Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

_Nothing lasts forever, but this is gonna take me down_

**Hermione**

Hermione stared at her reflection in the mirror. It had been several months since the war had ended and she still felt like she was trying to figure out who she was and what she wanted. She hadn't had one second to herself, being pushed and dragged to give different speeches and interviews across Great Britain. This was something she expected, but it had gone on long enough. Ron was the only one seeming to enjoy the extra attention the trio was now receiving.

Harry and Hermione were not too surprised, seeing how Ron had always felt outshone by Harry and being a part of a large family, now was his chance to let the world know he existed. Even though Hermione felt sick of all of the attention, she always knew Harry had it worse, having endured both negative and positive backlash his whole life.

She heard a knock on the bathroom door, "Hermione! It's time to leave for the ship!", Ron called enthusiastically. Just three days ago, the trio had found out that they were going on a ship across the Atlantic to America to give yet more speeches of inspiration and hard times. Hermione sighed and opened the door.

"_Hermione! _Aren't you excited? Can you actually bloody believe they are sending us on a huge ship?", he grabbed her, pulling her into him, "Can you imagine all of the places we can snog on a ship?".

"Ehh hemmm", Harry awkwardly announced himself, as Hermione slipped away from Ron's grip. "Let me just go grab my bag out of Ginny's room", Hermione said has she hunkered away from her two favorite men.

While she was thrilled to finally have Ron as her boyfriend, she couldn't help feel like he was treating her as if she was Lavender Brown. Of course she enjoyed a good snog now and then, but what happened to their conversations filled of intellect and intrigue? But who was she kidding, this was Ron she was talking about. She counted on Harry more for these conversations. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be with Harry instead of Ron, but she always quickly shoved those thoughts to the side. After all, Harry was practically her brother. She couldn't help but wonder what made Ron so different.

Lost in her thoughts, she was brought back to reality by Ginny prodding her in the shoulder. "Ummm, hello Hermione? Have you finished packing? Please tell me you are taking all of those beautiful dresses we picked out? I would kill to be going on a ship with Harry".

Before she could answer, Harry poked his head in. "Ginny, aren't you packed?"

"Packed? Me? What?", a look of disbelief and then sudden excitement written on her face. Answering her before she could scream, Harry hurriedly said, "Yes, I want you to come with me Ginny! I had to pull some strings, but me being me, who were they to say no?", he said with a smirk on his face. Ginny jumped into his arms as they began to sway together in the door way, laughing and snogging happily.

It was Hermione's turn to, "Eh hemmm, I guess you will be needing some of your dresses back after all Ginny!", she said smiling towards the happy couple, making another mental note of why she wasn't currently in the sassy red heads shoes, that were still lifted off of the floor by Harry.

**Draco**

Draco was standing at a window, staring out at the sunrise over the bay. Since the war, he had grown accustom to seeing different views every morning, all seemingly more beautiful than the dull and dark views of Malfoy Manor. Despite his current predicament, he finally felt at peace with who he really was. Most people would look at the Malfoy's fall from grace and society with pity, loathing and even, a well thats what they get attitude. Draco could not blame them, and he found that nor did he care. His father remained in Azkaban, while his mother had no choice but to start her life over. The manor, the family business, and all of their riches had been stripped away from them.

Once Voldemort was gone, there was no more hiding who Lucius really was. His name no longer was a saving grace, nor could they use it to buy their way out of a bad situation. Malfoy was an ancient name hiding ancient debt and unfortunately for Narcissa and Draco, this meant that the Manor, everything in it, and all of their money was taken away from them.

Draco had some money put aside, hidden from the Ministry, he gave most of this to his mother, and took the little amount that was left to escape. As long as his mother was safe, then everything would be okay.

Draco had turned to hiding in muggle villages, occasionally showing up in a wizarding one. He was mostly ignored, besides a few looks of pity. Blaise was the only one that knew all of the details of Draco's situation. He had offered both him and Narcissa a place to stay while they figured things out. While Draco turned him down, Narcissa agreed to stay with Blaise's mother for while.

Blaise took this opportunity to travel with Draco, claiming he wanted to escape the past as well, but really just wanted to keep an eye out on him. "What in Salzar are you doing up so early Draco?", Blaise asked squinting at his blonde friend as he continued to stare out of the window. "I don't know why you are surprised Blaise, as if you ever see me sleeping anymore".

Blaise sighed. This was true. Draco was always still awake when he finally fell asleep and he was already awake whenever he woke up, even if it was before the sunrise. "So where should we get into trouble today?", he asked, deciding to ignore the truth in Draco's comment.

"Well", Draco said with his signature smirk, "I have a few ideas".


