Chapter Two: Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My
A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews! Now, please, may I present Chapter Two! Please read, review, and most importantly- ENJOY!
Draco's POV
Very interesting. Trapped on an island with a Mudblood who is, sadly, the cleverest witch of our age. What is the world coming to? What happened to the purebloods who were dominant? Besides, surely I am the cleverest wizard of our age..special thanks to my father for teaching me some of the ways in Dark Magic. If only that useless Dark Magic could help me now!
After reading the words written on the statue, we walked farther away from it, still along the shoreline. Still, no signs of life. Not a rustle of a bird, or a roar of some mighty creature lurking in the forest. Isn't that what was on these tropical sort of islands? Hmm. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.
And in speaking of lions, I have one right beside me. Growling on about the absurdity of this, or something or other. Roaring at me for not listening. I'm surprised she hasn't shown her claws and jumped on me yet.
"-Malfoy, are you even bloody LISTENING! In times like this, you should be! We must stick together! We're on the very brink of life and death, and must think this all through! There must be some way out of this..some loophole, a way to get past the curse. There has to be!" No wonder Weasley had rows with her every other day. What did that pathetic fool see in her?
"Hermione? Why don't you just shut up? All this bickering has led us nowhere." How extraordinary, I don't even have the willpower to say anything particularly nasty to her. That is how much she wears people out, including me.
"Are you not in the slightest bit worried? This is the rest of our lives, and to be on this miserable, dreary island with you is unthinkable!"
"Well, you heard what the poem that wasn't really a poem said. Fall in love with me, then. Then we're out." It was true, wasn't it?
"What kind of idiot are you!" She says, angrily. "We're supposed to fall in love together! I can't just fall in love with you, you would have to, too! And that is out of the question!"
"Then what do you propose we do?" I say, annoyed. This girl has to have an off switch somewhere..
She pauses, temporarily stumped. Temporarily, remember. "Maybe..maybe there are others on this island! Others our age, perhaps, that hate each other, too! Then maybe we can both fall in love with one of them instead of us falling in love!" Did she honestly think that there were others here? I mean, if everyone who comes on this island hate the other..then one of them probably would have gone insane and killed the other. Truthfully, I'm considering that. At least that way I'd have this miserable paradise all to myself.
"That sounds like it's right out of some ridiculous fairy tale, that was so ridiculous that no one ever told it! Who would want to fall in love with some stranger anyway?"
"Fine," She says, huffily. "How about you come up with something better." Oh, I will. At least something slightly more realistic.
I stand there, silently for awhile. How could you leave this island? Hmm...and then I have it. Something simple and right in front of us.
"I have it! What if we just swim away from the island? Or even better- build a boat from some trees and get away from here?"
"Oh sure, and have you heard the curse? We have to find true love to get away!"
"How do you know that lousy piece of work is even a curse!"
"You know it is! That same statue was in the room we were locked in! You saw it, too!" I did in fact see that statue..odd. What was a cursed statue of love doing at Hogwarts?
"Okay, but before you get yourself into a frenzy, why don't we at least try it?" Ha! Like I'd even think of trying her plan.
"Fine, but wait. If your plan doesn't work, we're going to search this island for others. Deal?"
"Deal," I lied. "But first, we should build a boat."
"You realize that it will be nearly impossible? We don't have wands, nor axes or anything else!"
"Axes?" Meaningless Muggle material. Wizards get along fine without it. That is, when they had their wands..
"Yes, axes! A sharp bit of metal with a wooden handle to chop things! So how are we ever going to cut down a tree? And what would we use to tie it up? Would it be more like a raft? And what could we use for a sail? What-" Used to chop things? Gory as it may sound, I could picture chopping up a certain someone who has been bickering at me in the past hour.
"Hermione? SHUT UP!" As much as I hate to admit it, she's right. Dead on. How could I have even thought of making a boat? I sure as hell am no Muggle. I don't deal with building things with real, actual labor. I shudder to think of it. How did Muggles ever survive?
