A/N: I just wanted to say thank you for the first chapter reviews. Just a reminder if you're going to read this: I based my descriptions of an airport on the movies and shows I've watched and books I've read. I don't really know what an airplane, let alone an airport, looks like. So, pardon me if I got something wrong with my descriptions. I don't have the money to ride planes so, FORGIVE ME! :) The airport and airplane is fictional, okay?
I was gone from the province and this is what I've been working on. Philippines is such a beautiful place and you will discover how beautiful this place is with Draco and Hermione as their adventure goes on. So, ENJOY!
Chapter Two: Wrong Flight—this isn't Canada!
Hermione woke up to the sound of the pilot's booming voice announcing their immediate departure. She sat up and fixed her unruly hair. She picked up her hat and clutched it in her hands. She looked over at her seatmates. And she had to laugh.
Draco was leaning unconsciously on the fat woman's shoulder, who appeared to be taking a nap like him, her loud snores evident. They looked like a couple mercilessly in love that she had the urge to take a picture of the golden moment.
She pulled out her digital camera from her purse and snapped a photo of Draco and the fat woman. Someday, she could use this picture to bribe her way into the blond former Slytherin.
The flash from her camera caused Draco to wake up from his slumber. He woke up groggily and even attempted to snuggle closer to the thing he was using as a pillow when he chanced a look up and saw the fat Muggle woman. He leaned away from her, shocked at his position and glanced over to his other seatmate who was laughing uncontrollably at the look on his face.
"Great pillow, Malfoy," Hermione said, between laughs. She was having the time of her life and in his expense, too. This was not going according to Draco's plans of insulting her even more. He just hoped the incident would be forgotten in later time.
Hermione apparently enjoyed laughing in Draco's expense. She couldn't forget the picture of him and the stout woman cuddling. How much would she earn if she sends the pictures to the Daily Prophet? She smiled evilly. That would be a whole lot of money.
oOo
Hermione tried her very best to ignore the feeling that something was terribly wrong. No. She forced her mind to believe that this instinct was just because Draco Malfoy was trailing her every move, apparently confused as well to where he was.
She found herself in the reception area of the airport. The former Slytherin was frowning and kept feeling his pockets, possibly for his ticket. Where were they? This place didn't look like Canada.
She walked around the airport, not daring to go outside. She was terribly confused and nervous that she didn't notice the huge welcome banner hanging from the ceiling. It said "Welcome to the Philippines! Mabuhay!"
Draco seemingly noticed the said banner and his eyes broadened like saucers. He ran and caught up with Hermione, stopping her by her sleeve. Hermione turned, irritation plain in her hazel brown eyes. He had the urge to smirk.
He pointed at the banner with a thumb and Hermione mirrored his reaction from earlier. If she was bothered earlier when she had the instinct that she was lost, then she felt panicky now that her instincts were confirmed. She found a seat and flopped down there in misery. She put her face in her hands and groaned, "We're not in Canada."
"Well, obviously," Draco drawled sarcastically. He ran his hands through his blond hair in frustration. He didn't like this one bit. He was stuck in an unknown place with a nemesis. (Well, more like his mortal archrival's best friend, since he considered Hermione 'not an enemy' but a 'mental opponent'.)
She removed her hands from her face but kept them on her cheeks. He noticed that tears welled up on her eyes as she stared up at him helplessly. "Then, where are we?"
"Has the sudden insanity caused you to be daft, huh, Granger?" he asked, an edge of frustration on his tone. "Didn't you see? We're in some country called Philippines."
She groaned. He rolled his eyes. She squealed silently as she trapped her face in her hands. He sat beside her and sighed.
"What will we do now, Malfoy?" Hermione asked him. She was peering up at him again with that destitute look on her face.
He sighed again. "I don't know," he answered truthfully. Hermione looked away. Then that friendly light bulb lit up on his head again and he smirked. "But we have magic."
