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"Come on, Hermes", Narcissa turned around on her broom, not reducing the speed at all, and looked at her, amusement and annoyance in her blue eyes. "You've got to go a little faster if we want to have a chance at winning this."

Hermione felt positively sick. Flying had never been her thing. It wasn't really the height she disliked, rather the feeling of only having a wooden branch keeping her from falling and breaking her neck. The youngest Black sister was flying as good as members of the Harpies Quidditch Team, that Hermione was sure of.

"I suppose I should be truthful to you", Hermione shouted against the wind so the girl would hear her. "I'm an awful flyer. I actually hate it." Then her brown eyes apologetically met Narcissa's blue orbs. She realized the mistake she'd made when it already was too late.

Looking at the blonde instead of her surroundings had distracted her long enough to not see the thick green brush of the tree she was currently flying into.

Branches were scratching her face and arms and when she hit a rather big branch she was knocked off of her broom and closed her eyes to not see the ground coming closer and closer, tried not to hear the inevitable crush of bones that would follow.

It never came though. Slowly she opened her eyes and seeing Narcissa's worried face looking down at her made her realize the feeling of two surprisingly strong arms around her.

"Don't worry, we'll be on the ground in a second", the young witch said and proved her words true a moment later.

Carefully she helped Hermione off the broom and got off herself before leaning her broom on the stem of an old oak tree.

"Are you alright, Hermes?", she asked and Hermione could only nod. She didn't trust her voice to work just yet.

"Those scratches on your face and arms look nasty", Narcissa commented and reached her hand out for Hermione. "May I?", she asked, pointing at her face. "I'm not too bad at healing spells."

Hermione gave her a weak smile. "That would be nice. Thank you."

The blonde girl nodded and took her wand out of a hidden pocket in her sleeve.

"Vulnera Sanentur", she quietly murmured and repeated the words three times, tracing her wand over her face and arms.

Hermione watched in awe as the blood seemed to be sucked back into the wounds and her skin closed itself until no outward sign of any injury remained.

"All done", Narcissa finally said, sounding vaguely tired. "You can close your mouth now, you know."

The blonde witch laughed at Hermione's perplexed stare and still agape mouth, only worsened by the fact that Narcissa Black's laugh had to be the most beautiful thing she'd ever heard.

"Sorry", Hermione said and blushed. "I was just ... What spell was that just now? I've never heard of it before."

"Oh", Narcissa exclaimed. "I shouldn't exactly tell you because it's a secret but I guess there's no point to it now that you've seen me use it."

She paused for a moment, probably considering if she really should tell her new housemate.

"Severus created this spell and taught me how to use it once he was sure it wasn't dangerous. He's really good at it, you know. Creating new spells and potions", the girl smiled, thinking of her friend. "It's actually for more life threatening wounds than yours but I thought I could at least try if it works for minor scratches and gashes as well. Guess it does", she happily announced.

Hermione thought she'd probably never stop marveling at the skills this girl (and also her future Potions Professor) possessed.

Narcissa Black was gorgeous, friendly, helpful, good at herbology, probably the best flyer she knew and there was no fault in her spellwork.

"Narcissa?", Hermione suddenly remembered. "Thank you. Not only for healing the cuts and trusting me with your and Severus' secret but most of all for saving my life up there."

"Don't mention it", Narcissa only said and gave her a wink. "Are you ready to continue flying or would you rather we walk? We'd have to use my broom together though, yours was split in half when you hit that tree."

Hermione considered the options for a moment and eventually got up from the forest ground. "Let's fly. We'd be walking for more than two hours even if we hurry."

"Alright", Narcissa said, getting her broom and standing over it. "Get behind me and hold on tight. We still have to find those plants before we can head back."

Fortunately the rest of the flight was uneventful. Well at least regarding accidents Hermione supposed.

Being pressed into Narcissa's back was rousing feelings in Hermione she'd never felt before. Pretty figuratively even.

'How did guys control this thing between their legs', she wondered, shifting uncomfortably, trying to put some space between her quickly hardening new accessory and Narcissa Black's buttocks.

It wouldn't do for the young Slytherin to notice her arousal. How on earth was she to befriend Lucius if she was drooling after his fiancee?

Hermione was more than relieved when they reached the castle - ingredients for the infirmary safely put away in their robe pockets - although she felt like walking wouldn't be an option right now. She felt slightly dizzy from flying and her still visible arousal was only adding to it.

At least Narcissa hadn't noticed and no one but them and Madame Hooch were there. It made hiding it a lot easier.

Arms crossed in front of her body she approached the flying instructor, Narcissa closely trailing behind her.

"Miss Black, Mr Granger!", Madame Hooch exclaimed. "Where have you been? I expected you to be one of the first pairs to be back and now you're the last to finish! You've even missed lunch and are too late for your next class."

"I'm sorry Madame Hooch", Narcissa started to explain. We had a little accident out there."

She motioned to the lone broom they'd brought back from their "trip".

"Hermes crashed into a tree and we had to heal his wounds before we could continue our task. Then of course we still needed to find the plants for Madame Pomfrey and had to make it back on one broom."

"Alright", Madame Hooch answered. "I'll excuse you from the rest of the lessons today. See to it that both of you pay a visit to the infirmary and get some food into your bellies."

She took the broom from Narcissa's hands and had already walked several steps away before she turned around and said: "Oh and take all the plants, seeds and insects the class collected today with you. Madame Pomfrey needs them as soon as possible."

Then she motioned to a basket standing next to the broom shed and left for the castle.

The walk to the hospital wing was spent in companionable silence. Every ten or so steps Hermione would glance at Narcissa walking beside her. Hermione had always found Mrs Malfoy to be exceptionally beautiful ever since she'd first seen her at the Quidditch World Cup in her fourth school year.

But Narcissa Black was even more breathtaking to her. The young girl was eager to learn, eager to experience life at its fullest and her eyes held a bright spark. The Narcissa she'd known - or rather watched from a distance - had always emanated some kind of coldness and her features were stern, she'd never seen her smile before, only when she heard that Draco was alive in the heat of the battle and died only minutes afterwards at the hand of her own sister. The sister that had once loved her so much.

And in this moment Hermione knew. She knew that she wouldn't only save her friends, she'd do everything in her power to have Narcissa survive this terrible war. Maybe there wouldn't have to be a war at all but if she was realistic ...well, the chance seemed rather small. But a future without Narcissa... It was weird but she couldn't picture a future without the young bright witch in it anymore.