S U R V I V O R
Based on the book 'I Will Survive' by Samantha Connolly.
A/N: I didn't put in the accent on the 'e' in 'fiance' and various other accents because it was too much trouble trying to find the accented character every time I typed the word, so I guess you anal perfectionists out there will have to bear it. XD
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Chapter Nine
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"Come on, let's get you to bed."
Hermione's head was spinning. The video from the Island Eye was dark and blurry but it wasn't hard to tell who the two figures were. And judging by how Laurie's hands had planted themselves under Draco's shirt and he was making no effort to remove them, that line was probably in the context that she thought it might be in. You're a fool if you thought Draco had changed that much, her inner voice sneered. So he kissed you a couple of times. That means nothing to him. He'd rather have someone who wants to go further.
"It might not mean anything at all," Kenny said with a light shrug as he shut the camera with a light blip.
The video closed but the image was burned into her mind. Hermione composed herself the best she could. "I don't really mind," she said, smiling slightly. "Looks pretty amusing to me." She forced a chuckle out of herself and stood. "Well, I'd better go do the confession cam before I forget. See ya later, Kenny."
"Bye," Kenny said and she waved before disappearing into the forest. Before she reached the hut, she stopped and changed direction. She couldn't possibly do the confession cam properly in her state; she felt like she could scream at any moment. The feeling of anger and jealousy in her mind was preventing her from thinking rationally and she walked slowly back to her shelter, silently fuming.
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Julia was waiting when Kenny got back to the boat. "So? How did she take it?" she demanded.
Kenny avoided looking at her and pretended to repeatedly clean the lens of his camera. It had bothered him to show Hermione the video, but Julia had insisted and when Julia insisted you do something, you did it. For once in his life he resented the fact that he was a cameraman. He wasn't lying when he told Draco he liked Hermione; she was interesting and genuinely nice. He decided he wouldn't tell Julia how Hermione's face had paled and how forced her smiles were.
"She didn't seem to really care," he told her expressionlessly. "She actually said it was funny."
Julia grinded her teeth and put her hands on her hips in frustration. That Hermione was proving to be a hard one to get a reaction out of. "Never mind. We'll definitely get something out of her later."
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Hermione sighed as she remembered this morning. She had been looking carefully at Laurie and Alex just in case anything had happened; she was a little worried when she saw that Laurie looked pleased with herself and Alex looked a little pale and bedraggled. Hopefully it wasn't a result of anything between them last night.
And the weirdest thing was when she'd cheerfully said good morning to Draco. He had given her a strange look and politely said hello back. She was surprised at his distance but nudged the discomfort to the back of her mind and supposed it was just to make up for their secret 'communication' last night. At least she hoped it had been secret - what if people had noticed? Was that the reason for Draco's mannerism?
Oh, stop analysing everything so much, her brain told her sharply. So he's not as warm as usual. That doesn't mean anything!
She decided to trust its reasoning and went on with her business. But as the day went on, Draco continued to give her odd looks and avoid her eyes. Hermione's niggling discomfort grew larger and larger, until Kenny pulled her aside and showed her the video. And she finally realized what it was all about.
No wonder he had been uncharacteristically reluctant to reveal their relationship to the public. He had someone better lined up. Hermione tried not to get too worked up about it; after all, it had only been a couple of kisses and a bit of frolicking at the lagoon, right? But she couldn't seem to get him out of her mind and to lose him to Laurie wasn't something she could stand by and take. Yet she also didn't want a catfight. Julia would love it but Hermione probably wouldn't come out on top. And she would lose votes for starting it. She wasn't just here for the money, but it was good to keep at least a portion of her mind on it.
Funnily enough she felt tears welling up in her eyes when she thought of Draco and Laurie. She sniffled. So much for having changed his playboy habits. He was still the same old Draco Malfoy, playing around with one girl and going after another just as quickly. And unfortunately for her, she was the girl being played.
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It was hard to ignore Julia when she was yelling at her loudest, but Hermione had to give up when the woman started calling her name through a bullhorn. She reluctantly headed to where the boat - and Julia - was, moving as slowly as she possibly could.
"Alright everyone," Julia said, clapping her hands together. "I've got a wonderful surprise for you contestants."
