More Than Meets the Eye

A/N: Hi all. I didn't fall off the face of the planet and I haven't given up this story. My life has been insane recently. My husband came home one day and told me that his job had transfered him to England and we had six weeks to move. So here I am in England living in a hotel with two small kids searching for a house.




Chapter 14

Hermione looked up as Draco walked into their common room and smiled. It didn’t seem fair that he could look so incredible, even when he was covered in dirt and sweat. “How was practice?”

“It is ridiculous! They all care about winning, but refuse to put in the effort needed to achieve it. In fact my new keeper skipped practice today. She seemed to think that because today is the first Hogsmeade weekend, it wouldn’t be a big deal!”

Hermione started to laugh. “You drone on and on about Slytherin cunning. It appears that what you needed today was a little of Gryfindor loyalty. No Gryf would think about skipping a practice.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “I thought your house was known for its bravery. Would none of your precious Gryfindors be brave enough to risk Potter’s wrath?”

“Bravery is not the same as stupidity.”

“Are you calling my new keeper stupid?”

“Your words, not mine. So are you going to replace your new keeper?”

“I don’t know. Merlin! Why did I allow Snape to talk me into being captain again?” he asked with a groan, rubbing his hand across his eyes.

Hermione rolled her eyes at his dramatic display. “Oh spare me the suffering servant act. You love being the captain and you know it. Now go get yourself cleaned up so we can go enjoy Hogsmeade ourselves.” After he left for the bathroom she continued with the novel she was reading. Contrary to what everyone seemed to think, she did more than just study. A nice light read was always enjoyable.

In less than an half an hour the book was plucked out of her hands. “Come on bookworm, let’s go,” he said taking her hand and pulling her up. Hermione smiled at his enthusiasm. Honestly, sometimes he acts just like a child! she thought with a shake of her head.

When they exited Hogwarts, he started pulling her towards the lake instead of the main gates. “Draco, where are we going? This isn’t the way to Hogsmeade.”

“That is because we aren’t going to Hogsmeade.”

“We’re not?”

“No, we’re doing something else.”

“But Draco, we’re suppose to meet Harry and Ginny at the Three Broomsticks in less than an hour.”

“I talked to the Weaslette yesterday to let her know that we weren’t going to be there. I also gave her a copy of your shopping list and she said that she would be happy to take care of it.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t call her that.”

Draco gave a slight shrug. “It’s just a nickname. What?” he continued at her skeptical look. “She calls me Ferret!”

Hermione sighed softly. Knowing that she wasn’t going to win this one, and not really feeling like arguing, she let it drop. “So what are we going to do?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see,” he answered, pulling her along. Soon he had lead her to a secluded place near the forest.

Hermione looked at the sight before he in amazement. Draco had reproduced their first picnic together, right down to the blanket. She felt his arms wrap around her.

“It two months to the day. Do you like?” he whispered in her ear.

She leaned against him a sighed contentedly. She knew he was doing his best to repress the romantic tendency he had received through their binding, but she loved it when it slipped out. “It’s beautiful Draco. Thank you.”

*************************************************


“Come on Draco, we have to stop!” Hermione said pushing the blond away. They had finished their lunch, and what had started as light cuddling had turned into heavy snogging. “Draco, please,” she moaned as he continued to nibble on her neck. “I am not going to shag you in public.”

“No one will see us. They’re all in Hogsmeade.”

“The first and second years are still around. As beautiful as today is they’re bound to be outside. What would happen if some first year happened to stumble across us?”

“They might learn something.”

“Draco Malfoy, that’s awful,” she replied with a laugh. “Some poor innocent eleven year old would be scarred.”

Draco snorted and lifted his head to look in her eyes. “Don’t assume that they’re innocent just because they’re inexperienced.”

“I was still innocent at eleven.”

“You were still innocent at seventeen!” he teased with his famous smirk.

“You know, comments like that aren’t going to help get you what you want.”

Draco laughed at her comment, gave a final light kiss and moved to kneel next to her. “Well that is okay, because I have something else planned for the rest of the day.”

“My you are full of surprised today aren’t you?”

“I got you something.”

“You got me a gift?”

