Chasing a Dream

Chapter 15

Flying Lessons and the Ride to Hogwarts

"I don't know how you do what you do

I'm so in love with you

It just keeps getting better

I want to spend the rest of my life

With you by my side

Forever and ever

Every little thing that you do

Baby, I'm amazed by you"

~Amazed, Lonestar~

"Ready?"

"I-I think so."

Hermione approached Harry and the broom cautiously. Harry helped her onto his Firebolt and climbed on behind her. It was about five at night, Hermione had insisted on giving him more lessons.

Harry wrapped his arms around her shyly and grasped the broom handle in front of her, so that she would be protected from falling off. With a kick, they left the ground and took to the air.

Harry felt instantly back at home.

Chrysoberyl's grounds looked beautifully decorated in the evening light. There were five lights gleaming from the house and Harry could see Sirius and Margaret moving around in their rooms.

Harry felt Hermione begin to breath more excitedly and she squirmed in his arms.

"Let's go for a ride, Harry."

Harry smiled and leaned forward slightly, causing her to do the same. They shot off toward the forest. They weaved in and out of the trees, Hermione laughing and flinging her hands out to the side as if she was flying. Her fingertips grazed the leaves and Harry was careful not to steer too close.

They flew over the lake, her bare feet skimming the surface of the water, leaving a trail of ripples behind them. Harry felt her take a deep breath as the spun off over the house. On a sudden impulse, Harry flipped upside down.

"Haaarrrryyyy!"

She screamed. She was secure in his arms, Harry knew. He laughed and turned upright again. She giggled and pinched his arm.

"That's for scaring me like that!"

Harry laughed again. They were flying for a while when he began to absentmindedly hum a tune. Hermione turned to look at him.

"What?"

"Do you know what song you were humming?"

"No. I just started humming."

She smiled, her nose crinkling.

"You were humming that song from Aladdin!"

"Was I? Seems appropriate."

"Yes, it does."

Harry flew them up high. Higher than they'd flown before. They were lingering between the clouds and the tops of the trees and buildings. Hermione gasped, either from the thinness of the air or the sight before them.

The sun was lowered on the horizon made of hills of green trees. The clouds clustered around the sun ranged from a warm magenta, to light lavender, to a cool royal blue at the edge. The sky itself was a pink-orange, and stars were already beginning to come out after a day of hiding. The moon, pale and faint, hovered above the forest.

Harry placed his face close to her hair. Her smell overwhelmed him. She smelled of springtime rain, lilac, and chocolate. She leaned back into his embrace and sighed. Harry closed his eyes.

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for today. It was a great day."

"Yes, it was."

"Thank you for taking me flying with you. Flying is everything I dreamt it would be."

"I'm glad, Mione, that you enjoyed it so much."

"I've never really bonded with you like this before."

"I know."

"I like it. We should do it more often. We live in the same house, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"Ah, but we leave for Hogwarts tomorrow morning, remember?"

"So?"

She turned to look Harry in the face. Her eyes looked larger than normal and the sunset cast warm glow on the side of her face. He was suddenly amazed at how he had never noticed how beautiful before. A fuzzy, warm feeling swelled in his chest.

~

I can feel the magic floating in the air

Being with you gets me that way

I watch the sunlight dance across your face and I've

Never been this swept away

(Breathe, Faith Hill)

~

"I like doing things like this with you."

Her words made Harry smile broadly.

"How about we always do something together, just you and me?"

She turned around and sunk into his chest and Harry could almost feel her smiling.

"Sounds good to me!"

_-_-_-_-_-_

"Sirius! Where's the hot chocolate?"

Sirius shook his head and shouted back at her.

"You're going to have hot chocolate in the middle of summer?!"

There was a pause.

"I guess you're right."

Sirius smiled and opened his copy of Witch Weekly before being interrupted again.

"Sirius! Where are the little cracker things?"

Sirius sighed and got up from his chair and marched into the kitchen to help poor clueless Margaret. Margaret has trouble with directions. She couldn't find her way if her life depended on it, she'd loose her head if it weren't attached, and Sirius no longer allows her to cook anything on the stove for fear she'd set the whole house on fire.

