A/N:

Not my sandbox, just my sand castle. I don't own anything from Harry Potter. Additionally, no one has permission to bind and sell my works, fandom or otherwise. Shame on you for exploiting other people's works!

Anyway, hope you enjoy this fix-it XD

This was posted fresh, no so betas got to look at this. All mistakes are mine!

Word Count: 1050

Summary: After Ron left them in the tent, Harry and Hermione decide to disappear into the Muggle world.

Prompts:

Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Ongoing Challenge: Library

The House Under the Whispering Door by T. J. Klune - (object) bikini

[February Monthly] Single Bingo

(word) relax

"Someone Else's Problem"

Stretching, Hermione soaked in the sun as she buried her toes in the sand. Her emaciated form fit loosely in the bikini she had been offered by the goblins, but already she looked physically better than the previous week. She and Harry, after Ron had left, decided to disappear into the Muggle world, to rest and recuperate. One side effect of that was they had to leave the locket in her beaded bag, which cleared their minds nearly immediately.

They were finally on vacation, letting others finish their mission for them. Actual adults would finish what children were tasked to do, and it was a novel idea to not have the weight of the world on their shoulders.

They could be kids. They could relax. They could heal.

What a novelty.

It had been Harry's idea to go in disguise to Gringotts to withdraw money and see if there were any portkeys to properties Sirius might have had, for them to use as their base of operations.

The Horcrux had pinged as a dark magical object as soon as they stepped foot into the bank, and they had been headed off by guards. When Hermione took the lead and explained what it was and what their mission was, both of them had been surprised by the willingness of the Goblin Nation to help eradicate the soul vessels.

"We don't know how to destroy it, and we have to find the others," Hermione had explained, despite Harry's distrust of others. To their surprise, the goblins had a subdepartment of their curse breakers that specialized in Horcruxes. In good faith, the goblins destroyed the locket in front of their eyes, Harry speaking Parseltongue in order to open the locket. The locket itself stayed pristine while the soul shard was sucked out and transferred to a living host, a pig, to be ritualistically slaughtered and feasted on.

It caused Hermione to connect the dots, and look at Harry's infamous scar.

Three hundred Galleons and another ritual later saw Harry's scar healing for the first time since he received it. The two were then packed up and shipped off to the Muggle Bahamas, to heal at an associated branch of Gringotts while the goblins in Britain used the two shards of Tom Riddle's soul to hunt the rest down.

It had been hard for Hermione to let someone else take the reins, even harder for Harry who's had to do everything himself since he could remember. She comforted herself with the fact that when they got better, when they healed enough, Tom Riddle would be mortal and Harry could deal the final blow to satisfy the prophecy, only in the case of him signing an agreement with the goblins for them to act as his 'hand' didn't count.

Hermione made a mental note after reviewing the contract that outlined their duties as Harry's Hand: never piss off the goblins. They were warriors first, bankers second, and could be feral when enticed.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Hermione heard Harry's sharp intake of breath. Without moving her feet from the warm sand she stood in, she twisted to look at him.

"Hey you," she said in greeting, appreciating the lime green muggle swimming trunks he wore. While much better than any of the items he had inherited from his cousin when he was younger, these were still too baggy for him. When the healer goblins had produced the swimming costumes, they insisted the colors stay bright and garish.

"Easier to see you if you start drowning," one pointed out, and Hermione couldn't fault them. The brighter colors would help their bodyguards–bodyguards! Someone tasked with their safety who was guaranteed to not turn on them–keep track of them and keep them safe as they relaxed and healed from the horrors of the past six months.

These suits were the smallest sizes they had at the moment, unfortunately, so her bright orange bikini and his swimming trunks were loose on both of them. Sticking charms helped keep the clothes on their bodies, but they still had to be careful. It was unfortunate that sizing charms didn't work on the magic resistant fabric. The both of them were on intense potion regimens to get the malnutrition taken care of, and get them healthy again. With only a week on these potions, they had much improvement. Hermione couldn't wait to see how much progress they'd make after the scheduled month of healing the goblins had planned for them.

"I didn't know your scar extended to your back," Harry stated. Hermione lifted a hand to her shoulder, where her chest scar from Dolohov in fifth year had torn through and curved around her shoulder to reach her back, stretching nearly to the bottom of her shoulder blades.

"He tried to bisect me; cauterize the wounds so they couldn't heal," she explained. Harry wrapped her up in a hug.

"I'm glad we got to you when we could," he whispered, resting his chin on her unscarred shoulder.

"I'm glad too. I'm glad to never have to take those potions again!" she replied with first a grimace, then a laugh. She gently pulled out of his embrace, taking his hand to pull him towards the water. "Now, no more talk about the morbid. Apparently we have to heal our mental health too, so we have to do fun things and relax. And one of those things is frolicking in the water! Come on!"

"Relax, relax, relax! They keep telling us that as if we've never done that before!" Harry replied with a laugh as she pulled him forward. He splashed her as soon as they were close enough, soaking her orange bikini in an instant. Her shriek was filled with laughter as Hermione dropped his hand to splash him back. Harry's green swimming shorts darkened when wet, but as the healer had pointed out, still stayed vibrant visually to keep everyone safe.

That was a novel idea, Hermione thought. Being safe.

She grinned widely as Harry flung himself into a wave, a laugh bubbling forth as he finally could be a kid and have fun. They deserved to have fun. They deserved to be safe.

They deserved to be kids.

And now, it looked like they finally had that chance.