A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter. This chapter will give us some French seaside and of course some important political talks, too. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.

Please let me know what you thought of chapter twenty-two and be on the lookout for chapter twenty-three soon!

July 1968

Hermione was actually surprised by how easy it was to get the Weasleys to agree to let her go to France with "Lottie". An international portkey had been sent to her and it seemed that was all the proof that they needed - after all, the St. Clairs would have had to have gone to the Ministry, so everything must be on the up and up.

Still, Hermione wrote to Lottie to get her in on the ruse just in case. The other witch happily agreed, with the promise that she would be demanding details when they returned to Hogwarts that autumn.

She had been looking forward to spending a whole weekend with Rodolphus, exploring the south of France with him, but it was another thing to actually be there. She couldn't really believe that she was in a foreign country with Rodolphus Lestrange and it send her belly into a series of flip flops when she thought about what Ron or Harry would think of her. She'd know Rodolphus for nearly a year, now, though, and she felt safe with him.

It was odd to be alone with him in his family's vacation flat. The luxury that they lived in seemed completely inaccessible to her, and the domesticity of them living side-by-side, even if just for a few days, of sharing a bed with him was almost uncomfortable. She knew that this wasn't the life that she was meant for, and being exposed to it just made it all the more obvious. Hermione tried to push that down, and just enjoy the vacation while she could.

The first day they were there, Rodolphus took her to the beach, spending the whole afternoon laying out in the hot sun. It felt wonderful to soak in the sun's rays, and even better to see the lingering looks that Rodolphus gave her when he thought she wasn't looking, her swim suit revealing far more skin than he'd ever seen on display before. Hermione was happy to appreciate the way that he looked as well, her eyes skimming over his trim waist and long, strong legs. When they got too hot, Rodolphus would carry her giggling all the way into the sea, letting the gorgeous blue-green water cool them off. When they'd return to their beach chairs, Hermione enjoyed the feeling of the water evaporating off her skin, leaving her covered in gooseflesh until she was warmed up once again.

They drank far more wine than they should have and even ordered their dinner out on the beach, unwilling to go back to the flat until the last rays of the sun dipped under the horizon. When they got back, Hermione had gone to shower the sea off of her body and Rodolphus offered to help her. Thinking of him under the water spray with her, his hands all over her, nearly had her agreeing, but she denied him once again. She knew it wouldn't stop his deft fingers from finding their way under her top and beneath the waistband of her shorts later than night when they climbed into bed together.

The next day, Hermione had somehow convinced Rodolphus to go into the muggle world with her. She noted, with surprise, about how the two worlds were better integrated down here, and Rodolphus even made a note to look into it further when he was studying the Statute of Secrecy. So far removed from Paris, it seemed that the rules were not so rigid down here.

He had been nervous, but he tried to put on a brave face, though he put his foot down when Hermione wanted to rent a scooter to drive around and see more. They went to two museums, and Rodolphus appreciated the muggle art, finding an odd sort of beauty in the static paintings. All in all, Hermione was convinced that she'd shown him that the muggles weren't all that scary or that different from wizards. They all just wanted to succeed, find happiness and survive at their most basic.

Perhaps it was just hopeful thinking, but Hermione thought that Rodolphus was beginning to see muggles in a different way.

She even went so far as to finally talk about her parents briefly with him. Hermione could see that he was full of questions, but too afraid to answer too many questions. She told him about her father's dental practice and the family vacations that they used to take together, but stopped short of sharing what had happened to them. It was too painful to come up with a lie, especially when she genuinely did miss them more than she could properly articulate.

On their last night in France together, Rodolphus took her out to a small restaurant with a view of the promenade in front of the sea. It was a beautiful night, still hot enough to wear a loose shift dress, and Hermione was seized by a desire to stay there and never leave again. Maybe she could convince Rodolphus to do they same and they could create a life of their own, unburdened by all the complications of back home.

But, back home could not be completely ignored and before Hermione knew it, they were debating over the Squib Rebellion once again over their shrimp and wine. The rebels had nearly been handled, some Ministry wizards having found a way to track them down with magic. It was unfortunate, but Hermione knew that the Squibs were about to face retribution for the guerrilla tactics during their uprising. Public support had been wrenched from the pureblood cause the moment that they started using muggle tactics to destroy magical property, giving the hardliners support for their extreme ideologies.

When Rodolphus mentioned that he was glad that things were finally going to be coming to a close, Hermione couldn't hold her tongue any more. "Just because they caused a slight inconvenience to you doesn't mean that we should just pick the most extreme route for these people," she said, twirling her pasta around her fork so that she wouldn't have to look at his face. "I know it's easier to just give them the kiss, but it's certainly not right and it certainly isn't going to make the problem go away."

