Chapter 18

For the second time in two days Ginny was drowning. Draco held her close, his hands moving from her arms to wrap protectively around her waist, while her own arms slid around his neck as she pulled him even closer.

She half-thought she was going to strangle him, but he didn't protest.

Instead, it seemed as if all his concentration was going into that kiss, and Ginny could tell that all his pent up emotions were finally being let loose. It was…intense. That was the only word she could think of. Never, ever had she been kissed so passionately, and she knew that she was giving as good as she got right back.

Finally, they were free of the lies and deceptions, the anger and the hurt. Finally, they could just be together and not feel torn apart. It was sheer bliss.

But all good things must come to an end, and this one ended way too soon, in Ginny's opinion.

"You know," Draco teased gently, his breath tickling her ear, "we're still lost."

That jolted her back to reality, and she pulled back a little, though not out of his grip. "We are, aren't we?"

Draco nodded grimly, his own face becoming serious. "Yes, we are, and it's not a very good thing. Nights are cold here, and it won't be long before it gets dark. We've got to find our way back."

Ginny agreed. "Ooookay. So how exactly do we do that?"

Draco pursed his lips, thinking. "Well, I guess knowing what direction is north is a start. We can't just go wondering around in circles for hours, so our best bet is to go in one direction. Now, in the village, there was a road leading from north to south, and I think we headed east from there. So even if we don't know what direction we went from the camp, it seems logical that if we head in a western direction, we're bound to come across that road. Right?"

Ginny was biting her lip, thinking hard. "Okay, I guess that makes sense. But…what if the road doesn't go that far and we never meet it?"

Draco's jaw twitched, then he forced himself to relax and smiled slightly. "Then we're really no worse off, are we?"

"No."

"Okay then, I suggest we start walking." He headed off in the direction her wand had indicated earlier as west, and Ginny fell into step beside him.

"How long do you think it will take to reach the road?" If we reach the road.

"I'm not sure, but it was at least half a day's walk from the village to our campsite, so I expect it'll take us at least that long."

"Oh," Ginny whispered nervously, her voice sounding small and strained in the midst of the gigantic trees.

"But don't worry," Draco added quickly, trying to reassure her, "we'll be fine."

Ginny nodded, trying to make herself believe it. We'll be fine, she repeated over and over in her head. We'll be fine.

So they walked, side by side, pushing through the tall trees and helping each other over fallen branches and rotting logs. Vegetation was sparse, as the great trees took up most of the sunlight for themselves, but there were some small bushes and shrubs that thrived in the darkness. And Ginny could have sworn she saw several types of ferns littering the forest floor.

They saw no animals, except for a few birds, and once, a deer.

It had been browsing for food when they had come upon it, quite suddenly, in a small gap between trees. It stared at them for a moment before ambling away through the bushes.

"That was a deer, wasn't it?" asked Draco, who wasn't too fond of animals, sceptically.

Ginny nodded. "Yep, that was a deer." Then she looked him over appraisingly. "Not scared, are we Draco?" she asked with a playful grin on her face.

"Of course not," he denied.

"Good," she teased, "because if you were scared of that, you'd better hope we don't see any tigers." She started forward again, leaving him behind.

"Tigers?" Draco called uncertainly from behind her, running a few steps to catch up. "There are tigers out here?"

Ginny shrugged, her eyes sparkling. "But don't worry, I'll protect you."

Draco gave her a scathing look. "Ha ha, that was so funny I forgot to laugh."

"And that," Ginny returned, "was very original."

"Thank you. I pride myself on my originality."

"Then you have one very overblown ego," she retorted sweetly. "But we already knew that, didn't we?"

Draco paused long enough to mime tipping his hat to her. Ginny won the first round.

They continued walking, the forest growing darker and more spooky by the minute. Pretty soon, there was barely even enough light to see each other, let alone check their direction with Ginny's wand.

"Draco," Ginny whispered. She wasn't sure why she was talking so low, but the silence of the night seemed to demand it.

"What?" he asked. He sounded edgy, and Ginny couldn't blame him.

"I think we should stop for the night."

"But it can't be that much further, we've been walking for four hours already. I think we should keep going," he added.

