S U R V I V O R

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

A/N: Hehe, sorry for the very late update! I didn't really get around to writing this, since I had to take the book out of the library, and that often takes weeks, or even months. X.x Anyway, enjoy this chapter! Took me long enough to write it. XD Again, tell me if there's any mistakes... you guys are my betas! Hehehe. -Evil laugh-

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Chapter Five

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It was time for another one of those pep talk sessions with Julia. The aforementioned woman cleared her throat and flipped through the papers on her clipboard, beaming at the contestants and host as she did so. "Well, I must say - the amount of response from the public has been overwhelming. I didn't expect the audience figures to climb so high in such a short period of time, but there you go." She flashed them another blinding smile. "And of course there's our regular fan base, who have been visiting our site everyday and giving us a lot of interesting comments."

Hermione felt the uneasy jolt that ran through her body that she always experienced whenever someone reminded her that they were on TV and were being watched by other people. She wished that Julia would stop talking about it, but as usual the woman did exactly opposite of what Hermione hoped and continued ranting on about the audience figures. Hundreds, thousands of people watching their every move, seeing everything - good and bad - that happened to them. It was enough to make anyone's head spin.

Do the viewers still think I'm cheating? Hermione thought. Although Draco had immediately leapt to her defence last night and embarrassed Alex into taking back his accusation, she was pretty sure that the event had only fueled the audience's suspicion. Him standing up for her so quickly was almost evidence that she was being favored to win. Yet there was a small, calculating part of her that wondered if some people enjoyed and admired such ruthless tactics. And no doubt Julia would find a way to make everything more exaggerated than it was.

She tuned back in to what Julia was saying.

"... and there's been some pretty unexpected responses to our polls on the website."

"Polls?" Laurie asked. "What do you mean?"

Julia waved a hand. "Oh, we just tell them to log on to the website and put down their votes for things that's going to happen, such as who's going to win the next challenge point, who'll be the earliest one up each morning, who'll lose their temper first. That sort of thing."

The three contestants looked at each other and made faces, chuckling self-consciously.

Unaware of their discomfort, the producer continued. "Also, how long will it be before Laurie and Hermione have a catfight? Who's got the biggest skeleton in the closet and what is it? Who'll sustain a serious injury? Who'll break down first? Which woman will get Draco? Will Alex cheat on his girlfriend and with who? The list goes on and on. It's actually quite fun seeing the results, you know."

Everyone's eyes started to bug out.

Draco folded his arms. "Before the accusations start, I'd better tell you that none of this is my fault."

Julia shot a venomous look at him. "Come on, it's just a bit of fun."

"I'm not going to cheat on my girlfriend," Alex announced, frowning. Hermione glanced at Laurie and tried not to laugh out loud as they shared a look that said, Not with either of us, that's for sure.

"And most of our poll results say the same thing," Julia said smiling, checking her notes. "In fact, 90 per cent."

"I'm not," he repeated, starting to look a bit panicky.

Julia wagged a finger. "Don't put any money on it. These polls change by the hour. We could have a complete change in votes by the same time tomorrow."

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"So... anything interesting going on?"

Hermione blinked at Julia. She had already taken Alex aside for a little chat and now it was her turn. "Interesting?"

Julia smiled encouragingly. "With the others. How are you getting along?"

"Oh. Um, we're getting along fine I guess. They're all really nice."

"And what about Draco? I heard you two already know each other from way back." Julia winked and put on a pair of sunglasses, waving away a few insects. "How are you two getting along?"

Hermione shrugged. "Yeah, I knew him before. Not very well though. But he's great, he knows a lot about this whole survival thing and he's fun to be around." She watched as the other woman nodded slowly, her eyes unreadable behind the dark glasses she wore.

"Right... OK." Julia swept her arms over her head. "Being on an island like this... it must bring up some feelings that are normally buried deep inside. Primal feelings, should I say." Hermione didn't really know how to respond to that, but she could feel a slight blush creeping up her neck. "Urges." Julia looked meaningfully at her, putting a big emphasis on the word. Noticing her blush, she continued. "Yes, I'm sure there are a lot of primal emotions welling up. And nobody can blame you. A man, a woman in the middle of the tropics on a small deserted island? Well, I'm saying don't be afraid of these feelings. They're only natural, you know. In fact, feel free to... act upon these feelings, if you feel you must."

