Title: Dance Fever and Some Bad Dreams
Disclaimer: The character's in this fanfic are not mine……And sadly will never be. Except for Mrs.
Shnopsie and Malcolm Riley. Hey I'll trade Malcolm for Draco! No? fine.
~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter 8: Late Night Swim
Detention wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. If Harry hadn't been there it would have been awful.
After all the golden plates disappeared, Professor Snape had called us to the center of the hall and
performed a spell that pushed all the tables and benches to the side of the room. He gave another flick
of his wand and three buckets and three mops appeared on the floor,
"You will mop the floors of this Hall for the next two hours. And then Mr. Filch will come and if he says
you can go then you may go. However if he says that you have not done the very best job, you will stay
and mop for an extra two more hours." Snape stared menacingly at Harry and hissed, "Don't forget to
practice, Potter."
Malfoy sneered at the mops but said nothing, "You may begin." With that Snape glided out of the Great
Hall and shut the doors. There was silence until we heard the click of the lock.
We all grabbed mops without complaint even Malfoy, and began to dip and mop.
For the most part Draco kept silent as I told Harry about Malcolm Riley and how he had asked me out.
"Good for you Herm!" Harry applauded, mopping up a pool of pumpkin juice that had probably fallen
during dinner. Draco's head snapped up in my direction.
"So when, may I ask, is the first date?" Harry asked
"Next Saturday. He said he wanted to do it this Saturday but he had to be there to pick the new Quidditch
players." Harry nodded while plunging his mop into the bucket and the sloshing the soaking mop back
again on the ground
I took a quick glance over to Draco and realized he was gripping his mop so tightly that his knuckles had
gone completely white. But Harry drew my attention away from the fuming Draco with, "Sounds like a
plan. Hey maybe you and Malcolm could come with Cho and me on a double date sometime!"
"We'll see." I grinned thinking about how our first date would go. There would have to be laughing,
intelligent conversations, mixed in with some nonchalant ones, he would be polite, like opening the door
for me or just not thinking of only himself……
Two hours went by fast and Mr. Filch couldn't even find a piece of dust on the floor. Grudgingly he
excused us from detention.
"Listen Herm, I would love to walk you up to the common room but-"
"But you got to see a girl. I understand, Harry. See you in the mourning." Harry beamed and jogged off
towards the library.
I had been thinking of going to the library earlier that day. However now that I knew Harry and Cho would
be occupying it, I wasn't as willing as I had been.
I began to march up the stairs when I passed by a window, which overlooked the lake and saw a small
figure moving across the ground to the surface of the water. I took a step closer to the window and
identified head of blonde hair.
Malfoy.
What was he doing down at the lake? I practically pressed my nose to the chilled window. Malfoy
stopped at the edge of the water and stood there for about a minute looking at the glassy moonlit surface
of the lake before he threw off his cloak and tossed it onto the grass and began to pick up the hem of his
black t-shirt.
My heart must have increased its normal speed by about a thousand. I stumbled back from the window,
shocked from the effect Malfoy had by simply removing his cloak.
An middle aged red haired women in a portrait opposite the window giggled and winked, "He's quite good
looking, if you ask me." She broke into another fit of giggles
Disgusting! Even the females in their portraits found Draco attractive!
However sudden curiosity won me over and I slowly walked up to the window again. Malfoy had removed
his shirt, shoes, and his pants revealing black boxers and a quite breath taking physical upper body.
Quidditch had sure brought the best out of him!
He waded out waist deep in the freezing lake and dove into the water. What was he thinking?! Plunging
into water at that temperature!
I changed my direction and headed back down the stairs. I was going to put a stop to this foolishness!
I flew down the stairs, burst threw the main doors, jumped three stairs at a time, and then speed walked
the rest of the way across the grounds to the lake. I could see Malfoy's head bobbing in and out of the
water as he swam the breaststroke in the middle of the lake.
Once I was on the edge of the lake I was about to yell out his name when I panicked. If any of the
students woke up and looked out their window and saw me standing at the edge of a lake with a half
naked Malfoy swimming before me, people would talk.
No. I would try my best to keep this on the down low. Looking around for something to throw at him, to
get his attention, my eyes fell on one of his shoes. Perfect!
I picked up the shoe and held it back ready to throw when at that split second when I aimed and threw
Malfoy had noticed me, "Granger?" The shoe was already in the air and there was no stopping it
until……
Clonk! It hit him right in the nose.
"Oh crap!" I hissed. Malfoy fell beneath the water for a few short second before breaking the surface with
his shoe in one hand and his other hand cradling his nose. He stood up with the water around his waist
and trudged started to the edge of the lake where he toppled over right on me.
I hadn't expected Draco to way as much as he did. The sudden weight that now rested on me was a little
bit of a surprise. My knees buckled under him and I fell flat on my back with Draco following. I closed my
eyes bracing myself for a stray rock that might be in the grass.
