Chapter 14
He kept his eyes closed as he sliced through the water and didn't surface until he knew he could stand in the shallow end. "Marco."
"Polo."
His ears perked at the three female voices merging together and knew there was one just ahead of him, one to his left and one behind him. He slowly inched backwards and called out again and this time he knew the girl behind him was Luna, so he backed off and headed towards the voice to his left towards the deeper end.
"Marco," he said again with a hint of arrogance in his voice.
"Polo."
He barely heard the other two voices, he knew now that the girl he was heading towards was Ginny. He heard a quick swirl of water so he quickly countered and shriek erupted from her, only encouraging the speed up. "Marco."
A laugh bubbled out of her before she responded and then more urgent splashing followed, telling him he was getting closer and closer. He finally slipped beneath the surface and pushed off a nearby wall towards the direction he thought she was. He felt a flutter of water near his hands so he blindly reached out through the water until finally managing a firm grip on her ankle.
He could hear her muffled laughter from the surface and with a mischievous grin, gave her ankle a hard tug. He opened his eyes underwater and smiled when he saw the sea of red hair floating in the water like mermaid. He reached out and pulled her against him before bringing them both to the surface.
She let out a breathless laugh as they both treaded water, while legs tangled and flirted underwater. "I really thought I was going to get away."
"I'll admit," he said pushing back his wet tangled hair out of his face. "You were a challenge."
"You get one, Malfoy?" Harry asked.
Draco turned towards Harry and Ron, whose back was still turned to them. "Yeah, I got a Weasley."
"Remember what I said, Malfoy," Ron growled.
Draco grinned. "Lighten up, Weaslebee-why don't you go next?"
"Don't mind if I do," he said and then turned around with his eyes closed. "Here I come, ladies."
"Let's go watch from over here," Draco said, dragging them to a single step in the deep end. They sat side by side in the little alcove, with their legs dangling
over the edge under water.
"You didn't cheat, did you?"
"Me?" Cheat?" He snorted out a laugh. "Never."
"Oh, right-how can I forget? Draco Malfoy never cheated a day in his life."
He grinned. "Well, I guess I can't say that-but I'm trying to be a good boy now. Sort of."
Ron stood in the middle of the pool and after calling out he realized that he was smack in the middle between Hermione and Luna. Hermione was on his left and Luna to his right, but he wasn't quite sure who he wanted to go for. Luna probably expected him to go for Hermione, he thought as he grinned on the inside. He could surprise her and make the grab before she could blink. He knew he wasn't far from her.
Hoping to trick her, he slowly shifted his body towards Hermione's direction, before quickly lunging himself to his right. He heard her shriek and frantic splashes of water coming from both of them before his fingers skimmed a sliver of her flesh.
He made another leap on her and practically landed on top of her as he tacked them both under the water. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind as they pushed themselves back through the surface. "And you're caught," he murmured playfully in her ear.
"You tricked me," said breathlessly as she slapped an arm that still had her captive. "I thought you were going for Hermione."
"That was the idea," he said with a chuckle and then looked up over where Harry was waiting. "Okay, Harry-Hermione is the only one left. She's all yours."
"Oh, goodie," he said with a grin before finally slipping under the water.
"Good luck," Ron said to Hermione when Harry was still under the water.
"I think I'm going to need it," she said as she kept an eye on Harry's swirly body underwater getting closer and closer.
"Let's go over here, Lovegood," Ron said picking her up and half carried, half floated them over to the steps. "This is going to be good."
Luna just sighed as she leaned back into him, loving the feel of his arms wrapped around her. He wasn't letting go of her, she realized with a joyful lift of her heart. He was holding her tight against him as if he never wanted to let go of her. Maybe, she thought hopefully. Just maybe.
While Harry was underwater, gliding closer and closer in her direction, she decided to inch her way around towards the deep end. Circling him so by the time he surfaced she was treading water quite a distance behind him.
When she answered his call, he whipped his head towards her and smiled with his eyes still closed. "Clever girl," he murmured before lowering deeper into the water and pushed himself off the bottom of the pool. "Marco."
"Polo," she said as she kept gently kicking back, trying to make little noise as possible. Her plan was to circle back around when he got closer, but she miscalculated where he was underwater and when he surface he was a lot closer than she thought.
"I know you're close," he murmured as he slowly inched his way forward. He heard the slightest swirl of water and immediately darted to his right, hoping to cut her off.
