Note: I've been toying with this idea for a while. Very OOC but I'm enjoying writing it. Hermione/Draco.

Enjoy!

Lottie xx

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously. I make no money from this. I definitely need a job...

Ever since she had left Britain around 18 years ago, Hermione Granger had been reluctant to return.

Not because of the near-constant rain that was set over the collection of isles. Neither because she was on every 'wanted' poster out there, unlike some people she could mention.

It was simply because she felt she had nothing to return to.

As she sat outside her home a few miles just outside of Melbourne, Australia, she reflected on the direction her life had taken all those years ago.

Needless to say, leaving England was quite possibly one of the biggest and best decisions she had ever made.

It was an extremely random place for THE Hermione Granger to end up, but here she was. Of course Hermione Granger doesn't do anything without thinking it through thoroughly first, considering of all the positives and negatives, making her beloved lists, cross referencing with the opinions of others, etcetera, etcetera.

However, she had chosen this particular town on this particular peninsula in this particular state of Australia for one particular reason.

Isolation.

She, around 18 years ago, was in dire need of some privacy. Having just having her heart broken by one Mr Ronald Weasley, and the Wizarding Press hassling her at every turn, going to the other side of the world seemed the most logical thing to do. Radical, yes, but also logical.

And all Hermione Granger ever did was the logical thing.

Ronald had made that perfectly clear when they fought for that last time.

Now, she smiled at the memory of their final row. Not because the memory was a happy one, but because of what he had accused her of being, and what it insinuated. Yes, she was logical, and she WAS stuck-up with a hint of OCD, and was a LOT of a perfectionist. However, she wouldn't have it any other way. She was happy being the way she was, and once she realised that if the supposed 'love of her life' couldn't love her for who she was, including and despite all her faults, he was simply not worth her time.

Harry, the poor man, was stuck in the middle. His two best friends arguing over everything, from why the knives were set inside the forks at the dinner table, to why their relationship was falling apart. Both angry with each other, always at each other's throats. He quite obviously couldn't pick a side, as they were both equally his best friends, yet having one talk at length about the many faults of the other so many times obviously takes a toll.

He was actually the one who bought it to her attention that she and her supposed love weren't happy. And that maybe they were only staying together because it was the only 'love' that they had ever known, and were both too scared to make the first move on to the break up.

Harry had called it 'relationship chicken'. Hermione couldn't think of a better description as to what she and Ronald were doing at the time.

Of course, after having this enlightening talk with Mr. Potter, she took action, and became a cockerel, if you will.

In other words, she was the one to make the first move. They both agreed they weren't content, and after their split, even though it was fairly mutual, it was far from clean. Arguments still raged, now more brutal than ever, with hexes being thrown into the mix, again, and with Harry and the Weasleys still in the middle. This lead to some admittedly amusing situations, as with high emotions comes poor aim. It was a huge mess, to say the least. So Hermione could only see one option.

To remove herself from the equation entirely.

She was told that was nonsense, she didn't have to leave. But she could see it would be better for everybody in the long run if she gave everything time to settle. Then, maybe she and Ronald could come to a point where they could be in the same room as each other and not start a screaming match for once.

But even with the logical reasoning backing her, she was also, at the time, scared. Ashamed almost. For the first time in her life, she was running from her problems. And this terrified her, as she prided herself on being a courageous person, yet she couldn't face ONE ex-boyfriend. However, she knew she wasn't really running, and she wasn't just doing this for herself, but for the sanities of everyone else caught in the middle of something none of them deserved to be. And she knew Ronald couldn't be the one to leave, he was their son. So, she took the initiative.

Harry was perhaps the most reluctant to let her go, especially since he had known her equally as long as Ron, give or take a few days. But, with a promise of contact via owl at least once a week, and floo calls from time to time, she packed her bags.

Now was just a question of where to go.

She couldn't go to the Weasleys, for obvious reasons, and also staying with Harry defeated the object of leaving. Like when a toddler proclaims that they are to leave home, never to return, but they are camped out behind the sofa with a packet of biscuits and a torch. No, she needed somewhere much further afield, a complete change in scenery. Preferably not even in England… And then the idea struck.

Australia.

How did she not think of this sooner?

After obliviating her parents to keep them safe during the Second Wizarding War, she had been meaning to go searching for them.

And how much further away could you get?

Yet, there were a few reasons why she had not done as such beforehand. For one, after restoring their memories, she did not know how they would react to having had their free will taken away by their own daughter. Also, with the clear up after the war, then immediately jumping into a committed relationship and building a life with Ron, she hadn't had the opportunity to go on a search.

As well as those reasons, there was a more practical reason that she had not searched for them earlier. The process would be a long one. There would be the monitoring of them to see whether the spell had held itself properly. And then the spell reversal in itself was a lengthy procedure. Preparations had to be made, as there was a physical part to the spell as well.

Also was the fact that their memories may not return at all.

It was a risk she knew she had to take at the time, and given the chance to go back and do things differently, she would still not change her decision.

However, she had no idea how the reversal process would go. The risks were so many. They could be hospitalised, their minds reset, only remembering a few things from their life before… The possibilities for disaster were endless, with only one perfect and good outcome, which was that their memories would return in full.

She was terrified of the fact that she may lose her parents, this time for good.

But to Australia she still went, knowing that now was better than later. Even if it was just to check on them, it would be a worthwhile trip.

However, the short time away from England, and her entire life, became a much more permanent arrangement. Hermione never would have expected the sequence of events that followed her arrival down under, making her not want to leave this glorious utopia.

She fell in love.

Obviously there was a lot more to the situation than that, but that one fact alone clenched her decision to remain where she was.

It was, and still remains to this day, the most impulsive thing that she has ever done.

Not that going to Australia at a moment's notice wasn't impulsive, but it was still a well thought out route for her to travel down, with plenty of reason behind it. But the choice to stay with Him, had no reason, order, or rational thought to it at all.

All it made her realise was that the love she thought she had for Ron was absolutely nothing in comparison. And by that logic, would she ever find this feeling again? She highly doubted it.

So, she stayed.

Needless to say, she never once regretted her decision.

Aaaanndd that's the first instalment. Like? Dislike?