A/N: I don't know why this chapter is short; it feels like it took me ages to write. I hope it provides you with some distraction during these strange and eerie times. My country is in lockdown, so that should mean I have some extra time to devote to this story. I hope everyone is keeping safe, as well as your friends and family. One day, the world will be back to normal again. A new normal, probably.

Note: chapter has a lemon in it


They had a leisurely breakfast together in the courtyard, with plenty of khobz* for soaking up fried eggs, dipping into sauces, or scooping up food - much to Hermione's relief, as she thought the villa's house-elf had forgotten to supply cutlery. They ate plump, glistening olives, tangy soft cheese, semolina pancakes dripping with honey or dipped into amlou (a dip made with almonds, argan oil and honey). They finished with fresh grapes, oranges, segmented pomegranates and glasses of sweetened mint tea. Very sweet, Hermione thought. That might take some getting used to.

Looking up, she saw Draco gazing at beach with a goofy look on his face. She smirked.

"You have a goofy look on your face."

He smirked back. "So do you."

"Do I?" She felt her cheeks, wishing she had a mirror.

"It's the 'I just had amazing and fulfilling sex' look."

Hermione laughed. "I'll take your word for it. I guess you've assumed this goofy expression many times before?"

Draco stretched his arms out before linking his fingers behind his head. "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell," he said smugly.

As Hermione rolled her eyes behind her glass of tea, Draco scanned his mind for the last occasion he sported the goofy grin. His eyes clouded somewhat when he couldn't remember.

He noticed Hermione swirling her finger around her plate, collecting up the remaining honey. He quickly reached out, grasped her wrist and pulled her honeyed finger into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it.

Hermione gasped. "Hey! That's my honey!"

Draco leaned across the table, pulling her closer. Their lips met; then opened, tasting the honey. Each other.


After showering (together, Draco suggested, to save water), they dressed and headed out into the ancient city to explore. They wandered through souks both frugal and luxurious; Hermione feeling at home among the fruit and souvenir markets, whereas Draco, of course, preferred the luxurious, air-conditioned malls chock-full of the priciest Muggle couture clothing.

Hermione came away from the markets laden down with all sorts of little things she fell in love with: shiny pink pomegranates and fat, glossy figs, lengths of bright (lurid, in Draco's opinion) fabrics, purchased for no reason other than their amazing colours and textures; and plenty of bronze and silver souvenirs.

An old woman with a salesperson's gleam in her eye tried to sell Draco an elaborate silver necklace accented with turquoise. "For beautiful wife," she said in accented French. "Will look good on her bare skin." She cackled in an oddly suggestive manner.

Hermione's command of French was still lacking, but she got some of the idea, all right. "I don't need a man to buy me things!" she said hotly to the lady in her best British.

Hiding his grin, Draco stepped back, saying to the bemused woman "La dame achète ses propres marchandises."**

But in the end, Hermione was not affronted enough to not buy the necklace – with Draco's help for haggling, of course.


They headed back to their accommodation later in the afternoon, walking along the road by the beach. Hermione noted "You didn't buy anything today. That's most unlike you."

Draco tapped his nose with his finger and smiled mysteriously. "I have an iron or two in the fire."

Hermione hoped that didn't relate to shoeing horses. Naturally, it was Draco's money and his business, but from her perspective as business partner, she didn't know diddly about managing horses.


When they got home, Draco took her on a tour of the rest of the property. As it turned out, they were staying in a self-contained apartment on a lush and leafy property that had a much larger villa on it. Wide-eyed, Hermione wandered through the large rooms with windows that let the sun stream through and showcased beautiful vistas of the ocean or the gardens. She could even see a waterfall that cascaded into a large fish pond some way off in the distance.

Their tour ended at a patio that faced the water's edge.

"So, what do you think?" asked Draco nonchalantly.

"It's gorgeous!" Hermione enthused. "And huge. You could fit dozens of people in here and never see them."

"Good for parties," Draco noted. "And for large families."

Curious, Hermione asked: "When you get married, how many children do you want?"

Draco said nothing for a while. Then: "As many as my wife wants."

"What? That's such a non-answer!" she scoffed.

"Well, I can't make her have more children than she's prepared to have, can I?"

"Oh, all right, that's fair."

Draco smirked. "What about y" – but he caught himself in time by biting his lip.

Hermione sighed. "Draco" –

He shrugged and pulled a parchment out of his pocket. "Well, I'm glad you like it," he said, as if the previous conversation never happened. He handed her the document.

Hermione sped-read through it. "You put an offer in to buy this place?" she asked, astonished.

"Yup."

"W-why?"

Draco looked out over the wild ocean. "Because I like it," he said simply.

Hermione was still confused. "Is it a business purchase?"

This time, Draco looked at her. His eyes were twinkling. "No. Just an impulse purchase. I like being by the sea."

Hermione nodded, looking out at its wild, untameable beauty. "Yeah. Me too."


"Fancy a dip in the ocean before dinner?" he asked.

"Sure, why not?"

"Excellent." Draco headed towards the beach, shucking his shirt and dropping it on the sandy ground.

"Hey! Hey!" Hermione yelled after him. "What about your swimsuit?"

