Hermione was in her white-walled bedroom with a familiar Quidditch player. She was thinking to herself that it had reached the point in the night where it was approximately time for them to have sex; they had sat on her bed awkwardly for a while, which was usually when Viktor lunged in. True to form, she saw his face heading for hers and closed her eyes in automatic anticipation of his kiss that was always just on the other side of too moist.
Instead, though, Hermione felt him suck on her lower lip momentarily before trailing kisses along her jawline, nibbling her earlobe just slightly as he reached it. Slender fingers threaded underneath her hair while the kisses continued down her neck. Hermione let out a moan when he bit her unexpectedly. "Godric, I love your kisses."
"I know you do, Ms. Granger." The voice was sultry and velvety smooth. Although it didn't belong to Viktor, she knew it from somewhere.
Hermione opened up her eyes lazily and stretched while processing her dream. The contents hit her all at once causing her to spring up. Hermione spent a moment trying to deny to herself that she knew whose voice that was, but it was fruitless. She had obviously just had a dream about Lucius Malfoy that was strictly not case-related.
This is not weird. This is because you and Lucius just talked about your pretend sexual relationship. But… this wasn't very sexual. It was almost sweet.
Hermione looked over at her analog clock and grunted in frustration. She was very, very late. Not only had she had a disturbing dream about someone twice her age, but it had caused her to sleep in. (She never bothered setting her alarm unless she had an important appointment; her internal clock was excellent).
Hermione quickly got dressed. At first she pulled out one of her favorite shirts and then flung it in the corner angrily, choosing her least favorite shirt instead. It was old, didn't quite fit, and most importantly, thoroughly covered her. I am not trying to impress Lucius Malfoy, she said to herself like a mantra before she also chose a pair of pale pink granny panties and checkered gray trousers that would be better described as a tent.
She looked at her hair in the mirror; it was a bush. Although after Hogwarts Hermione learned a few simple spells to tame her mane of hair, she didn't bother using any of them this morning.
Hermione stopped briefly at her office to see if there were any documents sent over from the Ministry about her slightly-less-fake relationship with Lucius. Her breath caught momentarily as she caught the familiar script of the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. It was thankfully not about anything sexual, but instead setting a hearing for the next day regarding Hermione's status as counsel. Tomorrow! Hermione should have expected the Ministry to take her expedite request so literally; now she had almost no time to prepare, but couldn't complain as she requested the hearing to be as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, she absolutely needed to touch base with Lucius about the Department of Mysteries battle before the hearing. Hermione reluctantly headed over to Azkaban to have a hopefully private meeting with her soon-to-be client. There was still the possibility, of course, that no one believed that her and Lucius could have a romantic history, and the even smaller possibility that someone was eavesdropping through a potion (which could potentially have lasted long enough to hear her conversation with Harry). Telling herself that the simplest explanation was usually the correct one, Hermione decided to operate under the assumption that the conversation would be confidential, while exercising appropriate caution just in case.
By the time Hermione arrived at Azkaban, she was still in a slightly irritated mood that was exacerbated by her decision to skip her daily cup of coffee in favor of haste. "Morning, Zacharias. I need to see Lucius Malfoy."
"Hello to you, Ms. Granger. You are looking quite flushed this morning."
"I had a late start. I just ran here," Hermione lied, thoroughly annoyed by his comment.
"Were you running from the wild animal that got caught in your hair?"
Hermione was not in the mood for jokes. Instead of responding immediately, she just stared him down until he looked a little bit scared of her. "Please escort me to the appropriate room, Zacharias. I don't think bantering with you is part of the authorization to obtain access."
"And I don't think you have access to see Mr. Malfoy, considering that you are still no longer his lawyer."
"You are one of the reasons that I think basic subjects need to be taught at Hogwarts, because if you knew how to read, then you would have seen that the authorization from Kingsley lasts until the end of the week." It was a blatant lie, but as she expected, Zacharias didn't question her. Sometimes it paid to have a reputation as a by-the-letter kind of woman.
Zacharias turned a bit red, but didn't say anything as he led her down the hall.
Again, she waited in the small room until her least favorite Hufflepuff escorted the man haunting her subconscious into the room. When Zacharias closed the door, she wasted no time securing the communication. "Muffliato," Hermione cast immediately before looking up at Lucius with her arms crossed.
"What happened to you, Ms. Granger? Did your closet get swallowed up? Just teasing, of course, darling," he added hurriedly with a dawning of realization on his face. Hermione hadn't told him yet that their conversation was likely private. She thought about messing with him a bit first, but thought it would be better for her sanity not to have Lucius Malfoy pretend to be attracted to her any longer than strictly necessary.
