A/N: YAY another chapter up!

And before you guys ask, no, this isn't the last chapter. I felt that if it was, it would be too abrupt, and the ending would be crap. So I think the next chapter would be the last. (Or I might split it up into two chapters, depending on the length)

Please review-they are much appreciated.


Chapter eight: Lust

Draco started laughing. "Just joking," he sniggered. Hermione looked at him with a mixture of emotions-horror being one of them. Fury was another.

How could he lie about something like this? How could he? Did he not know how serious she was?

When he had told her he had seen her face in the mirror, she felt relieved that she was not heading down a hard one-way street, she then felt confused-she knew that Draco liked her but thought it was just a phase he was going through, and then she felt amusement, because, seriously, a pure-blood Slytherin liked the Mudblood from Gryffindor? And then she felt... somehow disappointed.

She couldn't explain it. She obviously liked him, and the mirror told him that he liked her back, so why did she felt disappointed?

And then Draco gives her a few moments for all these emotions to come whirling inside her before he told her he had lied. How despicable.

"Tell the truth," Hermione demanded, cold fury rising up in her like bile. "Did you, or did you not, see my face in that mirror?"

Draco looked at the mirror, which was safely out of Hermione's view. "I didn't see your face okay? I thought it'd be funny." He smirked, then thrust the mirror back into Hermione's shaking hands.

"We're still on tomorrow night right, Granger?" He asked, walking away. He didn't wait for an answer before he disappeared among the crowd, leaving Hermione clutching the mirror staring at his retreating back.

Lavender, Harry and the mirror told her she liked Draco Malfoy, but right now all she could feel was anger. Anger and hate. Were all these emotions linked to the so-called best feeling in the world –'love'? If so, she hated it. She'd rather be void of all these confusing feelings than get a small taste of what love felt like.

It just wasn't worth it.


Draco dropped his smirk when he threaded his way around people. His face was still flushed-it felt as if his cheeks were on fire. His ears were too-he could feel it.

The image of Hermione Granger, with her bushy hair and all appearing slowly into focus on the mirror burned into his mind. The mirror showed who he liked. And mirrors like that never lied-in fact, they were honest. Too honest.

He didn't know why he lied, he immediately saw the reaction on Hermione's face after he told her he didn't see her face in the mirror. But he did not regret his actions. Make her think he was just playing around with her. Make her think that liking her was just a joke, a phase he'd grow out of.

He would follow through with his plan, right up to the last step. He had already managed to spike Ron's pumpkin juice with the potion that he'd just finished brewing, and the box of chocolate frogs containing a double dose of another potion would have arrived, on Ron's bed, before he went to sleep. He was sure Ron would eat it, Draco hoped he'd share the frogs with Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor boys.

He had an excuse to the Slytherins for being nice to Hermione Granger, people had been giving him disproving looks and once, Blaise and Nott had pulled him aside and demanded him to 'snap out of it'.

Once he revealed his plan to them, they would approve of it, definitely, and forgive him. But if he'd told them that he had discovered that he did, indeed, liked Hermione, they would never let that down. They would tell his mother-or worse, his father.

If Draco had not told Hermione that he'd 'lied', Blaise and Nott would have caught wind of the mirror and what it showed, and within the hour, an owl would be making its way to Malfoy Manor. Merlin knew what his father would do.

But Draco wasn't worried about himself.

His father would, if worst comes to the worst, merely confiscate Draco's access to his vault and refuse to give him money and then monitor Draco's letters and his conversations via the Floo network. That was it.

But his father would not hesitate one bit to punish Hermione, even though it was not her fault. Hermione Granger was a Gryffindor, and worse still, a mudblood. This was something Draco's father would not tolerate.

Draco reached his common room, muttered the password glumly and headed to the dormitories. But it would be some time yet before he fully fell asleep.

He just hoped tomorrow would come and go as quickly as possible. He hoped that his plan would not fail. He hoped that Blaise and Nott would fall for his 'excuse' for being nice to Hermione. He hoped Hermione would be so angry at him she'd hate him-and forget that she ever liked him.

