Vienna

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Just a little warning, I do throw in a few curses here and there, but not a significant amount. I'm sorry if it may offend you, but I felt it necessary for the story, and they probably will be cursing a lot more in future chapters, but it won't get so bad that I would have to change the rating. Once more thank to you all my lovely reviewers, this is all for you guys, I love you all. And my beta Anna, she's the absolute best, especially for putting up with my emailing issues.

fOUZIA, I'm going to respond to your question here.
Q: I am french so I don't understand your story with the horse!! Are you student and you take care of animal?
A: First of all, of course I don't think your question is stupid. Yes I am a full time student, but I work part time with horses, taking care of them, at a barn. The place where I work had to put a horse to sleep because she got very sick and was in a lot of pain. It was sad for everybody who knew her, and it was hard for me to write because I was so upset. I hope that makes more sense for you.

Chapter 6: Six years ago

Hermione Granger

(Last Time)

Something moved in front of my chair, cutting off my sun and casting a shadow over me. A dreaded voice that I would recognize anywhere spoke, "Oi, Granger, you're sitting in my chair."

Slowly, I lowered my sunglasses down my nose, looking up at none other than a smirking Draco Malfoy. You had got to be kidding me.

This was going to be a very long summer.

"Well, Granger, I'm waiting." I continued to ignore him as he stood impatiently at the foot of my chair. "Come on mudblood, you're stinking up the place."

I snapped the book shut at the mention of that filthy, degrading name. "Oh that's rich coming from a smelly old shoe brush like you. But I'm sorry, ferret, did you say something?"

"I said, I would like my chair back."

"Your chair? I don't see your name on it." He drew out his wand and I instinctively went for mine, pulling it out from underneath me and pointing it at him. Instead of pointing it at me, as I would have expected him to, he lowered it so it was in the direction of the foot of the chair, where in neat cursive writing 'Malfoy' was now spelled out.

"Now, if you don't mind," he flicked his wand once more and I was flipped off the chair unceremoniously by some unseen force. "I believe that this belongs to me," he said with a smirk plastered on his face.

I could have hexed him, it would have been all too easy for me, but instead I chose to conjure another chair for myself when I was sure no muggles were watching. Under my breath, I grumbled, "all you had to do was say 'please'," while he just stood there with that infuriating smirk on his face. I took my newly conjured chair and moved it a good fifty feet away from him. I wasn't about to let him ruin a perfectly good day.

I laid down across the chair and reopened my book, fuming. Leave it to Malfoy to show up during my first vacation away from the wizarding world. What was he even doing here, did he not torture me enough during school? But I was not going to let him get to me. No, I was going to ignore him, and maybe just one small hex wouldn't hurt if he tried anything.

I looked over at him. He had taken out an emerald green towel and spread it over his chair, as he pulled his tee-shirt over his head and threw it on the sand behind him. I couldn't help but stare at him and his body. For the love of Merlin, he was gorgeous. His platinum blond hair shone brilliantly under the blazing sunlight, messily hanging in his face that only accentuated the sharp point of his chin. In this light, his eyes were a shockingly bright blue, instead of the harsh gray I had remembered them to be. All his years of playing quidditch seemed to have paid off, for his muscles look hard, white and sculptured to the perfection as the marble of Michelangelo's David. He was one good looking hunk of make flesh, pureblood wizard or not.

Oh dear God, why was I thinking about him like that? No, it was Malfoy. I should not be thinking about him like that. He was the bloody son of a Death Eater, for God's sake. No, absolutely not.

But I just couldn't seem to tear my face away from him, and he noticed my blatant staring as his lips slowly curved upward into a sly smile. He looked like the freaking Cheshire Cat, grinning like that, if I was lucky, maybe he'd just disappear. "Like what you see, Granger," He called out to me. I narrowed my eyes at him before turning my head the other way. "You don't look so bad yourself, if I must say so. A right lot better than those Hogwarts robes, they didn't nearly show enough skin. You should really think about wearing that thing every day."

His taunting was getting on my last nerves, and I drew my wand, pointing it in the direction of his face. "Shut it Malfoy or I'll turn you into a tea cozy."

"My my, no need to be violent. I guess mudbloods really don't have any manners after all. You never did tell me what you were doing here, and without Scarehead and Weasel attached to your hip." I was growing increasingly more frustrated, and if he didn't shut his trap soon, I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to control myself. "How are they even faring without you, the two of them together barley make up one functioning brain."

Finally, I snapped at him, I had had enough of his crap. "I said shut it! Silencio!" My spell hit him dead on, and his face flushed a dangerous red, he looked as if he was ready to explode. No doubt he would have if he could talk.

I smiled triumphantly, basking in the glow of my victory.

