Chapter 55: Flying with Cho

While I was working in the stadium, as usual, I could see a girl who seemed to be sneaking away with a broom, she looked everywhere as if looking for someone, but when she couldn't find him she started to get on her broom. I had already sneaked up from behind and before the girl started flying.

"Hello"

"Ahh!" The Asian girl screamed, falling to the ground with the broom between her legs.

"Are you okay Cho?" I asked as she held out my hand from my broom to help her up.

"Red! What are you doing here?" she asked me.

"I'm always here, I repair the stadium" I clarified.

"Ahh... right, the Ravenclaw bleachers went well"

"I haven't done anything there yet"

"... Well, everything else went well" she said, very embarrassed and nervous.

"Why are you sneaking away?"

"Well I... I wanted to come to train in secret" she replied a little nervously.

"Why...? "

"Well..."

"Come on, you don't have to hide it. You know I'm everyone's friend, but I'm favorable to none. If I do something against you, you can tell Penelope, and she'll take care of giving me some good blows, don't doubt it" I tried to reassure her, since I saw that she was unsure about talking to me.

"...fine. I tried out for the Quidditch team this year, I was able to get in as a substitute and possibly next year or the year after that I'll become the official Seeker."

"That's great, but can't you train with your team if that's the case?"

"Training with my team is fine, but... after seeing Potter the last time in the match... I felt that it wasn't enough, that if I wanted to have a chance I should train more."

"And that's why you sneak out?"

"Yes, I came to see if anyone was there and use the Quidditch pitch for training. Usually there is a team training, but there are short periods where I can sneak in and fly... I know it sounds silly." Now she felt a little more embarrassed than she was, now that she was saying it out loud and listening to herself.

"I don't think so, I think it's something impressive"

"Really?" She said somewhat surprised, in a previous chat I had mentioned that I wasn't interested in Quidditch, so it was rare to have a 'non-neutral' opinion.

"Yes, in my family everyone likes Quidditch except me and that hasn't changed, but my little sister loves it and if she likes it, I'm interested. If she told me the same thing as you, I would pat her head, I would tell her that she is sweet, and I would support her with her decision. It would be hypocritical not to do the same with you, I support those who make an effort... and I guess maybe also because you are pretty"

"Thank you" She blushed, but she wasn't that shy, she just accepted the compliment.

"But if you want to go unnoticed you will have to improve your stealth, otherwise your secret will last as long as the one that Potter was the Gryffindor seeker"

"..." She turned a bit red, she didn't expect to be discovered at her first time.

"But I'm bored, so... how about I make you a proposal?"

"A proposal?" she asked.

"You see, I have a permit to be here whenever I want, even when the teams are in their practices, which has bothered them, but they still can't do anything about it. I'm offering you this, how about you stay with me while I work with the excuse of helping me? Then we use my permission so that you stay here as long as you want and when there is no one you come in and train"

"What? Really?" The girl said something astonished.

"Yes, whenever you want you can train, in addition to watching others play and learn something, while you are still a substitute they should not be able to complain to you about spying on them"

"But what do you want in return? Do you want me to help you with the playing field?" she asked. The girl did not dislike the idea if with that she could practice freely in the stadium, it was a great deal, no one besides the boy in front of her had the authorization to do so.

"No, it's not necessary, I can handle it myself, but this job is really boring and I could use some company. Hermione isn't coming with me, as she's not very good at flying and because she doesn't plan on mount on a broomstick with me around for some things I did, and the others have their respective jobs or spend time with my other self, so... I think it would be good to have some company here"

"Okay, but even so I plan to help you a little, otherwise I'll feel like I'm taking advantage of you" Cho said with clear kindness and responsibility.

"You know, maybe it's better than not, you're too good to hang out with me, I might end up corrupting you" I told her sincerely, noticing that she was a girl without malice and with a good heart.

"Haha" She laughed thinking it was a joke, it was known to drop a joke or two with every thing I said.

"It wasn't a lie" I tried to remind her, but she ignored me.

