The Maze of Memory

by JaneEvans13

Hermione is twenty-two and her life is quite stable. The only thing that overshadows her–obsessive dreams that haunt the night where Hermione constantly sees Someone's silhouette. But when she and her friends find themselves at the best resort in the Magic World, the usual course of things changes in a completely unpredictable way, because she has to... dance. Dance with the enemy.

12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Soundtrack – Florence And The Machine «No Light, No Light»

She was awakened by bright rays of sunlight, brazenly breaking through her eyelids. Hermione squeezed her eyes and rolled over with a disappointed groan. She still desperately wanted to sleep, besides, she absolutely didn't have the strength even to open her eyes. What time did she go to bed? At four, five in the morning? It was hard to say. But now, in a warm bed, covered with a silk sheet, she felt more comfortable than ever.

Wait, a silk sheet?!

Hermione abruptly opened her eyes and, focusing her gaze on a completely unfamiliar interior, sat up on the bed in shock.

She looked around dumbfounded, trying to capture all the details of the spacious room: a wide window without curtains, a white fluffy carpet with a long pile, an expensive leather armchair next to a glass coffee table against the wall, a heavy chest of drawers with elegant legs, and, finally, a huge four-poster bed covered with black silk sheets.

Where the hell is she?!

She barely stopped herself from having a panic attack, pressed herself against the headboard of the bed and began to feverishly recall the events of last night.

After talking outside, she and Malfoy returned to the bar and ordered a cocktail. Then, it seems, they discussed something for a long time, after which they were brought another glass, and then... Hermione winced, because she realized that further her memories turned into some kind of tangle.

She couldn't be one hundred percent sure of this, but it seems that, among other things, they danced together, and also participated in some stupid competition and even managed to win something, but…

What happened then?

Suddenly, Hermione heard a noise in the next room and it was the moment when a wave of horror swept over. It was easy to do the math: she was at the bar with Malfoy, she was drunk, and now she lies in bed on black silk sheets in a completely unfamiliar room.

A terrible guess stunned her, and when she abruptly pulled off the sheet and discovered that she was wearing only underwear, she was seized with a real panic. Abruptly jumping out of bed, Hermione frantically began to look for her clothes and, seeing that her skirt and top were crumpled up in completely opposite ends of the room, she let out a desperate moan.

No, it can't be! Nonsense and absurdity! She's probably in Ginny's bedroom right now. Or in Ron's. She's never been in the bedrooms in her friends' bungalows, has she?

These thoughts calmed her down a bit, but when Hermione took a quick glance at the coffee table and saw a black leather diary with the initials "D. M." engraved on the cover, her attempts to remain calm vanished.

At that moment, the door at the opposite end of the room swung open, and Hermione barely had time to grab a black sheet lying on the floor to cover herself.

Apparently, Malfoy still managed to see her half-naked, because a lascivious grin appeared on his face.

"What a nice morning, isn't it, Granger?" he said, taking a relaxed step into the room. "If someone had told me that I would see you in my bedroom, hmm... looking like that, I would never have believed it."

Hermione couldn't even answer him, she was stunned by what was happening. She was staring at Malfoy, who had obviously just come out of the shower. Swallowing convulsively, her gaze slid over his naked, strong body, water droplets glistened on his torso. A towel was wrapped around Draco's thighs, thanks Merlin he wasn't naked, otherwise she would lose control.

"Malfoy ..." Hermione finally managed in a frightened voice, pressing the sheet closer to her, and took a step back.

"Oh, right, Granger, where are my manners!" Draco threw up his hands, watching her mockingly. "Make yourself at home, don't be shy! Although, after last night, I think you won't have any difficulties with this."

After these words, Malfoy winked at her and, making sure that he had made the proper effect, left the room with a satisfied grin.

For a couple of seconds, she seemed to be rooted to the floor, numb with horror. The only thought that emerged in her head was a huge, blatant question: "What?!" Being still half-conscious from shock, Hermione quickly grabbed her skirt and top, and, abruptly closing the door, began frantically pulling on her clothes.

Her brain was bursting with the absurdity of what was happening, everything inside was protesting, shouting that this was wrong, that she shouldn't, simply couldn't be here, but this was a reality and she is in Malfoy's room.

Gathering all her inner strength, Hermione took a deep breath and, opening the door again, cautiously entered the next room. Quickly glancing over her, she automatically stated to herself that she was in a spacious and surprisingly cozy living room, made in muted gray tones, diluted with soft green shades of some interior details. Malfoy wasn't there, and, hearing a noise behind the wall to her right, Hermione went to the next room feeling kind of dizzy.

Gently pushing the door open, she stepped in and took a sharp breath, because the first thing her gaze came across was Draco Malfoy. He was leaning against the counter of a small bar and enjoying his coffee.

Hermione, holding her breath, distantly thought that he hadn't bothered to change his damn towel for something more... acceptable.

Draco raised an eyebrow lazily when he saw her.

"Are you already dressed?! What a pity. You look much better in that lace set." He gave her a meaningful look and took a sip from the mug, then slowly nodded with a barely noticeable smile, as if to confirm his words: "Much better!"

Flushing under his gaze, Hermione finally remembered how to breathe again, and blinking in a dazed way she said carefully:

"Yes, I got dressed, can't say the same about you though."

"Oh, are you talking about that?" putting the coffee aside, Draco looked at the towel.

"Yes, exactly," Hermione confirmed slowly, blushing even more from the fact that her gaze involuntarily rested on Malfoy's groin.

"Hmm... So you don't like seeing me in a towel," Draco said with mock dejection.

"Can you imagine," Hermione crossed her arms irritably over her chest, ignoring her inner voice that grumpily noticed that she was lying.

"Well, if you don't like it..." pushing off from the bar, Malfoy took a step towards her and, with a light movement of his hand, kicked off the towel from his thighs.

"Is that better?"

Hermione, completely dazed for a moment, involuntarily glanced down at Draco's naked sexy body and suddenly froze.

She didn't know what was the expression on her face, but judging by the way Draco's shoulders began to shudder in silent laughter, she realized that she looked at least like a brainless idiot.

Blushing deeply and cussing herself, Hermione abruptly turned around facing the bedroom door. She was instantly flooded with feelings of shame, indignation and wild anger.

"You're just an insufferable jerk, Malfoy," Hermione rapped out, trying to put as much bile into the words as she could, staring at the wall. Indeed, how could he even dare to do something like that?

"I don't know what's wrong with you, Granger. You said yourself that my appearance in a towel doesn't suit you."

Hermione clenched her fists angrily. She could practically feel Malfoy burning her back with his mocking gaze.

"Besides," Draco continued smugly, "I bet you liked what you saw. Admit it."

Hearing such a cheeky statement, Hermione uncontrollably turned sharply to Draco again, but realizing that he was still naked, she sighed loudly and hurriedly covered her eyes with her hands.

"Fucking pervert! Why are you still not dressed?!" she howled, bubbling with rage. She wanted to strangle Malfoy for this stupid trick with the towel, especially at this moment, when he was already openly laughing at her, and she couldn't even take her hands out of her eyes without fear that she would see this damn idiot in all his naked glory again.

"I'm sorry, Granger, I didn't think that it would be… Too much for you, " Draco said, barely calming down, and, judging by the noise, picked up the towel from the floor. "It's quite rare to meet a girl who is shy to look at a naked guy after spending the night with him."

Hermione was stunned by Malfoy's last words. The night with him?.. What the hell does he mean by that? Holy Merlin, unless they…

She slowly lowered her palms from her eyes and saw Draco fiddling with the towel, trying to fix it tightly on the side of his hips. He was frowning slightly, but apart of that looked quite ordinary.

Hermione simply was speechless. Suddenly, the awareness of what had happened at night fell upon her with renewed vigor, and it didn't fit into her head at all. She just couldn't believe that she and Malfoy, that they...

Hermione felt sick. Right now, she just needed to sit down. Turning her head to the right, she saw a small sofa and, after taking a couple of steps, slowly sank down on it.

Catching the girl's movements, Draco gave her a deliberately worried look.

"Maybe coffee?"

Hermione frowned at him. After what she had recently heard, she only wanted to shoot herself.

"Are you serious?" she asked incredulously.

Draco chuckled and, for a second, turned away from her facing the bar, took the instantly materialized mug of fresh coffee and handed it to her.

"Absolutely" he replied, bowing his head slightly and looking directly at her, which sent goosebumps to Hermione. Memory obligingly slipped her the image of a naked Malfoy, and her cheeks flushed again from such a revealing flashback, and for some reason her body trembled strangely.

"No, I mean… are you serious about the..," she automatically accepted the mug, and looked away in embarrassment. She couldn't bear to look into his eyes right now. It seemed that everything she was thinking about was written on her face. And considering the things that may have occurred during the night, she was afraid that her face would soon inflame with shame.

Draco took a few steps back and leaned his palms back on the bar. Hermione couldn't see his face, but she could feel how inquisitively he was looking at her.

A tense silence reigned in the room for a moment. Malfoy, apparently, was in no hurry to speak, while Hermione was exhausted from the desire to ask all those awkward questions that were spinning in her head. But at the same time, she was really scared to ask them, because she suspected that the answers to them would be the same... tough, to say the least.

"Drink your coffee while it's hot," Draco finally said slowly in a completely neutral tone and picked up his mug.

Hermione looked up at him in surprise. Was it her imagination, or was Malfoy trying to change the subject?

"I just want to know the truth," she said in a barely audible voice, frozen in a tense pose.

Draco raised an eyebrow in question.

"The truth?"

"Yes, the truth about what happened last night," Hermione confirmed impatiently and mentally prepared for the worst.

For an excruciatingly long time, Draco just stared at her impassively, after which his face took on a strange expression.

"You won't like this," he finally said, and everything inside Hermione collapsed.

"I still want to hear the truth," she said after a moment of hesitation.

Malfoy grinned slightly.

"Well, as you wish. You got wildly drunk."

Hermione's mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. She expected to hear a bit of a different kind of information.

"Wildly drunk?!" she began slowly. "First of all, I would prefer a different choice of words, for example, "you drank a little too much", and second of all, isn't it your fault? It seems you were the one who suggested the "farewell cocktail" yesterday."

"Yes, but only you thought that it should be alcoholic."

