Chapter 6: Flying

Hermione woke early the next day, intent on walking to Lumi's barn before Charlie could force her onto the broom. She momentarily worried he would be upset and think she was trying to avoid him, but pushed the thought away as she dressed. She couldn't risk physical contact right now.

She rushed downstairs and grabbed the letters she wrote last night to put them in the owl post-collection box on her door. Taking a moment to think, she also grabbed her sketchbook. She was struggling with the curl of Lumi's horns and she wanted to get it right.

She hurriedly opened the door and shoved the letters in the box before walking in the direction of Lumi's barn. There was still a slight chill in the air and the sun was just rising as Hermione made her way over the open field. She walked at a brisk pace for the better part of an hour before she heard the whooshing of a broom. She let out a sigh and braced herself to speak to Charlie.

Instead, Felix lowered in front of her on a Firebolt and he wore a smirk on his face as he took in her dishevelled look. In her haste to leave early, she hadn't even brushed her hair and she was sure it looked wild.

"Charlie is going to be with Commander Rollands this morning. He asked me to take you to Lumi but what a surprise it was when we found your cabin completely empty." He gave her a grin and flew his broom around her as he waited for an explanation.

She crossed her arms and huffed, "I'm not riding on a broom with you, Felix. I am perfectly capable of walking, thank you very much."

To make her point she continued on her path and Felix slowly flew next to her, his grin still plastered on his face.

"So what exactly happened yesterday? Charlie's in a shite mood, you're in a shite mood..."

She stopped walking and glared daggers at him. Felix's grin only widened and he whirled to a stop in front of her.

Hermione pressed her lips together before sighing in defeat, "If I get on the broom will you stop asking questions?"

Felix shrugged, "Only one way to find out."

Hermione mounted the broom and they took off towards Lumi's barn. Felix was a decent flyer, certainly much better than Junior Harpis but he still didn't make her feel as safe as Charlie did. She wondered if that was an indicator of the soulmate bond or if Charlie was just an expert broomsman.

They landed gently in front of the barn and Hermione frowned as she realized she was becoming too comfortable with flying. She certainly didn't feel as nervous in the descent.

The two of them entered Lumi's barn and Felix gave some attention to the dragon who happily lapped it up like a puppy. She told Felix of her desire to sketch her horns and he showed her how to open the barn door before taking off to take care of his own dragons.

Hermione ran her hand over Lumi's head before sitting on a stool in front of her and inspecting the way her horns curled slightly. She quickly sketched it down, surprisingly Lumi stayed mostly still throughout.

Hermione finished after about an hour and snapped her sketchbook closed. She hurriedly opened the barn door and laughed lightly at Lumi's excitement as the dragon took off into the sky. Not really knowing what else to do with herself, she reasoned the Commons should only be a short hours walk away and she set off in its direction.

She neared the large cabin after a short walk and went inside to grab herself some breakfast, having also skipped that in her haste to leave early. She tried not to think about the fact that she might see Charlie and tried to ignore her disappointment when she didn't spot the redhead in the mess hall.

She did, however, see Luella and Orval sitting at the same table as the day before. After grabbing a small bowl of porridge and a muffin, she made her way over to the couple and they greeted her cheerily. Well, Luella did at least, Orval only gave her a grunt - he was apparently not a morning person.

"Where is Charlie?" Luella asked her as she sipped her coffee.

The mention of the Dragon Keeper set her nerves on edge and Hermione tried to keep her mask cool as she responded, "I'm not sure, Felix told me he had to do something with Rollands this morning."

Luella gave her a gentle smile and Hermione felt a small blush spread across her cheeks at the knowing look she gave her. They sat and chatted for a few more minutes before they had to leave for work. Hermione waved goodbye from her seat at the table and sighed as she finished the last of her coffee. The mess hall had emptied and now it was just her and a few other older Keepers. She glanced out the main door of the hall that opened to the classroom lined corridor.

Would she get in trouble for taking a peek around?

Summoning her Gryffindor courage, she made her way through the large wooden doors and crept quietly down the hallway. All of the doors had windows and she peered into each classroom as she passed them by. Most of the rooms were empty but she found a few that had a handful of Junior's listening attentively to an instructor.

Hermione stopped at one where a woman was flicking her wand at the chalkboard and the anatomy of an Antipodean Opaleye was drawing itself on the board. She leaned against the wall next to the door to keep herself hidden as she listened to the lecture.

It felt like such an odd thing to be sneaking around just to eavesdrop on a lesson, but she had to admit there was something about it that she missed. She missed the excitement of learning new information and when the Keeper asked a question to the class, she almost raised her hand to answer.

Chuckling to herself she squeaked in surprise when the door suddenly opened and the Keeper giving the lecture peered down her nose at her.

"Are you going to come in or stand at the door the entire time?" She asked her in a thick Russian accent.

Hermione blushed at having been caught and she tried to stutter out a response. The Keeper held up a hand to silence her and she stepped to the side, gesturing for Hermione to enter. Words escaping her in the face of the stern-looking woman, Hermione shuffled inside and blanched when she saw multiple pairs of eyes staring at her.

Thankfully Charity was among them and she waved to Hermione and gestured to the empty seat next to her. Hermione gratefully sank into it and Charity leaned over to whisper to her.

"What are you doing here?"

Hermione gave her a nervous glance, "I don't really know I was just in the hallway listening..."

Charity smiled knowingly, "Keeper Kotov has a way of getting people to do things without much of a fight. At this point, it'd probably just be best to stay for the class. She probably mistook you for a new Junior."

