The ships made their way from the island at an extremely fast rate. Hermione let everyone know that there would be no more stops - they were headed for their island and would be there in a day or two.

Hermione stayed in her quarters for the majority of the ride there. Draco was the one to finally come to her and tell her that land had been spotted.

Hermione wasn't quite sure how she should react to Draco's presence anymore. Part of her felt that their life-or-death situation had caused them to become closer. But another part of her still felt distant from him - she still wasn't quite sure what he was here for and why.

She simply nodded and walked with him to the front of the ship. She took the telescope he offered her and peered at the abandoned island. More jungle. She shuddered.

"It'll be another day's journey," he said. "Also, we're being pursued."

Hermione nearly dropped her telescope in alarm.

"Wait, what?"

Draco nodded. "Come with me."
He took her to the other side of the ship and pointed out to her a ship about half the distance away from her as the island.

"Is it Harry or Sirius?" she whispered, not quite sure why.

"Longbottom says he doesn't think so," Draco replied.

Hermione shook her head. "We barely escape one issue and run headfirst into the next one." She handed the telescope back to Draco. "Alright. We'll just have to fight them off. If they try anything, I'm putting you in charge of getting rid of them. You got that?"

He just nodded and Hermione paced away from him.

This was a lot of stress. She wished she could just bury herself in a book like she usually did when she was stressed. Instead, she spent the rest of that day trying to alleviate the stress of the others on the ship. She spoke with Neville for a long period of time, discussing the what ifs of different situations and trying to make sure that everyone would be safe and that they would make it to the island, retrieve what they needed to, and return to Grimmauld place.

And then she couldn't stop thinking about Draco. She hated him, that much she knew. But...was it possible that she had other not-so-negative feelings for the Slytherin? No, he wasn't much of a Slytherin right now. He didn't think so at least.

He certainly was different. She could tell just by looking in his eyes.

All of their eyes changed after the horrors they'd witnessed. But deep within the horrors, Hermione had seen a light, and it had come with the abrupt kiss of Mr. Malfoy.

She caught him in the corner of her eye quite often throughout the day. He kept his eye off towards that ship. Sometimes he would put down the telescope and squint in order to see if the ship had gotten any closer. Then he would sigh or shake his head and he would walk away anxiously.

Why did Hermione want to comfort him?

So she would also sigh or shake her head and walk away anxiously, in search of someone else she could make feel better who wasn't someone she was beyond confused about.

...

Harry was worried that Lily Jane was acting differently toward him now that they were back on the ship and together again. He knew it was probably better this way - he did still have Ginny back home, and any thoughts he had about Lily Jane led him to be more guilty than he'd ever been, but he still really wanted Lily Jane to like him, despite himself. It made him feel sick to his stomach whenever he thought about it.

"Are you okay?" he asked her one night when they were dining together in his cabin.

She looked up at him, evidently surprised at his question.

"Yes, of course," she replied. "Why?"

Harry couldn't quite tell if she was lying or not. "Because you seem...distant."

She shrugged. "I'm sorry. I guess I've just been thinking a lot about the fact that I was almost eaten alive just a day ago. I should be more careful."

Harry sighed, forcing himself to believe that this was all. "I'll help you be more careful."

She grinned at him. "Thank you, Harry."

She stood and crossed over to him, kissing him on the cheek. "I'm off to bed. Goodnight."

Harry did not see her face contort as soon as she turned away. He did not know that she fell against his door the moment she left and clutched at her chest. He did not know she was sobbing; sobbing because she was confused and because she didn't know if she trusted the people who were trying to help her not be confused.

She didn't know what to do or who to go to, but she knew that she liked Harry and didn't want to do this anymore.

...

WOW SHORT.

Sorry about that! :( But this was a good break spot I thought. It would seem so disengaged if I started the next part here...