Chapter 6

The wind was howling and the clouds were threatening to burst their seams at any second.

Any normal, sane person would have retreated indoors by that point, yet here she sat; Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age was sitting waiting for the inevitable downpour, just so that she could watch the Gryffindor Quidditch try-outs of all things.

She had refused all week, remaining adamant that she was not about to waste precious study time watching the try-outs this year, not even letting Ginny or Harry's pouts break her resolve as they had tried their best to bribe and persuade her anyway they could. However, Hermione's stubbornness won out in the end, as they appeared to have backed off completely.

The brunette, however, had underestimated her friends' ruthlessness as their Trojan horse was just waiting to catch her off guard. It had only taken one look at Alex's puppy dog eyes to realise that she was fighting a losing battle.

So there she was, surveying the field of prospective players and waiting for Alex to arrive.

After only three weeks of attending Hogwarts the raven haired witch had already made a notorious reputation for herself - one of always being exceptionally late.

Even Ginny was already there, (although that was probably more Harry's doing, as he was trying to have her elected as co-captain) but still, Ginny Weasley was one of the tardiest people Hermione knew and she had still arrived earlier than Alex had.

The brunette continued to survey the field when, wondering if maybe she had just missed the raven haired witch, her eyes rested on a pair that were staring back at her intently. Ron Weasley was standing in the middle of the field in what looked like Quidditch gear.

"He's going for keeper too you know." Alex had wandered into the stands from the changing room in search of Hermione, hoping to leave her bag with the brunette. Hermione, however, had barely registered her appearance at all until she had spoken up.

When the Hermione finally looked up at the raven haired witch, she was surprised to find that Alex was wearing similar gear to Ron, albeit in better condition. Her black arm and knee pads seemed to disappear into her usual black robes and her helmet barely contained her wild curls. She looked stunning, like a born warrior, ready to take on an army, not a sixth year student ready to take on Ron Weasley at Quidditch.

"Don't worry" she said with her usual smirk, "I won't kick his ass too badly."

Damn her arrogance, the brunette smiled to herself. But then again, Hermione could agree that Alex had every right to be. She had allowed Ginny and the Alex to drag her down to the Quidditch pitch, the previous Thursday after class, for their first practice session before trials.

Hermione had been impressed to say the least; Alex was incredibly fast and accurate, and apparently she wasn't the only one who thought so. The evening after the practice session, when they had arrived back in the Gryffindor common room, Ginny hadn't stopped gushing over Alex. How incredibly fast she was, how the scouts were practically going to hand her a membership for any team she wanted to play for and all over Alex's broomstick. The way she carried on about it, one would have thought that the thing was carved from pure gold by the goblins. Seeing it now up close however, Hermione had to admit that it was indeed quite the impressive piece.

It was a custom made Firebolt with a sleek black coat and red phoenix feathers woven in between the brooms bristles. The feathers were charmed to take on any colour the rider chose and made the broom more aerodynamic.

All in all, Alex looked fierce.

Alex continued to smirk as the brunette looked her up and down with an appreciative smile on her normally innocent features. Only when she glanced back up to Alex's face did she notice that the raven haired girl was staring at her too, and she had the decency to avert her eyes and try to hide her smug grin at the idea that this wildly beautiful witch was hers.

"Thanks for coming to watch Mione."

And just like that, Alex's smug persona turned soft as she bent down to take her girlfriends hands. "I know you hate Quidditch, but I'm a lot less nervous with you around."

Hermione didn't quite know how to respond to that, so instead she pulled Alex into a hug instead. She was rather happy for the extra warmth and shivered a little as Alex pulled away.

The raven haired witch regarded her for a moment before casting a heating charm that would also keep her dry if it started to rain. With that Alex turned to make her way down towards the field. She was half-way down the stands when she turned around and shouted, "Honestly Mione, I think you forget you're a witch sometimes."

The brunette just laughed at the statement. It was true that she was so used to living her life without magic, that when it came to mundane tasks or problems, she would solve it as she had always had done – the muggle way.

If there was bad weather she'd bring an umbrella or a raincoat, casting a simple heating charm never even crossed her mind. That's where her and Alex seemed to differ: she seemed to be just as intelligent as Hermione, but, her intelligence was based on the practical uses of magic and making difficult tasks simple, whereas Hermione's was based more on the combination of both muggle and magical solutions. It's probably what happens when you grow up in two different worlds, the young witch thought.

Alex spent Harry's entire speech smiling up at the brunette witch in the stands, ignoring the very obvious glares Ron was shooting at her from across the field.

Harry had split the group of Gryffindor's up into two teams, with the extra players rotating positions with those that remained on the ground while the game was in progress.

As the groups took to the sky and the game began, Hermione noticed how the stands started to fill. With Harry and Ginny playing as seekers, and Alex and Ron as Keepers, the game became very intense very quickly. Even the hopeful beaters were trying to show off and to prove themselves by taking as many cheap shots as they could at anyone within range, as the rest of those on the field scrambled to score.

Ron wasn't actually half bad, but he was nothing compared to Alex. She never missed a beat and slowly but surely, whatever confidence Ron had started with began to fade, as he realised he was being out-played by the raven-haired witch and her Firebolt. He had taken to ordering the players on his team around, blaming them for the 50-0 lead the other team had on them. It wasn't until he grabbed one of the beaters bats and hit a nasty bludger straight towards Alex, that things started to get out of hand.

