So Long Sweet Summer

Chapter Ten

Under the Stars

Even though the sun had long since disappeared below the horizon, the sandy beach still radiated the warmth of the day. Draco savoured the heat as he sat alone on the small beach near the Manor. He could hear bit and pieces of conversations filtering out towards him from across the lake. Most of the cottages were dark now, but the lights still flickered in the windows of Hermione's.

Voices became slightly louder as light spilled out on the back garden of her cottage. He saw a solitary figure exit and make their way down towards the water's edge.

As they neared the edge, Draco was able to identify the person as Hermione. She stood silently with the water lapping at her toes for awhile, gazing at the stars, unaware that Draco's eyes were on her. Slowly she wadded out into the lake and began to swim across the lake in an unhurried fashion.

Draco couldn't tell if she had noticed his presence on the beach yet. She was headed right his way, but she seemed more concentrated on her strokes than on the environment around her. He watched as she went to flip over, and begin swimming back towards the shore. As she turned onto her back, Hermione raised her head slightly and caught Draco's eye.

Apparently she hadn't spotted him sitting there until now. Hermione was caught completely off guard, and gasped - taking in a mouthful of water. He watched her flail about in the lake, coughing and spluttering up water. Then suddenly, her head disappeared beneath the surface.

Draco jumped to his feet and stared horrified at the spot where her head had just been. Without thinking, he rushed into the water and began floundering about, hoping to feel some part of her body underwater. Finally, when he was starting to feel incredibly desperate, he felt a small hand grasp onto his ankle. Reaching into the water he grasped onto her wrist and wrenched Hermione out of the water. He heard her gasping for air as soon as her head broke the surface. Throwing her limp body over his shoulder, he hauled her to the beach.

She lay there with the sand sticking to her body, looking like hell. Draco sat quietly beside her as she caught her breath, every once and awhile breaking into coughing fits. Eventually the coughing stopped and Hermione's breathing returned to normal.

"Why did you save me?" she asked quietly.

Draco didn't look at her. "I didn't want your death on my hands," he replied with a shrug.

Hermione gave a slight laugh at that, her voice wheezy and horse.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy," she said.

This caught his attention, and Draco looked over at her pitiful form. "Whatever for?"

Hermione sighed. "For the whole debacle this summer; it wasn't suppose to end up like this."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, getting a bit miffed at her apology. "You weren't supposed to botch seducing secrets out of me, or you weren't supposed to stop hating me along the way?"

He heard her breath hitch at the last statement. "Both?" she said uncertainly. "Maybe neither?" Hermione sighed. "I wasn't even planning on going through with the scheme. I was going to just tell them I wasn't able to have contact with you at all. But when we kept meeting up, I thought maybe I could do it."

"How much of it was a lie?" Draco asked coldly.

"None of it," Hermione admitted. "They say the easiest way to deceive is to keep as much of the truth in the lies as possible."

"So at what point did you stop hating me?" Draco asked bluntly. He noticed that she stiffened next to him.

"Whoever said I don't still hate you?" Hermione questioned in a meek voice.

"You did," Draco replied, shooting a glance in her direction.

"I - I did?" she stuttered.

"Yes, you did," Draco said again, getting exasperated at her. "Early today during you're confession," he said with vehemence. "You said you couldn't betray someone like that, even someone you used to hate."

"Oh," Hermione commented lamely.

Draco looked over at her and saw that her face was bright red with embarrassment, despite the fact that she was shivering. He took pity on her, casting a Drying Charm and conjuring up a blanket for her. She wrapped the blanket snugly around her as if trying to absorb as much heat as possible from the inanimate object. Hermione looked so small lying there.

He didn't know what had come over to him, but Draco found himself leaning over her, bringing his face closer towards hers. His lips barely brushed across Hermione's when she turned her head. He found himself staring at her pale cheek instead.

"I'm going home tomorrow," Hermione stated.

"Are you?" Draco asked, not entirely sure what her comment had to do with anything.

"Yes," she said firmly. "I probably won't see you again until we go back to Hogwarts."

"Ah," Draco murmured, understanding. Everything would undoubtedly be different once they returned to school. It didn't matter what happened during the summer. At Hogwarts they were Slytherin and Gryffindor, plain and simple.

Draco lay back on the sand beside Hermione and looked up at the stars. They lay quietly together for sometime. After awhile Draco heard some soft noises coming from Hermione. He sat up and looked over at her, to see that she had fallen asleep and was snoring slightly. Conjuring up more blankets, he wrapped another around her body, before lying back down and falling asleep himself.

***

Draco's eyelids fluttered as sunlight poured down on him. It was a strange feeling; normally he slept with his bed curtains pulled tight, so that no light could come in. When he opened his eyes, he was assaulted by the bright light. Groaning, Draco sat up and saw the lake stretched out before him. Finally, he remembered how he had fallen asleep the night before on the beach in front of the manor.

He looked around for Hermione, but she was no where to be seen. All that was on the beach with him was a pile of neatly folded blankets - the ones he had conjured up for her the night before.

From across the lake came a whooshing sound, audible in the still, morning air. Through the windows of Hermione's cottage he could see briefly bright, green flames.

She was gone, he realised, looking at the now silent cottage. He felt empty inside.

Draco stood, gathered up his things, and prepared to walk back up to the manor. Suddenly, a bird appeared on the horizon. As it flew closer, Draco could see that it was an owl with a letter clutched in one claw. It landed on a tree branch a few feet away from him. Dropping the blankets that he held back on the ground, Draco went to the bird and untied the letter from its foot. As soon as its burden was gone, the owl took off.

Slowly, Draco unrolled the parchment to reveal the letter. He didn't know what to expect. Upon reading it, he began to feel slightly more cheerful. Perhaps things wouldn't end up as horrible as he had though they would. Gathering back up the abandoned blankets, Draco began to hike towards the manor. He was now actually looking forward to his return to Hogwarts. Behind him, there was a flash of green light from the other side of the lake, and an owl disappeared into the horizon.

***

Winter in the dungeons was always a cold season. Draco dug in his trunk for the extra blankets he had packed for this occasion. He always preferred the ones that reminded him a little bit of home. From between the folds, a crinkled piece of parchment fell to the floor along with a few grains of sand.

So long sweet summer, I stumbled upon you and gratefully basked in your rays. Thanks for that summer. It's cold where you're going, I hope that your heart's always warm.