Chapter 42
Chapter 42:
Hermione had been set on a new course in the month since she received the last gift from the mysterious benefactor. She dedicated enough attention to make sure she didn’t drop the ball on finding the Fairy Water well, but outside of that, she dedicated her time to getting outside of Hogwarts castle and building a life.
She found a new painting class she could attend in Hogsmeade and from that, she found out about an advanced flying class which she eagerly signed up for at the behest of Ginny.
No one had been more thrilled than Ginny about Hermione’s change of heart about flying, in the past years she’s increasingly encouraged her on it and hoped that one day she’d want to join one of their pick-up Quidditch games. Hermione loved flying but she wasn’t too keen on Quidditch just yet.
It was at this advanced flying class that she met one Matthew Arnason. Matthew was a handsome young man who recently got back into flying after swearing it off after a horrific childhood accident. Part of his therapy and journey to heal was to embrace flying again. So Hermione found herself gravitating towards Matthew in these classes. Whether it was his demeanor or good luck Hermione didn’t differentiate for the end result was the same, she fancied him. It’d been a while since she last dated properly and just as long since her last proper shag. Between starting at Hogwarts, her research, the mystery of the gifts, and the threat of dark wizards Hermione had had no time to expand her social life, but after sobbing openly in her office that night, she was determined to change. She even escaped less often to the room of requirement, solitude can only get her so far.
This evening’s class was about tandem flying, the instructor produced 6 double seated brooms and asked the class to divide into pairs. Before she had a chance to consider who was near her she heard Matthew’s voice close to her.
“Hey, Hermione, shall we pair up?”
“uh..yes, sure, I’d love to.” She was caught off guard, though they’d exchanged pleasantry they had never really spoken before.
“So what do you say, front or back seat you reckon.”
“Oh, I shan’t mind either, but for your sake, I’d say back, otherwise you might have a mouthful of my hair before the exercise is over.” She added with a bit of a blush
At this Matthew laughed, maybe a little too heartily before adding,
“Well, that settles it doesn’t it.”
The instructor yelled out the course they were meant to take and Matthew’s body grew rigid as they took flight, he focused all his energy on steering the unfamiliar broom, but once in a while, he’d throw a comment back to Hermione, which she only half noted since relinquishing control during a flight was both a foreign and uncomfortable sensation. She focused so that should Matthew muck up she would throw a quick cushioning charm to break their fall.
At the end of the class, when they were safely on the ground again she thanked Matthew for not dropping them.
Matthew chuckled again at her and then grew serious.
“Say Hermione, would you be free tomorrow evening for dinner with me?”
Hermione was so caught off guard that she didn’t respond at all for a few more seconds than appropriate, Matthew’s face grew almost green sensing he might have offended her or misread the signals he’d just begun to stammer out a retraction when Hermione forced herself to speak.
“ah yes, I would free. That would be lovely, thank you!”
Relief washed over him and his color returned along with a crooked smile that caused Hermione to fight a tingle in her stomach.
“Shall we meet at Pete’s around 8 then?”
“YES, that works great” The ‘yes’ had come out a little over excited but Hermione was rusty at this, she’d need to floo Ginny immediately for help.
“Wonderful, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Matthew seemed rather satisfied with himself as he walked away only glancing back twice at Hermione. Hermione was frozen in place as the rest of the class dismissed themselves.
On her way back to the castle she couldn’t help but compare her reaction to being asked out to her reaction about finding Dark Wizards, she was readier to jump into a battle than she was into an affair. It was tragically sad and funny. She spent her teenage years fighting a war and neglected to get as comfortable with dating men as she had been in fighting them.