A/N: A new fic! I know I have others to work on but the idea for this one came to me and I just had to start writing it. I've been finding it hard to get into the rhythm of writing but instead of trying to fit into what I thought I should be writing like, I've decided just to stick with my own usual style and see what happens!

So anyway this fic, I hope it'll become clear that although Hermione might seem different to start with, she is still in character and as the fic progresses all will become clear! And I'll probably indulge in my passion for creating strange other worlds while trying not to copy or rely on JK Rowling's own ideas, because I don't think I'd do her justice if I stayed within Hogwarts and things...

Ok I'll stop rambling for now and I hope people enjoy this fic at least a little bit!

Oh and obv. these characters belong to JKRowling, not me. Sadly.

TeenyBash x

Quest and Destiny

Chapter One: A New Life

A loud scream echoed around the courtyard, and its source was running as fast as she could over the grass, laughter spreading over her pretty face, her long, straight hair billowing behind her in the wind, her cheeks pink from exertion.

"Oh no you don't, Granger!"

The shout was male, and sure enough, its origin followed, his face contorted into a half-scowl, but it was easy to see he was fighting the urge to laugh as well. He stopped when she stopped, and stared at her, long and hard. She hopped from foot to foot, goading him, sticking her tongue out and wiggling her hips, knowing he would be powerless to resist her temptations. Then, just as he was beginning to advance towards her, a cheeky grin playing on his lips, she took off again, shrieking as some other students were almost knocked out of her way, and he tore after her once more.

"Gotcha!" he yelled in triumph, as his hand grabbed the sleeve of her top and pulled her back so she was right up against his body. "God, you are far too naughty. Time for some punishment." He leaned down and began to kiss her, and she sighed as his tongue immediately took up residence in her mouth, meeting hers and doing a half-hearted battle before he moved to her neck...

"Mark! We can't! Not out here!" she giggled, breaking away and looking up at him through lowered lashes. "If you want, my dorm is empty..." She winked suggestively and he didn't need telling twice; she took his hand and they practically ran all the way through campus to the students' dorms, where she resided on the fourth floor.

"So how many have been here before me?" he asked, laughing, as she fumbled with the key, knowing she didn't have long before her roommates returned. She glared over her shoulder, pretending to be offended, as she finally opened the door and they fell in, his arms tightly around her waist.

"I never kiss and tell," she replied huskily, turning and pulling him down, kissing him with a hunger she hadn't felt since... well, since the last man she'd brought back, about a week ago. He ran his hands roughly through her hair and she smiled into the kiss. "Come on, we don't have that much time..." She led the way to her neatly-made, single bed, and dropped down, letting him fall on top of her and continue. She moaned and threw her head back – she'd never felt so free...

Two hours later, Hermione Granger woke, squinting her eyes against the sun streaming through the window, stretching like a cat before sitting up.

"So you're awake then?" The voice of Hermione's roommate, Lil, made her look round, and she saw the willowy blonde girl sitting on her own bed, flicking idly through a magazine. "I thought that was you for the night." She was teasing, and grinned as Hermione pulled on the nearest jumper, running a hand through her unruly hair.

"I still have a class," Hermione replied hoarsely, and she cleared her throat.

"You slept through it," Lil told her, pointing to the clock. She laughed as Hermione lay back down, a hand over her eyes. "Ah, don't worry. That's only what, the fifth class you've missed this week? People do worse, you know."

Hermione forced a smile. "I know. It's just..."

"What?"

Not me, Hermione thought fleetingly, but replaced that with, "a load more work for me to catch up with." She found some more clothes and got dressed so she and Lil could go down for dinner. "Did you see Mark leave?" she asked casually, but Lil shook her head.

"No, sorry. Think he must have gone before I came back. Which one's Mark, now?"

"Mark's Irish." That was about as much information as Hermione was willing to give, mainly because that was about as much as she knew. She didn't want to tell Lil that, though, and come across as more of a 'scarlet woman' than she already seemed. She smiled a little at the phrase she'd just remembered, before the door banged open and she forgot again.

"Coast's clear!" Amber, Hermione's other roommate, stood in the doorway with a massive grin on her face, beckoning with one hand as about six people traipsed in, making themselves at home on the floor and Amber's bed. She closed the door behind them all and winked at Hermione. "Latest man gone, then?"

Hermione tried her best not to blush. "Mark went ages ago," she said, embarrassed in front of all of Amber's friends, two of which were male. One of the new girls was staring at her with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Ooh, are you the girl who was caught shagging Leon round the back of the union?" The girl didn't sound disgusted or judgemental in any way – indeed, it was almost as if she was merely asking the time.

Hermione didn't quite know what to say, but she was spared the trouble by Amber, who laughed loudly and nodded. "Yeah, that's her! Mind you, when isn't it?" she added, flashing Hermione a grin.

Lil had evidently decided she'd had enough, as she took hold of Hermione by the wrist and started heading for the door. "We're going for food. Enjoy yourselves without making a mess, Amber!" She narrowed her eyes and the other girl laughed. The last time Amber had held a 'gathering', it hadn't exactly been a blessing for Hermione and Lil, whose belongings hadn't really been treated with much respect.

"Honestly, that girl!" Lil sighed, as the two of them headed down the stairs and across the way to where dinner was served. "She has no consideration sometimes."

"Neither do I," Hermione said glumly. "She probably had to wait ages to make sure she didn't walk in on me."

"Hey, don't worry about that! I doubt it, anyway. Amber acts the virgin queen, but the truth is she's always up to something... or should I say, someone."

"She treats me like I'm a..." Hermione took a deep breath. "Some sort of slapper."

