Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters from JK Rowling's fantastic books or films, I'm just borrowing and playing with them for a little while and get no monetary reward for doing so. All original characters are mine and as far as I'm aware bear no resemblance to anyone alive or dead.

Author's Note: I'd like to thank my lovely beta, Mamacita, for her sterling work as ever.

This story is completely AU, although as it spans the life of the seven books I have tried to keep it as canon as my story will allow. I hope you enjoy it. Dx

Cindy walked along the platform, anxiously watching her excited daughter amongst the crowd of other children and parents with trolleys stacked high with trunks and cages, as she checked out the big red steam locomotive that stood at the station. She smiled, remembering her own first day on this same platform twenty-six years earlier and the similar excitement and terror she had felt. God, was it really that long ago? It hadn't seemed so far back. When had she got so old?

She scanned the platform looking to see where her husband, Andrew, had got to and instead came face to face with a tall, well-dressed man with long, pale blond hair and ice-grey eyes. Her heart skipped a beat. Even after all these years Lucius Malfoy was a gorgeous-looking man who had the ability to take her breath away.

For a moment he stared at Cindy, seemingly without recognising her. She had obviously changed considerably since leaving school, whereas he looked almost the same, except for the length of his hair and the craggier set of his face. But then his face lit in a small smile as he remembered who she was.

'Cindy! What a pleasure to see you. You've got a child to deposit on the Hogwarts Express, have you? Are you here with your husband?' He shook her hand enthusiastically with his own dove-grey suede-gloved one.

Cindy nodded. 'Yes, our daughter Melissa is starting her first year at Hogwarts today. Andrew's around here somewhere, probably found some old school friends to catch up with. And you. Is Narcissa here with you?'

He nodded. 'It's our son Draco's first day, too. I expect Narcissa's busy coddling the boy before he gets on the train. I think she's dreading his going away. Not used to him being away from home, you see.' His voice had a bored drawl to it that Cindy remembered from school.

'Yes, I'm going to miss Lissy dreadfully,' Cindy admitted. 'But it'll only be for a couple of months; she'll be back for Christmas.' She laughed ruefully. 'Probably before I even realise she's gone, the way time flies these days.'

Lucius nodded. 'I know exactly what you mean. I was just thinking about my own first day at Hogwarts before I spotted you. I remember the excitement and the bustle . . . and you, of course.'

Cindy blushed. 'Yes, I was thinking about my first time at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, too. I can't believe how long ago it was. I don't feel that old!'

At that moment her daughter rushed up and grabbed her round the waist, closely followed by a haughty-looking boy with short blond hair, obviously Draco. He looked exactly like his father had at eleven. No surprise that he was chasing after her daughter, either.

'This must be your daughter, then?' Lucius' voice was seductive and charming. 'She looks exactly like you did at that age. Of course, this is Draco.' Lucius had grasped his son's arm as he attempted to barge past and was holding him tight, scrutinising his reaction.

'Melissa, this is Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father,' Cindy told her daughter, who mumbled a quiet hello before hiding behind her mother. Cindy smiled at the pale boy. 'Nice to meet you, Draco.'

Draco examined at her with thinly disguised disdain and merely nodded his head. Lucius looked apologetically at Cindy and was about to say something when a tall, skinny, aristocratic-looking woman with long, pale blonde hair appeared at his side. Cindy immediately felt dowdy, the way she had always felt around Narcissa Black.

'There you are, Lucius darling. We were looking everywhere for you.' Narcissa glanced at Cindy, obviously not recognising her. Then she looked at Melissa and the penny dropped. 'Cindy Baker?' Narcissa asked, her voice a shade colder than before. 'So you're here, too. No husband with you?'

Cindy surveyed the woman coolly. 'Narcissa, what a pleasure to see you. Andrew is around here somewhere — catching up with old friends, I imagine, as all of us are.' She glanced at Lucius and smiled.

'Interesting to see who's catching up with whom,' Narcissa said coldly and turned to face her son. 'Come here, darling, let Mummy give you a cuddle before you have to leave.'

Draco sighed expressively but moved into his mother's arms and suffered the bone-crushing hug she bestowed upon him.

