Author's Note: The song lyrics that are below mostly go with the end of the chapter. And not so much the first paragraph, but it seemed stupid to just put the chorus in, since it's basically just 'ride with me.'

Special thanks to my brilliant beta Nikki, without whom I would be nowhere.

Disclaimer: After I finish this story, I plan on being very dramatic and announcing that I am, in fact, J.K Rowling! I'm not at all satisfied with my life, success, family or the seven books I've written over the course of, I dunno, half my life? So I turned to fanfiction to ease my sorrow.

Haha. Not.

-

That's the start, the middle, and the end
Aren't you glad the universe pretends
If I don't get this message home
Once again I'm gonna hate alone

Ride with me

Ride with me, oh.

Ride with me,

Ride with me.

~~Ride, The Vines

-

"So this is it?" Draco was looking down a small hallway that had four doors with two on either side. Incidentally, this was the hallway containing their bedrooms. Each door had one of their names tacked on in some sort of metal that sparkled and gave off varied shades of soft blue, even in the bright light that shone from the ceiling.

"I suppose." Hermione replied, standing so close to him their shoulders touched. "This one is mine." She walked over to the first door on the left, eyeing the 'Hermione' with interest as she scoured her knowledge for what could make them glow, but came up short.

"This one's mine!" Theodore said excitedly, dashing to the end of the hall and knocking on the door beside hers, as though someone would open it. She stared at him for a second in confusion, and then decided it would be better to ignore the apparent high he was on. Draco had the room right across from her, and Blaise had the one beside his. The idea of Draco's room being directly across from her was quite interesting, but she shook off the impending shiver that that brought on. They definitely needed to turn off the air conditioning.

Each room, like the one they'd had in the other house, had a card-key activated lock. However, unlike the other house, each person on her team was given a card key that would open her door unless she programmed it to reject them. Inside, she was fascinated to note, was not her old room.

Instead, a large canopy bed with nearly translucent pink hangings took the focus of the room. It looked so soft and she wanted to run over and dive onto it. The walls were washed a soft pink to match the bed and the floors were light oak wood. A matching bookshelf and desk rested beside a closet and from where she stood it seemed to be lined with shelves and hangers - much neater than her own was.

The rays of light from the sunset bathed the floor in puddles from a large window that gave her a beautiful view of the garden she'd only been able to glimpse on the way in, full of blooming colours and lush, green grass. Spirals of orange sunlight shone off the water of a large pool in coils and she shuddered, turning away. On the wall was a framed picture of her, Blaise and Draco. She stared at it, oddly fixated with Draco's arm around her waist – this had been after their performance, when Blaise had pulled them into a hug – and was shocked when it faded and changed.

It's a slideshow. She noted and waited, grinning by the time it changed again to one of Draco and Blaise. That's really cool. The bag she'd packed and taken on the road trip rested beside a dresser with a large ornate mirror perched on top. Upon inspection, she was slightly disappointed to find that all her clothes and shoes were either folded in the dresser, hanging in the closet or on shelves.

A large flat-screen television was embedded in the wall across from a small, creamy leather loveseat. There was a small table beside that with empty picture frames, and a few frames were also hanging on the wall. Above the desk and circling that corner of the room was a single glass shelf at slightly higher than eye-level.

All in all, it was very pretty and she marveled at the neatness and beauty. So this is where I'll be living for the next little while. Or, if I'm eliminated, for a bit.

Sheila and James had listened to all their questions, and had given them any information they wanted. Unlike most muggle television shows, they didn't want to eliminate all the people on it very fast. The eliminations would start taking place two and a half weeks before the show would come to a close, and three people would be eliminated each week until one remained. That still gave them three and a half weeks in the house until the first person would be eliminated.

She was very relieved about that. As strange as it was that they'd started out hating the House of Hell, the idea of leaving made her feel very sad. It was also better to eliminate them so close together, so that at least they wouldn't have to miss each other for long. She supposed that, as it would be the end of the summer by then, they'd see each other at Hogwarts, however the circumstances would be completely different and she had no doubt that the relationships she had with her teammates would probably change when she got back to school, despite how she wished they wouldn't.

Her instincts told her to climb into bed and just sleep, but instead she pulled out the calendar from her envelope and hung it on the wall. It marked all the days they had challenges coming up and the days of eliminations, starting on August 19th. After that she just moved on autopilot, unpacking all her clothes and placing everything from her bag in the places that they seemed to fit in – her laptop, MCube, camera and iPod were placed in various positions on her desk and in the drawers.

As she moved to place her cell phone on the table beside her bed, she noticed that it was still on. 10:47. The time flashed at her and she opened it, her eye catching you have one unopened message. Hoping it wasn't Jacob, she directed herself through to her text message inbox and opened it.

How's the new room?

It was from Draco, she realized with a smile. She'd given him her phone number sometime during the road trip while Blaise tried desperately to teach him how to use his cell phone, and he'd entered his on her phone. Apparently he'd gotten the hang of texting.

Really nice. Yours?

