A/N: Thanks to everyone who followed/added this story to favorites! I am currently working on chapters 10 and 11 and it's so much fun to write this story. I hope you continue to enjoy it. This chapter is rather short, but future chapters will be longer, around 3k~4k words.
A/N2: In this story, Ginny plays Seeker. I know she probably would have ended up as a Chaser, but when this story started to form inside my head, she happened to be a Seeker. I hope you don't mind too much.
Chapter 2 – Falling for you
Hermione and Sera apparated right to the middle of the Quidditch pitch where the Holyhead Harpies used to train. It was located way north of London, in the northwest of Wales, so the first thing Hermione noticed was a significant drop in temperature. She shivered as she looked around to assess the situation.
It took her a few moments to take in what was playing out before her eyes. First, she noticed the players on brooms, flying some dozens of feet above her head. Well, nothing unusual for a Quidditch pitch. Then her gaze fell on the team of players, standing in some distance and gazing up at the sky. Wait, but weren't they the ones supposed to be up there? Hermione looked up at the figures riding the brooms again and narrowed her eyes trying to make out something. And then she realized that not witches but house elves were riding the brooms, rushing from one corner of the pitch to the other. What was going on?
"Granger, Lancer, over here!", their department's emergency squad leader Mr. Raymond Timber called. He was standing next to the group of players, a dozen of women, including reserve players, and waving to them.
Hermione and Sera, who seemed as confused as she was, hurriedly headed over to them.
Before anyone could say something, a familiar voice called "Hermione!". Hermione turned her head and saw Ginny Weasley standing among the group of players. She was waving and smiling at her.
A pleasant feeling of familiarity paired with something like excitement as well as relief overcame her. She had not been able to see Ginny, one of her best friends apart from Ron and Harry, for months. Seeing her after all this time made her realize how much she had missed her.
Hermione wanted to go over to the redhead and hug her tightly, but she thought it inappropriate in front of her colleagues, so she suppressed the urge and instead just smiled and nodded in Ginny's direction.
Then she turned to Mr. Timber. "What is happening?" she asked. "House Elves on brooms?!"
"Indeed, a very odd occurrence, right?" Mr. Timber replied and explained further: "We got called here about fifteen minutes ago. The players told me that they noticed their brooms had disappeared from where they usually store them. They went to the pitch to find out what happened and discovered this." He looked up at the sky while talking.
"But why…", Hermione uttered.
"They are House Elves serving our team", a woman standing in the center of the team suddenly said. She was tall and lean, not exactly pretty, but her eyes were rather beautiful, Hermione noticed. She had to be the captain. "Most professional Quidditch teams have their own House Elves to take care of meals and other chores during our training sessions. They are usually very obedient, but today they suddenly did not listen to us when we ordered them to come down from there."
"So, what might be the reason for that?", Hermione asked her.
"We have no idea", the woman replied and shrugged.
"Did you maybe mistreat them, so they are kind of…starting a rebellion?", Hermione asked with an accusatory undertone. There had to be a reason for the elves' behavior and usually it was the wizards rather than the elves who did wrong.
"No, Hermione", Ginny spoke out, "We treat them very well and try to give orders nicely and everything. They once even told me how much they like working for us".
Hermione pondered a little over this. As no one was speaking she spoke up again: "Uhm…don't you think they might, you know…want to try Quidditch? I mean, maybe they just want to have some…fun?" Hermione looked up at them again. Though she could not see how anyone could have fun swooshing through the cold air like that, it might be possible that the house elves had developed the desire to try flying themselves after observing the witches doing it every day.
"Nooo way", Mr. Timber replied, half serious half suppressing a laugh. "House Elves wanting to play Quidditch? Ridiculous!"
Hermione felt anger boiling up inside her since he was dismissing her remark so easily. Stubbornly, she replied: "Then let me check that for myself. Someone hand me a broom. I'll go up and ask them." Her inner voice told her how crazy she was and how much she would regret this, because she absolutely hated flying. However, her stubbornness was stronger.
"Don't you think, we didn't already consider this?", the captain asked. "They took all available brooms, we do not have one here and the Accio spell does not work around the pitch because of security regulations."
"No problem", Hermione just said and started rummaging in her small bag which she had always with her. Of course, it was the expandable bag which had helped her as well as her friends so much during the last years. Triumphantly she pulled out the broom she had stored in there – just in case if she ever needed one. It was old and obviously worn out, but broom is broom right? She had never understood all the fuzz about Firebolts and whatever.
Hermione mounted the broom and said: "I will check with the House Elves and report back to you, Mr. Timber".