Hermione was frozen with embarrassment. What kind of things did she tell Alex, then? she thought, shocked. "We haven't really had time to think about that," she said quickly. "I mean, the challenges do take up a lot of time and energy. At least we're not at each other's throats yet, right?" She smiled nervously.

There was a pause. "Hmmm, that is another way things could go," Julia said specutively, jotting down a few things on her clipboard. "But we'll leave that aspect for now." She leaned a little closer to Hermione. "Anything else you want to ask me?" she said, her tone suggesting that the answer she was expecting would contain only two letters. Hermione shook her head, glad to be free of her hawk gaze. "Great. Send Laurie over, will you?"

She obliged gladly, and a few minutes later when she look over again, the two were giggling madly like two girls at a sleepover. Draco passed her and saw her looking at them. "Something wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Hermione answered, smiling wanly.

"Oh. So what did she drag you over for? Some kind of lecture?"

She laughed, looking away. "No, nothing like that."

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Draco, Draco, Draco.

Hermione swiped away a flax leaf that swung into her face and tried to detour her thoughts from the one thing they always came back to. It was unnatural for her to feel this way towards him. Especially because it was him. She sighed and picked her way through the thicket. She spotted a grey and white feather on the ground and bend down to grab it eagerly. This must be the tern feather, she thought, glad of something else to think about.

Draco had sent them off on a scavenger hunt about an hour ago. The list consisted of 15 items and the first back to camp with 10 of those would win the challenge. To be honest, Hermione wasn't trying very hard - yesterday's accusation still hung over them and she decided she wouldn't mind if someone else won the challenge point today. Instead she was just wandering around, picking up things when she saw them but generally exploring the island. Right now she was on top of a small cliff that overlooked part of the beach on the opposite side of the island to their shelters.

The exploring was also supposed to be a plan to stop herself thinking about Draco but this was proving to be difficult. She remembered a lot of little things that he did; the way he smirked at her, the way he occasionally brushed his hand through his hair unconsciously, the way he smiled languidly at people. At the moment she was trying to get rid of the image of him and Alex arguing heatedly over something. Sports teams, if she remembered correctly. Alex had been squawking indignantly and Draco had spots of pink high in his cheeks, his eyes bright as he spoke.

Hermione blinked when she realized she was grinning foolishly on camera. Shaking her head, she mentally scolded herself. Julia would just love that.

Sighing, she found a low, thick tree and climbed up onto it. The shade was welcome to her hot skin and she took a drink from her bottle. Birds cheeped above her head in the thick leaves and the wind blew over her, cooling her down. She shut her eyes and smiled, making a mental note to thank Draco later for sending them out on the scavenger hunt.

Draco.

Urgh. Her train of thought was back exactly where it started. It urked her but she grudgingly admitted that she did indeed have a crush on him. The more she tried to deny it, the worse it got. She felt good around him and agonizingly for her, she was attracted to him. It was weird, considering their history but she couldn't help it. Her sessions of trying to talk herself into believing that she didn't really like him at all always failed whenever he looked at her with those piercing eyes of his. All those hours of silently chanting 'I do not like Draco Malfoy' in her head and occasionally under her breath, gone to waste in a second.

And she wasn't sure, but sometimes she could swear that the feeling was mutual. But that was the problem with attraction - it turned your judgement to poop. Hermione'd had first-hand experience when it came to pooped judgement - just look at how she'd misread Krum for instance. She had no idea what he'd been thinking.

The memory made her restless and agitated, so she got up and walked further alone the cliff towards some tall papaya trees a little bit ahead of her.

Even if Draco did somehow like you, what would you do? Track him down after the show? Seduce him on national television? She chuckled at the absurdness of her own suggestions and then pressed her hand over her mouth. Smiling on camera was one thing, but chuckling to herself on TV was just too plain weird.

