Prologue
Alone for the Holidays

The day that Hermione had been waiting for was finally here and she could barely keep her head on straight. It was a busy day at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries as she was trying to take care of three patients at once. After grabbing a few vials from the stock room, she ran into room 409 where she was trying to rid a patient of the Bat-Bogey hex. She had almost given him the wrong vial, but caught herself in time.

Realizing that she needed to calm down to keep herself from accidentally killing someone, she walked into the staff break room. Luckily, there was no one in there. She pulled out a chair from one of the circular tables and sat down in it and rested her head on her folded arms that lay on the table.

The absence of noise almost made her drift into a dreamless sleep, but she got up to leave before she could accomplish that. She had patients that needed to be taken care of and couldn't rely on any other Healer to do it for her. She turned around to walk out and noticed someone leaning against the door frame of the room before she ran into him.

"Taking a nap in the middle of your shift, Granger?" questioned the tall and handsome man.

"I'm just trying to keep myself sane today, but I'll be leaving now," she replied back with an ungrateful tone.

"Good luck with that promotion today," Malfoy said sarcastically as she passed him to finally leave the room.

She knew that he apparently didn't mean it. He was the one she was running against for the position, and she wasn't so sure if she would achieve the role or not. In fact he was one of the best male Healers on staff and was tough competition.

It was starting to get late and the end of her shift would be reached soon enough and she still needed to check up on her last patient for the day. She lightly knocked on the door to room 416, slowly poked her head through, and greeted the young lady that lay on the bed, asking how she was keeping up. The lady replied and said she was doing fine but was still a bit shaky.

Hermione reached into the right pocket of her robes and pulled out the vial she had gotten earlier. She told the patient that it would give her a dreamless sleep and she would feel better upon waking up the next day. The woman thanked her and Hermione slipped out of the room, turning the lights off with her wand.

As she was walking towards her office, she noticed that the clock on the wall said it was ten minutes past six in the evening. She realized that her overtime shift had already ended and picked her pace up a bit until she reached her destination. On her desk laid a pile of papers that still needed to be sorted through and filed. She grabbed the said pile and shoved it into her bag and she got ready to apparate back home.

Before Hermione could even begin to think about the comfort of her bed, there was a loud knock on her door. She walked over to where the noise came from and hesitantly opened it to see a short man standing there.

"Madame Derwent has told me to inform you to not forget about the meeting in her office tonight at eight. She requests that you not be late." The short man of four feet informed Hermione.

"Thank you Daniel. Tell Madame Derwent that I have not forgotten and that I promise to be on time, like always."

Madame Derwent's assistant left and Hermione shut the door behind him. She reached down to grab her bag and let out a huge sigh. Within three seconds she was standing in the middle of her living room. She set all her stuff down on the floor and without moving an inch she plopped down on the plush red couch right behind her.

"Hermione, is that you?" yelled a voice that sounded like it came from the bedroom.

"Yes Ginny I'm finally home from work," Hermione replied without opening her eyelids to realize that someone was sitting on the loveseat across from her.

"I'll be out in a second," Ginny answered back.

Hermione was sitting on the couch for no more than five minutes when she started to drift asleep. She shifted her body so she was lying down across the huge comfortable couch, all without opening her eyes.

"A bit sleepy are we now?" The cool voice from across the room finally broke the silence.

Her eyes quickly darted open and settled on the young man across from her.

"Hey Blaise. I didn't realize you were there. Sorry but it's been a hard day at work." She still lay on the couch and never bothered to get up.

"It's alright. Draco told me about the promotion competition between you two. I just don't know who to root for, but I still wish you the best of luck." A genuine smile rose up on his lips.

"Thanks Blaise. So are you waiting for Ginny?"

"Nope. I'm waiting for the hippogriff that's taken residence in your kitchen," he replied sarcastically.

"Ha, very funny Blaise, you're quite the comedian."

"I know."

Just then Ginny came out from the room she slept in and walked towards the two in the living room. Her long red hair was smooth and straight which went past her shoulders. The most beautiful dress was layered on top of her skin. It went all the way down to the floor and was a brilliant black, halter top style and was opened in the back, running was dangerously low. She looked absolutely elegant.

"Wow Ginny, you look beautiful. Where are you two off to tonight that you both are so dressed up?"

Blaise was walking towards Hermione's best friend and wrapped his arms around her waist. He gave her the smallest peck on her lips and mentioned it was their six month anniversary and they were going out to a fancy muggle restaurant.

Hermione finally got up from the couch and congratulated the two lovebirds. Before they left, she reminded Ginny about her to-be promotion that she might get that night. Hesitantly, she made her way into the bathroom and settled herself in the bathtub. It was a good thing that she was covered in bubbles because a guest walked in without knocking.

"Harry, when will you ever learn that people need privacy and you need to knock before bursting in like that?" she practically yelled at her best friend who looked at her with an innocent face.

