Deciding it best to discuss her feelings for Malfoy away from the others, Hermione coerced Apollodorus into taking a walk in the opposite direction down the beach from where her cousin and her lover had gone.

Hands in her coat pockets, she waited until they were out of immediate hearing range and then began her tale. Of course, she carefully manoeuvered around anything having to do with the magical world, keeping it at her and Malfoy having an antagonistic relationship while both attending a co-ed boarding school in England for the entirety of their teenage years, how he'd been a horrid bully and prejudiced git. She then skipped to the first time she'd interacted with him as an adult, glazing over the war, the trials after, and the recovery of the wizarding world – including her dealings with PTSD. She did mention having been involved with Ron on and off in between, however.

"Why did you not stay with this Ronald?" Apollodorus asked in genuine curiosity.

Hermione gave him a wry expression. "It's more like Ronald couldn't stay with me. He wasn't the faithful type, it turned out."

He wrapped an arm around her, offering her friendly support. "I am sorry that you were hurt."

"It was a long time ago."

"But it has stayed with you, yes?" he asked. "Your reason for hesitating with Draco is because you see similarities to the past with this other man who hurt you. It is why you do not tell him your feelings now."

Her steps faltered, stopped. Her eyes burned as the truth hit hard.

She blinked, and turned from Apollodorus, looking out over the dark, wide ocean, uncomfortable letting him see her weakness, even as she spoke it aloud for the first time.

"You're right," she admitted, "I do see a lot of what Draco's doing with all those other women as similar to Ron's callous and hurtful behaviour. That's why, I think, I've spent the last four years focussed on our working partnership - to convince myself that as long as Malfoy and I never crossed that line, I could maintain a level of professionalism and couldn't be truly hurt. At least, I wouldn't be left as devastated as I'd been by Ron's infidelity." She bitterly laughed. "I was just fooling myself, though, wasn't I? Because it did hurt, listening to him in hotel rooms next door, going at it with various women at all hours of the night."

The tears began flowing now, and she bowed her head, embarrassed by them.

"Even if Draco and I were to get together, though," she continued, "there would be absolutely no possibility for anything more meaningful. He told me this one time that he would never get remarried so, really, the best I could hope for would be a series of one-offs with him. And I... I couldn't accept that. I couldn't accept being like all the other women in his life: nothing more than a temporary convenience. I want to be his partner, in every way, long-term. Forever."

She wiped at the tears on her cheeks, frustrated by her inability to keep them at bay, broken-hearted by the truth of her predicament.

"But that's an impossible wish. First of all, he's seeing Rhachel. I have no idea if he's serious about breaking his own rules to be with her, but I don't want to hurt my cousin by getting in the way, regardless. I adore her and want her happy. If that means she ends up with Malfoy, then I'll stand aside. Secondly, it would ruin everything between us if he did find out the truth, because I know he doesn't return my feelings. In fact, it would probably become too awkward to continue working with me in that case. He'd most likely request we dissolve our partnership, and I-" She choked on a sob. "I couldn't bear that," she whispered, agonized by the thought. "You understand? Even if I can't have him as I want, I couldn't bear not being near him at all. It's the same for you, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

Every muscle in Hermione's body went stiff as she heard the words and recognised the voice.

"Oh!" was all she managed to squeak out as Draco's arms came around her a second later, and he pulled her into the cradle of his warm body.

"Merlin's rod, Granger, why do you think I followed you here?" he murmured in her ear, letting his chilled lips ghost over her sensitive skin. "You're in me, and I can't let you go, no matter how much I try. I can't… let you go."

Hermione's mind seemed caught in an endless whirl as she attempted to process Malfoy's confession. "But... I mean... Rhachel..."

"Knows how I feel about you," he admitted. "She's known since that summer two years ago when she and I became involved the first time."

Wait, WHAT?

"I... I don't understand," she admitted, feeling a bit of residual anger roll around in her belly. "You liked me, but you still dated her?"

Malfoy took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. "Your annoyingly frank ways have rubbed off on me, it seems, because I'm about to tell you something that may knock your socks off, Granger. Ready?" He swallowed, hard, and then opened his mouth, completely changing everything between them in one fell swoop. "I've been completely captivated by you since that day I stood in Bill Weasley's office and he pronounced we'd be permanent partners. I took one look at you in your plain, tight white blouse, your grey dress trousers, and your sensible black heels, and was instantly smitten. You were classically simple and yet stunning, and I was completely unprepared to feel such a thing for you." He chuckled. "It was clear you despised me and the idea of partnering with me, too. Needless to say, your rejection put me off."

"I recall," she stated, wiping at her cheeks to remove the dampness. "You slammed the door on your way out." She sniffed, hating how nasally she sounded. A cry always left her worse for wear. "So, you like me, then?"

He snorted. "I think we're well past the 'like' stage."

"Straight on to 'arse-over-kettle' for me, then?" she teased, feeling the hope in her chest bloom into brilliant life... only to be crushed under heel by her next thought. "No, no, no! This is completely inappropriate, Draco. You're dating my cousin."

