Stranded

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Stranded

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By Queen of Serpents

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Chapter One: Savior

The water consumed her. She couldn't breathe. Cold as ice, the ocean's waves had captivated her. It went inside her nose, her mouth. Her hands flapped helplessly in her sides, desperate to keep up on the surface of the water. Desperate to live...

She couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. No more shouts of help-or any other noise-were being uttered by her lips. She could not. She was going under. She was slipping. Her head submerged under the water's currents, but she pulled back, her legs fighting with whatever energy she had left to keep her head where the oxygen was. Where life was.

But after a few seconds, she couldn't hold on any longer. There was nothing to grab onto. No one. Shouts drowned out her ears until all she was able to hear was the water's fierce waves pulling her away. Away; deep under, so she could hear no more, talk no more, breathe no more.

The light was fading. The water was entering her mouth. She closed it. Lower she went, her head going down as well. Her nose, and then her eyes. Bubbles of air were released from her open mouth, and she could see the darkness.

No....

Death. It was near. So near.

Two hands grabbed her by her waist. Warm hands, strong hands. Lightness clouded the being's silhouette. She opened her eyes for a millisecond and saw those two silver orbs stare into her own; she closed hers at once. Silver hair was burned into her mind. An image of an angel. Her angel. Her savior.

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"What do you mean by 'we're stranded'!"

"You heard me, Granger. We're on an island and we're stuck."

"Can't we Apparate home?" she said, looking for her wand through her heavy soaked robes.

"Do you think I'm an idiot, Granger? Of course I tried to Apparate, but it didn't work!"

Hermione Granger ignored what he said, and tried anyway: pointing her wand to the sky, but not a single thing happened. She kicked the sand in frustration and then took off her heavy, wet robes, flinging it away from her in irritation. It was bad enough seeing his face when she woke up, but now she found out they were stuck on this island together. It was too much.

She remembered waking up with the craziest feeling. A dreaded feeling, but nevertheless crazy. It was an emotion that seemed as though she had nearly reached that end of the tunnel, but was pulled back into the living. She felt as though she saw the light go out and then flicker back on quicker than anything she ever saw or been aware of. It was eerie. It was scary. It was crazy.

Was she about to die?

Her head had been hurting as if it had been thrown around in a room full of Bludgers and had fallen off her broom. She had never personally experienced that particular event, but she imagined it would not have been remotely as bad as what she was feeling at the moment.

She spat out water from her mouth.

It was odd. She just dreamt that she was in the water, so why didn't she smell the oceans? And this weird taste in her mouth? Her stomach hurting, her lungs telling her they were struggling for air. It was a lot like her dream, or what would have happened if she survived it.

She had the craziest notion that she was drowning and that a dreamy guy, almost an angel, actually saved her. He had mercurial silver eyes and soft but strong arms. Yes, it could only be a dream.

Suddenly, that painful throb in her head subsided, and a coolness swept over her in a fog of light. She was shivering from the freezing cold. Her nerve endings tingled with a fierce pain. She needed warmth; she was going to freeze to death.

She was slowly beginning to understand her surroundings as awareness began to kick in her brain. Her ears picked up a sound, and instantly the chill was replaced with a warm cozy feeling. She felt like keeping her eyes closed forever, and she was still not in a state of complete awareness. A teeny bit of her dreamland was still there. She was aware of her water-drenched clothes, her soaking hair stuck to the front of her face, and something else too. A warm presence, which was also quite wet, but nevertheless comforting.

It was the image burning into her eyelids, however, that made her feel as though she wasn't quite awake. She could feel two intense eyes penetrating into her soul, even though hers were closed and she was too disoriented to speak. Her head felt like it was resting upon someone's lap, and she didn't want to get up-if she did, surely this vision in her mind would completely vanish. Yes, this could only be a dream. Or, at least, part of it.

Yet, that voice was definitely not a part of her dreams. She didn't need to open her eyes, for just hearing his voice jolted her from her thoughts. She opened her eyes to find herself staring into those exact silvery eyes that she had seen during that time. Time seemed to halt for that tiny millisecond. For that small time, she didn't know her name, or who she was, or anything else.

"Granger, oh for the love of Merlin, get up. You're wetting my clothes!" were the exasperated words he said, causing her to wake. Everything was fuzzy, except for those two eyes, and she didn't quite understand what she was thinking about. But as soon as his voice was registered in her brain, and she saw his smirking face over hers, she sat upright faster than the scar on The-Boy-Who-Lived's forehead. She coughed out water and other liquids from her mouth before wiping them with her hand and spinning around to face him, while her hand slipped into the wet pocket of her robes, taking out her wand in milliseconds.

"Malfoy?" she spat when she was fully awake. She was still somehow stuck between his legs, and had turned her head slightly in order to see him clearly. She figured he had her laid down between his legs with her head on one of his thighs, and was disgusted with the perverse thought her mind reflected on. Her head was hurting and the world was spiraling; she rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes, her grip on her wand never faltering.

