Chapter Two

An hour, a couple of sticks and a fresh set of bruises on Draco's cheek later, they were both huddled round the fire in a non-too companionable silence. Draco, who was still fuming over the indignity of his inability to light the fire, was sat at an angle to Hermione, making it clear that he didn't want to speak to her.

"Do you want to go first, or shall I?". Wincing at the noise of her own voice as it broke the uneasy silence she waited for Draco's answer, fully expecting a battle.

Turning to look at her he stared blankly before blinking dumbly. "What?".

"A look-out. One of us needs to stay up, remember. Its to make sure-"

"Save it Granger, I know what a look-out is and I am fully aware that we have done it before." Not bothering to stifle a yawn, he simply made himself comfortable with his thin satchel acting as a pillow and said, "well thanks for offering. Looks like you can stay awake tonight while I sleep."

Not even bothering to retaliate she wrapped herself tighter in the cloak she had been wearing on the detention. As tired as her body was, her mind was reeling, which would have prevented her from sleeping even if Malfoy had done the unthinkable and offered to stay awake. Over the course of watching Malfoy break more sticks, and using her as his reasoning for it, hence the bruises, she had come to a few simple conclusions. The first was that this was simply a short term situation and that people from home were searching for them and they were soon to be rescued. Then she would hopefully never have to speak to Malfoy ever again, 'one can hope'. However, the other option was that they had managed to get themselves truly stuck and their predicament was much more long-term. 'Bugger that', she thought and sighed wistfully, trying to conceal a jump as a nocturnal animal made its rounds of the surrounding area.

- - -

They were whispering…

In her sleep, she frowned and muttered incoherently. The fire hadn't completely died out and emitted a soft red glow that did little but highlight the two lumps laying on the ground. One stretched out in sleep, the other curled in a ball, with her forehead resting on her cheeks.

The whispering got louder, and closer…

The girl opened her eyes in a bleary state, her left side contracting painfully in a cramp. Slowly moving to ease the pain she froze in realisation that the forest was talking. Immobilised by fear, her heart pounding, her breathing stopped, she whipped her head round as she heard the voices. The clearing she had so proudly picked out was completely surrounded by bodiless voices and they got louder and closer as she became more panicked. Pulling her legs up to her chest, Hermione had completely forgotten about the cramp in her side, her focus centred on the noises around her. After a few moments the noises started to fade so that all she could hear was the pounding of her own heart. Too afraid to move, she stayed awake and alert until the pink light of dawn began to break through the trees and illuminated the clearing.

- - -

Yawning, Draco rolled over and blinking the sleep out of his eyes he looked at Hermione. She was hunched up and shaking slightly; he snorted, 'crazy, sleep denied mudblood. Today is going to be fun', he thought.

Hermione who had spent the rest of the night desperately listening for signs of the voices, 'I'm not going mad, I DID hear them', deliberated over whether to tell Draco. Weighing up the possibilities of what his reactions could be, she almost laughed out loud. 'Possibilities? There is only one way he would react. Laugh in my face and call me a crazy bint who's finally losing my mind, which is what I deserve for being the ugly, unsightly, know it all, mudblood friend of Sir Potty and Weasel king's lover'.

'So not, not telling him then…'.

At Draco's snort she looked around, "good, you're awake. Let's move on from here quickly. We can eat later. I think we should-"

"What do you think your doing? You have no right to order me around. I do what I want. I'm not taking orders from any half-breed". With that, he rolled onto his back, rested his left ankle on his right knee and hummed under his breath. 'So what if she's right. I'm not letting her know that. Just make the point and then move on. Make her think your in control. And for good measure…'

"Just because your book-worm smart doesn't mean you actually know more than me. You're beneath me by blood and your a women…No hope for you really". Smirking to himself he thought, 'damage done'. She would fume for a few hours, but at least he would have peace. He didn't actually believe in all that feminist crap anyway, but if it works Granger up…

Speaking of which, where did she go? Draco vaguely remembered hearing her give him a filthy look and saying something about going to wash. He momentarily thought of going to watch her. He had tried to deny it, but then thought why bother - she had a nice body….

'Nice? How many times had he had Pansy and not once felt attracted to her? Yeah he had enjoyed it, but real attraction. That was something altogether different'.

…and knowing how much it would infuriate her would bring some humour to the situation.

Situation.

Boy did they have one.

Wandless, guideless and clueless. He had prayed to all the Gods for help, an easterly wind, the north star, a signpost… preferably a huge luminous arrow saying 'Hogwart's, warm water and home cooked food, This Way'. He thought that the last was somewhat hopeful.

He would either have to put aside his differences with Granger, talk to her as a human and decide where they were (or at least guess), think of an action plan and then be civil until they were saved or saved themselves.

Or he could just up and leave.

With a glance towards Hermione's general direction, he picked up his satchel, chose an exit from the clearing, and left. Not once did he look back. Not once did he consider the danger he potentially placed on both himself and the young girl he had just left behind.

- - -

Arrogant arse.

Chauvinistic pig.

Full Blooded fuckwit.

