Hermione stretched and yawned as the light of the day woke her up. Had been several months since she had gotten her broom along wit Harry and Dudley at the Quidditch store in Diagon Alley. She couldn't fly it around her backyard since someone might have seen her, but through the efforts of her Dad and Petunia, they were able to find some land away from most people and have a building set up there.
The funds that her vault received from the ATMs helped build it and set the charms in place where Muggles couldn't find it and repelled them with the strong urge that they were late for something if they got too close. The adults talked about the building and decided to make it into a full on business for all magical kids to use. Admission was £10 for the day and £50 for a seasonal pass with brooms for rent at £5. Of course if they had their own, then the kids could bring their brooms to fly on as well.
Cushioning charms on the floor, walls, and ceiling were cast to prevent accidents and since Petunia was actually a squib, she helped get in contact with people who they hired on as employees and even a few medics on stand-by. All that was left was to advertise it to everyone and wait for opening day which would be in June, 3 months away.
Today, she was going to fly with Harry and Dudley in order to test out the charms. Her Mum suggested getting some of the employees to test it out, but they were already dying to finally ride their brooms so Petunia convinced her to let the kids test it out instead.
Happy, she threw on some black leggings with an oversized purple wife beater shirt with a skin tight white workout top under it. Grabbing her fingerless purple grip gloves and her broom case, she ran down stairs and into the kitchen. Her parents were already awake and had breakfast waiting to consume.
"Morning, Mum, Dad."
"Morning, Winter," Dan said as he took a sip of his coffee. "Ready to use your broom for the first time?"
"Ecstatic! I plan to at least fly around close to the ground today and maybe even go a bit higher."
"Dan, did you and Petunia ever figure out how to let Muggle parents to magical kids enter the establishment?"
"We discussed this with a wizard lawyer so we wouldn't get into any trouble and he said we could send out bracelets to the parents that only they could use and the muggle repelling charm wouldn't affect them."
Hermione finished her breakfast and looked around for Crookshanks, he was usually rubbing his side against her legs, begging for her own breakfast to eat instead of his own. Bending down, she pulled up the table cloth and saw nothing, so she started to get up to try and find him. Noticing what she was doing, Emma informed her that Crookshanks was already fed and out in the enclosure for the today. Thanking her mother, Hermione headed outside and found her cat with his new best friend.
Jareth had quickly got to know Crookshanks when the family had got him home and took to perching on his back instead of his wooden one. Crookshanks didn't seem to mind and was even caught grooming Jareth ever now and then since that day. The two were almost always together and the Grangers took many pictures when the opportunity presented itself.
Hermione spent some time with the animals and gave them some treats before she was off to fly at the new building. Harry and Dudley had called her last night and they couldn't stop talking about getting to use their Nimbus 2000s for the first time. Apparently, Petunia had taken them and locked them in the cupboard under the stairs to prevent the boys from sneaking them out to try them.
Once they arrived, Hermione saw the boys get out their own car and ran over to give them a hug. She gave them a once over to make sure they were wearing the appropriate clothing to fly and saw that both of them were wearing baggy shorts and shirts. Nodding her head, she led them inside so they could get ready.
"I'm glad to see you like the broom cases." She said, setting her own case down. "Mum and Dad surprised me during christmas with it and explained all the charms placed on it."
"I love the fact that it can shrink our brooms." Dudley said as he pulled his out and started to check the condition of his broom, Petunia had gotten them all broom service kits with how to books and Hermione was sure this was the one book they had memorized from front to back.
"It can also prevent other people from just taking it from you as well."
"No one will get my broom, they'll have to pry it from my cold dead fingers if they want it that badly." Harry gripped his closer and glared at the floor. Smiling, Hermione flicked his forehead and took her Moonlighter out of it's case and walked over to the gate that separated them from the majority of the building. This gate was there to not only prevent flyers from soaring into the front door, but it had a spell that prevented people from sneaking into the flying area without paying first.
Petunia and her parents were already waiting for them by the gate and pulled out a small white stamp from their pockets. These were specially made stamps that used magic to imprint an invisible logo on people's hands that allowed them past the spelled gate. There were different colored stamps for different time limits depending on the amount the person paid. Red ones were for 24 hours, blue for the 4 months seasonal pass, and the white ones were lifetime memberships that only they had.