Draco was already grinning openly: they both knew he was right. There were sparks of amusement dancing in his eyes, while Hermione glared at him angrily, not knowing what to say. Unfortunately, she actually ordered two "little death" herself yesterday when they returned to the bar. An absolutely reckless act on her part. And what was she thinking?

"Look, Granger, don't worry so much. If something, the whole bar was in love with you!"

"What do you mean?" she asked warily, frowning.

Malfoy gave her a bland smile.

"Well, your fiery dances in the middle of the circle, the final competition on stage, which, by the way, we won thanks to your... What did you call it?" Draco frowned thoughtfully. "Oh, right, "the magnificent grand battement". The people were just howling with delight!"

Hermione sat as if thunderstruck. Apparently, there was genuine horror on her face that the smile on Malfoy's face faded slightly.

"Wow, you really don't remember anything," he said slowly, shaking his head with a barely noticeable note of surprise.

Throwing a murderous look at Draco, Hermione felt that she just needed to keep herself busy, otherwise she would go crazy. Looking down quickly, she found herself still gripping her coffee mug tightly. That's it.

Hermione took a nervous sip. The coffee was amazing, but now she just couldn't physically appreciate the full taste of this drink. She was being eaten up inside by such a huge, overwhelming sense of shame and embarrassment for her catastrophically reckless behaviour last night that she simply couldn't think of anything else.

"How did I end up in your bungalow?" Hermione asked in a lifeless voice.

"I brought you here," Draco replied simply.

She slowly turned her gaze to him.

"Brought me?"

"Yes, I took you in my arms and brought you here," Malfoy shrugged, as if there was nothing ... strange about it.

"Did I fall asleep at the bar?" Hermione asked in horror.

Draco grinned.

"I think it would be more correct if I say that you were simply unable to walk on your own."

"Oh my God..." Hermione covered her face with her hands. She couldn't believe that this had happened to her. With her! An excellent student, an exemplary graduate of Hogwarts, an outstanding employee of the Ministry of Magic, and simply, well-mannered witch to the bone!

Apparently reading her thoughts, Draco said softly:

"Don't be so upset, Granger. If you always keep an impeccable moral image, it's going to drive you crazy. Life is too short to put yourself into the framework of eternal decency."

These words found a strange response in her soul, and Hermione, having recovered a little, raised a startled look at Malfoy.

He looked at her calmly, a slight smile played on his lips, and there was something in his eyes that she had never seen in his gaze. Something like warmth and sympathy.

They looked at each other in silence for a while, after which, suddenly emboldened, Hermione said quietly:

"Did we spend the night together?"

Draco froze for a second, and his eyes reflected amazement, which, however, instantly disappeared.

"You woke up in my bed, Granger. What do you think is the answer to your question?" Draco asked without a trace of a smile, frowning slightly.

Hermione took a shuddering breath. Her last hope for a safe truth was destroyed by these simple words. Really, what was she hoping for? From the very beginning, everything was too obvious. Someone else's bedroom, black silk sheets, randomly scattered clothes, the initials "D. M." on the diary – she could understand everything from the first moment of her awakening.

Now it was simply unbearable to be here. Hermione abruptly got up from the sofa and with a trembling hand put the mug on the bar, slightly spilling coffee on the table. It will take time, a lot of time, for her to get used to the idea that she spent the night with someone and doesn't even remember it.

She doesn't remember spending the night with Draco Malfoy.

Suddenly, this thought echoed in her with some new, exciting flutter inside her stomach, and this frightened Hermione even more than the fact of what had happened. Without looking at Draco, she quickly headed towards the door, overcome by a heap of the most diverse, absolutely contradictory emotions.

"Granger, stop," she heard after her, and, stopping abruptly, turned reluctantly to Malfoy.

"What?"

"I haven't told you everything," he replied, frowning. There was an undisguised concern in his eyes.

"I don't want to know any more, Malfoy. I have to go," Hermione shook her head, instantly feeling sick and tired. She knew that she would simply not stand it if she heard all the details of the past night. So far, there were enough facts to draw a conclusion about her absolute moral degradation.

Draco watched her intently, as if he didn't know what to do next.

"Then, see you in class?" he said calmly with an unreadable expression on his face.

Hermione blinked in surprise. She had completely forgotten that she had to train every day. Damn, and who just came up with these rules?

She almost wanted to howl with doom. She just didn't know how she could dance with Malfoy now, be with him, let him touch her after everything that had happened?!

But there was no choice.

"At eight," Hermione said listlessly, feeling a strange apathy, and, without waiting for an answer, walked away again.

This time Malfoy didn't hold her back.

Hermione wandered back to her bungalow mechanically, trying not to think about anything at least for now. How strange, it's still early in the morning, and she's already mentally dehydrated to the limit. And who said that a vacation at this resort is beneficial, and all events ultimately lead to the best?!

The only desire now was to come to her bungalow, fall on a soft bed and lose herself into deep sleep, where there will be no worries, shame, despair and... Malfoy.

Although, at the expense of the latter, Hermione got excited. No matter how much she wanted to avoid this, but, nevertheless, as soon as she will close her eyes and went into the sleep, she'll inevitably see him in her dreams.

She was only 30 feet away from the bungalow when she saw someone sitting on the threshold leading to the front door. Holding her breath, Hermione took a couple of steps and gasped softly: red unruly hair, a lanky figure, an awkward posture.

Ron.

He was sitting with his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands. Hermione stopped dead in her tracks. How long has he been here? Why did he come? What if he found out that she had spent the night out? How can she explain it?!

Hermione was seized with an inexplicable horror at the thought of what other consequences last night might bring. Holy Merlin, what did she do to deserve this?

For a moment she wanted to turn around and run away, because she simply couldn't face another problem right now. With a problem in the form of an ex-boyfriend – Ron Weasley. But, of course, this is not an option. Sooner or later, she would still have to explain herself to him, and if she left now, it would only make the situation way worse.

"Oh, Ron, why are you always in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Hermione thought resignedly and, sighing, quietly went to meet him.

When she was only a couple of steps away from him, she suddenly realized that he had dozed off. Coming a little closer, Hermione bent over him and, hearing a peaceful snoring, was finally convinced of this.

Suddenly a brilliant thought struck her. Smiling faintly at her resourcefulness, Hermione stealthily climbed the steps and, whispering her name to the door, entered the bungalow. Immediately after that, she peeked out furtively and made sure that Ron was still asleep.

Tension pounded madly in her temples as she tried to close the door as quietly as possible, and only when it slammed shut with a soft click, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. She leaned her back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor. She wanted to freeze like this forever, doing nothing. Hermione stared at one point for a while, just enjoying the silence. Somehow, she managed to abstract herself from the dark memories.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting in this position, but suddenly, anxiety began to grow inside.

Damn it, Ron. He's still there.

With a frustrated groan, Hermione forced herself to her feet with an incredible effort of will.

She just needed to figure out at least this.

Quickly glancing at herself in the mirror, she mentally stated with gloomy satisfaction that she looked as it should for her further plan: sleepy and exhausted. Perhaps even too exhausted.

After straightening her clothes, Hermione hesitated a bit, confidently touched the front door handle and flung it open. Going outside, she saw how Ron flinched at the sharp sound, but only when she slammed the door, he finally fell out of his state of drowsiness. Abruptly raising his head up, he looked around stupidly for a while, then turned back to her and froze.

"Ron?" ahead of him, asked Hermione, trying to look surprised and as natural as possible. "What are you doing here?"

Her words seemed to have finally brought him to his senses. Frowning slightly, Ron awkwardly got up from the steps and turned to face her.

"Hermione? Wait, so you were at your bungalow the whole time?" He said warily.

"Of course, I was there, where else should I be?" She said with deliberate nonchalance and went down the steps to him.

"Weird," Ron ran his fingers through his hair, puzzled. "I knocked on your door for about ten minutes, but no one answered me. I thought you decided to take a walk in the morning, well, or..."

He waved his hand vaguely, shaking his head.

"I was so tired yesterday that I instantly fell asleep. Sorry, guess I just didn't hear it," Hermione said as calmly as possible, although everything inside her was eating up from the fact that she had to lie to her friend.

"I thought I'd wait for you, so I dozed off a little," Ron smiled awkwardly, but then frowned. "I wanted to talk to you."

Hermione looked at him carefully and only now realized that, apparently, Ron had come to apologize. It was amazing how quickly the memory of their quarrel disappeared from her memory, as soon as the problem under the name Draco Malfoy appeared on the horizon.

"So you've been waiting for me?" Hermione asked quickly, trying to distract herself from uninvited thoughts.

"Yes…" Ron looked at her, embarrassed. "I wanted to catch you before breakfast."

"And how long have you been..." Hermione waved her hand distractedly, "…waiting?"

She held her breath, trying to look unconcerned.

"I don't know, maybe fifteen minutes, maybe twenty..." Ron scratched his head awkwardly. "I dozed off."

Instantly relieved by his words, Hermione smiled involuntarily.

Thank Merlin, Ron doesn't know that she was gone all night. It's scary to think what would have happened if he had known the truth.

"Well, what did you want to talk about?" Hermione asked, slightly tensing, and crossed her arms over her chest.

Ron hesitated for a few seconds, apparently deciding what to do next.

"Can we go for a walk?" He finally suggested with a shy smile. It gave the impression that he was wildly nervous.

Hermione thought that now wasn't the right time for walking, but seeing the sincere hope in her friend's eyes, she simply couldn't refuse.

They walked in silence for a while, strolling through the surroundings of the Magnolia. The weather outside was nice and quiet fresh.

It seemed that because it was raining yesterday and all nature bloomed even more, having drunk life-giving moisture. There was an amazing floral fragrance in the air, diluted with pleasant smells of rain and sea.

Hermione was amazed at how many happy wizards she met along the way. Their faces radiated sincere joy, their eyes shone with happiness and anticipation of something good. And that was exactly what Hermione found eerily ridiculous. She just couldn't believe that she was the only one who was experiencing such truly terrifying events at this resort. It seemed that every day the Magnolia was exposing the darkest sides of her nature more and more, provoking her to do things that would make the old Hermione to be in the utter shock.