She momentarily felt bad for the last one, but her guilt was rapidly followed by a 'screw-it', since when did he care for every 'bushy haired mudblood' he had thrown her way.

She had walked a little downstream, until she reached a small pool, where the water collected in an almost perfect circle before leaving through the very narrow exit to the rest of the stream, hopefully to a river. It looked like a nice calm place to rest as the rush of the stream would have slowed to slow circular swirls. Instead of stripping off and jumping in as she had originally been tempted to, she peered over the edge to gaze at her reflection.

Not to satisfy any vain, indulgent obsession with herself, but more to see whether she had changed physically. It felt strange to have not seen her own reflection for what felt like a year, but had only been four days. She felt like a different person, not because of any pivotal moment in the last three days, just a difference in perspective. Did changes like that make you slimmer? Make your eyes gleam with a knowledge that elders usually possess?

But no, she was met with the same pale face, the same unruly mass of curly hair that framed the top of her head, with more then a little frizz. An average set of lips, the bottom fuller then the top, and a small nose. 'A button cute nose' Ron had said on more then one occasion. But it was her eyes she liked. Although they just looked dark in the reflection from the pool, her mocha coloured eyes had small flecks of bronze and gold. Not outstandingly different, that would just make her feel awkward, but enough for people to notice, and for some to comment on.

Although not satisfied, the pool hadn't offered any answers on how to get home after all, 'what I wouldn't give for a wishing well and some pennies…a lot of pennies', thought Hermione, she stripped off and slid into the water, cold enough to make her gasp out loud and look around in embarrassment.

The thought of just floating and emptying her mind of all things scary, depressing and real had occurred to her.

More then just a little.

She just couldn't. Emptying her mind was always beyond her, even at school. Before falling asleep at night, her mind would always be working. Thinking of homework to do, or extra homework she could do. What to get for Mothers Day. Anything at all and it wouldn't stop her from falling asleep, and she got a little pleasure from successfully remembering what the last thing she thought of was just before falling asleep. Although this was mostly speculation and guess work.

At that moment, she was thinking about how to deal with Malfoy. 'To ignore him, or to grit my teeth and get on with it'?

'Harry…Ron. I wish you were here'.

The thought of the two boys' automatically made her eyes cloud. Yes, she could look after herself. Yes she could be independent. But it was part of her nature to want to be near the ones she loved. And she did love them. They were her brothers, they had always been there to help each other, and now she was alone. 'Not quite, you have Malfoy', said a very sarcastic part of her brain. Although it would not help her predicament in any way, she allowed herself just a few moments to wallow in the misery that had enveloped her at the separation of the famous trio.

A splash in the water made her jerk out of her revere. Looking around her, movement upstream caught her eye; she turned to watch a large fish, a carp diving in and out of the water not thirty metres away from her.

'Unusual, carps are hardly that adventurous', she thought.

But what caught her attention, what made her breath catch in her throat, was the noises it was making. It sounded oddly like, conversation.

The carp was no longer moving backward or forward, but diving in and out of the water in more or less the same position. Its silver scales dashed with blue and green dazzled in the reflection of the pool. When it dived out of the water, she couldn't see movement, or hear words, but she could hear what sounded like mumbling.

She looked around her to see if she could see Malfoy in the trees but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Her sudden movements caught the attention of the large fish, who dived into the water and didn't resurface.

Without another thought towards relaxation, she clambered out of the pool and hurriedly put on her clothes which automatically clung to her still wet figure. Grabbing her almost empty satchel she ran back to the clearing calling for Malfoy, but on seeing the completely empty clearing, stopped and sat down.

Just relax. He will be right back. Where would he go. He knows nothing about this place. Juts relax and breathe. Relax and Breathe. Relaxandbreatheforgodssake.

She was panicking. She knew she was, but what could she do. First she gets woken up in the middle of the night by bodiless voices. Then she sees the most average fish, unusually coloured practically doing the two step in front of her while talking to something else, and then Malfoy goes and abandons her.

Relax.

Breathe.

'It was going to be alright. Just let your good old logical, Hermione Granger Hogwart's know-it-all brain return and you will be able to think clearly…'

Apparently that part of her brain didn't return for a long time. The sun was high in the sky before she even moved more then one muscle group at a time.

At some point a small wind had picked up, and had blown some of the ashes of the long gone out fire onto her lap. Inside the clearing she was protected by the trees. Her fire would keep her company and she would no doubt become a master of lighting it. She could live her life right there. Become accustomed to the seasonal berries, the odd fish or rabbit. She could do it. She had shelter, water, what more could she want.

Her clearing.

Why would she leave it?

Because I'm a Gryffindor, that's why. What would the boys think if they knew I never left my clearing? And if Malfoy came back and found me still sitting here years from now…skinny but safe, because I'm in MY clearing.

Not a chance.

With new resolve she made her decision. She stood up and looked into the sky for a guess at the time of day. Glancing around the (disassociation always worked at times of need for inner strength) clearing, she picked a direction and walked out into the trees.

Her chin held high, for good measure.