Chapter 5 - Drowning
Deciding what to do about the rose , she thought that this was some sort of sick joke, and that some bad outcome would come out of this if she accepted this 'apology', but all the same, she couldn't let something so beautiful shrivel up and die, so she found a vase and filled it up with a little bit of water. After admiring the flower for some time, she decided to go and take a relaxing bath to sooth through her thoughts and organise them. She picked up her red bath robe and towel and headed towards the Heads bathroom. She knew it was somewhere near the prefects bathroom because she heard McGonagall say something like this when she wasn't really paying much attention. As she walked through the halls, she reached a door, which she assumed must have been the heads bathroom. She was unsure of the password, but if she remembered rightly, McGonagall didn't give them one. As she walked up to the portrait which had another 2 young students, all they did was look at her and let the door slide open. As she walked through, the sight before was magnificent. A huge bath was positioned in the middle of the room, and lightly dim lights hung all around the sides, giving it a faint look about the room. I nice scent of strawberry's hovered around the room, relaxing Hermione. She walked up to the edge of the bath and dipped her toe into the water. It was unbelievably perfect. The water suited her body temperature just right. Excited about jumping into the water, for she hadn't really had a bath since she was a young child, stripped her bath robe and was left with a pair of bathing swimmers on. She didn't feel comfortable yet about swimming naked in a bath she had to share with her enemy. Although her swimmers were a little revealing, she didn't mind, as long as she wasn't strutting herself around the school, her mind stayed sane. After quickly jumping into the water, she let herself relax, she doggy paddled herself to the deep end, and let the back of her head sink into the water, leaving herself floating. She closed her eyes, and it was the most relaxing thing she had enjoyed since returning to Hogwarts.
Malfoy entered the heads bathroom, making sure there was a decent distance between him and Hermione. He wasn't exactly following her … Just keeping an eye out. As he slowly walked in, he already saw Hermione floating on top of the bath water with a pair of white swimmers on. 'White matches her' he thought to himself. He then shook his head hard and felt quite embarrassed for staring at her for so long. He, too, stripped his clothes off and was left with a pair of shorts on. He dunked himself slowly into the water, trying as hard to not to make the tranquil water stir. Being as tall as he was, he was able to move towards the deep section with out taking his feet off the ground. He was still amazed that he was able to travel this far in the bath towards Hermione, with out her noticing. When he was just inches away from her, he looked just at her face, for he felt, if he shifted his gaze lower, he would be unable to control his actions. Her face was so calm, and was as smooth as ever that he couldn't resist. He wanted to just touch her. Feel how smooth her skin felt, but thought of her reaction, if she was to open her eyes, with her worst enemy caressing his cheek. He had to think fast, for any moment now she would open her eyes. He tried deciding the best method to handle this situation. He thought, that maybe if he sort of got her attention first, she wouldn't go as ballistic.
"Ah-hem!" Malfoy made sure that he made it loud enough, though not to loud to wake up the whole school. He looked at her for just a few minutes, and still, she didn't move. He decided on his next best tactic. He didn't want to seem like he was desperate for her to notice him there, so he wanted to still sound his cool higher self, so he … poked her, really hard on the shoulder. What happened next wasn't exactly what he was expected.
Hermione's eyes opened wide to see Malfoy looking directly at her. A smirk was singing across his face. She was so shocked that she forgot she was at the deep end. She made to stand up, only to sink down into the water. She damned the fact that she was so short. As she surfaced the water, she coughed the excess water that had entered her mouth while she was in shock. She looked at Malfoy, who was just standing there so calm.
"Did you get my apology?" Malfoy smiled. It was half evil, but half good at the same time. Hermione decided to keep her defences up, lately he had been making her feel very awkward whenever he was around, like he was always watching and examining her. She was treading water at the moment and was starting to get a huge stitch on one of her sides.
"Yes, I did." Hermione was starting to huff from the tiredness and the stitch. "Thank – you – very – much." She said this in between huffs, but Draco also notices some dullness in her voice. The rose he had given her was a trademark of the Malfoy Manor, it was covered in these silvery white roses, to show purity and a sturdy family.
"I'm glad you liked it!" All the same, Malfoy gave a proud smile.
Hermione started to get very, very tired. She tried to swim towards the shallow end of the bath so she could leave, but Malfoy stopped right in front of her. She tried the other side, but Malfoy trapped her again.
"Why is it, every time your around me, you try to escape? It's not like I'm going to hurt you or anything." Malfoy raised one eyebrow up, honestly questioning her. Hermione looked at him. Seeing that he held no suspicious tone is his voice, the panic that had begun to build up loosened ever so slightly.
"Why have you been following me?" The stitch on Hermione's side worsened, and wasn't sure how long she was able to hover in the water.
"Following? I have not been following." Malfoy looked away, slightly embarrassed.
"What has gotten into you?" Hermione was finding it harder to speak.