He hoped.


Hermione stormed up to the Gryffindor tower, positively snarled at the Fat Lady, banged the Portrait shut and stomped up to bed.

How dare he?

She ignored the curious looks from Parviti and Lavender, pulled the covers over her head and tried concentrating on what she was to do for tomorrow.

She gave him a chance. She called the plan off. And now he decided to play with her emotions.

Hermione breathed deeply and tried to calm herself down. It was not like her to be blinded by fury, maybe it came along with the 'liking someone' package. If so, she wished the next time they would just drop the freebies and concentrate on the 'like/love' emotion-nothing else.

Tomorrow she would drink that potion for dinner, meet up with him as they agreed to (she wondered whether he would still attend the Hermione Granger Sucks club's last meeting-people did join for the money after all), and then-then what?

She turned over, it was no good-her heart had taken over her head.

She sighed, got up and opened the velvet box that contained the diamond necklace Draco had given her just days ago-it seemed like an eternity. The spell had caused the diamonds to glitter with bright, warm colours as well as the soothing colours of blue and purple and green. She slipped the necklace on and immediately felt the weight on her shoulder lift. The spell made her head clearer. There, she could think.

The necklace's charm made her see things in a different light. She remembered the way his face and ears grew red as he saw the image in the mirror, she noted how he glanced quickly up at her curious face. But most of all, she saw now how forced his words were, how much effort he had used to muster a smirk and wait away nonchalantly. He was hiding something, something he didn't want her to know. Whoever that image was of, it showed someone that either embarrassed him, or would bring trouble.

She decided then, that she'd still drink up the potion, pretend to commit lust, then apologise to Draco afterwards for the act. Maybe he'd accept it, maybe he won't. But Hermione knew that whatever his reaction was, whatever his reason for him to lie to her, she would forgive him.

Forgive and Forget. Those were the fundamental requirements that would make her a better person. She hoped, anyway. Draco Malfoy, underneath his arrogance, his need to flaunt his wealth, his stupid need to boast, his ability to humiliate people, his ugly attitude towards animals and those that weren't pureblood, he was a good person. She just needed to dig deep enough to find that.

The diamond necklace was hidden from view as she pulled her blankets over her body again. It was a precious and valuable piece of jwelery, but Hermione needed it with her tonight. She needed to feel its hard, cool surface. She liked the pleasant feeling it brought upon her.


The next morning, Hermione woke to the sounds of Lavender and Parviti exclaiming at something.

"What is it?" She asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes, the necklace swaying around her neck.

"We saw something on the notice board," Parviti said mysteriously. "Something really awesome."

Hermione blinked. "Er-The dare was to be called off?" She asked hopefully.

Lavender rolled her eyes, "Of course not, Dumbledore and most of the teachers are all for it, remember? No, this 'something' has something to do with the dare, sort of, but not really at the same time."

Now Hermione was listening. She waited for Parviti or Lavender to tell her what exactly that 'something' was.

"We're having a school trip!" They exclaimed together.

Hermione stared. "A...school trip?"

"Yes!" Lavender gushed, "A trip to the most expensive, best ever, magical cruise!"

"Cruise? Magical?" Hermione asked blankly. "What's so magical about this cruise? And what does it have to do with the dare?"

"Well," Parviti sighed, "We go on to the cruise on one condition: you have to complete the dare. Apparently he's been planning this ever since he caught wind of the dare, and nearly everyone's guardians have given their children permission to go."

Hermione wondered whether the Dursley's would let Harry go. But then she remembered that Sirius was Harry's godfather, and his opinions would matter too.

"The cruise isn't the kind of muggle ones where you travel on the sea," Lavender explained. "We will be embarking on a ship, shaped like those, but we'll be flying in the sky. The trip-" She glanced down at the piece of parchment in her hand, "-will last just two days and one night, if you complete the dare, of course. The ship will arrive at Hogwarts early tomorrow, and we'll spend tomorrow and the day after on the ship, apparently we won't be landing during the cruise, because the main event is to explore the ship and use its facilities."

