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The skates were too tight, but Cho decided not to mention this to Marietta who seemed to be far too excited about the prospect of going ice skating in the first place. She hadn't wanted to go but Marietta had insisted based upon the idea that Cho shouldn't shut herself away just because she had lost the love of her life.
Just. Just was a word that held so much in its four letters. Marietta clearly didn't understand how she was feeling, that her insides almost felt as if they were being pulled out of her belly button. She couldn't breathe, but telling Marietta that - getting her to listen to how Cho was really feeling seemed to have proved impossible so far.
Maybe it was a good thing that the skates were so tight. Maybe it was just the distraction that Cho needed, even if it was intended that the ice skating trip itself was the distraction. Marietta was, of course, at one with the ice and as soon as her fellow Ravenclaw had her skates on, she had danced off leaving Cho to contemplate taking her skates straight off again and heading home.
The only reason that Cho didn't go home was out of a sense of duty to Marietta who would no doubt panic if she couldn't find her. Cedric was dead and while there was no evidence of what had really happened to him, Harry had tried to tell everyone that You Know Who was back and he was the one who had killed him. It made sense that Marietta would panic if she believed this, but Cho wasn't sure if she did. She wasn't even sure that she believed it herself, but the alternate was that the boy that she had always found somewhat endearing had been the one to kill her boyfriend and that seemed like a line that it was unlikely that the Gryffindor would have crossed.
Cho finally pulled herself together and managed to finish lacing up her boots before she pulled herself to her feet and headed out onto the ice. Cho had never been ice skating before and as soon she was on the ice, she knew why that was. She gripped onto the side as tightly as possible as she walked over the ice. She could see Marietta out in the middle, could see how she was gliding along and Cho wished that she could somehow replicate those movements.
She tried to copy her, her eyes fixed on the girl who was definitely in her happy place as she tried to slide her feet along on the ice. She thought that she was doing an okay job until one leg went too far and she could feel herself falling. Cho let out a yelp and tried to catch herself on the wall before she fell. It helped that there was a person in the way that broke her fall. Her free hand grabbed onto the person in a way that she knew wasn't quite appropriate once she managed to steady herself again.
"I - I'm sorry." She apologised as she locked both of her hands back onto the wall. She glanced sideways and caught a familiar flash of blond hair, though she couldn't quite place where she knew this person from, at least not until he spoke and she all but scoffed.
"As you should be."
Cho watched as her knuckles turned white before she turned to face the boy again. Of all the places that Marietta could have taken her, she had to bring her somewhere that there were other Hogwarts students.
"It was an accident." She said, her voice terse as she had to wonder what his problem was. She knew that he had a reputation for being rude, for acting as if he had a broomstick up his ass, but it wasn't as if there was anyone else around that might see him have some sort of semblance of common decency so she hoped that he was just going to get over whatever it was.
"Right." The blond muttered as his eyes met hers. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be…" He trailed off, gesturing his hands vaguely though Cho really didn't know what he was getting at.
"I'm here with a friend." She said quietly, even if she didn't think that it was any of his business. She wouldn't dare dream of asking Draco Malfoy what he was doing here, after all. It was none of her business, just like what she was doing was none of his business.
"Right." Draco said again. Cho took this as the signal to leave him be so she attempted to skate off.
"Now that's a sorry sight." She heard Draco mutter from behind her. She tried not to listen to him as she reminded herself that he was nothing to do with her, not to mention the fact that she had never needed the approval of her rival Quidditch player before.
The problem was that Cho wasn't quick enough to get away from him and he seemed to be almost as nimble as Marietta on the ice as he swiftly overtook her and swiveled around so that he was blocking her path once again.
"Where's your friend?" He asked, his eyebrow raised as he quite obviously looked her up and down. Cho silently prayed that the ice would crack open underneath her feet and swallow her whole, though she knew that this ice was in fact muggle made and that they weren't actually stood on a body of water just now.
"She's around." She told him. She didn't know why he was still talking to her. As a rule - one made by her captain - they weren't friends, in fact this was probably the longest conversation that they had ever had and it couldn't really be classed as a sentence unless you squinted.
"Uh-huh." Draco did not at all sound convinced. "And she just left you to your own devices out here? That was nice of her. You look pathetic."
Cho's jaw set at that. She knew that she wasn't exactly at her best just now, but she wasn't going to let him talk to her like that. "You need to leave me alone." She said quietly as she glanced behind her, wondering how she could get away from him, or at least back to 'solid' ground where she would be able to stand her ground better.
Draco's next words and softer tone surprised her, although she couldn't help but wonder what he was trying to pull. "Give me your hand."
"Why…?" She asked slowly. Her free hand was currently held out to the side to help her to keep her balance and she couldn't help but look between it and the boy who she wasn't at all sure if she could trust him at all.
"Just trust me." He said and for some reason Cho found that she wanted to. She supposed that was probably because of how lonely she had been as of late. She just wanted to forget about her worries the way that Marietta had managed to and if letting Draco help her was the secret to doing that then she wasn't going to question it.