“Well… it is something that you don’t have and I thought that you should. But I guess you could call it a gift.”

Hermione smiled up at him. “Draco, something can be practical and still be a gift. So what did you get me?” she asked sitting up.

“Come and see,” he answered, taking her hand to help her stand up.

Once again Hermione allowed herself to be led. She was shocked to find that their destination was the middle of the quidditch field. She looked down in dismay at the two brooms laying there, his and a new one. “You got me a broom?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Hermione, you really need to learn how to fly.”

“Again, why?”

Draco sighed softly. He knew that she wouldn’t be happy when she saw the broom. He knew when he had bought the bloody thing. But he also knew that this fear had to be met and conquered. “Hermione, hopefully one day we are going to have little witches and wizards. Little witches and wizards who will want to learn how to fly a broomstick.”

“That’s fine. You can teach them.”

“And I will love doing so. But don’t you think it might be nice for the whole family to go for an evening ride now and then?”

“Draco, I know that you love flying, and I am glad that you enjoy it so much. I am just happier with both feet on the ground.”

“Hermione, you don’t have to be afraid. I will be right next you,” he assured her, hoping that she would be somewhat comforted by his words.

She looked at him in surprise. “Draco, I’m not afraid to fly. I just…” she trailed off looking away.

He gently cupped her chin to turn her back towards him. “Just what?”

“I can’t. I can’t fly. I’ve tried, but obviously lack the ability.”

Draco felt relief spread through him. This was going to be easier than he thought. It wasn’t a fear of heights or falling that he was dealing with, rather the fear of failure. That could be overcome without any problems. “Hermione, trust me, you can learn to fly.” He held up a hand she gave him a skeptical look. “Listen, muggles have something called a bicycle right?” After her nod, he asked “Do you know how to ride one?”

“Of course,” she answered with a laugh.

“Okay, did you automatically know how to ride one or did you have to learn?”

Hermione thought back to the summer she learnt how to ride with a gentle smile. For weeks her father had run behind her holding onto the seat. “I had to learn, but Draco, I tried learning and it didn’t work.”

“When you say that you’ve tried, are you referring to the lessons that we had our first year?” He sighed at her nod. “Hermione, I am sure that Madam Hootch was doing her best and I know that you are a brilliant witch, but you didn’t stand a chance learning how to ride in that situation.”

“Why not?”

“Because three one hour classes in a group setting on a bunch of old beat up broomsticks aren’t adequate.”

“That didn’t seem to be a problem for anyone else.”

“Really? Well, let’s see how well I remember those classes. It was Slytherin and Gryfindor together. Now I know that no one in Slytherin had any problems, but that is to be expected.” He chuckled at her outraged expression. “That wasn’t a slur against your house. I was merely making the point most Slytherins are purebloods, and most purebloods receive their first training brooms by the age of two. So they aren’t going to have any problems “learning” how to fly at eleven. Among your housemates, Weasley got smacked in the face and Longbottom suffered a broken arm. Not exactly stellar performances. My point is that your peers struggled just as much as you did, you just failed to notice it.”

Hermione pursed her lips in indecision. She knew he really wanted to teach her, and she wanted to learn but… “I’m going to look like a fool.”

“It is just the two of us here.”

“I’m going to feel like an idiot!”

“Why?” he asked in genuine confusion.

“You are so good at this, and I can’t get a broom to obey my up command.”

“Hermione, I’ve had years of practice. Just try this afternoon. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to continue after today.”

“I don’t like learning how to do things in front of people,” she told him with a sigh, knowing he had already won.

“But I like teaching you new things,” he replied with a suggestive smile.

Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed. “Is there ever a time when sex isn’t on your mind?”

“I’m a seventeen year old wizard, what do you think? Anyway come on, what do you say?”

“Oh alright,” she conceded. She started to reach for her new broom, only to be stopped. She looked at him questionably.

“We won’t need the brooms yet,” he told her. He reached into her sleeve and removed her wand. “You said that you had trouble getting a broom to obey your up command so we will start there.” He took a couple of steps back and told her to get her wand back.

“Accio wand,” she called out, easily catching her wand when it flew to her.

