Okay just a oneshot I've wanted to forever. They are supposed to be in their fifth year. Hope you like it!

- Em

In the sky

Hermione come on you can do it. Everyone else can. You cannot leave this school without being able to do this. She looked down on her hand. It was hovering in the air above the broom lying on the ground. Ever since she flunked flying class in her first year, it had been her mission to regain her pride and show everyone that she was not a complete failure. And then maybe finally have something to talk with the boys about, since Quidditch was basically all they could ever talk about when she was around. And Ron wasn't even on the team!

So now she was standing there, late in the evening, for what must be at least the one hundredth time, trying to make the stupid broom float into her hand. But it never happened. She knew the theory about the broom. It could feel how she felt. And if she didn't feel confident about, if she didn't truly want the broom to come to her hand, if she did not truly want to fly, the broom would never leave the ground. She'd tried everything to calm herself and make herself believe that it was nothing but a piece of cake. But if she had to be honest with herself, she knew that she scared to death by the idea of sitting on the broom.

All she wanted was to step out of her cocoon as the annoying know-it-all. Yes she knew her friends loved her, but she also knew that they thought she was freaking annoying. She might be the master of rolling her eyes, but if anyone was to beat her, it was her friends whenever she started to talk too much. And she tried; she really tried to not be like that all the time. She knew that was the reason why guys didn't tend to ask her out, like they continually asked Ginny out. She wanted to be a better friend, she really did. But it was hard changing – especially when you were put in a box within the first few weeks of starting school.

Truthfully she wanted to break rules all the time. She wanted to do wrong things. She wanted to be the girl that the guys drooled at whenever she walked through the halls. She wanted to be idolized. She wanted to be funny. She just wanted to be noticed. Whenever she was with Ron and Harry she was pretty sure they thought of her as "one of the guys", and not a girl with feelings. It meant she was obviously always included in whatever they did, not the she always understood the contents of their conversations or why they did what they did, but at least they didn't exclude her. And she appreciated their friendship.

So was it unfair for her to wish for all those things? She would clearly graduate with great honours, and hopefully Voldemort would be gone and out of world, so everyone could live in peace with their normal day problems. She didn't think so. It wasn't like she asked for a lot of things in her life. Of course her parents supported her in all the ways they could, and she definitely loved the attention from the Weasley parents, but she also wanted some attention in her school life. A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she flopped down on the ground, where she buried her face in her arms, trying very hard not to start crying.

"Oh serious Granger, do you really need to contaminate all of Hogwarts with your sappy girl crap? It's like I can't go anywhere without having to keep a distance." Hermione's world came crashing down; this was the last thing she needed. Malfoy to make sure she felt even more miserable. Because she knew he would, if she wasn't crying already, he would've brought tears to her eyes anyways.

"Just go away Malfoy." She sniffed. "I DO NOT need your crap right now. Alright!?" She got off the ground grabbed the broom and started to walk away. "Wow, what are YOU doing with a broom Granger?" Malfoy's voice trailed behind her. "After first year, shouldn't you just let them stay in a broom cabinet?" Hermione turned at him and almost screamed. "Just leave me alone okay? Just go away! Just today, could you please just leave me alone? Just today, find someone else to torment!"

"Alright… Merlin… Calm down Granger. What is your problem today? On your period? Oh wait, maybe you missed one. Did Weasel already get you pregnant?" Malfoy smirked for himself, and Hermione almost broke down right then and there, but instead she turned and continued crying as she walked away. "Oh hey wait." Malfoy called after her. "I'm sorry." She stopped dead in her tracks. Did he actually just apologize to her? No, she had heard wrong. He would never apologize to her. "You're obviously very upset about something, so if you want to get it off your chest, take a few punches. Let me be the person tonight for that. I'm bored, and curious."

Hermione turned slowly. A part of her wanted to just run away and hide in her bedroom, but another part of her was curious. She wanted to know why he had suddenly taken a small interest in her, and her life. She watched him approach her and kept a close eye on his every move, just in case she needed to flee for her life. "Alright take a deep breath." Hermione started breathing kind of normal. "Alright keep breathing normally. That's right." Hermione's breathing finally slowed to a normal pace. "Good. Now that you're breathing normally, tell me what has gotten your panties in a twist."

Hermione gave him a glare and he smirked. With a sigh she looked down at the broom and then back at Malfoy. "I want to fly." She waited for him to start laughing in her face, but he kept his silence. "I still don't know how to, but I want to… I need to know how to fly." She could tell he struggled with his laughter, because he was wearing a huge smile on his face, and was pressing his lips together. "Well?" She crossed her arms and slightly tilted her hip.

Malfoy's eyes flung to her chest and then her hip. The girl had curves. Such a shame she hid them away, she could easily steal stares if she just opened a couple of buttons and pulled her skirt up a bit. "Well?" Hermione asked again and snapped Malfoy back to reality. "Well it is … not completely impossible." She looked at him and was about to burst into tears again. "Hey, hey, hey, hey! I said it wasn't impossible." He approached her even more. "I can try and help you, I am not saying it will be easy, or if we will be successful, but I can promise you I will try my best."

He reached for the broom, and she let him have it. "Okay… so first of all you gotta tell me all the reasons why you are afraid of stepping onto that broom." Hermione looked to the ground and then at him, but stayed quiet. "Come on Granger, I learned how to fly almost before I could walk, and I fell off a hundred times before I got it right." She sighed. "Well obviously I'm afraid of falling off the broom as you just pointed out. I'm scared it'll control me more than the other way around. And I'm just terrified that I will be horrible at it."

