Chapter Two: True Loves First Kiss?

Hermione, Nicolette and Draco had headed down to the Lake, to find only a few people were there. This surprise the trio as it was nearly fifty degrees Celsius. They laid out their towels and put down their bags. Not a moment later Nicolette was literally dragging Hermione into the lake.

Draco remained on the beach, not believing himself that he was friends with Hermione's cousin. He had been muttering to himself when he had gone to get his stuff from the mansion before they had headed down to the beach.

'This will probably be an eventful summer', he had thought to himself, 'Granger's cousin lives next door to me, Granger is there for the summer, and I am at the mansion for the summer. I was hoping to get away from her for the summer! I can't stand to be around her know-it-all attitude for the whole summer!'

He looked out onto the lake and saw Nicolette and Hermione who were slashing in the waves from the motorboat that had just passed. They were splashing, laughing and making up for the lost time. This was a different side to Hermione that he'd never seen before. At least, not up close. She was so carefree and happy. He'd never noticed before, but her smile seemed to be infectious. It was one of those smiles that could put a smile on anyone's face.

Draco stood up and headed for the water, planning to sneak up on the girls, via under water. He was stopped in his tracks as a cold hand grabbed onto his shoulder.

"Draco", said a cold voice. "Exactly what are you doing?"

Draco turned around to see Lucius Malfoy, standing right behind him.

"Father!" Draco exclaimed, shoocked to see his father on the beach. "It's summer and we're on holiday. I was merely going to cool down by taking a swim."

"I see," his father said slowly, "Well, fine then, carry on"

"Draco nodded his head and continued to the water, but instead of continue with his plan to frighten the girls, he was going to warn them about his father being at the beach.

-.-

Hermione, Nicolette and Draco decided to leave the beach and go to the skate park on the base.

They headed back home to drop their beach gear and put on some trainers. Nicolette grabbed her skateboard.

"I didn't know you skateboard," Hermione said.

Her cousin nodded, her dark brown eyes sparkling. "For about a year now. My ex taught me how to when we were together. I really got into it. Have you ever boarded?"

Hermione shook her head no. "I can't even balance on a broom, I can't even being to imagine trying out a skateboard."

"Flying a broom, now that's something that I could get into."

They called a taxi to come and pick them up from Nicolette's and a quarter of an hour later, they had arrived at their destination.

They got out of the cab, paid the driver and took a look around. Almost immediately, Nicolette spotted her ex-boyfriend, Stephen.

"Nicolette!" Stephen called when he saw her.

Hermione looked over towards Stephen and asked her cousin, "Who is that cutie?"

"Stephen, my ex. We're still friends though."

"Damn!" Hermione whispered. There was no doubt that Stephen was good looking. As the boy began to walk over, Hermione admired his toned arms and stomach. His shaggy dirty blonde hair was damp with sweat and through his fringe a pair of bright blue eyes were visible.

"I know," Nicolette winked at her cousin.

Draco rolled his eyes and saw that the Stephen guy was walking towards them.

"Nicolette, who are your friends?", Stephen asked, eyeing Hermione, then winking at her.

Nicolette and Hermione giggled.

"Hey Stephen, this is Hermione," Nicolette smiled before motioning towards Hermione, "and Draco."

"Hey," Hermione and Draco greeted together.

"'sup?" Stephen asked.

Nicolette and Hermione were about to burst out laughing from the utterly confused look on Dracos face. His silver eyes squinted with one eyebrow raised.

"Erm, what?" he asked.

Stephen began to realize the British accent in Draco's accent.

"Aw, Draco," Hermione started.

"Shut it Granger," he muttered.

Hermione laughed. "Don't be so -,"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it."

"Ok, is dis some kind of inside joke or somffin, cuz man dis is like creepin me out. I mean, like, what da hell is going on here? You guys, like, finish each others sentences.", Stephen said.

"Was that English?", Draco muttered in Hermione's ear.

Hermione nodded and said, "Stephen, could I borrow your skateboard?"

He nodded and handed it to her. Hermione took the board and walked over to the half pipe. She was nervous, but she was confident. Just at that moment, she left like she could do anything. Even ride a broomstick successfully. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her, but somewhere inside of her was telling her she needed to do this.

Some guy that look awfully familiar said, "Hey guys! Look! A girl's gonna go for it."

Hermione smirked at him and said, "And gonna kick your muggle arse."

The guy, along with everyone else except Nicolette and Draco, looked confused when she said the word 'muggle', but Draco and Nicolette smirked along with her.

