Chapter 4: Falling in love with the man
Hermione was shaken awake by Draco. When she opened her eyes, it was still very dark outside, "What time is it? Why are you waking me up?" yawned Hermione as she turned to him.
"Well, your Highness, your days of ruling are over. I'll be taking the reins from here, and it happens my yacht is ready for departure. And since you asked, it's four in the morning," informed Draco.
"Yacht? What are you saying?" mumbled Hermione as she tried to understand what was happening.
"Well, I told you I was keeping the yacht trip for later," smirked Draco.
"No, you were kidding," snapped Hermione.
"As a matter of fact, I was deeply serious," said Draco, "Now hurry up a little or you'll make us miss a very breathtaking sight."
Now, those were the right words to motivate her. Everything this place had to offer to her eyes she would accept. She would never get enough of it.
Five minutes later, she was out of her room, ready to see whatever he wanted to show her. They took a couple of minutes to get to the yacht Draco had mentioned.
"Do you know why boats are assigned names?" asked Draco as they were walking in the harbor getting closer to the bigger boats.
"Hmm, no. My knowledge on the nautical world is kind of restricted," answered Hermione.
"Nowadays, we do it for tradition. In ancient times, they would name their boat after the goddess they wanted protection from while they were out at sea," explained Draco.
"Did you name your boat?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, and I'm sure you'll be able to guess which one it is without even glancing at the English flag," hinted Draco.
"It's the only boat with lights on and crew members on deck," guessed Hermione. Draco nodded. They reached the 20 meter boat called "Harmony".
"Draco, did you name-"started Hermione.
"Harmony is the goddess of harmony who also happens to have a very similar name to yours," confirmed Draco.
Hermione liked the boat very much. It was part of the bigger yachts tied to the harbor, but it wasn't too big. The super yachts which were more than fifty meters long and four decks in height did not come to the dock. They threw their anchor close and came to the land in a smaller motor boat which could often be found stored inside the garage of their yacht.
Right after climbing in and greeting the 4 men crew, the men working busied themselves and Draco decided to give Hermione a little tour. At the back of the boat, on the main deck, was an exterior dining table. When you entered the doors separating the inside and outside, you stood in a small living room and kitchen. There were also spiraling staircases to the sundeck and to the lower deck which housed crew members and other guests if they had wanted to bring others along. On the other side of the small living was a door leading to the master's suite. Draco brought Hermione to the sundeck where there was a big cushioned platform for them to lie on.
"You can sleep if you want. I'll tell you when we're there," whispered Draco as he lay next to her.
"I'm cold," commented Hermione.
"I'll go get blankets then," suggested Draco as he got up and went down to the master's suite.
When he came back, Hermione was sleeping. He unfolded one of the thickest blankets and threw it in the air so it fell flat on her. He then tucked her feet so she wouldn't be cold and so the blanket would not fly away since there was a breeze blowing due to the ships movement.
Approximately three quarters of an hour later, the ship stopped moving and all the motors went silent. Draco could not hear the crew men, but that's exactly what he had asked. Hermione had told him a week ago that there could not possibly be a better place to be in the world than on the patio of their penthouse as the sun was going down. He told her he was taking that as a challenge, and this was exactly what he was trying to achieve.
"Open your eyes Sleeping Beauty," ordered Draco.
"Sleeping Beauty had to be kissed to wake up," answered Hermione shyly. Draco had been the perfect travel buddy. It was like their Hogwarts years never had any negative effect on both of them. They were just like two good friends relaxing on a great trip in the world's most beautiful place to be in. But that's the thing, they had become two good friends. Nothing more, right? He was on a mission, he had to care and make sure she was safe because he was obliged to do so. Right? And what was he protecting her from again? They hurried out of the country and then Monaco stole all her preoccupations from her. Did it even matter?
"If you want my lips on yours, you can just ask," joked Draco. He would kiss her lips right now seriously. She reflected the beauty of the place. However, he felt like she wasn't ready for that kind of thing. She was still dreaming about that sunset they saw last night, and the smoked salmon salad they ate for supper, and the sweet lady that gave her an extra macaroon because she found her smile exquisite. She was in love with this place and he saw it in her eyes as she looked around. He was just a travel buddy for her, wasn't he?