Still grinning she put it on ring, flipped it shut and searched through her drawers until she found a pair of pajamas. Her phone rang, startling her with the chorus from Sexy Back. That made her laugh out loud, because of course he would choose that for his ring, and she walked over, flipping it open and viewing the message.

Satisfactory. She could imagine the smug expression on his smirking face and was startled when another message was sent to her. What are you doing?

Getting ready to go in search of a bathroom. She replied honestly, I really want to get to bed.

Already?

Yes 'already.' She was quite startled by her ability to reply so fast, but then realized that having a full keyboard was slightly helpful, as opposed to one number with three different letters. What are you doing?

Going in search of a bathroom.

Oh. She answered, a slow grin expanding on her face as she shouldered her bag of shower essentials and the things she needed to get ready for bed. Maybe I'll see you.

Maybe you will.

When she opened the door, Draco did the exact same thing across the hall and she watched him, amused. "Fancy meeting you here." He spoke casually, leaning against his doorframe in an elegant way as he surveyed her.

"I think you're a stalker." She said bluntly, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

He snorted. "I'm not a stalker. I just happened to open the door at the same time as you with the same intent. Do you want an escort?"

"No." Hermione answered, closing her door carefully and starting to walk down the hallway.

"Really? Most girls would die for a chance like this." Draco said cockily, closing his door and falling into step beside her.

"Anyone who wants to be escorted by you clearly has brain damage." She answered as they entered the kitchen. It had hardwood floors, limestone counters and wooden cabinets. A small island with a limestone surface stood somewhat isolated from the countertops and she ran one hand over it as she passed, retracting it when it reached the dip for the sink.

"No, they've just succumbed to my charm and handsome qualities."

"Are you sure it's not your modesty?" She asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "You're so delusional."

"I'm pretty sure you're the delusional one." He watched as she passed through the arch leading into their living room. "Have you noticed you're basically the only one who doesn't find me stunningly attractive?"

"Our ideas of 'basically' must be vastly different."

"Your cleverness astonishes me." He replied, chuckling a bit under his breath.

"I get that a lot." She said offhandedly, trying to imitate his cocky and confidant tone.

He let out a burst of laughter that pleased her for some reason and they came to a halt in front of a door. He looked at her significantly, so she opened it and discovered that it was, indeed, a bathroom. She eyed it with slight awe. Beautiful bathrooms made her want her wish she could paint, so she could paint them. There was just something about them that ignited such a strange response.

The shower alone was massive and she was pretty sure that they could fit two of each member of both teams in there. Not that she wanted to find out if they could, of course. A white sink was resting underneath a pretty mirror with a silver frame and the floor was white tile and everything was gleaming – the tiles, the mirror, the toilet and sink, the glass shower walls and even the walls.

"Wow." She said in awe, while Draco looked around with minimal interest and shrugged.

"It's satisfactory. Is there more than one, though? There are four of us living over here." He walked to the next door and opened it. She joined him at the room's entrance and was glad to see that they did, at least, have two bathrooms.

"Has anything met your standards?" She asked, somewhat amused and a bit annoyed. Everything she saw made her want to sigh at how nice it was, while he just turned up his nose.

"Yeah, I just said it was satisfactory." The blond said, rolling his eyes as though she had asked something ridiculous. "Are you going to use this one, then?"

"Are you?" She asked back as they stood a bit awkwardly in the hallway.

"No, you can. I'll just use this one." He replied, turning away from her and walking down the hallway. "Have fun."

Hermione stared after him, slightly mystified. Before the Road Trip Challenge, he would have fought with her over that bathroom just because she wanted to use it. And yet, they had just had a moderately pleasant conversation and they'd made a decision without an argument. Draco Malfoy was a strange person, she concluded.

Her shower was like heaven. For about three minutes she stood under the hot spray as water ran down her body, and then she began to wash her hair, delighting in the fact that she could take as long as she wanted, and would just be going to bed when she left, instead of climbing in a car. It was a miracle that her sleeping patterns hadn't been completely destroyed, simply from all the driving at odd hours.

And then she thought about Draco, showering in the room right beside her and the way his hair was undoubtedly plastered down on his head and water was probably running down his face and on his eyelashes, framing the stormy grey eyes they enclosed. She could imagine his face so clearly that she had to open her eyes to shake off the image and then swore, because shampoo ran down from her hair and into her eyes, which hurt a lot.

After that, showering wasn't much fun because her eyes were really hurting and it was painful to open them, so she quickly washed the rest of herself and then stumbled from the shower. With her eyes half closed she got dressed and splashed cold water into her eyes while pulling them open until she could see out of them without squinting instinctively, though they were still very red.

To say that she was exhausted would have been an immense understatement. Not only did all her muscles and bones ache from sleeping and sitting in various uncomfortably positions in a car, but now her eyes hurt, too, because she was stupid enough to open them while shampooing.

Needless to say, it hadn't been her best day, and she was already dreaming before she laid down.