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**_Hermione_**

The trio, now including a giggling Ginny, were now riding in a muggle limousine towards the ship that would take them across the ocean to America. Hermione, spent most of the ride, absentmindedly staring out of the window, taking moments to stare down at her book on The History of America's Wizards and Witches. She didn't want to show up without any knowledge of their history and culture. She always found other Wizards history simply fascinating. She remembered being at the Quidditch World Cup and realizing just how many other countries had magic spilling out of them. It was hard to remember that sometimes, when you were going to a school as amazing as Hogwarts.

Hogwarts. How she had missed it. She had reluctantly accepted traveling across the globe doing interviews instead of returning for her seventh year. Eventually, she inwardly accepted this was a good idea, as she could meet so many other wizards and witches across the world. There was always a constant war going on inside her head, Hogwarts vs Seeing the world. If only she could've waited to travel until after completing her seventh year. Perhaps then she could find more peace with her decision.

She was startled out of her thoughts as she felt Ron grabbing her hand exclaiming, "Hermione! Don't just sit there! Get out and look at this bloody ship!". She let him pull her haphazardly out of the car as she gazed up at the ship. It was hard to argue with herself anymore as she tried to take in the massive sight.

Her thoughts were once again interrupted as several tiny house elves appeared grabbing all of their belongings and placing them on a buggy. "Oooo let me help you, please, I insist", Hermione tried to tell the house elves, but to her disappointment they looked quite affronted by her offer to help.

"Gesssh Hermione, let the house elves do their job, thats what they are here for, come on", as he dragged her away from them. She felt herself turning red with frustration at Ron and how the house elves still worked like slaves. Didn't Ron understand how passionate she was about this by now? Breathe she told herself. You are about to get on this amazing ship and you can't have Ron bothering you already.

**Draco**

Draco and Blaise strolled out of the dingy hotel room they had stayed in the previous night heading down a cobblestone street. They were silent as they crept a long, looking for somewhere to eat. Draco noticed a grungy pub up some dark stairs. He looked at Blaise, received a shrug, and swaggered up towards the place. After everything they had been through, a creepy place filled with muggles was the least of their worries.

Blaise had grown accustom to Draco dragging him into unforgiving and peculiar places. It seemed that Draco had decided to just live life and not hold himself back. He seemed to almost be turning into an adrenaline junky, but when you can do wandless magic as strong as Draco could, there really wasn't any limit to what you would do.

They found themselves sitting at a dirty table, playing cards with two muggle men. This had become a particular amusing past time, as they could always win, and the muggles would never be any the wiser. Blaise had protested at this in the beginning of their travels, but quickly gave in. Seeing as, Draco was not the rich bloke he was used to, taking some easy cash from muggles now and then wasn't the worst thing they could be getting into.

All four men, two muggles, two wizards, unknowingly to the surrounding audience, were silent as they stared at their cards, chancing glances at each others eyes and the small pile of treasure that lay in front of them. This was becoming too easy for Draco, as he was extremely skilled in Legilimency. Besides, muggles were just way too easy to read.

Blaise was patiently waiting for Draco to win already, he was ready to find something to eat and to move on to their next destination, where ever that may be. He was hoping they could find somewhere a little bit classier than their current location. Perhaps there would be some pretty girls there too, that would be a nice distraction. While they had stopped in a few very unclassy joints with girls leaving little to the imagination, prancing around them, craving their touch, he had got bored with this quickly. Draco had surprisingly lacked interest from the first one they stopped in, seeming more interested in talking to the slags than anything more. What in the world could they say that could be so interesting? I was brought back to the game when Draco had stepped on my foot.

Blaise, glancing again between his cards and the others, showed his hand, revealing defeat. Draco, chuckled, despite himself, as the second muggle showed his hand showing a flush. Draco looked at Blaise, "So..Blaise, do you get sea sick easily? Because we are going to America! Full house!".


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3_**

**Hermione**

As Hermione was following behind Ginny, Harry and Ron, she couldn't help but feel bittersweet about the adventure she was about to embark on. Here she was about to get on this magnificent ship, for an adventure of a lifetime, but she couldn't help but feel some regret. Regret of not going back to Hogwarts, of not going to find her parents immediately, of not taking an immediate job at the Ministry, and sometimes, somehow, of her relationship with Ron. She also always felt immensely guilty of not enjoying the fame that was following her. Pull it together she told herself. Why am I feeling so selfish? Because maybe I deserve to after all of this, she secretly thought to herself.

