A Big Bad Wizard
"Mr. Malfoy, when was the last time you saw Severus Snape?"
"I saw him the night he died. He was on the floor of that shack in Hogsmeade. I don't know what happened to his body after that."
"We have photographs of a man fitting Snape's description entering the gates of Malfoy Manor on the ninth of last month. How do you explain that?"
"Mr. Shacklebolt, that photograph only shows a dark profile of someone whose features are obscured by a cloak. Many wizards have a prominent nose and black hair."
Arthur Weasley suddenly added, "Why were you having a celebration on the night in question?"
Lucius remained impassive. "I was simply entertaining a few friends. I'd hardly call it a celebration."
Mafalda Hopkirk interjected, "It was the night of Severus Snape's birthday that the reporter caught a photo of the fugitive entering your property, and The Daily Prophet reported that he was a guest at your home the entire weekend according to witnesses."
Lucius smiled. "Have you never known that rag to print falsehoods? Do you actually have the names of these alleged witnesses?" He let the silence linger for a moment before adding, "I thought not. All you have is gossip."
Lucius didn't mind being interrogated by the ministry tribunal appointed to ascertain Severus' whereabouts. It gave him access to the Ministry, which gave him access to Severus' case file. Any minute now one of his accomplices would appear to show all three Ministry officials off to a last minute meeting, and Lucius would have the opportunity to remove the file from Arthur Weasley's office undetected. He'd done his research. He knew that the file was kept in Weasley's office, and he knew how to bypass the wards. A bottle of Polyjuice was concealed in his pocket.
"Before we conclude this meeting, I must say that I am a bit surprised that two members of the illustrious Order of the Phoenix are so concerned with apprehending a war hero being accused of criminal acts. He is, after all, from among your own ranks." Until this point, Lucius had remained aloof and condescending, but his tone was now genuine. He pinned Arthur and Kingsley with accusing glares while awaiting their responses.
Arthur looked at Kingsley before returning his attention to Lucius and explaining, "We know he is a hero, Malfoy, but there are formalities to consider. You escaped Azkaban, so what makes you think that a good man like Severus won't be able to do the same. Even though he is innocent, he must stand trial for what happened to Albus. The murder was too public for us to simply dismiss."
Lucius ignored the insult and focused on the familiar secretary entering the room behind the tribunal with a written message for Weasley and the others.
Arthur looked at the letter, frowned, and turned to Kingsley. "Well, it looks like I'll have to put off lunch with Hermione. The Wizengamot requests our presence downstairs." He turned to the secretary and said, "There isn't much time. I need you to send a missive to my daughter-in-law, Mrs. Hermione Weasley. Let her know not to meet me in my office today. Tell her that I'll speak with her tonight, will you?"
With that, the trio gathered their notes and rushed into the corridor, leaving Lucius to see himself out of the building. His plan was going perfectly on track except for one unexpected element. Hermione Weasley was going to appear in Arthur's office within the hour unless she received that message on time. He couldn't afford to take any chances. Even with Polyjuice, she might discover his deception before he could secure Severus' information.
He reached the secretary just as she was folding the letter into a crude shape of an aircraft. "Did I do everything right, Lucius?"
"Yes. Thank you, Pansy. It is now imperative that I follow that memo to its destination. It is important that it reaches Mrs. Weasley on time, and you know how these interoffice communications tend to get lost and dawdle in the corridors or on the lifts."
Pansy chuckled. "Mine never get confused, but I understand that you need to make sure." She held her wand to the parchment and watched as it soared peacefully out of the room with a determined wizard stalking after it.
As he turned the last of many corners, he spied a lovely young witch clad in the deepest of reds. The rich material against her fair, radiant skin drew his predatory gaze to her tempting figure. Lucius imagined the little witch to be running from him, so he quickened his pace. The letter fluttered in the residual breeze as he rushed past it. The soft scratch of parchment grazing his outer robes called his attention back to his mission, and he looked over his shoulder at the flying post. Assuring himself that the parchment would make it to the correct office as it was the last office at the end of the corridor, he let himself get quite a bit ahead of it in his pursuit of the illusive lady in red.
