Gone Astray

A/N: Beta'd version coming soon! I just got all excited to post the new chapter and couldn't wait.

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“Nice going Granger, you managed to get us even more lost than we already were!”

“So you’re finally admitting that we’re lost?” she asked, still staring out over the flat surface of lake, her eyes narrowed in a vein attempt to see through the unrelenting darkness.

“Yes, as long as you admit that it’s all your fault.”

“Don’t even go there, Malfoy. If you hadn’t gotten us lost in the first place, then I couldn’t have gotten us more lost, so then we wouldn’t be lost at all!”

“Psycho babble logic might work on the Dynamic Dunderhead Duo, but I think you’re forgetting who you’re dealing with.”

“Malfoy,” she said in a strained voice, pinching her nose to stem to impending explosion. “Arguing about who’s to blame until we freeze to death, when we both know that this is completely your fault, obviously isn’t helping. We need a plan. If we could just retrace our steps-“ She paused, staring dumbstruck at Malfoy’s hastily retreating form. “Stop right there!” she called out in her naturally bossy tone. “Where do you think you’re going!?”

“This way,” he replied sharply, pointing at the pitch black that they assumed to be the opposite side of the lake, without turning to look at her.

“But you can’t! It’s much too dangerous. You could- well, you could fall in, obviously. You could slip and fall and crack your head open and then fall in. And, not to mention, we don’t know what could be living in this frozen body of water, because we don’t even know where it is! Any number of creatures could be hiding just under the surface waiting for some stupid hothead to go striding across the ice!”

“Good Gods Granger, have you always been such an uptight nag? It’s perfectly safe,” he shrugged, jumping up and down on the frozen surface of the lake to prove his point. “No need to get your knickers in a twist.”

Hermione wasn’t convinced.

“Just come back here and we can walk around, since you are so insistent on getting to the other side. I think that is a very fair compromise,” Hermione pleaded with him, while keeping up the businesslike pretense. It was Malfoy after all. She couldn’t appear too concerned about his wellbeing.

“See you on the other side then,” he waved her off. Torn between not wanting to die a watery death, wanting to stay together, and not wanting Malfoy to get his way, Hermione was glued to the spot with her hands balled in frustration.

“Damn it, Malfoy! When they find our frozen carcasses in a hundred years, remind me to tell you ‘I told you so!’” she shouted, cautiously tip-toeing her way across the ice to catch up with him.

“You are just hilarious, Granger,” he said in a mock-serious voice. “Carry on like that and you might just ‘crack up’ the ice.” He snorted in laughter at his own pathetic attempt at a joke, and Hermione followed suit by rolling her eyes at him.

“Please tell me I won’t be listening to any more of your comedy routine.”

“Says the girl who sings like a musical saw.”

“Oh shut up,” she grumbled, pushing him playfully on the shoulder while trying to hide the large grin that was threatening to take over. He slid and had to use a lot of flailing arms to keep his balance. The creeping grin transformed into a lot of laughs that even Malfoy couldn’t help but to join in, though he was doing his best to look pissed off.

“You know, you almost look human when you smile,” she said thoughtfully after they had recovered themselves.

“And you’d almost be sexy if you were naked,” he replied automatically. She sucked on her lip, like she always did when she was in deep thought. She couldn’t decide if she should be angered or flattered by his comment. She glanced at him. His grey pools were darkened and wracking her body, like he was undressing her with his eyes. Could he really want to see her naked? Did she really want him to?

Oh Gods, yes! Err... no! No, no, no, no, NO!

…Liar.

Damn you brain!

She fisted her hands in her hair, trying to rid her mind of any thoughts in of or pertaining to Draco Malfoy, but it was difficult when he was inches away from her and smirking like he knew exactly what she was thinking.

They continued their journey across the lake in silence for a while. They could both feel the sexual tension in the air like static electricity. It wasn’t often that they went so long without a snarky remark or semi-insult to throw at one another. It was very strange.

While Hermione was busy reflecting on the strangeness of the silence, her foot caught on a chunk of ice, and suddenly she found herself flying face first towards the glassy surface of the lake. She put her hands out in front of her but knew that it was no use… she was falling too fast. Visions of the surface cracking from the force of her fall, and diving straight into its icy depths clogged her vision, and she shut her eyes, preparing for the impact.

It never came. Strong male arms enclosed her upper body and set her back on her feet. Her deep sighs of relief into his chest filled her up with his musky scent.

“Thank you,” she whispered softly into his cloak.

“You know, I’ve saved your life more than once on this trip alone, but that’s the first time I’ve ever gotten a ‘thank you’ out of you. So… I suppose… you’re welcome…” he finished, having great difficulty getting the words out for some reason.

