Chapter V - Fear of Flying

[Ed. Note - Much of this chapter deals with Hermiony's interactions with other Hogwarts students, particularly Harry and Ron. While most is pure invention, in scenes where I am dealing with what J.K. Rowling already wrote, I kept her dialogue, but changed the perspective from Harry to Hermiony.]

The first flying lesson approached and Hermiony was quite nervous. She was not afraid of falling, but she was afraid she would fail. Flying was not a subject that books could teach. Three days before the first lesson, Hermiony tracked down Penelope Clearwater, the Ravenclaw girl who was so friendly on the train, to ask for advice.

"Penelope," said Hermoiny, "Is there anything I can do to prepare for my first flying lesson?"

"Don't sweat it so much," Penelope replied, "Everyone eventually learns. Some people take longer, but Madame Hooch has never let a single student graduate Hogwarts without being able to fly."

"How long did it take you?"

"I was flying during the first lesson, but it took me about three before I really felt comfortable?"

"Was that faster or slower than most?"

Penelope laughed. "I think it was about average. At least for Muggle-born students like us. Most students from wizarding families have flown brooms for years. I'll tell you the truth, Hermiony. I'm not going to be playing Quidditch for England anytime soon, but I can definitely get from place to place. Don't worry about it. It's not so hard. Just don't get nervous. Good luck."

That did not make Hermiony feel much better, but it did give her an idea. She ran to the library and checked out "Quidditch Through the Ages". She looked at the list of people who had previously checked it out. Angelina Johnson's name was there. Maybe that meant Angelina used it to learn how to fly. That evening Hermiony waited in the common room until Angelina got back from class.

"Angelina," Hermione cried out, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," answered Angelina.

"How well do you fly?"

"On a broom? Well I've been flying since I was little. And this year I'm a Chaser on the Qudditch team this year, so I guess I fly pretty well."

Hermione was crestfallen. Angelina used the book to learn Quidditch tactics not flying tips. Still there was no harm in asking.

"Angelina, you read `Quidditch Through the Ages', right?"

"Good book. I think it'll come in handy for the matches."

"I just borrowed it from the library. Will it help me learn to fly?"

"I don't know. I read for strategies, but I guess it couldn't hurt."

"Thanks, Angelina," said Hermiony trying not to show her disappointment.

"No problem. Hey, you're going to watch our Quidditch matches this year, right?"

"Yeah. I've never seen it before."

"It's like nothing else. And we have a great team this year. Well what we have is great. We haven't found a Seeker yet, but Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet are the other two Chasers and they fly really well. Fred and George Weasley are our Beaters and Oliver Wood, if you haven't met him you should, he's a fifth year and he's a great guy. Sorry, Oliver is the team captain and he's our Keeper. All we need is a good Seeker and the Cup is ours."

Hermiony had no idea what she was talking about, but she pretended that she did. "Well good luck. I hope you win all your matches."

"Thank you. Good night Hermiony." Angelina left.

Hermiony was in a funk. That night she read the book. Angelina's speech made more sense now, or it would have if she remembered it. But at least she knew the terminology now. Over the next two days she internalized everything she could about Quidditch, but still did not know how to fly.

Finally the day of the first class arrived. That morning at breakfast Hermiony was the most nervous she had been since the Sorting. And like at the Sorting she started to talk too much about what she read. She knew it bored everyone else, but she just couldn't seem to stop. Neville was trying to pay attention, because he was even more nervous than she. She was interrupted when a barn owl dropped a package in front of Neville. He opened it to find a glass ball the size of a large marble. It looked like it was full of white smoke.

"It's a Remembrall!" he explained. "Gran knows I forget things - this tells you if there's something you've forgotten to do. Look, you hold it tight like this and if it turns red - oh..." The Remembrall had turned red, "... you've forgotten something...."

At that moment Draco Malfoy and his two thug friends, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle walked up to the Gryffindor table. Hermiony had been watching Malfoy ever since she first saw him on the train. The more she saw him, the more she disliked him. And the feeling was mutual. He made no attempt to hide his jealousy that a Muggle-born girl knew more about magic and received better grades than he did. Malfoy swiped the Remembrall out of Neville's hands. Harry and Ron jumped up, but before they could start a fight, Professor McGonagall intervened. Malfoy gave back the Remembrall and walked away in disgust.

At three-thirty that afternoon, flying lessons began. It was a double session with the Slytherins. As Hermiony looked out at the unfriendly faces of Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson, and the others, she wished that they could have joint classes with the Ravenclaws or Hufflepuffs instead.

The instructor, Madame Hooch, was a woman with short gray hair and eyes that did not miss anything. She reminded Hermiony of her former physical education teacher, a woman who looked like she had at one time been an athlete and still kept in shape, but could not avoid the effects of age. Madame Hooch had a gravelly voice and she barked out orders to the students. "What are you waiting for? Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

The broomsticks looked old and ragged. Hermiony thought that her mother's old broom in the kitchen closet would have made for a safer flight.

