With that said…..
I'd like to present you with the very next chapter.
Oh and I know that for some of you this question may have came up: Because Draco did the dare or was forced to do the dare… does that mean he still has to make Hermione fall in love with him?
Well to answer that question…….ummmm…..well just read the chapter and you'll find out soon enough. So…seriously…here is the next chapter.
Chapter Eight
A Dip in the Lake
"Listen, Draco." Blaise told Draco.
Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, and Draco were all sitting in the Slytherin common room, chit chatting. "I know we shouldn't have done what we did but….." he tried to contain his laughter as he spoke.
Crabbe tried to muffle his own snickering laughter with the pillow that once laid upon the Slytherin couch. Draco quickly sneered at all of them but never said a word.
"…But you have to admit…." Blaise continued. "...that it was hilarious."
"No it wasn't, Blaise." Draco replied seriously as all three of them began to crack up at the thought of what had happened the other night.
"Well that is besides the point." Goyle cut in. "We didn't ask you to come here so we could tell you how funny it was or anything."
"We actually called you here so we could……apologize to you, Draco." Crabbe took over.
"Yeah…so with that said." Blaise now spoke seriously. "We're all very sorry and I'll have you know that we only did it for your own good." he said stupidly. "We're only trying to help you get closer to the mudblood because the sooner you make her fall in love with you, the sooner you can dump her and brake her precious little heart."
He made an evil smile toward Draco.
"What's the point in going through with it now?" Draco asked. "There is nothing there to keep me going if I ever decide I want to back out of it again. I already did the dare basically."
"Which brings us to our next subject." Blaise went on. He got up from the couch and began pacing back and forth in front of Draco. "Even though you have done the dare or was forced to rather….I think you should still proceed with the bet."
Draco opened his mouth to reply. By the look on his face, Blaise could see that he was going to say no.
"It's not for our benefit, Draco." Blaise pressed on before Draco even had the chance to reply. "You have to do it for your own benefit. Think of everything she has done to you. How horrible she has treated you."
"Yeah but.. If it were not for me torturing her all the time then she wouldn't----" Draco tried to finish his statement but was cut off by Blaise's scold. Crabbe and Goyle, both, now listened more intently to the two boys as Blaise began to plant more new thoughts into Draco's mind.
"NO, you're looking at this for all the wrong reasons, Draco." Blaise spoke as he stopped right in front of Draco. "Listen to yourself. You have no idea what you're saying, do you?" Blaise asked but Draco never replied.
No one did. They just sat there, listening to Blaise. Hanging to his every word as he continued.
"She is your enemy, Draco. This was your idea to get back at her… even before the four of us decided to make it into a dare. You made a commitment to follow through with this no matter what."
"Think back to all those times, everything she has done to you. All those times she has made you look like a fool. Are you just going to let her get away with all this? I think not. So stand up and do something."
"This is your plan….your ultimate plan to get back at her. To show her who the boss really is." He made an evil and twisted face.
"'I am going to make her feel like she could never love again. I'm going to brake her heart into millions of tiny pieces. '" Blaise recited exactly what Draco had said the moment he plotted out his devious little plan.
"'I am going to make that filthy mudblood fall in love with me, make her think I really feel the same way about her. Then… I'm going to dump her in front of the everyone and I'm going to do it all out of pure bliss and pleasure with no ill regrets. When I do….she is the one who is going to be the fool.'" Blaise finished. "Whatever happened to that, Draco? Did you forget or something? That was your promise. Now live up to your commitment or die a horrible painful death as you once did."
Crabbe and Goyle stared at Blaise. "He has finally lost it." Crabbe whispered to Goyle.
Goyle nodded in agreement.
"Don't you think you are taking this just a little bit to far, Blaise?" Draco asked getting up as well and standing directly in front of Blaise who was also still standing.
"Don't you think you're taking this just a little bit not far enough?"
Draco thought for a second. "He actually has a point." Or was it that Blaise's words were finally getting to Draco once more? Draco thoughts sprung to life once again. "I did make a commitment. A commitment to myself to seek out revenge on Granger. I mustn't let myself down. I must go through with this………My plan."
"Poor pathetic little Draco." Something deep inside Draco, a voice unknown to him, had been unleashed. "Can't you see what this is doing to you? Can't you see that your obsession with revenge toward Hermione is only killing you two inside?"
