Around 1645 everyone began to gather on the floor, forming small groups, talking and mulling about, drinks or phones in hand, making last minute weekend plans. They all knew what was coming, this inner sense that the work day was almost over, nobody wanted to be the last minute straggler to keep everyone waiting. The groups that formed were mostly based on MOS, supply, medical, commo, and S3 had formed their own circles while the engineers which made up the majority of the unit had formed their groups based on interests.

Everyone was back in a proper uniform, now that there was no excuse to be in some variation of it. Hermione, Zabini, Dean and Abbott had all circled up to solidify their plans for the night when Lovegood drifted over towards them away from the other medics. Granger had noted before that she seemed a little distant and not really the type to be an medic, but she was good at her job.

"Hey guys", she greeted airily, "we're leaving-"

A silence had fallen over the room and a lone voice shouted "Fall IN!" An older man stood there, in the center of the large room, PC on pulled low over his eyes, a stern look on his face, he was in his 50s, but still fit and despite his shorter stature, nobody in the unit would dare challenge him.

Everyone scrambled to center themselves on him, creating four straight rows of equal length, standing at attention, hands at their sides, feet forming a 90 degree angle with their heels together.

"At EASE!" He yelled, his voice a deep booming sound that echoed around the room as everyone shifted their position, hands snapping behind their backs and boots clicking on the floor as their feet spread a shoulder width apart.

First Sergeant Moody, or "Top" as most called him, began pacing back and forth in front of the formation. "Right, list up you dumb fucks," he paused, eyes scanning the crowd, "it's Friday. You know what that means. I don't want to hear from any of you or from the Captain til Monday. If I do, Monday will hurt you more than it hurts me. That being said, wear your seat belts, drive safe, don't drink and drive, and don't marry any prostitutes or strippers. If I gotta fix your mess we're gonna have problems. Any questions?"

"No Top!" came the roaring reply, everyone yelling the words together, eager to leave soon.

"Good. PT on Monday 0500, summer PTs, don't be late."

He paused his pacing, returning to the center and back to the position of attention, "Battalion attention!" He yelled, inflection on the last half of the word as hands returned to their sides and boots snapped back together.

"Dismissed!"

As soon as the word was out, the ranks of soldiers fell out of line, chatter breaking out among them. The majority there were still just boys, barely adults, barely having gotten to experience life or the real world before being sent halfway across the world, far away from their friends and family. They still had the eager glow of youth in their eyes and immature behavior, jumping on each other, pushing and shoving as they filed out the doors, ready to enjoy a well-earned weekend.

Granger headed back to the barracks with her section, aside from Dean. Being married had its perks, he had post housing, rather than a shared building. The young, single soldiers all lived in the barracks, a set up similar to a college dorm room, there was one or two room-mates, a small bathroom, and a single desk in each room.

The lifestyle was quite spartan, not needing a kitchen because there was a dining hall or DFAC that provided all their meals, a central community room with game tables and a TV in every building, and laundry facility. Soldiers could buy TVs or game consoles for their own room of course, but the Army provided only the bare minimum of what would be considered comfortable.

The walk wasn't too far, only a couple blocks and it was a nice summer day, however, none of them had checked the time, and they realized their mistake.

"Ah fuck," Zabini murmured as the group froze in place upon the first notes of the bugle call, going to attention and then raising their right hand in a salute. They stood there in place until Retreat had finished playing over the PA system. When it finished, they continued on, walking to the barracks. It wasn't a huge inconvenience, but when you wanted to go home, you didn't want to have to stop for some music to play.

It was like a right of passage, learning to avoid being outside when the calls would be played, knowing that if you were, you would have to freeze like a game of cat and mouse. Even being in a car wasn't safe. It was expected that if you were outside of a building you would salute.

They reached the barracks, Abbott and Zabini arguing about something inconsequential, Hermione had zoned out, much more focused on what she was going to do the next week with her leave approved.

The group split at the barracks, Hermione and Abbott going to the female barracks and Zabini to the males. They'd agreed to meet in two hours, giving them enough time to get ready before going to the train station. Hermione still couldn't believe that the train ride was going to be an hour before they arrived.

"The club had better be good," she muttered to Abbott, who somehow had also ended up as her room-mate. They headed to their room together, Hermione pulling out her key as they walked down the hallway, their boots clicking lightly on the white tile floor.

