Authors note:

Hey all. I'm sorry this has taken so long to post. Real life has a way of getting in the way of things, and I have had a week from hell. As me and my friends decided last night: It has been a clusterfuck of doom.

Better a bit late than never though, right?

I hope you still enjoy it.

Reviews are fun, just sayin'.

xxx

When waking up that morning Hermione didn't really know what to feel. If she got the job she would be in Romania for...well she didn't know how long. She knew she'd be coming back for christmas, but that was it. If everything went as planned this would be the last night she had slept in her bed for a long time to come.

After getting up, taking a shower and attacking her curly hair she stumbled out in the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. Waiting for the tea to cool down slightly so she wouldn't burn herself on it she looked out the window. She was going to change the hectic inner London life to a dragon reserve in the middle of nowhere in Romania. She was going to leave everything beind and start a new thing, a new life, a new experience.

It was only just 10 in the morning, so she didn't have to catch her portkey for a couple of hours, and being already finished with her packing she didn't quite really know what to do with herself while she waited.

She decided to clean. Everything needed to be nice and clean before she left so when she did return home it wouldn't be a mess. So, she went at it. Cleaning the muggle way she decided would be the best way to make time go faster. With her music blasting out of the speakers she started to dust, polish and wipe. Sooner than she thought her home was spotless, so she checked the time. It was nearly 2 now. In an hour she had to be at the ministry, there were lines to stand in, papers to show the ministry workers and waiting, but she prefered it that way. Being early instead of just making it.

After another shower, this one a bit quicker, she got dressed and started to shrink her packed bag so it would fit neatly in her pocket. With her wand in one hand, her bag in her pocket, she grabbed a handful of floopowder, after slowly taking one last look at her home she went off to the ministry.

When Hermione arrived in Romania she tried to find her way out from the local portkey office, which proved to be quite the challenge with the massive amount of people in there. She had hoped not to be recognized too easily all the way over in Romania. In England she was a household name by now, and the rumours had flourished amongst the witches and wizards as she had practically gone underground since the war ended. It seemed Romania was no different. Voldemort had been well known all over the world to be fair, not only in England.

With a heavy sigh as she passed two witches staring at her shamelessy she finally made her way out. Quickly glancing around she found what she was looking for.

Charlie.

With his red hair and blue eyes he stood out in the crowd, that was for sure. With a big smile he called her name and she walked over to him giving him a hug as she reached him.

"Hey Charlie" Hermione said, feeling instantly in a better mood. It was weird the effect Charlie had on her, and she couldn't understand it, which frustrated her.

"How was the trip? It's always crazy here this time a day, people going home or away or whatever. Our version of rush hour I suppose" he said with a grin.

"Oh it was just fine, portkeys are so easy to use. But you are right, it's a bit crazy here. I thought I was going to be trapped in there until tomorrow." she laughed.

The people around them were in a hurry, but still took their time to throw glances in their direction, quitly mumbling about Hermione as she had grown quite famous in the past year or so. Not as famous as Harry of course, but she was still a well known name. That bothered here greatly.

Charlie saw the anxious look in her face, and he could see the people looking at them.

"Hey, so lets go to the reserve and I'll show you around and we can get you settled and everything, okay?"

"Yeh that sounds great, thanks Charlie" she smiled gratefully at him.

Grabbing her hand, Charlie dragged Hermione through all the people to the apparation point and held her firmly as he took her on side along apparation to the reserve.

Hermione stumbled a bit upon her landing but Charlie still held her hand and kept her from falling over.

"Heh, thank you. I'm not usually this clumsy" she blushed.

"It's quite alright, I've never really quite got the hang of landing when it comes to side along apparation. Much easier when I know myself where I'm going to land" he grinned at her.

"Very true indeed" she let out with a slight laugh.

"We are going over there" Charlie pointed at a small hut surrounded by gates and fences. It was one well protected reserve, that was for sure.

"You lead the way mister" Hermione teasted with a grin.

They got through the security with no problem since Hermione was on the list and Charlie had been a regular face there for many years.

