Chapter 11: Dinner #2 and the flying lesson

The evening meal was breakfast food. Mrs. Weasley came in from working on her bewitched gargoyles and was wanting to prepare an easy dinner after a long day. Hermione offered to help her with the eggs and toast. Ron felt guilty about not helping, so he hung around and offered conversation to the two of them, occasionally grabbing dishes and utensils to be of assistance.

Mr. Weasley was so late coming in that the family decided to eat without him. Mrs. Weasley was able to serve up his plate, knowing about how much he would want to eat, and muttered "serva" which preserved his food in a warm and fresh state for much longer than it normally would. She was doing it a lot more lately.

Ron finally broke the silence at the dinner table. "D'you know what dad's been up to lately at the ministry?"

"Still dealing with disappearances and lost Muggle artifacts of value that have mysteriously been relocated. At least that's what he's told me," said his mother. She appeared to have a lot on her mind.

"So it's like he's trying to track them down and find them I guess?" asked Ron.

"I don't really know," said Mrs. Weasley. "He's actually not allowed to talk about some of his work."

"Right," said Ron glumly. "Is this how it was last time? With you-know-who and the disappearances being linked?"

"I'm afraid so. The ministry kept everyone working overtime to try and solve some of their mystery cases. Oh, I wish Arthur could come on back. There's no need for him to be up there in London this late at night. I'm sure they can't work as efficiently after being up there all day anyway. A man can only take so much stress upon him in one day before he collapses from exhaustion."

"Very true," said Ron, trying to be funny but realizing that it wasn't quite the right tone for the meal.

"The ministry isn't even fully supporting Harry," said Ginny, breaking her silence. "There are too many spies in the ministry. Dad said so himself."

"It's not as clean cut as we wish it could be," said Mrs. Weasley, trying not to escalate the conversation. It was pretty bleak thinking about the situation. Ron and Hermione looked at each other, sad at first, but also with determination, as if resigned at what they must do to help Harry.

"I can help clean up, Mrs. Weasley," suggested Hermione, after they had finished eating.

"Nonsense, darling. You're the guest. You already did more than enough in the kitchen earlier."

The three of them decided to hang out in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley to keep her company. They could tell she was worried about her husband. After some enlightening conversation about Charlie's dangerous escapades with tending to dragons and Fred and George's revolting ideas about humor, the three were comfortably solidified in not wanting to upset her by reminding her about Harry's horcrux plans or Ron and Hermione's plans to join him.

"She's so worried about everything," said Ron as they were going upstairs to Ginny's room after Ginny had suggested they play a game up there. "Blimey. I feel bad for my own mum. She'll die young if she keeps it up at this pace."

"Do you blame her?" asked Hermione. "I'm worried for us too. If the ministry finds a way to track us…"

"They won't, or they shouldn't, at least," said Ron. "Now that we are seventeen. Plus we know a few protective spells and enchantments to keep ourselves hidden when we're out and about on our horcrux hunt."

"True," mumbled Hermione. "But it's still scary in general. Spells and enchantments can only do so much."

"Can't argue with you there," agreed Ron. "We have to be there for Harry. We're all capable of defending ourselves. Glad you convinced Harry to let us start the DA in fifth year. That helped a lot more than we could've realized."

"Thanks," whispered Hermione, resuming her cuteness from earlier. This lightened the mood considerably.

When they made it to Ginny's room, they found that she, too, had lightened up as well. Hermione's presence seemed to change the dynamic of the household for the better.

"Oi. I have some Muggle games I smuggled from a Hufflepuff last year," Ginny said smugly. "Do you want to give it a go, Hermione? I've never seen these games before, but I wanted to wait until we actually had company to play them. I'd never play if it was just me and Ron." She gave Ron a why-don't-you-ever-do-anything-fun-with-me look, as if she didn't already know that Ron was so easily annoyed with his little sister.

"Sure!" said Hermione. "I'm not sure if I've played any of these actually."

Ginny had seized Ticket to Ride, Monopoly, Dobble, and Clue.

"Nice haul, sis," said an impressed Ron.

"You'd be surprised what you can find from Hogwarts students who are Muggle-born," joked Ginny. "I heard one time a first year Ravenclaw tried to bring a Nintendo in his luggage, but he found out there weren't any Muggle power outlets or TV's there."