-

-

"Morning." Blaise chirped from his position at their kitchen table, looking his usual attractive self and not at all tired, weary, or even annoyed because he was tired or weary. She didn't reply, only looked at him long enough to see steam rising from the cup of coffee in front in him before she dragged herself to the coffee maker and poured herself some. "You're in a good mood."

"Astute observation." She replied in a gravelly voice, looking around their thankfully well-stocked kitchen for some bread. She found some and with a small spurt of happiness popped it into the toaster. While she waited she rubbed her eyes and asked, "Where's Malfoy?"

"Right here." Draco strode in looking unfairly good, for someone who'd spent the past two weeks in a car. Her happiness from the bread was extremely short-lived. He looked at her and blanched, "What happened to you?"

"Morning." Blaise said from the table, but was ignored.

"I spent the past two weeks in a small enclosed space, unlike you, apparently." She said, buttering the toast as they popped up and then slathering the pieces with jam. They weren't completely done, however, so they sank down quite a bit and were almost flat by the time she'd finished. "You seem just peachy. How nice for you and your perfect hair."

Apparently, lack of sleep and hurting eyes made her slightly delirious. "I also got shampoo in my eyes last night."

"Oh, I understand." He smirked cockily at her, "Granger, if you're that affected by my stunningly good looks, you could have told me. I would have tried to ease your pain."

"Being in your presence causes me pain. Care to ease that?" She asked snottily, taking a vicious bite into her toast. With a satisfied noise she took a drink of coffee.

Draco's eyebrows went up. "You really need to relax."

"You really need to lose your arrogance." She retorted, somehow smiling despite her mood, and she looked up as Theodore walked into the kitchen.

"Morning." Blaise said for the third time and was, once again, ignored.

"I wonder if we'll be doing a challenge today." Theodore said, more to himself than apparently anyone else. He walked over, picked up her coffee mug, took it, sat down at the table, took the top few sheets of Blaise's newspaper and began to read.

"That's mine!" She protested, but he didn't respond and she frowned in consternation, still half asleep. Draco, for reasons unknown to her, handed her his coffee mug, as though it was rightfully hers. It seemed that Blaise wanted to join in on the 'fun' and gave Draco his, and then sighed regretfully when he realized no one was going to give him one.

He then decided to take the one Theodore had taken from Hermione, but the dark-haired Slytherin glared at him. "That's mine!"

"No, it was mine first." She said, taking another bite of toast.

"You have one." Theodore pointed to the mug in front of her.

"It's Malfoy's."

"Did you steal it? Hypocrite." He rolled his eyes, picked up the book and mug and walked out of the kitchen.

She stared after him, "Is he always like that?"

"Sometimes." Draco responded, sitting down beside her. "Nice pajamas."

With surprise she looked down at her plaid cotton pants and t-shirt, which had a picture of a girl with big blond hair and a boy with big brown hair and a heart between them. She hadn't really thought about changing into real clothes when she'd woken.

"Nice pants." She shot back, standing up to go get changed. While he was busy trying to figure out what was wrong with his pants she left, while Blaise watched. With a smirk of amusement he lifted up the remnants of his paper.

"Is there something wrong with my pants?" Draco asked him, looking concerned.

"Idiot." His friend muttered under his breath.

-

-

"An interview?" Draco repeated, frowning. "Why?"

They'd been gathered outside in the garden by the Sheila and James and they were sitting on the pretty little benches that adorned the small area they were in. She was sitting beside Harry and Ron, who both looked disappointed at what they'd just heard.

"The public wants to hear you." Sheila said, sitting with her legs crossed elegantly on her chair. James's hand rested on top of hers, on her knee, and he nodded empathically. "You clearly don't know the impact this show has had on people. We have viewers from North America, Kuwait, Germany, Greece! Need I go on? The responses we've been getting are amazing, and we think the viewers deserve some of their questions answered. It's a lot bigger than we ever imagined."

Blaise snickered under his breath, muttering something that sounded like, "I've heard that one before," and Hermione rolled her eyes. It wasn't difficult to figure out where his perverted train of thought was. "However, we have managed to turn this into a challenge, of sorts." James said, grinning as they perked up in interest. "This challenge will involve motorcycles."

"Motorcycles?" Blaise asked brightly, "How?"

"We're getting to that." James said, tsk-ing his tongue in a slightly annoying fashion. He flicked his wand and a board appeared behind them, to which he pressed the end of his wand. "Now, you see this 'x'?"

They nodded. "This 'x' represents one member of your team. They will start on one side of a long field. The rest of your team is on the other side. You must transport all members of your team from one side to the other. Only two people can be on the motorcycle at one time, and those who aren't on it cannot pass the white line."

He then took the marker and slashed a line at each end of the field. "The person driving can only drive across the length of the field twice." To make sure they understood, he illustrated a person on a motorcycle driving to one side of the field and back to the other. "Do you understand? If you break these rules, you are disqualified."

They nodded again, and Sheila smiled happily. "Now, as soon as the driver reaches the side where the passengers all remain, they must use up one minute of answering the interview questions. This will only be the start of the interview; we'll continue it later, of course. The person who starts on the motorcycle will begin by answering a question. Do you all understand?"