But now, as much as she hated to admit it, she realized that she had begun to change, to act in ways that she wouldn't have been able to under any circumstances just a month ago. And the most frightening thing was that deep down, Hermione loved these changes. Tormented by feelings of shame and despair, she felt something inside her quietly rejoice. Something that she had been trying to suppress for so long.

Freedom.

For a split second, Hermione stopped, stunned by this revelation. Yes, freedom. Freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of action.

She has been limiting herself all her life, trying to meet someone's expectations, trying to be what her parents, friends, professors wanted her to. It was as if she was bound hand and foot by the foundations that had been imposed on her for years. Which she imposed on herself.

And now she realizes (the hard way!) that she feels free, like never before, but, nevertheless, she simply can't enjoy it.

She just doesn't know how to enjoy it.

"Hermione."

Ron's voice was unexpected, and she shuddered.

"Yes?" the girl responded.

"Listen, please, forgive me for everything I said. I don't know what came over me." Ron blurted out in one breath, stopping abruptly. "I understand that it's not your fault, I mean the fact that you have to dance with Malfoy."

Hermione's mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. It took her a few seconds to collect her thoughts.

"I understand that it was very difficult for you to accept this..." she finally said carefully, watching her friend's reaction.

"Yes, you have no idea how hard it is," he responded passionately, frowning. "It's just, you know, even on the very first day when you danced with him, for a split second it seemed to me that…"

Ron broke off and looked away. It was clear that it was far from simple for him.

Hermione knew she didn't want to hear it. Her mouth was instantly dry, and her heart for some reason was beating desperately. She held her breath for a second, watching Ron in a mental plea to stop voicing the truth that she couldn't admit even to herself.

"It seemed to me that..." her friend began again, not noticing her reaction, and turned a heavy gaze at her, "... you like it, dancing with each other."

His words stunned Hermione.

"What?! No. No!" flashed through her head.

"I know what you're going to say," Ron continued hastily. "You probably think that I just got all worked up, but please understand me! It's really hard for me to see you next to someone. Especially with Malfoy. And when I see him staring at you, I can barely restrain myself from ripping his freaking head off!"

Hermione was looking at Ron with her eyes wide open. He was breathing heavily, frowning darkly. After a few seconds, his gaze softened, and he took a step towards her.

"I'm just insanely worried about you and I want you to know that if something happens to you because of him, I'll… I'll kill him."

His last words sounded calm, but as soon as he said it, a chilling fear crept under Hermione's skin. She knew that Ron was serious.

Which meant that if he found out about everything that had happened between her and Malfoy, then...

Shuddering at the horrifying thought, Hermione said quickly:

"Ron, nothing's going happen to me. Please don't worry! Everything will be fine."

Of course she was lying. And judging by the way Ron looked at her in disbelief, he realized it too.

"Hermione, please be honest, did he touch you?"

His voice sounded unexpectedly quiet, and Hermione looked up at Ron with a dazed look.

"What?" she asked slowly, desperately trying to calm the rising panic.

"Malfoy... Did he touch you?" Ron gently took her by the shoulders and firmly looked her straight in the eyes.

With a shuddering sigh, Hermione blurted out the first thing that came to her mind:

"We're dancing together, Ron, so..."

"That's not what I mean, you know that," he interrupted her grimly, slightly raising his voice.

Trying to gather all her strength, Hermione gave Ron the same firm look.

"If Malfoy had tried to do me any harm, to do something against my will, then there is no doubt, you would be the first to found out."

Surprisingly, she almost told the truth.

Everything that had happened between her and Draco was (yes, she admitted it!) by mutual agreement.

Without a doubt.

Therefore, everything that has happened so far will remain their common, wrong, dirty secret. And neither of them wanted to involve third parties here.

"Okay," Ron breathed in relief and took his hands off her shoulders, closing his eyes. "Good."

He looked so painfully familiar with his ridiculous, somewhat rude concern, that suddenly unbidden tears came to Hermione's eyes. Why, why couldn't she really love Ron, love him the way he deserved, with his kind, warm heart? Why doesn't she feel anything for him and share that ridiculous adoration and insane desire towards Malfoy?! What an absurd injustice, to feel a frightening passion for a person you hated fiercely for most of your life, for a person who is exactly the son of his father, deeply influenced pureblood environment, for a person whose soul is as dark as night. And, on the other hand, to feel absolutely nothing, except for friendly affection for someone who sincerely loves you with pure, unselfish love, for someone who is ready to do anything for you, ready to give you anything in this world, to give happiness, warmth, create a family together and stability for life.

And what does she choose in the end?

What did she choose in the end?

Suddenly tears burst from her eyes, and Hermione, with a convulsive sob, threw herself on Ron's neck. She clung tightly to him, mourning her failed love story with the most right and kind person for this feeling. Mourning his sincere, blind devotion to her and their common unfulfilled hopes for a happy future.

Now she understood that this was the end. She would definitely not be able to be back with him, to start all over again. Too much has changed. She has changed.

"Hermione ..." Ron hugged her gently, discouraged by her unexpected reaction, and gently placed his hand on her head.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she muttered through her tears, cringing from a feeling of pity for herself, for him. "It's just so much has happened lately, it's so hard for me…"

"I understand, everything is fine," Ron stroked her back soothingly and tenderly kissed the top of her head. "Cry as much as you need."

It took some time before Hermione began to calm down. She felt safe in Ron's arms, as if it was a haven where she could hide from worries and problems. And so, gradually, the tears dried up, the sobs stopped binding the throat, and the heart calmed down its pace.

Hermione was still hugging Ron, her cheek pressed against his chest when she suddenly felt someone's heavy gaze on her. Draco Malfoy was looking at her warily, intently, as if he was seeing something for the first time. He was standing motionless about ten meters away from her and Ron, with his hands in the pockets. Suddenly, Hermione felt as if she had been caught off guard at the scene of a crime. She cringed uncomfortably under Draco's gaze, which now flashed sparks of some new, incomprehensible emotions. Suddenly, his shoulders slightly twitched then he abruptly turned and quickly walked away.

Hermione's heart dropped and she slowly pulled away from Ron.

There was something about that moment that made her cry again.

Draco barely remembered how he reached the Great Hall and sat down at the first available table he came across. A storm was raging inside, a veil of restrained fury sparkled in his eyes. His fingers nervously tapped on the tabletop as he replayed the same moment over and over in his head: on the way to breakfast, tormented by an incomprehensible, crappy feeling of guilt for not telling Granger the truth, he mindlessly turns his head to the right and sees her frozen in a touching embrace with Weasley. And this redhead, he holds her so possessively, touches her hair so gently, that at this moment Draco seriously wanted to raise his wand and hit him with the Cruciatus curse, and remove his disgusting long fingers from her body. But then he turns his attention to the calm, serene face of Granger, whose head rests on the Weasley's chest. Draco sees how tightly she clung to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, sees how good she feels in the arms of this dumbass.

She never felt so good and safe around him.

And then, all of a sudden, dark feelings and emotions began to rise within him that he seemed never to have experienced. He didn't think it was possible to feel an all-consuming, destructive rage, to be on the verge of destroying everything that came on his way, he wisely decided to get away from here and leave the lovey-dovey couple to fucking enjoy themselves.

At the memory of that encounter, Draco's fingers suddenly froze and clenched into a fist. Fucking whore Granger. Of course, what else could she do after finding out that she spent the night in his bed?!

Naturally, she ran to seek solace to her disgusting, filthy friend, who, like an obedient sheep, would believe anything she says and wipe her tears with his sleeve, whining devotedly about his eternal love. With a malicious grin, Malfoy wondered if Granger had probably not told Weaselbee about what had happened the night before. Obviously, she hopes that everything will remain a secret, that he, Draco, will be silent, because voicing the truth is hardly more profitable for him than for her.

Well, she's a real bitch.

However, what could he expect from her? That she would come back and throw herself into his arms like she did last night, especially after he stopped her?! No, how could the saint-nerd Granger, whose whole life is revolving around of being a good girl and live by the strict schedule of her magic diary do this? It's not like her to choose the bad guys at all.

Suddenly, Draco froze. What the hell was he thinking? Was he really angry that Granger chose Weasley over him? Why the hell should he even care?!

What the fuck.

Nervously picking up the menu, Malfoy quickly touched the name of the strongest Firewhiskey in the alcohol list with his wand, and after the glass appeared, he nervously took a sip.

"It's early in the morning, and you're already drinking?! I see the old Malfoy," a mocking voice came from someone behind him.

Slowly turning, Draco raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Zabini?! It's early morning, and you're still not sober from the last night?! So it's definitely you."

They exchanged appraising glances, grinning, and then Draco stood up abruptly and shook hand of his old friend.

"Damn, Draco, seriously, what are you doing here?" Blaise asked, patting him on the shoulder. "The last time I saw you, you preferred a different kind of vacation."

Draco grinned, remembering how they had spent a lot of time together with Blaise, traveling to bars and leaving a very lavish lifestyle. There was a short period of time, a couple of years after graduation, when they really got closer on the basis of a common disappointment in their previous beliefs and a craving for something new. However, then he met Elisa, and Zabini found another blonde distraction named Erica, their paths parted for a while.

"By good fortune, Blaise," Draco smiled, shrugging his shoulders gracefully. "What about you?"

Zabini rolled his eyes.

"My mother came up with a sophisticated performance again to seduce a new victim. She needs me as a safety net."

"Really? And who is this time?" Draco asked with a grin.

It was really fun to hear, l what kind of things Blaise's mother thought up just to charm the rich moneybag and then snatch the poor guy's entire fortune. At the same time, the fact that all her husbands suddenly and unexpectedly died under very mysterious circumstances, Blaise pointedly left without comment.

"The owner of this resort is her new goal. It seems his name is Lorenzo."

Draco's eyebrows went up in surprise.

"Lorenzo?! Interesting... You won't believe how similar our reasons for being here is. I'm here with El, and she was desperately eager to see her uncle. I think you'll figure out the ending of this story yourself," he said casually and sat down at the table again.

"Damn it Malfoy, are you still dating that hot Italian girl? Who would have thought," Blaise ignored the information about Lorenzo and sat down across him.

Instead of answering, Draco grinned slightly and took a sip from his glass. For some reason, everything inside his stomach was suddenly unpleasantly twisted from the realization that he hadn't thought of Elisa for several days. At all.

