Jane entered the Women's restroom, flushed in the face.
"Herm... Oh," she looked wide eyed at Malfoy, then back to me. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"
I myself started to look red, or at least I think I am.
"Oh no, you're not interrupting anything. We were just heading out," replied Malfoy. "Erm, yea, alright," I agreed hesitantly. He led Jane and I out of the restroom.
I was in the middle of us three, Jane in my left while Malfoy on my right.
"Hi, I'm Jane," I heard Jane say.
"Draco Malfoy," Malfoy said. He let out a hand which Jane shook friendly.
I smiled inwardly. It was weird walking to the field with Malfoy in one side and Jane in the other. The whole way, Jane and Malfoy talked like they have been friends their whole lives.
We entered back to the field, with the teams already in practice. Jane waved us good-bye and departed to her team. Malfoy and I walked towards Group Three. Phillip was by himself, while others were talking amongst themselves. It seems they've excluded him from the group temporarily but I doubt this would last long. I'm only the new girl and he's the popular kid who everyone pretty much knows.
"You okay, Hermione?" Tristan asked. I nodded my head in his direction. He came over me and gave me a hug. "I'm sorry about, you know, what happened."
"It's okay," I replied. "Thanks for the hug."
"Okay guys, back to work," Malfoy announced. "Phillip!"
Phillip looked up. "What?" He asked icily.
"Hit the track. I want four laps from you."
I heard the oaf Phillip groan as he headed to the track. I was surprised Malfoy would actually do that, for me.
"Ms. Granger," called a voice. I turned to the call, only to find the yellow shirted guy with denim jeans coming towards me.
"Good morning, sir," I answered. He was a feet away from me at this point, and I could read his tag on the left side of his shirt saying, "Kenny Jones."
"What? Ah yes, good morning to you too," he seemed out of breath and talking rapidly. "I am sorry to say, however, you will be suspended from now until the first game for your incident this morning."
"WHA?" I cried. "I can't be suspended... I didn't do anything!"
"Ms. Granger, we have a strict rule against absences, tardiness, and public distractions. We just cannot allow these negative affect other players."
"Mr. Jones, please, I can't afford to miss any practices," I heaved. "Is there any way you will consider?"
"No, I'm sorry," he said, hands placed on my shoulder.
What a day. First Phillip, now this. What else can happen now?
"Sir," I notice Malfoy say. "Sir, may I speak?"
"What is it, Draco?" He asked wearily.
"Sir, I would just like to say that I allowed Ms. Granger off the field. I am the Captain of this Group Three, and take full responsibility for everything. Please do not punish her."
Huh? What just happened? Is this Malfoy I hear talking? I try to look at him but I couldn't. I saw the man named Kenny look bemused by what Malfoy said. I was too. This is not like him at all to stand up for someone else.
"Mr. Malfoy, you should know better," he exclaimed.
"Yes sir, it was my fault, sir," Malfoy answered.
Kenny sighed. "Alright, Draco, we will give you a warning but the next time there is a broken rule by you, there will be punishment, believe me."
"Yes sir, this won't happen again, sir."
"Group Three, back to work." And he left, to supervise the other groups.
I walked over to Malfoy and gave him a hug, which happened to be a very fast one, mind you.
"Granger, what are you doing?" He cried. I blushed.
"I was giving you a hug. Well, I'm not very surprised you do not know what that is," I said sarcastically.
"For your information, I get a lot of hugs. I got two today, don't you remember?"
I laughed. Oh yea; even Harry and Ron haven't gotten two hugs from me in a day. He turned to the team, who was huddled in the center and I joined them.
"Hey Lauryn," I said.
"Hi Hermione."
"Everyone, what happened today was something that shouldn't have ever happen in a team. For Pete's sake, today is only the second day in camp and so much drama has happened already! We must make new rules.
"First off, we will pair off and practice throwing and catching the ball. Lauryn, you pair with Tristan, Dillan with Guy, and Granger, you'll be with me. We'll deal with Phillip once he gets here."
The rest of the team grabbed a ball and started flying while throwing the quaffle back and forth to each other. Malfoy and I did the same. We started off with ten feet away from each other and we'll go further from each other as we go.
"Malfoy, tell me something," I shouted.
"What is it, Granger?"
"Why'd you pick me as your partner?"
He paused for a few seconds while I threw the ball to him. "I guess its because you need the most help and attention."
"But you hate me. Why even bother?"
Again, he paused, wanting to say the right answer. "I hated you back at Hogwarts, but not here. Here, we're teammates. Didn't we discuss this?"
I raised my eyebrows. He threw the ball back to me, which I caught softly in my hand.
"Why can't you accept the fact that we are teammates, Granger?" He asked.
I
threw the Quaffle to him while replying, "Because we've disliked each
other since the first year, and because we've never worked as a team
before, Gryffindor and Slytherin"
"Okay, good enough reason, I suppose," he replied.
We dropped the subject and kept working on having a good handle on the ball. By the time Phillip finished his four laps, everyone had finished.
