Chapter 32

It wasn't long before a truce had to be called. Hermione was soaked through and Draco was suffering from "ice-down-the-back" related trauma.

"Ok, this is very much NOT what I had in mind for this evening…"

Hermione threw a towel Draco's way as she buried her face in a pink fluffy one. She laughed. "Are you saying I'm not getting any now?" She froze and blushed. "Ah! You're rubbing off on me!"

He grinned.

"Don't say it. I meant I'm starting to sound as dirty-minded as you." She walked over from the linen closet to the tiny bathroom. She sighed. It was so small, especially in comparison with Draco's… "Look, feel free to take a shower…it's nothing great, but it's better than sitting here covered in cold wet clothes."

"Are you offering to take one together?" He asked mischievously.

"I most certainly am not. I'll go after you."

He frowned. "You only have one bath?"

The look on her face shut him up. He walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Hermione sighed and dried her hair the best she could. Great. Now it was a frazzled mess.

She walked back to the kitchen and threw some poptarts into the toaster. It was now pretty late…tomorrow was going to be hard. How could she convince Harry that Draco was good without going to the extremes of Veratiserum? It was such an invasion of privacy, to use something like that!

But afterwards, Harry would help with the trial…Draco would be free to stay with her, if he chose to. He wouldn't have to run…

The idea of running away together might sound so romantic, but in reality Hermione knew a thing or two about hiding out…camping in the woods, trying not to be seen, never having enough to eat…everyone at each other's throats…

No, it wasn't a pleasant thought. And could she really have broken the law like that? She just wasn't that kind of girl, to break all the rules…

But in the end, if Harry wouldn't help Draco, then it still would have been better than him being all by himself hiding away where she could never see him again. She probably would have done it, whatever the logical side of her brain was saying.

For gods sake, she had just had a water fight in her kitchen with him! Yeah, there's a real villain for you, right?

Why did he have to put up such a front when interacting with other people? If he could just play nice then they wouldn't even have had any problem…sigh.

She heard the door to the bathroom open and headed down the hall. Draco stood there wearing one of her green towels around his waist. Figures.

"Where are my robes?" He asked. "I've worn those damn muggle clothes too long."

"Oh! Sorry, I threw them in the wash earlier. Let me go see if they're dry." She turned to walk away when she felt his grip on her wrist.

"Hey, if they're drying then there's no rush." He said with a deep edge to his voice.

Hermione turned around to look at him, a blush on her face.

He was still slightly wet and warm from the shower. Water dripped from his out-of-place hair and down his chest. Hermione had an overpowering urge to lick it off him.

She shook her head. Bad!

"Well…I, er, better take a shower then, too…my hair is a mess…" She moved to walk around him and tried to loosen his grip on her. It was useless. As she walked by he pushed her against the wall, his other arm moving to trap her. His towel was dangerously loose around his waist, and Hermione felt slightly dizzy.

"I don't mind your hair messy." Draco said, and cut off her reply with a kiss. His moved his tongue gently over her bottom lip. She felt her breath catch in her throat.

He moved to kiss her neck. He smelled so clean and his body was so warm…ugh, she felt so gross! She was cold-wet, messy, and was actually overdue for a nice warm shower.

She brought up a hand to his shoulder and gently moved him back.

"Actually, I kinda mean it…I need to shower. I feel gross."

He laughed. "Fine. But I'm cold out here and I don't have anything to wear." He said in a fake "poor me" tone. "I'm coming in too."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you now?"

He pushed her back into the wall. With a growl he said, "Yep."

She felt things below tighten and couldn't bring herself to argue anymore. "Oh. Ok."

***

Hermione walked into the bathroom and turned on the water. When she had it at an acceptable temperature she pulled the tab for the shower to come on. That was as far as she could go before she felt stuck.

Now what?

Draco had walked in behind her and shut the door. He had a wicked look on his face. Hermione just had a dark red look on hers.

"Well, are you just going to shower in your clothes or what?" He asked, grinning and leaning against the sink.

Gah! She couldn't just take off her clothes with him watching her! Ok, so maybe it was totally hypocritical. Afterall, they had been naked around each other twice now. But he was just watching with those sexy searching gray eyes…sigh…

Oh, come on! Wasn't she supposed to be brave? Why was she the only one who always seemed so uncomfortable? That's it! Hermione decided she was going to be the one to make him blush, for once.

Staring right back at his eyes, she quickly pulled off her top. His eyes grew wide. She stripped off the trousers, too. She usually was more comfortable in her muggle clothing, and she was glad for that now. It was so much quicker to get out of!

She grinned as she reached around behind her and unclasped her bra. Draco was leaning forward, the smirk wiped off his face. His towel could not hide how exciting he found her stripping.

But she didn't let the bra drop. She held it up and stepped behind the shower curtain. Draco started to move forward and Hermione called, "Not so fast! I'm taking a shower; like I said." 'You can just sweat it out a bit.' She added silently, trying not to laugh at Draco's groan.

From behind the curtain she threw her bra and panties.

"Oh, come on!" Draco said, a twinge of frustration to his voice.

She giggled. "Hey, you're the one who had to be in here." She peeked around the curtain.

The water had flattened her hair. "You can wait a few minutes, can'tcha?"

He groaned again. He leaned forward and kissed her.

She pulled back and pushed the curtain back in place. Draco moved around the room, trying not to think about the naked woman behind the very thin curtain a foot away from him. He turned to the sink and splashed some cold water on his face and hair. He tried to push his hair back into place with limited success as he waited.