PART FIVE – Wherein Lucius Malfoy uses an Unforgivable, and Severus Snape is invited to dinner

PART FIVE – Wherein Lucius Malfoy uses an Unforgivable, and Severus Snape is invited to dinner

The wards were as vicious as a rattlesnake with a stomach ulcer, but, as Lucius noticed with a smile, had been programmed to let him pass through. The goodbye hadn't been final, then, although he hadn't seen Severus or received one single word from him in the six months since he'd handed him the keys. He spelled the door open and stepped into the flat.

Severus had obviously gone out, and Lucius took his time inspecting the place. He shuddered at the thought of living in such a cramped space; Severus, however, had grown up in that disgraceful hovel called Spinner's End, and the Hogwarts dungeons, though certainly not lacking in space, had been a rather oppressive environment. At least this place had large windows and a light, airy feeling to it.

Lucius inspected the bookshelves, treated himself to a brief tour of the kitchen, which doubled as a makeshift brewing space, and then wandered into the bedroom. Still a hermit, he thought, and still celibate – there was no trace of perfume, female lingerie or any of the things betraying the presence, even a short-lived one, of a woman.

He was sitting in an armchair, perusing the latest edition of The Alchemist and sipping a glass of wine, when Severus returned.

'Lucius,' he said, less surprised than annoyed, because the wards had of course told him about his guest's presence, 'what the hell are you doing here?'

'Trying to fight ennui by reading a supremely boring article on the use of Gillyweed in Shielding Potions.'

'You could've brought a book or, even better, stayed at home,' Severus said. He summoned another wineglass for himself and sat down on the sofa, as far away as possible from his visitor. 'So, what did you come to see me about?'

Lucius leaned back in his chair and regarded the other wizard from under half-closed eyelids. 'I had a very interesting dinner guest last night.'

'He, or more likely she, must have been highly interesting indeed, if you Apparated all the way here to tell me the news.'

'Oh, yes, very interesting indeed. You know her, by the way.'

'Lucius, it's been a rather long and busy day, and I was really looking forward to spending a quiet evening.'

'Do you ever spend unquiet evenings?' Lucius took an appreciative sip of wine. 'Are you leading such a busy social life?'

'Don't be ridiculous!'

'I thought so. Although you seem to have discovered an entirely new way of alienating people, or so Miss Granger told me.'

'Miss Granger? How would you know – she wasn't your dinner guest, was she?'

'Do I detect a trace of interest?'

'You don't.' Severus refilled his glass.

'You didn't treat her very well, according to her own version of the facts.'

'I never treated my students well. Ask Draco, if you don't believe me. Oh, I forgot that he's not speaking to you – or have things changed recently?'

'I didn't mean while you were her teacher,' Lucius replied calmly, knowing better than to rise to the bait. 'She informed me that she'd met you at Gringotts, two days ago, if I remember correctly.'

For a moment, the black eyes held a glint of interest. 'I can hardly believe that Miss Granger chose you, of all people, to complain about my admittedly harsh reaction to her unwanted attention.'

'She's quite a formidable young woman,' Lucius said, smiling faintly. 'A diamond in the rough, to be sure, but a little polishing might go a long way.'

'And you, correct me if I'm wrong, intend to do the polishing, don't you?'

'Naïve as she is, she might fall into worse hands than mine.'

'If she actively searched for them, maybe. Otherwise, I don't think so. Lucius' – he leaned forward, elbows on his knees – 'you don't mean to seduce the girl, I hope?'

'Why not? She's quite pretty, in her very own way. And clever, but surely you know that.'

'She's a bloody know-it-all, and a show-off to boot.'

'Was, Severus, was. I remember Draco telling me about her, because he hated coming second to a Muggleborn. Always with her hand in the air, always at least two feet of homework in excess of the required length, always prepared. He resented her a lot. But she seems to have changed, you know. Voldemort's last year of earthly existence has changed all of us, and the part she played wasn't an easy one.'

'That's as may be. But it still doesn't explain how she came to have dinner with you.'

'It's hard to believe,' Lucius continued, entirely disregarding Severus's words, 'that a girl of her, well, qualities, formed a short and predictably disastrous relationship with the youngest Weasley boy.'

'Lucius, I'm not a patient man, as you well know. I'm neither interested in your dalliances with girls half your age, or less than half in this case, nor in relationships between adolescents.'

