A/N: This might just be my first fan fiction. I think I've tried to write them before, but have experienced feelings of insufficiency. Now, hopefully I can find the confidence to write one. I guess I wanted to because a lot of fan fic's I read, which are wonderful nonetheless, take characters too far out of themselves without much good explanation of how they got that way. JK Rowling made these people and I think that sometimes it is disgrace to these characters to change who they are. So here I go. This is a Hermione/Draco story, as I have always loved those ones.

CHAPTER 1

Hermione was successful, to say the least. She was the head of the Department of Muggle Relations at the Ministry of Magic under Minister Rufus Scrimgeour. She made a really strong impression towards the minister by her help with finally ridding the wizarding world of Voldemort when she was seventeen. Being 23 now, her, Harry, and Ron were all still the greatest of friends, and all of them had grown up, Ron to much surprise for everyone. Harry and Ginny had married straight away after they had both finished Hogwarts, and every girl in the Wizarding World wept. They lived together in his parents' house in Godric's Hollow, after some intense rebuilding and spellcasting had been done. Hermione and Ron had something for a while, but it fizzled, and both agreed to end it. Since then Hermione had dated a couple of people including Neville Longbottom. After that ended she dated a guy named Leo Stratton from her department, but that wasn't working out so Hermione ended it before it could become awkward at work. Since then, she had been riding the single train, and happily working and hanging out with her friends. Even though she was a girl, sometimes she thought that relationships were just too much work. 'When the right guy comes around, it won't be this hard' she thought.

Thus, the story begins.

It was November, a particularly slow time in Hermione's department. She sat at work trying her hardest to find even the tiniest task to complete. "Gah!" she said to herself, "There is absolutely nothing to do."

"Then why don't you take the rest of the day off?" asked Harry, who had just walked in, his voice causing Hermione to spill her pen cup in surprise.

"Take the rest of the day off?" she repeated. "I haven't taken any days off that were not weekends since I started this job, and I don't plan on starting now. Got that?"

Harry shook his head and said, "Have it your way, Granger" as he turned and walked out of the office. Hermione paused her search for something to do and stared at the closed door. Try as she might, she could not stop the tears from coming. Soon enough, silent streams of tear drops were falling down her face. 'I don't do anything besides work. My friends are starting to notice that I don't even hang out that much anymore, I'm sure of it. I need to take some time off.' With a new resolve, she wiped away her tears and began drafting a notice to the minister requesting some time off. About halfway through, she said, "Who am I kidding? This place would fall apart if I wasn't here. No one knows how to properly handle all of the files and everyone writes the most silly reports ever. Ron wrote better papers at Hogwarts. I can't leave." And with that, she crunched the paper into a ball with one hand and threw it towards the garbage can. Of course, it missed, but Hermione knew she was not very coordinated when it came to things remotely athletic.

A few hours later, Hermione was packing up her purse, and getting ready to take the floo home, when Ron and Harry came up beside her and grabbed her arms. "Guys! What are you doing? Put me down or there will be serious consequences!"

"Hush with your consequences, Hermione, we know you'd never do anything to hurt us," Ron said with a smile. "This is an intervention. Don't say another word or we'll have to bind you and take your wand."

Hermione furrowed her brow and kept quiet. 'These two are going to get it for sure,' she thought as they led her to the minister's office. As they approached the door, she saw Neville and Ginny waiting there. She got even more furious at that time and finally spoke up. "This is outrageous! What is this about?" Ginny, the ever calm, and the only one who was ever able to bring Hermione down from a mood, walked up and placed her hands on Hermione's cheeks.

"Hermione, this is not good. You need a vacation, time away, to learn more about yourself and figure out who you are. You can not continue locking yourself in your office all the time, hardly having any time for yourself, and having even less time for us."

"We're your friends, Hermione, and we're begging you," added Neville. Harry and Ron nodded in sync.

"I don't need to take time off, I am just fine," replied Hermione, as she started to walk away.

"We didn't want to have to do this, but I guess there's no way we can convince you on your own. Ginny, is it ready?" asked Harry.

"Yes, dear, it is. All we need is the final ingredient. Hermione, I'm really sorry about this, but it's for your own good," Ginny assured Hermione as she reached out and plucked a long wavy hair from Hermione's head. She pulled out a flask, dropped the hair in, and drank it.

After nearly throwing up, standing in front of Hermione was…Hermione. Ginny had taken a polyjuice potion. "Don't try and stop me, Hermione," she saw herself say with Ginny's voice. "This really is for you own good."

"You can't get away it," Hermione wagered. "I can walk in there right now and he'll know when you come in that you're not me."

"That's the other part," Ron said, speaking for the first time this whole conversation. "You're coming with me." He took her arm again and with a swift flick of his wand and the incantation Silencio!, he dragged Hermione away from her "friends" standing outside the minister's door.

Hours later, after getting back to the Burrow, which was basically so that Hermione wouldn't kill Ron, since his parents were around, Hermione finally came to her senses. "Fine, I'll go."

"Wonderful!" Ginny exclaimed. "I am so sorry we had to do this to you, Hermione, but you'll thank us later. We already have the ticket for you. It's a cruise 'round the pacific. You'll stop many places and meet so many people. You'll have a great time. I'm sure of it."

"Ok, Ginny, and if I don't, I am going to come back here and hex all of you into next June. Got it? When do I leave?" Hermione asked.

"Now," said Harry. "We packed your things and they're here. We did not want you walking out of here then deciding not to go. I'll be apparating with you to the train, where I will wait until you've gotten on. You ready for this?"

"Not quite, but ok. Let's go."

Hermione remembered that day and couldn't wait to get back to her friends to thank them. She had had the most wonder ful two weeks of her life, tanning and swimming. It was a completely muggle cruise, and she'd only used magic a couple of times in the privacy of her room. For example, tonight. It was to be a wonderful night of dancing and fun. The cruise was throwing a party, a masque ball, and Hermione couldn't have been more thrilled.

The only problem was…. "I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO WEAR!!!!!" and she quickly came up with a plan. She took a pair old old jeans she'd basically ruined on the sand and transfigured them into a dress. It was short, black, and accentuated her curves but still left some things a mystery. It was a one strapped dress, and the black really made her tan look fantastic. She then took a bracelet she'd brought but hadn't worn and transfigured it into a mask. It was simple, just a black mask that covered the top half of her face and the bridge of her nose. She straightened her hair with a spell, and let it flow. Straightened it was basically to the middle of her back.

Standing in the mirror, she knew she was ready to have a great night, and she walked out of her state room.

The party was fantasticly decorated. Streamers everywhere and the people were all so beautiful. She headed over to the bar, and was handed an Amaretto Sour, an American drink that she'd grown quite fond of on this trip, and she started to walk the floor. She ended up at the bow of the ship, gazing out at the night sky, but she wasn't alone.

"Hello there," a stranger in a dark suit and mask said, as he walked up to stand next to her, the moonlight reflecting off of his blonde locks.

A/N: Well, let me know what you think. I know it's more of a history of what's going on, but sometimes those are essential. Like I said at the beginning, it's my first fan fic that I've not deleted before ever putting it up.