S U R V I V O R
Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.
A/N: Just to warn you, the above book moves at a very fast pace, so I'm going to have to follow that. So, sorry if the super-fast storyline and romance bothers you - this fic won't be nearly as long as 10WtKDM. Speaking of the aforementioned fic, the next chapter is in-progress, so don't worry - I definitely won't stop writing it until it's finished. It's just that school is spitting out a truckload of homework at me, and among other online involvements, fanfiction got left behind for a little while.
Oh, and the colors of their keys/boxes actually have some kind of significance. :P Try to guess what the colors represent!
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Chapter Six
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Soon after Hermione got up and had breakfast, she realized that something was wrong. Not once this morning had she been alone with Draco at all. In fact, if she looked back it hadn't been since their kiss that they had been together by themselves.
When they had come back from the rescue with Kenny, Draco started making the raft, explaining everything to the camera as he did so. Hermione, along with Laurie and Alex, helped him occasionally in between the confession cam and their daily chores - gathering firewood, purifying water so it was fit to drink, and replacing their flattened 'bedding' with more moss and whatever else they put in it. Each person had their own preferences and often hunted by themselves for specific types of bedding, so it usually took up a lot of time.
As the evening wore on, Draco continued to act like nothing had happened. As the thrill of the kiss wore off, Hermione became more and more confused, especially seeing the flirty behavior he was acting on towards Laurie.
Hermione didn't sleep very well that night, and was glad when she opened her eyes and saw sunlight peeking through the holes in the wall. When she emerged from her shelter things hadn't improved by much. Sure, Draco was now making pleasant conversation with her but her attempts to meet his eyes were foiled as he kept looking elsewhere, seemingly avoiding her gaze by accident.
After breakfast, he led them to a beach where, apparently, their next challenge was. When they saw the spectacle that was the beach, they gasped collectively. Julia's crew had obviously been busy. In front of them was a giant obstacle course, complete with climbing walls, mud pits, rope bridges, mazes - the whole lot. The course stretched to almost a mile and looked like some kind of army training course. Hermione gulped. She had never been on the athletic side. During school it was easy to pass by PE lessons, because it was usually Quidditch and she was not too bad at that. But a real assault course...
Draco grinned at their shocked expressions and handed each of them a key tied with a ribbon; Alex's was red, Laurie's green and Hermione's blue. They stared at them, bemused. "There are 21 colored boxes in this course," he told them. "Meaning 7 for each person. They'll be number from one to seven and the colors on them tell you whose box it is. The keys in your hands open the first box of the set. The key to the second box will be inside, and so forth. The boxes are scattered and not in an orderly fashion. Mostly likely you'll encounter a box that you haven't got the keys to. In that case, I recommend remembering the location of that box and coming back for it later." He gave them all a smile, somehow managing not to meet Hermione's eyes. "Of course, you'll also find boxes that don't belong to you. You should probably keep quiet about those - but of course, you could always inform the others if you really wanted to."
The three contestants chuckled wryly. Draco smirked and continued. "Some of the boxes will have provisions inside, because - trust me - you'll be here all day." He checked his watch. "There's no time limit; but I think you should all be done by the time the sun goes down. Ready?" He looked around at the eager faces. "Alright, good luck, all of you. You may start."
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An hour later, Hermione was on her third box. Thankfully the many obstacles provided shade from the blistering hot sun, which was now high in the sky. She wished it was cloudy; but whoever heard of a cloudy tropical island? She took another gulp of the bottle of water she'd found, and looked around warily. She had learned to keep an eye on the other two; she wasn't very agile, but she was cunning. When she found a box that wasn't hers, she either ignored it or pretended to open it. The first time Laurie found a box that wasn't hers she'd squealed in frustration, which in turn attracted Alex and Hermione to go have a look. It turned out to be one of hers, but unfortunately she didn't have the key.
And the boxes themselves were making things hell for her; they were small, hard to spot and more than once she'd used a lot of effort to cross an obstacle just to find that the box was red or green. However, she would have been enjoying the challenge if only she wasn't being plagued by a thought that constantly pushed into her mind and broke her concentration: why the hell did Draco kiss her if he was going to pretend he didn't?
She finished the water and tried to remember where she had seen box number four. Was it atop the climbing wall or in the maze? She looked around. The maze was closer. However, to get there she'd have to pass by Laurie and Draco, who seemed to be having a great time chatting. As she approached them, Hermione considered weaving away and ignoring them; but that would seem strange. She gritted her teeth and walked towards the two.