"Yes." She said hesitantly, "But we have one more person than the other team."

"We have a substitute who we'll be bringing." James said, grinning. "Just for this one challenge, however."

"What if they want us to lose?" Pansy asked, narrowing her eyebrows. The others glanced at her briefly and then looked back at James.

"They don't," was all Sheila said, to the blonde girl's frustration. "Now, the winner of this will be determined by who answers the most eloquently, how well the team works together and, of course, who finishes first. Any more questions?"

No one spoke up, so the two grinned. "Now, the three males in the Bloody Fuckers all know how to drive motorcycles, yes?"

They all nodded, exchanging grins. "Excellent. Well, if we could have the Pansy Pickers and Hermione follow us? We're going to give you a crash course in motorcycle driving."

The boys all gave her supportive smirks – if that was possible – and she followed the others out of the room. Motorcycles really weren't her thing.

-

-

"How'd it go?" Blaise asked as she came in one and a half hours later.

"Awful." She groaned, rubbing her arm where moments ago it had been scraped. Of course, thanks to magic, it was now completely healed. "I can't drive them. At all."

"That works out." Draco said quickly, drawing her attention to the paper he had laid out in front of him. She walked over behind him and leaned over his shoulder, her hair skimming the top of it. They'd come up with a diagram that illustrated how they would proceed. "We all can."

It would begin with Blaise on the opposite side of the field. He would ride over to the other three, pick up Theodore, and drive back. Blaise would then stay behind as Theodore rode back, picked up Draco, and brought him back. Theodore would get off and Draco would return to pick up Hermione. They would then all be one side.

"It took you that long to come up with this diagram?" She asked, looking at the scribbles with amusement.

"No." Theodore said, a sour expression on his face. "We haven't been doing it the whole time. We're not that stupid."

She looked at him in slight surprise. "I didn't say you were."

"Yeah, OK. Whatever." He glared at her, twisting his lips. "When do we do this?"

"Half an hour." She answered cautiously, wondering why he was so hostile all of a sudden. "So you all can drive motorcycles?"

"Yeah."

"Why?" She asked, rubbing another bruise on the side of her knee. "Did you take…lessons, or something?"

"We bought motorcycles one summer and got someone to teach us how." Blaise replied, grinning. "We're very rebellious."

"Mhm. I hope you don't have any piercing hidden under your clothes." She nodded at Draco, actually quite curious. It seemed that they'd gotten motorcycles, and then Blaise and Theodore had gotten those nipple piercing. She doubted Draco had one, too, but she couldn't resist asking.

He smirked cockily at her. "Would you like to check?"

"No." She snorted, flushing, and shaking her head. "I think I'd rather not."

"I know you want m-" Draco was interrupted by his phone ringing, to which he looked in confusion. "I thought you said half and hour."

"That's what they said." She replied while their whole team watched, fixated. He lifted his phone, checked the collar ID and immediately went a bit pale, his face resigned. "Who is it?"

"Hi," he answered it without acknowledging her comment.

"Who is it?" Theodore prodded, his jaw set in a line.

Without looking at them, the blonde stood up and walked to the corner of the room, talking in a hushed voice so they couldn't hear. She could make out snippets of conversation if she strained, which didn't inform her of anything, really.

"-meet there tomorrow…no I…stop…Yes. Yes. Yes, of course…No, I don't…do you really…I'll refuse to…Fine." He snapped the phone shut with a resigned sigh and the other three quickly tried to make it look like they hadn't been listening. Or at least, she did. The other two were already talking, so they hadn't been listening anyway.

"So then I asked if they wanted me to fail everything, and they said it doesn't matter, I've already failed life-" Theodore was explaining and she laughed, trying to cover up her bad eavesdropping.

"That's funny." She said, trailing off as both Theodore – with an expression of sardonic distaste – and Blaise – who merely looked amused – turned to stare at her. "That was…erm…a good one."

"Who was it?" Blaise asked, leaning back and watching his friend with a contemplative expression.

"Helga." He replied, that one word explaining the sudden change in his mood. She was unable to prevent a grimace from crossing her features, and she attempted to hide it behind her hand. Just the mention of that name made her feel sick. "To verify the appointments. We have two on Friday with different doctors."

"It's still very early." She said, after no one else responded. "There's really no way she couldn't have known the day after. No way."

"It would be so weird if there was a little Malfoy running around." Theodore said, ignorant of the look Blaise was sending him that clearly stated shut-up-you-fool. "It would probably be really smart. And blond. And sarcastic."

"There won't be any little Malfoys running around." Hermione said sharply, unaware that she'd spoken until after they all looked at her.

"Malfoys? God, imagine if she had twins." Theodore cackled, and then looked mystified as Draco got to his feet and hurried out the door into the living room without saying anything. "What's his problem?"

"You idiot." Blaise snapped under his breathe, "She's not pregnant! Stop scaring Draco."

"He got himself into it." Replied the Slytherin, and then snickered. "Ha-ha. He got himself into it."

