A/N: This is my first published fanfiction. Yow. My muse visited last night and gave me Lucius Malfoy. I thanked him with this. This story will definitely be long. Probably not novel length, long nonetheless.
The alarm clock on her bedside table sounded, and Hermione Granger's eyes opened. She was exhausted still from the past week, but it was now the weekend. The two days where instead of working at your job, you worked on your life. She was about to get out of bed when she felt pressure on her head. Crookshanks, still agile as ever, although getting up there in years, was stretching from his slumber, atop his human's pillow. She sat up quickly and felt the feline crash into her back with a small meow.
"Well, Crookshanks, maybe you should try sleeping on the other pillow." She smirked, and to no surprise, her cat smirked back at her. "Come on, you old cuss. Let's go make breakfast." He mewed in approval as she threw her feet off the bed and stood up, wrapping her robe around her and padding into the kitchen.
Her house was modest – a typical English cottage. She had more than enough room for herself and her familiar, and a couple extra rooms for pleasure – including a library and a secret room within that one, hidden behind the bookshelves that she used for her writing. Her house had a lovely kitchen, with a stone hearth and a cozy eating nook in the corner. Windows framed one complete wall, letting the early morning sunshine stream in as she put the kettle on. She fed Crooks, and put on her gardening shoes that were lying by the back door, and opened it. Since her home was in the countryside, she had spent many years adding to the landscape surrounding it. It was filled with loads of flowers and lush greenery. It even had a small pond, filled with koi fish and a bench in the shade of an old willow tree. She grabbed the watering can from the potting bench and filled it with a word. She went to her pots first, letting the can fill them, as she let the sun warm her skin. Minutes later, she heard the whistle of the kettle, and she went back inside to finish her breakfast, when she heard a rustle from the hearth.
"Ginerva Potter, I swear." She gaffawed, as her friend poked her head out of the fireplace.
"Hermione, I wanted to talk to you." Ginny looked rather serious for so early in the morning, and Hermione got that immediately.
"Well, do you want a cup of tea?"
"Sure. Let's sit down."
Hermione grabbed an extra cup and they went to the table, where the kettle was waiting. She made the tea and Ginny began to speak.
"Harry didn't come back until late last night, or early this morning, I guess. He told me as soon as he came home and I figured I should tell you…"
"Ginny would you just tell me? Is everything okay? Is someone hurt?"
"Everyone's fine." Ginny took a swallow of her tea. "Lucius Malfoy was released from Azkaban prison last night."
Hermione set her cup back down on the table, not feeling very hungry anymore.
"I wanted to you to know first, Hermione. Before the paper arrived." As if on cue, the paper owl swooped into the kitchen, and threw the paper on the table, and left with a loud screech. There it was, right on the front page, his face. She scanned the article quickly, and she figured that he had probably bribed Rita Skeeter because the article itself was dripping with positivity, "more so than anything the cow has ever written about me," Hermione thought bitterly. She focused back to Ginny.
"Do you think he'll come here?" Hermione asked out loud. Only Ginny truly knew the relationship between her and Lucius.
9 years previous
Hermione Granger was not one you could call a timid person, but rather, a cautious person. She was not afraid to speak up, and she was not afraid to help. She wasn't particularly afraid of anything anymore. Except seeing him again. He was not her first patient here at Azkaban prison, but it didn't help her stomach from twisting. He had been put here shortly after she got her medi-witch license, and she accepted a job working for a program through St. Mungos to nurse inmates here. No one was thrilled with her working at such a place, but the prison had gone through some major changes after Minister Kingsley took over after the war. It still had the best protective spells and enchantments of any wizarding prison in the world, but it was reminiscent of a Muggle prison, Hermione thought. Her Aunt had worked in a low-security jail in the States a long time ago, and enjoyed helping those trying to rehabilitate themselves, so she thought that she would give it a shot. So far, so good. The inmates were courteous and respectful… she wasn't allowed to work on former Death Eaters on orders from the Minister, but this was an exception for the day. Her co-worker, Anise Oliver had gone into childbirth, and she was the sole person there for the time being. She walked down the lit hallway, making her way down to one cell. His. The guard, Ambrose, walked her down slowly, then opened the cell with his wand and left her.