Hermione tried to let all this information sink in. "So, basically, now everyone wants me to complete the dare?"

"YES!" The two girls shouted. "Oh please Hermione, complete the dare, it's just lust... you have that potion Fred and George gave to you..."

Hermione sighed. "I'll try," she said.

She hoped Draco wouldn't mind if she made a total fool out of herself and him. Lavender and Parviti made her promise she'll try the potion at breakfast instead, that way she'll have plenty more opportunities should she mess up.


Hermione went to breakfast alone. Harry and Ron were rushed to the hospital wing because they had somehow ended up with shaved heads and moving moles on their faces, along with the additional weight they had to carry around; their heads were now twice as big as before. They couldn't even walk properly, Seamus and Dean had to levitate them to Madam Pomfrey.

She took a deep breath, added the potion into her goblet and drank the whole thing in one gulp.

She wondered how she would act. She hoped it was enough, but not overboard.

Draco came waltzing in with Goyle and Crabbe, as usual. He looked somehow tired-but he still fired snide comments at people.

Hermione exhaled deeply then stood up and headed towards the Slytherin table. Harry and Ron were not here to witness it, but Dumbledore was. Fred and George had decided to add Dumbledore as the third judge, because, let's face it, they wanted to go onto the cruise as well. Everybody did.

Hermione was positive every eye was on her as she slid down onto the spot beside Draco. Everybody knew that she had taken the potion Fred and George invented. They knew it was cheating, but they couldn't care less.

Meanwhile Draco watched Hermione as she looked at him with gooey eyes, reminding him strongly of Pansy. He didn't know how to act. He was going to think of that later, because he thought she'd try and commit lust after dinner.

But desperate times called for desperate measures, he thought, after all, even the Slytherins told him that Hermione was bound to commit lust for him, and said that he should just go along with it.

What was a couple of galleons, they said, if we could go onto that cruise that not even a millionaire could buy? That cruise required both power and money, not to mention connections. Dumbledore had them all. Many Slytherins did not.

So as Hermione stroke his arm up and down, he repressed his shudder as best as he could, trying not to yell at her to stop or shake her hand off. Instead, he imagined Hermione as Pansy, because this was something Pansy would do, not Hermione. It would make him less confused at least. He could feel himself blushing as everybody-even the teachers, were staring at them, all waiting for Dumbledore, or even Harry and Ron who were still at the hospital to say the magic words.

But the headmaster was too absorbed in his oatmeal.

Hermione moved closer to him, and started whispering things that Draco was really sure she would never even have thought of, if not for the potion. He grimaced and tried to block her voice out. He glanced desperately at the teacher's table.

Dumbledore studied his spoonful of the oatmeal, nodded to himself and ate another mouthful.

Hermione edged closer to him, and turned his face towards her so that their noses were practically touching. Draco watched as Blaise and Nott were laughing silently as Hermione stared into his unwilling eyes.

She was going to kiss him.

He had to escape. He had to.

Finally Dumbledore sighed happily at his breakfast, looked up and noticed what was going on-or maybe he decided that things should stay K rated for the first years, and not T rated.

"Hermione Granger has committed lust," He said importantly. He summoned the parchment and crossed off the last sin.

Everybody in the hall stood up and started cheering. They were all going on that cruise! Who cared if they lost a bit of money? Even the second year who accused Hermione of being boring was grinning from ear to ear.

The dare was complete. Hermione had won.

But the fun had yet to begin.

Somebody-she presumed one of the twins- feed her the antidote and she came out of her trance, not knowing what had happened that made Draco look at her with fright.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "But you were the only one who I could commit the sins to-or pretend to anyway."

Draco did not answer. He just looked at her.

Inside, his mind was in turmoil. Half of him was yelling out that he should say something nice back, that he should tell her that he liked her, that he saw her face in the mirror, that half of him urged him to ask the dreaded question: Did Hermione like him back?

But the other, more reasonable side of him was telling him to be aware of what his father might do. His father would understand why Draco acted as if he liked Hermione for the sake of winning the bet (and, for the last sin, why he did not curse her). But if Draco admitted his feelings, Hermione would definitely be hurt.