When she turned to him for the nth time, he was twirling his wand in his fingers. He was smirking. She mentally slapped herself for being dimwitted for a brief moment. Of course. They're wizards. They could apparate.
"But there's no apparition point here. We couldn't apparate in front of all these Muggles!" she exclaimed, thinking that it was a preposterous suggestion. Draco moaned. Right. This was a muggle-infested place and with them around, they couldn't just apparte anywhere and risk being seen by Muggles.
"Then what will we do?" he asked, almost beseechingly.
"Easy. We'll ask for the next flight."
oOo
Hermione and Draco were lost, for lack of a better word. The attendant was polite enough to tell them so, although not directly, but they got the point. Apparently, a storm is coming to this small country and they couldn't afford to resume the people's flights. They would hold off the departure until after the storm gets out of the country's area of responsibility. They sat on the waiting area, their suitcases beside them. Draco put a hand on his forehead while Hermione sobbed with her face in her hands.
"Will you please stop that? You sound bloody desperate," Draco groaned to the sobbing woman. Seriously, couldn't she keep her sobs down? He could feel the people's eyes on them and they might assume he was the cause of the Gryffindor's suffering. He had had enough of those wrong accusations long before.
She sniffed and wiped her tears away from her eyes and turned to look at him venomously. She stuck her tongue out at him and he couldn't help but smirk. "Because I am, I am really desperate, Malfoy," she replied beseechingly.
"Very mature, Granger. I could almost applaud you for that," he drawled. Well, at least they're making progress in the civility 'part' since they would be stuck here for Merlin-knows-until-when. They really couldn't really fight like they used to since they were in an unknown country with no knowledge of the country's culture, customs, and language. "But seriously, don't sob like that. It's highly unnerving and it's pissing me off. You could not think coherently if you're all hysterical. Really, did the Sorting Hat put you in the wrong house? Because you'd do well in Hufflepuff with that pathetic crying." (A/N: I don't have anything against Huffs! I am a Huff myself but Draco has something against them!)
She frowned and then hit his arm playfully hard. He winced and then rubbed his hurt body part with a glare at the triumphant-looking lady beside him. Her face was now tear-free and he could now safely say that he would be embarrassed no longer. Instead, a smug look with the statement of 'so, there' probably in her mind, came on her face.
"What will we do now?" she asked after the prolonged silence. She was not crying but he could feel the sadness in her voice.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I honestly don't know. But I'm sure we have to find a place to stay in. We could not stay in this airport for long."
She nodded. Might as well enjoy their misfortune of landing in the wrong country.
oOo
It was drizzling when the former schoolmates exited the airport. It was neither cold nor hot but more like tolerable. Hermione liked it. She closed her eyes, softly smiled, looked up and let the barely there raindrops drizzle on her face. It was heavenly.
When she opened her eyes, she found Draco looking oddly at her. He had a funny look on his face like he ate something sour. "What?" she demanded. The blond just shook his head and walked ahead.
She silently followed, catching up with him. She frowned. If they were stuck in this unknown place together, then the least he could do was to be at least in speaking terms with her. It was bothersome for Hermione to have someone as company who wouldn't even answer her questions but will only have his mouth to spout insults at her. She, then, saw him stumble when he reached the end of the sidewalk. She smirked. Karma's on her side.
"Tripping on your own foot? How degrading," she jeered. Draco gladly glared at her again. She just smiled sweetly. Karma's her friend now so she had to use all the possible ways to keep her from its partner, Harm. She would not get riled up, annoyed or angered by Malfoy's actions. That would rile him up, annoy him, and anger him more.
Before he could respond, she caught sight of a white taxi cab pass by them. She immediately hailed it and luckily, it stopped. Oh, Luck was on her side, as well. She looked at Draco over her shoulder and smiled another sweet smile. Let him get tired of it because she's do this more to see him all riled up and let karma get back at him.
