all characters belong to JKR

Day Five

Wednesday, 12:45 am:

The snow turned to freezing rain and the moon hid behind the clouds to veil the remnants of the moonlight. Hermione decided she should go find the cabin. She had not been there for many years, but surely, she had not forgotten the way. The cab was forced to abandon her almost a quarter of a mile back. The road did not go as far as the cabin. She could apparate, but she decided to walk. She finally reached the cabin and went right to bed.

Wednesday morning, 7:15 am:

Draco woke and for a moment, he forgot that Hermione was not there. He got out of bed to look for her, and as he walked out of the bedroom, he found himself suddenly on a shore. He saw Hermione sitting alone in the middle of the ocean on a very small boat. The fog was thick and dense and she was all alone. How did she get out there? What was the meaning of this? The waves on the sea began to rock the small craft back and forth. She was desperately trying to hold on. The water was splashing up and filling the small boat with water. She was beginning to sink. She yelled for help. The boat was now only a short distance from the rocky shoreline. She saw Malfoy standing on the shore. She was slowly sinking and freezing cold. She yelled, "Help me, Draco!", but he merely stood on the shore and shook his head no. He said to her, "You must help yourself." The fog was now so thick that he could no longer see her.

He looked again for the dinghy, but it was gone and Hermione was now standing in the shallow water and she was no longer alone. There were bodies everywhere, under the water, just beyond her grasp. Draco saw Hermione's mother, her father, and every friend they had lost during the war. She screamed with terror, and tried to run out of the water, but something, or someone, had grabbed her leg. She tried desperately to remove her leg from the death grip of the unknown, so she kicked at the hand. Draco wanted to go save her, but he could not, as he was now the one sitting in the dinghy. Hermione was crying. Draco was laughing. Why was he laughing?

Hermione was being pulled under. She was no longer in shallow water. She was back in the deep sea, treading to try to stay above the water. Her arms looked like they were getting tired and her legs seemed to be weighed down. She was going to drown. She looked frantically for Malfoy and yelled for him one the last time. He was floating above her and he reached out his arms for her. He told her to stop fighting and to reach out her arms and he would pull her up and she would be safe once again, but still she was afraid. Mafloy promised to not laugh at her, or call her names, as he did when they were children, but she would not grab his hand. She let him float so far above her that it was too late. She was drowning, and Malfoy wanted to save her and she would not let him. She wound rather drown than trust him, and that was what happened…Hermione Granger drowned.

Draco woke with a scream. A real scream. He couldn't catch his breath. It was a nightmare! It wasn't real. He dreamt she was drowning, and he tried to save her, but she wouldn't let him. He got out of bed, sweating profusely. He needed to go talk to Potter. He needed to make sure Hermione was safe.

He dressed and went directly to Potter's house. He didn't care how early it was. He needed to be sure that she was not dead. He didn't want to impede on her solitude, but for his own peace of mind, he needed to see her. He told Potter about his dream, and to his surprise, Potter told him he would take him to her.

That morning Hermione woke up and stretched her arms high above her head. When she got to the cabin, it was very late. She used magic to clean the place up and started a fire in the stove. It was freezing when she went to bed last night, and if it was possible, it felt even colder now.

The cabin belonged to her parents. They used to come here every summer until Hermione was 15. After that year, they only visited one other summer. The summer she after she finished Hogwarts. Before that, the war consumed all of their lives and after that, her parents died and she had never made it back. The cabin sat on a rocky cliff and overlooked the sea. From the front porch, there was a wonderful view of the rocky coastline below. It was just a small trek down the slippery slope to the ocean. Hermione got up, got dressed, and bundled up to take a nice long morning walk.

Wednesday, late morning:

She must have been gone for hours. She was freezing. She could no longer feel her nose. There was a low, menacing growl. Hermione didn't know what type of entity initiated the noise, but she was sure it was her own stomach. She had brought very little food with her so she had not eaten anything yet that morning. She was standing alone on the coastline, where the rocks met the shore, and took a deep breath. Inhaling the salty sea air invigorated her. The snow was silently falling all around her. She heard the wind a mere second before she felt it rush past her. She was cold and alone, and for some reason more at peace than she had felt for a very long time. She decided to go back to the cabin.