Unfortunately, in my moment of personal glory, I had forsaken my schooling and completely forgotten about casting non-verbal charms.

Bullocks.

Once more he waved his wand quicker than I could. "You'll pay for that, you filthy little mudblood." My fingers started shaking involuntarily, stupid goddamn jelly-fingers curse. I couldn't keep hold on my wand, and Malfoy's smug smile spread across his face as he went to cast another spell.

I concentrated, with all the will I could muster, until I could feel the wandless magic flowing freely through my body. The energy it possessed made my skin tingle, until I felt everything settle in my shaking fingertips. With this magic, I was able to reverse his magic, and my fingers stopped shaking. "Accio wand," I said, and my wand flew right into my hands.

"Furnuncu-" he started, but I was quicker.

"Expelliarmus!" I shouted, and with a bright jet of yellow light, Malfoy's wand flew out of his hand, and I summoned it to myself. "Petrificus totalus."

His body immediately froze and he was knocked over onto the soft sand from the force of my spell and his lack of being able to move. I knew that I had won this time.

Oh, the sweet smell of victory.

Slowly, I stalked over to him, closing the distance between us. I reached his bound body and couldn't help but smile at my win. I crouched down next to him, so that my body was just about an inch away.

I leaned in closer to his face, "Now, I give you two choices. You can stop speaking to me and leave me alone for the remainder of my stay on this God forsaken beach like I told you to do before and we will have no more problems. Or, you can continue to act like a little shit mouth, and I'll leave you here frozen until I decide to return home. Tonight. Do I make myself clear?" My voice left no indication that I should be messed with, and I gave him his own arrogant smile right back to him as I got up and walked away, leaving his wand on the ground next to him.

Once I got back to my own side and laid back down onto my chair, I flicked my wand and he unfroze, jumping up looking frazzled, but he hid it quickly. He shook the sand out of his hair, messing up his already perfectly tasseled locks.

No, wait, I was not going to think about him like that again. So what if he had nice hair, he was still an arrogant prick. It's probably just my hormones anyway.

"Bitch," I heard him mumble as he continued to shake the sand out of his hair.

The mature thing to do would be to just ignore that, turn my head and go on with my reading like I didn't even hear it. So that's why I did, I cast a shield around myself so Malfoy couldn't bother me and pulled my sunglasses back down onto my nose.

But I couldn't stop myself from stealing small glances back over to him, every now and then. Even when I knew that I shouldn't be looking at him, it was almost as if that part of my body had become suddenly independent of my brain as was acting on its own accord.

And the even more disturbing part, I wanted to keep looking.

Though he was still an arrogant, self-righteous, muggle-loathing, son-of-a-death-eater-git, he was a damn good looking arrogant, self-righteous, muggle-loathing, son-of-a-death-eater-git. Bloody ironic, if you ask me.

For someone who had taken time to make sure I was constantly degraded and put down during my years at school (I touched my two front teeth and shuddered at the memory), sitting there, right now, he just looked so… peaceful.

In all the time I had taken just staring at him, I hadn't even thought about what he was doing here, at the same exact time as me, in the house directly next door. It's no secret he hates muggles, yet this is a completely muggle town, I doubt there'd be any wizards here. Was this some kind of sick joke, a cruel coincidence, or were there actually some kind of greater forces out there that made this happen? Clearly, if there were some kind of greater powers, they were out to get me. Why else would they send me out here, for kicks?

From what I had heard, between Harry and the Order, the Malfoys had supposedly been in hiding for the past two years, but I was never told where. Logically, I could only assume that this was where. It was completely remote, there was no chance that Voldemort would have found them here, or even thought to have looked in a muggle town. But if their names had been cleared for months, what were they still doing here? Somehow, they didn't quite strike me as the type of people who were into simplicity, having seen the size of their manor, or at least the size of the sitting room that Bellatrix had chosen to torture me in.

I shook my head, like that simple action could clear my head and stop my thoughts and shake them out, but it was no such luck, his face seemed to be etched into my brain like it didn't plan on going anywhere anytime soon.

Why was he doing this to me! I hated that bloody prat, and I was pretty damn sure he hated me too.

Not only did I hate him, but I hated what he was doing to me without even realizing it. My god, I must be losing it, it's the only explanation.

And no matter how many times I told myself not to think about him, not to look over in his direction, the less I seemed to be able to stop myself. Luckily he wasn't looking or paying any attention to me; I don't think I would have been able to restrain myself from doing anything drastic if he had kept on trying anything.

Why did I have to overanalyze every little thing, twist everything to make it so much more complicated then it could have been? Why couldn't I just accept that he was here, without trying to guess why, and acknowledge that he was somewhat attractive, okay maybe more than somewhat attractive, but I'm a teenager, I'm supposed to be attracted to the opposite sex, there was nothing wrong there.