Lucius merely smiled and twirled the stem of his glass between his fingers. 'Do you reckon that Ronald Weasley, or any Weasley come to think of it, might possibly possess any skills in bed?'

'I repeat, for the last time, I'm not interested-'

'The poor girl was convinced she was frigid,' Lucius interrupted him, 'because he'd told her so. And you know what? She went to buy Aqua Maenadia, merely to, as she put it, be less disappointing. Can you imagine?'

'Aqua – But that's an illegal potion!'

'Yes, and she's a Gryffindor – can you even begin to picture her desperation? Just over eighteen, her first sexual experience, and she goes to Borgin & Burkes to acquire an illegal potion?' He shook his head and tsk-ed. 'What has the world come to?'

Now he did have Severus's attention. 'Borgin hasn't sold any Aqua Maenadia lately, I'm positive. Are you saying the old scoundrel is cheating me out of my profit?'

'Not exactly, no, although I wouldn't put it past old Borgin. But no, she didn't buy it in the end. Because, you see, she was so shocked that she left without purchasing it. On the bright side, she dumped the Weasley dolt, so there certainly is a positive aspect to her having seen you.'

Brows drawn together and the lines bracketing his mouth deepening, Severus crossed his arms and gave Lucius a hard stare. 'She saw me?'

'She did, and that's just the beginning. Severus, it seems you're losing your touch, dear friend.'

'I'm afraid I don't quite understand.'

'Last night, while we were having dinner, she told me the story about your old Potions textbook. The one with the annotations, property of he Half Blood Prince – does that ring a bell?'

'It certainly does, but I still fail to see the connection.'

'Miss Granger, or Hermione as I'm privileged enough to call her, has an excellent memory. It seems that you altered one component of the Aqua Maenadia in your textbook and noted the new, improved list of ingredients on the index of available potions you left with Borgin. Can you see the connection now?'

Severus exhaled sharply through his teeth. 'That little…'

'Don't call her names, Severus, merely because she's a clever girl and outwitted you.'

'And now she's going to use the information against me, I presume.'

'Severus, Severus. Why do you think she came to see me instead of going to the Aurors? If she wanted to blackmail you, she wouldn't have told even me. But then, dear friend, not everybody has that annoying little habit of bartering secrets for money. I must say I'm disappointed – not only is it highly risky, it's also immoral in a rather dirty, not to say disgusting way.'

'How dare you,' Severus began but was interrupted by Lucius, who seemed suddenly to have dropped the mask of bonhomie.

'Blackmail, Severus,' he growled. 'The lowest form of crime. It's vile, inelegant and most of all, it's not Slytherin – not the way you went about it. We don't do that kind of blackmail, Severus, because we'd have ceased to exist a long time ago, if we did. Do not unto others and all that. What can you gain by selling compromising memories to people, for heaven's sake? A few hundred galleons, and the fear that a slip of a girl might sell her secret to the highest bidder, and unless you're prepared for serious trouble, that would have to be you!'

Averting his gaze, Severus mutely shook his head. Lucius got up from his chair and went over to the window. Staring out into the neon-lit evening, he continued more calmly, 'You have no idea how lucky you've been so far. I'm sure you didn't know Hermione lives next door to Philippa Westkin, or did you? In Harry-bloody-Potter's house!' His question was met by silence. 'You of all people ought to be aware how the tiniest, most outlandish incident can lead to the most devastating consequences. The owl you sent the Westkin woman was sick, so the girl took it into the house with her to have a look at it, and lo and behold, she recognized your handwriting on the letter. After she'd spotted you delivering potions to Borgin, she got curious and opened it.' He turned around to look at Severus. 'What on earth were you thinking?'

'A few hundred galleons may be nothing to you, Lucius. But they mean a lot to me.'

Lucius sighed. 'Go and get dressed. You're coming to dinner, and Hermione will be there as well.'

'Get lost, Lucius. I don't need you, and I certainly don't mean to waste my time having dinner with you and Miss Granger. Your hypocritical moralizing is bad enough, but that little swot actually means it – I don't need to be lectured on how to lead my life by an ingénue and a cynical fraud.

'You will do as you're told, Severus. For your own good. Had I known how far gone you are, I would have come here earlier, believe me.'

