Hermione sat in a chair overlooking the fire in her house's common room. It was only 9pm and she was anxious to go and meet Malfoy. She was slightly disgusted with herself with even associating that name with a good feeling, but she was so sick of dwelling on it. Of course she had to dwell on it! It was huge! It would be weird if she didn't dwell on it. Less than a week ago she had despised him with at least what she thought was all her heart. How did it happen? All she knew was that she really wanted to see him, and she wouldn't make up excuses anymore… well, she would, but she would strive to do it less. Meanwhile, she had been more and less ignoring Harry and Ron for the day, possibly the last few days. Maybe she hadn't, maybe she just thought she was because she had barely thought of them. If she was, it was not on purpose of course, but because she had been obviously distracted. She wished she could talk to someone about all of this, but she knew no one would understand. They would banish, shun her, curse her… or would they? Because they wouldn't just banish their best friend! Or would they, under the circumstances?

"Hey"

Hermione jumped slightly in the chair. She looked up to see Harry, and a fresh new feeling of guilt rose up in her stomach.

"Hey Harry" she said, trying her best to act normal.

Harry plopped down on the coach next to her, sighing in apparent relief of getting off his feet. He closed his eyes for a minute or two before opening them sleepily. "Whatchya' been up to?"

"Not much. Well, work and stuff"

"Why were you late for Transfiguration today?"

"Oh, I, uh, was in the infirmary. Migraine."

"Oh. Ouch. Speaking of Transfiguration, any new updates on the Malfoy scenario?"

Hermione felt a jolt up fear buzzing through her veins. "What? What Malfoy scenario?" she asked, probably too quickly. Did you he know? Was he seeing if she would admit it? Oh, no, he knew.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Remember? A few days ago he was acting kind of nice? And we thought he was up to something?"

Hermione felt slightly relieved. "Oh, um, no."

"So he's back to being a jerk-off? Sucks he's your partner in Transfiguration. The project is almost done, though, so it'll be over soon"

"Yeah, I guess. We've been mostly ignoring each other, you know? I mean, I don't know" Hermione hoped the heat in her face wasn't translating into a significant blush. She needed to change the subject. "Don't you have a meeting with Dumbledore tonight?"

"Er, no, it's tomorrow"

"Oh" It was going to be harder to slip out than she thought. Harry was usually down here until 12am if not later.

"What?"

"Nothing"

Silence.

"Uh, Hermione? Is something up with you? You're acting kind of weird" Harry sat up straighter, eyeing Hermione curiously.

The one time a guy had to be observant was now? "No, I'm just really tired, that's all. The migraine took a lot out of me"

Harry nodded, yawning. "Yeah, I'm really exhausted, too. Quidditch practice was rough today. I think I'm going to head in." He got up from the couch and stretched.

Hermione waved good night and decided to work on some schoolwork. No sense in letting the extra time that passed waiting for Malfoy go to waste. The main reason she hadn't been doing it was because she was completely unable to concentrate. Even if she couldn't, maybe it would keep people from talking to her.

The ticking of the grandfather clock grew louder as the voices of students around her dwindled. Everyone began going up to bed. Hermione wasn't focusing on her schoolwork anymore and she was so tired. Maybe she could somehow take a rain check. She also really needed to take a shower. Did she have time to? She looked up at the clock. 11:50.

"Damn" she said to herself, packing her school books away in her bag and slipping on her coat. She was the last one down in the common room and so it was easy to slip out. She crept through the halls, her heart flipping whenever she heard the possible sound of a footstep. She was surprised that she had gotten downstairs without a hitch and she quietly left the castle, looking out over the castle grounds. Hagrid's hut was in the distance, the windows dark. The forbidden forest also made for a scenic, although creepy, view. The lake was also looming in the distance, the dark depths looking foreboding in the moonlight. She shook it off, knowing that most of her fear lay not in the lake itself, but who was waiting for her at it. If he was at all. What if this was a setup? Maybe Malfoy tipped off McGonagall. Maybe she was the one waiting for her. No, that's stupid. Well, maybe not, but Hermione found herself trusting Malfoy, slightly at least.

She slowly walked across the lawn, the sound of the soft grass as she stepped on it comforting in the spooky atmosphere. A few minutes later she reached the lake. The water was still and looked like you would be able to walk on it because of its glassy appearance. She scanned around for any sign of life, hoping Malfoy hadn't stood her up. That would piss her off. She didn't see anyone, and looked across the water. Maybe Malfoy was eaten by the squid.

"Granger"

Hermione's heart skipped at the sound of Malfoy's voice. She turned to see him about 20 feet away. His pale skin and hair was almost luminous in the moonlight. He looked as if he was smiling, but she couldn't really see in the dark. He hurried towards her, his robe in his hand.

"I'm glad you're here" he said as he reached her.

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to stand you up" she smiled nervously. She looked around at the lake, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. "What did you want to show me?"

Draco smirked. "Watch this"

Hermione watched in amazement as Malfoy began to strip.

"What the hell are you doing?" Hermione exclaimed. Draco ignored her, his clothes piling up behind him. She watched in disbelief as Draco stood in front of her stark naked. He laughed and then began to run towards the water. He reached it and took and running jump, landing with a splash which broke the silence of the night.

"Are you nuts?" Hermione yelled as Draco's head bobbed up from the water. She could make out his beaming face.

"Come on in!" Draco laughed, beckoning her towards him. "The water is really refreshing!"

Hermione walked over to the edge of the water so she could talk to him more easily. "No! There's a giant squid in there! And the water is freezing! You could get hypothermia! Or eaten by the squid! Or both! I'm also not skinny dipping. It's unsanitary!"

