all characters belong to JKR:

Chapter 14: Secret:

Hermione Granger had a secret. She lied to Draco Malfoy and she didn't like it one bit. Draco Malfoy had a similar secret. He knew that she was lying, and he liked it a lot.

They had no sooner been on the yacht than Draco said, "Do it now."

"Do what?" she asked back.

"The truthfulness spell," he explained.

She felt slightly alarmed. The whole time she was getting dressed in her room, she debated on whether or not to tell him that there wasn't a spell. On the walk to the dock, she thought about it. Waiting with him on the dock, she thought about it. She was on edge, worrying about it.

Seriously, was she going to lie about a spell that wouldn't make him lie? Didn't that make her a hypocrite? Didn't that make her no better than what she proclaimed him to be…that being, a liar?

"Draco, I have something to tell you," she said, as they stood on the deck of the boat.

"Yes?" he drawled out, waiting.

"You have something in your hair," she lied. Goodness, she was becoming quite adroit at lying. She reached up to his hair, and acted as if she took an undetectable piece of 'something' out of it, dropped it on the floor, and said, "Got it."

"Okay, do it now," he said once more. He was relentless.

"Could we take a tour of the boat first?" she asked, stalling.

He offered her his arm, and they started walking. Draco knew she was stalling. He also knew why. She was lying. She was lying about knowing a truthfulness spell.

A few years ago, he went out on a date with a friend of Ginny Weasley. Somehow, during the evening, the talk turned to Ginny and Harry. His date talked about how much she liked the pair. He talked about how much he couldn't stand them. To show that they had some common ground, the girl told him a story that she thought would show Harry in a poor light.

She wove a tale that started with, 'Once upon a time', the golden trio was having a nice evening, when the smartest of the three, Hermione Granger, played a prank on the dimmest and ugliest of the three, (either could apply to Harry and Ron, in Draco's humble opinion.) Apparently Hermione pretended to do a truthfulness spell on the two gits, made them believe if they didn't tell the truth, they would have terrible pain, got them to confess to all sorts of things, and then they had a massive row when she discovered things she didn't want to hear.

Draco Malfoy's respect for Granger grew enormously that day. She pulled a fast one over on two men he couldn't stand, and she lied to do it.

Now, she lied again, and she did it to make sure that he stopped lying, and he thought that was somewhat sweet, in a twisted, illogical, way. He respected her even more, even though he could tell she had mixed feelings. Poor thing didn't like lying. She wanted to tell Draco the truth, he could tell. He didn't want her to tell him the truth, because the REAL TRUTH was that he wanted to stop lying to her, and this gave him the perfect excuse to do so.

In addition, he would have something over her, which was a plus.

He decided to wait to bring it up again, but bring it up again, he would do.

The yacht took off on its journey; he took her on a small tour of the massive boat. It was beautiful. Hermione didn't really like boats, on the whole, but this was more like a hotel on water. He showed her to a stateroom, and told her to change into her bathing suit. She said, "How do you know I brought one with me?"

"Fine, nude will do as well, but join me on the second deck in five minutes. He pushed her into the room, and shut the door. She could hear him laughing. She changed into her bathing suit, put a wrap around her hips, and with her sunglasses in one hand, a book in the other, and a towel under her arm, she went above deck, and then climbed the steps to the second deck.

He sat in a lounge chair, waiting for her. He had on long, black trunks and a white t-shirt. He looked disappointed as she approached. "A book?" he asked. "Do you think my company so mundane that you'll need a book?"

"I thought you were going to say something sarcastic about my one-piece bathing suit," she concluded.

"Hell, Granger, I would expect you to wear a white, one-piece, virginal bathing suit, but you will not have a chance to read a book." He stood up, took her paperback from her, and threw it overboard.

"Malfoy!" she shrieked. "I haven't even had a chance to read that yet!"

"Then you aren't missing anything," he retorted.

She sat in the chair he abandoned, and said, "I'm taking the good chair, then."

"What makes that the good chair?" he asked.

She shrugged. She took the wrap off her legs and put the head of the chair back as far as it would go. He looked over her body. Even in a one-piece bathing suit, he felt intense desire for her. She looked beautiful, sensual, and he longed for her. She brought him out of his daydream by asking, "Do you have any sunscreen?"

"Hello, remember me? You said I looked like death warmed over, do you recall that? I have sun block, sweet Granger." He went over to a canvas bag and retrieved some sun block. She held out her hand. He said, "Let me get your back."

"I can get it," she reasoned.

