Hermione found that lessons were going by quicker than she had anticipated. And much slower than she wanted. All at the same time. And all too soon, far sooner than she would have planned, they were faced with the one class they had all been anxious for. Flying.
The only real trouble with the class was that they were scheduled with the Gryffindors. No one wanted to fly with Seamus Finnigan. And Ron Weasley wasn't much better as an option.
"It's not that we don't like him," Blaise said even though it was clearly a lie. "It's just that he…"
"Is a filthy liar," Pansy spat. "As if anyone could almost hit a hang glider on one of the Weasley's brooms."
Hermione knew that was likely true. She'd seen how much Ron Weasley struggled with simple spells while using his brother's old wand. There was no doubt in her mind that the brooms they had were in even worse condition.
"And we don't like him," Draco said. "He seems to think that we have to adhere to the same friendships our parents did. Which puts him at odds with us."
"What's wrong with his parents?" James asked. He couldn't imagine why someone might teach their children to not be friends with anyone else. Unless the Weasleys thought that the Malfoys were freaks. But that couldn't be the case.
"That's something for another day," Pansy said. "You'll figure it out soon enough."
James thought for just a moment. He figured that it had something to do with them being in Slytherin. There seemed to be quite a bit of animosity towards the Slytherins, particularly from the Gryffindors, which stemmed from more than just house rivalry.
He shook his head. He'd deal with that later. For the moment he needed to focus on not dying.
The day soon came where they were to start flying lessons. They all met outside with the Gryffindors near the quidditch pitch. Twenty broomsticks were lying in two neat lines on the ground. They looked even worse than anyone had imagined.
The Slytherins stood next to the broom nervously. Hermione felt her anxiety building. She loved flying. But she'd never flown on a broom she didn't trust. And these ones, she couldn't trust. They had sticks poking out of the back and some of them had gouges on the handles.
"What are you waiting for?" Madam Hooch barked. She had short gray hair and yellow eyes. Hermione thought she looked quite like a hawk.
"Pick a broomstick."
Hermione picked one that didn't look quite as clawed. But it was still quite old. Surely Hogwarts had the funds to get the brooms replaced once they no longer functioned as well.
"Now sick your right hand over the broom and say up."
Nearly everyone yelled "UP!"
James' broom shot straight up into his hand. Draco's did as well. Hermione's just rolled over lazily, definitely sensing that she didn't trust it. And Dean Thomas' didn't even do that much. There was certainly a quality to his voice that suggested that he would much rather keep both feet firmly on the ground.
After a few minutes Madame Hooch had those that still hadn't managed to order their brooms up pick them up. She then walked around correcting grips.
"Not that way," she told Ron Weasley. "If you do that, you'll slide off the back end of the broom."
"Told you," Pansy said.
She congratulated Hermione on her grip and acknowledged Draco with hardly so much as a nod. Draco ruffled his feathers a little but was quickly reminded that he was supposed to have been flying for quite some time. Hermione was not.
"Just wait till she sees what you can do," Blaise told him.
They were almost ready to kick off from the ground when Ron took off. He was clearly eager to show that he knew something about flying. After all, his brother Charlie hadn't been captain of the quidditch team for nothing. But he fell off the end of his broom just as Madam Hooch had predicted.
"No one move until I get him to the hospital wing," she said.
Once she was out of sight about half of the Slytherin class nearly toppled over. They were laughing so hard that it was difficult to disguise. Even James, Hermione, and Draco were finding it difficult to stay upright.
"Leave him alone," Parvati Patil said.
"Surely you can't like him that much, Parvati?" Pansy asked. "He comes across as annoying to us. And we spend less time with him than you do."
Parvati looked like she might be ready to cry or scream. She didn't like Ron. Most of the Gryffindors didn't like him. But they couldn't do much about it besides put up with him. Unless Ron did something to get himself expelled, they were going to be together for the next seven years.
"Look, we'll just wait until Madame Hooch gets back and then go back to the lesson," Hermione said. She was trying to placate everyone.
The Gryffindors rolled their eyes, but as it was one of their own that had gotten themselves hurt, they didn't have much room to talk. They sat down on the ground and the Slytherins did the same. There wasn't much conversation between the two groups.
Eventually Madame Hooch returned. She had them practice hovering for a few seconds before settling back down onto the ground. Practically all the Slytherins were getting frustrated. Even James, who had never flown before, was finding himself bored with the exercise.
"Can we do something a bit more interesting?" Hermione asked. "I think even Tracey would like that."
Tracey Davis was probably the one with the least experience flying. She was also muggleborn but hadn't had the advantage of having run into purebloods early in her life. But she had managed to hover as well as the rest of them.
Madame Hooch heaved a heavy sigh. "Alright then. But no showing off." She directed that comment to Draco and Hermione.
They shared a look. They were planning on showing off. But it couldn't really be showing off if everyone else was bored too.
"I want you to form into groups of three. Each group should contain at least one person who has never been on a broom before."
There was a groan from Theo and Blaise. They knew they would never be able to split Draco and Hermione up. But, they had hoped that they might be able to take Daphne. Now they were going to be stuck with someone who hadn't ever ridden a broom. Which looked like it was going to have to be either Tracey or one of the Gryffindors.