"No you're not!" Lil stopped walking and turned Hermione to face her. "Listen to me! You are definitely not that! Amber just likes to wind people up! She calls me a dried-up old maid, because I haven't had a boyfriend in months, so don't listen to her, ok?" She waited until Hermione nodded, albeit unconvincingly. "Good. You're not tied down, Hermione. You're allowed to have fun, you're only 18!"

"Thanks," Hermione replied gratefully, and she was thankful she had such a nice friend, otherwise she certainly would have believed every word that Amber said – because she wasn't quite sure Amber was altogether wrong.

"So, what do you want to do tonight?" Lil asked Hermione over their desserts, two enormous wadges of chocolate cake. They were sitting alone at one of the tables in the dining hall, and apart from a few lads who had passed and made comments to Hermione, they'd been by themselves, having a proper conversation. The prospect of returning to the dorm and finding out what chaos Amber was causing did not appeal much to Hermione, and by the expression on Lil's face, she felt the same.

"Well, I suppose I could go to the library and catch up on the work I missed..." Hermione heard herself say the words, but it felt strange. It was like another lifetime when she used to spend every spare moment holed up with some book or other, devouring information at great speed.

Lil snorted. "Yeah, right. As if! Nah, I was thinking, why don't we go to the cinema, see if anything decent is on?" She was looking hopeful, so Hermione shrugged.

"Ok, sure." They decided to head straight there instead of heading back to their room, so once they finished their cakes they exited the dining hall and started walking away from university, down towards the town centre.

"Oh, I've just remembered, it's my mum's birthday tomorrow!" Lil clapped a hand to her forehead and stared at Hermione in horror. "I can't believe I forgot! What kind of daughter does that make me?"

Hermione smiled. "That's ok, you can just buy her something tonight and owl it tomorrow."

Lil stared at her. "And what tomorrow?"

Hermione's eyes widened and she realised what she'd just said. "Erm, I meant post it tomorrow! I don't know why I said that..." Of course, she did know why she'd said that, but she wasn't about to try and explain to Lil that in fact, Hermione was a witch. Not only that, she was one of the cleverest, most able witches the world had ever seen, and had spent seven years of her life learning skills which were designed to stand her in good stead for the rest of her life.

However, once Hermione had left Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she'd done a lot of very deep thinking about where she wanted to go in her life. After the huge battle which culminated in her seventh year, with the death of Lord Voldemort, Hermione had been so shaken she'd had to take time out from the wizarding world. On reflection, she'd made the decision that it was time to rejoin the world of Muggles – non-magical people, of which her parents were two. It had been extremely difficult to leave people and places she'd devoted so much time and effort and love to, but she had been sure it was for the best. She was tired of lying to her parents as to why she was always so shaken when she came back from term, and although evil seemed to have been conquered for the moment, there remained a possibility of danger, because that was the nature of magic.

So, the last time she'd used magic was over her summer holidays, helping her to sit and pass exams enabling her to get into university in England. Her parents hadn't been able to disguise their delight; while they had never been anything less than supportive during her Hogwarts days, they did love the fact they could understand her work now and that she wanted to study plays and poetry.

And it was nice not to worry about someone jinxing her in corridors, or an owl flying in the window to deliver her mail. And it was nice to have a telephone and be able to talk to her family at any time. And it was very nice just to be able to LIVE like any other 18 year old girl.

"Are you ok?" Lil was now peering at Hermione with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Hermione replied, realising she'd been staring into space while thoughts had overtaken her. "Come on, let's go to the cinema, and then we can buy your mum something on the way home." She forced another smile and started walking before Lil could ask any more questions.

"Well, that was a load of rubbish!" Lil pushed open the doors and stepped outside, where a thin sheet of rain was now falling. "A bloody waste of money."

Hermione followed, putting up her umbrella as they walked. "Yeah, it wasn't really very good. The storyline was so boring, I mean, I'm sure I could think up something a lot better than that."

Lil nodded. "I know. Well, anyone could! I hate all that fantasy stuff. Magic and shit. I suppose it's alright if you're about 12... There was nothing else on, though."

Hermione didn't reply to that, but kept walking until they reached a 24- hour shop which appeared to sell birthday cards, where Lil went in to find one for her mum. Hermione said she was fine waiting outside, so she stood under her umbrella and gazed around at the people passing by, wishing she'd had the presence of mind to wear more sensible shoes, rather than another pair of heels. Still, at least she looked remotely pretty in them, she mused, as she absently turned her head... and gasped involuntarily as she saw a flash of red disappear around the next corner.

Hermione froze on the spot. For a moment, that had looked like a head of long, red hair... But surely she was seeing things. Perhaps all the thinking about her old life had started her hallucinating or something. She shrugged and turned away, looking up at the sky and wishing the rain would stop... This was probably her conscience telling her off, Hermione mused as she shivered. She was being reminded to contact her friends, whom she hadn't written to in at least four months, maybe more. She'd lost count. She had been too busy to waste time finding an owl and...

There it was again! The flash of red hit Hermione's eyes like lightning and this time, she kept her eyes on the corner, advancing towards it. Her instinct, when a strange and unexpected thing happened, was to reach for her wand in case she needed it. Of course, her wand was at her parents' house, safely stowed under her bed, in a large trunk along with robes, books and other equipment. She knew it was foolish to investigate on impulse – she'd learned that the hard way, many times – but her curiosity was getting the better of her as usual, and she slowly approached the corner. She just needed to be sure it wasn't what she thought it was...

Then, just as she had reassured herself her mind was playing a trick on her, the flash of red came again, this time accompanied by a body and a very pretty face, and right in front of Hermione. She gasped again and stared, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"Hello, Hermione."

It was Ginny Weasley.