Draco stumbled to the earth the moment he and Harry landed on safe ground. He felt Harry slip out of his grip and land beside him, the brunette's body landing with a soft thud against fallen leaves and tree roots. Draco's head was spinning, and it was all he could do to not suddenly pass out as he lay on the ground on his side. His breath came out in ragged gasps and he shuddered uncontrollably. He was freezing, and he soon realized why when he glanced up at the darkening sky. In only a few moments, the drizzling rain began to fall like icy, stabbing needles on his painfully cold body.

He could feel his brain quickly shutting down, and he struggled to keep his eyes open and alert. He so badly wanted to lie there and sleep forever, but he knew the consequences of doing so. He had to move, and he needed warmth. He grabbed Harry and pulled the brunet's body against him as he struggled to move across the ground, his lower body still too chilled and nearly frozen to cooperate. Draco pushed himself farther and farther away from the river, dragging Harry along with him until they were finally underneath some cover from the trees. He managed to gather enough strength to pull Harry between him and the tree before finally collapsing in utter exhaustion. He took several deep breaths of cold air, savoring the clean feeling it left in the back of his throat, and tilted his head to the side so that he could watch the droplets of rain. It wasn't raining too badly, just enough to create a light breeze to filter through the trees surrounding them. He decided to lay there for a while and gather himself. He couldn't afford to panic in a situation like this. Not now when he had both his own life and Harry's on the line. Being the only conscious one at the moment gave him certain responsibilities, one responsibility being to figure out just where the hell they were.

Once he decided his head wasn't spinning too badly to cause him an extreme bout of nausea, Draco did an assessment of his body to confirm if he had anything broken or dislocated. He didn't, but his body was lined with many cuts and bruises. His clothes were torn in rags, he was missing one shoe, and his body ached in places he never knew could hurt so badly. Other than that, he was actually mostly in one piece. His ribs ached and stabbed when he breathed or moved — maybe broken, but possibly just cracked or badly sprained. Overall, Draco was relieved that he had in fact survived a near drown with nothing but cuts and bruises and troublesome ribs. He turned to Harry to do the same, and grimaced.

Carefully, Draco rolled the brunette over onto his stomach, and quickly assessed the boy's back. It was littered with deep cuts and gashes, evidence from when that stupid tree had collided into his back. Draco frowned when he saw all the rocks and filth dirtying the wounds and knew that he had to clean the cuts soon before they became infected. He checked the boy for more wounds and broken bones. It was harder, but he deemed the boy just as bad off as he was with only cuts and bruises. It was only his back that was a problem.

Draco sighed, and carefully started to stand so that he could take a better look around their surroundings.

And promptly fell.

"Fuck!" he cried, glancing down towards his foot. He had a sprained ankle, and badly swollen by the looks of it. He must've hurt it from when he had fallen from the cliff. Draco clenched his teeth hard as he endured the amount of pain caused by his standing up. Okay… So standing wasn't an option. He felt so frustrated and angry. He had to save both their arses with Harry being unconscious. How was he supposed to do that if he couldn't even walk?

Draco looked around, trying to peer through the foliage as if the trees held some kind of answer. Merlin, he wished they did. He wasn't cut out for this. He was a Pureblood — a Pureblood wizard. And wizards like him didn't get themselves into situations like this.

"Help! Is anyone out there? Hello? Can anyone hear me?" he shouted with all his might. But it was useless. They were too far away from civilization. Who knew just how far the river had carried them? They must've been miles away from where Theo and the rest of the group were. And judging by how desolate and empty the forestry around them was, Draco doubted there would be anyone for miles.

He nearly whimpered in pain as he struggled back to where Harry lay frozen by the tree. Draco noticed that the boy's cheeks were now a scary shade of pale, and he was shivering almost uncontrollably. He placed a hand on Harry's cheek and cursed when he found the skin clammy and warm underneath his touch.

Harry was developing a fever.

"Shit, shit shit," Draco muttered. Couldn't he ever catch a break? Draco knew that he needed to keep him warm and clean, or else whatever infection Potter's body was trying to fight off would only grow worse. He looked towards the river. At least they had a water source, but how was he supposed to carry the water? He didn't have any cups or bowels to hold the water. And how was he supposed to keep Potter clean? They didn't have any soap anywhere. And how was he supposed to keep him warm? They didn't have any blankets. And how…? Draco sighed. He would have given anything to have his wand right now. Without it, how the hell was he supposed to take care of Harry? He knew nothing about how muggles survived; let alone how to survive out in the wilderness? How the hell was he supposed to do this?

