S U R V I V O R
Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.
A/N: I know that in previous chapters, I'd said that Hermione was engaged to Ron. Well, because of personality issues, I've decided to change her fiance to Viktor Krum instead. So... yeah. Ehehe.
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Chapter Seven
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This is ridiculous, Hermione thought, annoyed. According to Julia, there are about a quarter of a million people watching me right now, but can I get Draco to look at me? Of course not. She cleared her throat again, attracting worried looks from Alex.
"Are you alright?" he asked with concern, coming over from the campfire where breakfast was being held. "You're not feeling sick, are you?"
Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm fine, thanks. I've just got something in my throat." She looked over at Draco for the umpteenth time, but he was distractedly handing Kenny a bottle of water.
"What's everyone gonna do today?" he asked.
"I'm going to go look for that shark!" Alex said excitedly. "It'd be so cool to see it up close."
Draco smiled. "I don't think you'll see it again," he said kindly.
Alex looked a little sadder. "Yeah... but..." he brightened, "I'm still going to try!"
"God, you're a lunatic," Laurie said, yawning. "Who would go actively looking for sharks?" She stretched like a cat, attempting to cover her mouth as she let out another yawn. "I wish you'd told us we'd have a day off from challenges, Draco," she complained. "I would have slept in."
"I guess that answers what you're going to be doing today," Draco said.
"I think I'll go to the lagoon again," Hermione said, staring hard at Draco and willing him to look at her. Her eyes started to water.
At her words, Laurie suddenly looked interested. "Oooh, I think I'll come visit this famous lagoon of yours," she said.
Hermione thought fast. "That would be fun. I want to take the scenic route and climb over a couple of mountains. Then I'd like to trek across the north beach, though the sun will be directly overhead by then, so we'll have to carry lots of water."
"Never mind," Laurie said, slumping down on the sand. "I'll stick to my original plan, thanks."
"That's a shame," Hermione said, feigning disappointment, and then returned to her objective. "Draco, could you come and check my leg, please? Just in case it's infected or something."
"Alright," he said, and came over. While Alex turned away and Laurie went back into her shelter, she wrote in the sand: Lagoon, please. Draco looked at it and then at her, his expression unchanged. She tapped the word please, then quickly rubbed the words out as Alex came by and looked at her wound.
"Is it infected?" he asked eagerly. "Do sharks have some kind of poison in their skin? Like, to paralyze their prey? Does it hurt? Can I touch it?"
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Hermione was pacing by a coconut tree when Draco arrived. She looked up quickly, glad that he hadn't stood her up. "I'm glad you came," she said somewhat shyly.
Draco took off his mic and tossed it beside a bush, where hers lay. "How's the wound?"
"It's hardly a wound," she said, grinning. "Just a bit of a graze. It's fine. But that's not what I came here to talk about." She took a deep breath, her heart pounding uncharacteristically. "I was just... well, we've sorta been... kissing. Is there a reason for that, or are you doing it for fun?"
He took a deep breath. "If you're wondering if my playboy habits have come back, then no," he said, with a wry smile. "I... well, I don't want to sound mushy or anything, but I do like you. Which surprises me. A lot."
She scowled at him. "You haven't changed much at all, you know."
"Neither have you," he retorted, almost playfully.
"Let's not get into this," she said with a roll of her eyes. He nodded. "So... what did we do last time we were here at the lagoon?" The lagoon seemed to have become a place where they could put aside their differences, and the show, to have some time to themselves. Hermione hoped fervently that there were no Island Eyes around, or their supposed private time would be more like public private time. Which didn't make that much sense, but that was the way things were here.
"We hunted crocodiles," he provided helpfully, smirking.
Hermione's mouth twitched. From annoyance or amusement, she wasn't quite sure. "Aside from that."
Draco's smirk became wider. "Actually, we swam. Or at least I did. So this time, how about skinny dipping?" He laughed at the expression on Hermione's face. "I was kidding. But of course that doesn't mean I'm not up for it." He grinned and stretched lazily, reminding Hermione uncannily of a cat.
"Was that an invitation?" Hermione decided to play his game, raising an eyebrow and smirking - or at least, doing her best at trying to smirk. Then again, she shouldn't have too much trouble, as she'd spent her teenage years constantly seeing the King of Smirks do it.
