Suddenly, she stopped. She had found his room. She looked at the paper once again and then at the door in front of her. The room number matched the number written on the paper.
“Finally!” she said, crumpling the paper and throwing it away. Eagerly, she threw back her blonde hair and straightened her clothes. She exhaled excitedly and knocked on the door. While waiting for him to open the door, Jessie constantly fumbled with her blouse and the hem of her skirt, trying to look absolutely perfect.
A moment later Draco swung open the door and found, to his surprise, Jessie waiting outside. Even though Draco didn’t like Jessie very much, he couldn’t deny that she was looking very pretty. She wore a white blouse, which was cut deeply, a cherry red skirt with matching coloured earrings and sandals, which criss-crossed around her ankles. He blinked several times as if he couldn’t really believe it was actually her at his door. “How did you - ”
“Draco!” she squealed. Jessie caught Draco in a tight embrace, startling him thoroughly. He stood there motionless, inhaling her scent, until she let go of him. Without asking if she could come in, she went inside and twirled around.
Draco, still surprised with her sudden appearance and the hug, slowly closed the door and turned to look at her. She was beaming at him and he looked at her curiously.
“Surprised to see me?” she said, twirling around once more so that her skirt gracefully whipped around, wrapping around her legs as she stopped.
“Well… I mean, yes I am,” he said awkwardly. “I’m just wondering though, how did you find out where my room is? See, I don’t recall giving you my room number…” Draco motioned for Jessie to sit down.
“Aww, that was easy!” Jessie sat down and neatly crossed her legs. “I just asked Alex. I was sure you’d tell him because you are both such good friends…” she said, batting her eyelashes flirtatiously.
Draco smirked. He could tell that Jessie was desperately after him. She was always trying to get his attention... always hanging on every word he said. When he had danced with her the day before yesterday, it was not at all the friendly dance that he had expected; it was... intense, but that didn’t bother him at the time. When she had asked him to dance, he dreaded it at first. But once he was on the dance floor, he was lost. Lost in the music, lost in the dance. And how couldn’t he be? She was an amazing dancer. However, once the dance was over, he realized how intense it was and that he was supposed to be Hermione’s boyfriend.
“What are you smirking for?” asked Jessie. She patted on the sofa, motioning him to sit next to her. Draco obeyed and sat beside her.
“Just thinking about how I seem to have an effect on girls. Must be my devilishly good looks,” Draco joked. He was glad that he still attracted girls with ease. Which male wouldn’t be? And he couldn’t help take advantage of this.
“Yes... it must be,” she whispered.
Draco was a little taken aback as she said this, but after a while he smirked again. He looked at her and she looked back. Jessie locked eyes with him, and Draco found himself unable to tear his gaze away. She slowly leaned forward, her heart beating wildly.
Draco couldn’t move, his eyes still locked with hers as she continued to move closer. He didn’t really know why, but he was eagerly waiting for her to come even closer. He couldn’t help look at her pouting lips and his boy instincts were screaming to just kiss her straight out. However, he snapped back to reality as someone banged on the door. Jessie immediately pulled back and looked at the door.
Jessie’s head screamed in anger. She was so close! She wanted to yell but she controlled herself. “Who could that be?” she said in a strained voice. Draco shrugged. To his surprise, he was disappointed a little. He shook his head as if to straighten out his thoughts and stood up. Jessie waited for him to open the door. She wanted to see who interrupted her moment.
Hermione peered around the corner, shifting slightly to get a glimpse of the blonde girl. It seemed to her that she was looking for a room. Hermione saw her stop and throw away a piece of paper. As the girl turned to face the door, Hermione saw her face.
Hermione backed away, clapping her hands over her mouth. It couldn’t be! Not believing her eyes, she looked again and there stood Jessie, fumbling with her clothes. Hermione’s mouth fell open in horror. “Oh no...!” she moaned silently. Jessie was a witch!
Hermione shook her head unbelievingly; she was shocked beyond anything. How could it be! How “ But something that had happened a few days back came crashing down on her. The glass of water in the lounge... It couldn’t have fallen on its own accord. Jessie, she realized, must have done a non-verbal spell that made it tip over, spilling water all over her! She remembered her face going dark, and the way she said goodbye...
The door opened and Hermione heard Jessie yell ‘Draco’ excitedly. In another second, Jessie went out of sight as she stepped into his room. She frowned. Why was Jessie going into Malfoy’s room? Hermione stepped out from her hiding place and slowly walked towards his room.
She stared at the door. What was going on in there? What was Jessie telling Malfoy? “No, no...” she mumbled, backing away from the door, “Why should I care what’s happening inside?” She stopped in her tracks and eyed the door again.