"Don't listen to him, Draco. He does not speak the truth as I do." Another unknown voice inside Draco's head sprang out. This one, unlike the other, had a horrible and evil sense of aroma to it. "Carry out your sweet revenge. Carry out your commitment. They hold your destiny. An untold fate."
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A/N: Okay. Maybe some of you are a little confused with that whole thing that just happened. I dunno. So….I'm going to try and sum it up for you. lol.
Something really weird is going on with both Blaise and Draco.
"'Now live up to your commitment or die a horrible painful death as you once did.'" was Blaise threat to Draco. Reading that you may think…….okay first off. What made him say that? Well there's not much I can say about that right now. Because one I don't want to give away the story and two I haven't figured that part out just yet. But think about it. It makes you wonder a little. Does Blaise know something that happened long ago? And another thing you might want to think about. Why every time Draco decides he's not going through with it, Blaise always tries to talk him right back into it.
And great. :said with sarcasm: Draco is going insane. He is hearing voices that he doesn't know inside his head. Basically, its like his conscience. He knows the truth of what happened long ago but doesn't really remember anything. So in essence his conscience is kind of telling him that if he does go through with it…he runs the risk of having everything happen all over again. But he also kind of has to go through with it because that's where his destiny lies.
So think about these things and let me know your thoughts and such. Okay anyone confused? Lol. No. good. Moving on. Lol.
I hope you all enjoyed the eighth chapter. Lol. Because that's all you're going to get. I'm kidding of course . HA HA HA! Enjoy the rest.
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"Why do I feel like this?" Draco's thoughts buzzed inside his head. He was laying on his bed, trying to think to himself.
It was already nearly ten o'clock at night.
He had tried so many times to fall asleep but his ever attempt had failed. All he could think about was….Hermione.
"Why do I keep thinking about someone whom I've hated all of my life?" He asked himself. "Do I really hate her as much as I though? Or have I been forced to feel such deep hatred toward her because I wanted to fit in with the other Slytherins?"
"Why?" Draco said aloud. "Why must I keep thinking about someone who I have the utmost of hatred for?
He still laid upon his bed. He gave a small sigh as more thoughts penetrated their way through his head all at once.
"If I really hate her…then why do I feel a certain connection toward her? A connection so strong……..." his thoughts ventured off.
"That I feel like I belong with her. I feel like I need her." He told no one in particular, finishing his thoughts out loud. "I…..I love her."
"NO!" Draco scolded himself. "Don't say that. Don't even think that way." He suddenly sat up straight on his bed. "I hate her……I HATE HER. Not because I am forced to. Not because I want to fit in." What such cold words. The part of him who absolutely hated Hermione with the deepest of resentment, that part of him was responsible for those uttered words.
"But… you do love her." Something deep and hidden inside him, the same voice that had once been unknown was now started to become and feel a little familiar, forced its way through all his negative thoughts about Hermione, pushing them all aside.
He sat there, immobilized by all his thoughts.
Suddenly, Draco heard the most beautiful voice he had even heard in his life.
"Playground school bells rings again. Rain clouds come to play again." The voice sang. Draco was still immobilized but not by his thoughts this time but by the person in which that wonderful voice belonged to.
"Has no one told you she's not breathing? Hello, I am your mind giving you someone to talk to. Hello." The voice continued to sing.
"That voice…it sound so…sweet." Draco thought.
Her voice was so soothing and velvety soft. Draco still couldn't bring himself to believe that the owner of that voice was actually the only person who he felt, or thought rather, he hated the most.
"If I smile and don't believe, soon I know I'll wake from this dream. Don't try to fix me. I'm not broken." Hermione sung rather beautifully. "Hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide."
Draco got up and quickly swung his door open. He headed across the hall and straight for Hermione's room. Instead of knocking, he just stood there, listening intently to Hermione's every word as she continued to spill her heart and soul out into her singing.
"Don't cry. Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping. Hello, I'm still here. All that's left of yesterday."
Draco opened Hermione's door without a single knock of warning. "Wow! Was that you?" He asked.
"Yes." Hermione answered, rather embarrassed. She instantly turned a bright shade of red. Draco smiled without even meaning to. "You heard me?" Hermione asked shyly.
