Chapter 6: Troubles in the Bathtub

Draco walked into his bedroom about half an hour later to find Hermione curled up in a ball on the bed, her eyes closed in a deep slumber. Various insults flooded his mind just at the sight of her. Why did she have to be so bloody infuriating? She must be the only person on the whole freaking planet that could push his buttons the way she did, this was a fact that Draco was glad Hermione was not aware of. Even when he tried to make things work, tried to keep things in order, she still had to go out of her way to make things difficult. Some would say "it's a woman thing". But not Draco Malfoy, for the amount of experience he had had with the opposite sex proved to him that it wasn't a "woman thing", it was Granger; she was one of a kind and Draco hated her with exceptional passion.

Draco was so cooped up in his thoughts that he failed to realise Hermione stir slightly and open her eyes to a very unwelcoming picture. Malfoy stood there staring at her with a distant look upon his face. For Hermione I was absolutely unnerving to find her worst enemy standing before her right after waking up from a wonderful dream, which due to his 'oh so beautiful (notice the sarcasm) face' had completely abandoned her mind.

"What do you want?" Asked Hermione, shaking Draco out of these thoughts.

"It's time for lunch." Draco replied simply after recovering from the shock of being discovered. He then proceeded to turn around to walk back out the door but was stopped by Hermione's unsure voice.

"Look, I'm sorry about before. I acted really immaturely." She said, surprising both herself and him.

Draco looked back at her. He was clearly shocked, but he didn't dare let that show on his face. She had actually apologised, well that was interesting. Knowing her it was probably just another scheme to make his life miserable. 'I see' is all he managed to say as he stared at her, yet again.

"And I'll try and, you know get along with you...for Nick's sake of course." Hermione continued.

"Well, it's good to see you're finally catching on Granger, very good indeed." Said Draco, with an air of arrogance to his voice.

"That's another thing, if we're going to get along then we should call each other by our first names. Nick is finding it strange."

"That makes sense, Hermione."

"Well, I'm glad you think so, Draco."

They looked at each other for a few extra seconds, almost daring the other to say something out of line, so they themselves could retort. But no comment was made; they continued to stare, each of them raising one eyebrow. Realising that no battle was going to occur, Draco, once again, turned to walk out the door, and Hermione, once again, stopped him.

"I don't know where we're going to eat Draco, would you mind showing me." Said Hermione, her voice laced with fake innocence.

"Why of course. We'll pick Nick up along the way, shall we?" Replied Draco in the same, sickly innocent tone. He even offered her his arm, which she took, just to piss him off. They then walked down the hall arms linked; they stopped at Nick's bedroom and then continued their way through the Manor.

To an outsider it would look appear as the start of a beautiful newfound relationship, but to one who knew them well it would be a completely different story. They would be able to see that the two had minds that worked at exactly the same pace, yet their views couldn't be any different; they were equally as intelligent, equally as clever, and equally as stubborn. When one challenged the other, both individuals would be aware, whether there were words exchanged or not. What was happening now was a challenge, a very difficult challenge at that. It was a challenge to see which would crack the fastest, which would be the first to lose their cool and do something drastic, something completely out of order. And at the moment the only way to win that challenge were to agree with their opponent, and then slowly yet surely eat them up from the inside. It was a tactic that both contestants had taken up because they knew that the only way to destroy the other was to work cleverly, to work without letting the other know what you were doing. But what these two individuals were not aware of was that though this tactic seemed like the best, it would clash horribly in this plot, and everything would backfire.

"We'll be eating outside." Said Draco once they reached the bottom of the long staircase. He began to lead them out through a door close by and said, "For future reference the dining hall is just up the corridor that room straight ahead".

The trio walked out onto a small, pebbled path that led to an elegant gazebo. There was a fishpond next to the gazebo and beautiful flowers all around. Once they were seated at the heavily laden table they dug into the delicious food.

"You have a beautiful garden Draco." Hermione said after a while, her eyes wandering.

