CHAPTER 1. SUMMER, QUIDDITCH,ETC.
Hermione flinched. It wasn't that bad really. Not half as bad as her friends had said. Even so, she felt slightly drained, and strangely invigorated. SHe wanted more. Well, there was no harm in that, right? People had been doing it for centuries. Yeah, Hermione had just gotten her nose pierced. She had never had anything pierced. Not even her ears when she was little. The piercer used a nice clean needle though. Not some dirty big piercing gun or anything. And having her nose pierced (She was too afraid to have her ears pierced because they were two things instead of just one on her nose) made her feel almost as though it would turn out okay if she got her ears pierced too... She had been talking to her parents about it for ages. Convincing them that it was okay. And it was. As she sat in the chair regaining her equilibrium, she looked at the pictures of other piercings on the wall. She saw another one that she liked. It was called a librette. Or was it labrette? She didn't know how to spell it, but it didn't matter. She liked it. It was a piercing right below the lip. In the little concave between a persons lower lip and her chin. //It would be so cool to have that!// thought Hermione. Hey, she was maturing. She was fifteen. It was the summer before fifth year at Hogwarts. If she got it pierced now, it would have time to heal up before she went back to school, just like her nose. Then she'd barely have to clean it at school. Although she was sure there was some spell that could take care of the cleaning for her. SHe decided to go for it. She still had leftover birthday money to spend.
About twenty minutes later, Hermione emerged onto the brightly lit street outside of the piercing parlour. She felt really good. A bit woozy from all the endorphins of having her face pierced in two places, but she felt good. She knew it was still early in the summer, but if she hurried, while she was in muggle London, she could visit Diagon Alley and beat the back to school rush. She went into the Leaky Cauldron, and then out back into the courtyard. Tapping the appropriate brick, she stepped into Diagon Alley for the first time in a year. It was absolutely bustling. Quickly dropping past Flourian Fortescue's Ice cream parlour, she bought a sugar cone of chocolate chip cookie dough, after all, the piercer had suggested that she eat something with sugar in it to regain her proper body chemistry. //And//,thought Hermione, //What better can I get sugar from than ice cream?// Having finished her business there, she proceeded to get her set books for the coming year and several other items that she would be needing, such as a few more potions ingredients and some special cat food for Crookshanks. In their off time the previous year, Harry and Ron had tried to instill a love of flying and Quidditch in Hermione, and so she felt compelled to stop and look at broomsticks in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Seeing a really top notch broom in the window, she decided to go in and see if she could get a closer look at it. Which is where our little twist of fate occurs. She enquired at the counter about the broom in the window and was surprised to see that the clerk was none other than former Gryffindor Quidditch captain Oliver Wood. "Oliver?" Enquired Hermione, "I thought you were playing professional Quidditch! Why are you working here?"
"Oh, hi Hermione, isn't it? I play reserve for Puddlemere, remember? Reserve don't get payed as much as the first stringers do. I need to earn a living somehow, right? Now is there anything I can help you with?"
"Yeah," said Hermione, snapping out of her little reverie, "Can I take a look at that broomstick in the window? I don't recognize the model so it must be new!"
"Right you are!" Said Oliver, flashing Hermione a heart melting smile, "It is indeed new. Just got it in last week in fact. The fire dancer 100. Absolutely amazing broom. Really zips along and the response time is fantastic."
"So can I take a look at it?" Prompted Hermione.
"Alright, just because it isn't busy in here. If it were you probably wouldn't be able too. Can't run the risk of you running off with it, now can I?" Oliver winked at her.
"Right."
They walked over to a display case near the wall that also sported several handsome Fire Dancer 100s in varying finishes and rarities. Some had ash handles, some had beech wood.
"Any preference for which one you want to look at Hermione?" Asked Oliver.
"Yeah, I've heard good things about the grip on Birch handles." replied Hermione.
"Very true" intoned Oliver, clearly impressed with her knowledge of broomsticks, "But the beechwood is more light weight. What position do you play?" He asked her.
"I've tried all four, but I don't have the speed for Seeker, nor the upper body strenght for Beater, I'm a pretty good chaser, but my best position is definitely Keeper." She replied.
"Then I might suggest that you check out the maple. See, if you're anything like me at Keeper, you won't need to grasp your handle with your hands too much. But generally, Maple does have really good leg grip as compared to some other types of wood. But that's just my opinion."
