The Daily Prophet issue that broke the story of Lucius and Hermione's engagement sold out by noon that day. Not since the Battle of Hogwarts had the wizarding world been so stirred up. Owls and Howlers started to pour into the Manor; but Lucius had had the wards set up so that Howlers could not make it past the property boundary; and there was a small room on the top floor of the west wing that was where all owls would go to; so there was room for a dozen at a time.

Hermione had decided to see her parents that same day so that she would not be around for all the sturm und drang that would surely occur. Though there was some of that as well. She had decided to go straight to the house instead of meeting her parents in a public place; it was a little awkward but not all that difficult.

"This man tried to kill you Hermione!"

"No he didn't; that was Dolohov who is dead now anyway."

"From what you have said before he was this Voldemort's right hand man."

"That was more show than substance; before he even started to help us out he was a virtual prisoner; when I was tortured at his mansion there was nothing he could do about it." Hermione winched when she realized that was not something she had ever told her parents.

"Tortured!"

"Hermione, you have not been exactly honest with us about what happened to you in that war, have you?"

Hermione sighed. "Mom, dad, it was a war. People die in wars. People get injured and sometimes tortured in wars. That is reality. I left out a lot of the bad stuff because there was no purpose in telling you."

James and Jane Granger held each others hands and looked at their daughter. To be fair to her they had not wanted to know the grisly details. Just seeing the difference in the bright and bouncy young girl to the very mature and much older than her years indicated woman in front of them spoke volumes.

Jane took a deep breath; it was time they knew it all.

"How many times were you injured."

"I kind of lost count; three times I was hurt badly; once I was in a coma for a while; once I was under a spell that looked like a coma. Mostly just bumps and cuts and bruises. I was only tortured that one time."

James closed his eyes. 'only tortured that one time'

Jane blinked away tears. "You make it sound so little. Hermione, you might be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; you fought a war that lasted for years and you never really got a break from it."

Hermione shook her head. "Yes I have had nightmares; and an occasional anxiety attack. But they have gotten less and less since the war ended. They only happen every week or so now; right after the war it was almost every other night. It is getting steadily better."

James reached for her hand and gripped it tightly. "I have never told you how proud I am of you; dad fought in the second world war from North Africa all the way to the Normandy invasion before he was wounded and invalided out of the service; but he never got a scratch until then. And he had lots of down time compared to you. He told me that he had nightmares and the like all his life afterwards.

Jane added her hand to her husbands. "I am so proud of you as well. I guess you must know what you are doing; I managed to have Molly send a copy of the Daily Prophet that came out right after the last battle; in it it was said that you were the brains behind winning the war. But I want to meet him first."

Hermione blushed. That issue of the Daily Prophet still embarrassed her; even though every one told her that for once it had gotten the story right.

James agreed. "I want to meet him as well."

"I am living at the Manor now; how about Saturday night dinner; I will come and bring you."

Hermione left feeling better about things; she realized that she should have been more forthcoming about her wartime experiences but she had been trying to protect them.

Lucius was surprisingly agreeable to Hermione's parents visiting.

"They must be very good people to have had a daughter like you. I admit to curiosity about them."

"They are not chimpanzee's in a zoo!"

"Now don't get your knickers in a twist; that is not how I meant it. Must you continue to assume the worst about me?"

Hermione was about to snap back when she caught that twinkle in his eye.

"Its safer that way. Takes less thinking and I am usually right."

His smirk was now very visible. "I am shocked at the laziness attributed to the smart one of the Golden Trio."

"He who is smart finds others to do the heavy lifting and hard work."

"That is how I have lived all my life."

"I noticed."

They were both openly smiling. Hermione was surprised how relaxed she felt with him now.

"Has Severus agreed to be your best man?"

"Of course. Slytherins stick together."

"Well duh."

"Hermione please clean up your verbiage."

The sound of a raspberry flew through the study.

Lucius got up and headed towards her; she got up and fearlessly faced him.

Hermione felt like being eaten alive as Lucius devoured her mouth and plastered her to him; his arousal very prominent. She returned his fervor; quite wet herself.