Then began my work with Cho as a partner, even though she was only a second year, as a Ravenclaw, she was very capable. She was able to give me some help, and we could talk through the process.

She was very surprised at the way they worked, it seemed more like a high-intensity artistic flight than a simple repair job. She stared wide-eyed as she watched me do a few laps during my flight.

"Are you sure you repair the stadium? If you told me that what you do is train for demonstration flights, I would believe you"

"I train this way, I'm more into aerial acrobatics in closed places"

"I didn't know you could practice like this"

"I decided to start to have fun and to be prepared"

"For what?"

"Chase or run, whatever you need"

"I don't know if I could do that, even if I'm a quidditch player" she said thinking that her decision to train was the right one, if someone who doesn't even play quidditch moves like that, then the Potter thing is less impressive and would need a lot of practice.

"Don't pressure yourself, do you remember my dance with your prefect?"

"Oh yes, I wasn't there, but they told me it was impressive" She mentioned excited but regretting being on the other side of the castle and missing it.

"Well, I apply the same style, it's a natural talent that helps me control my body when I make coordinated or extravagant movements. What I do is a training to move around the area quickly and smoothly, avoiding obstacles or creating them. You don't have to underestimate you, you are a good flyer, but I already have a good base with my dance and direct my skill in a certain type of flight"

"Yeah, but it's still impressive. If you were a Quidditch player you'd have a huge advantage."

"If Quidditch was based on avoiding obstacles, there would be no one better than me at school, but since it's not like that..."

With that, Cho and I continued into the afternoon and at one point I stopped and pointed out that since the Hufflepuff team was leaving the field and that those will be the last people to come onto the field, although Mrs. Hooch may show up later .

With my words, Cho became emotional and went to the field to train. I stayed around repairing the pitch a bit longer as I watched her fly, unlike me who's good at flying in close quarters, Cho has very good skills at flying in open quarters like any good Quidditch player.

At one point I stopped seeing her take a break and approached her with a bottle of water from my inventory, it's been growing, so I keep more and more stuff in it.

"Thanks" She takes a big sip of water without any kindness. She being all sweaty and with this attitude she no longer looked like a gentle and polite girl, she now looked like an athlete during her training session.

"Hey, do you want to train together?" I asked her after an idea occurred to me.

"Do you want to fly with me? What about work?"

"I've done enough for today. I think we could help each other a bit, I think we can train differently that would help you a lot."

"How would it be?" she asked, intrigued.

"Do you have your wand?"

"Yes"

"You know harmless spells like Rictusempra or similar"

"Yes, some" she replied confused.

"So here's my idea. We'll fly around the court in a race, while we each cast harmless spells at each other to get in the way, but nothing that can knock us off our brooms. We'll start with one spell each and for each lap we take we will add a different one to the list of spells that we can cast, at our choice, the one who finishes the 10 laps first wins, or if the opponent is unable to follow" Explain the game.

"But wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"That's why we'll use spells that are harmless and don't interfere with normal body movement. This might work for you in your practice when you're playing on the Quidditch pitch, as well as me at my 'broom dance'... I keep thinking of the name." "

"But you can't use wands in Quidditch."

"I know, but that doesn't stop you from having other obstacles like Bludgers or a Quaffle thrown by a hunter to hinder you, besides don't you remember what Flint did to Harry? If Potter could have moved with better skill, maybe he wouldn't have been stopped and would have won earlier. I think it will help you improve your perception and ability on the pitch."

"Well, it makes sense, I think it wouldn't hurt to try"

With that agreed, we both got on our brooms and prepared for our flight, it was low altitude for any eventuality, but I was thinking of raising it over time. After a simple countdown, we started flying and I decided to keep it easy at first to give Cho a chance to get used to it.

The result was not what I wanted, I held back, as I had real experience in combat, but still Cho lost almost instantly. The problem was that despite being a good wizard she did not have something important for combat, the intention, she cast spells, but she held back a lot when doing it.

For two consecutive times, we couldn't get past the first lap.

