And we're finally in Aus! Thanks for everyone thats following along so far, you're the reason I keep going. :D

(Most of the places they go in Australia are real.) Unless the Wizarding World is real, (Which it is for me.)

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Down Under

7 May 1998

The two of them sat in a large waiting room, filled with maybe fifty chairs with wizards and witches of all different nationality waiting to get their Portkey. And ALL of them were staring at the two teens, some overtly, some over the tops of their books. One child even stared at them from under his seat. They'd been there for nearly half an hour and the staring was grating on Harry. He couldn't wait to be out of the country for a while, and at least they spoke English where he was going. A rather serious looking Witch read out names every few minutes and those respective people got up and followed another attendant down a corridor.

She spoke again. "Lord Potter-Black." Oh god I nearly forgot about that ridiculous name. With his eyes averted from the stares they got up and walked towards the corridor. Thanking the stars for Hermione beaded bag that made carrying luggage far easier they drew level with the attendant who actually looked bored. Not that he was going to complain as they entered the next room, which was rather featureless except for another attendant with a clipboard and a Coat-Hanger lying on a table in the middle of the room. In a bored voice she held her hand out. "Documents please." Once their documents were deemed satisfactory she told them to grab hold of the hanger. Once they did she tapped the Portkey with her Wand and they were off. A whirl of colour and sound later (which took a lot longer than the one they took to the Quidditch World Cup.) They appeared in what looked like the same room that they left in.

The only difference being the attendant was a man with rather a spectacular moustache. After showing their documents again they exited through another corridor and found themselves in an exceptionally spectacular Atrium. It reminded him of the Ministry that he knew except it was slightly smaller with the tiled walls the colour of Sandstone. And instead of a Golden Fountain, a gigantic Chandelier of pearls glittered from the ceiling. Once Harry had looked his fill of the beautiful ornament he looked for an obvious exit, but could see none. He whispered into his companions ear. "Hermione, err, how do we get out of here?"

"Hmmm." She looked around, then found a guard. "C'mon Harry." And she dragged him over. "Errm excuse me?"

The guard cracked a smile at Harry's plight. "Yes?"

"How do we exit to the street?"

The guard scratched his stubble. "Street eh? Just walk through the wall at the end of the Atrium. You'll find yourself just below Degraves Street, just walk up the stairs to your left and you'll be up on street level."

"Ok thank you."

The guard waved as they walked off. "Enjoy ya honeymoon!" The teens looked at each other and giggled. Harry broke the tension. "He must be the Australian Rita Skeeter." They laughed even harder as they reached the end of the atrium. Harry thought It must be the gate as the tile was a different colour here, kind of an off white. Sensing her tentativeness he dragged her through, although he tensed himself. When they passed through they found themselves in what looked like an the underground in London. Except there was no trains and only the odd muggle walking through, figuring that the natives knew best he followed one as they trudged up the stairs immediately to their left.

The whole way up the stairs he could smell food and coffee and could hear the noise of talking, cars and coffee machines. The sounds matched what he saw when they reached the top of the stairs. It wasn't really a street, More of a lane covered in posters and artful graffiti. Seeing as there was tables and chairs down the entire length of the street, he had no idea how you could drive down here with the crowd of people cramming their way through. A smile crossed his features, He liked this place already. He looked at Hermione to see her expression and it seemed to mirror what his thoughts were. "Now our first order of business." She looked at him, confused. "Is lunch."

They had found a table out on the street, it felt a bit warm to him but he expected this. Though the sun was periodically blanketed by clouds that dropped the temperature every few minutes. After watching the locals walk past he figured he had to ask. "Now, where are we going to start?" he took a sip from he wonderful coffee and waited for her answer.

"Well we know their aliases so I thought we could just look them up in a phonebook."

Harry blinked, "Well. I thought this would be more difficult than looking them up in the yellow pages."

She giggled at his surprise. "What? Were you expecting me to hide them behind various difficult-to-crack enchantments?"

He joined in her banter. "Why yes actually. I'm now wondering why you even brought me!"

She wiggled an eyebrow and waved her spoon at him. "You wanted to come, remember?"

"Pfft, how am I supposed to repay your loyalty without nearly dying in the process?

"Ah well. You can die for me another time."

"Shake on that!" He held out his hand.

"Deal!" She shook his hand.

He leant back and chuckled. "So where are you going to find this book of information?" She opened her mouth to answer as he went to answer his own question. The result was them both saying "The Library" in unison. This set Hermione off into a further fit of giggles while he watched. He had never seen her laugh so much and he was slowly getting addicted to it.