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Hermione narrowed her eyes and looked up at the trees. Yellow, cylindrical fruits filled her vision. Bananas weren't on the list but she thought it'd be a nice change from the same food they ate everyday. Putting her palm against the trunk, she shook it as hard as she could. They didn't even move. She tried to find a large stick to beat them down but there were none that were even close to the height of the position of the fruit.

There was only one solution.

But the tree is awfully... big, she thought to herself.

The rewards will be worth the climb, the confident and reckless part of her answered boldly.

Her mind now devoid of any thought of the scavenger hunt, she glanced around and her eyes landed on a couple of strong-looking vines nearby. Cutting them off with her pocket knife, she tied them together to form a harness that she'd seen Draco use on the show before. She looped it aroung the tree and tugged, making sure it was secure.

Now for the tricky part.

Hermione held the vine and braced her feet against the trunk, adjusting her legs so that the vine would remain taut enough to keep her up. She took a step up the trunk and bent her knee, and as soon as the loop loosened she pulled it sharply further up the tree. She repeated the procedure several times, feeling amazed and proud that it was actually working and she wasn't falling. About 15 minutes later, she finally reached the top of the banana tree. Grinning like a maniac she scanned the surrounding area, feeling relieved that she'd made it. Hermione reached over and tugged off a ripe banana, peeling it and then savoring it with a pleasure that bordered on indecent. She was going to stuff a few more into her pockets, but remembered that her dress had no pockets. Sighing, she instead pulled off the fruit in bunches and dropped them into the long grass, hoping it would cushion their fall and that the bananas wouldn't be too bruised. Well, even if they were bruised they would probably eat them anyway.

After a few more moments of enjoying her perch, the sun became a little too strong for her and she decided to get down before her skin began to peel. While she tried to formulate a plan to get back down, a rustle in the bushes made her turn sharply. "Draco?" she called sceptically, wondering if she'd been out longer than she was supposed to be. But she didn't remember him saying anything about a time limit...

Another rustle, this one slightly more violent than the previous one. "Um... whoever it is, come out," she said loudly. This time the bushes parted and Hermione gasped as a huge wild pig with bristly fur and tusks emerged. A group of cute little pink piglets followed, and she resisted the urge to jump down and hug one. They're so cute, she thought, amused. Hard to imagine they'd grow as big and lumbering as their mother.

The smile on her face dropped when the mother started nosing through the grass and the bananas. She started to frown. "Hey - hey there, shoo! Away! Those are mine! Do you know how hard I worked to get to them?" The pigs paid her no attention and started devouring them. "HEY!" she yelled, and climbed cautiously down a few notches. "Get away from them! Shoo!"

This time the mother pig turned its beady eyes towards her and growled. Oh my, what big tusks you have, she thought. She ventured down a big further and was met with a louder growl. Meanwhile the babies - who were starting to not look so cute - continued eating through the bunches of bananas, occasionally rearing their heads as if laughing at her. "Fine, have the bananas, be my guest," she muttered and climbed back into her roost. She covered herself with a leaf, and watched helplessly as the yellow fruits disappeared into their mouths at an alarming rate.

A few minutes later they were all gone. Hermione looked down, hoping that they would go away and let her get back down, but no such luck. The family of wild pigs settled down in the grass and started to go to sleep. She slid down as quietly as she could, but whenever she tried the mother pig always snarled at her. Stuck again. Hermione began to seriously regret ever coming to this tree in the first place.

Hours seemed to pass and the pigs still didn't budge. By now Hermione had finished the remaining banana that she had missed when she was throwing them down and was feeling bone-tired, bored and plain stupid. Her stomach, despite the fruit, was growling and she was starting to grow desperate. Would she be here all night? "Hello?" she called, wondering where the Island Eyes were when she needed them. Couldn't anybody see her? Where was the cameraman that was supposed to be tracking her? "Anyone?"

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"I had a feather!" Alex exclaimed, looking suspiciously at Laurie. "Did you take my feather?"

Laurie wrapped her arms around her own stash. "Don't ask me for your stupid feather. Go away."

"Feather or not, I'm coming," Draco called out, smirking. He checked both their bags and found that Alex was indeed missing a feather, bringing his total to 9 items. "... 8, 9, 10. Congratulations Laurie, you win this challenge." He hid his amazement that she had found any of the list items at all, never mind all of them.