"You can cut the act, Malfoy. It's just us, unless our eavesdropper found the idea of us sleeping together too preposterous. I admit, it's a possibility."
"It's a good thing you weren't wearing that outfit yesterday, or I would say it was more than likely," Lucius quipped, a smirk forming on his perfectly pale—his forty-something year old face! Hermione corrected herself angrily. "And since when am I 'Malfoy'? I thought that was a designation reserved for my son."
"Your son and I have been on a first name basis for a long time, a fact you might be aware of were you not incarcerated for the death and torture of several people." Hermione was in no mood for teasing today; not only was she feeling awful, but she needed to keep this meeting professional, and if she had to be a little bit cold to make that happen, she wasn't above it.
Lucius's expression was no longer playful, which was exactly what she intended. Still, she felt a pang of disappointment that she hid with a huff. "Was that necessary, Ms. Granger? I was under the impression that you were capable of maintaining at least an air of civility," His voice was a cold drawl that made her feel momentarily twelve years old again. He was sitting even more stiffly than usual in his metal chair and his forehead wrinkled slightly from the stern expression on his face. Hermione's arms were still crossed, nails digging into her left arm through the rough material of her shirt.
"I could ask you the same question, Lucius, or did you already forget about your little display yesterday? Out of all the things you could think of, I wonder why you made the choice that you did?" Hermione asked in the same flippant tone she had been using, but she was a little bit curious about his response.
"Did it not meet your specifications, Ms. Granger?" She hated how he answered her question with another one, and how sensual he made a simple word like "specifications" sound. Two days until Viktor, Hermione reminded herself. And I will not think of Lucius Malfoy when we are kissing!
"There were several options; I was asking merely how you narrowed them down."
"You gave me little notice." Hermione's eyebrow shot up before she could stop it. Did Lucius just admit that our having a sexual relationship was the first unethical or illegal thing he could think of?
"Hmm. Well, we should get back to work. Just in case, I wouldn't reveal any unnecessarily incriminating information."
Hermione went back to her office midday in a slightly better mood, but still a little irritable and, as much as she hated it, feeling self-conscious about her intentionally subpar outfit choice. When she walked in, Susan was sitting at her desk, writing furiously.
"Susan! Just the person I wanted to see."
Susan laughed heartily. "What do you need, Hermione?"
Hermione slumped like a balloon with the air popped out. "How did you know?"
"You look exhausted and were giving me something resembling pep. It was quite obvious."
"I know you have your own cases, but now that I have to prepare for this hearing just to stay on the case, I really need help preparing for the actual hearing. Will you help, please?" Now Susan looked like the deflated balloon.
"Hermione…" Susan's voice was tentative, which was rare. "You haven't finished reading all of the documents in the case file, have you?"
"Well, no need to rub it in, Susan, but no, I haven't. I've read the fundamentals—basic charges, witness list, that sort of thing."
A flash of anger went across Susan's voice as she muttered something, and then she looked up at Hermione. "I can't work on the case, Hermione. Mr. Malfoy killed my aunt."
"Oh…" Hermione didn't really know what to say to that.
"I didn't say anything because I didn't want to make you uncomfortable or make you feel like it would be weird if you took the case, and you're so diligent that I thought you would figure it out almost immediately when you went through everything."
"I haven't been able to—"
"I know," Susan interrupted softly. "I didn't mean it as an insult. Anyway, I can't work on the case." Susan bit her lip nervously before returning to her work without waiting for Hermione's response.
Hermione walked into her office, more than a little bit taken aback from their conversation. Susan was one of her good friends, but she couldn't help but wonder if Susan had anything to do with the letter to the Ministry. Even worse, she had told Susan her suspicions about the letter. What if that's why nothing came out of her and Lucius's conversation yesterday? What am I going to do about this? Hermione told herself that if she considered everyone who had a motive to hurt Lucius as a suspect, she would have to consider nearly everyone she knew. Instead of the comforting effect she intended, thinking about all of the people who might want to punish Lucius just made her more anxious.
She did her best to push all of her concerns out of her head as she prepared for the hearing the next day. None of these things will even matter if the hearing doesn't go well. Focus.