She climbed to the backseat of the taxi with her suitcase in tow, and the next thing she knew, Draco was pushing her to give him and his own suitcase more space. She made a face at him and he just stuck out his tongue at her, playfully imitating her actions from earlier. Now, who's more mature?
Someone cleared his throat and they were forced to look at the driver who was smiling fondly at them. She smiled back politely while she saw Draco try to smile back, although it came out more as a grimace. He wasn't that comfortable with the presence of a foreign muggle in this unknown country.
"Hi, are you foreigners?" the tanned driver asked, who looked not older than forty. He had a cap on and a white polo like a uniform. He looked very kind and reminded Hermione so much of her father that she couldn't help but answer him and smile.
"Yes, yes we are, actually," she said. The man nodded.
The driver revved up the engine and looked back at them, "Welcome to the Philippines, then," with that, he drove off.
oOo
Draco was frowning at Hermione and the man who called himself their driver for the day. The two had been chatting like old friends. The driver was pointing and talking about the places they passed while his companion listened intently and nodded like a good dog. Draco should have known. She was interested in new places and new things to learn. Of course, she'd want to know about the Philippines.
The man said he would take them to Manila after Hermione told him about their adversity. He kindly offered to take them to the city where lots of hotels were around for them to check in.
Hermione was leaning more and more to the driver seat to converse more with the stranger and he just glared at her, hoping his stare would melt her. Heck, if she was interested with the driver, then she must've had lower taste in men since befriending Potter and Weasel.
"Are you two on honeymoon?" the driver suddenly asked that caused Draco to choke on his own spit and Hermione to cough awkwardly. She was blushing, he could see, and he, on the other hand, ached to drink water. Why did the man have to throw offhand questions like that?
"N-No, we aren't. We're just former schoolmates is all," Draco stammered, directing his glower at the driver instead of the bushy-haired Gryffindor. Them, being enemies, should be none of the driver's business, he thought. And, dang, he hated stammering in front of Gryffindors and strangers like Hermione and the taxi man.
"W-What makes you think that?" Hermione suddenly asked, refusing to meet his eyes. Draco gazed at her but she was apparently asking the driver. The driver just shrugged.
"You went into the wrong flight together, got lost together, and rode in my taxi together. That's hardly a coincidence," he started. Then he looked at the blond through the rearview mirror with trepidation. Draco liked that so he smirked. "And well, your boyfriend is glaring at me the whole time we're talking."
Draco dropped his smile. Hermione shrieked, "He's not my boyfriend!" at the same time the blond shouted, "I'm not his boyfriend!"
In palpable shock, the driver hit on the brakes so sudden that all three of them were thrown forward. Hermione was shocked at the sudden halt and Draco was more than ready to hex the man for nearly making his heart jump out of his chest. He had just reached for his wand when the driver turned to them and said, "Sorry! Sorry!"
Hermione just nodded profusely and forgave the man at that instant, asking for an apology herself for shouting to his ear. Draco just gave him a curt nod in acceptance. He nearly died there so he didn't care if the taxi driver had gone deaf with their chorused bellowing. He thoroughly deserved it for asking them such an absurd question.
oOo
The taxi driver dropped them off by a huge park. Children were running around, clutching strings of balloons in their tiny hands, couples were having a nice and serene time sitting there and cuddling unabashed, vendors of different stuff were going around the park to sell, and there were some beggars on the side, asking for money. Draco wrinkled his nose. He didn't know beggars are allowed at a public park like this.
"Ride this thing called jeepney and it will take you to the nearest hotel. I'm sorry I couldn't take you there. I have an emergency to attend to. My wife is delivering our third child today so, I have to rush to the hospital," he handed Hermione a picture of the thing he called 'jeepney' through the window before speeding away.
But Draco's eyes widened at the sight of the taxi hurtling away from them. "Granger!" he hollered, near in hysterics.
"What?" she asked irritably, surveying the picture and the instructions on the back of it. She looked up at him and furrowed her brows.
