As they fell, Hermione realized there was only one thing she could do now. Hermione disapparated.

They reappeared just as a wave came in below them. Hermione apparated them off the shores of Bournemouth, the only body of water she could remember.

They plummeted down hard, splashing into the cold water. Hermione swam hard but she had no air. Hermione had apparated them further out than she meant to, the waves kept coming down on her, making her losing her breath. She went down once, then again, and on the third wave she was totally out of breath. She could feel darkness closing in around her, but suddenly Lockhart was beneath her, legs kicking hard, pushing her towards the surface. They exploded out of the water together, gasping for breath, Lockharts arms around her stomach.

"This way!" Lockhart choked, still kicking.

Hermione could see Lockhart's kicking non-stop, one arm always pushing her towards the shore. She estimated how much longer it would take them to swim there. She didn't think they were going to make it.

—

Hermione swam as hard as she could, not daring to think about how much further it would be, when suddenly a wave pushed her onto something soft and warm. She was still kicking, but instead of water she was kicking up sand. Hermione flipped over sucking up as much air as she could, lying down spread eagle on the white beach of Bournemouth, as the sun rained its light down on her. Slowly, she sat up and remembered Lockhart.

Lockhart had been right behind her, but when she looked around there were only a couple of muggles here and there, one of them was gaping at Hermione. Hermione realized she was still in her work clothes, her dress shirt and skirt complete soaked now. But she didn't have time to worry about it, because she had found what she was looking for.

A head full of dirty blond hair on top of a broad-shouldered body was pointing face down in the water, and Hermione's heart froze. She sprang up from the sand and waded out into the water, pulling Lockhart up on the beach, flipping him over, while she knelt in the sand beside him. Was he breathing? Hermione knew of something called CPR, but she didn't know how to give it. She pressed Lockhart's chest, but he made no movement. She brought her ear to Lockhart's mouth, and felt a splash of water.

She cried out when cold water hit her ear, and recoiled back as Lockhart pushed himself up coughing. Hermione felt another wave of exhaustion as, she sat back in the water, feeling the tide come in and out.

Suddenly Hermione realized that she shouldn't be acting this way. The best thing to happen was to have Lockhart drown in the water, it was his fault that she got caught, and if he drowned he could never bother her again.

Hermione gave Lockhart a cold look and turned to find a safe place to apparate, but Lockhart's hand suddenly snaked out and grabbed her wrist.

Between coughs, Lockhart managed to say, "You.. still… owe me… a date…"

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Let go! Are you crazy? I have to go back to gringott's, and then report to the Ministry. And Ron will be back from his quidditch, if I'm home late how will I explain to him where I was?"

Hermione tried to pry his hand off, but even in his exhausted state his grip was very strong.

"If you don't come… with me, I'll… tell Ron…."

"You wouldn't dare! I saved your life today!" Hermione almost screamed, "And if you keep me out so late, Ron will get suspicious. That's basically the same thing as telling him everything…"

Lockhart laughed, "What're you talking about? It was me that saved your life! If it weren't for me coming to find out why you skipped out on our meeting, your head would be detached already and rolling around in that office!"

Hermione could not believe Lockhart's gall, "Who was the one who got us out of there? If I didn't outwit and outspell that Yaxley, you'd still be bleeding on that factory floor."

Lockhart grinned, then winced as his hand went to his shoulder. The knife was probably lost in the sea, but the wound couldn't be washed away so easily. "And who stopped Yaxley's knife from hitting you?"

Hermione retorted, "You should be grateful I didn't kill you that day in the hotel room, if I did, we wouldn't even be here."

Lockhart threw back, "And I could have killed you that first day, so I'm still ahead 1 life!"

Hermione, "So why didn't you! You just wanted revenge on Ron, why did you have to…" Hermione could fear tears coming to her eyes. Hermione thought, I should kill Lockhart right now. But somehow she couldn't. Hermione choked back her tears, but Lockhart had fallen silent too.

Hermione's voice trembled, as she said, "Let me go, I need to figure what to do about Wendel…" To Hermione's surprise, Lockhart did let go. He got up, hand pressed to his shoulder.

Lockhart said, "I don't know what's going on, but you'd best avoid anyone with Yaxley in their name. Really, I was surprised to find someone like you in his presence today…"

"And just how did you find me? You can't just follow me around everywhere!" Hermione could feel herself getting angry again.

Lockhart pulled out a soaked piece of parchment, the one he had shown up with earlier. "Marauder's Powder."

"What? What is that supposed to be?"

"You don't know? It's from your precious husband's company! Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?" Lockhart said in an annoyed tone.

Hermione was shocked speechless.

While pulling out a pouch from his pocket, Lockhart continued saying, "You sprinkle some of this yellow powder on any person, and this Marauder's Map will show you where they are. Works as long as they're in the U.K."

Before Lockhart could react, Hermione blasted a huge hole in the parchment.

"Hey!" Lockhart said angrily, "Do you have any idea how expensive this is? This is almost a whole year's salary!"

Hermione turned to leave but Lockhart called out again, "Hermione. Listen to me, if you want to match Yaxley, you'll need the whole Weasley family behind you, or you'll need my help."

Hermione said, "I have no idea who this Yaxley is, I only met him today. And why would I need the whole Weasley family behind me?"

Lockhart looked relieved, but continued, "You really don't know anything about the Yaxley's?"

"No. Now leave me alone!" Hermione started to walk away.

"What about our date? You missed our meeting…"

Hermione spun around and said angrily, "The whole reason I got caught in that factory was because of you messaging me about that stupid meeting! If you keep asking me to meet with you, Ron will find out. I only agreed to this arrangement to keep Ron from finding out anything… If he ever found out… and didn't lo—…" Hermione couldn't bring herself to say it, but she could feel a surge of emotion. "…I'll never, ever forgive you."

The sun was still out, but it seemed as if the whole beach was getting dark. Hermione had never felt so angry, but she forced her emotions back, calming herself.

Hermione looked at Lockhart and saw that his gaze was strange again, it looked both angry, and ashamed, and was it possible… even hurt?

"Then tell me when you're able to meet this week."

Ron was going to be gone this week! But Hermione didn't want to meet Lockhart so she said, "I'm not. Lockhart, I don't want to meet you anymore, just leave me alone!"

Lockhart suddenly leapt forward and held her hand that held her wand. "One more meeting, and I'll swear I'll never tell Ron anything about what happened between us."

Hermione said quietly, "Lockhart. Do you think I could ever like you after what you did to me? Even if I ever forgave you, I'd still love Ron…"

Lockhart looked at Hermione, then used her wand to bind his own arms and legs, conjuring ropes from nowhere.

"You can't just do magic like this in public!" Hermione hissed, looking around to see if anyone noticed.

Lockhart grinned and said, "Hey, do what you want to me. You get 3 chances, anything you want at all, whips, plugs, anything…"

Hermione smiled despite herself, "It doesn't work that way."

Lockhart suddenly looked ashamed. In a soft tone he said, "One more meeting, you can pick whatever time you want this month. There is something I want to show you."

—

Next Chapter 13