AN: Okay. I'm lost. I have absolutely no idea where this story is going next. And this chapter isn't even relevant to the plot at all. It's just... friction. Hehe.

Disclaimer: No, I'm not J.K. Rowling. I just like playing with her characters, and making them play with each other, as Draco and Hermione do in this little interlude. *Is that reason enough to make you keep reading?!*

Dedicated to: You. Now leave a review. Or you'll make me blue. *rolls eyes*

Chapter Eleven: A Bubbly Prelude (to a Bubblier Interlude)

Intimacy among the scented bubbles.

- an O.A.F. (Original Archangela Fragment)

"An Auror does not waste precious time on frivolity." Hermione intoned, staring at the modest black bathing suit lying on her bed. But frivolity is one of the most beautiful things in life... wheedled the little voice in her head.

"It's eight degrees outside! In the middle of November, for cripes' sake!" she glanced through the cold grey window at the cold grey sky. But it's a heated pool, remember?

"I'm too tired?" she ventured weakly, fingering the soft material of the hardly used bathing suit. Then that warm, scented water is the perfect place to relax... whispered the Voice.

Silence. Hermione laid a hand on the bathing suit.

"Draco might be there."

The Voice took a while in answering.

Finally.

All the better, then.

Hermione frowned. "No!"

But seemingly as if she had already been convinced, she gathered up the bathing suit and sneaked out the door, making sure Draco was sound asleep in his bedroom by the use of a Spying Charm.

~*~

She smiled at the sight of the pool glowing with tiny underwater lights. Hermione knelt down and turned on a few of the taps, testing each one. As the pool filled up, she turned to the wall and slipped out of her bathrobe, glancing noncommittally at her reflection on one of the numerous mirrors lining the walls.

Just like Draco. To install a lot of mirrors somewhere he's going to be a lot of the time.

Hermione paused in the middle of the act of stepping into the pool. somewhere he's going to be a lot of the time... She glanced around her, half-expecting Draco to barge in any moment soon.

A few minutes passed, and Hermione sighed with relief.

No blond men with pale skin and beautiful eyes. Just the crickets chirping their lullabies and the comforting gurgle of the warm water around her ankles.

She smiled, and stepped deeper into the pool.

~*~

Fifteen minutes later found Hermione sitting by the waterfall, chest deep in pink and blue water, eyes closed in blissful relaxation.

"Don't you think that three in the morning is a bit too early for a swim?"

*splash!*

"Draco! Get the bloody hell out of here!"

"I thought I owned this pool too..."

He looked slightly hurt, and very amused. Hermione, however, who had dived into the pool at the sound of his voice was glaring up at him with veritable venom in her chocolate brown eyes.

"Not now! I'm in it!"

"Oh, so that means I own you too?"

He smirked at her, and Hermione wondered just exactly how a man could get up at three a.m., walk through a freezing garden in the middle of November dressed in nothing but a bathrobe and boxers, be faced with an extremely incensed Hermione Granger, have tousled hair, and still look as charming as the devil.

How the hell does he do it?

"Just... get out."

Draco frowned. "I was planning on taking a dip myself, you know." Hermione glared. "Don't you dare."

"Why? Afraid of me?" his smirk grew wider. Hermione blushed. "No! I don't... it's just that... I'm in a bathing suit." she lamely replied. Draco shrugged. "Isn't that what you normally wear when swimming? Unless you prefer to wear nothing at all..."

"And if that's your case, Hermione dear..." the bathrobe slid to the floor. "I have no objection to that at all."

Hermione tried to look away as he dove into the water wearing nothing but his black boxers. She swam over to the farthest end of the pool and bobbed in the water, crossing her arms over her chest and trying to look as irate as possible.

Draco sent a small, magical wave to splash her from across the pool. He called out "What? Do you think I'm going to grab you and ravish you like those love scenes in those cheesy Victorian romance novels?"

A small laugh. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Hermione, but life doesn't really go along with those sad fantasies you read because your own love life is unsatisfactory. And if you're waiting for me to jump you..."

Another chuckle. "Nope. Not going to happen."

He sent another smirk her way. "Unless you ask me nicely."

Hermione stared at him, dumbstruck. Finally she pulled random words out of the air, enough to hurl a spiteful "Stuff it!" his way.

He laughed again and began doing laps on his side of the pool. "Have it your way. But, really... the water's much warmer here."

~*~

Thirty minutes later:

Hermione was still standing in the same spot in the pool, arms still crossed over her chest and a sulky expression on her face. On the other side of the pool, Draco was floating on his back and amusing himself by conjuring up silver and green bubbles and making them float over to Hermione and either pop in her face or cling to her hair.

*splish*

"You're no fun." Draco called to her. "Back in Hogwarts, Pansy used to chase me around the prefect's bathroom..."

"Naked, I assume?" Hermione replied sourly.

Draco looked nostalgic. "Of course. Those were the days..." He shrugged, and began to kick his feet leisurely, paddling himself through the swirls of purplish water. "How about you and Potter? Any frivolous romps you could tell me about? Because, quite frankly, you can get so boring."

Hermione scowled at his floating form. "Oh, so you expect me to entertain you with the sordid details of my equally sordid love life?" she spat, and the sarcasm was vitriolic enough to scour a Muggle bathroom floor.

Draco grinned blandly. "Why not? But I sorely doubt anything you ever did with Potter would be... interesting enough to deserve my attention... considering his Y.I.V. Image..."

Curiousity took over. "What?" Hermione asked, uncrossing her arms and watching the way Draco glided through the water.

"Young Innocent Virgin. Isn't that what he was?"

Hermione spoke before thinking. "No." Draco laughed, and righted himself in the water. "I figured that much. What about you?" he cocked an eyebrow in a devilish grin. Hermione blushed. "I wouldn't tell you..."

Draco tut-tutted. "Another innocent. How... sad." Hermione frowned and splashed him. "I may be no whore, but I'm no prude either, Draco." Draco looked thoughtful. "Whore? As in Pansy Parkinson?"

Hermione snorted. "Your little girlfriend? I'm surprised at how long you were able to turn a blind eye to her little exploits in the Astronomy Tower with your Slytherin pals."

Draco laughed softly. "Oh, I wasn't blind to those. I was just occupied with my little exploits." Hermione blanched. "Oh."

He laughed again. "Put an expression on, Hermione. Your face might freeze that way." He swam over to the side of the pool and hoisted himself up.

"That could be such a waste." he remarked as he slipped into his bathrobe and out the tent door.