His sigh was deep and long. "We're not, I assure you. It was all a ruse. When you mentioned going to Greece to look for a prospective husband, I panicked. I couldn't let your mum's plans in that regard work out. I figured Rhachel would be involved somehow, since you mentioned your cousins were in on it, too, so I Floo'd to the Greek Ministry, performed a Point Me on my ex, and met her at the club that night you were there. When you left, I explained the situation to her. We... she and I concocted a scheme."

"A scheme?"

Hermione's disapproving tone gave fair warning to Draco that he was fast entering a zone where her temper met its end. Scheming was right out when it came to men and relationships, as far as she was concerned. Ron had instilled that lesson in her well.

To his credit, Draco picked up on how precarious his position now was, and fidgeted with the appropriate amount of nervousness. "One worthy of a Slytherin," he sheepishly admitted, reminding her of his innate nature at the same time as attempting to use it as a solid defence.

Suddenly, things she'd been seeing and hearing all week, especially since Apollodorus came into the picture, clicked into place. She whirled around in his arms and met his eye, refusing to let him ferret his way out of this one with his clever tongue and evasive manoeuvering in conversation. "You and Rhachel pretended to hook-up just to get me jealous, didn't you?"

He cleared his throat and looked profoundly guilty when he admitted, "Both you and Apollodorus, when Nick brought him into it."

Hermione's eyes widened with understanding. "You mean Rhachel loves my date?"

Draco scowled at the emphasis she put on Apollodorus' status. "Something like that, yes."

"But, I thought…" She glanced over towards the bonfire, but her eyes were drawn to just beyond that, where Apollodorus was in deep discussion with Rhachel away from the others.

"Oh."

Well, it would certainly be nice if the two of them were to finally get their act together.

Her irritation with Malfoy remained unabated, however, just because someone else seemed on the verge of fixing their problems. No way was she letting him get away with not explaining himself fully to her.

"Why did you keep your feelings a secret for so long?"

Draco sighed, and ran a nervous hand through his bangs, sweeping them out of his eyes. "Actually, I thought I've been rather obvious about how I've felt for you from the get-go. I've been trying to get in your knickers for the last four years, Granger."

She rolled her eyes. "Me and every other female on the planet."

Now he was becoming indignant. "You didn't seem the least bit interested. You shot me down every chance I gave you, purposefully keeping it professional between us. It allowed for a hell of a partnership to grow, but it created a lot of unnecessary cold showers on my end."

"Not as many as all that," she archly reminded him.

"Besides," he continued, ignoring her verbal jab, "I figured you weren't interested, especially after everything that went down with Weasley. And you had your share of one-offs, as I recall."

She threw her hands up into the air. "Five in four years, Malfoy," she pointed out. "You're on what, your second dozen by now?"

"And every single one of them was a short brunette with curly hair and brown eyes. Ever wonder why that was?"

That stopped her cold and she thought back, trying to picture his partners...

Yes, all short brunettes with curly hair and dark eyes. Even Rhachel.

As if reading her thoughts, Draco explained, "That lean summer where there was no work, I knew that I was getting close to jeopardizing our partnership. I wanted you, but you... you gave me no indication that you were interested in the same. When the boss said we were off, it couldn't have come at a more convenient time. When you invited me to Hogwarts with you, I almost agreed, but rationality prevailed. I knew I couldn't risk being in such close quarters with you or risk losing you as a partner, so I turned you down and came here instead. I met Rhachel. She looks... hell, you two could pass for siblings, you know."

Hermione became indignant on her cousin's behalf. "Are you saying that you used her as a substitute for me? That's... that's low even for you, Malfoy!"

He grabbed her arms and shook her once. "Stop it! You make it sound tawdry. It wasn't at all like that. It was complete coincidence that she and I met and hooked-up, but once I discovered her relation to you I tried to do the right thing and step away. Rhachel wouldn't hear of it. She insisted that it was okay. She was looking for a summer fling to get over someone, no strings attached, and I'd wanted to try to get over you. Neither one of us was officially seeing other people at the time, so we indulged in some harmless fantasies. When I realised that being with her was getting me nowhere, and that I wasn't getting over you, we called it quits, but stayed friends." His grip on her arms tightened. "Do you know how guilty I felt thinking of you whenever we-"

Hermione held up her hand to stop him before he twisted the knife further into her chest. She didn't want to envision him having sex with Rhachel, period.

"So you ended it and came back to England that August, right in time for work to start up again. I get it," she finished for him, going with the truncated version for sanity's sake.

"No, you don't," he insisted, pulling her into him. "I only knew for certain that I was in love with you that summer, when it became abundantly clear that I was trying to replace you. My whole world upended once I'd admitted that to myself, but then all I could see were the obstacles: the horrors of our past, our working partnership's possible dissolution, and the negative opinions of your friends, my family, and our whole bloody world once the gossip began. And let us not forget the fact that you hated my everlasting guts outside of our work anyway."

