A/N once again thank your for your enthusiastic responses. I can't help but re-iterate how much the notification e-mails lift my spirits as they pop up on my phone throughout the day. The baby actually slept last night so I can no longer blame my mistakes on her - the comma splices are all my fault...
The observant among you may have noticed that this story is a bit longer than the promised two chapters. I think it should be finished in another three... then I can start my amazing original Nanowrimo novel which will make me my fortune... or just start a new Lumione!
Trigger warning: This chapter contains mention of previous rape/sexual abuse - very minor but I wanted to flag it up.
She is cuddling Lucius Malfoy. In many ways, Hermione finds this harder to come to terms with than the plethora of carnal acts in which they have just engaged. She barely had time to develop any expectations, but if she had it would not have been this. She rests her head against the unfamiliar surface of his broad chest and listens to the steading pounding of his heart.
She is relaxed and sleepy. In fact, her post-coital glow is so extreme she can barely keep her eyes open. She tries and fails to stifle a yawn. She glances up at Lucius expecting to see a look of lazy satiation. Instead, she is surprised to see him staring at the ceiling. His expressive eyes are narrowed and a muscle flickers in his cheek. She tenses a little. Perhaps he's not quite as happy with what has transpired as she is.
"Thank you." She moves her fingers against his chest. She is just flexing them. She is certainly absolutely not stroking him.
"What on earth for?" His expression is incredulous.
"For making the whole experience so pleasurable." She gives a little shiver. "It could have been horrible. You could have been horrible, but you weren't. Do you think it was like this for Narcissa?" As soon as the words are out she curses her motor mouth. Why does she insist on allowing herself to ask every question which enters her head? If she weren't already aware of her faux pas Lucius has gone stiff beneath her. His fingers, which had been resting lightly on the small of her back, are now digging into her sensitive skin.
"No, it was nothing like this for Narcissa." He exhales slowly, and she feels him forcing himself to relax. "My father was not a kind man. However little you may think of me, he was ten times worse. Had he been kinder to Narcissa she might have been more willing to engage in a physical relationship with me. As it was, I believe it took her years before she was willing to be intimate with anybody and certainly not someone who looked exactly like her abuser.
"Oh." Hermione shudders a little and unconsciously nestles closer. Narcissa Malfoy is the last person she might have imagined herself feeling sympathy for, but she can feel it slipping between the chinks of her armour. "You do realise that just makes me more grateful to you, not less?"
Lucius does not appear flattered by her words. "There is really no need to thank me for not being a brutal rapist." He looks down at her and then away. "It occurs to me that since you have entered our world you have experienced nothing but persecution and prejudice. Even now, when the war is won you are forced to tie yourself to a man you do not love and to engage in sexual relations with one you hate in order to secure your place."
"You're being melodramatic." She settles herself closer to him. She is determined to enjoy his physical proximity even if he insists on engaging in a difficult philosophical debate. "Do you really think it's any better in the Muggle world?"
"I don't know. Many sympathisers portray the Muggle world as a utopia of equality and kindness."
"Ha." Her laugh is mirthless. "The Muggle world is not that far removed from this one. Woman are still not treated equally to men. Arranged and forced marriage is common in many cultures. Even in countries which consider themselves progressive there is still a huge disparity in wages and career opportunities between the sexes. Nothing that has happened to me is any different from what I might have encountered had I chosen to return to the Muggle world. Admittedly, Primae Noctis doesn't exist in Britain anymore, but marrying or swapping sexual favours in exchange for progression in your chosen career? That sort of thing still happens all the time." She looks up at his stern, unyielding face. "And I don't hate you," she adds rather belatedly.
Lucius gives a bitter smile. "That, at least, is something.
They are silent again and Lucius relaxes against her. His thumb is rubbing small circles on Hermione's lower back and she emits a little hum of pleasure. Of their own volition her fingers stroke across his chest soothing the slight bruise she left earlier. Without thinking her hand glides across his nipple and he inhales sharply. She looks up unsure what has caused his reaction and is surprised to see the blazing intensity in his slate coloured eyes. This time her movement is deliberate. She traces her fingernail around his hardened nipple.
"Miss Granger." His voice is hoarse.
"What happened to Hermione?" Her other hand slides down his flank to rest on his hip. It's a bold move, but she doesn't care. It seems that Lucius is blind to all but the most blatant of advances.