"Hermione, wait-", she heard Ginny's voice, but too late, Hermione had already pushed herself from the grass. She felt shaky and extremely insecure sitting on the broomstick. Luckily, the elves were not flying that high, so Hermione drew near them really quickly.
As she approached, she noticed the distressed expressions on the house elves' faces. That was not what she had expected. As she was approaching the elf flying the lowest, she called out: "Hello?! Are you okay? I am Hermione Granger from the Department of the Regulation of Magical Creatures, Ministry of Magic!"
The elf, a female and rather old, looked at her with a horrified expression. She didn't reply.
"What's your name?", Hermione tried again.
"Minky is my name, Miss Granger", the elf replied as tears were welling up in her eyes.
"Why are you up here?", Hermione asked, her heart aching as she saw the expression on the elf's face.
"Me is punishing myself, Miss", the elf replied. "While cleaning our Misses' brooms we accidentally put some scratches on them. Us was feeling very bad and ashamed, Miss. Because the brooms is our mistresses' most valuable possession. So, us are punishing ourselves." Minky shuddered as she remembered their mistake.
"But why are you punishing yourself like this?" Hermione asked in astonishment.
"Because it is the most serious punishment us could imagine", Minky replied. "House Elves is not supposed to be up here. Us feel very badly sick when being up too high."
Hermione thought this over for a few seconds. Then she called against the wind: "But when are you going down again?"
In the meantime, the other elves had drawn nearer, listening to what she was saying.
"After us receiving enough punishment", Minky replied and clutched the broom tighter.
"But your mistresses want to ride their brooms, don't you think?", Hermione said, trying to sound as friendly as possible, which was not easy, because she started feeling rather sick now. "They would be unhappy, if they cannot do their training, won't they? You want them to be happy, right? So, go down and give them back their brooms. I swear they won't be mad at you!", Hermione lied, hoping it would turn out like that.
Mingky seemed to think about the option for a few seconds and then – finally – started to descend on her broom. The other elves followed her. Hermione watched them in relief and prepared to get herself down there too.
Suddenly, however, a strong gust hit her right from the left making her loose hold of the broomstick. She reached out for the stick but missed it only so slightly. She slipped towards the end of the broomstick and then she realized in horror that she was falling.
So, that was it. Hermione Jean Granger, twenty two years old, died on the job. She had not even managed to finish the house elves' rights brochure. What a pity.
Cold air was rushing through her clothes and hair as she was drawn towards the ground. She could feel stinging, shaking and then – arms. Someone had caught her!
She opened her eyes and stared at – Ginny, who had pulled Hermione on her broomstick, holding her with one arm while clutching on to the stick with her free hand. She looked shocked and surprised. "Hermione!", she cried "What were you thinking, you stupid girl?!". Hermione could hear concern but also a little bit of anger in the redhead's voice. "You should have let me do that! For heaven's sake! You are lucky that one of the house elves had already got off his broom when I saw you falling!"
Hermione did not say anything but just continued staring at Ginny. Had she always been that pretty? Hell, what was she thinking now. She had nearly died! But Ginny's eyes…they were really beautiful, colored in shades of coffee and chocolate. And her hair…it had grown by a few inches and was waving behind her back as they flew. And-
"Hermione!?", Ginny shouted, looking more concerned than angry now. "Are you okay, why don't you say anything?!"
"I-I'm okay…I guess", Hermione finally uttered as she finally began to realize the seriousness of the situation she had herself maneuvered into.
A few seconds later they landed on the grass and both girls got off the broom. Hermione's legs were shaking when she faced the crowd staring at her.
"Are you okay, Miss Granger?" Sera asked in a concerned voice.
"Uhm…yeah I'm fine", Hermione replied, starting to feel embarrassed. Seriously, what had she been thinking?
She explained the situation to everyone and fortunately the team members understood the House Elves' reasoning and assured them that everything would be okay and that they could remove the scratches by magic. Hermione and Sera took some notes for their report, then Mr. Timber said: "Matter solved, everyone go back now. And Miss Granger? Take the rest of the day off and rest. This was a rather big shock for you I guess. Even though I don't approve of your methods, you solved the matter, so good work. See you next time." Then he disapparated.
"He is right, take some rest", Sera said and disapparated as well.
Ginny, still standing next to Hermione, grabbed her by the arm. "Don't worry about the House Elves anymore, my teammates will take care of that. Let's go somewhere and eat. I reckon you should calm down a little and have something delicious. I know a really nice place around here. Let's go!" The second she finished, she performed side-along disapparation, leaving Hermione no chance to protest.