She frowned. "That isn't true at all. I didn't hate you that first day Bill partnered us up, or any day after that. All I could see were the obstacles between us, too. That's what I hated - and all of those women, of course."

"And you think I didn't hate that you suddenly began sleeping with other men just after I'd had my startling revelation about us?" Draco asked. "I thought for sure you were giving me a more overt signal to move on and to stop flirting with you. I was already irrationally angry at you for making me fall in love after I'd vowed never again post-Hurricane Astoria, but then to stand by and watch as you bed complete strangers after turning me down over and over again... I was furious and mad with jealousy. So, I upped the ante, and hoped that one of those women would make me forget about you. At the same time, I was hoping that maybe, just maybe you'd really start to notice what you'd passed over, and reconsider. Clearly, none of that worked."

"You're saying you slept with all of those women to try to make me jealous," she stated, frowning. "What kind of idiotic plan was that?"

His response was quick and heartfelt.

"The kind only a very desperate man would attempt."

That floored her.

"Desperate? You?"

He shrugged.

She snorted in anger. "You're the least desperate person on the planet when it comes to companionship, Draco Malfoy. Women throw their knickers at you."

His smile teased to life again, his mood shifting as understanding began to settle between them. "Not the one woman I want, though. Her knickers are always firmly set in place whenever I attempt to get them off her - most especially when she's exhausted after tangling with Hades' Ferryman." His expression altered once more, becoming gravelly serious. "Granger, it's important that you know nothing happened between Rhachel and me on this trip. We just gave the illusion we were back together in the hopes it would force you to conspire to split us up." He shook his head. "I should have known that you were too bloody nice to stoop to such underhanded tactics, especially as it pertains to someone you've already given your loyalty to."

Hermione arched an eyebrow at that. "You've known me for half my life and you're just now clueing into that fact?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Well, you do have another side altogether that can be rather vindictive when it wants to be."

"I do not-"

"I seem to recall hearing a rumour that you'd conjured canaries back in sixth year for the express purpose of getting even with the Weasel," he pointed out. "And then there was all that loud television and banging around in conjoined hotel rooms in the early mornings over the last few years…"

Hermione crossed her arms and met his accusation head-on, refusing to feel guilty for getting even with the git. "Both times were done in the name of justice. Ron betrayed me with that floozy, Brown. The git had it coming. And if you hadn't been banging around at nights, you'd be awake in the mornings at an appropriate time anyway. I can't help it if my daily calisthenics routine wakes up you and your" -she made a face to express her displeasure- "companions. I have to stay in shape for what we do, don't I? You can't expect me to skip such important exercise, especially after you'd already had yours the night before."

He gave her a long, disbelieving stare and an amused grin that had her tilting her chin higher.

In a quick move, he had her in his arms again and was chuckling. "I'm mad for you, Hermione Granger. No other witch in the world can drive me as spare or make me want so much."

"What about our partnership?"

She was afraid of things changing now that they'd both confessed. Honestly, she had no intention of seeking another co-worker, but she wasn't sure of Draco's take on the situation. He'd been willing to run all the way to Greece the first time to get away from the possibility of them splitting up, and she'd done the same two years later. That told her that they were both afraid of the same thing: losing the other.

His smile gentled, and his gaze filled with soft heat. "I was hoping you'd consider making it a more intimately binding one. That way, you'd never have to worry about taking on the likes of Charon alone."

"And you would make sure I've properly showered after every mission, I suppose?" she teased.

"Thoroughly."

"I think I'd enjoy that very much."

"I'd assure you would."

She glanced over at Rhachel and Apollodorus, who were just then disappearing around that bend in the beach that she and Malfoy had gone earlier (to conspire, no doubt). "I think we've been dumped."

"Ah, well, whatever will we do to get through the grieving process?" Draco teased.

Hermione tossed him a lusty grin. "I'm sure I can think of a few things. Do you still have that oar?"

Their first kiss was interrupted by uncontrollable chuckles.

TO BE CONCLUDED...

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Please review!

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Preview for Chapter 10:

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To her utter surprise, Hermione's mum was there as well, apparently having hopped on a Muggle airplane and taken the three and a half hour flight over to come to visit her sister.

"Hermione, love!" the woman greeted Hermione, holding her cell in one hand and coming around the table to give her daughter a kiss on the cheek. "We've all been waiting for you to get here. Your Aunt called me early this morning with the news! We're all so thrilled." She glanced at Draco, taking him in with a critical eye. "Well, he's certainly not swarthy or Greek, but he is handsome and well-to-do, I'm told. Excellent." She handed Hermione her cell. "Your father's on the phone. Say hello."

"Ah, Hermione, excellent," her father stated in his typical greet. "I just wanted you to know I'll be flying in tomorrow. Must go into the office to finish up some things so they won't get in the way next week. Wouldn't miss the ceremony for the world, my girl! Can't wait to give you away!"

Ceremony? Wait, WHAT?

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"It appears one time at the altar wasn't enough for me."

"Seems so," Hermione replied.