A/N: Hey! So this is my first ever fanfic and as such I should probably start by apologising if it's awful! I'd really love your reviews and opinions. Also I just wanted to give a hugely admiring nod to TheMourningMadam. She has been wonderful in inspiring me to be brave enough to actually get writing, rather than keep just thinking about it and also writes the absolute best Dramione stories. Please go and take a read!

Chapter 1:

Hermione loved her new cottage. She loved everything about it, including how close to the sea it was, and more importantly how far away from London it was. The wizarding community in this part of Dorset was next to non existent and that meant that when she was here she was no longer Hermione Granger of The Golden Trio, no longer a war heroine, she was just Hermione Granger. She had taken a years sabbatical from her job as History of Magic teacher at Hogwarts and it was easy to tell the Muggles she was taking a year off of working as a History teacher to rethink her future. She'd claim inheritance if it was ever wondered as to how she managed financially.

Shutting the door to her cottage she walked towards the bakery. It really was a tiny village and so very old and beautiful. There was a small seaside town about 5 miles down the road for when she needed something more than a few rolls and some milk.

She felt so free here as she walked down the little street. After the war, becoming such a prominent figure in the wizarding world for the last few years she needed to feel able to breathe, and here she could breathe. She could be anonymous. The whole future lay in front of her and she was seriously considering her future in reality as well as in her cover story. For now though, she planned just to be still…to relax and enjoy the beautiful village and its surrounding areas and to indulge herself in just being herself outside the worlds of war and unwanted fame.

Having only arrived the afternoon before and just having had time to unpack, this was the first time she'd ventured into to village since she was last there two months ago, when she bought the cottage. She'd spent some time on the internet in a muggle library researching places she may like to live, eventually settling on the tiny village of Langton Matravers in Dorset. Once she knew where she was headed she called an Estate Agent and had him pick some houses and cottages out for her to choose from when she visited. Hers was the easy pick of the bunch, tucked away at the far end of the village, set a little way back from the tiny road. It was small and cosy and exactly what she wanted. She didn't need excessive space or luxury, though at this point in her life she could easily afford it-the Ministry had bestowed quite a sum on each of the Golden Trio after the war. She just wanted a little sanctuary of her own. Her sweet little two bedroomed cottage was perfect.

The smell wafted down the road to her from the bakery and her tummy growled in response. The bakery was set in a small square that made up the centre of the village along with a post office, a village store and a bookshop among a few other wonderful little places…a muggle apothecary (she assumed selling herbs and teas and the like), a shop full of crystals and fossils, and the entrance to the most beautiful gothic looking church Hermione had ever seen. There were some tables and chairs outside of the bakery and Hermione decided instead of just buying her bread and taking it straight home that she would sit and eat in the square.

"Hello love," the woman behind the counter beamed at Hermione when she entered. Hermione guessed her age to be around her mid 30's and judging by the ring on her finger and the wonderful smile on her face, to be happily married. It was a habit of Hermione's, to gather as much information as she could, as quickly as she could.

"Hi! It smells incredible in here!" Hermione all but swooned in return.

"That's the only problem with working in here. You become immune to the smell after a while. Unfortunately you don't become as immune to the calories!" the woman threw her head back as she laughed and Hermione instantly took a liking to her.

"Well in that case I'm definitely not after a job! I'll stick to a Pain au Chocolat and a coffee with cream please. Actually, make that two Pain au Chocolat. Just this once, though!" Hermionie was celebrating her freedom today and this seemed a good way to start.

"I'll remember that next time you ask for two! I'm Marie by the way." The woman was still smiling, accentuating her beautiful and kind features, her dark hair fighting to escape the messy bun she had piled it away in.

"I'm Hermione, I just moved in at the top of the village." Hermione could help but grin in return, Marie's friendliness was infectious and she hoped they'd become friends.

"Oh it's you that's moved in up there is it! Well welcome, let me know if there's anything I can help you with." She handed back her change and after Hermione thanked her she turned and headed towards one of the tables outside.

As she sat at the little table and worked her way through her startlingly unhealthy breakfast she felt deeply relaxed and almost meditative. It was a Saturday morning and so there was light but steady foot traffic and people watching was one of her favourite hobbies. There were all kinds of people that passed through the square in the time she sat there; old and young, some reserved and refined looking, some that wore flowing colourful clothes, families, couples…but the one thing they had in common was how happy and relaxed they all looked. Though she supposed it would be difficult not to look happy and relaxed in such a lovely, quaint village on such a beautiful May morning.

