A/N - The next three chapters are set in the months just prior to the party and will show the problems Hermione, Narcissa and Draco have with Lucius.


Three Months Previously – September.

Checking the time Hermione Granger shut the book that was sitting open on her desk. Tidying up her work, Hermione grabbed her coat and bag and left the office. Hermione was meeting her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, for lunch and she was nearly running late. Because Hermione didn't work for the Ministry she often went days without seeing Harry and Ron so she cherished the days they met for lunch.

After the war Harry and Ron had went straight into Auror training while Hermione returned to school to retake her final year. Hermione knew that with her stellar academic record and her part in the war she could have taken any job she wished but after spending six years working hard at Hogwarts she really wanted the perfect exam results that she always hoped to achieve. Hermione also went back to school as she had no idea what she wanted to do with her life and the extra nine months of school gave her plenty of time to decide on a career.

After the devastation she had witnessed both during and after the war Hermione was determined to enjoy her life and not be sucked into a career that was boring and uninteresting. Over the course of the school year Hermione received several job offers, although she dismissed most of them straight away. Kingsley even offered her any job she wanted within the Ministry. Hermione was beginning to think she might have to take Kingsley up on his offer, despite it not being what she was interested in, when she received an offer of a job with a private firm based in London.

Squiggles and Falstaff, the firm who had approached her, specialised in finding and fixing rare magical possessions. All their staff were handpicked and only the best spell casters were approached and offered a job. The firm was split into several different sections, each section specialising in dealing with one type of object. Removing a curse on a pendant was a totally different prospect than removing a curse from a book, for example. The offer Hermione received was to work in the book department of the company.

The idea of working with ancient, powerful books greatly appealed to Hermione and after meeting with one of the senior partners she accepted a job with them. Since then Hermione had made good progress in her career and she was deputy head of the department, the youngest person in the firm to be in such a position of authority.

Hermione never one regretted her decision to work for Squiggles and Falstaff. She loved the variety in her work and found it extremely fulfilling. Hermione liked the fact that some days she would be breaking curses on dark books and the next day she could be enchanting books for a publisher. Hermione also enjoyed the travelling that came with her job, sometimes it was easier to travel to the clients and other times the travelling was because a client had requested a certain book that needed locating and buying.

Despite how much she loved her job, Hermione was very grateful she had taken it for another reason. Three and a half years ago it had brought her back into contact with Draco Malfoy, her new fiancé. Hermione had only been working at the company a year when her boss gave Hermione her first solo assignment. The initial excitement Hermione had felt at receiving her first client was dampened when her boss told her the identity of the client, Malfoy Holdings. Hermione knew that Draco was now in charge of the company but despite his change of attitude after the war she was still reluctant to deal with her former school adversary. Despite her reluctance to deal with Draco, Hermione put her job first and arranged a meeting with the former Slytherin.

Hermione was pleasantly surprised with the meeting, Draco was perfectly polite and seemed to have no problem working with her. The job was removing any dark curses from an old library of books that Draco's company had just bought. The job was a long one, taking almost three months to complete. Hermione was surprised that Draco was around quite often and took a real interest in both the books and how she was making them safe to read.

By the end of the three months Hermione and Draco had gotten to know each other pretty well and more often than not their meetings ended up with them flirting subtly with each other. As soon as the job was over Draco asked Hermione out on a date, after getting over the shock of Draco asking her out Hermione had agreed and the pair began dating.

Despite the many arguments the couple had their relationship flourished, within a year Hermione had moved into Draco's luxury flat in Chelsea. Despite living together quite happily marriage wasn't something that had been discussed, until the weekend just passed. When Hermione returned home on Friday night to find Draco was taking her away for the weekend she was pleased but as it was her birthday and something they regularly did she thought nothing of it. Despite the whole weekend being far more romantic than anything Draco ever did Hermione still didn't realise what was happening until Draco got down on one knee and produced a stunning diamond engagement ring.

Hermione's engagement was actually the reason she had wanted to meet with Harry and Ron for lunch. Normally they didn't meet on a Monday but Hermione was insistent, she knew the press would soon get hold of the engagement and she wanted to tell her friends first hand rather than have them read about it in the papers.

By the time Hermione arrived at the cafe where she regularly had lunch with her friends both Harry and Ron were waiting for her. Smiling at her friends Hermione made her way over to their table.

"Happy Birthday, 'Mione." Ron greeted his friend with a hug.

"Thanks Ron." Hermione smiled, turning to greet Harry who also wished her a happy birthday.

