"Check this out!" Blaise shouted as he leapt off the dock and cannonballed into the lake. He emerged back to the surface laughing, shaking the water off of his hair. Pansy and Daphne shrieked as the waves hit them, splashing some water in retaliation.
Music blared from the house, and the lake was full of my future classmates. Everyone was pretty interested in finding out I was their teacher's daughter, and Pansy enjoyed the minor popularity in having met me beforehand.
"Come on Suspiria, the water's great!" Blaise called out to me.
Blaise was really handsome, but the quality was less appealing since he was far too aware of it. Pansy and Daphne hung onto his every word, though he seemed bored by their attention. I wasn't bored of Blaise's attention yet, but I was very aware of Draco watching me carefully from where he sat by the fire pit with a couple of his friends.
I stood up and removed the wrap that I wore around my waist to reveal my emerald swimsuit. I had purchased it as a tribute to my future house. Then I sprinted full force down the dock and managed a neat front flip before I sliced into the water. The water remained it's clear color, the moon was waning and dipping behind some wispy clouds at the moment.
Blaise gave me an appreciative look, which didn't escape the notice of Draco. A dark expression crossed his face when I glanced over to check, and he took a swig from the firewhisky bottle he was passing around with his friends.
I had been quickly introduced to them. They were both very burly, built like linebackers. Though they looked rather brutish, I knew they could also probably outrun me, and pretty casually kick a ball across a field. They both seemed rather quiet, and I was still trying to sort out exactly what their friendship was based on. I found myself wondering exactly what the three were quietly discussing. Draco and I had been in our own little world this summer, it felt strange to realize he had friends that he had spent most of his year with for four years that I knew nothing about. Was I wrong to trust him?
"Hello, earth to Suspiria," Pansy said waving her hand in my face.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, where did you learn to dive like that?" she said, kindly pretending to not notice where my gaze had been directed.
"Back home we had this insane lake with a pretty steep cliff on one side. You could jump from any height you wanted to, and a lot of us worked our way all the way up to the top. It was kind of like a right of passage," I told her.
"Blaise, I'm starving," Daphne interrupted, unnecessarily hanging on to his arm.
"Looks like there's some food on the deck. We'd better hurry, before Crabbe finishes it off," Blaise joked as we all started heading for the shore.
"Hey Suspiria, what's that in your belly button?" Daphne asked when I emerged from the water.
"Seriously Daphne? They're all the rage in the States. Way cuter than a belly button ring," Pansy supplied for me. I couldn't help but smirk to myself, and wondered if my little fib might start a fashion trend. My mother would have gotten a kick out of that, I thought with a sudden twinge of sadness.
When I got to the fire pit, I couldn't sit next to Draco without also sitting in one of his friend's lap, so I ended up curling up on a bench next to Pansy and Daphne, both of whom seemed too shy to claim the empty seat next to Blaise.
After we passed around some food, we were all content to chatter until the conversation slowly faded into silence. Then, Daphne noticed the still rather full bottle of firewhisky that was sitting on the ground near Draco's leg. "Oooh," she squealed. "We should play never have I ever!"
I groaned. "Come on, that game is for first years who are confessing to their first kiss," I protested.
"Oh, now I really want to know what secrets you're hiding," Blaise said pointedly.
"I've never heard of it," Draco's friend Gregory piped up.
"It's easy. One of us says something we've never done, and if you've done the thing, then you drink. And you can't lie," Pansy volunteered.
"Don't worry Goyle," Blaise added with a sneer, "I'm sure you won't be drinking much!"
"Everybody grab a cup!" Daphne commanded, taking the bottle and pouring a healthy amount into everyone's red solo cups. "I'll go first!" She put a manicured finger up to her chin as she thought. "Never have I ever…. Kissed a Malfoy!"
Pansy and I shot an exasperated glance at each other and drank, but the real surprise came when Blaise also raised his cup to his mouth. "What?!" We demanded.
He laughed in good spirits, "It was a dare! My honor was on the line," he explained.
Draco finally piped up, "We agreed to never discuss that, Zabini."
"Hey man, you heard the rules. No lying," he responded, causing a second round of laughter. "Alright, me next. Never have I ever worn a bra."
"I feel targeted," I said, raising my cup once again.
"And how!" Daphne said.
Draco also decided to take a shot at me, "Never have I ever had a father who was a teacher."
Pansy shot back. "Never have I ever dumped someone via Owl."
"Oohhhhh," sounded out. Luckily, Pansy seemed to still be in good spirits.
It was my turn. "Never have I ever ridden a broomstick," I said. I got quite a few shocked looks, excluding Draco, before Blaise responded.
"Are we already moving to euphemisms?" he asked deviously.
"In this case, I'm afraid I'm being literal," I responded.
"Well in the not literal sense I may have to change that," he replied with another appraising look. I noticed Draco's hand tighten into a fist at that remark and warily wondered how much of that firewhisky was gone before Daphne poured out everyone's shares.