"Come on, let's just cut to the chase," Laurie said cajolingly to Draco, who folded his arms with an amused look on his face. "I'll pay you five thousand. What about it?"
"What if you pay me and you don't win?" he responded, grinning.
Laurie put her hands on her hips. "I'm going to win," she declared confidently. "As soon as you tell me where the next box is. I'll even offer 10 thousand."
"Just one?" Draco put on a thoughtful look, as if he was really thinking hard about it.
Hermione fought the urge to sprint past, and stopped at an equal distance to either of them. "What's this? You're trying to bribe him?" she asked incredulously.
The blonde grinned. "Yeah, I'm a little claustrophobic." She pointed at the maze. "If I pay you five thousand, will you go and see if one of my boxes is there?"
Hermione laughed and turned to Draco, smiling. "She offered you double that. I think I should hold out."
Draco, who had been acting so cheerful towards Laurie, looked at somewhere past her head and chuckled politely. Piqued, Hermione tried to hide the hurt expression on her face before Laurie noticed. "Uh, are you having any trouble? I can't tell you the location of the boxes, but I can give you tips-"
"No, I'm fine," she interjected angrily. "I don't need tips. Thanks. Thanks a lot." And then she stormed off towards the maze before he could say another word.
Who does he think he is? she thought as she followed the maze subconsciously. Does he think that one kiss from him would be so powerful that I'd fall desperately in love with him straight away and start stalking him or something? Is that why he's acting so indifferent?
Talk about an inflated ego. She couldn't believe it. Did he think she was another fangirl who signed up to the show just to be in his presence? How big-headed was that?
Now she was more determined than ever to win this challenge, and the whole contest. After she got the million dollars, she'd... she'd buy this show and fire him!
OK, that was a little insane. She wouldn't do that, but she would win the challenge.
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Hermione sat herself down in front of the confession cam and brushed a lock of - gasp - clean hair out of her face. Getting shampoo had really made a huge difference to her state of personal hygiene.
"Hey everyone," she said, smiling into the camera. Now that she had done this a dozen times, it no longer felt so awkward and embarrassing. "Phew... I have to say, today was awesome! I have to hand it to Julia; she really knows how to build an obstacle course. It's only been five days, but running around all the time has definitely improved my stamina. If this had been the first challenge, I probably would have fainted from exhaustion!" She paused, and then let out a smile. "Look, it was harder than it seemed, OK? And he only beat me by seconds!"
Laughing as she imagined her friends rolling their eyes as they watched, she shifted around and grinned. "Alright, alright. I admit it - Alex beat me fair and square. Hmm, what's the score now? I'm not sure, but I think Alex and I are two, and Laurie is one. Oh wait, I bet it's up on the website anyway."
She stretched and yawned dramatically. "Boy, I'm definitely going to sleep tonight. I must say, sleeping in general has gotten a lot more comfortable and easy. I'm kinda used to the noises of the island now; actually, it's almost soothing sometimes." She looked down and bit her lip. OK, she didn't sleep very well last night, but she wasn't about to tell that to everyone. She wished her best girl friends were here. It would be a lot easier discussing the whole Draco situation with them instead of turning it over and over in her own head, which was starting to tire of the aforementioned topic.
Hermione turned back to the camera, beaming in what she hoped was a natural way. Now that she was experiencing it herself, she was starting to really understand what the phrase 'putting on a brave face' meant. "Well, whatever the challenge is tomorrow, I'm definitely going to win it! I'm really determined now," she said, grinning and folding her arms. "Oh, I'd better go to dinner now," she said and clapped her hands together in mock excitement. "Gosh, I wonder what's going to be on the menu tonight? Potatoes? Papaya? Ooooh, I hope it's fish!"
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"Oh my God, my legs are killing me! I went up that stupid pyramid three times!" Laurie complained.
Hermione frowned. "It was a blue box up there, one of mine."
"I know! But I got it confused with that spiderweb thing!" the blonde woman screeched, rubbing her calves. "You know, that one with a pole in the middle?"
Nodding in understanding, Hermione patted her on the shoulder. The discussion about the day's events was proving to be quite interesting, as each of them recalled their best, worst and most tiring moments. Kenny had returned to the boat a couple of hours after dinner, but the talk around the fire was still dominated by obstacle course bravados.
