The Minister for Magic stood rigid in the crowded lift. She could smell the rich and expensive cologne of the aristocratic wizard standing so close behind her that his robes brushed against hers. She'd tried to avoid his eyes when she had entered within such a close proximity to her long-time enemy, but they had caught hers quite easily. The passionate glare with which he greeted her prompted her to quickly turn her back on the proud man without a word or a simple greeting.

When she felt him close the small distance between them, she knew that he was doing it to deliberately provoke her. Knowing that anger was the appropriate response to his bold move did not stop her heart from pounding out of lust. The man was evil, sadistic, and the leader of the party that rivaled her own for control of the Ministry, but she was ashamed to admit, even to herself, that she hungered for him anyway.

As he repositioned his walking stick, his gloved hand brushed against her lower back. Her sharp intake of breath was clearly audible, and the other passengers were quick to look in their Minister's direction with unconcealed curiosity. She kept her honey-colored eyes on the door in front of her, but failed to keep her cheeks from coloring. She stood there in silence until the lift reached her floor. When the doors opened, she didn't move.

HG**LM

The head of the Ministry's finance office waited patiently while countless employees brushed past him as they entered the lift. He glanced up just in time to see his guilty obsession as she stepped past the closing doors. When their eyes met, he saw open contempt in her fleeting glance, and it only made his yearning for her more intense. He fought against the arousal trying to take hold of his body, but she drove him farther into madness when she turned her back to him, practically tossing her wild hair into his face. In a moment of weakness, he stepped forward, dying to bury his face in the natural scent of that unruly mane.

The normally serene wizard fidgeted as he fought to keep his infatuation for her concealed. He knew that she hated him as he had once hated her, but it was the strength of her emotional response to him that made him want to lose control. He desperately craved contact with her, and he dared to brush his hand against her back while adjusting his grip on his walking stick.

When he heard the little witch gasp at the barely intimate contact, he stole a sly glance down at her face. Her crimson cheeks and heavy breathing told him what he had wanted to know since the day that she had taken office, and the fact that she didn't exit the lift when it reached their floor left no room for him to doubt that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

HG**LM

Several moments later, only Lucius and Hermione remained, yet they hadn't the will to distance themselves from one another. In the awkward silence, they each came to realize the power that they had over the other.

"Were you not going to your office, Madam Minister?"

"Yes, I . . . no . . . well, you missed your floor too, Mr. Malfoy."

"You are correct as always. How inconvenient that I must now wait longer in here with you. I seem to have been . . . distracted."

As he spoke the last word, he raised his hand to her shoulder and caressed her neck with his thumb. She whimpered softly and leaned back into his body, pressing against him completely.

Just then, the doors opened once again to reveal the busy corridor leading to each of their offices.