Daphne moved along. "Never have I ever gotten head."
Everyone, including a noticeably pink Pansy, drank except for Crabbe.
"Never have I ever broken a bone."
"Never have I ever stolen money from a parent."
"Never have I ever cheated on a test."
"These are boring!" Blaise exclaimed. His cheeks were getting a bit rosy. I had slowed down to taking the barest of sips to pace myself, but he had almost gone through his entire cup. He looked straight at Draco. "Never have I ever had sex with a Malfoy."
Pansy and I kept our cups down and everyone got very quiet. Finally, I tried to break the tension, "I mean Draco did think I was banging his dad when we first met."
It worked. Suddenly, everyone had to hear the story and Draco and I were barely able to tell it without bursting into giggles every few seconds.
Finally everyone calmed down, and Pansy stood up to stretch. "What time is it? I think we'd better get out of these swimsuits and get some sleep."
There was a murmur of agreement, and people started heading back into the lodge, with Draco hanging back, waiting for me. Once we were alone I finally spoke. "You're quiet tonight. Was this whole party an attempt at avoiding me?" I asked, not quite able to make it sound like I was teasing him.
"What am I supposed to do Suspiria? You're not human and you just expect me to be okay with that? You make me promise to not ask questions, then do that?" he asked harshly.
I scoffed. "You never shut up about how no one trusts you with anything, how your life is all about secrets and this is how you react when I finally tell you the truth? If you want me to leave you alone, just say it," I spat.
He closed the distance between us in two quick strides and gripped my shoulder, his face a mere inches from mine. I could smell the whiskey on his breath and his eyes looked intense. "I can't," he said with a clenched jaw. "I can't stop watching you, I can't stop wanting you. You just show up in my life, with no warning, and I feel better. You made me forget about all the secrets and the lies, and the dead boy and the conspiracies. Then you drop this on me and I'm so mad, Suspiria I'm furious" -His grip on my shoulder tightened to an almost painful level- "and I can't tell you to leave. I can't even pretend to want you to leave."
He stared at me, chest heaving, for a full minute before his breathing slowed and his hand loosened. I gently placed my hands on either side of his face and saw his expression soften. "Let me fix this. Just wait until the morning when everyone's gone and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."
"Let's just go inside."
Blaise was lounging on the couch inside, still shirtless, but had changed from his swim trunks into some grey sweats. In the light of the house the flush on his face was rather obvious. He stood up, swaying slightly and sauntered over to me, standing too close for courtesy.
"It's time for bed Suspiria," he said. "How about you come with me and I'll teach you how to ride a broomstick?" he asked suggestively with a smirk and what I'm sure he thought was a seductive look.
I felt Malfoy tense up next to me. "Okay Blaise, very funny, but I think you've hit the bottle too hard," I responded.
"Baby I hit it just hard enough," he said, spewing his breath all over my face.
"Okay, you need to back up," I responded sterny.
He leaned in closer. "Or what? Are you going to teach me a lesson? Come on, it's not like he's been keeping you satisfied, he admitted that much at the fire pit," Blaise continued on.
Malfoy abruptly shoved Blaised away, sending him stumbling to regain his balance. Once Blaise regained his footing, any trace of laughter disappeared from his face. When he started forward again, he was heading toward Draco.
"What's going on?" Daphne asked, her and Pansy emerging from the hallway.
"You guys just need to take it easy," I said warily, glancing between the two. Blaise wasn't the only one who appeared flushed.
"What's the matter, Malfoy? Afraid your girl's going to like me better? Don't worry, Parkingson at least waited for you to dump her with your pathetic letter before she began throwing herself at me," Blaise persisted. "Trust me, when she wakes up in my bed tomorrow morning, she won't even be thinking about you."
I didn't even have time to glance at Pansy to judge her reaction to Blaise's comments. A huge bang sounded and Blaise was suddenly hurled across the room where he hit the wall and crumpled to the floor. Malfoy was standing there, wand drawn, looking furious.
Blaise immediately jumped up, drawing his own wand. "Oh, you think you're a big man, Malfoy? Daddy's not here to bail you out, you sure you want to do this?"
Malfoy clenched his jaw in response, not lowering his wand.
"Stupefy!"
I leapt out of the way, not wanting to literally get caught in the crossfire.
"Stop it! Stop it! We're not supposed to use magic! Stop it!" Pansy cried.
"Oh please, they have no way of knowing it's underage. We're on a Malfoy property," Daphne countered. "They probably will just assume it's Mr. Malfoy."
"Oh will they?" a much more mature voice asked from the doorway, making us all jump. Lucius Malfoy was standing there, taking in the scene. "I've just been alerted by a colleague that some underage magic was happening at one of my vacation homes. Imagine my surprise when I come to see it's not a burglar, but my son's entire year being unsupervised in my home. I'm sure all of your parent's will be equally interested in this story. I'll be sure to ask them, as they will all be arriving shortly."