S U R V I V O R

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

A/N: Hello there, readers. :D It's been a while, but right now it's the middle of exams for me so I'm writing this to wind down. Maybe it'll help me do better or something. Meh, whatever. Anyway, I freely admit that I borrowed all the facts during the Q and A section between Draco, Laurie and Hermione from the actual book, because I'm not a reality-TV show fan and I've never been stranded in the wilderness before. So forgive me. D:

---xcxsurvivorxcx---

Chapter Eleven

---xcxsurvivorxcx---

"God, Julia," Hermione pleaded. "I've had enough. I want to go home."

Julia tilted her head sideways and down, and peered at Hermione over her shades. "Come now, you don't really mean that, do you?"

Hermione fidgeted in agitation. "Yes I do mean it, actually. I've had enough bloody drama here to last me a lifetime and I don't plan on going through any more of it."

"Well, I'm afraid that's not an option." Obviously Julia had reached the end of her very limited patience already. "Anyway, it's practically the last day, so stop being such a baby."

"You can't make me stay here against my will."

"What are you going to do, swim? Or are you going to take Draco's raft?" Julia mocked. Hermione bristled but said nothing. "Listen, Hermione," the producer said, her voice developing a woman-to-woman tone to it. "I know you're in a hurry to right the wrongs you did to poor Viktor, but running after him isn't going to achieve what you want. Remember, treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen; with some luck he'll still be willing to give you another chance after he realizes how he can't live without you."

"I don't care about Viktor," Hermione frowned.

"There, there, I almost believed you myself," Julia said, smiling encouragingly. "If you keep up that attitude until tomorrow, you can throw in a real twist by saying how much you miss him at the confession cam in the last moment. Maybe you could even say that you'd give up the money just to have him back again." She pursed her lips. "Hmm. You'd have to be careful with that one, though, or people might take you seriously."

Hermione looked at her with a mixture of disturbance and awe. It was amazing what went on in that woman's head.

"In any case," Julia decided after another moment of thought. "You shouldn't let this affect your participation in this game. Use it to your advantage, if you can. Don't forget how close you are to finishing."

"Why does everyone say this is a game?" Hermione sighed. To her, the few weeks she'd spent here had been anything but; in fact she could almost call it a life-changing experience. When Julia didn't reply and turned to shout orders at the crew members, the brunette looked at her and asked her bluntly: "Actually, why was I picked in the first place? What am I doing here?"

The question caught Julia's attention for the moment. "That's an easy one. You were meant to be the prim and proper librarian who comes to the island, sheds her skin and turns into a nymphomaniac. Though I was beginning to think that would never happen, with the way you were behaving." She winked. "But if I had a fiancé like Viktor, I would have held out too."

"Well, he's free now," Hermione said snidely. "You can have him."

"Hmm," Julia said absently. "He's a bit yesterday's news for me, really. Anyway, don't give up hope, I'm sure he'll take you back. Just don't whine too much. No more of that 'I want to go home' talk, alright?"

Hermione stared at her. "I've never met anyone quite like you before."

Julia preened. "I get that a lot." She brought her sunglasses back up her nose and started jabbing her fingers at nearby victims. "We only need one person, they'll take turns! Don't make me come out there!"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"We'll be doing a search and find for our last challenge," Draco announced to everyone when they headed back to camp to gather around. "There's an injured person somewhere in the forest, and you'll have to bring him back. Most likely you'll have to make a travois to help bring them back."

"Come again?" Laurie looked completely lost.

"You know, a stretcher made out of branches. I made one to show you guys a few days ago."

From her groan and the cloud of bemusement that was still on her face, Laurie obviously didn't recall seeing anything like it.

Draco pretended to rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You'll be doing this in turns, and it should take you a maximum of about an hour. If you still haven't found the guy by then, you're pretty lost. I'll give you a map, and don't bother asking Kenny for help because there'll be dire consequences for him if he opens his mouth." He gave a mock glare at the cameraman to prove his point. "If, for some reason, you're really stuck, lost or just want to quit, blow three times on the whistle around your neck and I'll come and find you." He looked around at all of them to make sure they understood his instructions so far. "In any case, I'll freely admit that this will be your toughest challenge yet, and it'll definitely put everything you've learned so far in the past few weeks to the test – map-reading, tracking, first aid, the works. So I really hope that you've remember everything important that I've told you."

Laurie sighed in despair. "What's the point of me doing this? I'm already way too far behind in terms of points to win anyway."

"I thought you were on par with Hermione," Alex remarked with interest. At once everyone started looking around at each other, hoping one of them still knew their points.

