20 – A Pitch Perfect Picnic
HG
When the last door closed after the last exam, you could feel the castle take a breath of relief alongside the students, that it was once again all over. Hermione's shoulders relaxed the moment she stepped out of the classroom. Katie was already running up the stairs to get changed as she walked her way to the courtyard.
"Someone looks relieved." Cedric said as he caught up to her.
She turned her head and smiled up at the Hufflepuff. "I can say the same to you. How do you feel?"
"Relieved. I'm glad it's almost summer break." He said stuffing his robe in his bag. "About that... Professor McGonagall held me back after my exam."
"You don't need to, now that I know about your panic attacks."
"No, I want to. It's not the same as studying for exams, it could be fun." He smiled as he readjusted his bag. "Where are you going anyway?" He asked as they walked out of the castle.
"Oh, just a bit of celebrating. I'm meeting up with the rest at the quidditch pitch." She said as she too took off her coat. "Do you want to come?" She looked up after she draped her coat over her bag.
"You don't think the others will mind?"
"Of course not, why would they mind?"
"Okay, then I'll come. I could use a little distraction." He smiled and she mimicked his expression as they walked on the grounds. A lot of the students had found their way outside, the grass was filled with students on blankets talking excitingly to each other. Hermione stopped as the heat became too much. She started loosening her tie before pulling it over her head, she rolled up her sleeves till her elbows. When her scrunchie fell from her bag, Cedric picked it up grinning.
"The heat getting to you?"
"Yeah." She blew a hair out of her face. "Thanks." She smiled as Cedric handed her the scrunchie. She pulled her hair together and wrapped the crunchie around it, putting her hair in a loose bun.
They arrived at the still empty quidditch pitch. She glanced around the field to find the perfect spot.
"Maybe over there?" Cedric suggested pointed to the side of the pitch. "Because if the others are going to play..."
"We better sit on the side." Hermione chuckled. "Good thinking."
Hermione opened her bag as they walked to the side of the pitch, pulling out an extra-large picnic blanket. Cedric's eyes widened in surprise as she pulled it out.
"Uhm, Hermione..." Cedric started as she laid the blanket on the grass. "How in Merlin's beard does that fit in your bag?"
Hermione grinned as she looked over her shoulder. "Professor McGonagall put an extension charm on it."
"Because of your books." He grinned as they sat down. "What else is in that endless bag of yours."
Hermione grinned back before she starts pulling cups and plates out of her bag, placing them on the blanket. "The others are bringing the rest."
Cedric huffed a laughed and leaned back on his arms, glancing at the sky. "So, how do you want to meet up this summer?"
"The first two weeks we're going camping." Hermione said as she took of her shoes and socks, stretching her legs in front of her. "But we can meet up after, I can owl you when I get back. I suppose you don't have a phone?" She quirked an eyebrow.
"No." He said as his mouth forming in O. "But we do have a floo."
"My parents talked to Mr. Weasley about connecting one to our house but I don't know if they did it already."
"Our dads are practically best friends; it wouldn't surprise me if they connected the floo right after we left after Christmas break."
Cedric and Hermione looked up in surprise. Everyone was towering above them, smiling. Neither Hermione nor Cedric had seen or heard them come up. The twins, Alicia and Angelina all had their brooms with them, leaning on them. Katie already made herself comfortable next to Hermione, while Lee took the seat opposite of Cedric.
"Cedric, mate. Coming to relax too?"
"Hermione invited me; hope you don't mind."
"Don't be daft." Angelina waved him off, placing her broom against the stand and flopping down.
"The more the merrier." Alicia smiled, sitting down next to Angelina.
"Did you guys bring everything?" She asked as the twins descended to the last available seat on the blanket.
"What do you think?" Lee laughed as he and Katie started unpacking their bags. "You know we can't go anywhere without food if a Weasley is nearby." The others laughed with him and the twins just shrugged, grinning.
"Speaking of Weasleys, isn't Charlie coming?"
"Oi!" The twins called out. "Aren't we good enough?"
Hermione shrugged as she poured everyone a drink. "Charlie's leaving soon, I'm stuck with you two for years." She grinned behind her cup of pumpkin juice.
"You hurt us, little Granger."
"But Charlie should be here any minute. Maybe he's distracted by the lady Veronica."
"No, they broke up a few days ago." Hermione said as she passed a cup to Cedric.
"How do-"
"You know that?" George finished.
"Because I talk to your brother outside of quidditch." She stuck out her tongue to the twins. She shushed the twins from a reply as she handed out the sandwiches. After they ate and talked about their summer plans, the twins jumped up and picked up their brooms.
