Neville and Hannah had said goodbye early after dinner and left for their respective commitments.

I had intercepted Draco before he could go to the dungeons after dinner and had asked if he had any plans for tonight.

He had wanted to ask me the same thing and so we had arranged to meet at the lake in an hour.

The lake wasn't the best place for what I wanted to do, but the quidditch pitch was most likely not empty on a Friday and I just didn't want to risk that.

And so, after getting rid of my school uniform and writing another short diary entry, I slipped into Min's bedroom.

I knew that she kept her old broom in her wardrobe behind all her coats and because I didn't know how else to get a broom, it was the only way.

A way that would get me into a lot of trouble if Min got wind of it but if all went according to plan she would never know.

The broom was right where I thought it would be.

I shrunk it and stuffed it into my shoulder bag along with my jacket which I packed in case it got too cold.

Now I was ready to go, scurried out of the room again and set off through the corridors of the castle, out onto the grounds down to the lake.

Draco, surprisingly, wasn't there yet, which made me more nervous than I should have been.

I wanted this, I was sure of it, and yet my fingers began to tremble.

Maybe I was just too cold.

I was glad that it wasn't dark yet at this time in June, because I really didn't want to fly in the dark.

And then I spotted Draco.

He grinned at me when he saw me and I grinned back.

"Someone's in a good mood," he gloated after giving me a quick kiss.

"Neville and I have been talking," I told him happily.

His grin grew even wider.

"Well, it's about time," he laughed and wrapped me in his arms.

I loved his scent, I loved his laugh and I loved hearing his heartbeat.

I loved him.

"I have a surprise for you," I began, noticing the nervousness rising in me again.

Astonished, Draco raised his eyebrows.

"A surprise?"

I nodded.

"You'll have to close your eyes and put your hands out in front of you for that."

"If you put a spider or anything else disgusting on there, I will throw you into the lake myself," he replied at first, but followed my instruction.

I dug the broom out of my pocket, enlarged it again and placed it carefully on Draco's outstretched hands.

"You can open your eyes.

You can't keep it, though, or I'll get into huge trouble," I said with a laugh and Draco opened his eyes.

He blinked briefly against the light of the setting sun and it took him a while to realise what he was holding.

"This is Min's, but it was the only one I could reach," I explained sheepishly, as Draco still didn't make a sound.

"Why are you giving it to me?" he breathed, finally looking back up at me.

"I want you to show me how to fly."

His pupils dilated, out of shock or amazement I couldn't tell.

"I thought you were afraid of flying?"

"I still am but I want to try," I explained with a shrug.

I was scared of it because I've been scared of it all my life.

No, that was wrong, I hadn't been afraid of flying for the first four years of my life.

I wanted to fight that fear, with Draco.

"You don't have to." His voice still seemed hoarse and I was really unsure if he even liked this surprise.

"I'd like to, though."

Silence.

"Don't you like the surprise?"

"Yes, I do but I don't want to force you into anything."

Now I was confused.

He had never, really never tried to persuade me to fly.

Yes, there was that one time when he had picked me up from my room, but I had said no and he had accepted that.

How could he force me to do something we never talked about?*

"This was all my idea and if you don't like it then we don't have to do it.

I just wanted to try it and I thought you'd like it."

He stared at me for a moment and then grasped the broom with his right hand and held it out to me.

"Yeah then, mount up!"

"I hate everything about this," I stated a short while later as I could no longer feel the ground beneath my feet and clung to Draco convulsively.

We were only levitating a few inches above the ground but it felt like a couple feet.

"Just hold on tight, nothing can happen to you." His voice was so gentle and indeed his words calmed me and I loosened my grip a little.

The broom slowly started to move and I squinted my eyes to make sure I didn't look down.

"Open your eyes," Draco called from the front.

"How do you know I don't have them open?"

"Because I know you. Open them, nothing will happen, I promise."

Carefully and very slowly I opened my eyes and what I saw took my breath away.