Madame Hooch continued to shout out orders. "Stick out your right hand over the broom and say UP!"

Not completely to Hermiony's surprise, her broomstick simply rolled over. Her broom's little response was still better than most of the others. Neville clearly did not want to fly at all. What astonished her though was that Harry's leapt into his hand. How could he know what he was doing? He was raised by Muggles, just like her.

Madame Hooch then taught them how to mount the brooms the right way and gave them instructions for floating. "Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle - three - two."

The whistle never came. Neville's nerves got the best of him and he jumped up too quickly. He kept rising despite Madame Hooch shouts. "What's that boy's name?" she asked angrily. "Neville Longbottom," responded Seamus. Immediately Madame Hooch's anger faded into concern. Hermiony's heart was beating fast. What if he got hurt? He has no idea how to fly. And then as soon as she felt tears in her eyes, Neville fell to the ground. The broom, good riddance to it, rose over the Forbidden Forest. Neville was alive, but his wrist was broken and he was trembling from the pain and fear. Madame Hooch, looking as scared as Neville, calmed herself and in a surprisingly soothing voice she said "Come on, boy, - it's all right, up you get." Neville would be taken to the infirmary wing where Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, would take care of him. As Madame Hooch walked off with her arm around Neville, she turned to the rest of the class, and in her harshest voice she called out, "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say `Quidditch.' Come on dear."

Hermiony had no intention of touching her broomstick. She could hardly think in her relieved panic. But then she heard malicious laughter from the Slytherins followed by Parvati Patil telling Malfoy to shut up. Pansy Parkinson made some snide remark about Parvati and Neville for which Hermiony wanted to slap her, but was also not quite sure she heard it correctly because she saw something that angered her more. Malfoy held Neville's Remembrall and threatened to leave it in a tree.

Harry stood up to Malfoy. But before he could grab the Remembrall, Malfoy snatched a broom and started to fly. Harry grabbed one too. Hermiony knew she had to stop him. "No! Madame Hooch told us not to move - you'll get in trouble," she yelled. But to no avail. Harry ignored her, straddled a broom and kicked off into the air. Hermiony could barely look. How could Harry possibly know how to fly? But he did. Somehow it came naturally to him, and he was excellent. He caught up to Malfoy, but before there was a standoff, Malfoy threw the Remembrall and flew back to the ground. Harry, about fifty feet in the air, followed the Remembrall down and caught it a foot above the ground, pulled his broom up straight, and tumbled gently onto the grass. But Harry's problems were not over. Professor McGonagall had seen him fly. And her fierce look of fury and shock made the Gryffindors cringe. Both Parvati and Ron tried to explain what happened, but Professor McGonagall refused to listen. She took Harry away. And Hermiony felt extremely sorry for him. They were not friends, but she liked him well enough and did not want to see him sent home. Especially since he was Harry Potter. The laughter of the Slytherins was too much to bear, but Madame Hooch returned before anything further could be done.

For the duration of the lesson Hermione felt sympathy, not just for Harry, but for Ron who looked sick to his stomach. Even the fact that she felt comfortable in the air by the end of the lesson gave her little satisfaction. She did not want anything to happen to Harry.

That is, until dinner when Harry returned and was not only punished, but somehow rewarded. Hermiony did not know what had happened, but Harry looked happier than he had since the Sorting. Hermiony was beside herself with unexpressed rage. He had made her worry so much and then nothing happened? How could he possibly charm Professor McGonagall? That was not fair.

Apparently Malfoy thought so too, as he challenged Harry to a Wizard's duel. Harry accepted. Actually Ron accepted and agreed to be Harry's second. The duel was set for midnight in the trophy room.

Two different thoughts bothered Hermiony. First, and most importantly, Harry and Ron could get hurt. But they would also be breaking the rules by leaving Gryffindor tower that late and rule breaking cost points in the house cup competition, which she knew all the Gryffindors were desperate to win. So she tried to appeal to their sense of reason.

"Excuse me," she said.

Ron, whose dislike of her was becoming quite obvious, snarled "Can't a person eat in peace in this place?" Hermione ignored him. She was not talking to Ron, only Harry.

"I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying-"

"Bet you could," said Ron.

Hermiony was stung. She was looking out for them, and he was insulting her. But she ignored him again. "-And you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."

"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.

"Good bye," said Ron, practically crowing with glee.

Though offended by both of them, Hermiony was not going to be deterred. If she could not reason with them now, maybe she could before they left. A part of her wanted to let them get caught. It would teach them a lesson. But she could not let down Gryffindor. And a small part of her hoped that perhaps once Harry saw she was right he would start treating her like a friend instead of a nuisance.