This chapter is dedicated to Not Romeo's Juliette. Hope your days have improved since my last update!
Hermione cringed as she slowly made her way towards the door.
"Who is it?" she called out, as another cramp shot through her.
"Your loving husband," came Lucius's familiar haughty notes.
"Just a second!"
She wished he'd let her know he was coming so she could put on something other than her standard stay-at-home uniform of yoga crop pants and faded cotton tank top.
Oh, well, might as well kill all the romance before the divorce.
Opening the door, she waved him through.
"Grandmaman said you owled that you can't make it do dinner," he said in lieu of a greeting. "Are you ill?"
It had been almost a week since she'd seen Lucius in Old Dominion. As much as she appreciated his concern, the last thing Hermione wanted right now was to remain upright and have this conversation.
"Sort of."
"Do you require a Healer?" he asked, his eyes traveling over her body in quick examination.
Hermione almost laughed. "No," she said, shaking her head. "It's not a Healer-required illness. It's more of a monthly feminine problem."
Lucius looked relieved. "Why didn't you say so? Hermione, I've been married before, I know about menstrual cycles. You don't have to pretend your discomfort is an illness."
This was new to her. Guys her age normally became uncomfortable and changed the topic at any mention of periods, and she learned early on that the less details she shared, the better.
"Then you won't mind if I just get back to bed now? Standing upright is a bit of an ordeal. I'm in imminent danger of curling up into a fetal position."
"Then to bed you go," Lucius said, picking her up and carrying her into the bedroom. He pulled back the covers and laid her gently down.
She laughed. "You didn't have to carry me. I'm not in that much pain," she joked.
"Do you need anything?" he asked, as he stood awkwardly by her bedside.
"Just a cure for this problem. If you can invent a formula for reproducing gold and silver in your lab, surely you can come up with a remedy for cramps that involves chocolate with strawberry filling."
"I don't know about chocolate, but I've lived with enough women to know of quite a few natural remedies for this," Lucius said.
"Like what? I'll try anything."
"Ginger and cinnamon tea?" he suggested.
"I'll give it a shot. Can't hurt."
"Kitchen?" he asked.
Hermione gestured to her door. "On the other side of the living room."
He came back a little while later and kept her company while she sipped the hot liquid.
"While it's kicking in, I need a distraction. Tell me about your day," she said.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "It was rather bothersome. The Ministry clowns did another impromptu inspection."
She frowned. "Why do they keep doing that?"
"I don't have to tell you that they're not exactly happy with my experiments. When the Ministry no longer has a monopoly on the gold in the country, they become a little perturbed."
Hermione recalled Harry and Ron's warnings.
"Lucius, that's the second time this month. That's way up from once every three. Doesn't the increase alarm you? What if it means something?"
He shrugged. "It means it's a slow month for them. I wouldn't read too much into it."
Worry tugged at her stomach. "It's an odd coincidence, that's all."
His eyebrow twitched up. "What's a coincidence?"
Hermione sat aside her empty tea cup and shifted on her bed to sit up more. "Harry and Ron mentioned something about the Ministry being unhappy with your endeavors during our first ball planning meeting. Ron even said there was a possibility of you going to Azkaban. At the time, I didn't think anything of it because it sounded ridiculous, but now with increased inspections … I'm starting to think maybe their warnings weren't so exaggerated."
"I know that frown, Hermione. Don't you dare let this worry you. It's nothing."
"What if you … I don't know … decreased production for a while? If you weren't producing so much of it, maybe they wouldn't feel so threatened."
"Hermione, I told you not to be concerned about it. I'm not about to alter my life's work to please some Ministry sops. It is my life's purpose; the only thing that gives me pleasure."
Her heart trembled. His words wounded her somehow. Something else was giving him more purpose and happiness than she ever could and it made her feel useless in comparison. She could never hope to give him something even close to that. Noticing that her husband was watching her, she tried to assume an air of indifference.
He smiled. "I should say it used to be the only thing that gave me pleasure."