The whistle on the train sounded and there was a flurry of movement as children carrying cages and bags scrambled to board, their parents struggling to get the trunks loaded onto the train before it began to move. Cindy peered around, trying to find her husband as she needed his help with Lissy's trunk. There was no sign of him. What a surprise, she thought.

She sighed and looked at the girl intently. 'Take Ru's cage,' she told the child, 'and I'll get the rest sorted.'

Lissy looked at her tearfully. Cindy knew her daughter was a little scared of going away to school. But she would get over it, everyone did. She bent down slightly and opened her arms and Lissy clung to her.

'It's going to be fine, Lissy. I'm only an owl away if you need anything. And just wait, you'll make loads of great new friends. I bet you won't even want to come home at Christmas.'

The girl shook her head as if she knew that couldn't possibly be true but seemed to rally slightly when she spotted a girl she knew from her previous school. Grabbing the cage containing her tawny owl she rushed off to join her and soon disappeared onto the train. Cindy noticed that Draco watched her go and couldn't help giving a wry smile. Apparently, some things never changed.

She looked round yet again for her errant husband, but he was still nowhere to be seen. There was another sharp whistle and she knew if she didn't get the trunk aboard shortly the train would be going without it. She could see Narcissa still hugging Draco, now hanging half in the train. She was obviously crying. The poor boy looked rather embarrassed and was trying to disentangle himself, but her grip was vice-like. Cindy grabbed the trolley and prepared to make her way to the luggage compartment.

'Here, let me do that for you.' Lucius' voice was pleasant and he smiled as he took the trolley from her grasp. 'Narcissa won't even notice I've gone.' He glanced at the couple at the train door and nodded briefly at his son. 'I'm surprised your husband hasn't turned up,' he added candidly as they walked down the platform together.

Cindy laughed bitterly. 'Don't be. He wouldn't have come at all if I hadn't forced him to.' She sighed sadly. 'I wish I hadn't bothered. I mean, he hasn't even made the effort to say goodbye to Lissy.'

Lucius looked at her shrewdly. 'Not all happy in the Wentworth camp, then?' He raised an eyebrow in query. Cindy didn't reply, but her less than happy face told him everything he needed to know.

They had reached the luggage compartment and Lucius quickly helped Cindy to lift the trunk onto the train and then helped her off again, holding onto her hand just slightly longer than necessary. Cindy felt her pulse quicken and pulled her hand from his grasp, silently berating herself for being so stupid. Just because she and Andrew weren't exactly couple of the year, there was no reason for her to get all gooey-eyed over Lucius Malfoy. That was over years ago, too many years ago.

'Thank you for helping me with the trunk, Lucius,' she said sincerely.

'It was my pleasure. You know, it was nice to see you again, Cindy. Are you in town often? It would be good to meet for lunch, maybe catch up on old times. I know a few nice places near Diagon Alley if you're interested.'

For a moment Cindy almost agreed but then she thought of Andrew. She already knew what his reaction would be to the idea of her going for lunch with Lucius. After all, regardless of how many years it had been, everyone surely still remembered how things had been between them. Andrew certainly did. Lucius looked at her, seeming to read her thoughts.

'Surely Andrew wouldn't object to lunch?' he asked coaxingly. 'I'm assuming he doesn't take you out much himself?'

Cindy shook her head and laughed ruefully. 'No, Andrew doesn't have much time for things like that. But I don't think he'd be very happy about us meeting up. Although, of course, if I went shopping in Diagon Alley . . . .'

'And we just happened to meet, say, in Flourish and Blotts?' Lucius continued smoothly.

'Well, if you asked me to have lunch with you, then it would be rude of me to turn you down, wouldn't it?' Cindy smiled. 'Of course, you are welcome to bring Narcissa,' she added politely.

Lucius snorted. 'What on earth would I want to bring her for? She's always detested you, and I'd rather not have her ruin my afternoon, thank you very much. So, when do you think you'd be available?'

Cindy suddenly felt a little guilty at planning this meeting but then decided it was time she got out of the house for once, and shopping would be a nice treat, too.

'When will you next be in town?' she asked coyly.

Lucius thought for a moment. 'I have to go to the Ministry next Monday. Would that be too soon?' He looked hopefully at Cindy.

