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Chapter 16

"Granger, come on. This is getting ridiculous. Just get your arse over here." Draco was at his breaking point. When he'd started this arrangement with Granger, he'd figured she would catch on quickly as she did with everything else, but flying appeared to be her one weakness. "You've got to pass a test, you know. Weeks are going to start flying by. It'll be January before you know it."

His voice carried to where she was at on the pitch. After last week's incident, she refused to let him get within 20 meters of her. She had once again managed to get the broom in position between her legs, but for the past half hour, her feet had stayed planted firmly on the ground. She practiced leaning, bobbing and weaving but to be honest, but all while doing she was on the ground. She inwardly groaned as Draco's words echoed over to her. They had agreed that Hermione was to take the flying exam during the break between the regular season and play offs. If she wanted to get technical and wait until the last minute, she had until March 7th to complete the exam. Granted, Hermione was normally not a procrastinator, but for this she may have had to make an exception.

"Oh will you just shut your trap! I'm working on it."

"From here, all it looks like you're working on is killing that grass beneath those clunky shoes." Her mouth fell open as she looked down to her feet. 'My shoes aren't clunky. They are rather slim actually…' she thought, glaring across the pitch at him, knowing he wouldn't notice from his distance.

"While we're still young, please, Granger!"

She looked at her feet again. If she could just will herself to give a little push, she wouldn't go too high or at least that's what Malfoy had told her. She wasn't exactly sure if she should believe him or not, but with his slowly approaching figure, she decided it would be better to find out on her own instead of being forced high in the air again.

"Do-Don't come any closer, Malfoy. I'm doing just fine on my own!" She closed her eyes and bent her knees ever so slightly, if he hadn't have been looking, he wouldn't have noticed. Her heart pounded so hard in her chest, she thought it would bust through as she felt her feet leave the ground.

It had to be the slowest rise he'd ever seen. Her feet dragged slowly, from toe to heel as they lifted from the earth. Her knuckles quickly turned white as she tried to keep her balance and not panic. Her eyes were still clenched tight and he could see her internal battle, trying to decide whether or not to open them, dancing across her face. It seemed her curiosity won. Her eyes opened slowly, going straight for the ground. She looked in awe at her dangling feet, kicking them back and forth just slightly, smile plastered on her face.

"I did it! I'm actually flying!"

"Well, I don't know that I consider your dangling feet two inches from the ground 'flying' but at least you're in the air. Now, try moving forward." He was standing to her right, maybe five feet away. She'd determined that would be a safe distance for now. Far enough away that she would see if he tried anything but close enough that if she fell, she'd hope that he'd catch her.

Leaning slightly forward, she felt the broom lurch towards the far side of the pitch. Her speed was slow. Draco rolled his eyes as she inched along. Her knuckles were still white, even at her low height and low speed.

"Maybe you should slow down, Granger. Wouldn't want you to injure yourself." She shot him a dirty look from the corner of her eye, not daring to turn her head for fear the broom would turn.

"Must you always be such an insufferable prat?" His eyes narrowed but before he had a chance to open his mouth, Nigel came running onto the pitch out of breath.

"Miss Granger! An owl came for you. It appears to be from Mr. Potter." He tried to hand the small folded parchment to her, however he hands had no intention of leaving the broom while in the air. With a roll of his eyes, Draco snatched the note from Nigel's hand, unfolding it through Nigel's protests.

"Mr. Malfoy, that is Miss Granger's personal-"

"Oh give it a rest Nigel." Draco had the paper unfolded just as Hermione was about to protest him reading her mail. His eyes scanned the letter quickly.

"Everyone is fine." He noticed her features relax and continued. "Potter can't do dinner. Says they have to reschedule for tomorrow but insists you eat something."

Her face fell into a bit of a pout. She'd actually been excited to grab dinner with Harry and Ginny. She actually wanted to brag a bit about her flying lesson. She leaned back up, bringing the broom to a halt and slowly lowering it the few inches until her feet touched the ground. She dismounted looking to Nigel who was still waiting.

"Was there anything else you needed Nigel?" His feet shuffled awkwardly.

"Miss Granger, I received an owl from Mr. Potter as well, requesting to make sure you ate." It was Hermione's turn to roll her eyes.

"Nigel, I don't believe that will be necessary. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"His letter mentioned you would say that and he insisted that if you do not have a proper dinner I was to let him know." His eyes were cast down to the pitch. This was obviously not a conversation he wanted to be having with his boss.

"Honestly, that man. I'm perfectly fine and can manage to feed myself. I mean really and you Nigel-" Hermione turned her attention to him. Draco noticed him cower just a little.

"Granger," Draco placed his hand on her shoulder, pulling her away from Nigel and taking a deep, irritated breath. "I will feed you. I haven't eaten either and our lesson is just about over. Then Nigel can report away to Potter that you've eaten and I get the satisfaction of him knowing you're spending the evening with me instead."

