Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise, nor anything affiliated with it.
Hermione's POV
My friends and I are heading down to the Quidditch pitch, brooms in hand, with the wind blowing in our faces. I'm sure that if someone was walking in front of us and filming we'd look pretty epic, if it weren't for the fact that I'm trying to hide behind my broom and Ginny is practically dragging me.
The guys, well at least Draco, Blaise, and Ron, all decided that since they managed to teach Neville to fly relatively well, that they could teach Luna, Pansy and I. Ginny of course was totally on board with the idea. Luna and Pansy didn't really mind. I was not on board and I was not one bit impressed. Unfortunately, when you have 4 of your most stubborn friends trying to convince you to do something, you're aren't likely to get your way.
They managed to convince the Headmistress to let them borrow four extra brooms and a set of Quidditch balls, not much different from when they tried to teach Neville to fly last week, and here we are. On the way to the Quidditch Pitch. To try and learn how to fly. Yay.
To be fair I was a little hesitant at first about using the school brooms since in our first year they were less than reliable and quite troublesome. However they assured me that the school has replaced all of those brooms with newer, better brooms.
When we reach the pitch our four 'tutors', Draco, Ginny, Blaise, and Ron all line up in front of us and get us to put our brooms on the ground next to us. We go over the basic lessons we did in first year with slightly more success, but not that much more. We're all able to mount our brooms but both Neville and I are quite shaky on them.
"Okay now that you guys are on your brooms and are hovering a little bit, we're going to go over the different directions and try to get you guys some height." Says Draco in his teacher voice.
I guess this is what it's really like to be on the receiving end of his teaching. He definitely doesn't seem like our peer when he's doing that. He just seems a lot more confident and I have no wish at all to disobey him.
We all nod but I know both Neville and I are very hesitant about going anywhere right now.
"It might be easier if we split into our partner groups so we can go at the pace of our 'learners'." Adds Ginny.
"Sure." Says Draco. "Pansy, you're with Ron; Neville, you're with Blaise; Luna, you're with Ginny; Hermione, you're with me."
He remains fairly stoic the entire time and suddenly I'm nervous and a little worried about having to learn one on one. Even if we've mostly sorted things out between us, I still get a bit nervous around him since I do like him.
We separate into our pairs and each take a section of the pitch so we don't have any chance of crashing into each other.
"So, how are you doing so far?" Draco asks me.
"Besides the fact that you guys are making me do one of the few things that I didn't want to do ever?" I reply with a pointed look. He just gives a sheepish look in return. I sigh. "No it's alright. It's… it's good to try new things every now and then. And I should try flying, it's the only subject besides divination that I wasn't good at. Can't exactly be the brightest witch of my age if I can't figure out how to ride a broom, right?"
The corners of his mouth curve up in his classic smirk. "Well perhaps we shouldn't teach you how to fly then, I should at least be better than you at something, no?" I just scowl at him.
"So anyway, we better start working on your flying or you're going to have even more to catch up on." He says while mounting his broom. "Well go on, get on the broom. It's not going to bite you."
"I'm going to. In a minute. I think." I close my eyes and try to take a few deep, controlled, breaths. When I think that I've managed to suppress the butterflies in my stomach, I mount the broom and push off the ground a bit some I'm hovering.
"Okay, you're doing great so far. Remember, at least when you're learning, the basic movements are all about precision. Even when you get better and can play like the school Quidditch teams, precision is very important. Beyond a certain point you learn how to just feel the movements but you still have to be careful. At that point the precision is more about timing than measurements but it's still important." I nod and he smiles. "I figured it would make a little more sense to explain it you like that instead of using Quidditch terminology and player's terms."
"Definitely Even if I've spent most of my meals at Hogwarts listening to Ron and harry discuss Quidditch and all of the details and terms, I was usually reading so I didn't absorb all of the information." I think more about Draco just said and realize something. "It's kind of like Arithmancy right?" I ask.
"Yes, early Arithmancy when you deal with shapes and angles. Now let's work on getting you a bit higher now. Lean back a bit and point the tip of the broom a few degrees up."
I do as he says and I slowly inch up a little bit.
"That's good, now lean forward and point the end of the broom down a few degrees."