After breakfast she decided to take a wonder through the few small shops. Inside the crystal shop was the most beautiful array of colours imaginable…stones of every shape and size, some carved into shapes of animals, some polished, and some in their natural form. Hermione was a little overwhelmed by all the incredible options and ended up leaving with nothing more than a book on the subject. After perusing the bookshop, which housed books both old and new and where she was sure to be spending plenty of time, she made her way to the village store and bought some essentials to take home. Later she would visit the town nearby and stock the cupboards more sufficiently but for now she had enough for tea, coffee and lunch, and that would do.

As she made her way back through the village she thought she'd probably better call Harry and Ron once she got home as she'd promised. She'd bullied them both into getting muggle mobile phones about a year back and was so glad she had as it made life much easier. Ginny had helped her as she was far more open to all things muggle than her brother was. In Harry's defence, he obviously wasn't opposed to muggle things either, he was just a bit of a technophobe all round.

Harry and Ginny had married two years earlier, when Harry was 23. It had been such a beautiful day, at The Burrow of course. Ginny had surprised everyone and decided that she would rather work as a Healer, than playing Quidditch as she had aspired to before the war. Harry had surprised absolutely no one and of course gone on to Auror training at first possible opportunity, as had Ron. It was significantly more of a surprise though when he dropped out of the training after the first few months and re-joined Hermione and Ginny at Hogwarts to finish his education. After this he went on to study wandlore and wand making, eventually opening his own shop in Diagon Alley where Ollivanders had once been. Hermione and Ginny had been so happy, it was right for Harry-he'd seen too much war, violence and hardship. The fact that, like his now wife, he'd decided not to follow the obvious path life laid out for him was a welcome surprise.

Hermione and Ron however had gone on to do just what was expected, Hermione a teacher and Ron an Auror. Admittedly Ron, despite not having natural skill, did very well in Auror training and went on to be a fantastic Auror. What he'd lacked in skill to begin with he made up for in enthusiasm and experience that most (luckily for them) lacked. He used it to his advantage and she was very proud of him for that. He wasn't married yet but he was engaged to a gorgeous witch called Andreia who'd been a Hufflepuf in Ginny's year at school. They'd been together for about two and a half years now and was very much one of them.

Hermione and Ron had realised in a total of about two weeks after the war that they really were better as friends. When they'd attempted a kiss that wasn't in the throes of battle, frankly it was just a little awkward and…well…icky. Childhood crushes were long left behind and after the war, after all they'd been through anything that wasn't entirely platonic had vanished without trace.

Settled at the little table on her patio overlooking her lovely little garden, with just the right amount of plants and flowers surrounding a little lawn, Hermione dialled Harry.

"Hey Hermione! How's it going? All settled?"

"Hi Harry. Yeah I'm all unpacked now. Sorry, are you at work, I forgot its Saturday?"

"It's ok, the shop's still quiet at the minute. Anyway, forget that…what's it like there? Is it weird being back in the muggle world?"

Hermione smiled at how excited Harry sounded for her. "Oh Harry, it's amazing! You have to come and visit soon, Ginny would love it here as well. There's a crystal shop in the village and she'd practically buy the entire shop!" Harry laughed as he could well imagine that given his wife's penchant for shopping.

"How about not next weekend but the one after? We should be able to stay the whole weekend then. But obviously if we get the chance to apperate by for tea in the meantime, we will." Harry and Hermione always met up whenever possible. Ron met with them as often as he could too but it wasn't as regular because his job was so unpredictable.

"Of course, you can come whenever you like! Just call first to make sure I'm in." They spoke a little longer, Harry telling her that it was better to text Ron than call as promised as he'd been called off to a job in Scotland somewhere late last night.

After they hung up Hermione had some lunch and headed out to the front of the cottage where her car sat on her small driveway. She slowed as she gently edged the nose past the hedge that partially blocked her little sanctuary from view, not wanting to mow anyone down. As she looked to check for oncoming traffic her heart nearly stopped as she laid eyes on a tall, blonde haired man walking down the path from her left.

Draco Malfoy.

.Malfoy.

Draco Malfoy has been a missing person for the last 6 years and now he was strolling down the road of a remote muggle village as though he belonged there. Her muggle village no less! She stared at him absolutely astounded as he drew closer. She was temporarily unable to move or even think, but jolted back to herself pretty quickly, she was Hermione Granger after all. There were two choices, either stay where she was and let him see her or move quickly, let him pass, leave the car and follow him.

