Hermione paced in front of Lucius, frantically reading the scroll she had found and mumbling to herself.
"Ah-ha!" She shouted out in triumph, "I've found it."
"What does it say?" He questioned, curious to see what had got her so worked up.
"It's talking about an old protection charm, a spell which requires anyone trying to break it to fulfil certain conditions, just as I suspected, and...oh damn it!" She cried out, "Well this is just hopeless."
"What, Hermione?" He asked in concern, hating to see her joy at finding a lead in her case so quickly taken away.
"It's the condition, it's truly ridiculous." She sighed, coming to sit down next to Lucius who promptly put his arm around her. "It says that only people who know what is in the box, in this case, the identity of Andromeda's child, will be able to open it and confirm what they know."
"Well, that does make life a bit difficult, doesn't it?" Lucius said, matter of factly. "But, hopefully, the Polyjuice will provide you with what you're looking for." He suggested, trying to lift her spirits.
"Hopefully... either that, or I'll lose a leg." She joked, and Lucius pulled her tighter to him, pleased that he had managed to cheer her up.
"So, is it Andromeda who you're working on this case for?" He asked, surprised at himself for not working it out sooner, but, then again, his mind had been preoccupied with acquiring Hermione, so naturally he hadn't thought about it all that much.
"Yes, the case is for Andromeda, it's probably no use hiding it now." She sighed. "Did giving Andromeda this scroll help salvage her relationship with Narcissa?" She asked, clearly trying to change the subject.
"At first...Yes, they remained close for several years, but once the Dark Lord truly started to do his worst, with Bellatrix at his side, no less, Andromeda became more distant. I think Narcissa blamed me in a way - it was my association with the madman that was the tipping point, and we rarely heard from her again." He said with regret. "You know what's odd?"
"What?" Hermione asked sleepily, it had been a long, exciting day and naturally she was pretty tired.
"Andromeda and I used to be on rather good terms, she often helped me when I was courting Narcissa...she used to be such a sweet girl." He reminisced.
"Used to be?" Hermione asked, propping herself up on the sofa in interest.
"Well, after the whole incident with Longbottom and her sister, it was no surprise that she toughened up and abandoned her family."
He would have expected Hermione to fight what he had said about Andromeda abandoning her family, especially because most believed she had been disowned, but she seemed to have more pressing questions at hand.
"Longbottom? I thought what Bellatrix did to him happened after Andromeda left?"
"This is a much earlier incident. One which I expect fuelled the barbaric torture of the Longbottoms." He sneered, the acts of his comrades, his so-called family, on that night was sickening even to him.
"The Longbottoms, as you probably are aware, are one of the Sacred Twenty Eight, and so, Frank was engaged to Bellatrix, Rodolphus Lestrange to Andromeda."
"Rodolphus and Andromeda were engaged?!" Hermione asked, shock written on her face.
"Yes, and very happily, if I may say so myself. It was one of the rare few betrothals where love actually played a part."
"They were in love?" Hermione questioned, still clearly not believing it could be possible.
"Oh yes, very much so. Rodolphus was completely smitten with her. He used to be a much gentler, kinder man than he is now, the man he turned into not shortly after what happened."
"What happened?" Hermione asked warily.
"Frank fell in love with Alice, abandoned his engagement to Bellatrix and left. This left Bellatrix in a rage - I think she was already losing her mind at this point, which made it all the worse. To quell her anger, her mother deemed it appropriate that she should marry Rodolphus instead, the respectable pure-blood wizard he was."
"But surely he couldn't break off his engagement with Andromeda?" Hermione challenged, the story seeming to be steadily enraging her.
"You'd think so, but in pure-blood society, marrying the oldest available offspring is the proper thing to do. His family would have surely disowned him, had he not agreed."
"That's just... horrid!" Hermione exclaimed, before continuing. "I can't believe they were forced to do that. I feel so bad for Andromeda... As for Frank - I can believe that any sane man would try and work his way out of an engagement with Bellatrix, but it's so horrible that it led him to such a terrible fate."
"Indeed, who knew that an act of love, and following ones' heart, could end in so much sorrow."
He said sombrely, realising that perhaps Hermione had been right about him being brave in a different way. Perhaps, by not doing what he knew to be righteous, he had saved himself and those he loved.
He tried to shake the thought away, he promised he would never forgive himself for what he had done, he did not feel he had earned the right, so he carried on with his tale, trying to distract himself.