"Anyway," I continue, more calmly, "Maybe we can swim away instead. We would just need some driftwood, and we could swim all the way back..at least to somewhere.." Away from you, I wanted to add. But something refrained me from doing so. We were the only ones on this island, and even if she was a Mudblood- she was my only company. As much as I hate the fact.
"Do you really think we could swim away from here to somewhere else, when we might as well be in the middle or nowhere? I mean, have you seen any signs of life since we've gotten here? What makes you think that there are even signs of life away from here? For all we know, this island could be real, but everything around it..an illusion." Did she really have to point out every little fault in my plans? Oh, I almost forgot. She was the Know-It-All sort of person. The perfectionist. Right.
"Then what makes you think that your idea would work? If there are no signs of life, that would mean that all of these 'others' are imaginary!" Pointing out faults to people who cared..it was really most satisfying.
A kind of smirk appeared on her face. "Fine! Then let's see if swimming out into the ocean really would work. But I warn you, you'll get pretty thirsty out there, with no water.."
"You're going out there, too," I pointed out.
"No, how about we both go our separate ways and try out our own plans ourselves? I mean, neither of us liked the other's plans.." Ah. So now I see why she was smirking. Now how was I going to get out of this one? I'm not about to go diving into a salty ocean. If anything, I'd probably get eaten by a shark out there, at the least.
"Whatever happened to the 'let's stick together' thing? A few minutes ago you didn't want us to go our separate ways.." Shoving people's words down their throats, a very useful technique. Seldom does it not work.
"Not as if my words mean anything to you," she replies, coldly. "Unless I heard incorrectly, earlier you had said that you didn't even waste your hate on Mudbloods. Besides, why would you think of ever being around one?" Fighting back with the same technique. Not bad..
Maybe being more sensitive could help. And a bit of lying. "Hermione. You know what? I was being a jerk earlier. And really, you're not so bad..you're a clever Mudblood, at least." Oops. So much for being sensitive- shouldn't have added in the 'M' word..bah, why did I care so much about being alone? It's not as if it'd be the first time, I usually think for myself alone anyway. Was I..worried about her? Worried of what could happen to her? No..that couldn't be it. I must be more worried that if we were to go on our own ways, we'd both end up dead, and never the better. That had to be it.
"You're really unbelievable," she says, quietly. "Even in times like this..you can still find a way to be awful." Then she simply turned away and started walking into the forest. I didn't really handle that all too well..And the way she said it, it actually made me feel..guilty. When instead, it should have made me angry. Whatever. Should I go after her? ..Why am I even caring? A Mudblood, that's all she is. Nothing more, nothing less. That's all I said she was, didn't I?
I have to say though, she herself was insane. It was dusk now, and in such a dense little tropical forest, it'd be nearly pitch black in there. What if there really were lions and tigers and bears? Bloody hell, I'm starting to worry too much. For someone else. And it's really not working for me. I should be worrying about myself. I mean, what could I do? Should I try out my plan, see if it works? I've nothing to lose..other than that one simple thing: my life. This is awful- even I can tell how pathetic I sound. Who is the man here? The wizard who got Outstanding in nearly everything in O.W.L.s? It has to all account for something. Take a deep breath. I can do this.
Night. This isn't good. It's been a few hours since Hermione had left into the forest. I regret that I ever let her go, and didn't stop her. She hasn't returned, but I wasn't really expecting her to. She thinks I'm off somewhere in the ocean, right? But I'm not. I've just been sitting here, thinking. About how pathetic I am, mostly. And about how, even though I had hated her in all of my life- she would be the most welcoming sight to see right now, returning safely out of the forest. Dreadful how this survival stuff distorted your ways of thinking.
I really should have tried out my plan. It's an ingenious plan, so why shouldn't it work? There had to be some land elsewhere, somewhere out there..Groaning, I get up and start walking about, searching for a good bit of driftwood. Eventually, I find a suitable one- perhaps a quarter of my size. Okay. Not so great. How could that possibly even support me when I was exhausted and needed to sleep? Wait- maybe I could find another piece of driftwood or two, then tie them up with..something.
