Winning Lucius

Chapter 1: Peeling Layers of Lucius

For the past several months, Hermione had enjoyed many cherished moments with her soul-mate. Over those months, when his eyes beheld her, they always reflected eternal love, and on many occasions lust, which warmed and excited her. When they beheld his office, they reflected ambition, which inspired her. When they beheld his family and close friends, they reflected love and loyalty, which comforted her. When they beheld his enemies or enemies of his friends, they beheld hatred and cunning without mercy, which frightened her. All of this made the wizard she loved, and all of it she would not change, not even his darkness. However, when his eyes beheld any remembrance of his father, they reflected the one thing she could not bear: anguish.

She reflected on all this as she approached Draco's gubernatorial office. Now, he openly held both the Governorship of Hogwarts and Head of Archival Records within the Department of Magical Games and Sports. With a politically savvy maneuver, he revealed his alias, Adam Ocrolfy, which he used to obtain the Archival position and enact changes. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Prophet, he announced that he wanted to prove to everyone and himself his qualifications to do the job, without the influence of the family name. Nowadays, his fashion reflected his political style: a blend of regality with his cape bearing the Malfoy crest on its clasp and dragon's head on his cane: all worn to the office and most events; while his tattoos, which he proudly displayed when training with the Aurors or going to trendy events, reflected vitality and change. All of which seemed to be well received by the press.

Though both their lives and the relationship reflected happiness and success, she caught him looking forlornly at a photo of his father confirming the governorship: the one shadow that fell on his happiness. "Puro," she said as Draco turned suddenly and smiled. She hopped in his lap and threw her arms around his neck, snogging him soundly. "I brought you this." She handed him an autographed first copy of her second book. "This is a compilation of a few short stories. They're going to publish it in December since my first is still on the top sellers list."

"Thank you," he beamed. "So I don't have to wait in line?"

"Not so long as I enjoy fringe benefits," she teased.

"I feel so used," he joked. He hugged her tightly. "Still up for your celebration party, or do you have time for the little people anymore?"

"Stop teasing me," she laughed. "You know I'll never be like that."

Soon after a reminder note jumped up, startling them. "You have a gubernatorial meeting in ten minutes."

She glanced to another picture of his father. "I know he treated you horribly but have you ever thought about just visiting him? Maybe he wants to talk to you."

He pulled back from her. "For all my life I tried to be close to him." His entire body stiffened. "I won't waste another moment on the matter." As he stood up, he gently lowered her to her feet. "I have a meeting to attend." He barely brushed his lips against hers. "I'll see you tonight." A small jet stream of cool air followed in his wake as he bolted out of his office.

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After Draco left, Hermione looked at the pictures more closely. Aside from family and associates who Hermione knew as witches and wizards who later became Death Eaters, a tall thin man with wavy dark hair always stood behind Lucius at many of the functions throughout the years. Hermione surmised that this must be Lucius' assistant. Mrs. McCaffrey, Draco's ghostly assistant would know. She approached the elderly rather prim apparition. "Mrs. McCaffrey, do you know who this wizard is?"

The elderly ghost wearing a turn of the century dress with her hair in a bun, floated over. "Oh yes, that is Lester Hollingberry. He was Lucius' assistant for years."

"Thank you," Hermione replied as she rushed out the door.

Once Hermione found his address in the Hall of Records along with some information on the Hollingberry family, she sent an owl requesting a meeting that day. Apparently, years ago the Hollingberry family had wealth but Lucius bought several properties from them at bargain prices and now they were considered at best upper middle class. Now Hermione wondered if Lester would actually speak to her and give her information on Lucius so she could figure out how to win him over.

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Using the Floo network, Hermione arrived at the wizard counterpart of Marylebone Village. For muggles, Marylebone boasted elegance blended with trendiness with unique boutiques, patisseries, cheese shops, butchers, chocolatiers, cafés and exclusive restaurants. For magical folk, the same held true. Amongst the luxurious Dorset townhomes, standing between numbers four and five, Hermione announced herself. "Hermione Granger to see Lester Hollingberry."

A couple minutes later, four rumbled away from five to reveal four and a half. The wizard Hermione recognized from the picture opened the door dressed in what seemed to be trendy designer muggle clothing. "Hermione Granger, best-selling author, pleased to meet you. Please come in." He motioned towards the couch. "Have a seat."

