A/N- this story is inspired by the song Rough Water by Travie McCoy and my own life experiences. Van life wasn't really a thing in Hermione's early 2000s timeline. But that's what I want you to picture here. Solo travel and self-discovery are insanely healing. I encourage everyone to ever exist to have that sort of time to yourself at least once in your life.

Also, like my previous work, this will contain explicit sexual content. Fair warning. I'm sure I will never write anything without smut. It's just who I am. ;)


Hermione breathed in the crisp clean air. She had the windows down as she drove along the highway. Evergreens towered over either side of the pavement. Snow capped mountains loomed behind them. She slowed as she approached the border crossing.

"Hello, miss. Is anyone else in the vehicle with you?" A border patrol agent dressed all in black stepped up to her window.

"I have a cat." She smiled politely down at him, handing out her passport.

"What is the nature of your visit to Alaska?" He flipped open her passport and looked up at her, matching the photo to her face.

"Visiting the national parks. Summer road trip."

"How long do you plan to stay?" Other agents circled the van, examining as they talked.

"About a month."

"Will you come back through this way when you leave?"

"No, I plan to take the ferry back to Washington."

The agent nodded "I'll just check your passport and license plate in the system." She nodded back in understanding and he left for a moment. Crookshanks, awakened by the stop, climbed under the curtain behind her that separated the seating from the rv and hopped into the passengers seat, glaring angrily out at the armed men standing around them. The agent returned.

"Have a nice- yeeech! I thought you said you had a cat?" The agent yanked his hand holding her passport back as Crookshanks hissed at him.

"He's an old rescue, not sure what breed." She smiled and held her hand out for her passport.

The agent set it in her palm and stepped back quickly, clearing his throat. "Have a nice trip." He waved her through and the barrier raised up.

She stepped on the gas pedal and eased her way back out onto the highway. She reached over and scratched the half-kneazle behind the ears. He purred contentedly, falling back asleep.

She drove until it got dark, and found a pull off. She parked and turned the van off. She cast notice-me not charms and muggle repelling charms and other protective wards for the night before stepping behind the curtain.

It was a cute little camper van. She bought it from a nice older fellow outside of Seattle. It had a bed, a tiny kitchenette with a mini fridge, and a shower/toilet closet. He had showed her how to dump and fill the tanks and use the power, but with her wand, she didn't need any of that. She could do all of it easily with a charm. She could also park anywhere for any amount of time and kept herself hidden from any muggle highway patrol. It had been a very easy week so far.

She warmed up some soup on the tiny burner and changed into pajamas. She let Crookshanks out to hunt. She fed him regularly, but he liked to go out and check out the area anyway. He was smart enough to keep away from the road and other cars, and he could always outwit any other predators.

She climbed onto the bed and flipped open the novel she had been reading. She had an entire drawer full of muggle fiction novels that she had picked out in Seattle. She wanted nothing to do with nonfiction reading during this trip.

An hour later she heard Crookshanks meowing outside. She let him back in and cleaned up her dinner with her wand. She settled into bed with him and slid open the skylight above her. The sky was crystal clear and she could see every star. She drifted off to sleep.

She woke to the sunrise an hour later, she reached up and grumpily shut the skylight. She checked her watch. Barely 3:00am. Each day of her trip she had experienced fewer hours of darkness as she neared the arctic circle. She tucked back in and fell asleep.

She woke again when her body felt like it. After five years of waking up early and participating in the corporate grind, she really enjoyed not having a schedule. She felt her body and her mind healing itself from all stress and anxiety that her work and her relationship had caused. She never took a vacation during that time, there had been so much to do, to rebuild the wizarding world after the war. And so much to do to build her career portfolio. She'd had so many ambitions. She didn't notice what it all was doing to her, and to her marriage. Not until she'd stepped away from it all.

She made coffee and slid open the van door, stepping out with bare feet onto the dirt and into the bright sunshine. She pulled out the tiny table from the side of the van and set her coffee down. She spent the next ten minutes going through her new morning routine. She felt the earth beneath her feet as she focused on her breathing. She could never really shut her mind off and meditate. But the grounding and the breathing helped to calm and reset her for the day.

She took a sip of coffee and then pulled the yoga mat out from under the seat. She unrolled it and went about her short practice. She hated cardio, hated all forms of exercise really. But she needed to move her body and get the blood flowing, or else sitting in the van for the long drive would be difficult. She bought the mat and a booklet of yoga poses after her first day of travel. She found that if she stopped and did twenty minutes or so of the stretches at least three times a day, she could endure the drives easier.