She wore her form-fitting and tasteful robe like a goddess. A single curl of hair flowed out of the jeweled barrette that was holding her thick, silky hair in a tight twist. Lucius' eyes followed it down to her low neckline that accentuated her small shoulders and left so much tender skin exposed for his viewing delight.
He followed her to the end of the corridor and stopped short when she entered Hermione Weasley's office. It wasn't until she turned to shut the door behind her that Lucius completely comprehended his situation. The smoldering Mrs. Hermione Weasley was not at all like the plain Miss Hermione Granger that he had known long ago. Their eyes met briefly, and her look of defiance as she slammed the door in the face of her old foe triggered his male instinct. As the letter from Arthur finally sailed to the door, Lucius plucked it out of the air and ripped it apart before making his way back to Weasley's office. His oldest enemy would be tied up for hours, so Lucius saw no reason to rush the job. If he played his part well enough, he could have the file and the woman right where he wanted them.
HG**LM
While the rest of the Weasley clan was on holiday with Fleur's family in France, Hermione was staying with Arthur at The Burrow. They'd both been too swamped with work to leave with everyone else, and Molly had spoiled Arthur to the point where he couldn't manage on his own. Hermione quite enjoyed spending time with her father-in-law. Their lunches together had become a welcome and refreshing break from the monotony of business as usual at the Ministry.
She started speaking to him as she crossed the threshold into the room. "Are you ready to go? I'm particularly hungry . . ." Her increasingly unsure voice trailed off at the sight that met her eyes when she finally focused them on the handsomely dressed wizard standing in front of her.
"Arthur, did you purchase a new suit?"
As he was aware of Arthur's peculiar affinity for Muggle suits, Lucius had his tailor design him one just for the occasion of impersonating the Muggle loving fool. It was obvious from her appreciative smile that Hermione quite liked the suit, so Lucius used that to his advantage. He didn't need his own fabulous body in order to seduce a woman. His charm and cunning were all that he needed. "How do I look?"
Hermione's smile widened. "You look very handsome. I love it. This could be a new look for you," she teased innocently.
Lucius walked to the mirror and surveyed his new suit and body. "It is an improvement, isn't it?" He turned to her and dropped his voice to a subtle, seductive drawl. "But is it enough?"
"Enough for what?" Hermione asked. The way he looked at her in that moment like a man looks at his lover made the smile fall from her face. She'd never seen him that way before, and curiosity began to slither its way into the back of her mind. She took a small step forward in anticipation of his answer.
Lucius decided that it was time to move in for the kill. He crossed the distance between them and succumbed to the urge to place his hands on her shoulders, gently caressing her décolletage with his thumbs. Bringing his cheek flush with hers, he whispered, "I mean, is it worthy of you. Do I look fine enough to be seen in the company of a beautiful witch such as yourself?"
Silence was his only answer. Hermione was not prepared for such a compliment from a man who had never before shown her any sort of inappropriate interest, and this new interest was indeed inappropriate. She could only stand there taking in deep breaths of his luscious, stimulating scent, which she was sure that she had never noticed before. It was wrong of her not to step away, but she abruptly lost her aspirations to be right while gaining a desperate desire for him to say something more—to do anything more. She stood on the brink of something dark, dangerous, and delicious without the will to jump. She instead hoped in silence that the man in front of her would push them both over the edge.
When the air between them became hot and sweet with her increasing excitement, Lucius knew that it was time to escalate her yearning for him even more by placing his lips on her flushed, glistening cheek. Hermione gave an exaggerated sigh and collapsed against him, throwing her arms around him.
After another moment of enjoying the feel of his hands on her body, her conscience and intelligence finally caught up with her arousal. Common sense told her that Arthur could not be initiating an affair with her. It was true that they were becoming closer as a result of their time together, but the situation still seemed surreal to Hermione, and she surely could not explain her sudden attraction to him.
Looking up at him, she asked, "What are we doing?"
"We are enjoying ourselves, my dear."
"That—that doesn't sound at all like you, Arthur."
"You're right. It's not, but I've only just realized how remarkably sexy you are."
"Are you sure that you want to do this?"
