My reviewers are the best! Seriously, I LOVE the thoughtful comments from you all-it is fantastic to get such fantastically detailed feedback. Yes, I had to get Snape in there. I ship Hermione/Snape as well, but no crazy resurrection plots here. Just a nod to my favorite Potions Master, one chemist to another. I was going to make you wait until tomorrow for this but it's lab day and I just can't WAIT to see what you think!
The crack of disapparation at the gates provided Lucius with much relief. She could have disapparated directly to the foyer, but her choice of destination was a perfect read of her mood. She must have found a reference to the Beltane ritual. Astoria was in the library with him to select a book while Draco was bathing Scorpius. Lucius looked over at his daughter-in-law and said quite brusquely, "Get out."
Astoria did not have to be told twice, the raised voice of Hermione Granger at the door informing her instantly of the situation. Lucius heard his chief house elf, Twigs, telling Hermione that the master was in his library, and in no short order she was at the door, a "Petrificus Totalus!" flying from her lips before she'd even crossed the threshold. Lucius had his wand out in a flash and he blocked her and sent a stunner, which she blocked effortlessly.
"You used a courtship ritual on me!" She fired a jinx and hex in quick succession, and Lucius parried both and fired his own hex, whirling to avoid the spells she was sending, her chest heaving with the magnitude of her anger.
"I'm disappointed, Hermione," Lucius began, then landed a jelly legs jinx for a brief second before she threw it off, her feint and double throw of two stunners a really good piece of dueling, he admitted as he was thrown back for an equal measure of time before he also threw off her curse. "I thought you'd deduce it much quicker, witch."
"Damn you to hell, Lucius Malfoy," she hissed, grazing him with a burn jinx, the sting on his shoulder a reminder to be on his toes with this witch. It annoyed him and his eyes narrowed. She was due for a lesson, and he knew just the wizard to give it to her.
"I've already been, dear. It's called Azkaban, and I was too much for even that hell, and they had to let me out," he retorted as he paced left, firing a rapid series of hexes, jinxes, and curses that sent Hermione behind a piece of furniture and set a section of books on fire. When she popped back up she nearly got him again with a full-fledged dark curse, and he smiled sardonically as a shelf of books was shredded into confetti. "Getting mad, are we, Granger?"
She had moved past his desk and was in front of the double French doors to the patio now, inspiring a nasty idea. He fired past her deliberately, inciting a shriek of wind that came rushing through the doors and caused her to be distracted for a split second. In a childish act, he got her full on with the slug burping curse, and watched as she vomited a series of slugs. He laughed out loud until she tossed a wordless Expulso at the wingchair in front of him, throwing him into one of the bookcases with such force that two of the shelves split, spilling books to the floor and causing him to wince from the twinge in his back as he struggled back to his feet. Hermione was still burping slugs, but she cast the Bogey curse on herself and then used the counter-curse to remove all the effects.
"That was brilliant," Lucius admitted, drawing her attention back to him.
Hermione distracted his wand with three jinxes and tried to cast the hair loss curse. "Calv—"
Lucius hit her straight in the mouth with the babbling curse. "No, no, none of that please."
Hermione grazed him with a wordless Petrificus Totalus Tria. That was good, if he hadn't dodged right on the third step she would have gotten him fully with that one. It took him two seconds to restore feeling to his left arm, rotating it in the shoulder joint as they continued trading stinging hexes and stunners in between their more inventive efforts. The room was becoming thoroughly wrecked, but neither one of them was going to retreat. Indeed, they had been advancing closer and closer to one another, the fiery hot passion of their mutual rage rendering them incapable of maintaining a cool and collected distance from their opponent. She finally broke free of her babbling, her eyes flashing magnificently in her fury.
"Arrogant arse! I'll break your ritual! I'll report you to the Ministry!"
"I'll teach you exactly what you've been missing, Mudblood," Lucius taunted. "No amount of books will replace the knowledge of being born to this world, of knowing its every custom inside and out." He landed a stinging hex right on her inner thigh, causing her to gasp in pain and annoyance. "And then we can discuss what I will teach you in the bedroom!"
His eyes flashed sensually with that statement and Hermione shrieked in outrage. "You will never touch me, you Pureblood son of a cold-hearted bitch!"
They were only three feet away from each other now, and Lucius pulled her tightly to him by the waist, holding his wand to her face as she mirrored his action with her own wand. "I'm touching you now, Hermione." His grey eyes were silver with passionate emotion, and Hermione's were full of conflicting emotions. Ginny was right—she wanted him.
