Hermione awoke to the sound of a small crack and the slight clinking of china, startled by the small house elf across the room setting out some tea. Momentarily she had forgotten where she was, but the memory of the previous night's events soon came back to her.

As she stretched and looked around she saw that the library of Malfoy Manor was even more impressive than she had realised, its full glory could truly be appreciated in the daylight. The room, which had to be the size of about two tennis courts, was covered in a seemingly continuous shelf which only parted to allow space for the grand fireplace and colossal windows that adorned it. The shelves were full right up to the ceiling, which in itself was easily five times the height of a normal room, and Hermione had seen from her short look that almost all of the books were rare or valuable.

"Good morning Miss." The house elf greeted her cheerily. Hermione hadn't picked up on it the night before but she saw now that, unlike the elves she'd seen before, this one was wearing clothes, very fine clothes at that, and spoke perfect English with what sounded like a slight Swedish accent.

"Good morning." Hermione replied as she stifled a yawn. "What time is it?"

"It is ten o clock Miss, Master has asked that I bring you some tea and wake you if you weren't up by now."

"Oh, well thank you, um, sorry, I'm afraid I don't know your name." Hermione apologised. "I am Lika, the head elf here at the Manor."

"Ah, well then thank you Lika."

"Does Miss require anything else?" Lika enquired.

Come to think of it she was in need of quite a few answers, but, she thought she'd settle on asking the most important.

"Yes, would you be able to tell me where Mr Malfoy is?"

"Master said he must leave to complete an important task but said that he would be back by 12, he requests that you stay until his return and that I offer you anything you may require." She said as if reciting Lucius' exact words.

Hermione wondered where he had gone, and in fact, why he would leave her mostly unsupervised in his home, but, she supposed she could find out later, it was in her nature to find things out after all.

"Oh right, well I guess I'll have to wait then, thank you for the tea." Hermione smiled.

Lika nodded in thanks and then with a snap of her fingers was gone. Hermione swung her legs down to the floor and it was then that she realised that she wasn't wearing shoes. She didn't remember taking them off, and the only logical conclusion was that Lucius had, but that shouldn't be a logical answer should it? He was a monster who hated her, why should he care if she was comfortable or not?

Hermione couldn't believe she'd come here last night, but, she remembered the feeling she had when he'd come across her last night, it was like everything inside her had lit up and she hadn't been able to stop the smile that came to her face. Even though they had barely talked she had been so content just being with him, thinking back on it now it seemed no surprise that she had felt relaxed enough to fall asleep. Trying not to think about why that was, she picked up her tea and made her way over to the window.

A heavy frost had fallen over the garden making it look exquisite. There was a long pond running through a pristine lawn, a fountain in the centre. In the middle of the fountain was a stature of a woman, a snake coiled around her naked body poured water into the pool below. It struck Hermione as looking deadly and beautiful at the same time.

Transfixed by the garden, she continued to sip her tea, looking out at the hedgerows and flowers that seem to spread as far as she could see until she felt the all too familiar call of nature and thought aloud. "I wonder where Lika's gone?"

Within seconds of her asking, Lika appeared. "Is there something I can help you with Miss?" She enquired.

It took a moment for Hermione to say anything as she was so astounded that the elf had responded so quickly. "Oh yes, would you be able to show me where the bathroom is?"

"Of course, follow me."

Lika lead her though the Manor, passing many paintings who gave her curious looks as she walked past, until opening the door to the largest bathroom Hermione had ever seen. The room was made of what looked like a dark grey marble and, when she looked closely, it seemed to be ingrained with veins of emerald green. Or Slytherin green, she thought to herself as she noticed yet more snakes making an appearance, this time wound round the large columns which surrounded the enticing looking bath in the centre of the room.

As if she had read her mind, Lika handed Hermione a fluffy white towel and a toothbrush before telling her to call if she needed anything, and with that she was gone again. Hermione filled the bath, which appeared to be enchanted, as once it was full a layer of bubbles appeared which seemingly could not be popped.

