...And the 7th Year Student

The following Monday after dinner Matt made his way down to the Quidditch field. Sure enough, Harry was right. The pitch was empty except for Harry. Professor Potter had not said to come alone or that Hermione or Ginny could not watch but no one else had accompanied him. Matt preferred it this way in all honesty. He was so self-conscious about flying he was not even sure he would be able to do it with only Harry watching him.

Matt swallowed hard and took a deep breath, steadying himself as he approached Harry. He stood there with one of the school brooms and his own Firebolt. Unbeknownst to Matt, Harry's original Firebolt had been lost during the Second Wizarding War but given his skills at Quidditch and overall enjoyment of flying, Harry had replaced the broom with a new one.

"Evening, Professor." Matt said almost nervously.

"Evening, Mr. Santini. No Hermione?" Harry asked, almost amusedly.

"She said she wanted to sit this one out. She didn't want to distract me." Matt said with a slight blush. "Plus, she said there was some things she wanted to do in the library anyway."

"Sounds like Hermione." Harry confirmed. "So, have you ridden a broom before?"

"I have it's just not as often as maybe it should have been?" Matt replied. "And after third year…"

"That incident with your teacher, it affected your flying?" Harry asked.

"Something like that…" Matt responded cagily. He was not ready yet to talk about the fallout from that situation.

"Alright, then. We'll start off with the basics." Harry said and set his own broom down, standing next to the perfectly polished handle. The broom floated off the ground, at the perfect height to mount. Matt walked up next to Harry and put his hand over the school broom and shouted.

"Up!" he commanded. The school broom responded and lifted into Matt's outstretched hand.

"Good, looks like you shouldn't have too big of a problem then." Harry said as he mounted his Firebolt. Matt followed suit, gulping nervously as he sat on the broom. Harry told him how to better grip it and Matt did as his teacher recommended. Hermione had told him all about Harry's impressive school record of wins playing Quidditch. If it had not been for Dementors and a professor called Umbridge Harry Potter would have had a perfect record of Quidditch wins.

"We're going to kick off easy, nice and slow." Harry said and gently pushed off from the grass. Matt mimicked his movements, the pair slowly rising to about six feet off the ground. "Good, you're doing great!" Harry said encouragingly. He had slipped into his teacher mode, just like back when he was head of Dumbledore's Army and teaching his fellow students Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Thanks, now what?" Matt replied.

"Well, we'll do a couple of laps around the pitch see how you fare." Harry said and titled his broom forward, moving ahead of Matt at less than a quarter of his usual flying speed. Matt did the same and followed his professor's lead. Harry took him around the Quidditch pitch a few times, each lap getting a little faster. Matt was soon able to keep up with Harry, but Harry was also not pushing his elite broom to the maximum either. Harry had tried to gain a little height each time, but Matt did not follow that particular bit of flying.

"Ok, this isn't too bad." Matt said, after their sixth lap around the pitch.

"You're doing great. Let's stop here for tonight and we'll pick it back up again next week." Harry said as they touched back down to solid earth. Matt looked visibly relieved to be back on the ground again.

"Thank you again, for this. I don't know what I'd do without help."

"You'd be in a right state and Hermione would probably kill me for not helping if she hadn't come to me first." Harry stated matter-of-factly. Matt laughed at this as did Harry, as they walked back up to the castle.

The following sessions went well and as Harry discovered, they were able to start meeting a little more often additionally, since Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were practicing back-to-back in the middle of the week. Matt was showing improvement; he was getting faster and had become a little more agile. He had been able to follow Harry through several different courses on the pitch and around the goals. However, he was not flying much higher than about six feet off the ground, much to Harry's chagrin.

As their latest Defense Against the Dark Arts class ended Harry asked Hermione and Ginny to stay back.

"Not me?" Matt asked, looking slightly hurt.

"Not this time, Mr. Santini." Harry replied, keeping things formal. Matt nodded his understanding and left the classroom.

"What is it Professor? Is everything alright?" Hermione asked, looking worried.

"Yeah, what's up Harry?" Ginny asked. Harry looked around for a moment and then replied.

"Actually, let's talk in my office." He walked to the small staircase, Hermione followed him, Ginny right behind her, into the circular room as he sat on the edge of his desk. Hermione was filled with dread. Even though it was Harry who asked her, she had still never been called into a professor's office before. What could she and Ginny possibly have done? They were excelling at the class, both having perfected nonverbal and wandless magic. What could this be about?

Harry raised his wand and silently closed the door behind them. Hermione looked at him impressed. He had always struggled before, with nonverbal spells. It seemed being a teacher really had done him a lot of good.

"Harry, you're scaring me, what's going on?" Hermione was now visibly worried, almost shaking.

"I need your help Hermoine, yours too Ginny." He spoke. Hermione relaxed and Ginny seemed more at ease as well, plopping herself down into one of the chairs in front of Harry's desk. He had done wonders with the décor in the office itself. It was colored the cool tan brick of Professor Lupin's days, but held some of Harry's own dark detectors, as well as the first Snitch he ever caught and his Firebolt.

"What could you possibly need our help with?" Hermione asked, intrigued.

"Well, I was thinking about showing some of the first-year students some Redcaps and Hinkypunks…"

"Harry! We didn't cover those until our third year! You'll traumatize them!" Hermione exclaimed. "I'll draw you up a lesson plan if you'd like…" she sat her bag down and began to rummage through it until she looked up to see Harry grinning. Hermione gave him a murderous stare and he quickly apologized.

