Harry Potter X Reader {1}

~4 - Butterflies for Flying~

 "Did you see the notice board today, Y/N?" Hermione's voice breaks me from the pages of Arsenius Jigger's: Magical Draughts and Potions, which I'm revising in hopes of keeping Professor Snape off of my back. There's no saying he wont find something completely preposterous to reprimand me for though, but I suppose revising is always good regardless of ulterior motive. "We'll be starting our Flying lessons on Thursday."

"Seriously? That's amazing! Have you ever given much thought to Quidditch, Hermione?" I reply after closing my book and looking across to her where she's sat on the other arm chair opposite to me by the fire in our Common Room.

"I'm sure I'll enjoy watching, but I'm not all that interested in playing myself. I'm guessing you've given it some thought though?"

"I'd love to play! It's usually second or third-years that are picked during tryouts, but I don't think there's anything saying I can't attend. Maybe I should?"

"If you want to, you should. After all, extracurricular activities are good for receiving house points!"

"That's right! I'll have to try out then, if I get around to it... Or maybe I'll just wait until next year, but either way, I'm excited to be doing our flying lessons. What class are we paired with?"

Hermione looks away for a moment before looking back to meet my eye. That isn't good.

"Slytherin," she admits.

"Ugh! And just when I was getting excited about only having to deal with them for one of our classes..."

"Cheer up! It isn't all bad! As long as you do your best, right? We can't be losing house points because of a stupid rivalry between houses."

"Try telling them that. I can't even count the amount of times I've had Malfoy sneering at me with his little pack of snakes behind him."

As the days and hours before our first flying class shrink to shorter and shorter, I notice Hermione becoming rather uneasy when the subject is brought up. I asked her if she was feeling okay, and she explained to me that regardless of what one might read in a book, you need to possess at least some natural talent to fly a broom, so no matter how much she has read on the subject, she's still worried about making a fool of herself in front of Madam Hooch, our Flying professor.

During those same moments, as well, I couldn't help but notice the way Draco Malfoy would boast on and on about how terrific he is at flying already, and how he's so sure he'll get picked for Slytherin's Quidditch team. He isn't the only one who's sure of themselves on a broom, though, a few other students have been talking themselves up as well.

Right now I'm sitting in the Great Hall with Ron and Harry. Hermione isn't with us as she's gone to the library to do some reading for the subjects she's excited about within the coming years. I think she wasn't to be away from all the chatter about flying, though, and I can't blame her for choosing to avoid the Hall. There really is a lot of talk about flying.

"So, Harry, Ron, have either of you flown a broom before?" I start up a conversation after our discussion about Malfoy and his boastfulness has died down. "I don't think I've asked before."

"I didn't even know I was a wizard until Hagrid told me," Harry answers.

"Look at this!" Hermione's sudden appearance causes me to jump a little in my place, and both boys snicker as I scowl in embarrassment.

"Oh, shut up, you two! What've you found, Mione?"

Hermione and I had decided last night in the Common Room to come up with nick names for one another, and so I suggested 'Mione', of which she liked, and she decided upon 'N/N', which I was very pleased with as well.