Draco angered her. He always teased, and it frustrated her because she wanted it for real. It was like he knew, and kept playing with her. She sighed.
"Is something wrong?" asked Draco.
"No… I… You never told me what kind of trouble I was in," replied Hermione visibly trying to work out things in her head.
"It's not that hard to guess, really. After the war, loads of people wanted to hunt you and your friends-"said Draco.
"Ex-friends," noted Hermione bitterly, "I'm sorry, Draco. Let's talk about this another time. I don't want this moment you took time to arrange to be ruined by my bad mood."
"Alright. Would you like to see the sun rise twice this morning?" inquired Draco smiling.
"How is that possible? The sun won't go back down to surprise you a second time you know," observed Hermione.
"I'll show you then. Stand up. Oh come on, there's no magic involved, I promise," said Draco as he held out a hand to help her up. She took his hand and stood up.
The sky was beginning to lighten up, but the sun was nowhere to be seen. The ocean was so calm that the only sound that could be heard was her rumbling stomach. And if she turned around completely, she noticed that there was not an inch of earth anywhere in her vision.
"Look on your left, Hermione," announced Draco quietly.
Hermione saw the some rays of bright light poke hesitantly at the horizon before strengthening and taking their place.
"If you lie down now, you'll be able to see it again because of the Earth's curve," explained Draco. Hermione listened to his advice and shivered as the sunlight left her face while she bent down to lie flat on her stomach. They didn't have to wait very long, because the height difference wasn't very big. About a dozen of seconds later, they saw the rays of bright light poke the horizon again. In this moment, Hermione felt like they were alone in the world; not a speck of land to be seen, not a buzzing fly to be heard. The sky regained its light blue tint, and the ocean lost its dark gloomy look. Sunsets symbolize the end, but sunrises mean beginnings. She felt as if her bucket list fell empty. There was nothing else for her to see that would make her life seem fuller.
"So, did I manage?" demanded Draco.
"Manage what?" asked Hermione intrigued.
"I told you I'd find a better place to be than on our patio at 9 o'clock at night," reminded Draco.
"Oh. Well, I guess you can be proud of yourself," smiled Hermione.
It's not very good for your eyes to stare at the sun, so Hermione and Draco turned their heads the other side. The sun was quickly rising in the sky and the air was already warmer. Hermione wanted to nap again, so Draco went back down to get the sunscreen so she wouldn't burn. Hermione had gotten a very nice tan in the past week, and absolutely did not want to ruin it with a sunburn. Draco and Hermione helped each other with spreading the sunscreen over the backs. Draco was amazed by the smoothness of her skin every time he had the chance to cake her back with sunscreen.
Hermione had taken off her beach dress and laid down in her bikini on her stomach to let Draco apply the sunscreen to her back. Draco was lying down on his side leaning on one of his elbows with the bottle of sunscreen in one of his hand whereas the other one was applying it to her back. As he was applying it to the bottom half of her back, he made sure to graze her sides as he knew she was ticklish. He found her terribly cute when she squirmed under his touch. He moved up to doing the top half of her back. When he neared the strap separating both halves, he usually lightly pulled the strap off of her skin so his hand could pass underneath, and applied sunscreen in the objective of avoiding unwanted sunburns in case the tissue moved. This time, when he pulled the strap off of her skin, the two sides unhooked from one another and her back was left bare of any straps. Her lack of reaction made Draco wonder whether she was asleep or didn't care to expose herself to him. Draco left the two straps unhooked and finished rubbing the sunscreen on her skin. It'd give her a chance to have a uniformly tanned back. He then went back down to put the sunscreen away. He talked to the crew men and the motors were brought back to life. They would go eat their petit-déjeuné in Cannes today, then their déjeuné in Nice, and would come back and be in time for the diner.
At the end of their little cruise, as soon as they set foot on Monaco's harbor, they left to go get Hermione's dress. Before leaving the shop, Hermione tried on the dress. It looked perfect on her. She really wished she would get more than a night in this stunning apparel. She turned around in the mirror room to see every angle of the dress, and she seemed to float in that dress. She'd totally wear it every day, but sadly that wasn't very hygienic.