"Yeah."
Hermione felt even more embarrassed then she did before. "Ohhh…but it was good." Draco added seeing the worried look on her face.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah." He moved closer to her. There was a little bit of an awkward silence between the two them.
"Hermione." He gave a small cough, trying to play what he has just said off. "I mean…Granger."
"Yeah." Hermione was feeling a little shy around him all of a sudden. But why? Could it be because of what happened between the two of them? That little incident. (A/N: You know….with the towel. LOL. Like I said before….Truly funny.)
Or could it possibly be for a different reason?
"I think I have to talk to you."
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"What is so important that you have to talk to me out here?" Hermione asked Draco, her teeth clattering for the cool air.
"Hermione, listen." Draco started. He headed farther toward the lake which rested somewhere on the Hogwarts grounds. Hermione didn't reply. She only did just as Draco had asked.
She followed close behind Draco, in silence, as she stared up at the night sky full of stars.
"I have been doing a lot of thinking and----"
"Well there is a big surprise!" Hermione cut in, rather sarcastically. Draco turned around to face her and sneered but didn't bother to reply to her little comment. Instead he continued on with his sentence.
"---and I have come to a conclusion----" Draco picked up again but was shortly cut off by Hermione once more.
"WOW! You finally learned how to think AND come up with your very own conclusion. That is a beautiful story, Draco. I am so proud of you." Hermione teased emphasizing the word 'and', her hands in the pockets of her Hogwarts robes.
"Hermione!" Draco said seriously.
"Sorry." Hermione replied sweetly.
"I know I told you before….." Draco picked up. They were now approaching the beautiful clear lake. "…..that I felt a connection toward you. Well….I feel it every time I'm around you but I dunno how to explain it or why I feel this way."
"So….are you trying to tell me that you have been think about…me?" Hermione asked, facing Draco's back still.
"I'm tying to tell you that…..I…." His voice slowly trailed off. "That I…need you…….That…I…I…….I love you." His head fell downward as he stared over at the clear magical lake that reflected the moon in its watery depths.
A mix between bewilderment and shock spread across Hermione's face. Her eyes opened wide with even more confusion as Draco's words echoed over and over in her mind.
"HUH?" was all Hermione could ever manage to escape.
"I know this is all very confusing for you, Hermione, my love." He turned to her and took her hand in his. "But I can't help it. I dunno what happened between us but I know that something did and….I know you know as well."
"I'm sorry, Draco. What?" It was very hard for Hermione to focus. Everything had been welled up inside her. All her memories of Draco. The memories she could not explain, all of them had been trapped inside her with no where to run and be set free.
As he touched her hands….Hermione suddenly felt something cold and chilling deep within her, tingling and poking every inch of her body, numbing it until there was no more feeling within her.
Everything appeared bright as the images of Draco flashed through Hermione's mine. She began to scream from agony and pain. She pulled away from Draco so that he could not see what she could. As she began to tremble, he reached for her, to comfort her and hold her close but once again…she pushed him away.
"NOOO!" she screamed out to him. "DON'T TOUCH ME. DON'T TOUCH ME."
"I don't understand." Draco told her, a look of hurt and confusion spread across his face.
Hermione closed her eyes in pain.
She now began to cry. Not by the pain and suffering of the vision that flashed through her mind……but by what she was seeing.
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HERMIONE'S VISION
Bright images of Draco flashed through her head all at once.
He was sitting on the Slytherin couch, talking deviously to his two best friends, Crabbe and Goyle. Still watching very intently to her vision, Hermione eye's suddenly darted to the calendar in which rested upon the wall of the Slytherin common room.
It showed the current year they were in. "That year…that's the year we are in now. This couldn't have happened to long ago." Hermione thought, trying to ease the burning and exploding pain of the vision.
Draco's evil laugh echoed deep inside Hermione's head as the images kept pouring their way in.
"I'm going to make her pay for what she did to me in the Great Hall. I'm going to make her pay for making me look like a dumb-ass in front of everyone."
She tried her hardest to focus and take everything in all at once but everything was moving too fast, too blurry. Hermione tied to understand what Crabbe and Goyle were saying but their voices seemed so muffled and far away for her to hear them.