"Did you have a good birthday weekend?" Harry asked as the three friends sat down.

"I did, Draco took me to New York." Hermione said. "And he proposed."

"Finally, it took him long enough." Ron said with a grin.

"You knew he was going to propose?" Hermione asked stunned.

"Yeah." Harry nodded. "He told us a couple of months ago."

"We just didn't expect him to take so long to actually pluck up the courage to do it, no wonder he wasn't a Gryffindor." Ron added.

"So you guys are okay with me marrying Draco?" Hermione asked. There was no way she would dream of ending things with Draco just because her friends didn't approve but she really wanted them to be happy for her.

"Of course we are." Harry reassured Hermione. "You two are great together."

"I may not be Malfoy's biggest fan but he loves you, that's all that matters." Ron said, also reassuring Hermione he was fine with her engagement.

"Thank you." Hermione said.

When she had first started dating Draco both Harry and Ron had been sceptical of her decision but had agreed to respect her choice. Over the course of their relationship Harry and Ron accepted that Draco really had changed and loved Hermione. While the three men would never be particularly close they all loved Hermione enough to learn how to get along and a tentative friendship had been formed.

After checking out Hermione's ring and hearing about her weekend the talk turned to Hermione's birthday as the two boys presented her with presents. Ron gave Hermione a large gift bag filled with presents from his entire family before handing her a present from him and his girlfriend, Luna Lovegood. Harry also handed over a present from himself and his girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson.

After opening her presents and spending a leisurely lunch with her friends it was time for Hermione to head back to the office. Leaving Harry and Ron debating over whether to enjoy a second dessert Hermione apparated back to work.

"Hermione, you have a visitor in your office." Hermione's secretary announced upon her arrival back at work.

Eager to see who was in her office Hermione opened the door, barely able to conceal her groan as she spotted who was waiting for her. Shutting the door behind her Hermione removed her coat and placed her bags on the floor behind her desk before turning to the man who was standing in front of her window.

"Is there something I can do for you, Lucius?"

Lucius Malfoy tore his gaze away from the window, turning to look at the witch his son had chosen to get romantically involved with. Subjectively he could appreciate what attracted Draco to the witch, she had blossomed since school and was now very attractive and she was extremely smart, always a plus in his book. Lucius thought that Hermione might actually be the perfect match for his son if it wasn't for one pesky detail, she was a muggleborn.

"We need to talk." Lucius said, settling himself in the chair opposite Hermione's desk.

"I take it you spoke to Draco this morning." Hermione sat down in her own seat, not quite sure of what to expect from Lucius. Since she had been with Draco his father had been nothing but polite but Hermione got the impression he would be less than happy about their engagement.

"I have, he informed me of the events that took place over the weekend."

Hermione couldn't help the blush that appeared on her cheeks, she knew Lucius was referring to the engagement but she couldn't help her mind wandering to the mind-blowing sex that had also taken place over the weekend.

"As I was saying, Draco informed me of your engagement." Lucius said, smirking at the flustered witch. He was quite surprised that the prim and proper witch had clearly been thinking about another aspect of her weekend.

"Let's guess, you're not happy." Hermione said, dragging her mind away from memories of the weekend.

"No." Lucius appreciated Hermione's straightforward approach and as such was prepared to be equally as straight to the point. "I'm here to offer you a deal."

"What sort of a deal?" Hermione asked confused. She was expecting Lucius to demand she break off the engagement.

"I want you to break off your engagement to Draco." Lucius said, holding his hand up to stop Hermione from interrupting. "Let him marry a pure blood witch and carry on the family line in the right way."

"Why on earth would I do that?" Hermione asked, amazed that Lucius thought she would walk away from Draco. "I love your son."

"I know, and he loves you." Lucius said, smirking at the surprised look on Hermione's face. "I wouldn't expect you to stop seeing each other, you would just have to be discreet. As long as Draco marries a pure blood witch and has a son of pure blood heritage, he can sleep with whomever he wishes on the side."

"You want me to become Draco's mistress?" Hermione inquired, still stunned by what she was hearing.

"Essentially yes." Lucius nodded, pleased the witch was understanding him. "If you agree, I'll but you a house wherever you want and you and Draco can continue your relationship in private. Nothing will really change."

"Nothing will change, are you serious?" Hermione shouted. "You're mad if you think I'd give up the man I love and become his mistress. Do you really think I'd want to watch him marry someone else and have children with her?"

"Being a mistress is better than being an ex." Lucius announced, standing up. "You have to the end of the year to accept my offer."