"Yes."
It was permission and they both knew it. Their mouths met in a rehash of their previous kiss. This time, however, Lucius was not going to let the matter drop. He wanted her to feel everything he could give her. Hermione's wand clattered to the floor when she thrust her hands into his hair, holding onto his head and the back of his neck while Lucius resheathed his own up his sleeve, a lifesaving habit, before caressing her back. Their tongues met greedily, each absorbing the taste of the other, learning the intricacies of each other's mouths and finding the right pressure for their lips, the most pleasant angles. Hermione gasped when his right hand wandered down to caress the firm globe of her ass, sending a spear of heat right to her core. Lucius used the opportunity to murmur a mouth freshening charm, quirking his eyebrow at Hermione's flush of embarrassment.
"Slugs, pet. Not terribly tasty."
Her expression was heated but unsure, and Lucius dove back in again, eliciting a satisfying series of moans in short order as he demonstrated the considerable pleasures to be brought about by a talented tongue and equally talented pair of hands. He stroked and teased, his fingers running along the edge of her breasts while his tongue did deliciously wicked things to her ear and neck.
Hermione was no less active, her fingers loosening the collar of his shirt and undoing the first few buttons as she nuzzled his jaw and laid open-mouthed, wet kisses on his throat. His cologne was heated from their tussle, the scent tickling her nostrils while the feeling of his five o'clock shadow against her cheek did strange things to her insides and drove her to a wantonness she had never experienced in her sparse dating life. There was something to be said for an experienced man, his hands coming around surely to the buttons of her blouse as he lowered her onto the sofa by the fireplace.
"Master! Master!" A house elf had popped in, and Lucius growled, "Go punish yourself!" before Hermione could even register the elf's presence. He flicked his thumb expertly over her nipple and Hermione arched to claim his mouth hotly as her hands pulled his shirt up, her fingers seeking skin, the temporary disruption entirely forgotten by both of them. Lucius was pondering whether to vanish or unfasten her bra when they both heard Draco's voice.
"What the hell is going on here? Aguamente!"
Reality returned with the sizzle of the cold water that Draco conjured against the flames of the books that were burning in three places around the room. Hermione was mortified while Lucius was entirely unrepentant. He would have happily taken the witch right there were it not for the pesky problem of his house trying to burn down. She scrambled to sit up, Lucius doing the gentlemanly thing and taking her hand to pull her to a seating position. He pretended to be ignorant of her fumbling with the buttons of her blouse while he addressed his attention to his son.
"Granger. Father. Why am I not surprised?" Draco's expression was sardonically amused, his arms folded across his chest, wand dangling from his wand hand. "A bit too occupied to notice a little thing like a fire, hmm?"
"Miss Granger dropped in to discuss the details of our betrothal," Lucius said, aware that Hermione was entirely at sea over what had just occurred. He smoothly took her hand in his own and squeezed gently, a gesture made reassuring by the lightness of the pressure he exerted.
"I'll bet," Draco drawled, his eyes lazily sweeping around the room. "A destructive method of communication."
"Mind your own business!" Lucius snarled, and Draco grinned and bowed.
"As you like. Just don't go setting any more fires that require wizarding magic to put out, please?"
With that salvo Draco left the room, leaving a very flustered Hermione and a very calculating Lucius. Her eyes traveled the room, taking in the shredded pages and smoldering lumps of what used to be books.
"Oh my God." Hermione's voice was quietly remorseful.
Lucius realized that the destruction of the books would bother her, so he tried to reassure her.
"It's nothing. I keep all of the irreplaceable books under protection charms. Anything that has been destroyed can be easily replaced."
"That's not the point," Hermione said, then fell silent. It was a good sign that she left her hand in his own, a tacit truce. They sat in silence for a few minutes, the smell of smoke now fully actualized by their conscious minds.
"Would you like to take a stroll through the gardens so we can discuss this?" Lucius asked, his thumb softly circling the smooth flesh on the back of her hand.
She cleared her throat and said, "Yes, please," wordlessly Accioing her wand.
Lucius helped her to her feet, watching as she tucked the ends of her blouse back into her skirt. He opted to leave his shirt collar open, even if it did mean she could see his prison number tattoo from Azkaban. It's not like she didn't know that he'd been there, and he was not going to tread lightly around the topic. He held his arm out for her, silently challenging her not to accept it. She hesitated, then put her arm in his, which was quite satisfying. He placed his other hand on top of her forearm and drew her out through the French doors. The moon was rising and the sun had set, the magical blossoms of the night-blooming plants starting to open.