As she climbed up the path to reach the cabin, she slipped on the icy rocks, and started to fall. A strong hand came out and reached for her. She took the hand without question. It was Harry. She let him pull her up and steady her on the path. She continued walking up the path with him right behind.

What was he doing here? What could he possibly want? He was the only person she told of her destination and surely, he would not betray her confidence. As they walked in silence, up the path to the cabin, she shivered. He stopped her, turned her around, and took off his jacket and put it over her arms. She tried to shake her head no, after all, she had a jacket, but he ignored her and walked ahead of her to the house.

Harry was blocking her view to the cabin so she didn't see that anyone else was there until she reached the front porch. That was when she saw him. Malfoy. What was Draco doing here and with Harry of all people? Harry had betrayed her confidence. She frowned and finally spoke. "What are you two doing here? I thought I made it plain, Harry James Potter, that I didn't want to be disturbed unless it was an emergency."

Harry looked at Malfoy and Malfoy looked back at Harry. Hermione thought, 'What's going on here?' Instead of talking to either man, she walked into the cabin and didn't invite them in. She didn't want them in her cabin; she only wanted to know why Harry and Malfoy were both there?

She sat down on the bed, and just then, Harry walked into the cabin. He walked over to her and said, "Draco doesn't want to come in. He doesn't want to bother you. He had a terrible nightmare that you were at the sea and that you were drowning. Since I knew you were in fact at the sea, I thought we should check to make sure you were okay. Now that we know you are, we'll leave."

Draco had a nightmare that she was drowning. Surely, he knew it was just a dream. She told Harry to come in and shut the door behind him.

Harry put on the kettle. He told her he had brought her some food. As she and Harry sat at the small wooden table, eating their bounty, he told her about Malfoy's dream. She asked him if he thought it meant anything, and he asked her what she thought it meant.

She conceded that the first part of the dream, where she was alone in the boat, was how her life felt before she started dating Malfoy. That she was alone in a drift of unhappiness. She said the next part of the dream could be that she was living in her past, and her past was preventing her from living her future. The last part, where Malfoy tried to save her, could have meant that he was in her life to give it back to her, and if she refused him, she would be lost forever.

Harry looked at her, with a mingled look of surprise and pride, and then said, "Or, it could have just been a dream. Sometimes they don't mean anything, but I like your explanation better."

She smiled and got up and hugged her friend.

She sat back down and sighed. Harry said, "Tell me Hermione, what's going on in that overworked brain of yours?"

"I honestly don't know," she responded.

"Do you love him, Hermione?" Harry demanded.

"Very much so," she said with a nod.

"Do you want to marry him?" he then asked.

"I don't know," she again answered, unable to articulate further.

"If you aren't sure, then you shouldn't get married, and I'm not saying that just because I don't like him. I'm saying that because I love you," Harry said.

"It's just that we fight all the time," Hermione said.

Harry laughed and said, "That you do, but you know, I think it's just that you are both so passionate about every little thing, that it's hard for either of you to give in and admit that someone else is right once in a while." She frowned at him and he laughed and continued, "Ginny and I don't fight that much, but that's because I'm happy to give in to her all the time. You and Malfoy would never give in to each other."

"That's because you are pussy whipped, Harry," Hermione said crassly.

Harry laughed again and said, "I've heard that from several people, and I don't care. I love my wife and want her to be happy."

"Do you think Malfoy and I don't love each other or want the other to be happy?" she concluded from what he just said.

"That's not what I meant, but if that's what you take from it, then so be it," Harry confirmed.

"What are you two doing here? You could have come and checked on me yourself," she finally asked.

"He came to me demanding that I tell him where you went. He said he wasn't going to come find you but that he wanted to make sure you were safe. I told him you were, but Malfoy, being the arse-hole that he is, demanded that I go and make sure, so I told him I would," he explained.