So he just smirked. That was his shield.

"Why?" He asked, "I know Pothead and Weasel aren't the best candidates for today, but I'm sure that giant-oaf would have surely agreed to."

Hermione stood up angrily. "You know that Hagrid is a teacher, Malfoy," She said. "He deserves some respect, even from you." She stalked away.

Draco watched her go, he thought about his hopes last night.

Perhaps, for the sake of protecting Hermione, he should let her go.


They were given their passes for the cruise. It had their photo (Hermione's photo was blinking blankly) on it, along with their house, age and name, along with their status-Hermione was a prefect.

It was decided that they had a choice of whether they wanted to share a room with another person, or have a room on their own. Hermione and Ginny decided to room together, as they both felt that the cruise should be enjoyed with friends, not alone.

They could bring some things along, if they wanted. Wands were allowed, of course, but clothes apparently weren't necessary. Neither was other necessities and medications, but if they wanted to bring along their own dress robes, they could.

Ginny and Hermione did not own dress robes, so they hoped that the ship did. There were several formal events on the ship which required the dress robes, events that they both wanted to participate in.

All Hermione brought along was the diamond necklace, Crookshanks (who, for the duration of the dare, had been living at Hagrid's because he seemed to sense that he was unwanted and Hermione had enough on her plate), Crookshank's fur-grooming kit (present from Draco Malfoy) and his favourite treat, her own hair-grooming kit (another present-remember Anger?), the small unwrapped gift that was also given by Draco, the wish box (one wish remaining) and her wand.

She couldn't wait. She'd never been on a muggle cruise before, let alone being on a ship that travelled in the sky and was as close to the stars than she'll ever be.

It was going to be a memorable trip alright.


The only person who was not happy at the turn of events was Pansy Parkinson. Seeing Hermione curl up again Draco (even if it was the potion making her act that way) was the last straw. She seethed in anger and planned her revenge.

While others around her were packing and choosing their best dress robes to take along with them, Pansy sat down in the common room and dipped a quill into the ink bottle, thinking what she should write.

At last she found the words she wanted to write.

She was going to make Hermione Granger pay.


The owl stretched out its leg and Lucius Malfoy untied the small envelope. Frowning slightly at the smell of the perfume that oozed out of the envelope, he opened it and unfolded the letter. He saw the wax seal on the envelope and recognised immediately as a letter from the Parkinson family, this was, no doubt, a letter that contained important news.

Dear Mr. Malfoy,

I am writing to inform you of the most urgent matter. I am Pansy Parkinson, Slytherin pureblood, Draco's girlfriend. I have currently noticed that Draco, instead of being a faithful boyfriend and Slytherin, has taken an interest in Hermione Granger, whom, I no doubt, you know very much about. She has been flaunting in front of him, and, please permit me to write this, he has foolishly stepped into the trap she has woven around him. He no longer cares that he outwardly and very publicly shows that he has taken a fancy to the girl. He buys her expensive gifts, shower her with compliments-and more.

I am positive that you would not tolerate such behaviour from your son, who I am sure will realise his mistake and will return to my side once more. But I'm afraid that he might be too deep into her trap to be able to return to where he was: a respectable Slytherin, a Malfoy who did not mess around with lower beings such as mudbloods.

Please, help him.

Yours sincerely,
Pansy Parkinson.

His fingers were trembling as he read the letter over and over again. He didn't even pause for one second before storming to his fireplace.

He threw in some Floo powder and demanded to talk to Albus Dumbledore.


Draco was just about finished packing when Snape pulled his drawings to one side and told him the news.

Draco Malfoy was not allowed onto the cruise.


A/N: Like the cruise idea? This idea (and most of the plot ideas for this story) were not planned, they just popped out as I write. If truth be told, I had no idea where this story was going when I was typing up the first two chapters. The story just flowed, and so if this story seems to not add up, or if it feels that things are out of place or just plain random, I'm sorry. This story was supposed be short and have not much of a plot. Anyway, enjoy and wait for the finale!