Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter, it all belongs to JK Rolling

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The next week seemed to fly by and before the first years knew it Saturday the 19th arrived. It was the day of their first flying lesson and more importantly, at least to Harry, it was also Hermione's 11th birthday. He had received her gift from owl post the day before and he got up even earlier than normal so he could wait for Hermione and surprise her in the common room. He had already showered and gotten dressed for the day and had already worked to prepare to make it a perfect day he had a few surprises for Hermione planned out. So he was waiting in the common room when Hermione came downstairs.

Harry stood up to greet her, " good morning Hermione, and Happy Birthday!". Hermione smiled at him and gave him a big hug.

She said, " good morning Harry, you actually remembered my birthday, other than my family you're the first person who ever cared to do so."

Hermione was tearing up from happiness and Harry tightly hugged her back and said, " of course I remembered my best friend's birthday, and I always will."

They separated from the hug after a few minutes and Harry took her hand and pulled her over to their couch. He had her sit down and he reached behind the couch and pulled out four wrapped gifts. Hermione's eyes widened in wonder at what the gifts could be and if Harry had really gotten her all of them.

Harry said, " surprise Hermione, and before you ask, no they're not all from me. Two of them are but one is from your parents and the other is from your Grandmother. I figured your family wouldn't have a way to send you their gifts so I sent a letter with Hedwig to your parents and told them they could use her to send you your gifts. So they did and they sent your Grandmother's gift along as well."

Hermione choked out, " oh Harry, thank you so much, I didn't think I'd be able to hear from my parents at all for my birthday, and thank you so much for your gifts as well, you really didn't have to do any of this."

Harry smiled and said, " you're very welcome Hermione. And I know I didn't have to but I wanted to. So go ahead and open up your gifts."

Hermione gave Harry another big hug and then decided to open one of Harry's presents first. She noticed that his gifts to her were wrapped in paper colored periwinkle blue, which he knew was her favorite color. The gift she chose to open first was shaped like a book, and sure enough when she unwrapped it, it was indeed a book. But not just any book, it was a book on everything you needed to know about flying, including a charm that was able to remove one's fear of flying. It was absolutely perfect.

Hermione said, " where on earth did you get this, I searched all through the library and other then general books about quidditch there was nothing about flying, little-lone anything about overcoming the fear of flying."

Harry answered, " well I knew just how nervous and scared you were of the flying lessons we have later today, and how you said it wasn't something you could just learn from a book. And I got to thinking, why can't you learn it from a book. I figured there had to be books out there about flying so muggleborns and other witches and wizards who don't know anything about flying can learn. So I wrote to my Uncle Remus and he told me about this book that helped him when he was in his first year, so I ordered the book from Flourish and Blotts mail order service."

Hermione thanked him and hugged him again, then she opened her parents and her Grandmother's gifts, she wanted to save Harry's other gift, which she figured would probably be the best of her gifts. From her parents she received an album of family photos along with a wonderful birthday card. From her Grandma she got a hand-knit scarf that was periwinkle blue and had her initials sown on in gold stitching, plus another birthday card. Then she finally got to Harry's other gift. It was a smaller package but she couldn't wait to open it and quickly unwrapped it to find a black velvet covered box, like a jewelry box. She slowly lifted the lid and gasped in surprise at the beautiful objects inside. It was a pair of matching silver rings, one had a blue periwinkle flower placement made of small blue diamonds and the other ring had a emerald green lion made of tiny emeralds.

Hermione looked at Harry and said, " these are beautiful Harry, but what exactly are they for?"

Harry answered, " well the one with the blue stones is for you and the one with the green ones is for me. You see they're communication rings, as long as we are both wearing our rings but not around each other and you want to talk to me all you have to do is say my name to the ring and it will cause my ring to grow warm and the gem to light up. And when it does I say your name and then we can communicate telepathically to each other no matter how far apart we are. This way whenever you need me all you have to do is "call" me and I'll be there for you. And of course I can "call" you too the same way."

Hermione had tears in her eyes, she said, " thank you so much Harry, this is the best gift anyone has ever given me. It's perfect, now neither of us ever have to worry about being alone again. I absolutely love it."

Harry said, " I'm glad you like it, it took me forever to think of the perfect gift for you, I wanted it to be perfect because even though we've only really known each other for a short time you're still the very best friend I've ever had and it feels like we've known each other for years instead of a few weeks. And I don't know what it is but I just feel connected to you somehow.".

