"Harry, will you stop winking at me like that? It's really odd." Hermione said. She was used to, and flattered by, Harry's habit of staring at her when they were alone, but the way he was doing it this time did make her feel rather peculiar.
"Whoops... I kind of got carried away there. Let's do the other eye." Harry lay down again as Hermione dripped one drop of the potion into his other eye. Another five minutes of restrained thrashing and cursing later, Harry was seeing perfectly.
"Thank you thank you thank you! Hermione, you've changed my life more than I can imagine... I can't possibly thank you enough." Harry hugged her, lifted her off her feet and spun her around. Letting her back down, he immediately kissed her. Hermione was caught breathless, and smiled at him without saying a word. Harry kept on going, "You've let me see things! I never even knew how much I've been missing. I can't even imagine how much of life I'd be missing without you in it, Hermione."
"My life has certainly been a lot more interesting with you in it, Harry, and I wouldn't trade it for the world."
"Becoming friends with you was the best thing I ever did. I really have to thank Quirrel for sending that troll into Hogwarts back in first year," Harry joked.
"Wouldn't that mean you'd be thanking Voldemort, as well?" Hermione pointed out to him.
"Fine, that's one reason less out of a million for permanently sending him six feet under," Harry said in a faux-sulking tone. "Can we talk about cheerier things now?"
"Well, how about celebrating your newfound eyesight? It's too late to watch another sunset, but maybe we can sneak up to the Astronomy tower and watch a few stars..." Hermione mused aloud.
"Mm... we could get caught up there. Besides, there's a much more beautiful sight I'd rather feast my eyes upon with my newfound eyesight."
"What? Where?"
"You, silly. Why don't we just stay down here for a while... I want to just stay here with you. You're all I want to see right now, Hermione."
Hermione blushed as they drew closer together. Harry watched in rapt fascination as her cheeks grew rosy, then moved his eyes to her lips, her nose, her eyes. They lay together as Harry played with her hair, stroking and inspecting locks, taking his time and combing his fingers through. Lifting one of her hands, he saw the softness of her fingertips, the lines on her palm, and the glint of light from her fingertips... he took in every little detail he never realized was there for the years he had known her. They lay together until midnight, cherishing the longest private moment they had in weeks.
The morning of the Trial of Air, Harry woke with his heart already thumping. Hermione reminded him of important things to remember for the Trial. "Alright, Corrieshalloch Gorge is about 60km long, with only 1.5km visible to muggles. I'm guessing they probably won't bring us that close to the muggle area, so the course is probably only 55km. Your Firebolt's top speed is close to 150 km/h, but you'll only rarely hit top speed, so prepare for a 40-minute long race or so. Now, the most dangerous native creatures to the gorge are griffinettes, which are much smaller than griffins, but they like to attack in packs. Your best bet for them is the Ventascindo, the Splitting Wind. I wouldn't be surprised if they told Hagrid to bring a few hippogriffs, too. If you can't stun them, just try to outfly them..." Hermione was nearly overwhelming him with information, but he knew every bit of it was important.
Hermione coached him as long as she could, until they flooed to Ullapool. From there, the champions were escorted away immediately. She had to make her way to the stands. Luckily, she had one of the best seats in the house, as Harry had given her his complimentary ticket as a guest of the champion. Harry was led to the champion's tent, where they would be told the final details of the trial. While waiting, Harry tried to evaluate his competition.
Krum was the obvious one. He was holding a Firebolt like Harry, but it looked a little different. The twigs at the back were trimmed differently, and the front handle had a double-hand grip attached. The stirrups had a closed-toe design that clamped right down onto his boots, so he could let go with both hands without losing control of the broom. It was obviously a customized version, tailored to his preferences. As a professional seeker, there were no doubts as to his skills. Harry had seen him flying around the Durmstrang's ships masts and rigging, pulling amazingly tight turns at high speed, every morning. He obviously didn't want to let his Quidditch skills deteriorate over the course of the year. His magic, however, was equally impressive, if the rumours proved true. Krum had been a high-level amateur dueller in Durmstrang, and only chose Quidditch as his career because it had better pay. Given how a large portion of professional duellers came from Durmstrang, being one of the best at that school automatically made him deadlier than most of the people in the professional league. He would have no problem blasting his way through this event.
Harry also had a fairly good idea of how Cedric stacked up. Cedric was fairly good on his Nimbus 2000, and Harry had to admit, they were probably evenly matched in terms of flying skill. Harry was better at spotting the snitch, he had the faster broom, and he was smaller, so that made him a better seeker. With his improved eyesight, there would be no contest. That particular skill, however, didn't quite apply in a race. Harry would still be faster than Cedric, and be able to outmanoeuvre him thanks to his Firebolt, but Cedric generally made the right decisions and knew where to fly and when to dodge. He was also top of his year at school, so his skill in charms, transfiguration, and defense were all top-notch. He had no strength in particular, but was quite creative when mixing up different spell combinations.
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