"And where is she?" Frowning slightly, Zabini began to look around, in an unsuccessful attempt to find El in the Great hall.

"She left with Lorenzo to solve some particularly important issues, leaving me alone to rot in this shitty resort," Draco said casually and saluted with a glass. "So obviously your mother will have to slow down with her plan."

"Oh, fuck it," Blaise waved off, grabbing the menu, and then chose the same drink as Draco. "I don't care about her plans, as long as she is ultimately satisfied."

He was silent for a while, looking at the liquid in the glass that instantly appeared in front of him.

"So, is it really as bad here as I thought it would be?" Blaise lazily took the glass of Firewhiskey in his hands.

Draco smirked grimly.

"You have no idea."

Zabini relaxed back in his chair, slightly raising his eyebrows, then looked to the right and froze with a stunned expression on his face.

"Malfoy, you son of a bitch, why didn't you tell me?" he drawled slowly, and his lips stretched in a lazy grin.

Draco knew exactly what caused Zabini's reaction, so he didn't hurry to turn around.

Instead, he finished his drink, looking at Blaise grimly. For a couple of minutes, he watched someone behind him with an astonished grin, and then suddenly said loudly:

"Damn Merlin! Potter, Granger and two Weasley's! Are we having a reunion, and you forgot to invite me?"

Rolling his eyes, Draco stared sullenly at the menu, hoping that Zabini would shut up as soon as possible and let the golden company pass by.

"Blaise Zabini?! What are you doing here?" Suddenly he heard Granger's soft voice with a note of concern, and he winced. The image of her in the Weasley's arms flashed again in the back of his mind, and Draco clenched his jaw with force, fighting the urge to blurt out everything he keeps inside about her in front of all her lovely friends, whom she so diligently takes care of. He grinned maliciously at his thoughts when he imagined reaction that Potter and Weaselbee would have if they found out that their best friend woke up in his bed today only in underwear.

Yes, the temptation was enormous.

"At the moment? I drink Firewhiskey. Would you like to join?" Blaise raised his glass and looked at her quizzically.

Draco was almost one hundred percent sure that Granger rolled her eyes.

"Very tempting, Zabini, but maybe next time," she said with a slight irritation in her voice.

"Okay Hermione, let's go have breakfast," Ron interrupted suddenly, and Draco involuntarily hardly squeezed his glass. His hand was already halfway to the wand when he pulled himself back.

"What a pity, are you leaving already? I was hoping to have a nice chat, to bring back old memories," Blaise said with feigned sadness in his voice.

"Look, Zabini, if you're feeling nostalgic today, you now have more than the right company for that. So have a good day," Potter interjected, and Draco noticed a warning note in his voice.

Without waiting for Blaise's answer, he swiftly walked past him. Then the two Weasleys followed him and... Where's Granger?

Draco turned inquiringly to see Hermione lingering behind him. Frowning, he gave her a questioning look, and she, looking him straight in the eye, said quietly:

"See you later."

After that, Granger rushed after her friends, trying to catch up with them.

Draco was discouraged. What was that? He didn't have time to see the expression on her face, didn't have time to understand what that look meant. Indeed, it seems for the first time in his life Malfoy has failed to understand a woman. He had a million questions spinning in his mind, and zero answers.

"Wow! Am I missing something?" Blaise raised an eyebrow significantly after following Hermione with an appraising look.

"What are you talking about?" Malfoy asked as indifferently as possible. The last thing he needed is Zabini getting involved in all this nonsense.

"See you later," Blaise copied in a girly voice. "What the hell does that mean?"

Draco exhaled noisily.

"No questions, Zabini." He looked warningly at his friend and said reluctantly: "This nasty resort has obliged us to dance together, so, unfortunately, I have to see her under very unusual circumstances every day."

Blaise's face stretched out in surprise. He just stared at Draco for a while with an astonished expression on his face, then leaned across the table and asked in a low voice:

"Are you sleeping with her?"

Draco rolled his eyes, instantly feeling a sharp spasm of irritation.

"I'll say it again. Firstly, I'm dancing with her, and secondly, it's none of your business, Zabini, so spare me your questions," he snapped, and involuntarily found Granger with his eyes.

She was standing next to her friends at the other end of the hall while Potter was talking to some guy from the service staff. As if sensing his gaze, Hermione nervously turned around and, when her eyes collided with Draco, she froze. They looked at each other only for a couple of seconds, after which she bowed her head in embarrassment and hastily looked away.

"Oh no…that's sucks," Blaise drawled thoughtfully, bringing Draco back to reality.

Malfoy cursed inwardly as he realized his eye contact with Granger had not gone unnoticed.

They sat in silence for the next five minutes, then Zabini suddenly got up and headed towards the exit of the Great Hall.

Draco wasn't surprised.

He realized that Blaise had learned a lot more about his relationship with Granger than everyone else put together. And judging by his reaction, much more than he want admit to himself.

There was still half an hour until the rehearsal, but Hermione simply could no longer stay in her bungalow, and therefore had already come to the agreed place. She decided that it would be better for her to be here in advance, so she will have time to adjust herself to the right mood. At least she'll try to.

Soft waves gently caressed her feet, slight chills were going through her body, and the reason for that wasn't the weather. Looking at the beautiful picture of the azure veil of the sea, with the sun gradually sinking on the horizon, she still couldn't calm the feeling of anxiety that hadn't left her all day.

Yes, it seems that it was the longest day of her life, filled to the brim with unpleasant experiences, torments, thoughts and endless questions.

It's amazing how many things can happen in just one day. Events that can completely turn the whole world upside down.

Even yesterday, Hermione had no idea what her consent to discuss all the problems with Malfoy in the bar will turned out this way. This was complete emotional collapse, she discovered the most diverse, contradictory feelings and emotions that appeared so suddenly and almost crushed her.

She thought a lot during the day, especially about her and Malfoy. Analyzed her and his actions, and now she realized that she wasn't angry with him. He was hardly more to blame for what had happened between them last night than she was. Or rather, this is entirely her fault. It was so stupid of her to absolutely lose all control. It was scary to think what she did at night. It's not surprising that now she doesn't remember anything: they say that the brain erases embarrassing moments that caused or, in her case, can cause irreparable damage to mental health.

But at the same time, Hermione still was tormented because by Malfoy who didn't try to stop her, didn't say "no" to her at the moment when she needed it most, and therefore allowed the worst happen between them.

In the end, to be honest, it turns out that he simply took advantage of her.

Hermione pursed her lips viciously, feeling the fire of her former hatred for this unbearable person slowly coming back up in her, but then suddenly cooled down again, remembering one more thing. For some reason, it seemed that there was something wrong in this whole story, there was some kind of mistake.

If Malfoy had wanted to sleep with her so much, he could have done it even at the moment when she herself snuggled up to him and kissed him last night, when her mind was confused by unexpected, desperate emotions, and she was ready for anything. Without a doubt.

But he pushed her away, and stopped it.

And when she was in a completely unconscious state, he suddenly went against his beliefs and satisfied his physical desires?!

No, definitely, there was something wrong here.

Hermione didn't have time to fully consider this idea when she heard a lingering sound, similar to the wind howling. She turned sharply and saw Malfoy, whispering complex spells a six feet away and building a dance floor out of sand. And how could he always can sneak up so unnoticed?

Under the power of magic words, small grains, whirling in a frantic dance, gathered into a single, powerful substance right in front of them, and this time it happened much faster.

There was something mesmerizing about this moment, and Hermione froze in fascination, watching Draco.

He looked tense, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking from his face, but there was something in his whole appearance that made Hermione involuntarily frown. Is it just her imagination, or is he really angry?

When the sand finally transformed into a dance floor, Malfoy, without glancing at her, bent sharply over something near his feet, and, touching with his wand some object that Hermione couldn't see, straightened up again. In an instant, the first chords of a tango music started playing, and only now Draco looked up at her with a heavy gaze.

"Time to train, Granger," he stated hoarsely in a low voice, without a trace of a smile, and held out his hand.

Hermione was suddenly struck by an inexplicable sense of dread. She seemed to have never felt such... danger in Malfoy before. She couldn't figure out what the reason for his mood was, but just one look from him made her want to shrink into the wall.

"Are you going to stand there forever?" Draco snapped rudely, and Hermione jumped in surprise. Discouraged by his behavior, she quickly went to the parquet floor, cleaned her feet with a spell from the sand and hastily put on dancing shoes designed specifically for training. Raising her timid gaze to him, she encountered the icy eyes of Malfoy, who was still expressionlessly holding out his hand to her. After taking a couple of steps, Hermione swallowed convulsively and carefully gave him her palm, after which she felt Draco grab her sharply and roughly drag her to the floor.

"What the hell, Malfoy? Are you completely mad?" Hermione snapped out of her, desperately trying not to stumble.

It was as if Draco couldn't hear her. He stubbornly walked in the middle of the parquet floor, gripping her wrist tightly, then abruptly threw her hand away, so that Hermione had to make every effort to keep her balance, and he moved to the opposite side of the newly created dance floor.

She shot him a furious look, but immediately faded away when she saw exactly the same emotions in his eyes in response. She knew perfectly well that Malfoy was great at keeping his feelings under control, but now… He simply couldn't or simply didn't want to restrain it.

Suddenly Draco moved slowly towards her. For a second, Hermione was taken aback, unable to believe that he seriously decided to start dancing tango, but as he approached her, all her doubts gradually disappeared, leaving in her soul a feeling of inexplicable fear with a smack of burning anger.

"Well, Malfoy, if you want to play dirty, I will accept your challenge," flashed through Hermione's head, and her gaze hardened.

This change didn't pass without a trace from Draco's eyes, and he barely grinned.

They began the main part of tango, trying to visually destroy each other, but only when Hermione felt Malfoy's touch on her, she realized that this time the dance would be truly destructive.

There was no longer the trepidation, the caution with which he had touched her before. It seemed that the sense of proportion in the movements, which previously allowed them to call their dance sensual, also disappeared.

Now, when Draco pulled her so sharply to him and immediately pushed her away with some special rage, when he squeezed her hands with force, leaving a palpable feeling of pain in her joints, when he roughly squeezed her skin through the thin fabric of a light dress, it was clear that everything was completely different.