Draco glanced at Stephen, who looked a bit more surprised than confused. But the guy was weird as far Draco was concerned, so he thought nothing of it.

"Huh?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "I would use slow words, but that would just waste my precious time."

"Hey! You're British!"

Hermione gasped in mocked surprise. "No way! I never would have thought!"

"I don't like your attitude."

"And I am thrilled with yours, but I wasting time here just dissing you. Are you up for a challenge?" The words came out of Hermione's mouth before she could do anything about them. She didn't regret them however. She still felt like she could conquer anything.

"You bet"

-.-

Two hours later, Hermione had kicked the guy's ass and was ruling on the half pipe. When she had had enough, and gave Stephen back his board, and thanked him, apologizing for taking it for so long.

Stephen shook his head. "Don't apologize. That was off da hook. You're obvs a natural."

"Thanks." Hermione blushed as she accepted the compliment.

"No probs. So, how do y'all know each other?" Stephen inquired.

"Oh, Hermione's my cousin. And Draco is my neighbour, he lives in the mansion beside me during the summers." Nicolette explained.

"Hermione and I also attend school together at home."

"Really?" Stephen asked. "That's mintin. Where do ya both study?"

"We attend a private boarding school for the gifted."

Stephen nodded as someone behind him called out his name. He turned to look at the guy who called his name and gave him a nod of acknowledgement. He turned back to the others.

"What're ya'll up ta today, cause I'm starved. Wanna grab some grub at Clarks?"

Draco had no idea what this guy was on about, but luckily the girl did. Or he hoped they did, since they had just agreed for him.

They used Nicolette's cell phone to call a cab to take them to Clarks and within another fifteen minutes they were there.

They walked into the little diner, which was new to Hermione and Draco, but Nicolette and Stephen had been there at least a 100 times, and they all were immediately grateful for air conditioning. As Hermione and Draco looked around to take in the decor they saw a few tables covered in red and white tablecloths, unlike the tables outside which had nothing on them. The ceiling had a nice silver design on it, and had rich chocolate-coloured beams. It had an old-fashioned style to it. Hermione loved it.

They were seated and they all ordered a milkshake or some kind. Nicolette had strawberry, Hermione asked for chocolate, Draco decided on blueberry and Stephen went with his regular, banana. Hermione and Draco had been informed that Clarks had out-of-this- world milkshakes, so, naturally, they had to try them.

They finished their milkshakes, which true to the stories, were the best Hermione and Draco had ever had, and Hermione, Nicolette and Draco headed home one way, Stephen the other.

Once they were home, Hermione and Nicolette were back on the patio with nice glasses of iced tea in their hands. Uncle Ben was on the other side of the patio, bar-b-quing some nice looking chicken.

"I could see if we can go to Edmonton for the week, we can take the bus. Down, it is only 4 hours on the bus," Nicolette suggested after a few minutes of relaxing.

"What are we going to do in Edmonton?" Hermione asked. She had read all about Edmonton, as from what she read, there were about a million and one things to do in the area.

"We can go to Galaxy Land."

"YAY! I have always wanted to go there!" Hermione cheered, grinning.

"Well, am I invited?" a voice behind them said.

They turned to see who it was. Draco.

Hermione looked over at Nicolette, who nodded. "Sure you are. Maybe I'll ask Stephen if he wants to come as well."

"Okay, you guys wanna go for a walk?", Draco asked.

Nicolette and Hermione got up and walked over to him.

They walked and talked about their plans for tomorrow. They walked down to the beach and sat down in the warm sand. The sun was slowly setting over the lake in the distance. A few multi coloured sails were visible on the far side of the lake.

"You Lakers are lucky." Draco stated.

"Why?" Nicolette asked.

"'Cause you guys have the one of the best sailing places in the world."

"Oh. Well, I've never been, so I couldn't really say."

They sat there for a while and Nicolette was obviously flirting with Draco. Then, Nicolette said she'd be back in a minute or two, she had to go to the little girls' room.

She walked off towards the toilets, leaving Hermione and Draco alone on the pretty much empty beach.

Hermione and Draco sat there for a few moments without speaking. Hermione looked over at the boy who was acting completely different than the one she knew at school.

Draco felt her eyes on him, so turned to look back. Their eyes locked and Draco found himself holding his breath. Without realizing it, Draco leaned down and gave Hermione a soft kiss on the lips.

The kiss lingered a moment, and as Draco pulled away he saw a very surprised look on Hermione's face. Not that he could blame her, even he was shocked with himself.

"I-I gotta g-go.", Draco stammered, and was gone.