'No, that would be great. I'm sure I'll need a shopping trip to cheer me up after a week without Lissy.' Cindy grinned.

Lucius laughed. 'Hmmm, you really are like Narcissa in some ways. I'm sure she'll be on a permanent shopping spree with Draco gone. She's bad enough normally, so Merlin knows what she'll be like now.'

The train gave a final whistle and began to move out of the station. The couple turned to watch it move away, waving to their children as they went past. Cindy was gratified to see that Lissy looked much happier and was now chatting with a group of girls. Draco, too, although he stood where he had a good view of Lissy, was with a group of friends, two of whom looked suspiciously like Crabbe and Goyle. She wondered idly whether the younger boys were as stupid as their fathers.

'Don't forget to owl me to let me know what House you're in,' she called to her daughter, who smiled and nodded, waving avidly before turning away to talk to her new friends, showing no apparent interest in Draco at all.

Cindy heard a snort beside her; this was from Lucius again. 'Well, I'd have thought it was obvious what House she's going to be in. The same as her mother, just as Draco will be in Slytherin.'

'Not necessarily,' Cindy countered. 'She could always be in Andrew's House. After all, he is her father; not that you'd know it from his performance today.' She sounded a little disgruntled.

Lucius shook his head. 'Not a chance,' he volunteered. 'She's almost exactly like you were at that age.' He smiled at Cindy. 'Don't worry, she'll be in the right House.' He took her hand and stroked it gently.

Now that the platform was clearing she could see her husband at the other end talking animatedly with a group of men she didn't immediately recognise. She saw him look over, notice who she was talking to and excuse himself to head towards her. Quickly she pulled her hand from Lucius' grasp.

'Andrew's just spotted us and is on his way over; he won't want us talking to each other, I think. What time shall I be browsing in Flourish and Blotts?' she asked hurriedly.

'I'll try to be there just after one o'clock. I'll find you,' Lucius whispered quietly, then turned to face Andrew, who was just reaching them. 'Ah, the errant husband,' he said jovially. 'I'll leave the two of you to it. I need to go and comfort Narcissa. I'm sure she's already grieving at the loss of Draco.' He rolled his eyes dramatically.

Andrew looked sympathetically at Lucius and sighed. 'I know what you mean, mate. I'm sure this one will be upset, too. Funny how women are, isn't it?'

Lucius smiled and confided, 'I find the best thing to do is to let Narcissa go shopping regularly. It gives her something to do and takes her mind off things. And of course, the best thing is that it leaves me free to do other things.' He winked at Cindy's husband conspiratorially. 'Because of course, she doesn't want me to go shopping with her — you know how men are with shopping.' He laughed icily.

Andrew nodded sagely. 'That's a good idea, mate. I'll have to pack Cindy off to the shops when she gets on my nerves.'

'I'll be moving to Diagon Alley permanently, then,' Cindy said sotto voce as the two men shook hands and Lucius moved away back towards his wife, but she smiled sweetly at her husband. 'Actually, I was considering a shopping trip early next week, Andrew.'

'Yes, yes, whatever,' her husband replied flippantly, no longer interested in the conversation now that Lucius had gone. 'Come on, Cindy, let's go. No need for us to hang around here now Lissy's gone.'

He turned and walked towards the wall back into Muggle King's Cross without waiting for Cindy.

The following Monday saw Cindy wandering around Flourish and Blotts, happily engaged in browsing the books. She had been lucky in having had relatively little trouble getting Andrew to agree to her going shopping. After all, he was engaged elsewhere, doing whatever it was he did all day and he had no interest in what she wanted to do. Of course, he wasn't aware she was meeting Lucius, or it would have been a very different story.

It had been a few weeks since she had last been in the shop, having brought Lissy here to get her school books, but it was nice to be able to browse any section she wanted to without feeling rushed. In fact, she had become so engrossed in the books she had completely forgotten about Lucius and was surprised when she heard his seductively silky voice behind her.

'Mrs Wentworth . . . Cindy, what a pleasure to see you again.' Lucius' voice was light and amused. 'I don't see you for almost twenty years and then I bump into you twice in the space of a week!'

