Chapter 19
Chapter 19:
Hermione couldn’t sleep, nights were the worst of all. She’d recently tried to do nothing at night hoping her brain would just shut off, but today’s events left wired. She needed to do something, going back into the lab wasn’t an option, she was tired of work, she was sick of the same thing over and over again. But what about field work she thought? She’d been needing to collect mist from clouds for a bit and has been hoping to either put it off completely or outsource to one of her more adventurous students, but for some reason, the idea took hold of her thoughts. She’d spent years in America conquering her fears of flighing and the minute she was back in England she hasn’t so much as looked at a broom, but tonight, the clouds were in perfect condition to collect her sample and he broom was sitting idle in the corner of her rooms where the dust collected doesn’t only belong to Hogwarts.
A few minutes later Hermione was up and changed, once a thought consumed her, there was nothing to be done. She pulled her hair in a loose braid and summoned some vials to take, then she opened her window and soared into the skies.
This late at night the sky was empty, the clouds were dense but clustered so that stars were still visible, she took a few laps in the sky getting her flight confidence back, she repeated her mantra from those years ago, she was Hermione Granger, flying doesn’t scare it. Nothing scares, everything worth losing can be lost and survived. She knows that. Her thoughts eventually tapered down and she began to enjoy the wind whipping in her face the cold awakened her senses and release a laugh from deep within her. She was alive again for a moment, those joyful minute were far and far in between since the war, she embraced the fleeting feeling, letting her sense revel in the freedom of it all.
Hermione was in middle of a cloud holding her weight steady and using her wants to siphon the cloud mist into the vials and then next she knew she was in freefall, some strong force whipped by her so quickly that it flipped her clean off her broom. Her shock was so sudden that even as her wand was clutched in her hands her reaction was a fraction delayed. No cushion charm or deflection when the wind was knocked from her lungs.
Another moment and she was swept sideways, strong arms around her upper arm and a voice screaming “HOLD ON”.
Seconds later her feet felt the ground, she not so much landed but rather fell into it, bracing her fall with her arms out as a set of large hands found her upper arms to steady her, she was so disoriented it took her a second to catch her breath and a another to catch his eyes, the man who managed to both knock her off her broom and also save her from a certain death. The flight goggles hid his eyes, but there was no hiding the head of platinum blond. DRACO.
Her emotions shuffled so very quickly and she landed on rage. What was he playing at. His hands wisely dropped from her arms now that she was upright once more. Immediately her flung out her hands,”Accio wand, Accio broom”. She was going to either hex him or fly off. She watched in the seconds this all happened as he removed his goggles and began to mutter something that didn’t sound like a full on apology.
“Bloody hell Granger, what were you doing in the cloud. It’s midnight?”
He was questioning her? She felt the heat rush to her cheeks, “Me? What were you doing whipping past me at breakneck speed? What are you doing out flying at past midnight?” two can play interrogator tonight. She was expecting more sass and steeled herself, but she watched his hand find the back of his neck as she sheepishly said,”I…I just couldn’t sleep.”
For some reason that took the fight out of her, she spent too many nights tossing or turning or flying chasing sleep that never came. She knew the desperation and the bone-weary tiredness that drove you from the warmth of your bed and the softness of your pillow into the icy windy night win and the hardness of the broom seat.
She set her wand down, it’s been up this whole time and, kept a looser grip on the broom, he was just out here as sleepless as she was, but it doesn’t explain why he barreled into her at full speed.
“Alright then, but why were you flying straight at me for? Surely you could see my broom.”
“Granger, I’m really sorry I knocked off, I didn’t see you, the cloud was dense with fog and I was going too fast, I wouldn’t have been so close had I seen you? Why were you staying still anyhow?”
“Not that’s it's any of your concern, but I was out here collecting samples for my research, the cloud had a lot mist to collect. I accept your apology, but do watch where you fly, you aren’t the only night flyer at Hogwarts you know” she straightened her clothes and made to walk back to the castle, but as she turned around she could hear him shuffling, as he didn’t know quite what do with himself, but that wasn’t her problem. Just as she took a few steps he spoke.
“what were you doing flying anyhow, I thought you hated flying?”
How did he remember that detail about her from their school days, it wasn’t a fact she widely shared, but her irrational fear of flying was something that hampered her experience as a student. But flying on the back of a dragon really changes your perspective on the whole thing she mused to herself.
“I’m no longer that school girl, Draco. Have a good night” she threw back as she continued to walk away, too shaken to fly back through her window.