"OH MY GOD! Really? You're not kidding me?" she screeched, her face flushed. When Draco shook his head, smiling, she ran over and jumped onto him, hugging him tightly and wrapping her legs around his waist.

He tried to fend her off but she wouldn't budge, so he was forced to walk over to Alex with a babbling Laurie still clinging to him. "Um, why don't you two shake hands to show there's no hard feelings?" he suggested, and was relieved when Laurie agreed, pumped Alex's unwilling hand and then rushed off to the confession cam. Draco turned back to Alex. "Did you happen to see Hermione on your way?" he asked. She was the only one not back and he was starting to get a little worried.

Alex shook his head, still sulking about losing the challenge.

"Well, we'll give her an hour or so. Meanwhile, why don't we make a raft? It's not a challenge but it still has to be done." The black-haired man brightened visibly and ran off eagerly when he was asked to collect sticks. "We'll do this as a piece-to-camera," he said to Kenny, who nodded and started adjusting his camera as Draco tore strips off a vine to make rope.

"I like her," Kenny said conversationally.

"Who, Laurie?" Draco answered.

Kenny laughed. "God, no. She's mad. I mean Hermione."

Draco brushed sand off his arm and nodded absently. "Yeah, I guess she's nice."

"She's brave," Kenny said. "And no matter what happens, she always has her sense of humor about her. You notice that, Draco?"

"Yeah, guess so," he said. "Hey, maybe you should get some tape of me plaiting the rope after all."

But for once the other man seemed to be in a talkative mood. "You guys work well together too."

Draco looked at him, frowned slightly and shrugged. "Maybe. I haven't really noticed."

Kenny nodded wisely. "Yeah, you two look good together, you know? Comfortable."

Suddenly Draco's expression cleared. "Ooooh, I get what's going on. How much is she paying you?"

"Hermione?" Kenny frowned.

"No, Julia. How much is she paying you to stir things up?" Draco abandoned his rope-making and looked at Kenny, who stared blankly back. "Come on, 'fess up."

"No one's paying me," he replied, puzzled. "I'm just saying."

Draco peered suspiciously at him but there was no sign of guile on the cameraman's face. "Oh, alright. Sorry about that." He turned back to the rope but Kenny's next words grabbed his attention again.

"I'm not sure Julia's even noticed it."

"Noticed what?"

Kenny grinned as he wiped the lens. "That you like her."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, it's so obvious," Kenny tilted his head at him, winking. "OK, well not to Julia or anybody but I've been following you around for years. You're not acting strange or out of the ordinary," he said quickly, noticing the look on Draco's face. "But I've been filming you for... what, two years? And I'm seeing a side of you I've never seen. I gotta say, you're flirting, man."

Draco froze, his face paling. Was he that transparent? But he was saved from a reply when he heard a faint sound from the forest. "Wait, Kenny. Did you hear that?"

Kenny stopped to listen but shook his head apologetically. "All I can hear is you asking me whether I heard anything," he said as he set up the camera. "You ready?"

"No, wait," Draco said, holding up a hand. "That was an SOS. I know it. Come on, follow me the best you can." Kenny nodded and took the camera off the tripod. On their way to the forest, they met Alex, who was coming back with an armful of branches. "Stay here," Draco instructed and walked on, stopping occasionally to try and figure out where the SOS was coming from. At least she's alive and well enough to send out a SOS, he thought as he ran along. He was just trying to break through some particularly nasty bushes when he heard her calling out. "Hermione! Stay there, I'm coming to get you!" he yelled.

Her voice sounded very relieved. "Oh my God, thank goodness you're here, I'm stranded in a tree with wild-"

Draco broke out and unsheathed his pocket knife from force of habit. He stared in disbelief at the scene before him. "... pigs below you? And they're asleep, too."

Hermione looked at him. "Well, the minute I try to get down they wake up. Like I'm some kind of alarm clock." When Draco laughed, she waved a fist at him. "I'm not kidding! Help me down, please. As comfortable as this tree is, I've had enough."

"Well, at least you got us some dinner," he said cheerfully. "We'll just take the big one, the small pigs should be OK - they look weaned."