"That tells me why you are here, but then what is he doing here?" she asked perplexed.

"He said he would just come along for the ride, and he wouldn't even talk to you, and so far, he's as good as his word," Harry told her. "Listen, Hermione, he told me what Cohn said to you and how it has you all concerned. I don't believe any of it. I also know that Charlie Weasley filled your head with a bunch of nonsense, but I don't think any of that has anything to do with Malfoy marrying you."

"But, Harry, you aren't a pureblood. Maybe you don't even know about these sanctions. I've been thinking, what if the Ministry, to ensure that the purebloods wouldn't try to cause another war, and to prevent another Voldemort; what if they made all purebloods marry people of less than pureblood birth? What if they fined them or sanctioned them in other ways if they didn't? That's what I've concluded," she said.

Harry looked at Hermione incredulously. She continued, "Remember when Ron got married and he told us, 'Thank God she's not a pureblood, or I wouldn't even be able to afford to marry her'. Do you think he was referring to these sanctions?"

Harry finally spoke. "Even if that's all true, which I don't think it is, then Malfoy still could marry anyone, it wouldn't have to be you. Remember that night you slapped your old boss, O'Brien, and Malfoy went to find you. He came and had dinner with Ginny and I that night. Granted, he invited himself. He said that he had wanted to date you for a very long time. He said he had been interested in you since the war, but that he didn't think you would have been receptive of his advances at that time. He actually asked us for our permission to start seeing you. He even said that he could picture marrying you someday. Of course, Ginny and I were not overjoyed, and we didn't quite believe him at that time, but, Hermione, I believe him now. He loves you."

After Harry's long speech, she said, "Go tell him I want to see him, and if you want to go on home and leave him here with me, you can."

"You're not going to hex him if I leave are you?" Harry laughed.

"You're an Auror; I hardly think I would confide in you if that were my plan. You would arrest me." She smiled back.

Harry gave her a chaste goodbye kiss on the lips, and then told Malfoy to come in.

Draco walked up to the door and slowly pushed it open. He had a bouquet of wild flowers and heather in his hand. How did he manage that in the middle of winter? He also had an envelope. He walked up to the table, sat down, and handed both to her. She sat the flowers to the side and then opened the envelope.

After she read the note she said, "This is a dry cleaning bill for my wedding dress!" She was amused, but also somewhat shocked.

"You were gone on your little 'find yourself trip', so I took it upon myself to get your dress cleaned and altered. I thought I would hand deliver this bill, because I recall the last time I tried to give you a dry cleaning bill, you kept throwing them away. I am unemployed, you know, and my finances are rather tight, so I think you should pay your own bills," he said with an air of indignity.

She retorted, "Yes, I'm sure you're having trouble managing all those millions of galleons. You must be on a very tight budget to be sure."

"It's been rough," he said with a laugh. "What is this place?" he added.

"It's a cottage that my parents owned before I was even born. We used to come here during the summers, sometimes. I just wanted to see it again," Hermione answered.

"Let me get this straight, I give you house for a wedding present, and you already had a house? I'm outraged. How many other pieces of real estate are you hiding from me?" he asked as he stood to walk over to her. He lifted her up and kissed her forehead. "Can we go home now? Are you done with your journey of enlightenment? All this fresh sea air is bad for my complexion," he mused.

"What will the sea air do to you? Make you more pallid and pale. Is that humanly possible? Your skin is so pale now it's almost translucent," Hermione joked.

"Yes and I see it does wonders for your curly hair," he rebounded.

Hermione decided to go home. She thought she was going home by coming here, but she realized that home was where the heart was, and her heart was with him.

Wednesday early afternoon, at their flat:

When they arrived home, she told him she was going to lie down for a while. As he walked to the kitchen, he concluded that before they got married, he was going to tell Hermione the whole truth. He did not want to build their whole marriage on a foundation of deceit. If she really loved him, then none of what he would say would make a difference anyway.

He went to wake her up after about an hour. "Do you want to do anything before our parties tonight?" he asked her as he handed her a cup of tea.

"Do you have any more wedding preparations?" she asked him.

