S U R V I V O R

Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.

A/N: Many people have asked me about whether there will be mention of magic in this story. The answer is yes, there will be vague references to Hogwarts and magic in the story, but since they are in a Muggle environment they won't be using any spells. So the mentions will be brief and in only a couple of scenes.

---xcxsurvivorxcx---

Chapter Four

---xcxsurvivorxcx---

Even though nothing on the island would have beat her soft feather bed at home, Hermione had a surprisingly good night's sleep after her own shelter was constructed. Without her knowing in the night, she had acquired several cuts and scrapes from the tougher bits of tree debris in her makeshift bed. They hadn't been serious enough to wake her up, however, and she was pleased to find no mutant animal in sight when she sat up in the morning, feeling oddly refreshed.

She stretched, and poked her head outside. By now she was feeling a lot more confident around the cameras and waved amiably at Kenny, who was squatted outside her hut. "Good morning!" she said to the camera lens, and was about to head outside when the cameraman quickly pointed to something at her feet. Hermione glanced down and saw a bundle, wrapped in banana leaves. She smiled as she opened the 'package' to find a pair of shoes made with tightly weaved strips of long leaves.

Hermione gingerly tried one on, and found, to her surprise, that they were a perfect fit. She put the other one on and walked around the sand in circles. The shoes protected her feet from the ground and were a welcome change from her stilettos - not that she wore them much in the first place. Grinning madly, she pranced around for a bit to make sure they would hold, and then spotted a piece of bark still attached to the banana leave wrappings. She picked it up and found writing on the other side:

First one to find me wins the challenge.

So that was what the shoes were for. Draco's concern for the contestants were right; after all, he could be anywhere, and in the search they'd probably end up going up rocking hills and wading through ponds and stuff. She peered at the others' shelters and couldn't tell if their packages were gone already or not, which would mean that they had already started the search.

She glanced at Kenny with raised eyebrows for a while. The two of them held a silent struggle, until finally, the cameraman relented and switched off the camera for a moment. "Alex's already gone - another cameraman is following him, and Laurie's still asleep. He hasn't been gone long, though, so you still have a chance." He started to put on his earphones again.

"Wait! Which way did Draco go?" Hermione attempted to wring a bit more info out of him. Kenny rolled his eyes at her, gave her a 'nice try' look and started up the filming again. She grinned at him and walked over to the burnt out fire from last night to have a drink of water and have some leftover papaya from last night. Hermione longed to wash her hair as she felt bits of sand gritting into her scalp when she stretched. The sun shone directly onto her, making her feel warmer than she already did in Draco's t-shirt.

He'd offered it to her last night again, saying that a skimpy dress like hers was hardly fit to withstand the cold nights on the island. When she'd accepted it, she had tried to look as nonchalant as she could but hopefully no Island Eyes caught her burying her nose in the shirt before she slept, letting his smell fill her nostrils for a moment before quickly glancing up guiltily and removing the shirt from her face.

She blushed slightly at the memory and her eyes fell on the crude map Draco had drawn last night. The word lagoon had passed his lips more than once, so could it be...? Even if she was wrong, it was somewhere to start instead of wandering the island aimlessly for hours. Taking a last look at the picture in the sand, she memorized the vague position of where they were in relation to the lagoon, and headed towards the forest. If she got lost she could always backtrack, and with her new 'shoes' she could walk anywhere she wanted without fear.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Or so she'd thought. About half an hour of useless trekking later, the camp area disappeared behind Hermione and Kenny and thick undergrowth was all she saw everyway she turned. Thank God there was at least a little path, meaning at least she wouldn't die of starvation here. But then again, who knew how reliable that little-used path was? For all she knew, she and Kenny could be tramping around in circles. When she saw a small clearing, Hermione almost expected to see the shelters again.

Kenny stumbled along behind her, bravely filming and walking blindly at the same time. He couldn't look down to check his footing but at least the embarrassment of being lost and having it broadcasted on national TV wasn't a weight on his shoulders. Hermione willed him to trip and smash his camera, meaning she would be saved the humiliation everybody seeing her getting lost in the woods. When he didn't, she grumbled and swatted some bugs away from her face as they made a dive for her nostrils. "Urgh, yuck!" she complained, then stopped and looked around. "OK, Kenny... er, we'll walk in this direction for another few minutes and if that doesn't work out, we'll... uhhh..."

"We'll what?" the cameraman asked with a thread of weariness in his voice.