"You're so insensitive." Grumbled the handsome male beside him, shooting him a dirty look.

"I'm not insensitive. I'm a realist. Stop being such a prat. It's a free country." Theodore retorted defensively, turning to square off his friend.

"I'm the prat?" Hermione sighed, though she was ignored, as it became apparent that this would turn into an argument. "You're the one who was going on and on about how our friend might have children at 17 year-"

Instead of lingering, she stood up and joined Draco in the living room. He looked slightly ill and was clutching his hands together, gaze fixed firmly on the ground. "You shouldn't listen to him." She said quietly, "I doubt he knows very much about it."

"He knows more about it than you'd think." He muttered in response. He looked up and hurried on, her stricken expression making him regret those words. "He doesn't have one, or anything, but…He's just knowledgeable about things. Overall."

"You'll be fine." Instinctively she laid a hand on his shoulder, which tensed and gradually relaxed. "Try not to worry about it, if possible, until Friday."

He snorted in response and shrugged off her hand. "Let's go. We should be ready for the challenge, and everything."

He stood up to leave and she watched him, noticing that colour had returned to his face.

-

-

"Hurry up, Theodore!" Blaise bellowed, his expression sour. Apparently their squabble had extended past the kitchen's closed door. "Quit playing with your fucking hair!"

"I wasn't." Snarled his friend, stalking down the hallway. "I was trying to get an effing moment away from your idiotically-annoying and intelligence-degrading presence!"

"You just made up a lot of non-words. Your parents must be so proud." Blaise replied mockingly, shooting his friend death glares.

"Whatever, Blaise. Or should I call you He-Who-Fucks-All?"

"I don't fuck all." Snapped the dark male, his jaw locked in a tense line.

"OK, sure you don't." Theodore said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "It's a miracle you don't have a billion diseases yet."

"Why? Because I'm gay?" Blaise snarled, "And I bet you think if you're gay, everything is one big pool of disease, right?"

"Did I say that?" Hermione shifted awkwardly to the side while Theodore continued aggressively, "No, no I didn't. God, why are you so defensive all the time? It's not like you can change it."

"I don't want to change it. I mean I do but I – I don't want to be - I've got no choice. Just shut up." He seemed to want to continue, but instead opted to scowl ferociously and look offended.

"Why don't yo-"

"Quit it, all right?" Draco finally growled, startling them both. "We have to work as a team, alright? We have more pressing issues than your tempers."

"You mean you do." Theodore muttered, but their group fell silent and they left the house that way.

Their car was parked right outside the door with a man she recognized from their first day in the House behind the wheel, so they hopped in the back. She and Draco ended up sitting diagonal from each other – she was in the front and he sat behind her to the right - and exchanged looks of annoyance and exasperation as their two team members bickered the whole drive.

When they emerged from their vehicle, the Pansy Pickers were already there. She smiled at Harry and Ron, who grinned back at her. Clearly their team was getting along about as well as hers was, at the moment. Pansy stood, skulking with her arms across her chest in an eerily similar way to Theodore.

They were facing an extremely long, grassy field that was not in any way level. To be honest, it looked like a golf course, except with many more ridges, as opposed to smooth hills. On the other side of the plain she could see a small group of figures standing beside a misshapen one lower to the ground and assumed that they were the motorcycles.

"I guess we have to walk over." Draco said thoughtfully and collectively they began to stride across the field. She fell into step slightly behind Draco, while Blaise and Theodore continued to fight behind them.

"Are they usually like this?" She asked, tired, and looked over her shoulder.

"Sort of." He shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. "They're sort of complex. Their personalities, I mean. So shoving them together makes them react in weird ways."

"Like chemistry." She couldn't resist a laugh, shoving her hands into her pockets. "Where do you fit in it, then?"

"I'm too complex for words." Draco replied with a cocky smirk, back to his old self instantly. "I'm the stunningly attractive one that makes everyone else put up with them."

"Hm." She pursed her lips together and raised her eyebrows, deciding that it would be better not to answer that. They walked across the field and, as they drew nearer, saw Sheila and James standing with two females holding microphones. They were each equipped with a tri-pod and a camera resting on top. To her surprise, Luna Lovegood also stood beside her.

"Luna?" Ron asked in shock and she smiled dreamily, her blond hair glowing as the sun reflected off of it, creating an angelic way about her.

"Hello, Ron."

"Luna is your substitute teammate." Explained James, to Pansy's apparent horror. "She was very nice when we approached her about it."

They all turned, expecting Luna to say something in response, but she was crouched down was speaking softly to what appeared to be a dandelion, holding out her finger as though there was something on it. After a pause, during which they concluded that she wasn't going to say anything, they turned back to James.

He outlined the rules again, very briefly, and introduced the two other women as their interviewers. Her stomach was doing small jumps, which she tried to ignore, and then they were walking back to where they'd been before and leaving Blaise behind them.

"Nervous?" Theodore asked Draco, who shrugged and shook his head. He was going to reply, however a large horn ripped through the clearing and then they were starting. Blaise was talking to one of the women, the interviewers, as was Luna. Or so she assumed, all they could really make out from the distance were dark blobs. Hermione was vaguely entertained by the idea of Luna driving a motorcycle, until the minute of interviewing was actually up and she was on one, speeding over ground.