The setting sun had bathed the air around us in a red-orange light and the sky in which shades of pink and purple dominated was reflected in the immaculate surface of the lake.

We hovered just above the surface of the water and if I stretched out my foot I could break through the smooth surface.

"It's beautiful," I breathed still overwhelmed by the beauty that presented itself to us.

"Do you trust me?" he asked and I nodded against his back against which my head was still leaning.

The broom started moving again and I could see our reflection darting across the water.

The wind whistled through our hair and that was the moment I was no longer afraid.

This was beautiful and I felt safe.

Flying wasn't scary, it was breathtaking.

Involuntarily I started to laugh while Draco steered the broom faster and faster through the air.

This was madness and I was wrong, I didn't hate everything about it.

I loved it and I loved Draco.

"I love you!", I shouted against the wind and I immediately felt Draco tense up and slow down our flight.

There was silence for a few moments as I regretted saying it.

Maybe we weren't ready after all.

He turned abruptly and headed back towards land.

Damn it, I had destroyed it.

I had only just regained my footing when Draco turned to me, held my face with his hands and looked deep into my eyes.

The glow was still there, thank Merlin.

"You can't say things like that when I'm flying. I almost lost control."

I had to swallow.

"I didn't realise," I admitted sheepishly, feeling the blood rush to my head.

"Yeah, because I'm good. Don't ever do that again okay?"

"Okay," I mumbled meekly, looking down at the floor.

"Now say it again," he ordered and I looked back up at him, into his beautiful storm grey eyes that glared at me like I was the most important thing in the world to him.

I didn't understand anything anymore.

Was it not wrong to say it?

Or was it meant rhetorically and I shouldn't repeat it?

"I love you," I repeated in a firm voice, because it was the only thing that felt right.

I hadn't even finished speaking when I felt his lips pressing against mine.

Sighing, I returned the kiss and let my hands slide down his neck.

His tongue brushed against my lower lip and I didn't even think about it and let him have his way.

Our tongues met, circled, wrestled, played, almost danced with each other.

It was intoxicating, my whole body seemed to be on fire and only Draco could put it out, only fuelling it all further.

He lifted me up and just like a few weeks ago in the lake just a few feet away, I wrapped my legs around his body and pressed myself even closer to him.

My fingers ran through his hair, eliciting a contented growl from him.

"Flo," he murmured into the kiss and I grinned.

Me, this was all me.

He didn't react like that to me to anyone else.

It was the biggest ego boost imaginable.

But my body was responding to him too.

The tingling in my belly became a tugging and slowly but surely shifted further and further down.

We broke away from each other struggling for breath and this time I too need a short breather.

I actually thought that as soon as we were breathing more calmly again we would pick up where we left off but Draco set me down on the ground, never taking his hands off me though.

Now they were on my waist and I could feel every single one of his fingers touching the fabric of my shirt.

I wonder how good this would feel without the fabric?

The thought of Draco's fingers on my bare skin made me feel hot and I bit my lower lip.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked conspiratorially and he knew full well that it was something that made me uncomfortable.

I hated that he could see through me like that.

"About nothing," I tried to answer as confidently as I could, but was unsure how convincing I was being.

"So I'm just thinking that we should go back to the castle to return your godmother's broom and save you the huge hassle," he said with a sly grin.

"And then?", I asked hoarsely. He just shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess we'll find out what happens then," he breathed against my lips, into whose lower lip I was still painfully burying my teeth.

Immediately he released his hands from my waist, leaving an unpleasant coldness where his hands had applied seconds ago.

He grabbed the broom and my shoulder bag from the bench while I still stood there thunderstruck.

I was simply afraid that my legs would give way as soon as I moved, because firstly they felt like pudding and secondly Draco was no longer supporting me.

"Are you coming or have you taken root here?" he laughed and held out his hand to me.

I quickly grabbed the saving support. And indeed, despite trembling pudding legs, I made it back to the castle.