"Finally, you're awake!" he said, frustrated. She noticed there was a wand in his hand as well. "I've been trying to wake you for hours!" When he saw her raised eyebrow and had looked her over quickly, a smirk tugged on his lips. Her clothes were extremely wet-so wet that they stuck to her skin, and he could see the outline of her baby blue bra under her white school shirt, exposed in the front due to her untied school robes. Her school shirt and robes were cold as they were wet, and she was involuntarily shivering. Was it because of the cold or the stare? He really didn't know.

"What? Aren't you happy to see me?" he drawled-in a voice many, including she, agreed was quite sexy indeed-when he caught site of her wand.

She rolled her eyes at his sneering face. "No one in their right mind would ever want to be happy when they see your ferret of a face, Malfoy," she retorted.

She got up and scanned the area, trying to sort out her mind as well as trying to figure out where they were. She also looked for clues as to what had happened the past few minutes while she was unconscious.

They were on a shore of some kind, and the sun had set minutes before, making the horizon a pretty color of red, purple, and a deep, dark blue, almost black. There were no clouds, and it seemed to her the sea stretched on for miles and miles, for she saw nothing in the way but just water. Turning her head slightly to where Malfoy was, she was able to see a small clearing full of sand and rocks, and a forest of some sort in the background.

"Uh, Malfoy? Where are we?" Hermione Granger said at last, her voice quavering.

She turned her whole body around so she could see him face to face. The smirk he wore had vanished from his lips, and he stared back at her with all expression drained from his face. There was silence for a long while as they both stared at their surroundings.

"Uh, Malfoy?" she tried again. She was getting scared now. All she remembered from their journey was rain, a whirlwind, lots of waves, and then darkness. It had all happened so fast that she didn't know what occurred, save the fact that she was saved by some sort of angel. And now... now she was left with an evil little boy: the devil himself. Plus, there was something strange about him that constantly made her wonder...

"Where are the others?" she asked, her voice's pitch rising as she began to panic. "Malfoy, if you don't tell where we are and what happened to the others I will--- I will--- I don't know what I will, but it won't be too good!" she snapped.

"I don't know!" he spat, getting to his feet. "I didn't really think about it, Granger. I was too busy trying to bloody wake you up!" he retorted. He looked at her and then sighed. "Well, actually, I think we're on an island. In fact, I'm most certain we're not just on an island, but we're stranded..."

And that was what led her to her current predicament.

"How do you know we're on an island, Malfoy?" she asked, trying to calm herself down, but failing miserably.

He shrugged his shoulders. "What else could it be?" he said.

Hermione let out an irritated sigh. "Geez, you fool! How can you say we're stranded on an island when you don't even know for sure that this is an island!?!"

"Granger, relax," he said, his voice oddly calm.

"Relax!" she repeated incredulously. "You expect me to relax! And in a situation like this? If you weren't the only one here with me I could hex you!"

"Hex the person who saved your filthy mudblood arse?" he said with a raised eyebrow. "Sure, why not. Never do a good deed I tell ya..."

Hermione rolled her eyes. She felt bad for saying that. It's true that he actually stayed around to rescue her, but he wasn't that angel in the water that had really saved her from drowning. Still, she probably owed him an apology. But no, she wouldn't. Not after he called her a mudblood, again.

"Malfoy, don't make me..." Hermione said through gritted teeth. "Urgh!" she cried out in aggravation, being unable to continue her words. "You make me so mad!"

"Yes, I know... Mad with lus-," he began.

Hermione walked up to him and narrowed her eyes at him, her wand outstretched. "Listen, Malfoy," she hissed. "Stop playing games with me. Is this an island or not?" she said backing him up against a nearby tree. "And where is everyone else?"

He calmly lowered her wand so it no longer aimed at his throat, and held her eyes with his. "I honestly don't know, Granger. If you're so smart, why don't you figure it out?"

"Now is not to time to get on my nerves, Malfoy," she said, raising her wand back to his throat. They stared hard into each other's eyes.

"I'm not playing any games," he said coolly. "I'm simply telling you that we're stranded."

She glared at him before whipping her wand in one fluid motion in the air and yelled out a charm. The whole act nearly frightened Malfoy until he calmed down, and started out into the night sky. It was nighttime by then, the sky a dark mauve, nearly black. The red sparks flew out of her wand, but only after going up 20 feet into the air did they simply fade out into nothingness.

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows. "That wasn't supposed to happen," she whispered.

Draco Malfoy opened his mouth to speak, but Hermione aimed her wand back at his throat. "Don't utter a word, Malfoy," she hissed, thinking he would give a rude comment or start another argument. "If you do, I'll make sure it'll be your last."