If earlier it was a performance of passion, now it was a dance of pain and despair, unspoken words and unjustified expectations.

All this time, spent in a fierce struggle called "tango", Hermione tried to understand what caused this behaviour in him. In fact, he didn't have much reason to be angry with her. The only one exception was...

The guess stunned her. Was Malfoy mad because he had seen her in Ron's arms?

At that moment, Draco lifted her by the waist and spun her around, not taking his hard gaze off her, but only now she saw the bitterness that he couldn't express in words, but perfectly expressed in his movements.

The last chords of the melody sounded as Hermione stopped fighting. She was just so amazed at her discovery and allowed herself to loosen the grip and completely surrendered to the power of her partner.

For the last time, Malfoy pulled her sharply to him, and, as if sensing a change in her behaviour, grabbed Hermione by the shoulders, painfully squeezing her skin with his fingers.

The music suddenly stopped, leaving the two of them in a deafening silence, broken only by their loud breathing.

It was a strange moment: Draco was in no hurry to remove his hands from Hermione's shoulders, he seemed to have frozen in this position, looking at her with a half-mad look, while she herself was afraid to move under the sight of his eyes, in which she now saw so much...

Memories flew past her in a series of rapidly changing shots.

Hermione remembered the look Draco gave her when he saw her in Ron's arms just an hour after she found out that she had spent the night with him.

Slowly, she began to be covered by the realization of the absurdity of the situation. It wasn't even an hour after she left his bungalow, he saw her with Ron.

Damn it.

Now Hermione understood how it looked for Malfoy, who now still was staring at her silently, as if expecting to hear something. And she wanted to explain everything, but for some reason she felt completely numb, and couldn't say a word.

Suddenly, something flashed in Draco's eyes, and she felt the grip of his fingers slowly loosen.

A wave of panic swept over Hermione. She took a sharp breath and opened her mouth to say something, but she just couldn't find the right words to explain to him, to tell him how she really feels about Ron, or rather, what she hasn't felt anything for him for a long time.

"I..." was all Hermione managed to say, trying to express with her eyes the full depth of her remorse, despair, pain, in the end.

But Draco only smiled bitterly and finally removed his hands from her shoulders. He took a couple of slow steps back and, turning abruptly, stepped off the floor.

Frozen for a second, Hermione quickly followed him, stepping onto the soft sandy surface. She watched her chances of striking up a conversation with him quickly disappear, but she just didn't know what to say.

Ignoring her, Draco gracefully raised his wand and picked up small seashell-like object. Then, he whispered a spell, and the dance floor turned back into a cloud of grains of sand, instantly settling on the ground.

"Training is over for today, Granger," he said firmly in an icy tone, not deigning to look at her, and before she could answer, he hurriedly disappeared into the palm grove.

The next day passed in a blur. Hermione automatically smiled at her friends, answered their questions and had full conversations with them, but, nevertheless, there wasn't a minute that she didn't think about Draco Malfoy.

She hadn't seen him since their training session yesterday. Hermione still couldn't fully understand the reasons for his behaviour and still couldn't find answers to her questions about what had happened over the past day. Today, during breakfast, relaxing on the beach, at the lunch, visiting the local library, she kept thinking about Draco. She wanted to see him, talk to him, but at the same time to never see or hear from him ever again. Two opposite sides were fighting inside her, two entities, and each one was trying to convince her to make a decision.

When, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, a beautiful white owl brought her a small sheet of parchment, with an ornate handwriting: "Same place, at eight,"Hermione felt such an odd relief, mixed with joyful exultation...

After all, she seriously believed that Draco wouldn't come to their training today, and, quite possibly, he would never come again.

It was a few minutes past eight when Hermione, after endless hours of waiting, finally stepped onto the soft sand again with her heart pounding in her throat. And the first thing she saw was the parquet floor spread out in front of her, bathed with the soft light of the dusk.

"Hi," she heard somewhere near and shuddered.

Draco Malfoy was casually leaning against the palm tree to her left. His face showed absolutely no emotion, but judging by the tone of his voice, he was in a very good mood.

Blinking in surprise at such a sudden change in his behaviour, Hermione said carefully:

"Hi."

Draco just stared at her silently for a few seconds.

"You're late."

"Just for a couple minutes," Hermione said, still mentally surprised at the unpredictability of this man, and pointedly looked at her wristwatch.

Malfoy just grinned faintly and looked down at the parquet floor.

"Today we need to work on new elements that crazy Italian woman showed us."

Hermione tried not to look surprised.

"Well, if you think it's necessary..." she waved her hand vaguely and fell silent, slightly cringing.

It was a really awkward moment. While they both tried to ignore yesterday evening, it's still was there between them. After all, now they were no longer just people who were in the same school.

They spent the night together.

Fortunately, Malfoy wasn't looking at her at that moment, when the last thought was reflected on Hermione's face in an expression of horror and deep shock. Thinking about it in Malfoy's absence was much easier than now, when he's only a three feet away from her and tries to act as if nothing had happened. Well... very thoughtful of him, given the circumstances.

"I got one more thing for our classes. I thought that training would be more productive with it," Draco turned his gaze back to her and lazily stretched out his hand, with a... a shell?

Hermione looked at her incredulously.

"The music played from this thing yesterday, right?"

Malfoy grinned, and was about to make a joke, but changed his mind.

"Yes," he replied simply, nodding slowly. "Maria gave it to me."

"I see."

There was an awkward silence. Or rather, she knew, but now that Malfoy was acting as if nothing had happened, something told her that it wasn't worth asking unnecessary questions.

"Well... I think we can start?" Draco took a quick glance at Hermione and put the shell on the floor.

"Yes, let's start," Hermione agreed and began to change into dancing shoes, mentally asking Magnolia to be merciful to her at least today and not throw up unexpected surprises.

For the next half hour, they were lost in the music, automatically repeating old movements, and it seemed that this helped to defuse the situation and at least relieve Hermione from the all awkward feelings. The skin still burned under Draco's hands and it was driving her crazy. But, nevertheless, she was in no hurry to give in to her emotions again. Hermione tried her best to focus on the goal of today's lesson, which was just to practice what they learned before.

Fortunately, the new movements given to her for practicing by Maria were quite difficult to master and for some time all her thoughts focused exclusively on how to do it.

"You're too slow, Granger," Draco remarked as she tried to practice her difficult part trying to do this as far as possible from him.

"And you talk too much, Malfoy. We all have our flaws," Hermione snapped, getting more and more annoyed at the fact that she couldn't manage to perform one damn complicated movement.

"I think the whole point is that your muscles haven't yet firmly memorized the basics. Try at first to slowly disassemble each element, dance it, and only then increase the speed," ignoring her attack, tranquilly continued Malfoy.

Hermione frowned at him. It's amazing how nervous he was yesterday and how calm he's today. It seems that she will never be able to understand this terribly strange man.

"What makes you think you can give out advice?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I don't know, maybe because I was taught by the best choreographers in the wizarding world?" Draco shrugged, grinning slightly at his thoughts.

"Oh, that's why he is so good at it. Bastard," flashed through Hermione's head.

"Try to follow my recommendation. And you'll see the result," said Draco and came back to his spot continue the training.

For a while, she just stood there indecisively, glaring at Malfoy. Maybe his advice is not that bad after all. It's not going to get any worse, is it?

Hermione mindlessly performed various "steps" with her feet, while she secretly watched Draco. He looked focused, his body was collected and tense, his legs slowly repeated a complex combination of movements, hands were tightly clenched into fists and blue veins were really visible compare to his pale skin.

For a moment, Hermione imagined how Malfoy slowly takes off her clothes with these hands, caresses her body, makes her tremble under his gentle pressure, and pushes her on his bed... Well, the funny thing, it's not only her fantasy because it all happened in real life, quite recently. And she doesn't remember anything of it. was probably really good in bed...but she still couldn't recall any memories from the last night. Just wonderful.

"Granger?" Malfoy's wary voice snapped her out of her sweet bliss.

Hermione looked up sharply at him and immediately blushed with embarrassment, realizing that she was caught off guard.

Good God, will she ever learn to keep her thoughts and feelings under the control?!

"Are you okay? You looked so strange... What were you looking at?" Draco stared at her, making her blush even more with a burning sense of shame.

There was a hint of a grin on his lips, and a playful twinkle lit up in his eyes.

"I was looking..." Hermione began quickly, realizing that she hadn't yet come up with the normal answer. "At your movements."

She blurted out the first thing that came to her mind in a frantic attempt to come up with an excuse.

"My movements?" Draco raised an eyebrow in disbelief and crossed his arms over his chest. "And what's wrong with my… Hmm… Movements?"

He sounded ambiguous, and she instantly wanted to melt into the ground. But her Gryffindor pride didn't let her to surrender.

"I think you've forgotten your part," Hermione boldly threw her head up, mirroring Draco's pose.

"Really?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow, already openly grinning.

"However, maybe I was wrong, so keep doing what you're doing,'' Hermione muttered quickly with a slight irritation in her voice and pointedly turned away from him, trying to immediately get involved in the work on the technique of her movements.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he didn't move from his place and was now staring at her with the same mocking look. Hermione tried to ignore Malfoy for a couple of minutes, then abruptly turned around and rolled her eyes:

"What?"

Draco seemed to have expected it. His grin widened and he said in a relaxed tone:

"I just think you're the one who forgot your part, Granger. The first two movements are the result of your own... fantasies."

Hermione's mouth dropped open in surprise. Did Malfoy guess what she was thinking when she stared at him so shamelessly, and now hints at it?

Oh shit. No, fuck, no.

"Really?" she used his tone and answer cause couldn't think of something better at the moment.

Draco gave her an ambiguous look, then smiled and dropped his hands.

"Okay, let me show you how to start your part correctly."

Without waiting for her answer, he continued to speak, illustrating his words with movements:

"First you step to the left, not to the right, then, after a sharp stop, you make a round with your foot and turn one hundred and eighty degrees, not ninety..."

In another situation, Hermione would have been, at least, wildly annoyed by the fact that Malfoy remembered both dance parts better than her, and, moreover, still dares to teach her the correct performance of movements, but now she was only grateful to him for changing the uncomfortable topic.