I felt the soft dewy grass break my fall. I remembered I still had yet to feel Draco's fall on me. I opened
my eyes. There was Draco holding his upper body parallel to mine with his arms like pillars on either side
of me. I don't have to tell you how this made me feel……but I will.
I couldn't keep my eyes off his face. Little droplets clung to his eyelashes, his lips were trembling and
blue from the ice water of the lake, however his breath came out warm, his nose was a little red from
where I had thrown his shoe, and his silver blue eyes were partly veiled by his hair. There was something
there he was trying to hide. Something in his eyes he wouldn't let any see.
My heart pounded harder on my chest and I was half afraid he would hear my stupid heart. What made
me even more fearful was that I couldn't look away from his eyes. It was like he had cast some spell
around me, where I was wrapped around his finger.
No.
I would not become one of Malfoy's groups of lovesick girls! I used all my will power (and when I say all, I
mean ALL) and pushed Malfoy off me.
I was successful in this. However the moment my skin touched his, a surge of heat ran through the tips
of my fingers and the palm of my hand.
No more of that, Miss Granger!
Draco didn't protest either. He simply rolled off with a grin on his face, "Anyone ever tell you, you got one
strong arm there?" he chuckled as he tapped his red nose and winced.
Was this a complement?
"I have been told." I muttered pulling myself up from the ground and taking two good solid steps back
from him.
"Don't worry, Granger. I don't think of you that way." Draco smirked rising to his feet.
I suppose I should have been relieved but something -some feeling in the pit of my chest hurt. I would
not let him see that I was some how put down by this,
"Well, that's a relief." I sighed smugly. Draco narrowed his eyes with his grin still in place. He looked me
up and down, gave a shrug and went scrounging around for his pants.
"So what are you doing here, Granger?" he asked seeming very interested. He pulled on his pants.
"Well……umm……" Why had I come down hear, again? Oh, yes! I remember now, "I saw you in through
the window jumping into the freezing lake and I thought that someone had to come down here and scold
you a bit. I mean honestly, what are you thinking jumping into water this cold at night and unattended?!"
I had purposely left out the part where he had taken off his clothes so he wouldn't be able to turn the
reason into something else. As if I was fond of him or something of that sort.
Draco's head tilted to one side, "So you cared enough for me to come marching down from your little
window across the grounds-"
"And throw a shoe at you? Yes of course. Any day -or night." Nice Hermione!
Draco chuckled and went to pulling on his shirt. Blast. I mean -whatever.
As he fished around for his shoes I managed to think clearly for a second and asked, " Why were you
swimming in the lake anyway?"
Draco sat on the grass and began to tie his shoes, "I just needed to clear my head, that's all." He
muttered. Though this time he did not look up at me. He spoke to his shoes hoping that I would get off
the subject.
I wouldn't give up that easily, "A simple splash of water on the face would do you just as good, Malfoy."
He went on tying his other shoe. I crossed my arms and noted, "What you did was very stupid. Jumping
into water that cold and swimming in it half naked is not the smartest thing. So why were you in the
lake?" I more demanded an answer than asked for one.
It was here that Draco shot up and took three swift fluid steps to me. He stopped about four inches away
from my face and snapped, "Stop putting yours nose in places where it doesn't belong, Granger! Before
this year you didn't give a crap about me! Why do you care now?!"
His eyes had gone wild and fierce with anger. I didn't know how to answer that question. I could hardly
think with him standing this close, "Tell me why." He demanded in a softer voice.
I closed my eyes looking for an answer for his question. Did I care? Had my feeling toward Malfoy have
changed? I open my eyes, swallowed, and searching his eyes.
I found my answer, "You've changed, Malfoy." His eyes lost their angry fire and softened. He took and
step back, "What?" he muttered.
That was it! "You've changed and you don't even know it."
He took another step back, "I haven't changed." It was my turn to narrow my eyes,
"Your right you haven't changed. But I can tell your changing. Slowly maybe. But you are still changing."
"You're crazier than I thought, Granger." Looking confused and frustrated, Malfoy pushed past me in a
hurry and practically sprinted up to the castle.
This left me also confused and frustrated. Malfoy was like a puzzle. You had to have every piece of him
down to be able to understand him……
I love puzzles.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Boom! Voila! There is a shorter chappy but I hopped you enjoyed it! I needed a lil' herm and Draco
action so I figured what better way than a late night swim? Lol. But anyhoo this chappy has increased the
tension of the two characters, which will make future chappies very fun. Yay team!
And get ready for some Quidditch matches comin up! Gryffindor vs. Slytherin? (Harry and Ron vs.
Draco) Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin? (Malcolm vs. Draco) Mwahahaha! Oooo this is gonna be like a
rollercoaster ride! Weee! Keep reviewing! Much luv!
Muses Note: hehehe! Angst is the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