Her mind seemed to be only focused on Draco.
"I'm going to make her feel like she could never love again. I'm going to brake her heart into millions of tiny pieces."
Hermione saw that he took a small pause as he gave a very deep and scornful sneer. His words them seemed to press on.
"I'm going to make that filthy mudblood fall in love with me, make her think that I really feel the same way about her. Then I'm going to dump her in front of everyone."
"And I'm going to do it all out of pure bliss and pleasure with no ill regrets. When I do, she is the one who is going to be the fool."
END OF HERMIONE'S VISION
Hermione opened her eyes to find that she was now kneeling down on the ground, Draco, standing, hovered over her.
Hermione's vision had vanished as quickly as it had appeared but as soon as it did……another one quickly came into play.
HERMIONE'S SECOND VISION
A/N: This vision takes place at the end of "The Bet" just to let you all know. Also to let you all know before hand…. In this vision I refer to Hermione as 'the vision of herself' or 'the image of herself.' All that is.. is that I'm just letting you know the difference between the real Hermione and the Hermione that she is seeing in her vision.
Hermione saw herself run out into the cold rainy night, looking and searching for Draco.
"Draco, I've been looking all over for you. Why are you sitting out here all alone in the pouring rain?" the vision of herself said, running up to him as she finally spotted him.
Looking deep inside her head as the images continued to spill inside, Hermione realized Draco was sitting on one of the benches.
"Aren't you cold?" she heard herself ask him.
"Hermione. There's something I have to tell you." Draco spoke sadly, his head tilted downward. As he spoke, he never bothered to look up at her.
"I remember!" Hermione's thoughts focused their way through her vision.
"Oh." The vision of Hermione spoke in no more then a whisper as she bit her lower lip. She saw herself take a seat next to Draco on the bench. He sat leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees.
"For a long time I couldn't find the heart to tell you." Draco twiddled with his fingers as he spoke. Watching the images set in her mind, she could feel exactly what the vision of herself could. Together, both of their hearts began to pound harder in their chests. (A/N: Okay, I didn't really know how to explain it but basically, Hermione is beginning to feel like the person she sees in her vision.) "You were a bet, Hermione."
END OF HERMIONE'S SECOND VISION
Still kneeling on the ground, Hermione begun to cry harder now.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked reaching for her.
She pulled away from him once more. She narrowed her eyes and sneered at him as she helped herself up.
"I don't need your hand." she spoke bitterly, through clutching.
"What?" Draco looking even more hurt and bewilder. He moved closer to her and tried to hug her but she only pushed him away. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" she screamed at him, sneering at him so evil and coldly.
"What is wrong with you?" Draco asked getting angry.
"You…..You're a fraud and a liar." Hermione peered at him through her tears. "And I HATE YOU!" she yelled, being blinded by more of her own tears.
"I don't understand, Hermione. What did you see?"
"Enough to know that all I am to you is nothing more than a……a fucking BET!"
Draco never replied. He knew there was no way out or anyway to explain himself. He moved closer to her once again and pulled her close. To his surprise, she didn't push him away this time.
"I know your visions do not lie, Hermione. But I also know thatthat happened a long time ago." Something in him made him say that. How else would he know that the words he just spoke were really the truth? "So listen to me---" Draco tried to finish is sentence but Hermione refused to listen to a word he had to say.
"If that honestly happened a long time ago, then pleaseexplain to mewhy in the vision I saw….you were forming this plot not to long ago."
Still holding her, Draco didn't reply. Instead he tried to push her tears away from her eyes.
She pulled away from him. "STOP! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE. YOU HAVE DONE EVERYTHING YOU POSSIBLE COULD TO HURT ME AND YET…" Hermione tried to calm herself down a little.
"….and yet…somehow…that's just not good enough for you, is it? Somehow you just feel the need to keep searching to find something bigger and better than your last devious plan to come back at me with."
"Well I got some news for you, Draco Malfoy," she said emphasizing the sound of his name. "I'm not letting you finish this plan."
Hermione tried to walk away but Draco violently grabbed her arm before she had the chance to leave, maybe a little to violently than he had intended.
"DON'T EVER WALK AWAY FROM ME WHEN I'M TRYING TO TALKING TO YOU. Understood?" he said, giving her his natural evil and nasty sneer.