As they paid for their food and drink (He ordered another coffee to take away.) She asked the girl behind the till where a library was. The brunette gave her a look and lowered he voice so Harry couldn't hear. All he saw was her shaking her head and thanking the girl for her help. He looked askance at her and she finally looked at him, "There's a state library on Swanston Street, I've got the directions here." and she pulled out a little note pad.

"Where in the hell were you hiding that?" she blushed a little and took off so quickly that he nearly had to run to catch up to her. Keeping an eye on her so he didn't lose her he took the time to look around. The only word he could think of that fit this place was eclectic, he'd heard Hermione use it once and it described what he saw. All kinds of different people all over the place, little shops sat juxtaposed to some really old looking buildings. He'd never seen so many coffee shops before, there had to be one every hundred metres. As they walked up the street the shops changed around them, he turned to Hermione. "Why did the shops change?"

"The shops didn't change Harry, we're going past Chinatown."

"How'd you know tha-oh." He saw a little guide book in her hand. "How do you find these, I haven't taken my eyes of you the whole time and you just pull these things out I didn't even know you have?"

She looked away. "A witch must have some secrets you know."

"Oh I'm sure you have plenty. I'll just have to find out."

She snorted. "If you didn't notice, I'm the brains of the operation."

He elbowed her, nearly knocking her into a group walking the opposite way. "And I just bring the drama? I'll prove you wrong one day!"

"That'll be the day-oh! This must be the place." He followed her gaze and saw a stately looking white building set back from the street. There was small groups of people everywhere, either lying on the grass or smoking chatting or reading by themselves. To be honest it made HIM want to read. "C'mon Harry, it's not that scary is it? He blinked, she was motioning him to follow her in. As she led him he first impression was the shear amount of columns this place had, inside and outside. As he stared around the place she went to the reception desk.

After some indiscernible amount of time he was interrupted by an elbow in the ribs. "You say you don't take your eyes off me at all? I didn't take you for a liar Potter."

He decided to dodge that statement as he didn't know how to answer it. "This is my first holiday Hermione and you want me to watch you the whole time? Could have stayed at home for that." He grinned at her open mouth. This banter was quite fun actually, he felt much lighter now. He looked at the thick yellow book she held, is that it? lets do this. She didn't answer but led them to a large table with a row of phones on it. She set the paving slab of a book on the table and riffled through it. they both scanned the lists of names until he saw what they were looking for. "Found it!" He exclaimed pointing with his finger touching the page. "Wikins, Wendell & Monica. Dial it Hermione!"

She looked at him. "What's our story?"

"Our what?"

"They won't know me so we need to come up with a pretence to visit them."

Harry deflated. "Ah." Silence fell between them. Then he had an idea. "Say, What if we said you needed a check up? And... we heard about just how good they were. They opened a dentistry right?"

"Well that's what I added in the confundus charm, I hope so. We would need their business then."

Harry examined the book, "There is no businesses in here."

"I'll go ask." He watched her as she went back to the reception, this was a bump in the road. But it was nothing to what they had previously had to overcome. Feel's weird, being normal. His thoughts were interrupted as she plopped a slimmer while book onto the table. A question popped into his head.

"What did they call this practise."

"I'll assume it would be similar to their old one. Look for Wilkins Dentistry would you?"

He looked at her in mock shock. "You mean I have to do something!?"

"Yes mister, hurry up." He groaned and she rolled her eyes. Then the scanned the pages again.

"There! Wilkins Dentistry, just like you said." He pointed out the number.

After a few moments to collect herself she dialled the number. All he could hear was what she said.

"Hi is this Wilkins dentistry? Yes I'd like to book in for a check up... Really? Sure book me in." She scribbled in her notepad. "Ok, five o'clock. See you then, bye."

Harry looked at her. "Five o'clock. Today?"

"Apparently they had a late cancellation."

"Alright then, how long do we have?"

She looked at her watch, "two hours."

He checked the book again. "Where was it again?

She checked her notes. "Some place called Dromana. It says Dromana on the Mornington Peninsular. The Peninsular is on here-" she waved the tourist guide, "But there's no Dromana."

"Ah well, we'll just apparate around there until we find it."

"I suppose so."

He stood up. "Then lets get cracking miss." She giggled slightly and returned both books to the receptionist with thanks. They exited and walked left around the building looking for an alleyway. When they found one she grasped his hand and they disappeared with a crack.

They appeared in a small park. Checking to see if the coast was clear he turned to Hermione. "Whe-

"Mornington. It's the only place that's marked on this map."

"Where's Dromana from here?"

She looked around. "Not sure, I suppose we could ask one of the locals."