"Hermione…we don't have to…the ritual is complete…"
"I know." For what seems like the hundredth time that day she throws caution to the wind and reaches up to place her lips against his. He is slow to respond, as if waiting to see if she really means to kiss him. It is not until she rolls them so she straddling him again, with her naked body pressed fully against his, that his mouth opens and his lips begin to move against hers.
Whilst his brain may have had some reservations regarding a repeat performance his penis does not appear to have received the same memo. It is rapidly expanding beneath her and Lucius' hips rise, voluntarily or not, to press his hardness against her belly.
She would never have thought that either of them could become aroused again so quickly. Her whole body is tingling. Her breasts feel hot and heavy and she rubs them against Lucius' chest in an attempt to provide some sort of relief. Angling her hips, she brings her drenched sex into contact with his erection. They groan in unison.
Had Hermione stopped to consider what she was doing she might have been embarrassed, but she is already too far gone to act on anything more than instinct. She begins to move and rubs her slick folds against the hard heat of Lucius' cock. His hands came up to rest on her hips, but he makes no effort to interfere as she works herself back and forth feeling her arousal build as the shaft of his penis rubs against her clitoris. She is panting, sweat trickles down her back and she is unable to prevent the harsh gasping cries which emit from her mouth. Realising that her head is aching from the effort of screwing them closed she opens her eyes wide and realises that Lucius is staring at her with nothing short of awe on his beautiful face.
She continues to rub herself against him, helpless in the face of her passion. She is a slave to the delicious friction she is creating. Her thighs start to tremble as the pleasure builds. It spirals down from her belly and she goes rigid and buries her face in Lucius' neck as she begins to come. She sobs with pleasure, her whole body shaking as she rides out the contractions. Lucius's hands are gentle on her back and shoulders and when she finally raises her head he strokes her sweat drenched hair back from her face.
"That was" —he licks his lips— "that was the most arousing thing I have ever seen."
She lets out a breathy laugh. "It was quite arousing for me too."
He shifts slightly beneath.
"May I?"
It would seem rude to deny him after she has used him solely for her own pleasure. "Of course." She reaches between them and positions him once more at her entrance. Their eyes lock as she sinks down onto him. She winces a little, both at his size and because she is now tender from their previous exertions. Bracing her hands on his chest she sits up and begins to move as best she can. Lucius' hands return to her hips and he begins to cautiously thrust against her.
It is not all plain sailing. Hermione is sore and over sensitised from her orgasm. Twice, Lucius' thrusts hit her cervix and she yelps in pain and surprise. Once, she moves too enthusiastically and he slips out entirely, resulting in apologetic fumbling on both of their parts. But, just as before, they find their rhythm; their bodies synchronising in perfect harmony. She feels him growing impossibly harder and larger inside of her. His thrusts become irregular and desperate and his fingers bruise her thighs as he clings on for dear life. He cries out as he comes and shudders beneath her, his hips still rocking back and forth even as Hermione collapses forward onto his chest. She is completely exhausted.
"Do you have to marry Draco?" He is still softening inside her as he asks the question.
"Do you know how much you've spent on my wedding?" She buries her face against his neck and inhales his unique scent, now mingled with sweat and sex.
"I do and I don't care. I would spend the same again in order to prevent it."
"Because you object to my blood status?" She stiffens against.
He catches her chin in his hand and forces her to look at him. "No," he says emphatically, "because I object to him having something I want."
"Oh." She has to tear her eyes away from the intensity in his gaze. It's overwhelming. "Well the contract is signed and there are almost a thousand guests on their way, so I'd say yes, I do have to marry Draco.
He huffs in a manner Hermione secretly finds endearing.
"I don't understand how you can be so blasé after what has transpired between us today."
"I'm not being blasé." She snares a blanket with her foot and pulls it over them. She wishes they could stay cocooned like this forever. "Listen, Lucius, se— making love can be very confusing for people. It can even invoke feelings which aren't necessarily real."
"Don't be so patronising." He repositions the blanket so it covers his feet too. "You have engaged in intercourse exactly as many times as I have. You are no more of an authority on post-coital emotional upheaval than I."
Hermione's refrains from sighing. "I'm not purporting to be an expert. I'm just saying that just because we had amazing se— I mean just because we shared a passionate encounter doesn't mean you are justified in coming over all Mrs. Robinson on me."
