Deep In the Heart

ForestOfRowan

Chapter 1 Something Familiar

Howdy everyone, thank you for taking a moment from your day to read this! I'm desperate for reviews, this is my first ever fic and I'm quite nervous on how it will be received. I have 0 Betas so if there are any fatal mistakes it is their faults.

Disclaimer: All rights to Harry Potter, its characters, settings, spells etc. belong to J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros. I make no profit from this story.

5 years, 2 months and 4 days after the Battle at Hogwarts, a physically and emotionally exhausted Hermione Granger stepped out of the crammed sky bridge and into her new life. Unfortunately, her first memory was while waiting in line at customs, where a small, blonde, slightly green child proceeded to vomit all over her legs and shoes.

At least I'll have something to keep me entertained for my first night. I hope someone has a washer I can use, a scouring charm only goes so far.

She assured the young girls father that she was alright and there was no real harm done. She then rushed to the bathroom and cast a quick spell on her jeans that took away all evidence of vomit, minus the smell and a small crusty bit near her hem.

Once Hermione made it out the airport doors with her luggage, she headed towards the top floor of the parking garage where she opened an electrical closet door with a red "Do Not Enter" sign, and walked into the Wizarding Customs Office. It was enchanted to fit a small desk and filing cabinet with enough space for an apparition point for a family plus their luggage to squeeze in. However, there was not enough room left over for the over sized man sitting in the desk, who seemed very uncomfortable as he was crammed so tightly between the wall and the cabinet, his shoulders were up somewhere by his ears.

Mr. Goldgate, as the name plate on his desk assigned him to be, was an aging, bald wizard who had a small nose, mouth, and ears which made his frighteningly large blue eyes seem even larger under his thin white eyebrows. Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that he had to shrink the desk each time he came in and out of the office, and had to cover a giggle with a cough as she imagined the large man delicately picking up his blue robes to carefully step over the shrunken desk.

"Everything alright Ma'am? Ya look like ya need a glass of water," he said in a thick southern accent, raising a thin eyebrow.

"No, no I'm alright thank you. Just a tickle," she said before reaching to shake his hand, which was a struggle due to his arm being pinned to the wall.

"I'm Hermione Granger, I was told that you were expecting me?"

"Oh yes, Ms. Granger! I hope yer flight was good. We have a few matters to attend to, and then ya can go on yer way and get settled," he said smiling "First matter of business, I need to register yer wand with our data bases. Now I don't think you'll be goin' out and causin' problems but ya know, ya can never be to careful!" he drawled. She nodded, handed him her wand, and waited patiently as he jotted out its information on a piece of parchment before handing it back to her.

"Now Ma'am, as ya know, the laws here ain't much different from the ones y'all have back home. But if ya have any questions ma'am, just contact the ministry. There are different branches fer each state, if ya are ever to visit else where, all the offices are located in the capital buildings. Any questions?" After she shook her head he continued, "Also I must inform ya Ms. Granger, that ya only have to return here if, or when, ya travel by plane. Floo, portkey and broom travel arrangements apply to those offices."

"Thank you sir, is that all?"

He nodded causing his second chin to waggle dangerously. She stood up, shrunk her bags, put them in her pocket, and turned around to the apparition point. As she prepared to apparate, Mr. Goldgate cleared his throat and said, "Welcome to Texas Ms. Granger!"

Hermione apparated into the lobby of the Denver St. Apartments located in the center of wizard Dallas. The lavish building only had 300 floors, 2 apartments per floor, and was designed to be altered however the owner desired with limited apparition points and floo access. It was perfect for people who wanted to live apart from the press or the outside world.

Anxious to get to her apartment, Hermione quickly walked up to the front desk; she waited patiently for the small raven haired witch, around her age, who sat reclining in a chair working on a Sudoku out of a muggle newspaper to notice her. When she finally realized someone was waiting on her, she sighed and put down the newspaper before plastering on a big fake smile and drawling, "Can I help you ma'am?"

"Yes hello, I'm Hermione Granger apartment 221A," she said handing the girl her signed lease papers.

"Alright ma'am, nice to meet you, I'm Andi," she said her smile becoming more friendly.

"I work the desk durin' the day and Philip works it durin' the evening," she held up a ring with several different colored keys hanging from it, "these are the keys for the elevator, your apartment, the windows, garbage chute located in your hall, and the floo if you desire to use it. Every floo in the building is connected to all the stores here in Agathon Ally which is sorta like y'all's Digglethon Ally back home, so I've heard." She put the ring on the desk before taking another large breath and continuing again, "sorry but you have to ride up the elevator to your floor, if you and the person across the hall from you agree on it, y'all can set up an apparition point so that you don't have to ride it every time. That shouldn't be too much of a problem though," she said a dreamy look on her face, "the man across the hall from you is very nice, and I think he comes from the same place as you, his accent sounds the same at least, so it shouldn't be too hard for y'all to get along I suppose, but what would I know," she said with a nervous laugh.

Before Hermione had a chance to voice her concerns of living that close to someone who might know her, Andi had moved out from behing her desk and shooed her towards the elevator unlocking it with the orange key before handing Hermione the ring. The last thing she saw before the gold doors slid shut was Andi returning to her original pose and waving to Hermione with a friendly smile on her face.

She slid down the wall opposite the doors and crossed her arms on her knees looking up at the display panel that showed she had 15 minutes until she would reach her floor. The elevator seemed to be made in the slow moving muggle fashion instead of the breakneck wizard way. She groaned and put her head on her arms.