"Look, Phillip," Malfoy said as his teammate, "we can't have another scene like this morning happen again. For now, I cannot have you going around with girls. I need you focused for the first game."
He grumbled. "I know. Don't you think I came here for a reason also? I have a dream of becoming a Professional beater one day so don't judge me, Malfoy."
"I'm not. I'm just looking out for the team."
"Fine. Let's just drop it and go about the practice."
"Good."
--------------
Its been a week now and things have good unexpectedly well. We have our first game tomorrow and Malfoy has been training us hard and effectively. Every night, after the second practice of the day, he helps me with flying, and every night I get better. I can speed up and turn slowly but I can fly. Yay! Sometimes I still get scared but it comes rarely. We don't fight at all, Malfoy and I, which is really weird, dontcha think? He doesn't call me Mudblood anymore, and I don't call him ferret, unless I let it slip accidentally.
I've gotten another note from my secret admirer. I don't know who else it could be; Phillip is totally not it. In fact, we haven't even utter a word to each other except 'ball'. Tristan and I are pretty friendly but not the way the note felt. Guy likes Lauryn, I think. At least they've been pairing up with each other every time. Dillan barely talk to me, so I seriously doubt that he's my secret admirer. Malfoy is the only one left, but he doesn't like me...right?
"Oy, Granger, did you hear me?" Malfoy asked. "I said, we're running a lap before we head out."
I nodded and followed the crowd to the track. Once again, I was last but I didn't finish horrible. I've progressed, like I've said. I was a few feet away from the next last person, Guy. Once we reached the end of the lap, every one was out of breath except, of course, Malfoy. He was still standing upright while the other were hunched, hands on their laps, and heads down.
"Great job, team," he said proudly. "I have a good feeling about tomorrow's game. Now, I want you guys to load up on Carbohydrate. It'll give energy for tomorrow. Try not to eat any candy because they drain energy. Rest up, too. Now, hit the showers!"
"Kay, boss."
"Right you are."
"Nighty night."
"Granger," Malfoy said as I headed out to the exit.
I looked at him, then slapped my forehead. "Oh yeah. Sorry, I forgot."
"It's fine. Let's get started then."
We started off with the beginning drill, flying. I kicked off my broom and rose a few feet above the ground. Every other team was gone already, so I hovered from one post to the opposite.
"Nice job, Granger," I heard Malfoy shout. I gave him a thumbs up, and returned to his side of the post. I kept my head low and gripped the handle of the broom firmly. "Now, go higher until your limit. From there, I want you to fly around, again within your limit. I don't want to put pressure on you the night before the game."
"Okay." I went higher and higher. I was surprised I was even going higher. I was probably fifteen feet in the air, give or take. That was pretty much my limit, I'm guessing. I made a few circles and made stutters. I flew slowly from one post to the other before going back down.
"Good. Now, lets do some goalkeeping."
"Okay."
I went to one of the goalpost and floated in front of the middle one.
"Alright. I'll go slow first."
I nodded and he made his first pass to the left. With one hand on the handle and one hand out, I made a grab for the Quaffle and caught it. I let a scream.
"Yay!"
Malfoy laughed. "Yes, good job."
I passed it back to him and reset my position. He passed it to the right, and I repeated my movement. We did this for the rest of the practice and the tempo rose as the time went.
"That was an effective practice, Granger," he said as we started to walk off the field.
"I thought so too," I replied. "I guess I better head to bed, eh?"
"Good idea. Rest up and I'll see you an hour before the game, okay?"
"Yea, okay."
We headed our different way in the cooled air night. I smiled inwardly, happy with the relationship between Malfoy and I. I entered the dark hut and sat down on the sofa. Jane brought me dinner again as she had done every night.
"Thanks Jane," I whispered. A note was attached:
"Hermione,
I
hope practice went well. Tony and I got to talking and it's starting to
hit off. I'm very excited. A letter came for you. Its underneath the
plate."
I raised the plate and grabbed the letter. I turned on the light and opened the letter.
"Dear Hermione.
How
is the camp? Ron is still bitter he's not at the camp. How is Malfoy?
If he's giving you trouble, don't worry. We'll straighten things out at
school. Still, we worry about you and flying. Just be safe until you're
back. I have interesting news about Ron. His family picked me up at
Privet Drive this morning and I'm staying in the Burrow until the end
of the summer. Well, it turns out Ron has gotten himself a girlfriend
named Lena. They met a few days ago in Diagon Alley and just hit it
off, I guess. They have been owling each other every spare time they
have. I don't think she goes to Hogwarts, or maybe I've never seen her
before. Do you know her? He's been talking about nothing else but her.
It's annoying, really. Maybe I should have stayed at Privet. It would
have been less painful.
I can't believe this is our last summer
as students of Hogwarts and you're not here. We really miss you,
Hermione. Write back soon.
Harry Potter."
a/n Sorry if this was
another long update. So? What do you think? The next chapter should be
up soon so that should be interesting, right? anyways, R&R please.