Keeper Kotov closed the door and turned back to the board, continuing her lecture of the Opaleye. She was very well educated and gave so much new information that even Hermione didn't know. She noticed the rest of the Juniors were taking notes and pulled out her sketchbook from inside her jumper to take some of her own. This information was too good to pass up.

The class went on for almost a whole hour and Hermione had immediately become the know-it-all of the classroom. Keeper Kotov had warmed up to her and seemed to be thankful to have someone answering every question. Thankfully, since she was only a few years older than the other students and quite petite, she didn't feel too terribly out of place.

As the other Juniors filed out of the room she asked Charity what class was next.

"Flying! It's my favourite one of the day."

Hermione grimaced and tried to break from the group but was soon whisked into the packed hall and somehow got sucked into the trail of students heading out to the large open field. Once they had gone outside she stopped just at the door and made to go back in, but the Keeper running the flying lesson called her over. He was a middle-aged skinny man with short-cropped grey hair. This must be Keeper Bullwark that Harpis had mentioned.

"Don't be shy, Junior. What's your name?" He asked her as she swore under her breath and slowly walked up to the rest of the group. They must have had flying lessons at the same time, as at least thirty Juniors stared at her, waiting for her to answer.

Not wanting to call any unwanted attention to herself she gave him a fake name, "Grant, sir. But I'm not a-"

"Junior Harpis, nice of you to finally join us." Bullwark cut her off as Harpis approached from behind them. She scratched the back of her head and gave a nervous smile as she filed in with the other Juniors. She noticed Hermione standing at the front and gave her a confused look.

"Now, Junior Grant. How good are you at flying?"

"Well, I'm not-"

"That bad, eh?" What was it with this insufferable man and not letting her speak? "That's alright! Junior Harpis couldn't even come to a stop without crashing into something when she arrived three months ago! Let's say we get you on a broom and see what we're working with."

Hermione froze. Oh no. No. No. No. No.

"Sir, I can't fly!" She called out after him but he was already heading towards the broom shed across the field so he didn't hear her.

The rest of the Juniors were following him to grab their own brooms, some taking off to the sky immediately, while others were chatting on the ground.

Harpis ran up to Hermione after retrieving her own broom, obviously confused, "Miss Granger, what are you doing here?"

Hermione threw her hands up in the air, "I have no bloody idea! One minute I was in the commons, innocently listening in on a lecture, and the next minute, I'm Junior Grant."

Harpis tried to bite back her grin at Hermione's predicament, and let out a yelp as Keeper Bullwark yelled at her to get in the air. She gave Hermione an apologetic smile as she took off shakily and Hermione huffed in annoyance.

Keeper Bullwark returned with a CleanSweep in hand and held it out for Hermione to take. She crossed her arms and glared daggers at the offending piece of cleaning equipment. "Sir, I'm not getting on that. I'm not a-"

She almost let out a screech of annoyance as he interrupted her again. "C'mon, Grant. I'm sure you can't be that bad." He thrust the broom into her hands and stepped back, gesturing for her to mount it.

She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from swearing at him and almost died from mortification as Charlie rounded the corner of the building with Commander Rollands in tow. His eyes instantly settled on her holding a broom and his face split into a wide grin. He turned to speak to Rollands and the Commander gave him a nod before walking back the way he came.

Charlie jogged over to her and she paled as his grin widened even further.

"Keeper Bullwark! How are you?"

Bullwark turned on his heel and shook Charlie's hand, "Not too bad, Weasley. Just introducing Junior Grant to flying, don't think she's done much of it, seems to be nervous."

Charlie looked over at her and she wanted to smack the grin off his face as he looked her up and down. "Junior Grant, huh? Well let's see it then, are you going to take off?"

Hermione's hands tightened on the wood and she scowled at him as his grin got impossibly bigger. Her palms started to sweat slightly as she formulated a plan. He was making fun of her, but she wouldn't give him something to make fun of.

She mounted the broom and took a deep breath as her heart hammered in her chest. She gripped the handle in front of her as she summoned every ounce of her Gryffindor courage. She could do this, how hard could it be? All she had to do was fly into the air and not look down.

Or cry.

Or fall.

Hermione kicked her feet off the ground and suddenly her CleanSweep took off, barreling towards the Juniors in the sky. She let out a little squeal at the abrupt ascent and she swore she heard the sound of Charlie's laughter over the wind and blood pounding in her ears.

She pulled up on the handle of her broom and came to a sharp stop before colliding with someone. She tipped over the edge slightly but righted herself before she fell off. Her breathing was uneven and her arms ached from how tightly she gripped the wood. She clenched her eyes shut until she was sure she wouldn't release the terrified scream that was imminent.

She glanced around to find a few of the Juniors snickering at her and her face heated as she tried to calm herself. It wasn't so bad up here after all but when she made the mistake of looking down to Charlie thirty feet below, her stomach gave a slight lurch.

Charity pulled up beside her on a Nimbus 2000, looking completely at ease being so high up. "Hermione, are you alright?"

Hermione raised a hand to wave her off causing her broom to tilt to the left slightly and she slammed her hand back down on the wood to catch herself.

Keeper Bullwark and, unsurprisingly, Charlie met them in the sky on their own brooms a few moments later. Charlie gave her a roguish grin that, under normal circumstances, would have made her stomach flutter. Instead, it only filled her with trepidation. What was he up to?

"Nicely done, Junior Grant. A little shaky on the ascent but nothing we can't work with. Watch your elbow lock now, or you'll have sore arms for the rest of the day." Bullwark said as he pulled a small silver whistle from under his shirt.

Charity seemed to immediately perk up at this, as did a few other Juniors. Someone groaned in the back and Hermione wondered what was happening.

"Right! Keeper Weasley here has suggested a game of Quidditch for today's lesson. Who would like to be Captains?"