Of course, Hermione herself remembered all their scores vividly, but for once she didn't feel like this would be a good time to be the know-it-all. With a slight shrug to deter Alex, who had turned to her, she watched as the others recounted the winners of the challenges so far.

"Let's see," Draco said, counting off on his fingers. "Alex, you won the…"

"I caught the fish and won the obstacle course," he declared proudly.

"That's two points. Laurie?"

"I won the scavenger hunt," the blonde woman said, sounding like she didn't quite believe it herself.

"One point." Draco didn't look up when he said her name. "And Hermione…"

"I got a point for working out how to get down the pit, and another for finding you at the lagoon." For some mysterious reason, Hermione felt tears welling up as she said the last part, and quickly began rubbing furiously at her eyes to pretend something was in them. Things had been so simple back then, and now… well, it was safe to say that she'd made a mess of everything, really.

"Two points. Well, you'll be happy to know that there's actually two points going for this challenge. One for the fastest person to be back with the injured person, and the other one – I guess you'll see."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Laurie protested. "At least give us a clue so we can get mentally prepared."

Draco grinned at her. "You'll find out when you win it, won't you?" he teased.

Hermione's hand itched to grab her wand, but then remembered she'd left it all the way back home. Of all the times...

"OK, let's see who goes first," Draco said, picking up a shell from the ground and hiding it in one of his palms behind his back. "So, which hand is it in?"

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"So, how much do you think an island would cost? Could I get one for a million dollars?" Hermione asked Kenny even though he was on strict terms to ignore any attempts at conversation. She nodded, as if he had answered. "Yeah, I know. I'd still need money left to live off. Maybe I could get one for half mil. A fixer upper." She chuckled to herself.

She glanced down at the map Draco had given her. It hadn't been nearly as hard as she'd expected to read it, and so far she hadn't veered off the track yet. Either the route Julia had set up was incredibly straightforward or she was getting good at reading these things.

"OK, that must be the bush with red leaves that's mentioned on the map," she said as she ventured forward. "Go right and forward here-" She stopped in her tracks when they heard someone calling for help from a near distance. "Aha! Found him," Hermione said brightly and they pressed forward towards the sound.

Hermione admitted that she was starting to be grateful to Julia for not letting her leave early. She didn't know how she would fare if she went home right now with all her feelings in such a knot. And it would have been a shame to have left this trip before she finished it.

The nine days she had spent here couldn't be called an adventure, but it was possibly one of the more exciting things to come her way after the events five years ago. She had done things that she would probably never have ever dreamed of doing, and she had unfortunately learned to have things she couldn't possibly have after they left the island. Although they had whined and grumbled their way through most of the challenges and routines, she found herself thinking that she was going to miss her daily morning swims in the ocean, the walks on the beach, and the sunsets whose speed always caught her by surprise - one minute it was a blaze of fire in the sky; the next, stars were twinkling down at them from a pitch black-blue sky. And the stars... it was amazing how many she could see, out of the smog-filled night skies of London.

She didn't even mind the scratchiness of her 'bed' or the nightly insect visits anymore. She loved waking up to a fresh sea breeze wafting into her nostrils. She loved falling asleep to the lullaby of the waves as they came in and out. She loved the... whoa, half-naked men that you found in the forest.

"Thank God you came," the man said, the picture of distress. "I fell down a nearby cliff and I think I broke something."

Hermione's mouth twitched. "And your shirt fell off too?"

"I was checking if anything was broken," he said, his eyes flickering.

Hermione decided to take pity on him and drop the matter. Trust Julia; anything to bring in viewers.

"I'm Hermione," she said as she crouched down next to him.

"I'm Mark," the man said. "I think my arm's broken." She prodded and tried to lift his arm, and he yelped convincingly in pain. "Ow!"

"How are your legs?" she asked.

He moved them tentatively. "I think they're fine."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, that means I won't have to make a travois for you." She put a hand on his forehead and looked at his pupils. "Hm, no fever. In any case you're probably in shock, but I can't exactly make you a cup of tea here, so I'll splint you up and help you out of here."

Mark nodded as she collected a few straight and sturdy sticks and tore down some strips of fibre from some vines close by. She bound the sticks together with some fibre and used the rest to bind the splint to Mark's arm. "You have a lovely chest," she commented as she worked. "You work out?"

"Er, yes," he said dubiously.

"And your arms are very strong."

He tried to avoid looking at her and glanced sideways into the camera instead. "Thanks."

"You seem like a really nice guy."

"Uh, right." Mark's tone was doubtful.