"Wait!" she yelled in surprise. "Don't…don't you have to stay?" She asked quietly. He walked back and touched her shoulder gently. "Madam Granger. You know the rules. Don't worry. He can't do anything, and if he tries anything at all, we will be here in a flash. The Minister himself knows you're doing this – so he has been made aware of that fact. You are very safe." She nodded, barely motivated by the old man's pep talk. He began to walk away again and she let him. She turned slowly, noticing that the other cells around his were empty, and that did not please her.
"Miss Granger." His voice had lost no emotion. And it still raised the hair on her skin as if she was out in an thunderstorm. "Please. I am in pain." He spoke again.
She went into the cell and saw him. He was lying on his cot, and she didn't understand how someone could make prison garb look dashing. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she approached him.
"What happened, Mr. Malfoy?" she asked, as she ran her wand over his body, silently casting diagnostic spells.
"I don't know." He looked troubled for the first time she had noticed, and he had a look of fear in his eyes. "I wasn't attacked as far as I know, but I feel like my organs are going to burst out of my very skin." She looked at his face once more, and noticed sweat dripping down his forehead. She placed her hand on his head, and felt scorching heat. "Have you been feeling nauseous?" She felt her voice become gentle.
"Y-yes. I've been vomiting off and on all night long." He looked disgusted with himself. Probably humiliated to tell a mudblood about such basic human maladies, she thought. "Well, as odd as this may seem, Mr. Malfoy, I think you have appendicitis."
"What?" he asked sharply. She knew he had never heard of such a Muggle condition.
"Let me just…" she trailed off as she ran a final spell over his stomach, which she had uncovered. It was swollen, a classic symptom. "Appendicitis is inflammation of your appendix, a virtually unneeded organ in your body. It needs to be removed immediately. I can't believe they waited until morning to get me here!" She went from textbook Hermione to pissed off medi-witch Hermione in a matter of seconds. She sent a message to the guards, telling them of the seriousness of Lucius' condition, and then bent down, as he garnished a look on his face she could have never imagined.
"It's nothing to be afraid of, Mr. Malfoy. It's a simple procedure. It affects wizards all the time. You'll be transported to St. Mungo's right away, and be in recovery for about two days. You'll have sufficient pain potions afterward for as long as you need them."
The look did not change on the man's face as he turned to her and spoke.
"Miss Granger, I-" He was cut off as three guards came into the cell and hoisted him up roughly. "Be careful, damnit!" She yelled. "I would prefer if his appendix does not rupture before he gets to the damn hospital!" She heard a chorus of mumbled apologies, and shot them all a stern look. "Let me take him, you fools." She flicked her wand, and Lucius easily floated through the air to the end of the hall, gently, as she wished, and was placed onto a Muggle gurney to be transported through Apparation, a new medical breakthrough, instead of aggravating new injuries through the Floo.
As soon as they got to the hospital, she noticed Mr. Malfoy's eyes begin to flicker. A rush of panic seethed through her. She placed her wand to her throat and heard her voice echo through the hospital building like an intercom, calling for a operation room to be opened now. Hermione Granger was going to remove an organ from Lucius Malfoy's body. How weird this day was turning out. If only Harry was here, she smirked.
Hermione snapped back to reality, and focused on the situation at hand.
"So what is going to happen now? He's done with trials? With Azkaban? With…everything?" She asked quietly. "He's done with me."
"Yes. Every matter has been settled. He should be back at Malfoy Manor now, actually. I forgot that he kept it." She smiled softly. "It's all up to the Gods now, Herm. Nobody knows what his next move is. I bet he doesn't even know."