There was nothing but darkness. The air was warm and humid against his face, and the faint breeze that followed was very much welcomed. His mind swam deliriously and his breathing became ragged as pain made itself known.

Harry frowned. Why was there pain? ... What had happened? Where was he? Harry didn't remember for a moment. Nothing made much sense. It took a while for him to sort out everything in his brain, which very much felt like mush at the moment. Then it all came back and a different kind of terror gripped him, deeper, primitive, like a fist of icy panic clutching his heart. Where was Draco?

Harry's eyes snapped open and he tried to call Draco's name, but it came out not much more than a broken whisper. He clumsily tried to push himself up, but moving his limbs sent unimaginable pain screaming through every nerve in his body. Harry choked in anguish, forced to fall back down on his side. Merlin, why was his entire back in so much pain? Had he broken it? His head hurt so much! He squirmed as he tried to fight off the pain and he felt something shift over him. Something slightly heavy was resting over his burning back. He moved slightly so that he could look at what it was and realized that it was Draco's shirt. Harry's frown deepened. Why was Draco's shirt covering him? He squinted to look more closely at Draco's clothing (never before had he felt so grateful to had gotten his eyes corrected), before suddenly realizing just why he was covered in Draco's clothes. Harry's jaw dropped.

Draco sighed and wiped the sweat off the back of his neck as he proudly surveyed his work. It felt like hours had passed but he had finally finished. Five bowels of water, filled to the brim, lay on the ground.

After he had screamed to his heart's content and freaked out over how he was going to care for both himself and Potter, Draco's mind cleared a bit and he was able to remember that he still had his pack of supplies attached to him. He was relieved that his pack had survived a fall from a cliff as well as raging white waters filled with debris. His food was mostly usable to eat, thanks to the pack's numerous waterproof and hazard proof spells he had personally placed on it. He also had a few supplies that he could use to make a small campfire; including five bowels for food and special healing salves he had brewed himself. He used the bowels to collect water from the river, not really caring at the moment that it wasn't totally clean and purified like he was used to, as long as he survived. The healing salves he had used to rub on Harry's back while he was unconscious. Hopefully the cream would work quickly before he woke up, because sometimes the quick mending and repairing of the skin was sometimes painful.

Tugging his pack back on and with his arms full of the water-filled bowels, Draco turned back to start towards Harry, when sudden movement across the river made him look up. Something, almost like a figure-like shadow in the trees moved. Draco frowned, unsure if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not, but he was sure that he could see a pair of eyes looking back at him. And not just any pair of normal eyes; they were yellow, a sickening neon shade of yellow and gold that made Draco's eyes hurt just by looking at them. At the same time, Draco felt like he could look into those eyes forever and not look away. Strangely, he felt only contentment at the thought. It was like looking at a forbidden object, and he wanted more. It only lasted for a moment or two, but it felt like years before their connection finally broke. Draco reeled backwards and then noticed that he was only a foot away from the river. He jumped back, nerves shaking at the idea of his legs taking control of him and walking forwards without permission. He looked back into the trees, searching for the strange figure, but there was nothing. No eyes, no shadow. Draco felt a chill race up his spine that had nothing to do with the soft breeze in the air.

For a few heartbeats, Draco just stood there staring at the spot where those eyes had been. Then reality took hold of him and he quickly shook himself. He turned and headed back towards Harry, careful to not look behind him. It only took a few minutes for him to reach Harry. He had had to walk further down the bank in order to find a stable ledge to keep his balance on as he gathered the water he needed. It unnerved him to be away from Harry, even for such a short amount of time, but he was sure that the boy would still be asleep while he was gone. Hopefully he would still be out even after Draco returned, because he could not handle questions right now. Not when his head was hurting this badly.

"Malfoy…"

Draco stopped walking and looked up, and suddenly found himself staring back into a pair of dazed jade green eyes.

Well, fuck.

Harry looked up when he heard the trees rustling a bit to his right. He froze, unsure of what he could do to protect himself in his current state. He waited a tense moment, ready to risk pain and start running if anything dangerous stepped out from those trees. But not a moment later, a familiar blonde figure stepped out to his slight relief.

"Malfoy," he gasped out, noticing how dry his throat sounded. He gulped, and quickly regretted the action as the movement irritated his throat. He gasped out in pain again.

"Merlin, Potter, couldn't you just stay asleep while I was gone?"