"Okay, I got it, thanks," still, unable to bear the instructive lecture, she interrupted Draco, who wanted to say something else.

For a while, he simply looked at her mockingly, not moving from his place, but soon he said, at the same time turning away from her:

"Five more minutes and we'll try to dance in pair."

Hermione raised an eyebrow skeptically, but said nothing, just made a silly face to him.

"And don't practise your facial expressions on me, Granger. It doesn't suit you." Draco suddenly turned to her, causing her to stop in amazement.

Damn bastard, he even has eyes in the back of his head.

After about twenty minutes of almost non-stop repetitions of one segment together, Hermione said wearily:

"That's it, Malfoy, I can't do it anymore."

"You can't dance the same thing or train?" Draco asked, pulling away from her.

"To train. Don't forget that such intense physical activity is something new to me," Hermione began warningly, taking a step back.

"How do I know about the frequency and intensity of your physical activity, Granger?" Malfoy smirked, and she wanted to hit him with something. Again.

"You could have guessed," Hermione snapped without thinking.

"Well, yes, I could have," Draco agreed easily and stared at her with the same grin on his lips.

Oh shit. Why does every word he says sound so ambiguous? What is he trying to achieve?

"Okay," Draco breathed, and his expression became habitually impassive. "For a first official training, I think it's enough. We did a good job today, Granger."

Hermione noticed that his gaze lingered on her a little longer than necessary before he turned away from her and turned off the music with a spell.

His last words echoed in her head, "We did a good job today, Granger," and she could say with almost 100% certainty that Malfoy wasn't just referring to their rehearsal.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly climbed down from the parquet floor and, began to unbutton her dancing shoes. Her legs ached with fatigue, and when Hermione touched the still warm sand with her bare feet, she realized that this was paradise.

Suddenly she heard some inarticulate exclamation from Malfoy and turned sharply at him. He stood with a completely stunned expression on his face and, wide-eyed, stared at something. Holding her breath, Hermione followed his gaze and gasped in shock.

Not far from them, near the very edge of the coast, there were two beautiful, snow-white, amazing in their beauty, winged horses. Their well-groomed manes flickered ghostly, echoing the glare of the sunset on the sea surface, their look was meaningful, and in general the animals seemed to be enveloped in a magical glow emanating from their bodies.

"Pegasi," Hermione breathed in admiration, fascinated by their heavenly beauty.

"What are they doing here?" Draco asked in bewilderment, still staring at them.

"It's obvious, Malfoy," Hermione said quietly in awe. "Pegasi love creativity, in all forms. I read that in Italy people often see these animals, but I didn't think that I myself would ever meet them."

Hearing her words, one of the horses raised its head and, as it seemed to her, gazed at her intently, snorting approvingly.

"Holy Merlin, Malfoy, they understand what we're talking about! Can you imagine?" Unable to contain her delight, Hermione exclaimed happily, clapping her hands.

"Yes, they're very smart creatures," Draco confirmed with a shy smile and moved forward.

"Wait, where are you going?" Hermione asked worriedly as she watched Malfoy walk towards the winged horses.

"How do you think?" he answered over his shoulder and almost walked up to one of them.

Frozen with fear, Hermione watched as Draco stopped and bowed slowly, staring intently into the pegasi' eyes. For a while, he answered him with the same attentive look, then unexpectedly bowed in response and took a step towards didn't budge, but only reached out and stroked the animal's neck with a faint smile.

"What a handsome one," he said softly, and the pegasus responded with a satisfied rumbling.

They looked harmoniously next to each other: two beautiful, strong, strong-willed representatives, each of their own kind. Hermione watched them, fascinated, and suddenly realized that she seemed to be seeing Draco for the first time with such a peaceful expression on his face. Surprisingly, this light and kind smile really suited him, which was completely odd compare to the image that Hermione had created over the many years of acquaintance with Malfoy.

Suddenly, she saw the second pegasus walking towards her, and instinctively recoiled. Seeing her reaction, the horse stopped and slightly moved his head to the side, as if in bewilderment.

"Don't be afraid, Granger, he just wants to get to know you," she heard Malfoy's voice and looked at him.

"Are you sure?" she asked carefully, realizing that the pegasus was unlikely to harm her, but still feeling the fear of the unknown.

"I'm sure," Draco chuckled slightly. "I was in this situation once before. Therefore, I advise you now to take a few slow steps towards him. You'll see, he'll like it."

Hermione was still looking at Malfoy in the same frightened way and for some reason still couldn't move.

"Listen, do you believe me?" Seeing her reaction, Draco took a step towards her, looking intently into her eyes without a shadow of a smile.

Something inside her trembled and Hermione whispered softly:

"I do."

For a few seconds there was a lingering eye contact between them, and from this her body instantly covered with goosebumps. It seemed that the whole world had disappeared somewhere under her feet, and memories of what she had with Malfoy, and maybe even of what hadn't happened, flashed before her eyes again. Trying to push away the unexpected obsession, Hermione swallowed convulsively and turned away.

She looked at the pegasus again. He stood in the same place and watched her carefully. Taking a breath, the girl took one cautious step at first and, seeing that the horse still didn't move, she walked towards him more boldly. When there were only a few steps left, the Pegasus suddenly walked in her direction. Hermione froze, watching as he stopped next to her and now was looking into her eyes. Suddenly she felt such a soothing calm and lightness that, not without surprise, she bowed to the pegasus with a smile on her lips. He just watched her for a while, but in the end he responded with the same gesture, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Very carefully, she brought her hand to his magnificent mane and lightly stroked it. Feeling the touch, the pegasus turned his head to her hand and tilted his muzzle so that it was more convenient for her to stroke it.

"You see, Granger, everything is fine, nothing to worry about," Hermione heard Malfoy's voice and gave him a quick glance.

"Yes, you're right," she agreed slowly, admiring the beauty of the pegasus.

"Do you want to go for a ride?" Draco asked her calmly, and she looked at him sharply.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Have you ever ridden a horse?" Draco answered with a question, obviously amused by her stupid reaction.

"Of course, I have, but..."

"It's almost the same thing. Look."

Before Hermione had time to say anything, Draco, having carefully looked at the pegasus standing next to him, slowly tilted his head down without interrupting eye contact with him. And then, as if under the influence of his gaze, the animal slowly began to kneel down, spreading its wings wide.

Smiling slightly, Draco walked slowly to his left, and, crossing his leg, confidently sat on top.

"It's easy, Granger," he said smugly, and it was at that moment that the pegasus got back on his feet.

Hermione stared at Malfoy in amazement. He looked so confident on horseback, as if there was nothing unusual about it. She wonders if there's anything he's not good at?

She saw that Draco was waiting for her reaction and said warily:

"Honestly, I don't think this is a good idea."

"Why?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

"Well, first of all, because they are wild creatures, we don't know what to expect, anything can happen. Secondly, perhaps they themselves don't like this idea. And thirdly, I don't remember reading stories about anyone riding a pegasus."

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Okay Miss Know-it-all, just admit you're scared," he grinned, tilting his head slightly to one side.

Hermione instantly flushed at his words.

"No, I'm not! Don't interrupt me. So also pegasi are…"

"Yes, yes, "it's dangerous", "anything can happen"..." Draco said mockingly, mimicking her. "I understand, you don't have to continue."

For a while, Hermione just stared at him inquisitively, then slowly turned to "her" pegasus and tilted her head down, exactly repeating the movements of Malfoy. Seeing her gesture, the animal first abruptly flapped its wings, which frightened Hermione, but immediately bent its knees and sat down on the ground.

Feeling how her heart was pounding, she clumsily walked around him, picked up her skirt and gently threw her leg over the body of the pegasus.

"Here you go, Granger," Draco said approvingly, but Hermione wasn't up to his words. Almost at the same moment, the pegasus abruptly rose to his feet, and she almost flew down from his body. Gripping the animal's neck tightly, she struggled to maintain her balance, mentally cursing Malfoy for having incited her to this stupid idea.

"Well, now we're ready to take a ride. Go ahead!" Draco commanded, leaning over pegasus's ear, and he let out a satisfied neigh, stood up on his hind legs for a few seconds, then gracefully trotted along the edge of the sea.

Immediately after that, Hermione felt her horse move, gently dropping its wings. She wrapped her arms around his neck harder and strained her legs, afraid to fall. But, unexpectedly, soon the excitement began to recede, she, without noticing it, relaxed and drew attention to the beauty that was spread out to her left.

She saw those very precious moments of sunset, when the sky is painted in various shades of red and orange tones, and the water in the sea reflected all this splendor, like a mirror.

"It's crazy how beautiful it is," Hermione muttered aloud, swaying slightly from the pegasus's fast walk. He walked along the sea, stepping in shallow water, and was almost near the other magic horse.

"So, Granger... do you like romance, sunsets and meetings under the moon?" Draco grinned, and only now Hermione realized that there was someone else beside her except two pegasi.

"Maybe," she said slowly, looking suspiciously at Malfoy, but when she saw that his grin had widen, she added: "Do you have anything against beautiful sunsets?"

Now their pegasi were walking side by side at the same pace, and Hermione noticed once again that Draco looked damn confident sitting astride. He was obviously an experienced rider.

"Well, perhaps, I have nothing against "beautiful sunsets"", he looked at her mockingly, thinking a little. "But romance... I doubt that this is for me. And by the way, I didn't think you like it."

"I said maybe, Malfoy" with a slight irritation.

He gave her an attentive look.

"I've talked to a lot of women, Granger, and I admit I've met some who look like you. So passionate about their career, ambitious, willing to prove their right by any means," looking straight into her eyes, Malfoy began. "They were all prim to the core, and their whole life fit into a well-adjusted schedule, which they built up for the years ahead. These women, for the most part, didn't have husbands, because they considered personal relationships and the romance only for silly girls whose goal in life was to get married successfully and give birth to a bunch of children."

After the words he said, Hermione felt uncomfortable, completely not understanding what he was pointing to.

"I'm not like that, Malfoy," she shook her head, frowning.

"Exactly, Granger, you're not like them." Draco glanced at her briefly, thoughtfully staring ahead. "Maybe only in terms of career. But other than that, you're different, although I used to think otherwise."

Hermione raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"So, then I'm like those "silly girls"?"