Blaise got there first. Theodore had been ready and he dashed forward, jumping on the back of the bike almost before it stopped and they tore off again, crossing the long distance in a flurry of color. The two males both jumped off and, while Theodore ran for the interview, Blaise darted off to the side and took a seat on the ground.

The next minute passed quickly and slowly at the same time. Her heart was beating with excitement and she couldn't think of anything to say to Draco, who was watching the dark specks of their friends in the distance with a fixated expression. Harry, who had been picked up by Luna, departed from the other side more quickly than their team did, as Luna had somehow gained speed and passed Blaise.

"Good luck." She said quickly as Draco hurried forward and he turned, giving her a somewhat surprised look, before clambering onto the bike and flying off. She turned to the right to see Ron getting on the other and Pansy watching distastefully. She stared as the sun reflected ever-so-slightly on his hair and then they were gone.

Hermione was quite nervous, now. She was the last one to go and, while she didn't actually have to drive the motorcycle, she doubted she would enjoy being the passenger. It seemed to take a long time for Draco to come back, and then suddenly he was within her sight and he'd stopped and was beckoning for her to climb on.

Oh no oh no oh no. She repeated over and over as, almost sluggishly, yet with speed, if that was possible, she hurried over and somehow swung her leg over one side. Before she could even get a good grip, he'd kicked off and she let out a small yelp, grabbing him quickly around the waist. Her hair was streaming behind her and, holding on for dear life, she locked her arms around Draco.

Oh no oh no oh - hmm. He's warm. Her inner anxiety was somewhat quenched by the warmth radiating off his body, which kept her from being hit with most of the wind. Quite warm, really. And nice.

It was strange that, while everyone else was driving it seemed to take so long and yet, just as she was getting sort of comfortable, the ride was over. Draco tried to get off and nearly fell, mostly because she hadn't let go of him. "Come on, Granger!"

She reluctantly unclamped her arms – they'd been sort of comfortable – and somehow managed to stumble over to the woman by the camera.

"Hello, Hermione." She smiled genially, a stopwatch starting automatically around her neck with her first word. "How are you?"

"Pretty good." She said breathlessly, trying not to talk too fast. It wouldn't change the amount of time it would take the minute to go by, but it would change how well the interview went. "And yourself?"

"I'm great, thanks. So, I've got a small game to play, first. We're doing word association, is that alright? I'll say someone's name and you have to say the first word that comes to mind."

"Certainly." She smiled, trying not to wring her hands.

"Excellent! Harry."

"Gryffindor." She said quickly, her heart pounding extremely fast. Her teammates were all staring at her from the circle they all stood in, just outside hearing range. It was just her and Pansy, now.

"Pansy."

"Backstabber." Again, she was frantically trying to calm herself down and keep her heart from exploding, just from the force of the blood pumping through her veins.

"Theodore."

"Hyper."

"Doing great. Blaise."

"Musical." Her brain was whirring.

"Ron."

"Loyal."

"Luna."

"Loony." Oh dear. She barely had time to think, I'm going to regret saying that one.

"Draco."

"Funny." Before she had could even concentrate on what she'd said, her eyes zeroed in on the stop watch. It hit 60 seconds and, without thinking, said, "Thanks for your time," and turned and ran.

Within seconds she'd dashed over the thick line encircling her team and Theodore cheered loudly, giving her a forceful high five (he lifted up her hand and slapped it heavily with his own). "Nice!"

She looked at him warily for a moment and then shook her head. Blaise grinned at her and hugged her, which she suspected was more to pull her away from Theodore than anything else. She really didn't fancy being used as some sort of prop for them to slight each other with and slipped away, falling into step beside Draco as they walked back to Sheila and James. That seemed to happen a lot, but when Blaise and Theodore always ended up walking beside each other and fighting – or at least, they had for the past two days – she didn't exactly have options.

"That was fun." He said dryly and she let out a small, weak laugh, remembering her response to his name. Funny. It probably wasn't normal to think that the person you weren't really supposed to like all that much was funny. Her mind was in a strange sort of turmoil. She'd sort of acknowledged that she liked Draco a bit…He was OK. They could possibly end up as friends. But when she looked back, she realized that the time they'd spent together – three weeks – was hardly enough time to put the past six years behind you.

They were led to a small area that she hadn't noticed before – mostly because it was around a small bend in a slightly tall hill – that had five chairs set up, four of them across from one.

"So my name is Jennifer," the woman who had interviewed them said, smiling as The Pansy Pickers were led away from them. "I'll be finishing up with you in a group interview. Please, take a seat."

Hermione sat down in the second chair inwards on the right. Theodore sat beside her and, when Blaise saw that, he went to the chair on the opposite end of the line. Draco sat next to her and, instead of looking at her, gazed intently at Jennifer. It seemed almost on purpose, which she didn't really understand.

