Chapter Four

Dear Hermione,

Amber was telling the truth. She's a great person. She helped us get where we are today. If she says you need to relax, then she is probably right. With everything she seems to know, we would say that it is her, so you don't need to worry about her being someone else. So, have fun. Relax a little. Drink the potion she gave you. You two will have tons of fun together.

We are already sworn to secrecy, so you don't have to worry about us telling anyone about the two of you. Do us a favor, keep us updated. We want to know how she's doing. She tells us, but we're sure she leaves things out.

Fred & George

So, thought Hermione, she was telling the truth. That's good to know. She pulled the vile out of her pocket. "Well, here goes everything," she pulled the cap off the vile, and drank the potion.

She fell back onto her plush bed and slept through the rest of the night.

Draco knocked softly on the door, "Hello? Granger?" When no one answered, he opened the door to see Hermione sleeping, fully clothed, at the bottom of her bed. "What the…?" He walked over to her, and saw the vile in her right hand and a note in her left. Draco would have thought she was dead, if he hadn't seen her chest rising and falling. He took the note and read it. "What," he wondered aloud, "has she done now?" He shook her, "Hey, Granger. Wake up."

She moaned, "No, not yet."

"Are you sure, because you don't look too comfy," he laughed.

"Yeah, well, that won't matter, because I'm taking a bath after this anyway," she slightly opened her eyes.

"That's probably not the best idea, 'cause you'll be late if you do."

"Ah who cares? You certainly don't, so move along. I've got things to do," she opened her eyes the rest of the way.

"Like what?"

"Like taking a bath… and relaxing. I've been too uptight lately."

"Granger, it's only the second week of school, and you're the Head Girl. How would it look if you were late to class? And, you've always been an uptight know-it-all." he smirked. She was acting kind of funny.

"Well, I don't want to be anymore, so I don't care how it looks if I don't go to class. I'm already a bit ahead of everyone anyway. I should have the day off. Come to think of it," she sat up and looked at him, "you're as far as I am. You should take the day off too. We could go try to walk on water. Wouldn't that be fun?" she asked, her eyes getting wider as she said the last part.

He raised his left eyebrow, "What the hell has gotten into you? You would never have asked me to join you in anything, especially after last year. Everyone's totally afraid of me."

"Yeah, but that's only because they don't know the full extent of what actually happened."

"And you do?" he scoffed.

"Yes. Harry was there, and saw everything. If Snape hadn't come along, then Dumbledor would still be alive, because you wouldn't have killed him. Your bark is worse than you bite." She hopped off her bed, "Now, if you don't mind, I have a bath to prepare for."

He looked at her slightly baffled. "I don't know whether I should take that as a good thing or a bad thing."

She smiled, "It's a good thing. Now, are you going to stay with me or not?"

"Depends," he smirked, eyeing her up and down, "what's in it for me?"

She turned him around, and pushed him out of her room, "Absolutely nothing. Get to class." She walked across the room, to the bathroom.

Draco grabbed his bag, which he always left next to the couch, and went down to the great hall.

"What a dufus," Hermione said to herself, as she turned on the bath in the gigantic bathroom she shared with Malfoy. "Oh well, more fun for me," she smiled.

"I wonder where Hermione is," Ron questioned.

"Yeah, me too. Malfoy's here before her, and that's odd. She is always down here before him. We should go check on her."

Ron nodded, and the two of them headed up to her dormitory. "Finkleburry," Harry said, when they reached the portrait.

"Hermione?" Ron called, as the two of them entered the room. "Are you here?"

"Go away," Hermione said from her bedroom.

The boys walked up to her room and saw lights flashing in her closet.

"Hermione?" Harry said in wonderment.

"Didn't I say go away?" She asked, poking her head out of her closet.

"Well, we didn't see you at breakfast, and we were worried. What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Well, if you must know, I'm fixing my clothes," she turned back to her closet and started casting more spells at her clothes.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because, they are so boring. I'm just sprucing them up a bit. Most of them don't fit me right anyway. I don't know what I was thinking when I asked for them to be made a little larger."

