Disclaimer: Of course, these lovely characters do not belong to me. I do borrow them for my idea.

Thank you to all of you kind followers and the reviews. I do think that you will enjoy this one.

Gallipoli

June 2006

She was on the floor. Her back ached from the hard ground. Wooden floors were nice, but not a good place to sleep. Her head was comfortable though, not quite how she remembered the pillow. And then there was this warmth radiating next to her.

Her eyes shot open, and she sat up when she heard the familiar pop of a house-elf.

"Miss Hermione." Roks beamed at her, forgetting his original purpose of arrival. "Would Miss like Roks to bring her breakfast?"

She was distracted from the request when Malfoy sat up next to her. He stopped, before standing up, almost steeling himself. He heavily leaned on the makeshift sofa, and carefully patted his side once he stood.

Her hex.

"Let me heal that." She struggled out of the blanket, as she tried to stand at the same time. He caught her arm, right as she lost her balance.

"Don't worry about it. I can barely feel it anymore." Her hand was already on his side, lifting his shirt. As she suspected her hex had caused a large bruise.

"I'm so sorry. I should have healed it last night."

"It's alright." He stepped around her and addressed the elf. "Did you find everything?"

"Of course, Master Malfoy." Roks looked very pleased with himself, as he made a small bag appear on the couch.

"Thank you. Now why don't you make breakfast for Granger and make sure she has all she needs over the next few days."

"Roks is always looking out for Miss Hermione."

"I know."

"Would you two care to act like I'm present?"

"Roks is sorry, miss." He then simply popped away, as she stepped into their conversation.

"I'm afraid, I have to leave. My portkey is ready for departure in about fifteen minutes."

"Oh." She pushed back her curls, who had evidently escaped her updo while she was sleeping.

"I'm serious, let Roks pamper you. Maybe you can plan your landscaping projects with him. He would love that, and you could get rid of all those rocks out there." She watched as his hand moved to his back. Before he could stop her, she had pulled up the back of his shirt, finding a few scratches and more bruises.

"When did it become okay for you to undress me?" He tried to step away once more, but she expected it this time.

"I am a healer and we were married for quite a number of years." Longer than she had been married to Ron if one cared to count although that certainly didn't involve much intimacy. Her hand ran over his back, inspecting the minor injuries that she had caused.

"It's fine Granger. Unless you are planning on coming to Italy to do the healing, you will have to get over it."

Italy sounded wonderful. She had never been there. Her parents were always fonder of France. Ron of course was more of a camping on small budget kind of man, who preferred his long weekends with family and Quidditch. Still, she had seen pictures and had received some seashells from a primary school friend. Images of beaches and ocean and warm sunshine came to mind. He turned his back away from her inspecting eyes and she looked up at him. A silly smile still playing on her lips from those thoughts of vacationing. His expression turned amused.

"You actually want to come?"

"That would be lovely." Her eyes met his briefly before she caught herself. "I mean, at some point. I do have to go to work today."

"I believe the board of St. Mungo's deserves a short notice vacation slip?" He sounded far more serious now. Her words from last night echoing in her own mind. The happy thoughts were pushed to the background, being replaced with that society witch, she had overheard.

"They would probably fire me."

"Hand in your notice first."

She laughed, before catching his eyes. He was still serious.

"Not all of us have a vault filled enough to not have to work." On contrary, the care facility for her parents put quite a dent into both of their savings.

"We will find you another job."

"But I…" She stumbled over the "we" in his sentence, as she started her response. Her hesitation just long enough for him to interrupt.

"It's not like you actually enjoy the bit of work they are letting you do, or am I wrong?"

She closed her eyes. He wasn't wrong, but she couldn't just up and leave. Hermione didn't quit. She fought and fought and fought until someone saw her efforts.

"Unfortunately, we don't have hours to discuss this." He picked up his bag. "I had Roks pack my things since you wouldn't move off my arm."

She blushed. Roks sudden arrival had helped to ignore her position upon waking up. She glanced at her feet.

"So, are you coming?"

"Roks is making me breakfast."

"He'll happily deliver to Italy."

"I'm not packed."

"We'll give him a list of things to bring." Was life really this easy when you were Draco Malfoy?

"Okay." She was as surprised as he looked when the word slipped over her lips. She would be going to Italy. Hermione Granger, who had never missed a class, not counting her seventh year, of course, had just agreed to skip out of work and even hand in her resignation if necessary.

"Roks." He called out again, and it just now occurred to her that the elf must have already made his third trip this morning.

"Master has asked for Roks?"

"Granger has decided to accompany me to Italy. Breakfast won't be needed, but would you collect her favorite clothing items fit for Italy this season and enough books to keep her occupied?"

"Of course, Master Malfoy." He already had his tiny hand up to snip himself away.

"We are already late, so you won't catch us before the portkey leaves. I'm sure my mother won't mind if you just join us in Italy for the time of this visit. Just bring her things along then." The little elf looked ready to hug Malfoy. He didn't of course, but Hermione could see him struggling.

"We will see you in Italy, Roks."