"I don't know," Rodolphus said with a frown. "Other squibs will see that the kiss is a deterrent. They have caused too much destruction for us not to take a firm stance with them. Hopefully future squibs will realize that remaining in their own world is the best solution."

"There has to be a better solution than just shoving them out of our world with no resources, and pretend that they were never even on your family tree to begin with," Hermione countered hotly, feeling the beginnings of tears prickle at the back of her eyes. Not only did she feel incredibly bad for the squibs, but she knew that it was just a step in the direction of keeping muggleborns out of the wizarding world as well. "That's what's caused this whole rebellion in the first place."

Rodolphus looked for the words to decide how he wanted to answer. "I agree that we've perhaps been a little harsh in the past when it has come to squibs, but that isn't a reason for magical people to be saddled down by squibs, paying to take care of them."

Hermione's stomach twisted in nerves, recognizing one of Abraxas Malfoy's talking points that had been used to counter the Minister's current plan to create a fund that would help squibs support squibs in their transition to the muggle world. It had been firmly denounced by the Wizengamot, and Hermione just knew that Tom Riddle...Voldemort...had his fingers in this, even if it wasn't obvious. To hear Rodolphus speaking similar sentiments made her incredibly worried and she knew that she couldn't keep quiet on him any longer. "You sound like bigoted Malfoy," she told him with hurt in her eyes. "They are people, just like you and I, and they should be treated with basic dignity. What's next? Killing any baby that doesn't manifest it's magic so it's not a burden to your kind."

That accusation seemed to catch his attention and he immediately began backpedaling. "I didn't mean it that way, Hermione," he said with a frown. "And I would never, ever do that. Harm a child? Kill a child?" he asked looking truly horrified. She thought about what she knew about Neville's parents and wondered if he could still become that person. Had Rodolphus just gone down a slippery slope?

Merlin, she wished that she didn't know anything about the future. It hurt too much, not knowing if she could make any meaningful changes with him. She wanted to believe that he was the man she had come to...well, love really. But part of her worried that it was all nothing more than a waste of time. Her tears were now threatening to spill over.

"Hermione?" he asked, reaching over to grab her hand and give it a squeeze. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," she told him honestly. "I just worry about you when I hear you saying things like that and mentioning Tom Riddle...I worry that our ideologies just might not be compatible."

Rodolphus scoffed. "Don't worry about him, Hermione," he tried to reassure her. "He's just one of my father's annoying old friends."

"I just don't want you to get sucked into their...their propaganda," Hermione explained, hoping that she was making the right decision, telling him this. "I mean, right now they are just talking about squibs, but what if muggleborns are next, and they are deciding that the wizarding world shouldn't be burdened by people like me?"

"No," he insisted, holding her hand tighter. "I promise that I wouldn't let anything happen to you, Hermione. You mean too much to me. And you could never be a burden to our world. You are smart and driven and ambitious. Honestly, I bet my father would like you if he didn't know..."

"But it isn't just me. It's all muggleborns," she insisted. "I don't want to be the special muggleborn who is the exception to the rule. All of us are people and we deserve to be treated as equals."

"I think the biggest issue is integration. People like my father are disappointed by the way that magical culture seems to be forgotten...eroded," he explained.

"Of course, we could do a better job of bridging the cultural differences between muggleborns and purebloods," Hermione conceded. "But without people like your family sharing those traditions, well...we would never even know that they existed. I just don't know if that's possible right now." She frowned, knowing that it was something that would have to be addressed eventually, otherwise the same issue would keep bubbling up. "Muggleborns don't want to erase your traditions, we just want to learn."

She watched as Rodolphus's Adam's apple bobbed up and down in his throat. "I know that," he swore, sounding one hundred percent honest. "I just don't want you to worry...I would never support something like getting rid of all the muggleborns, even if my father ordered me to. I...I care too much about you to let something like that get in between us."

Hermione swallowed thickly, lapping up his words like honey. Godric, she hoped that he could remain that earnest as his father grew more persistent. But, he'd given her no reason to doubt him this far. "I am glad," she said, hoping that the uneasy feeling that had taken root inside of her would fade with time. "I didn't mean to ruin our last night here."

"It hasn't been ruined," he insisted. "It's good to talk about these things. To talk about our...our future together." It seemed as though he still had not given up on a chance of them being together long term and...if he wasn't going to give up, Hermione decided that she would not either.