A/N: I own nothing, save for my small collection of words and phrases. The characters and settings belong to JKR and those who helped bring it all to life (publishing companies and movie studios, etc.), while the song on which I've loosely based the story belongs to Christina Perri and her recording company (Jar of Hearts).
This is un-betaed, so any mistakes are my own. If you see one, please let me know.
Much to her delighted surprise, he needed very little recovery time, and he wasn't averse to helping her by using his oh-so-talented fingers as well as his tongue in the little time he did need, keeping her hurtling over the cliffs of pleasure again and again as the night grew darker and the hour grew later.
Finally, as they lay next to each other, sated, panting and soaked with sweat and other fluids, he turned his head and caught a glimpse of the clock. "As much as I'd love to stay and continue, I really should be getting home." He sat up on the edge of the bed and tried to straighten out his hair with his fingers.
In a rush, she remembered. Narcissa. Draco. "Oh. Right. Oh, gods. What have we done?"
"As I recall, darling, we had fun together." He turned back to her, leaning over to kiss her neck, laving his tongue gently over a particularly dark love-bite he'd left. "Do you need me to stay? I don't mind," a wicked look glinting from his eye, "whatsoever, but I do need to let somebody know where I am so nobody worries."
"Let … somebody … Lucius, you're married! To a perfectly lovely woman! With whom you have a son my age! How can you be so flippant?" Her body was flushing with her anger, and inwardly, Lucius thought she looked even more beautiful than before.
"Well, like I said, I don't want her to worry if I don't come home. There are still people who hold my past against me, Hermione, and it would be irresponsible to just disappear overnight without letting her know." His brow furrowed in confusion as her body flushed darker, signaling her increased ire. Then things clicked, and he sat up, throwing his head back in rich, full laughter.
"Merlin, Hermione, you don't think we have that kind of marriage, do you?"
She was well and truly angry by then, his laughter not helping at all, and she sat up quickly, snatching at the blanket to cover herself.
Seeing her anger continuing to grow, he stopped laughing and looked at her seriously. "We were an arranged marriage, my sweet, and I was originally supposed to marry Andromeda, who was a year closer to my age than Narcissa, but when she ran off with Ted Tonks, I was passed down to Narcissa to cement the alliance of the two houses. We get along well enough, but we were only ever faithful to each other long enough to secure the line. After Draco was born, we both agreed to see whoever we want, as long as we're discreet in public and open with each other about it. We've done nothing wrong here, darling."
"It feels wrong."
"Did it feel wrong before I reminded you that she exists?"
"…No."
"Then how is it wrong now? Don't be such a hypocrite, Hermione. Honestly."
"I think you should leave now."
"Oh, very well." He stood and began pulling his clothes back on. "Listen, before I go, is there anything I can do for you? Other than the obvious, of course." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"No, I don't need anything from …" Her voice trailed off as she remembered why she'd been in the state she was when he'd found her. "I need money. Not for … not for this, but you said last year that your family owed me a debt for what happened in your drawing room. The care my parents need is more than I can possibly afford to pay, and I know it would be just a Knut in a bucket for you, so I'm cashing in my family debt. I'd like them moved back to England from Australia, and for their care and treatments to be fully paid for."
He frowned. "You need not cash in the family debt for that, Hermione. I would gladly take care of that for you anyway."
"I refuse to feel beholden to you in any way. I'm calling in the debt your family owes me." There was strength and conviction in her voice, and they both felt as the magic washed over them.
"Very well then, I'll take care of it first thing in the morning. I just need to know where they are and under what names I shall find them."
"They are still living under their assumed names of Wendell and Monica Wilkins in Brisbane, and to help avoid the publicity and complications down the road, I'd like to leave them with those names when they return."
"I wish you would reconsider making this the debt reparation," he said with a clenched jaw. "I don't want this," he motioned to the two of them, "to be a one-time occurrence, and I would pay to help your parents anyway."
"I believe you would, Lucius, I do, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that was hanging over my head. I won't be a kept woman, and if this continues, I don't want it to be because I feel obligated because of what you do for them."
"Fine. I'll let you know where they are once the details are all ironed out and they're settled in." He pulled his outer robe on and swung his heavy cloak over the top of everything. Slipping back into his shoes, he was every bit the imposing figure he ever was in public, but for his slightly mussed hair.
Reaching for her robe, Hermione stood and wrapped it around her, tying it at the waist before making her way to where he stood at the doorway. "I … I don't know if I can accept a relationship with you the way you've laid things out, Lucius, but I will think on it if you can give me some time." She reached to smooth his hair back down, restoring the natural order of things. "Thank you, though, for coming to check on me, for offering me comfort and a shirt to cry on," she smiled crookedly, tugging at his collar, "and for the rest, as well.