Hermione ignored him as she walked briskly ahead. Actually, she was just wondering about that herself.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"This must be it," Hermione announced to a tired Kenny an hour later. "Draco described the cliff as rugged and this definitely fits the description."

Kenny grunted as he emerged behind her from the bushes. The cameraman had broken down and eaten his lunch earlier, a ham and cheese croissant, and had even offered her big hints to where Draco was. She'd refused; and it took a lot of willpower. After all, who wouldn't want to cheat if it was the easy way out? But Hermione was determined to win this challenge by herself, and if she did cheat no doubt her early popularity with the audience would drop dramatically.

He stared at the cliff face she pointed at. "It's a cliff. You can't possibly expect me to climb a cliff with all this gear."

"Well... you can stay here and wait for me. I'll just look around and be right back down." Hermione noticed that he didn't look to upset about her offer and sat down, a patient look on his face. "Er... so." Looking up at the wall of rock, she spotted vines on one side and headed towards them. She tugged on them and they seemed strong enough. Hermione put one hand on a hole in the cliff and grabbed a vine with the other, praying it wouldn't rip away from the cliff face. When it held, she let out a sigh of relief and started to climb.

She soon found that it was a lot easier than she'd expected at first. The ruggedness of the cliff meant there were lots of holes or ledges for her to grab onto or rest her feet on. The vines provided good support too; none of them had torn off, although some of the thinner ones had threatened to before she quickly grabbed another one. By the time she got to the top and crawled up, sweating and feeling rather pleased with herself, the sun was shining directly overhead and it was quickly becoming the hottest day since she'd arrived on the island. However, when Hermione looked ahead, the spectacular view took her breath away and made the climbing and bushwalking all worth it.

The lagoon was a deep, azure blue. The surface glittered with the sunlight and two small waterfalls on the side made ripples in the water. The air was fresh, tinged with a hint of the jasmine flowers that grew along the sides, the white flowers complementing the blue of the water. The occasional squawk could be heard from the trees, and cicadas hummed loudly in the shade of the leaves.

The surface of the water broke as Draco's blond head appeared. He shook water out of his hair and face, took a breath and dived back in. He didn't seem to have seen her. Hermione shrugged and called out, "Am I first?"

He must have heard her voice because he quickly emerged and glanced at her. "We have a winner!"

"I give all credit to the shoes," she smiled.

Draco laughed, treading water. "Really?" He looked around. "Where's Kenny? I thought you were supposed to have him with you. Him or another cameraman."

Hermione explained how he couldn't get up here. "I think he was feeling fatigued from the walking," she said, grinning. "After all, he was the one carrying around heavy gear while I led him on a wild goose chase."

He laughed again and then beckoned for her to come. "You look like you just ran a marathon - you're sweating a lot. I think you need to cool down. Why don't you come in?" He splashed some water at her, smirking. "Don't worry, you don't have to strip down. We're not skinny-dipping."

"Uh..." Hermione glanced at him and then turned away quickly, face flaming. Oh God. Even though the water blurred the details she'd seen enough to know that Draco was completely naked. But that didn't mean she'd have to do the same. She took off the shoes and dipped a toe cautiously in the water and sighed. Ahh, this was heaven. The lagoon water was cool and ran over her skin like silk. Hermione was shocked to find herself actually considering taking it all off and jumping in. No... not a good idea. The dress might be revealing and not at all suitable for daily wear but at least it kept her decent. She didn't want people to think she was a slut, especially since there were Island Eyes around and getting naked in front of the whole country didn't really appeal to her.

She looked over Draco's head and suddenly spotted a scaly shape gliding slowly towards them underneath the waterfall closest to them. It took her a few seconds before she realized what it was. Hermione sucked in a sharp breath as she took her foot out of the water. Julia had gone too far this time. She knew the producer was hungry for ratings but this was way too dangerous. "Uh oh. Draco, quickly. Swim towards me. Don't make a fuss. Just move."

He looked bewildered but swam towards her as quietly as he could. "What's wrong?" he asked, confused.

Hermione flicked her eyes towards the shape again. Yup, it was definitely coming closer. "Come on, get out."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know if you realize this, but I'm kinda naked here."

She ignored the blush rising up to her cheeks and gestured for him to come. "Well... this is a serious situation, so don't get all shy on me now."

He shrugged. "OK, whatever you say." He put both palms on the edge and hoisted himself up. Hermione had to tear her eyes away as all six feet of Draco emerged from the water - though of course, she'd kept her gaze above the waistline. "Now, will you tell me what the big deal was?"

