Different

Draco Malfoy

Kissing Granger wasn't as horrible as I made it seem. Maybe that's why I played it up to be this awful, revolting experience. I was shocked that kissing her wasn't as bad as I expected it to be in that moment before our lips met. Sure, I've had better kisses, but she wasn't that horrendous.

But what I couldn't believe was that she wasn't jumping at the chance to kiss me! I mean, really… all the girls in every house and of every year wanted a chance to get that three second kiss that Granger got. I was surprised she didn't treasure it.

But whatever. The kiss meant nothing to me… and by the looks of it, nothing to her, either. So we all went to sleep not too long after the whole game ordeal. Everyone slept sort of far away from each other. Except, of course, for Granger and the Weasels. Seriously… how the hell does Weasel get all the girls? Given that one of the ones cuddling up next to him was his sister, but still! Why on earth does Granger go for him? Not only is he ugly, but he's stupid. Honestly… Ron Weasley is the dumbest wizard I have ever had the displeasure to be in classes with. Except for Neville Longbottom, who happens to be gracing all of us with his presence, too!

I am stuck with the worst possible people for the rest of my life. My only hope is that Blaise Zabini will already be at The Blaze when we get there. He already had a head start.

----

"Get up, Malfoy!" Granger hissed at me while kicking my leg.

"Goddamn it, Granger!" I groaned, rolling over onto my back.

"Oh, sorry. Does your mummy always stroke your head and whisper nice things to you in order to wake you? Does she give you five extra minutes if you whine?" Granger spat. She was being particularly nasty to me that day… most likely because of the whole kiss thing.

I grumbled something incomprehensible and unwillingly stood up. I glared at Granger and shoved past her. If she was going to treat me like crap, I'd return the favor.

We walked down the path again. We knew that we would have to travel for almost a month. It was going to be boring, difficult, and tiring. We would be running on hardly any sleep or food.

"I sometimes wonder if this is the right thing to do," Granger whispered, as though she was reading my thoughts. "I mean… shouldn't I be with Harry? Why aren't I by his side helping him fight?"

"Because you'd be killed," I said bluntly. "Voldermort would kill you in a second. In the past years, he's pumped my father for information on you. In turn, my father would grill me about you."

"What did you tell him?" Ron asked dangerously.

"I told him about Granger's brains… her grades, her classes, her skill at picking up new tasks. And obviously, her bloodlines," I said. "Voldermort was threatened by Granger… he said he'd finish her off as soon as the chance arose. But the day of the attack… he missed."

"He'll figure out that I'm alive, though," she said slowly. "He'll try and find me eventually."

"Probably," I admitted. "And he's looking for me, too. I let him down. I betrayed him. And, of course, my father will want to kill me with his bare hands for helping you."

"Then we can't let them find us," Ginny said bravely.

----

"I think we should split up," Longbottom suggested. "Some of us could go find food and others could build the fire and some places to rest near it."

"Alright," Ginny nodded. "I'll go with you, Neville."

"I'll go with Hermione," Ron spoke up quickly.

"I guess I should go with you too," I said. "We'll get the food."

"Fine," Granger said.

And so, Ron dragged Granger off into the woods and I had to follow. Longbottom and Ginny went off in the other direction.

"What is there to eat around here, anyway?" I asked.

"Berries," Granger said simply.

"'Moine, I think Malfoy wants to know what food there is around here," Weasley said. I refrained laughter.

"Ron, berries are food," Granger persisted. "They're edible."

"Just because something is edible doesn't mean I want to eat it," Weasley explained.

"Yeah," I agreed. "People are edible, but I don't exactly want to take a bite out of your arm, Granger."

She glared at me. "Malfoy, that's called cannibalism and it's pretty much completely socially unacceptable."

"Precisely," I agreed. Then I spotted a bush with large red berries growing on it. "Are those okay to eat?"

"I don't know," Weasley said, picking one. "I say Malfoy should try it, and if he dies, we'll know not to eat them."

"Very funny," I muttered.

Granger picked a berry and popped it into her mouth. "Hermione!" Weasley exclaimed, grabbing her shoulders. "Spit it out!"

"Relax, Ron," she said, swallowing the contents in her mouth. "It's a thimbleberry."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Positive," she said, picking another. "My grandmother used to have them growing in her yard. She had a little garden of them in there. And every summer when I spend a few weeks at her house, I would pick them and eat them right from the bush, and—"

"Spare us your treasured family memories, Granger," I interrupted. Both of them glared at me.

We picked some thimbleberries or whatever and then found some blueberries. "Eating berries all the time is pretty boring," I remarked when we had pockets filled with the fruit.

"Yeah, well, what do you suggest?" Weasley snapped.

"We can fish," Granger suggested.

"Oh, yeah, right," I said sarcastically. "With what wand?"

"You can fish without a wand," she said, reaching for a stick that was on the ground.

About ten minutes later, Granger had taken a stick, some string-like plant fibers, a rock, and a dead bug and walked to the stream. "What the bloody hell is that?" Weasley asked with wide eyes.

"What are you going to use that for?" I demanded.

"To catch fish," she said simply.