"You're shrinking you clothes?" Ron asked, open mouthed.

"Yeah, I spose so." She poked her head out of her closet again. "You two had better get to class, or you'll be late." Hermione went back to her business, ignoring the boys as they left.

"What's gotten into her? She's just now deciding that her clothes are too big?" Ron asked, as the two of them headed to class. "She's skipping class, but we're not allowed to. That's not fair."

"There's definitely something going on here, 'cause there's no way Hermione would ever skip class, or shrink her clothes. She doesn't like tight fitting robes, and her other clothes are already fairly tight. I wonder what she's doing to those."

"I bet it was Malfoy. He's done something to her," Ron shook his fist.

"Look, there he is now," Harry started jogging. "Hey, Malfoy!"

Malfoy groaned. He knew who it was, and he knew why the he was there. "Look, before you say anything, I didn't d-"

"What the bloody hell did you do to Hermione!" Ron shouted.

"I didn't do anything. If you really want to know why she's acting so funny, then ask her yourself," Malfoy said angrily.

"Right, 'cause she'll know what's wrong with her," Ron said sarcastically.

"You obviously know what's wrong with her, so you better start talking," Harry said vehemently.

"What makes you so sure I know what's going on?" asked Malfoy.

"Because, you just said, 'ask her yourself.'"

"So…, that could mean any number of things." Malfoy retorted.

"Maybe, but I still think you had something to do with it. Therefore, I want you to undo it," Harry responded.

"Oh, get over yourself. There's no way in hell I'm going to do something, just because you want me to."

"Fine, whatever. Just know that if I find out that you had anything to do with this, then you're in serious trouble. I'm not going to take any crap from you this year. I can play the role of Mr. Nice Guy, but don't expect me to hold that role for very long," with that said, Harry turned around. Ron nodded, and walked off after Harry.

"You just wait Potter. Your turn's coming," Malfoy said. His gang started laughing, and followed him to their next class.

"Okay, so this isn't working as well as I had hoped. Maybe I should use a broom," Hermione said to herself thoughtfully. She then ran up to her room and changed into some dry clothes.

She had been by the lake, trying to walk on water. She tried a few spells, but they didn't work quite right. She had managed to take a few steps, but then she would fall.

After changing into a pair of short jean shorts, which had the beginnings of two holes, and a few bleached spots, and a white wife beater, she went into Malfoy's room. "I'll just borrow this," she said, as she picked up his broom, "and try to return it before he gets back. What's life without a little danger?" She ran back to the lake, barefoot, as she was before. "What's the worst that could happen?" She asked, as she mounted the broom. She rose into the air, and went ten feet over the lake. She stopped and lowered herself, so that she was hanging from the broom, with her feet set lightly on top of the water. "This is great," she smiled as she walked out further along the lake.

"Maybe now I can get you to trust me," Hermione told the lake, "and maybe you'll let me walk on you."

Draco looked out the window. This class was always so boring. Who needed history? Who is that? He wondered, as he watched someone out on the lake. What are they doing? Then it hit him, "Granger."

"What," his friend, Blaze, asked.

"It's nothing," Draco said, still looking out the window. I can't believe she was serious. She really wants to walk on water? "Sir," Draco said, raising his hand, "I don't feel very well. May I be excused?"

The professor looked at him, "Yes, just make sure you do the homework."

"Already done," Draco said, as he walked up to set the parchment on the professor's desk.

"Well… umm… very good. Carry on." He then continued speaking where he had left off.

"What are you doing?" Blaze asked, as Draco packed up his things.

"Nothing really, I'm just bored is all. See ya later."

"Whatever," Blaze said, as Draco left. He then looked out the window, and saw someone on the lake. However, he could not figure out who it was.

Draco set his things by the couch closest to the door, as he always did, and went to his room to grab his broom, but it wasn't there. "What the…? Granger, if you took my broom, I'm going to kill you," he ran out of his room, and down to the lake.