"Cho, stop, we can't go on like this"

"Yeah, I guess I'm not good at this"

"No, the problem is not that, the problem is that you are not giving all of yourself to harm me"

"But I am trying"

"Cho let's go down" I told her and then go down to the ground "Cho, take out your wand and fight me with the same spells"

"Why?"

"To Prove You a Point"

We started an impromptu duel and the flaw was quickly noticed. She cast spells that I almost dodge walked, and I cast a single one at her, slow enough that she could dodge too, but she missed. After she finished laughing for a few seconds because of the spell, I approached her to talk to her.

"Your problem is that you don't want to hurt me, so your spells are like a drizzle to me, even if I didn't dodge them, I might block them, or it would have almost no effect on me. On the other hand, you don't feel enough of a sense of danger to even dodge it at all instinctive way"

"But this is supposed to be training, it's not supposed to really hurt you." She tried to justify her action.

"But you can never accomplish anything if you have that mindset, if you can't do well with me in practice, then how are you going to do when you really need to?"

"..." She was silent for a while, it seemed as if I was scolding her, and she felt a little bad.

"Look, it's not that I'm looking down on you, I'm just saying that you need something else if you want to be better"

"But I don't feel like I can do it" she said somewhat embarrassed, she didn't want to hurt anyone, and she didn't think she would make it.

"What if we force it?"

"How?"

"I guess I could insult you until you hate me, but I don't think it's good if we want to be friends in the future... I know very well how to be hurtful and I don't know if instead of making you hate me it would end up completely destroying your self-esteem. Besides that, you would consider me one of the most unpleasant or depraved people you have ever met"

"Can't it be that way?" She asks incredulously, she had no idea that people were capable.

"Don't tempt the devil. Unless I know you can handle anything I send you, I don't want to try...but we can try something else"

"Than?"

"Let's make it so that every time you lose, you suffer a little"

"¿Suffer?" she said somewhat fearfully, she didn't like this idea anymore.

"Not physical pain, but emotional pressure. Let's do this, every time you lose you'll have to fulfill a request, if you back out at any point our deal is up, every time you come I'll tell someone to kick you out, and tonight I'll make sure you sleep hanging from one of the stadium's hoops" I commented, making Cho widen her eyes with each condition.

"Isn't that a lot?" She doubted.

"Only if you don't mind not getting it"

"Okay" she ended up accepting. She wanted to be able to improve and if this could work, then she should at least try.

"Well, let's try it again" I said as I got on my broom "If you lose... you'll have to tell me what color your underwear is"

"What? No, pervert" she freaked out when she heard it.

"Then you have two options, either you withdraw and suffer the consequences that I mentioned before... or show that you really can do it"

"But I..."

"Doubting won't do you any good, you can either make it or you can't!" Shout from above.

She hesitated but ended up getting on her broom, and we started the game. Clearly, she was more focused than before, but I also exerted more power in my attack, causing her to miss soon and fall to the arena.

"Well, the difference was quite noticeable, you're doing well" I flew towards her

"Shut up, I lost a lot sooner than before" she said somewhat annoyed as she threw a handful of sand at me.

"I know, but you got better, I tried harder too...now what color is your underwear?"

"I'm not going to tell you"

"I'm hanging up on you" I told her, raising my wand that was producing a light at the tip

"..." She looked at me and after looking away "**** ..." she said something almost imperceptible.

"Sorry, I can't hear you, I think you want to sleep on your head tonight"

"BLUE!" She yelled at me angrily, throwing even more dirt at me.

"Ohh...very Ravenclaw of you, let's move on"

"I don't want to"

"So you lost, once we start it can't be finished, or is it that you're too cowardly to keep going to fulfill your dream"

"..." She gritted her teeth and stood, taking the broom from her.

"Well, if you lose this time..."

"No, I don't want to" she regretted it.

"I wasn't going to ask for something perverted again" The girl calmed down when she heard it "if you lose you will let me take a picture of you sucking your finger"

"No..." She didn't want to, she felt it was too embarrassing.

"Then I'll order something like last time"

"The picture is fine," she stated quickly, annoyed, but it was better than before.

