Title: When Peacocks Fall

Pairings: Hermione/Lucius

Summary: Lucius finds an injured peacock in his garden, not realizing it is Hermione Granger in her Animgaus form. What happens when Hermione reveals herself to him and feelings appear on the surface? Takes place after the war.

It has been five days since Hermione arrived here and yet, her legs were still broken. She wondered if anyone noticed if she's gone missing, or if anybody actually cared for her disappearance. She sighed deeply and ruffled her feathers which were now clean from the blood.

She has tried more than a hundred times to change back into her natural form, yet something is binding her and she wondered if it was this cage and wondered if the house elf had anything to do with it. She would have to try once she was free.

The front door suddenly banged open and startled her, causing her to squawk angrily.

"Father!" An all too familiar voice called and Hermione glared in Draco's direction as he walked into the room and sat himself down on the couch before looking at her in shock.

"What the," Draco muttered, staring at her curiously. She tilted her head to the side and Draco scowled. "Why the hell has father brought in one of his peacocks?"

"Because she is injured,"Lucius said, making Draco jump and Lucius entered the room carrying a glass of butterbeer. Thank Merlin it wasn't firewhiskey, Hermione thought. "What is the meaning of this visit Draco?"

Draco eyed her wearily before turning to his father. "Well, I have some good news and bad news. Which is you want first?"

"Don't mess with me Draco. What is the news?" Lucius said firmly and Hermione wondered why Lucius couldn't look at Draco. Perhaps it was he resembled so much like Narcissa.

"Well, I am dating Astoria Greengrass," Draco said. Looking rather pleased with himself. Lucius raised an eyebrow.

"The sister to Daphne Greengrass?" He asked. "Isn't she still at Hogwarts?"

"She's in her last year at the moment. Slytherin," Draco quickly added and Lucius nodded. "And there is something else as well,"

"What is it?"

"Hermione Granger has gone missing from her hone five days ago. Apparently, Weasley has been cheating on her and had a row about it and now missing. Suspicious don't you think?"

"And why has this got anything to do with me?" Lucius asked in a cold voice.

"Because if you see her, she has to be alerted at once to Potter to be able to clear the case," Draco said. "As I have to work with him, any sign of the muggleborn I will have to report it,"

Hermione was surprised that neither of them have called her mudblood yet. All her time in Hogwarts, the Malfoys have been nothing but bastards to her.

Lucius nodded. "I will report to you immediately. Is that all?" Lucius asked.

Draco nodded.

"Good. Why don't you invite Astoria here sometime later either this week or next week?" Lucius suggested and Draco's face brightened up.

"She'll like that. I shall see when we are free," Draco was about to leave when his father stopped him.

"Draco," Lucius said and Draco turned to face him. "She's nothing like the Parkinson girl is she?"

Draco merely grinned. "Nope. She is so much more than the other whore. Astoria is a great friend of mine and I completely trust her with my life," Draco said seriously.

Lucius nodded approvingly. "That is good. I don't want you to end up marrying a gold-digger,"

"Or a whore?" Draco asked amusedly and Lucius chuckled and Hermione had to stop the urge from rolling her eyes.

Men!

Draco finally left and Lucius went back upstairs to do some research, something Hermione was meant to be doing right now.

She has just left from her 7th year at Hogwarts, due to hunting down the horcruxes, she had missed a year worth of education and now she is a fully qualified witch, she has got a good job at the Ministry of Magic.

Nothing to do with politics mind you.

She shuddered. She hates politics.

So, now she knows that people are looking for her. Do they actually care she is missing or do they want her back so she could do their paperwork for them?

She shook her wings angrily, causing the cage to rattle and she glared at them.

Sometimes she really hated being a peacock. Why couldn't she of been something else?

She remembered Sirius saying that the Animagus form only took form of an animal of the same personality as you.

So, she mused. That book she read on the personalities of a peacock saying they were extremely intelligent, curious and sociable. She nodded approvingly. She could see why she was a peacock. But yet, she still wished she was something else, like a dog for an example.

She closed her eyes and sighed, curling up into a ball and her thoughts drifted to Lucius.

She wondered what he was researching and wondered if he was still working in the Ministry.

She tried to change back into her human form, but again, it was no use. Why wasn't she allowed to change back? Was it because she was injured? Was it because she had a reason to be here?

It frustrated her to no end that she couldn't change back and now it was almost five days since she has been here. But yet, nightmares of Bellatrix crept in on her every night and she found herself squawking with panic, realizing that there was no one to comfort her this time. Alone in the empty darkness.

Yet, even in peacock form, the Darkness seemed more horrifying and she found faint images of Bellatrix Lestrange, wandering madly around the room, tormenting her even if she was dead. Even when she was a wake, the room crawled with memories of Bellatrix, she could of sworn at one point she even heard her laughter.

She shuddered. She only hoped that Bellatrix Lestrange would not come back as a ghost.

She snuggled in deeper, trying to stay away.

The sooner she was out, the better.