Title: Kiss.
Author: AspergianStoryteller.
Genre: Supernatural/General.
Summary: When a dementor tried to Kiss Harry Potter, it got more than it bargained for. And Harry did not walk away unaffected. Don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 20: Uplifting, Informing, Punishment F.
'Um, we're just about to go flying,' Ginny offered. 'As soon as Harry fetches his broom. Do you want to join us?'
Whoooooosshh... Ah, Harry loved flying. Nearly weightless in the sky, wind in his hair and total freedom were some of the best feelings in the world.
It was half cloudy today, with a light breeze. Perched on the school broom like it was part of him, Harry rose high above the quiditch pitch, leaving all his worries on the ground. He closed his eyes. This floating feeling, this becoming one with the air was absolute ecstasy. The wind was around him, brushing his skin and hair. The wind was in him, lifting his spirit higher and higher, to that place in the clouds only those with wings and para gliders knew.
'Harry...'
What was that sound? It was someone. Familiar. Someone familiar was brushing against him.
'Harry?' He didn't answer.
Ginny peered at Harry's face. His eyes were shut and Ginny could see his hair and eye lashes moving in the breeze. His features were relaxed into utter contentment. It was as though he had fallen peacefully asleep in sky; like a bespectacled angel dozing on a cloud.
Sitting behind her in the broom, (and holding onto the red head's waist tightly) Hermione watched her spaced out friend in concern. Two hundred feet (wait a minute! Two hundred feet! Oh dear...) was not a good place to zone out.
'Harry?' Had he actually fallen asleep up here? 'Hello?' Ginny waved a hand in front of his face.
'Ginny?' Ron flew over from the goals and hovered beside them. 'What's up?'
'Harry's fallen asleep or something,' Ginny said.
'He has?' Ron shared a look with Hermione then floated closer to Harry.
'Oi, Harry,' he called. 'Wake up.'
As they watched, Harry's eyes fluttered open and focused. 'Oh! Uh, hi guys.' He looked at his surrounding friends in confusion, noticing the twins arriving from a bit lower.
'Welcome back to Earth,' Ron said. 'Well, sort off.'
Ah. He had spaced out again. And yikes, he glanced down. Quite high up.
'Did you fall asleep?' Ginny asked, answering the twins' question.
... 'I guess I must have,' Harry said. 'It's very peaceful up here when I'm not dodging bludgers and other quiditch players.' He grinned sheepishly at them. 'I'll try not to do that again. Are we going to race now?'
Before they spread out and made for the end of the field Hermione gave Ron and Harry a look. Then she squeezed Ginny tightly as they moved. The red-headed girl managed to take this in her stride despite the death grip.
'Easy Hermione, we're fine.'
For the rest of hour of flying Harry wondered about his mid-air space out. It was a dangerous thing to happen in the air let alone during a quiditch match if he didn't get control over this by next year. There was also the question of what was different about this one. The euphoria of flying was something he had experienced before and this space out had felt very like it, like an intensified version of it. How did these two feelings effect each other?
By the time they were ready to go down Hermione was reading in the stands. She engaged Ron, Harry and Ginny in a conversation about magical creatures in quiditch, which was both surprising and unsurprising. The twins were interested for while but eventually left on their own. As the group of now four were approaching the exit an older student told Harry and Ginny to report to the Hospital Wing.
'Damn,' Ginny muttered. 'What awful timing. Hermione, details.'
Hermione nodded. 'I'll see you in the Common Room later.'
'What's going on?' Ron asked.
'A girl thing,' Ginny said vaguely, taking the boys by their arms. 'Why don't you come to the Hospital Wing with us Ron? If Madam Pomfrey allows it you can join us.'
The three of them walked to the Hospital Wing and joined the small group of Dark magic sensitive students standing and sitting on the beds.
'Afternoon Harry, Ginny, Ron,' Justin greeted.
'Hey.' The three of them sat on the bed next to the Hufflepuff boy's.
Madam Pomfrey soon entered and handed out bits of parchment to each of them with a time an date on them.
'This is when you need to be here for discussion with myself, your Head of House, the Headmaster, Professor Moody and your parents,' she explained. 'We will be deciding what to do about your Defence classes individually.'
Justin put up his hand. 'Madam Pomfrey, my parents are muggles. How...'
'Muggles have been in Hogwarts before Mr. Finch-Fletchley,' the nurse said. 'They will be able to see through the illusion whilst they are visiting.'
Harry looked at his parchment in shook. Did they actually expect the Dursleys to come here and talk about his health? He stayed back when the other students left and asked Madam Pomfrey about it.
'Your relatives refused to come to a meeting here,' she said with a frown. 'I thought we might meet outside of school if they were uncomfortable here,' obviously she knew it was more than that. 'But Professor McGonagall recommended having your St. Mungo's healer attend as he has been responsible for your health concern lately.'
Harry grinned. He was fine with Healer Nathaniel coming. He and the two youngest Weasleys left the Hospital Wing and walked up to Gryffindor Tower. When they got in, Hermione was reading on her favourite cosy armchair.
'How'd it go Hermione?' Ginny asked.
Fred and George entered through the exit thinking about their money issue with Bagman.
'Incarserous!'
The twins were hit so suddenly and unexpectedly that they could do nothing but fall over when they were bound tightly by the conjured ropes.
'Wingardium leviosa.'
They were lifted off the ground and hovered across the grounds towards an outcrop of rocks.
'We've been kidnapped Gred,' one of the redheads noted.
'We have indeed Forge,' confirmed the other.
'Should we be worried?'
'Not yet.' The people levitating them were the Gryffindor chasers. They were in fairly safe hands.
Behind the rocks were almost every girl in Gryffindor House.
'Maybe we should be worried.'
Fred and George were deposited on the grass and the girls closed in.
'Hang on,' Ron said. 'Exactly why were my brothers kidnapped by the girls?'
'To talk about the incident with that pill,' Hermione explained. 'It was funny, admittedly, but exposing anybody like that is a serious issue.'
'Guys, I was embarrassed yeah but it's not that bad,' Ron's ears were going red.
'It could have been worse,' Ginny pointed out. 'The twins had to be warned not to take it too far.'
'What did you do to them?'
'Nothing bad,' Hermione reassured him. 'We explained our concerns and told them if they crossed the line we would use Punishment F on them.'
The boys winced. Punishment F was funny for anyone watching but a horror for the poor guy experiencing it. Most of the time. A boy who had really upset the girls would be jinxed into a fairy dress (frilly, glittery or natural depending on who made it), and toy fairy wings charmed to fly and thrust into public view for maximum embarrassment. It was something the houses had in common. Seeing Slytherin and Ravenclaw boys red-faced fluttering around the ground floor corridor had made their day last year.
Harry filled Hermione in on the meeting and Ron asked her how muggles would be able to see Hogwarts.
'There must be potions or spells to make them see through the muggle-repelling charms,' she theorised. 'Or they might be given a charmed object to wear.'
Harry looked at his meeting time again. Right after his Hospital appointment and Ginny's meeting.
Saturday 12pm.
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What do you think? Tell me what you think! Thanks for reading! Oh hey, is anyone interested in reading my new HP oneshot? It's called Long Live Peaches.