Moving to Texas was supposed to be her escape from all things Britain, and any chance of someone recognizing her. After 5 years of constantly being followed around by the press. She could hardly go out in public without someone stopping her and begging her for information. There were always flashing cameras following her when she went out. Lavender Brown even camped outside her building for a week trying to get a story for Witch Weekly. Hermione had to stop visiting her parents after a few years because the press found a way of following her there as well.

On top of the press, she was fleeing from Ron. They got together soon after the Battle of Hogwarts, moving in together almost immediately. He got a position as a Keeper for the Chudley Cannons and was often away for games. He managed to convince her she didn't need to pursue Healing because he would make enough money through the Cannons. That should have been her first indication to leave, but Hermione was convinced she was in love with him, and him her.

Over time, reports started surfacing about Ron's wild escapades with beautiful women while touring. For the first year she firmly believed that it wasn't true. That changed when Hermione came home from her parents home early one night and found him naked in the kitchen with two other women. He told her that it was the first time and that it was an accident, and she believed it. Eventually, he started bringing home women every few weeks, then days. She foolishly stayed with him though figuring that it was just a stage and he would eventually get over it for good.

By the time the next year and a half rolled around, she had become immune to the constant stream of woman coming in and out of her home. She cleaned after Ron and his woman, as if she were his housekeeper and not his girlfriend. If he wasn't coming home with a woman, he was coming back drunk. Those nights, he would throw things around the apartment, most of the time almost hitting her with the flying object. He would never become physical with her, but many nights, she could see in his eyes that he was close to doing so. At this point, she knew they didn't love each other anymore. She finally sat him down before he went out one night and they came to an agreement. He could keep doing what he was doing but they we'rent together and she was leaving. If they had to, they would go out and pretend that everything was okay. He agreed but asked if she would do his laundry before she left.

A tear slipped down her face as she thought of all the time she wasted sitting on her ass waiting for him to come around and grow up. Thank Merlin for Ginny and Harry she thought as another tear slipped down her cheek at the thought of the only two friends she ever had and was forced to leave behind. The night she left Ron, they welcomed her into Number 12 Grimmauld Place, with open arms and a wet kiss from little James. She stayed with them for two weeks, they helped her find a new flat, had her over for dinner almost every night so she wouldn't get too lonely. Harry tried to talk to Ron, but he ignored Harry and eventually blocked Number 12's floo network.

The only thing they couldn't do was keep Ron from finding her. When she moved out of Number 12 the first time, it was just a matter of days before he was pounding on her door at 2 A.M. She had let the sobbing man in and made him a cup of tea as he sat on her couch trying to blubber out words. It took three nights of that for him to finally speak real words, asking her to move back in with him, claiming he would change. She refused but he came back every night. After several weeks, she moved out of that apartment but he managed to find her at the new one. Every time she would move somewhere new, he would find her and demand she come back.

After her third move, she started putting up heavy wards on her apartment. She walked into her dark apartment one night after dinner with Harry and Ginny. When she turned on the light, she was met with the sight of all of her furniture and books ripped up and scattered. A path of torn clothes led from her bedroom to where Ron was swaying drunkenly in the middle of the room, shoulders heaving. He ran towards her, red faced and threw her as hard as he could into the wall. He didn't say anything, just threw open the door and left. When she regained consciousness, she was back at Number 12.

In the last year and a half, she had lived in almost 20 different places, she didn't sleep most nights, no matter how many wards she put up, for fear of Ron catching her off guard and hurting her again. She couldn't figure out how he kept finding her but each time he did, he would yell and scream and cry about how much he missed her and what an ass he had been and how he was sorry he fucked up and that he would change.

The plan to move her to America had been offered up by Ginny one night after Hermione showed up in their floo after 4 months and 3 different moves. Harry, Hermione and a copy cat James quickly threw up objections to the plan however saying it was too far, too noticeable and too ridiculous. After she showed up at their home for the 20th time, Harry and Ginny sat her down and told her that they had been doing some negotiating and asking around for a few months and were able to figure out a way for her to move to Texas in two weeks by muggle plane with no way to trace her. After a few hours and quite a few drinks, she decided it was the best idea and the only shot she would have for some peace.

They put her in contact with the American Minister of Magic, Sarah Jadegill as they planned her move to America. Minister Jadegill was able to set her up with a job in a book store in Agathon Ally across from her building and complete access to the ministry library. Its not the she needed a job, her vault was overflowing with reward money from the ministry. Hermione gladly took the job so she wouldn't go crazy and with hopes of having many hours to expand her healing knowledge so that one day she could become a Healer.

Now here she was in an elevator in Texas with 5 minutes left till she would get to her floor crying about how pathetic she felt. No friends, no family, and all the hard work maybe gone to waste because of some "very nice man" with a British accent living across the hall. The elevator dinged and Hermione stood up wiping the tears from her face and pulling out the key ring.

Once the door opened, Hermione stepped out into the short hallway fumbling with the keys trying to figure out which one would open her door. She looked up long enough to notice dark purple wall paper and a plush purple and gold carpet, and 221 A on the right. Lucky bastard in 221B of course someone else would get that she thought walking over to her door.

Having still not figured out which key would open her door, she first tried the green. When she tried the blue, she heard the door behind her open and someone walk into the hall. The noise startled her and she dropped the ring.

"Blast", she muttered before stiffly bending over to pick it up trying to ignore the person behind her, hoping they wouldn't realize who she was. She caught a glimpse of dark slacks and dress shoes before turning back to the door. As she tried the purple she heard something drop behind her and the scent of cat litter filled her nose before she heard a surprised, unfortunately familiar, voice say, "Granger?" as she slowly turned around to face the last person she would ever expect to see there. Draco Malfoy.