"Sorry Hermione, I didn't mean to." He took a seat on top of the toilet seat cover. "But how can I help it? You're twenty-six, gorgeous and there is nothing you need to hide from me. Or anyone for that matter." She blushed at his statement.

"Why do you have to be such a sweetheart? What did you come bursting in here for anyway?"

"Well a little birdie told me that you are really close to getting that promotion you've always wanted. What I want to know is why you never told me, Hermione? This is the greatest news!"

"Let me guess, Ginny told you? By the way, I've been terribly busy working in order to make sure that I get that promotion."

"This is amazing, Hermione. What do you say to me taking you out to dinner to celebrate?" He had an over exaggerated smile on. It was too cute to resist.

"Sorry Harry, but I can't go right now. I have to be back at work by eight to find out if I get it or not."

"Okay, that's fine. Well you still have an hour and a half until you need to apparate there, so how about I cook us a little dinner? I've been learning and Mrs. Weasley admits it's getting better. What do you say to that?" She could see the beginning of a puppy face that she definitely couldn't let his offer down.

"Thanks Harry, that sounds great. Everything you need should be in the kitchen. Just let me finish my bath and get ready, and then I'll go help you."

Harry went to the kitchen while Hermione finished her soaking session that was in high demand from her tired body. She pulled the drain and wrapped her form in the towel that was hanging by the tub. After hearing a disturbing crash from the kitchen she ran through the door and straight to where Harry stood cooking.

"You don't have to over dress just for me." Harry said when he noticed Hermione dressed in only a small towel.

"Harry! Quit with the sexual stuff. Anyway what happened in here? I heard a crash." She was starting to doubt whether she should leave him there all alone.

"Oh right… I accidentally tipped over a pan, but I cleaned it all up with the help from some magic. No worries here."

"Just try not to destroy my kitchen while I finish getting dressed, okay?" She gave him a serious look that said she would kill him if anything was out of place.

About ten minutes later, she emerged from her own bedroom with a tight fitting pair of jeans and a blue zip-up sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and had very light makeup on. Very casual, but she looked flawless.

Hermione had to admit that Harry's cooking was positively much better than she remembered from a year ago. They talked about a few things including work and family. Dinner soon came to an end and Harry was bidding her good luck. He told her to stop by his flat afterwards to tell him the great news. He was positive that she would be the newest Head Healer.

There was five minutes left until she had to be at Madame Derwent's office. She had never been late to anything in her whole life and she wasn't about to start now, so she apparated in front of her boss' door. To her surprise, her boss was in there talking to someone.

Not wanting to be rude, she waited until eight to knock lightly on the door. She was in the utter most shock when Draco opened the door. Bad thoughts started to creep through her busy mind. Madame Derwent told her to come in and sit down in the chair next to the one she supposed Draco had been sitting in. She took the called for seat, and Draco came to sit next to her.

"Hermione I know you must be surprised, but do not worry. I have invited you both here together so I can tell you the news all at once," she said with an amount of energy the tiny lady had never shown before.

"I know that you both have been after this position for a long time and that there is only one spot open. And I regret that neither of you will be taking it."

"WHAT!" they both yelled simultaneously.

"Do not fret. I have some better news." This baffled Hermione and didn't know what could possibly be better than being Head Healer. "I'm going out on a limb to assume that you both know what a Muggle university is?"

Of course Hermione knew, but she wasn't sure Draco could say the same. She knew she had been wrong when Draco nodded his head.

"Good. Well there are a few wizard and witches that have contacted me a couple of weeks ago from the University of Miami. I know that this is something new to England, but some American universities have been adding wizarding sections that the Muggles are unaware of. Hermione, I looked at your report that you sent in a month ago about a project for finding a cure for memory loss. I sent it over to a friend in America and she fell in love with it. Luckily we have gotten the grant to get to work on this. The best part is that you two have been hired to work on this, together."

At the mention of this, both of their faces lightened up. Head Healer could wait; she was finally going to get to work on a real research project and help out those in need.

"I can tell that you both are ecstatic to hear this. But with good news comes bad news. The research will have to be done in America, on the campus of the University. You will have all expenses paid for including housing and any supplies needed. You will get a weekly payment in Wizarding money, but also in American dollars to pay for anything you need while down there."

"This is great, Madame. I'm definitely willing!" Hermione suddenly burst with great anticipation.

"That's good to know. I know that this is short notice, but you will both be leaving at the end of the week on Friday and will be taking a muggle form of transportation called an airplane."

Hermione knew that this wouldn't be bad. She had already traveled by plane before and knew she could handle it, but she didn't want to interrupt her boss.

"The main problem is the amount of time this certain project will take. You both won't be able to return until next year near the end of January." She spat it out cautiously.

"What? So this means that I have to spend Christmas and New Year's alone?"

"No my dear, Draco will also be there…"

"Like I said, I will be spending it alone."