Finally he raised his head; lips swollen; eyes smoky and hazy; breath coming in pants. He ran his hand down her back and gripped her bum tightly. She moaned. He groaned and stepped back. "Any longer and I will take you right here."

Wobbly she fell back to her chair. "What makes you think you would be doing the taking?" she flung back saucily even as she tried to catch her breath.

Lucius sat back behind his desk, throwing a blazing look her way. "You will be mine."

That sent another shiver up her back in the most delightful way. "Promises, promises."

The dinner with Hermione's parents went surprisingly well; Lucius was at his most charming and it took less than an hour for Jane to melt at his feet. James took a little longer but fell victim as well. The absolute grandeur of Malfoy Manor and the grounds had a lot to do with it.

Jane had stared at the Manor and had turned to Hermione: "Its as big as Buckingham Palace."

Hermione had smiled. But Lucius smirked "Actually its bigger."

It was sinking into both Jane and James that Hermione was marrying someone truly filthy rich.

Jane had turned to Lucius "As wealthy as you are, will there be a lot of social functions that Hermione will have to attend; and will you be giving lots of major parties and such here?"

Lucius shook his head. "Not really; only a few times a year for both combined. My first wife liked that sort of thing and I went along with it; Hermione has no interest and I am happy for that."

James had quietly said "We are truly sorry for your loss of your wife and son."

Lucius had nodded to them. "Thank you. My wife and I had an arranged marriage; we were never in love. But I did love my son very much; I will always miss him. But I have a chance now to have a new family with Hermione and I am very much looking forward to having several children. Narcissa could only have Draco."

Jane had then looked at Hermione with a raised eyebrow. Hermione blushed but smiled at Lucius. "I want several children as well; maybe even five or six."

Smiling himself Lucius reached out and took her hand. "As many as you want; I wanted a large family myself."

Hermione could not resist "Maybe more than Molly?"

Lucius rolled his eyes. "Well they certainly will be more intelligent and more attractive."

Jane and James looked at each other with much less concern; the easy going banter they saw boded well for the marriage.

Hermione was not back until late, taking her parents home. She found Lucius still up, obviously waiting for her.

"You did not have to stay up."

"Of course not; I chose to."

Realizing he wanted to talk she sat down next to him and reached for his hand; he easily gave it to her and began to rub his thumb alongside hers; she found that very nice.

"I do want several children; you should not let that pressure you into having more than you want."

"I was not lying; I do want four or five at least; and maybe more. I want to fill this big old mansion up."

"That would take twenty or thirty; and that would run us both mad. Four sounds reasonable."

She smiled at him. "That is where we will leave it now. In a few years and a few children later we can discuss it in greater detail."

Hermione arranged for a fitting with Madame Malkin for her wedding dress and Luna's bridesmaid dress. She decided to have Molly and her mother come as well. It turned out to be a very good day as Molly and Jane got on like a house on fire and Luna turned out to be nowhere near as Loony as some thought her. Hermione was a little sad she had not made a greater effort to know her better during her school years.

The talk and furor had died down after a week or so; people got used to the idea and more were starting to come around to the correct point of view that it was up to those involved and no one else. Hermione was glad to see it. Though she noted that it seemed part of Lucius's plan was coming true; people did seem to be thinking he must really be reformed if she was marrying him.

Hermione reminded him of that and he smirked at her. "I have already seen substantial benefits; there were several large business deals that I had not been invited to be part of that have suddenly become open to my participation. And in my last visit to the Ministry I noticed a distinctly friendlier atmosphere. I will admit this has happened faster and in a more substantive way than I had calculated."

Hermione sat back with the appearance of great satisfaction. "I am sure the blessing of Saint Hermione has done you good." She then smirked at him.

For the first time she heard Lucius Malfoy openly laugh. It was a very nice sound that made her feel good.

They had had more than one very hot snogging session but it had always been Lucius who had called a halt. If it had been up to her she knew she would no longer be a virgin. Lucius had found that out in one of their first snogs right after the announcement.

Things had been going very well and Hermione was heated up to a point where she would have been quite happy for Lucius to pick her up and apparat her to his bedroom and ravish her completely. Dazed and completely boneless she had smiled at him. "I think the bedroom should be our next stop. I want to find out if all this talk about great sex is true; and I think with you it will be."