"Over there," Hermione pointed a shaky finger at the scaly shape. "I'm pretty sure that's an alligator. Scaly and brown... I bet Julia's going to be really happy to hear about this."

He glanced over and she saw a muscle twitch at the corner of his mouth. When he looked back at her, there was a odd light in his gray eyes. "I can't believe it, you saved my life," he breathed, gazing at her with worshipping eyes. "I owe it all to you that I'm standing here in one piece."

"It's alright, I'm sure anyone would have done the same," she said, a little self-conscious.

"There's only one way to show my gratitude to you, Hermione," he said breathlessly. "And that's to wrestle the creature with my bare hands." He dived into the water and started swimming towards it.

"Draco! What are you doing?" Hermione yelled, fear rising in her chest. That was an alligator; what chance would he have against it? It'd snap his arms and legs off in an instant. She wanted to help him but she was never one to fight anything, let alone a beast like that. "Oh, God..." She heard splashes and from the corner of her eyes saw a flurry of arms and legs... and then, laughter.

What?

"Another mighty foe crushed in the hands of Draco Malfoy," she heard him announce. Hermione looked over and wanted to die. Covering her face, she lay on the ground, hoping it would swallow her up so she didn't have to face him. But, the ground never did obey anyone and stayed solid underneath her as Draco advanced towards the bank of the lagoon.

"I don't believe this," she moaned, giggles escaping her lips despite her embarrassment. "It looked like an alligator from far away."

Draco smirked. "I think all those years of hard study have gotten to your brain. You were hallucinating."

"Was not! It was just a trick of the light," she protested, half wanting to smack him and half wanting to tell him to get some clothes on. After all, there were Island Eyes around and it was a little odd having a conversation with someone that was naked. Especially when that someone was a piece of eye candy like him. "Oh, and by the way, you were butt naked on camera. But that was my fault. I'm sorry."

He laughed. "Don't worry. I wasn't."

"Sorry to contradict you, but you were."

"There're no cameras here," he said lazily as he drifted further away from her, an inviting smile on his lips. "So... coming in?"

Hermione felt the unspoken communication that flashed between them, but unfortunately she hadn't been around him long enough to know what it meant. Did he mean that, since there were no cameras, she could skinny dip with him if she wanted?

Or did he mean something more suggestive? Join me naked here and see what it leads to?

Or did he mean it in an innocent way - if she took off her clothes, would he be surprised or even alarmed and hop out of the water, dressing himself in a hurry whilst casting her disgusted looks? It was hard to decipher the exact meaning of his look but she decided to play it safe. After all, she didn't want him to think she had changed for the worse since he'd last seen her in Hogwarts.

She admitted it; Draco had changed and there was no doubt about the chemistry between them. When even a single touch could make her skin buzz, it was useless for her to keep saying that they were still bitter enemies and she hated his guts. Because it was obviously not true, unless the buzz was because his touch repulsed her. Which she also knew wasn't true.

So she slipped into the lagoon and felt the cool water slide over her skin. It was a magical feeling - after all those days of not having showers and walking around forests and beaches, the sand on her skin had started to irritate her and it was a big relief to be able to clean herself. Hermione resisted the urge to start scrubbing her arms and face with a leaf and opted for a position underneath one of the miniature waterfalls instead, hoping the force of the water would wash the dust on her skin away. When she emerged back in the main pool, Draco was zipping up his jeans and about to put on his shirt. A disappointed bubble rose in her brain but she popped it quickly, swimming over towards the edge.

Was he going to leave her alone here? Her query was answered when he sat down in front of her, with his legs crossed. Obviously he wasn't ready to leave just yet. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, I feel great." She lay on her back on the edge of the lagoon, half in water and half out. She felt like a mermaid. Except those legs flapping around were definitely hers. A bug flew near her face and she swatted it away, yelping. Draco stared at her, looking bemused. "Nothing. Just a bug. You know, those flying ones?" She made a show of looking around paranoidly. "I just know they're out to get me."

Draco laughed. "I don't think a bug'll kill you. Unless maybe it got in your eye or something."

"So... what's your worst experience on the show? Any near-death experiences?" she asked just to break the silence, which had started off as comfortable but was rapidly turning awkward.