Getting their hands stamp and feeling the magic seep in, Hermione grinned as they ran towards the middle of the room. It was brightly colored inside with murals of people flying and Quidditch games playing all around. Harry and Dudley paused as they looked at Hermione and waited to be told what to do. Sighing, she looked at her parents and shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm sure I gave you two a book on flying for Christmas, didn't you read any of it?"
"We did." Harry started, a grin forming on his face.
"But we figured you would be able to help us better than the book could." Dudley finished, they both gave her their best puppy eyes and whimpered for effect. Laughing, she told them to put their faces away and to set their brooms on the ground besides them.
"Now, hold your hand over it and feel your magic pulse in your hand. If you've done the meditations in the book like I've said then you should be able to feel the pulse or a tingling sensation."
"Oh! I feel it!" Dudley exclaimed happily, as Harry stuck his tongue out in concentration. He felt his magic as it flowed in his body, but it was hard for him to control enough to get it to where he wants it.
"Harry, your magic is working against you, you need to let it flow instead of trying to force it. I've seen you preform wandless magic before and you instinctively know how to weld it. Relax." He nodded and shook his shoulders loose before holding his hand over his broom once more.
"Good, now according to the book we need to command the broom into our hands by saying 'up' with the strong feeling of wanting to fly it. According to some people, our brooms know if we're afraid to fly them or not. Ready? UP!"
Harry and Dudley's brooms shot up into their hands and almost out of their grips. They looked at each other and grinned before seeing how Hermione fared. Her broom, however, hovered between the floor and her hand, bobbing up and down as though it wasn't sure about going to Hermione. Frowning, she called 'up' again and while it did float higher it was still not in her hand.
"Are you nervous, Hermione?" Harry asked as he came over to look at the broom. "It looks as though your broom isn't too sure about you."
"A bit, heights have always scared me since I was little. I wanted to get a broom and use it to help me get over this fear."
"Well, try clearing your mind and keeping the intent about why you want to fly firmly planted. That's one of the things the meditation book said."
Taking a deep breath, she cleared her mind and concentrated on what she thought flying and getting over her fear felt like. It took about a minute before she was completely relaxed and tried it once more. Holding her hand over her broom, she for it with as much strength she could and felt it hesitate for a second before slamming into her hand with force. Switching hands, she shook her hand to get rid of the slight sting from the impact. The boys chuckled a bit before getting back to their spots and waited for further instructions from their friend.
"Now, swing your leg over the broom and grip your handle like so." She demonstrated what the illustration had shown in the book on how to properly grip the handle. "Hands sweat, so I got some gloves to help with my grip. Now it said to kick off ground and hover to start with. On the count of three…two…one!" They kicked against the ground and found themselves up in the air about five feet off the ground. Harry and Dudley hollered in excitement while Hermione just closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of the broom beneath her.
It was exactly as the employee described it would be, except to her it felt like she was sitting on one of those wide, padded bike seats with a small backrest behind her. It was very comfortable and she even felt the slight loop of magic that rested around her waist in case she fell off. Opening her eyes, she looked over at the boys to see them waiting on her for more instructions.
"Good, now one at a time so we don't run into each other, lean forward slowly and glide around the room. Once you feel like you have a control over it, you can go faster or tilt your broom down slightly to start lowering yourself to the ground to practice getting on and off of it. Harry, you go first then once he's flown past us, you can go Dudley. I'll go last."
Harry wasted no time and flew past her to enjoy the feeling of being able to fly with Dudley going soon after him. Hermione took her time and leaned forward slowly to get used to the feel of riding the broom. Now that she actually controlling the way the broom moved, she didn't feel as afraid of flying on it. The height was a good distance for her to start off at and soon she was zipping around the room near the bottom while the boys were flying every which way.
It was around lunch time when they decided to stop flying and grab something to eat. They found the adults sitting around a table discussing a potential name for the place could be. Several pieces of paper was by each person with several names crossed out and a few circled with a question mark by it.
"Still thinking of a name?" Harry asked as he grabbed a sandwich from the basket his aunt had brought with them.
"We've been trying to come up with something catchy that would bring in more customers, but none of us can agree on anything." Vernon replied as he grabbed one for himself and his wife to eat. Hermione and Dudley looked over the names and felt that they were trying to make the name so complicated.
"How about something simple that tells them exactly what it's for? Like The Flying Zone?"
