A/N – Welcome to my new story. Love Boat is a light-hearted, fun story. As usual it's already fully written and in total it has 14 chapters. I hope people enjoy it.

As he got dressed to go out and celebrate his twenty fifth birthday, Draco Malfoy couldn't help but wonder what his fifteen year old self would think of his life. Ten years ago, Draco had his entire life figured out, and in the end nothing had gone to plan. When he was fifteen Draco would never have thought he would be living in a penthouse in Sydney, Australia. Nor would he have thought that the thing he hated most about his life was the horrible Dark Mark on his left forearm. And he definitely wouldn't have believed his best friend could be a muggleborn, especially not a muggleborn he'd supposedly hated since he was eleven.

At fifteen Draco was convinced he would be following in his father's footsteps as a Death Eater, following Voldemort's return a few weeks before his birthday. As it turned out he did follow in Lucius's footsteps, but it wasn't willingly and it certainly didn't lead to the glory his younger self had once thought it would. In the end all being a Death Eater did for him was cause him and his mother years of misery and suffering, before leaving him constantly battling against people's distrust of him based on his mark.

Draco had been forced into taking the mark when he was just sixteen, following Lucius's imprisonment after the debacle at the Ministry of Magic at the end of Draco's fifth year. In the two years that followed, before Voldemort was ultimately vanquished at the hands of Harry Potter, Draco and Narcissa suffered greatly at the hands of The Dark Lord and his followers.

After Voldemort's downfall all three Malfoy's stood trial for their part in the war. Lucius received a brief stint in Azkaban, followed by tight regulations on his magic and movements thereafter, in exchange for giving the Aurors every bit of information he had about other Death Eaters. Narcissa escaped any punishment following testimony by Harry Potter that she'd saved his life and enabled him to go onto defeat Voldemort. Of course the fact she didn't have the Dark Mark was also a plus for Narcissa.

Draco however fully expected the book to be thrown at him. Yes, he'd been forced to take the Mark and constantly threatened after that, but he'd still done some horrible things and he was ready to pay the price for his crimes. However at his trial veritiserum had been used on him, forcing him to reveal every nasty thing Voldemort had put him through. Narcissa also testified for her son and allowed her memories to be shown in court, which showed just what Draco had gone through with The Dark Lord. Finally two unexpected character witnesses had spoken up for him, which ensured he was released without charge. Once two thirds of the golden trio, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, testified to say they believed he'd only acted under duress, his acquittal was almost a forgone conclusion.

After his acquittal, Draco vowed he would change and prove to people they were right to give him a second chance. The first people he spoke to were Harry and Hermione, alongside their best friend Ron Weasley. Surprisingly he managed to make peace with all three of them and they agreed to put the past behind them. However putting the past behind him wasn't quite as easy with everyone else. A lot of people still judged him on his mark, and almost everyone else pitied him for what he'd gone through during the war. Draco could never decide which bothered him more, people hating him without ever getting to know him or feeling sorry for him and knowing exactly what had happened to him at the hands of The Dark Lord.

As he struggled to change people's opinion of him, Draco started to blame Lucius for his problems, leading to several arguments with his father. When he was at his lowest, Draco blamed his father for getting him involved with Voldemort. He wasn't deluded enough to claim he would never have joined the dark himself, but it was very much Lucius's fault it had been thrust upon him so early. Without Lucius's cock-up at the Ministry, Draco would have been spared receiving the mark. He would have been just like his friends, Theo Nott, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. All three boys had fathers within the Death Eaters, and the general consensus was that they would have joined up when they left school, but because Voldemort was defeated before then, they were given the benefit of the doubt. No-one judged then on a mark they may or may not have ended up taking.

For three years Draco struggled to rebuild his life and try and make a fresh start. However between the attitude of the wizarding public, and the problems he was having with Lucius, Draco decided he needed to leave Britain. Once upon a time Draco would never have dreamt of moving abroad, he would have even been hard pushed to see himself moving out from the Manor. However the war had changed everything and all Draco wanted was to go somewhere no-one knew the name Malfoy. He wanted to go somewhere he could get to know people without them judging him for past mistakes.

Wanting to get as far away as possible, Draco settled on Australia. Lucius wasn't overjoyed with him moving so far away, but feeling guilty for his part in what had happened to his son, he ensured he had enough money to buy himself somewhere to live and set up his own potions company. Between the help Lucius had given Draco in moving, and the distance between them, relations started to get better between father and son. Things could still be a bit tense between them, even now four years later, but things were a lot better than they had been for years.

Draco quickly settled in Australia, and in the four years he'd been there he'd never regretted leaving Britain. He'd found a penthouse in a wizarding apartment block, that overlooked Sydney harbour, and he'd set up his own business. While his potions company was still quite small, Draco had big plans for it and it was already making a healthy profit.

In his first week in Sydney, he also managed to make his first friend. The apartment block Draco lived in had two penthouses on the top floor, and a few days after moving in he'd ran into his neighbour. He was totally stunned to find his neighbour was Hermione Granger, he'd had no idea she'd even left Britain. Hermione explained she'd been living in Australia for nearly a year by then and worked at the Australian Ministry. Since the pair had put their differences aside directly after the war making friends came pretty easy. As it turned out they had a lot in common and when they weren't sniping at each other they really enjoyed each other's company. In the past four years their friendship had blossomed and with all of their old friends back in Britain, they considered each other as best friends.

The only problem for Draco, was that over the course of their friendship he'd fallen in love with Hermione. Hermione however never seemed to look at him as anything other than a friend, and not wanting to ruin their friendship, Draco remained quiet about his feelings. Instead he dated other witches, but none ever lived up to Hermione and his relationships were all short and sweet.