"I promise to make a public appearance tomorrow so nobody else worries about me, and… could you please let me know when my parents are back home?"
"You're welcome to all my caring, to all my comfort, and to every shirt I own if you ever need another one to cry on. And if you decide you want the rest, too, you have only to say the word, and I am yours." He leaned down to place a gentle kiss at the corner of her mouth. "Your parents should be here by the end of the week. You'll know everything as soon as I do."
As his hand reached for the doorknob, a large silvery fish that Hermione recognized as a Japanese Koi burst through the wall into the room. "Lucius, it is nearly midnight and you are not home. Please let me know you are okay. If I do not see or hear from you within the hour, I am calling in the Aurors." Narcissa's worry-filled voice filled the room before the Patronus dissipated into vapor.
He sighed. "I knew she'd be worried. Let me just take care of this and then we'll say our goodbyes." He waved his wand in concentric circles and clearly stated the incantation, "Expecto Patronum!" A burst of light quickly formed itself into a large, preening peacock, and Hermione couldn't help but giggle. He glared at her for a second before speaking to the image, "I'm fine, Cissy, and will be home within fifteen minutes. Don't call in the Cavalry just yet." He instructed it to take the message to Narcissa, and with a flourish of feathers, it was gone into the night.
"Are you going to make fun of my Patronus' form as well?"
She giggled again at the righteous indignation in his tone. "Nope. Not me. Would I do a thing like that?"
He glared at her again, flatly. "My history with swotty Gryffindors tells me yes."
"Your history with other swotty Gryffindors, perhaps, but not with this swotty Gryffindor."
"Mm, I see your point. I don't actually know you as well as I should. Hopefully I get the opportunity to rectify the situation. I do know how fond I am of the parts of you I have gotten to know." His eyes raked down her barely clothed form and the flush that had finally begun to ebb as her anger had disappeared returned with a vengeance.
"Oh, get out of here and go home." She swatted at his arse.
"If you insist, though it's not too late…"
"Yes it is. Go home, Lucius."
He sighed. "Good night, Hermione."
"Good night."
He leaned in and placed another soft kiss on the other corner of her mouth. "Until the next time."
"You presume too much, sir."
"Is it presumption if I'm certain?" He grinned widely, his right cheek rising higher than the left in a sinfully crooked smile, and her damnably weak knees threatened to give out on her again. He swooped in, kissed her to within an inch of sanity, and took advantage of her foolish grin to finally duck through the door and leave.
Heading back into her own bedroom, where there were clean sheets, she murmured a cleaning spell over herself and curled up in her bed, falling into happily sated, truly exhausted sleep, fuelled by their hours of amorous activities and the emotional fatigue she'd already been suffering when he'd arrived.
Two weeks later, she received an owl from him, letting her know that Wendell and Monica Wilkins had been settled into a suitable facility in London, and she was on the approved visitor list for both of them.
She hadn't seen or heard from him since that night, and she supposed he was giving her the space she needed to work through things, but she was itching for him, and she wished there was something more personal to the note than just the perfunctory business letter she'd received.
Her NEWT scores had come in the day before, and she was pleased to see a full round of Os, with percentages significantly higher than one hundred in many cases. With these scores and the prestige attached to her name in the aftermath of the war with Voldemort, there wasn't a job she couldn't get, even with her blood status. She wanted to pursue a Mastery in something, but she was having a hard time deciding between Transfiguration, Charms, and Arithmancy, and she knew that while she worked on her upper education, she would need to find work to support herself.
She received a fairly small stipend from the Ministry with her Order of Merlin, First Class, and she lived frugally in her parents' house, which had been paid off years earlier, but the Mastery was set to be a huge expense that she just couldn't afford without working.
The first time she went to visit her parents, she was surprised by their accommodations. The facility was a high-end private home with every modern amenity that still managed to maintain full functionality as a place for those who were mentally and/or physically incapable of living on their own.
The nurse who showed her up, Nadia, was about ten years older than Hermione, and had wide violet eyes and long hair so dark that the black shone blue in the right light. She left Hermione at the door to her parents' suite of rooms with a wink, which startled Hermione just a bit, setting her enough on edge that when she walked in to see her infantile parents babbling incoherently at Lucius, who was listening to them as intently as one would listen to their child, it caused her to burst into tears.
He rushed to her, tucking her into his side comfortingly, and her arms wrapped around his chest tightly. "Come now," he whispered softly, "Let's not upset them. Come into the hall, my sweet."
She allowed herself to be led out into the corridor, where he lifted her wet face to look at him. "Why the tears?"