"No, I don't think so. You know, you're something in between. It would be more accurate to say that you're obsessed with your career and are perfectionist to your core, but at the same time you're dreaming of a normal personal life with romance, flowers and serious relationships."

Hermione stared at him in amazement, realizing that all the words said by Malfoy were so close to the truth, and yet…

"I don't dream of romance," she said softly, as if clinging to the last straw.

Draco slowly turned his head towards her and smiled indulgently.

"Of course you do. Another thing is that you have never had it in a relationship, that's why you answered "maybe" at the very beginning of our conversation."

Hermione seemed speechless. It seemed to her that Malfoy saw right through her.

"What makes you think so?" she barely squeezed out of herself, for some reason afraid to hear the truth.

Draco took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye.

"The truth is, Granger, that Weasley is just not good for romance. He is as simple as a McGonagall's robe, and his range of sensitivity to female desires is no bigger than a pinhead. I bet he didn't even give you flowers, and not because he didn't have any money – although, that too – but because he just didn't think of the fact that you might need it."

Hermione was stunned. She understood that by all the rules she simply had to be angry with Malfoy, but at the same time, she realized that every word he said was an unpleasant, bitter truth. Partially she left Ron because of this: it seemed that he didn't understand her, didn't feel her, but demanded what she was not able to give him – true love.

"In one word, he's completely unsuitable for you, Granger," Draco summed up, and Hermione looked at him sharply.

"Oh, really?" She asked contemptuously, feeling overwhelmed by the fact that he was saying her all these things.

"If you're still not sure about my words, how about the fact that you don't have anything in common? After all, he doesn't like the books you prefer, and I would be very surprised if I find out that he reads anything at all besides "Quidditch Today". I'm sure that sometimes you're wildly annoyed by his ignorance in many matters, or, even worse, you have to be embarrassed for him, because he simply doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut."

Hermione stared at Malfoy, unable to utter a word.

"Or here's another example," Draco continued, getting into a rage. "You, a promising young witch, setting ambitious goals for herself, who strives to build a career, achieve something in this life. And he's a simple guy, not particularly bright, with a complete lack of ambitions and plans, who doesn't even seek for promotion, and is ready to spend all his life in one job position, because it's the easiest way. I suspect, deep down, he himself understands perfectly well that he can't handle more responsibility and authority, he simply won't cope with the task, because he doesn't have the qualities of a leader. And that is why you will always demand more from him than he is able to do, and he will be annoyed at to be in the shadow of his life partner, and, in the end, will run away and find someone like him, plain and simple. Or you will leave him for someone more suitable to your expectations, although that is more unlikely."

"Why?" unexpectedly for herself, Hermione asked quietly.

Malfoy pointedly looked at her, making her heart skip a beat.

"Because you, Granger, would rather sacrifice yourself and live for the comfort of others. ex. But, sooner or later they will understand that you are, in fact, deeply unhappy and lonely, and being married to the wrong man. And to see this, believe me, will be much more painful for everyone."

Immediately after that, Draco kicked lightly on the sides of the pegasus, and he, instantly reacting, galloped forward along the sea line.

Hermione stared after him, dumbfounded. No, this is too much. Who does this obnoxious bastard think he is?

Instantly, she felt a wave of the anger and she, following his example, made her pegasus rush after him.

To her right, flashed palms mixed with various exotic plants, small islands of deserted beaches, which were soon replaced by the same green beauties of nature, and to her left... an endless, beautiful sea that beckoned to her. Hermione, instantly feeling unusually free, even forgot for a second that she was angry at Malfoy, just enjoying the views. Suddenly, she just wanted to feel the warm water with her feet, merrily sparkling in the rays of the sunset.

As if reading her thoughts, the pegasus turned slightly to the left and now ran along the sea surface, cheerfully splashing the water under his feet. Hermione squealed and laughed contentedly, throwing her head back. Her legs and skirt were already completely wet, but she herself felt incredibly happy. The speed with which the pegasus was rushing was amazing, but surprisingly, Hermione didn't feel fear. She turned her head to the right and saw that now she and Malfoy were riding next to each other, but he was moving along the beach line.

Draco was staring straight ahead and didn't seem to notice her. His torso was strongly bent forward, his face was focused, and his eyes were slightly narrowed. Suddenly, Hermione saw his pegasus spread its wings, and the animal's feet lifted off the sand.

"Malfoy!" the girl exclaimed in fright, instantly forgetting about all her anger at him.

He slowly turned to her, but Hermione could no longer see his face, because Draco was getting further and further away from her into the sky. And before she could think of anything, her pegasus abruptly flapped its wings and began to rapidly gain altitude too. With a scream of surprise, Hermione tightened her arms around the animal's neck and watched with a mixture of fear and delight how they turned around and rushed straight towards the sunset. The warm wind was blowing in her face, her hair was flying randomly behind her back, and the feeling of flying was breathtaking. The sun had almost set in the water, and it seemed that she was getting closer to the horizon after every second.

Suddenly, Hermione caught a movement to her right. She turned her head and saw how the other pegasus with Malfoy was flying rapidly in her direction. In less than ten seconds, Draco was already moving alongside her. Hermione waited for him to say something, but he just threw a quick glance at her and, with a slight grin, directed his gaze straight ahead. Hermione had no desire to start a conversation, especially under such circumstances, so she followed his example and turned away, content with the fact that he was here, next to her.

It was a magical moment. She and Draco didn't look at each other, didn't say a word to each other, but now, as their pegasi were flying synchronously high above the sea, towards the beautiful sunset, moving far away from the coast, they became one.

Their hearts seemed to be beating together.

Gradually, the pegasi began to gain altitude, and when they reached the highest possible point, they suddenly turned synchronously and dived down, losing a sixty feet at once in a few seconds.

Hermione screamed with a mixture of fear and delight. It seemed to her that her heart was about to jump out of her chest from a frenzied surge of adrenaline and just amazing, crazy emotions that she had never experienced. It felt like she was falling into an abyss, but this only gave her a strange pleasure and a feeling of intoxicating freedom.

Yes, that's what she needed so much – freedom.

When there were literally a ten feet left to the water surface, the pegasi leveled their flight path, and now they were just flying at a low speed in the opposite direction, cutting through the air with powerful wings.

Emotions were still raging, but Hermione gradually began to calm down. She glanced sideways at Malfoy, and suddenly she remembered all the things he had said to her recently.

"What was the reason?"

This question, flew out of her lips unexpectedly for herself, and sounded more desperate than she would have liked. It was really windy but Draco seemed to heard what she asked.

And right at this moment, the pegasus turned sharply to the left and softly landed on the ground, continuing to move along the beach line.

"You dumped on me all the disguise you feel towards Ron, started to do his psychological portrait in order to demonize him, and even made a prediction about our future together, although, more precisely, about the impossibility of this exact future, and all in order to try prove that he doesn't suit me at all. What for?" Hermione blurted out in one breath. It didn't matter now that all of Malfoy's words were true. She wasn't angry anymore, just wanted to hear the answer to her simple question.

Draco stared at her for a while, and there was something in his eyes that made her body shiver. Very slowly, he turned away from her and frowned.

"Forget it, Granger." He threw it to her sullenly and, lightly hitting the pegasus on the sides, forced him to speed up the pace. And if before Draco looked confident and relaxed sitting on horseback, now Hermione saw how much his shoulders were tensed.

Well, no, she won't leave this conversation, whether he wants it or not.

"I insist, Malfoy! Tell me why?" She shouted desperately at his retreating back. The familiar palm trees and the shore of the beach where they had trained were already visible ahead, but Draco was still rushing forward, without even turning to look at her. Hermione had already almost caught up with him, it seemed that she could touch his back with her hand.

"Malfoy!" for the last time she shouted loudly and instinctively reached out with her hand to him, but suddenly a terrible thing happened: she felt that she was falling.

As if in slow motion, Hermione saw Malfoy turn around, how his eyes widened in horror, and how abruptly he stopped his pegasus, forcing him to rears up while she herself, desperately trying to cling to something, was getting closer and faster to the sand. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, instinctively bunching up, and felt the hard contact of her body with the soft sand.

"Granger!" She heard somewhere very close to her and slowly opened her eyes. Her heart was pounding wildly, her head was a little dizzy, but on the whole, she seemed to be fine.

Suddenly, she felt a hand touch her body.

"Goddamnit, Hermione, are you all right?".

Still in a state of shock from what had happened, Hermione, lying on her side, felt a strange inopportunely thrill inside her stomach at the sound of her name. Yes, she must have really hit her head after the fall, if she can think about it now.

Pushing off the ground with her hand, Hermione slowly got up and sat down. It took her a few seconds to realize that she didn't have any pain. Surprised by this fact, she looked at her hand but, apart of the small scratch, it looked as usual. Finally, she looked at Draco and stared at him as if she had never seen him before. He was kneeling right next to her, his hair was disheveled, and there was a concern in his eyes.

"I'm ok," Hermione said softly, surprised at her own words.

"Does anything hurt?" Draco asked impatiently.

"No... I'm fine. There is a small scratch but nothing serious ..."

"Let me see," he said and moved closer.

He gently touched her shoulder and flipped Hermione's hair over to the other side, exposing her neck and the smooth skin of her hand with red spot. She instinctively sighed, feeling how gradually she was beginning to be flooded with exciting emotions.

Draco carefully examined her hand for a while, then looked up at Hermione with a frown.

"You're lucky that you fell on the sand exactly in this position. It could've ended differently in other circumstances."

After these words, he took out his wand and, touching the bruises on Hermione's shoulder and arm, began to whisper healing spells with the same sullen expression on his face. His fingers were gently touching her skin, and each touch sent a small tremor through her body.

Suddenly, Hermione felt the whole surge of emotions that she had experienced over the last couple of hours hit her with renewed vigor. A lump rose in her throat, but her thoughts cleared, and she realized that she still wanted to know. Very quietly, almost in a whisper, she forced herself to say:

"Why all this, Draco?"

His hands froze on her body, and he slowly raised his heavy gaze to her. And again, as in those rare moments, there was so much pain, regret and silent pleading in his eyes that Hermione's heart sank. Their faces were so close, bodies were almost touching, and the silence that reigned around was broken only by uneven breathing. There was that strange thick tension between them again, which was so difficult to resist.