"Are you a contortionist now?" he asked. To her surprise, he pushed the back of her chair up to a seated position, threw one leg over the side, and sat down behind her, so that his front was facing her back, and his legs were on both sides of hers. He had his feet flat on the ground, and the bottle of lotion in his hands. She was alarmed at first, but when she felt his hands start to rub the lotion into her shoulders, she had to admit it felt very nice. She lifted her hair.

When she lifted her hair, she lifted her breasts, naturally. He continued to rub her shoulders and back, but he peered down to look at the lovely slopes of her breasts. He had to admit, she had a wonderful body. He had noticed that a lot this weekend. He hoped before the weekend was through, he would have a chance to admire it more leisurely. He swallowed hard, because he was trying NOT to stare at her breasts, but he couldn't help it. He asked, "Do you have a secret? Something you don't want me to see? Is that why you're wearing the one piece?"

She licked her lips and looked over her shoulder at him. He was so close that she could make out each individual eyelash on his eyes. She had a secret all right, but not about her body. She said, "If I have a secret, it's up to you to find it out."

"Ah," he exclaimed. He leaned forward and said, "Put your arms down, Hermione." She did, and her hair fell, and tickled his nose. He laughed and leaned forward again, as his hands went up and down her arms, rubbing the lotion on them. He was surely going to hell for the lascivious thoughts he was having about her. He wondered what she was thinking.

She was terribly uncomfortable of the fact that her bum was pressed against a certain part of his body. She tried not to focus on that fact. She felt lightheaded, and attributed it to the sun, even though the cause was the man behind her. She thought about the fact that everything was moving so fast, but yet, it felt right. She thought about the fact that she wanted him to kiss her. She thought about buying a two-piece bathing suit, and soon.

His hands continued to roam her body, and not just her skin, but the parts covered by the suit as well. He stopped for a moment, and she missed the contact tremendously, but he had to put some more lotion on his hands. His hands went to her neck, and shoulders. He urged, softly, "Lean against me."

Why she was so recklessly obeying him, she would never know, but it felt good, nonetheless. She rested her head against his shoulder. She shut her eyes. His right hand rubbed across her left shoulder to her collarbone, and back again, as his left hand went under her breasts, to rest on her stomach. "If you had a two piece on, I could put lotion on your stomach," he said matter of fact.

"Damn one piece," she said. He laughed. He also kissed her ear lightly. She felt the kiss in the pit of her covered-up stomach. His hand went from her neck to move her hair away, and he kissed the side of her neck.

He whispered, "Does that feel good?" He was still kissing her neck, and his hands were rubbing lotion into places that she was sure were in no danger of being burnt. He was rubbing his hand leisurely over her stomach, her sides, under her breasts, and on the tops of her thighs.

She might have moaned, or something embarrassing to that effect. She wasn't sure, because at the precise moment that the sound left her mouth, his hand gently cupped one breast, and his mouth found hers, pushing her head back further into his shoulder. He kissed her hard, and his thumb pressed on the center of her breast.

The sound of their kissing was muted by the sounds of the waves crashing against the sides of the vessel. She arched her back slightly, and he put her entire breast into his hand and kneaded slowly. He wished she wasn't covered up. Her hands reached up behind her to grasp the back of his neck and shoulders.

His whole body wanted her. His mind, heart, soul, all trembled with the worst sort of want. He turned her slightly, so her legs were now on the side of the chair, and she was slightly across his lap. He reached up to her neck, while still kissing her, exploring her, and he untied the sting that held the top of her suit in place.

She reached up to push him away with both hands. The loss of lips on lips made him angry, so he asked, "Why?" She shook her head and reached up to tie her top. He understood. It wasn't the time or place. She wasn't saying no, she was saying, not now.

He smiled and said, "Best get up, Granger, or I'll ravish you out here on the top of the deck, for who knows who to see."

She nodded this time, and climbed off his chair. He placed her sarong over his lap, to hide 'his secret' or rather an embarrassing condition, and yelled for a steward to bring them wine, as she scrambled to sit in the chair to his left. Now as they sat in their deck chairs, wine in hand, Draco asked, "Are you happy?"

It seemed like such a small thing to ask, and she had never been on a date where the man asked her if she was happy. They would ask if she was enjoying herself, if she was having a nice time, but no one had ever asked her if she was happy.

She was happy. Draco and Hermione sat on the deck of the massive, white yacht, in matching lounge chairs, and Hermione stretched her arms above her head. She felt contented because they had just had what amounted to more than a nice kiss, she found the man beside her interesting, handsome, and not too annoying, and most of all, it seemed that Draco had totally forgotten about the fake spell. She accepted a glass of wine from the steward, and then clanged her glass to his. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back.

