smirking if also looking slightly uneasy. "Well? What do ye have to say to me? If a boy's going to watch me that closely, I like to know what he's up to."
"Well, um, I," Harry stammered, "I didn't mean to stare, but I just thought it looked really nice the way you were playing football, and you look really nice as well, that is to say, I think you're pretty and I like your hair and I swear I really didn't mean to stare and, um - "
"Hi, Cho," Hermione intervened, walking up beside Harry and putting a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Harry, dear, if you're going to find a girl interesting, you need just a little more confidence than that."
Cho now seemed more at ease. "Hello, Hermione," she said. "Friend of yours?"
"Oh, longer than you'd know. Don't worry; he's more nervous than you are right now. Cho, this is Harry Potter. He's in our year, although it seems you haven't had a class with him. Harry, this is Cho Chang. She's a very good student and a talented athlete to boot."
"Got to keep mind and body both in shape," Cho said gently. "I'm the striker for the girls' football team, so I do like to get in a bit of practice each day. Got to stay prepared, ye know."
"Really?" Harry's eyes lit up in interest as he suddenly became aware that this pretty girl might not be so difficult to talk to after all. "I'm the striker on the boys' football team."
"Ye don't say? Well then, I think we should have a bit of one-on-one, what do ye say? I'm about to call it a day; it would be nice to have another person to match skills with."
"Yeah," said Harry excitedly, "Yeah. Absolutely. I'd love that. Hermione, can you let my parents know I'll be home shortly?"
"Alright, I'll let you two get to know each other. Go easy on him, Cho." And with that, Hermione re-opened her book and walked away, continuing to read. Laying his bookbag aside, Harry followed Cho to the center of the field, where she set the football down between them.
"Your goal will be that end," Cho said as she gestured over her shoulder with her thumb, "and mine will be that end" - here she pointed behind Harry - "and the first person to kick a goal is today's winner."
"Who gets the ball first?" Harry asked, but Cho merely offered a large smile in return.
"Oh, Harry... if ye have to ask that question... you're too slow already." And Cho quickly kicked the ball to the side and ran off behind him. "Thank you for being a gentleman, though!" But Harry was prepared for her, and within a few seconds he cut in front of her, kicked the ball away, and started moving in the opposite direction.
"And thank you for being a lady and letting me have that, Cho!" he quipped in response, but it was clear that they were very evenly matched. Cho was cutting in front of him soon enough, and was running backward ahead of him while dribbling the ball from one foot to the other. Harry hadn't seen anything like this before, and he suspected Cho was maybe more focused on showing off this trick than she was on actually beating him in the match, but he was still gaining on her... he just about had her cornered where her only option would be to kick it out of bounds...
But before he could do that, Cho let loose with a forceful kick from midfield that sent the ball spiralling into the net. She jumped up and clapped her hands together before collapsing onto the field and lying down on her back. Harry gaped open-mouthed at where the ball had just gone, then sat down beside Cho on the field before finally stretching out and lying down next to her.
"Look," said Cho softly, pointing up to a particular cloud, "that one looks like a swan - my favorite animal." She rolled over on her side and looked at Harry. "I like the swan because it's graceful - but also fierce."
"You're really something," Harry said admiringly. "I wish boys and girls could be on the same team; I'd love to play with you all the time. That goal was just... amazing."
Cho blushed a bit; being so close to her face, Harry could now make out some details he'd missed before: her dark brown eyes, all the little freckles on her nose...
"There was no goalkeeper, and only two people on the field," Cho said modestly. "It would have been much different in an actual game. And don't sell yourself short, either. You're really good; I had to up my defense."
"Well, Hermione certainly made you sound like a very impressive person."
Cho giggled, a laugh that Harry found very warm and endearing. "If I'm good at things - and I like to think I am - it's because I work hard for them. That's all it is." With a slightly rueful look, she paused. "So what about you, Harry? What do your parents do for a living?"
Harry chuckled. "Ah, it's a little bit silly, but... they actually run a small independent company that makes shampoo."
"Oh, they're in business for themselves? That's nice. That reminds me of my parents. They have an antiques shop."
"Are your parents, um... Chinese?" Harry asked, as Cho propped her head up with her arm.
"Yes and no," she smiled. "All four of my grandparents were born and raised in China, then my parents were born in China but my mum grew up here and my dad moved here when he was older, and now I'm the first generation of my family born here. Why, do ye like Chinese girls?"
Harry shrugged. "I'll like any girl if she's nice and cool enough. I know when I've learned about China in history class, it's always sounded like an interesting culture. You parents probably have some really neat stories to tell."
Cho's smile faded slightly. "Thank ye for your interest, Harry; that's very refreshing. Some kids in the past have... picked on me a little bit for it."
"That's ridiculous," Harry said in a suddenly angry tone. "That's disgusting. You're one of the coolest people I've ever met; why didn't they see that?"