As she waited for it to cool a little she noticed the large picture on the wall, surrounded by an intricate black frame. It showed a moving version of the statue she had seen in the garden, the scene very different to what Hermione would have imagined. Instead of shying away from the monstrous white snake, the woman was welcoming, smiling, as it tightly wrapped itself around her body, arching her neck as it crept over her shoulder.

Hermione thought it was curious, but, as she watched the painting play out several times she saw that, although the snake looked ominous, it was actually very gentle towards the woman, seeming to pose no threat, not to mention conveniently protecting her modesty.

Hermione lowered herself into the water and sighed as the warmth spread through her. It was big enough to fit at least seven people and deep enough to swim in, but Hermione was content to just lean against the edge and relax as she mulled over the night again.

She could deny it no longer that she liked being with Lucius, and that every time he touched her, or even looked at her, she felt a spark of excitement. She knew it wasn't how she should feel, but that was how it was, and as she closed her eyes it was his face she saw and voice she heard.

Without realising it ,her hand made its way downwards, and she began to softly stroke her sex. She was surprised to find herself wet and started to rub her clit in a slow but hard, even rhythm as the thought of Lucius filled her head. After a couple of minutes she slipped two fingers inside herself causing her to gasp at the welcome intrusion, gently starting to move them. She could feel that she was close to the edge as she moved her fingers deeper and faster and, just as she could feel her walls begin to flutter around them, there was a brisk knock on the door.


"Come in. "A shaky voice replied a couple of moments later.

"Good morning Miss Granger, I have some good news for you." Lucius said as he closed the door behind him, effortlessly covering his initial shock at walking in to find her in the bath. He was a gentleman after all, and would try to act as such.

"Sorry I thought you were Lika." Hermione replied, as she blushed slightly and sunk a little lower into the water. Lucky for her the bubbles were charmed and completely covered her body.

"I can come back later?" He asked tentatively.

"No, no, it's fine. What's the news?"

He could tell she wanted to protect her modesty, but it said a great deal about the shift in their relationship that she would let him stay. She was starting to trust him.

"I was running some errands in town this morning when I overheard a conversation between two, somewhat unsavoury characters, only to find that they were discussing the very auction you are so interested in."

"And?!" She exclaimed excitedly, sitting up ever so slightly and revealing the top of her breasts.

Lucius quickly wrenched his gaze back to her face hoping that she hadn't noticed his indiscretion or the lust which he was sure had momentarily been swimming in his eyes.

"They weren't particularly good at keeping their voices down and, as such, I now know the password to uncover the location and date." He said with a triumphant edge to his voice. She didn't need to know that the whole reason he had gone out this morning was to find it for her and, that he'd had to go to some pretty far lengths to discover what he needed to know. For some reason, he wanted to make her happy.

"Oh Lucius, that's great news! Thank you so much! We must try it straight away." She said and, in her haste to try the password, she practically leaped out of the bath, seemingly forgetting Lucius' presence. As she locked eyes with him she quickly realised her error and immediately covered herself with her arms, turning her back to him.

"Merlin, sorry I forgot-" She started to apologise but she cut off when suddenly Lucius walked up behind her and wrapped a towel around her. He smiled to himself as he felt her shudder slightly when he placed his hand on her shoulder, arching into his touch almost in sync with the painting on the wall. He leaned down close next to her ear and said in a husky voice. "It is quite alright Hermione, I do not mind one bit."

And with that, he left the room smiling to himself, it felt so good to call her by her first name. He knew she was stunning, he'd spent enough time with her this last week to see that, but if the tightness he was feeling in his boxers was anything to go by, he'd clearly discovered that his feelings towards her had extended beyond that of friendship.


Once she had recovered from her embarrassment she put on some fresh robes Lika had left for her and gone to find Lucius in the library. They had tried the password 'Mandrake' with great success but, unfortunately for them, found out that the auction was to be held that evening.

