It had been three months since the Dark Lord had met his end. To Hermione, those three months had dragged on for what seemed to be years. In the the past three months Hermione and Harry had been living at the Burrow. Hermione had taken to sharing a room with Ginny and Harry stayed with Ron. Although the Weasleys seemed fine to outsiders, they were still grieving over Fred's death. Worst of all was George. Nobody could bear to even look at George without breaking down into tears themselves. Luckily for them, they did not have to see him often, as George spent days on end locked up in the room he had previously shared with his other half.

Harry and Hermione had acquired jobs at the Ministry of Magic shortly after the war. Ron had become a professor at Hogwarts, taking over for Madam Hooch who had accepted a position as the assistant coach to South Africa's national Quidditch team. Harry became an auror, which came as a surprise to nobody. Hermione worked for equality for all magical creatures.

Although the war was finally over, and Hermione had her dream job, she could not truly say she was happy. Working at a desk for hours upon hours was hardly close to what she had imagined. Also she could not go one day with thinking about Fred or Lupin or Tonks or even Colin Creevey. Why had she lived when so many had perished? What made her more deserving of life than Tonks and Lupin, who had left a newborn to fend for himself? These questions plagued Hermione. The only time she was really happy was when she was with Ron. But their days together were numbered due to the upcoming term. Ron would be leaving for Hogwarts in a number of weeks and Hermione knew she could not go with him. In three short weeks, Hermione would be completely alone.

Hermione had still not reunited with her parents. She had checked up on them immediately after the war and had found a very happy, very in love couple. The Grangers were blissfully ignorant and Hermione did not want to bring back their memory of her quite yet. Sure she would have her family back but as much as Hermione needed her mum's shoulder to sob on, she knew that her parents were better off without a depressed, broken 18-year-old daughter. She thought she would at least have Harry share to her feelings with because Ginny still had not graduated from school, but Ginny had decided to drop out of Hogwarts; much to the dismay of her mother, to live with Harry in an apartment in London. She wasn't quite sure where she was going in life, but she knew she couldn't bear to be at Hogwarts, or worse, at home without her big brother.

So Hermione trudged around day after day to work at the Ministry and back to the Burrow. She was in desperate need of an escape, and that escape came to her on the tenth of August. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the recently elected Minister of Magic, came to Hermione with a proposition.

Hermione was on her lunch break when she heard a deep voice behind her clear their throat. She slowly turned around, wondering who it was that broke the silence. "Minister!" she exclaimed, surprised by his presence, "How are you?"

"I am well, Hermione," he replied, "Though I have noticed you have not fared so well since the demise of You-Know-Who. You seem a bit lost."

"Pardon me, Minister"-

"Kingsley, please. No need for formalities because of my new position," Kingsley interrupted.

"Okay, ah... Kingsley," Hermione continued a bit awkwardly. "I don't mean to seem ungrateful for this position or unhappy that I survived the war, but I just..." she trailed off, unsure of what exactly she was trying to say.

"I understand Hermione, believe me, aurors lose a great deal of friends in their lifetime. Just trust me when I say that you need a break," said Kingsley. "A holiday can produce wonderful results."

"Forgive me for asking, but what exactly are you proposing?"

"Just a bit of field research that I thought would suit you perfectly," replied Kingsley with a grin.

"Go on..." said Hermione warily. Kingsley went on to explain that the Ministry had picked up on a new sort of magic, possibly a new creature, on the Gold Coast of Australia. They had never heard of anything like it, and Kingsley figured that Hermione would be able to figure out what was going on, without exploiting the creature. It was also easy to come up with a cover for her; she was a 17-year-old exchange student from the UK. Preparations had already been made for her to stay with a family over there. All Hermione had to do was find out the source of the magic, keeping a detailed journal on her findings, and enjoy the sunshine.

"Who knows," Kingsley added, "You could be the next Gilderoy Lockhart"

"But sir, that was all made-up," Hermione remarked, ever the know-it-all.

"Yes I suppose it was..." Kingsley mused. He cleared his throat. "Anyways, what you need to do is find the source of the magic, and if it is a creature, bring it back to the Ministry so it can be properly recorded as so. When you return you can work on its rights and so on."

"I'll do it," said Hermione with a slight grin. "When shall I be ready?"

"Apparate to the Gold Coast Airport tomorrow night at midnight. It will be 10 a.m. their time. Look for the Sertoris, that is who you will be staying with. You're a smart girl, you can figure out the rest of your cover." Kingsley directed.

"Okay," Hermione said eager to begin the task.

"Oh, and Hermione?"

"Yes Min- er, Kingsley?"

"Enjoy yourself," Kingsley added as he walked away.