It was that moment, that she finally stopped thinking and took in all of the beauty of the ship. They had walked into the main foyer, matching only in beauty to the marble hall of Gringotts Bank. There was an enormous chandelier four floors above, sending gleams of pink, gold, and orange onto the walls. There were moving pictures in all of the frames, dressed elegantly as if from sometime long ago. From the Victorian era, she thought perhaps. They must be on the magical floor, or were muggles still that blind?She looked over and saw Harry and Ginny holding each other close, dancing happily to the nonexistent music. A sense of jealousy swept through her as she let her eyes linger on them.

She quickly moved her attention to Ron, or more so the lack of Ron. Where was he? Had he already found the food and butterbeer somewhere? "Ron!", she squeaked as she didn't want to draw too much attention to herself just yet. She then found him, standing in front of a group of girls, holding a butter beer in each hand.

"-on the dragon, if it weren't for me, they never would've thought of that! Not to mention it was my idea to find the Basilisk fang! I can speak Parseltongue as well, would any of you like to he-", Ron was in the middle of, as Hermione grabbed his elbow. "Ooo, Hermione, this is Alice, and Evonne, and umm, yes of course, Cynthia!". Hermione smiled as she dragged him away from the smiling groupies.

"Whats your deal Hermione? Don't you know we have to please our fans?", he sent out a wink in their direction as he said it. Hermione squeezed her fists together in annoyance, "Ron, not all of us feel the need to put our "fans" first, and our "girlfriends" last!".

"O, come on Hermione, not this again? If you could only learn to put your charm on for your fans like I do and embrace the fact that we are celebrities now, then you could have some fun too!".

Hermione had had it. This was one of those moments she felt a little bit more regret in this situation with Ron. Maybe she should have let him get this weird phase out of his system before jumping into a relationship with him, but who knew he was going to be such a prat? I'll give him until we get to America she thought. Hopefully this trip should get the rest of this out of him. If not, she wasn't sure of what she would do next.

**Draco**

Draco had to pull Blaise out of the pub by his jacket because Blaise didn't seem to know how to react. He continued staring at Draco in disbelief and shock.

"Like taking candy from a baby! Can you believe those muggles? Now lets go find some other idiots to sell these tickets to", drawled Draco.

"_Wait_, What? You want to sell these tickets?", asked a skeptical Blaise.

"What do you suppose we do with them? Have a nice little honey moon to America? No thanks Blaise, your not really my type", continued Draco.

"Just saying, your the one always talking about living it up, getting away, going on adventures. Haven't you had enough of going to the same dingy pubs and motels every night? But hey, if you want to sell them so we can give more of our money back to these muggles, thats fine by me", said Blaise shrugging nonchantley.

Draco had stopped in his tracks, thinking about Blaise's words. "Your right Blaise. We've got a ship to catch".

**Hermione**

Hermione found herself standing on the top deck of the ship gazing out at all of the people still boarding the ship. She glanced to her left to see nothing but sea ahead of her. Maybe this would be exactly what she needed. They would be at sea for it least a week. They weren't expected to make any appearances while on board so this could be the perfect vacation in the middle of all of the interviews and questions. Besides, most of the guests on board were in fact muggles. The very few witches and wizards on board had their own floor and were sworn to secrecy by the Ministry. She decided then and there that she would try to relax for the first time in her life and not think about all of her regrets and all of the guilt that followed.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny found her all too soon. "Hermione, once the ship docks, lets go see our suite! Can you believe the ministry gave all of us four adjoining suites? It's going to be fantastic!", exclaimed Ginny.

Ron tried his luck again by folding his arms around Hermione from behind and squeezing her hips. "Do you want to go ahead and start finding new places to snog Hermione? Remember what I said earlier about all of the secret places we can find?", he said suggestively wriggling his eyebrows at her. She giggled at him before slipping out of his grasp and grabbing Ginny, "We are going to go get dressed for dinner, see you soon!", and she winked at him before turning on her heel, leading Ginny down the stairs.

"What is it with these girls Harry?", Ron asked, a look of bewilderment on his face. Harry was watching the two beautiful girls bounce away from them as he said, "I have no idea".

**Draco**

The wizards found themselves running as fast as they could down the street towards the ship, realizing they had but minutes to catch it. They darted around muggles, horses, and fancy muggle automobiles finally coming to a halt at a plank that lead to the entrance to the ship. They already were aware that the tickets they held in their hands were third class, while a few months ago this would take a lot of adjusting, but seeing as how their residencies the past few months included everything from motels to beaches to bridges, third class on a luxury ship was nothing to worry about. They gave each other one last look of smugness and excitement, before running onto the ship.

They only had a moment to take in the beauty of the ship, when two other objects grabbed their attention. There they were, the Weaslette and Granger, hurrying down the stairs, looking down in giggly chat, completely unaware of the two Slytherins that were completely enchanted with their presence.


End file.

Harry Potter, Adventure, Romance