"Are you sure you want to know the answer?" Draco said slowly, in a hoarse, almost threatening tone, leaning a little more towards her face.

Hermione swallowed hard. At that moment, she not only couldn't move. She seems to have completely forgotten who she is.

"Yes, tell me the truth," she finally gasped, looking at Malfoy with her eyes wide open.

His mouth twisted slightly, and he moved even closer to her face, and now their noses were separated from each other less than an inch.

"The truth is, Granger, I want you so fucking bad, and this desire is slowly destroying me," he said hotly, almost into her lips. "And because it destroys me, I want you even more and doing what I'm doing."

For two long, slow seconds, they just stared into each other's eyes, breathing heavily, and then… Falling.

Draco grabbed her hair with his hand, pulled Hermione to him sharply, and his lips almost crushed her. And at that moment, when she readily let his tongue into her mouth, it seemed that the whole world crumbled into the dust. Now it became clear how stupid it was for them to resist this, to reject the need to feel, torment, kiss, bite, caress, kill, torture, enjoy, and then fall together, fall again and again...

Desire, lust, passion, everything that they had been trying to hide since the day he kissed her for the first time – it was here again, between them, in them. They kissed so eagerly, as if they were trying to merge and become one, their hands randomly wandered over each other's bodies, and now Hermione would hardly be able to understand where she ends and Draco begins. Their tongues collided with each other in a passionate fiery dance, the teeth bit the lips almost to the bleeding, and this madness in Hermione's body instantly flared flame of desire.

"Too much, I want, you, now, want, madness, no, we need to stop, yes, please, don't stop..."

The flow of their desperate words through the kisses was a lousy attempt to bring them both to their senses at least a little.

Suddenly Draco's hand slid demandingly from her neck to her chest, making her body burn from these touches. He slipped the fabric of her top and pulled it down, leaving her half-naked. Hermione gasped against his lips as he covered her bare chest with his hand.

At the same time, Malfoy abruptly pushed her to the ground, crushing her down with his body. His fingers squeezed her nipple and pulled it up a little, and she just couldn't hold back a moan, tearing out. Their hot bodies, so close, so hot, and this feeling, inside the belly, sweet, lingering, oh God...

"Fuck, Granger, you're driving me crazy, you know?" Suddenly grasping her face in his hands, Draco said hotly and at the same moment, gently pushing her head back, dug his lips into the skin on her neck. His kisses stung, drove her crazy as he worked his way up to her breasts, and when Malfoy's lips finally reached their destination, gently wrapping around her nipple, Hermione felt herself literally shaking with desire.

Instinctively, she arched her back to meet his mouth and buried her hands in Draco's hair, pulling him even more to her. With a growl, he tore himself away from her flesh and, squeezing the bare skin on her back, again sharply kissed her lips, and Hermione responded to him with all the passion that she was capable of. This kiss contained the whole essence of their strange relationship: opposition, disobedience, despair, pain, and, at the same time, satisfaction, satiety, lust, pleasure. It was so wrong, it was so… amazing.

Without fully realizing what she was doing, Hermione reached for the buttons on Draco's shirt and frantically began to unbutton them. She finished the first two buttons without much difficulty, but then… Her shaking hands, convulsive attempts to concentrate on the process, while Malfoy's hand slid down her body to where she most wanted to feel him, did its part: she was completely lost in this damn fabric with stupid buttons that didn't want to be undone. And at the same time, his fingers, were moving closer and closer to the main spot of her arousal, desire, shame and insane lust... and now she simply can't think of anything else but…

Hermione heard her own moan as Draco's fingers finally pushed the fabric of her panties and plunged into it. It seemed that for a second, everything around her disappeared, except for her hot, moist flesh and this feeling of fullness that drove her crazy.

"So wet, ready for me, absolutely shameless... Fuck, Granger, what are you doing to me?.."

Hermione was simply unable to comprehend what Malfoy was saying to her right now, because at that moment, when his fingers began to slowly move inside her, she felt that she was on the verge, that just a little more and she…

Something inside her protested, shouted that it was wrong, that they should stop now, otherwise it would be too late very soon. And Hermione forced herself to open her eyes, with a timid determination to end it all, but seeing Draco's eyes full of passion, she instantly forgot about everything. Unexpectedly for herself, she abruptly tore the shirt on his chest, and greedily placed her palms to his heated torso. His body tensed under her palms and emphasized how strong his body was. Looking straight into his eyes, Hermione slid her hand downward, and as she squeezed his swollen flesh through the fabric of his trousers, Draco let out a desperate groan.

Something flashed in his eyes, and he, removing his fingers from her womb, grabbed her wrists with and pressed them to the sand. Breathing hard, he bent over her so that their foreheads touched.

"Don't, Granger, do you hear me?" He said through clenched teeth, crushing her with his body.

"Why?" Feeling how disappointed her body ached, Hermione barely uttered in an unnatural voice.

Draco stared at her in silence, still breathing heavily, and it was obvious that he was struggling to restrain himself from her.

At that moment, her body was shaking with a small tremor from a crazy desire to feel him inside again, her lower abdomen ached with disappointment, and she herself felt that if he didn't continue now, if he stopped, she would simply go crazy.

"We already… We did it before, Malfoy… Please…" she sobbed desperately, but as soon as she said it, his gaze seemed to glaze over. Very slowly, he unclenched his hands on her wrists and gently pulled away from her. It seemed that it became colder around by several degrees at once.

Hermione, propping herself up on her elbows, stared blankly at him, while she had a feeling that she said something wrong.

"Between us…" Draco began in a low voice and stopped in mid-sentence, as if what he was saying was causing him incredible pain.

Malfoy chuckled bitterly and shook his head slightly with a look of regret.

"Nothing happened between us, Granger."

Hermione didn't immediately grasp the words he said, and Draco continued.

"We came to my bungalow, and I put you down in my bed. You asked me to leave the room so you can change, and when I entered the second time, you were already asleep. That's all."

His words...

No.

She just couldn't believe it.

Malfoy is probably lying to cool her, to stop her, because it can't be that all these days... All those hours of torment ... It was all for nothing?

"You're lying," Hermione said very quietly, feeling the fire of anger slowly burning in her.

"No."

Draco's eyes... They no longer had an emotion that had raged in his gaze just a few minutes ago.

Now there was only darkness.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked much louder and, pushing her palms off the ground, sat up abruptly.

Only now Hermione noticed that her breasts were still naked. She pulled the fabric of the top to cover her body.

"I wanted to, but you didn't want to listen to me. Do you remember how quickly you left?" Draco said, with a note of sadness in his voice.

Hermione looked at him, dumbfounded.

"Why didn't you stop me? Why didn't you say it at any other moment?"

Malfoy curled his lips as if he had eaten something bitter.

"I'll answer your first question honestly – I don't know. I was planning to make a joke, but you believed me, and then you ran away so fast, so..." He saw the look in her eyes, took a deep breath and continued. "Listen, Granger, I really wanted to tell you, but then I saw you passionately hugging with Weasley and… I realized you didn't need it. I thought you were good without this information if you decided to return to your ex-boyfriend."

Hermione opened her mouth in amazement. Fucking Malfoy, that's why he had this strange behavior.

She slowly rose to her feet. Distantly watching Draco follow her example, Hermione tried to think of a better way to express all her feelings at the moment, and the words burst out of her mouth by themselves.

"Do you know, Malfoy, what's the funniest thing about this whole situation? I seriously believed you. I believed your words, and not because you were convincing, but because deep down I knew that this could happen. And after I woke up in your bed and heard this whole fucking story from you, I was despising myself ever since. It got to the point where I accepted it, you know? I told myself, it's just this resort, it forces me to make strange decisions and what is happening between us… maybe it is for a fucking reason that I don't understand, and it changes me, makes me do things that I would never do in the real world,." She paused, trying to catch her breath. "And now you're telling me that there was nothing between us, after I almost lost my mind from attempts to come to terms with the fact that I had sex with you? After I realized that I was having dreams that came true?! And Ron... Poor Ron was waiting for me at the porch when I returned to my bungalow. We're lucky that he believed that I was at home all n ight. Damn it Malfoy, all my friends have already started to see that something is going on between us! It was a lot for me have to lie to Ron about everything, and it all was for nothing cause you lied to me..."

Hermione stopped abruptly, feeling tears welling up in her eyes.

"And here's another thing, Malfoy, the moment you saw our "passionate hugs", I barely calmed down after crying on his shoulder for twenty minutes. And do you know why?" her voice almost broke. "Because I understood: I'll never be able to experience with him what I feel next to you, Malfoy. I still somewhere in the depths of my soul regretted that I didn't remember anything about that night. Do you understand now? I wanted to remember something that didn't really happen. But now… It doesn't matter anymore. Screw this!"

Tears were already streaming down her face, and Hermione quickly wiped them away with her hand and looked into Draco's eyes for the last time. He seemed to be stunned, completely taken aback by her frankness, but suddenly there was something in his gaze that made Hermione take a step back.

"Granger...", he stretched out his hand to her, wincing painfully, but she just shook her head and recoiled.

"Don't, Malfoy," was all she could manage, and then she turned abruptly and ran away from this beach, from this damned resort, which was teaching her something she couldn't comprehend.

Draco just stared at her back, letting her go. Relationship with Granger took an unexpected turn for him and now, after all, after all these words, revelations, painful confessions, he realized that everything had gone too far. He didn't know when he began to have completely wild feelings towards her, just as he did not know when she started feeling the same. The only thing that was clear: everything between them was too complicated to resist it.

Changing anything in this situation is an extremely difficult task. But if the Granger now is going to hate him for real he can probably try once again to come back to where it's all started, .

After all, it will be more correct.

Did he want this for himself? Did you want it for her? There is only one answer, painful and disgustingly honest: no.

But, unfortunately, Draco learned the harsh truth when he was a teenager, sometimes one has to let go of his desires, for the good of both.

Sometimes one has to pay for his own mistakes.

And that's why, he just stared after her. And that's why let her go.

Hi, guys :)

Hope your day is going well!We missed you so much!

Our team is finally back from the vacation and we're ready to work and do updates more often. Hope you'll like this new chapter and as usual, we really appreciate your reactions, comments and kudos. Thank you!