Harry looked over at Hermione. She was sitting next to the fireplace with Hogwarts a History set out in front of her. For a moment, he just sat there and watched her peaceful expression.

"I have an idea!"

Margaret exclaimed as she exited the kitchen with a tray of crackers and cheese and an exasperated Sirius.

"Let's play a game!"

Hermione looked up from her book.

"A game?"

"Yeah!"

Sirius shook his head.

"They need to get some sleep. They've got a long trip to make tomorrow."

"Oh, Sirius, don't be such a spoiled sport. I want to get to know them better."

"All right, but it better be a short game."

Margaret smiled enthusiastically and bounded up the stairs, only to return with a box in her arms.

"Everybody sit in a large circle."

Sirius sat in a chair by the fireplace and Hermione across from him. Margaret and Harry took the couch. Margaret pried open the top of the box and extracted a circular device.

"The game's called Catch Phrase. Have you all played charades before?"

Everyone nodded.

"Well, this is like that only it has a timer. Kind of like a game of hot potato crossed with charades. It's very fun!"

Margaret pressed a button that caused the thing to start beeping. She peered at the small window that displayed a word for her eyes only. She leapt to her feet.

She was quite a sight. She was flapping her arms like a bird and making squawking noises while waddling around the room.

Hermione jumped up excitedly and pointed at her.

"A duck!"

Margaret smiled, resumed her regular self and passed the disk thingy to Sirius. Sirius looked at it apprehensively.

They played a few rounds of Catch Phrase until they all got too tired and had to go to bed. Harry was going to miss being home for the summer. Funny, this was the first time he wasn't all that anxious to return to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was his home, but he couldn't help the feeling of love and security when he was here.

_-_-_-_-_-_

"I can't believe that we're back here already!"

Ron exclaimed. The trio was standing in front of the familiar Hogwarts Express. Their things were stacked in front of them in the crowded Platform 9 3/4. In a few minutes they would be boarding.

"Harry!"

Harry's head swung around to see Dean, Seamus, and Neville running to them. Following them was Parvati and Lavender. Parvati and Lavender bounced over to Hermione and Ginny.

"We're glad you're better, Hermione!"

"Thanks."

Harry lost track of exactly what the girls were saying, because someone was tugging very hard on his sleeve. Harry looked down to see a girl about eleven with mousy brown hair. She was grinning up at Harry, a camera in her hand. She swiftly lifted the camera and snapped a quick photo, then dashed off.

"Who was that?!"

Ron shrugged and turned back to continue his conversation with Dean. Seamus turned to Harry.

"So, hear anything about the Quidditch season, Harry? Ireland won, again!"

(Hey, I gotta love Ireland... I'm Irish *_^) Seamus beamed proudly. Harry nodded and was about to say something when their conversation was cut short by the man shouting:

"All aboard!"

Hermione dashed over and gave both Sirius and Margaret a hug before they all boarded the train to Hogwarts.

_-_

Harry and the gang sat in their compartment at the back of the train. Hermione was sitting across from Harry, staring out the window. Ginny was next to her, bouncing with excitement of finally returning to Hogwarts. Ron sat next to Harry, pulling out his collection of Famous Witches and Wizards cards. It was a giant album that was packed full of smiling and waving faces.

Hermione, tired of staring out the window, whipped something out of her bag. It was her c.d. player.

"Will that work?"

"Were aren't in range of the anti-electricity charm yet, so it should."

Hermione dug around in her backpack and pulled out a c.d. Ron and Ginny were staring at the Muggle contraption in fascination, even though both of them had seen it before. She slipped it inside the player and pressed the silver button.

A song instantly broke forth and Harry instantly recognized it as the theme song of one of Dudley's TV shows. To Harry's surprise, but not Hermione's, Ron and Ginny recognized it.

"This is the song we were dancing to in my room!"

"This is our song!"

They exclaimed at the same time. They looked at each other and burst out laughing. Harry was confused about what Ron had said.

"Your song?"

"Oh! It's not Hermione's and my song; it's me, Hermione, and your song, too! It was her idea."

He jabbed his thumb at Hermione, who was putting the song on pause.

"What's this all about?"