"Dammit, get a hold of yourself Hermione," I growled to myself before shaking my head one last time and laying my head back against my chair.

The sun was making my eyes grow heavy, until I couldn't hold them open much longer and I drifted off to sleep.

Draco Malfoy

I need to get off of this damn beach already.

It's not like its bad enough being surrounded by filthy muggles constantly, but now know-it-all mudblood Granger has decided to grace me with her presence.

Bloody fantastic.

Her face, though, when I forced her off that chair was priceless. She was so livid, she looked like she was ready to skin me, alive. Truth is, it wasn't even my chair, but it's always been fun to push her buttons, as long as she didn't push back. Probably not the best idea to get on the wrong end of her wand, or fist. I knew if we were in a public place, goody-two-shoes-Granger wouldn't want to cause a scene, for risk of exposure. These muggles were too damn dense anyway to even notice little displays of magic, completely oblivious of my kind. But there were always memory charms for the smarter ones, just as a precaution.

I claimed my chair by laying a towel across it and pulling my shirt over my head to get some sun, which wouldn't be any different from what I had done yesterday, or the day before that, or for the past effing year or so.

Though I couldn't stand being around the muggles in the beginning, which hasn't changed that drastically, the only other thing to do around here was to explore. But there was only so much I could explore around here before I ran out of beach, and our concealment charms only spread so far, for my mother's sake I couldn't risk stepping outside of them.

My mother adapted much quicker then I had expected her to. Within the first few days, she had relaxed much more than I had ever seen her, and she no longer had to hide who she was. She was free to be my mother, the mother I had loved when I was a little boy, not the cold one who had to stand obediently behind my father like a trained dog. She was no longer frail looking, and she appeared healthier, fuller of life then I had ever seen, with the knowledge that I was safe and more importantly, alive. There were moments, however small and fleeting, when she would look at a picture of my father, or tell a story about their younger days, when she would get a distant look in her eye filled with misery and longing and I knew at the moment she was never fully okay because she was missing a part of who she was. Quicker then it appeared it was always gone once she looked over at me, and she was back to her strong and loving self.

I looked over into the direction of the sun. One of the better things about this place was the sun, and I had always loved the effect it had on me, its heat seeping down through my skin and into my cold bones, filling me with heat from the inside out. Nothing could compare to that heat. It wasn't like a blanket with a heating charm cast around it, or the hand of another's wrapped in yours, it was pure, unadulterated heat in its most natural form and it was something I craved, I needed to feel. It's almost as if my body was trying to make up for what it had missed all those years. Everything up until now had been cold; nothing at the manor could come close to it, hidden in a dark forest surrounded by trees, the Slytherin common rooms under the lake, the daunting face of the Dark Lord that still lingered in a distant part of my mind.

My gaze caught something else, as I looked down the beach. Granger was staring open mouthed at me as I laid myself down. Would it kill her to shut her trap? Though I was used to the staring from other girls, especially the muggle girls who would wander down the beach, it was surprising to have Granger look at me like this. But, her newfound appreciation for my looks could work to my advantage, maybe if she was too stunned by me she wouldn't react to my teasing. It was worth a try.

I must really have no life.

"Like what you see, Granger? You don't look so bad yourself, if I must say so. A right lot better than those Hogwarts robes, they didn't nearly show enough skin. You should really think about wearing that thing every day." She actually didn't look too terrible. I had never really gotten the chance to get a good look at her, and now that I could she looked different from what I remember. To me she had always been little mudblood Granger with teeth too big and hair that looked more like a giant fur ball. After the, uh, incident in fourth year her teeth were down to a normal size, no longer buck-toothed, and her hair was no longer a bush mess, instead it feel in soft waves down her back and shined a golden brown in the sun.

Hold up, it was just Granger, and while she may have some redeeming qualities, she was still an infuriating pain in my ass, she was an intolerable, know-it-all bint and I had hated her since the minute I stepped into Hogwarts a little more than seven years ago. Snap out of it, Draco.

"Shut it Malfoy or I'll turn you into a tea cozy." She drew her wand on me, but I knew it was an empty threat. With a beach full of muggles, she wouldn't likely try anything.

I almost laughed at her, but I knew that might not be a good idea, but I still smirked at her frustration, "My my, no need to be violent. I guess mudbloods really don't have any manners after all. You never did tell me what you were doing here, and without Scarehead and Weasel attached to your hip. How are they even faring without you, the two of them together barley make up one functioning brain." Granger I could deal with, but if her two body guards dumb and dumber decided to suddenly pop out, I don't think I would be able to handle that.