He nodded. "Yeah, you get a lot of that kind of thing when you do my kind of work." He smirked. "I'm lucky. There hasn't been any damage to the more painful parts of my anatomy yet, unlike many survival TV show men." Hermione rolled her eyes at the sign of his old personality from school, but didn't say anything. "But I have acquired some scars that anyone would be proud of." He lifted the leg of his jeans and showed her a small streak of skin that was a different color to the rest of his leg. "This one doesn't count as a scar I got in the non-magical world, but it was when some Auror tried to curse my father when he escaped and got me instead." He grimaced. "But I got him back, of course. Sent him to St Mungos for 2 weeks."

Hermione shivered. "Seems like you still have that violent streak in you."

"But now I've mellowed," he said in a simpering voice. She pretended to gag and he grinned. "Coming into the Muggle community really has helped calm me down. Sure there's loads of annoying people around, but there's definitely less weirdos than in the wizarding world. Not that I don't miss it, of course," he added, looking a little regretful. "Though now there's a death warrant for me in the magical world and I can't risk going back. Not when I'm so rusty with my curses."

"You seem to be doing well enough here," she replied, shrugging. "I'm still living in London and all but I'm also a little out of touch with the wizarding world. Apart from the fact that I still keep in touch with my friends and get the Daily Prophet everyday. I haven't used my wand in months."

He smiled. "Can't say I miss all the chaos back during our school days. The non-magical world is much more peaceful." He looked at her and didn't turn away when she met his gaze. She stared at his eyes, enthralled by their stormy grey-blue color...

Hermione involuntarily tore her eyes away and broke the stillness of the moment when Kenny's voice floated up to interrupt them. "Hello! Can you hear me? Are you two still up there?"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"Oh good, you guys just woke up," Laurie yawned as she came out of her hut when Hermione, Draco and Kenny had gotten back to camp. "I was positive I'd slept in."

Hermione and Draco exchanged glances but didn't say anything as the other woman picked up the challenge and the flax shoes. "'First to find me wins the challenge.'" She smiled wryly at Draco. "Gee, that's a tough one."

Sitting down and taking off the 'shoes', Hermione shook out her hair and picked through the selection of fruit that she, Draco and Kenny had picked on their way back. That journey had, thankfully, taken a much shorter time than the first and was straighforward enough so that she could keep replaying the events at the lagoon in her head and not walk into a tree every 2 minutes.

"So what do we do?" Laurie asked. "Shut our eyes and count to 100?"

Draco laughed. "The challenge is over. Hermione found me first, while you were asleep. But don't worry about sleeping in, seems like you needed it."

Hermione almost burst out giggling at the expression on Lauries face. Her mouth was wide open and she was the picture of disbelief and shock-horror. "Oh my God! I can't believe I missed a challenge point! I'm never going to win the million bucks at this rate," she muttered to herself crossly.

"Where's Alex? Is he still sleeping too? Jeesh, last night wasn't that tiring, was it?" Hermione asked, looking around for the bespectacled man.

"Huh? He's gone too? Why didn't you guys wake me up?" Laurie grumbled, annoyed.

Hermione ignored her question and busied herself with sorting out the fruit, telling herself all was fair in love and war.

Draco stood up and headed over to Kenny, who was checking over his camera. A few minutes later he turned back to the women and yelled, "You two stoke the fire and look for firewood. Boil some water too, if you can. I think I'll go see where Alex went off to."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Hermione had boiled the water and was now looking around her for pieces of wood she could feed to the fire. To her right she could hear Laurie doing yoga in her underwear and going on to Kenny about some ex-boyfriend she'd once had when she was younger at the same time. Funny. She'd always though yoga was a silent kind of activity. Guess not. She tried to block her voice out but it was like trying to stop a fly's buzzing from reaching your ears. Although that example was a little vulgar.

"... my parents took my decision pretty hard, you know... I mean, wanting to become an actress is a pretty far-out thing, because you need a lot of background training and experience and stuff. I wonder how your parents took it when you said you wanted to become a librarian?"

The brunette woman continued to hum to herself and hunt around for useable bits of wood and didn't notice.

"Hermione? I asked how did your parents take it when you said you wanted to be a librarian?" Laurie spoke a little louder and Hermione looked up at her, frowning.

"It's not like it was my life ambition or something. It just kinda happened." She stood up. "Well, I'm going to look for some firewood. There's none around here. See you later, Laurie."

She stood up and started to walk away when Laurie shouted something at her. "Hey, what happened between you and Draco today?"

Hermione froze. "What?" she said cautiously.

"At the lagoon," Laurie said whilst putting her clothes back on. "Did you guys get up to any hanky-panky?"