"What's a Nintendo?" asked Ron.

"Never mind. You wouldn't understand." said Ginny, giggling.

Ron shrugged his shoulders. He was more worried about being on his best behavior for his new girlfriend.

"You guys fancy a game of Clue?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah!" said Ginny.

"Sure!" said Ron.

"I've never played actually," said Hermione, "but it looks interesting enough. You move these characters around on the board and then ask each other questions on this checklist to find out who committed the murder. It's a murder mystery game."

Hermione, coincidentally, won the game. It was Colonel Mustard, in the library, with the wrench.

"Bloody hell," muttered Ron. "These Muggles play this for fun?"

"Not all of them," corrected Hermione. "Some people like murder mysteries. It's sort of a kid's game anyway."

"Right," said Ron. He was going to make a comment about how much more fun Wizard's chess was, but decided against it considering he always managed to beat his opponents handily.

After chatting about Harry some, the previous year's Hogwarts gossip, and the prospect of having to de-gnome the garden for mum, Ron decided it was time he departed the room.

""Night," he said to them as he left the room.

"Aren't you going to say a special goodnight to your girlfriend?" asked Ginny annoyingly.

"Not in front of you, I won't. It's a little weird when you're in the room," said Ron, chuckling.

"You don't want to hurt her feelings do you?" asked Ginny.

"Ginny, I swear to Merlin…don't be like this."

"Fine, fine…" surrendered Ginny.

And just to be annoying, Ron looked at Hermione, gave her a wink and said, "G'night 'Mione," in an overly sultry voice.

Hermione couldn't help but giggle before saying, "Goodnight, Ron."

As Ron was walking down the hallway to the bathroom, he couldn't help but notice a couple of loud moments of laughter coming from Ginny's room. Ron shrugged his shoulders and then proceeded to his room.

The next morning was pretty normal. Mr. Weasley must have come in late at night because his breakfast food had been consumed, but nobody seemed to notice his coming in or going out except Mrs. Weasley, who had resumed her gargoyle project in the front yard. Ginny was still engrossed in her romance novels and was staying a recluse in her rooms, secretly jealous of Ron and Hermione's newfound love.

Ron and Hermione were out in the field with Fred and George's beater brooms. It was time for Hermione's flying lesson.

"Okay, I think we had better get on the same broom first so you can see what it feels like to travel in the air," said Ron.

"Okay," said Hermione, being cute but also nervous. "Don't be surprised if I put a death grip on you. I'm a little scared of heights."

"Not to worry," said Ron. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you, Hermione."

Hermione relished the thought of his protection. "Hey Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Before we get started, I know you were being funny last night, but... I kinda liked it when you called me 'Mione."

"Did you really?" asked Ron, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah…" she said. "I think it's cute and it makes us seem more unique."

"Do you want me to call you that all the time?" asked Ron, wanting to be accommodating and do everything in his power to woo his witch.

"Not necessarily," said Hermione, "but you can if we ever have a special moment."

"Special moment, eh?" asked Ron, as he moved closer to her. He couldn't help himself.

Their lips met briefly, not wanting to get too aroused before flying and noticing that Mrs. Weasley was within their vision even though she was hundreds of yards away. Both Ron and Hermione giggled this time after their kiss.

"Okay, 'Mione," said Ron, "but please, whatever you do, don't call me 'Won-Won.'"

Hermione laughed. "Wasn't planning on it. It doesn't suit you anyway."

"Exactly," Ron smirked, poking his chest out to be more masculine as a joke. "Now c'mon. Climb aboard my broom."

"Oooo. Don't have to tell me twice," said Hermione in a particularly naughty voice as she stood behind him straddling the old broom. Ron chuckled.

"Okay," said Ron. "I'm gonna try to move slowly at first, so it doesn't jerk us around."

"Okay. Thanks," said Hermione.

Instantly, their feet began to leave the ground. Hermione went from grabbing the broom underneath her to quickly wrapping her arms tightly around Ron's torso. Ron loved the feeling of her arms around him, but he was still able to concentrate enough to fly slowly.

"How are you doing this?" asked Hermione.