Yes, she was happy because he hadn't asked her to perform her bogus spell again. She didn't know what she would do if he did. She could hardly fault him for lying, if she was prepared to lie. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to think about it right now. She would rather concentrate on having a wonderful day. Lunch was still fifteen minutes away, according to the staff, and the weather was heavenly, the sea calm, and Draco, seemed to have forgotten their challenge, hence, her happiness.

"I'm happy," she answered.

"But you weren't always happy, were you?" he asked as he took a sip of wine.

"In what sense? You mean this weekend, or with my life?" she asked for clarification.

"In general, with life," he asked.

That was an odd question. "I've had a good life so far," she said.

"You always seemed sad in school," he said off handed.

"I wasn't sad," she defended. "I was serious, and studious, and we went through some real horrors, as you know, so life wasn't one long Easter parade, but I was happy," she snapped. Maybe she wasn't happy with his 'happiness question' after all.

"I don't mean to offend you, my Granger," he said. He leaned forward in the deck chair, and placed both his feet on the ground. "I know life was hard for you, doubly hard being a Muggle-born, and being Potter's right hand woman. I know all of that."

"A lot of my anguish in school was because of you," she stated plainly. He frowned and she felt bad for saying it. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry, and I know that you didn't walk around with a smile on your face all the time, either," she pointed out. "You had a lot on your plate, too."

"True."

She turned so her feet were on the floor also, and faced him. "May I ask you something?" Before he could say yes, she continued, "Did you really hate me in school, as much as it seemed."

"Perform your spell," he commanded.

She knew what he was asking, but she feigned innocence. "What spell?"

"The truthfulness spell. If you're going to start asking a bunch of serious questions, I want to ask some, too, and we should have to be truthful," he explained.

"Can't you be truthful without a spell?" she asked.

He laughed and said, "Probably not. Come on, let's get this started." He was prepared to be honest with her, but he wanted assurances that she was going to be honest as well, and he knew if she did her spell, even if it wasn't real, she would feel honour bound to be truthful to him. He didn't want her to hide behind her fears, or insecurities, or her self-righteousness.

She felt like sighing, but instead, she took her wand, tapped his head, said some nonsense words, did the same with herself, and said, "Now, did you hate me as much as it seemed, back when we were in school?"

He knew he wanted to be honest with her on this question. He said, "Yes, I did."

That wasn't what she expected to hear. "Why did you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?"

"It was more the fact of who you were, and that you were there, and I was brought up to believe that you were below me, and you had no right to be in our world, so yeah, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I really did hate you, to an extent. Let me rephrase that, I didn't hate you as much as I hated what you were and what you stood for, but I think that last year, when you weren't there, was the first year I didn't hate you, and you weren't even there to know that."

"Why didn't you hate me that year?" she asked softly.

He set his wine glass on the table between them and said, "Because you weren't there, although I don't expect that to make sense to you."

No, it didn't make a lot of sense. She didn't like how this was going any better than she liked it when she did it to Harry and Ron all those years ago. She should have let him keep kissing her earlier, and then they wouldn't have to worry about all of this nonsense! She took a large drink of wine and said, "I didn't really hate you."

"You should have, because I was a right bastard to you," he said critically. She turned to look out toward the water. She stood up suddenly and went to the railing. He stayed where he was. "Why did you want to work for me?"

"I didn't want to come work for you, per se, I just felt bored with everything." She pointed out toward the resort and said, "We're so far away."

He was behind her in a flash and said, "We're so far no one could hear you scream."

She giggled and turned toward him. "Why am I screaming?"

"All sorts of reasons." He raised both his brows twice and turned to lean his back against the railing. "Ask me another question, and then we'll go up on the top deck for lunch."

"Why are you suddenly interested in me?" she asked.

He pushed against the railing, and stood in front of her. Her hair whipped around them both. She put a hand over her eyes, to block the bright sun. He reached forward and smoothed down her hair. He wasn't sure he wanted to be honest about this, and since the spell she cast was fake, he wasn't bound to tell the truth. He looked down, and then back up, quickly, and answered, "Because you're pretty."

It was the truth, not the whole truth, and it made him sound shallow, but it was the truth. She stared at him, her mouth partially open. He leaned forward a fraction and kissed her lips softly. He pressed his mouth to hers, their lips the only thing touching, and in a second, it was over.

The steward came and announced lunch.

They ate quietly. She seemed distracted, and he felt restless. He wanted her to ask him more questions, but every time he urged her to ask him something else, she would tell him, "maybe later," or "after lunch". Fine, he would ask her questions.

