Fixing what you broke

Prologue: Cartagena

Chapter 1: Prologue: Cartagena

As soon as Hermione’s portkey had arrived on South American soil, she felt a heavy weight lift off of her shoulders. No one on earth, save the woman at the International Portkey Office, knew she was here. She was blissfully off the radar, telling her friends only that she was out of the country and to expect her back in two weeks.

Three weeks ago, she spun a globe and her finger landed in the ocean, just a breath away from Cartagena, Colombia. She had owled the Portkey office that afternoon and began researching different places to stay.  She rented one of those charming little city villas with a beautiful view of colored buildings and stunning architecture.

She was in desperate need of a holiday.

Her post-Hogwarts education had led to Beauxbatons where she studied heavily in Wizard Law and Care of Fantastical Beasts. It had become her passion over the past several years and one that she had become fanatical over.

Secondary schooling wasn’t necessary to secure a position in the wizarding world, but it didn’t hurt. And Hermione had felt jilted by her final years of Hogwarts. She hadn’t spent nearly as much time as she should in her studies and an extra two years studying in Paris, was far from a nightmare in her eyes.

But school was now, regrettably, over. She had passed her final examination with outstanding scores and secured a position in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry and would be beginning at the end of the month.

The real world with all it’s tediousness called to her and if she was honest, she longed for it. She had experienced more adventure in her short almost 21 years than most could claim in a lifetime.

She found a cozy flat in Wizarding London and looked forward to moving into it upon her return. She would be close to an adorable cafe and tiny bookshop that she had already patronized a time or two before deciding on that location. She had been lucky in finding a few hidden gems already, including a 1st Edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that she had snatched up so quickly she must have looked like she found a sack of galleons hidden in the stacks.

As a loud honk screamed in the streets, she was brought abruptly back to the present.

Cartagena was alive with movement, the colors and the people decorated the city so beautifully that it took her breath away. Women were carrying baskets of fruit on their heads and a beautiful cobblestone walkway wrapped neatly around each building.

She wasn’t quite dressed for vacation yet, still in her denims, trainers and a Beauxbaton’s shirt she had thrown on this morning. She let Ginny help pack her bag and she had taken some creative liberties by coloring it up with some of her more beautiful and loud pieces that Hermione was desperately lacking.

Hermione found the address she had been hunting for and lifted her hands to her brow to block the sun as she appraised the building.

The entire building was painted a bright fuschia and the balconies were a deep emerald, one for almost each window. She never would have paired the two shades together, but along with all the brightness of the rest of the city, it was truly stunning. There was a thick blanket of vines reaching from each balcony, never ceasing as it jumped from window to window.

She took a deep breath and could smell the traditional Colombian cuisine she had been reading about. She had already made a list of all the foods she thought she might enjoy so she wouldn’t be overwhelmed at a restaurant.

She stepped under the shade of the second floor balcony and found a small buzzer next to the orange door. She rang it and stepped back, her eyes darting up the road to take in every moment.