And so we continue in our career. She lost a few more times and with that I got her picture sucking her thumb, making her try to do a handstand, a picture with her tongue out and her eyes back, making her hair into two ponytails... she got better, and we got there up until lap 5, I guess her distaste for the embarrassing things I force her to do made her angry enough to make her spells more powerful.

"Okay, it's late, so let's do one last round"

"Well" she said in a competitive mood, it seems she's taken a liking to our competition.

"If you lose this last time... you'll have to kiss me"

"What?"

"Yes, a kiss on the lips, 5 seconds" I said as she high-fived my fingers in front of me.

"But..." she said very nervously.

"What? Have you never kissed anyone?"

"..." She did not answer.

"Well I guess you'll have to lose your first kiss to this handsome, talented, and very bright warlock, what a disgrace, but you can only avoid it if you win. I'll tone it down, but you'll still have to do your best if you want to win."

She hesitated for a moment, but she knew that what we were doing was really helping her to be more assertive, so she decided to end this, it couldn't be that bad in the end.

We played our last game and if I kept my word to slow down, but maybe due to fatigue or lack of practice, I still won this round on lap 7.

By the time we finished Cho was completely exhausted, in fact when I got down to her side she was still lying on the sand. It was already night and I had to illuminate everything with a spell, since I didn't use the stadium lights to avoid attracting attention. After helping her up, I told her it was time to go, and we started on our way.

"I like it a lot" I commented.

"Yeah, I never thought of doing something like this, it got interesting"

"Yeah... Do you know you owe me a kiss?"

"It is necessary?" She stopped, somewhat shy.

"Yes, you lost, although you improved a lot, but you must pay your gambling debts. I would consider it as my payment for training you... damn, now I am one of those coaches who take advantage of their students... well, it could be worse"

"... I..." She hesitated a bit, but she believed that since she lost it would be the right thing to do, She doesn't think they were taking advantage of her "okay, but you have to close your eyes"

"But I want to see you" I pouted.

"Just Close Them"

"Good"

At that moment I closed my eyes and the now shy and sweaty Cho walked over. After a couple of hesitations, she brought her face closer to mine, and she quickly connected our lips for a few seconds before moving away from her.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" I asked her after opening my eyes and seeing her trembling with nerves.

"Shut up" said the girl blushing.

"Come on, you'll hurt my feelings if you treat me like that after the kiss, it makes me think I'm bad at it" I gave a pitiful look.

"It was good" She ended up believing in my performance and replied.

"How well?"

"Enough... But I don't want to do it like that again, if we repeat it I don't want to have to do other such embarrassing things" Cho said tired "Please don't show anyone the photos"

"Don't worry, you're my friend, they will only be to have fun with each other, although I would have liked to have a few more"

"Pervert" she exclaims.

"The end justifies the means, thanks to my attitude you achieved what we wanted, didn't you?"

"Well… I guess, but you didn't have to act like a pervert to do it" she said, thinking it was all an act.

"If this bothers you, imagine if we had used the other method that I said was more radical, you would have smashed my head open with your broom"

We kept talking on the way in the dark and cold night until she brought up a topic.

"Does your sister have a favorite team? You said she liked Quidditch a lot."

"It's possible... I don't remember exactly... wait, I think so, she has a poster of a group of girls dressed in green"

"The 'Holyhead Harpies'?"

"Yes, I think it must be those"

"They are a good group. I have liked the 'Tutshill Tornados' since I was a child"

"Interesting, I don't know much, but now that I think about it, I should pay more attention. If Ginny likes it, I should dedicate some of my time to learning"

"I guess it would be nice, she'll probably want to become a Quidditch player when she gets into Hogwarts. If she comes into our house I'll try to help her, it would be nice to have a practice partner... not that I despise you, just that your methods are a bit rude." She apologized for the comment, she did like the training, but she felt it was more like a battle than Quidditch.

As I was listening to Cho's words, something clicked in my head, an idea that hadn't crossed my mind but was now clearly visible and had some importance...a new plan. It's time to visit the Headmaster!

"Thanks Cho, you made me realize something, see you later" I told her as I quickened my pace towards the castle.