"It is, I've been there before, it's unlike anything back in the States," she smiled over at Hermione, her blonde hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her hands reached up and long, nimble fingers quickly undid the tie, releasing waves of long hair. Her fingers rapidly brushed it out as she shook her head.

"Not sure if it was the bun or the paperwork that was giving me that headache, but damn I'm glad to be done."

Hermione agreed, pushing the door to their room open before mimicking the other girl's actions, long brown curls cascading down her back. "Dibs on the shower," she called, going to her closet to grab a towel. She had a light pink super fluffy bath towel hanging in her closet that she preferred to use over the scratchy army issued shit brown towel that she had to hang on the towel rack for inspections.

The warm spray of the shower beat down lightly on her skin, there was never enough pressure for her liking, but at least it was warm unlike her last duty station, the water there was never warm enough and felt like needles being driven into her skin. She would take a warm mist over that any day.

After her shower, she straightened her long brown mane, leaving the ends to curl slightly at her shoulders, she wore a tight black t-shirt and a pair of light blue low rise skinny jeans. She had curves and she knew it, wanting to show them off, it had been a long week and she was in dire need of some stress relief.

Abbott meanwhile, had also let her hair down, but she dressed in a black mini-skirt and white top that left her shoulders bare. A long necklace hung around her neck on a thin gold chain. Her makeup was light, accentuating her eyes and making her lips appear fuller.

Hermione smiled upon seeing how her room-mate looked and gave her a wolf-whistle, "Damn, I might just have to come home with you tonight," she winked at the other girl who just laughed.

"In your dreams Granger, I know you'll end up with someone else."

"At least you got Zabini and I to fight the guys off you."

The two left the room arm in arm to go meet the rest of the group outside in the makeshift courtyard. Zabini was already there waiting for them, a pair of grey skinny jeans and a V-neck shirt. A silver chain around his neck ended in a large cross and a cap on his head turned off to the side. His bracelet from earlier was still on his wrist.

He sat on a wooden bench at the table, hunched over his phone when the two girls walked up. The crunching of gravel under their feet alerted him to their presence. "Hey," he greeted softly, "Just waiting on a couple others." He turned back to his phone which had vibrated in his hands.

The two girls sat down on the bench next to him. The next to arrive were Lovegood and Malfoy then Krum and Jordan a couple minutes later before the group set off on their trek. Luna had not mentioned much about the bar except that it was unique, and worth the journey, but otherwise Hermione was still pretty lost about it all. However, when she arrived, she was amazed at it all. The club had four different individually themed clubs within it, and she couldn't help but hang out at the pirate ship bar in the middle. Zabini of course, had made his way to the tiki bar outside with the hot tub and half naked women.

Luna and Malfoy had gone to the modern themed club with glass and neon everywhere to try and make their way through the meter of vodka challenge, and Krum had stayed by her side. The two of them were in different units, and his English was rather broken, but on a past outing they had discovered they had a lot of things in common, especially their taste in women. And Hermione had to admit that they worked great as each other's wing man.

With the drinks flowing, it wasn't long until Hermione found herself pressed up against a blonde woman in a skinny dress and heels, running her hands up and down the other woman's body. The only time it didn't matter that she didn't speak a word of German. She hadn't been in country long enough to pick up anything despite being surrounded by it almost constantly. But when dancing and drinking, language didn't matter they weren't there for the conversation after all.

Soon after, she was on the receiving end of a sloppy, drunken kiss, firm hands running down her body, the taste of vodka on her lips. The night faded away into a blur as the blonde woman with her grabbed her hand and pulled her off the dance floor.

Hermione woke up, the first rays of sunlight sneaking in through the window, shining in her face, she cracked her eyes open, observing her unfamiliar surroundings. She felt a surge of panic, sitting up in bed, realizing she was naked and there was an unfamiliar body next to her. She groaned, the throbbing of a hangover setting in. Blearily, she looked around the room, trying to locate her clothes without disturbing the body next to her.

She dressed quickly and snuck out without waking the other woman and noting it was still early, made her way to the train station. She wasn't sure where she was, all of her surroundings unfamiliar. With a little luck, she was able to find a train stop and she studied the map carefully, trying to make sense of it in the unfamiliar language. The top of the map said Kandel. "Where the fuck is Kandel? How did I get here?" she asked herself, running a hand through her messy bed head.

She looked at the map blankly for a moment before the throbbing in her head finally pushed her to stop, it's not like she was making any progress anyways before resigning herself to just getting on the next train and hoping it takes her to a place she recognized.