Fic Challenge #85 (Harry marries Cho Chang)
Title: Honey, I'm Home
Summary: Harry comes home to Cho with a lot on his mind.
Characters/Pairings: Harry/Cho
Genre: Drama
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fiction
Word Count: 709
Harry never Apparated directly to his door.
He couldn’t remember when he'd started doing this, nor did he remember the exact fight that had prompted it, but something had made him want to Apparate at the end of the long drive and walk the mile or so up to their house.
“Their house.” He chuckled at the thought of assigning himself any ownership of the property. Oh, sure, his name was on the deed, maybe, but so was hers. And that was all that mattered.
On that despairing thought he started up the gravel drive, enjoying the pleasant crunch of rocks under his feet. It was a visceral pleasure, feeling so at home in the outdoors. The shrubs and trees that lined the drive were trimmed and pruned to perfection - of course they were, they represented the first impression of Mrs. Harry Potter’s home. She wouldn't have it look anything less than perfect. But there was nothing she could do to make gravel less dirty, less gritty under tires or shoes. She couldn't have everything.
Harry thought back to falling in love with Cho, with her confidence shimmering through even her tears. He thought of the awkward naivety that surrounded their early courtship, how sweet and haltingly romantic she said he had been. “You’re famous,” she explained, on a now-rare good day when neither of them felt the need to bring up grievances old or new. “You’re famous and you treated me like a person - I wasn't expecting that. That’s what I fell in love with, I think.” She’d kissed him, a precursory gesture that nonetheless held vestiges of old passion. “What I’m still in love with.”
Yes, they loved each other. Even when things were like this - he so afraid to come home and she so unyielding in her desire to control their lives - there was still love between them. Having gone through so much, and losing so many people together, he truly couldn’t think of sharing his life with anyone else.
Every now and then he wondered if he wanted to share it with anyone at all.
He saw the faint glow of their large, sprawling home growing nearer and a vague feeling of dread settled in his stomach. How long had it been like this? How long had he wanted to run away, even as he felt frozen in place? Thinking long and hard, he realized that it had been almost since the beginning.
From his viewpoint outside the windows, he could see the beautiful architecture of their home and he appreciated it, as he always did. He saw a maid bustling around the downstairs parlor, and felt a different sort of unease. He’d always been against hired help - hadn’t his first 12 years of life with the Dursleys been just that, without the option to receive any compensation other than grudgingly given quarters? But Cho wouldn’t hear against it and he’d given in.
And then, descending the spiral staircase in the entry hall, beautiful even from twenty yards away, there she was. Cho Chang Potter, his wife. All - well, okay, most - of his dread fell away, replaced by complete awe of her beauty. The years had been kind to Mrs. Potter, and she still seemed to him no older than she’d been when they were innocent students.
It was his choice, he realized. His alone. She hadn’t coerced him, hadn’t forced him. He had asked her to go steady with him, and she had, just as he had asked her to be his wife and she had accepted. His love for her was something he couldn’t fully understand - hadn’t been able to understand from the first day - but it was real, and binding.
She opened the door for him, her smile fading slightly to see his polished black shoes muddied from the walk. But it was a gesture of her love for him that she refrained from commenting. “I missed you, darling.” He felt the truth of this in the warm way she embraced him, the way she melted in his arms for just a moment before conducting herself and straightening her posture.
Harry looked into her eyes - so clear and dark, just as they had been at 15 - and said, “I missed you, too.”
709/50 = 14.18 + 5 = roughly 19 points for Ravenclaw.
Faythe//Ravenclaw
Summary: Harry comes home to Cho with a lot on his mind.
Characters/Pairings: Harry/Cho
Genre: Drama
Beta: None
Rating/Warnings: PG
Medium: Fiction
Word Count: 709
Harry never Apparated directly to his door.
He couldn’t remember when he'd started doing this, nor did he remember the exact fight that had prompted it, but something had made him want to Apparate at the end of the long drive and walk the mile or so up to their house.
“Their house.” He chuckled at the thought of assigning himself any ownership of the property. Oh, sure, his name was on the deed, maybe, but so was hers. And that was all that mattered.
On that despairing thought he started up the gravel drive, enjoying the pleasant crunch of rocks under his feet. It was a visceral pleasure, feeling so at home in the outdoors. The shrubs and trees that lined the drive were trimmed and pruned to perfection - of course they were, they represented the first impression of Mrs. Harry Potter’s home. She wouldn't have it look anything less than perfect. But there was nothing she could do to make gravel less dirty, less gritty under tires or shoes. She couldn't have everything.
Harry thought back to falling in love with Cho, with her confidence shimmering through even her tears. He thought of the awkward naivety that surrounded their early courtship, how sweet and haltingly romantic she said he had been. “You’re famous,” she explained, on a now-rare good day when neither of them felt the need to bring up grievances old or new. “You’re famous and you treated me like a person - I wasn't expecting that. That’s what I fell in love with, I think.” She’d kissed him, a precursory gesture that nonetheless held vestiges of old passion. “What I’m still in love with.”
Yes, they loved each other. Even when things were like this - he so afraid to come home and she so unyielding in her desire to control their lives - there was still love between them. Having gone through so much, and losing so many people together, he truly couldn’t think of sharing his life with anyone else.
Every now and then he wondered if he wanted to share it with anyone at all.
He saw the faint glow of their large, sprawling home growing nearer and a vague feeling of dread settled in his stomach. How long had it been like this? How long had he wanted to run away, even as he felt frozen in place? Thinking long and hard, he realized that it had been almost since the beginning.
From his viewpoint outside the windows, he could see the beautiful architecture of their home and he appreciated it, as he always did. He saw a maid bustling around the downstairs parlor, and felt a different sort of unease. He’d always been against hired help - hadn’t his first 12 years of life with the Dursleys been just that, without the option to receive any compensation other than grudgingly given quarters? But Cho wouldn’t hear against it and he’d given in.
And then, descending the spiral staircase in the entry hall, beautiful even from twenty yards away, there she was. Cho Chang Potter, his wife. All - well, okay, most - of his dread fell away, replaced by complete awe of her beauty. The years had been kind to Mrs. Potter, and she still seemed to him no older than she’d been when they were innocent students.
It was his choice, he realized. His alone. She hadn’t coerced him, hadn’t forced him. He had asked her to go steady with him, and she had, just as he had asked her to be his wife and she had accepted. His love for her was something he couldn’t fully understand - hadn’t been able to understand from the first day - but it was real, and binding.
She opened the door for him, her smile fading slightly to see his polished black shoes muddied from the walk. But it was a gesture of her love for him that she refrained from commenting. “I missed you, darling.” He felt the truth of this in the warm way she embraced him, the way she melted in his arms for just a moment before conducting herself and straightening her posture.
Harry looked into her eyes - so clear and dark, just as they had been at 15 - and said, “I missed you, too.”
709/50 = 14.18 + 5 = roughly 19 points for Ravenclaw.
Faythe//Ravenclaw