It All Started At a Lake

Chapter 12

Saturday, September 21st, 1998

Hermione agreed to meet Draco at the lake the night after their tea party with his mother. She wasn't sure why she had agreed to go, but at the same time she likes spending time by the lake at night and Draco was actually decent company. 

She had risen out of bed at the same time that she had the last few times she had seen Draco at the lake. Seeing him was becoming more often in her routine. 

She quietly got out of bed, made sure her roommates were asleep, made her way through the corridors, and met Draco by the Lake.

He was usually there before her and he was always in the lake. He was there before she was this time too. 

"How are you always here before me?" she asked while walking into the water. 

He turned and shook some water out of his hair. "I don't sleep well."

"I don't sleep well either, but you're still her before me every time." she said

"I just really like the lake I guess. It's a safe place for me to be." he said while glancing around the river.

He had a point. The lake was lovely at night and she felt comfortable talking about a lot with him. There were no other students or any noises that disturbed them. It was just the two of them. They could be left in the comfort of each other's presence without getting glares or people whispering about them.

She threw off her shirt and shorts and jumped into the cold water. She landed with a splash.

"It's colder than usual in here." she said

"Well, it is autumn. It will be colder as the days go by." he replied

His voice sounded so far off in the distance even though he wasn't far away from where she was. 

"I enjoyed yesterday." Hermione said

"Yeah, I enjoyed it too." that was a partial lie, "I was surprised that you didn't want to bring back my entire library."

"I would have, but I wasn't able to go through every aisle. I only went down a few." she replied

Hermione wasn't going to admit that she wanted to move into Malfoy Manor just so she could visit the library every day. Draco would probably call her crazy if she were to admit that to him. Besides, she had only been there once.

"What did you really talk about when I was exploring?" she asked

"What do you mean?" 

"I saw your mother wink at you after she said you were talking about your friends." she replied

"Oh. Well, our mother keeps telling me that she thinks we would make an excellent couple." he replied shyly

Her cheeks turned pink and she shifted in the water. "And what did you say to her?"

"I told her that we're not together and they you're one of the only people who can tolerate me." he replied coolly

Draco was not going to say that he might have feelings for Hermione. It could ruin his friendship with her if she didn't have the same feelings. 

Hermione nodded and looked down at the water. Anything to distract her thoughts would be great. She swam over to him and splashed him with some water. He gasped and splashed her back.

That's how they started their first water fight. Draco chased Hermione around in the water while they continued to splash water in each other's faces until their limbs were tired from all the swimming.