Harry thought about this odd, but pleasant connection they shared that seemed to grow stronger every day. There were times he could simply feel her presence and know that she was in the same room without seeing her. And he also sometimes felt as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Harry didn't know that Hermione had been experiencing the exact same things where he was concerned, sensing his presence feeling as if she knew what he was thinking.

Hermione said, " I know what you mean Harry and I feel the same way. But now I'm faced with a dilemma, how am I ever going to top the gifts you've given me when Christmas rolls around. I'm going to have to find something truly incredible to get you."

Harry just smiled and said, " you've already given me the best gift I could ask for by being my friend. Now birthday girl, why don't we head down to breakfast and after that you can read through your new book and learn the spell to overcome your fear of flying before we have our lesson this afternoon."

Hermione nodded an affirmative and before they headed down they each put on their new rings, Harry's actually fit on his finger along with his heir ring with no problem. Hermione quickly took the gifts from her family upstairs and put them away, and then she and Harry went down to breakfast, Hermione had her new book clutched to her chest with her right hand and held Harry's hand with her left one. They sat at their house table in their usual spots sitting next to one another. Harry had another birthday surprise for Hermione, thanks to his Uncle Remus he knew how to get into the kitchen and he knew all about the schools house elf's. He had gone to the kitchen an hour before he met Hermione in the common room and asked the elf's if he could cook something special for his friend and they joyously helped him do so.

He had made Hermione's favorite breakfast, he had learned many of her favorite things when they had spent the day by the lake talking, and he had actually prepared two of her favorite breakfast dishes. After they had taken their seats, and before Hermione could begin loading up her plate with the typical school food, Harry called, " Trippy!" The house elf he had asked to deliver the food popped in and sat two platters covered with silver lids in front of the duo and then popped back out.

Harry said, " and now for a special birthday breakfast for the birthday girl."

He lifted the lid in front of Hermione to reveal a platter with Hermione's two favorite breakfast foods, Eggs Benedict, and stuffed French toast. Hermione looked at the food in awe and looked at Harry's smiling face before breaking out a big smile of her own. Harry lifted his own lid and he had a platter of the same foods, which luckily enough were two of his favorite breakfast dishes as well. The only difference was that Hermione's French toast had blueberries and blueberry syrup which was her favorite topping while Harry's was strawberry.

Hermione asked, " how did you set this up Harry, I didn't think we could order custom made dishes here."

Harry said, " well I don't think we can, so I actually made this all myself and simply asked one of the school elf's to deliver it for me."

Hermione beamed at Harry, she didn't think her feelings of affection for Harry this morning could have grown anymore after his incredible gifts, but this gesture of him actually personally cooking her favorite breakfast's had her almost to the point that she wanted to give him a passionate kiss right then and there but she held back. Although she truly hoped that one day they would be much more than friends and be able to kiss quite often, but for the time being she was very content and happy to be best friend's with him, at least for now. Plus she knew that they were both still a little young to fall in love, but a big part of her knew that she was already falling big time for this amazing boy.

Hermione finally turned her attention back to the food and proceeded to take a cautionary bite of her eggs Benedict, as she tasted it and began to chew she moaned out in rapture. This was by far the best eggs Benedict she had ever tasted, quite possibly even the best food she had tasted period. And she told Harry just that, he blushed at the praise and waved it off as he began enjoying his food as well. Hermione couldn't believe that Harry was such an amazing cook at such a young age but she supposed that she shouldn't be that surprised, he was good at just about everything he did, but also incredibly modest about his abilities. Hermione herself was a terrible cook, but for the first time she wished she could cook like Harry so that she could cook for him.

After she finished her eggs she didn't think it could get any better, but then when she finally tried her French toast she was surprised again, it was even more delicious than the eggs, and she hadn't thought that would be possible. It was so good that she tried to take her time eating it so she could savor it longer but it was simply too delicious and she soon devoured it all.

Harry had finished eating his at almost the same time and he asked, " so how was the French toast?"

Hermione moaned out as she finished the last bite, " oh Harry, marry me!"

She blushed at what she said and Harry smiled and chuckled out, " that good huh? Well I'm sorry but I can't marry you just yet, maybe ask again in a few years," he teased her.

Hermione blushed even more but smiled at him nonetheless and secretly thought to herself, " well Harry I just might do that if you don't ask me first."

It was about this time that the others of their year from Gryffindor joined them for breakfast and a short time after that the owl post arrived. They saw Neville had received a remembrall from his Grandmother.