"No, I value your opinion. You have a lot more experience with this than I do. I think I'd like to check ou the Maple one if you don't mind."
"Not at all" replied Oliver in that thick Scottish accent that seemed to enchant girls. For some reason though, maybe it was Hermione's newfound self confidence, maybe it was her sense of wreckless abandon when it came to Quidditch these days, but Oliver didn't seem to affect Hermione today at all. Oliver noticed this. He was so used to being gawked at by girls, but it had never been like that with Hermione. Of course, he never really got to know her very well. But he didn't know that many girls very well either. It was like there was a forcefield around him or something. Oh well, he was only nineteen, he had a whole life ahead of him to worry about love in. Right now, he got payed on comission, so he'd better get going and interest Hermione in a broom.
Hermione held the sleek new broom in her hands, marvelling at the beautiful alignment of the twigs and the quality of the wood. And in a slight moment of girlishness, she also took note of the fine quality of the Wood next to her. Oliver Wood to be precice. But she didn't need to worry about him at the moment, she was in love with a broom, and had a fat wallet of galleons weighing down on the pocket of her pants. Hence her wearing a belt, because she feared her slacks might fall down had she not donned a belt that morning. But that was beside the point. She really wanted to see how the broom that she held in her hands handled.
"Oliver - " Asked Hermione, "could I just maybe try out the broom?"
"Not just maybe Hermione, its important to know how a broom reacts to you, you know. Just as long as you don't knock anything down, I think it'll be okay for you to test it out."
Hermione was overjoyed. She mounted the broom and flew up to the ceiling and then did circuits around the room.
Oliver was amazed to see how well she flew. As far as he knew, she couldn't fly up until fourth year, otherwise he would have gotten her as a reserve for the Gryffindor team.
"How good ar you at deflecting Quaffles?" Inquired Oliver to Hermione.
"Not bad." she replied. "Not bad at all.
"Then think fast!" Called Oliver as he fired a Quaffle from one of the shelves at a random spot behind where Hermione was flying. She swerved to the side and caught it deftly in a split second. //Wow.// Thought Oliver, //Why didn't I ever notice her at school?!//
Hermione flinched. It wasn't that bad really. Not half as bad as her friends had said. Even so, she felt slightly drained, and strangely invigorated. SHe wanted more. Well, there was no harm in that, right? People had been doing it for centuries. Yeah, Hermione had just gotten her nose pierced. She had never had anything pierced. Not even her ears when she was little. The piercer used a nice clean needle though. Not some dirty big piercing gun or anything. And having her nose pierced (She was too afraid to have her ears pierced because they were two things instead of just one on her nose) made her feel almost as though it would turn out okay if she got her ears pierced too... She had been talking to her parents about it for ages. Convincing them that it was okay. And it was. As she sat in the chair regaining her equilibrium, she looked at the pictures of other piercings on the wall. She saw another one that she liked. It was called a librette. Or was it labrette? She didn't know how to spell it, but it didn't matter. She liked it. It was a piercing right below the lip. In the little concave between a persons lower lip and her chin. //It would be so cool to have that!// thought Hermione. Hey, she was maturing. She was fifteen. It was the summer before fifth year at Hogwarts. If she got it pierced now, it would have time to heal up before she went back to school, just like her nose. Then she'd barely have to clean it at school. Although she was sure there was some spell that could take care of the cleaning for her. SHe decided to go for it. She still had leftover birthday money to spend.
About twenty minutes later, Hermione emerged onto the brightly lit street outside of the piercing parlour. She felt really good. A bit woozy from all the endorphins of having her face pierced in two places, but she felt good. She knew it was still early in the summer, but if she hurried, while she was in muggle London, she could visit Diagon Alley and beat the back to school rush. She went into the Leaky Cauldron, and then out back into the courtyard. Tapping the appropriate brick, she stepped into Diagon Alley for the first time in a year. It was absolutely bustling. Quickly dropping past Flourian Fortescue's Ice cream parlour, she bought a sugar cone of chocolate chip cookie dough, after all, the piercer had suggested that she eat something with sugar in it to regain her proper body chemistry. //And//,thought Hermione, //What better can I get sugar from than ice cream?// Having finished her business there, she proceeded to get her set books for the coming year and several other items that she would be needing, such as a few more potions ingredients and some special cat food for Crookshanks. In their off time the previous year, Harry and Ron had tried to instill a love of flying and Quidditch in Hermione, and so she felt compelled to stop and look at broomsticks in the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. Seeing a really top notch broom in the window, she decided to go in and see if she could get a closer look at it. Which is where our little twist of fate occurs. She enquired at the counter about the broom in the window and was surprised to see that the clerk was none other than former Gryffindor Quidditch captain Oliver Wood. "Oliver?" Enquired Hermione, "I thought you were playing professional Quidditch! Why are you working here?"