He turned around, trademark smirk in place. "Haven't you ever been skinny-dipping before, Granger?" He toed off his shoes.

"I think you can safely assume that I haven't!" she retorted, albeit distracted by his chest.

"Well, now's a good time to give it a go."

"Out t-there?" Hermione was horrified. "But people might see! They're quite strict about women not being naked in public around these parts."

Draco sighed, shook his head and headed back up to the patio, collecting his errant clothing along the way. "Have it your way," he said, dropping a light kiss on her lips.

Letting Hermione smirk in victory, he took her arm and steered her away from the path to their bedroom. "We'll use the pool instead."

Hermione gaped at him. "There's a pool?" she gasped. "Right next to the ocean?"

Draco's eyes were wide. "Didn't I show you?"

"You know damn well you didn't." Hermione crossed her arms.

"Well then, let me rectify that." Draco escorted her to another gate nearly hidden behind some tall, leafy shrubs. Opening it, he ushered Hermione through and she stared in awe at the massive, limpid, dark blue mosaic-tiled swimming pool. Not Olympic-sized, but big enough for some serious laps to be put in.

She turned around when Draco's belt clinked to the ground. He was nude, just stepping out of his pants. "Last one in's a rotten goblin!" he exclaimed and cannonballed into the pristine water.

"Eek!" Hermione leapt out of the way of the massive splash, then undid her clothing, draping them across a deck chair that seemed out of harm's way. Naked, and very conscious of Draco's dark gaze, she headed sedately to the pool's descending steps. Then she stopped.

I guess now's a good time to give anything a go, she thought.

So with a hollering whoop, she ran to the edge of the pool and copied him exactly.


Later

Draco swam up to Hermione, who was lounging on her elbows on one of the pool's steps. Her pale body rippled through the water, and her high breasts were on display above the waterline to anyone who cared to see.

Draco cared to see. And he'd been hard for some time, now.

He surfaced next to her. "How are you feeling?" he asked, brushing a hand lightly over the curls between her legs.

"Not bad," Hermione replied sleepily. "A little rough internally, perhaps."

"Hmm." Draco's hand travelled up and cupped one of her breasts. "How would you feel about learning a new sexual activity that doesn't involve anything entering you?"

Hermione turned her head to his. They were very close. "Is this where you teach me to suck your cock?" she murmured.

"All in good time," he replied, even though his erection liked the sound of that very much indeed. "I was thinking more of lying you on the ground with your spread legs dangling in the water, while I tongue and lick your pussy and clit until you come as often as you'd like."

Her breath hitched. Then she snaked an arm around Draco's head and pulled his head closer for a ravenous kiss that left no part of their mouths unexplored. She pulled her upper body clear of the water and lay down on the warm tiles, her legs spread exactly as he wanted.

"Like this?" she asked.

"Exactly like that," he replied, allowing himself just a couple of strokes of cock beneath the water.


"Oh!"

Hermione jumped when Draco's tongue laved her clitoris, coaxing it out from beneath its home. He settled an arm lightly over pelvis, to keep his prize in place. Moving away, he dropped kisses on her thighs, cool from the water, then moved to the gentle folds of skin around her core, gently drawing each into his warm mouth.

He probed his tongue around her core, careful not to go inside, then flattened his tongue and laved it against the bottom of her vagina, moving up to her clitoris and passing over it. Hermione wailed and writhed on the tiles.

He pulled away – she moaned in disappointment – and he returned to the start, repeating it over and over. Except when he reached that sensitive nub, he quickly flicked his tongue over it, relentlessly, until –

Hermione's body trembled and she cried out, clamping her thighs together on an unknown instinct.

Draco wasn't a duffer at this sort of game, so he ducked under her legs in the nick of time. He surfaced next to her, leaning his upper body on the tiles next to her. Water droplets fell off his hair onto Hermione's body, but she didn't care. Quickly he kissed her before stroking his cock urgently. With relief mixed with disappointment, he ejaculated onto the tiles before slowly sinking up to his shoulders in the water again.

Hermione eyed his sperm with speculation. "That's not a lot, is it?"

"Sorry, but that's the best I can do."

She snorted. "I meant, it felt like a lot more when you came inside me this morning."

"Maybe appearances are deceiving." He swam lazily over to his clothes to retrieve his wand and vanished the sperm away.

When done, he helped Hermione back into the water and wrapped her limbs around his body. This time, their kiss was slow and gentle.

"You could have come on my breasts," she smirked.

He smiled a fox's smile. "That's an activity for later," he said.


In Turkey, Draco showed Hermione how to get on all fours on the bed while he surged into her tight, wet core from behind – and all the variations thereof.

In Greece, he showed her how to ride his cock while she sat astride him, her breasts bouncing with utmost deliciousness right in front of his face.

In Italy, at last, he showed her how to suck his cock just the way he liked it. As he was rather large, she couldn't deep throat him, to her irritation. But Draco showed her that with patience, and practice, comes improvement...

But it was in Spain when something important happened.


A/N: It's a good thing. Promise.


* bread

** It's supposed to be 'The lady buys her own wares,' but it's by Google Translate, so I've no idea if it's correct. Apologies to French speakers if it's wrong.