"It's kinda in your head. It's hard to explain. You kinda have to imagine yourself doing it before you can do it."

"Oh, so I guess I need to work on my imagination then," suggested Hermione.

"I can help you with that," said Ron, alluding to other things.

"Ha ha," said Hermione sarcastically.

"It also requires a little body movement. It's strange how brooms work. You have to imagine yourself moving where you want to go, but then leaning your body in that direction helps the broom realize what you're thinking. And if you lean in a certain direction hard enough, the broom will not move in the direction you're thinking about no matter how strongly you're thinking about it."

"Interesting," said a curious Hermione.

"I know right? Could you imagine Muggles doing this?"

"I can see why they wouldn't," said Hermione, adjusting her grip on Ron so she could guarantee safety, despite the fact that they were still moving very slowly and only about ten feet off the ground.

"Yeah," said Ron. "It definitely can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, but it's wicked once you figure out how to do it. You can go anywhere as long as you aren't seen by Muggles o'course."

"Brilliant," said Hermione, as if she didn't already know, not neglecting the useful but difficult process of apparating she had learned earlier that year.

After a couple more minutes of Ron steering the broom slowly and raising up and down more, he settled back down to the ground.

"I reckon we can try movements like that if you're up for it," said Ron.

"Yeah! Let's do it," said Hermione.

"Okay, now just think about lifting yourself off of the ground. It might take awhile if you've never flown before, but if you can concentrate, you should eventually get it, especially since you're such a brilliant witch."

"Aww thanks," said Hermione.

"It's true," said Ron.

After about thirty seconds, Hermione closed her eyes to try and concentrate harder, but she was still not off the ground.

"I can't do it, Ron," said an exasperated Hermione. It was very irritating for her to not be able to do something.

"Yes you can," said Ron.

"No, I can't," said Hermione, sulking.

"Why do you think you can't?"

"I don't know."

"Hmmm.." said Ron, thinking out loud. "You said you're afraid of heights right?"

"Yeah, aren't most people?" asked Hermione defensively.

"I suppose, yeah. Most wizards don't fly on broomsticks though, now that I think about it. They all learn the basics but even then it's not much more than we're doing today. Here, I have an idea."

"What?" asked Hermione.

Ron moved closer to her. They smiled at each other.

"What?" asked Hermione, a little more cutely now that he was so close to her.

"I'll stand right next to you instead of at a distance, and I'll be here to catch you if you fall," said Ron. "That way, you don't have to worry about heights. And don't worry. If you don't want to rise up high in the sky, the broom won't let you. It might have a delayed reaction anyway because it's an old beater broom, not a Firebolt."

Hermione bit her lip and said, "Okay. I'll concentrate again."

Ron was right there next to her. "Here, I'll put my hands on your arms lightly as you hold onto the broom, and I'll slowly let go as you rise."

"Okay," said Hermione.

After fifteen seconds, Hermione could feel herself getting lighter. Ron's arms hadn't moved at all, but they were lower down, closer to her forearms. Hermione had her eyes shut tight now, concentrating with all her might to imagine herself floating on the broom.

"You're doing it!" said Ron.

"Really?!" asked Hermione, who still had her eyes shut tight.

"Really! You're ten feet in the air!"

"Oh dear…" she muttered to herself. Then she slowly opened her eyes, and, seeing the distance between her and the ground, said, "Oh no no no no no no…. Down! Down! Down!"

Ron couldn't help but laugh, but he was still underneath her. "Don't worry, Hermione, you'll come down. I've got you even if you fall."

"O-okay," said Hermione, whose voice was shaking. And before she knew it, she was back down on the ground, safely next to Ron.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?" asked Ron.

"I guess not," admitted Hermione, "but it will be a long time before I feel comfortable with flying. I can tell."

"Aww. I won't make you, but if you want to come back for more, I'm always willing," said Ron.

"Brilliant," said Hermione, now looking into his eyes. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck, closed her eyes, and kissed him as he returned her the same level of affection.

"Now what?" said Ron, after about thirty seconds of kissing, hoping Mrs. Weasley didn't notice from a distance or care.

"I don't know. We'll find something to get into, but whatever it is, we'll be doing it together."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."