"No. Uh-uh. No way" Alya stated vehemently shaking her head.

"Why not?"

"Cause… just not"

"You'll have to give me a better answer, Missy"

"I've never done it"

"No problem. I'll show how it's done"

"What? No!"

"Why not? It's easy and everybody does it!" he insisted "You'll like it, I promise"

"Just because everyone does it, doesn't mean we will too!"

"You're so bloody stubborn, woman!"

"Yes, I bloody well am!"

"Merlin, it's not going to bite you!"

"I'm not getting anywhere near that!"

"Don't say 'That' with such a disgusted voice" he said "You make it sound dirty"

"No, don't say anything" He stopped her with a hand in front of him "You know what, I don't give a shit" he said, before hauling her on his shoulder like sack of potatoes and marching away from the door.

"NOOOO! Put me down, you Neanderthal!" she screamed punching his bare back "Help! Someone help me!"

"Will you stop it? There's no one here, and if there were they would think I was about to rape you!" he protested "Now be a good girl and shut up" he said smacking her bum.

Alya squeaked loudly "Hands off!" she ordered pinching his side with her long nails

"Oi! Enough! People will think I've been mauled by a tiger, too"

"Blaaaise!" she whined "Please, let me down! I'll do anything you want!"

"Nope. Not falling for it and since I have a prime view of your lovely backside, I'm not going to fall for your doe eyes either"

"Don't look at my bum!" She cried, growing more flustered and frustrated the nearer they got to their destination.

"Relax with you.." he sighed exasperated. Who knew she would be so difficult when he proposed it?

Without giving her any warning he dropped her.

Alya screamed from the fall before coming into contact with .. ice cold water.

"You bastard!" she sputtered wiping away the salty water from her eyes and pushing back her long hair "I can't believe you dropped me in the sea when I explicitly told you I can't swim and was scared to go!" she screamed

"Dolcezza" 'Sweetheart' he said quietly getting down on his haunches "if you would calm down for a moment, you'd realize that you're sitting and the water barely reaches your shoulders. I'm not an idiot who would drop you in deep water. Now put on your big girl panties and let's learn how to swim"

"I hate you" she pouted rising to her feet and blushing madly. She couldn't believe that he talked her into wearing a bikini. At least it was black and not white, she wouldn't put it past him to try and sneak a peek.

After two hours and a lot of gentle coaxing from Blaise, Alya was somewhat able to swim. In moderately deep water, with the calm sea and Blaise standing guard near her.

It was not her fault if she was afraid to drown.

The only good thing that came out to that exhausting morning, it was being able to ogle the boy to her heart's content.

She had somewhat come to terms with her crush by now, even though she was not ready to admit it out loud much less act upon it.

"You'll see" he said shaking his head like a dog to get rid of the sea water "By the time you go back to school I'll have you with a nice golden tan"

"If I don't burn like a lobster first" she pouted already feeling her skin itching uncomfortably "People with such fair skin like me shouldn't be under the sun so much"

"A bit of sunburn lotion and you'll be fine and with a tan" he reassured her "You English people wouldn't know anything about how to get a tan" he teased her


Alya rested comfortably on her stomach on top of her bed. Blaise had been right and after applying the lotion she felt a lot better, her skin no longer itched and burned but felt cool and smooth.

Only after applying to her front she had realized that she would need help to do her back, so resigned he called Blaise to help her. She blushed madly the whole time, feeling his large warm hands running all over the skin of her back sent tingles down her spine and her tummy felt full of butterflies.

She put her hands on her cheeks felling the warmth still there even after ten minutes since he left.

Accioing parchment and quill, she decided to finally write to Draco.

She still felt hurt that they were so quick to pander to her father wishes and send her away, so she would only write to her cousin, after all he had no say in it all.

Dear Draco,

I know you will probably be incredibly worried about me and angry it took me so long to write, but I needed time.

Knowing that your own father rejects you is hard enough, but being sent away from my home hurts just as much. I do not fault you, nor your parents, for what happened. Merlin knows how much you already did for me over the years and It would be awfully ungrateful of me to do otherwise. I know that they had only my safety in mind.

I hope things have not been too hard at the Manor, with my apparently unstable father and all.