At this, Hermione, Alex and Laurie looked at each other dubiously, grudges temporarily forgotten. Julia's idea of a wonderful surprise wasn't always equally wonderful in everyone else's eyes.
Julia either didn't notice or chose to ignore the skeptical looks the others gave her, and tilted her head at Alex. "Have a look at who's here," she said, giving him a grin and pointing towards her left.
He followed her direction and turned to the right. Hermione watched as his face suddenly lit up as he spotted the dark-haired woman climbing awkwardly out of a small lifeboat on the beach a few dozen metres away. "Teresa?" he said in wonder, dashing over to greet her. "Teresa!"
"Aww, look at that, a sweet boyfriend-girlfriend reunion," Julia cooed. "Kenny, make sure you get it on camera or I'll have your hide." Kenny quickly obliged.
The couple soon approached the rest of the group. "Hi everyone," Teresa said shyly. She didn't sound British, her consonants slightly drawn out and her speech soft at the same time. "I'm Teresa. I'm very happy to meet all of you; it's so exciting to be here! Everyone talks about it in the supermarket and at work and such. It's so amazing to think that my Alex is in the show."
Laurie beamed at her and grabbed her hand, sitting her down on the nearest log. "Hiya, I'm Laurie, you have to tell me what the audience thinks about me."
Teresa looked a little awed and flustered, as if she wasn't used to being paid this much attention. "Everyone thinks you're great, they really love your 'acting' scenes. We all think you're so funny and talented."
"Oh, I've died and gone to heaven!" Laurie said dramatically, pressing her hands to her heart. "I don't care if I don't win the money, this is all I need, the recognition and support. Thank you so much!" She gave Teresa a hug.
Hermione could feel her eyeballs heading north so she blinked and introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Hermione. We've heard so much about you."
The look Teresa gave her couldn't be more different from the one Laurie got. "Yes, I know you," she said acidly, all traces of shyness gone. "I saw you in the hot tub with my boyfriend last night." She glared at her and went to greet the other people.
Hermione was stunned. Did she do something to Alex that she shouldn't have without knowing it?
Alex leaned over to her while Teresa was distracted. "Don't mind her too much. I don't really remember much about last night but I'm sure nothing went on."
"Of course nothing went on between us," she snapped rather loudly, and several heads turned. Teresa glared at her again before Draco introduced himself and she blushingly shook his hand, the picture of daintiness. Hermione sighed. What a wonderful first impression she'd made.
She was wondering if they were allowed to leave when Julia called Hermione's name again. "Our surprises aren't over yet," she said, winking at them all. As if on cue, another boat zoomed into view and a few minutes later, beached. There were two people on it. One of them stepped off.
He was wearing plain, casual clothes; blue jeans and a printed t-shirt. The shirt had some palm trees printed on the front and it looked like he had picked it to go with the whole island situation. Hermione found it vaguely cute, but it still didn't overcome her discomfort at seeing him. The discomfort only increased when he pulled her into a hug.
"Everyone," Julia announced through her bullhorn again. "This is Hermione's fiance."
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Draco wondered if he was hearing and seeing things. Fiance? he thought, bewildered. Since when did Krum become her fiance? And how come she never told me before? The more he thought about it the more annoyed he became. So this was how she was going to play it. Well, he wasn't going to back down now. He glanced at her as Krum let go and she gave him a defiant look, which only made him even more bemused.
He'd managed to convince himself that last night's temper tantrum had been nothing but the babbling of a drunken Hermione, but there was no way he could find a way to deny this.
Krum went around and shook hands with everyone. Everyone apart from Draco and Hermione were Muggles, which was good because they had no idea how famous Krum was in the Wizarding world. When he came around to Draco, his face grew surly. "Draco Malfoy," he pronounced. "Thank you for taking care of Herm-own-nee."
Well at least I can say her name properly, the other man found himself thinking viciously as he forced out a friendly smile and gripped Krum's hand a little too tight. When he winced Draco quickly let go so that he didn't break any bones - as much as he'd like to right now. "It's good to see you."
Krum nodded. "Me also," he said politely but the expression on his face told Draco that he was anything but good. He headed towards Hermione and stood beside her, and Draco was struck by what an odd couple they made. He'd always thought so, even since he saw them during the Yule Ball back in Hogwarts.
