Captured

Disclaimer: I disclaim!

White-hot searing pain echoed within the recesses of her mind. Her eyes were clamped shut against the unforgiving sun. It burned intently at her face. A rasp barely audible escaped her throat. Her jaw unclenched and her tongue escaped from her mouth. Try as she might, her parched lips received no retribution. They grew increasingly chapped and she flinched at her attempt to speak. The movement caused her lips to spread and crack. Blood trickled from her lips like a running tear drop downwards to her chin.

The sight stirred his interest and he caught the impending drop of blood with his tongue. The taste was metallic and he couldn't help but enjoy himself.

"I never knew what pleasure I could take from the taste of dirtied blood, " stated her captor. The prisoner's senses were left dormant for too long. The new sound startled her enough to cause an instinctive swat with her hand. But the action was not completed as she soon rediscovered the feel of metal impeding any efforts from her limbs. Suddenly, the idea of being rendered vulnerable through such means alarmed her, and she began to thrash about wildly. All of it was done in vain, of course; the chains kept his captive in place.

The man watched her with relative fascination; as much as a hunter would at newly acquired prey. His smirk spoke of smug triumph at being able to capture such a glorious beast. His sole concern now lay in taming her, but that would have to wait. The beast was strong-willed and had taken him a bit of luck to succeed in the chase. But in the end, his polished skills prevailed over her rudimentary instincts.

The jungled expanse did more to hinder her step rather than help. At every turn she would be met with some sort of barrier. Each time she was barred, precious moments were wasted in struggling to get through. At one point in her stay, she thrived off nature's wonders, but now as she ran deeper into the jungle, she seemed to run closer to an inevitable doom. He was in hot pursuit behind her. She could feel the vibrations that followed each step he took.

In her desperation to escape, she barely noticed that she had stumbled upon a pit of vipers. She stopped to catch her breath only one fatal step before reaching death's doorstep. As she turned around to continue in her route, she found herself paralyzed as several snakes wound their way around her ankles and calves. Hermione dared to steal a breath and calmed her nerves enough to reach for her wand. She was eager to continue on her way and save her life as she bloody knew it, but casting a spell would cause her to reveal her temporary location. Just then an annoyed Ursini viper showed its ugly and rather venomous fangs at Hermione.
"Vipera Evanesca!" she exclaimed. Those two words compromised her location, and Draco smirked as he ran into the direction of the unnerved voice. He recognized the location almost immediately and knew that Hermione would have found herself knee-deep in vipers. That was a spot he took care in avoiding in fear of unecessary snake bites.

By the time Hermione finished tackling the last snake wrapped around her, she came face to face with the devil reincarnate himself.

"Malfoy," she spat.

"Granger," he cordially replied. They circled each other, tense and wary of the other's every movement.

"Expelliarmus!" cried Hermione impatiently. She was tired of circling him and decided to tread the waters a bit.

Unsurprisingly, Draco deftly avoided the spell. "Tsk tsk, Granger. It really doesn't do you well to test my patience."

Hermione squinted at the blond who calmly faced her. "You disgust me."
"Au contraire, my dear mudblood. It is
I who should be disgusted with that filthy blood flowing in your veins."

"Your petty comments mean naught to me, Malfoy. After years of the same antagonization, I have learned to ignore them."

While backing up, Hermione almost stumbled backwards by way of a fallen trunk. She flinched in only half a second's time, but this was enough for Draco to take advantage of.

"Incarcerous!" yelled Draco before Hermione could respond. Ropes suddenly appeared and bound her arms to her side before she could cast a counterspell. Her eyes were wide with shock but in a matter of seconds, her world had gone dark.

----
AN: Uhrg, that was short, but sometimes a person just has an urge to write, you know? I don't really know where this is going, but I'll post it anyway. Hopefully I'll update in the weekend.