"No, my bonny little witch, I told you not to doubt my abilities. Everything is taken care of completely," he said with a smile.

"Everything?" she asked. He merely nodded and took her cup from her and placed it on the bedside table. He then pulled her into his arms and started to kiss her neck.

She said, "I thought you asked me if I would like to do anything before our parties?"

"I changed my mind," he said as he kissed the other side of her neck, "I've decided that we should just have fun here at home." Then he gave her a passionate kiss on the lips.

She pulled away from him and said, "I think we should wait to have sex until our wedding night. Make it special, you know?"

"You've got to be joking," he said dead serious.

"No, I'm not," she acknowledged, also dead serious.

"But, Hermione, it's not like we haven't had sex before. You can't go back to being a virgin, you know. Let me put this in terms you would understand; you can't unread a book." He laughed.

She pushed him off the bed and stepped over his body and said, "I want to wait." Then she walked out of the room.

He reclined back on the floor and yelled, "No worries, I plan on having lots of sex at my bachelor party tonight. That should hold me over until our wedding night."

She walked back in the room and pointed her wand at him. He had seen that look in her eyes before, and although he was too much of a man to admit it, he was afraid of her. She looked at him through hooded eyes and said, "Now you better be the one that's joking."

He stood up and said, "I might be, I might not." He walked up to her and grabbed her wand. They both held on to it for dear life.

"I mean it, Draco, no sex with anyone tonight, not in any form. If I find out you weren't a good boy; and believe me, I will find out; I will hex your balls off." She looked very serious.

"I thought I once told you, that you can't tell me what to do," he said arrogantly, and then he let go of her wand and made to walk past her, but instead turned around and grabbed her by the waist with one arm and with the other he had his wand out and pointed it under her chin. As he stood behind her, she dropped her wand to the floor, and put her head back on his shoulder and looked up at him.

"Are you going to hex me, Malfoy?" she asked amused.

"I could, but I won't this time. However, I do have a word of warning, Hermione. You better not have sex with anyone tonight, either."

She started laughing, and pushed out of his arms. "At a wedding shower, Malfoy? With whom would I have sex? Ginny?" she asked.

He cocked his head slightly and said, "Now that I might enjoy seeing."

She hit him hard on his arm and said, "Fine, I will have sex with Ginny tonight and you can live out your fantasy and have sex with Harry." After she said that, she ran from him. He chased her, but she was faster and she locked herself in the bathroom.

"Where is your cat, Hermione?" he said with a slow drawl, outside of the bathroom door, "he must pay for your bad joke."

She swung the door open and started to yell at him, when she saw he was leaning against the doorframe with a smile on his face.

"Let's go shopping," he said unexpectedly.

"Where did this come from?" she wondered.

"I just thought you might like to get something nice to wear tonight and I need a new outfit as well."

"I'm sure I can find something to wear and I know you have plenty of clothes," she concluded.

"I want to go shopping," Draco whined.

"You are such a girl," she said.

"Are you making derogatory remarks about your own gender, Granger?" he asked.

"No, I think I'm making a derogatory remark about you, Malfoy," she answered.
He stood there staring at her, with the look of a five year old who wasn't getting his own way, and she finally said, "Fine, we can go shopping, but I would like to go to a Muggle department store."

"That's okay. I don't mind the Muggles, and I like their clothes. Let me get our coats," he said exuberantly.

When they arrived at the department store, Draco went directly to the men's department, and left Hermione to her own devices. She was in the dressing room trying on different outfits, when all of the sudden she saw his head appear under the dressing room door.

"Get out of here, Malfoy! How did you even know it was me in here?" she hissed.

"I recognized your feet," he said. Her feet? He was insane. "Let me see your dress," he commanded.

She walked out and she had on a short, tight fitting, simple, black dress. "Well, I approve of the colour, but why would you want to wear something like that in front of a bunch of women?" he asked her.

She looked at her reflection in the mirror and said, "Maybe I want to look good for myself, not for other people. I like it. I think I'll get it."

"Well, I don't approve. Go take it off and try on something else," he said seriously.

