It was a cold, sunny winter day as Hermione found out when she looked out of her window. "Perfect for ice-skating," she thought "I'll ask Ginny and Harry if they want to join me."

Near her house, not a 10-minute walk away, lay a beautiful pond which froze over every winter. It was a popular meeting point for the local community.

Hermione quickly wrote a message to her friends and they agreed to meet there in the afternoon. She was glad for a little distraction as her recent Ministry work proved to be rather difficult. It always was when two Departments of the Ministry tried for one "assignment" and in effect its funding.
Unfortunately, she had to work out a solution. In this style, the morning passed and after a small lunch, Hermione dressed in jeans and warm pullover and got her skates out of the cellar. Wrapped in a warm cloak and scarf, she got out of her cottage and walked towards their meeting point.

She had almost arrived at the frozen lake when Harry's owl swept down. After Hedwig, he needed a long time before he could get another owl. Mary, a beautiful African Grass Owl, had been a gift from Ron after one of his Quidditch journeys.
When Ron first saw the little dots over the owl's body, he exclaimed a rather soft "Bloody Mary" but the owl had hooted and since then, the name stuck to it. Thankfully, Harry ignored the first part of the name.

The owl landed on a small tree before her and Hermione reached over to take the letter it had carried. As soon as the piece of paper was in Hermione's hands, the owl took off again. Hermione could understand the animal very well. Mary didn't like the cold, coming from South Africa.
But Ron, always so sharp with his mind, hadn't even thought about it before it was through the customs control at the British Ministry. As the damage had already been done, Harry thankfully took the owl with him.

Hermione opened the paper and read

Hermione,

Ginny had a small crisis with her clothing, you know how she

here something was crossed out again and Hermione could only guess what stood there.
Obviously, Ginny had not been happy about Harry's word choice.

we will be a little late.

Harry

Smiling, she tucked the piece of paper in her pocket and sat down on the bench to change her footwear. Since Ginny had revealed her pregnancy, Harry tried – and failed miserably most of the times – to not anger his wife. But her pregnancy hormones made it very difficult for him. Thankfully, they both were so much in love with each other, it usually didn't take long for Ginny to be happy again.

Snapping her skates shut, Hermione carefully went to the natural ice ring. Waddled would be the more appropriate word, she thought. She had never been the most elegant when wearing skates.

Stepping on the ice, she was glad nobody was here to see her.
The first steps always looked like a newborn horse trying to walk. Soon, she got into the rhythm again and silently drew her rounds on the ice.

After some time, the first layer of the ice melted away. Had she had been more focused on the underground, instead of thinking of her work, she would have seen the leaves on the ground. Having fallen down the previous autumn and after the sudden freezing at the start of November, they were just frozen on top of the lake. But she was too focused and didn't see them.

Suddenly, her right foot slithered on one of these leaves.
Without the contact with the ice, her balancing wasn't stable anymore and her feet just slipped away under her, causing her to fall backwards.

With a heavy impact, her back crashed into the ice.
Her head followed not even milliseconds afterwards while the air was pressed out of her lungs.

Her head hurt, like it never hurt before. Her back, well, she couldn't quite feel anything wrong with it, but it certainly didn't feel like after a relaxing massage. She could move her legs, which was a good sign, she decided. But the movement only multiplied the ache in her head.

Groaning, she slowly reached her hand up to touch her head. Feeling something wet, she quickly brought her hand to her eyes. Thankfully, she didn't see any red colour on it. It was just melted water. Reading her, to stand up again and crawl to the shore, she was stopped by a hand pressing down on her shoulder.

"You stay exactly like that, Miss Granger, or I will see to it violently" the dark voice of Lucius Malfoy threatened.

Frightened, as she hadn't heard him coming, she didn't move a muscle.

Lucius Malfoy had enjoyed a walk through the forest when he came upon the lake, seeing Hermione Granger gracefully ice-skating on it. Hidden behind some trees, he watched her for some time before she suddenly crashed.

Alarmed, he had run towards her. Coming to a slithering halt at the exact moment she wanted to get up again, he pressed her down to the ice. If he knew anything about healing, a concussion was not to be treated lightly. And the person should not move if it was possible.

"I'm getting cold" Hermione murmured silently. "The water seeps in my clothes. And I'm so tired, I think I will close my eyes."

"No, you won't!" Lucius commanded, looked directly into her eyes.

"He has beautiful eyes," Hermione thought, "the same colour as the sky. An almost light grey." Everything was becoming rather fuzzy.

Seeing that the young girl before him was close to becoming unconscious, Lucius carefully slipped one arm under her legs and the other under her shoulders. He cautiously picked her up, stabilising her head with his shoulder.

Hermione felt like in heaven. Floating in strong arms, pressed to a warm body. "And he smells so good," she thought.

"Thank you, Miss Granger." Lucius answered, smirking lightly, "I will now apparate us to St. Mungo's if you don't have any other plans."

Horrified, Hermione concluded that she had spoken loudly.

Lucius had apparated them straight into the emergency ward of the hospital, breaking some protection wards in the action. And as he was still the crème de la crèmeof British wizarding society, a healer rushed straight to them.