"I'm not going to try to tell you what to do," Hermione added with excessive haste. "But something's not right about all this. Do you not feel as though these inspections are a veiled threat?"
"I can handle anything they'll try. I don't want you to worry about a thing. You have enough on your plate now."
"No, I don't," she retorted. "My W.E.T.M.C. hearing is only scheduled for September. All I have is a library job and it's hardly challenging enough to make stop worrying about the weather, much less this."
He took a seat next to her. "Hermione, I told you before, come work with me until this business is sorted out."
"That's nepotism, Lucius. You know I can't accept it."
"But you're perfectly qualified. I wouldn't offer this opportunity to someone who had no skills for it," he argued, his eyes turning to cold steel. "When I showed you around, you understood the intricacies of the process. With some practice, you could master it easily."
Another cramp seized her and Hermione weakly nodded. "I promise to give it serious consideration."
Lucius's brow creased in apprehension. "You're not feeling any better, are you?"
"As delicious as it was, I feel no different," Hermione admitted. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize." He leaned over and gave her a light kiss on her cheek. "There's always a hot bath," he suggested.
She winced. "I'd rather not stew in my own blood."
"It won't be like that. The heat from a mineral bath will bring blood flow to the pelvic area to relax the muscles."
Hermione hoisted herself off the bed and shuffled off toward the bathroom. "Okay, I do hear that hot baths help, so sure. Why not? If I'm not out in twenty, come rescue me."
After half an hour of soaking in the tub, her situation hasn't improved much. At his knock, she gave him permission to enter.
"It didn't help much, did it?" he inquired.
"Sadly, no. If I have to be in pain, I'd rather not be wet."
He rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. Even in her state of agony, Hermione found the movement to be incredibly seductive.
"There's one remedy we haven't tried yet," he said, swirling his fingers in the water as he kneeled down in front of the tub.
"And what's that?" she asked. Her eyes were glued to his hand, which came to rest on her knee.
"Orgasms, my dear." His hand slowly slid from her knee to her thigh.
Hermione panicked, slipping lower into the water. "You do know I'm bleeding down there, right? And by bleeding, I don't mean a few drops, I mean there's a flood of blood."
"Good thing you're in a tub full of water then," he said with a wink.
"But … it's not sanitary," she argued back.
He removed his hand. "If the idea really repulses you-"
"No, no, no! It doesn't repulse me. I thought you'd be the one repulsed."
Lucius's expression was impossible to read. "I wouldn't have offered if I was."
"Then … I'd like to give it a try," she breathed out, parting her legs as much as she could.
"Very well." He slid his hand back into the water, tickling down her thigh before he reached his desired destination and cupped her mound before he rubbed two fingers up and down her slit.
Hermione couldn't stifle her moan as her hands gripped the edge of the tub. This reminded her of the first time he made her come. She had forgotten how good it felt to have him touch her like this.
"Lucius? Do you remember the first time we did this?"
"Yes," he hissed into her ear. "It was snowing. We were in the bedroom, on my bed. You had on a sexy little dress. I don't think anyone has ever made me so hard without a single touch … only with a single kiss. I wanted you so badly my cock ached for days."
She gasped in delight, her inhibitions quickly fading at his words and intimate touches. Her eyes locked with his. Heat wave seared through her body with massive magnitude. Her hips rose up in rhythm to his strokes. She had never felt so vulnerable in her life. Looking into his eyes, Hermione found herself trusting him. In this moment, he wasn't the man who had any secret agendas to pursue; he looked like a man who wanted to push her past her inhibitions to give her pleasure and take away the pain. She continued to watch him with wide eyes. Her breath quickened as he stroked over her clit.
Her hand shot out of the water to grip at his shoulder, wetting his shirt with soapy water. He slid the finger again over the engorged nub, adding more pressure. Hermione whined and lifted her hips more, not caring that the movement caused water to splash over the edge. Sliding his fingers back inside her, he pumped them faster, massaging his fingertips over her g-spot. Her head fell back as the electric sensation shot through her. Each stroke caused Hermione to squirm more with need until her legs shook uncontrollably. She was hovering on the precipice of pleasure as each calculated touch strummed through her body, building upon her strain of pleasure.
