Maybe it was that Hermione had never been to Sydney, Australia, or that something was actually wrong, but something didn't feel right in the air. It felt heavy, and somewhat weird. She knew that it was spring time in Australia, and knew that there were time differences and weather changes.

When she looked to her side, she knew what was wrong.

Draco had teleported using the portkey with her, but he was lying on the concrete beside her. His eyes were flickering like an old movie, moving up and down over and over. His head was shaking. She didn't know what was happening. None of this was in the textbooks that she had studied about portkeys. Maybe it was one of the changes?

She quickly got out her wand, and fired spell after spell at the boy's chest. None of which seemed to work. Right before she was going to revert to muggle methods, the seizures wracking his body stopped, and he was eerily still.

His face was pale, no colour being left in it from when he was rocking on the floor. His eyes were open, but gave no signs of life, or that he could see her.

"Oh sweet Merlin," Hermione cursed, her hands going to cover her mouth.

He was dead.

She was in Australia by herself, with the dead body of the head boy.

Right when she was about to get out the return port key, so they could go home, Draco sat bolt upright, his chest heaving. Colour returned to his cheeks immediately. He had his eyes closed tightly, and his arms were holding him up. They shook like branches in the wind, so Hermione positioned herself behind him so that his back was supported by her.

They were no where near being friends, but she didn't want something bad to happen to him, either.

"He's coming. He knows we're here." Was all Draco spluttered out. It reminded Hermione of when Harry was talking about Voldemort, when they were on the run.

It didn't take her long to figure out who she was talking about.

"Your father?" She asked, needing confirmation.

"Who else, Granger?" His abruptness never failed to annoy, and concern her at the same time. How long had he not spoken to many people other than her? He was clearly lonely, and upset. And that was never a good combination, Hermione had learned to know.

Draco tried to get up, but found his body weak. Where they were was still warm, but away from people. Hermione would need to apparate them into the city somewhere, or into a wizarding town to stay the night, while she figured out their next steps.

When they arrived on the edge of the small wizarding community, Hermione noticed the drop in Draco's temperature. Not just his mental barrier being put up, but a physical drop in his temperature.

"You're unwell. We need to get you somewhere." Hermione helped him limp over to the nearest shop corner. Draco leaned on the wall heavily. Something was definitely amiss. He seemed exhausted. More so than what would be expected from using a long-distance port key.

"I just need a second." Draco panted out his words, as though he had just come back from running around the quidditch pitch three times.

"I'm going to go in and see where we can stay, and then I'll come back out here, okay?" Hermione said to him, trying to meet his eyes. They were flickering everywhere but at her, as though he were purposefully trying to avoid eye contact.

After the words spilled from her lips, Draco's eyes darted to her in alarm. "We can't split up." And for the first time in what seemed like forever, Hermione could see the scared, defenceless child. His eyes were wide, and alert. "Just give me one minute and I'll be in with you. You can't leave me here."

Hermione nodded, leaning against the building beside him for a few minutes while he recovered. "Let's go." He demanded, standing up straight, frightening her at how fast he moved.

As soon as she was up, he gripped her wrist and they made their way inside. Hermione felt… odd. They had walked into a pub, like the Three Broomsticks. It was more modern, though, and held less space for people to come through.

"Hi," Hermione greeted the bartender. "Do you know if there's anywhere we can stay around here?"

The girl's eyes flickered from Draco's hand on her wrist, to Hermione's eyes. "How many nights are you looking to stay?"

"Three nights maximum." Draco chipped in from where he was standing back.

The girl's face turned into a sneer. "I wasn't asking you. Are you okay?" The last question was aimed at Hermione. It took a few seconds for Hermione to process what was happening, but when she did, she was quick to smoothen the situation.

"I'm fine. I'm here looking for my parents. They're muggles, you see, and he's just here helping me find them." The girl's weary look never left Draco.

"There is a spare room upstairs if you want to take it. Normally it's for people who are so drunk that they can't apparate home, so there's only one bed."

"We'll take it," Hermione said, without checking it with Draco. She just needed somewhere where they could both rest. "We're both exhausted, so we're thankful that there's room."

"I'm Julie, by the way. Your face looks familiar. Have I seen you in the papers?" She asked, stepping away from the counter. The bar was empty, almost. One person was sitting by the fire, warming their feet.