"Alright! The questions I'm going to ask you were sent in from viewers all around the world. The first one I've got is from James in Carolina. He'd like to know how it feels to be on the show now, as opposed to how you felt when you first came on. Blaise, we'll start with you."

"I didn't want to be on the show, obviously." He placed his chin in his hand, leaning forward. "I was quite mad. But now I suppose I'm sort of glad for the chance to get to know the other people, so I'm ready to enjoy the time here. It's given me loads of opportunities."

"How sweet." Theodore muttered mockingly, rolling his eyes.

"I'm really beginning to regret bringing you on, now." Draco murmured under his breath and, when Jennifer looked pointedly at him, continued, "Er…I agree. I don't like the Gryffindors now, of course, but it's bearable. Having them here, I mean. Probably because I have such limited contact with Weasley and Potter."

She rolled her eyes in exasperation, mirroring Theodore, and answered. "I agree with Blaise. Initially I was annoyed as well, but now I've come to appreciate the opportunity."

"Very good." Their interviewer looked down at the cards she held, "Next we have Deliah from London. How have your feelings on your teammates changed?"

There was a short pause and then Theodore spoke up, gazing sardonically down the row at them. "Blaise, I find, is more of an arsehole than he's ever been before. It's quite a nice change, I'll tell you. This show clearly brings out the best in him and his promiscuous ways." The object of Theodore's criticism opened his mouth to respond, but the dark haired Slytherin continued, sarcasm and boredom dripping like poison with his words. "Draco, it seems, has become yet more anal about his control issues, and Granger…Well, I can't say a lot about her, except that being removed from all her normal situations has brought out things I never knew were there before."

Blaise glared at him furiously, his jaw clenched shut, and Hermione hurried to answer the question before they started arguing. "Erm…I didn't really know any of them before…Blaise is more interesting that I suspected. We have a higher level of understanding between us, and we've talked more. Malfoy…Well, I think the fact that we can sit beside each other right now is a clear indication of how well we get along. He's not…as bad as I originally thought." She felt a bit like she was revealing some personal information and hurried on. "And Theodore…Is slightly more…eccentric that I thought. In a good way." She added hastily, upon seeing his expression.

"Theodore just annoys me more, now." Draco scowled at his friend, "And Blaise and I, I suppose, are now bonded by the horror a road trip. And as for Granger…Well, she's not so bad, anymore."

His short response made her smile, which she tried very hard to conceal. Blaise was looking very smug for someone who had been insulted moments before and rattled of a somewhat cheery response that hardly made sense to Hermione, and then Jennifer was speaking again.

The interview went on for quite a long time. There were a lot of high strung, tense arguments that went back and forth between Theodore and Blaise, which she and Draco tried to control when they got too out of hand. When he wasn't arguing with Theodore, Blaise was making suggestive comments or going out of his way to say purposefully awkward statements and contorting the meaning of each question. Draco answered, for the most part, casually and didn't spend a lot of time on any one in particular. It was very obvious that his mind was somewhere else, and it didn't take a genius to guess where.

Hermione tried to answer as honestly and openly as she could. The last question, however, from Brody in Ontario completely threw her. "Brody wants to know if Hermione and Draco are ever going to get together."

"That's not a real question." Theodore said, rolling his eyes at their stupidity and effectively breaking the silence. He'd been somewhat sullen after Blaise had stopped arguing so much.

"How do you know they haven't already lost themselves in a sea of passion and lust?" Blaise asked, his bored tone contradicting his words in a blatant fashion.

"Er…I don't…That's not…" She struggled to get something out of her mouth. Her face was burning and she felt flustered and embarrassed.

"All done?" Sheila popped around the corner, beaming at them and Hermione was intensely glad to see her, as her brain seemed to have lost all its ability to function.

"Yes!" She leapt to her seat and hurried to her side, whilst Jennifer looked mildly disappointed. "Let's hurry along."

She cast a furtive glance at Draco and blushed furiously when she realized he'd looked at her at the same time. Theodore was walking with an exaggerated bounce in his step, whilst Blaise simply looked up, as though praying for a high power to save him.

-

-

"Are you ready?" Theodore asked as Blaise straightened his collar. They were getting ready to meet Draco at one of the muggle doctor's offices, where he was meeting Helga. It was their third and final appointment of the day. Blaise had insisted he go along so that, should the results be bad, he could talk to Draco. Theodore had immediately agreed and added that he most certainly wanted to come as well, at which point Blaise had casually mention that Hermione come along as well, so they could complete the team. She'd hesitantly agreed.

So there they were, dressed in casual muggle clothes. She'd been amused to discover that really casual Wizarding clothes amounted to the same as semi-formal muggle clothes, with slight differences like embroidery and expenses. Blaise and Theodore had both pulled out slacks and collared shirts with fancy embroidery on them, which made her look hideously underdressed in her black knee length shorts and v-neck purple shirt with a white lace camisole.

But it was fine. She was only going to a clinic, anyway. It wasn't like someone important was going to be there.

"Yeah." Blaise walked around his now-friend, scrutinizing the collar fixedly.

