All characters belong to JKR

(A/N: My beta renamed this chapter, "The sh*t hits the fan.")

Chapter 33: Remorse:

With a heavy heart, Adrian walked toward his office after his talk with Hermione. They had come up with a plan to 'teach' Draco the evilness of lying, and while most of the plan was Adrian's idea, Hermione agreed to it, but it still had him worried. Draco might react badly when he finds out they lied, but if it made him even a little bit repentant, it would be worth it. If Draco had even one iota of integrity, he would feel at least some remorse. Once he reached his office, he was surprised to find Draco sitting at his desk.

"Where have you been?" Draco asked.

"Lunch," Adrian answered cryptically.

"You left at noon and now it's after four," Draco said. "Careful, someone might think I've been a bad influence on you." He smiled and stood from Adrian's desk. He thought his friend looked weary. "Seriously, though, where have been?"

"Seriously," Adrian answered, "don't worry about it." He sat down in the chair Draco had just left and said, "I need to know something, Malfoy."

"What, old chap?" Draco asked happily.

Adrian was going to give Draco one last chance to tell the truth, and if he did, Adrian would be truthful about the contract, about his conversation with Granger, and about the plan that they had come up with to teach him a lesson about lying. If Draco lied, then Adrian would let his lack of repentance, and the punishment that ensued, be his comeuppance.

"Malfoy, what happened with you and Granger this weekend? What really happened? Are you in love with her?"

Draco thought Adrian's question might be a trap of some sort. If he admitted his true feelings, then Adrian might bring up the contract. Draco said, "Listen, I bought her a resort. What do you think?"

"I think that doesn't answer my question," Adrian answered back. "Please, for the last time, do you love her? Do you see a future with her? A real future? A sincere future? Are you ready to give up all others, and give up lying, cheating, to be with her? Do you love her enough to tell me the truth?"

Draco smiled and said, "The truth hardly matters at the end of the day. All that matters is that she accepts the contents on that last note. Then we'll see what happens from there."

That wasn't what Adrian wanted to hear. Either Draco was in denial, or he was still lying, but either way, Adrian now felt no remorse about setting his and Hermione's plan into action. Adrian said, "By the way, Granger's back early. I just saw her entering her office."

"She wasn't set to come back to work until tomorrow," Draco said. "No bother, I'll see you later." He practically bounded to her office. He threw open the door and started to her, but she was sitting at her desk, with her head in her hands. She looked as weary and forlorn as Pucey did, and he wanted to know why.

He put a smile on his face and opened his arms wide, as if he was a conquering hero returning from war, and he expected her to run into his arms at any moment. She barely looked up, though. She said, "Hi, Draco." He slowly brought his arms down, considered her demeanor for a moment, and then asked the question that begged to be asked.

"What's wrong? Did someone die?" He really thought that might be a possibility.

"Nothing's wrong," she answered.

"Why have you returned early? I thought you weren't coming back to the office until tomorrow morning." Draco sat on her desk, by her arm. She didn't look up at him. She continued to write something on a piece of parchment. When she didn't answer he grabbed her Muggle pen, threw it over his shoulder and said, "Spill it, my Granger. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm making a list." She held up a piece of paper.

"What type of list?" he asked lightly. He tried to take the piece of paper from her hand, but she pulled it toward her.

"A list of things that will change in my life if I decide to quit, so I can continue to see you," she answered sadly.

He frowned. "Why would you make such a stupid list?"

"It's not stupid. It's something I really have to consider…weigh all my options and such. For instance, number one is important." Hermione handed the paper back to him. Number one read: "I might starve because I will have no money for food."

Draco chuckled and said, "I wouldn't let you starve. I'd give you money for food."

"Read number four," she said.

He read number four and it read: "I would lose my self-respect if I accept a handout from Malfoy." Draco said, "Well, that's silly. Self-respect be damned, a woman's got to eat." He handed the piece of paper back to her and said, "Besides, maybe instead of giving you money for food I would just give you food. If you're especially nice to me, I might buy you a business or something, and you could earn your own money, ergo, you'd be able to eat."

"Read number seven." She passed the note back to him. He signed as he read number seven. "I will be viewed as a kept woman if I accept a business from Draco based on our relationship, and not on merit or worth, hence: No self-respect, again."

