Disclaimer: see chapter one

Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews guys! For this chapter I as always want to thank my betas and proofreaders: Caroline, Marnel, and Rianne.

With her internships and finals behind her, Hermione had two months to spend however she wished. Because Draco was studying independently, he didn't have an official summer break. Given that he'd taken a total of two days off over Christmas, Hermione suspected he might simply keep working. In the absence of classes, she'd taken on the duties that came with documenting their research. This meant that he had at least a little more free time. Even so, he was still at work nearly all day. Hermione resolved to make sure he'd take some sort of break, but she wasn't sure how to go about this. They saw each other nearly every day for several hours, whether in the library for studying or in the lab for brewing, but they rarely met up outside the context of their studies. Their Saturday dinners were the only exception to this rule, and Hermione was keen to add some other events. She considered various activities around the Manor, but eventually decided that a trip to some other region or country would probably be necessary to persuade Draco to give up his studies for as long as a week. A bit of investigation into the possibilities made her decide on Italy as an ideal destination; there was enough culture and history to amuse them both. July wasn't normally a good time of the year to explore Italian culture, but with judicious use of cooling charms, it should be manageable.

She wasn't sure whether she'd be able to convince Draco to go with her, but it surely couldn't hurt to try. She waited for the opportune moment, since she knew his mood was probably an important factor in his response. It wouldn't do to disturb him during his studies; whenever she did that, he was even more acerbic than usual. Instead, she broached the topic of travel during a Saturday dinner. Due to good weather, they were sitting on the balcony of Draco's parlour. The balcony was nowhere near the size of his dining room, but it was still easily large enough to fit a dinner table. Draco was leaning back and enjoying the sun, his eyes closed and a vague smile around his lips. Hermione finished her last spoonful of ice cream.

"Have you ever been to Rome?" she asked when she was done.

He opened his eyes, blinking against the bright light. "No," he said in a questioning tone.

"Want to go?"

"What, now?" he asked, mystified.

"Not right this second," she said, "but yes, now. It's summer. I don't have classes or work until September, and you ought to take a break."

"No, I don't," he argued. "I'm fine."

She shook her head and answered, "I know. Of course you are. But breaks can be good, even if you don't strictly need them."

He smirked at her. "Nice reasoning. If you have a good proposal to make, I'm willing to listen."

"As I said, we ought to visit Rome. I've been there once, when I was eight, but I don't remember it well. I do know it's a beautiful city, though. There are lots of museums about art and history. We could apparate to it in two jumps. There's a wizarding hotel, too."

"You've done your research," Draco commented. To her annoyance, his tone held no clue about what he thought of her plan.

"Of course I have," she said. It was tempting to push on and ask whether he'd go with her, but she resisted and held her tongue. House-elves appeared to take away their dessert plates and bring drinks. When the servants had vanished again, silence descended for a few minutes.

"It's a good plan," he eventually acknowledged. "For how long are we going?"

Hermione sighed softly in relief. "We can leave this Monday and come back Saturday," she said. "It's a bit last minute, but it should be fine. I'll owl the hotel tonight."

"Eager, are we?" he said with a smirk.

"I can't lose an opportunity to drag you away from your studies," she teased. "You might reconsider if I give you the chance."

He chuckled. "Monday it is."

They arrived at Della Strega Albergo on Monday afternoon after a double apparition jump. The hotel was run by an elderly witch, who came to the lobby to greet them when they arrived. She handed them flyers about the prime apparition points of the city and presented them with the keys to their rooms. The hotel was not as luxurious as the Manor, but it was perfectly suitable for Hermione, and Draco did not seem to mind downscaling in grandeur. After they'd separated to bring their luggage to their rooms, they met up again in the lobby to go explore the city.

As Hermione soon learned from Draco, Rome was a wizarding tourist destination as well as a muggle one. It turned out that Draco had been well-educated in Rome's wizarding history by his childhood tutor. Hermione, in turn, was knowledgeable about the muggle history of the city. Her parents were enthusiasts of Italian culture past and present, and they'd often told her stories about the Roman gods and men who had influenced so much of Europe's early civilisations.

They'd barely walked for ten minutes when they spotted a landmark that was significant to wizards and muggles alike: an obelisk.

"The hieroglyphs..." Draco begun, just as Hermione said, "Obelisks were..."

They looked at each other in challenge. "Wizarding history should clearly take precedence here," Draco said, "because we're both capable of magic."

"Privileging the history of one's own people over that of other nations or groups is a core mistake," Hermione countered. "It's a hallmark of historical bias and a way of demeaning others who are unlike yourself."