When Harry had broken his arms two years prior, they had to wait an hour before some apprentice even looked at them. Well, that was an advantage as her head really hurt and her stomach rumbled. Maybe she should warn Lucius.

"I think I'm going to be sick"

"Try to refrain from doing so in public." was the only answer she got.

A second healer took her from Lucius' arms, put her on a bet and rolled her into a room.

The female witch ran some diagnostic spells over her while asking questions.

"You fell on your head and back really hard?"

"Yes" why did she even need to ask if she already knew?

"Any previous predicaments? Allergies?"

"No!" Her head really hurt, she couldn't almost concentrate.

"Name?"

Didn't she know her? Hermione couldn't answer the healer, everything hurt so much.
They should ask Lucius, he knew those standard questions about her.
And so, the only thing she got out was "Malfoy…" before she fainted.

When Hermione woke up again, the first thing she smelled were the flowers. Slowly she opened one eye, then the other.
The room was full of them, mostly red, pink and white roses.

Slowly turning her head, she saw Ginny sleeping lightly in a chair next to her bed. Their hands were linked, as Ginny had fallen asleep while holding Hermione's hand. To reassure both that everything is going to be ok.

Hermione softly squeezed the other's hand. Her mouth was too dry to speak. Thankfully, Ginny woke quickly up. Standing up, she cautiously embraced Hermione and handed her a glass of water.

"Oh my god. You are awake. How are you?"

"My head hurts slightly, but it's much better now."

"What do you always do? We leave you one second alone and you have an accident and have gotten yourself a husband." Ginny smiled brightly. Too brightly.

Hermione's head worked overtime to decode Ginny's statement.

"Husband?" Unbelievingly, she looked to Ginny.

"Yeah, husband. A rather handsome one, too." Ginny's mischievous smile only grew with Hermione's increasing confusion.

Now, Hermione slightly panicked. She didn't have a husband. She didn't even have a boyfriend. Meanwhile, Ginny grabbed the folder at the end of the bed and read aloud: "Mrs Malfoy, age 27, grade 3 concussion…"

Hermione laid there stunned. According to this document, she was Mrs Malfoy.

"I'm married to Draco?" Oh god, please not the ferret. I need the best divorce lawyer there is.

Now Ginny was openly laughing "No, you dumb girl. Draco isn't that handsome. Your husband is rather built like a god, and acts definitely like one."

"Thank you, Miss Weasley. I seem to get a lot of compliments from young ladies these days."

Lucius Malfoy closed the door behind him, after stepping into the room. Confused, Hermione looked over to Ginny. But she wasn't a big help as she stood up to leave the room.

"Hermione, I'm going to look what Harry is doing. You know how he gets in hospitals. I will be back if you need me." Ginny said her goodbyes and left.

Hermione only nodded. She was too overwhelmed by the whole situation.
And why was Malfoy here? Reading her facial expressions, Lucius knew he had some answering to do.

He walked over to Ginny's vacated chair and sat down.

"You were ice-skating on that pond by your house." He started after a short silence "You fell down and I brought you to the hospital."

Well, that makes sense. Hermione could only remember a male figure transporting her, so that must have been Lucius.

"When you were asked by Healer Harris about your name, you only said Malfoy."

Vaguely, Hermione could remember the whole ordeal.

"But I only meant to get you." She piped up.

"I know. I was called into the room not ten seconds after you fainted. Alas, St. Mungo's bureaucracy isn't made quickly change the name of patients and it gave me the opportunity to get some medical records on you before Harry and Ginny could come."

Hermione looked unconvinced. She didn't know why he had done it.

"You woke up shortly, were sick over my clothes and then the healers put you to sleep. You didn't think I would wear such atrocities," he pointed towards his clothes which consisted of black trousers, grey button down and a black jacket, "without the need to, did you?"

Hermione tried to shake her head, but quickly stopped when the room started to spin around her. Instead, she asked, "How long will I be here?"

"No more than 2 days, then you will come with me to Malfoy Manor."

Lucius looked over to Hermione. She was shocked. Well, he has also been shocked when he was informed by the healer that his wife wanted to see him. And as such, she would live with him in the manor where he could care for her if necessary.
At least until she was fully recovered. Hopefully longer.

In the years after the war, a small friendship has grown between them. Hermione was one of the first to forgive him. As they both were rather intelligent, they were often placed next to each other at formal dinners. At first, they had ignored each other. But dinner after dinner came, and so did their friendship.

Lucius appreciated the whirlwind of new ideas, mostly muggle, Hermione brought to his attention.
And Hermione loved the knowledge he had, and which he shared with her.

It was a positive addition that they found each other very attractive.

"Definitely not! I'm a young, independent woman who can care for herself. And I need to work, too. You know, money doesn't grow on trees."

Lucius let her rant for some time, knowing from his previous marriage with Narcissa that it was sometimes better to stay silent.

"My dear, you know how the wizarding society works. A husband must care for his ill wife. And you will come with me, even if I have to stun you."

Hermione was too tired to say something else and just nodded, falling asleep shortly after.

A/N I don't know where this will lead. If you have any ideas you might like, just DM me
Updates will be not be posted until mid August, after university exams are over.