Cindy turned to face Lucius, smiling brightly. 'Hello, Lucius. Actually, I was taking your advice and doing a bit of shopping. Andrew was pleased to see the back of me after I'd been moping around the house for a week without Lissy.' She laughed. 'It's been a nice relaxing morning, I've rather enjoyed it. I think I shall have to do it more often.'

Lucius nodded. 'Yes, Narcissa's done a lot of shopping since Draco went. Of course, I've left her to it. I'm afraid I get rather bored with traipsing round shops, although I don't mind spending a bit of time in here occasionally.'

Cindy put the book she had been looking at back on the shelf.

As if the thought had just occurred to him, Lucius said, 'I wonder, would you like to have lunch with me? I've just come from the Ministry of Magic and I'm starving, and it would be nice to have some pleasant company for a change. We could catch up on what's been happening these last twenty years.'

Cindy appeared to consider the offer for a few moments, then smiled again. 'Thank you,' she replied. 'That would be lovely.' She picked up the small stack of books she had collected and went to the till to pay for them, then followed Lucius out of the shop and into Diagon Alley.

'Where are we going?' she asked, intrigued.

Lucius glanced at her, smiling. 'I'm almost worried to tell you in case you take it the wrong way.' Cindy stopped and looked at him, her eyes narrowed. 'Keep walking,' Lucius hissed. 'I was joking. It's not a bad place, just not a ladies-who-lunch type of place, either.'

'To be honest, I don't really do that whole ladies-who-lunch thing, anyway,' Cindy admitted.

'No, but Narcissa does,' Lucius replied. He took her arm as he led her down a small alleyway. 'However, I'd be amazed if she even knew this place was here, let alone had ever visited it. And they do the most wonderful food,' he assured Cindy.

A few steps later and they were outside a small Italian bistro. Lucius opened the door and let Cindy enter ahead of him, then greeted the maitre d' like an old friend. Cindy looked around the restaurant and saw that it was a cosy place with lots of intimate booths, definitely the sort of place for clandestine affairs. Then she chided herself for thinking such a thing. She and Lucius weren't having an affair, they were merely old friends sharing lunch and discussing old times. The same obviously couldn't be said for a lot of the couples in the place though and she wondered how Lucius knew about the restaurant. From the way, he had been greeted by the staff he was obviously a regular here. For a moment a stab of jealousy went through her that Lucius had been here with someone else but she brushed it aside. What did it matter to her who Lucius came here with?

Lucius took her arm again and led her to a small, dimly lit booth towards the back of the room. 'Is this okay?' he asked, concerned at the look on her face.

'Oh . . . yes . . . of course. Sorry, it was just a little more intimate than I was expecting,' Cindy admitted.

'I thought we could talk here without being observed,' Lucius replied honestly, 'but if you would prefer to go elsewhere . . . .'

'No. This is fine,' Cindy assured him and sat down, reaching for the menu.

Lucius laughed. 'You don't need to bother with that. Mario always knows what his customers need. He'll tell you what you should be having.' He smiled at Cindy. 'And he's never wrong. The choices are always perfect.'

Almost immediately the waiter brought them wine and water and a basket of fresh bread with some olives. A few minutes later Mario appeared at their table to make the decision on what they would be eating. Shortly after that, the table was filled with delicious-smelling food. Cindy had to admit that Mario certainly knew what he was doing.

'How long have you been coming here?' she asked as they ate. 'You obviously know the place well.'

Lucius nodded his head. 'I've been coming here for years. Someone from the Ministry brought me here once and I loved the food so much I've been coming back ever since. Well, when the occasion is right, of course.'

'Quite intimate, isn't it?' Cindy observed.

Lucius laughed. 'That's why I said I wasn't sure how you'd take it. Obviously, it's quite the rendezvous for lovers.' He stared into Cindy's eyes blatantly. 'I imagine all sorts of shady deals are done in here, too. However, the food is quite delicious.'

'Yes, it is,' Cindy agreed, 'and actually, I rather like it here.'

Lucius smiled, obviously pleased at her comment. 'So, we came here to talk,' he said. 'I got the impression the other day that you and Andrew aren't the happiest of couples. Care to tell me about it?'

Cindy wasn't sure she was ready to answer that one and just made a non-committal sort of sound and continued eating. After a few minutes, she replied, 'You and Narcissa seem to have lasted remarkably well. Considering your beginnings, I mean.'

