Hermione could see that Ginny's scream bothered the shadow very much. The hand that was not holding the sharp object went to his ear. She could deftly hear Blaise, scuffling on the dirt. She pictured him backing away ever so slowly, eyes locked with whoever was behind her.

Just then, Draco Malfoy emerged from the shadows, scowling. One of his hands was on his ear, and the other was holding two very sharp sticks, which held a grilled fish each.

"Bloody hell, woman," Draco cursed, finally taking off the hand from his ear. "You could've topped a banshee, no problem."

"You nearly scared us to death, you know," Hermione pointed out. "Don't blame it on her – Blaise looked as though he was about to faint."

"Hey!" Blaise protested as he saw an amused grin creeping on Draco's face. "You can't even see me, Hermione!"

"I can feel the tension, Zabini."

Blaise huffed, his arms crossed. Ginny had the same attitude, and they looked as though they were twins. Draco and Hermione laughed themselves senseless, and he sat down beside her, giving one stick to Ginny and Blaise, the other one saving for him and Hermione.

"I was gone for so long because I grilled the fish I collected," he casually explained. "The Muggle way took some time, though…"

Hermione took a bit of fish and smelled it. "Mmm… I haven't had grilled fish in years… My father used to take me fishing when I was eight… I wouldn't handle a rod, though. He was the one doing all the work, and by sundown we would grill them at our backyard. Mum used to be so angry," she recalled with a laugh, "she would complain about replacing oxygen in the house with smoke."

They started eating, Blaise's unfinished story forgotten, and they munched happily in silence. They could practically hear the crickets chirping, but they had to admit, this was a nice change from the noisy city life (not to mention the destructive noises from the war) they had grew up in. It made them think long and hard about the life that had been deprived from them since childhood.

Hermione, whose heart had been beating like crazy, ripped a piece of the grilled fish, and made to feed Draco.

The Slytherin, already too self-conscious, went to pluck the fish from her fingers to eat it without her aid.

"Open your mouth," Hermione demanded, peering at him like a mother.

Draco shook his head. "Never going to happen," he muttered through clenched teeth. He wasn't going to give Hermione a chance.

"Open your mouth," she insisted, this time, in a sweet voice her dentist parents would use on nervous patients when they were going to inject anesthesia to pull out a tooth. She had been practicing it for ages, and tonight was a success.

"Oh, no, no," Draco said, backing away, trying hard not to laugh.

They didn't notice Blaise and Ginny were looking at them like a very exciting TV show until Blaise cleared his throat.

Hermione and Draco looked at Blaise, who said, "You'd better open your mouth, Draco."

Draco shook his head stubbornly. "It's embarrassing," he whined.

"Do it," Ginny added, "Or else Hermione will get mad. And a very angry Miss Granger tends to bite noses – and she bites hard."

"Besides," Blaise put in, "It's only a friendly gesture. Or is it something else entirely…?"

Draco flushed in the light of the fire, and he very reluctantly opened his mouth a bit. Hermione popped the small amount of fish in.

Ginny clapped her hands and whooped. Blaise went around the fire in a kind of victory dance he had made himself.

Hermione pretended that it was just a friendly gesture. She knew she was blushing furiously, and she avoided the light from the fire as much as she could while eating. Draco, who was still blushing, looked up at the stars nervously.

"I think we'd better leave and get going," Ginny said, and she and Blaise stood up from their log, patting their bottoms to rid of dirt and dust.

"Wait, wait," Hermione said, desperately keeping her panic at bay. "Where are you going?"

"Ginny and I had a bet," Blaise elaborated. "If we could get and haul a fish from underwater without rippling the surface."

"Two Galleons," Ginny exclaimed proudly, pulling up to her full height. "Two Galleons will be in my pocket tonight."

"We'll see about that." And the two bickering teenagers went away, hands and faces in a gestural debate.

Hermione, suddenly remembering her amnesia act, scooted closer. Draco scooted away from her. She chased him and he avoided. She slid to him until he was at the edge of the log.

"We're the only ones here, you know," she said, looking into the fire. "You could act like yourself. I won't mind."

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked. Hermione was so close to him she could feel his chest vibrating when he spoke.

"You know. You could call me 'Mudblood' or 'abomination.' I won't mind, honest."

"I changed, Hermione," he sighed. "Maybe you forgot about our last year, too, but I changed. I even went to you for Defense lessons, remember?"