To her surprise Lucius had backed off. A little hurt she looked at him with questions in her eyes. He had reached out and stroked her cheek; she had rubbed her face against his palm and he had taken a deep breath.

"I want you very badly. But I want your first time to be perfect."

Hermione had blushed at that. He had smiled at her with a very gentle smile.

"You will be mine and mine only; but we will do it right; AFTER the ceremony."

Hermione had pouted; he had smiled. She shook her head "Of course. Tradition."

In fact Lucius had had to expend a great deal to maintain control; he had come close on several occasions to throwing that away and taking her immediately; especially since she had certainly indicated she would welcome it. The little witch was much more passionate than he had thought and he was very much looking forward to her initiation.

The days flew by and before she knew it was the day before the wedding. Luna had mentioned a hen party but Hermione said no; besides, she sadly told her bridesmaid, who would she invite? Obviously her mother and Molly were out; and that left the possible attendees rather limited. Ginny might have come, she seemed to be thawing some on Lucius after seeing how happy Hermione seemed to be. But you needed at least half a dozen to make it work and Hermione just did not have that many female friends. Thinking on it, Hermione was rather melancholy when she realized that she had so few friends. Ron had slipped off to visit Charlie in Romania and all hoped he was finally growing up. Harry, Ginny, the rest of the Weasleys and that was about it. Some friends she had made in Hogwarts had not lived through the war; and most of the ones she had were male.

Lucius came upon her in the main sitting area of the library; he noticed the rather sad look on her face and decided to find out why.

Hermione looked up at him as he sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her; she immediately cuddled into him.

"Why the sad look, poppet?"

Hermione smiled a little. He had taken to using affectionate terms like that and she liked it a lot.

"Just got to thinking how few friends I had. Outside of Ginny and now Luna I do not really have any good female friends; and besides Harry and the weasleys I do not have any others, really. Kingsley I guess; Minerva a little and Pomprey too. But some I made did not make it through the war. Nymphadora, Sirius, Mad Eye Moody. Hagrid now lives in southern france and really has nothing more to do with any of us; Remus left for Australia. "

Lucius held her and thought a little. "You still have many more than I do; in reality Severus is the only close friend I have now; anyone else frankly I consider an acquaintance."

Hermione sighed. "I guess the old saying is do not feel sorry for yourself for not having shoes when you see someone that does not have any feet still holds true."

"I like to think I have one more."

Hermione looked up and him and smiled. "We both do."

The morning of the ceremony Hermione was up early making sure her dress was fine; her mother and father had come up the night before so her mother was up just as early checking it out as well. Luna had stayed the night before as well and so had Severus. It had been an interesting dinner.

Severus had actually been somewhat pleasant much to Hermione's relief; Luna was her usual friendly self and her mother liked her immediately. James was fascinated by the way magic was used to do things the rest of the world did with electronics and the like and questioned Lucius closely. Hermione found herself surprisingly relaxed in speaking with Severus; she never thought she would be. Of course his opening question was snarky as usual.

"Miss Granger, would you answer a question I have had for some time?"

"If I call you Severus will you call me Hermione?"

"Very well Hermione. Just how many times did you pilfer my potion stocks while a student at Hogwarts?"

Hermione blushed rosily since that had happened during a lull in other conversation and everyone heard it.

"Hermione Jane Granger! Did you steal from him?"

That from her mother.

"Interesting that you would admit someone stole from you and you never caught them, Severus."

That from Lucius with his trademarked smirk.

Hermione sighed. "We needed potions now and then and asking for them would have not gotten us anywhere and only placed more suspicion on us. So I was the one that ended up doing it. And the answer is 17 times in 7 years."

Severus blinked while Lucius roared with laughter.

"I take it from the astounded look on your face that you had no idea that your potions room had a turnstile for a door?"

Surprisingly a grudging smile came from him. "I had no idea it was that often; in the interests of full honesty here I only thought it had happened six times."

Hermione smiled a little. "Most of the time I took care to take just a little from several bottles if possible. That way it was much less likely to be noticed. And I only ever took as much as I thought we needed, no more."