"James," Hermione said sweetly, "would you like to be part of our group?"
"With you and Draco?" James asked.
"Of course," Hermione said. "We need to see if you've got the skills to be a chaser. We're trying to scope out the future quidditch team."
"And Blaise and Theo?" James asked. He'd heard them talking about trying out for the team the next year as well. But James was pretty sure that Hermione had been fairly insistent that she wasn't.
"Better as beaters," Draco said. "Besides, we shouldn't split them up."
James looked from Hermione to Draco confused. "Split?"
Hermione barely refrained from rolling her eyes. "You know. Break apart."
"I know what split means," James said. "What I don't know is why you don't want to split them up? Surely you've done so before."
Hermione and Draco glanced at each other. They had split Theo and Blaise up many times. But they knew their playing strengths and weaknesses. Besides, Madame Hooch had told them to pick someone who hadn't flown before.
"We've done that," Draco said. "And we've been split up. It didn't end particularly well."
"For you," Hermione added. "But what do you say?"
James frowned for a moment and paused. It took him about two seconds to decide that those two were probably the best flyers in the class. And he could certainly do worse than that. "Fair enough."
They all separated into groups and started throwing a ball between them. Madame Hooch had told them not to show off, but when Draco or Hermione tossed the ball to each other they did far more complicated throws than James would have thought necessary.
But he found himself getting a little bored with the exercise he started raising up and down slightly on the broom as they tossed it back and forth.
Hermione and Draco grinned. They started tossing the ball to James with some of the throws they had been using. And they clearly started showing off.
They started turning the brooms as they threw the ball. They shot to spots that were away from each other so they had to reach out and test their balance. And they were good. Really good.
James found one particular throw where he had to reach out further than he had before to grab the ball. But the throw was strong and it knocked him to the side. He grabbed the broom with one hand and rolled with it all while keeping a strong hold on the ball.
"Mr. Malfoy! Miss Granger!" Madame Hooch barked. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"We weren't showing off," Hermione said. "Not really."
For them they hadn't been. They hadn't even tried to knock each other, or James, off their brooms. They were just trying to make the exercise more interesting. It was something they had been able to do since they were much younger.
"You nearly knocked young Mr. Potter here off his broom."
"Mr. Evans," James corrected.
"What is going on here," Professor Snape asked.
Some of the students shrank back a little. Most of them were Gryffindors.
"Your students keep trying to pull stunts," Madame Hooch snapped at him. "Unfortunately, no one was hurt so I can't take points off."
Draco and Hermione looked at each other. That certainly wasn't what any other teacher had ever said. They could, and had, taken points off for general misbehaving. Maybe Madame Hooch was just strange.
"Now," Snape said, "you could take points off if you wanted."
"That's not the way that flying has ever been conducted and you know it. The point is to encourage them, not make them want to drop out the minute they can," Madame Hooch said.
"No one said anything about making them drop out," Snape said. "Evans, Granger, Malfoy, if you would follow me please."
They followed after the potion's professor silently. He wasn't one that they really considered even whispering behind. Mostly because they had heard all the stories that the older students told. And Draco's parents had warned him and Hermione to be on their best behaviour around him.
They finally reached one of the classrooms. Snape stepped inside.
"He didn't?" Hermione said.
"He did," Draco said. He could hardly contain his excitement.
"Who's Flint?" James asked.
"Only the quidditch captain for Slytherin," Hermione said. She breathed heavily. "He didn't."
"You can't honestly expect me to..."
"I can and I will Master Flint," Snape said. That was the end of that argument. Whatever it was.
Flint scowled, his uneven teeth jutting out even more pronouncedly over his bottom lip. "What are you looking at firsties?" he asked.
"And Master Flint, be nice." With that Snape just walked away.
Flint grumbled a bit before turning to the three first years. "I'm not happy about this, so you can stop looking so eager Malfoy."
Draco frowned a bit. He hadn't thought he'd looked that eager.
"Now we'll be starting as soon as I can get permission. Hopefully Dumbledore won't quelch this. But I have a feeling that if Potter's on our side we can't loose."
"Evans," James mumbled.
"Don't worry," Hermione whispered. "It'll get better."
"For now, don't say anything. I still have to get permission. But if I can't convince Dumbledore, Malfoy how quickly do you think your father could get the board of governors to change some rules?" Flint asked.
"Depends on what you want to do," Draco said.
"And just how unfair we can spin it that Dumbledore's being," Hermione added.
"I like you," Flint said. "Too bad you're a firstie."
"And one who's not supposed to be here yet," James snickered.
Hermione elbowed him in the side. "I'm not that much younger than you."
"Young enough you had to get special permission to come," Draco teased.
Hermione rolled her eyes. She couldn't get that mad about something that was true. Besides, she wasn't sure how much she was allowed to let people know. She couldn't just let people know she was betrothed to Draco.
"Knowing when to control your temper. You've got real potential," Flint mused. "You might be able to make it to head girl if you can survive six years without killing these two. But I think we might be able to tire them out so they don't make life too difficult."
James and Draco shared a worried look at the gleam that twinkled in Hermione's eyes. It was frightening. And there wasn't much, if anything, they could do.
A/N: I got this chapter done. Thank goodness. Hope you guys like it.