"Yes, I want to do this and so much more." In order to utterly smother her doubt, he held her tight and kissed her hard before asking, "Will you let me?"
"I don't know."
Her purred, "Yes, you do."
She nodded.
By the time that he had her against the desk, their clothes were on the floor, and her legs were wrapped about his waist. She rocked her warm, wet core against his swelling cock, which drove him to drop suddenly to his knees in front of her and slowly rub his face up the inside of her inner thigh, savoring the feel of her skin and the smell of her sex. Her every whimper was matched by a growl from him as he nibbled on the tender flesh between her legs.
As his greedy tongue continued to lap up the irresistible evidence of her pleasure, Lucius felt the effects of the Polyjuice beginning to fade. Forcing himself to stand, he once again pulled her into an embrace and guided her legs around his waist. She screamed in surprise and pleasure when he began massaging her clit with his thumb while stroking her with his fingers. Just as he prepared to thrust himself into her, she spoke.
In the dim light, her lover's eyes looked like they were changing color, and she even thought they seemed larger. Hermione blinked as she thought her eyes were deceiving her. When she looked again, she still saw a set of larger, more piercing eyes. A weak twinge of doubt resurfaced in her mind, but it was not enough to fight her growing ecstasy.
"Arthur, what big eyes you have!"
"The better to worship your beauty with, my dear."
His voice was different, too. It was as deep as rolling thunder, yet as smooth as raw silk.
"Arthur, what a sultry voice you have!"
"The better to seduce you with, my dear."
As he was talking to her, she noticed his teeth and wondered if they had always been so bright and straight.
"Arthur, what perfect teeth you have!"
"The better to devour your succulent lips with, my dear."
With those words, he engulfed her mouth in a violent, forceful kiss, biting and sucking as her swollen lips while finally thrusting his manhood deep inside of her.
Falling completely onto the desk and arching her back against it, Hermione reveled in the feeling and closed her eyes as she let go of every thought in her mind. The feelings washing over her were all that mattered.
As she came back down to earth, she ran her fingers through the hair of the man collapsed on top of her. The feel of his hair caused her eyes to fly open, and she snapped her head up from the desk. Looking at the long blond hair tangled around her fingers, she gave a strangled cry.
At the sound of her cry, Lucius lifted his head to look at her.
The look on her face was somewhere between confusion and horror. "Why?"
"I wanted you. I'll have you again, if you'll let me."
She was beyond angry with him, but she was also angry and disgusted with herself. She was more confused than she had ever been in her life. "Mr. Malfoy, had I known it was you, I wouldn't have . . ."
She got to her feet and began getting dressed. He followed her lead.
His tone was neither condescending nor malicious when he asked, "Are you sure? You can paint me as the big bad wolf, if that will make you feel better, my dear, but we both know that you wouldn't have slept with your father-in-law either. What made you suddenly decide to do that?"
She knew the answer. "It was you. I thought I was attracted to him, but I was attracted to you . . . I do love Arthur, and that's the only reason you were able to get close to me . . . I hate you."
"Haven't you always hated me?"
"I hate you even more now that I know how easily you can seduce me. How did you know that I wouldn't turn you in for using an illegal potion to impersonate a Ministry official? Wait—what are you doing in here?"
"I'm not going to tell you what I'm doing in here. I've got everything that I came for. That's all that matters, and it would be difficult for you to explain what happened here today to your father-in-law. In fact, you'd be mad to do so. I think that I'm safe."
"You're despicable. How can you be so beautiful?"
"Appearances can be deceiving, my dear."
"How could I have been so stupid?"
"We are all stupid at times, Mrs. Weasley."
She glanced at the clock before approaching Lucius and whispering, "I can't go back to work right now, and I can't go to The Burrow."
"What are you suggesting, witch?"
Faster than Lucius thought possible, Hermione had her wand pressed against his neck. "I thought you'd learned not to cross me years ago, Malfoy."
"Hermione, if you were a man, I'd kill you."
"And because I'm a woman, you'll do what instead?"
He leaned forward, pressing the wand deeper into his throat, and kissed her.
When they finally separated, she said, "A few minutes ago, you made me forget who I am, and I need to feel that way again. Take me with you, and I might let you live afterwards."