They went back to their apartment. They had a reservation in two hours and a half in a restaurant right in front of the casino. Hermione didn't waste a minute and jumped in her shower. When she got out, she got in her underwear and started blow drying her hair. She took a whole hour and a half to transform her bushy hair into a gorgeous half up half down hairstyle. She then took three quarters of an hour to apply makeup that made her chocolate brown eyes stand out and her lips so desirable. Being on a tight schedule, she barely took the time to look at herself and started running around her room to find her jewelry and heels. She slid her feet in her heels, put on the earrings and bracelet, untied the back of her dress and stepped inside to slide it up on herself. She couldn't tie the back as she wasn't flexible enough for such activity.
"Malfoy, uh, can you help me a little?" called Hermione shyly.
A few moments later, Draco hesitantly opened the door of her room. She was in front of her mirror, and he couldn't let go of the eye contact he had with her reflection as he walked towards her. He was now the one dreaming. The most beautiful woman in the entire universe was staring at him, and not only was she staring at him, she was smiling at him… only him.
"Why did you require my presence, beautiful lady?" asked Draco in total awe.
"Well, I can't bring the zipper of the dress up, and would you mind attaching the necklace afterwards?" said Hermione trying to seem confident for the impressive man who was watching her carefully. She noticed a very pleasant sent emanated from his body as he got closer. Draco was incredibly handsome. Gel held his blonde hair in place, and none of it covered his perfectly cut face. His bright blue eyes never left hers, but she still managed to see that he wasn't done preparing. The top of his button-down shirt wasn't tied and both halves of the bowtie around his neck were hanging loosely.
Draco took a step forward and gently took the back of the dress in his hands to bring the zipper up. It started quite low, and he was questioning himself as to why she was letting him see so much of her lower back, but as soon as he tried pulling it up, he realized what the problem was: it was stuck. He tried tugging on it, but it only gave him a better view of her behind. It was covered by matching blue lace knickers. He prayed a little inside that this wasn't going to result in anything embarrassing, and finally, after a stronger tug, the zipper went straight up to the middle of her back without any difficulty. Hermione then handed him her necklace and he tied it with great ease.
"Need a couple more minutes?" asked Draco.
"Yeah, but it shouldn't be long," replied Hermione unable to move her gaze away from the reflection of his face.
"Perfect, because our driver should be here already," smirked Draco.
"You know the restaurant is two streets away from here," reminded Hermione, but Draco had turned around and left her room. Hermione sighed. Draco was throwing money out at every occasion he had. Was he like this all the time? Was every girl he was asked to protect treated the same way? Was she any different from any other?
When they got out of their apartment block, a very luxurious black car was waiting for them. She didn't recognize the brand, but the sign looked like a crown or a trident. Hermione was holding on Draco's arm partly for etiquette, but mostly because her heels were six inches high, and she did not plan on diving onto the sidewalk tonight. They had to look pretty impressive for tourists to stop walking around and start taking pictures of them without hiding their intentions at all. The chauffeur opened the side door before they reached the car and closed it once both were seated inside the vehicle.
Apparently, Draco had told the chauffeur to zigzag in the streets so the ride would take longer than the 30 seconds necessary to reach the restaurant from their building. When they reached a high peak of the city, the car slowed down to a stop. Draco opened his door and offered Hermione a hand which she took without hesitation, but a little perplex.
"Why are we stopping here?" demanded Hermione.
"I want to remember this as long as I live, Hermione," explained Draco, "would you please allow our chauffeur to take a couple of pictures of us in front of this magnificent sunset?"
"But we won't see us in the picture if we are between the light source and the photographer," stated Hermione.
"Ah, there's Miss-know-it-all!" Draco winked, "actually, we'll turn a little and he will stand over there. The sun will come from behind me, but will be straight in front of you. I will shift a little to your left so that you don't end up with my shadow hiding half your beautiful face."
"Fine," agreed Hermione. That actually was a great idea. She wanted to remember this, forever. Hadn't he said the same a couple of seconds before? Was it possible he actually felt something similar to what she felt for him?
