Draco remained firmly by my side after the incident with Pansy.

"Nah, I'm fine here," he had shrugged when I suggested he might want to go and mingle with Bambi's friends, "and besides, somebody needs to keep an eye on you in case you get into another fight."

I glared at him as I took another long drink of my cocktail and lay back on the lounger listening to him chuckling softly as I closed my eyes.

We swam out into the water together, which although was referred to as a pool, actually resembled an entire ocean.

"How far does it actually go?" I asked, completely bemused as I squinted out to the horizon. "And how is it that we are just in a building in the garden?!"

"Magic," Draco chuckled as we treaded the water side by side. "Best not to question it."

"But if we carried on swimming, then where would we end up? And would we still be at the Peverell's?" I frowned. It was hurting my mind.

"Want to find out, Weasley?" He grinned mischievously, his eyes glinting into mine. "Just you and me swim off into the sunset together?"

"Don't say things like that," I said. "Not if you don't fucking mean it."

"Who says I don't?" And I gasped as he reached out and pulled me roughly to his chest. "I want to kiss you so much," he growled as our legs both kicked against each other, trying to stay afloat. "I want to make love to you and call you mine."

"Draco," I sighed.

"What?"

I blinked. I was still on the sun-lounger. Draco was looking over at me expectantly.

"Huh?" I asked, my head still addled with confusion after my impromptu nap.

"You said my name," he chuckled. "Dreaming about me again, were you?"

I felt my cheeks flame as I looked away in the pretence of grabbing my drink.

"Oh look, Blaise and Bambi." I nodded across to where they were walking side by side towards us. "I wonder where they've been?"

I was going to point out what a cute couple they made, when I quickly remembered that I was talking about Draco's fiancée and his best mate.

"Maybe he was giving her a birthday present?" Draco shrugged nonchalantly.

"I heard you had an altercation with Parkinson," Blaise sniggered as he drew up beside us and threw himself down on the sand.

"I'm so sorry, Ronnie," Bambi gushed plonking down on the foot of my lounger, causing the shells around her neck to clink loudly together. "I feel so absolutely dreadful. But don't you worry, I've had security remove that ghastly woman. I simply cannot tolerate bullying."

"Hey - she wasn't bullying me, nobody bullies Ronnie Weasley!" I roared indignantly. "She was just being her usual bitch self and needed someone to put her in her fucking place!"

"And you sure did that," Draco scoffed, "If I hadn't stepped in they would be carting you off to Azkaban for murder right now."

I noticed Blaise look up sharply. "Oh?" His eyes darted curiously between Draco and I.

"Oh thank goodness you were there, Draco." Bambi breathed dramatically. "I simply cannot begin to tell you how guilty I felt when I heard. I'm so sorry I abandoned you, Ronnie!"

"I don't need looking after," I shrugged, causing Draco to let out a loud derisive snort.

"Oh don't be silly, Ronnie," Bambi said, patting a sympathetic hand on my lower leg. "We all need looking after every once in a while."

Her eyes gave a quick furtive glance down to where Blaise was sat.

"Where were you two, anyway?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me. "You had both disappeared when I got out of the changing room."

"Just giving Bambi a bit of moral support while she dealt with a culinary issue, that's all." Blaise said, not quite meeting anyone's eyes.

"Is there a problem with the kitchen then?" I asked, sitting up. "Do you need me to go and fucking sort them out?"

A hand clamped down on my arm. I looked down to see it was Draco's. "You're not working, Ronnie," he said fiercely, his eyes piercing mine with such ferocity. "You're here with us."

"Honestly, it's all fine Ronnie," Bambi said quickly. "Draco's right, you're our guest, not our staff."

Draco let his hand drop from my arm, but his eyes remained firmly on mine, making my heart flutter crazily.

All I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss him.

"I'm going to get some more drinks," he said, tearing his eyes away from me and quickly getting to his feet.

Bambi immediately jumped up too. "I'll come with you, there's still some people I haven't said hi to yet."

I felt an odd disappointment squeeze at my insides as I watched them walk off to the bar together.

"You two are looking mighty cosy all of a sudden," Blaise smirked as he dived onto Draco's vacated lounger. "What happened to not interfering?"

"It's perfectly innocent, Blaise," I retorted, haughtily crossing my arms over my chest. "And since when the fuck did you need to hold Bambi's hand to sort out staffing issues?"

"Since you told me that they are not even fucking and that she still loves me."

"No, all I said was that she said she couldn't imagine having sex with someone she didn't love. Doesn't mean she won't, and doesn't mean she still loves you."

"Come off it, Ronnie. The girl is smitten with me. Just like lover boy is with you."

"They're engaged to be fucking married!" I cried exasperatedly, tired of having this same conversation over and over again.

"Yeah, and in love with other people." He muttered.

"I still say we shouldn't interfere." I said, lying back and closing my eyes. "If they want to call off the wedding then it's got to be their decision only. I refuse to beg, and so should you."

"Who's begging for what now?"

My eyes flew open, startled by Draco's voice. He stood over me, empty handed and looking down at me curiously.

"Oh," I cried, trying desperately to claw my brain for something but Draco's toned abs were driving me to distraction again.

"Weasley was just telling me about how she got Potter to be her friend." Blaise sniggered.

"No, I think you'll find that Draco was the one begging to be his friend." I smirked, not being able to help myself.

"You little..."

I yelped, as in a surprisingly swift move, Draco bent down and roughly pulled me off the lounger, throwing me over his shoulder in a fireman's lift so that I was suddenly staring down at his pale, taut back.

"What the fuck Draco? Put me down!" I yelled, flailing my arms and legs about as he effortless strode towards the water.

I could hear Blaise chuckling, not bothering to come and help me as Draco continued his plight.

"I swear to god, Malfoy! You put me back down this instant!" I screamed, smacking his back as hard as I could.

"Nope." Draco simply said, his voice full of wicked glee as he waded into the water. "You've been a naughty girl Weasley, you need to be punished."

"For fuck's sake! You're engaged, Draco! You need to quit manhandling me at every given opportunity!"

"Yeah?" He growled in my ear, "then maybe you need to stop having wantom thoughts about me."

Shit, how the fuck did he know?

And with that, he lifted me up off his shoulder and threw me into the water.

I resurfaced, spluttering and gasping.

"You're a complete shit, Malfoy!" I yelled, angrily hitting the water with my hand so that it splashed all over his gleeful face.

I felt utterly furious. I desperately looked back to shore to see if Bambi had noticed, but all I could make out was Blaise still shaking with laughter on the lounger.

"She doesn't care, Ronnie." Draco said, his eyes on me as he inched closer.

We were in chest deep, and I struggled to keep my footing as I moved back, not trusting myself to be too near him. There was an all too familiar look in his eyes.

"I care, Draco." I shivered, "I like Bambi, and this is her birthday party. You're humiliating us both."

He blinked, the hunger in his eyes dying as my words hit him, quickly replaced by shame and sorrow. A look I was getting used to seeing in him a lot these days.

"I don't know what to say," he murmured hoarsely.

Tell me you love me and you want me to be yours.

But, of course, he never did.

******