Lucius thinks for a moment. "I have no idea what you mean."
"Oh. Well, I suppose you wouldn't. Mrs. Robinson is a glamorous older woman in a Muggle story. A young man has a passionate affair with her but then falls in love with her daughter. At the end of the story, the daughter finds out that he's slept with her mother and leaves him to marry someone else. The story ends with the young man banging on a window of the church trying to stop the wedding. It's not very dignified"
A furrow appears between Lucius' eyebrows and his lips move soundlessly as he considers her words. Eventually, he says, "That has absolutely no bearing on our situation."
"Well, I'm sorry." Hermione sits up and begins looking around for her underwear. "I didn't have time to come up with a better analogy. The point is, Lucius that I'm supposed to marry Draco. I've signed a marriage contract with Draco. The reason we are here together in the first place is because of Draco."
She pulls on her knickers and hunts under the bed for her bra.
"You've already admitted you are not in love with Draco." Lucius climbs off the bed and strolls naked into the bathroom. He lost his inhibitions remarkably quickly, Hermione thinks with some bitterness.
"I'm not in love with you either," she shouts at the closed door.
Lucius emerges from the bathroom, still naked but with his hair freshly combed. Hermione is absolutely not looking at his broad chest or his flat stomach, and she is definitely not looking at those muscular thighs.
"Of course you're not," Lucius says as she struggles to remember what they were talking about. "But even you are not naive enough to believe that what happened between is reproducible with a different partner." He watches with interest as Hermione puts on her bra.
"It might be," Hermione says defiantly. "We won't know without experimentation."
"I prefer not to experiment with matters of this ilk." Lucius has put on his trousers and shirt and is already beginning to look rather intimidating. Hermione struggles into her dress keen to even the playing field.
"An hour ago you weren't ever going to have sex again." She is still searching for her wand when Lucius comes to stand behind her and begins to do up buttons of her dress.
"An hour ago I was an idiot" his breath huffs across her back.
Hermione is beginning to feel desperate. "I'm not denying there is something between us." Out of the window, a small orchestra is making their way across the lawn with their instruments levitated behind them. "But it's my wedding day." She gestures to her dress.
"I'm not denying that." Lucius finishes with her buttons and spins her around to face him. "I'm merely suggesting you marry me instead."
Hermione can't quite believe what she has just heard. "I..I beg your pardon?"
"Marry me instead." Lucius is expertly tying his cravat. "You know it makes perfect sense."
"Does it?"
"You admitted your attraction to me already and we are clearly compatible when it comes to…" he hesitates searching for a word "...bedroom activities. You don't need to marry Draco in order to subvert the Marriage Incentive Programme. Any man will do. However, I have greater funds and more political clout than my son. It seems obvious that I am the better choice.
He has his expensive robes back on now. Clad once more in his aristocratic armour he is no longer the nervous virgin he had briefly allowed her to see. He is Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, pureblood, aristocrat, businessman, Death Ester… He is utterly unstoppable and utterly terrifying.
"The contract…"
"Contracts don't apply to people with as much money as me."
"You can't buy me!"
"I'm not proposing to buy you. I'm going to buy the celebrant."
"But Draco and I are friends."
"You and I," he fixes her with his steely gaze "are lovers."
The intensity of his declaration gives Hermione goosebumps. He is quite impossible to resist.
"This is ridiculous." She shakes her head trying to clear away the sensual fog Lucius appears to have shrouded her with. "We don't know each other. We don't even like each other."
"Who cares? We can hate each other by day and spend the night doing deliciously debauched things to each other." He moves into her space and seems to steal all of the oxygen as he does.
"I thought you didn't allow yourself to be ruled by your base nature."
He shrugs. "I made that rash statement prior to becoming intimately acquainted with my base nature. Now I plan to embrace it. Stop fighting it." His lips are inches from hers. "Say yes."
Her eyes flutter shut and her lips part in anticipation of his kiss. She can only marvel at his abrupt mastery of sexual manipulation. The temptation to give in to him; to surrender all of her carefully crafted plans in favour of the pursuit of hedonistic pleasure is overwhelming. She sways toward him eager for his kiss and says, "I need to think about it."
A/N There wasn't even supposed to be smut in this chapter - they just did it themselves - I have no control...none! Reviews make me write more...that is actual science.