He heard the blonde's voice come from beside him as he kneeled in the dirt to rummage through some sort of knapsack, and turned to face him. He watched as Malfoy pulled what appeared to be a bottle of ointment and a few potion bottles before turning around and grabbing a bowl of water from behind him. Harry's vision blurred a bit and he closed his eyes to shut out the sunlight peaking over at him from the tops of the trees. The sky was darkening, Harry noticed faintly through narrowed eyelids. Soon it would be night time. It would get colder…

The sound of ripping cloth interrupted his thoughts and Harry turned back to see Malfoy soaking a cloth in the bowl of water. Malfoy squeezed out the excess water before softly placing the soaked cloth onto Harry's forehead. Harry gasped both in surprise and delight as he felt the cool water on his skin and nearly passed out when he felt his headache slowly alleviate.

"While I'm glad that you feel a bit better now, Potter, I don't think we're out of the clear yet."

Draco's voice shattered what contentment Harry was feeling and he slowly opened his eyes, deeming it safe now that his headache was nearly gone, and looked at the blonde sitting beside him. The first thing Harry noticed as he gazed at the blonde was that he was very much unlike his usual sparkling, pristine self. Dirt smudges covered the blonde's skin everywhere and his clothes hung off his body in tattered rags. Dried blood and bits of mud clung to the lower parts of his arms and hands. Even his hair was not given mercy, it seemed, as it too was now discolored from dried blood and dirt. Harry almost felt sympathetic towards him; except that he was sure he looked pretty much the same. Apart from…

"Malfoy?"

Draco looked at him. "Yes?"

"Where are my clothes?"

Harry was surprised when he had looked underneath Draco's clothing atop him and found himself nearly nude. With the exception of his boxers, Harry's clothing had seemed to have disappeared sometime while he was unconscious. He glared at Malfoy, or tried to anyway with the way his eyes hurt.

Draco sighed from beside him. "Potter, you have a fever. I couldn't just leave you in wet clothes like that. You would've developed hypothermia or something. I had to undress you, whether you like it or not."

Harry frowned, but figured he did have a point. "Where did you put them?"

Instead of answering straight away, Draco pointed at the knapsack behind him. "I put both of our wet clothes in there. The pack has a preserving charm, as well as drying charms. Within ten minutes, our clothes should be clean and dry. Until then, I had to cover you with something. Good thing I brought along several extra pairs of clothing." Then Malfoy gave him a smirk. "It's just one of many things that proves that wizards are better than muggles."

While Harry wanted to argue and glare at the blonde, he was too tired to do so and sunk back into the warm blanket of Draco's clothes. Part of him wanted to yell and scream at the blonde for no darn reason other than he had a lot of frustration to vent out. Another part of him just wanted to jump up and embrace the blonde in relief that they both had lived a near drowning in the river. In the end, Harry decided to do what he did best and that was to figure out their next move.

"Good, so what do we do now? We should start heading back—"

"Potter, are you an idiot?"

Harry glared at Malfoy. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Exactly what I said. Potter, you're in no shape at all to be moving around after what happened to you. The salve I put on your back will help a little, taking most of the pain away, but you still need to rest because of your fever. Besides," Malfoy added, rubbing at his head. "We have no idea where to go. We're stuck in the middle of this damn forest with nothing but the supplies in this pack. There's no one for miles who can help us, and I doubt that by the time our friends eventually do come and find us, it'll be too late. We're too far away from them." Malfoy ended with a sigh before turning and grabbing one of the bowels filled with water. He cupped it in his hand and started drinking from the rim, watching Harry from the corner of his eye as if he expected for the brunette to jump up and start screaming—which sounded like a pretty good idea to Harry right now.

"How the hell are we supposed to get back then?"

Draco sighed. "I guess our best bet is to follow the river upstream to where we came from. Knowing Theo and Blaise, I'd say they're doing the opposite. Hopefully we'll run into the rest of them."

"And how will they know how to find us?"

"Magic, Potter," Draco sighed, almost mockingly. Harry rolled his eyes.

"They should be here soon, then, right?" Harry asked.

Draco sighed. "I don't know, Potter. I don't remember how long we were carried by the river. I…I was pretty out of it." His cheeks took on a tinge of pink, but Harry didn't notice.

"Hermione must be leading them, meaning we might reach them in just a few hours. We should start heading out now then." Harry sat up and started to remove Draco's clothes, but Draco hastily knocked him back down and covered him fully again with his clothes.

"Are you deaf, Potter?" he yelled, partly in fury partly in shame, for he would've loved to see a flushed, nude Harry Potter in front of him, all alone and ripe for the taking… He shook his head, sickened with himself. "I just said that you need to lie down and rest. You're no good up and walking around."

"And you just expect me to just sit here and lay down?" Harry argued.

"Yes."

"Fuck you! I don't want to be out here with you any longer than I need to. My friends are out there looking for me, and I am not just going to lie around waiting for them. Give me back my clothes and for Merlin's sake, let me up!"