"Who's ready for a game?" Fred asked looking at the rest.
Angelina and Alicia jumped up at the chance and grabbed their brooms from the stands. Katie looked a bit sad as the others held their brooms. "I wish I had a broom already." Katie groaned. "I want to play."
The twins looked away from Angelina and Alicia and glanced down, grinning. "We can make that happen, Katiekins."
George pulled his wand out of his back pocket and waved it. "Accio broom." The heard something break in the equipment rooms before three brooms came flying out to the field. George pulled a face and gritted his teeth, giving Hermione a small smile when he saw the look on her face.
"Brilliant!" Katie jumped up and grabbed a broom, picking off a piece of glass from between the twigs.
"Cedric, you playing?" Fred asked, holding out the second broom.
"Sure." He said, standing up and accepted the broom from Fred. "Hermione?" He looked back to her.
"Oh, no. I'm just getting used to flying. I'm not up for a game just yet." She waved her hand in front of her. "Maybe Lee?"
"No, I'll practice my commentary and keep our little bookworm here some company." Lee said taking Cedric's place and leaned against the stands. The others mounted their brooms and shot up in the air. Fred waved his wand and a quaffle flew out the equipment room, right in his hand.
HG
When the others were flying high above them, Charlie walked on the pitch, broom in one hand, large basket in the other. He put his broom against the stands before he lowered himself down next to Hermione.
"Sorry I'm late." He sat opening the basket. "Somehow Hagrid heard I was going to work with dragons and he held me up. But I brought some sorry-I'm-late offerings." He grinned as he unpacked the packages.
"You brought dinner?" Hermione asked amused, looking at all the food. Lee tore his gaze away from his flying friends and looked at the display on the blanket, licking his lips.
"Yeah, since it's a nice day, I thought we could eat dinner outside."
"I'm going to miss you." Hermione leaned against him, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. "You're leaving me, alone, with the twins!"
Charlie chest bounced up and down as he laughed, Hermione still tucked close against him. "You'll be fine. But we can write if you want."
"I would love that. When are you leaving anyway?"
"The second week of the summer break… And I still have to tell mum."
"You haven't told your mum?" Lee asked, eyes wide. "You're mental."
"Have you met our mum?" Charlie grinned, pulling his arm back as he leaned over to look at Lee. "If I told her sooner, she would try to persuade me to stay and if that didn't work, she would bound me to a chair, still might when I tell her." He chuckled, Hermione and Lee chimed in.
"I smell food!" George and Fred ran over, tossing their brooms to the side. The others behind them laughed at the hungry twins.
"I don't care anymore that you're late." Fred said already stuffing a potato in his mouth.
"Leave something for the rest of us, yeah?" Angelina called over as she walked closer and lowered herself to the ground.
"Sorry." The twins mumbled with their mouths full. The rest sat down on the slightly too small blanket and started loading their plates.
"Oh, hey Cedric." Charlie said surprised as he saw the Hufflepuff. "Did the twins rope you into playing?"
"Hermione invited me actually and they asked me to play." He said as he put some potatoes on his plate. "But it's great practice."
"Cedric's trying out for his quidditch team next year." Hermione said stabbed a piece of broccoli with her fork.
"Really?" All the quidditch players asked, looking at a now slightly flustered Cedric.
"Yeah, Olivia is graduating this year, so the position of seeker is open."
"If you want, I could give you some pointers after dinner." Charlie offered.
"That would be great. You need a new seeker too don't you?"
"Yeah, but to be fair it doesn't look so good. Unless there is a hidden talent in the common room, I don't know what Oliver is going to do next year."
"Maybe we can train little Granger." Fred grinned.
"I don't think so!" Hermione heavily shook her head, making the others laugh.
"Hermione, I still haven't seen you fly."
"And you won't today, not with everyone watching." Angelina pouted at her. "I'm sorry, Ange, but no." She chuckled at the girl.
"Fine." She huffed and scrambled to her feet. "Who's up for another game?"
Everyone jumped to their feet, Fred and George quickly stuffed some meatball in their mouth before grabbing their brooms. The only one still sitting on the blanket was Hermione, Lee and Cedric.
"Cedric, are you coming?" Charlie asked.
"No, I'll sit this one out, otherwise we'll be uneven. We can practice after."
"Race you to the goalposts!" Alicia suddenly cried out and mounted her broom.