The raven haired witch had been caught off guard, but was able to dive down out of the way of the bludger just in time. Ron, however, was not as lucky, as the bludger came boomeranging back straight towards him, hit by one of the young beaters on Alex's team. He was hit hard in the head and with that, passed out and slid from his broomstick. It seemed almost as if it was happening in slow motion, as everyone froze, and it wasn't until Hermione screamed that Alex seemed to snap back into reality.

She raced towards the red head at full speed, managing to catch him three feet from the ground. As she wrapped her arms around his waist, she lost control of her broom and both of them hurtled head first into the Quidditch pitch. The raven haired witch had timed the capture of the heavy boy perfectly, but not their messy landing. Luckily for them, the soft grass had broken most of their fall and Alex had saved Ron from what would been straight drop that would have broken at least a few bones.

It was two unconscious keepers that Hermione found lying in a tangle of limbs on the Quidditch pitch.

~PAGE BREAK~

Hermione's voice drifted through the darkness, coaxing Alex back into reality. As Alex strained to open her eyes she heard the brunette calling to Madam Pomfrey.

"I think she's starting to wake up!"

As Alex began to open her eyes, Hermione's warm, soft hands were replaced with the harder, more skilled hands of Madam Pomfrey. She began by checking her pulse and breathing, just to make sure that she was recovering correctly and that she wasn't experiencing any more problems as a result of the fall. Once her checks were done, Madam Pomfrey spoke to Hermione about Alex's recovery and what she would and wouldn't be allowed to do, before she left the couple alone again.

Hermione's hand found Alex's once more, tracing delicate, meaningless patterns on the palm of her hand as the raven haired girl began to squint against the harsh light, after being trapped in a seemingly endless darkness.

Alex had been unconscious for two very long days. The fall itself wouldn't have been too bad, but the fact that she had taken the brunt of the impact by having Ron land on top of her, had been what had caused the damage. Seeing Alex lying motionless in the middle of the Quidditch pitch, had scared Hermione half to death.

Ron had kept up an endless stream of apologies to Hermione but she had refused to listen. The first time he had tried to come and see Alex in the hospital wing, had led Hermione to chase him out with hexes and jinxes. It was only Madam Pomfrey threatening to ban Hermione too that had kept her from behaving as badly the next time Ron came – accompanied by a stony faced Harry and Ginny.

"we have both spoken to Ron and he has something to say," Harry informed the fuming brunette, sending a dirty look towards the wary looking red head.

"I really am sorry Hermione. I was a right git for everything I said and did and if I could I would take it all back. You have every right to want to hex me and whatever else you have going on in that head of yours. But I am truly sorry for hurting you and Alex. I was just shocked. Yeah. Thats it." He had the grace to blush as bright a red as his hair.

"You really are a prat," she told him with a cold look. But she didn't chase him out again.

It was Rons fault that Alex was injured and in the hospital wing and Hermione was not allowed to let him forget it. He had treated her like a piece of property and Alex like an obstacle that he had to get rid of no matter what. Hermione wasn't about to let him get away with his dangerous and jealous behaviour, as well as his of them, but she couldn't hate him forever.

Hermione pulled herself back to the present where Alex had finally managed to open her sleepy dark eyes and was looking at her with a slightly confused expression on her pale face.

"Welcome back." Hermione murmured as Alex's eyes met her own, leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on Alex's cheek.

Once the raven haired witch had finally gained consciousness, Hermione helped her sit up slowly so that she could take in her surroundings. Alex hated being in the hospital wing - it always made her feel worse than she would have if she was in her own bed.

"How long have I been out?" she asked the brunette, lying down again just as slowly.

When Hermione didn't reply immediately, Alex glanced at her properly and noticed for the first time the state her girlfriend seemed to be in: her hair was in a messy bun that had strands falling out from sleeping in awkward positions, her shirt was wrinkled and no longer tucked in to her skirt and she had removed her tie. The dark rings around her bloodshot eyes were the final clue to just how little she had slept in the time that Alex had been unconscious.

"Hermione, you look terrible." The words had slipped from her mouth before she could filter them.

This got the brunettes attention and she finally looked up at Alex and gave her a dirty look.

"Well not all of us got to sleep for the last two days," she deadpanned. A small smile was playing across her lips which belied the fact that she had been worrying herself sick over Alex in the time the raven haired witch was unconscious. Alex would have put money on the bet that this was the first time Hermione had been able to smile over the last two days.

The raven haired witch gently pulled the brunette up onto the hospital bed, until she was securely in her arms. Hermione nestled into Alex's chest sighing contentedly, finally able to relax.

Hermione had spent the last two days in the hospital wing only leaving to go to classes. Everything else she had deemed unimportant, not wanting to miss the moment when Alex would finally wake up.

Alex's ran her fingers up and down the brunette arm as Hermione explained that while she had sustained no lasting damage, the fact that Ron had landed on her and that she had hit the ground nearly head first, meant that she had some severe swelling of the brain and there had been some internal bleeding in her abdomen. It had taken all afternoon for Madam Pomfrey to stop the bleeding and bring down the swelling. It was only by forcing her into a magically induced coma that Alex's breathing had stabilized. Madam Pomfrey had lifted the spell earlier that morning but it had taken all day for Alex to actually wake up.

Before leaving them alone, Madam Pomfrey had instructed Hermione on Alex's medication and given her strict orders that she was to remain on bed rest for at least the remainder of the week, in order for her to heal correctly.

When the brunette had mentioned the bed rest, Alex pulled her in closer, flashing the exhausted girl one of her prize winning smirks, before leaning in and giving her a searing kiss that deepened quickly. After she felt the brunette smile against her lips, she decided that she definitely liked the sound of bed rest.