Cho reached her hand out and stroked Harry's shoulder. "Well... some people just choose what they're going to see before they actually see it. I can tell you're not one of them." She tilted her head curiously. "Speaking of sight... are ye still able to see me alright with your glasses off? I'd kind of like to see what ye look like without them..."
"Yeah, you're close enough I'll still be able to see you. Anything in the distance is going to be a bit fuzzy, though." Harry pulled his glasses off, folded them, and set them in his shirt pocket.
"Wow," said Cho in a near-whisper. "Your eyes... they're such a bright green..."
"Thanks; they're my mum's. Hers look the same. Um, Cho... can I see something of yours?"
Cho backed up an inch or two. "Mmm... that's going to depend on what exactly ye ask to see."
"Well, it's just... it's nothing like that... I'd like to see what your hair looks like when it isn't in a ponytail."
Cho laughed again. "Oh, of course... I really only wear it like this for sports; most of the time, my hair looks like this." She deftly pulled the band out of her hair, shaking it to let it fall loose down to her shoulders, and placing the band in her pocket. Her hair was long and sleek... and beautiful. Now it was Harry's turn to say Wow.
"That's even prettier than you were before," he said gently, and she placed her head back down on the ground, and they lay there looking at each other in silence, Harry feeling more and more warmth seeping into his heart, coupled with a nervous feeling in his stomach. "Ch-Ch-Cho?" he finally managed to ask, "Could you, I mean would you, I mean do you want to, be my girlfriend?"
Cho's eyes widened somewhat and she put her hand to her chin. "Mmm, no, I don't think I can be your girlfriend unless we go on some dates together first. I believe that's how it's typically done; one of us needs to call the other and then arrange some things, and then back and forth like that for a little while... but after that... yeah, possibly. I like you; I don't see why not. My parents would be happy to meet you. Maybe I can even teach ye some Cantonese."
Harry's heart fluttered; for a girl he'd only met a few minutes ago, this had been both faster and easier than he would have expected. "My parents would love meeting you, too... although..." Feelings for Cho aside, Harry did feel obliged to check his watch; it had now been quite a while since Hermione had left. "They're probably expecting me home soon. But let me get my bookbag and we can exchange phone numbers..." As he made a motion to sit up, Cho moved closer again and placed her hand back on his shoulder.
"Wait... before ye do... can I know... have ye ever kissed a girl before?"
Harry shook his head, locking his green eyes firmly on her brown ones. "Have you ever kissed a boy before?"
"No." Cho shook her head as well. "But... I don't think I'd suggest this in any other case... before we've even dated or anything... would ye like to do it right now? If it's good, it's good, and if it's lousy... well, it'll be between us either way. Nobody else will know it happened."
Harry didn't answer Cho with words; instead, he reached out to stroke that long sleek hair, and then found himself embracing her, and then their faces were moving in an almost magnetic way, as if they sensed where they needed to be... he felt his eyes closing... and then his and Cho's lips pressed together. Although Harry had heard that kisses sometimes involved tongues, it felt better to just leave things like they were, and in all honesty, this wasn't that bad... it was lasting a couple minutes, but this was probably one of those things it was better not to overstay one's welcome on...
Harry pulled away and licked his lips, then moved his finger across them, although he didn't really know how to analyze what had just happened.
"Well?" asked Cho. "What are your thoughts on your first kiss?"
"Um..." Harry laughed nervously. "I don't know. It was a little wet, but... it felt nice. And it felt like I was kissing a nice person. I'd maybe need to do it a few more times before I really knew how it felt."
"Yeah, I get what you mean," Cho nodded, "it wasn't bad by any means, it was just... new. And sometimes ye don't know what to say about something new. Although keep in mind... ye can always kiss more than just lips. Like this, for instance." Cho leaned back over and kissed both of Harry's cheeks, and then his forehead, and then he returned the favor by kissing her cheeks, they were so soft... and then another thought crossed his mind.
"Cho," said Harry matter-of-factly, "if this is going to be a regular thing... then I might just have to kiss every last freckle on your nose."
"Right now ye should be getting home, Harry Potter," Cho said as she tapped her index finger on his own nose, "but ye can save that for when we have time for it; that'd take a while, ye know."
And so they sat up together, and then stood up, and as Cho walked over to fetch her ball, Harry put his glasses back on, picked his bookbag back up from where he had left it, and pulled out two pieces of paper and a pen. After somewhat anxiously writing his own phone number down, he handed the other piece of paper to Cho and watched as she wrote her number as well. As he tucked the phone number back into his bag, it felt almost like a treasure he'd just been given. There was one final shared hug, and then they walked off down the sidewalk in opposite directions. After taking a few steps, Harry turned around to get one last look at Cho and saw her long black hair disappearing around a corner.
Another look at his watch and it was clear: he was going to be quite a bit late coming home today. The next question was how much Hermione may have already told his parents by now - but as far as he was concerned, he had a good reason for being late, and Cho was definitely someone he wanted them to know about.