"Gee," Draco drawled, "self-respect must be pretty important to you, huh?" He almost threw her list back at her.

"Along with truthfulness, read nine." Hermione handed it back and he almost pushed the piece of paper away, but he took it again and read number nine.

"Number nine," he read aloud, "I would be a liar if I tell everyone that nothing happened this weekend, when it did, and if I accept any money or property from Draco, just because I was stupid enough to sign a contract without reading it." Draco read it once more, silently. Then he decided to read the whole list, and it made him incredibly sad, and remorseful. Damn.

"So basically," he started, "What I get from your little list, is that to continue to date me, you would feel like a piece of shite, because it would mean you would be a liar, with no self-respect, right?"

She nodded.

He sighed deeply. He was afraid to ask this of her again, but he had to, because now he really, really hoped she hadn't read the last note. "Did you read the last note?" He had assumed that she had, but he wanted to see what she would say. He was slightly confused by the way she was acting, and he was beginning to wonder if she had been truthful when she told him that she hadn't already read it. If she had, she wouldn't be this sad, would she? Or perhaps, if her little list was accurate, the note might make her even sadder still.

"No," she said. "I told you we would read it together on Tuesday morning, but seriously, I don't know if it will matter. I can't imagine it will solve our problems."

"Of course it will matter," he said, trying to smile. He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. He didn't like that. He liked to hold her hand. It had become one of his favourite things to do.

"Granger, just tell me what's going on here."

Instead of saying anything, she pulled the last note out of her pocket. She placed it on the desk, and pushed it toward him. He picked it up and tried to hand it back to her. She held her hands up, as if it was on fire or something. "Read it," he commanded. He wanted her to read it, so he could gauge her reaction. If she reacted badly, as he suspect now that she might, he would quickly ask her to marry him. He would say that it was an early wedding present.

"No, I already told you, it doesn't matter what it says," she answered.

"I told you it does matter," he said with anger. "The answer to our relationship problem is on that bloody note, and if you don't agree, then I have another solution at hand!"

She stood up and pushed her chair slightly away from the desk. She was out of his reach when she said softly, "We don't have a relationship problem, because we don't have a relationship."

He hopped off the desk and asked tenderly, "What happened between this morning and now?"

He was being so sweet, and he looked so sad and confused, that she almost didn't want to go through with the plan that she and Adrian had concocted, but yet, Draco needed a good dose of his own medicine. She had to cure him of his lying ways once and for all, or they really didn't have a chance at a relationship. She was also still slightly afraid that he was truthful when he had told Adrian that he viewed her as a challenge, and that he really didn't have feelings for her. If she could lie one last time, to find out the truth, she would do it.

"Nothing happened, Draco," she began, "Except for the fact that Adrian came to see me at the resort today."

He stepped closer to her, and backed her into the wall. "What did that wanker want?" He placed one hand on one side of her head, and the other hand on the other side, esssentially trapping her between them.

"He wanted two things, really," she answered. "One, he wanted to remind me about our employment contract. Second, he told me that when he asked you directly if you liked me, or had feelings for me, you said that you didn't. You said I was merely a challenge, and that was the only reason you pursued me." That last one was the truth, for Adrian really had told her that.

She waited anxiously to see what he would say to that.

"NO!" he shouted loudly. He pushed away from the wall. "That stupid, fucking wanker!" He started to roam around the room, his hands in fists at his sides. "That stupid contract will be the death of me! It's crap, Granger! Just read the note! It doesn't matter about that damn contract. The note will solve everything!" He implored her to read it by picking it back up from the desk and holding it out in front of her face.

He was really beginning to believe that she hadn't read it after all, and he no longer cared if he changed it to a marriage proposal. He just wanted her to read it as it was. She was sad, and her sadness convinced him that she hadn't read it, because she was not that good of a liar, or that good of an actress.

"Draco," she began, leaning against her desk, "it no longer matters. I told you that. Even if that note was a marriage proposal, I couldn't accept. Adrian pointed out that if we married, it could be easily proven that we dated this weekend. We weren't exactly judicious. We flaunted our relationship, when we should have been prudent."

"SO?" he barked.

"So, that would make me in breach of contract! Your company could sue me, and still fire me, too. I would be liable! Those are number four and five on my list."