'Fuck off, you arrogant bastard, and don't you ever dare show your face-'

'Imperio!' Lucius had drawn his wand so quickly that Severus hadn't stood a chance. 'Go get dressed for dinner.' He stepped closer to the other wizard, who was hoisting himself out of his chair with an air of absentminded befuddlement, and bent down to peer at him. 'Come to think of it, have a shower first, and wash your hair while you're at it. Allez, off you go.'

When Severus had obediently trudged off to the bathroom, Lucius refilled his wineglass and waited patiently for his friend's return. He hadn't felt so chipper in months. Last night, at dinner with Hermione, he'd drunk a few glasses of wine, and he'd allowed himself a small cognac to accompany his coffee. Today, he'd got up at eight, feeling well rested and refreshed; he'd sent the girl an owl announcing his intention to go and see Severus later in the day, and invite him for dinner. Her answer had arrived half an hour later – in her enthusiasm, she'd spattered the parchment with ink. That enthusiasm… it might translate well into sex, he thought. To be sure, the Weasley boy had lit fires he hadn't quite managed to extinguish. Even the clumsiest man could light such a fire. Tonight, he'd try a chaste goodbye kiss if the occasion presented itself.

PART SIX – Wherein Hermione Granger experiences a déjà-vu and gets an unexpected, but by no means unwelcome kiss

'Did he accept the invitation?' Hermione asked breathlessly when Lucius came to greet her in the entrance hall.

'In a manner of speaking.' He took her hand and kissed it. 'You are, as they say, a sight for sore eyes, Hermione. I must confess I'm a little jealous – you didn't make quite such an effort yesterday.'

She blushed and smiled. 'I just tried to look a bit more grown-up, so Professor Snape wouldn't see me as a student. I'm sure he will anyway, but at least I'll feel better telling him off for it.'

'A most admirable thought.' He offered her his arm. 'I like what you've done with your hair. You look like a Greek statue.'

'I had to use two bottles of Sleekeazy to get it right.' She fingered the low chignon. 'It doesn't feel like my hair at all. I wish…' She didn't finish her sentence and merely cast a wistful look at her host's straight blond mane.

Lucius patted her hand. 'Straight hair wouldn't suit you. But I'm sure there are better products than Sleekeazy – would you like me to introduce you to Maître Belcheveu? He does love a challenge – he's completely gay and not my type at all, so I tend to avoid him, but he does wonders for women.'

'I don't think I could afford him. But thanks anyway.'

Deciding to let the matter rest for the moment – Gryffindors, he knew, could get terribly touchy when it came to exchanging favours – and opened the door to the small dining room. 'Severus? Our guest is here.'

'Oh, please don't bother to get up,' Hermione said to Severus, who'd already half-risen from his chair. Severus obediently flopped back down. 'Is he all right?' she asked Lucius, who'd released her arm.

'Oh yes.' He went to pour himself a whisky. 'What would you like to drink, Hermione?'

'I really liked the champagne you gave me yesterday.'

'Excellent. Drippy, fetch the champagne!'

'What's the matter with him?' Hermione mustered her former teacher as unobtrusively as possible. 'He seems awfully quiet.'

'He's under Imperius.' Drippy brought the bottle and uncorked it, so Lucius could pour a glass for his shocked guest.

'Under… You didn't… But they'll come for you! Oh, Mr Malfoy, you shouldn't have – I'll give you an alibi of course, since you did it for a good cause, but if they make me take Veritaserum…'

He handed her the flute, taking advantage of her flustered state gently to lay a hand on her nape. The skin was very soft and hot. 'My dear girl, your readiness to lie for my sake does you credit, but you needn't worry. There is such a thing as unregistered wands. Have a sip of champagne' – his thumb lightly caressed her neck – 'and calm down.' The sight of the gooseflesh puckering the skin of her arms gave him immense satisfaction. He let his hand glide down her upper arm and to her waist, exerting the lightest of pressures to steer her towards Severus's chair. 'Should we set him free?' he murmured, bending down until his mouth almost touched her hair.

'It seems only fair, doesn't it? Poor Professor Snape, he must be terribly angry.'

Severus smiled up at her. 'Not at all. Lucius told me to be nice and behave myself. I'm very happy to see you, Miss Granger.'

'That's scary,' she muttered, instinctively leaning into Lucius.

'Yes, isn't it? I'm sure he's going to be a lot scarier, if more in character, once I lift the spell.'

