I made it short so I could update quickly. Next chapter will be longer, I promise!
Hermione leaned against her bike dressed in her black motorcycle gear. It was 9:55 and Pansy and Eric had yet to show up, though she did say ten o'clock sharp, so maybe they were waiting until the very last minute. Malfoy had arrived a few minutes after her and her friends, his friends tagging along as well. Hermione watched as they talked together, everyone except Ron that is, who chose to stand off to the side and sulk.
She couldn't help but smile slightly as she watched everyone talk. So much had changed since school that it was hard to believe. She was dating Draco Malfoy for goodness sake! They weren't in the wizarding world so maybe it was believable that everything had changed. Her smile softened as she thought about Malfoy. She wasn't sure what they were to each other, they hadn't talked about it, but she didn't need a title to know how she was feeling. Maybe knowing him for so long, even if it wasn't on good terms was the reason they got together so fast and currently couldn't keep their hands off each other. Maybe they were making up for lost time?
Malfoy stood talking to Harry, Sirius, and Lupin about motorcycles but was having a hard time paying attention. Hermione was leaning against her bike and looked like she was deep in thought. Sirius asked him a question and he answered though he wasn't really thinking about their conversation anymore. He watched as Hermione smiled slightly as she looked over the group and then went back to staring into space. The people around him laughed, but he hadn't heard what had been said. When her smile softened, he quickly excused himself and walked over to her.
Putting his hands on either side of her he leaned on them. "What are you thinking about?" he whispered as she looked up at him.
She smiled up at him and answered, "Nothing in particular."
"But you had the cutest smile on your face," he teased. "It couldn't have just been anything."
She laughed lightly and answered by wrapping her arms around his waist under his jacket and burying her face in his shirt. She sighed contently as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to him.
"What's wrong?" he whispered in her ear.
"Nothing," she said into his shirt. "Can't I just cuddle with you?"
"Of course," he smiled and squeezed her as he kissed the top of her head.
"Ew, detach your selves."
"You know what Pansy," Hermione let go and turned to the pink clad girl, her happy mood gone, "just because Eric doesn't cuddle with you or hold your hand doesn't mean that you have to get mad at other people who do. Take it out on Eric. Now Eric," she turned to him, "if you would show your girlfriend some affection maybe she wouldn't be so screwed up."
"Who stuck the stick up your ass?" Eric smirked as he walked his bike up to the start line.
"Whatever, you're late," she growled as she turned back to her bike.
"2 minutes, Granger. Don't cry about it, jeez," said Pansy as she came up beside Eric.
"Tell us your little rules so that we can get on with this, Hermione," Eric added.
"No wands, hand them over to Sirius," answered Malfoy for Hermione.
"That's it?" scoffed Pansy as she pulled her bracelet off.
"Six laps, broken up into three laps for each pair racing," Hermione added as she handed her bracelet and Malfoy's wrist cuff to Sirius. "As soon as the first pair finishes their three laps, the second pair goes. Are those rules simple enough for you, or do I need to break them done word for word?"
"I get you first, Hermione," Eric smirked and put on his helmet.
"Whatever," Hermione replied.
"Kick ass," Malfoy whispered to her before a quick kiss.
"You too," she smiled and put her helmet on.
Ginny walked up to tell them when to go but was pushed out of the way by Pansy.
"Watch it, girl," Pansy smirked, "I'm starting this thing off."
"Whatever," Ginny said, waving her off and went back to stand with Harry and her friends.
Hermione rolled her eyes as Pansy walked a few feet in front of them and took up a model pose. Her annoyance at the former Slytherin dwindled as her hands went down and she took off.
She decided to take this race leisurely; Eric was a meager rider who thought himself in the big leagues. Hermione couldn't help but laugh as she looked in her side mirror; Eric was behind her and it looked like he was having trouble choosing which gear he wanted, she watched as his hand flicked back and forth on the accelerator. That is why Eric was a meager rider; he couldn't judge what gear would be best for whatever scenario the track presented him. Whoever had taught him how to ride did a very bad job of it, though she was wonton to believe he had taught himself.
That got Hermione thinking about the race Malfoy had been in with Eric. She hadn't thought about it before because she was too busy paying attention to Malfoy, but how had Eric ever been able to keep up with Malfoy and Harry? The proof that he was a bad rider was right there, in the fact that he was quite a ways behind her now. Then it hit her: Pansy. The stupid witch had to have done something to his bike. There was no explanation.