"Very masculine and virile."

"They just told me to act like I had a broken arm," he said, now looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Hermione nodded absently as she tore up his shirt to make a sling. She almost wanted to laugh at the look on his face as she approached him. "Do you know what I would feel if I kissed you right now, Mark?"

His eyebrows shot up and he shook his head nervously, looking around in bewilderment.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing," she declared. "I could kiss you right here, a great big snog, and I would feel nothing. It would be like kissing a tree."

Mark narrowed his eyes at Kenny, who shrugged helplessly. "Nobody mentioned anything about-"

"Excuse me, Mark." Hermione spoke up and signalled for Kenny to turn the camera back at her. "Listen, Viktor, I'm sorry again for pulling that on you in public. But, as we both know, it ended up being the right decision for us. So for everyone watching right now who knows me and is honestly wondering who on earth this stranger talking here is, don't think I did it out of the blue. Viktor and I just weren't made for each other. He's a great guy but he's... I'm just..." Hermione shook her head as she stumbled on her words. "I'll explain it all once I get back home."

She was aware of how that sounded like a desperate attempt to pull back the favor of the portion of the audience who had not been happy about her dumping Krum, but in all honesty it was partly an apology and a last kick at Viktor, and mostly to assure her friends, who would definitely be bemused with her actions on the island. She was sure that Ginny, as usual, would be the first to understand, but she wasn't sure if even her best girlfriend had picked up on the chemistry between her and Draco. Chemistry which, unfortunately, looked like it was prematurely fizzing out before it had truly started anything.

With her monologue done, she turned back to her hapless patient. "I'm sorry about that, Mark. Just forget it happened."

"I have a girlfriend," he said tersely.

"Of course you do," she said, helping him to his feet. "And you also have a broken arm, so let's get going."

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Hermione looked on as Kenny took her rescue tape out of the camera and wrote her name on it before handing it to Draco. "Um, what are you going to do with that?" she asked.

"Watch it. What else?" Draco said, raising an eyebrow.

"I'd rather you didn't," she said nervously. "I mean, there's nothing interesting on there anyway."

"I just want to have a look at your rescue technique," he explained. Mark came up to them and Draco examined the splint's structure and strength. "Nice work, though you didn't have to take off his shirt."

Hermione felt her mouth twitch. "I didn't, it was already like that when I got there. You tell him, Mark!" she barked, turning on the other man, who shrunk away in fright.

"Uh, I think I should go now, the next person's almost up," he said and jogged off very quickly.

They watched him go. "What did you do to him?" Draco asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Absolutely nothing," Hermione said indignantly. "You know what, why don't you just watch the tape. You'll see there."

"I might just do that then," he said and walked over to Kenny, who handed him a video camera.

She headed over to a nearby coconut tree, under which Laurie was sitting. Truth be told, she would rather sit alone, but it would seem a bit strange and there were no other shady places in the close proximity where she could keep a scrupulous eye on Draco's face as he watched her tape.

"What did I miss?" she asked as she sat down next to the blonde.

Laurie looked a little weary. "Draco was asking us questions. About the island, about animals, lots of different things. I knew next to nothing and I'm certain that's what the other point is for." She sighed. "Oh, and he asked about you too. Where you came from and all that."

Hermione's pulse skipped a beat. "Hmm. I see." Maybe he had felt something after seeing her with Krum. After all, there was that moment between them after she nearly cracked her head open...

She shook her head. Get a hold of yourself, her logical side scolded the romantic side.

She was bursting to ask about how Laurie was doing with Draco, but didn't want to make it seem too obvious that she was interested for more reasons than just simple curiosity; and anyway, she couldn't really trust what Laurie had to say.

Her eyes strayed to Draco and she looked on as he pressed various buttons on a tiny remote control for the video camera, his impassive face occasionally betraying flickers of emotion. At one point his brows knitted and Hermione looked away, wanting to crawl into a hole and hide. Technically, he was the one person who really needed to hear her little speech, but in this case the circumstances weren't particularly ideal.

"Was it hard?"

It took Hermione a few moments to realize Laurie was attempting to start a conversation with her. She looked blankly at the other woman before the question sank in and she shook her head quickly. "Uh, no, it wasn't too bad. But I think we all get different injuries to sort out. I got a broken arm, which wasn't too bad, I guess."

"You're lucky," Laurie moaned. "I have the most horrible premonition that I'm going to get a busted leg and I'll have to make a travois for him. Which I have no idea how to do."

"It's just a few sticks put together by strips of fibre," Hermione said encouragingly.