"Really Malfoy, I'm fine. I'd say your offer is flattering but nothing about what you just said would make me what to have dinner with you." Just as she was about to turn away, her stomach gave a loud, long grumble. 'Great, just great. Excellent timing you stupid pit of a thin' she thought. Keeping herself from throwing a tantrum, she turned back around to both of the men.

"Dinner would be great actually."

After what seemed like hours of trying to decide on a restaurant, Hermione had convinced him that dinner at a muffled establishment would draw much less attention to the pair. Draco had growled in annoyance, upset their picture wouldn't be in the paper to bother both Harry and Ron. Hermione had promptly slapped his shoulder after that. But the rest of the evening had gone rather, well pleasant.

They settled on a pub, not far from Hermione's flat. She'd stated they had excellent fish and chips but Draco was more interested in their beverage selection. Apparently, he had been nursing a weakness for muggle alcohol for a while. With a roll of her eyes and a muttered, "Why am I not surprised?'' under her breath she confirmed that they did have a large selection to choose from. By the time their food had arrived, Draco was already two drinks in while Hermione was barely halfway done with her first.

The pub was surprisingly busy for a Thursday night, but that hadn't stopped Draco from making friends with the barkeep upon their arrival. Putting his empty mug up in the air, the barkeep gave him a nod, filling another glass to the brim.

"Are you sure you should be drinking so much? Doesn't the alcohol affect your physique?" He looked at her with a questioning expression before reaching down and lifting his shirt, exposing his abs to her. Her cheeks flushed red as she tried to gaze anywhere else.

"I dunno, Granger. They look alright to me. What do you think?" His grin grew as she refused to look at him. He let out a hearty laugh at her prudish behavior before dropping his shirt and lifting both their mugs this time.

"Malfoy! I don't need another and to be frank, neither do you."

"Jeez woman. Can't you ever just live a little? The world isn't going to end if you manage to have fun at least once in your life."

Her jaw dropped open. "I have fun, occasionally."

"Reading and working your life away, doesn't count as fun, Granger. If you just pulled that stick from your arse every once in a while…"

"I don't have stick up my arse! Why are you always referencing my body parts?"

New mugs replaced the old and Draco took a long drink, putting the mug on the counter with a thud. "You have got to be the world's most oblivious person, Granger." Her eyes searched his face for some kind of answer. With a roll of his eyes, he turned on his stool, facing her.

"Granger, you're not a girl anymore," she opened her mouth in protest but he held up his hand, stopping her. "You're a woman and I'll deny it to my grave but you've grown up quite nicely. I'm not sure where you were hiding all this before," he gestured to her. "But you're very attractive. Someone would have to be an idiot not to notice it. Why do you think the guys on the team are always talking about you? You're the only decent woman most of them see."

Her face had gone red by this point. Grabbing her mug, she took a long gulp. Draco watched in awe as her mug went from full to empty. When she realized the cup had emptied as well, she placed it back on the bar top, face still red.

"Another then?" All she could manage was a nod of her head as Draco called the barkeep once again.

The walk back to her flat had been anything but awkward. They both laughed, Hermione noting that she very much preferred his laughter over his snide remarks. He'd just said something particularly funny and Hermione was holding her stomach as the laughter was beginning to cause pain. She leaned over, bumping into him and he did his best to stabilize her, put his arm around her waist.

"Well, Malfoy. This was actually really nice. Thank you again." She gave a smile up at him as they approached her door. Realizing how close they suddenly were, she tried to step back, only to find herself tripping over her own feet.

"Careful there, Granger. Can't have you going and getting hurt. Potter and Weasel would never forgive me."

"Weasley."

"What?" He looked down at her with question. Her brown eyes turned up to look at him as she regained her balance.

"His name. It's Weasley. Not Weasel. He's not an animal." He scoffed at her.

"Could've fooled me with how he eats." She gave him a push in the chest, her inebriated state diminishing her strength. When he didn't move at her push, she pouted up at him, bottom lip sticking out slightly.

His breath caught in his throat at the sight of it. He'd never before been close enough to her to study her face. Her lips were plump, especially her bottom one as it pouted up at him. Her hair had loosened from its clip on the back of her head and had fallen around her face. He's always just assumed her eyes were dirty brown but at this angle, in the light of her porch light, he could see speckles of honey. When he realized how long he'd been staring for, he stepped a bit away from her, arm still steading her around the waist.

"Better get in there, Granger. It's rather late and I know you like to be at the office early. Plus that hangover in the morning may be a bit rough." He watched as she fished out her keys from her clutch, fumbling a bit to place them in the lock. After her third attempt, he reached for them, brushing her hand slightly with his fingers. Her eyes looked up to his once more and watched as he also fumbled through the keys, finally finding the correct one.

"You'll be alright, getting in and all?" She found herself nodding as his hand released her waist. "Goodnight, Granger." He gave her one last smile before turning to leave.

Leaning against the open doorframe, she stared after him watching as his outline headed up the street until she could no longer see him. Her heart beat in her chest.

"Oh bloody hell."