"Well those are all reasonable fears. But can I ask you something?" Malfoy started to circle her. "Are you not Hermione Granger? The most insufferable know-it-all and most talented witch of our year? Probably the very best since Professor Dumbledore," "Yeah right," "so why on earth do you feel like you're gonna fail?" Hermione sighed. "Because you can't be good at everything. And well… I am not saying, well yes I am saying, I am pretty much good at everything else, so perhaps I am doomed to suck at flying."

"See!" Malfoy pointed at her, and Hermione looked at him puzzled. "See what?" "The confidence, which you are somehow lacking off right now. Admitting to yourself and bragging to me that you are best at basically everything, is showing me at least that you do believe you have talent. And if you do believe then anything can happen!" She was not sure if this entire evening was a dream, but she was very much starting to doubt whether or not Malfoy was all bad. Malfoy crossed his arms and looked at her. "Well?"

Hermione shrugged. "Guess I can't argue with that." "That's the spirit! Alright come here." He waved her over to him, and she approached him reluctantly. Malfoy dropped the broom on the ground, and went to stand behind Hermione. "Okay, so the key to getting the broom to float to your hand, is being calm and patient and of course believe in yourself. So lets start with calm and patient part okay?" Hermione nodded. Malfoy reached with his left hand and rested it on her lower back, he felt her slightly stiffen. "Calm, remember? I'm not gonna try anything. Take a deep breath and relax." Hermione breathed in and then out, and she settled with his hand on her. Then he reached with his right hand for hers and brought it up to hover over the broom.

Hermione was very aware of Malfoy's body so close to hers. But for some reason she didn't entirely feel like fleeing. He was a lot taller than her, and of course bigger. And he was strong; she could feel the muscles in his arm and his upper body, and for some reason that made her feel safe. It felt weirdly right. It made her feel right. And somehow these thoughts made her completely calm and confident. She felt her fingers grasp something, and she opened her eyes that she apparently had closed, to see the broom in her hand.

"Oh my god!" Hermione smiled. "Oh my god. Oh my god I did it. Malfoy I did it!" She turned with joy in her eyes and a huge smile on her face. Malfoy gave her a crooked smile and nodded. "You did." He crossed his arms. "But this was just part one. Now you actually have to get on the broom and fly." Her smile faded slowly in terror. "Don't worry," he reached and put his hand on the broom. "I'll fly along at first." Malfoy stood behind her and reached around her small body to hold the broom in front of her. "Alright, on my count of three, we'll kick off at the same time, and hopefully we'll be in the sky."

Hermione wasn't sure if she was doing it consciously or if her body was just responding to closeness, but she leaned into Malfoy's embrace and relaxed her body completely. Malfoy could feel her ease into his arms and for some reason he was okay with. Her small body fit perfectly in front of him and her hair smelled so wonderful of spring and honey. Malfoy leaned his head towards her and whispered, "Are you ready?" Hermione nodded. "One… two… three…"

A cold breeze hit Hermione's face and she opened her eyes that she'd held close from when they kicked off of the ground. She could barely believe what she was seeing; they were high up in the air, above the trees, basked in the moonlight and the stars. It was, ironically, magically. And her mind couldn't grasp that it was all due to Malfoy that this had happened. He had done nothing to try and turn the situation; make fun of her, make her fall off the broom… kick her when she was down. He had actually helped her; been nice to her, let himself touch her. Never in a million years had they ever made contact. Well except for their third year when she'd punched him very hard in the face. Now here, in his arms she felt safe, she felt like she could take on the world. And that scared her. Even though he was doing this for her now, he could very easily go back to being his usual horrifying self within minutes. Yet she decided to enjoy this while it lasted.

It kind of terrified him how much he was enjoying being close to her. She was supposed to be his mortal enemy, or at least one of them, and he was supposed to hate her. But after seeing her tonight, all upset and out of hope, it had touched something in him. And even though her request had been very laughable, he had found it extremely adorable at the same time, and for some reason he had compared her to a lost puppy dog that desperately needed his help, and he had given it to her willingly. He had a feeling that if she ever came to him again with a problem, he would jump off of a cliff if it meant helping her, and he was fine with it.

They finally returned to the ground after at least an hour of flying, just in silence and Malfoy helped Hermione off of the broom. They were now standing very closely, facing each other, Malfoy holding her broom. Hermione looked up at him and smiled slightly, "thanks for helping me. I think I'll be able to do it myself next time." She dropped her gaze and folded her hands on her back, she didn't really want him to go, but she wasn't sure how to part with him after this evening. Malfoy gazed at her and a million thoughts ran through his head, half were good and half were bad, and in the end he chose one of them. He dropped the broom and grabbed Hermione's petite body to pull her in for a kiss. Taken happily by surprise, Hermione pulled her arms around his neck and kissed him back. He tightened his grip around her tiny waist, and she let herself ease into his strong arms while lightly running her fingers through his hair.

They both parted and stood still looking into each other's eyes; his arms still around her waist, and her arms still around his neck. And they just stood there. He looked into her warm hazel eyes, and she looked into his star grey eyes – both mesmerized by each other. He slightly let go of her and cleared his throat. "Well…" he managed to get out, and Hermione took a step back. "Well…" she replied. Malfoy looked around and then back at Hermione, "we should definitely do this again." He leaned in and kissed her quickly, before turning on his heel and walking away leaving Hermione standing speechless. He turned then and shouted back at her: "maybe I can teach you something else." With this he winked at her before disappearing into the dark, leaving a flushed yet happy Hermione behind.

All right so kind of fluffy and sweet, and perhaps a bit out of character. But I hope you liked it! Thoughts?

- Em