So Long Sweet Summer

Chapter Three

Sweat, Dirt, and Curses

It was early morning when Draco rose. He never had been able to acquire the knack of sleeping in like most of the youth his age. He slipped out from between the deep, forest green satin sheets of his four poster bed. Tearing the black hangings apart roughly, he blinked and squinted his eyes as the bright morning sun hit him. The dark black window hangings had already been opened by a House-Elf and across the room on his large, mahogany table they had set a tray of steaming hot porridge.

Draco couldn't help but look about his room with disdain. It was spacious, but there was hardly anything in there to take up all the room. It was cold with its stone walls and black tiled floor. The luscious, black shag throw rugs that were scattered about did nothing to help this. Besides the large bed against the left hand wall and the table against the opposite side, there were bookshelves lining the space beside the window. Other than the door into the room and the closet door, there was one more leading off into an equally spacious and empty bathroom.

The whole place screamed Slytherin at him. The blacks, greens, and greys, were depressing. Although he wouldn't admit it, Draco hated all these colours. The truth was, was that he actually preferred the colour red above all else. Of course no one knew this and it would take a strong dose of Vertiserum to get that out of him.

Walking over to the food that had been placed for his meal, Draco picked up a spoon and poked at it. Scrunching up his nose in disgust he picked up his wand from beside the bowl. "Evanesco," he muttered, and the muck disappeared promptly.

Feeling slightly better, he went over to the floor-length windows and threw them open. Draco stepped out onto the balcony that overlooked the grounds. The fresh air hit him and he inhaled deeply taking in the crisp scent of the mountains surrounding the land.

Looking down below him he saw the empty patio where his parents always had their early breakfast. A soft shade was cast on the area by the patchy roof of lattice work. Rose snaked their way up the white marble columns that were scattered about the garden. A small area in the centre was set up for meals, in the exact middle of the spiralling stone tiles that made up the circular patio. Dirty dishes still sat on the table, yet to be cleaned up by a House-Elf. 'Lazy little buggers,' Draco though with distaste.

Movement down by the lake caught his attention. Down the hillside, following the path that wound all the way around the perimeter of the water, was a lone figure jogging. 'Who dares to run across the Manor's grounds?' he wondered. Most of the villagers knew not to venture across the stretch of land that fronted the Manor's property. Apparently this Muggle hadn't been informed. A sneer of contempt formed on his lips. 'Let's go teach this half-brained waste of air a lesson,' he thought.

Whoever they were, they had just begun their journey across the grounds, so Draco had enough time to throw on a black tee-shirt and pants. Striding confidently across the grounds, he made his way towards the figure. As he near them, he could see by the long hair that swayed back and forth that it was a female. There was something familiar about the frizzy mass that was there. He moaned inwardly, 'leave it to Granger to disregard the rules of the land and ruin a perfectly nice morning.'

"Oi, Granger!" he called out to her. "What do you think you're doing? You're trespassing!"

He saw her start as his voice boomed out against the silence. Then her gaze dropped to the wristwatch that she had attached to a belt loop of her running shorts. Not moving her gaze from the watch, she held up one finger at Draco telling him to hold on. She continued to run on and he found himself having to walk quickly so that she didn't pass him. Finally he heard a soft beep from the watch and her pace dropped down to a walk.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she breathed, sounding better than he had expected for her pace.

"You're on my property, Mudblood," he said crossing his arms and glaring at the girl. "Can't you at least stop?" he asked her, trying not to show how out of breath he was beginning to get from her fast paced walk.

She shook her head violently, her hair going everywhere. "Can't," she gasped out. "I'm being timed." She gestured down at her watch. It beeped again and she began to run.

"Granger," he panted, picking up his pace to keep up with her. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

"Running, you dolt," she said grinning at him, visibly sweating from the heat and exertion.

"But.. why.." he gasped.

"I'm in training, Malfoy, I'm here to run the triathlon you're town is holding next week," she replied simply.

"Tri- what?" he said baffled.

She sighed at his obvious ignorance. "It's a three part race, Malfoy. This is a sprint triathlon - you swim two hundred meters, bike twenty kilometres, then run two kilometres. I run around the lake everyday to stay in shape."

"What?!" he exclaimed and actually stopped running alongside her. He watched her in amazement as she continued jogging. "But it's ten kilometres around this lake!"

She turned around but continued to run backwards. "I know," she called back grinning at him. "I'll be more then prepared won't I?" she remarked and winked at him. Hermione then turned back around and proceed to pick up her pace, swiftly moving further away from him, until she was barely a speck along the shoreline.

Draco looked about cautiously to see if anyone could see him. Satisfied, he proceed to collapse onto the ground, kneeling in the grass. Bent over double, he gasped for the breath he had lost running alongside her. Slowly he was able to stand up again, but was still leaning over, hands placed on his now grass-stained knees. Sweat was dripping from his brow line and he could just tell how flushed his face was. 'That little bint is insane,' he thought, panting and shaking his head in amazement.

