After spending a week listening to Harry going on about sorting his precious quidditch team, Hermione was more than ready to spend a Saturday evening with her boyfriend. Leaving Harry to continue his decision about who to include on his team, Hermione headed off to the library where she was meeting Draco. She was just hoping the blond could talk about something other than quidditch, as she knew he'd also spent the past week sorting his team.

Fortunately, when Draco turned up at the library, he didn't mention quidditch as he pulled Hermione into his arms and greeted her with a searing kiss. Their kiss drew the attention of a few passing students, but they paid them no attention as they were too caught up with each other.

"We should probably get out of here before someone goes running to a Professor to complain about us snogging in the hallways," Draco said as they slowly separated.

"Do you really think anyone would dare?" Hermione asked with a snort.

Even though they'd only been back at school for a couple of weeks, Hermione could already see a change in how people reacted around her and Harry. There was a definite wariness in people, and she wasn't sure many people would risk their wrath by going running to a Professor.

"You never know," Draco replied with a shrug. "Some people might be willing to play dirty to get us into trouble."

"They might," Hermione reluctantly agreed. "And we could do without Mum finding us. She still hasn't remembered that she was going to give us the talk. I don't know about you, but I would rather avoid that conversation."

"Definitely," Draco said with a nod. "Let's get going."

Taking hold of Hermione's hand, Draco led her away from the library and towards the main staircase. Hermione let Draco lead her up a couple of floors, before she asked where they were going.

"It's a surprise," Draco replied, looking back over his shoulder and giving Hermione a grin.

Hermione rolled her eyes, knowing she wasn't going to get any more out of Draco. Instead she quietly followed him, trying to work out where he was taking her. It wasn't until he led her into a corridor on the fifth floor that Hermione realised just where he was taking her. He was taking her to the Prefects bathroom, a room she'd only used once since gaining the position of Prefect the previous year.

Coming to a stop outside of the door, Draco said the password and the door swung open. Taking hold of Hermione's hand, he pulled her into the bathroom and shut the door, engaging the lock that would ensure they weren't disturbed.

"I thought this would be something different," Draco announced with a grin.

"I thought we were just going to the room that changes into whatever we want," Hermione replied in a small voice.

"We can do that later, for now I thought we could have a nice bath," Draco replied as she pulled on his wand and began to fill the bath.

Draco was halfway through filling the bath, making sure to select just one fragrance of bubbles as he found multiple fragrances overwhelming, when he realised Hermione was still standing just inside the door. Turning back around to see what was keeping his girlfriend, he was shocked to find she was eyeing the water warily. She was also extremely pale, and when Draco took hold of her hand, he found she was shaking slightly.

"Hermione, what's wrong?"

"I can't do it," Hermione confessed in a whisper.

"Can't do what?" Draco asked in confusion. He highly doubted she was worried about stripping off in front of him as he'd already seen her naked on multiple occasions.

"I can't get in the water," Hermione replied. "Sorry Draco, but I can't do this. Can we just go somewhere else?"

"I don't understand, Hermione," Draco said with a frown. "What do you mean, you can't get in the water?"

"I've tried, and I just can't," Hermione said. "The tub's too big."

"Too big?" Draco turned back to the large tub, and tried to understand what Hermione was getting at. True, the bathtub was more like a pool than a bath, but it would be the perfect size for them to have a bit of fun. "I still don't get it," He said, as he turned back to his girlfriend. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you were scared of the water."

"I am," Hermione whispered as she turned her head away from Draco in embarrassment.

"No, you're not," Draco argued. "I've known you forever, and while you're not a strong swimmer like Harry and I, you're not afraid of a big bathtub. I've seen you in the sea before."

"As you said, that was before," Hermione said quietly. "Before I was kidnapped and held hostage underwater. Ever since then, I've been scared of water. I tried to use the prefects bathroom last year and I just couldn't do it."

Draco mentally kicked himself for forgetting about Hermione's ordeal in fourth year. As he'd mentioned, she'd never been a strong swimmer, but she'd never been scared of the water. However, she'd been really shaken up by what had happened in fourth year during the Triwizard Tournament, and Draco was furious with himself for forgetting about it. He should have thought and realised that his idea wasn't the smartest.

"I'm so sorry, Hermione," Draco apologised as he flicked his wrist and turned off the taps. "I never thought about fourth year. I just thought about how nice it would be to have a bath together."

"It's not your fault. You weren't to know I'm a complete basket case," Hermione replied with a depreciating smile.

"You are not a basket case," Draco insisted firmly. "A fear of water is understandable after what you went through."

"I guess so," Hermione replied with a sigh. "But being afraid of a big bath is kind of embarrassing."

Draco smiled at Hermione and pulled her into his arms for a hug. "I don't care what you're afraid of, I still love you."

"I love you too," Hermione whispered as she hugged Draco tightly, her eyes on the nearly filled tub behind him as an idea occurred to her. "Will you do something for me, Draco?"

"Anything," Draco replied as he pulled back to look at his girlfriend.

"Help me overcome my fear," Hermione said, sounding more confident than she felt. Now she'd had the idea of trying to get over her fear with Draco at her side, she was determined not to give in to her fear and go running off.

"Now?" Draco asked.

Hermione nodded determinedly. "Now. If it doesn't work we can call it a day, and we can try another time. But I don't want to spend the rest of my life frightened of water."

Draco knew Hermione really meant she didn't want to be frightened of anything. He knew her well enough to know that she wanted to be seen as tough. As Voldemort's daughter she wanted to live up to his dark reputation, and in her eyes she could never be feared if she was afraid of anything. She needed to be fearless if she wanted to become the dark witch she so desired to be.

"Okay, I'll top the water up and we can get in. And I promise, I won't let anything happen to you," Draco vowed.