Again I follow his instructions and I drop back down to where I was earlier. Out of the corner of my eye I can see all of the rest of my friends getting more confident with their flying and they're all starting to play with each other in the sky. I guess I can't be excellent at everything, even I have things that other people are better at.
"You're doing great. Now lean to one side and fly up at the same time. I want you to make an arc to that post over there"
When I do as he asks, I notice that although it looks a little high it isn't actually too bad. I decide to experiment a little bit and tilt back down while still turning to complete the circle.
Draco is smiling at me when I turn to look at him.
"It looks like you're getting more comfortable on the broom now. Maybe practise a bit more with going up higher and being faster and more dynamic with your movements. I'm here to catch you if something goes wrong so don't worry."
"Thanks." I then take a deep breath and begin to fly around a bit more. I like the soft breeze blowing right now. I can see that the trees in the distance are swaying slightly which just makes me feel more relaxed. The birds are chirping in the background and their melodies seem sweeter than usual. The colours of the sky seem bright and dynamic. The grass seems softer and gentler now. All of it is just picturesque. The whole scene would actually be really nice and calming if I wasn't riding a broom.
After a while of me practising and Draco shadowing me slightly, the rest of the group call us over so we can start working on a game of Quidditch.
We all fly to the center of the pitch and make a circle. Once we've landed we discuss how we'll make the teams.
"Guys, so I was thinking about positions and I think that it would be best if we had Ron and Luna as Keepers, Ginny and Blaise as Chasers, Pansy and Draco as Beaters, and Neville and Hermione as Seekers." Says Blaise when we all gather together on our brooms.
"Cool. Sounds good to me." Say Ron. We all agree on the positions and then divide the teams.
"So on team one we'll have Ron, Ginny, Pansy, and Neville, and on team two we'll have Luna, Blaise, Draco, and Hermione." Says Pansy to confirm with everyone. Soon we're getting ready to take off and get the game going.
Just as we're about to start I realize that I won't be able to focus on flying the whole time since now I have to look for the snitch. Then I realize how much my teammates will be relying on me to catch the Snitch. As a Seeker I won't be doing a lot during the actual game but I do have to patrol and keep an eye out for the Snitch when it comes out. I also have to be fast and coordinated. That may be an issue.
We line up against each other and my breathing starts to get faster. I can feel myself getting a bit lightheaded already from the pressure. When they call the start of the game I start panicking a bit. What if I let my team down and don't catch it? I know they won't be that upset but I'll still feel guilty. I'm holding back my team now, especially since everyone else is already in the air and the game has moved a lot further up and down the pitch.
I push off the ground but I don't go very far since I'm still trying to regain focus.
Above me somewhere I can hear my friends laughing and cheering each other on. For some reason it reminds me of the dream I had a while back about flying and Bellatrix attacking me at the Quidditch pitch. I feel a funny sense of vertigo and try to blink away my dizziness.
I look down, and though I'm only a few feet off of the ground at this point, I feel really unsteady. The broom wobbles a little bit, mirroring my nerves and I try to lean forward a bit to go lower. Instead I lose my balance a bit and lean back to compensate. Suddenly I shoot up towards the sky.
I let out a shriek of fear and I see all of my friends start to freak out a bit when they notice what's going on. I start to climb higher, faster than I thought I could ever get. I'm pretty much vertical now, my legs hanging off, and I'm just hanging onto the handle with my hands. But as I get higher, my grip starts to weaken and I can't hold on any longer.
My fingers slip off and I start to plummet.
It feels like my heart just stops in that terrifying moment. I can hear the blood in my ears, thumping loudly against the whistling of the wind as I fall. I'm screaming as I fall but I'm not quite aware of it. I realize that I've strayed quite a distance away from my friends in the short distance of time that I was out of control. All of them except for Draco are stuck in a state of shock. He's on his broom and speeding towards me but I have a terrible feeling deep inside of me that he's going to be too late.
I turn in the air and see the ground coming towards me with so much speed. Just a few feet away from the ground once again, I can hear a final cackle from the Bellatrix in my head and a shout from Draco, before crumpling with the impact.
Author's Note: A bit of a cliff hanger ;) Thanks for reading guys. Please review; any feedback is good since it'll help me fix mistakes or improve my writing. I hope that you guys have a great week. See you all next time!