While walking through the reserve Hermione listened carefully to everything that Charlie said to her, trying her hardest to remember everything. He pointed out different parts, such as the cafeteria, the dragon pens, the kindergarten for the baby dragons, the main office, the other office buildings and so on.

Darkness fell fast in Romania and halfway to the camp they were walking in the light of the moon and stars.

The reserve was much bigger than Hermione had thought it would be. She obviously knew that the space needed for the dragons would be vast, but she didn't know that the rest of the reserve was so huge. She liked it though. The open spaces surrounded by forest and lakes was calming in a way. And oh so very quiet, apart from the odd noise from the dragons, their feet walking on the uneven ground, and Charlies voice as he told her about this or that, not a sound could be heard.

Arriving at the camp she stopped suddenly.

Charlie looked at her nervously.

"What's up? Why did you stop? Something wrong?" his eyes darted from Hermiones face to the camp and back to her again.

"Oh no no. Nothing's wrong. It just looks so...like a fairytale" she said with a smile.

And it did look like a fairytale to her. The 50 or so tents scattered in the shallow, small, valley were all dimly lit by a lamp by the entrance of each and every one of them. The moon in the background with the hills, the trees and the small river that ran along the outer edges of the camp was magic in her eyes.

"Oh well, lets get you to your tent then!"

Charlie led the way down the small path and eventually stopped by a tent at the outer edge of the camp, just by the river.

"This would be yours then. Come on and I'll show you around inside"

He let Hermione go in first.

She felt instantly at home, and she once again felt so blessed to be a witch. Magic sure was wonderful. The tent that looked very small on the outside, too small for what fit inside, was perfect for her.

"That would be your bedroom" he pointed to the first door on her right.

"Obviously that's the ktichen" indicating the kitchen opening up across the livingroom.

"And that would be the second room, which you can do whatever you want with" pointing to the room next to the bedroom.

"It is great Charlie. I really like it" Hermione said honestly.

Smiling Charlie excused himself for the evening so she could settle in.

She quickly re-sized her bags and unpacked before heading into the bathroom for a shower.

Traveling always made her feel...icky, in a lack of a better word, she thought to herself as soon as the warm water was cascading down her body.

Standing in the water she thought about the fact that she was in Romania, a smile spreading across her face. Tomorrow was her job interview and she hoped with everything that she was that the job would be hers as soon as the interview was over.

As soon as her head hit the pillow she was fast asleep.

She woke up to the sounds of someone knocking to the door of her tent. Magic was wonderful. But before even glancing to the clock she rushed up to see who wanted her something, and she thought to herself that she'd overslept. Crap was the last word flooding through her mind as she pulled open the door.

"Good morning sunshine" Charlie had a grin on his face.

"Eh..what..What time is it? What are you doing here? Did I oversleep?" she half cried half yelled at him.

He looked very much so amused at her sudden outburst.

"Relax, no you didn't oversleep. It's just 7:30 am. I figured you might need a good breakfast before going for the interview, so I'd like to treat you to one."

"Oh. Oh...well. Okay. I'm just gonna get dressed and then we can go."

She left quickly and shut the door behind her as she was in her bedroom. Why was she so worked up over Charlie being there? I mean..He'd seen her in her pyjamas before. She'd stayed at the Burrow so many times when he'd been there. But it was just now she started to feel a bit awkward with him seeing her just out of bed look. She decided to push those thoughts aside and went to get dressed.

When she walked out into her kitchen she saw Charlie standing by the stove, and by the smell she deduced he was cooking eggs, bacon and pancakes. What the hell...she thought they were going to the cafeteria.

"I thought we were going out for breakfast, like the cafeteria..?"

"I figured you might not want all the glances and whispering first thing before an interview. They are all curious to meet you, since most of us here are from the UK everyone of course knows who you are. But I've always felt that before any big event a meal in your own kitchen was the best calming down method." he smiled at her as he turned back to the stove.

"Thank you, Charlie. For making this happen for me. Now I just have to get through this interview and land this job!" she said as a plate full of food landed before her, and she eagerly dug in. For the first time in a long time she felt hungry in the morning.

"I have no worries, you're amazing" Charlie said as he sat down and held her eyes locked with his.