A/N~ Sorry for the long pause between updates, scandalous I know! College is a burden and a half but I have a weekend to myself, let's go with this, alrighty? Hope you like, I'm a little rusty at this whole enjoyable writing stuff right now.
Also, I was kind of listening to this song Everything by Lifehouse on repeat. I just stumbled across it so that might be the underlying influence of this chapter as opposed to Get Over It. It's a really pretty song though, the kind that makes me regret not finding it sooner.
Disclaimer: Draco, Hermione, and the rest of Hogwarts can not be found in a laundry mat crane machine. I've tried.
I was flying. No, not lost in a dream, soaring like an eagle flying. I was on a broomstick, solo on the broomstick! I was keeping myself in the air- well, the broom was, but I was steering. I was in control. I wasn't scared!
"This is incredible!" I sigh, weaving between the multicolored fireflies that flitted about before my eyes. We were in Haven again, Draco and I. This time the scene was a summer evening with magical colorful fireflies. The bell-flowers were back- Draco had a soft spot for them or something.
"You're becoming a natural, Hermione!" He called, doing some tricky maneuver through the air. I laughed.
"Not compared to that I'm not." I answer. We head towards the ground and settle in the tall grass as picnic foods appear by our side. He reaches for the pumpkin juice eagerly, while I grab for a glass of water instead. "I'm doing alright. That's all the matters to me."
We eat in silence, gazing up at the beautiful fireflies. A little ways off is a big manor type house. I don't want to ask him if it's his. He picked the place today and I sense we're only in a meadow for the flying space. I set my plate aside and settle back in the grass. Soon he follows suit, threading his fingers through mine. It struck me as weird the first time he did it but now it felt as natural as existing.
"You're staring again Granger." He says, not taking his eyes from the sky. I let out the breath I had been holding without even realizing it.
"I'm entitled." I reply. His eyes fall to mine again and he narrows them to his old look, meant to intimidate. There's no coldness in them anymore. I smirk confidently. "Your mighty Slytherin power is waning. I blame myself."
"Blame? More like credit." He snickers. Did I mention Malfoy was capable of making fun of himself? I mean, who knew right? All ego Draco Malfoy had this whole other side to him. It makes me wonder if his friends ever saw it or if maybe I was the lucky one. He speaks again, "Do you think you're ready for the game? It's this Saturday."
I sit up, feeling the butterflies dancing in my stomach. "I don't feel so ready. Every time I think of it, I feel like I'm going to hurl. Maybe we should avoid mentioning it."
"You'll be fine. If you back out however, I will never speak to you again." He replied simply with a shrug of his shoulders. It's his favorite threat and sometimes I'm still uncertain if it's a joke or not. He says it with such a straight face. Change your hair and we'll never speak… drop the game and we'll never speak… huh.
"I'm not backing out." I reply, finally.
"That's right. You're too stubborn to do something like that." He replies with a smirk.
"Are you trying to piss me off?"
"It's my nature to tease you Hermione. I wouldn't do it so much if I didn't like you." He replied, sighing as if they'd been over this a hundred times.
"Right, Mr. Pain in my Ass." I reply with a small smile. He leans over and kisses me softly before pulling me gently so my head rests in the crook of his neck. For a while I'm just contented to lay there and let the bell-flowers and fireflies take me away. All too soon, he's pulling me to my feet insisting we get some more flying in.
"Ready for the game Hermione?" Ginny asks during breakfast.
"What? 'Mione can't fly. You're not really going through with this, are you?" Ron puts in, before shoving a couple pancakes in his mouth. I wince at him before turning to his sister.
"Oh, I'm ready for this game." I tell her. "I've been taking flying lessons."
"Really? From who?" Harry butts in, looking suspicious.
"Just someone Krum found for me." I reply absently.
"Whoever it is should open a business and charge people." Ginny teased with a laugh. "If they've managed to get Hermione balanced in the air, they can cure anybody!"
Harry chuckles and kisses her lightly on the nose. Ginny is wearing robes, she's seeker for the student team. Harry has already run her through everything she needs to know, double checking she understands what to look for, who she should avoid (which is hard cause no one knows how the teachers play), etc.
I've been appointed to Keeper. I suppose everyone thinks it's the best place for me. I don't need to fly back and forth across the field and they're hoping I can block ok. I'm hoping I can blow all their expectations away. I'm not holding my breath.