Despite the circumstances I find myself really enjoying my time here. The place is so breathtakingly beautiful and full of little corners to explore.

You won't believe it but I even learnt how to swim today!

Ok, it was not totally consensual but I had fun in the end, even if I got sunburnt.

I received my OWLs results too, I got all O's so I'll be able to keep taking all the subjects and hopefully if I do well enough in my NEWTs too I will be able to qualify for the Master of Magic special program.

Just send your reply back with Tilly.

Love you,

Alya

Sealing the envelope she called her personal house elf and sent her to the manor, with orders to deliver the letter only to Draco, preferably if he was alone.


"It seems that Potter can't stay out of trouble, not even out of school" Blaise commented holding the morning paper towards her

"What did he do?" She asked, her hands momentarily occupied with her cup of cappuccino and a soft buttery croissant. No way she was letting them go for a paper. Without her morning cup of caffeine she was untreatable. Draco liked to compare her to Medusa, complete with the serpents hair and petrifying glaze. Lucius once said that she truly was her father's daughter. Since arriving in Italy she had been careful with her intake of coffee, no need to scare the bloke away so soon.

"He performed magic in front of muggles and he is set to stand on trial"

"What the hell was he thinking?" she asked astonished. The statue of secrecy was already half a farce with so many muggleborns going back home and telling their parents and friends about it. If the Ministry started to make exceptions for Boy Wonder, their world was doomed.

"It was his third warning too. I know that the first time was after first year; a levitating cake or something but I found out that it was really Dobby's fault; the summer after that he blew up her aunt, like an air balloon.. wonder what it was this time"

"What an idiot" she sneered "As for Dobby, that elf always had a few missing screws"

"Indeed" he hummed "'I'm curious though. I think I will find the real reason"

"How do you get all this information no one knows?" she asked, not really expecting an answer

"I have my ways" he smirked "and if I told, well, it would be such a pity to kill you"

"Hilarious" she deadpanned biting her croissant "What is next? You're the new James Bond?"

He snorted in his cup of black coffee "Please, do I look like some goody goody Gryffindor to you?!"


Dear Alya,

I should curse you for all the worry you caused me. A month! A fucking month before you deigned yourself to write a fucking letter!
I'm relieved that you are safe and apparently having the time of your life too, but I would feel so much better knowing where and who you are with. What if those people are untrustworthy? What if they take advantage of you? I can't even think about it…

Things here are tense. Mother is brokenhearted, making you leave the Manor was like having her beloved daughter ripped away from her. You know how much she loves you, sometimes I think she likes you better than me. Father is walking on eggshells around the Manor, weary of the Dark Lord and what he might do.

As for your Father, he made himself pretty scarce I have to say. He would call Father and a few other death eaters every once in a while, but it's been pretty 'calm' considering.

He is apparently going on like you never existed or maybe he is pretty good at removing information he doesn't want to remember. I'm not sure.

This whole thing is absurd to me. If only he would look at the papers from the goblins he would know that you are his daughter, that it is all real.

Why would someone deny family is unconceivable to me.

Please don't make me wait another month to hear from you.

Love,

Draco.

Alya sighed. So things were still the same. If it went on like this she would be homeless the next summer too. She wasn't sure how long she was willing to wait for her father to see the truth. Should she just give up and make a life for herself somewhere else, away from him? Or should she try and confront him on the matter?
She had to admit that the second option was just a little suicidal, too much even for her tastes.

Throwing a pillow at the wall with an angry scowl she repressed the urge to scream like a madwoman. Why couldn't her life be simpler?!

She just wanted a family! Was it too much to ask? Did she have to pay for her father's sins or some rot like that? Was that the reason she was doomed to be miserable?

This line of thought was making her depressed and her head started to hurt something fierce. Falling back against the mountain of pillows on her bed, she decided to sleep.

Sleep and forget it all. Just for a little while.


*Whistles innocently* What? it's not my fault you thought they were going to do something else! It's was just some innocent swimming..

Thanks to everyone who added the story to their favourite or alert lists and left a review.

Just to warn you, soon I will start posting once a week only. If I keep updating everyday the story will be finished way too soon and I like having another one ready to be posted soon after I complete a story.