She wanted to do it this way, the slow way. She wanted to see everything along the way. She was tired of popping in and out of existence. It was disorienting. And brought flashbacks of that year of horcrux hunting. She wanted to see the scenery change, to know exactly where she was on the earth at all times. She'd flown from London to Seattle on an airplane, staring out the window the whole time, watching the ocean and the sky, the land pass beneath her. She liked the van better. She liked to be connected to the earth.

She showered and dressed in a floral tube top and a brown tank jumpsuit. It had wide flowing pants and a deep v-neck, showing off the tube top. She'd adopted this comfortable style in Seattle. Crookshanks was the only luggage she had brought with her. She had tucked his cat basket inside a crossbody bag that she had magically expanded, but the only thing inside it beside him was cash. She'd left everything else behind, intending to take a year long sabbatical and figure out something new about herself.

She'd stepped off the plane and taken a shuttle to downtown Seattle where she spent the day walking around, observing, experiencing. She'd watched the ferries crossing the Puget Sound while she ate clam chowder at Ivar's. She walked to Pike's Place market where she collected tons of fresh fruit, vegetables and fish, and about six new outfits similar to this one, all comfortable, cute and carefree. She also found a used bookshop in the market and stocked up on fiction novels. Then she took a taxi to the RV shop just outside of town that she had found online back in London when she planned her trip. She bought the little camper van with cash and drove for a couple of hours until she got out of the heavily populated areas and spent her first night at a rest stop on the freeway.

Since she was traveling the muggle way, she had not informed either the American or Canadian magical authorities of her travel. She'd told her parents and Harry where she was going, and that's it. After her sabbatical had been approved by her department at the ministry, and after she'd moved all of Ron's stuff out and dropped it off at the Burrow and changed the locks and wards on her flat, she'd left without anymore contact with the wizarding world. That was a week and a half ago.

It was only a few more hours of driving before she finally reached Anchorage. She bought a new map and restocked her supplies and planned her new route through the parks. This was her true starting point. She planned to spend the next year going through all the US national parks that she could drive through. She had roughly plotted out her route based on the best seasons to visit each region, but beyond that, she had no itinerary, no schedule. Just a relaxing, sightseeing journey, alone.

She mostly kept to herself, but she was friendly with anyone she happened to interact with. The town was bustling with summer tourist activity. She didn't feel out of place or noticed at all. She decided to stay the night in Anchorage before setting out on her tour of the parks the next day.

After spending a week only speaking to Crookshanks, she chose to dine out for supper. She didn't intend to go mad on this solo trip. She found one of the smaller pubs, bars they called them here, and sat herself at the bar. The place was relatively full for the dinner rush.

"What can I get ya, darlin?" And old bearded man with a big belly in a plaid long sleeve shirt and denims asked her.

"I'll have a pint of whatever ale is on tap and a menu, please." She smiled at him.

"A Brit! We don't get many of you, even in the summer. I usually hear a ton of Scandinavian accents and German." The man filled up a glass and set it in front of her.

"Thank you." She took a sip and glanced at the menu.

A group of people entered the bar, chatting and laughing. They took a seat at a table behind her, she didn't turn around. She was immersed in the menu, deciding on an elk burger and fries.

"How'd you boys do this week?" The bartender asked someone who had approached the bar to her left.

"Really good, Joe, really really good. Drake found a sweet spot. We're celebrating!" He ordered a few pitchers and told Joe to keep them coming.

"Drake, we have another Brit here!" Joe the bartender said loudly. She looked up at that, smiling and ready to say hello politely. The smile quickly faded and her jaw dropped as she took in a very unpleasantly familiar face.

"You've got to be joking." She frowned.

"Oh ho! You know each other!" Joe chuckled.

"What a small fucking world." Draco Malfoy drawled as he stood from his table and approached her side.

She took in his appearance, his gray eyes and platinum hair was the same. But that's the end of the death eater that she once knew. His hair was long now, pulled back into a bun. A thick full reddish blonde beard covered the lower half of his face. His shoulders were broad under a dark red flannel, rolled up to his elbows. His forearms and face tanned instead of the usual sickly pale pallor. She noticed that his dark mark had been tattooed over, the scull and snake unrecognizable now. She looked up at him and he sneered.