He let out a breath, rushed to her, and put his hand on her neck. He said, "But I wouldn't do that, sweetheart. I would never sue you!" He tried to reach for her hand with his free hand, but she moved away from him quickly.

"Maybe you wouldn't do it, but Adrian made it clear that he would pursue it. He said he would make an example out of me, to teach everyone else a lesson. He told me that he would conveniently forget all about our weekend together, if we conveniently forgot about it, or else he'll fire me and take me to court, and he said there's nothing you can do about it, because the contract clearly states that all decisions regarding hiring and firing are eventually his."

She sat down in her chair and said, "I would lose you and my job."

"You could never lose me," he promised. He looked so anguished, and she almost felt remorse with her ruse, and she decided that she felt just as anguished as he felt. He knelt beside her, grabbed her hand quickly this time, (he wasn't about to let go), and he said, "Adrian won't do anything. I promise. In the long run, this job won't matter, anyway, once you read the note, and I ask you a question I've been waiting to ask you."

"No, Draco, don't you see," she hesitated, and then continued, "It's hard enough knowing that you…oh, forget it."

He stood up impatiently, let go of her hand and demanded, "Continue. It's hard enough knowing what?"

"Did you tell Adrian that it was your goal this weekend to make me fall for you?" she asked. "Was this just a game? Was I just a challenge that you wanted to conquer?"

He was taken aback. He had never told Adrian any such thing, at least not in so many words. He said she was a challenge, but that was all that he said. He didn't mean it in a derogatory way, and Adrian didn't even know that Draco had plans to pursue her this weekend, until he arrived with Penelope at the yacht. Why would Adrian lie like that? Draco felt as if the room was spinning. He had so much he wanted to say, but the only thing that came out was one strangled sentence: "Adrian Pucey is a dead man."

"So it's true?" she asked, a bit afraid now that it might be, since he didn't deny it. This part of their ploy was Adrian's idea, and Hermione wondered if this supposed lie was based in truth.

"It's not true," he said solemnly. "Now, I admit, it might have started with me wanting to chase after you, the challenge of the pursuit, and maybe it did start just because of the contract, not in spite of it. You know, to get the better of Pucey, because he's so self-righteous, and sure, at the beginning, I thought we might just sleep together or something, but all of that changed."

That admission shocked her. "It's true?"

"It might have been slightly true in the beginning, but I never told Adrian any of that. I don't know how he found out that was my intention at first, but I even admitted as much to you right after our blind date! I told you that I thought we might have a bit of fun and we would have good chemistry in bed, but it changed. It changed almost as soon as I admitted it to you on Friday night, Granger. I swear."

Hermione felt a bit numb. She stood up and put her hand on his chest. She wanted to feel his heartbeat. It was beating rapidly. She wasn't sure what that meant. He placed his hand over hers. She asked, "Why did you have the Johnsons lie about how they met. Was it to manipulate me into marriage? What would you have done if I had accepted your proposal? What if I had wanted to get married at the Cathedral?"

She asked too many questions, but he put all of that aside to ask her one. "How did you know about the Johnsons?"

"I overheard them talking this morning." She picked up the last triangle and placed it in his hand. "What else did you lie about this weekend?"

He held the note in his hand, pleaded, "Granger," and then stopped. He didn't know what he was going to say, because he had lied about so many things this weekend, so he could see where she would have trouble deciphering fact from fiction. In his mind, one truth was evident: he loved her, so he told her so. "I fell in love with you this weekend, Granger."

She was done playing games and so was he. How could he convince her that he was being truthful now, when he boasted all weekend about how good he was at lying? She decided to be truthful, too, so she said, "I don't know whether or not I really believe you anymore."

She sat down, leaned forward in her chair, and placed her arms on her desk and her head on her arms. He stood in front of her for several long, awkward moments and promised, "I will never lie to you again." He placed the note on the desk in front of her.

"And I don't even believe that," she confessed truthfully.

He turned to leave, and she said, "Aren't you forgetting something?" She held up the last note.

He replied, "Keep it. When you finally decided that I'm telling the truth, read it. I'll prove to you I'm no longer lying. I'll never lie to you again, but first, I have to kill someone, and I'm truthful when I say that Adrian Pucey is about to die." He stormed out of his office, prepared to kill his oldest friend, and he didn't feel even a smidgen of remorse about it. She popped up out her chair, and ran after him.