"Thank you," she replied. Inside Hermione admired the red and white modernly furnished apartment mixed antique nick-nacks that smelled of orange blossoms. "You have a lovely home." Certainly, this is more that what an executive assistant can afford.

"Tea and biscuits," he offered.

"I don't want to be a bother." She sat on the couch.

"No trouble at all, I have the feeling that we are going to have a very long conversation."

Now Hermione wondered if he hated Lucius and wanted to spill some dirt. "Very perceptive of you," she remarked. "Actually, I've come to ask you about your former boss."

"Former? Try still is." Lester poured some tea for her.

"But he's in Azkaban." Hermione plopped one sugar into her tea.

"We correspond since I refuse to go to Azkaban." Lester shuddered and turned his nose up. "I help him run his business dealings but I'm afraid I won't and can't go into details about that." He smiled at her puzzled expression. "I have a binding loyalty oath with Lucius. Many assistants voluntarily take them to prevent being kidnapped for information."

"Oh, I didn't know that." Hermione sipped her tea gathering her courage to ask some difficult questions. "It doesn't seem like you need to work." She gestured towards the lavish apartment. "Why do you?"

"Among the few things Lucius and I have in common are we both love the thrill of the kill….in business. I help in the business deals."

"Aren't you upset about what he did to your family?"

Lester turned red in the face just before he burst out laughing. "Let me clear the air on that one since it won't violate my loyalty oath. Several years after Lucius hired me, he entered into a deal with my family. At the time, he didn't realize that I had been legally disowned by the family." Looking down a moment, Lester sipped his tea. "One day when they were all scheduled to a have a meeting, Lucius walked in to see a typical argument between my parents, my older brother and me. Like normal, they let me know how disappointed in me they were, how could I be such an abomination and those were the nice things." Then he looked her directly in the eye. "You think being muggle born is bad. Making fun of someone like me is still socially acceptable."

"Anyhow, Lucius cleared it with me about how he planned to amend the deal. I approved it. He gave me all the extra profits from that deal." He gestured to the townhome. "That's how I can afford this place."

"So Lucius Malfoy isn't prejudiced….I mean." Hermione was dumfounded.

"His only prejudice is muggle borns." Lester chuckled a moment. "As a matter of fact, he likes having a gay assistant. I'm good for helping him plan romantic evenings for he and his wife and keeping him in style."

"So that's how they do it." Hermione ate a bite of biscuit. "I want to understand him so I can bring him back into the family and at least have him tolerate Draco and me."

"That is a tall order." Lester pondered a moment. "I don't know why he is so prejudiced. However, I can tell you that he seemed to look to Voldemort as a father figure."

Hermione choked on her tea a moment before dabbing her lips. "That's crazy."

"He drew Lucius in and then turned on him. Even though Lucius is a dark wizard, he does have a sense of loyalty. Despite everything, he loves his family but he has very thick walls around himself."

"You seem to know him well."

Lester rolled his eyes. "Like the stereotype goes, I'm very sensitive. Why didn't you speak to Narcissa? She knows him better than me, obviously."

"Every time I mention his name, it reopens old wounds." Actually, no one is allowed to mention his name in Draco's presence.

"Dear Narcissa, for her …. I might have switched." When Hermione's jaw dropped, Lester laughed. "That switch wouldn't have lasted long. Lucius would've killed me." Then he ate a biscuit. "Well, when you approach Lucius, here's a few things to know. First, he has a sharp wit so watch it. Second, he appreciates honesty. Third, I know he still cares about his family. He has me keep tabs on them because he worries." Lester paused a moment. "There's something you might be interested in. Excuse me a moment."

When he came back a few minutes later, he handed her a folded parchment. The contents surprised Hermione. "This is a court transcript. No one outside the Ministry is supposed to have these."

Lester heartily laughed. "I'm Lucius Malfoy's executive assistant. Did you expect anything less?"

Reading the transcript of Lucius' testimony, Hermione knew beyond a doubt that Lucius loved his family. Once she and Lester finished their biscuits and tea, Hermione thanked him and got the visitors' schedule for Azkaban.