“Summoning your wand has become second nature to you. You call for it and it comes, but it wasn’t always like that. Think back to how it was to learn how to accio something. Now simply think of the broom as if it was another wand, reach out with your magic, and instead of using the accio, use up.”

Hermione nodded in understanding and closed her eyes. She focused all of her attention on the broom, reached out her hand and firmly told it up. Her eyes flew open when the wooden handle smacked hard against her palm. Quickly switching it to her other hand, she attempted to shake the sting out of her now throbbing hand.

Draco snorted at her enthusiasm. “Good, only next time you don’t need to be quite so firm. It is a good broom and will readily respond to your commands. In fact once you have it trained, you won’t have to give it much direction at all. It will work with you completely.”

For the next few hours he showed her the ins and outs of flying. Sooner than she would have thought possible she was zooming around the quidditch field. Granted it was never at a height over five feet, but it was still exciting. Everything was going splendidly until a brief lack of concentration sent her tumbling to the ground. Hermione gasped as the air painfully reentered her lungs. Draco’s paler than normal face loomed over her as he knelt beside her.

“Hermione are you alright?”

“Draco, I’m fine. I only fell from about three feet,” she answered, moving to sit up.

“Lie still and let me make sure you’re really okay. Even a fall from three feet can be serious if you fall wrong. Maybe I should get Madam Pomfrey.”

Hermione groaned. “Malfoy relax! I only had the wind knocked out of me. Everyone falls sometimes when they are first learning. I bet even you did!” She rolled her eyes when he still looked uncertain. “Honestly, you talk about teaching our future children how to fly. What are you going to do when our two year takes their first tumble? Rush them off to St. Mungo’s? Now let me up!”

Draco knew she was right, knew he was overreacting. Members of his team had taken harder falls at greater distances, and he just told them to get back on their brooms. Merlin, I am going soft! What is wrong with me? he wondered as he helped her up.

Hermione walked over to her broom and ordered it up. “Come on, let’s get back at it.”

“It is probably best for us to stop.”

“Draco….”

“No really. I was going to suggest we stop before your fall anyway. You’re not used to flying and will be sore in the morning. But don’t worry. I plan on giving you a nice, long rub down.”

Hermione struggled to keep a straight face when she was his devilish expression. “Oh I’m sure you do. After all you are so thoughtful.”

“What can I say? I am a gentleman, and as such, I would never dream of letting my wife suffer.”

Hermione lost the battle to control her mirth and laughed. “Before we put the brooms away, can we do one thing?”

“What?”

“Can we fly around Hogwarts?”

Draco frowned. “I’m glad that you’re feeling confident, but it probably isn’t a good idea. At that height you have to deal with the wind, which makes flying much more difficult.”

“Oh I know that I’m not ready to fly by myself yet. I was thinking of us flying together.”

“You want to share a broom with me?” he asked, slightly surprised at her request.

“Sure, why not? I’ve always wanted to see Hogwarts from the sky, and I trust you not to drop me.”

“Of course I won’t drop you!” he responded, pretended to be offended. “I am surprised to hear that you have never flown over Hogwarts with someone before.”

“Who exactly do you think I would have flown with? It is something that is usually reserved for couples.”

“You dated Krum for awhile.”

“Oh yes, my famous relationship with the big quidditch star. I honestly don’t believe a bigger deal out of nothing could have been made. I know that the Prophet tried to make it seem like a huge affair, but in reality we were more study partners than boyfriend/girlfriend. He only kissed me once, and it held less passion than the one that I received from Dean Thomas last year.”

Draco quirked a brow at her. He hadn’t heard this story before. “I thought Thomas was gay. Was he going through a denial stage?”

“No, I walked in on a game of truth and dare. Someone thought it would be funny to dare him to kiss me.”

“So how was it?”

“Cold and awkward.”

Draco laughed. “Well maybe I can help banish that memory,” he replied taking a step towards her.

Hermione quickly backed up. “I thought we were going to go flying.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll take you flying,” he answered with a glint in his eyes.

“Draco!”

Draco laughed at her outrage before mounting his broom. Pulling her close, he kicked off to give her her first tour of Hogwarts from the sky.


A/N: I will try to update again soon, but my internet connection is a little patchy so sometimes it is hard.