Ouch
It turns out that Malfoy actually knew a lot.
It was her tenth try at trying to get higher than 3 feet off the ground on a broom. Hermione was out past curfew. She had finished her detention for the day and immediately went to the pitch. She had stolen some of Harry's old quidditch gear that didn't fit him anymore, walked into the broomstick closet, and took one of the team's practice brooms. Hermione was fully geared up and even with all the research she had done, she was failing.
She got off her broom and threw it to the side with a huff. She dug into her bookbag that she brought on the field and took out the "Quidditch for dummies" book and flipped to the flight page. She was doing everything correctly so why was it not working? It was starting to drive her crazy.
Just as she finally reached up to 5 feet in the air, the highest she had ever gone, a yellow ball zinged right by her face.
She fell with a huff, face down into the mulch.
As she sat up, starting to cry from the frustration, she rubbed the dirt out of her eyes.
" Come on Granger. Get up."
She didn't even have to turn to know who that snarky tone belonged to.
"Is a little bit of failure going to break "The Brightest Witch of Our Age"?
She couldn't help it. She laughed. Well, it was more of a teary giggle.
Malfoy was now in front of her. He looked up and there in his hands, was the yellow ball that scratched her face earlier. As she was trying to recall the name of it, disoriented after her stressful day, Malfoy called it out.
"It's the golden snitch. The thing Potty usually tries to catch at every game." He spoke. He held out his hand to pull Hermione up.
Hesitant, but tired, she caught his hand and was pulled up.
"What are you even doing here?" She asked.
Malfoy scanned the field, then his eyes landed on her book.
"I just wanted to see how this would play out." he crossed his arms and smiled, "I am happy to say that I was not disappointed."
Hermione huffed and grabbed her broom from the floor.
"Well, now that you've seen me eat dirt, I would greatly appreciate it if you left."
"Granger, can I give you advice?"
"No."
"well, I'm going to give it to you anyway." He took a deep breath. "You are terrible at Quidditch."
"Thank you, Malfoy. That bit of information really got to me and made me become a better player" She rolled her eyes angrily.
"And you will never get better until you get over your fear of flying." This stopped Hermione in her tracks of mounting her broom.
"Your broom will never go higher than you want it to. You are holding yourself back" He shook his head and walked over to her.
"What are you doing?" Hermione questioned loudly as he mounted her broom.
"Helping you not embarrass yourself any further." He answered. he took control of the broom, and off the ground they were. They rose steadily until Hermione could bare it no longer. She shut her eyes and went still. She could feel Malfoy against her back as he basically wrapped her with his arms to reach the broom handle.
"Put me down Malfoy! That's enough advice!" But he wouldn't listen. He kept pushing the broom higher and higher until Hermione could not tell how far off the ground they were.
"Open your eyes, Granger! How could anyone possibly be scared of this?" He yelled joyfully.
She finally opened her eyes, but the first thing she noticed was not how high up they were but the view. The sun was down, and the stars were at their brightest. She looked across the horizon, and it was beautiful.
After taking in the view, she finally gained the courage to look down and she went absolutely still. They have to be at least 400 feet off the ground. She tried her best not to shriek, but she was starting to hyperventilate. She leaned back into Malfoy and shut her eyes closed one more. She had seen quidditch matches before, but she never realized how it would actually feel for the quidditch players.
"Granger, open your eyes and feel!" He laughed as he sped up the broom. He flew in all directions and did twists, turns, flips, and everything else. Hermione opened her eyes for some parts, but for the most part, her eyes were closed. She hated to admit it, but it felt liberating. She felt free, and it was kind of fun.
They were out in the sky for maybe 2 hours, and once they reached the ground, Hermione had a smile on her face that was the complete opposite of her face during the entire day.
"See Granger, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Malfoy said.
"Whatever, Malfoy, I still need to learn how to actually play." she rolled her eyes with a smile.
"I still don't get it. Why now?"
Hermione sighed and started walking towards the changing room. She didn't want to say anything before she started tearing up.
"What? you're not going to say anything?" He asked again.
After a few moments of silence, she answered.
"Because apparently, I'm not a witch until I understand Quidditch." She murmured.
Malfoy stopped walking, which caused Hermione to stop walking. She turned around and raised an eyebrow.
"So, you're doing this to prove yourself to people who don't believe in you already?" This stopped her in her tracks. "These people have witnessed how smart you are, and yet, they need you to ride a broom to prove it?"
"I.." she started.
" Granger. Let's be serious right now." He stared directly into her eyes. "You are a witch. And being able to play a game doesn't affect that."
She didn't know what to say.
"Meet me here tomorrow if you need help though, I can't just go about my day watching the great Hermione granger sulking all day." As he walked away, she could only think about one thing.
He said "Hermione".