Somewhere there's a deep note indicating it's time to make our way down to the Quidditch pitch. I glance across the room at the Slytherin table. Draco is getting up, eyes trained solely on me. He smirks at me before heading out the doors. I sigh, wishing he could kiss my cheek or something, like what Harry is doing for Ginny, but I know it's out of the question for us.
Outside there is a thin blanket of snow on the ground and more flurries swirl around in the air, dancing and sticking in my hair and robes. We line up across from the teachers and I look down the lines- recognizing Ginny, Ernie, Hannah, Cormac, Padma, and Terry. Whether or not they're all good at this sort of thing, I haven't the slightest idea. It makes me wish I paid more attention to Quidditch.
Across from us are the teachers- the line is almost laughable. Right in the center is Krum and flanking him are Flitwick, McGonigall, Sprout, Sinastra, Pince and… Slughorn. Slughorn was playing Quidditch. It took all my concentration to keep a straight face. They looked like they meant business but with the height and weight differences of them all it was hard to take them seriously at all.
Madame Hooch stepped forward, looking longingly at the teams as if she'd rather be playing then reffing (which was probably the case) and then she gave her usual "nice clean game" speech before blowing the whistle. Our brooms rose into the air and the game began.
The Professors were ruthless. Some of them clearly had some experience that no one ever knew of. McGonigall was zooming around like a pro, expertly stealing the Quaffle from the students who were caught off guard by their transfiguration teacher/headmistress barreling them down on a broom. Pince used her frighteningly stern glare to chase away the timid catchers trying to sneak back up. Still, no matter how many times they or tiny Flitwick tried to sink it in, I managed to smack it away from the hoops to the loud cries of a united band of students. Except the Slytherins, who booed loudly every time.
"Way to go Hermione!" Ginny screamed on her way by, dodging a bludger Sinastra sent her way. The other beater was Sprout. Krum was of course seeker and the left Slughorn to cover keeper duty, which he did well. None of our attempts could get passed him at first. At first being the key term in that sentence.
"Padma, he's sluggish- no pun intended- so make an aim for a far hoop and then make sure Ernie or Hannah gets the Quaffle and aims for the complete opposite hoop. It could work!" I tell her when she comes to coast beside me, observing the ruthless teachers juggling the ball between them.
"It's a bloody battle zone." She whispers.
"Did you hear anything I just said?" I demand. She nods and speeds off to tell the others, dodging bludgers and brooms on her way. Flitwick came at me with the Quaffle again. I reached up and smacked it away easily, nearly loosing my balance in the process. I did a roll in midair and managed to stay put, with my stomach in my mouth.
Across the field, Padma had the Quaffle. She aimed for the far right hoop and Slughorn moved his bulk so it simply bounced off his big hairy mustache. Ernie swooped beneath, grabbed it, and tossed it in the far ring getting us the first fifteen points of the game.
Slughorn managed to cover his hoops better after that single score. The teachers became more determined. Flitwick, who was brutal on a broom, hurled the Quaffle and it hit me square in the stomach, propelling me and itself through the hoop for a score. McGonigall faked to throw it through the left hoop then twisted around and threw it right instead. Another score. The score was now 150 to fifteen. Flitwick was coming back for more.
Just then Ginny and Krum sped passed me neck in neck. They circled the field chasing after something gold and sparkling. Everything took on that weird slow motion feeling. Flitwick wound his arm back for a throw…
I lunged forward, arms outstretched for the Quaffle just as Krum and Ginny came back around. Krum flew straight into me and we were knocked down. I reached for my broom but it was already out of my reach. Ginny overhead caught the gold snitch. The fear of death didn't grip me once, ironically. Despite my fear of heights, my hatred of brooms, I wasn't upset in this free fall. Besides, Krum had grabbed me around the waist and managed to steer his broom safely to the ground amidst the thunderous cries of everyone.
"Great game, 'Mione!" He hollered over the din, giving me a quick friendly hug. Peoplel were pouring on to the field from the stands and the players were landing nearby. He lowered his mouth to my ear to be heard. "You played bravely."
"You guys were creaming me!" I replied.
"You're a beginner. You played the best you could. I'm proud." He insisted, smiling. People on all sides of me were patting me on the shoulder and congratulating me, smiling and laughing and cheering. I thanked them all, glancing around til I saw him. He was standing at the end of the field. I was overcome with the victory and began to push through the crowds towards him.