"Only if you want it to be," he replied, grinning. "Well, take your time making up your mind. I'm going in first." He then proceeded to take off his shirt, and when he started to take off his pants Hermione realized she was staring and quickly spun around, fighting to keep a blush from rushing up to her cheeks. She heard Draco chuckling to himself as he dove into the water with a splash.
Skinny dipping, eh? Her inner voice said, amused. That's something you haven't done before. How about it? Think you're up for it?
Cameras, cameras, cameras, she told herself repeatedly. I'm not going to strip naked in front of the camera.
Even though Draco's plainly asking you to join him? She could tell that her inner voice was enjoying itself. Anyway, you're on a tropical island. Why not let yourself go and have some fun? Just because you skinny dip here doesn't mean you'll start skinny dipping everywhere
Hermione had to admit that the notion was tempting. Her inner voice, sensing weakness, started voicing more and more tempting ideas until she was solid on her final decision of going into the lagoon, Island Eyes or no. "Turn around, Draco," she called out. He stopped swimming immediately and turned around, but not before she saw a huge, self-satisfied smirk on his face. "And wipe that expression off your face, ferret," she snapped, annoyed and then surprised at how easily the insult came out. Her brain must have remembered it from their schooldays.
Ah, nostalgia.
She quickly stripped next to the edge of the water and slid in, gasping quietly as cold water enveloped her sun-heated skin. The water was surprisingly clean, and the sun's rays made it sparkle as if someone had peppered it with glitter.
"You done yet?" Draco said, sounding bored.
She'd been so preoccupied with the water that she'd almost forgotten he was there. "Uh... yeah. You can turn around now." She did a few practise strokes and glided over to the waterfall, letting the falling water massage her neck and back. Ahhh... bliss. Her neck was cramped from constantly sleeping in strange angles and her back wasn't used to sleeping without a mattress. Sure, grass and leaves were somewhat soft but there was no way they could be compare to a proper mattress. "This is great," she called out. "You should try it."
"Been there, done that," he said flippantly, but he swam towards he anyway. Hermione found herself subconsciously sinking into the water so that only her shoulders were exposed. She supposed her prudish librarian ways were taking over. He stopped swimming when he was beside her, and waded forward slowly so that he was against the rocks underneath the waterfall, where he was out of the way of the downpour.
They stood there for a while in silence, facing each other. Hermione averted her gaze from Draco, fearing that if she looked at him she'd end up staring. As for Draco, he seemed to be trying to do the opposite. His eyes were focused on her.
Eventually, he spoke. "So... how's things with the rest of the Golden Trio?"
The question caught her by surprise. Then she started to laugh. "I thought you hated us," she teased. "What's with the sudden concern?"
"Hey! I'm not concerned!" Draco's voice told her that he was grimacing. "It's just... well, I haven't exactly kept up with things in the wizarding world, you know?"
Realization dawned on her. Draco was lonely! He was successful among the Muggles now - so successful that he hadn't had time to go back and experience the wizarding world again. He was out of touch with probably pretty much everyone, he didn't know anything about the latest news in the Daily Prophet, and he certainly had no idea how his former enemies were doing; had they turned into useless drunks and wife-beaters or were they the new Minister of Magic? For all he knew, they could be either.
"They're great. Harry's married to Ginny and he's a quidditch coach that several international teams are trying to hire. So you could say that he's pretty well-off. As for Ron, he's working here and there, but mostly he's helping his dad in the Ministry. As for his marital status, he has this weird love/hate relationship with Lavender. No-one really knows how that's gonna work out, but most of us are betting that they'll end up married," she smiled, and felt a tug of homesickness. It had only been a week or so and she already felt like she'd been gone forever.
"Married? How about this theory, he's gonna end up gay. Judging by what he was like at Hogwarts... urgh!" Draco trailed off sharply when Hermione delivered an award-winning stamp on his foot. "OK, OK. Fine. I won't judge his sexuality."
"Better not," she muttered ominously, feeling oddly like she was back in Hogwarts again, physically abusing him at every possible chance. "What about you? What's living among the people you used to hate like?"
