Artificial Love (Dramione)

Chapter 3 - The Fall

It took all his willpower to keep from running to the common room to fetch his things. Draco was eager to get up in the sky, especially after such a boring day of doing basically nothing in herbology.

After changing into some more comfortable robes and switching out his books for his broom, Draco made his way down to the quidditch pitch, hoping that no one else had thought of practicing before tryouts. He would rather the time be spent alone, and not crowded by a bunch of hopefuls that could bare control a broom. It had taken fifteen minutes for him to swap out his things.

When he arrived at the pitch, his spirits lifted when he saw no sign of other flyers. There were a few shadowed forms in the stands, most likely studying couples who wanted to get away from everyone else.

Draco had never been shy about his skill in flying though, so he only grinned when he noticed the pedestrians.

Mounting his broom, he took off into the sky, letting out a contained whoop when he felt the wind rush against his face.

~*~

Hermione needed to catch up on her herbology work. McGonagall had been giving her a few lessons on how to work her time turner lately, and coincidentally they had fallen all on herbology classes. Two lessons already had passed. Luckily, it seemed that Hermione would understand her time turner from that point forward.

However, Harry and Ron had been no help whatsoever in letting her know what exactly was going on in class, and she had to work on the report for their last lab. Rhododendrons and their behavior around muggles compared to magical beings. It was an easy concept, but there really wasn't much to write about it. Certainly not enough to cover two feet of parchment, as Professor Sprout had called for.

Hermione sighed, packing her things up. She wouldn't be able to count on Ron to help her with the essay, but maybe Harry could help her out before she finished it on her own.

"Hey, Hermione, do you want to come along with us? Ron and I are headed to the lake. It feels great out, and we were thinking of going for a swim," Harry offered.

"I think I'll turn you down this time, Harry. I've got some work to do."

"Oh, the herbology essay? If you leave it for later, Ron and I can help you in the common room tonight. After all, it's a group effort. Although, I don't know if we'll be much help. We were at a loss until you showed up today." Harry grinned sheepishly, messing with his hair.

"Well, I'll get started on it. If I still need your help by tonight, I'll just let you know. I don't feel like meeting the Giant Squid anytime soon, to be honest. I'll just go study. I have some other work to do as well. Ancient Runes can prove to be very difficult if you don't study outside of class."

"Well, if you say so." Harry waved over to Ron, who had just been finishing the cleanup.

They parted ways, and Hermione headed over to the Quidditch Pitch. It was a pretty day out, after all. Maybe a change of scenery would give her some inspiration for the herbology essay.

She climbed up to the tower which was usually filled with cheering Gryffindor fans during games, but which was empty at the moment. It was propped fifty feet over the field, so that the viewers would be able to watch the flying players without craning their necks the entire time.

Hermione took a seat close to the balcony, leaning over the wooden fencing to see if she was completely alone in the pitch. There were a few other students lagging around as well, but no one had a broomstick. It seemed they were just there to hang out or study.

Cracking open her books, Hermione splayed everything out around her, taking up an entire bench with her things. She put groups of each class's work in different piles, planning that when she had tired of one subject, she would simply move on to another class, like a station. Usually, this was good for keeping her from going insane with her amount of classwork. After all, this year she was taking double the classes that were even possible, and the time turner tucked beneath her sweater was proof of that.

The wind blew her hair into her face suddenly, and she pushed it out of the way with a huff. There hadn't been any wind before that, so where had that gust come from?

She peered over the banister, searching for a source of the breeze other than nature. Another gust blew up into her face as a figure passed by on a broom, so fast she could barely catch a glimpse of who caused them.

Draco Malfoy was showing off on the edges of the field, making laps with the speed of a seasoned flyer. Hermione groaned again. If he was going to keep doing that, she wouldn't be able to focusing on her studies.

The day outside had been nice while it lasted, but it looked like she would have to relocate to somewhere with a little more peace and quiet. The library would have to do.

Hermione began gathering up her books. They were pretty heavy, but she didn't want to charm them. Magic was always really cool, but Hermione liked the feeling of getting something difficult done on her own, even if that something was as small a task as carrying a few books down multiple flights of stairs.

She set down the books in a single pile on the bench, then set her bag down next to it. The view from the banister was worth seeing one last time before she went back inside, so she leaned over the side, relishing the sun on her skin.

The crack of wood took her by surprise, and she opened her eyes not to the skyline, but to the rushing ground below her. It took a few moments for her stomach to lurch forward, as if it had been left in the stands to begin with but had suddenly realized the loss of sturdy ground.

Falling...

Hermione grabbed for her wand, which she usually kept in her robes, but her hands grabbed only cloth. Her wand! She had put it in her bag! And her bag was still up there, in the Gryffindor stands.

There was nothing she could do without her wand. Her body fell, her limbs sprawling around. She fought against the wind as it pushed against her back, as if it were trying to push her back up towards safety.

She cried out, but her voice seemed to drown in the pressure pushing against her from all sides.

This was true fear.

Hermione had faced many things since she had started her years in Hogwarts. She had even witnessed a Dementor earlier that year, which was said to be the embodiment of fear and terror. But the feelings the dementor had caused had been purely invoked by it. She had known she would be alright afterwards, and so she could still hang on to some of that hope.

Hermione searched for an ounce of hope within her situation at the moment. Maybe if she screamed loud enough, she would get the attention of the snogging couple that she had seen in the Hufflepuff stands.

Just as she opened her mouth and sucked in a huge bout of air to give out a loud scream, her body was suddenly suspended.

Had she landed?

More importantly–had she survived?

"You're so lucky I actually caught you."