"Narcissa told me Andromeda couldn't take seeing the man she loved with her sister, and so left her family for a muggle, to show them just how much she resented them. Rodolphus was furious, and it truly broke him. I believe that is when his hatred of all muggles and muggle-borns started, the day he lost the woman he loved to one."
"That's so awful, I can't believe I feel bad for him after losing her."
"I wouldn't feel too sorry for him, Cissa used to say he never truly lost her."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked dubiously.
"Rumour has it that Andromeda and Rodolphus would meet occasionally, long after they were both married, even after she had Nymphadora I hear. Although, if whispers can be believed, she stopped seeing him nearer the end of the war, around 1979 if memory serves me correctly, probably on account of his deteriorating moral state. You know, she loved Ted, but I think she loved Rodolphus even more, regardless of the monster he had become, and I believe Ted accepted that and didn't mind her seeing Rodolphus, despite what the two were most likely doing together." He sighed, Andromeda's story not a particularly happy one.
Seconds passed in silence, and when not hearing any reaction from Hermione, he turned to look at her.
She was pale, brow furrowed and her eyes wide.
"What is it?" He asked, gently taking her face in his palms. "What's wrong, Hermione?"
"Rodolphus..." She said, as if she couldn't comprehend something. "I can't believe it."
It couldn't be could it? Rodolphus couldn't be the father of Andromeda's child?
But it made too much sense didn't it. She stopped seeing him in 1979, the year Andromeda's child was said to be born, it was the only logical conclusion. Rodolphus had been mad, what would he do when he found out the woman he loved was having a child, his child, that would be kept away from him. Andromeda couldn't risk Rodolphus finding out about it, never mind Bellatrix, who knows what he would have done.
It was strange to think, that had the child been born through marriage, that it would have been one of the pure-blood elite, a Lestrange-Black, fathered by one of the most powerful of the deatheaters. How cruel the twists of fate could be.
She was broken from her thoughts when Lucius asked her quite seriously "What is it exactly you're doing for Andromeda?" seeming to have worked out what he had just told her and the case were connected.
Should she tell him? It wasn't as if he was still in contact with Rodolphus, and she trusted him, more than she cared to believe.
Hermione calmly began to tell Lucius what was really going on with her case, up until now, he had only known what she needed to do, not why.
He sat there listening, his face perfectly composed, but his eyes told a different tale, one of confusion, his mind clearly struggling with something.
Lucius said all the right things, not letting on what was bothering him and Hermione thought she must have imagined it, he was probably just surprised at what she had to say. He agreed with her that Rodolphus must be the child's father, and that he did not blame Andromeda for doing what she did with the child. Rodolphus had truly become a monster, and if his torture of Frank Longbottom, the man who had started the unfortunate chain of events, was anything to go by, his need for revenge had led him to do some horrific things.
They were tired, so he led her up to their bedroom in one of the castle towers. He was not too tired, however, to take her three times before she fell asleep, distracting her mind from all thoughts about Lucius' strange reaction to her tale...
Hermione was soundly asleep in his arms, her warm frame tight against his own, and no matter how exhausted he was, both physically and emotionally, his mind would not stop racing.
It was the only logical conclusion, and he was surprised Hermione hadn't worked it out yet.
Andromeda, the wild brown curls of the Black sisters.
Rodolphus, one of the most powerful and intelligent wizards Lucius had ever met.
A child who would have been raised as a muggle-born, one whom would have been in his own son's year at Hogwarts.
How had she not worked it out yet? He supposed one would not think of one's self in this situation, or perhaps wouldn't want to.
It all started to make sense now. The way she had reminded him of Bellatrix when he had first encountered her at Hogwarts, the magical ability that was truly outstanding, her ruthless determination to do what she thought was right.
It was not hard to believe that the woman in his arms was the child of two of the greatest wizarding families in their world.
He almost laughed at how ludicrous the situation was. Here he was, falling for a girl he had believed to be muggle-born, only to find out that she was one of the pure-blood elite.
Strangely, it did not make him think that his beliefs had been right, that only pure-bloods could be such brilliant witches such as she, but, that he'd been so wrong to judge someone on a label they were given, and not by who they truly were.
Had he been able to look past his prejudice, had he not passed them onto his son, his family may not have inflicted so much damage onto her in her youth. Draco may even have come to like her, she would have made a very suitable match had they not been so focused on bloodlines.