He walked slowly back up the trail towards the Manor. On his right side Draco passed the small beach that he use to come swimming at when he was younger. His shirt was still sticking uncomfortably to his back and so without further ado he peeled it off. Kicking his shoes off into the sand, he slipped out of his heavy jeans. Just clad in his inky black boxers, Draco waded out into the refreshing waters of the lake.

Just up to his waist, he decided to dive right in. The water felt so cool and pleasant against his overheated body. Lazily he began to do the backstroke across the lake, easily covering the one hundred meters to the opposite side. With a groan, he began to just float aimlessly in the water, allowing his muscles to relax. 'When did I get so out of shape?' Draco pondered. 'Isn't Quidditch enough exercise?' He didn't want to answer his own question. He knew that there was little strength needed in being a Seeker. He just had to fly fast and have good eyes. Draco had never bothered to attend the team workout sessions, not seeing why they would be needed for him. Now he was here wishing he hadn't been so lazy back at school. He closed his eyes with a sigh and continued to relax.

Draco didn't know how long he had been floating there in the water, but suddenly a shadow loomed over top of him. He flinched a little, but didn't bother to open his eyes. Then Draco could feel hands on his bare chest and before he knew what was happening he was pushed under the water. His arms and legs flailed about uselessly trying desperately to get him back up to the surface. When he finally felt the hands release him, Draco resurfaced quickly. He stood in the shallow water, dripping like mad and glowering at the figure that stood in front of him.

Hermione had her hands up against her mouth trying to stifle the giggles that were erupting. He saw her shoes and watch deserted on the beach and noticed her cottage was right by where he had previously been floating.

"Think you're so funny do you, you filthy Mudblood?" he spat in rage. Draco shook his head quickly side to side, shaking the beads of water from his hair. He watched her flinch as the droplets rained down on her. Combing his fingers through his locks to make them lay flat, he looked over at her.

She had stopped laughing and was gaping openly at his barely covered body; not unlike the way he had looked at her the day before.

"Like what you see, Granger?" he said smugly.

"I haven't seen anything special - yet," she replied biting her bottom lip and raking her eyes up and down his figure suggestively.

Draco raised his eyebrows in shock. Was Hermione Granger coming on to him? "As if I'd give a Mudblood like you the privilege of that," he sneered at her.

"Whatever you say, Malfoy," she said with a roll of her eyes. Hermione turned away from him and began to walk back up to the beach.

'Oh no you don't,' Draco thought. He dived at Hermione and pulled her legs out from under her. She fell with a splash into the water next to him.

She sat in the shallow water propped up on her elbows. Her hair was plastered to her scalp and water was trickling in rivers down her face. Hermione shook her hair out before hitting him with a piercing glare. "What are you playing at, you creep!" she growled at him.

Draco stood up to tower overtop of her menacingly. But then he merely turned his gaze down to examine his fingernails. "I don't know what you are talking about, Granger."

Suddenly he felt something wet hit his left cheek. Reaching up he wiped his face clean, coming away with mud clinging to his hands. He glared down at Hermione just to see her looking away across the lake trying to contain the amused smile on her face.

"Who's the filthy one now, Malfoy," she said smugly.

"At least I can wash away my dirt," he hissed at her in rage.

Hermione hauled herself out of the water and stood only a few inches from his face. "Did it ever occur to you," she said through gritted teeth, "that I may be proud of my Muggle blood?"

"That's a good one, Granger," Draco said laughing at her. He turned around and began to make his way across the lake back to where his clothing had been abandoned.

"I'm not joking, Malfoy," she called after him. "I'm proud of not being so ignorant to the world that is beyond ours."

Draco just continued swimming away, ignoring her shouts across the water. When he finally made it across to his beach he looked back - but she was already gone, disappearing back up to her minuscule cottage.

As he pulled his clothing back on he couldn't help but think about what she had said. I'm proud of not being so ignorant to the world that is beyond ours. He wasn't ignorant - was he? 'Besides,' he rationalised to himself, 'who needs to understand those dirty Muggles anyway?' But he couldn't help but have the feeling in his gut that what he was telling himself wasn't the truth. He had been intrigued at the Muggle contraptions that were in the Granger's home. Like that box that played music, or the thing she was talking into - telephone was it? 'Alright, so maybe the way they get along without magic is interesting, but that is it,' he thought, 'they are still disgusting creatures - especially Granger.'

Which brought him back to the female witch. What exactly had got into her? It was almost as if she was flirting with him, possibly seducing him. It unnerved him to have Hermione Granger doing such a thing. It wasn't something he expected from the straight-laced girl. Something fishy was going on and Draco wanted to get to the bottom of it.