That remark made her want to buy it even more. "No, I want this dress," she told him.

"Well, I refuse to buy it for you, and let's see the price," he said, as he pulled her over to him and look at the price tag that was resting under her arm, "oh yes, you won't be able to afford it, so I guess it's a different outfit for you after all, Granger." He patted her on the bottom and seemed very pleased with himself. She went back in the dressing room, removed the dress, and walked up to the sales counter and put the dress down.

"Do not buy that dress, Granger," he said sternly, walking up behind her.

"Go to hell, Malfoy," she answered.

She paid for her dress and then turned to him and said, "Let's see what you bought."

She tried to look in his shopping bag, but he pulled the bag from her, and said, "No!"

"Let me see," she said again.

"Madam," Draco said to the sales woman, "could you call your security people. This young woman is trying to steal my purchases." The sales woman laughed because she knew he was joking.

"Malfoy, you are such a prat. Let me see!" Hermione said as she tried again to look in his bag. He held it high above her head and held her back with one arm.

"Madam, have you called your security personnel yet? Now she is getting violent," he again addressed the clerk. The clerk merely laughed again. At least someone thought his actions were entertaining.

Hermione gave up and walked away from him, out of the store. He followed. Once they were outside she said, "Well thanks a lot, Malfoy; yet another establishment that I won't be able to show my face. Must you always act like such a prick in public?"

"Language, Granger," he retorted.

She walked away from him as fast as she could. Soon, he was separated from her on the busy Muggle street. He saw her curly head disappear in the crowd of holiday shoppers. He concluded that Hermione did not have a sense of humour. None at all. He found an abandoned alley and apparated home. She was already there when he arrived. She was starting to get in the shower when he walked in to the bathroom. She screamed and said, "You scared me! Get out, I'm not dressed." Without a doubt, she had stripped down to nothing but her knickers, and she was holding her towel in front of her chest.

He pulled the towel away from her and she covered herself with her arms. He looked angry. He walked up to her and said, "Not only are you a bloody prude, but you have no sense of fun and a terrible sense of humour." She felt like he had slapped her in the face. He turned to walk out of the bathroom and she followed.

She grabbed her towel from him and said, "I have a fantastic sense of humour. You're just angry because I don't think you are funny." She went back to the bathroom, locked the door, and took her shower.

Not funny to her. Everyone knew that Malfoy had a terrific sense of humour. She just did not see that. No, she was too busy getting her wand out of her arse to see his sense of humour. That thought made him smile. See, he had an excellent sense of humour.

Wednesday evening:

She was all dressed and ready to go out, but she could not get her zipper. He was showered, but not dressed. He was standing in a towel, shaving at the bathroom mirror. She walked into the bathroom and said, "Will you zip me please?" She turned around with her back toward him.

"If you are wearing that dress, then no, I won't," he said. It was the principle of the thing, he thought.

She turned back around and said, "Seriously, you won't zip me?" She actually looked quite lovely in that dress. He put his hands on her waist, turned her back around, and zipped her dress. Then he turned her again so she was facing him, wrapped his arms tightly around her, and kissed her soundly on the lips. He moved his lips slowly against hers. He bit her bottom lip and made her moan. He ran his tongue slowly against the edges of her mouth and once she opened her mouth to him, he let his tongue dance seductively with hers. She could feel him getting hard underneath his towel. He pressed his whole body against hers and put one hand in her hair and the other one on her bum. She put her hands up against his chest and pushed away from him. "I'm going to be late. I have to be there at 6 pm," she said breathlessly.

He still held her in his arms and said, "You look so beautiful," then with a husky voice he added, "I can't wait to unzip that dress tonight."

She pulled completely out of his arms and reminded him, "No sex until the wedding night." She started down the hall.

He leaned out of the bathroom door and said, "Get back here, I command you."

She openly laughed at him and said, "The day you command me to do anything is the day I become a Death Eater."

"Stranger things have happened, Granger," Draco responded, and then he went back into the bathroom.