"Sorry, Hermione, I was just joking." Harry said. He knew though, somehow, Hermione would turn in a lesson plan with her next assignment, just to be safe. "Actually, it's about Matt."

"What?" Hermione's worries renewed themselves with new vigor. Had her boyfriend done something bad this time? Was he not performing well and needed to take extra lessons in addition to flying?

"Uh-oh, trouble in paradise?" Ginny quipped.

"No, it's just his flying…" Harry began.

"He's not doing well, is he? Oh, I knew it. I should have come along to help." Hermione moaned. She was mentally beating herself up for letting him go on his own. She should be there for him, and she was not being there for him. Had she, by giving him a little space, inadvertently become a bad girlfriend?

"No, it's nothing like that." Harry said, holding up a hand to calm Hermione down. "He's actually doing well. Really well. He's honestly good enough to be on the Quidditch team if he wanted…"

"Fat chance of that! He's too afraid of the Bludgers to do it." Ginny said. Harry and Hermione gave her inquisitorial looks. "What? We may have tried a few things when training over the summer…" Ginny's unorthodox approach to Matt's magical rehab had been something kept only between the two of them.

"So, what's the problem then?" Hermione asked.

"I can't get him to go any more than about six feet off the ground. His fear of heights is stopping him." Harry said.

"I see…" Hermione was already slipping into her problem-solving mode. Her two companions could almost see the gears turning in her head as she thought. "I think I've got it." Hermione said and began to pace back and forth in the small office. "We've already established that he does share some personality traits to you, Harry."

"Go on…" Harry was not sure if this would turn out to be a compliment or not.

"So, assuming he doesn't just blame himself for everything and shoulder all the burden like you do, and that he also has some of your positive traits, like a desire to help and protect…then all we need to do is find something Matt cares about and use that to help him fly higher. Dangle it over the Black Lake or something…" Hermione said, feeling satisfied.

"That's a brilliant idea Hermione…" Harry said.

"Thank you." She beamed.

"Except, I've been asking Matt, talking to him a lot. I've figured out the one thing he really cares about more than anything else…" Harry said.

"Oh good! Then it won't be a problem. Honestly, Harry, you really didn't need my help at all with this did you?" Hermione was pleased with herself and Harry.

"Well actually Hermione…I still do. You see, the one thing Matt can't stop talking about, the one thing he cares about more than anything in the world, is you." Harry's words made Hermione's heart swell. Matt really did love her. As she beamed with happiness though, her face fell. The realization of what she just set herself up for hit her.

"Wait…"

"Hermione, you remember how you and Ron helped me during the Triwizard Tournament, letting me practice spells on you?" Harry said.

"Yes…well, you hit Ron with quite a few spells." Hermione reminded him.

"True, but this won't work if it's anyone other than you…" Harry responded.

"You mean you're going to dangle me over the Black Lake and make Matt fly up to get me down? What happens if he can't make it?"

"Well, that's why I need Ginny. She'll be on her broom, using a spell to hold up a plank that you'll be sitting on…if he can't make it before one of my spells disarms Ginny…"

"Wicked! It'll be like one of those Muggle dunk tanks!" Ginny said excitedly. "I've always wanted to see one of those up close. Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun…well, for me anyway!" Ginny grinned.

"Oh Harry! You know he'll never make it on the first go! And you're going to drop me into the Black Lake in November! It's freezing this time of year!" Hermione said indignantly. "Why don't you just gunge me like on those Saturday morning TV shows while you're at it! Really humiliate me?" She was not pleased with Harry's idea.

"Well, alright then. If you really don't want to. I guess I can ask Luna, she'd do it for me, but Matt doesn't have feelings for her like he does you. And I doubt Sharp's flying test is going to let him get away with only going six or seven feet off the ground…" Harry relented.

"Harry James Potter! How could you!" Hermione snapped. "You're manipulating me into doing this because you know full well how I feel about Matt."

"Hermione, the entire Wizarding World of Great Britain knows how you feel about him." Harry responded.

"I just want it known that while I agree to do this, it's only for Matt's sake!"

"He'd do it for you…" Harry reminded her.

"I know!" Hermione said and stormed out of his office.

"Well, that went well…" Ginny said, a smile playing at her lips.

"Yeah, Hermione might be a little upset now, but she'd go through hell for him. I don't think a cold bath in the Black Lake is going to hurt her pride too much." Harry said.

"It won't hurt either of them." Ginny said. Harry looked confused for a moment.

"What do you mean either of them?" Harry asked.

"Oh, really, Harry? You think Hermione's going to let herself get dunked in the lake and let Matt stay high and dry on his broom?" Ginny grinned.

"Oh, yeah, good point…" Harry said and turned to shuffle some papers on his desk. As he turned back, he found his girlfriend staring into his green eyes and smiling before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"We haven't had any alone time in quite a while, professor…" Ginny purred the last word, sinking a lot of innuendo into it.

"Well, Miss Weasley, I suppose I could give you a private lesson or two…" Harry replied, lacing his own words with hidden meaning as well.

"Oh, you wouldn't give me a detention, would you? Oh, I'll do anything to get out of it, professor, please." Ginny playfully pleaded and leaned up to kiss Harry on the lips forcefully. He returned her passions in kindness as they embraced their feelings.