She turned to Joe and handed him back the menu, "I'll take the burger and fries." She smiled politely at the bartender.

"You got it, darlin." He grinned looking between the two of them and walked back to the kitchen.

She turned back to Malfoy who leaned in menacingly. "So is this just a coincidence? Or are you here looking for me?" He growled quietly.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "I assure you I was not looking for you." She picked up her pint and took a long drink.

"The ministry isn't supposed to know where I am. What do they want? I've upheld my end of the deal." He said. He looked around the pub for signs of other wizards.

"If you have, then I'm sure you have no need to worry. I'm only here on holiday." She continued to stare at him, sipping her beer.

It was Malfoy's turn to snort, "yeah, right. It's just pure happenstance that you came to Anchorage, Alaska, to the pub I only frequent every other week when I'm docked. Tell me what you want and be done with it."

"I want to enjoy my holiday undisturbed." She glared at him. "The ministry doesn't know of my whereabouts either, so you can chill out and go back to your celebration, Drake."

He narrowed his eyes at her, contemplating. "How did you get here?"

"I flew to Seattle in an airplane and drove here."

"Where's Weasley?"

"No fucking clue."

"Where are you staying?"

"None of your business."

"How long are you staying?"

"As long as I want to."

The interrogation paused as he assessed her.

"What are you wearing?" He looked her up and down now. She still had on her wide legged jumpsuit, but she had a big open cardigan over top for the evening chill.

"Clothing." She tossed her long Dutch braid over her shoulder and finished her pint. Joe was there immediately to refill it for her.

"Lucky you were here today, huh Drake?" His eyes danced between them, but he didn't pry for any more information.

"The stars have aligned." Malfoy drawled sarcastically. "Give us a whiskey, then. It seems there's even more cause for celebration." He pulled out the stool next to her and sat finally.

"How long have you been here?" Hermione turned the interrogation on him now.

"Five years." He said simply.

"Doing what?"

"Fishing."

"How'd you get out here?"

He downed the whiskey Joe set before him in one gulp. "Another please."

She waited. He turned to her. "I just did, ok?"

She looked around, his group of colleagues sat a few tables away, watching them closely. They all looked away quickly when she met their stares. She leaned in and whispered "is everyone here muggle?"

"Yes."

It was her turn to narrow her eyes and assess him. She glanced at his forearm again.

"Take a good long look, Granger." He held it out for her. "I had it removed the muggle way, but there was still a big scar. I decided to cover it up." He lifted his shirt sleeve a bit and she saw that it went all the way up his arm. An elaborate and extremely detailed landscape scene, probably inspired by the things she would see during her tour of the parks here.

She reached out and took his wrist in her hand, tilting his arm back and forth to see it all. When she became aware of the fact that she was touching Draco Malfoy for an extended amount of time, she pulled her hand back quickly. She cleared her throat. "It's actually very beautiful. You found an amazing artist." She admitted. Thankfully Joe came back with her food and she didn't notice him watching her closely. He pulled his sleeve back down and sipped his second whiskey.

"You can go back to your friends. I really had no motive in coming here other than to eat." She bit into a fry. "And I won't tell anyone I saw you."

"Trying to get rid of me?" He grinned.

"Yes." She said simply.

"What do you mean you have no clue where Weasley is at?" He asked curiously.

She groaned internally, "I mean we are divorced and his whereabouts don't concern me any longer." She picked up her burger and took a bite. She was suddenly self conscious as she felt him watching her. She turned her head from him and covered her mouth with a fist, swallowing thickly. "It's a recent thing and I don't wish to speak about it with anyone, least of all you. May I eat my dinner in peace now?" She turned back to him.

"Divorced and hiding out in Alaska so the Prophet and everyone else can't hound you about the breaking up of the golden trio?"

"I owe you zero explanation about anything." She snapped.

"Alright, alright. No need to get hostile. I'm just curious about how you ended up here in my town on the other side of the world." He raised his hands defensively.

She sighed. She was curious about him too. "Fine, if you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine."

He grinned, "I'll take that deal. You first."

She rolled her eyes. "Hey Joe, we're going to need some more whiskey over here." She took another bite of her burger. "And put it on Drake's tab." She mumbled through her bite with a pointed look at him.

He laughed out loud and told Joe to put all of her bill on his tab.

"In that case, bring me the strawberry cheesecake too." Hermione called out to Joe. Malfoy tapped his glass to hers and said "cheers" with a wink at her and swallowed his drink.