"It looks fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "Hurry up. They'll be done in a few minutes."

A part of her was desperately hoping to get there soon, while another part of her dreaded arriving. She supposed that, while she firmly believed that Helga was a lying imbecile and that it wasn't possible for her to have known she was pregnant the next day, as well as the fact that even if she was it didn't affect her life at all, she shouldn't be anxious. But she couldn't help remembering the expression of horror on Draco's face after Helga's announcement, and it made nervous jitters erupt in her stomach.

"We're going to be late." She poked Blaise, who was still staring at Theodore's collar with an abnormally high amount of intent. "It looks great. Let's go."

They piled out of the house and into the car they'd used for the road trip. Hermione ended up sitting in the back, staring out the window as Blaise drove, chatting amiably with Theodore and singing along softly to the radio in perfect tune. It was difficult to imagine that they'd been fighting just yesterday.

Sheila and James informed them that they would announce the winner of the challenge later that afternoon and would show them their interviews at the same time. She was pretty sure that they weren't going to win, considering Blaise had called Theodore a 'selfish bastard whose only goal in life was to screw around as much as he could without being called on it,' to which Theodore called him a 'wretched son of a bitch whose only goal in life was to screw as many people as he could.'

Unfortunately, not even thinking idly of the hostile relationship Theodore and Blaise had could distract her from the reason of their present location – inside their car – and she spent much of the ride wondering how Draco would react if Helga was, indeed, pregnant.

They got to the clinic twenty minutes later, largely due to Blaise's speeding and the various ways he'd managed to get around heavy traffic, and she followed them up to the top floor. There were several people sitting in the chairs, including a middle aged woman who smiled as Hermione and Blaise walked in and then looked scandalized as Theodore joined them, which Hermione attributed to the fact that it was primarily pre-birth clinic.

They sat down in the only three seats available together and she sat beside Blaise, hands clasped in front of her, staring at the floor. Theodore looked around boredly, gazing unflinchingly at the people who stared at them until they looked away from the pressure of his eyes, while their other friend sent suggestive looks at the middle age woman and took extra time to touch both Theodore and Hermione in multiple ways that were sure to give her the wrong idea.

Just as Blaise was possessively holding Theodore's arm while tracing shapes on her hand – which he'd coaxed out of her lap, to the horror of the other woman, as he'd been obsessively fixing Theodore's collar at the same time - Draco emerged through the door. They all sat up in attention immediately, Hermione's eyes scanning the blonde's face for signs that the worst had been announced. Helga came out after him, clearly sulking.

"She's not pregnant." Draco said, his face completely devoid of emotion, and then a smile broke out. "She's not."

Hermione's jaw dropped open briefly and transformed quickly into a deep grin. She would always say that she'd firmly believed Helga was lying, but she'd been very worried that, should she have been wrong, Draco's life would change completely. "Really?" She's intended that to be a statement, but it came out as more of a question.

"Yeah." He was grinning happily, "All the doctors said the same thing."

"Why are you so glad?" Helga demanded tearfully, "We could've started a family together! Urgh!"

He turned to look pityingly at her. "Helga, it was one time. One mistake. Did you think I wanted to start a family?"

"Maybe." She muttered, giving Hermione a dark look. "Obviously not. I thought you'd come around! You're just glad so you can spend more time with your wife!"

The middle aged woman watched in shocked dismay as she pointed to Hermione, whose hand was still underneath Blaise's. The dark male sniggered, before attempting to cover his laughter by coughing.

"It's been…Interesting, Helga." Draco finally mustered up, "I think its time we part ways."

"Fine! Whatever!" She snapped at him, crossing her arms over her vast chest. "You'll come around! I know it!"

Hermione knew that she shouldn't. It might have been simply because she pitied Helga so much, despite how frustrating she was, and she didn't particularly want to see her continue to humiliate herself, so she said, "It's been nice, Helga, but we'd appreciate it if you would leave."

For a moment, while the other occupants in the room watched in bated breath as though it was a teen drama, Helga looked like she would charge forward and attack Hermione. Instead she let out a strange, low growl and stalked from the room.

Blaise whistled. "Good riddance."

She shrugged, happy and hoping that she would never encounter Helga again. Her eyes met Draco and she grinned at him, to which he responded similarly. Together, leaving the aghast woman in the clinic, who, by then, was clutching her heart, they turned and left, for once with the semblance of a real team.

Author's Note: It's officially summer, now. All my exams are completed. I can now go curl up in a corner and be sad about my horrible updating without being concerned for my marks. I'm sorry, by the way. I'd have liked to try and edit it more to try make it better, but I'm feeling quite unwell right now.

If any of you are interested in seeing a complete version of the interview, let me know and I'll write it. As well, I encourage all of you to submit question you'd like them to answer in said interview, and your name and location (you could even say your continent or lie, if you want) that you would like answered by these wonderful characters. As well, the chapters following this are going to be covering a lot more time than in the past. I don't want this story to drag horrendously. Is everyone cool with that?

Thanks for reading and review review review!