"Of course, Master. Roks is happy to assist. Roks will get ready as fast as he can. Roks will pack for Miss Hermione. Roks knows all her favorite things." And Roks was gone. She felt a small smile grow on her lips. She loved that elf. He was her Dobby. If only he wasn't insisting on being enslaved to the Malfoys. And thankfully so far, he hadn't tried to save her life.

"Let's go." And before she could change her mind, he had apparated them to the ministry's travel department and from there she was whisked away to Italy. It wasn't until the Italian ministry travel officer gave them a sympathetic look that she became aware of her clothing. There would be talk in England. Her dress from last night was wrinkled, her hair-do half up, half down and well Malfoy didn't look any better. It was almost like a muggle airplane look she had heard her parents talk about in the past. Nothing could get the Grangers to agree with joggers and oversize shirts in public.

The Italian officer had the decency to not comment on her or Draco's ruffled state. Because if they were completely honest there weren't many people who could claim they had seen Draco Malfoy in this state. Bed-hair, wrinkled trousers, at least he had managed to tuck in his shirt at some point.

She blushed when a new thought came to mind. Oh, Merlin.

"What?" His voice was quiet next to her, as they waited for the officials to file Hermione's last-minute paperwork.

"We look like," her blush deepened "you know, like we… ." She should have stayed home. There was a reason why Hermione didn't do spontaneous things. Reasons why she had a checklist for everything.

"What overslept on a hardwood floor?" She glanced at him. How did he not get what she was not wanting to say?

"No, I mean it would be nice if they saw that."

"I didn't realize Hermione Granger had such a dirty mind." His voice was still quiet and he didn't give her a chance to answer, as he stepped forward to talk to the officials. She didn't miss his smirk, however. So, he had understood what she was trying to say. He returned a few minutes later with an envelope.

"You can fill these in at the house and send them back via owl." He passed her and kept walking towards the apparation area. "Coming, darling?"

She trailed behind him but moved away from his hand. "You are still the same…" his eyebrow raised, and she just couldn't push the insults past her lips. "cockroach." She finally supplied, leaving out the describing adjectives.

And then he apparated them from Rome, even further south to a smaller city named Gallipoli. The smirk was still on his face when he released her arm and stepped off the large patio into the well-maintained garden. He had his wand out and when she really focused she could see the wards shimmer in the sunlight.

Only that she was still flustered by his reaction and didn't want to focus on wards. She also didn't want to focus on the absolutely beautiful house surrounded by magnificent landscaping. The house was painted in a fresh white with light green shutters and other fixtures. Although not as pompous as the Malfoy Manor, one could still see the money involved and she hated herself for loving it.

"The wards will recognize you now." He walked past her through the front door, featuring the same light green tone around the large glass windows.

Inside it was just as lovely, well and Malfoy like. A large entrance hall, supplied with even a fireplace that had her wonder, why they didn't floo here. She walked closer to it, her hand touching the expensive white mantle. Her eyes went down to the flooring, noticing the light marble. She walked past a large wall in the center of the room, noticing that behind the wall the room opened into a large living space with a view over the Mediterranean Sea.

A gasp and she hurried towards the large front of the windows. Her eyes barely noticing the rather homey sitting groups made of dark wood and light linen. Her eyes wandered over the waves, before reaching the beach. She could tell that it wasn't completely sandy, but it would still be nice under bare feet. Her eyes then caught sight of the large, marbled patio, with all-around stairs to the beach.

She sighed. Wicker chairs, a table, and large lounging seats caught her attention next, and she was fairly positive that she would find her new favorite place to read, right out there under one of the large white linens protecting her from the afternoon sun.

"I hate to do this to you, but I have an appointment with my client right away. I didn't expect to host."

Hermione jumped. She hadn't noticed that he had left, and his return now was as much of a surprise to her. He had changed and his hair was fixed. She did a double-take when she noticed the sandy-toned dress pants that had replaced his usual black-only attire. He had put a tie over his fresh dress shirt.

"You'll probably have to wait for Roks to bring you something to change into." He glanced at her dress, giving her a wiggle of his eyebrows, probably hoping for another one of her newfound and frequent blushes. She refused to give him the satisfaction. Instead, she walked over to the handle that should open the large glass doors. "As excited as he was, he won't be long though."

He was silent as she attempted to push the doors open, but they were heavier as thought. Suddenly the opened with ease and she turned to find an amused smile playing on his lips. It still surprised her at times to see anything but a sneer on his face.

"There is gold and muggle currency in my top desk drawer if you want to go out. I'm sure Roks will be happy to assist with anything else you might need. He has been down here once before."

She opened her mouth to tell him that she wasn't going to need a house-elf help, but he seemed to know where this would go.

"I'm not talking about having him cook every meal and polish the floor you plan on walking on. He just knows the area enough to tell you apparation points and good places to go."

She nodded, fighting another blush. Maybe she would get a sunburn just so her blushes wouldn't be evident anymore.

"It is safe to go swimming around here." With that, he bid his farewell and left the house through the floo connection.