When I broke through the slow motion feeling came back, no doubt my minds way of trying to drag out what it viewed as a perfect moment. I began to tear across the field as fast as I could. I was snowy, my hair streamed wildly behind me, almost back to being bushy again because of the toll of being up in the air so long. None of it mattered, not the crowds, not my appearance, not any of it. All that mattered was the only thing in front of my eyes right now. It was about six feet tall or so with outstretched arms, platinum hair and the most beautiful grey eyes I'd ever seen.
His arms were around me next and I felt my feet leave the ground once more as he spun me around in a circle, laughingly cooing "my little Quidditch player!" into my ear. I felt my feet meet ground again but I stayed where I was in his arms, feeling his heartbeat and how tight his arms held me.
"I'm so proud of you, 'Mione!" He whispered, pulling away and brushing my wild hair out of my face. "Look at you, you look like we're back in first year."
"Hey-" I began to protest. He put a finger on my lips to stop me.
"You know what? You're beautiful." He whispered, before kissing my cheek. It was the perfect moment until we both noticed it seemed unusually quiet all of a sudden. We turned to see that everyone was staring at us, wearing similar open mouthed looks of shock. Some of the teachers smiled slightly, Krum among them. I picked out my friends faces in the crowd. Ron looked ready to kill. Harry looked calm but there was a frightening glint in his eyes. Ginny was looking at her feet.
"Draco, I'm so sorry. I completely forgot-" I whispered, trying to disentangle myself from him. But the damage was done, nobody had missed the exchange. We couldn't make it disappear or anything. He held me a little tighter to him, a low chuckle in his throat. I gave him a confused look.
"We'll just have to face them sooner than expected is all." He replied.
"I don't want to face them yet." I complained. He kissed my forehead before letting me go so that he held me by the hand.
"There, there. Where's my brave Hermione run off to?" He joked.
"She bought a home in Hawaii." I muttered sarcastically, rubbing my suddenly cold limbs. Ron was the first in the crowd to move. He seemed to lunge but Harry grabbed him, holding him back. Most of the students seemed to shrug as if to say 'well alright then' before marching off the field. Some of the teachers even patted our arms and smiled as they passed. Finally there was only a smattering of us left.
"So," Harry said finally. "Care to explain?"
"Draco's been giving me flying lessons." I answer shortly.
"Among other lessons…" Ron mumbled. I shot him a dark look.
"That's not fair-"
"You've been snogging Malfoy and you're going to tell us it's not fair that we object?" Harry cut in, his voice still that eerie calm.
"Harry-" Ginny began, touching his arm lightly. He brushed her fingers away and she went back to staring at her feet. It seemed for once the fiery red head didn't have her mother's backbone on her side. I couldn't really blame her.
"Potter, I know this is somewhat of a shock." Draco said, squeezing my hand. Ron was back to lunging like a dog on a leash. I could almost see him foaming at the mouth.
"That's putting it mildly." He retorted, barely civil. He didn't even look at Draco when he spoke. His eyes were too busy watching me. "How could you do this, 'Mione? We've been friends since first year. How could you give everything up for this git who only likes you cause of your whole little make-over?"
I tug at my hair, self-consciously. Beside me, I feel Draco stiffen at his words and I pray they don't decide to lunge into hexing each other into an oblivion. Behind us there was a chuckle. I turned to see Blaise standing there, supporting himself on one of the beams from the stands.
"Boy, he's really got you figured out, hasn't he Draco?" He supplied, mid-giggle. I turned my eyes back to Draco in confusion. He shakes his head slightly at me, smoothing my hair away from my face again.
Just then, a weird howling noise broke out somewhere in the castle. Blaise's laughter intensified until he was practically cackling. He turned to us, wiping at his eyes. "Looks like they've managed to get the Banshee in. Ready for the uprising Draco?"
"Uprising?" Me, Ginny, Harry, and Ron echo. Draco I notice is oddly silent. I peer up at him. His eyes are fixed on Blaise but they're unfocused. Wordlessly, he begins to drag me back up towards the castle.
A/N~ Ok, we're winding down here... I think. I wanted to fit some sort of plot in… but I didn't stumble across one. Sorry! Few more chappies should do it unless I locate that plot idea… anyways, who's up for an uprising? What can this mean? What of our Drakey poo? Traitor or no? We'll soon (and I mean it) find out!