Hermione sped up, trying to get as far away from Eric as possible, there was no telling what Pansy had done to Eric's bike before they had started the race. Damn it, she cursed, I should have had Tyler check over their bikes. Her uneasiness eased the farther back Eric was.
She crossed the finish line, going into her second lap and gave a little salute to her friends as they cheered. "Don't get too excited guys," she whispered into her helmet. There was a chance something bad was going to happen, she just hoped it wouldn't end like her race against Pansy.
Hermione crossed the finish line again, her second lap done, and so far so good. She saluted her friends again as they waved back at her. She was confident that there was no way for him to catch up too her and therefore couldn't do anything to her. Right?
Oh how wrong she was. On the last turn, she looked in her mirror for a second to see where Eric was, and almost turned too sharply and tipped when she saw him next to her.
"Shit," she said into her helmet. This was the turn where they were hidden from the bystanders. If she could just get around this turn she would be safe. She geared up to accelerate out of the turn and that's when Eric took his chance.
He rode right up against her back wheel and turned into it with his front wheel. Where it would normally be fatal for both riders, the only one affected was Hermione. As she came out of the turn she lost control. She screamed as her bike started to go down, the back wheel sliding out.
And just as quickly the bike righted itself and without thinking she geared up and hit the accelerator, speeding off.
She wasn't able to get in front of him before the finish line, but as she came upon the finish line she geared down, pulled on the brakes and slid between Malfoy's and Pansy's bikes to stop her bike horizontally in front of Pansy's bike.
She kicked the kickstand down as she pulled her helmet off and threw it off to the side.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" she screamed as she advanced on Pansy, who sat relaxed on her bike, her arms hanging over the handle bars.
"Problem, Granger?"
"Yeah I have a problem, how about 2 attempts on my life!" She reached up and grabbed the bottom of Pansy's helmet as she flicked up the visor. "Resorting to magic so your lame ass racer of a boyfriend can have a slim chance of beating me!"
"He did beat you though," the smirk was evident in Pansy's voice.
Hermione's hand shot out and suddenly her bracelet was flying out of Sirius's hands and flying toward her. She caught it deftly as it turned into her wand. She took a step back and pointed her wand at Pansy.
She never got to curse Pansy as someone grabbed her wand hand, forcing it to the side. She struggled, trying to get away from the person holding her back.
"Hermione, stop," the person commanded and she realized Draco was the one holding her.
"How can you stop me! That's the second time! The second time Draco!" she yelled, looking up at him, her face reddened from anger.
"Hermione, in this rage, you could kill her without meaning too. Though I wouldn't mind the world being without Pansy Parkinson, I can't let you do it," he said calmly as he hugged her to him, gently rubbing her back.
She ceased fighting against him but didn't relax in his arms.
"How did I not crash? I lost control, I know I did, but then suddenly I was upright," she asked as she rested her forehead against his chest.
"Sirius and Lupin were watching you carefully and saw you lose control; they both yelled a spell and saved you. I didn't know what was happening until I heard them yell and looked at the last second right before you were saved," he replied, hugging her closer.
"Hermione are you ok?" asked Sirius who had just walked up to the couple.
Hermione pulled away and looked at the group now standing before her, "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little shaken. Thank you, for not letting me crash."
"Think nothing of it. Did you really think that we would let that happen to you? You obviously don't know us that well," Sirius pulled her into a hug.
When she was released she looked toward where Pansy and Eric had been, to find them missing. "Where did the go?"
"We sent them to the Ministry," replied Lupin.
"Oh," she frowned.
"Hermione, you are lucky that Malfoy stopped you when he did, otherwise you would have found yourself there too. No matter what they did to you, your actions would have been punishable in some way too. Let's just hope that the punishment they get at the ministry is just as bad as what you would have done to them," Sirius added.
"Yeah, and what do you think will happen when Pansy tells her father about it? You know he is going to get her out of it! You should have let me deal with it!" she growled before stomping over to her bike, not bothering with her helmet, and took off.
I'm sorry you guys! I'm terrible! My family went to California last week for a wedding and I was under the understanding that I could take my laptop with me. I found out the morning we left (Thursday) that I could not, so I didn't get to finish the chapter! I made it short so that I could update, and will update again, with a longer chapter soon. So, I hope you liked the chapter. I feel really bad about not updating last week! I was going to update on my birthday (Wednesday Aug 2nd, I turned 17) but my dad wanted me to run errands with him, so I didn't get the chance. Please don't hate me!