Lucius gazed at Cindy and laughed bitterly. 'Hardly. You know what my feelings were for Narcissa before we married and things didn't exactly get any better after we were.' He stopped and took a drink of his wine, then looked at Cindy again. 'Our relationship was never one based on love, only duty — you know that.'

'Well, there must have been some affection between you. After all, you had Draco, and you're still together after all these years.'

'Yes, we had Draco,' Lucius admitted flippantly. 'We had sex just enough to produce offspring, and fortunately for both of us, the child was a son and heir — no need to continue with the charade. Narcissa was always a cold fish and once she was pregnant she became an ice maiden. She wouldn't even come near me, let alone allow me to actually touch her. And once Draco was born any affection she may ever have felt was showered on him. There was never any question of trying for another child.' He took another mouthful of wine.

'By the time the pregnancy was confirmed we were already sleeping in separate rooms, these days we have a whole separate wing each. Sometimes we don't see each other for days on end. Of course, we stayed together for Draco's sake, but sometimes I wonder why we bother. Really, it's only for the look of the thing — duty again.'

Cindy took a sip of her wine and considered Lucius' comments. 'So have you just put up with each other unhappily for the last twenty years?' she asked, genuinely interested.

Lucius looked at her sharply. 'What are you asking me?'

'I don't know,' Cindy admitted honestly. 'I just wondered how you'd managed to put up with it if you detest each other so much.'

'Narcissa and I are well suited socially,' Lucius replied stiffly. 'She is the perfect hostess and of course, believes in the ideals that I strive for. We're just not compatible in the bedroom. But then we always knew that, didn't we?' He looked piercingly at Cindy again and reached out to stroke her hand.

'I'm sorry, Lucius, but I still don't understand why you would marry her when you didn't love her. I didn't understand it twenty years ago and I still don't now.'

'No.' Lucius' voice was rich and smooth. 'You never did understand. Perhaps that's why I loved you so much.' He held her hand tighter.

Cindy was feeling uncomfortable now and the past was threatening to break through painfully. More tersely than she meant to she blurted out the question she had been dying to ask ever since she had entered the restaurant and seen what sort of place it was.

'So is this where you bring your lovers, then?'

Lucius stared at her, his pale grey eyes boring into hers, but he didn't answer merely continued to gently stroke her hand.

Cindy cursed herself for her outburst. What did it matter to her whether Lucius had been cheating on his wife? He wasn't married to her, after all, and she had always detested Narcissa as much as the other woman hated her. Let Lucius do whatever he wanted. Just because she was stuck in a loveless marriage and was too weak to do anything about it why should she resent someone else for getting some pleasure where they could? But, of course, the past was nagging at her and however hard she tried she couldn't keep it down.

'No, not here. Although I have had a few lovers over the years. Nothing serious, though. There was no one I would ever have considered anything more . . . permanent with.' His voice was soft and sincere. 'Really, it was just sexual. You know that I need that physical relationship. Total abstinence doesn't suit me.'

Cindy felt another stab of jealousy and tried to quell it. She and Lucius hadn't been a couple for over twenty years and they weren't going to be resuming that status anytime soon so there was no reason for her to be jealous. Except that she was.

'Are you annoyed with me?' Lucius asked gently. 'Or disgusted? Horrified? Shocked?' His fingers brushed circles on her hand as he talked, sending little electric shocks of pleasure through her.

'No. Why should I be any of those things? You're not my husband. Why should Icare what you get up to?'

Lucius looked at Cindy carefully. 'I just thought you might be shocked, by my candour if not my actions.'

'Oh, if there's one thing I know about you, Lucius, it's that you're always candid. And I didn't really think you'd have been able to go that long without sex. I remember you from school.' Cindy blushed prettily.

Lucius smirked. 'So come on then, what about you and Andrew? I have to admit I couldn't believe you actually saddled yourself with him. What on earth did you see in him?'

This comment put Cindy on the defensive. 'He may not have been as good-looking as you Lucius, but he was a good man. He was nice and kind and he wasn't some Pure-blood snob. He didn't care that I was Muggle-born.'

