Unnatural Love

Chapter 17

I sat on the edge of the lake, looking out into the open space. The lake was calm, without a single ripple in the dark water, almost as if time was frozen. There was no noise, just the whirling of the wind surrounding my cold body. 

I was alone, but it felt nice. 

Or at least I tried to tell myself that.

I remember one of the days when Draco and I were still on speaking terms, and he took me down to the lake. 

"Why are you taking me here?" I said while giggling. Draco was leading me down to the lake, my favourite place.

As we walked side by side, the tops of our hands continuously brushed up against each other. I realized I wasn't the only one who noticed when Draco interlocked his fingers between mine. I felt a shiver go down my spine when I felt his cold rings brush against my warm fingers.

He led me down a different path than I normally take, and walked past the large oak tree I normally sit at.

"Well, I always see you sitting down here, so I thought I would join you. But, I have a better area to sit," he replied, with a smirk.

We walked through trees and bushes for about 5 minutes until we reached our destination.

It was magnificent.

The view was even better than the one I always sat at.

From the angle we were at, the lake was a brilliant blue. There was a cliff leading off into the lake, and hundreds of trees surrounding the perimeter. It was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set. The beautiful colours painted the sky. It was incredible.

"Oh, my Merlin, Draco, how do you know about this place?" I asked, awestruck.

"Oh, uhm, sometimes I come here to, you know... get away I guess," he answered, looking embarrassed.

I didn't want him to be embarrassed. I did it too.

Before I could think, I took off my loose shirt and took off my pants while Draco wasn't watching. As he was turning around to look at me, I ran towards the edge of the cliff and jumped into the lake.

It was quite a large drop, I realized, as the wind was blowing my hair, rapidly.

My feet soon touched the cold water, and I felt it consume my body in its depth. It was freezing, sending shooting pains through my body and making me feel breathless. But that didn't matter. I felt alive.

I quickly swam up to the top of the surface and poked my head out. Before I could process what had happened, I felt a large splash next to me, shooting water droplets on my face.

I could tell the coldness of the lake shocked him as well, when he came up, gasping for air. I tried to control my laughter when he started to struggle to catch his breath.

He noticed and started splashing me with water. It soon broke out into a massive water fight. I was laughing uncontrollably, and he was as well.

A wash of happiness came over me.

He was laughing.

Not the kind of fake laugh he was constantly doing, but a real laugh.

After a while, we got tired and lay on our backs against the surface of the water. We talked for a while. It wasn't a very deep conversation like some of the previous ones we'd had. We mostly talked about some fun memories we each had and places we wanted to visit.

"I would love to visit Florence, Italy. It's small and has so much culture-," I began but was interrupted.

"And the weather in the spring is great, too!" Draco announced, sounding proud.

"Wait! Have you been there?" I asked, excitedly.

"I went last summer. It was incredible! We'll have to go together sometime," he replied.

I was suddenly taken out of my excited state and was replaced with confusion.

Did Draco just say 'we'll have to go TOGETHER sometime'?

Does that mean I'm in his future?

I was more than happy to be his friend now, but it didn't seem like it would last long. He would eventually get bored with me and find another girl to hang out with... at least that's what I thought.

I didn't want to question him, he would feel embarrassed so, I smiled at him and said, "definitely."

We walked out of the water, dried off and put our clothes back on. He started leading me towards a small patch of grass that captured the view of the lake perfectly.

We sat down beside each other, sitting in comfortable silence.

The perfect end to a perfect night. 

I felt a tear creep down my cheek. 

He hadn't been the best friend these past few days, but he had apologized more than once, and he seemed genuine. 

And I missed him.

The thought then crept back into my thoughts. Him, kissing pug-faced Parkinson. 

I knew we weren't dating, but when I remembered how her fingers ruffled through his hair while they kissed and how his hands snaked around her body, I shuddered. 

I hated the thought of them being together. 

I hated her.

I hated him. 

At least I wanted to hate him. 

But no matter what he did,  whenever I thought of him, butterflies swirled around in my stomach. 

I sat there, leaning up against the oak tree, thinking. 

Thinking about me, thinking about him. 

Thinking about, us.

As I sat there, I came to an unfortunate conclusion. 

I was in love with Draco Malfoy. 

And I knew I would forgive him.

Eventually.