Guided here, began drifting after us (7)
I believe the answer is:
ushered
'guided' is the definition.
(usher can mean to guide someone)
'here began drifting after us' is the wordplay.
'began' suggests taking the first letters (I've seen 'begin' mean this).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
The first letter of 'drifting' is 'd'.
'here'+'d'='hered'
'hered' after 'us' is 'USHERED'.
(Other definitions for ushered that I've seen before include "Showed to a seat" , "Led" , "Conducted" , "Showed people to seats as in cinemas or theatre" , "Escorted" .)