Hermione stayed at the office well past five o'clock in the morning, stopping home only for an hour nap, a quick shower, and a change of clothes. The hearing was at nine o'clock the next morning, and Hermione made a point of setting her alarm this time. She arrived half an hour early to pick up her notes at the office before rushing downstairs. Though she wasn't quite as prepared as she liked, but she knew she was still more prepared than the vast majority of lawyers that appeared before the Wizengamot. And it was enough; although one witch dissented, the other witches and wizards hearing her case found in her favor to her great relief. Now for the real work to begin.
Exhausted after the all-day hearing, Hermione trudged back to her office, ready to gather up her papers for the weekend and curl up into her bed to cuddle with Crookshanks. As she walked into her dark office, she muttered Lumos and jumped a bit in reaction to the unexpected presence of people in her office.
"Merlin, you two, I could have hexed you."
Ginny and George looked at each other and laughed. "You were right, Gin, she did come back to the office," George commented, ignoring Hermione's presence entirely.
Ginny grinned. "Hermione would never go home for the weekend without stopping by her work."
"This is just the type of responsible behavior I have tried to discourage as someone older and wiser than you," George turned to Hermione, tsk-tsking. "But I can see my efforts so far have been for naught. Don't worry, Hermione, we're not giving up on you. In fact, we're here to kidnap you."
"The only thing that will be kidnapping me is my warm bed," Hermione replied sharply.
"I think Hermione needs a lesson on the meaning of the word kidnapping," George pretend-whispered to Ginny. Ginny laughed in response. After Fred's death, George and Ginny had become closer than ever, spending the majority of their free time together. Percy, much like her, was usually busy with work, while Charlie was often out of the country. Bill was occupied with married life, and Ron (or Won-Won) could normally be found glued to Lavender. Just hours after the battle (and not long after her and Ron had kissed), Hermione found Ron and Lavender snogging near the Great Hall. It hurt at first, but she quickly realized that her and Ron could never work; they were simply too different. Soon after that, Viktor began writing to her again, and she relished in having someone to write to (and privately didn't mind the fact that he required very little effort on her part since she only saw him about once a month).
"Anyway, I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I really must get home and rest. I have a lot of work to get through tomorrow," Hermione said in a stern voice.
"Hermione, you need to have a little fun, then you'll be more ready to work tomorrow," Ginny argued.
"Ginny, I really don't think that's how it works."
"Come on, I miss you. I haven't seen you in ages," Ginny pouted a little for effect. The guilt was much more effective.
"One drink," Hermione let up. Ginny and George exchanged wide smiles before they each hooked an arm with hers and pulled her out of the office.
Several drinks and three bars later, the trio found themselves tumbling out of the fireplace at the Three Broomsticks. Whenever they went out together, they always started in London and inevitably started reminiscing about the Three Broomsticks, deciding for the hundredth time to head there. Luckily, Madam Rosmerta found them more amusing than annoying. They brushed the ashes off of themselves and stumbled up to order, but Madam Rosmerta cut them off immediately. "I'll bring your usuals to you," she said simply, and they nodded and stalked off to an empty table in the corner.
A few minutes later, Hermione downed her firewhisky in one shot. "I had a… dream about Lucius Malfoy," she blurted out, eyes darting back and forth between George and Ginny. Ginny had a curious expression on her face, while George burst out into a full-throated laugh. "Tell me I'm crazy. I need to hear that I'm crazy."
Ginny shrugged. "Who hasn't had a sex dream about Lucius Malfoy? He's very attractive." Hermione's mouth gaped open at Ginny's casual admission, while George started laughing harder, convulsing and hitting the table with his palm. "Ignore him, he's just compensating for the fact that he's clearly also had a sex dream about Lucius Malfoy." George was laughing too hard to respond, tears streaming out of his eyes.
"So, details."
"It was very… tender. We actually didn't have sex," Hermione mumbled in an awkward voice, making eye contact with the knotted wood in their table.
Ginny nodded. "Hmm. Unexpected. So it was a love dream," Ginny stated matter-of-factly.
"Definitely not a love dream." If Hermione had anything in her mouth, she would have spat it out. "I barely know the man."
"I find it interesting that you protest by saying how little you know him. You actually know him quite well; he's been horrible to you over the years. So the fact that that's the reason you give shows me that you actually are starting to like him, at least."
"You really should have been a lawyer, Ginny," Hermione replied in a sulky tone, stroking her empty glass with her finger. "I'm not being very precise. You two kidnapped me and made me drink, remember?"
"Okay, we can stop talking about this, but it doesn't make you right," Ginny replied matter-of-factly. "Let's get you home, grumpy."
"I'm not grumpy," Hermione whined, sending George back into fits of laughter that he had barely recovered from.