Thoughts of Hermione dragged him back to the present and glancing at his watch Draco cursed when he realised he was almost late. Quickly he finished getting ready, and grabbing his wallet and wand he left the penthouse. Hermione's front door was exactly opposite his in the small corridor that linked their penthouses to the lift, and it took Draco two strides to cross the hallway and knock on his friend's door.

A few moments after knocking, the door opened and Hermione emerged from her place. Draco thought Hermione always looked lovely, but she looked especially good on nights like these when she dressed up. She was wearing a black and white wrap around dress, paired with black heels. Her long, brunette curls were pinned back from her face, but were left loose to cascade down her back. She was also wearing delicate silver jewellery and a light coating of make-up.

"You look lovely." Draco smiled.

"Thanks." Hermione blushed at the compliment and dipped her head. No matter how many times Draco complimented her, she still got butterflies in her stomach.

"Are you ready to go?" Draco checked.

"I've been ready for ages." Hermione remarked as they headed for the lift. "I thought you were standing me up."

"I would never stand you up." Draco replied honestly.

"I thought you were still freaking out about turning twenty five and had decided to stay in and mope." Hermione laughed as they stepped into the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor. For the last few weeks Draco had been complaining about his age, much to Hermione's amusement.

"It was tempting." Draco deadpanned. "After all, who wants to celebrate being a quarter of a century? That's old."

"Of course it sounds old when you put it like that." Hermione retorted with a smile. "Although I'll have you know there's nothing wrong with being twenty five. I'm almost twenty six."

"Sorry, I forgot I was out with an older witch." Draco grinned.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Draco as the lift stopped and they got out. Leaving their apartment block, they headed for the nearby restaurant where they had a table booked. The restaurant they were visiting was a regular haunt of theirs so they were greeted warmly and ushered to their usual table out on the terrace, overlooking the harbour.

Over dinner the pair talked and laughed like old friends. Despite only really knowing each other for four years, their bond was pretty solid and they both knew they could talk about anything with each other. Over the years Draco had confided in Hermione about what his life had been like with Voldemort in residence at the Manor and how much he'd struggled after the war. Hermione meanwhile had told Draco about her reasons for leaving Britain, and what had brought her to Australia.

Once dinner was over the pair went for a walk, before heading back to Draco's penthouse for a nightcap. Draco poured them both a drink and they settled down on his sofa. Hermione had already kicked off her shoes and had her feet curled up underneath her. They spent so much time at each other's places that they both felt equally at home in either penthouse.

"I've got a favour to ask you." Draco said, once they were both comfortable.

"Go on." Hermione coaxed when Draco paused, as if trying to work out how best to mention his favour.

"With my birthday card from Blaise was a wedding invitation and a letter." Draco explained. "I've already told you, he's marrying Daphne Greengrass, well the weddings in August. I was hoping you'd accompany me."

"Of course I will." Hermione answered.

"There's more." Draco warned. "I want you to accompany me as my girlfriend." Hermione's mouth dropped open and she looked at Draco in amazement. "All fake, of course." He added hastily, not wanting to ruin things between them.

"I'm confused." Hermione confessed, burying the disappointment that flooded her when Draco mentioned the entire thing being fake.

"Firstly, I should probably mention the invite is for the whole wedding week. Blaise, being the flash git he is, wants everyone to gather the week leading up to the wedding and spend it together."

"Where?"

"The letter mentions his new hotel in the south of France." Draco answered. "If it's anything like his others, it'll be lovely. Everything you could possibly want will be on the complex."

Blaise owned a chain of luxury hotels in Europe. All the hotels were top class resorts and had everything a person could desire from a luxury hotel. They were of course ridiculously expensive, but they were also very profitable and always fully booked with witches and wizards wanting a sample of the good life.

"It sounds lovely, but why do you need me to pretend to be your girlfriend?" Hermione asked. "Can't I just go as your friend?"

"You could, but Astoria will be there." Draco replied, grimacing at the mention of Daphne's younger sister.

Before leaving Britain he'd went on a few dates with her, only because Daphne begged him to and he didn't want to disappoint his friend, but it hadn't gone well. Astoria was mind numbingly boring and he'd instantly squashed any chance of a relationship. However Astoria had set her sights on Draco, and refused to take no for an answer. In fact she was still bugging Draco when he left Britain four years ago.

"She's not still after you, is she?" Hermione laughed. Draco had shared his story about the obsessive younger witch, and she found it hilarious that she'd practically turned into a stalker where Draco was concerned.

"According to Blaise she is." Draco nodded. "That's why I need your help. I want to be at Blaise's wedding, but I can't cope with a week of fighting Astoria off me."

"And you think she might back off if you show up with a girlfriend." Hermione guessed.

"Hopefully." Draco said. "Although it will have to be convincing. She has to believe we're really together and we're serious. If she thinks we're just casual, who knows what she'll try. Please Hermione, I need your help. I'm begging you, come with me."

Hermione looked at Draco, who was so cute as he pleaded with her, and nodded. "Okay, I'll help."

"You're a lifesaver." Draco grinned. Leaning over to Hermione he gave her a peck on the cheek and wrapped her in a hug. "I owe you one."

"Don't worry, I'll not let your forget." Hermione replied as they separated from their hug. "Now, tell me more about this hotel we're going to be going to. And I guess we need to discuss the trip and how we're going to convince Astoria we're really a couple."

"We'll figure something out." Draco replied, before telling Hermione about Blaise's hotels and what they could expect from his new one.