Takeoffs and Landings by WeasleyForMe

Hermione finds out there has been an addition to the O.W.L. exams... a mandatory flying test. The only trouble is Hermione doesn't know how to fly! George agrees to give her lessons. Will she learn how to fly, or will she fall hard for George Weasley? Hermione/George

I don't own any of these characters :(

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Chapter Seven

"I can't do that! I'll end up killing myself if I try!" exclaimed Hermione the following afternoon. She had arrived at the Quidditch pitch to see the obstacle course George had set up for her. It included hoops, poles and spikes.

"You aren't going to kill anyone, and you'll need to do this during the test," George reminded her. "Do you want me to go through it once while you watch?"

"You can bet your wand I do! Then after that you're riding through once with me!" she shrieked.

George hopped on his broom and took off through the course. He glided through a set of hoops which were all different sizes. Then he wove through a set of spikes that were sticking out of the ground in a similar fashion to muggle traffic cones. Next he alternated flying over and under long bars which were parallel to the turf. Then he flew three times around a pole and went back through the course. He was done in a matter of two minutes.

George landed next to her. "Ready?"

Hermione's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me? You made that look so easy. I won't be able to do it! I'll only be allowed five minutes and one chance on the day of the exam!"

"Well, I can guarantee that's all you're going to need. You're really improving. All you'll need to work on is getting your time lower than five minutes," he reassured her.

Hermione took a few breaths and climbed on the broom with George. She kicked off the ground and listened to him explain the general order of events of the course. She slowly flew through the course listening to his instructions and following his guidelines. His voice was once again beginning to sooth and excite her at the same time. She couldn't concentrate on flying with George touching her, and she knew she needed to.

After she flew through once with George, she told him, "I think I'll be able to concentrate more if I just do it on my own."

George hopped off the broom and Hermione took off through the course again. She had a much clearer head without George on the broom, plus she was able to maneuver better. On her first try, Hermione made it through in about eight minutes, but she hit a few poles.

"This is ridiculously hard and very frustrating!" she called down to George as she landed.

"But you're looking great so far!" he exclaimed with a smile. Hermione's heart melted.

"I don't know what to do to get going any faster," she called to him. "Plus, I can't make it around those turns without hitting my legs on the poles."

George showed her how to tuck her body in against the broom and lean down to make herself move seamlessly though the air. When Hermione tried the obstacle course again, she took nearly a minute off of her previous time. When she landed this time, she was beaming with happiness.

"I think I just might be able to do this by Saturday after all," she told George who was casually leaning up against a pole.

"Told you," he replied with a wink.

"How did you get to be so good at flying, anyway?" Hermione asked.

George looked thoughtful for a minute. Then he replied, "Well, growing up was kind of crazy with six siblings. Bill was the oldest and most important. Charlie was always the responsible and athletic one. Percy was obviously the intelligent yet annoying one who got perfect marks in school. Ron and Ginny were the cute little ones, so that left me and Fred somewhere in the middle. We were the ones who always got into trouble. So Fred and I needed some way to spend our time that didn't involve constant punishments from our parents, or watching everyone dote on the others. We started taking Charlie's broom when he wasn't using it, and we taught ourselves how to fly."

"Which you are fantastic at, by the way," Hermione told him and he bowed ostentatiously. "And now you're teaching me. Thanks."

"There's no need to thank me, but you can help me pack up all these poles so we can get inside. It looks like rain," George said as the wind began to pick up.

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Hermione's high spirits from Sunday began to disintegrate. It was now Wednesday evening and it had been steadily raining for three days. She hadn't been able to take George's broom out, and her test was on Saturday. George noticed how upset Hermione was beginning to look, and he was trying to think of some way she could practice indoors.

"I've got it!" George said as he was sitting in his dorm room.

"Got what?" Fred asked.

"I just thought of a way that Hermione can practice flying indoors!" George told his twin.

"George, surely you do realize we've all been hearing a lot of 'Hermione this' and 'Hermione that' recently," Fred told him. George just frowned back at him.

"Yeah, well I've been teaching her how to fly. We've been seeing a lot of each other. What difference does it make?" asked George.

"I just wanted to know when you're going to come clean and tell the girl that you fancy her," Fred asked casually.

"What are you talking about, Forge? There's honestly nothing going on like that," George said as he blushed slightly.

"I don't believe you," was Fred's reply.

"Well, believe it! I mean, Hermione has shown up to our practice sessions looking entirely adorable each time, and I've been able to completely behave myself. Plus we just spend most of the time talking about things. Nothing is going on," George confirmed.

"That's bollocks. You must really like her if you spend time talking to her and haven't tried to snog her yet. You also just said she looks cute all the time, and I'm starting to get nauseated from watching her practically drool over you. Just do something about it already," Fred said with finality.

George just glared at him and went to tell Hermione how she would be able to practice inside.

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Thanks for all of the reviews so far... if you all behave, I might just post the next chapter today! ;