"I'm meeting Neville for coffee on Thursday."
Hermione didn't know exactly what to say after the torrid climax of their impromptu duel, but that probably wasn't the best lead. Lucius stopped and tightened his grip on her hand, slowly turning so they were face to face. Hermione observed the muscles working in his jaw, and his eyes were cool and possessive as they raked her face.
"And what exactly are you planning to discuss?" Lucius refrained from adding, 'with that buffoon', a masterful exercise in self-control.
Hermione could only guess at his thoughts as his face remained largely impassive, but she knew he was not best pleased with that announcement. "I wanted to talk to him about his matches, to find out how he felt about everything. He is my friend, Lucius."
"But he will not be your husband," Lucius said calmly—too calmly. Hermione was learning rapidly that if she wanted to know what Lucius Malfoy was really thinking, she had to pay close attention to his expressive eyes. Cool and mercurial, yes, but the flashes of emotion told their own story. She tamped down her own irritation, because he was being insufferably high-handed, and that is exactly what she told him.
"You are attempting to manage me, Lucius, and I believe I might have communicated to you that I don't like that." She deliberately brushed a bit of soot from his shoulder, pressing a bit too hard in doing so right where she had gotten him with the burning jinx earlier. He winced and his eyes narrowed briefly, then amusement flickered into them. He was secretly impressed by the Slytherin-esque move. He cocked his head to the side as if studying her, then drew her forward again on a leisurely amble through the garden. He said nothing for several minutes, and Hermione was getting nervous. Why didn't he say something?
Finally, he spoke. "Draco gave me to understand that your friend Weasley is quite a good chess player. Tell me, Hermione, do you play?"
Whatever she had been expecting him to say, it wasn't that. Hermione was confused by the question. She snuck a peek at his profile for a clue, but she couldn't see a reason not to answer truthfully.
"Yes, I do, but I am not particularly good at it." She had never seen a reason to disavow her known weaknesses, and didn't intend to start now.
Lucius stopped and turned to look at her, maintaining ownership of her arm on his own. "And why do you suppose that is?"
She could tell that there was a purpose to this, but she was not in the mood for games. "Ron accused me of being incapable of planning more than a few moves ahead. He said it was my downfall, because I couldn't focus on more than the immediate problem."
She stopped and removed her hand from his arm. Lucius allowed it because he could tell that she was genuinely torn by the events of the evening.
"Lucius, please. I'm not in the mood for this. What kind of courtship ritual was that on Beltane? I really need to know. Please."
The corner of Lucius' mouth quirked upward slightly, and his eyes warmed imperceptibly. "Then I would say that your friend knows you very well. I, on the other hand, am an excellent chess player. I am always playing toward the endgame. In this case, I'd say you are quite firmly in check, Hermione—and the next move, regardless of what you do, will be mate. In every sense of the word." Lucius drew his finger slowly down her arm, then fixed her with a frank gaze. "I recommend you make your status clear to your friends, and soon my dear. I don't take well to others infringing on what belongs to me."
Predictably her eyes flashed with anger and her jaw clenched with irritation. "I belong to no one but myself—now, and even when I am forced to marry. Believe me when I say that any attempt to behave otherwise will result in more harm to your person than a simple jinx!"
She turned to flounce away, but was stopped by his strong hand on her arm. She turned back to fling an angry command to remove his hand, but the expression on his face stopped her. The halt to her forward momentum was enough to let him drop his hand from her arm.
"Have you added any additional wards to your flat since my visit?" He was deadly serious now, all business as he did up the buttons of his collar, then smoothly put his hair back in a queue. He looked utterly delectable.
"No. I restored them, but frankly I…I wasn't afraid of you." Hermione blushed and looked away from him, an action that Lucius found strangely endearing. He cupped her cheek and turned her face back to him, running his thumb over her lower lip, his eyes fixed on hers.
"I'm glad to hear it." His hand fell to take hers. "I'm going to accompany you home and cast a few additional charms. Would you mind side-along?" He smoothly drew her into his embrace, and Hermione's irritation melted away. There was something extremely engrossing about a protective Lucius.
"No." Hermione closed her eyes and focused her attention on her flat, whisking them both into the whirl of nothingness.