After they finished eating and Harry was done teasing Hermione they headed outside to sit at the spot by the lake that they had started to think of as "their spot". They sat beneath their tree and began reading through Hermione's book. Even though Harry had gotten it for her he also found a lot of the information about flying and how to properly use a broom really helpful for him as well. After about two hours they had read through the entire book and then they began studying the fear relieving spell. Apparently it could not only be used to overcome the fear of flying but could be used to overcome other fears as well. You simply had to focus on the thing you were afraid of facing and then recite the spell, " Destructo Fearro!" It seemed almost too simple but had apparently been invented by a wizard during the war with Grindelwald, also known as World War II to the muggles. It had been created to help witches and wizards at the time to overcome their fears so that they could fight without succumbing to their fears.

Within no time they had both mastered the spell after a few tries, although Harry didn't really have any fears he needed to get over at the moment. After she cast the spell successfully Hermione said, " wow, it really worked, all my fear and anxiety about flying is completely gone."

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At that point they only had a half hour until the lessons were scheduled to begin so they quickly headed up to their dorms and got ready. When they arrived for the lesson they were disappointed to see that they were to have these lessons alongside the Slytherin first years. Harry and Hermione saw that Neville appeared to be just as nervous about the lesson as Hermione had been. Harry quickly whispered to Neville, telling him about the fear spell and how to perform it. Neville gave it a try and he did calm down about everything but he still seemed to be a bit nervous.

Malfoy was bragging about what an amazing flyer he was and was regaling Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson with tells of narrowly escaping muggle helicopters when Madam Hooch finally made an appearance.

She started, " hello student, welcome to your first flying lesson. Now each of you stand next to your brooms, hold your right hand over it and say up!"

Everyone followed her instructions and Harry's broom flew straight into his hand and he was pleased to see that Hermione's bro did the same for her. Unfortunately they were some of the only successes in their first attempt along with Malfoy and Ron. Neville's broom simply rolled on the ground once and then refused to move.

After Madam Hooch gave a few more instructions and everyone finally held a broom she said, " okay, now I want you all to mount your brooms and when I blow my whistle I want you to kick off the ground hard, hover for a few moments and then touch back down. Okay, 3…2…1."

But before she could blow her whistle Neville's broom started rising out of control with him on it and he needed up flying straight forward and slamming into the castle wall, he fell to the ground and Madam Hooch quickly ran over to him and checked him over.

She said, " oh dear, a broken wrist.". She then addressed the rest of the class saying, " I'm taking this boy to the hospital wing. I want you all to remain firmly on the ground. If I see so much as a single broom in the air the student riding it will be out of Hogwarts before you can say quidditch."

She then left with Neville, as soon as she was gone the Slytherins began howling with laughter. Malfoy snatched something off the ground and said, " did you see him fall, maybe if the fat lump had given this a squeeze he would have remembered to fall on his fat arse."

Malfoy had Neville's remembrall, Harry said, " hand it over Malfoy."

Malfoy just smirked and said," no, I don't think I will, perhaps I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find it, like up in a tree."

Malfoy took off into the air and he hadn't been lying, he really could fly well. Malfoy mocked, " what's the matter Potter, a bit beyond your reach."

Harry went to mount his own broom when Hermione said, " Harry, wait."

Harry said to her, " I have to Hermione, I don't like bullies and someone has to stand up to Malfoy."

Hermione said, " I'm not trying to stop you, I just want to go with you."

Harry looked at her in surprise but he quickly smiled and nodded ok to her. They both mounted their brooms and flew up to flank Malfoy in the air. As soon as Harry was in the air and felt the wind in his hair he knew with absolute certainty that this was something he could easily do. He easily guided his broom with the slightest of effort. He figured out that when he leaned forward he quickly gained speed. Harry found something for the first time in his life that came completely natural, he was born to fly. Hermione was actually doing quite well herself since she no longer feared flying or heights. She followed Harry's lead and using the tips from her book kept pace with him rather well.

Once they were both on either side of Malfoy, Harry said to the slick-haired bully, " no Crabbe and Goyle to help you up here Malfoy, give it here or Hermione and I will knock you off your broom."

Malfoy recognized that Harry was correct that he was currently without help, as well as outnumbered. He said, " have it your way then, catch."

Malfoy gave the remembrall a good throw and Harry quickly shot after it, Hermione following close behind. Malfoy had headed straight back to the ground and Hermione couldn't keep up with Harry so she returned to the ground as well.