The adults stopped and stared at Dudley before crumbling up all their scrap papers and wrote 'The Flying Zone' down on some paperwork. They praised him for the wonderful and name and put the business talk on hold since they kids were with them now.
"You kids excited for you magic school?" Vernon asked.
"You bet! It's fine being able to do some simple things with wandless magic, but I can't wait to learn some actual spells with my wand!" Harry chattered, you could practically see the excitement coming off him in waves. "In Hogwarts, A History it says that you get sorted into your house by use of the sorting hat."
"That's the one that the founders enchanted, right? It takes your strongest traits and sorts you into the house that represents those most. Like bravery for Gryffindor, friendship for Hufflepuff, and Intelligence for Ravenclaw."
"Don't forget Cunning for Slytherin, Dudley. Personally, I don't care what house I get as long as we're all together."
"Friends forever?" Hermione questioned, holding her pinky finger out. Two other pinkys hooked onto hers and shook up and down while chanting 'friends forever'. The trio grinned and finished their lunch before heading back out to fly some more. By the time the adult called them to leave, each kid had improved their flying skills. Harry could push his Nimbus to it's fastest speed and pull out of dive without much effort. Dudley had great control and even started to grab a ball he had brought and tossed it around while flying to catch it before it hit the ground. Hermione was now able to flying without glancing at the ground all the time and even managed to start flying about ten feet off the ground.
They headed back to their respective homes, excited for when the Flying Zone opened to the public.
~! #$%^&*()_+
"Harry, settle down! They're still giving their speech!" Hermione angerly whispered to her friend as he fidgeted with his broom case for the fifth time that day.
"I know, Hermione, but it's torture to wait! Who even invited the Daily Prophet for the Grand opening? It's taking too long!"
"Dad said it was to help boost the Flying Zone's image and to get more people in the know." Dudley explained to his cousin. "There has never been a place like this to fly at as far as I could tell, so this will be good to get the word out to people who have no place to fly at."
"It still astonishes me that Mr. Tonk's daughter popped into that meeting and gave the adults some advice on this. You said you found out she was your cousin, Harry?"
"Yeah! It surprised us all when her mother recognized me as a Potter. Apparently I look just like my dad but with my Mum's coloring."
"So untamable hair is a Potter curse? So sorry about that cousin."
"Oh, shove it, Dudley."
"Can't, my hand might get tangled in it if I try."
"Why you!"
"BOYS! Get yourselves together before I get Uncle Vernon on you!"
Since Hermione had become fast friends with their boys, the Dursleys had been seeing her over more and more often, leading them to see her as family as well. When the offer to call them Aunt and Uncle came up she took it in a heartbeat since she always wanted to have some.
""Yes, Hermione."" They both conceded and settled down just in time to see Petunia and the Grangers cut the ribbon to let everyone inside. They could see as a surge of kids rushed inside to get stamped with the tickets that were sent by owl in order to make the first day rush go smoother. There was still a line backing up, but it was going fast. The trio walked over to their parents and hugged them as a reward for a good speech.
"You did great up there! Everyone looked so happy for this place to open and give everyone a chance to fly." Hermione said. "Did the advice Tonks give help any?"
"A lot. Her suggestions of the wizarding families that can't fly when they want being able to apparate or floo was a big help." Petunia replied as she watched all the families mull about, waiting to get in. "I'm also glad we listened to her about hiring someone to cast a spell that made the inside so much bigger. It definitely came in handy with how many people arrived today."
"I still say we need to add some food stalls or something for when people get hungry or thirsty." Vernon grumbled.
"We will eventually, but we need to see how busy it will get within the first month and then think about what could be improved. The water fountains will have to do for now." Dan said, "Now, what are you kids waiting for? You have the stamps already, so go and see how it looks inside with all these people here."
Hugging the parents one more time, they ran inside and placed their cases inside their designated cubbies with protection and anti-thief spells placed on them. Their brooms were already in their hands and waiting to be flown once more. Heading through the gate, they stared in awe at all the people flying around on their brooms. Some were being taught by their parents or older kids, while others were zooming around in the air barely missing each other by mere inches. Not that it would have mattered it they did collide with the protection spells that were cast at Tonk's recommendation.
