A/N Sorry it has taken me so long to update. We had a new baby! It's a boy and he was born on August 6th. His name is Henry William. Pics are on my myspace page. I hope you enjoy this chapter and my 'How to survive story' will be updated soon. Happy reading and don't forget to review!

A solution

Draco led Hermione to a beautiful bedroom with another balcony. It was a calming blue-grey with cream colored accents. The same color palette as her bedroom at home.

"There's some spare suits in there." he said pointing to the armoire.

"Thank you." she said shutting the door. There was a large amount of clothing in the beautiful wooden cabinet. She realized that they were probably Asteria's. That made her feel a little weird but she remembered that she probably never wore anything twice and felt even better when she realized that one suit still had the tags on it. She picked that one out and set it on the bed. It was black with a number of gold embellishments. Very tasteful. She got undressed and put it on. There was a matching cover up and she put that on as well. She left the bedroom and found him waiting on the veranda. His slender body was wearing deep blue swim shorts. The red scars on his back stood out against his pale skin and she was shocked by them once again. His back was to her as she walked up behind him.

"Ready." she said quietly.

He smiled at her and it quite literally took her breath away.

"Come on." he said taking her hand and leading her down a set of black iron stairs and onto the beach. The sand was a pale color, almost white and it felt like velvet between her toes. They reached the edge of the water and the salty sea rushed over her feet. It was quite a bit warmer than she expected.

"I thought you said it was too chilly to take a swim." she said.

"You forget I am a wizard." he replied with a sly smile. Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

"How could I forget that?" she laughed.

There were a few minutes of silence and her hand tensing inside of his.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his brows furrowed a bit.

"Not really." she admitted.

He dropped her hand.

"Is it me?"

"I don't really know what it is. This…everything is so strange. Being here with you. I'm just confused I suppose." she sighed.

He said nothing but walked a bit farther into the sea. The water was mid-waist when he stopped.

"I won't ask anything of you Hermione. I have no right." he didn't look at her but out into the vast water.

"You have every right!" she shouted back. "You saved my life!"

His eyes were colder as he turned to face her.

"So that's what this is?" he asked quietly. "Payback for saving you? You think you owe me?"

"No…that's not what I meant." she replied.

"Then what did you mean?" he asked. His voice was even, but serious.

She walked out into the water towards him and put her hands on his bare chest.

"I just meant…" she stopped. There were no words for what this was doing to the both of them. "I don't know what we are doing. I don't know where this is leading, or where you want it to lead. I just know that I feel like myself when I'm with you. And I am grateful for that." she replied.

"I hope I'm not making you do anything you don't want to do." Draco said looking down into her eyes.

"You're not." she replied stretching up until her lips met his. She kissed him fiercely loving the way his lips felt against hers. Fitting together as if they were meant to be. Warm waves crashed around their torsos. He pulled her to him with his hand at the small of her back. He pulled his face back from hers and caught his breath.

"Feel better?" he asked her.

"I think so. I'm still scared. I've never been one for the unknown you know?"

"Just tell me how far you want this to go and I'll stop just short of that." he replied giving her a quick wink.

"I'll be sure to do that." she laughed.

Back at Hermione's house Ron was just waking up. His head was killing him and he felt slightly sick to his stomach… He wanted to be mad but he felt too sick to be mad. He walked slowly into the bathroom and splashed water on his face. He made his way into the kitchen. The birthday cake he had bought for her was half eaten and half smashed on the floor. The gift he had given her was lying on the table still in the box. He made a mental note to take it back to the store later. He had no reason to keep it. He sat down at the table and held his head in between his hands. Memories of last night were foggy. He remembered a bar, lots of alcohol, and a red headed woman.

"Oh gods." he sighed. "What have I done?"

Just then he heard the swoosh of the fireplace and thought it was Hermione.

"Honey?" he called out. The voice took him by surprise.

"No sweetie." Harry's voice called back.

"Harry." Ron said relieved. "Is Hermione with you?"

"No, she's at the office, and fairly ticked off at you." he said taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"I don't blame her." Ron said. "I had way too much to drink last night."

"I can smell it." Harry said wrinkling his nose. "Cheap booze and even cheaper perfume."

"You can smell it?" Ron asked his mouth agape.

"Half of London probably can."

"Crap."

"Hermione did too. She told me." Harry said solemnly.

Ron buried his face in his hands and exhaled loudly.

"I was just so mad and frustrated you know?" Ron said explaining himself.

Harry said nothing, but kept listening.

"I went to his bar in Muggle London and sat there ordering drink after drink. This woman kept looking at me from the other end of the bar. After an hour or so she came up and starting chatting me up. Flirting. I flirted back…"

"You didn't go any farther right?" Harry asked. He was not one for extra-marital affairs.

"That's just the thing. I don't really remember. I left my car there and apparated home. I at least knew I couldn't drive. But there is a good portion of time that's a bit fuzzy…"

"Ron!" Harry exclaimed. "How could you? Hermione is your wife. She loves you."

"She doesn't show it." Ron pouted.