Harry seemed to see the ball falling in slow motion and he shot forward like a bullet and dived, catching the ball in a spinning maneuver. He returned to the other students holding the ball high as the Gryffindor's cheered him. Hermione was beaming at him and Malfoy was sulking. Harry felt very good until he heard Professor McGonagall's voice say, " Harry Potter, never in all my years have I seen anything so reckless."

Harry's happy mood instantly vanished and he was terrified if the idea that he might be expelled and have to leave Hogwarts. But more than anything he couldn't bear to leave Hermione.

McGonagall said, " come with me Mr. Potter."

Hermione gave Harry a sympathetic look and gave his hand a quick squeeze before he followed Professor McGonagall. She led him through the castle until they reached the door to Professor Quirrel's classroom. McGonagall opened the door and said," Professor Quirrel, may I borrow Wood for a moment?"

Professor Quirrel said, " y-y-yes, of c-c-course".

Harry wondered, " what is this Wood, is it what she's going to beat me with?"

But Wood turned out to be a person, he was a tall, handsome 5th year boy that Harry recognized as being a Gryffindor. He asked, " what is it Professor?" He was looking at Harry in curiosity.

McGonagall answered him, " Wood, I have found you a Seeker."

Harry couldn't believe it, he thought he was being punished, but a Seeker, him? He knew his Father had been one and it was the quidditch position he had dreamed of playing someday, but it was already happening.

McGonagall said, " he's a natural, you should have seen him catch that ball, I haven't seen a Seeker move like that since Charlie Weasley, or even James Potter himself."

Wood started circling Harry, appraising him with a critical eye as he said, " he has just the right build for a Seeker too, we'll have to get him a decent broom, we can't have our Seeker playing in one of the old school brooms."

McGonagall said, " I'll speak with Dumbledore, I'm sure we can make an exception. Now Harry I want you to train hard, it would be nice to win the cup this year and no longer have Professor Snape gloating about winning year after year."

After Wood gave Harry a training schedule McGonagall said Harry could return to the common room while she went to speak to Dumbledore, she also asked that he not tell too many people about him being Seeker, they wanted to keep him as their secret weapon for now.

Harry returned to the common room and about 10 minutes later so did the rest of the first years. Hermione, Ron, and Neville all made their way over to Harry where he sat in front of the fireplace.

Hermione asked, " what happened Harry, I tried calling your ring for the past 20 minutes but you didn't answer?"

Harry had been so shocked and distracted that he hadn't even noticed that his ring was warm and the gem was lit up. He said, " I'm sorry but I was a little distracted and I'm still a little bit in shock."

He checked to make sure no one else was in hearing distance and whispered to his three friends, " McGonagall made me Seeker on the house team."

His friends stared at him in shock and Ron blurted out, " bloody hell, that's brilliant mate! Can you imagine the look on Malfoy's face when he finds out?"

Harry grinned at the thought but told them all that McGonagall wanted it kept secret for now. They all agreed to keep it a secret for now, although Ron did so rather reluctantly. Then Ron and Neville went off to play some wizards chess while Hermione snuggled into Harry's side on the couch with her head on his shoulder.

She said, " I was so worried that you were going to be expelled and the thought of losing you was unbearable. Now that you're my best friend I don't even want to imagine my life without you in it. And it would have really put a downer on my birthday after you worked so hard to make it special. But now I can honestly say that this is the best birthday I've ever had."

Harry smiled and said, " I don't ever want to imagine my life without you either Hermione. But just know that no matter what happens, wherever we both are, we'll always be best friend's. That will never change, in fact one day it might just get even better."

Hermione knew exactly what he meant and once again she had to fight the powerful urge to kiss him then and there, she told herself she could be patient, the friendship she and Harry had already was something very special and if they did become a couple someday she knew it would be the greatest thing ever, and something that good was certainly worth waiting for.

A/N: Sorry that it's taken me so long to update, I've been really busy with my job and other stuff lately. Please comment and let me know what you think of the story so far, I'd like to think that I came up with some pretty good original ideas for the birthday gifts that Harry got for Hermione, I haven't seen anything like them in any other fanfics I've read but please let me know what you think. I love you all and I truly appreciate everyone who favs, follows, and comments on my story. I'll try to get the next chapter done as soon as I can but I won't make any promises. The next chapter will be my version of the midnight duel with Malfoy, as well as Harry's first quidditch practice.