Fire

Hermione Granger

I can't believe Ginny never confided in me that she smoked. Actually, I can, because I totally understand that it's not something you want to flaunt.

What I really can't believe is how much of a bastard Malfoy is being. Well, that's not completely shocking, either, but lately it's gotten worse. The whole kiss thing was just downright appalling! I couldn't believe his selfishness… wait, actually, I could. But still… part of me wondered why he really wanted me to kiss him. Was it really because he didn't get kissed in eleven days? I could hardly classify that as a crisis; before Ginny's dare, it had been months since my previous kiss. But why kiss me? He thought I was revolting, disgusting, and a mudblood. Why kiss me? I decided to confront him on the matter later.

Anyway, we walked for two days without sleeping. It was pretty much our schedule, now. We would snack on things we came across and stop to rest only occasionally for two days. We would set up a camp and bathe and cook and sleep every two days. It worked out alright for us.

"How many days have we been out here?" Ron asked suddenly. We were walking at this point.

"Uh… I don't know," Ginny said with her head tilted to the side.

"Thirteen," Malfoy and I said at the same time.

"At least some people have brains," Neville said.

"Speaking of brains, it would make sense to stop. If we're going to stick to our little schedule," I pointed out.

"Alright, fine," Neville said. "Ron and Ginny and I will set things up. Can you and Malfoy handle the food without killing each other?"

"Yes," I said. When Ron opened his mouth to argue I said, "I'll be fine, Ron."

When we walked into the woods and away from everyone else, I said, "Why did you want the kiss from me, anyway?"

"I already told you, Granger," he said with a sigh. "I haven't had any action in over a week. When you said you'd do anything for the wand, it was only obvious what I wanted."

"Come on, though," I insisted. "I'm a vulgar mudblood, why would you want to put yourself through the torture?"

"It was either you or Ginny. And I happen to find smoking most unattractive. And besides, she's a year younger than us… and she's much less developed, Granger."

I looked disgusted at his last comment and his smirk. "I do hope you mean that by means of mentally and maturity."

He only smirked at me in return.

"I still think there's more to this," I insisted.

"Oh," he said slowly and softly. "I get it. You thought I liked you or something, didn't you?" he asked carefully.

"No!" I answered a little too quickly. "No. That's not it at all."

Inside, though, I kind of did think maybe he liked me. And I had no idea in the world why it bothered me that he didn't… but it did.

He just raised his eyebrows at me looked at me with his head tilted. I expected him to say more, but he didn't.

"There are only three kinds of berries around here," I remarked after a moment of silence. "Blueberries, raspberries, and these," I pointed to a bush with pinkish purple berries on it.

"I am so sick of berries," Malfoy said. "Come on," he dragged me off in another direction.

"Where are we going?" I asked, pulling my arm away from him.

"We're going to find us some real food."

"Where do you suppose we'll do that?" I asked bitterly. "There's nothing here we can kill!"

"No, see, Granger," he said, turning to face me, "that's where you're wrong."

I shrugged and followed him. He walked through weeds and we crossed two streams.

"Malfoy, where—"

He clasped a large hand over my mouth. "Shh," he ordered.

There was a deer several feet away from us. It was tiny… a baby, no doubt, and Malfoy had his eye on it. I shook my head violently. "No, you can't," my voice was muffled due to his hand pressed against it.

"Shh!" he ordered again, using his free hand to find a stick. He found one with a decent point on it and looked at me quickly. "Keep quiet," he said before removing his hand.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand before licking my chapped lips. I didn't want him to kill the deer. I didn't want him to even consider it. But desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose. No one can live off plants and berries and the occasional—but quite rare, now—fish.

I turned away from him, not wanting to see him stab the poor creature. There was an inhuman sound and I turned to see Malfoy with the dead deer dragging behind him. I winced. "I don't think I can eat that.

"Oh, come on, Granger, you know you're starving."

It was true. I was beyond starving. I wondered if I would ever get to eat real food again.

"Deer is a delicacy in most foreign countries, you know," he smirked.

"Yeah, well, we're not in another country."

"We might as well be…"

After crossing the first stream, I realized that it was getting dark. We'd taken too much time getting food. We walked in the darkness before it was evident that we were totally lost.

"Malfoy…?"

"What?" he snapped.

"We're lost."

"I know."

"Can you see their fire?"

"No, can you?"

"No," I said nervously. "What if we don't find them again?"

"Then I guess we'll have to go on without them."

"But we don't have the wand! Neville's got it today!" I said anxiously.

"That's the least of our worries," he told me. "We don't have the directions."

I smiled, happy that something would work out at least. "No, Malfoy, I memorized them."

"Fine, then, we'll just sleep over here for the night, eat some berries, and catch up with them tomorrow," he suggested.

"Fine."

I sat on the ground. Surprisingly, Malfoy didn't sit five feet away from me. He sat beside me and looked at me for a moment without saying anything. I twitched uncomfortably under his gaze.

"What?" I asked, annoyed.

"Nothing."

I rolled my eyes and looked away for a moment. I could still feel his eyes burning a hole through my head. I turned to look at him and he looked away. "What?" I hissed.

"What?"

I gave a frustrated groan and pulled at my hair so it fell in front of my face.

"You've stopped being so horrible toward me, Granger," Malfoy said.