"What? Of course not! Don't be stupid," she said, trying not to blush. At that moment she was aware of Kenny slowly walking around to film their conversation. God. Why didn't he shoot a footage of when she was preparing the boiled water? He just had to film her while she was trying to keep her face calm and not to babble. "Why would we do that?"

Laurie closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, while rolling her head from side to side. Then her eyes snapped open and she said in a menacing tone, "Don't think I won't fight you for him."

Kenny's camera whipped around.

Hermione retreated a few steps, a little intimidated by the other woman's intense glare. "What are you talking about?"

"I love him. I've never loved anyone so much in my life." OK, so here you are going on about Draco being the love of your life when just a minute ago you were going on about some ex-boyfriend of yours. What the hell? "I won't let you take him from me. Don't you realize? He's the love of my life. I can't go on without him." The hatred that Laurie was projecting was immense, and Hermione felt somehow shocked and anguished. Especially since the negative emotions had come out of nowhere.

"Um... OK, Laurie. Calm down. It's alright. I'm not going to take anyone from you."

Laurie started sobbing tragically. "I know you're just a temporary affair. A week or two at most. But in the end, he'll belong to me. The one who loves him the most."

"Laurie, it's OK. Take a deep breath and relax. You're all right." She glanced at Kenny and mouthed, Get Draco! and turned back to Laurie, who had stopped sniffling and stood, brushing the tears from her face. She smiled at Hermione and the latter felt her pulse go up in alarm.

"Taaa-daa! What did you think of my performance?" Laurie beamed and bowed to the camera. Kenny looked relieved as Hermione, bemused, was made to bow too even though she hardly knew what was going on. "Sorry Hermione, but in order to make it look real I had to get a genuine response."

Hermione sat down on a log, wiping her forehead. "I thought you were..." For real. Ack.

"Crazy? Mental?" Laurie provided helpfully, looking happy. "Maybe I could make it a little less dramatic. Hmm. Well, you were great too, Hermione. A great co-star. Come on, admit it! It was kind fun, right? Now let's go find that firewood that Draco asked us to get."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

The first thing Draco noticed when he got back to camp with Alex was the look on Hermione's face. She looked shaken and a little pale, but when he asked how she was she shrugged. "I'm OK," she said, then her eyes darted distractedly to Laurie. The two women exchanged a look and a spark of amusement lit Hermione's eyes. They burst into laughter.

Draco decided not to investigate any further, in case it was something about him. "Alright. Are you guys ready for your next challenge? I think you'll enjoy this one." He motioned for the three to follow him but Laurie hanged behind, flapping her arms in panic.

"Do we need to bring anything? Water? Food? Lip gloss?" she asked. Draco laughed and started walking ahead, so she had no choice but to follow. After a short walk around the beach they arrived at a clearing where Julia and her crew had been working hard on sometime before.

There was a huge circular pit in the middle, measuring about 100 feet across. It was fairly deep, about 10 feet, and in the very centre of the hole was a large white box. Hermione began to see what the challenge would be about... but it seemed somehow odd.

"The mystery prize is in the box," announced Draco, looking at his watch. "First one to get to it wins the challenge point, and the contents. You have one hour. Start now." He walked over underneath a tree and watched them, smirking. This was going to be interesting.

The contestants stood on the edge of the pit, staring down at the bottom. It was far too deep to jump unless they didn't mind breaking a limb, and the sides were too smooth to climb down. Hermione frowned, and stared at the box. Laurie walked the side of the circular hole, looking confused and casting bemused looks at Draco.

Alex was the first to act, and he started looking around for sticks. Laurie looked over at Draco. "It's not possible. The hole's way too big." Draco just shook his head, smiling faintly. It wasn't impossible, but with the time limit he'd given them there was only one sensible, injury-free solution. It would be fun seeing who figured it out first.

Hermione continued looking at the box, her brows furrowed, and glancing up with a thoughtful expression every now and then. When Laurie let out a yelp she looked over and saw the other woman pulling out the fishing line from yesterday from her pocket. "I forgot about this! We can use it, right?" Draco shrugged, and watched as Laurie lay on the edge of the pit, throwing the line as far as she could and trying to hook the box. He saw Hermione shake her head slightly and stare down at the sides of the pit again.

Alex came back with a bundle of long sticks. "OK, now we just need to join them together," he said maniacally. Draco smiled. Alex was thinking very linearly while Laurie had stopped thinking altogether. She was still trying to get at the box with the fishing line doggedly with her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth, letting out grunts and squeaks of irritation whenever she missed - which also happened to be everytime.

