"I don't see the point in this," Hermione trembled, much to her annoyance. She does not like to lose her composure.
"Oh, relax. I'm right behind you." Draco reassured her as he steadied her grip on the broomstick he got her for Christmas.
"I know you're well aware that I am hopeless on these things! You just wasted your Christmas present for me." she hissed between grit teeth "and it's too cold and dim for a flying session!" she shivered involuntarily, shifting her glance up at the darkening sky with dusk at the horizon.
"Ye of little faith." Draco grinned, readjusting his position behind her and rubbing his gloved hands on the sides of her arms to soothe her nerves. His hands soon joined hers gripping the handle of the broomstick. He leaned his head forward and against the side of hers to speak to her more audibly.
"I remember you saying that not being able to get on a broomstick without nearly plummeting to your doom unsettles you, so I'm going to help you get over it."
"Exactly! I plan to never get on one ever again! You aren't helping me at all! You're just causing me panic and potential traumatic injury!" Hermione burst out breathlessly. Already, she was finding it difficult to breathe.
"Stop exaggerating." And with that, Draco kicked off.
Hermione let out an ear-piercing shriek as she felt her feet leave the solid ground and squeezed her eyes shut in fear. "DRACO MALFOY YOU BLOODY GIT LAND THIS THING RIGHT THIS INSTANT OR SO HELP ME MERLIN I AM GOING TO HEX YOU!"
But Draco had other ideas. He coaxed the broom into speeding up a notch, earning himself another stream of colorful profanities from a horrified Hermione.
He smirked in spite of Hermione's protests that promised him imminent death once she gets herself safe and secure on the ground and capable of properly wielding her wand against him.
"Granger, open your eyes." He chuckled
"NO, you insufferable bastard! Are you trying to kill us both?! It's freezing up here!" she shouted, her eyes still stubbornly closed.
"Don't be a wuss and just open them for one second, come on"
"DON'T LET GO, IDIOT!" she exclaimed in alarm, feeling his hands leave hers which were holding on to the handle as he was trying to force her eyes open. The panic caused her to open her eyes out of reflex and she gasped at the scene that hit her.
Colorful lights flooded the city of London. Cars were weaving in and out of traffic induced by the holiday season's rush, their headlights contributing to the luminous glow of the city. Christmas lights littered the buildings and neon signs were flaring bright.
The city was alive and beautifully breathtaking at night. Even more so when viewed from above.
"Oh." Hermione puffed out the breath she didn't know she was holding. Well, all she ever had been doing the entire flight was exhale a lot of screams and curses.
"Well?" Draco whispered, looking at the back of her head expectantly since he couldn't see her expression.
"I-It's... well, it's amazing.." Hermione found herself at a loss for words, which rarely ever happens. Draco deemed this a success.
"Do you like your gift now?" He grinned impishly.
"I do believe this is the best part of it." Hermione had to smile, even after realizing she was still terrified that they were floating on a broomstick above London. "I'm still scared though. Can we go down now?"
"Only if you promise not to skewer me for pushing you into this."
"Alright fine, you did prove your good intentions." She huffed in mild indignation and even managed not to close her eyes or scream for the rest of the trip back.
"Well that wasn't so bad, was it? Ow!" Draco rubbed the shoulder where Hermione punched him after hopping off the broom.
"You promised!" Draco turned on her, betrayed, although the punch practically did nothing to him.
"You deserved more than that." She glared at him before pulling him in by the collar and placing a cool kiss on his equally cold lips.
"And that." She gave him one last death glare before offering him a sweet smile.
Draco's face split into a victorious smile.
"Oh don't get too happy, mister. That broomstick is just going to rot away in the basement under my hands. You should've known better than to get me a broomstick for a present." Hermione gave him a pointed look as she crossed her arms and stomped her feet to fight away the cold.
"Anyway let's get inside before we freeze our appendages off. I mean, the gesture was really sweet and everything but getting me a broomstick for this one-time event? We could've just used yours and saved you the expense of getting me a new one when you know how I feel about them. Well, i did ride one long ago but that was a matter of life and death. I would've been a lot happier if you got me Peter Swanson's new book instead or a surprise candlelit dinner by the- what's this?" Hermione was cut off by Draco shoving another present in her arms.
"Your real present. This broom's actually mine since my old one's busted." He smirked deviously.
"Y-you…" Hermione clutched the suspiciously book-shaped gift in her hands. Then, enlightenment dawned on her expression.
"You did this on purpose to annoy me didn't you." She deadpanned
Draco just burst out laughing.
"Ha-ha. Really funny. Well congratulations, it worked."
"You should've seen the look on your face when you unwrapped the broom! Priceless!" Draco rubbed stray tears from his eyes as he openly laughed at his girlfriend's fuming expression.
"Yes well, when a girl receives a gift from her boyfriend she expects jewelry or flowers or in my case books and anything of the sort as long as it is from the heart. Not an instrument that would most likely bring about their destruction."
"That is one way of putting it." Draco heaved a sigh to try and recover from his laughing fit. "Although you're laying on too much theatrics." He chuckled one last time. I'm sorry I riled you up. I did want take you up sightseeing in the first place. The crack gift was just an afterthought. Or a beforethought. Whatever. You know I like teasing you." He gave her one of his crooked smiles with the thing that he does with his eyes that just makes her want to say yes to anything that he asks of her, and she knew that she couldn't stay angry for long.
Hermione sighed, defeated. "The author of this book had better be Peter Swanson."
And it was indeed a copy of his latest work.
"Fine! I forgive you."