She couldn't think. She could only tremble and await for that final push to send her careening over the edge.
Then it happened. He swirled his thumb over her clit while he thrust and twisted his fingers inside her in a circular motion. Her world exploded in sheer pleasure as her bathroom splintered into tiny pieces around her. Wave after wave of ecstasy crashed over her as she shook and tugged at his shirt. By the time she could feel the lukewarm water around her again, her vision returned to normal and the cramps that were torturing her all day were gone.
Lucius looked rather pleased with himself when their eyes connected once more.
"Did the remedy help?" he queried.
"Very much. Thank you." Her gaze fell to the hand that still clutched at his shirt. "I'm sorry I ruined your shirt."
He smirked. "Oh, it doesn't mind. Let's get you dry before you prune up on me."
"Wait," Hermione said through lethargy that was sipping into her limbs. "I lied to you. I was jealous about what happened. You're my husband and I hated seeing you with anyone else. That's why it hurt so much … why it still hurts." Tears prickled her eyes at the memory.
"I never meant to hurt you. I swear to you it'll never happen again. It was a horrible mistake. One I intend to never repeat as long as we're married. I'm sorry I hurt you so much. I've never asked for forgiveness from anyone before, but I am asking it of you now. Hermione, I don't want a three-year arrangement or a five-year arrangement. I don't want a contract marriage with you. I want our marriage to be real. I want us to be real. " The sincerity in his voice and eyes was too real to ignore.
The barbed wires that gripped her heart all these months finally unraveled one by one, and Hermione felt herself give in to her forgiveness.
"I want that too. I want a new beginning for us," she confessed, her heart lurching at the thought. "I forgive you. Just as long as this never happens again."
"You have my word," he promised. "If you'll ever see me with another woman, feel free to cut off my manhood." His hand stroked her cheek. "I know I can't take back what happened but, if you'll let me, I'd like to spend the rest of my life making it up to you."
"I don't want this hanging over us for quite that long," she said, half-joking.
"Now let's get you dry. You must be hungry."
"I do have a craving for avocado eggrolls," she said as she got out of the tub and wrapped a towel around herself, feeling somewhat bashful being naked around him while he was still fully dressed.
A guilty thought occurred to her. "Um, what about you?" she asked, looking pointedly at his trousers.
Lucius looked at her through a mirror above the sink as he nonchalantly washed his hands. "What about me?" He smirked.
"Don't you expect me to reciprocate? It's only fair."
He chuckled and wiped his hands on a towel. "I do, but let's save it for another night. Tonight was all about you. But I know how you can pay me back."
"How?"
"By coming to a Quidditch match with me on Saturday." He punctuated his statement with a love bite on her lower lip. "The Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports invited us over for a post-match cocktails and dinner. It would be cruel of you to make me suffer through that unaccompanied."
"I'd be a very bad wife if I did," Hermione said, smiling at him.
He kissed her once more, teasing her sensually with his tongue. "I'll be by at two then."
She wrapped her arms around his waist. "I look forward to it. However, we do have a more pressing matter for tonight."
The corner of his mouth twitched up. "And that would be… ?"
"Will you be staying over? Please?" she asked, looking into his eyes with hope. Not that she hoped for anything to happen given her current condition, but she wasn't ready to part from him yet.
"I'd be a very bad husband if I didn't."
That night was the first time she slept with her husband in the same bed. As he slept, she watched the interplay of shadows and flickering flames from the dying fire in the hearth across his face. Her hand came up to trace the outline of his lips. In his sleep, he drew her close, coiling their legs together.
This was the intimacy she craved from him all along.
For the first time since their marriage, Hermione felt truly married.
A silver lining, but a few dark clouds as well on the horizon, but things are improving for our couple … slowly.
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