"What if I don't accept?" Hermione asked, glaring at the man in front of her.

"Then I make sure Draco breaks the engagement, only when he does it I'll ensure that he walks away from you without looking back. You will become a dim and distant memory for my son."

"Draco would never do that." Hermione smirked, confident that Draco would choose her over his father if he was forced to do so.

"You overestimate him, my dear. At the end of the day Draco is a Malfoy, he'll ultimately do what's right for the family, even if it means sacrificing his own happiness." Lucius smirked at Hermione before turning towards the door.

"You underestimate him, Lucius." Hermione called, stopping Lucius just as he reached for the door handle. "You still think he's the same little boy who was so desperate for daddy's approval that he did whatever you wanted, but he's not. He tried gaining your approval and all he got in return was pain and suffering. He's spent the last five years breaking away from everything you'd instilled in him and finding out who he really is. I promise you, the man Draco is today would never leave me on his father's say so."

Lucius looked slightly shell-shocked by Hermione's speech, for the first time he looked less than confident in the outcome of his ultimatum. Hermione watched as Lucius quickly regained his composure, once again becoming the cocky man she knew.

"I hope for your sake you're right, but just in case I would seriously consider my offer if I were you. Remember if you're wrong, you'll lose Draco for good." Lucius looked Hermione directly in the eye, determined to intimidate the witch. When it didn't work he turned on his heel and left the office.

After Lucius's departure Hermione sat at her desk for several minutes, reliving the conversation. Hermione was still stunned that Lucius would have the gall to make such an outrageous suggestion to her. For the rest of the afternoon her conversation with Lucius played on Hermione's mind, meaning she got little work done. After trying for the third time to remove a simple curse from a book Hermione decided she would leave work early, she worked plenty of late nights to justify leaving early.

After gathering her belongings and saying goodnight to her secretary Hermione flooed home. Hermione arrived home expecting the flat to be empty, unless she was working late she always beat Draco home. Noises from the kitchen however indicated that Hermione was not the first person to arrive home from work. Vanishing her bags and coat to the bedroom Hermione headed towards the kitchen, stopping in the doorway she smiled at the sight in front of her.

Draco was standing with his back to her preparing dinner, he had changed out of his work clothes and was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and jogging bottoms. Hermione could still remember how shocked she had been to discover Draco could actually cook. It was their third date when Draco had invited Hermione to his flat for dinner, Hermione had expected that a house elf would have prepared the meal so she was amazed when she arrived to discover Draco in the kitchen. Hermione had since discovered that Draco was actually a great cook, his food was much better than anything she could make with her mediocre cooking abilities.

Walking into the kitchen Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's waist, placing a kiss on the back of his neck. "Hey, you're home early."

"So are you." Draco replied, turning round in Hermione's embrace.

"I couldn't concentrate." Hermione shrugged. She was unsure of mentioning Lucius's visit to Draco, she knew the two men had a stormy relationship and she didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble between father and son.

"It'll be the excitement of being engaged to someone as brilliant as me." Draco smirked.

"I'm sure that's it." Hermione rolled her eyes. "So why are you home so early?"

"The meeting I was due to have was cancelled." Draco replied. "Rather than head back into the office I thought I'd just come home."

"I'm pleased you're here." Hermione sighed, leaning her head on Draco's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked.

"I'm fine, I've just had a bad day." Hermione said, failing to mention the reason for her bad day was Draco's father. "I think I'm going to have a long soak in the bath."

"Do you need any help scrubbing your back?" Draco asked, smiling suggestively at his fiancé.

"What about dinner? Won't it burn?" Hermione asked.

Draco reached for his wand that was lying on the counter and cast several spells on the food, stopping it from burning or ruining. "Satisfied?" He asked.

"Not yet." Hermione smiled. "Hopefully I soon will be."

Draco grinned at Hermione before leaning down and crashing his lips into hers. Passionately kissing they began tugging on each other's clothes. As Draco's t-shirt came off, closely followed by Hermione's blouse, the couple began heading towards the bathroom, shedding more clothes along the way. By the time they reached the bathroom they were down to their underwear, which was quickly shed as Hermione magically ran the water in the large bathtub.

Hermione barely gave Lucius a second thought all night as she enjoyed spending quality time with her fiancé. Any miniscule doubts she harboured about Lucius splitting her and Draco up were vanished as Draco showered her with attention. No matter what his father said Hermione knew Draco loved her and she was confident that their relationship was strong enough to survive anything Lucius could throw at it.