Severus nodded thoughtfully. "That would explain it. You are correct that most of the time I did not notice it. I will have to better my wards and add some traps I think."

Lucius chuckled. "Not likely that it will happen much now that Hermione is long gone and the war is over. It would take a brave student indeed to dare."

Jane was looking at Hermione strangely. AN inquiring look from her daughter made her smile a little. "Hermione I have a feeling that a whole lot went on that very few people suspect."

Hermione smiled at her. " A whole lot went on that very few know about; some have suspicions but nothing more."

"You really need to think about writing your story Hermione. Harry and the others have said so little that much of what happened is still unknown."

Hermione looked at Luna and nodded thoughtfully. "I guess in some respects I probably know as much as anyone who is still alive. But I kind of shrink at writing something like my autobiography while still not even 20 years old. That seems so arrogant and pretentious."

Luna lost some of her dreamy look and looked at Hermione more seriously then she had ever before. "No its not. That war was the worst thing to happen to the English wizarding war in its entire history. More people need to know the whole story if we are to ever make sure it does not happen again. And its true that you probably know more of what went on than just about anyone that is still alive. And if you work on it with Lucius you can get the other side as well. I imagine Professor Snape knows a lot as well."

Lucius nodded thoughtfully. "I think she is right Hermione. The whole story needs to be told and so much of it has not been. I would be quite happy to help. Severus, would you be willing to help?"

Snape said nothing for a while, holding his glass of firewhisky in his hand. Then he looked calmly at his friend. "I would. Ms Lovegood is correct in that the story does need to be told. And Hermione would be a very good choice to do it; she will be fair to all sides. And it needs to be done by someone who was deeply involved; only they would understand what needs to be told."

Hermione took a deep breath. Then she looked at Lucius. "Very well. That will be my first task. It will take some time to write up all my proposals about changing the Wizarding World laws and the curriculum of Hogwarts. And a lot of that comes from the war anyway. Actually the projects all kind of blend in together. And I might be the only one Harry will talk to about a lot of what he went through."

The guest list for the wedding was only about 100 in total; mostly people from the Ministry and Hogwarts. Lucius had arranged it so that Hermione would come down the main staircase on her fathers arm right into the ballroom where the ceremony would be held. Kingsley Shackelbolt, the Minister of Magic, would officiate. Hermione's dress was fairly simple and basic; and she had allowed Molly and her mother to convince her to add a short train of 5 feet. Only Hermione and her mother knew that the dress was based on Maria's dress in the Sound of Music. Hermione had come across that in a old magazine at her mothers and had decided that was what she wanted.

Lucius stood with Severus waiting for his bride; surprised to realize he felt nervous. He remembered he only felt bored at his wedding to Narcissa; he wondered why this was so different. He was very attracted to Hermione and wanted her badly; but it was more than that. In the month that she had lived in the Manor he had gotten to know her; and he realized that in many ways they were very compatible. She was a very good conversationalist; something that Lucius had very little of except when Severus visited; and she challenged him and he was rather astonished to find that he liked that. And to top it off he felt comfortable with her; more than he had ever felt with anyone his entire life.

Hermione found that she was nervous and that surprised her a little. She knew that she was falling in love with Lucius and that worried her; she knew he wanted her and seemed to like her; but could he love her? Being in love with someone who did not love you was something that scared her a lot. Taking a deep breath as she heard the music start she took her fathers arm.

James Granger looked at his daughter and felt sad that she was getting married and leaving them; and he realized that that was a joke; for all intents and purposes she had left them almost 8 years ago when she first went to Hogwarts. But this was different in a way that he could not really figure out. This beautiful young woman beside him was an enigma in some ways; he wondered if he and Jane would ever really know what had gone on in those 8 years even if Hermione did write that book she was talking about. He was so proud of her; the courage she had shown and what she had already accomplished was amazing. He felt awed sometimes that he had fathered such an incredible child.

Jane Granger heard the music and like everyone else turned and looked through the huge open doors to the magnificent grand staircase. Malfoy Manor was like Tara and Buckingham Palace and some of those huge Hollywood mansions all rolled into one. Even though she had seen the dress, she was still stunned and almost cried as she saw her daughter slowly come down the stairs on the arm of her father. Her little bushy haired daughter had grown up into a incredibly brilliant, brave and lovely woman. And she was so proud of the fact that she was her mother.