Malfoy stared at her seriously, faking fear into his eyes, trying to hide the smirk twitching on his lips. In one second, before Hermione even knew what was going on, he had her spun around so that she was no longer pushing him up against the tree. In seconds, he made her the one to be leaning against the tree with him pinning her back, holding the arm that held her wand tightly in his hands. "We're not thirteen anymore," he said with a smirk, easily taking her wand out of her captive hand. "And I'll say whatever I want."

Hermione stared into his gray eyes with the deadliest glare she could muster. He held her eyes and then took a few steps back, releasing her hand from his harsh grip and handing her back her wand. "I never meant to say anything rude," he told her. "You need to learn to stay calm instead of being like that hotheaded carrot-top Weasley kid you hang around with."

Hermione opened her mouth and then shut it, rubbing her aching wrist. The two of them shared a quick glance, hate-filled from Hermione's side and indifference from his, before he simply sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair. "I assure you we are on an island, Granger," he told her with a serious voice. "Snape was telling me that we would encounter an island on our journey and he told me to stay clear of it. Also, because of what happened to your spell, it means that I'm right and we are stranded."

"Oh yeah?" Hermione challenged, putting her hands on her hips. "Prove it, Malfoy. Enlighten me."

Draco smirked. "Fine. That's exactly what I'll do," he said, walking towards the middle of the beach. Hermione followed him there and watched as he brought out his wand, pointing it up in the sky. He closed his eyes, and then raised his head so that his chin was pointing in the air. The moon was up in the sky now, and it illuminated his perfect features that Hermione could not help but notice. His lips were parted and then he spoke in a whisper, which caused a single smoke of light to appear out of his wand and head towards the sky.

She watched, transfixed, as the smoky strand of light flew 90 feet in the air, and then stopped as though it hit a solid barrier. As soon as it did, the entire sky suddenly lit up a ghostly light in the shape of a dome in the sky. She watched spellbound as the glowing dome surrounded the entire field, covering what looked to be the entire island. Draco snapped his eyes open, and watched knowingly at the dome and then put his wand away, the action causing the dome to flicker and then go away, replaced by the normal moonlit sky.

He turned to her, a smirk on his lips that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Now do you understand?"

Hermione gulped a lump of fear, not knowing what she was so scared about. He noticed her expression and walked up to her, grasping her shoulders with his hands. Hermione was uncomfortable with the gesture, but his eyes were holding hers so deeply she didn't move. "I know we are on an island, Granger," he said firmly. "We can't get off. We're trapped."

Hermione stared blankly at him. "What do you mean we're trapped?"

"Do you know what spell I used?" Hermione shook her head. No, she didn't know. "It's one my dad taught me long ago to check for magical barriers. Do you see the dome?"

Hermione didn't say a thing, simply stared at him, her brown eyes completely blank with shock. "Tell me you saw it, Granger," he snapped at her, shaking her shoulders roughly to get to her speak. "Surely you understand what I'm showing you. You can't possibly be so daft," his voice was dripping with sarcasm, thinking she didn't understand what the dome meant. "Being the smart Gryffindor you are, I thought you'd figure it out hours ago."

Hermione ignored the demeaning comment and was going to open her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her, continuing what he was telling her. "It means there is a magical barrier over this island," his voice becoming serious. "We can't Apparate or anything. We're trapped. Someone powerful cast this spell, and no one can enter or leave magically. I know this is an island, because its the only one Snape said we would come across. And since it's too dark out, we'll have to wait in the morning to find out for sure. For now, we are trapped in this barrier, Granger. Do you understand?"

Hermione nodded her head and sighed, her eyes hadn't once left his. She felt the ground collapsing under her-she was so scared, so confused.

"Are you positive?" she asked once more, even though she knew that the glowing dome had answered all her questions and confirmed Draco's theory.

Draco let go of her shoulders and then took a step back. "I lie a lot, Granger. You know I do. But if there's a truth I said in my life, this is one of them. I'm not playing a trick on you. We're stuck here until some miracle happens and we're saved. I don't know where the others are, but I'm sure there trapped somewhere here too or if they aren't..." He looked out into the direction of the water. His meaning was understood.

"So you mean... We are stuck?" She said, finally believing his words. Draco nodded his head. Hermione's heart sank and her brain was going on overload. Her knees were feeling weak and she felt colder than she'd been in the freezing water. "So I'm stranded on this godforsaken island with you?"

He didn't answer her. He had been trying to make her understand for the past half hour. He was stranded on this island with her and she was stranded on this island with him. Whether she wanted to accept it or not, it was the truth. She just hoped her savior would come and rescue her. Right... like that would ever happen.

Thus, that was how Hermione Granger found herself stranded on an island. And not just with anyone but with the devil's son, Draco Malfoy himself.

What was even worse? There was no way to get off, unless some miracle occurred.

"Merlin help me!" Hermione exclaimed in exasperation, sinking down on her knees.

Yes, Merlin help them indeed.

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