I didn't think she was going try anything, so her spell took me by surprise and before I knew my mouth was sealed shut and I couldn't utter a syllable. That filthy mudblood bitch! Oh, she was going to pay for this. She was sitting triumphantly, her lips spread into a large grin with a smug look on her face. She obviously thought she had won this, but oh how wrong she was. With a simple non-verbal spell I reversed her silencing charm and cast my own jelly-fingers hex at her so she couldn't hold her wand.

Now I had her where I wanted her.

I raised my wand and started to cast another spell when she was weak and unarmed. During my years at Hogwarts, everyone knew that she had been the 'brightest witch of her age', but what they hadn't known was that I was right behind her in my marks.

I went to cast my spell, the words already forming on my lips, but with some form of wandless magic that I had never been able to work, she had managed to summon her wand back to herself and disarm me before I could finish.

"Petrificus totalus," I heard her yell. My entire body became ridged, and I fell to the ground with a dull 'thud'. I could still see, but I couldn't move my eyes, and I could still hear. And then I saw and heard her, and I had never wished more in my life that I could cures her right there. "Now, I give you two choices," she started, "You can stop speaking to me and leave me alone for the remainder of my stay on this God forsaken beach like I told you to do before and we will have no more problems. Or, you can continue to act like a little shit mouth, and I'll leave you here frozen until I decide to return home. Tonight. Do I make myself clear?"

She sounded so serious, I had never seen this side of her before, and I didn't think I wanted to test her to see what she would do. Something told me that she would cast much stronger spells next time I tried.

When she unfroze me, my hair was covered in sand and I was still just getting the feeling back in all of me as I shook it out. "Bitch" I said under my breath and hoped to Merlin she didn't hear me. I saw her cast a shield around herself, unnoticeable to the muggles but I could see the slight disruption in the air, as there was a very small hazy bubble surrounding her.

I tried not to look at her, instead opting to stare out at the ocean, but I could feel her looking at me. It was like a prickling sensation on the back of my neck that wouldn't go away. I knew that I shouldn't look back at her, but her gaze was almost calling for me, and I wanted to look back at her.

From the corner of my eyes and I could see her shaking her head, brows furrowed deep in thought. She was biting her bottom lip in her concentration, her two front teeth peeking over the tops of her full lips. At some point her eyes started to droop shut, and her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, and I could tell she was asleep. All the worry and thought that had occupied her face before had disappeared, and she looked so at ease and peaceful.

I turned my face back out toward the water, I had to keep my mind off of her before the weight of my thoughts caused my brain to implode. I hated Granger, with every fiber of my being, but something about her was still calling to me.

I had to stop this.

…………………………………….

I couldn't stop.

For the love of Merlin, I knew I shouldn't be looking, I kept telling myself that I needed to stop, but not five minutes later I just found myself looking at her again.

All effing day long.

At some point in the day, the sky started to darken, and threatening black clouds started to roll across the clear blue sky, and it casted an ominous feeling over the beach as the high tide started to creep in as well, rising so it was about level with her chair.

Yet she made no move to wake.

As the sky darkened, the water started to mirror it, and grow increasingly choppy. The waves crashed down with a much greater force onto the sand, and if she didn't wake up soon, it would surely pull her out into the water.

All I could do was watch her, though I felt as if I should be doing something. I tried to call out to her, wave my arms to get her attention, but her shield protected her, and she stayed deep in slumber.

Ever so slowly, the water rose, and in one big wave she was swept up into the current and pulled under the harsh waves. A crack of lightening flashed across the sky as a bang of thunder followed as it sounded off in the distance and resonated across the beach.

She woke up them, sputtering out water as she tried to stay above the water level. Every time she managed to get above the water another wave would just pull her back under and she would drift further from the shore.

I stood frozen at the shore line, and I couldn't do anything with her shield still up. But I could tell that if I didn't do anything soon, she wouldn't last much longer.

Her head snapped toward me and my eyes locked with hers, flooded with fear, begging me to come save her.

Something, I don't know what, happened when I looked into her eyes, it was like I could see right into her core, the deepest most region of her being. This intense need to save her, protect her, came over me, so unexpected, from some deep hidden place that I didn't know existed that it pained me each time a wave pulled her under. From somewhere deep down in my chest I felt this strong pull, and its foreignness was frightening, yet at the same time oddly exhilarating that I felt as if I could do anything.

And at that moment, I needed to save her.

AN: Okay, please don't hate me, but I had to end it there. The next update should be within the next week. So far, that was my longest chapter. Remember anyone who leaves a signed review will get an answer and a sneak peak at the next chapter. Also, if you have any questions, you can always ask and I'll make sure to answer you, but only if it doesn't give too much away.

Next Chapter: Six Years Ago