Neither of us believed her, but she surprised us. She threw the end with the rock and the dead bug into the water and waited. "How long does it take?" I asked bitterly.

"In fishing, patience is pretty much the first thing you need," she responded.

I rolled my eyes and thought, Malfoys aren't patient.

But several minutes later, a tiny little fish was on the end of the rock. She flung the stick backwards quickly, and the fish landed behind her. "Wow, Granger, that really is going to feed an army," I snorted. The fish was smaller than my largest finger.

"It's bait, Malfoy. I'll stick it on the end of this and another fish will eat it," she explained.

"Isn't that like cannibalism?" I asked, utterly confused.

She didn't glare at me as usual. Instead, she laughed. It wasn't the hollow, fake laugh she had displayed several times since the attack. It was a real, sincere laugh that made her brown eyes sparkle.

Ew. Why did I think that?

Moving on, after she laughed at me, she explained that fish can eat other fish without it being considered cannibalistic. I pretended to understand the concept. Meanwhile, she had thrown the stick back into the water. While she was telling me all about various species of fish and what they eat, she caught another fish. A bigger one.

"Now that's a fish!" I complimented, examining it. "It's a trout," I said happily.

"Trout and thimbleberries," Weasley said enthusiastically. "This is almost like Thanksgiving!"

We brought the fish back to the camp area Longbottom and Ginny set up. The dragged some large rocks into a circle and started a fire in the center. Then they pulled three logs over to the area and set them up around the fire.

Granger sat next to Ron, Ginny and Longbottom shared a log, and I sat alone on the last one. When everyone saw the fish, they were ecstatic and got to work roasting it over the fire right away.

"Wow, this is really good," Ginny said as she ate her piece of trout.

Everyone murmured in agreement. We hadn't had meat in what seemed like forever. It was funny that something to simple was so extravagant here in the woods. We took so many things for granted, I realized.

I always knew I was spoiled… but I never thought I would see the day when I would be sitting on a log eating the smallest piece of trout with my bare hands and no plate. I never, ever imagined that I'd be in this situation.

There was still a little bit of daylight left, so I decided to go find a lake where I could swim. I felt disgusting… just taking a dip in some water might help me feel better.

"I'm going to go swimming," I said as I rose from my seat.

"Good idea, I want to come, too," Granger said.

"I'm too full," Ron muttered, holding his stomach. "I'll throw up if I have to exercise."

"I'd better stay with him," Ginny nodded her head in her brother's direction.

"I can't swim," Longbottom admitted.

"Suit yourselves," Granger said under her breath.

We walked in silence along the stream. It had to end up by a lake eventually. After several minutes of walking, we heard rushing water. "Is that a waterfall?" Granger asked hopefully. I shrugged.

"It is! Look!" She practically jumped up and down when she saw the cliff ahead of us. We walked to the edge and saw the deep, clear, blue lake beneath us.

I threw my Slytherin robes on the ground and started to unbutton my shirt. Granger threw me a look of disgust. "You're not taking off your shirt, are you?"

"Yes, I am," I declared. "Do you have a problem with that? I don't want to get my only shirt wet."

"Yes, I have a problem with it. I don't need to see you half naked," she cringed.

"I don't understand you, Granger!" I laughed. "Everyone except you wants to see me completely naked."

"Well I don't need to see you even partially so."

"Then don't bloody look," I snapped as I tossed my shirt on the ground. She found a spot on the ground that must've been completely fascinating. "You're not wearing your clothes in the water, are you?" I asked as I took off my pants. I had my Slytherin boxer shorts on, anyway.

"Well, I'm leaving my shirt on!" She informed me.

"Good," I said with an exaggerated sigh. "I don't want to see you naked, Granger."

"Yeah right," she scoffed. "You're a guy. All guys want to see all girls naked, regardless if they like them or not."

"That's true," I admitted with a sly smile. She rolled her eyes. We both kicked off our shoes and stood near the edge.

"Can you dive?" She asked without looking at me.

"Of course," I said.

"Good, because it would hurt if you didn't," she said, looking down. Then she backed up, took a running start, and did a perfect dive off the edge of the cliff.

"Wow," I heard her breathe when she came up for air.

I dove into the water and was amazed at its clarity. The only negative thing about the lake was the water temperature. It was freezing. Granger floated around on her back for a little while.

"Hey, Granger," I smirked.

"What?" She asked bitterly.

"I can see right through your shirt," I said obnoxiously.

She glared at me, glanced down at herself, and dipped her body further into the water. As an afterthought, she wrapped her robe around her tightly. "You git!" she scolded loudly.

"You should've taken it off," I continued. "It's the only shirt you have and it's soaking wet."

"There's no way I'd take my shirt off in front of you!"

"You really are different from every other girl I'd ever met, Granger."

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the reviews everyone! And sorry about skipping the chapter spoiler! I don't know what I was thinking. Let me get that out of the way now: NEXT CHAPTER SPOILER: Can you say "water fight?" I know it's clichéd… but… it's funny. And why is Hermione wearing Slytherin robes? But it's not all fun and games when they have to start traveling again. Because forgetting to demolish your old campsites can have complicated consequences. Review, please!