"We can't even see our hands in front of our faces," she insisted. "We should stop, before we kill ourselves by running into a tree or something."

"If you just hold your hands out in front of you-" he continued stubbornly.

"No. We're stopping. Now." Ginny's voice left no room for argument.

"Fine," Draco sulked. "We'll stay, but only to make you happy."

Ginny smiled slightly to herself in the darkness. He sounded exactly like a whiny three-year-old. "Thank you."

Then, Draco seemed to remember something. "We could use your wand."

Ginny stamped her foot in frustration. "And do what exactly? Call unwanted attention to ourselves?"

"That's stupid. Who's going to be out here?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Ever heard of a little thing called 'animals', Draco? leopards, tigers, rhinos-"

"We'll stay," he interrupted quickly.

Even though she couldn't see him, Ginny knew she'd gotten to him. Taking his hand so they wouldn't get separated, Ginny led him towards a nearby tree. When she was certain that he would stay there, she let him go and reached to grasp the lowest branch, swinging herself up in one fluid motion.

Then she called down to him. "Come on up. I don't know if it's any protection against leopards and tigers, but it'll keep us from being trampled by…anything."

Moments later, she felt Draco pull himself into place beside her on the branch. "We're going to sleep in a tree? Doesn't sound to comfortable."

"I'm sorry," Ginny snapped, irritated. "Why don't we just head for that Holiday Inn over there instead!"

Draco jerked back, shocked by her vehemence. "Sooorrrry," he muttered sarcastically.

Ginny sighed, feeling a little guilty for having snapped at him. "I know, it's not your fault," she assured him. "It's just…this trip hasn't turned out at all like I expected it to. First that thing with you, now this…" she trailed off. "Getting lost was so not on the itinerary."

Draco sighed too, reaching out to take her hand. "I know it wasn't. And I guess…I guess I'm not helping any. I'll try to quit complaining, I promise."

Ginny snorted. "Yeah right. That promise is about as good as the one you made when you said you wouldn't bother me anymore, remember?"

Draco found himself laughing too. "Okay, okay, so my promises don't mean that much. How about I give you my word?"

Ginny glanced at him, disbelieving. "Uh, Draco, that's kind of the same thing."

"No it's not," he insisted, shaking his head. "A promise can be easily broken, but giving someone your word is like…like swearing on yourself, your family, and everything you believe in. It's much more important."

"Well…" Ginny began, trying to decide if that was really true or not, "okay. I'll take your word for it."

"Good," he replied. "Now, do you want this branch or the one above it, because I'm ready to get some sleep if at all possible."

"I'll take the next one, seeing as how your already positioned on this one." She indicated the way he was already resting against the tree trunk, before she climbed up to the next branch.

From below, she heard his voice. "Just don't fall, okay?"

"I don't plan to, but why? Won't you catch me?"

A soft snort was the only answer she got.

*********

A/N: So, what do you think? Is it getting more interesting? Next chapter, we get to see if they find that road, or…something else. Any guesses? Betcha it's not what you think.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I 've now reached the 200 mark! I love all of you!

Forbidden: I'm not sure. I don't know if that will even come into play in the story, but we shall see…

G: Thank you!

Meadow A: I'm glad you liked the chapter and that you agree. They can't just say: "I love you" yet. It's too soon. But they will say it eventually. Right now, I plan to go on having them get along okay, with some arguments in between of course. I think they've gotten over the complete hate part, but they can still annoy the hell out of each other, lol. And thanks, I think I'll like it!

Kneh13: Well, now that you know how their trying to get back, you'll have to see if they do…

Heidi-Ravenclawgurl: Yeah, I know. Kind of a cliffy I guess. But there, this chapter finished that part up. Better now? *grins*

dragons princess: Thanks for liking the chappie, and for the info. I'll have to try it.

SaintlySmile: Yeah, they did!

Kourtnie1: Thank you, I'm glad you like him. I do the best I can.

Aidenfire: I love getting compliments from you. They seem to mean a lot! And the baby's name is Jackson Reed. They're coming home from the hospital today, so I'll get to go see him at their house! *squeals excitedly*