Draco pulled his hair in frustration. Why was it so hard to change himself? You wanted to thank Granger because she helped you! said a little voice in his head. Maybe you should act a bit friendlier towards her.
“No, no, no…” he muttered to himself. “I won’t.” Your father is not around anymore, so you could lower your guard a bit. You can try and act a little nicer towards her; like last night. Last night… What had come over him? Draco rubbed his face with his hands. Enough thinking. He would go mad with confusion if he didn’t stop.
He heard a knock on the door and someone yelled out, “Room Service!” Draco looked at the telephone and smiled before opening the door to get his breakfast.
The rest of the day past uneventfully for Hermione. She read a book, watched some TV and explored the rest of the ship with Bob’s assistance. They both became good friends and she learnt a lot more about him.
“By the way, tomorrow there’s going to be scuba diving,” said Bob, as they were leaving the arcade hall.
“There is!?” she said, stopping in her tracks.
“Yeah. The ship is going to anchor at noon so that the guests can scuba dive around a certain area. Of course, there’s going to be practice sessions in the main swimming pool so you can get the hang of it.”
Hermione squealed in delight. She had always wanted to try scuba diving. She had gone snorkelling before, but you couldn’t go too deep.
“But how are the other guests going to know that there’s scuba diving tomorrow?” she said.
“There’s a notice on the main deck and on every corridor, it’s just being put up.” Hermione nodded in excitement. She couldn’t wait!
Later, Hermione quickly said bye to Bob and went to look for Violet’s room. She wandered around and she finally found it; she knocked on the door and waited.
“Who is it?”
“Violet it’s me, Hermione!”
Silence followed and after a few seconds she could hear hands fumbling with the locks. The door swung open to reveal Jessie, who was casually leaning against the door frame with her arms over her chest; her fingers lightly tapping against her arm. “Well, well, well. What have we here? Did dear Hermione lose her way?” said Jessie, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“What are you doing here?!” said Hermione, surprised.
“What are you doing here?!” mimicked Jessie. “It’s my friend’s room that’s why!” she snapped.
“Jessie? What’s taking you?” said Violet, pushing past Jessie to face Hermione. “Come on in,” she said, gesturing to Hermione to enter her room.
“No, maybe I’ll come another time.”
“Yeah, maybe you should,” said Jessie, smirking. Hermione was about tell Jessie to lay off when Violet said, “Oh stop it, Jessie. Just go back inside; I’ll come in a minute.”
Jessie rolled her eyes and muttered, “You’re wasting your time.” Violet ignored her and looked back at Hermione.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, well I just wanted to ask you if you had seen the notices for scuba diving.” Violet nodded.
“Yeah I did. Are you going too?” she said, excitedly.
Hermione nodded her head and squealed, “It’s going to be so much fun! Do you want to go together? I mean we can have our breakfast together and go.”
“Yeah, alright! Are you sure you don’t want to come in? I’ll make sure that Jessie and the rest of the girls don’t bother you.”
“No, no! It’s okay, I’ll see you tomorrow!” Violet grinned and closed the door. Hermione barely walked five paces when the door reopened and Jessie walked out. Hermione frowned and glared at her. Jessie looked at her and smiled evilly. “So. You’ve become good buddies with one of my friends huh?”
“What’s your problem? So what if I’m friends with Violet or any other one of your friends,” said Hermione, coldly.
“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” Jessie slowly advanced towards her. Hermione laughed dryly. “Don’t laugh, when you’ll regret it afterwards,” whispered Jessie.
Hermione chuckled, “And why shouldn’t I? You’re talking a load of rubbish.”
“Do you think that she would still want to be friends with you if she ever found out that you’re in a lower class than us? Please…”
SMACK! Hermione, red with anger, looked at Jessie, who was clutching her cheek in shock. “Don’t you dare talk about me like that! I’ve never met someone as arrogant as you! All you care is about how rich you are and your bloody reputation! And don’t you ever talk to me in that manner,” said Hermione in a dangerous tone. Her face was flushed and her eyes were filled with loathing. She felt good. Slapping Jessie made her feel like she had finally given her what she had deserved; it felt as good as punching Malfoy.
Jessie continued to clutch her cheek and she looked at Hermione as if she couldn’t believe what she had just done. “You’ll pay for that,” Jessie whispered, slowly lowering her hand from her red cheek. Hermione stared icily back and replied, “I’m not the kind of person you can threaten.” With that, Hermione stalked off towards her room, not looking back to check whether Jessie had gone back to the room.
Her mind was now filled with new thoughts and questions. Would Jessie tell Violet that she had slapped her? Of course she will! She’ll even tell Violet a fake story so that I’ll look bad! Would Violet believe Jessie? Would she still be Hermione’s friend after what she had done? Hermione definitely didn’t want to ruin things between her and Violet.
Hermione angrily slammed her room door and flopped onto her bed. Why was taking a vacation so hard!? She came here to relax but so far it seemed that whatever she did, she always had a problem in her hands. Hermione needed to talk to Violet but to do that she would have to wait until the next morning. She just hoped that Violet would believe her.
Hermione nervously waited for Violet at the breakfast lounge. She was fidgeting with a tissue paper which she wrung over and over again. She looked everywhere but she couldn’t see Violet anywhere. She started to feel a little bit depressed. Maybe she believed Jessie after all.
“Looking for me?”
Hermione literally jumped out of fright; the tissue paper falling from her hands. She laid a hand on her chest and turned around to see Violet. “Violet!” yelped Hermione.
Violet chuckled slightly and said, “Scared I wouldn’t show up?” Hermione gave her a weak smile and nodded.
“Did Jessie tell -”
“She did. But I wanted to hear your part of the story.”