Hermione made very sure she watched her step; dresses like this required you to kick your toes up to prevent yourself from getting entangled and falling down the stairs; not a good thing to do at your wedding. So it was not until she got off the last step that she could look up and see her husband to be; and with the veil it was hard to see until she got close; then she almost stopped as she saw that instead of robes Lucius was in an old fashioned grand tuxedo and he looked absolutely smashing.

Lucius could not take his eyes of his bride; if somehow she lacked the classical loveliness of Narcissa she more than made up for it in fire and the way she seemed to glow; the dress looked absolutely beautiful and suited her so well. He did not need the gasps from the crowd to know that.

Severus Snape noticed the stunned look on his friends face and smirked to himself; Hermione did look quite lovely in that dress and that he could understand; but now he knew his friend cared a lot more for the little witch then he had admitted. This could be very interesting to watch.

Harry was gobsmacked once again as he watched his best friend march towards him. He had never realized how beautiful Hermione was; now he did. Then he looked at Lucius and was amazed at the look on the normally hard to read older wizard; he looked almost dazed for at least a few seconds before he schooled his face back to impassivity. When Hermiones father lifted the veil he could see the way she looked at Lucius; if she was not in love with him now it was just a matter of time. Suddenly all the doubts he had had were gone; he felt that maybe this marriage would be fine after all. Ginny nudged him and said "For those that thought this was a business deal, I think it certainly is more now." He smiled at her and nodded.

Neither Hermione or Lucius ever remembered much about the ceremony; all they really could remember was the kiss they shared right after it was over.

After the pictures were taken and the reception began; Jane went over to Molly Weasley.

"Was it just the tears in my eyes or did I see what I thought I saw when they looked at each other just after the I do?"

Molly smiled. "I would frankly say I would never have believed it if I had not seen it; Lucius Malfoy actually showing that much emotion in public. Hermione loves him and I think he loves her; he certainly cares. Which is much more than I ever thought him capable of.

As Lucius swept her around the ball room for the first dance, Hermione looked up at him. "How long before we can leave?" The heated look she added said it all. He gripped her tighter and said "As soon as we can."

Later on as she danced with Harry, Hermione realized that she really was grown up and so was he. She looked up at him and smiled. "You and Ginny next year; me now; we are grown ups now, Harry. We made it."

Harry smiled down at his best friend. "I had my doubts for a long time; but we did make it after all. Do you love him Mione?"

She smiled at him again; this time a different smile than he had ever seen her have before. "I think so Harry; and If I do not right now I think I will soon. And I think maybe he loves me as well."

"I saw the look on his face when he first saw you. I think he does as well."

They had decided not to have the cake part and the toast part; Hermione shuddered to think what Severus might say. So it was not really that long before they went back upstairs to get ready to leave on their honeymoon. Hermione had not been able to worm where they were going out of Lucius and that irked her some.

He was smiling at her now in the way she thought reminded her of Crookshanks when he spotted a mouse. And this did not scare her; quite the contrary. She was looking forward into being devoured.

Lucius grasped his bride in his arms and moved to the upstairs floo. He held out the floo powder to her and said " Malfoy Villa" and she followed him.

She looked around the room and it was lovely; she looked at Lucius and he smiled at her. "The Malfoy's have had a villa in southern Italy for 500 years. I think you will love it."

Hermione smiled at him. "What I want is to know where the bedroom is, Lucius."

"As the lady desires…" and they apparated to what had to be one of the most beautiful and luxurious bedrooms Hermione had ever seen. She did not have much time for that as Lucius swooped down on her and began the devouring she was hoping for.

Hermione woke up the next morning feeling better than she ever had; even if she was a little sore in a couple of unusual places. Lucius truly had been a sex god; she hoped she had satisfied him half as well as he had her. She smiled the smile of a very sated woman.

Lucius looked down at his bride as she woke up; he was very pleasantly worn out. Hermione had been all he had hoped and more; a little fireball. He was very much looking forward to teaching her much, much more.