He finally reached her and swam to her foot to pull away the seaweed. Hermione looked down in shock and relief with her mouth clamped shut; she had taken off the tube connected to the tank as it was no use anyway. She didn’t know for how much longer she could hold her breath and deep inside she had a feeling she wouldn’t make it back to the surface. With this in mind, Hermione let out a small whimper, making bubbles as her breath escaped from her lips. She quickly controlled herself and pressed her lips together. She had to make it, and letting herself lose control wasn’t going to help.
As Hermione felt the seaweed leave her feet, her heart skipped a beat. She looked up to see how far she had to swim and her shoulders fell; she was too deep. But she had to try; she would have to somehow make it, so she swam upwards as fast as she could. An arm slid around her waist and she felt herself being pulled upwards more easily. She looked to see Malfoy urging both of them up towards the surface and she felt a wave of hope wash over her; maybe she could still make it.
Draco tightened his grip around Hermione’s waist and brought her closer to him; he could feel her strength fade away as she could no longer hold her breath. All together, Hermione stopped swimming and Draco looked at her in dismay as her head tilted backwards; eyes fluttering close. His heart thudded against his chest and he swam upwards with more force; not loosening his grip on her.
Finally after what seemed like hours, his head hit the surface. He quickly swam to the ship and climbed the ladder that led to ship’s deck; pulling Hermione up after him. As he laid Hermione on the floor, he heard Marie exclaim loudly and rush to his side. “What happened!? Oh my goodness! I’ll call the life guards; they’re at the other end of the deck,” she said, frantically.
“There’s no time,” he whispered and before Marie could reply, he took Hermione’s mouth in his and breathed into her.
Hermione coughed and felt water spurt out of her mouth. Her eyes slowly opened as she continued to cough harshly; her lungs aching and her head pounding. Water trickled down from her parted lips as she breathed in deeply.
“Thank heavens! Draco! You did it! You saved her,” cried Marie happily as she draped a towel over Hermione. Hermione looked to her side and saw Malfoy looking at her intently and panting heavily. What had happened? What had “ She stopped. She remembered the seaweed, the horrifying feeling of not being able to breathe, Malfoy helping her up towards the surface and then blacking out.
“Hermione, come on. Up you get. I’ll help you to the first aid area,” said Marie but Hermione didn’t move; she continued to look at Malfoy who desperately tried to avoid her gaze.
“Hermione?”
“Can you give me a moment to be with him? I’ll go there when I’m finished,” said Hermione, looking at Marie pleadingly. Marie shrugged and said, “Why not? After all, he saved you.”
After Marie had left, Hermione and Draco stayed silent for a few seconds. She pulled the towel tighter over her and said, “Thank you.” She would have drowned if it weren’t for him. Hermione’s lips trembled as these thoughts crossed her mind.
“I could have drowned if you hadn’t helped me,” she said, her voice also trembling. She was close to crying but she fought back the tears.
“It was nothing,” he murmured.
“Even it was nothing to you, it meant everything to me. I wouldn’t be here if you - ” she couldn’t go on anymore. Don’t cry Hermione. It’s okay now! You’re not dead, you’re alive so don’t cry… But she couldn’t fight back the tears anymore. Draco looked up to see a tear roll down her cheek and out of reflex, he cupped her face with one hand and brushed the tear away with his thumb. Hermione flinched and looked at him in surprise. Realizing his mistake he quickly withdrew his hand and looked at it in shock.
It was out of instinct he had done it. He couldn’t bear to see anyone cry, even if it was Hermione. It was his weakness. That was one of the reasons he didn’t want to become a death eater; he couldn’t bear to look at the people Voldemort had killed without hesitating… they would beg and cry. He looked at her and saw her staring at him in confusion.
“I can’t bear to see any girl cry,” he whispered, looking away from her. “I didn’t mean to do it. It was like a reflex. It didn’t mean anything.”
“I know,” she said, shivering slightly.
Draco looked over at her and saw her trembling. He got up and helped her to her feet. “Go and get warmed up. Marie will be waiting near the first aid area.”
Hermione looked at him curiously and said, “Why are you doing all this?”
“What? Should I taunt and mock you when you were so close to dying minutes ago? I’m not that low…”
Hermione nodded slowly. Maybe Malfoy wasn’t all that bad. Maybe he had a side that he didn’t want to show. She slowly walked towards Marie when Malfoy said, “Granger!”
Hermione looked back at Malfoy and replied, “What?”
“Don’t you ever cry in front of me again,” he smirked.
“I wouldn’t dare to cry in front of you again,” she said, half-laughing. She turned around and headed towards Marie; a smile breaking out from her face. Marie and some other few nurses fussed over her; checking her temperature and thanking the lord that she had not drowned.
“That boy has some talents up his sleeve,” said Marie, nodding towards Draco who was looking out into the sea. She gave Hermione a cup of hot chocolate and said, “I mean who knew he could do CPR? If it weren’t for-”
Hermione started to cough; choking on the hot chocolate. “W-what do you mean?”
“Well that boy got you out of the water and before I had the chance to call on the life guards he had already started to breathe into you.”
“B-breathe into me?” Hermione grimaced and her face contorted as if she had something sour in her mouth. Marie laughed.
“Well if it wasn’t for that you wouldn’t be here right now!” she said. Hermione nodded her head in agreement. But still! It was Malfoy after all!
Her fingers slowly brushed against her lips. Yes, Malfoy really was a boy with hidden talents. He was also someone she would never understand.
Violet climbed onto the deck and saw Malfoy staring at the sea. Furiously, she went over to him and shouted, “What the hell are you doing here? You just left me down there! We’re supposed to stay together but nooo… you swam off somewhere else and ended up here! You could have at least told me-”
“Violet!” he said, interrupting midway. He looked at her and calmly replied, “I never meant to leave you down there.”
“Then why the hell are you up here!?” she said, exasperatedly.
He sighed and told her the whole story. She didn’t believe him at first but Marie came over to them and confirmed what had happened. Violet gasped in horror as he relived the story again.
“B-but where was Jessie!? And what about the expert divers?” Violet exclaimed.
“I will have to see into that,” said Marie, gravely. “I don’t know what those divers were doing down there. Oh, they’ll be in trouble when they get back. As for Jessie, we’ll have to ask her when she returns.”
When Marie walked off, Violet said, “I’m going to see Hermione, I’ll see you around.” Draco nodded and watched as she ran off. He looked out to the sea, a flood of emotions taking over him. He remembered the way he wiped her tear away, as if he was protecting her; he remembered the way his heart leaped as the tear ran down her face. For the first time, he had truly felt afraid; he thought that she had died, literally died in his arms.
Deep down inside he felt a little something for Granger but at this point he just couldn’t come to himself to admit it. He knew it wasn’t anything serious; after all, he was an 18 year old with raging hormones.
After Violet had checked up on Hermione and left her to rest, she lay down on her bed. The first thing that popped into her mind was Draco. She remembered how he came swimming to her side and helped her to get back to the surface; she remembered the way he brushed away her tear. Stop it! It didn’t mean anything anyway! It was a friendly gesture. A friendly gesture… she had realized that she didn’t really know Draco at all. Who could imagine Draco act like that anyway?
First he gets her out of an embarrassing situation and then he saves her life; Malfoy had certainly changed in some aspects. Although he was still an arrogant jerk and a big flirt, she didn’t really think of him as the boy back in Hogwarts anymore; like he said, he wasn’t a kid anymore. A little part of her was glad that he was on the same boat; somehow she felt protected.