"How am I suppose to find out what is going on, if I don't have any method of getting out there?" he asked himself.

He then remembered a spell that would enable him to walk on water. However, very few people had ever been able to use it. In order for it to work properly, a wizard had to be very powerful. 'It's worth a shot,' he thought. He then said the spell, and stepped out onto the water. "It worked?"

It was the best felling he had ever felt. Not only was he powerful enough to walk on water, but he was walking on water. Although he still had his shoes on, he could feel the texture of the water. It was different. Indescribable. "Wow," he breathed, and picked up his pace. Now, he was running on water, and all new feelings ran through him. Happiness, relaxation, pure bliss. He liked it even better than flying.

By the time he reached Hermione, he was no longer mad at her. "What… are you doing?"

Hermione's eyes widened, as she jumped from fright, and her fingers slipped off the broom. Draco caught her in his right arm and the broom in his left. Playing Quidditch had given him excellent reflexes and strong muscles.

"Oh, hi," Hermione said meekly. "I was just walking on water… in a sense."

"And you had to use my broom, without my permission, because…"

"Well, I tried a bunch of different spells, I even made up some of my own, but none of them worked. That's when I decided to use a broom. I went back to my room to change, and I became lazy and decided to use your broom, instead of Harry's, because yours was closer."

"Right…, well…," he was a loss of what to say. A million things crossed his mind, but he couldn't get himself to say any of them. There was just something about standing on water that made him become relaxed and carefree. He had planned on taking his broom, and leaving her there to swim back to shore, but now all he could do was, "Hang onto me."

"What?"

"Hang onto me."

"I know that. I meant, why?"

"'Cause if you don't you'll fall, and I may have to let you swim back to shore. Plus this way, you'll kind of be able to walk on water," he said, as he started walking.

She tightened her hold on him, and started walking along, as well as she could, beside him. She closed her eyes, enjoying everything at the moment. "How did you manage to walk on water?"

"I remembered a spell I was taught when I was younger," he replied, and looked over at her. Wow. She was beautiful. He hadn't noticed it before. Her hair now fell in curls, nowhere as bushy as it used to be. She wore very little makeup. It was just a bit of lip gloss, and a slight line of eyeliner. Her nice curves added to the outfit she had chosen to wear. He looked back at the shore, not liking the feelings going on inside of him. This isn't me, he thought. I'm an arrogant prick. Something really weird is going on.

"Which spell?" she asked.

"Oh, umm… it's a secret. Can't tell anyone."

"Well, that's no fun. You just don't want to tell me, because you want to be a show off," she said, looking up at him.

"So what if I do. I've got to impress the ladies somehow," he shrugged with a grin.

She laughed, "Well, then I think I'll let you have that one, but you have to let me borrow your broom whenever I want to."

He stopped, "What?"

"If you're not going to tell me how to walk on water, then I need to be able to do it some other way. So, what do you say?"

No. Hell no! You and I aren't friends. We may be able to stand each other, but I don't even let Blaze touch my broom. You should be thankful to be alive after what you did! So no. There's no way in hell I'm going to let you use my broom. Ever! This is what he wanted to say, but he couldn't quite get it out. "Fine, but if it gets even the slightest scratch, you're dead."

She smiled brightly, "Thank you." They reached the shore, and she took off running.

Draco ran a hand through his hair, "What the bloody hell was that?" He was frustrated. Now that they were off of the lake, he felt like his usual self. He wanted to run after her, and tell her that he had gone insane while he was on the lake, and that he didn't mean a word of what he said. He wanted to tell her to leave him and his stuff alone, but he just couldn't get himself to do it.

Well, that was weird, but hey, I have a free ride from now on, so there's nothing to complain about. But I wonder what's up with him, she thought as she ran to the castle. She was having a great day. She didn't think anything could go wrong, but then she turned a corner, and saw the angry faces of her friends.

A.N. So, how do you like it? Please let me know.