He pointed at the taxi and ran, hopefully, to catch up with it. Hermione spaced out for a second before her eyes widened as well, her eyeballs nearly bulging out of their sockets. She ran with him, too. Their suitcases were left inside the taxi, on the backseat.
"This—is—all—your fault—Granger!" he said through deep breaths after they stopped when the taxi was much too far for them to catch. He had his hands on his knees and catching his breath.
Hermione was coughing and sputtering beside him, her hands on her hips to support her weary weight. "How is it my fault?" she asked angrily.
"You trusted that man too much and look where that trust got us! We left our baggage and he didn't even have the mind to go back and return it to us!" he spat. He was too angry to care that the people in the park had paused form their businesses to witness their bickering.
"He was rushing to go to the hospital! How could he know we left our suitcases there?" she shouted, running a hand through her unruly hair in frustration. Karma be damned, this man would have enough of his superiority complex.
"Well, maybe, it was his plan all along. To lure us into believing that he was a kind old man, working as an innocent taxi driver to get money from us. He stole our things and you still have the audacity to feel sorry for him? That's borderline pathetic!" he threw his hands up in the air in defeat. Because let's face it, they were doomed without their things.
"My money was in my purse. As for my wand and mobile phone," she stated weakly. She hated to admit it, but he was quite right. Maybe the man did steal their bags. Maybe he needed money that much for his wife that he had to resort to stealing. Maybe she became too inattentive and trusting. For the smartest witch of the age, she could say she could be quite an idiot sometimes.
"Sometimes? Try always," Draco said and Hermione had to wonder if he was a mind-reader. No, she just unconsciously said that aloud.
"What will we do now?" she inquired for the second time that day.
"We'll follow the man's advice," Draco shrugged his shoulders. "It's our only sensible direction."
Hermione agreed with him wholeheartedly as she nodded. They just hoped their bad day in a strange place could get better.
oOo
"Where are we?" Draco asked, looking around cautiously. The park was full of people who were looking at them oddly.
"Luneta Park," Hermione breathed beside him. He turned to her with two eyebrows raised. She was looking up instead of around, unlike him.
"You really do know everything, don't you?" he asked, his voice portrayed that of innocent surprise. This girl could be the 'Walking Dictionary and Encyclopedia' because she's definitely pass as one.
She smiled at him in disdain and pointed up. "I saw the sign. Unlike you, I'm aware of my surroundings."
True enough, there was a huge sign up a post saying "Luneta Park". Idiot, that's what he was, but he would never admit that. His pride was higher than the heavens to even entertain the idea of partaking in the information to someone else.
He stared at her for a good five seconds. She stared back with inquiry in her eyes. Wow, her eyes were really, really brown. Her eyebrows were naturally thick and dark unlike his that were thin-like because of its blonde color against his albino skin. Her eyelashes were very long and personally, he thought of it as an asset of hers. Her slim lips were pinkish with just a slight trace of gloss. Another natural. And she had that little dimple by the side of her mouth that appears whenever she smiles. That observation was only for a good five seconds.
She waved a hand in front of him. "Malfoy? Malfoy! I saw a jeepney just now!" she exclaimed in his ear, thinking he had gone deaf. He woke up from his deep reverie and clogged his ears with his forefinger. He winced. Her voice alone could kill one of his five senses.
Hermione didn't wait for his response as she chased a jeepney. He has never seen anything like it for it was unusually long and different people could come in and out anytime. Now, it has stopped by the sidewalk and a passenger climbed up. It also seemed to be waiting for them.
"Malfoy! Come on!" Hermione called, like she knew what she was doing. He just hoped she did.
Last A/N: Did you like it? Then review! I would like to hear what you say. This would be finished soon but not soon enough. I've been going to many places this summer and I hope I could give you fluffy scenes made in the Philippines ONLY! :)
Next chapter: A Wild Goose Chase