"She is the mother of your children and deserves more respect than that." Harry said standing up. "I can't believe you put your marriage in jeopardy like that. I wouldn't be surprised if Hermione took Hugo and left for a while." he shouted.

Ron's face turned pale.

"You think she would do that?" Ron gulped.

Harry gave him a serious look and left by floo without saying goodbye. Ron knew he was angry about this. If only he could remember what had actually happened.

Hermione had fallen asleep across Draco's chest. The steady rhythm of his heart and breathing had lulled her into a deep slumber. His arm was under her head and she was snuggling into the crook of his arm. Draco was wide awake, staring at the clear, blue sky. He couldn't remember being this happy in his entire life. Aside from the day Scorpius was born. If only Asteria hadn't ruined that day with all the complaining and whining. Wizard births are practically painless but she had to be a pain as usual. He inhaled the salty air enjoying how it mixed with Hermione's perfume. She stirred awake and propped herself up to look at him.

"Hey." she smiled.

"Have a nice nap?" he asked.

"Quite nice." she replied as she sat up and stretched her back. "I had a dream too."

"Really?" he asked wickedly, moving closer to her.

"About your gloves actually." she corrected.

"My gloves? Did you think of something?"

"I think I did. Do you have them with you?"

"Always."

"We should practice on other things first. Just to test it. I mean it could work. I don't know why it wouldn't. But it's very dodgy…" she said standing up and rambling to herself.

"What? What is dodgy? What did you think of?" he asked following her back up to the house.

"A spell. A variation of one in the home protection spell book." she said.

"Which one?" he asked. He had read that book from cover to cover and found nothing very interesting.

"The one that would electrocute someone for trying to steal something from you house. It was painfully simple. The Gemino spell would fall under stealing as far as that spell is concerned. So would any other spell meant to copy something, like the spells on your gloves, that didn't belong to them. They would be able to reproduce just the glove material but none of the spells that make the gloves special." she said walking faster towards the house.

Draco was gobsmacked. It was simple and brilliant.

"I…I uh, when did you think of this?" he asked.

"I suppose while I was sleeping. I just kind of remembered that spell. It floated to the front of my mind."

"You are brilliant!" he shouted.

"That's why you hired me right?" she asked poking him in the side as they ran up the steps taking two at a time.

"That's one reason." he smiled slyly. They reentered the house through the balcony and Draco ran to his things and grabbed the gloves. He placed them on the table they had eaten breakfast at.

"What's wrong?" he asked her. Hermione's face was screwed up in concentration.

"I'm trying to remember the incantation." she said. "I didn't bring that book with me."

"Oh."

"I think I have it. But I need you to find me something we can place a spell on so I can test it."

Draco ran into his bedroom and found another pair of Quidditch gloves.

"Can you go into another room and put one of your spells on this pair just to test it?" she asked.

He nodded and took the spare pair with him. He returned a few minutes later.

"Which spell did you use?" she asked.

"I can't tell you that. But it's the one that gives more grip to the gloves."

"Ok. Let me grab my wand and I will try." Hermione took her wand out of the pocket of her pants and sat back down across from Draco. He looked at her with great anticipation. She cleared her throat and pointed her wand at the battered gloves.

"Vos vadum non rapio." A silver jet flew from her wand to the gloves. They glowed for a moment and then went back to looking thoroughly ordinary.

"Well?" he asked.

"Try the Gemino spell on them." she said excitedly.

He reached over and borrowed her wand not wanting to waste time looking for his.

"Gemino"

The gloves glowed white and then faded. Hermione reached out to touch them. She felt a shock running through her body. Painful enough to drop the gloves, but not enough to hurt her. A copy sprang forth and landed next to the original pair. She picked up the copy and handed them to Draco.

"Well?" she asked. "Is the gripping spell working on these?"

He felt the fingertips and palms of the gloves. He felt nothing.

"I think it worked." he said feeling every inch of the gloves. Hermione undid the Gemino spell on the first pair so she could pick them up. The fingertips and palm of the spare gloves felt slightly sticky but also like tiny little fingers were holding on to hers. He handed her the copied pair and she felt nothing.

"It did work." she said amazed at herself. "I can't believe it. I can't believe I remembered the spell."

"It worked!" he shouted. "You are a genius!" He picked her up off the chair and hugged her.

"Let's not get too excited yet. We still have to figure out how to use this best and try an assortment of spells against it. Also your manufacturing facility will need to be on high alert and only your most trusted employees can know the spell. I might even go as far as to have them sign a magical contract."

"They already have." he told her.

"This should be a new one. One specifying the rules without specifying the consequences." she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, when I was in school and we were forming Dumbledore's army I had everyone involved sign a paper that I had enchanted. That way if anyone was a rat we would know." she smiled.

"That girl!" he realized. "The one with 'sneak' on her forehead in pimples. You did that?"

Hermione smiled triumphantly.

"I did."

"That was brilliant. We always wondered who thought of that." he said

"Well now you know." she smiled up at him. His eyes were bright with excitement.

"You are so amazing." he said looking down at her. The urge to kiss her was strong. Fortunately he didn't have to make that decision. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him softly.

"So are you." she smiled.