The boys even had a chance to test out the spells for themselves when they weren't paying attention while they were flying a while back and had a hit each other head on. Emma and Petunia had rushed over only to find them with grins saying 'wicked' to each other. Apparently it had felt like they ran straight into a giant cushion before falling onto another cushion on the ground.
"We should suggest a part of the room be expanded for when people want to play Quidditch with each other." Dudley suggested as they mounted their brooms and took off. "I wonder how much the balls would cost."
"If they do I hope the spells that cushion the collisions work with the bludgers as well. We don't need any broken or shattered bones while they are flying here." Hermione huffed, She liked the game well enough, but felt like the bludgers should be made of a safer material instead of iron. Maybe they could use something similar to a baseball or the one used in Softball.
"Either way, this place is the best thing the adults could have came up with! I wouldn't mind being an instructor here and teach kids how to fly."
"That does sound nice, but I might do that part-time. There could be other jobs we will want to do once we graduate Hogwarts." Harry replied, thinking about what the future might hold.
"Whatever you say, coz. Race you to around the room!" Dudley took off and sped past with Harry following close by. Hermione shook her head at their antics and flew over to where some other kids where having a hard time on their brooms, helping them and others for the rest of the time they were there.
~! #$%^&*()_+
Time always seemed to pass by too quick for Hermione's liking as the month of July was already here and it was almost time for Harry and Dudley's joint birthday party to start. She had no clue on what to get the boys for their birthday and it was starting to stress her out. Her mum suggested getting them something from the magical world that they might like, but she knew that they would be soon going back there to help the boys get their school supplies. She wanted to get them something more modern anyways since they were so old fashioned in that world when it comes to everything but magic.
"Well, why don't you think of what they have right now that you can add to or use as a reference." Dan suggested as they walked around the mall. "What do they like?"
"They like many things and try different things all the time." Hermione frowned in thought. "Video games is a huge hobby of theirs as is flying. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon got them into karate so they could get some exercise in and ended up liking that. Dudley likes swords while Harry like daggers and both have this weird obsession with the Pirates of the Caribbean movie."
"Well, I'm sure you'll find something they'll love," Emma said as she gave her a side hug. "You're their best friend so anything you give them, they'll cherish."
Hermione nodded and continued to look around the mall for something she could get them. She preferred to buy something that wouldn't annoy her in the future so anything from the pirate was out since they would start up with the Jack Sparrow accents again. Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee merch would have them high kicking everyone and everything, plus Aunt Petunia would never forgive her if they broke another knickknack. They already have everything they need for their brooms thanks to Uncle Vernon who wanted them to be fully prepared if they were going to practice to get on the Quidditch team. So the only thing left really was video games.
Hermione headed towards the only gaming store she knew of and walked into Gamestop. It had a lot of games that looked interesting to play, but she was here for birthday gifts, not something for herself. Looking at the titles and systems, she recalled that they had Playstations and Gameboys to play with so she headed towards the cheaper option.
The Gameboy games were colorful and had a variety that made I hard to choose from. In the end she talked to the store clerk and got the new Pokemon Firered and Leafgreen games. They could fight over who got which one later once they opened the gift.
"Find something?" Dan asked as she met them outside the store.
"Yeah, but I wish I could have found something that really stood out instead of the most popular video games."
"I know it's hard to choose, especially when it's for people close to you. It's always hard finding something I think you'll like for your birthday."
"I'm not hard to shop for, just buy me books."
"Yes, Winter, but with how many books you have it's hard to choose one and know if you have it yet or not."
"…I suppose so."
"Well, if you're done shopping for your gift, we need to pick up ours." Dan stated as he lead them over to a shop that was deeper in the mall. It had a dark gothic vibe to it and had statues standing outside the opening. He strolled over to the counter and said something to the guy behind it and soon came back with two bundles in his arms.
"Your Mum and I ordered these a while ago and they just came in yesterday. I already cleared it with Petunia and Vernon so don't be shocked when you hear what they are."
"It's not something dangerous, is it?"
"Kind of." Emma admitted as they headed towards their car to head home. "They're custom ninja throwing stars with practice targets the boys can use. Petunia agreed it would be okay since they keep using her steak knives to throw at trees."
"Those two, I swear." Dan piped up that boys will be boys and Hermione couldn't agree more. They were the typical boys that one could find anywhere, but there was a difference. They were her best friends and she wouldn't have them any other way.
AN: The bike seat that I used as reference on Hermione's broom cushion charm: