Chapter Nine: Lessons
After Hermione's birthday everybody had had sufficient time to get used to their timetables and the amount of homework being set. Harry and Ron continued to do their usual routine. They had even been joined by Dean on their morning runs. However, he was not as fit as Harry and Ron, so he could only run for half the time that they did. Ron even persuaded Hermione to join them for an early morning run, but she was even less fit than Dean so after ten minutes she had to stop. Instead she watched Ron and Harry run as she warmed down by stretching.
As October arrived, Harry and Ron decided to cut back on their outdoor morning runs and moved it to the Room of Requirement. They knew of the Room of Requirement because they had been told of its existence by Harry's father and godfather. This was also the room Harry and Ron used to practice their Karate. But after one of the last outdoor runs as they were going back to Gryffindor tower, they found their way blocked by Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
'What do you want, Malfoy?' asked Harry irritably.
'Tut, tut, Potter, you really should learn how to speak to your betters,' sneered Malfoy.
Harry laughed and said, 'You aren't my better, you ignorant piece of shit!'
Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles menacingly as Malfoy said, 'I am a pure-blood and the heir to the Malfoy fortune, so of course I'm your better, Potter. And as for your pet weasel, he's just a pathetic poor Mudblood-lover.'
'But I'm still better than you, you arrogant chicken-shit twat!' said Ron.
Malfoy then turned to his companions and said, 'Boys, I think we should show these two that they should respect their superiors.'
'What's this "we" business, Malfoy? You won't get your own hands dirty, will you, arsehole?' said Harry as Crabbe and Goyle began to advance on them.
'Crabbe, Goyle, you know what to do,' said Malfoy.
Harry and Ron took up fighting stances, ready to defend themselves.
'Which one do you want, Ron?' asked Harry coolly.
'Malfoy, but he's a gutless little coward who makes other people fight his battles for him,' replied Ron.
'Sod it, I'll take Goyle,' said Harry and the two swapped as Goyle moved toward Harry with a gormless expression on his face.
Harry and Ron shared a glance before they turned to their respective opponents and gave them a "bring it" wave.
Goyle blundered his way towards Harry and tried unsuccessfully to punch Harry as Harry swatted away his telegraphed punches, while at the same time Ron was doing the same with Crabbe. After five minutes of Goyle trying to hit him, Harry decided he had had enough and hit Goyle hard in the face with a back-fist that knocked out two of his teeth. Goyle growled and tried again only to be met by a brutal kick to the stomach that made Goyle realise that he could not win the fight, so he put up his hands in surrender. But Harry did not trust the Slytherin so he pushed him into the wall and he slid down until he was sitting holding his stomach.
Meanwhile, Ron was having even more fun. Crabbe though bigger and stronger than any of them was worse at telegraphing his punches than Goyle. Ron laughed off every punch of Crabbe's that he blocked, taunting the Slytherin, but this made Crabbe even angrier as he failed again and again to lay a single punch on Ron. But just like Harry, Ron got bored and decided to attack. Ron nailed Crabbe with a few hard blows to the face which left him bleeding from the nose, but Crabbe was not giving up, he continued to attack Ron, which made Ron finally bring out his worst weapon – his right foot. Ron landed a hard kick to the back of Crabbe's thigh, but before he put his foot back down, he nailed Crabbe in the head with a hard roundhouse that sent him staggering. Crabbe then attempted to kick like Ron but Ron laughed at Crabbe harshly and said, 'It takes years of training to fight the way we do, you fucking moron!'
Crabbe tried one more punch but this time Ron caught Crabbe's fist and spun him around to kick Crabbe hard in the balls from behind. Crabbe sunk to his knees in agony and waved the hand that was not holding his balls to signal he too had had enough.
Malfoy was still there and looking on in disgust as Crabbe and Goyle had been defeated and humiliated by two smaller opponents.
Ron turned to Malfoy and said, 'If you had any guts you'd fight one of us for your friends, but you don't, do you, Malfoy? You're a coward who gets other people to do his bidding. Poor bastards like Crabbe and Goyle for instance, and it wasn't even their fight. Why should they fight your battles for you when you aren't prepared to fight with them or for them? You are not their friend; you just order them around like they're your bloody servants! Pathetic Ickle-Drakey the Ickle-Snakey!'
Malfoy face contorted with rage but he made no effort to move toward either Harry or Ron.
'Chicken-shit, little arsehole,' said Harry before he and Ron began to make chicken sounds at the blond, who still made no attempt to fight either Harry or Ron.
'Fucking coward,' growled Ron at Malfoy.
Harry then addressed the two defeated boys by saying, 'You don't have to fight his battles for him you know, there was no need for you two to get hurt at all. Malfoy is a coward and nobody should follow a coward, just think about it …'
Harry and Ron began to walk towards Malfoy as he was still in their way. Ron raised his fist and Malfoy flinched, but Ron did not strike, he simply shouted, 'Boo!'
Malfoy stumbled backwards and landed on his arse as Harry and Ron laughed their way back to their common room.
Of course when Hermione found out about Ron and Harry's "scrap" with Crabbe and Goyle, she was not very happy. She told them both off and gave them each a cuff around the ear but she would not be reporting anything to Professor McGonagall. Ron and Harry got their revenge by mercilessly tickling Hermione into submission as she could never stay mad at them anyway.
The next day, Ron and Harry sent Malfoy a letter containing a hex. When Malfoy opened the letter there was a small explosion and when the smoke had cleared, Malfoy was yellow. Everything from his hair to his shoes was completely yellow. He also had the word "COWARD" written across his forehead in big black letters, making him look like rear number plate. Three quarters of the Hall laughed as Malfoy ran out of the Great Hall to his dorm to try to wash off all the yellow. Unfortunately for Malfoy, the hex was water-proof.
When the laughter on the Gryffindor table settled down Ron and Harry found themselves face to face with an angry Hermione.
'Was that you two?' she hissed at them.
'Ask us no questions, we'll tell you no lies,' said Harry.
Hermione then turned her angry face to Ron who just nodded and he got a cuff around the head from Harry who murmured, 'Whipped,' to himself.
'Hermione … we had to do something … please don't be mad …' said Ron.
'I'm not mad that you did that, Ronald. I'm mad because you didn't let me in on it!' she said as she could no longer keep her face straight and giggled at him.
'You – you were pulling my leg?' asked Ron shocked.
'Yeah,' she said giggling at him.
Ron smirked and whispered into her ear, 'I'm going to tickle you mercilessly for this, Hermione, you mark my words …'
Hermione just continued to giggle at him before the bell sounded for the first lesson of the day.
'We've had a bad influence on her, Harry,' said Ron as he picked both his and Hermione's bag before he took her hand and they walked out of the Great Hall.
The hex on Malfoy continued to work for the rest of the week and whenever Malfoy was seen, he looked angry.
When Sunday came, Ron managed to persuade Hermione into letting him teach her how to fly a broomstick. Harry leant them his Nimbus 2000 as Ron grabbed an old broomstick from the cupboard near the changing rooms.
When they were ready, Ron took charge of her lesson. 'Right, Hermione, what I'm going to do is take you for a fly. That way you'll get the feel of being in the air and it might help you with your problem with heights, okay?' he said.
'Okay,' she said nervously.
Ron held out the broomstick he was going to fly and showed her the correct mount the broomstick. He then invited her climb on behind him. Once she had wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, Ron pushed off of the ground and they began to fly slowly up into the air. Ron stopped at ten feet in the air and said, 'Hermione, open your eyes, we're only ten feet in the air.'
Hermione opened her eyes and saw that Ron was telling her the truth.
'Hold on tight now, I'm going to fly us slowly around the pitch, okay?' he said.
'Okay,' she said again.
Ron slowly flew the broomstick around the Quidditch pitch by leaning forward slightly on the broomstick. 'Are you all right?' he asked.
'Yes, I think so, in fact, you can go a little faster if you want,' she replied.
Ron sped the broomstick up a little before saying, 'I'm going to take us higher, okay?'
'Um, all right,' she said.
Ron took the broomstick up another ten feet to make their height to twenty feet. But slowly and surely he took them higher and higher until they were a hundred feet in the air.
'Are your eyes open?' he asked.
'They are and the view is breath-taking, isn't it?' she said softly in awe of the landscape as she could see for miles. She rested her chin on Ron's shoulder as she took in the amazing vista.
'Yeah, it is, how are you coping with the height?' he asked.
She looked down and back up again and said, 'Fine actually.'
'Brilliant, now I'll just land and we'll swap seats so you can take me for a fly. Don't worry, I'll tell you how to make the broomstick move, okay?' he said.
'Okay,' she said again but slightly nervous.
Slowly Ron took them down again and once they were back on the ground, he made her mount the broomstick the correct way a few times so she could remember for the next time. Once she had done that, Ron got on the back with her and wrapped his arms around her.
However, his hands went to the broomstick.
'Right, now you use your leg muscles to push off of the ground gently so you just hover a few feet in the air, okay?' he instructed.
Hermione pushed off as Ron instructed and they hovered a few feet off the ground.
'Good, now try going higher,' said Ron.
Hermione took them higher and then Ron told her to fly around the pitch a few times.
So she did.
She started off slowly before building speed. Ron told her how to make the broomstick turn in the air by telling her to lean left to go left and to lean right to go right. After a few laps at a fairly low height, she took them higher and higher until they were back at the hundred feet mark again. Being still on a broomstick while a hundred feet in the air felt amazing to her, but even better was having Ron and his arms wrapped around her making her feel safe. After a while, Ron instructed her to land and he took her for a fly on Harry's Nimbus 2000. This was even better for both of them. Ron flew the newer broomstick faster and Hermione loved it as she held on to Ron with all her might. He then landed and they again swapped places so Hermione could pilot the broomstick. She flew just as fast as Ron did and what made it all the better was Ron murmuring words of praise into her ear that made her blush. Her heart was beating at a hundred miles per hour partly due to flying and partly due to the boy with his arms around her keeping her safe. Once she flew around the pitch one last time, she landed the broomstick perfectly before Ron gave her one final lesson.
He told her to stand on the left side of the old broomstick and to hold her right hand over the broomstick and shout 'Up!'
Hermione did as Ron told her and the old broomstick shot up into her hand right away on the first go.
Ron was very pleased and said, 'Well done, Hermione, you now know how to fly and that last bit has proven you are no longer afraid to fly or afraid of heights!'
'Wow I can't believe it! Thank you, Ron, so much for teaching me all this!' she said excited.
'You're welcome,' he said and then she gave him a big hug with him returning the hug like a bear.
'There's something I don't understand, why did you teach me the first bit last?' she said.
'That's because I needed to take away your fears first. I guessed that if you were scared, the broomstick would either stay motionless on the ground or jump up and whack you in the face. With your fears gone, the broomstick could sense that you weren't afraid and obeyed your forceful command,' Ron answered.
'He's right, and I'll bet you when we start the flying lessons with Madam Hooch she'll start off with calling the broomstick into our hands,' said Harry.
'This was how James taught us how to fly and we got good at it by practicing and being a bit fearless,' said Ron.
Hermione understood. Being a bit fearless had cured her of her fear of heights and flying, now all she needed was practice to get better. As Ron took her hand she could help feel a definite sense of achievement and could not wait to write to her parents about today. She felt she owed Ron a huge debt of gratitude, and her heart beat that little bit quicker as she ran her thumb over the back of his hand as they walked back to Gryffindor tower, (via the kitchen for a snack), to relax before dinner.