As she was leaving, she yelled out, "How late will you be tonight? Will I see you later?"

He was still in the bathroom and he said, "I don't know how late I'll be. If the party seems interesting, I might be very late. Don't wait up for me."

She walked back to the bathroom door, and said, "Just be good tonight."

He responded with, "Yes, Mummy."

"I mean it, Malfoy," she said at the door. "No sex tonight. Not even with Harry," she said with a laugh, and then mostly to herself she said, "See, I have a sense of humour."

He leaned out the door to watch her retreating figure, and merely smiled.

Wednesday evening, 6:12 pm:

When Hermione arrived at Ginny's, she was pulled in the living room and Ginny said, "You're late! Hurry up and open up all your presents, because we have reservations for 7pm."

Hermione looked around the room and saw many familiar faces; people she went to school with, and people from work, as well as some of Ginny's sister-in-laws.

"I thought we were having the shower here?" Hermione asked bewildered.

"No silly," Ginny said with a giggle, "the shower thing was just something I told Harry. We have reservations at the hottest new Wizard nightclub, called The Black Raven. There's going to be a live band, and I even hired special entertainment just for us. Now hurry up and open your presents."

Hermione took Ginny to the side and said, "Seriously, I don't think Malfoy would appreciate the fact that I'm having a bachelorette party instead of a shower."

"Oh, Hermione," Ginny exclaimed, "he was the one to suggest the bachelorette party in the first place and I think it's an excellent idea. We will have so much fun. Stop being such a stick in the mud and open your damn presents."

Wednesday evening, 7:20 pm:

Malfoy and his friends arrived late at the club. Harry, Ron and his brothers, as well as some other people from work were already there. Blaise told Draco, "I reserved the private party room at the back of the club. This is supposed to be the hottest nightclub around."

"What's it called?" Draco asked as they entered the doors.

"The Black Raven," Blaise stated.

When the men walked toward the back room, Malfoy thought he heard a laugh that sounded like Hermione. He looked around the club and saw a large table with a bunch of woman, and at the head of the table was Hermione. That little vixen. She was having a bachelorette party after all. He told Blaise and the rest of the men that he would meet them in the back room.

He walked over to the table where the women were and saw a waiter sitting on Hermione's lap! She was laughing hard. The bloke bent down and whispered something in her ear, and she covered her mouth with her hands and shook her head no. Draco was furious. He thought, 'Well, two could play that game'. He went to the back room and asked Blaise, "So, are there women at this party, or what?"

Hermione looked up just in time to see the back of Draco's blond head in the crowd of people. He was walking toward the back room. She pushed the waiter off her lap and leaned over to Ginny, who was laughing, and said, "Ginny, the boys are having their bachelor party at this same club. I just saw Draco enter the back room."

"So?" Ginny said, "As long as they stay back there, they won't bother us."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Hermione gasped as she started to stand.

"Hermione, sit down and have fun. Go dance, or go make out with one of the waiters. Get drunk. I don't know, just stop being such a prude," Ginny told her as she turned back toward the table and downed another drink.

Why did everyone think she was a prude? She went to the door that she saw Malfoy walk through and looked in. All the men were already drinking and there were a bunch of beautiful women, hanging all over all the men. A beautiful blond woman had her arms around Draco's neck, and was whispering in his ear. The next thing Hermione knew, Draco had pulled that woman down into his lap. He looked up in time to see Hermione at the door. At first, he was glad she saw, but when he saw the crestfallen expression on her face, he actually felt ghastly. He tried to push the blond off his lap, but she held on tight. Hermione shut the door quietly and walked out.

Hermione walked up to a very good-looking man, a complete stranger, and asked him if he would like to dance. "It's my bachelorette party, and I want to have fun tonight," she told him. He said he would love to dance and told her his name was Joel.

The band was playing a very loud, fast song, and Hermione and Joel went out to the dance floor. All the girls at Hermione's table started applauding them. They were yelling, "Have fun, Hermione!" and, "Way to go, Hermione!" Malfoy walked up to the dance floor just as Hermione and the strange man started dancing. All he thought was, 'The little bitch.'