She pulled out before he got close enough to see her, turning to het left instead of her right, so she could pull up almost instantly and he wouldn't see unless he happened to turn back. He didn't turn back and after a quick dillusionment charm she hopped out of the car and followed as quietly as she could.

There was no denying it, Malfoy had continued to grow into his looks since the last time she'd seen him, which was in the Daily Prophet about six months after the final battle. The details of his trial had largely been kept out of the paper but Harry had stood to testify that he'd lowered his wand when facing Dumbledore. This combined with his young age and the fact that Lucius had denounced both Draco and Narcissa, implying their allegiance was not truly to Voldemort, led to him only spending a year in Azkaban. Narcissa escaped with a year's house arrest and regular Ministry spot checks of both the house and her wand for as long as they saw fit.

Draco crossed the road and Hermione crept closer to him as they neared the square but suddenly he turned to his left and through a doorway. A quick glance above the doorway told Hermione that it was a veterinary surgery. "What?!" she mumbled to herself, utterly bemused by this point. She crept closer and thanked all the Gods for the warm weather when she heard Draco's voice travelling from an open window.

"Peter, I've been up to Mrs Greens and checked on Frosty and she's healing up nicely."

"Ah that's wonderful news Draco," came a voice that Hermione assumed must belong to the man named Peter. It was a kindly voice, not unreminiscent of her fathers she noted with a sad smile. "What about Mrs Green? Is she managing ok?"

"Well she says she is, as always but she seems more and more unsteady on her feet every time I see her. She was pleased with the lasagne I took her though. I think she knows we both know it's never the leftovers that I pretend it is but it makes her feel less helpless to keep up the façade," there was a gentle tone to Draco's voice that Hermione had never heard before.

"You're a good man Draco, we're very lucky to have you around here."

"Well I don't know about that but thank you Peter, I appreciate the sentiment. I'm just going to check on everyone out the back."

"Ok, great, thank you."

Hermione stood with her back to the wall in absolute paralysed shock. Draco Malfoy was working as a vet in a muggle village?! How on earth could this be true. She started walking back up the road in a daze, heading back to where she'd left her car. It was only when she reached out to open the door that she realised she was still under the disolusionment charm. She dashed across the road and behind her hedge before ending the charm, scalding herself as it dawned on her how careless she'd been getting out of her car while under the charm. What if someone had seen the car door open on its own from though their window! She'd been so shocked to see Malfoy she'd dropped the ball and that irritated her as she never dropped the ball. Oh well, what was done was done, she'd just have to hope for the best.

She went back across the road and drove towards the nearby town, Swanage, and found the supermarket. It looked like a wonderful town and she was dying to explore it but her mind was not in the right place right now. It was lucky she had a shopping list to follow or she wouldn't have had a chance of getting the half of what she needed. Her mind was unable to think of anything besides Draco Malfoy and it had been years since that was the case!

So okay, she'd always been a little fascinated with Draco Malfoy. She wouldn't call it a crush as such…she just wouldn't. End of. Yes he was very handsome but that was beside the point. She was only fascinated by him because she always had the feeling that things weren't all they seemed with him. It was obviously nothing to do with how he looked.

She shook her head and picked up a punnet of strawberries and popped them in her trolley before continuing with her list. Somehow she made it through her shopping and got home again. As she cooked herself dinner she pondered the situation. She really had always believed Draco wasn't the epitome of evil. Even when he'd bullied her and made her cry, something in her gut told her that he was even less happy than she was. As time went on, she'd been unable to believe that he was a twisted evil Death Eater. Of course she knew absolutely nothing, these were gut feelings and as a rule she didn't follow her gut. She followed her brain. There was very little evidence that he wasn't exactly what everyone believed him to be and what little evidence there was, was entirely open to interpretation.

Hermione leaned back against her kitchen counter with a heavy sigh. Coming here, it was meant to provide her with a sanctuary. A place to escape all that the war had turned her life into. Now, not even twenty-four bloody hours after arriving she was thrown into something huge and very perturbing. Maybe it was the universe teaching her that you just can't escape some things, that they become part of you and will follow you wherever you go. Maybe she just had really shitty luck. One thing was for certain, tomorrow she was going to speak to Draco Malfoy.