HG
Hermione took advantage from the space on the blanket and made herself comfortable and laid down fully, closing her eyes as the hot sun shined down on them. Lee and Cedric looked at each other amused, before lying down next to her. Lee and Hermione had their eyes closed while Cedric looked at the few clouds that floated by. Hermione's eyes shot open when she heard a snore not far from her. She leaned up on her arm and looked at Lee, who had fallen asleep with his mouth slightly open, snoring. She looked at Cedric, who grinned back before he looked up to the others.
"There are still 2 brooms left." He pointed to the brooms that leaned against the stands. "The others are playing, Lee's asleep. Want to go fly behind the pitch?"
"Uhm." She slowly said, looking at her friends flying high above. "Yeah, sure."
"Brilliant!" Cedric hopped on his feet and held out his hand to pull her up. When she stood, he handed her one broom before walking behind the pitch, out of sight.
Cedric climbed his broom, giving her a wink before he shot up in the air. Hermione huffed at his showing off and quicky followed him in the air. She grinned when she caught up to him.
"Ah, miss Granger. Fancy seeing you here." Cedric grinned. Hermione smiled back before she pulled out a little ball from her coat.
"Since you want to try for seeker…"
"Do your best." Cedric snickered, getting in position. Hermione put a charm on the ball, and the ball flew away like a rocket. Cedric turned to her wide eyed.
"I thought you were just going to chuck it."
"That would be too easy." Hermione shrugged with a grin.
"You're not going to go easy on me then, Granger?"
"Nope." She popped the P.
"Fine but you can help me catch it then."
"What? No that's not the plan."
"Oh, come on, just for fun."
Hermione bit her lip as she thought about it. "Alright, what if I catch it before you?"
"Highly doubt it." He grinned. "Do you want to place a bet? If I win, we do something the muggles do during break."
"I can do that." Hermione smiled. "And if I win you bake me a whole batch of my favourite cookies, without magic."
"Without magic? Can I ask for help."
"Nope."
"Deal." He shook her hand. "Your funeral." He grinned before he sped off.
Hermione shook her head from the sudden movement and followed after him. They zig-zagged in the air as they followed the small ball. They didn't even notice when the ball flew to the pitch. Hermione and Cedric laughed and bummed against each other as they got closer to the ball. The others stopped playing and looked at the both of them with their mouths dropped open.
The ball shot up and Hermione and Cedric pulled their brooms and flew straight up in the air, both holding out their hands to grab the ball. Cedric's arm was considerably longer than hers and catches the ball with ease. He looked back at her with a grin and tossed the ball back.
"I guess we're doing something muggle then?" He chuckled as they flew back down, where the others stood, slightly in shock.
"Yes, but I can pick right?" Cedric nodded excitingly as they landed. "I need to think about it."
"Didn't expect anything else." He laughed as they stopped in front of the others.
"What?" Hermione asked as she saw all of them looking at them, Lee still asleep on the blanket.
"First of all, Cedric you don't need any pointers." Charlie stepped between them, clapping him on the back before turning to Hermione. "And you – should try out for seeker next year."
"Oh, no!" Hermione shook her head. "No, no, no."
"Hermione, you were great!" Alicia exclaimed.
"Yeah, you'd never think you were afraid of flying!" Angelina chimed in.
"I had great teachers." She grinned at the twins. The twins looked taken aback by her statement, but quickly recovered and beamed at her.
"Of course, you had-" Fred started.
"The famous Weasley twins at your beck and call."
Hermione rolled her eyes and punched them on the shoulder as she passed them and walked back to the sleeping boy. That boy can sleep anywhere! Hermione thought to herself as she kneeled down. She had found Lee several times that year, sleeping in strange places or weird angles. She looked over her shoulder to the others.
"We should pack up, it's getting late."
"Yeah, I need to start packing anyway." Angelina said as she waved her wand, the whole blanket started to clear.
"I'll put the brooms back." George said. Hermione shot him a pointed glare. "I'll walk, no worries."
"And clean up the mess you made." Hermione yelled as he walked to the equipment room, George waved his hand back to her. She shook her head at the twin before looked back to Lee, who had woken up from her shouting. "Sorry." She grinned sheepishly, pulling him up.
"Had a good nap?" Alicia snickered.
"The best actually." Lee said as he stretched out. Cedric folded up the blanket and handed it over to Hermione before they walked out of the pitch.
"You missed quite a show, sleepy head."
Lee's head snapped back to Alicia, who grinned wide and winked to Hermione and Cedric, before telling him the tale.
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Only one more to go! I'm probably going to post it before the end of the week!
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And I'm happy to say, I'm already writing YEAR 2! I actually have writen more chapters already for year 2 than this one, and I'm not at the end of the year :D So you don't have to wait too long ;)