ha. thank danica01 for getting this post up. "ah, darn you cliffhanger!"

Chapter 8: Swimming and Crying

"Wanna go for a swim?" I asked in my most upbeat manner.

He looked at me quizzically before choking out, "What?"

"I said, do you want to go for a swim? It's a gorgeous night." I felt terrible pretending he was fine, but I had to in order for this to work.

"Er…" Yes! It was working! He was so confused by my suddenly nonchalant mood that he couldn't focus on that wretched vile.

I tugged at his arm. "Come on…please? Shayna wants you to go swimming." I whipped out my pouty face and laid on the flirtations thicker than hair on a bear.

"Erm…okay…" Draco said, his confusion seeping through his words. "I'm not really in the mood for a swim right now though."

"That's okay. I can change that." I grinned, partially because I was being such a flirt, partially because my 'devious' plan was working. I ran into the water as Draco pulled his robes off. By the time I had gotten deep enough to fully submerge myself he was already wading in after me. I realized he wasn't wearing a shirt and suddenly became nervous. What if he thought I was going to have sex with him!

My fears were chased off fast enough. Draco stopped five feet away from me. "Okay, we came, we swam. Are you satisfied?" So my plan wasn't quite going on schedule, oh well.

"No." I swam farther out. Now he was nearly fifteen feet away.

"Shayna, come on, I really don't want to swim right now. Can we just go back to the blanket?" He sounded kind of…irritated, or annoyed, or something. But I wasn't going to give up.

"Sure," I said before grinning evilly. "But you have to come get me."

"Shayna stop. This isn't the time for games. Let's leave." Despite his insistence on leaving, I noticed he was slowly moving towards me. Obviously he didn't want me to notice, so I didn't say anything. Still, it told me I was having success.

"I'm not playing a game. I want you to come get me," I replied stubbornly. This time I made myself sound serious. Not that it was hard, considering he had been close to bawling five minutes ago.

He sighed. "Fine," he said and swam towards me. I saw—with great pleasure I might add—that he had wonderful muscles and that he was a brilliant swimmer. The tension that had been holding me in fear and hope mutated and made me nervous-slash-excited just from his body. Oh snap…

When he reached me I just stayed still, treading water, waiting. "Well?" he asked.

"Well what? I told you that you had to come get me. That implies that not only do you have to swim to me, you have to bring me back as well." Mischief probably radiated from me at that point. I was being soooo mean.

But then, like a miracle, I saw my mischief reflecting in his eyes. He was catching on! It was working!

"So you won't come unless I drag you?" he said impishly. I could tell he was trying to not be so swept away by this, but he was failing miserably.

"Right," was the only thing I could think of to say. He was very close again. I don't know why I was so shaky, I mean it's not like we haven't made out already, but the look in his eyes kind of scared me. It was like they hungered for something, I just hoped it was something I was willing to feed.

"Brilliant," Draco said, his wicked grin spreading across his face. He cupped my face with one of his hands and started kissing me. To my astonishment, this kiss wasn't anything like the passion-filled one from the common room. This kiss was…

He started kissing me more, becoming more… aggressive. His other arm slid around my waist, pulling me closer to him, while his hand slowly slid down my neck, and my shoulder, before finally wrapping around me and pushing my upper back towards him. Not that I didn't enjoy it, you know. For some reason I realized that while I had to tread water to keep myself above water, Draco was tall enough to stand. I took advantage of that and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. I kissed back. Even then, his kisses became more aggressive. I realized that this was the hunger I had seen in his eyes. He wanted to know and be absolutely positive that I belonged to him. He wanted to be able to kiss me like we wouldn't have to part. He wanted to know just how much I loved him, and he wanted to prove that he loved me too.

It took a few moments to realize that we were moving. Draco was walking back inland. I wondered briefly if he was expecting sex, but I was so swept away that I didn't think twice about it. I trusted him, and I wanted him, and that was all that mattered.

By the time we were back on the blanket Draco was laying on top of me. His kisses were so intense that I could feel my lips going numb. His hand started sliding under my shirt, but he never went for my boobs, so I really didn't care. I was enjoying this so much that I probably would not have cared even if he had gone for my boobs, but either way I can easily say that we made out for a very long time.

By the time we finally stopped, it was probably around eleven. Our little snogging session had been so passionate that we were both semi-exhausted, so we just curled up together and looked at the stars.

"Shayna?" Draco whispered to me. His breath tickled my ear, but I ignored it. He seemed to want to say something important.

"Yeah?" I replied. I didn't turn to him; instead I just let him talk.

"I love you," he said simply.

I grinned. "I love you too."

There was a long pause during which I wondered if that was all he had wanted to say. But alas, there was more, and it was not something I expected.

"So when are you going to take the potion?" he asked suddenly.

I was so surprised I turned to him to make sure he wasn't messing with me. Guys have been known to do that.

"What?"

"C'mon, we both know you're going home by the end of the week whether we like it or not," he said matter-of-factly.

"Er… I dunno…probably towards the end of the week I guess. Are you suddenly okay with that?" You have no idea how confused I was right then.

He stared at nothing for a while, thinking, before he stubbornly nodded his head. "Yes. I know you have to go home. I might as well enjoy the time I have left with you." He looked at me again…god I love those eyes.

"Good," I said, happy that my plan had worked, though not really the way I had planned it. "I wouldn't want to leave and have you be all grumpy about it."

"Just promise me something," he said fervently.

"Anything."

"Promise you'll never forget me."

I twisted my body so I was facing him and kissed him. Then I looked into those eyes. "Draco, how could I ever forget you?"

-and i put this on the bottom because i know a lot of people really don't read these but OMG i'm super excited to see the goblet of fire tomorrow. like oh my gosh. so excited.

...i'm never gonna sleep tonight...