She stopped. "No, Draco! Don't!" she cried, trying to reach down. "Please don't kill them. There's bound to be more pigs that need their mother. Please."

He sighed and at that moment, the mother woke up. If pigs could show emotions, this one looked surprised. It squealed loudly and woke the piglets, and ushered them away into the foliage. "Looks like you got your wish."

"Thank you for not chasing after them," she said grudgingly after he'd helped her down. Her legs were trembling and she could hardly walk. "Ack. This is hard," she laughed, holding on to him for support. "Looks like I was more scared than I realized."

Draco enveloped her in a hug. "There, there. It's over now."

She was pleasantly shocked but that didn't stop her from instinctively burying her face in his chest. "Thanks a lot. I needed that. Looks like I'm not as tough as I thought I was."

"Anyone would be scared out of their wits if they were stranded in a banana tree with wild pigs underneath," he said, smirking. "I'm just surprised the pigs didn't run away when they saw you." Hermione raised her arm and was about to punch his face, and as she looked up their eyes met. She swallowed as he held her gaze with those icy eyes of his, and was just about to look away when he leaned down and kissed her.

Draco felt fireworks going off in his head. Whoa, he thought as he instinctively started to deepen the kiss. This feels awesome. He wanted it to go on and on, even though he knew he shouldn't really be doing this. Circling his hands around her waist, he felt her kiss him back and brush her fingers through his hair.

"Draco?" came a cry from the bushes, making them both leap apart as though electrified. "Where are you? I don't know where I am. Help!"

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All through their journey back, Draco hardly said a word, just a comment here or there about his rescue. Hermione, who was recounting her experience to Kenny's camera, thought of nothing but that kiss even as her mouth formed words like 'tusk!' 'incredible height!' 'fear!' automatically. She wasn't sure what it meant but it definitely had an effect on her. Her heart thudded even more erratically than before when she looked at Draco, but she didn't see enough of his face to see what his expression was as he was leading them back to camp and walking a few metres ahead.

She decided he was being wise and didn't talk to him about it.

Back at camp, Laurie and Alex were disappointed to find that she hadn't brought anything back from her adventure. "No bananas at all?" Laurie had asked sadly, and Hermione shook her head, amused. Well, at least this put her back on par with the other contestants. Now she had something to fall back on if anyone ever made accusations again. "So did you get anything from the list?" Laurie asked her later.

"Ummm... a tern feather, a copperleaf branch and a seashell." She emptied the contents of her bag onto her palm.

"So I'm still the winner?" the blond woman asked carefully. Draco smiled and nodded, and she shouted in triumph and gave him a huge hug.

Hermione looked away, smiling and feeling a little sorry for Laurie and her blatant but futile flirting. Until Alex spoke.

"Here we go again," he muttered.

Hermione glanced at him sharply, and then looked at the two. Draco was laughing and had his hands on Laurie's waist, and they looked pretty damn good. Her stomach rolled and she felt irked. What had Alex meant?

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Draco rolled over on his bedding yet again - the umpteenth time in less than an hour. He stared at the ceiling, thinking about the day's events.

Kissing Hermione had been a huge mistake.

OK, he was attracted to her, that was for sure. But it was completely unexpected, even for him. She was in his arms and he just... well, did it. And for such a bad idea it was a great kiss. Warm and passionate. It made his heart speed up just thinking about it. But he didn't want to start anything, especially not on the show. He didn't want an affair with one of the female competitors - it might bring in more women who weren't interested in the show itself, but in him. Which wasn't what he wanted at all.

And she had been oddly quiet about it the whole time afterwards. Hermione had always been known for her brains; what if she'd accepted the kiss just to boost her own ratings? As something to show off to the audience, so that they'd support her? He didn't even know if she'd told everyone else yet, but he hoped she wasn't like that. From what he remembered of her, scheming and cunning wasn't how you'd describe Hermione Granger.

He sighed and closed his eyes. So many complications from just a little kiss.

It really should have never happened.

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And so the competition for the million dollars and Draco goes on... teeheehee! Review if you want faster updates! (I think I've used that line before...)