"Perhaps," Draco allowed. "On the other hand, wizarding history is habitually ignored by the vast majority of the world population. To let wizards take precedence here would be an act of minority emancipation rather than an assertion of wizarding superiority." Hermione tried to think of a response but wasn't fast enough. After a second or two, Draco continued, "As I was saying, the hieroglyphic writing employed by the Egyptians is largely based on runes, which had been used by wizards for centuries..."

It soon became custom with every landmark to bicker for a minute or two over who got to tell their story first. Eventually, either of them would simply launch into the tale, and the other would desist and listen quietly. At the next piazza, Hermione explained the myths that had inspired the fountain they were looking at. Draco countered by telling her how wizards had adapted bronze alloys to be better suited for making statues.

At dusk, they found themselves at a pizzeria. Draco declared the food to be 'absolutely uncivilised' and then proceeded to pretend he wasn't enjoying it. Hermione let him complain and contentedly ate her own pizza.

They did everything tourists were supposed to do. On Tuesday, they saw the Colosseum and the Forum Romanum, all the while regaling each other with historical tales. The next day, they visited the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, and they walked along the Via Appia just outside Rome. Thursday was spent visiting the National Museum of Rome and the art galleries of Villa Borghese. They agreed that Bernini's marble statues were the finest things they had yet seen and concluded their visit to the villa with a long walk through its gardens. Before they'd left England, Hermione had feared they might tire of each other's company after a week in close proximity. Much to her surprise, she found herself almost dreading the moment when they would need to retreat to their separate bedrooms at night.

Friday found them trekking through the city on foot to see as many piazzas as they could. They ended at the Piazza Navona, sitting on a bench and eating gelato as they gazed at its magnificent fountain and obelisk. It was very hot; the sun was melting Hermione's ice cream nearly as fast as she could eat it. In the past few days, only the abundant use of sun protection charms had prevented Draco's pale skin from getting terribly sunburned. He was almost tanned now, and his hair was even more blond than before.

In the past eighteen months, there had been many times Hermione had wished fervently that she wasn't married to Draco. At any moment, if someone had offered her a way out, an opportunity to divorce him without dying, she would've seized the opportunity. Now, at the sun-warmed piazza, with Draco sitting so close their arms were almost touching, she wasn't so sure.

Returning home felt like plunging into a cold bath, but only because it was raining in England. Hermione was on her toes the first few days, wondering what their return to the Manor would do to the bond that seemed to have been forged in Italy. Much to her relief, there was neither a decrease in their cordiality nor in the time they spent together. Although Draco had gone back to his studies immediately after their return, it appeared he was taking more breaks than before. Suddenly, he was inviting her to games of chess and Exploding Snap. When the weather improved, he came to join her when she was swimming in the pool or sunbathing on the lawn and even handed her a broom and told her to come flying with him. Hermione was a passable flyer but had never found much pleasure in the activity. She still didn't really like it, but she secretly enjoyed watching Draco fly. When on a broom, he was less restrained than usual. She could read the thrill of speeding through the air on his face.

When Draco was studying, Hermione worked on their research report. They had been keeping a good record as they worked, but even so it took her several weeks to properly compile the information into an article. Eventually, she found herself holding a neatly bound stack of parchment, the front of which read Improvements for the Recipe of Standard Painkilling Draught: Stable Brewing with Fewer Side-Effects, by Draco L. Malfoy and Hermione J. Granger.

"It's done," she announced, holding up the parchment for Draco to see. He inspected it for a moment.

"Good," he said curtly. He didn't sound as happy as she'd like him to, but she chalked it up to disappointment that their shared project was finished.

"I'll owl off the copies," she said.

"Sure." He turned back to his own work, leaving Hermione feeling vaguely dissatisfied as she sat down to write the accompanying letters. They were sending their research to the department of magical patenting at the Ministry. St Mungo's would also receive a copy; Hermione and Draco were hoping to publish in the hospital's medical research journal. After that, they would probably be able to sell their patent to St Mungo's for further development and experimentation with their drug.

Once the letters had been written, Hermione went up to the owlery to send them off with Apple and Draco's owl Archimedes. Back in the library, she took out the books she'd be working with in September and started reading - it could never hurt to get ahead a little.

The next morning, she was distracted from Draco's still-sour mood by an owl from Ron. She hadn't spoken to him since their fight in May; they'd ended up taking turns for hanging out with Harry and Ginny on Fridays. Now, however, she got an uncharacteristically long letter from him. He apologised for the way he'd behaved in the spring and then went on without a beat to announce that he had a girlfriend, and 'Would you mind if I brought Sandy to the pub on Friday?' It made Hermione smile. The letter was Ron's blunt honesty personified. She owled back to accept his apology and say that she'd love to meet his girlfriend.

Strangely enough, Draco's mood barely improved over the course of the week. There were no more chess invites. When she talked to him in the library, his answers were short and blunt, if he answered at all. Hermione tried not to take too much notice of it, but it was slightly disheartening. She was glad when she could make her escape to the pub on Friday.