"Oh, hi Hermione, isn't it? I play reserve for Puddlemere, remember? Reserve don't get payed as much as the first stringers do. I need to earn a living somehow, right? Now is there anything I can help you with?"
"Yeah," said Hermione, snapping out of her little reverie, "Can I take a look at that broomstick in the window? I don't recognize the model so it must be new!"
"Right you are!" Said Oliver, flashing Hermione a heart melting smile, "It is indeed new. Just got it in last week in fact. The fire dancer 100. Absolutely amazing broom. Really zips along and the response time is fantastic."
"So can I take a look at it?" Prompted Hermione.
"Alright, just because it isn't busy in here. If it were you probably wouldn't be able too. Can't run the risk of you running off with it, now can I?" Oliver winked at her.
"Right."
They walked over to a display case near the wall that also sported several handsome Fire Dancer 100s in varying finishes and rarities. Some had ash handles, some had beech wood.
"Any preference for which one you want to look at Hermione?" Asked Oliver.
"Yeah, I've heard good things about the grip on Birch handles." replied Hermione.
"Very true" intoned Oliver, clearly impressed with her knowledge of broomsticks, "But the beechwood is more light weight. What position do you play?" He asked her.
"I've tried all four, but I don't have the speed for Seeker, nor the upper body strenght for Beater, I'm a pretty good chaser, but my best position is definitely Keeper." She replied.
"Then I might suggest that you check out the maple. See, if you're anything like me at Keeper, you won't need to grasp your handle with your hands too much. But generally, Maple does have really good leg grip as compared to some other types of wood. But that's just my opinion."
"No, I value your opinion. You have a lot more experience with this than I do. I think I'd like to check ou the Maple one if you don't mind."
"Not at all" replied Oliver in that thick Scottish accent that seemed to enchant girls. For some reason though, maybe it was Hermione's newfound self confidence, maybe it was her sense of wreckless abandon when it came to Quidditch these days, but Oliver didn't seem to affect Hermione today at all. Oliver noticed this. He was so used to being gawked at by girls, but it had never been like that with Hermione. Of course, he never really got to know her very well. But he didn't know that many girls very well either. It was like there was a forcefield around him or something. Oh well, he was only nineteen, he had a whole life ahead of him to worry about love in. Right now, he got payed on comission, so he'd better get going and interest Hermione in a broom.
Hermione held the sleek new broom in her hands, marvelling at the beautiful alignment of the twigs and the quality of the wood. And in a slight moment of girlishness, she also took note of the fine quality of the Wood next to her. Oliver Wood to be precice. But she didn't need to worry about him at the moment, she was in love with a broom, and had a fat wallet of galleons weighing down on the pocket of her pants. Hence her wearing a belt, because she feared her slacks might fall down had she not donned a belt that morning. But that was beside the point. She really wanted to see how the broom that she held in her hands handled.
"Oliver - " Asked Hermione, "could I just maybe try out the broom?"
"Not just maybe Hermione, its important to know how a broom reacts to you, you know. Just as long as you don't knock anything down, I think it'll be okay for you to test it out."
Hermione was overjoyed. She mounted the broom and flew up to the ceiling and then did circuits around the room.
Oliver was amazed to see how well she flew. As far as he knew, she couldn't fly up until fourth year, otherwise he would have gotten her as a reserve for the Gryffindor team.
"How good ar you at deflecting Quaffles?" Inquired Oliver to Hermione.
"Not bad." she replied. "Not bad at all.
"Then think fast!" Called Oliver as he fired a Quaffle from one of the shelves at a random spot behind where Hermione was flying. She swerved to the side and caught it deftly in a split second. //Wow.// Thought Oliver, //Why didn't I ever notice her at school?!//