So Hermione told her the whole story, not leaving anything out. “I know you’ve been friends with Jessie for a long time but I promise you that what I’m telling you is the truth! I would never just randomly hurt somebody. I -” But she stopped as Violet held out her hand.
“It’s alright, I believe you.”
Taken aback, Hermione said, “You do?” Violet nodded.
“I know Jessie inside out and I know when she tells me a lie or not. Anyway, I’ve seen her provoke others so I know how she can be.
Hermione was so relieved. She smiled and said, “Ready to go scuba diving?” Violet grinned and replied, “Let’s go!”
Half an hour later, she, Violet and a dozen of others (including Jessie and the other girls) stood in front of the diving coach, Maria. Maria was explaining the rules and regulations of scuba diving when someone whispered in her ear, “Ready to go underwater, Granger? I thought you weren’t the fun type.” Hermione turned to find Malfoy smirking at her.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed.
“Trying different sports, Granger. Not that you would know anything about that. Do you think I came on this boat to sit in my room and dial room service all day long? I’ve got a life, you see.”
“I never knew,” snapped Hermione. “Why don’t you stick your head underwater and drown yourself.”
“Ladies first,” growled Malfoy before going to stand some place else. Hermione clenched her fists. How she wished she could use her wand so that she could blast him into smithereens. Her insides screamed in frustration. Why did he have to be so infuriating? Hermione sighed heavily and concentrated back to Marie. She was not about to let Malfoy ruin her mood.
Another half an hour went by and everyone was equipped with their masks, tanks and diving suits; they were all practicing in the swimming pool. Hermione got used to the heavy tank on her back and started to get the hang of breathing. Malfoy on the other hand, was having trouble underwater and continuously kept muttering, “Stupid muggle equipment. How people can get used to this kind of sports is beyond me.”
Hermione, who was fed up with his silly mutterings, went up to him and said, “Just because you can’t do it, don’t blame it on the equipment! People enjoy this sport because they know how to do it, unlike someone around here.”
“What’s your problem anyway?!” he said angrily. “It’s not like the equipment have feelings or anything. And by the way, it’s not like you’re some kind of expert at this sport. Just go underwater and practice Granger, so that I won’t be able to hear you.”
“At least I can stick my head under water without drowning myself,” she snapped.
Ignoring her, Malfoy put on his mask and ducked his head underwater. Hermione scowled and went over to Violet. “What happened?” asked Violet, pulling off her own mask.
“Nothing. I was just taking care of a problem.”
“Alright then. You all have practiced and it seems all of you have finally got the hang of it,” said Marie. “Now before we all go into the sea, I am going to pair you all up. You and your partner must stay together at all times so that if there’s any trouble, one of you can help the other. There will also be expert divers around who will be wearing yellow suits so there’s no need to worry.” She clasped her hands together and looked around. “Any questions?” No one said anything so she said, “Good. Let’s pair you all up.”
Hermione immediately moved towards Violet but Marie said, “Violet and Draco, you both can go together.” Violet looked at Draco, who gave her a lazy smile. She looked back at Hermione and smiled sadly.
“Well, at least I’m paired up with someone I know.” Hermione nodded. She hoped that she would be paired up with Roger or the other guys, who had all come.
Marie went on pairing people up when she finally said her name. “Hermione! Why don’t you be with…Jessie.”
Someone suddenly burst out laughing and Hermione turned around to see Malfoy looking at her and laughing extremely hard.
“Goodness, Draco! What in the world is so funny?” asked Marie, astonished with his sudden outburst.
Malfoy stifled his laughter and replied, “Nothing. Nothing at all.” Marie looked at him strangely and went off pairing others. Draco looked at Hermione again and mouthed ‘you and Jessie’. He winked and gave her a thumbs up. Hermione scowled and looked over at Jessie who had her mouth open in disgust. Hermione rolled her eyes. Why is everything bad happening to me?! What in the world did I do wrong?
It was a whole new world under the sea which Hermione had to explore by herself as her ‘partner’ had gone off without waiting for her.
Millions of different species were swimming around her. Sea anemones slowly drifted against the current, bright coloured fish swirled around her and corals of every colour covered the seabed. This new world was a place of colours and beauty with different little creatures lurking behind every rock and seaweed. It was a place that took Hermione’s breath away.
Suddenly Hermione stopped swimming. Something didn’t feel right. Nothing’s wrong. Don’t panic. It’s okay. Just breathe. But she couldn’t breathe properly! She tried again but oxygen was coming in small amounts. Could the gas in the tank get over? She didn’t want to know, so she calmed herself and tried breathing again but this time, no oxygen came at all.
Hermione’s eyes grew wide with fear and she thrashed around wildly, clutching her throat. She needed to get to the surface and fast! She tried swimming upwards but couldn’t. She looked down and saw to her horror, her feet entangled with seaweed. She looked around for Jessie but she was nowhere to be seen; not even the expert divers were in the vicinity. Tears streamed out of her eyes as she tried to pull her feet free. Please somebody, help!
Draco was glad that he was paired up with Violet. They both explored the sea together; Violet pointing to every fish in excitement. Draco smiled and followed behind her but stopped as something caught his eye. Someone was madly trashing around in the water a little way off. Curious, he swam a little closer and saw to his horror, Hermione clutching her throat and trying to pull her entangled feet free.
Draco looked around wildly for Jessie but she was nowhere to be seen; even the expert divers weren’t there! Draco’s head was screaming for help. He was too far off to save her in time! He looked everywhere for any sign of the divers and then looked at Hermione who was flailing her arms. And then he swam. He swam as fast as he could towards Hermione. If he didn’t help her, no one would.