"I know you won't," Hermione whispered as Draco flipped a couple of the taps on and fresh water began to run into the bath.

Leaving Draco to sort the bath, Hermione quickly shed herself of her clothes. By the time she was down to her underwear, Draco had once again turned off the taps. When he turned round to face her and spotted she was just in her bra and knickers, his grey eyes devoured her half naked body and Hermione felt a surge of confidence run through her. After all, it was quite hard to be scared of what was going to happen when Draco was looking at her as though he wanted to devour her.

"You need to catch up," Hermione said with a smirk.

"Can do," Draco replied, returning Hermione smirk as he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped his trousers.

Unlike Hermione, who had stopped at her underwear, Draco carried straight on and removed all his clothes. Hermione took a moment to admire Draco's naked form, before she shrugged off her own underwear and tentatively walked over to the side of the tub. Coming up beside her, Draco took hold of her hand.

"Come on, I'm right here," He said gently as he took a step into the large tub.

Hermione slowly followed Draco into the tub, and even though she had hold of his hand, she felt herself tense up the second the water touched her. Refusing to let herself be beaten by her fear, Hermione continued to enter the water, even though every inch of her was screaming to leave the water. Moving slowly and carefully, Draco walked Hermione into the centre of the tub, before he peeled off and settled down at the side of the tub.

"Just relax," He urged as he gently tugged Hermione down so she was sitting in between his legs.

Hermione took a deep breath as she tried to do what Draco said. Leaning back against Draco, her hands gripped his thighs as she willed herself to relax. Draco did his part to help her relax by summoning a wash cloth and gently rubbing it over Hermione's body. Slowly, Hermione began to feel safe in Draco's embrace and she let her eyes slide shut as she sunk lower in the water.

"See, it's not too bad," Draco whispered in her ear as his hands continued to roam her body.

"I admit, I could get used to this," Hermione admitted. She still wasn't totally comfortable, but she knew a few more sessions in the bath with Draco and it would become a favourite way to spend a few hours.

While Draco's initial plan had been to have a bit of fun in the tub, it soon became clear that sex wasn't on the agenda in the Prefects bathroom. Even though Hermione was now in the water, and was slowly relaxing, Draco could still sense how tense she was. Instead of it being the naughty bath he'd hoped for, the bath had turned into a therapy session for his girlfriend. Not that Draco minded, he was just happy that he'd been able to help Hermione overcome her fear.

The couple actually remained in the bath for nearly an hour, and by the time they got out, Hermione admitted they could visit the room again. Draco knew it would take a few more session for Hermione to really become comfortable in the water, but he was confidence it would happen, and when it did he foresaw a lot of fun in their future.

"I know this wasn't quite what you had planned," Hermione said as they redressed. "So unless you've got other plans for the rest of the night, how about we go to the room on the seventh floor."

"Sounds good to me," Draco replied with a grin. "And just so you know, I'm yours for the night. I don't know about you, but I could get away with staying out all night."

"Lavender and Parvati will notice if I don't go back to Gryffindor Tower, although I don't think they'll really care," Hermione said. "They've never really liked me, and I now think they're too scared of me to risk telling on me. It should be safe for us to spend the entire night together."

"Excellent."

Draco grinned at Hermione, and joining hands the pair darted out of the Prefects bathroom and hurried up to the magical room on the seventh floor. Pacing in front of the wall, revealed a door and when they entered the room, they found a small, but romantic bedroom, lit by dozens of candles hovering in the air. A large double bed dominated the room, but in the corner of the room was a roaring fire and a shaggy black throw. There was also a table sitting beside the bed, holding a bowl of mixed fruit, a small bowl of whipped cream and a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne and two glasses.

"Wow," Hermione breathed as she stepped into the room.

"Nice," Draco agreed as he walked over to the bowl of fruit, plucked a grape from the bowl and popped it into his mouth.

"Bed or throw?" Hermione asked, kicking off her shoes and testing how soft the black throw was.

"Your choice."

"Throw," Hermione announced as she pulled off her clothes and settled herself down in the throw in just her underwear.

Grabbing the two bowls, Draco deposited them on the floor beside Hermione. He then poured two glasses of the champagne, and handed them to his girlfriend. Stripping off his clothes, he just left his boxers on as he joined Hermione on the throw.

"Here's to a romantic evening," He said, picking up one of the champagne glasses.

"I'll drink to that." Hermione clinked her glass against Draco's before taking a sip of the golden liquid in her glass.

Smiling warmly at each other, the couple then settled down for a romantic evening together. The couple spent nearly an hour lounging in front of the fire, before things started to heat up and they moved the action to the bed. Once in the large bed, they made full use of it's size before snuggling down and falling asleep in each other's arms. Despite the fact they were at school the couple were more than happy to spend their first full night together. In the future, they were hoping they would spend nearly every night together, but right now they just had to settle for the odd snatched night here and there.

A/N – I just want to say thanks to the people reviewing and reading this story. Although, I do seem to have attracted what I can only think of as a troll, posting as a guest. Over the last couple of chapters, I've received several guest reviews for each chapter (all posted within minutes of each other), saying how the light is going to win and such. Considering this is a dark Hermione and Harry story, and all the main characters are dark, I can't imagine anyone seriously reading this story if they want a light victory. I'm assuming whoever is leaving the reviews either thinks its funny, or they're trying to annoy me. Either way, I'm deleting the reviews and just ignoring them. If they want to delude themselves that the light will win, or even more hilariously that Harry and Hermione will go back to the light and end up with Ginny and Ron, then they can feel free. I'm sure all my regular readers, or anyone who is reading this story seriously, knows exactly which side win ultimately win. Anyway, thanks again to the genuine readers and supporters, and I hope you continue to enjoy COTD.