Laurie snorted. "Waaaay easier said than done." The blonde peered at her out of the corner of her eye. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask this... but what happened with Viktor? Your relationship seemed really patchy, if you don't mind me saying so."

Viktor? Oh right, the other man in her life that wasn't Draco. She really couldn't think of Krum right now; it was impressive how much Draco was taking over her head. "Um, well, we had our differences. It just didn't feel right to me. He admitted the same afterwards, so we parted on good terms."

"Hmm. I see. That's a shame," Laurie mused.

Hermione glanced at her. Laurie, acting like she cared about something other than her own affairs? This was new. Maybe now that Krum was out of the picture, she was starting to view Hermione as a threat again. But that was only a maybe.

Before she could stop herself, Hermione blurted: "So how's it going with Draco?"

Laurie looked slightly startled, then looked around quickly before covering her microphone. "I don't really want to say anything while we're on camera," she mouthed.

"Oh, of course," Hermion said, nodded understandingly. Ahah. Seems like things aren't going so smoothly in paradise.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

"How do you get water from a young banana tree?" Draco looked at the two women. "I think it's your turn, Laurie."

She sighed loudly. "I don't know, drill a hole in the trunk and stick a straw into it?"

"Not quite. Hermione?"

"Chop it down, leaving about three inches from the ground," she answered, glancing at his face. He hadn't mentioned anything about her errant behavior with poor Mark, and she wasn't about to bring it up herself. "Hollow out the trunk and it'll fill up with water from the roots."

Draco nodded. "Very good, kno-" He quickly went into a coughing fit, distracting Laurie - who had been poking her tongue out at Hermione - into patting him on the back. Hermione stared at him. Was he just about to call her a know-it-all?

She wasn't sure if this was a sign of him warming to her, but on the other hand he had been even more remote and detached than before. She decided he was just being stubbornly defensive.

"OK, how do you treat a snakebite?" Draco asked once he recovered. "Hermione, your turn."

"Uh," she said, freezing a little. They hadn't done that on the island and she had only seen brave Muggles try it on television. "Cut off blood circulation to the area, make a small cut and suck it out?"

"Not really a good idea," he said, grimacing. "That's only if you're stranded on your own and don't have much chance of survival anyway. Laurie, any ideas?"

The blonde shook her head. "I was going to say the same thing."

"The best thing to do would be to apply pressure directly to the wound, then bandage tightly above and below the wound to localize the poison. Then call for medical help immediately. Good thing I didn't ask Alex that," he said jokingly. "He's afraid of snakes."

"Ants," Hermione said absently.

Draco looked at her. "What?"

"He's afraid of ants," she repeated. "Remember when we were doing the obstacle course and he thought the giant dirt mound was an ant nest?"

"Oh, that's right," he said thoughtfully, and jotted down something on his clipboard. "Right, next up is Laurie again. If you're stranded in the wilderness, how can you use your watch as a compass?"

"I'm never going to be stranded in the wild," Laurie said, looking annoyed. "I do not need to know this."

Draco smirked. "Is that your answer?" When Laurie made a hmph-ing noise, he turned to Hermione. "Over to you, then."

Hermione was never particularly good with directions, and it wasn't as if they'd taught this stuff at school. "Er... point twelve at the sun and north is at the hour hand?"

He shook his head. "Well, can't say you didn't try. In the northern hemisphere, point the hour hand at the sun. North is halfway between the hour hand and twelve. In the Southern hemisphere, point twelve at the sun. South is halfway between twelve and the hour hand."

"I see," Laurie said, obviously not seeing at all.

"Well, let's have some easy ones now," Draco said brightly. "Good old football. What city is the home of the football team, the Broncos?"

Hermione knew the answer but waited to see if Laurie would offer anything first. When the other woman didn't answer, she spoke up. "Denver."

"That's right," Draco nodded. She noticed him making another notation.

"How was I supposed to know that? I don't even like football," Laurie grumbled.

Hermione made a face. "Neither do I, but I remember Alex talking about it one night. He comes from Denver, so it's his home team."

"Name a constellation that's only visible from the southern hemisphere," Draco said. "Hermione?"

Was he trying to bring up something by mentioning constellations? She stared at him for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. He looked completely guileless. Guess not. "Southern Cross," she said flippantly.

"Great." He laughed at the expression on Laurie's face. "Don't look so miserable, Laurie. You might know this next one."

"Alright, I'll give it a shot," she said, trying hard to bring some enthusiasm back into her voice.

"What color eyes will Alex and Teresa's baby have?"