Without warning, she flung herself onto the door, pressing her ear against it. She couldn’t hear anything. Oh, why hadn’t she brought along one of Fred and George’s extendable ears?! She couldn’t take it, and suddenly, she banged on the door. She wouldn’t, not this time, let Jessie have it her way. She was sick of her and didn’t want to just sit on the sidelines and watch Jessie do her stuff; it was time to straight things out between them both. Jessie was a witch. Who knows what she could do to get what she wanted?
Hermione was about to pound on the door again, when Malfoy opened the door. He looked at her cautiously as he saw her hand raised, ready to knock furiously. They stood that way for a few seconds; Malfoy looking at her like she was some sort of alien, and Hermione with her hand in the air.
“So,” he said, breaking the silence. “Will I know why you were planning on knocking down my door?” Hermione let her hand fall to her side and glared angrily.
“Jessie’s in there, right?” she snapped. Malfoy flinched as she pointed her finger towards his room. Before he could answer, Jessie walked into view and stood next to him, lazily resting her arm on his shoulder. He breathed in her perfume; she smelled beautiful.
“Hey, Hermione. What are you doing here?” asked Jessie, smirking. Hermione’s insides burned with anger. How she wished to wipe that smirk off her face.
What should she do? Expose her? Tell her that she was a witch too? Hermione looked at Malfoy and then to Jessie, thinking furiously.
“Can’t speak?” said Jessie, laughing slightly.
Hermione looked at her and smiled. She had come up with an idea. She would let Jessie be oblivious to what she had found out. Since Jessie had her fun, Hermione was willing to give her what she deserved. It was Hermione’s turn to have some fun.
“Oh, I can talk,” Hermione said sweetly. She looked at Malfoy who was looking at Jessie. His expression was dazed and she saw that he was looking at Jessie like some lovesick puppy. Hermione frowned and said slowly, “Mal “ Draco?” Malfoy tore his gaze away from Jessie and looked at Hermione, who was looking at him curiously.
“W-what?” he said. His mind was elsewhere. All his thoughts were on Jessie and how he wanted Granger to go away.
He looked back at Jessie. He suddenly noticed how gorgeous she was. Her cherry red lips inviting as ever and her perfume enticing. All thoughts of pretending to be Hermione’s boyfriend were wiped from his mind. All he wanted was to be alone with Jessie.
Hermione waited impatiently for him to say something but all he did was stare at Jessie affectionately. “Are you alright?” she asked incredulously. She didn’t know why he was suddenly looking at Jessie as if he loved her. What had happened in there?
“Yeah,” he said waving his hand, dismissing her question, “Anyway, I’ve got some things to discuss with...Jessie,” he said, wrapping an arm around Jessie’s waist, who responded by chuckling slightly.
Hermione looked at both of them in horror. “What do you mean?!” she snapped. Had he forgotten that he was her pretend boyfriend? Did he want to stop? If so, couldn’t he tell her first so that this whole situation wouldn’t be so awkward? Hermione had to find out; she wasn’t the type of girl to only know half of what was going on.
“It means, he wants to talk to me in private,” retorted Jessie, smiling evilly at Hermione.
“Mal “ I mean, Draco, what’s going on?!” demanded Hermione.
Malfoy looked at her indifferently and answered, “I just want to be alone with her.” With that, he pulled Jessie behind him and closed the door.
Hermione stared at the door, tears brimming in her eyes, blurring her vision. She was hurt. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. He had just shunned her aside as if she were nothing. Hermione felt like going into a corner and start crying but she didn’t. She couldn’t let herself break down. She was after all Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor! She was strong and brave... she wouldn’t let a boy, especially Draco Malfoy, break her.
“You haven’t changed after all,” she whispered bitterly. She furiously wiped away the tears that brimmed her eyes and walked to her room. She had had enough. Enough of him.
Draco and Jessie continued to stare at each other after he had closed the door.
“So,” Jessie said coyly, twisting her hair around her finger, “What is it that you want to discuss?” She moved a little closer to him, not breaking the eye contact.
“Not exactly discuss...” he said as she moved even closer. He inhaled her beautifully scented perfume and smirked. He put a hand on her waist and whispered, “I was thinking about something else...”
“And that would be?” she whispered back, leaning in so that their lips were inches apart. She was waiting eagerly for what was going to happen.
She saw him lean in for a kiss but suddenly pulled away. Jessie frowned. She sniffed her shoulder as if to check that her perfume was still there and that she wasn’t smelling horrible. And then she heard it, a small knock on the door.
Jessie could have screamed out in frustration. She had been interrupted twice! If it was that stupid Muggle, Hermione, she would literally curse her into oblivion!
Jessie swung open the door, ready to burst out but contained herself as she saw Roger standing outside. He looked at her curiously and said, “Jessie? What are you doing here?” Jessie squeaked and looked behind at Draco who was looking at her dreamily.