As Alex and Laurie talked, Hermione watched their faces in the flickering light of the fire. Although it had only been five days, Alex's had grown leaner and his deepening tan suited him. The scratches on Laurie's arms and legs and smudges of dirt on her face made her seem more human.
She didn't look at Draco. Hermione knew exactly what he looked like. Strikingly handsome, humorous and friendly yet egotistical, self-contained and irritating.
Alex yawned and stretched. "Man, I think I'll go to sleep now."
"Aw," Draco said, looking a little disappointed.
"What?" Alex looked at him, confused.
"I was hoping to take you guys out for all-night fishing," Draco explained. "It's low tide and there's a great place out by the cliff. I thought it might be something different."
None of the others met his eyes as he glanced around hopefully, obviously not too thrilled at the idea. "Er... is it a challenge?" Laurie said finally.
"Uh, no," Draco replied. "I just thought it might be interesting for you."
She looked immensely relieved. "Well, in that case, I hope you won't mind if I give it a miss."
"Me too," Alex chirped, standing up quickly as if afraid that Draco was going to drag him away, kicking and screaming, to go fishing. "Winning the obstacle course really wore me out." As if to prove it, he yawned loudly whilst putting on a modest face. Hermione and Laurie threw bits of papaya skin at him, and he put his hands up in surrender. "OK, OK already! I hope I didn't sound too cocky about it when I talked about it to the confession cam," he said, looking worried.
Laurie slapped a hand on her forehead. "Oh, the confession cam! I totally forgot about it! Do you think Julia'll mind if I miss it once?" Looking around at the skeptical faces around her, she sighed. "I thought as much. Oh well... I'll go do it quickly now and go straight to bed. See you tomorrow morning, guys!"
Watching satisfyingly as the two left, Hermione turned back towards Draco, an expectant look on her face. "Maybe we should wait for another night," he said, averting his eyes. "When everyone else can come."
"Oh no," Hermione said firmly, standing up and brushing sand off herself. "We're doing this tonight."
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"... and the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini called Castor and Pollux, who were twin deities that helped shipwrecked sailors."
Hermione glared at the side of his face. "Oh really? How fascinating," she said, not bothering to hide the apparent sarcasm.
They were standing thigh-deep in warm sea water, holding fishing rods out in front of them, and Draco seemed determined to tell her the tale of every single constellation in the inky-black sky. Hermione wasn't sure if they were on camera or not, but they had left their microphones at the shore in case they dropped into the water so she knew they couldn't be heard. Oh, poor audience, missing out on this riveting monologue, she thought wryly.
When she looked at him, Draco was still staring up at the skies. She pointed at a random spot in the sky. "Look, that constellation is called 'The Castaways'. Do you know the story?" she started brightly. Draco started to protest, but she cut him off and launched into her tale. "Once upon a time, a maiden and a handsome man were stranded on a deserted island. Days and weeks passed, until one day they found themselves under a banana tree where they kissed."
She could feel Draco standing very still beside her, and she went on.
"Unfortunately, it was a magical banana tree, so while the maiden knew about the kiss, the man had no memory of the incident at all." She gave a meaningful sigh. "The Gods took pity on the maiden and immortalized her into the heavens, all beautiful and twinkly, while the man was left on the island to grow old and wither away like a rotten apple."
There was a long silence.
"I'm sorry," Draco said finally.
Hermione was relieved that he was finally talking to her about it. Looks like her storytelling had come in useful after all.
"It shouldn't have happened."
She felt something sinking in her stomach, and was surprised at how much that statement hurt. Actually hurt.
"I think I acted on impulse," he said, looking at her and then away again. "I think we both did."
"Impulse," she said dully.
He nodded. "Yeah. We were caught up in the moment; you were frightened and tired, and I was worried for your safety. It was just a very emotional moment. Don't you agree?"
Her eyes stung with tears but she blinked them away quickly. "Of course, you're right. I mean, we would never do something like that."
"Right," Draco said, obviously very relieved. Hermione's gut knotted. "But you're doing really well, and I'm having a great time getting to know another side of you that I've never seen before."
"Uh huh." Hermione's cheeks strained at holding her smile on her face.
There was silence as they continued to fish. Hermione's mind was swirling with nasty remarks that she was itching to say, and also a disappointment that was starting to surprise her. She curled her toes in the gritty sand and tried to ignore the waves lapping at her thighs in a way that was reminding her of the one thing she was desperately trying to keep her mind off. She wondered how long she'd have to stay in order to seem polite before she started making excuses to go.