Laurie flung herself backwards from the log she was sitting on onto the soft sand behind her. "You have got to be kidding me," she moaned. "I'm not a bloody psychic!"

Draco turned to Hermione with a raised eyebrow. Hermione nodded, her heart falling back down from its hopeful place in her oesophagus. "Brown. Because both Alex and Teresa have brown eyes."

He nodded. "Very good. Sorry, Laurie," he said, smiling sympathetically at the other woman, who was flailing about in indignation in the sand.

"Those were the dumbest questions I've ever heard!" she squawked. "Ask me about who was on the nomination list for a particular year's Oscars, or the name of the top agent in some record company - something important, for God's sake!"

Hermione had tuned out, and was watching the lulling come-and-go of the waves a dozen metres away. So her logical side had been right. Draco hadn't been asking the questions as personal interest in her; rather it was more of a test of observation to see how much they remembered about everything they'd seen and heard on this island. It was part of a challenge.

She felt a sinking feeling in her chest. She had wanted to believe that he was still interested in her, that there was still some hope of them forgiving each other and reconciling what her stupid pride had made her do. She should have just confronted him the day after the hot tub night and asked him what he was trying to do by screwing around like that. But now it seemed like things were well and truly blown between them.

xxxxcxsurvivorxcx---

Alex arrived back at camp not long after, looking exhausted as he hauled Mark along on a travois. Draco checked how Mark was, and took Alex's tape from Kenny and told Laurie to get ready for her turn. While Alex gratefully rummaged around in the kitchen after Draco suggested he find something to eat, Mark removed his bandages and headed back into the forest again. Laurie grabbed a bottle of water and accepted the map from Draco with a sigh that sounded like the entire world was on her shoulders, and set off with Kenny.

Draco was sorting his papers and questionnaire scores when Hermione approached him to wait for Alex to get ready for their quiz. The atmosphere here was almost charged with hostility, but she wasn't about to back down. She sat down on the same log she was sitting on before, and attempted to look nonchalant as she glanced around and tugged her hair absently.

Maybe it would be good just to let it go. After all, there was only two days left, and then she probably wouldn't see him again - or at least not for a long time. Then again, that was reason enough in itself to talk to him about it.

"Draco?" she ventured.

He barely looked up. "Yeah?"

She fidgeted at the power of the glare he sent her. "Uh, we need to talk."

"Do we?" This time he looked up properly, and again Hermione was struck by his forbidding gaze.

"Yes," she said as bravely as she could despite her heart thumping in her chest. She covered her microphone with her hand and motioned for him to do the same.

He sighed and reluctantly obeyed. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked icily.

"Listen, I know we both made mistakes-"

"I know I did," he sneered. "I made a real big one."

Somehow that didn't sound like an admission of guilt so much as a below-the-belt dig at her, so Hermione didn't stop to analyze and bite his head off for it.

"Well the thing is," she continued as if she hadn't heard him. "Krum's gone now and you..." She paused and swallowed. "Well, I miss you," she said softly.

"I'm right here," he retorted rudely.

She struggled to control her rising frustration. "I'm trying to say..."

"What?" he said.

She tried to ignore what a jerk he was being, and looked him in the eye. "You know how I feel about you. And I don't mean our old mutual hatred."

Something changed in his face, and she was hopeful that she might have gotten through to him - but then it went back again. "I get it," he said, laughing bitterly. "Your boyfriend's gone and now you're lonely. What, now you can't survive for two days without a man? And I guess Mark didn't come through for you either, so now it's back to me? Hooray, Hermione wants me again, here I am, I'm all yours."

She ground her teeth and looked away, holding back the urge to punch him square in the face despite her exasperation at his refusal to meet her halfway. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Do I, Hermione? The fact is, you've changed since you came here. I thought I knew you, but then something like that thing with Laurie comes up-"

"Thatthing with Laurie?" she shot at him, jumping up angrily. "So that's what you call it? I guess it's turned your viewpoint around completely, has it?"

He looked uncomfortable. "It did change the way I saw you two, yeah."

"Oh God," she muttered in defeat as Alex started walking towards them, waving jovially. Why was he being so difficult? This was going nowhere. "Just forget it. I don't know why I bothered trying to talk to you."

---xcxsurvivorxcx---

Misunderstandings ftw! This is the penultimate chapter, so look out for the ending sometime around Christmas. XD To be honest I don't like this fic much anymore; I've been alerted to its many bad points and I myself realize now that basing it on a book wasn't really such a good idea. Oh well, chances are I'll write about Draco and Hermione again (hopefully), in a better and new fic.