"Why aren't you married, Granger?"

"I am." She gave him a steady look.

His mouth opened in shock, and wouldn't close. His fork was partway to his mouth, and hung suspended in air. Finally, he asked, "WHAT?"

"His name's Derek. We're on our honeymoon."

He had a shrimp on his fork and he flipped it at her. It landed on her lap. "You're evil sometimes."

"Coming from the King of Evil," she said.

"I'm merely the prince," he said seriously.

"Draco," she said, picking the shrimp off her lap and placing it on her plate, "Why aren't you married."

"I asked you first," he pointed out.

"So, I asked you second," she said. "I'll answer. I'm not married because I've never been asked, nor have I ever asked anyone, and I've never wanted to be, at least, not yet. You now have the floor."

"Same for me. I've never met anyone I want to marry, and I've never been in love," he said.

"You want to marry for love?" she asked.

"Don't you? Just because I'm a bloke, doesn't mean I want less out of a marriage than a woman wants," he said pointedly.

"Understood," she answered quickly.

One of the stewards came up to Draco and said, "There's a man and woman on a dingy, asking for permission to board."

"Tell them to go drown," Draco said seriously.

"It's a Mr. Pucey and a Miss Clearwater," the man said.

Draco looked shocked. "No, no, no, no," he chanted aloud. He stood up, almost knocked over his chair, and said, "Stay here, Hermione. Right here and I'll get rid of them."

"Adrian's here?" she asked, standing up.

Draco put his hands on her shoulders and said, "Sit back down!"

"Why are they here?" she asked. She started to stand again, and he pushed her down a second time.

"They're probably lost," he said. He heard Adrian calling his name. "Stay here," he repeated to Hermione.

He ran down the stairs, went down a metal ladder to the lower deck, and went to the starboard side of the boat. He looked down and saw Adrian and Penelope. "Go away!" he said.

"Malfoy, let us board," Adrian said as he tried to throw up the rope to his boat. Draco refused to catch up.

"Go away!" he said again. Hermione leaned down from the upper deck and waved to Adrian.

Adrian looked up, saw Hermione, waved slightly and said, "What the hell have you done, Malfoy?"

"You're not welcome here!" Draco hissed.

Adrian leaned forward and said, "What's Hermione Granger doing on your boat?"

"I don't know, but if you go away, I go up and find out, and I'll owl you the answer later," Draco said. He took his wand, and with a single flick, the dingy floated slightly away, almost knocking Adrian to his bum.

"MALFOY!" Adrian said.

Hermione was already down on the lower deck when Draco drew his wand. She used her wand to retrieve the boat. It floated back to the yacht and she said to one of the employees, "Please secure Mr. Pucey's boat and help them aboard."

Draco clutched his hands to his side and said, "FINE!" He took Hermione's arm and led her down the narrow side toward the front of the yacht.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"We're going back. Did you have a nice lunch? I did. I'll have the captain prepare a boat to take us back to the docks. Go get your stuff. Don't talk to anyone." He smiled the whole time he barked out his orders. He continued to push her toward the doorway that would lead to the inside of the yacht.

"Why don't you want me to talk to Adrian Pucey?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, Malfoy," Adrian said from behind them. "Why don't you want Miss Granger and me to speak? After all, we do work together. We ALL work together."

Draco grimaced, turned toward the man and said, "Don't you dare say a word." He knew that Adrian knew what he was speaking about, however, Hermione didn't. He turned to her and said, "I forgot that I had invited Adrian and his fiancé to join me on my yacht today. I had no idea that we would extend our…date," he whispered that word to her, "beyond last night."

"Draco Malfoy, are you ashamed that you and I are on a date?" she asked.

He practically stomped his foot and threw a fit when she said the 'D' word in front of Adrian. He pushed her toward the cabin. He knew that Adrian was still right behind them.

Adrian said, "I think I can answer that one, Miss Granger." Draco turned and gave the other man a harsh look.

Hermione said, "Actually, I would like Draco to tell me." She tapped Draco's shoulder.

He turned to face her slowly.

"Answer my question, Draco Malfoy! Are you ashamed to be on a date with me? Remember, you have to tell the truth," she said, her arms folded in front of her.

He really did have pain in his stomach, but not because he thought about lying to her, but because of the thought of telling her the truth. He turned back to Adrian and said, "Why are you alive?" He took Hermione's hand in his, and stormed past the man, up to the upper deck, where they had left their lunch.

He pushed her, not gently, back into her chair and began with, "Okay, Hermione, I have a secret."