She looked up at him and their eyes met. No emotion-masking smirk marred the intimate moment. He looked deathly serious, and his eyes were darkened with lust. She could feel the flutters of butterflies in her stomach but she couldn’t look away. She found herself inching towards his parted lips, raising herself on her tiptoes. He tilted his head… Her eyes gently closed… He took a quick glance over her shoulder, and gasped audibly, straightening up to get a better look. Startled, Hermione took a step back, trying to hide the look of disappointment by staring pointedly at the ground.

“Granger, look!”

“What?”

Shaking his head, he took her shoulders and turned her around. Her mouth instantly opened as she sucked in an astonished breath. The outline of a small cabin or house was clearly evident against the midnight blue of the sky.

“Told you so,” Draco said smugly. Hermione took a moment to glare at him. How he made it so easy to want to snog his brains out one minute and strangle him the next was beyond her comprehension.

“You didn’t get us un-lost you know… Just because we are somewhere, doesn’t mean we know where we are!”

“Don’t be jealous because I was right, as usual,” he replied with a scowl. Pursing her lips and crossing her arms, Hermione stalked past him on her way to the cabin, trying to ignore Draco’s new singing rendition of ‘I was right and you were wrong.”

Stupid… cocky… bastard!

“I was right and you were wrong… I was right and you were wrong… I was right and you were-“

His footsteps and singing had stopped. Rolling her eyes at nothing in particular, she spun around.

“Stop messing around and keep up. If you have, in fact, managed to find a way out, I want to get home already!”

“Granger, shut up!” he said in a loud whisper. His body was stock still, his arms out to the side as he stared around the ice, his eyes wide.

“Don’t tell me to shut up! Who do you think you are!? You are just some stuck up, horrid little ferret who is going to need to find a new job when we get home!”

No sooner had she gotten out the words, then the ice cracked around Draco’s unmoving form, and he fell straight into the watery abyss below.

“DRACO!” she shouted in a panic, surging forward to the hole in the ice without a second thought to her own safety.

“Accio Draco! ACCIO Draco!”

Nothing happened. The minutes ticked by, but Hermione had no idea what to do. She just kept pointing her wand at the deathly cold water shouting ‘Accio!’ with less and less conviction with every passing second. Too much time had gone by. Tears stung her eyes and froze on her cheeks, but she couldn’t give up.

She loved him.

“ACCIO DRACO!”

At last, his coughing and sputtering form appeared in the black water. She caught one of his flailing arms as he fought to stay afloat, and pulled with all her might.

“Draco- Oh Draco I’m so sorry!” she panted heavily as she tried to pull him to safety.

“Herm- doesn’t matter- just- PULL!” he huffed out.

One final tug and he was finally free of his frozen imprisonment. Hermione fell backwards from the force, and Draco fell on top of her. Instantly, Hermione felt the cold from his wet clothes chilling her to the bone.

“We’ve got to get off of here… it’s not safe. Can you stand?” He was shaking severely, but he nodded his head and slowly inched his way off of her and to his feet. Hermione quickly removed her partially soaked coat and draped it over his shoulders. Partly supporting his weight with one arm around his middle, they slowly slipped and stumbled their way to the cabin on the edge of the lake.

Standing at the front door of the little log home, they peered into the small glass window. It was pitch black inside and looked like it had been deserted for some time. Hermione reached for her wand to perform the ‘Alohomora’ charm on the door.

“Oh no! My wand! I- it must have fallen out into the lake!” she shrieked, frantically feeling around in the pockets of her coat that was still around Draco’s freezing form. Meanwhile, Draco had stepped forward and turned the handle. The door swung open easily to allow them entrance. The moonlight shining through the windows sent dusty shadows along the walls, but it was still too dark to make out anything clearly.

Hermione immediately bustled in and went searching for something of use.

“There’s only one blanket,” she announced after further inspection of the randomly placed cupboards on the walls.

“There’s on- only one r- room,” he said, looking around with a sour look on his face, the disgust in his voice evident even with his severely chattering teeth. They stopped walking, both shaking convulsively from the cold, then slowly turned to face one another.

“There’s only one bed!”

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So, I was intending to write a nice cute little smut free Christmas fic, but smut seems to be adding itself in somehow. I don't really feel as guilty since Christmas is over now so it can't hurt the Christmas spirit lol. So yes, next chapter I might have to up the rating ~> Just a little heads up incase you aren't comfortable with that sort of thing.

Thanks so much for the reviews of the last chapter. I am glad you seem to be enjoying reading as much as I am writing this! Please keep them coming! They are my muse!