He found himself not liking the thought much, Hermione was his now and he didn't want to think about her with anyone else, especially not his own son. Besides, technically speaking, Draco was her cousin by blood, and he had never been a fan of the inbreeding some families seemed to do to keep their blood pure. He however, shared no blood with her at all, and he had never been happier of his mother's Swedish heritage.
He did not know how Hermione would react when she found out the truth, it would be such an enormous thing to realise. Not only would she find out her parents were not so by blood, but also that her true father was a murderous death eater. Then again, so was he, and she'd come to care for him.
Oh, who was he trying to kid? Rodolphus and he were nothing alike. Hermione could never feel anything other than hatred towards the man. He was pure, albeit somewhat deranged, evil.
Lucius pulled her even more tightly against him protectively at the thought of Rodolphus and what he might have done to her if he had ever found out. He buried his face into her curls, smiling at the minty smell that seemed to follow her around.
Lucius knew that he must let her find out on her own, that was the only way she could ever truly believe and accept it. He could not invent a story, lead her away from the truth or prolong her discovery, she would find out eventually. All he could do was be there and help her through the emotional turmoil that would undoubtedly ensue her revelation.
It was with a heavy heart that Lucius eventually fell asleep that night, with the knowledge that he could do nothing to stop Hermione from feeling the pain that he knew she would.
The next morning, they had had breakfast on a large balcony overlooking the valley, after which Hermione insisted on going to the library one last time, leaving Lucius to read the morning paper, one which had made its way over from England she couldn't help but notice.
She quickly found the section she was looking for and pulled out a book translating Swedish to English. Flicking to the L section her eyes scoured over the page until she found the word she was looking for.
Hermione returned to Lucius who was now staring out at the surrounding mountains, the same pensive look on his face that had been there all morning.
"Now don't you look like the Cheshire cat." He commented upon seeing the wide smile plastered on her face.
"You know about the Cheshire cat?" She asked surprised, she knew he was very well read, but didn't expect him to have read many muggle novels.
"Of course, Lewis Carroll is a very good writer, naturally I've read his works." He said in a somewhat insulted tone, and she chastised herself for letting her stereotypical beliefs about the man get the better of her.
Noticing her saddened face his softened his own "So what's the big smile for."
"Oh, nothing." She said somewhat unconvincingly "I'm just really happy to be here."
"Mhmm." Lucius sighed in a jovial tone, clearly happy to play along with her as he returned to staring out the balcony.
For several minutes, they both watched the light snow start to fall from the sky and Hermione huddled against Lucius' side as the cold wind blew against them.
"So, does the name Lika mean anything?" Hermione asked as nonchalantly as she could, which knowing her acting skills, was not very well. She felt Lucius stiffen slightly against her but he answered as smoothly as ever, his tone much more believable than her own.
"Not that I am aware, it just sounded pretty. I thought she would like it."
She squeezed his hand which was now wrapped in her own and smiled at how stubborn he was, even when admitting he'd done something nice.
"Yes Lucius" She agreed, "I'm sure she liked it very much."
She paused for a couple of seconds for dramatic effect, a talent she may have borrowed from the man next to her.
"It really was good of you to give her such a lovely name, and to give her freedom. To treat her as an equal..." She said smiling as Lucius' cheeks began to redden and a short, low laugh escaped his lips.
"I suppose I'm learning more about being equal every day." He said in an unexpectedly serious tone. "It is something I wish I had learned about much sooner." He sighed as he kissed her softly on the forehead.
"Come, it is time we went home."
They had barely been back ten seconds when there was a loud pop outside the study and a very urgent sounding knock was heard at the door.
"Yes." Said Lucius, his brows furrowed in confusion.
In came Lika, looking fairly panic stricken, her normally calm, happy face gone.
"What is it Lika?" Asked Lucius, clearly struggling to maintain his usually confident demeanour.
"Many letters have come for you from the aurors, and several have been here looking for you." She said quickly, her arms outstretched with the letters in question.
Hermione's heart dropped in her chest as she thought that the aurors had come for Lucius, worried about what they thought he'd done, but when he reached out to take the papers, she was surprised when Lika stopped him.
"No, no." She protested "They're for Miss Granger."
Lucius and Hermione looked at each other at the same time, both clearly confused. Hermione grabbed the top letter and opened it, gasping when she read the words.
"What is it?" Lucius asked, seeming much more worried than she would have expected, almost as if he already knew what was written there. Something was definitely bothering him, it had been since last night, but she couldn't think what it could possibly be.
"It's my house." She said sombrely as she passed him the letter. "The death eaters paid it a visit."