Hermione drew her wand. 'Better be prepared then.'

'I said it yesterday, and I feel compelled to repeat it: there isn't a single ounce of mercy in you, my dear.'

Her face went beet red. 'I didn't mean… I know you're able to defend yourself, Mr Malfoy!'

'I, on the other hand, am sure you meant to defend me. Come to think of it, that's a capital offence. So you'll have to call me Lucius, to make up for it. And put away your wand, Hermione. I assure you, I can take care of myself.'

When Hermione had accepted the second invitation to dinner at Malfoy Manor, she'd prepared a lot of speeches she was going to make to Professor Snape. Some of them had been quite good, if she said so herself. What she had, however, not been prepared for was a pre-dinner duel. She stood, transfixed and barely able to duck ricocheting spells, her eyes riveted to the two men as they fired hexes at each other. A part of her brain registered that none of them used anything worse than a Bat Bogey hex, and that Drippy ought to have faster reflexes, because he (she?) was having a hard time holding on to the frothing champagne bottle after being hit by a stray Tarantallegra hex.

In the end, Lucius won – Hermione was sure the duel would've gone on for hours, had he not been on his home turf. The full body bind he apparently misfired had been directed at a mirror with the utmost precision, so that it ricocheted and hit Professor Snape squarely in the back.

Lucius nonchalantly stepped over his petrified adversary and opened one of the windows, to lean on the sill and let the night air cool his face. 'Nothing like a duel to work up an appetite,' he remarked to Hermione, who was still standing against the wall, motionless. She was quite pale, he noticed, and the skin of her throat and cleavage bore hectic red blotches. Lucius reached out for her. When she reluctantly took his hand, he drew her against his side. 'You're not afraid, are you?' He stroked up and down her back. 'You're shaking, poor girl. Have another – what on earth happened to the bottle?'

She explained about the hex, and Lucius was glad to see she was laughing again. Drippy, who'd spilled most of the champagne all over him(her?)self and thus was doing his name justice, was sent off to fetch another bottle. It arrived at lightning speed, and Lucius poured another glass for Hermione. 'Better now?' he asked, putting his arm around her shoulders.

She nodded. 'Much better, yes.' Another shiver went through her body, and Lucius pulled her a little closer. 'I was just… I really don't mean to bring up the past, Mr, erm, Lucius, because we're on the same side now. But my memories are right here in my head, and I can't just make them go away. Normally I cope quite well, but your fight reminded me…'

His hand cautiously exploring the delightful curve of her waist and hip, Lucius bent down and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. 'I know.' He straightened up, just enough that he could look into her eyes. What he saw there encouraged him to lower his head again, this time to kiss her lips. 'And now,' he said, 'let us release Severus.'

PART SEVEN – Wherein Hermione Granger demonstrates how not to make dinner conversation

Dinner was awkward, to put it mildly. Hermione, aware that the man she still thought of as Professor Snape had merely stayed because Lucius had made him promise at wandpoint, didn't quite know how to talk to him. So she had the choice between not talking at all, or talking to Lucius.

She would have liked to talk to Lucius, in spite of being terminally confused about the kiss, but talking to Lucius, with Professor Snape as a taciturn third, would seem as if she meant to exclude Professor Snape, which she didn't. Not talking to Lucius while trying to talk to Professor Snape would give Lucius the impression that she didn't want to talk to him because he'd kissed her, which was certainly not the idea she wanted to get across. She'd liked the kiss, incomprehensible though that was, and if she was completely honest with herself, she wanted at least one, if not a lot more of those kisses. Not quite as chaste as the first one, if possible.

Professor Snape wasn't looking at anybody; he was eating quietly with an expression of introverted intensity on his pale, drawn face, and drinking too much. Lucius seemed to be enjoying himself; whether that was due to the kiss or having bested Professor Snape in a duel she wasn't quite sure. In the end Hermione decided that she had to start talking, because if she didn't, her mind certainly wouldn't stop spitting out images of more kisses, and kisses leading to foreplay – not that she'd had any experience with foreplay, not with Ron, but she'd read about it, and it had sounded very nice indeed – and foreplay leading to sex with her having lots of orgasms and not being frigid at all.

Unfortunately, her mind didn't seem willing to leave the realm of steamy and rather arousing fantasies, which meant that she couldn't think of anything to say. Or rather, of anything that didn't involve words and phrases completely unsuited to dinner conversation. It was a dilemma, if ever she'd seen one.