She had her mouth halfway open to do a fake yawn when her fishing rod jerked in her hands. "Oh!" she gasped.
Draco glanced at her and then his eyes flicked to the spot where her line sank into the water. "Caught something?"
"I'm not sure," she said, feeling no more movement. However, only moments passed before her line twitched again. "Yes, that was a tug," she exclaimed, feeling a blob of excitement blooming in her chest. She edged forward and grabbed for her line in the darkness, finding it on her third attempt. Slowly, she pulled it up and wound it around the pertruding hooks on her fishing rod. "I'm getting good at this," she joked to Draco, all thoughts of romance temporarily forgotten.
Apparently not so for him. Suddenly, he let go of his fishing rod and dashed towards her to put both arms around her waist.
"Oh, Draco!" she said, surprised, and put an arm around his neck, the other one still holding the fishing rod in an awkward way. She closed her eyes and tilted her head for the kiss, but instead felt Draco pull her off her feet roughly. The rod was snatched out of her hands and the water beside her erupted in a fit of bubbles. Draco swung her up and lifted her above the water with an arm around her shoulders and another under her legs. Hermione looked around frantically, feeling the bubble of excitement turn into fear. She felt Draco's heart pounding as he searched the water with his eyes, as it went eerily still.
"OK," he said finally. "I think he's gone."
"Who?" Hermione said dreadingly.
Draco checked the water one last time before looking at her. Droplets of water in his hair were illuminated by the moonlight as he spoke. "A grey reef shark. I guess we disturbed him." She flinched but he squeezed her reassuringly, giving her a smile. "Gave him a free meal, though."
Hermione stared at him, and then the murky water. A shark. Sharks meant big, sharp teeth. If it had bitten her, just once... her legs stung at the thought of it. "Don't put me down," she said, suddenly afraid.
"Sure," he said, laughing. With careful steps, he waded back towards the beach while Hermione looked around fearfully over his shoulder. Once they got to the shore, he put her down gently.
She scooted back a few metres on her bottom, feeling paranoid. Funnily enough, her legs were still stinging slightly. She looked at them and realized that the glistening wetness on her calves wasn't water. "I'm bleeding!" she exclaimed, staring at it.
Draco came up beside her and examined her calf. She searched his face for a twitch or a fleeting look of horror; anything that would tell her that she was majorly injured. When he spoke, his voice was remarkably cheerful. "Looks like his tail caught your leg," he explained. "Sharks have skin like sandpaper. A little scrape and this happens. But don't worry, it's nothing too serious."
What's his definition of 'nothing too serious'? Nothing to worry about? Or more likely, life-threatening? Crippling? "Will I have to get it amputated?" she asked shakily, hating how scared she sounded. She was relieved when Draco started laughing.
"Of course not! You'll live," he said, grinning at her horrified expression. "You sure like getting yourself into trouble." Then his face fell. "But I admit, it was my fault for bringing you here. I should have known there would be sharks around. I'm sorry." He looked genuinely apologetic.
"Don't worry," she said brightly. "In fact, now I can tell everyone I had a near-death experience. How's that for danger and adventure on a tropical island?"
He smiled and turned to meet her eyes. She felt her blood simmer in a rather inappropriate way and was glad for the cloak of darkness hiding the blush on her cheeks. They were so close, she'd only have to lean in a little to close the gap...
Draco made the decision for her, moving forward and putting his hands on her face as he kissed her. This time, the kiss was more searching and she felt his tongue probe at hers as her lips parted. She groaned and put a hand on his chest, pushing him away. She shuffled back the best she could and stood, the stinging pain in her leg forgotten. "Wait, don't tell me," she said, breathing hard. "Another emotional moment? Just one kiss and everything's back to normal tomorrow?" When he didn't answer, she shook her head bitterly. "I thought as much. Well, I'm not here to be a toy for you to play with when you feel like it." She turned and stalked off towards the shelters.
"Hermione, wait a moment," she heard him calling from behind her.
"Leave me alone," she retorted over her shoulder. "You... you man!"
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Yay! Finally got this chapter finished. This one isn't that long compared to a few of the previous ones, but in this chapter their relationship really starts to bloom and you get to see a bit more of what Draco's thinking.
Oh, and please vote for 10WtKDM, if you wish, at Dramione awards, round 3! Go to my profile for details. :) I'd love it if you took the time to vote, even if it's not for my fic! -Hugs-