After a time, I manage to find two more pieces of driftwood. Now to find something to tie them up together with. If only there were twine, or something around..aha! Shoe laces! Of course..and really, shoes would just tie me down in the ocean anyway. I have to start getting into the whole 'survival mode' thing.
With some effort (yes, labor), I managed to tie the pieces of driftwood together. Shoddy work, in all honesty. But it would have to do. Now to test it out..but it was night, and who knew what time. The moon was in the sky, and it did cast a glow. Yes. It would have to do. Time to put my survival skills to the test.
With a heavy sigh, I walked to the shoreline, waves relentlessly pounding upon sand and stone. Here it goes.
Carefully, I placed my miserable-looking raft onto the part of the shore where the tide was about to hit. Then I laid down on my makeshift raft, belly down. Was this really a good idea? I'd just end up getting a whole lot of-
Saltwater, right in the face. Damn it. But with a whoosh! I was off to sea. Bloody, already survival skills were not working. I had forgotten food, and water! I was too distracted with everything else..but really, food and water! This is like a one-way ticket to death itself. And here I was, already a distance away..but not far away enough to swim back. Should I?
No. I mustn't. I've got to prove to Hermione that my idea would work. This ocean, its saltwater..all was real. That meant land had to be about somewhere..this would work! And I'd find it..before dying of dehydration and starvation!
But then I realized, if I really would find civilization- I wouldn't be able to tell Hermione I was right all along.
I wake up with a start- cold, salty water splashed all upon me. I sat up with a start, spluttering- and then with a rush remembered what was going on. Trapped on an island. With Hermione. Unable to leave unless we were to fall in love. Which wouldn't happen. Couldn't happen. Both of us had different ideas and split up. Me out on sea, her in that forest on the island, searching for people. I searching for land. Some life. Something. Anything other than this dreadful, endless blue of the ocean.
It seemed to be late morning. I wonder how Hermione was doing?
Ah. Water. It'd be so nice to just lean over and drink some..that most welcoming sight of water..ever so tasty-looking. Thinking this, I do lean over and drink some of that pure blue water..
BLECH! Saltwater! Why did I even fall for that? It only resulted in me becoming thirstier than ever. And the hunger pangs. I haven't eaten anything since..what? Yesterday's dinner? Which was confusing..we left at night and ended up on an island in the middle of day.
Hungry, thirsty, and still no signs of life. And no sight of land. So much for my good idea. At least I could..die trying to brave the ocean! And then if Hermione would be able to escape, she could tell of my tragic, heroic death!
Oh, blast it! I'm not ready for death..I'm not brave..that's my father who's overly obsessed with death and destruction. Not me. I've always wonder though, how did he ever manage to stay alive, everytime?
I see something in the distance. There's something out there! A speck, what could it be? Land? It was. Yes! Oh, wait. This had better not be some sort of mirage. I'm not delusional enough yet, right?
I start to paddle for it. All that happened was the speck gradually became larger, and became more of a disfigured lump. Mirages wouldn't do that, would they? It had to be land.
Strange, I haven' t seen one fish swimming around. Not one, lousy fish. How nice it would be to find one and cook it..
Stop thinking about that, Draco. You're hungry. But there's land up ahead. Worry about food then.
Here it is now. Thank Salazar it was real! I let the wave take me to the shoreline, then got up, walked a little way, and fell into the sand. What! Sand!
With a start, I sit up, looking around. Shore, sand, tropical forest. This couldn't be...that island, I had left it..
"Bloody!" I swear, aloud. Guess I could tell Hermione of my success afterall.
A/N: I'm really having fun with this. Doing POV's are very different, but I found it slightly harder to be Draco. I guess I think of him as putting up a tough front, but really being harmless- and a nicer guy when he wants to be. Maybe that isn't what others see him as, so if you'd like to review and tell me his characteristics- please do. I'd like to see what others think of him as. Anyway, I'm probably going to be writing this by alternating POV's. So once again, review and tell me what you think! -Oh, and if you were wondering, it's probably a HGDM fic, but still possibly a HGRW fic..you'll just have to wait and see (me too)!