'So you married him because he was nice to you?' Lucius sounded disgusted. 'You didn't love him any more than I loved Narcissa, yet you have the gall to give me grief about it. You're such a hypocrite, Cindy!'

Cindy pulled her hand from Lucius' grasp, her cheeks burning from the criticism. She took a large mouthful of her wine and looked down at her plate, unable to meet Lucius' eyes.

After a few moments he said more gently, 'I'm sorry, Cindy. Please, tell me about Andrew.'

Cindy shook her head but then said quietly, 'I thought I was in love with him. Not like I was with you, not that burning passionate desire. But I enjoyed his company, missed him when I wasn't with him and felt happy in his arms. When he asked me to marry him I said yes without even thinking about it. He's a Pure-blood too, you know, but he's not into all that supremacist crap you always spouted.'

Lucius glared but didn't say anything.

'At first, things were great. We both had good jobs and although we worked hard we spent a lot of quality time together. But then he started pushing for a child. I wasn't sure I was ready. I was only twenty-two and thought we'd have plenty of time for such things. But of course, You-Know-Who was rising in power and Andrew was worried that I'd be attacked for being Muggle-born. Or that he would be, for marrying me. And he, too, wanted an heir.

'Unfortunately, conceiving didn't come that easily — apparently my fault — and when the baby was born we got a girl, not a boy. The birth was extremely difficult and I almost died. Afterwards I was left unable to have any more children, so suddenly there was no chance of a male heir.'

Cindy looked at Lucius once more, her eyes glistening with tears as she recalled the bittersweet memory of Lissy's birth. Once again he took her hand, slowly caressing it as he returned her look, determined to give support to this woman who was so obviously in pain.

'Suddenly Andrew didn't want me any longer. He hardly looked at Lissy, let alone played with her, and he moved from our bedroom into the spare room. He was rarely home, and when he was he was either drinking or locked away in his study. Soon it became obvious he was having affairs. I'm sure at least one of his women has given him a son by now.

'Strangely, the more distant from me he became, the more determined he was that I should be chained to the home. He made me give up my job to look after Lissy and he controlled the purse-strings so we could never go anywhere, except to visit my parents, without him.

'It's amazing how he can quite happily sleep with a hundred women, yet he's terrified at the idea of you and me even talking.' Cindy laughed wetly, the tears now rolling down her cheeks.

Lucius offered her his white silk handkerchief, which she gratefully accepted, dabbing at her eyes to try to stop the tears.

'Because he knows you and I had real love,' Lucius said quietly. 'And he's still worried I'll take you away from him.'

Cindy scowled, the tears having now abated. 'Real love. Was it real love, Lucius? I think not. I was just someone for you to shag while you waited to marry Narcissa. Your filthy Mudblood whore, wasn't it?'

Lucius paled and his voice became harder. 'You know full well I never called you a Mudblood, and you certainly weren't a whore. And yes, I loved you, more than anything in the world, but my dear father had brought me up to believe in duty and Pure-blood supremacy. Anyway, you weren't so keen on the idea of us getting married, as I recall.'

'Not once you became a Death Eater, of course not. How was I supposed to even like you then? You and your friends terrorised and killed Muggles and Muggle-borns . . . .'

'I never killed anyone!'

'No, but you didn't stop your friends when they did! That could have been me, Lucius. I'm Muggle-born, just like all those others. How the hell could you be in love with me and yet hate everyone else so vehemently? I just don't understand it. I never did and I never will!'

'I don't know,' Lucius admitted unhappily. 'You are my weakness, Cindy. You always have been. I've always believed Mudbloods are ruining the wizarding world, but you're different and I can't explain why. You've never been a Mudblood to me.'

'But I am,' Cindy stated defiantly. 'You've met my Muggle parents! Perhaps it's time you started to refer to me as such; then maybe you'll realise how wrong you are in your beliefs.'

The two of them were glaring at each other now, still holding hands but clenching them tightly, as if each was trying to hurt the other.

Eventually, Lucius was the one who broke the silence. 'Gods, Cindy, you are still the most beautiful woman I've ever met in my life,' he exclaimed, letting go of her hand. 'You infuriate me and turn me on all in the same breath!' Cindy looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

'I would love to make love to you right now, right here on this table,' Lucius announced grandly, and Cindy couldn't help but snort with laughter. 'What?' he asked mock hurt in his voice. 'I give you compliments and you laugh at me.' Cindy shook her head, trying not to laugh again.