"Like I said. Things change, situations are different now ..." Malfoy looked towards Hermione. Her face looked very tired, and noticed that she was having trouble treading the water.
"What situations?" Hermione decided she wanted to get as much information out as possible, ignoring the excruciating pain on her side. Hermione waited for an answer, but none came. It seemed that Draco was caught in thought, having a mental debate with himself.
Hermione couldn't stand the pain any longer. She tried to exit again, but failed once again by the overpowering Malfoy.
"Do you mind moving?" Hermione was very tired. Her head was nearly completely under the water, except for the surface of her face, that let her breathe.
Malfoy sniggered to himself. Realising the situation, his old sharp self came back. "Struggling are we?" Hermione glared at him with a deadly look. "You have two options Hermione," She glared at him harder after hearing her name being mentioned. He put more emphasis on her name, and felt that he was not worthy enough of saying it. She could tell he was enjoying this tormenting situation.
Hermione looked towards her bathrobe where she also had laid her wand. "If I had my wand on me -" Hermione started talking through gritted teeth, before Malfoy interrupted.
"My dear Hermione, but you don't." He gave himself an obnoxious laugh. Hermione stayed quiet, not because she felt that she had to because of Malfoy's tormenting, but because she now had no energy to speak, she was saving it for the doggy paddle back. "I'm not letting you pass until we get a few things straight. We need to talk … Decently. Like I said, you have two options," Draco looking directly at Hermione's struggling face. "You can float where you are now," Draco looked down through to transparent water. Hermione seeing this scowled. She never liked it when guys looked at women as an object. The word 'pervert' was running around her mind. That was definitely out of the question. She wouldn't want to put her body through such an embarrassing situation – Her worst known enemy, looking upon her body with hunger. "Or -" Draco smiled the biggest smile ever while stepping a bit closer to her. Hermione was struggling more then ever. Her head kept dunking down under the water. She looked towards Malfoy, who was just staring back at her like nothing was happening out of the normal. She felt like she was almost drowning, and loathed Malfoy so much that he wouldn't even help her. "Hold me." Malfoy's voice was very quiet, but looked directly at Hermione, waiting for her decision. 'Blackmail' she thought to herself. She couldn't stand it any longer. Her arms and legs began to stop flapping under the water. She was just to stubborn, and tired to think right now. She shut her eyes blocking out everything around her. Her head was completely under the water. Although under water, she felt her eyes begin to sting, she didn't want this to happen. She just wished Malfoy would leave her alone. She felt her body falling to the bottom of the deep bath. She couldn't believe this was happing to her. After dreading the worst, she suddenly felt two strong hands grip under her arms. She felt herself bring brought back up to the top. When she felt the air hit her face, she coughed severely and she swung her arms around Malfoy's neck, begging for the air. As much as she hated touching Malfoy, she had no other option left, but for him to hold her up with support. Her head rested on the groove of his shoulder and neck, with her arms hooked around his neck as well. Her body felt as though it had been drained of every bit of energy.
Malfoy held her tight, supporting her up, guilt was running through him. He never intended on her drowning herself. Questions were running through his head. 'Does she hate me that much, she'd rather drown, then even touch me?' he thought to himself. Hermione gave another cough, and he patted her back with shame.
"I'm sorry … I didn't mean for that to happen … I swear …" Malfoy's voice kept trailing off. He was extremely sorry. He just couldn't get over how much this girl could hate him. There was no answer. He gently lifted up her head from his shoulder and realised that she was sleeping. "Bloody hell, I hope she's just sleeping' he thought to himself. He wouldn't know what to do, if he hadn't of picked her up from the bottom of the bath. He began to walk towards the shallow end gently stroking Hermione's back. He wasn't really sure what to do, or whether he should go to the Hospital wing or not. As he got out, he placed Hermione very softly on one of the comfortable chairs that were near the exit. He picked up his dark green towel and started to dry her hair. This realised this was probably the first time he actually had bodily contact with this girl for 7 years. After pondering about this for awhile, and her hair nearly completely dry, he picked up his want, and put a drying spell on her. She slept on peacefully, not moving at all, and Malfoy had to check to see if she was breathing, for he was starting to get very paranoid. He decided that he didn't want to take her to the Hospital Wing, because he wouldn't know what to say to Madame Pomprey. On the whole, he decided to take her up to her room, like he had a couple of nights ago.
As he picked up all her belongings, and all of his, he swung it all around his shoulder so he could put all his effort into holding Hermione. He put one hand across her back and one across the bottom of her knees and headed off to their dormitory. Guilt was still running through his whole body, and he wasn't even sure if she would forgive him for it. As he neared their dormitory, he said the password and walked through. When he reached Hermione's bedroom, he placed her gently on the bed. He placed a couple of covers over her to keep her warm, and checked one more time to see if she was breathing, just in case.
Malfoy looked at her once more, and in his mind, apologised for his actions of the night. And with that, he walked away, not looking back like he would usually, for the guilt had risen to a high.