I was glad my hair was blocking my face. "Don't look at me! You haven't insulted me in days."

"Only because you didn't provoke me," he said. "See how it could've worked back in Hogwarts? If you only acted civil toward me, I wouldn't have to torment you."

I shook my head. "That's not true. Even if I didn't do anything, you would've bothered me. You seem to enjoy it."

He laughed. "I suppose," he paused. "You know, Granger, it's hard to talk to someone when you can't see them." He reached out and brushed some of my hair behind my right ear. I lifted my hand to sweep the rest away and his hand brushed against mine and he dropped it to his side. Why were things so awkward between us now?

"Who says I want to talk to you?" I asked coldly.

"Getting a little defensive, are we, Granger?" he asked with his signature smirk.

"Only because you're being a git!" I defended.

"I hardly see where that happened," he muttered. "I was fixing your hair!"

"See, exactly!" I exclaimed. "You touched me. I don't want to be touched. I don't like it… it makes me uncomfortable." It was a blatant lie, but I hoped he wouldn't notice.

He snorted. "Oh, please, Granger! I see you snuggled up next to your little Weasel of a boyfriend at night. And you hug that Ginny girl all the time."

I looked down. "He's not my boyfriend," I snapped.

"Touchy subject," Malfoy smirked. "Let's talk about it. So, Granger, how long have you been dating? When's the wedding? Where's the ring? How many babies are you going to have? You know, his family's quite large, so he'll probably want you to have, like, ten."

By the time he was done, my hands were balled into fists and I was restraining myself from slapping him. Then I decided that it was taking too much energy to refrain myself, so I slapped him across the face. He didn't even flinch. "Nice try, but that didn't hurt."

"I suppose people slap you so often you're used to it," I spat.

He looked interested. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean," I started dangerously, "that you annoy so many people so often than you must get slapped across the face quite often. And I'm sure your father has—"

"Don't you ever even begin to suggest that my father has mistreated me!" I trembled when I realized that I was now on my back, Malfoy leaning over me, his face two inches from mine. I tried to squirm, but he was too strong.

I didn't answer him. He glared at me for a few minutes, trying to read my expression. I forced myself to remain emotionless. He lifted himself off of me and walked away. He finally stopped, propped himself against a tree, and closed his eyes.

I rolled over, facing away from him, and hugged myself. I couldn't begin to explain the tears that were burning in my eyes, but I wiped them away hastily and forced myself to sleep.

Author's Note: That chapter has been rewritten several time, and I'm happiest with this version. A bit of trivia for you: I originally had some romance in this one… but I decided it was too rushed and deleted it all. The romance comes in later… and in a better way. Besides… what's the rush? NEXT CHAPTER SPOILER: They begin the next leg of the journey… alone. More awkward conversations, more tension… but do they ever find Ginny, Ron, and Neville again?

Here's a little excerpt from my new story. I'm excited about it, so I thought I'd share this bit from the second chapter. It might not make complete sense, but it's like a teaser movie trailer… piece the facts given together and anticipate a better summary later! And don't worry—The Blaze is no where near done!

I sat at the table and took a big sip of my soda. And moments later, I proceeded to spit the soda out into the appetizer plate on the table.

"Nice to see you again, Granger."

"Malfoy! How the hell did you get in here?"

"I have a credit card, Granger," he drawled, "Potter didn't just ship me out here with nothing, you know."

"Look, Malfoy, I don't want to be having this conversation with you!" I rubbed my forehead.

"Granger, can't you just hear me out? You don't even know why I'm here and you're ready to banish me!"

"No, I can't hear you out," I said. "My life in your part of the world is over now, and I'm not going back."

"Not even for Harry?" he asked, knowing he'd hit a sore spot.

I bit my lip and said firmly, "No. Not even for Harry."

"Who are you?" Aberdeen returned from the bathroom and noticed Malfoy sitting in her seat.

"Me?" he asked, pointing to his chest. "Oh, I'm no one. In fact, I think I'm going to go hang myself off that bridge over there because your mother won't listen to what I have to say," he said dramatically.

"Did I miss something?" Abby asked slowly.

"Not anything important," I said.

"Ouch," Malfoy said, getting up from the booth across from me. "That hurt, Granger. I'll just go back to England where I'll be put back in jail because I failed miserably at my one chance to have a free life."

I gave a frustrated sigh and said, "Okay, fine. I'll hear you out. I'll meet you outside my apartment at noon and we'll talk, okay?"

"Yes! I'm not a failure! I won't be thrown in jail! You won't be sorry, Granger! Oh, and we'll go eat lunch somewhere expensive! Potter's paying, after all." he flashed the credit card in the air again. Then he left the restaurant quickly.
"Who was that?" Aberdeen asked.

"Uh, that was um…" I didn't know what to tell her. Abby didn't know much about my past… she knew nothing of magic or the war or anything. "Some guy," I finished weakly.

"Okay, right, mom," Abby rolled her eyes. "That guy knew you from somewhere. It was obvious."

"Alright, fine, he was an old schoolmate of mine," I said.

"Why'd he call you 'Granger'?" Abby asked suddenly, as if she just realized it.

"Oh, look, the food's here!" I said happily, dropping the conversation. I don't think I've ever been happier to see cheese fondue in my entire life.