"Maybe," Hermione shrugged. "Who knows what pictures of the war get around these days?" She tried to joke, and laugh. Thankfully, Julie ran with it.

She led them to a room just out back. There was a small, wooden bed in the corner of the room, along with a sink and a few spare blankets.

"I live upstairs, so you can use the shower in my room, if you'd like, in the morning. We close at 2, and open at 3pm. So any times between there should be sweet."

Julie hung around the room for a minute, clearly not seeing the exhaustion that was painted onto Draco's face. "If you need me at all, I'll be upstairs or by the bar." She left hesitantly, closing the door slowly behind her.

As soon as the door was closed, Draco got his wand out. He cast silent spells on the room, the streams of light coming out the end of his wand.

"Draco, you should try sleep your fever off." Hermione tried to talk to him, to no avail.

"I don't have a fever," He said stubbornly, still casting spells. Hermione, fed up, reached her hand over to feel his forehead, and it was as she suspected. Burning.

"Draco, go and get some sleep. If it'll make you feel better, I'll stay right here and guard the room. You're not of any use to me if you're sick." Draco stopped what he was doing, and sat down on the bed.

"We're not safe here," He said eerily. Hermione moved to stand in front of him.

"Why not?"

"My father knows where we are. Where you are. He's coming to find you."

It didn't take long for Draco to fall asleep. At first, he refused to go down. In the end, they compromised. He would go to sleep, if Hermione sat on the bed beside him, and held his hand.

"And you're not to leave the room without me," He had demanded. Hermione was almost offended, had it not been for the childish look of vulnerability she had seen earlier. The had was to make sure that she stayed next to him. "We're in a different country and neither of us know what to expect."

He seemed more like her mother than her arch nemesis at that moment, reminding her of how dangerous the world was. Her mother used to scold her at being so trusting of people all the time. It was naiveite.

Looking at him now, she saw something she never often saw. A softer side. Maybe it was just because she was tired, or because being angry at each other in itself was draining, but she forgave him. He had suffered, too. He knew what it was like to be in the type of pain that she was in. Not being able to talk to your parents, when you needed them. He never was able to do that.

Hermione shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be catching feelings for him. She was going to restore her parent's memories of her and then go back to Hogwarts. They would have nothing to talk about other than their head boy and girl duties. Maybe it was better that way.

And for some strange reason, it took until Draco woke up again a few hours later for her to come to terms with that.

He looked around drowsily, his eyes hooded by his eyelids. It reminded her of a child waking up from a long nap. Sleep was burrowed in the corners of his eyes, the tiredness in them evident. His stormy eyes flickered down to their joint hands, and her unchanged position. Surprise flashed in them.

He untangled their hands.

"Where do your parents live? We need to do this as fast as possible." He sat up on the wooden bed and stretched his hands upwards. Hermione's eyes darted to the door.

"McGonagall gave me the address on a piece of paper a few days ago. It's in my bag." Hermione accioed her bag, and the slip of paper. "We can apparate once you're feeling better."

Draco dropped his arms. "What's the time?" His eyes were still half-shut, but he seemed determined to go anyways.

"Locally? It's sometime after midnight." Hermione did the mental calculations of the time difference. She had read a book about Australia before coming.

"We can't go until tomorrow, then. Did you bring any food? Or do I need to accio some?" Hermione shoved the slip of paper back into her bag, and brought out some food. "Maybe you should get some sleep, too?"

His concern made Hermione's chest pound. "I'm alright." Hermione said, partially not wanting to sleep, as in England it was only some time in the afternoon. Partially because she didn't want anything bad to happen.

"I'm not going to run off on you," Draco said snarkily. "And I could hardly get away with murdering you, either. And besides, with my father on the loose, I'm the safest person to be around. He couldn't endanger me in any way."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at his logic, but leaned back on the pillows anyways. Her eyes fluttered shut. She felt Draco's weight even out next to her. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

"Goodnight, Granger."

A/N

So this is a bit of a filler chapter, if I'm going to be completely honest. My school year is coming to an end, so I'm busy with studying for exams and trying not to die because of the workload (which is only going to get worse from here).

I want some more ideas that I can incorporate into the plot, so if y'all could help a sister out that would be amazing. Obviously, I know where the main plot is going, but I also need some more space and some other elements for it all to blend well. If you could leave a comment for me, that would be amazing!

xoxo