His eyes widened. "But-"

She cut him off again. "No one is looking for you Harry, I'm sure we can ask some muggles some directions." He closed his mouth, It was taking some time to realise that no one was trying to kill him anymore. He didn't have to continue the cloak and dagger business that had become second nature to him. Ever since he was little he had to avoid the fists of both male Dursleys so sneaking was just something he learnt by instinct. Being unnoticeable kept him safe, until he went to Hogwarts, there was no where to hide in the Wizarding World. He never felt safe.

"Ooo look Harry, A Pub. Lets ask there." She grabbed his hand and they crossed the road while he looked around, checking for threats by instinct. Though all he could see was family's with small children, it seemed odd to him but he dared not bring it up with Hermione. Lest she scold him about being too suspicious.

They entered the pub through the bistro door and it actually looked quite nice, the dark wood reminded him of the pubs back in England. The approached a counter where an older woman was standing, changing the channel of the TV. She spotted them. "Hi, what can I do for you two?

Hermione took charge. With a waver in her voice. "Hi, umm where is Dromana from here?"

The woman smiled. "Ah tourists! It's good to see you Pom's round here. Dromana is south of here about thirty minutes down the road."

Hermione visibly relaxed. "Thanks. It's our first real holiday and I've wanted to come to Australia for ages." The woman looked at Harry who smiles nervously back.

"Ah, young love. How did you two get here?" she corrected herself, "From Melbourne I mean."

Harry saw that she was stumped by the question and tried to save the conversation. "We were dropped off here, we were having lunch when we realised we had no idea where to go next." He blushed in what he hoped was a convincing way.

The woman was unperturbed by the rambling story. "Ah, the best kind of Holiday's are the ones you don't plan." She winked at Harry. "How about I call you two lovers a taxi?"

Harry worked hard to keep a real blush of his face. "Err that would be much appreciated if you could."

The woman chuckled "So polite," she looked at Hermione as she reached for the phone. "He's a keeper this one." It was her turn to blush as Harry bit is lip. She's not denying anything... I suppose it's easier to not explain. Wait, am I sad that Hermione and I aren't together!?

"The taxi will be here in a few minutes, would you like a drink while you wait?"

Harry replied surprising himself. "Yes please, just a lemonade." It was getting warm, even with the sea breeze. She looked at Hermione.

"Nothing for me thank you."

Harry turned to her as the woman moved to the bar. "Are you sure you don't want anything? My shout?"

"That's sweet Harry, thank you but no."

Harry harrumphed. "You must be more cut out for the weather here than me."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Well I am wearing a dress. You're the one that's wearing jeans." Harry had no comeback, so he stuck he tongue out at her. She giggled at the face he made as the woman brought his drink. Harry's hand went to his wallet full of Australian muggle money but thewoman waved him off.

"On the house, if you promised to look after this one." She pointed at Hermione who looked at the two with curiosity.

He didn't blush. "Always." The woman nodded and moved away, He looked at Hermione who was looking out the window. With no response from her he decided to take a sip of his lemonade and jerked away as the straw poked him in the eye. He stared at the drink, there was two straws in it. Hermione turned at the splutter of indignation and looked askance at him who muttered, "Didn't expect there to be two straws."

"Let me help." As he looked up she took the glass out of his hands and sipped through the other straw.

"Oi!"

She gave him an innocent look. "What? I just wanted to taste it."

He couldn't stay the slightest be angry when she pulled that look on him. "Taste? So that's why half the drink is gone."

She looked at the half empty glass. "Oops."

This time Harry rolled his eyes. "Have the rest then."

"Oh really? Thanks Harry." And with that, she sipped on his drink, looking out the window. Why is she acting like this? It wasn't totally out of character for her as she liked to have fun every now and then. But it struck him just how often this side of her had come out on this holiday so far. Maybe she's nervous? Buuuut... she's been like this ever since he woke up, it's just more... intense now. He decided to keep an eye on her to figure out what was up with her. Just as he reached this conclusion a yellow sedan with a green chequered strip down the side pulled up outside the pub. "This must be us Harry." He turned to thank the woman but she was no where to be seen. "Harry, Hurry up." Came from the door way. He left a ten dollar bill on the counter before the followed Hermione out the door.

With them both in the back of the sedan the driver, who looked to be in his fifty's studied them in the rear view mirror. "Where we off to?"

Hermione answered after checking her notes. "Ten Williamson avenue, Dromana."

"Sure thing.' He pulled off. While he chatted to Hermione about something to do with England, Harry looked out the window. The taxi was heading along a coast road and the beaches were something he had never seen before. There was fine sand as far long the coast as he could see, it was a beautiful image as he could have pictured. It had holiday stamped all over it, all he did was stare the waves whole way.

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AN: If you think the story is going to end after they find her parents then you'll be in for a shock!