He went back to the back room, grabbed the beautiful blond by the arm and said to everyone, "Let's move the party out to the dance floor!" He and the blond started dancing right next to Hermione and the man.

When the girls at the table saw the men come to the dance floor, some were upset, some surprised, and some happy to see them. Ginny walked up to Blaise and said, "Take your little group back to your private room; we are having our party out here!"

"Potter, tell your wife to shut the hell up," Blaise said.

"I don't think so, Zabini," Harry said dryly. He knew he could not tell Ginny anything, even if he wanted. By now, most of the members of bachelor party were sitting around the table with the girls.

Hermione and Draco were still dancing, but not with each other. Hermione had yet to realize Draco was on the dance floor. Draco could not help but realize Hermione was. The next song was a slow song and Joel asked Hermione if she wanted to continue dancing. She declined and started to walk off the floor, when she saw Malfoy moving slowly with some blond bimbo. The woman had her hands all over Draco and he had his face nestled in her hair. Hermione stood there stunned and dismayed. By that time, everyone at the table was also silently shocked.

The next thing Draco did caused a collective gasp from all their friends. He kissed the blond. Not a slow and sensual kiss, but a kiss all the same. In reality, the woman kissed Draco before he knew what was happening. He did not exactly push her away though, and that was where he made his fatal mistake. When he did push her away, after perhaps just a few seconds, he saw Hermione walk up to him and she did something she had not done to him in over four months. She slapped him soundly on the cheek. He put his hand up to his cheek and stared down at her. She looked up at him, with no emotion on her face, and she turned around, went to the table, got her purse, and started toward the door.

Draco ran up to catch her. When they were both at the door, but not yet outside, he swung her around and said, "Having a nice bridal shower, Granger."

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was having a very nice one, until you ruined it," she said without anger or malice. She just looked at him. Still no emotion to her voice or face. What was wrong with her? "And for your information," she continued, "I didn't know Ginny had this planned. I went along merely because I was tired of everyone calling me a prude and telling me I did not know how to have fun. That was why I danced with that man. I was tired of everyone calling me a prude, you included, Malfoy. Well, you know what? I don't care what everyone thinks. I would rather be a stick in the mud, prude, than a liar. You're a liar, Malfoy. I can't trust you." She turned to leave, but he pulled her back again.

"I didn't mean to kiss her. She kissed me. I only danced with her because I was jealous. I saw you when I first entered the club and some man was on your lap, whispering in your ear, and I was jealous, so that's why I got cozy with the blond. I wanted to make you jealous, because I was," he said with a defeated attitude.

"Go back and have fun at your bachelor party, Malfoy, I'm going home," she said as she left the club.

Just then, Harry, Ginny and Blaise came outside and Blaise said, "Listen you two, stop being jealous children and let's all go in there and have fun together, one big party, okay? Then, if you two want to dance or snog or anything else, you can do it with each other." He turned and walked back into the club.

"Hey, Malfoy," Ginny said. He turned to look at her. "Hermione didn't even want to come out tonight when she found out what was planned. We goaded her into coming. She knew you wouldn't approve, and she was worried about disappointing you. Moreover, do you want to know why she really didn't want to come? She didn't want to come because she didn't want to deceive you. Now stop being an arse-hole and both of you come inside this instant, it's freezing out here." Ginny turned around and grabbed Harry's arm and they went back inside.

"Mrs. Potter apparently thinks she can order everyone around just because she does it with her little husband," Draco stated to no one in particular. Then he turned back to Hermione, who was leaning up against the wall of the nightclub, and said, "Hermione, I don't want to be in there with anyone but you. Let's go in there and show everyone how much fun we can have together. Please."

She looked at him, and then slowly walked up to him and put her arms around his waist and leaned her full weight onto his body. "Did I hurt you, when I slapped you?'" she asked without looking up at him.

He put his hand under her chin and looked directly into her eyes, and responded, "You have hit me much harder than that before. I seriously think you're losing your touch." She smiled at him and they walked back into the nightclub.

(End of day five)