"Get..off..of..me."
Hermione gave him a big shove from anger and Draco went tumbling backward, toward the edge of the lake.
Just as Draco stumble backward, he grabbed Hermione's arm once more, taking her down with him.
She landed on top of him as they went tumbling into the crystal clear lake making a big SPLASH!
Hermione was the first to reach the surface of the water.
Pushing her hair from her eyes, she began looking all around the surface for Draco but he was no where in sight.
"DRACO!" she called after him but there was nothing but silence and the light sounds of the little waves caused from Hermione and Draco plunging into the lake.
She bobbed up and down as she continued to search the surface for any means of Draco.
"Where are you?" she whisper to herself. "What am I saying?" she thought to herself. "Not even two seconds ago I was screaming at him and now……now I'm actually worried about him?"
"No!" Hermione told herself. "I can't be worried about that……that….." she searched for some kind of nasty thing to call him but she couldn't find anything. "URGH. Who am I kidding."
"I guess I do really care about him after all."
Just as she was about to dive down to search for Draco, something grabbed her from around the waist.
She was about to scream when someone's hand clamped over her mouth.
"Relax. It's only me." Draco said as she turned around to face him.
"Jerk!" was her only reply.
"Well, I'm obviously the jerk you care about."
"Oh, so what? Are you reading my thoughts again?"
"Actually, I wasn't talking about that…..But now that I have a confession," he laughed, pulling her close, "I guess now I know that it's reallytrue. I was watching you the whole time."
"Desperately searching the surface to fine out where I could possible be." He said rather dramatically but still very stupidly. "OH! DRACO! Where are you?" Draco said in a girly voice, mocking Hermione. He then gave a laugh.
Hermione gave a smirk and then added giving him a playful shove, "Ha ha, very funny."
Draco smiled and then opened his mouth to say something but instead only got a mouthful of water as Hermione pressed all her weight on top him, dunking him under the water.
"Hey!" he said when he finally came back up. He swam up to her and suddenly put all his weight on to her, forcing her to be pushed under water.
"HEY!" Hermione said laughing, coming back up to the surface. She pushed her hair from her eyes once more. "No fare, you are stronger than I am." Draco began to splash her with water now but instead of splashing him back, Hermione dived under water to get away from him.
When she came back up, she only gave him one single evil grin.
"What are you up to?" Draco asked but Hermione did not reply. "Hermione, what are you going to do?" he asked again.
She still didn't reply. She just bobbed up and down in the cold water, grinning at him.
Suddenly she lunged out at him and landed on top of him, forcing him under water. He twirled her around so that he was now on top of her. For a while they stayed under water holding each other.
Then suddenly, Draco pulled Hermione even closer and pressed his lips against hers. Hermione gave in and began to kiss him as well.
He began to caress her as they continued to make-out under water. Draco held her close to him. He slowly began to kiss her neck. Then moved back up to her lips. For a while they were their only source of oxygen for each other.
Finally they broke apart. Draco, still holding Hermione close under the water, mouthed, "I love you, Hermione."
Somehow, Hermione had totally forgotten about the visions she had had. She was no longer mad at Draco. Perhaps she was to rapped up in his spell of kisses to feel even a little anger toward him.
Before she had the chance to even realize what she had said, she had already mouthed, "I love you too, Draco."
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A/N: OMG! What a make-out scene. Lol. Nothing like making-out under the water. lol I'm only kidding. I'm sure anyone of you could have done it much much better.
To basically sum up the question for all you…(Because Draco did the dare or was forced to do the dare… does that mean he still has to make Hermione fall in love with him?) It isn't really about the dare or the bet anymore. He is pretty much just really falling in love with Hermione all on his own. He feels the energy and the memories that they shared long ago and that is why he is falling in love with her all over again.
As for those voices in his head, one telling him to take the dare and the other telling him not to. Well, its obvious that Draco isn't going to do the dare because he doesn't want to hurt Hermione again.
But Hermione had those visions. She saw him forming the plan to get back at her and now she doesn't know what to believe anymore. So how could this effect the ending? We shall see. Lol.
So anyway, that was the eighth chapter. I really hope you guys enjoyed it and to show me just how much you either hated it or loved it……make sure you……..REVIEW!