They took a few pictures. The first ones were all very serious poses, but slowly, the poses became more humoristic. They then got back into the Maserati–Hermione had learnt the name of the brand of the car they were driven in–, and got to the restaurant. They were actually dining on a terrace in front of the casino which was filled of parked luxurious cars. On the other end of the terrace, an orchestra was playing beautifully. Every man was dressed as chicly as Draco, and every woman wore multiple thousands of euros apparel. They were the youngest of all present guests, and Hermione attributed that cause to the excessive amount of glares that were thrown their way. She got used to it after a while, and only concentrated on the man who had invited her to this magnificent place. They had an exquisite seven service meal, and when they left, the night had taken up all the sky. Draco wanted to visit the casino that was just a couple of steps away, and Hermione didn't feel like opposing herself to him. However, when they got in, the numerous sources of noise made her dizzy and she asked Draco if they could get away from the cacophony. Draco found a bar, bought drinks and brought her on the casino's gallery.
"There are so many stars we can see here," observed Hermione, "unlike in London… I remember the starry sky at Hogwarts. I prefer this one."
Draco was looking at Hermione. He saw the reflection of the stars in the iris of her eyes, and he couldn't believe how beautiful she was. "I prefer this view," declared Draco. She was leaning against the white marble wall separating her from the ocean, and he was standing right in front of her… very close to her with one of his arms pressed on top of the short marble wall.
"Draco… I…" mumbled Hermione. She felt hot, but that wasn't due to the alcohol in her blood. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and that was due to the man right in front of her. The moon was high and bright in the sky, not a single cloud was present to hide a single star from her eyes, they could hear the clash of waves hitting the beach and the complicated notes played without a slip by orchestra, she could smell Draco's cologne… In such an atmosphere, romantic attempts were bound to succeed, weren't they? But it would take courage… She was a Gryffindor at heart, she could do this, couldn't she?
"You don't have to say anything," noted Draco. Had he pushed her too quickly? He felt her head lean on his chest, exactly where his heart was, and took that as a positive sign.
"Can I ask you a few questions?" asked Hermione as she closed her eyes. She was extremely comfortable on Draco's chest. She could probably get used to sleeping on his chest.
"Only if I get to do the same," replied Draco.
Hermione let a few seconds tic off the clock before she said, "Deal. I'll start: do you treat all girls this way?" This reminded her of the Muggle game 'Truth or dare'.
"If you're asking if I buy ten thousand euro dresses to every girl I meet, well the answer is no," answered Draco. Hermione lift her head up. Draco saw that she was visibly unsatisfied with his answer. He added, "Fine. As a matter of fact, I don't see much people in general. I find social gatherings where all people do is gossip quite boring, and they seem to be the only gatherings existing for people our age. I tend to occupy myself in other ways. So, to answer your question, it seems that the answer is no, because I just don't hang out with girls really. My turn now: what is your biggest fear at this exact moment?"
Hermione's curiosity had turned against her. She did not want to admit that she was afraid he would laugh in her face if he knew how she felt about him, or that she was afraid he would turn out like Ron and leave her to rot in her own tears. After a few moments, she said, "It's not fair. I went with an easy question on you, and your question is difficult."
"It is not difficult. You obviously already have the answer," whispered Draco, "What would have been cruel would have been to ask: Do you love me?"
Hermione felt herself weaken. He knew. He knew. He knew. And he didn't say anything more? He must be playing with her, trying to add her to his list of conquests. Her eyes filled with tears, and she straightened up. She didn't want to be that close if he didn't feel the same way.
Draco carefully put down his drink, and pressed his other arm on the low marble wall, trapping Hermione in between his arms. He bent down his head, and repeated, "What is your biggest fear at this exact moment, Hermione?"
"I'm… afraid of… that… well… that you don't feel the way I feel about you," wept Hermione as she lowered her eyes. She felt Draco gently lodge one of his hands between the wall and her hip. The other one lifted her chin a heartbeat later.
"Look at me, Hermione," ordered Draco softly.
"I-"began Hermione.
Draco's lips were now millimeters apart from Hermione's. He said, "Shh, listen to me, I want you to hear what I'm about to say. Hermione, I want you to know that I think that you are the most exquisite woman in the world. You are, without doubt, the smartest-"
Draco was cut midsentence by Hermione's lips that pressed against his.