"I love music, Harry, so I picked out songs to fit everyone's characters! One could call it a hobby. I even picked out songs for couples or possible couples (she winked at Ginny). This is the song that I picked out for us."

"Play it again."

Hermione pressed the gray button, then the silver button. The song started up again, and Harry listened to the lyrics.

"So no one told you life was going to be this way. Your job's a joke, you're broke. Your love life's DOA. It's like you're always stuck in second gear. When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.

I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you, like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me, too.

You're still in bed at ten, when work began at eight. You burned your breakfast, so far things are goin' great. Your mother warned you there'd be days like these. But she never told when the world'd be brought down to your knees.

I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour. I'll be there for you, like I've been there before. I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me, too.

No one could ever know me. No one could ever see me. Seems you're the only one who knows what it's like to be me. Someone to spend the day with, make it through all the rest with. Someone I'll always laugh with. Even at my worst, I'm best with you, yeah!

It's like your always stuck in second gear. When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.

I'll be there for you. I'll be there for you. I'll be there for you, 'cause you're there for me, too."

(Friends theme song, I'll Be There For You, by the Rembrandts)

"Well chosen, Mione. What is Ron's song?"

"Well, I don't really have a song for just him yet, but I have one for him and Lav-"

Ron jumped to his feet and shot her a nasty look, indicating that Ginny was still there. It was too late, though. Ginny burst into giggles.

"You like Lavender Brown!"

"Thanks allot, Hermione."

"What is the song, Mione?"

"Oh! It's Your Song, Elton John."

"What other sounds have you picked out."

"I don't pick out all the songs. I always let the people choose the song they think represents their relationship with me best. I have a sort-of collection of them. Take me and Ginny, for example."

Ginny burst into song, smiling.

"Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister. And Lord help the sister who comes between me and my man! (Sisters, Vera Miles and Rosemary Clooney)"

"Do you and Ron have a song, too?"

"Yes! It's You've Got a Friend, that's Carole King."

"How could I not have known about your "hobby"?"

"I don't know. I just never talked about it with you before. I've been doing it for as long as I remember."

"It's a cool hobby, Mione."

_-_-_-_-_

The compartment on the Hogwarts Express was empty except for the two of them. Ron had gone off to tell Seamus and Dean something about the last Quidditch season, and Ginny had gone off to find Parvati. No doubt she really wanted to find Lavender and tell her the newly discovered information.

So there Harry and Hermione sat. Alone. It was an uncomfortable silence for Harry, but Hermione seemed relaxed, reading her favorite book, Hogwarts a History. Harry knew it was the perfect opportunity to tell her about what had been on his mind, her, without interruption.

"Um, Mione?"

He asked uncertainly. She looked up, shut her book, fingers marking her place, and smiled.

"Yes, Harry?"

Harry lost his nerve.

"What our song?"

"You have to pick it out."

"Oh."

He looked down at his hands and twiddled his thumbs a bit.

"What song did you pick out for me?"

She seemed caught off guard by the question and shifted uncomfortably.

"It doesn't really matter, does it?"

"I'd like to know."

"All right. Whenever I hear the song Superman (Five for Fighting), I instantly think 'Harry'."

"Why?"

"It's the lyrics! It may sound absurd, but don't be naïve. Even heroes have the right to bleed. I may be disturbed, but won't you concede. Even heroes have the right to dream, and it's not easy to be me (She didn't sing, Harry noticed). Harry, it just seems to me that the entire wizarding world has put all the weight of the world on your shoulders. They rely on you to save the world whenever there's trouble! It doesn't seem fair, but you don't complain! You don't know how much I admire you for that! So, you're my Superman."

Harry was speechless. He didn't know how to respond to that. Hermione stood up and walked over to him. She sat down next to him and threw her arms around him and gave him a hug.

"Tell me when you come up with a song for us, ok?"

Harry could only nod. Hermione released him and picked up her book and sat down across from him again. The door to the compartment slid open and Ron walked in and sat down by him. Ginny suddenly burst into the room.

"Ron! I've got a surprise for you!"

Whatever the surprise was, they never found out. The Hogwarts Express had slowed to a stop. The school year had begun.