He laughed. "Not too bad. Some things really amazed me at first. Like toasters! And TVs! And... well, lots of things. Makes me wonder why I despised Muggles so much in the first place." He looked at her. "And maybe I wouldn't have been so mean to you in school. Maybe we could have had a different relationship." He paused. "Maybe."
She met his eyes and he didn't look away. She felt herself leaning forward involuntarily and he cupped her face with his hands and kissed her deeply. This time she didn't pull away and let herself sink into it. She closed her eyes, feeling the heat of the kiss spreading like wildfire through her veins. She vaguely felt herself kissing him back, before she started to feel light-headed and eventually she didn't feel anything at all except the incessant pounding of the water on her face.
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When she opened her eyes again she was lying on the grass beside the lagoon with her dress covering her. She sat up slowly, feeling her head pound as if she were still underneath the waterfall. "Ouch," she murmured, rubbing her temples in a futile attempt to reduce the migraine. She looked around for Draco, suddenly feeling a little bit anxious about what had happened between the time when she blacked out to now.
"Oh good, you're awake," she heard his familiar drawl behind her. She turned to face him, then turned back again quickly, in case he was still naked. He walked around her and stood in front of her, eating a handful of berries, thankfully fully dressed. He offered her some, and she took a few berries gratefully. "Well, I guess now you know it's not a good idea to stand under a pounding waterfall for too long. The pressure makes your brain go crazy."
"Yeah... well, I wish you'd warned me earlier," she grumbled, finishing the last of her berries.
He smirked. "First-hand experience is always better."
She smacked him on the head, grinning at his yelp of pain. "Right. So what happened after that?"
"I dragged you out of the water so you wouldn't drown. That pretty much sums it up, actually," he said, trying hard not to look below her face.
She was about to smack him again for his wandering eyes but then decided against it. He did save her after all. If it weren't for him, she'd be at the bottom of the lagoon as fish food. Well, plankton food, since there were no fish in that lagoon. "Thank you," she said, somewhat sincerely. "And I seriously hope you didn't do anything weird to me while I was out cold, or you're dead." She peered at him suspiciously.
He put up his hands, laughing. "Calm down, calm down. I wouldn't sink that low."
Hermione looked at her wrist, then remembered she had no watch. She looked up at the sky, judging the time by the sun. It had moved quite a bit since its position when she got here. "We should probably start heading back," she said worriedly. "Or the others are going to catch on."
Draco grimaced. "I don't think we want that to happen. How about you go back to camp first, and I'll catch up later. It would look even more suspicious if we got back together."
She nodded and was about to stand up when she realized she still had to get dressed. "Erm, maybe you should go first," she said quickly. He took one look at her and, with a last smirk, nodded and disappeared into the thickets.
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When Hermione got back to camp, she found Laurie acting out another one of her scenes. Thankfully this time her participation wasn't needed as Alex was chosen as her latest victim. He looked thrilled at the prospect.
Hermione sat in the doorway of her shelter, watching the scene playing in front of her with amusement. It seemed like they were doing a 'jealous mistress' thing, with Alex being the married man and Laurie the woman he was attempting to dump. The latter looked confused as she stared at Alex. "What are you saying? Don't you want to be with me anymore?"
"Look, we both knew this wasn't going to last," Alex said pleadingly, playing his part as the uncomfortable dumper well.
Hermione glanced at Draco, who was skinning a dead pig on the other side of the beach. He had arrived some time before she did, which was a miraculous feat considering he'd also brought along a carcass with him. When she saw the dead pig at first her face must have told him what she was thinking, because he'd quickly assured her that it wasn't the same pig she'd encountered earlier. She chuckled at the memory.
Alex looked over. "Is it nearly done?" he asked her, frowning. Hermione shrugged.
Laurie clicked her tongue impatiently, and he turned around quickly. "Focus, Alex!" she said crossly.
"Sorry," he said meekly. "Where were we?"
"Alright, now here's where I start to get a little desperate and worked up. You're starting to feel guilty too, and now you're trying to convince both me and you that you never made any promises. Remember what I said about doing a performance with 'layers'?"