Lucius grabbed her hands once more, his face serious now. 'See? We still have it, you and I. I know you still fancy me as much as I fancy you and we're both miserable as sin. We should start a grand affair and enjoy each other as much as possible. Make our terrible marriages so much better. You know how much pleasure I can give you; I dedicated the best years of my life to it.'

Cindy looked back at Lucius just as seriously. 'I am not going to have an affair with you, Lucius. You have an ego the size of a house. Fancy you, indeed. I haven't even seen you for almost twenty years—'

'And as soon as you did you felt the same rush of desire as you did when we were at school. Don't deny it. I know you did. So did I.'

Cindy opened her mouth to protest, but Lucius continued, 'And it isn't just us, is it? You must have seen how your daughter and my son were acting. Exactly as we were on the first day of school, as I remember.'

She nodded. 'Yes, I noticed that. Definitely a case of history repeating itself. I just hope it doesn't have the same crappy outcome that our romance did. Except, of course, it will if you've been preaching all that Pure-blood supremacy crap to Draco.'

Lucius scowled again but said nothing.

The waiter arrived at the table to clear their plates and Cindy took the opportunity to go to the toilet and freshen up. She dabbed water on her face to try to clear the redness that had occurred from her tears, embarrassment and anger. As she quickly reapplied her makeup she thought about her feelings for Lucius.

At school she had been completely in love with the handsome boy, even knowing his hatred for Muggle-borns, which didn't seem to extend to her. She had introduced him to her parents and he had seemed to get on well with them. She had even had high hopes at one point that he might break away from his restrictive and racist family, turn his back on his betrothal to Narcissa.

But then he had become a Death Eater and everything had changed. She still loved him — love like that didn't disappear overnight — but she couldn't be with him any longer because of the things he had done or, worse still, had allowed to happen. Lucius Malfoy had broken her heart. She had managed to avoid him for the first few years after leaving school and once she was with Andrew she avoided Lucius for different reasons, fearing for her life as Voldemort's wave of terror spread across the country.

And now in only two meetings he had her heart in a vice again. He had been right, of course: as soon as she had seen him at the station she knew she was still in love with Lucius, and if he had asked her to run away with him at that moment she would have dropped everything to go with him. No, not everything. She wouldn't have left Lissy, and she was sure he wouldn't have left Draco, so they were even on that score.

But although part of her ached to be with Lucius again she knew she had to resist him. Yes, he had spent a lot of time at school giving her sexual fulfilment, but that was so long ago and there was no way they could resume that now. They were both married, for better or for worse, to their chosen partners and they had to abide by that decision. She couldn't help imagining what it would be like, though, after all this time, both of them being so much more experienced — although of course, Lucius had always been far more experienced than her, anyway. Shaking the thought from her head, she quickly made her way back to the table, where dessert awaited.

As they left the restaurant Lucius held her arm, turning her to face him. 'I was serious about you and I getting together,' he said quietly.

'I know,' Cindy replied. 'And I was serious about us not. I'm sorry, Lucius. I'm just not interested in getting my heart broken again by a Death Eater.'

'I'm not a Death Eater any longer,' he countered.

'Oh, no, of course not. I remember reading that you had been under the Imperius curse. Sorry, Lucius, I know you too well. You definitely were a Death Eater, and you probably still would be if You-Know-Who hadn't been killed. In fact, by now maybe you'd even be ready to kill me.'

Lucius dropped her arm, looking hurt. 'I've been in love with you since I was eleven, since the first time I saw you on the platform waiting to go to Hogwarts. Even then I cursed my parents for betrothing me to Narcissa, wishing it was you I was betrothed to. And that was before I even knew who you were.

'All I've ever wanted is to give you pleasure. I hate that you're unhappy, Cindy. If you and Andrew had been in a perfect relationship I'd have left you alone, but you're not. He treats you abominably and I want to rectify that.'

'I'm sorry, Lucius, but I can't.' Cindy's voice was quiet and sad. 'Please, don't push it.'

Lucius nodded his understanding and the two of them walked silently back towards Diagon Alley.