"I have many gardens," Stated Draco boredly. "And yes, this one is one of the more beautiful ones."

Hermione rolled her eyes. A simple thank you would have been enough.

"Daddy." said Nick, looking up at his father.

"Yes Nick?" asked Draco, his heart warming at the sound of being called 'Daddy'. It was an odd sensation he was sure he'd never really get used too.

"Why did you go away when I was little?"

Draco turned his head sharply to look at Hermione, who blushed deeply. He cleared his throat and said, "I didn't run away, Nick."

"But mummy said..."

"I just...I... had work..." Draco made up lamely. He was absolutely furious, how dare Granger tell Nick that he ran away. What a bitch!

"Oh okay. Mummy works a lot too." said Nick and went back to eating his lunch.

Draco would have to deal with Hermione later.

After lunch, Hermione had put Nick to sleep for his afternoon nap and decided to take a bath. She filled the tub up with different coloured bubbles and perfumes using the various jewelled taps surrounding it. As she slipped into the warm water her muscles relaxed, she put her head back and closed her eyes falling asleep almost instantly due to the intoxicating perfumes.

She had only been asleep five minutes, images of flickering bright lights were passing through her mind, when she was startled awake by a loud splashing sound. Her eyes shot open and grew the size of dinner plate as she saw Draco sitting at the opposite end of the tub, his head thrown back and his eyes closed.

"WHAT THE HELL MALFOY! GET OUT!" Yelled Hermione, completely flabbergasted.

"What are you on about now Granger?" Asked Draco calmly, his eyes still closed.

"What am I on about? WHAT AM I ON ABOUT? ARE YOU COMPLETELY MENTAL? GET OUT OF THE TUB!"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I was here first, and you are being a perverted jerk coming in here with me. It's not as though you didn't know I was in here!"

"Oh, believe me Granger, I'm not coming with you any time soon, so don't get your hopes up." Said Draco slyly.

Hermione gasped at his bluntness, "You wish Malfoy!" she said stupidly still not believing the perverted little joke he had thrown at her.

"Why would I wish? Been there, done that!" Draco laughed. Even Draco knew he had gone too far with that line and instantly regretted it.

It took all of Hermione's self-control to stop herself from going over there to him and smacking him over the head with the shampoo bottle.

"What's your issue Hermione? I'm simply saving water! And besides I'm all the way over here and you're all the way over there." He said, trying to bring back the jokey side of this situation he had pushed on her.

He was right, it was quite a big bath, but that was beside the point. The fact that he was in it with her completely cancelled out the size of the bloody thing. "Just get out Malfoy." Said Hermione.

"What was that, Granger? You want me to come closer?" Asked Draco, actually swimming closer to her, but not too close.

"Don't you dare Malfoy! Get away from me!" Screamed Hermione as Draco swam all the way up to her and came to a stop barely a foot in front of her.

"Scared Granger?" Challenged Draco, raising his eyebrows for emphasis.

"No." Replied Hermione, though on the inside her heart was beating rapidly against her chest. It was a wonder he couldn't hear it.

"Would you be if I did this?" He asked, softly pressing his body up against hers causing her to retreat and her back was met with the wall of the bathtub. He was pleased to see the look of terror cross her eyes as she stuttered out:

"G-g-get away f-f-from me Malfoy."

"Why?"

When she didn't reply he smirked in triumphant satisfaction and moved away from her. He then exited the bath, wrapping a towel around himself and walked out of the bathroom. If he had turned back to look, he would have seen tears pouring down her face. Although he hadn't been aggressive in what he did, and he actually seemed to be flirting with her in some sadistic Malfoy manner. The déjà vu from the whole situation was too overwhelming for Hermione to bear. She brought her knees up to her face and cried. She had been known to face PTSD from the ordeal that she had gone through four years ago, but to actually relive a similar experience, was something completely different. Draco Malfoy was officially, in her books, considered the biggest bastard of the century.