Alex looked pumped. "This is so cool," he said, grinning. Hermione smiled, watching him get ready for his role. "Right... ahem. Listen," he said in a pleading voice. "You know that this day would come sooner or later. And you know I could never leave my wife, because I love her. We had a wonderful relationship, but I think it's time to put things to an end." He touched her arm. "Before we fall too deep."
"What if I don't want to end this?" Laurie said defiantly.
He chewed his lip, looking worried. "I think we should," he said finally with an air of finality.
"But... but you said you loved me," she said, looking distraught.
"I suppose you could say I did, in a way." Alex averted his gaze and stared at the ground.
Wow, he's really good at this, Hermione thought. Or maybe it just comes naturally to all men. She grinned at the thought, shifting her position a little and continued to watch.
"Is that all I was to you?" Laurie replied bitterly. "Just something to play with and then throw aside?"
"We both agreed that it wasn't something we'd make permanent."
"You think you can just toss me away now that you're tired of me? Is that it?"
"Don't say that. We were both very aware of the situation when we started this relationship, and we knew there would be a time to stop." Alex sighed melancholically. "This is it."
Hermione's smile faded a little bit. The talk of 'secretiveness' was starting to remind her of her current situation, with Draco. She glanced at him again, but he was either too far away to hear or he hadn't noticed anything that bothered him. Gee, he sure is doing a great job of keeping things secret, a part of her brain thought wryly. But isn't that what they had agreed on? To pretend that nothing was going on between them?
Anyway, if they were seen on camera then she'd never sort things out with Krum. Even though she was totally against cheating, her relationship with Krum wasn't exactly great for a couple, and what happened at the airport when she left still irked her. She wasn't sure if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with someone like him.
"OK Kenny, now this is where you come in for the close-ups to show our expressions and emotions," Laurie instructed the cameraman, her voice cutting into Hermione's thoughts. "I'm angry, but I'm also feeling a bit stupid because obviously I knew nothing would come of this affair and that he'd never leave his wife for me. Layers, layers!"
At least I'm not having an affair with a married man, she thought. Well OK, she had no idea about Draco's romantic status but she was pretty sure he wasn't taken. She wasn't dumb enough to go for him if she thought he might be attached.
Are you sure about that? her inner voice said merrily. Have you even given a thought to what's gonna happen to you two after the show? I don't think he said anything about that. Did he? Or did I just miss it?
Gee, when did my inner voice get so sarcastic? Hermione thought, slightly annoyed. But she realized it was right. He hadn't said anything about getting together after the show. Did that mean he was just in for a fling? Was he already with someone else? She suddenly found herself wanting to interrogate him, ask him everything about his life. The fact that they met on a tropical island threw her off balance and she'd cast reality behind; but she would have to face it again soon enough. And she was sure her feelings weren't just going to disappear after the show ended.
The thing was, what about his feelings?
Hermione heard the roar of Julia's jet along the beach, and was somewhat relieved at the distraction. Sure, Julia was a pain but at least she distracted Hermione from her irritating and probably irrational worries.
"Awesome, you're all here," Julia said, clapping her hands together as they gathered around. She turned to Draco, who was coming up the beach towards them. "You should have waited for the cameramen to catch up before you killed that pig," she said accusingly.
Draco looked at her, and then at the carcass. "Well it's not like I can do it again," he said, raising an eyebrow.
Julia sighed. "Very funny, Draco. Just make sure you have a cameraman with you, alright? After all, the audience wouldn't mind seeing some blood sometimes. Makes things more interesting than just watching you guys sitting around idly all day."
"We don't sit around idly all day," he scowled.
She flapped a hand at him, ending the argument. "Right, now what I was going to do was talk to you, Hermione." Julia stared at her. "About you and Draco."
Her hands suddenly felt cold. "Me? And Draco?"
"Yeah. About the two of you having a relationship."
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Have they been found out already? How will the others react to this? Find out next time, on S U R V I V O R. :D
As a side note... I started a webmanga, go take a look! (It's my homepage, on my profile.) I'm trying to promote it every way I can so if you can help me by reading or even spreading the word, that would be great. XD Btw, don't be surprised if you see this promotional message in the next chapter of my other stories, too... -Runs-