She hiccupped softly before responding, "It just hit me when I walked in to see them with you that I started this whole thing to keep them away from you and Voldemort, and now that he's gone, you're the one responsible for bringing them back to me. The irony's too much."
At this, he burst into loud, raucous laughter, shocking her tears away. "What's so funny?"
"Just you, my sweet darling. Go and have your visit and I'll be here waiting for you when you're finished."
She looked at him curiously, but did as he said. She didn't stay long; it was too hard to look at them the way they were, and when she came out, he was waiting patiently for her, just as he said he would.
"Tea? Coffee?"
"Oh, gods. Coffee sounds divine." She had quickly become addicted to coffee following the war. Sleep brought about painful memories, flashbacks of time spent with the Horcruces and of the torture Bellatrix had wrought, and so she learned to make strong coffee at home to put sleep off as long as possible. When it was finally absolutely necessary, she would take a dreamless sleep potion, and then when she woke, it was back to the coffee. The strong home-brew was good, but nothing compared to what she could get from the corner coffeeshops that were beginning to crop up all over the city. It was one of these wonderful coffee confections she was currently craving, the stress of seeing her parents again warning her that dreams tonight would be of the sort that couldn't be put off, even with the help of dreamless sleep. Better to just stay awake as long as she could.
"Let's go then, if you're ready."
"I think I am for now. Thank you, Lucius, for getting them in somewhere so nice. I never expected this."
He folded her arm around his and they made their way through the building toward the exit. "I never do anything by halves, Hermione. They deserve the best care they can get, and luckily for you and for them, the best they can get is the best anyone can get. It's a Wizarding facility, but it's blanketed with strong anti-magic and anti-apparation wards to keep patients from blowing themselves or others up and to keep them from disappearing. Once we pass the front desk, however, we should have special dispensation to pop out and then we'll go get your coffee."
"Coffee…" Her voice was wistful at the thought of a hot, caffeinated beverage.
He chuckled at her response to the idea of coffee. When they passed the front desk and Nurse Nadia winked at Hermione again, his eyes narrowed at her, pulling Hermione closer in to his side in a clear gesture of MINE, causing her to gulp quietly.
Over coffee and almond biscotti, they were discussing Hermione's NEWT scores and her future options, when she brought up the conundrum of what she wanted to study and how she was going to support herself while doing so.
"Come work for me."
It was her turn to narrow her eyes at him, making him chuckle again.
"It has nothing to do with whether or not we continue our liaison. I would be pursuing you as an employee anyway, Hermione, with these scores. You would languish in the Ministry and you would come to hate yourself and everyone around you if you were mired in its bureaucracy and red tape. Come work for Malfoy Laboratories. I have a research department for each of the fields you mentioned, and any of them would benefit from your being there. Best of all, we employ multiple Masters of their fields, any of whom would be thrilled beyond measure to have you as an Apprentice. And as an ML employee, any Mastery you pursue will be paid for in full, provided you sign a contract stating that you will remain with the company for at least four years after your Mastery is completed."
Her mouth gaped open and closed, mimicking nothing so much as a fish out of water, shocked at the offer, and hoping he was being truthful about keeping the offer open regardless of her decision about their personal relationship.
"It really does solve nearly all your problems, you know, so you should just accept. The only thing left to decide is which discipline best suits you." He sat back and sipped at his coffee, calmly waiting for her to say yes. Any other response would have been highly illogical, and logic was one thing Hermione Granger had in abundance.
"You're sure this has nothing to do with…"
He sighed and cut her off. "Hermione, as much as I would dearly love to continue having carnal relations with you, that decision in no way impacts this one. However," he smirked, "if you should choose to say yes to both questions, I will in no way prevent you from doing so."
"You…" She rolled her eyes at him. "Yes. To the work question, in any case. I haven't yet decided on the other."
"Wonderful! I'll have the contracts drawn up and ready for you to review as soon as you know which path you choose."
"Which one would you choose, if you were me?"
He stopped to think for a moment, dipping his biscotti into the bitter brew in his cup. "You're brilliant no matter which way you go, and based on what Severus always had to say about you in private, I'd always thought you would go for Potions, but as you've only mentioned Transfiguration, Charms, and Arithmancy, I would suggest Arithmancy. You have a cool logical mind, are keen on all aspects of book research, and exceedingly powerful when it comes to the practical portions of spell-work. You would honestly do well in any of the three, but based on what I know of you, that's my suggestion." The sodden end of the hard cookie went into his mouth, and his eyes closed at the magnificent explosion of flavor.