“Just hold on a moment, will you?” she said hurriedly. She closed the door and quickly walked over to Draco. She lightly slapped his face several times and said anxiously, “Just act like yourself, will you!?”
Draco closed his eyes and shook his head. Once he opened them, he saw Jessie opening the door and hurriedly walking past Roger who looked at her in disbelief.
“What’s going on?” asked Roger, stepping into his room.
Draco looked at Roger in confusion. He didn’t know what had come over him. He couldn’t believe that he actually wanted to kiss Jessie so badly. He thought it best not to tell Roger what had really happened as he, himself, didn’t really understand his actions.
“Nothing,” Draco responded, “Nothing interesting.”
Hermione was sitting outside on her hammock, her head swimming in thoughts of what had happened a few moments ago. First she found out that Jessie was a witch, then Malfoy became suddenly head over heels with Jessie.
She looked out towards the ocean; the water sparkling under the sun. She shouldn’t have expected less from a Malfoy. What was she thinking all this time?! If he suddenly wanted to be with Jessie, it was fine with her. But couldn’t he have chosen someone better? She got angry at this thought. It was Jessie who had left her drowning; it was Jessie who had spilt the glass of water on her when she had done absolutely nothing. Hermione bit her lip thoughtfully. She couldn’t let Jessie get away with everything; it was time for her to have some fun of her own.
Hermione got off the hammock and quickly went inside. The thought of getting even with Jessie excited her. She felt a mischievous side take over her, something she hadn’t felt since being at Hogwarts. She paced up and down her room, thinking. She knew it would be stupid to go looking for Jessie. She would have her little fun when they both came across by chance, which would happen soon, she knew.
She stuffed her wand in her jeans and went to the main deck. Hermione came here almost every
day to check what was happening. Events that were going to be held and so on, would always be posted here, a great place for her to know what was going on.
Once there, Hermione found Bob helping out an old lady. Once the lady had left, Hermione walked up to him.
“Hey...I see you’re doing your job pretty well,” Hermione said brightly.
Bob smiled and replied, “Thanks... I guess I do it well because I like my job a lot.”
“Then you’ll have no problem at all. It’s best to do what you like.”
Bob chuckled and said, “So how may I help you?” They both walked towards the railing, the wind blowing through their hair.
“Any new events happening soon?” asked Hermione, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I like to be updated.”
Bob laughed, “I can see. Well if you checked your travel plan, you would know that we’ll have a stop over tomorrow.”
Hermione lay her hands and on her hips and said, “Of course I know! I was talking about other events, Bob. So what time will we reach the port?”
“We’ll reach Singapore at around nine in the morning, so everyone can spend a whole day there.”
Hermione nodded. She had never been to this side of the world and was eager to go on the tour and learn about this country.
Draco got ready much earlier, not wanting to make the mistake of being late once again. He made his way to ‘Cheers’ and found his new set of friends already there.
Draco had the time of his life. They talked, drank and laughed throughout the night, enjoying each other’s company. They talked about everything, which was a little uncomfortable for Draco in the beginning. Never in his life had he talked to anyone about his fears and what he had gone through. Once he felt at ease, however; he told them everything, only leaving out the wizarding world.
“Woah! Look at the time!” Roger exclaimed, looking at his watch. “It’s twelve! We better call it a night if we want to go on the tour tomorrow.”
“Right. I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” said Draco. The guys nodded and they all started to gather their stuff.
“Jessie? Laura? What are you girls doing here?” said Alex suddenly, looking at the two girls who had appeared.
“Oh, hey you guys! What a surprise! Laura and I were just talking. Funny how we didn’t see you guys sitting here,” said Jessie, catching Draco’s eye, who quickly looked away. He didn’t know what had caused him to behave that way with her before, and didn’t want to know why.
“Anyway, see you,” said Draco. He quickly left Cheers and started to make his way towards his room.
“Hey! Draco! Wait up!” yelled someone from behind. He whipped around and saw Jessie running up to him. She put a hand on his arm and said, “I’ll walk with you. It’s nice to have some company rather than walking alone, don’t you think?” she asked, smiling.
She came closer and once again Draco’s mind was wiped of all thoughts. Her beautifully scented perfume filled his nostrils and somehow she suddenly looked more inviting.
Draco smirked and offered his arm to her. “Shall we?”
Jessie smiled flirtatiously and took his arm in hers. “Let’s go,” she whispered and they both made their way towards his room. Jessie smirked to herself, enjoying the fact that she had the most gorgeous male beside her. Soon, she thought, he would truly believe that he loved her. Everything was going smoothly, according to the plan.
Hey guys! Well now you know who the witch is! Hope you all enjoyed this one. Please leave a review on the way out...I love reviews, yes I do! =) Thanks a lot to my awesome BETA: simplyme!