Another 5 minutes ticked by.

Draco watched Hermione through half-shut eyes. He wondered what she was thinking. Obviously she hadn't given up - he didn't know her that well but well enough from the past to know that she didn't just give up that easily. He remembered her attempt at fighting off the seagulls and cracked a smile. Then he thought back to his behavior at the lagoon and grimaced.

Any other time he'd have just told the person that it was a log, but he'd made a big show out of it with her. He realized that he'd be showing off to her for no apparent reason at all. It wasn't something he did often and it took him a while to identify his actions because he hadn't shown off to people for long time, after he left the wizarding world.

As a kid and a teen he'd done a lot of it. Dad/Mom/Pansy/Blaise watch me! Watch me hex/jinx/curse/stupify/etc something! But he was no longer a teenager it was a little weird finding himself showing off at his age. It was the only way to describe his behavior. He'd shown off and fooled around to make her laugh. He looked at Hermione and saw her nod to herself, and then gaze over at him. "Give up?" he teased, and she smiled.

"It's impossible," she said, and Laurie glanced at her then looked over to him in outrage.

He waited.

"For one person." Hermione glanced at Alex, who was still trying to find some sticks that were long enough to reach the bottom of the pit. "You'd never make the ladder in the time we have left. The only way is to work together."

"Is that right, Draco?" Laurie asked. Draco made a zipping motion across his lips and she looked exasperated.

Alex had stopped running around and looked at them, puffing with effort. He'd done the most physical work so far, although it was still fruitless. "What do you mean?"

"It's the only solution," she argued. "Even if you worked very fast you still couldn't build a ladder in time. We have to work as a team and get the prize. One of us will go down and take the prize, throw it up, and stand on the box while the others pull them up. And since we can't all get a point, we'd have to forfeit the challenge point."

"What if the prize can't be thrown? What if the box can't be moved?" Laurie asked.

Alex piped up. "What if the prize can't be shared?"

Hermione shrugged. "Unknown variables. But we'll have to live with them if we want to win the challenge at all."

"Thirty-five minutes left," Draco said loudly, and continued watching their discussion. Alex looked at him frantically and looked as though he was trying to decide between his ladder and Hermione's idea. Hermione, however, looked calm and composed. Draco knew she was confident that her idea was the only answer to the challenge and she had thought through all the other possibilities. Working together was the only solution in her mind and she knew she was right. Admirable. He smiled, then mentally punched himself and reminded himself that he wasn't meant to have favorites.

Laurie sighed and patted Alex on the back. "Come on, let's do as Hermione says. You know she's right. It's the only way."

"Alright. We'll forfeit the point and if the prize can't be split we'll draw straws."

Hermione beamed at him. "Sure. I agree. OK, Laurie we'll lower you down since you're the lightest."

She looked down at the pit and sighed again in resignation. "Fine, but if it's food I'm staying down there and eating it all myself."

"If you do that we won't help you back up," Alex said menacingly, glaring at her.

"Joking... joking!" Laurie laughed and they lowered her down as far as they could. She jumped the rest of the way and ran over to the box excitedly. "Ooooh, guys, it's shower stuff! Shampoo, shower gel... this is awesome! There's even toothpaste!" Hermione and Alex high-fived each other. Laurie pushed the box to the edge and delivered the items up. 10 minutes later, with 5 minutes to the time limit they rescued Laurie and the women hugged each other while Alex gazed at the treasure trove in wonder, looking at the shampoo and shaving cream in his hands as if they were made of gold.

Draco headed over to them as they laughed and cooed over their well-earned prize. "Well done, you three. You did great. Hermione, because you thought of the idea you get the challenge point."

She looked up, upset. "No, we said we'd forfeit it. It wouldn't be fair otherwise."

"Sorry, you don't get to do that," he replied apologetically, grinning widely. "You can share the prize but the point is yours."

Hermione turned to the others, a sheepish look on her face. "Sorry guys."

"Wait a minute," Alex said suspiciously. "First you knew where to find Draco this morning, and now you knew what to do for this challenge. Are you sure you haven't been getting any hints?"

---xcxsurvivorxcx---

Omg... the scrollbar is tiny... I didn't know I could ever write a chapter this long! x.X Anyway I hope you enjoyed this, because it was really fun typing and watching the scrollbar get smaller and smaller! XD Please review, and I'll update a little sooner next time. And also tell me any spelling or grammatical errors, the chapter was so long I couldn't be bothered rereading it...