Draco hadn't realized that he had been pushing Harry down into the earth, nearly on top of him while he was doing so. After Harry had cried out, he quickly scrambled backwards, but still kept one hand atop of Harry's chest. To his satisfaction, Harry still wasn't strong enough to push him away and after a moment of struggling, Harry settled back down. He glared at Malfoy, which only increased the blonde's smirk.

"Pitiful, Potter; if you're not strong enough to push me off, you're not strong enough to be walking around. And through a fucking forest no less. So lie back down and shut up. I've got a headache from your little interrogation."

With one more glare directed toward the stubborn brunette, Draco turned back around to the knapsack. He searched inside it for a moment, before reaching in and grabbing two sets of blankets. He dropped them both on the floor before standing straight and looking back at her. "Once you feel well enough, get your clothes from here. They should be dry by now."

Harry glanced at him. "Where are you going?" he asked, noticing that the blonde was walking away from him.

"To look for wood, you dolt. Muggles make campfires, don't they?"

"How did you—?"

"Shut it, Potter!"

Ten minutes later, Harry—now dressed in his own clothes—looked up to see that Draco had come back—and he was limping.

"Malfoy? Why are you limping?" he asked, a bit alarmed as he watched the blonde suddenly collapse to the ground. Draco dropped the collection of wood that he had gathered beside him, and instantly took hold of his ankle.

"It's nothing, just forget it, Potter," he mumbled, and turned back to look at his collection. It wasn't much to use as firewood, but Draco knew well enough that it would last through most of the night. The sky was darkening into swirls of dark blue and black. It wouldn't be long until blackness reached them and by then the air around them would become much colder too.

Harry looked at Malfoy, noting that the boy seemed to be wincing every moment he touched his foot. He frowned. "Yeah right, Malfoy," he scoffed at him. "Did you hurt yourself gathering wood?"

Draco silently rolled his eyes at the brunette's insistent questioning, and shook his head. "No, Potter, I did not. The healing salve I put on my ankle just wore off. Now make a fire, Potter," he ordered. Harry glared, but he remembered that Draco was a Pureblood. He most likely wouldn't know how to make a fire. After a moment of watching Draco grumble in silence about his ankle, Harry decided to help the poor blonde. He took the sticks from Draco, their hands brushing for a moment.

Draco glanced up, startled, and felt a pink tinge sweep across his cheeks. Harry looked away and focused on making the fire. It took a short moment, but he finally managed to produce a spark. He sat back, satisfied with his work before looking across the fire at Draco.

Draco was freezing, and it showed in his shivers. He inched closer to the flames, holding out his hands for warmth. He sighed. Draco wished he had his wand. A simple heating charm on himself would've done wonders. But he didn't know where his wand was, and it was mostly likely that he would never find it. Draco's frown deepened.

Harry watched the blonde as he concentrated. He frowned when he noticed the painful expressions that the blonde wore were increasing, and grabbed the salve from the knapsack, as well as a blanket. He draped it over Draco, startling the blonde.

"Here," Harry said softly, and gave him the salve. "If you're going to be stubborn, just take this. It helped me." He smiled. "Thanks for that, by the way. I never did thank you…"

Draco nodded, blushing harder, and pulled the blanket closer to him. "Oh, erm…you're welcome."

Harry hesitated, but smiled back at Draco and watched him rub the salve into his ankle.

Draco was exhausted when he finished and decided that the ground near the fire looked plenty warm. He curled up by the fire, drawing the blanket tight against him and using the knapsack as a pillow. He hesitated, before glancing back at Harry.

"You should go to sleep, too, Potter. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. When we get up in the morning we'll decide our plans from here on." Harry looked at him before nodding in acknowledgement.

He grabbed the other blanket left on the gorund and curled up on the other side of the fire, pillowing his head atop his fists. With only the blaze between them, Harry lay on his side and watched as Draco closed his eyes. The shadow of his eyelashes fell delicately onto his cheekbones. Flames danced across his pale skin in shades of gold and crimson colors. The blonde's hair swayed gently in the soft breeze, and his pink, full lips pouted as another shiver racked through his body.

Beautiful.

Harry's gaze upon the blonde was filled with wonderment and awe, and moments passed before he realized that the blonde had fallen asleep. He sighed and turned over onto his back to get more comfortable, where his view was met with the sky. He stared as the stars twinkled above him and sighed

Hopefully, he thought before he fell asleep. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I hope you guys liked. I really hate writing endings. If anyone would like to help me with that, I'd really appreciate it :)

Thank you for all your reviews! I can't believe I've actually gotten 100. I'm so happy! Thanks!