She was shocked to hear his praise of her abilities, as well as the second-hand knowledge that Professor Snape had thought she was talented enough in Potions to have pursued a Mastery in it. She had little interest in the subject beyond what she'd learned in school and its more practical applications in day-to-day life – hangover relief potions, headache cures, and the monthly menstrual cramp relievers that were a godsend compared to what the Muggle world offered – however, it felt good to know that Snape had acknowledged her in some positive way.
"That's been the one I was leaning most toward, but I'm just not sure."
"Well, take your time, my sweet. You have as much as you need."
Two weeks later, she walked into the gleaming lobby of Malfoy Laboratories, ready for her first day in the Arithmancy department. She would be working and apprenticing under Master Glenn Ashmole, one of the foremost experts in the field, and long-time employee of ML.
A month after that, she took an afternoon and went to visit Narcissa, knowing Lucius would still be at work, and discussed the situation with her. The youngest Black sister seemed surprised that Lucius had made Hermione an offer, but confirmed what he'd told her. They did not have a traditional marriage, and would have long ago have divorced if it was possible. Narcissa was fond of Lucius as a person, and was happy to be married to him, but she'd had a long string of lovers, as had Lucius since Draco had been born. Hermione was surprised at Narcissa's candor regarding the fact that she, unlike Lucius, did not discriminate her bed partners based on gender, but found that it didn't bother her at all; rather, she saw a bit of that openness reflected in herself.
And so, with a good handle on every other aspect of her life, she gave in to his not-so-subtle and oft-repeated flirtations and told Lucius yes to his other proposition. It was so easy to give in, and the things they got up to in the bedroom were well worth each and every rumor going around the Labs. It was the most closely-guarded not-secret in the history of the company.
Three months after it started, heading off the rumor mill, she finally told Harry and Ginny just who it was keeping the perpetual smile on her face. Harry was shocked, but overall accepting, only wanting her to be happy, but Ginny stormed out of the room, unwilling to listen to anything else after Hermione said his name.
She ranted and raved and screamed and yelled, "How COULD you?! After what he did to me when I was eleven! The year of HELL that I went through because of Voldemort's bloody fucking Horcrux diary was all HIS FAULT and now you're shagging him for his money?"
The loud slap echoed through Grimmauld Place, and Harry could hear from the other room as Hermione's voice hissed angrily, "Are we sleeping together? Yes. Are we fucking and shagging and snogging and doing everything you and Harry do together? Yes. Am I doing a gods-damned bloody bit of it for his money? NO, and I'm insulted that you would think so little of me."
"Is he, or is he not the one paying for that expensive place your parents are in?" Ginny looked smug as she hit at her friend with her best shot.
"He is, but it has nothing to do with that. He started that before … well before we started a regular relationship." Ginny glared at her, knowingly, and Hermione sighed, sinking into a nearby sofa. "He owed me a family debt, Gin, and I called it in to save my family."
Ginny looked incredulous. "A family debt. How in Merlin's name did he owe you a family debt?" What she left out of her question was, "…and didn't feel he owed one to me?"
"Because of what happened in his house with Bellatrix after the Snatchers got us. When Dobby was killed. He had to stand there and watch it happen or risk Voldemort killing his wife and child when he found out, and so he told me he owed me a family debt for their part in my torture."
"You don't have to sleep with him to satisfy that." She was still peeved at her friend's choice of lover, and wasn't going to give in easily.
"Our sleeping together has nothing to do with the debt or with his family or mine, Gin. I told you that already."
"He's married."
Hermione winced as she replied, expecting the redhead's response to her next revelation. "And she knows."
"WHAT?"
Hermione sighed. "It's not my place to tell their family business, Gin, but they don't love each other and they never have, and they allow each other the freedom to be with who they want, as long as it's kept discreet and they keep each other notified as to who the other party is. It's not like I'm going over for family dinners, I mean, Merlin, but it's all very civilized and she knows and we're doing nothing wrong."
"That's what he wants you to think. He's married. He can never, ever get a divorce under Wizarding law. You will always be the mistress, Hermione, and nobody deserves that."
"Maybe I do deserve better circumstances, but right now, he's who and what I want, and if I learned anything from Voldemort and the war, it's to live my life the way I want it because tomorrow may never come."
Ginny threw her hands up and collapsed onto the sofa next to Hermione. "Fine. FINE! But I don't want to hear any sordid details. …Except, um," her eyes shifted nervously, "is he really as good as they say?"
The stupid grin on her face must have said it all. "Oh, yes."
"Good gods."
"How Narcissa ever was able to give him up, I'll never know."
"Ugh. Too far, Hermione. Too much information."
"Are we okay?" Hermione bumped her shoulder against Ginny's affectionately.
"Yeah, we're okay. I just think you deserve better."
Neither woman knew just how right Ginny was.
A/N: Reviews are always appreciated.