Draco swam towards the bank until his torso was showing. "Have you ever heard of anyone who regretted going skinny dipping?" he asked, a smile still plastered to his face.

"I'm sure that they'd regret it if they did it in a lake that had a giant squid in it!" Hermione retorted.

"Pretty please?" Draco said in a mock baby voice.

"No"

"Come on!"

"No"

"You came all the way out here! At least do something!"

"No!"

"What if I told you that the squid was nowhere near this part of the lake?"

"I would tell you that you were lying"

"I'm not"

"Why should I believe you?"

"'Cause I'm in here too"

Hermione thought for a moment. Draco wasn't exactly what you'd call brave, and she was pretty sure he wouldn't risk his life for just the thrill of swimming naked.

She thought for a moment. "Fine. I'll do it. But don't look" Hermione said, taking off her robe.

"What? Why?"

"Because! I don't want you to see me… naked"

"I've seen you naked"

"Not really. I mean, yeah, but not for long…"

"You just got to see me naked" Draco laughed.

"But that's different"

"How?"

"Because… it just is"

"I really don't think it is, but fine. I won't look" Draco turned around so his back was facing Hermione.

Hermione took a deep breath and pulled off her shirt and pants. She felt exposed in the cold. She unclipped her bra and dropped it to the ground and then slipped off her underwear. She immediately covered herself with her robe.

Draco turned around and laughed. "You're not completely naked!"

"You're looking!"Hermione said, slightly annoyed.

"Come on, Granger, I won't judge you or anything. Trust me"

Hermione sighed. "Okay, but if I find out you took secret pictures…" she smiled and slowly dropped her robe. Draco smiled and let out a whistle.

"Oh shush"

"You have great boobs, Granger" Malfoy said, a boyish grin on his face.

Hermione took a deep breath and made a running jump like he had. The splash of water engulfed her and when she reached the surface she was sputtering.

"Shit that's cold!" she exclaimed, shivering.

"Granger! You swore!"

Hermione laughed. "I swear! And also, it's really cold!"

"You'll get used to it." Draco said. He swam over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Better?"

"Not particularly"

Draco smiled and kissed her softly and she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. He began feeling a familiar warm sensation radiating throughout his body. Suddenly she stopped kissing him and pulled away from him.

"What's that?" she exclaimed giggling.

"Granger! You're naked and you're kissing me! What do you expect?"

Hermione shook her head, still giggling. "I thought cold water is supposed to keep that at bay"

Draco laughed. "You know, I know what we could do…"

Hermione rolled her eyes and splashed him. "No way"

They swam around for about an hour, laughing and splashing each other and after a while Hermione forgot about the cold. The clouds had covered the moon and the dimly lit grounds were now darker than ever. As Hermione walked out of the water, the cold air hit her forcefully. She quickly hurried over to her clothes, drying herself off with her robe and then pulling on her bra and panties.

Malfoy seemed to be shivering as well, and he dried himself of vigorously before pulling on his boxers. "Holy crap, you may have been right about the hypothermia" he said, hiking up his jeans.

"Told you" Hermione smiled, pulling her shirt over her head.

Malfoy laughed and walked over to her. "You're fantastic" he said beaming. He kissed her deeply and she felt herself feeling weightless. His hands were exploring her body and she felt her heart pounding. One of his hands found its way under her shirt and began to travel up towards her bra. Hermione pulled away and began to unbutton his jeans for the second time that day.

And then she saw it. Her heart sank and she felt as if a rush of cold air was speeding through her body. She felt light-headed and she didn't understand how she couldn't have noticed it before. It had been staring her in the face, and she had been so caught up in the moment that she hadn't even realized it was there.

"What's wrong?"

Hermione backed away from him, looking up at Malfoy's face and feeling dazed.

"Dammit, Malfoy, I never actually thought…" she said quietly, trailing off.

A look of confusion was on Malfoy's face. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, Harry said it but I thought he was overreacting, but it's true! Why didn't I believe him?"

Malfoy looked bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

Hermione felt herself getting angry. "I'm talking about that fucking thing on your arm!" she exclaimed, pointing.

Malfoy looked down at the Dark Mark on his lower arm and his expression turned into one of surprise and then guilt. "Granger…"

Hot tears were welling up in her eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

"What?"

"Why have you been so nice to me? So I will give you information about Harry or something? So you can tell You-Know-Who?"

"No, I—"

She put her hand on her mouth. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I can't believe I slept with, with a Death Eater! Oh my god, if anyone finds out…!" she looked back at Malfoy and pushed him. "Tell me! What are you up to? What did you do?"

Malfoy's eyes were wide and he had turned even paler than usual. "I'm not – I didn't –"

"There's a reason, Malfoy! Tell me!"

"A reason for what?"

"For being nice to me! For sleeping with me!"

"I'm not being nice to you because of that!"

"Then why? And don't give me bullshit about actually giving a damn. Tell me the real reason or… or I'll tell everyone about that… that thing!" she said, pointing to the Dark Mark.

"Granger, please!"

"Tell me!" she yelled, a tear rolling down her cheek. Her voice quieted. "Please, just tell me. It's the least you can do right now."

Malfoy's voice grew softer as well. He looked down at his feet and gulped. "It was a dare… a bet. A few friends dared me to try to sleep with you. But I swear, Granger, I feel awful and I—"

"A dare?" Hermione repeated it, her voice cracking. It was so clear to her now. It was so obvious. She felt like a fucking idiot. She had fallen for his damn tricks in a matter of days and now she finds out he's a Death Eater. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know where to start. She picked up her robe that she had dropped and began to walk away. She couldn't even comprehend the situation. Her mind was so fuzzy.

"Hermione!" Malfoy called out after her, but she ignored him.