Hermione let out a soft curse when she realized she was now trapped and had no other option but to keep going backwards. Maybe she'd try and slip underwater and swim under him, she thought as she watched him creep closer and closer to her.
She was just about to make her move when a rush of water thudded down on her, causing her to gasp and choke before realizing that she had just went through the waterfall that flowed right near the end of the waterslide. She could see his silhouette through the running water and knew she was trapped.
With her back pressed up against the jagged rock wall she slowly snaked around to her left and to her surprise she was able to keep going. She looked over her shoulder to see Harry pass through the falls and push his wet hair back out of his face.
"Marco," he called out and his voice echoed through the small cave.
"Polo," she answered before quickly sliding further into the narrow crevice before it finally opened up into a rocky dome. The water was up to her waist as she quickly treaded back until her back hit the rock wall and had no where else to go.
She held her breath when Harry appeared from the mouth of the opening and watched him grin as he ventured out with his arms stretched out. "I really hope I don't run into something and embarrass myself," he murmured out loud but then paused and opened his ears. "Marcoooo," he said teasingly.
"Polo."
Her soft voice came from his left so he slowly headed that direction, making sure to keep his arms out for any type of
skin. "Marco," he said again.
"Polo," she squeaked followed by a quick rush of water.
He shot his whole body towards her, laughing when she let out a yelp as she tried to get away. She was quick-he had to give her credit for it-but he was quicker. His hand had slapped against the wall seconds before Hermione ran into his arm and so he swooped towards her as he opened his eyes and placed his other hand on the other side of her, caging her in. "Gotcha."
Hermione felt her stomach flutter, as he loomed over her-so close that she could feel his fast, choppy breaths fanning her lips. "Yeah," she breathed as her eyes flickered up to his. "You got me."
Uh-oh, he thought as he felt himself want to lean himself closer to her. Danger, danger. "I, uh-I guess we should-go."
She gave him a wobbly smile. "Yeah-they are probably wondering."
But neither of them moved.
His eyes flickered to her lips-only for a moment-but it was long enough for him wishing he could just lean over and sip off every single water bead that decorated her enticing mouth. Merlin, just do it-just do it and see what happens.
Her heart lurched as his eyes flickered to her lips again, but this time he lingered and-oh Merlin, was he leaning? Yes, yes, he was, she thought frantically as she felt her breath start to rapidly increase. Oh, god, oh god-what do I do? Do I remember how to kiss a guy? Really kiss a guy? Should I close my eyes? Should I-
"Oi! Harry! Haven't you gotten her yet?"
Harry flinched back as Ron's loud booming voice echoed through the cave. "Er-yeah!" He yelled as he turned away from her. "Just-just got her-we'll be right out!" He then closed his eyes and took a calming breath before turning back to her. "Well."
Hermione cleared her throat as she gave him her best nonchalant smile she could muster. "Well-we should-"
"Yeah," he said as he stepped back from her and out of the way. "After you."
"Thanks," she said as she felt her heart drop in disappointment. What would have happened if Ron hadn't interrupted them? Would he really have kissed her? Would they be still be kissing if Ron didn't have seriously poor timing? Who knows? Why was it even worth thinking about? It didn't happen, probably would never happen, and she needed to get over it.
"Hermione," Harry said suddenly as he reached out and touched her arm.
"Yes?" she said looking up at him-hoping.
"I, uh-" He swallowed the freakishly large knot in his throat. "I-wondered if you'd want to-in a few days maybe-want to go to that place I talked about? The one that made me want to buy this place?"
"Really?" she said with a soft smile at the thought of spending a day with him-just Harry.
"Yeah-I want to show you. I'll show the others another time, but-I want to share it with you first. If you want to."
"I'd love to, Harry," she said as a smile bloomed across her face. "Id absolutely love to."
"Yeah?" he said, tremendously pleased. "I-great-that's great. We'll just-talk about it later, then."
"Okay," she said and then reached up and grabbed the hand that was still on her arm. "Now, let's go before they start to send a search party."
"Right," he said with a laugh.
Maybe the kiss didn't happen this time, he thought as he let her lead the way out. And maybe it was a fluke-maybe it was just the moment that had him yearning to lean over and kiss her-maybe, it wasn't? Maybe there was something there between him and his childhood friend. There were a lot of maybes. However, he was going to make sure he found out exactly which maybe matched up and-even if he had to kiss her to find out.
-->