"Hey, Hermione," Ron said as soon as she walked in. "Glad you got my owl."

She smiled and nodded at him. Just like that, their fight was over, and she turned her attention to the short, dark-haired girl sitting next to Ron. "I'm Hermione," she said.

"Sandy," said the girl. "Nice to meet you, Hermione."

They had a great evening. Sandy was lovely. Hermione learned that she had attended Beauxbaton despite being British, because her parents didn't believe in mixed schools. She was enthusiastic about her experience at the French school. After graduating, she'd returned to England and found a job at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. She had met Ron when he came to visit George, and they'd hit it off at once. Sandy had a sweet disposition that brought out the best in Ron, who was clearly completely smitten with her. Ginny and Harry had met her before and were quite enamoured of her, which was an opinion Hermione soon shared with them. After everything she'd been through with Ron, she could only be happy he'd found someone who fit him much better than she ever could.

Ron seemed to have lost most of his anger in the wake of this romantic development, but it still didn't seem like a good idea to bring up Draco. Hermione told the others of her finished research and the hopes she had of receiving a patent, but after that, she mostly listened. Ginny seemed tempted several times to ask her something, but each time she stopped herself at the last moment. Hermione was not surprised, therefore, to see Ginny's owl Ella arrive the next morning with a letter.

Hey Hermione, it read,

I'm dying to interrogate you about your summer. Fancy a cup of tea tomorrow, three o'clock at our place?

Love,

Ginny.

Clearly, bluntness was a family trait with the Weasleys. Hermione sent a confirmation back with Ella and went to the library to read. Draco wasn't there, which was a little unusual. Given his erratic behaviour over the past few days, however, Hermione figured it might do him good to be alone for a few hours. She revised her opinion on that matter when a house-elf appeared with a note.

Hermione,

Unfortunately I am unable to attend our customary Saturday dinner this week.

Sincerely,

Draco

She threw the note down in anger. What was wrong with him? He was the one who had started the tradition of their Saturday dinners. He'd never missed one before; in fact, he'd always seemed eager. She tried to think of anything she might have said or done to irritate him, but couldn't remember anything. The worst was that he didn't even offer an explanation. Why couldn't he tell her what was wrong, like a normal person would? She considered writing an angry note back, but that could only escalate the situation. The last thing she wanted to do was bring back last year's fights.

She met up with Ginny and Harry the next afternoon to update them on the events of the summer. She told them about Les Chevaux Magiques and the opera, which she hadn't mentioned before. It was tempting to also discuss Draco's behaviour when she found out it was his birthday, but it felt like betraying his trust to mention an interaction during which he'd seemed so vulnerable. Instead, she launched straight into her tale of Italy. Talking about everything they'd done brought back all of the happiness she'd felt in Rome. Ginny was almost squealing with excitement by the time she was done.

"I'm so glad things are working out," she said. Hermione decided not to mention the past week. Draco's moods were unpredictable and erratic, and she didn't feel like making a big deal out of the situation if everything was likely to be back to normal within a few days.

"I am, too," she responded. "What do you think, Harry?"

Harry thought it through for a moment. "You seem happy," he said. "I don't get it, but he really means a lot to you, right?"

"He does," Hermione said, realising how true it was.

"Then who would I be to object?" Harry said.

It was unfortunate that just as Hermione came to realise how much their friendship meant to her, Draco started to withdraw from her completely. Contrary to Hermione's expectations, things were not back to normal the next week.

"Now that the Painkilling Draught is done, are we taking on another project?" she asked him on Tuesday in the library.

"No," he said curtly, without looking at her.

"What? Why not?" she asked, trying to swallow her disappointment.

"I have to focus on my studies," he said, still staring straight at the parchment on his desk.

She wanted to respond, but didn't know what to say. Part of her wanted to shake him and demand that he tell her what was wrong, but she knew it wouldn't work. It would probably only intensify his irritation. She watched him as he worked, seeming completely impervious to her gaze. It was frustrating beyond belief, but there was nothing she could do.

He cancelled dinner again the next Saturday. She stopped running into him on the grounds. There were no more invites for swimming, flying, or chess. Within the span of two weeks, Hermione's best friend had morphed into a total stranger who didn't speak to her at all. She'd never had a lovelier summer, but at the end of it, she found herself back to where she'd been ten months ago.

Author's note: Guys, I'm sorry! I know all of you want to see these two happy and together, but we're not there yet. They have some more trouble to face and things to learn before all is said and done.

By the way, if any of you ever go to Rome, I do wholeheartedly recommend Bernini's marble statues in the Villa Borghese. They're spectacularly gorgeous.

This chapter wasn't very long, so I hope to update again soon. In the meantime, please let me know what you thought! Your reviews make me happy :)