Hermione had come up with several plans within minutes but Lucius had poked holes in all of them, offering up one of his own. It turned out that the password wasn't the only thing he had found whilst he was running 'errands'.

He said that he had been doing his inspection of Borgin and Burke, as his last trip had been somewhat disrupted, and whilst there had come across a small vial of Polyjuice. He had seemed reluctant to give it to her, even though it would mean he didn't owe her anything anymore, and suggested that a fresh batch would be more effective for the other case. His idea was that she would Polyjuice herself into someone and join him, whose presence would go unquestioned at the auction, and they would confront the sellers of the eggs together, perhaps even buy them.

Hermione agreed to use the potion now instead of for Andromeda's case, this was more urgent after all, and strangely she didn't really like the idea of not having a reason to see Lucius any more.

Hermione insisted that she wouldn't want to sully anyone's reputation by using any old wizard's identity. However, she didn't want to use one from a less reputable source in fear that someone might try and pick a fight with her, or in fact be there themselves. Coming to a compromise, they decided to use one of Narcissa's.

Although they were divorced, it wouldn't raise any suspicion if Lucius was seen with her again, and it would be easy enough for them to get a hold of one. It had taken a little time to persuade Lucius, who had been reluctant at first, his split from Narcissa had been fairly easy as both of them decided that they both had love for Draco but no longer for each other, but he had worried about potentially dirtying her name once more.

Hermione knew she should tell Harry about the auction, there were so many people that could be arrested and dark items to be confiscated, but she wanted to do some investigation of her own without all the aurors around. She tried to deny it, but she still didn't want Harry to see her with Lucius, especially because he would probably try to arrest him and Hermione couldn't let that happen. She decided she would tell him about it, but, that it started an hour later than it did, that would give her enough time to investigate and still let the aurors do their job.

They retrieved the hair from one of Narcissa's old brushes and, after Hermione had owled Harry with the details, they went over their plan and made arrangements until the time came for them to leave. Hermione still used her little beaded bag and was glad she had brought it with her; she always liked to have it when she did things like this. She made sure before they left that she had some healing potions and some Peruvian instant darkness powder with her just in case she lost her wand again and needed to escape. Despite Lucius being with her, she didn't want a repeat of what had happened last week.

All day Hermione had been trying not to think about what had happened between them earlier in the bathroom and how much, for some reason, she wished it had gone further. They had sat together on the sofa as they had discussed what they would do, and it was as if sparks flew through her every time his leg so much as brushed her own, never quite being able to bring herself to move hers away.

She knew she shouldn't be feeling this way but there was no doubt that she was. She told herself that it was purely lust, he was exceedingly attractive, and his whole demeanour was magnetic. It didn't help that every time he looked at her she could see his eyes darken and the corner of his mouth turn up in a smug smile.

Once the clock struck seven, Hermione changed into some of Narcissa's robes and took the potion, which tasted surprisingly nice for Polyjuice, a little like sherbet lemons. Hermione looked at herself in a mirror and was shocked to see how elegant she looked, Narcissa's blonde hair and impressive bone structure making her a beauty to behold.

"Hm, you know what's strange." Lucius chuckled as he looked at her. "I never really liked blonde women."

After rolling her eyes at him she offered out her hand and apparated them just outside the auction's location. It was being held in an old abandoned estate up in Scotland, and the building was so big and bright that Hermione could only assume that they had put anti-muggle and concealment charms up even though they were in the middle of nowhere.

They started to walk up to the entrance together, towards where some witches were checking fliers, when Lucius put his arm around her waist pulling her tightly towards him.

Leaning down to her ear again he said. "Wouldn't want them to suspect you weren't really my ex- wife now would we." His breath tickling her neck as his thumb lazily stroked her waist, causing her breath to catch.

She didn't know what came over her, but before she knew what she was doing, she turned to face him, and ,taking his chin between her fingers, tilted his head down to her own and kissed him lightly, lingering perhaps a little too long on his lips.

"No, we couldn't have that could we." She smirked, as she led a now slightly stunned Lucius up towards the house.