"This is Victor Krum," Hermione announced a moment later, smiling slightly at him.
Laurie ran up to him, as expected, and shook his hand. "Gosh, Hermione's told us all about you." She grinned at Hermione. "Not! You're such a dark horse. How come you never mentioned anything about him?"
"Oh, everyone's got their secrets," Hermione said flippantly, glancing casually at Draco. "Right?"
He looked away and told himself to calm down; he was so angry with her that he wasn't sure if he could hide it. But was it just anger? He wondered if he was hurt at the fact that she got involved with him even though there was already someone else in her life. Then again, it seemed like she had changed so much that it occured to him that he might not even know what she was like anymore.
On the other hand, Laurie seemed to have completely forgiven Hermione for last night's outburst. Then again, she probably forgot everything as she had been bubblingly drunk when Draco had finally managed to tow her back to her shelter last night.
"Sorry, Laurie," Julia said when the babble had died down. "We were trying to bring one of your parents here or something but there was a visa problem." She rolled her eyes. "We did try! But it didn't work out."
Laurie's disappointment was embarrassingly fake. "Oh, that's alright. Draco can be my date for the evening."
Draco smiled weakly. Wonderful.
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The one thing Hermione liked about Krum right now was how his English had improved. It still had an accent, but it was no longer hard to understand certain portions of his speech. And there was the fact that he could now nearly pronounce her name. 'Herm-own-nee' still wasn't quite on the dot but it was better than 'Hermy-own-ninny' or whatever he managed to cook up years ago when they first met.
But it still came as a slightly nasty surprise when they announced him as her fiance. True, they had been going out on and off in the past few years and she hadn't been seeing anyone else besides him, but what had really happened was that he had suddenly proposed to her shortly before the trip and she didn't have a chance to think about it with all her preparations. And to be honest, being on the island had pretty much all but wiped it from her mind. She felt a little guilty, but also confused. They hadn't even been together when he asked her to marry him. In short, it had come out of the blue.
She was aware that she had to say something to him to clear things up. And she would have in front of everyone as soon as his status had been declared, but the look of shock on Draco's face remedied her wounded pride and she decided to not say anything after all. So it would have to wait. To tell the truth she did not feel ready to marry him at all. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to. So there was only one answer for him. It made her cringe to even think about being so heartless after he flew all the way here to see her, but she couldn't lead him on any longer.
Hermione was about to open her mouth when Krum smiled at her. "Everyone has sent their best vishes," he said, pecking her on the cheek. "Ve are all very happy that you are doing so vell."
"Thanks," she said warmly, grimacing slightly. I can't do this to him. Not now. She knew that it would get harder with each passing minute and it was already becoming difficult. Yet she still could not bring herself to say anything.
"So, how about showing me around?" he asked as he took her hand, breaking the slightly awkward silence. "Lead the way."
She brought him to the camp, showing him their 'kitchen'. "This is where we keep the coconuts. The green ones are the ones with milk inside and the dry ones over there are the ones that can be eaten."
"This is so veird," Krum mused. "I feel like I know this place, but I've only seen it a few times on TV."
"You don't watch this show?" Hermione said, surprised.
He shook his head apologetically. "Sorry. I haff to travel around a lot for Quidditch. Though I votch the show venever I can."
"That's alright," she said, a little relieved. She had always felt a little uncomfortable about him seeing her on the island, especially with Draco. What if he had picked something up? At the thought of Draco, she felt herself getting mad again and shut him from her mind, but when she turned around she spotted him sitting at the fire with Laurie, talking and joking.
There's just no escaping him, is there, she thought tiredly. She sighed and led Krum to the shelters. "Anyway, this is where we sleep at night. It looks small, but it's got quite enough room inside. Even for two people."
Krum chuckled. "Of course, you haff already tested that, haven't you?"
Hermione froze. "Um, I guess so."
"I saw the episode ven you and Draco slept in the same shelter, and there haff been a lot of stuff about you two on the vebsite," he said, looking a bit sour. "But don't vorry, I trust that nothing happened between you two."
