At dinner that day, Kate was wheeled out slumped in her wheelchair, looking utterly worn out, while Hermione, the one pushing her, looked bright and refreshed.
Even Cho Chang, just out of the library, found herself studying the two of them, going over their expressions several times.
Why did something feel so off about it?
It wasn't only Cho who thought it strange — Kate did too. But right now she didn't feel like talking about it, so she simply lowered her head and ate in silence.
For the past few days she'd been on a restricted diet, left to watch the two of them feast on all the good things while she made do with specially prepared food that was rich in nutrients and utterly divorced from flavor.
It sounded like a miserable business, honestly.
Forcing down the last of the food on her plate, she wheeled herself off toward the library.
"Let me," Cho said, seeing this, and quickly stood to take hold of the wheelchair handles.
Hermione was a step too slow. Just as she reached to take over, Kate spoke. "Didn't you say you still had homework Katherine set you that you haven't finished?"
"I—" The words caught in Hermione's throat; she had, in fact, said something like that in the afternoon.
Seeing that the question had stumped Hermione, Kate smiled at once. "Then you'd better get to your homework tonight, or you'll be in a fix later."
As a good student, Hermione naturally didn't want anything like a missed assignment happening to her, but she still looked at Kate, hesitant. "But you—"
"Don't worry — I hadn't finished the book I was reading this afternoon anyway, so I'll keep Kate company," Cho said, all understanding.
It was plainly meant to reassure, yet somehow, to Hermione's ears, it carried an inexplicable prickle of discomfort.
It was as if she deeply disliked Kate being alone with other girls — Cho most of all.
But they were all good friends, and a narrow possessiveness like that would surely only upset Kate.
Hermione lowered her eyes a fraction, and only after a long while did she turn away. "You two go on, then. I'm not done eating."
At last Kate could set aside her thoughts about Hermione, at least for now. The moment she entered the library, she eagerly picked up the notes she'd made earlier on Nicolas Flamel.
Seeing how diligently and earnestly she worked, Cho's lips curved without a sound, and she simply settled across from her and picked up a book of her own.
Winter nights always came especially early. Not long after they'd come in, the skylight at the top of the tower slowly darkened.
Glimmering starlight spilled down through the skylight and fell right across the desk where they sat, scattering into a faint, dappled play of shadow.
Kate finished flipping through the notes and was reaching for a fresh one when she looked up and saw Cho stretching out a curious hand, trying to touch the starlight-shadows on the desk.
As her fingertips met the glow that belonged to the stars, the clear, brimming laughter in her slightly upturned eyes shone brighter and more dazzling than the starlight itself.
As if sensing the look, Cho raised her eyes a little, the soft, faint smile not yet gone. "What is it?" she asked quietly.
"Nothing," Kate answered honestly, pressing together lips that felt a touch dry. "It's just — you look really beautiful like this."
Cho went still, then dropped her head with a small laugh. "Pretty or not, it doesn't do much good."
"How does it not?" Kate tilted her head, puzzled.
She'd been decent-looking before too, but ever since her Charisma had shot up by fifteen points, the way people around her looked at her had shifted for a while there.
Never mind that over those few months she'd quietly collected seven or eight love letters — from boys and girls both.
A pity, though: the girls who slipped her love letters were all in the lower years, so she couldn't bring herself to act on it at all.
So across this stretch of time, Kate — who'd never paid much mind to her own appearance — had finally come to appreciate what looks could do.
Attractive people really did draw more notice, and won kinder treatment more easily.
Not that she had the slightest intention of pouring her precious Attribute Points into Charisma.
"Cho, you're beautiful," she praised sincerely. "You're the most beautiful person I've seen since I came to this world."
True, there were plenty of budding beauties around her — Hermione, Luna, and even Malfoy and Ginny counted.
But first there was the question of taste. Her soul came from China, and her eye leaned more toward Eastern beauty.
And second, apart from Cho — who was already blossoming, beginning to show the shape of a radiant beauty — the others still carried a certain childishness, on account of their age.
So until she laid eyes on the great beauty the original works named outright, Fleur, and that whole family of hers, Cho was, for now, the Eastern beauty who best fit her taste.
"This is... this is the first time I've heard you praise me like that."
Cho was so embarrassed by the praise that her voice shook a little. Turning her head to set the book down, she murmured, as if mocking herself, "But even so, you still don't like me."
"What?" Kate hadn't quite caught that last line, and asked her to say it again.
Cho lifted her head, the self-mockery already replaced by a courteous smile. "I said — even so, the one I like doesn't like me back."
With a clatter, the book slipped from Kate's hand onto the desk.
Her eyes went wide, and, moved by a spirit of gossip — no, of concern for a friend — she leaned in. "You've got someone you like? Who? How far have things gotten?"
Cho was quiet a moment, then raised a faint smile at her. "Guess."
Since when had even Cho learned to string people along!
Kate clicked her tongue, then something occurred to her and she tipped her chin up, confident. "My guess — it's Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff, right!"
In the original works the two of them were a couple, after all — otherwise, when Cedric died so abruptly, it might not have touched Harry's story at all.
She smiled, sure of herself, waiting to catch that flustered, delighted little look Cho would give at having her heart read — but she waited and waited, and the other girl only went on watching her, calm as anything.
Kate's mouth twitched guiltily, and she dropped her voice to test the waters. "Did I get it wrong?"
"Why would you think I'd like him?" Cho leaned in a little, her voice as calm as a current under the dark of night.
Because of the original works, obviously!
Who could have known the original works were so unreliable — and now Cho didn't even like Cedric!
"Because I thought the two of you were rather well... matched...?"
The more Kate said, the more the mood felt wrong; by the last few words she nearly choked to death under Cho's steadily darkening eyes.
Done for. She'd said the wrong thing, it seemed.
Dense as she could be, Kate could still feel the air congeal.
The ever-gentle Cho was studying her with a tangle of emotion she'd never seen before, until Kate felt too guilty to know whether she dared meet those eyes.
After who knew how long, Cho gave a self-mocking little laugh. "Cedric did court me, that's true. But I turned him down."
"...Then the person you like..."
"That person," Cho said, her eyes curving, calmly walling off the question, "doesn't like me."
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