A/N Thank you everyone for the great reviews and encouragement. It is getting hard to find the time to write so any reviews mean the world to me. Happy reading and don't forget to review!

Extended stay

Hermione stood frozen for a moment not knowing what to say or do. She took a deep breath in and extended her free hand to Asteria.

"Hello. I'm Hermione Weasley. Head of Magical law enforcement and officially in charge of your husband's copyright project." she said gracefully.

Asteria took her hand and shook it, keeping her deep green eyes on Draco all the while. He looked slightly nervous.

"Odd that you would be working here on a Sunday, out of the country as a matter of fact." Asteria commented.

"We had a breakthrough on the spell I need yesterday. I don't want to waste any more time." Draco interjected.

"Wonderful." Asteria smiled. "Well I should be leaving. See you soon." The look she gave her husband caused him to shudder.

"Nice to meet you." Hermione said politely. Asteria nodded at her before stepping into the floo and disappearing.

"What in the world was she doing here?" Hermione said as soon as she was sure Asteria was gone.

"Bringing her latest boy toy for a romantic date I expect." he said with disgust.

"I nearly fainted." she said grasping her chest.

"She suspects us." Draco groaned. "I could tell. She's going to try and blackmail me."

Hermione put her hands over her mouth.

"What if she goes public? We will both be ruined." she said.

"She won't if I pay her enough."

"Should I leave?" Hermione asked. "She could come back at any time."

"No, I'll just block the floo from the network." he replied. "But I'll need to leave and go see my father. Will you be alright alone for a few hours?"

"I'll be fine. I can draw up the contract while you are gone. Just be sure that she can't get back in here. She looked like she wanted to eat me alive."

"I wouldn't be surprised." he replied. He leaned down and kissed her briefly. She didn't respond quite as warmly as she usually did. He wondered if she had spoken with her husband.

"I'll be back soon." he said before disappearing from where he stood.

Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy had moved out of Malfoy Manor nineteen years earlier. It was a place that held terrible memories for all three of them. They now lived in a more expensive manor on the outskirts of London. It was lighter and brighter and held none of the horrors of their previous home. Draco arrived on the outer lawn since you could not apparate directly into the home. Though nearly twenty years had passed Lucius and Narcissa were still paranoid about security. He walked up the lush green lawn and used his wand to open the heavy whitewashed oak doors.

"Father? Mum?" he called out. His mother appeared at the top of the staircase and her face lit up.

"Draco!" she smiled. "What brings you here?

"Hello mum. I needed to talk to father. Is he around?"

Narcissa kissed him on the cheek and hugged him tightly.

"He's in the garden." she said taking his hand. She led him through an open, airy sitting room towards a set of French doors.

"Lucius…our son is here." she said kindly. Lucius looked up from a book he was paging through and took off his reading glasses. He looked older every time Draco visited.

"Son, I'm surprised to see you here. How are you?" he asked.

"Fine father. I need to talk to you about Asteria." he said as quietly as he could.

"She's not threatening to leave with Scorpius again is she?" Narcissa asked frantically.

"No mum, nothing like that. She will never gain custody of my son. It is about the settlement."

"Can you give us a moment darling?" Lucius asked his wife. She nodded and headed back into the house.

"I'm just going to lay it out for you father. I am seeing someone, informally of course. Asteria has an idea of what is going on. She showed up at the Gulf of Lions today with some young boy. I don't care what she does but she interrupted work on my project with Mrs. Weasley."

"Is that ministry woman the one you are seeing?" Lucius asked.

"It doesn't matter." Draco said. "The point is I want you to double the offer we discussed and get her to sign a confidentiality agreement. Get her out of my life as quickly as possible. It will be best for me, for Scorpius and my company. I don't want to release this new product while I'm still married to her. She will want a piece of it."

"You know damn well that it does matter who you are seeing. Didn't you say that the woman you are working with is married?"

"Father…" Draco groaned. "It's nothing serious. Just trust me for once."

"Fine." Lucius agreed. "But keep any bad press to a minimum. I will contact Asteria tonight and have the papers filed. You think she knows about the affair?"

"She suspects since Hermione was there at the villa with me. We found a spell that will work and she is drawing up a contract for my employees as we speak. She doesn't know anything for sure."

"Draco…I have been thinking. I think I know that woman you are working with. She seems so familiar." Lucius said.

"Father…" Draco replied rubbing his temples. "You know how your memory is anymore. Just do what I ask please."

Lucius nodded and stood up to walk with his son back into the house. Narcissa was waiting in the sitting room for the both of them.

"Everything alright?" she asked wringing her hands nervously.

"Everything is fine mum. Once Asteria is gone for good things will be much better. Scorpius will have enough love from the three of us. He is coming home for Christmas of course and we will spend it here with you both." Draco said.

Narcissa looked to be on the verge of tears.

"Do you mean it?" she asked.