"Thank you, and of course nothing happened," she said a little indignantly. "We're always microphoned. Like you are now." She tapped the little black mike around his neck.
"That's good to know," he murmured and leaned in to kiss her. And she didn't pull back.
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It was amusing seeing Teresa and Krum staring and picking at their food with a slightly forced expression. It was obvious that they were not too enthusiastic about having leftover pork for dinner. The four natives, however, were eagerly digging in, leftovers or no.
Hermione had managed to avoid having too much intimate conversation with Krum all afternoon, distracting him with talk of the island and stuff like that. She taught him how to do the basics; poking coconuts down from the trees, how to distill seawater into drinkable water and how to build a frame for grilling food over an open fire.
Her diversions lasted until dinner, and she realized that she was starting to feel more and more regretful that she had introduced Krum as her fiance. The longer she stayed silent, the deeper the hole she dug herself. It was going to be hard to get out.
Draco, who had been subtly ignoring her all day, was very obviously blanking her now. He didn't even bother to hide it anymore. Hermione could understand his anger; it wasn't exactly appropriate for her to produce a fiance out of thin air just when their relationship was starting to take off, but it wasn't as if Draco was all innocent himself. In fact, he had been the asshole first that night.
So she was ignoring him right back and tuned in to Teresa, who was talking about some holiday to Italy that she and Alex were going to have together after the show.
"... we're not exactly sure what we want for our holiday, but we've got some ideas," Teresa was saying to anyone who would listen. Alex nodded dutifully, beaming at her as he did so. "We didn't plan it with Alex winning the money in mind, but if he did, we could probably go around the whole world." She laughed, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"That sounds so romantic," Laurie sighed wistfully. "I really need to find myself a boyfriend. Fast."
Teresa laughed and the chatter continued.
Hermione sighed to herself, and Krum looked at her, rolling his eyes. He wasn't joining in the conversation and it looked like he had no plans to. That was one thing she'd always found slightly irritating about him; he never tried to socialize. Practically the only reason people talked to him was because he was a Quidditch star. Of course she herself didn't do that, which she suspected was the reason he kept trying to get back together with her. Coupled with her weak will when it came to love, the result was their on-and-off relationship over the past few years.
"So are you plannning to move if you win the money?" Alex was asking Laurie.
She looked thoughtful. "Hmm, that's a tough one. Continue living with my crazy flatmate who hangs her underwear everywhere, or live elsewhere?" Then she froze as she spotted the camera. "Um, by crazy, I mean she's a very sweet girl. Oh man," she laughed, covering her face in embarrassment and tilting her head onto Draco's shoulder.
Draco patted her shoulder, chuckling. "There there. I'm sure she won't have changed the locks by the time you come back."
It was almost sickening watching those two not even bothering to disguise the fact that they were a couple. Hermione's resolve to ignore him grew steadily stronger.
Alex turned to Hermione. "And how about you?"
She looked at Krum. "Well, we haven't really thought about it... I mean, Viktor's proposal was kinda sudden..."
Everyone's head turned towards her, interested looks on their faces. Krum looked slightly stricken. Oh boy, this is it, she thought. I have to get this off my shoulders now, otherwise I'll never be able to do it. Krum is nice, but he is not the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.
"And I didn't really get a chance to give you an answer..." she continued, feeling worse and worse as she went on. Everyone leaned closer, with the exception of Draco, who was trying to look like he didn't care but was failing miserably. That gave her a little spark of courage, and she composed herself to go on.
Krum had a strange look on his face. Hermione thought she saw a hint of guilt and panic, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. "You're right," he said, reaching into his jacket. For one insane moment, Hermione thought he was going to pull out his wand and jinx her. Then, he pulled out a small velvet box. He opened it, and revealed a stunning diamond ring set in white gold. "Hermione Granger, vill you do the honor of marrying me?"
Hermione sucked in her breath as she stared at the ring. This was it. She had to stop this facade right here. It was now or never.
"I... I'm sorry. I can't."
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MAN that took ages... I had to deviate from the book plot because otherwise it wouldn't really have worked, so that took me a bit of procrastinating and thinking to get the right idea. Anyway, please enjoy, I'll be going to China for a month in a week so I won't be doing any writing until I get back. Au revoir!