"Uhm… yeah…" Hermione looked up, and saw that Draco had a bit of fish hanging from the corners of his mouth. She meant to brush it away, but Draco caught her wrist an inch before his face.

"What the hell's going on?" she exploded. "Why are you always avoiding me? Here I am, minding my own business, and – poof! – You appear into my life and make 'amends' for something I can't remember. Then, after I accept you, you back away!" She stood up and turned her back to him, arms crossed. "Ginny told me we fight every day at Hogwarts," she said, "Fighting for nothing in particular. I went to this trip to see how this friendship works out. I was really happy when I realized we weren't fighting like we were kids again, but I just…" she trailed off, staunching the tears.

Draco stood up, regretting his actions as of late. He so badly wanted to circle his arms on her waist, covering her back, and murmur in her ear about how she looked so beautiful in the light of the fire, but he wasn't sure she would accept that… not yet.

He gently put his hands on her shoulders and made her face him. "I'm sorry," he whispered, placing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I promise I won't avoid you ever again."

She sniffed before she looked up. "Really?"

"Really." He smiled authentically.

She grinned back, picked up the half-eaten fish on a stick, ripped another small piece, and said, "Open."

Draco hesitated. "Hermione, I'm full."

"Oh, come on! You've only had twenty-three little pieces!" she blurted.

Draco laughed. "I'm full, okay?"

Hermione glowered. "Fine. Instead of you eating fish, I'm going to bite your nose."

Draco's eyes widened. "You wouldn't…"

"Try me."

She leaned up, reaching for his nose with her mouth. Draco, who was regretting his promise a little, raised his nose a bit higher as Hermione was about to close her mouth. She went on her tiptoes, chomping menacingly… Draco flicked his face to the side to stall her from biting his nose…

And she accidentally chomped on his lips.

Both were too embarrassed to speak or meet the other in the eyes for an hour and a half.


The next morning, Ginny woke up with only air as company in her bed. She didn't know that Blaise woke up at the exact same moment, pondering the exact same problem.

No one knew Hermione and Draco were by the lake's edge, soaking their feet in the water, laughing as the fish tickled their soles.

"Why'd you wake me up so early?" Hermione groaned for the third time, yawning. The sun hadn't even risen yet, and they had been steadily awake for an hour. "Why can't it wait until, you know… the sun is up?"

"When the sun is up, so are Ginny and Blaise, and I can't do what I want to if they're around," Draco explained matter-of-factly.

"Well, we haven't done anything."

"Not yet." Draco pointed to the sky, which was now gradually becoming pink. "Look."


Blaise and Ginny looked at the two forms, silhouetted by the rising sun. Draco had one arm around Hermione's shoulders, and her head was on his shoulder. Their backs were turned to them, but they could easily see their content in each other's company.

"Guess Plan number Two is a success," Blaise whispered fervently. Ginny nodded.

The sun slowly rose, taking its time before it releases its full glory on the world. Draco kissed the top of Hermione's head.

Ginny's eyes widened. How did these two become so close overnight?

"I will miss this once we go home…"Ginny heard Hermione say, a sigh of longing lingering around.

"We can always go camping again," Draco suggested hopefully.

"Hmm… I'd like that," Hermione replied, smiling.

Ginny motioned to Blaise. "I think we'd better go, leave these two lovebirds be."

Blaise nodded, and they left the couple alone, doing Merlin-knows-what. Draco and Hermione returned long after the sun had fully risen, a little breathless and flushed, but content.

Ginny and Blaise, who were cleaning up the remains of last night's bonfire, grinned as they saw the two hastily hide the fact that they were holding hands.

Hermione went to Ginny, and Draco motioned to Blaise. They both whispered about the events that they had missed ("Oh, Ginny, you should've been there! Oh, but if you were there, we'd be too embarrassed to do it, so, yeah, thanks for sleeping in!"). They had been oh-so-love struck that they hadn't noticed they had praised and insulted the one they were talking to in one sentence.

Ginny's face twisted when Hermione got to the part where they had kissed, and she could very clearly see that Blaise had mirrored her expression. Blaise could only mouth "THIS IS TORTURE!" and Ginny couldn't do anything but nod solemnly and wince visibly as Hermione described every single detail.

Well, at least the plan is over, she thought desperately, praying to Merlin that the two lovebirds would get it over with.