"Of course mum. I will see both of you later. Father, let me know how things go. I have the floo blocked at the Gulf of Lions so Asteria can't pop in. Owl if you need anything else." he said.

Narcissa embraced him, kissing both of his cheeks.

"I love you son."

"I love you too mum." Draco said. "Father." Draco extended his hand to his father. His father took it inside of both of his and held it for a moment.

"I will take care of everything." Lucius said. His son nodded as he walked out the front doors and immediately apparated back to the French villa.

Hermione had written over half of the contract when she heard Draco return.

"That was fast." she commented. "I didn't expect you to be back so soon."

"I'm having Asteria served with our settlement tonight. I'm tired of these games she's playing. My father is taking care of everything."

"I'm almost done with this contract. Just a few details to work out." she said proudly.

"Good, good." he said.

"Is everything alright?" Hermione asked. "You seem slightly distracted."

"I'm fine. I don't like seeing my mum upset. She's so worried that Asteria will take off with Scorpius. She doesn't know that our son means nothing to my soon to be ex-wife."

"Oh. Would you like to look this over?"

"No, I'm sure it's fine." he said walking over to the balcony and looking out over the setting sun. Hermione felt something was wrong and walked up behind him, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Something else is bothering you." Hermione said looking up at him. The colors of twilight were reflected in his grey eyes.

"My father knows about us." he admitted. Hermione nearly choked.

"What? Did you tell him?" she gasped.

"No, he guessed. He still doesn't know who you are, but his memory is tricky. He said he thought you looked familiar. You don't have to worry about him Hermione. He wouldn't dare reveal anything. My business is my business."

Hermione's heart was racing uncontrollably. Her throat felt dry and she couldn't catch her breath.

"Calm down." Draco said turning to her and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "You don't have to worry about anyone hurting you or your family."

"I didn't plan any of this…" she said starting to sob. "I don't want to hurt anyone but…" she stopped short.

"But what?" he asked.

"But I don't know if I have the strength to stop now. I've come to depend on you, to need you. How can I go back to the way things were?" she said crying harder than ever.

"You don't have to think about it now." he said quietly. "Just relax a moment and I will get us some tea." He kissed her forehead and she sat down at the small table on the balcony. Draco went into the kitchen and made them each a cup of tea.

Hermione looked out into the gulf and pictured what it would be like to be with Draco. Maybe to be married to him. Would it be the bliss she was feeling when she was with him now? Or would it eventually become what she had with her husband? She didn't know. She didn't want her kids to come from a broken home but she also knew that she and Ron had grown apart long ago. She loved him dearly or course and he had given her seventeen wonderful years of marriage and two darling children. But deep down she knew that Ron wasn't her soul mate. They shared few interests so spending time together was difficult. Usually they ended up taking the kids to do something and not spending time alone. Draco returned with their tea, sat it down in front of her and sat down at the table. He said nothing to her, knowing she was doing some deep thinking. She loved that about him. That he gave her space and time to herself and not bugging her every five seconds about her feelings.

She glanced over at Draco. He too seemed to be weighing options. He sipped his tea and stared out at the vast water. It was getting dark and the sea seemed to be one huge black mass stretching out endlessly before them. They sat there for an hour silently. Her stomach gave a loud grumble.

"You're hungry." he said in his soft voice. Hermione smiled.

"I suppose I am." she replied. "I was just enjoying your company."

"What are you in the mood for?" he asked. "I can order anything."

Hermione shrugged her shoulders and looked back out into the water.

"There is a seafood place nearby. We could walk." he told her.

"Seafood sounds nice. Is it safe to be out in public here?" she asked.

"Muggles as far as the eye can see." he laughed. "No one knows either of us."

"This is going to sound odd…but do you think there are any stores around here that would sell cell phones?" she asked, not knowing if he knew what one was.

"There is a store two blocks over. Why do you ask?"

"I thought I would pick up one to call Hugo on. Since there is no phone here I assume." she said.

"No, there isn't. I think that's a good idea. You don't want him to feel you left him." Draco said.

"My parents are taking him all sorts of places. He will think he's on vacation." Hermione laughed.

"So should we go?" he asked.

"I don't have anything to wear besides what I have on. I suppose I should have stopped and picked some things up earlier."

"Oh, so you didn't go home at all?" he asked in a nonchalant way. "I thought you might have had to gather some things for your son."

"No, he had things with him and my parents always keep spare clothing there as well. I didn't want to go by the house in case Ron was still there."

He smiled to himself. Her mood wasn't caused by her husband after all.

"In any case you look fine. We can pick some essentials up from the boutique if you need to. I don't know how long you wanted to stay." he said trailing off towards the end.

"I will need something for work tomorrow I suppose." she told him.

"Let's get going then." he said standing up and taking her hand in his own. "Things close early around here."

Hermione smiled as they left out the front door for the first time since they arrived.