In her desperation, she finally blurted out, 'This Dover sole is perfectly cooked, Lucius. Isn't it, Professor Snape?'

Severus slowly raised his eyes from his plate. 'I doubt whether anybody could have come up with a more insipid and nonsensical remark after spending half an hour thinking what to say.'

'That wasn't what I was thinking about, not all the time at least.' She met his eyes and was suddenly dizzy with images whirling through her head.

'Truthful as always.' Severus smirked and lifted his glass to her. 'The Dover sole was most definitely not on your mind.'

Hermione felt her face go hot. 'You cold have asked before you entered my thoughts.'

'Would you have allowed it?'

'Of course not, that's exactly my point.'

Seeing Hermione's angry discomfort and Severus's sardonic smirk, Lucius decided that he could still make it up to the girl later – right now Severus was talking, which was more than he'd hoped for. Besides, Gryffindors adored sacrificing themselves. 'What were you thinking about?' he asked Hermione.

She nearly dropped her cutlery. 'Just… erm, that this was a very quiet meal,' she said.

'If you mean to tell a lie, Miss Granger, you ought to aim at verisimilitude,' Severus said. 'A convincing lie always contains a maximum amount of truth. So you ought to have said, for example, that you were thinking about-'

'Don't!' she interrupted him furiously. 'You have absolutely no right to tell Lucius! It's bad enough that you saw… what you saw,' she finished rather lamely.

'Bad?' His eyebrows rose. 'You seemed to enjoy it quite a lot. Without the aid of any illegal potion.'

Hands shaking with fury, Hermione stared at Severus out of narrowed eyes. 'That was mean, and it was completely unnecessary, Prof- Mr Snape. And if you want to humiliate me, all right, do it. Tell Lucius what you saw in my mind. Go on, tell him!' Severus opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. 'Well? I gave you my permission, why don't you tell him? Or are you going to sell me the memory?'

Lucius winced and discreetly moved his left hand to make sure he could draw his wand instantly. Severus's expression certainly warranted the precaution; it had gone from incredulous to outraged to murderous within a second.

'You insolent brat,' Severus said, his voice not much more than a whisper.

'You already called me that. You'll have to do better, if you want to insult me.'

'You disgusting, arrogant little hussy. You dare claim the moral high ground? You have the guts to judge me?'

'I'm not judging you. But I think somebody ought to tell you that what you're doing is wrong.'

'Wrong. So you would be the moral authority here?'

She was feeling so sick with fear and bravery that she had trouble keeping down what she'd eaten so far. Her mouth was dry, and her hands felt clammy. 'I know that blackmailing people is wrong, Professor. That doesn't make me a moral authority. And I'm not saying that you're a bad person, because I don't believe that you are. But making Mrs Westkin pay for something her husband had done was bad. She had to borrow five galleons from me, because she couldn't do the grocery shopping. And she had to pay you, or the Ministry would've cancelled her pension. If at least it had been somebody with money, I'd… I mean I still wouldn't think it was right, especially if the victim wasn't even guilty…'

Severus's fist hit the table. 'They are not victims!' he bellowed.

'Of course they are. Only there are victims who deserve it, and those who don't. Anyway, I still think you ought to leave punishment to the authorities – people taking the law into their own hands seldom works, in the long run I mean. Justice and personal feelings don't go together very well.' She picked up her wineglass, wishing that her hands didn't tremble quite so much, and emptied it in one go.

'There is no such thing as justice,' Severus said after a while, his voice oddly flat. 'If there was…'

Hermione impulsively put her hand over his. 'You see, that's something I can understand. If there was justice, you ought to have received an Order of Merlin First Class, and you ought to have drowned in job offers. And people would have thanked you, publicly, instead of turning their backs on you. The treatment they gave you was vile, absolutely unforgivable. But' – she let go of his hand and met his eyes – 'by doing what you did you justified their opinion of you.'

'I won't be lectured by a slip of a girl,' he bit out.

'Maybe,' Lucius put in, 'we could move on to the main course? Morals always make me hungry.'

Hermione smiled at him. 'That explains why you don't seem to have an ounce of fat on you.'

He would have liked to kiss her then, but Severus was looking at her in a very strange way, and so he merely glared at Drippy who sped off to the kitchens.