Niceties first as always, with thanks for continued reviews, favs and follows.
So just how do you follow dinner with Lucius Malfoy...
It was 3.30am. Hermione couldn't sleep, her mind was spinning at a million miles an hour, she had been tossing and turning for over two hours, beating up her pillow every five minutes and trying to get comfortable. Each time she closed her eyes, the tall imposing figure of Lucius Malfoy loomed before her, she saw the twinkling in his mesmerising grey eyes, a twinkle that slowly faded and drifted into a limpid grey sadness. She heard his voice, those cut glass aristocratic tones, sparring sharply with her, before softening and all but purring in her ear; "You would have given me a way forward."
But what was really bothering her was not being able to decide which Lucius Malfoy was keeping her awake, the one which interested and to a degree concerned her professionally, or the one which fascinated and to a bigger degree intrigued her personally.
The untimely arrival of the dessert trolley, what was now the previous evening, had well and truly killed the moment, Hermione had almost seen the shutters come up in Lucius Malfoy's handsome face. She had spent nigh on four hours looking at it, yes; it was a handsome face, he could have been the devil incarnate, and at one time he was, but there really was no getting away from the fact that Draco's father was a very attractive man. She might not know him very well, but she knew him well enough to know, there was no point in pushing him, or trying to recapture the moment, it had passed. Their conversation had once more returned to general topics, Draco amongst them and of course the merits of the mountain of sugary confectionery which had been presented to them.
It felt like she had been asleep for five minutes, her eyes grudgingly pried open, as she dragged her weary body from her bed, it was just after 9am, she remembered looking at her clock a little after five, it was definitely going to be a lazy morning curled up on the sofa. Opening the curtains with a flick of her wand, brilliant watery sunshine flooded her flat, for the end of February is was a really beautiful morning, Hermione spent her weeks cooped up inside, it seemed a shame to do the same on such a glorious day. Perhaps she would get some fresh air, wander down to the coffee shop….. A sharp and excited rapping on her door curtailed any further contemplation of how she might spend her morning.
Ginny Weasley looked hatefully bright eyed and far too bushy tailed for the half asleep Hermione to contend with, she also looked as if she was fit to burst, her exuberance curbed by the sight of her bleary eyed friend.
"Hermione you look awful, are you sick?"
Hermione opened the door fully, allowing her friend into her flat.
"No, I am fine honestly, I couldn't sleep and after the week I've had I could have done with a good night."
"Well coffee and cake, is just what you need then, caffeine and a sugar rush, that will wake you up."
Ginny all but bounced onto the sofa, she really was far too lively for Hermione this morning. Hermione wracked her brain, trying to remember if somewhere in her manic week she had arranged to meet her friend for shopping or something this morning.
"It's really nice out, cold but nice, we could wander down to that little place along the road."
Clearly she and Ginny hadn't made any plans, her old friend was just up for a chat, or knowing her, more like a gossip. Hermione had known the youngest Weasley for far too long, she knew Ginny had something she wanted to share and there was no putting her off. Well in all fairness, she had thought about heading out for coffee herself and Ginny was always fun, if sometimes exasperating company.
"Sounds great, just give me 10 minutes or so and I will be with you."
Ginny was right; it was a lovely day, but it was very cold. The crisp February air waking Hermione up, better than her superfast shower. She was also right about the coffee and the cake, both hitting the spot as the girls sat in the front window of the nearby shop, Luis having served them both with hot latte's and ridiculously large homemade croissants. She still wasn't entirely in the land of the wide awake, and compared to Ginny doubted she would ever catch up.
Hermione had taken all but one mouthful of her coffee and broken a small piece from her warm pastry….
"So have you heard about Lucius Malfoy?"
NOW she was most definitely awake, her mouth went dry and the small piece of pastry which had been on its way to her mouth found itself firmly back on the plate. Not wishing to appear overly interested, Hermione stirred her coffee with as much nonchalance as she could muster.
"Nope, but I am sure you are about to rectify that …"
Ginny leaned forward conspiratorially.
"I cannot believe you work at the Ministry and know nothing…..."
Despite being awake at the mention of Lucius Malfoy's name, Hermione was still too sleep deprived to argue with Ginny, she might work at the Ministry but the fact she was hardly ever there meant she was rarely party to any of the current gossip doing the rounds; not that she was ever particularly interested anyway. Hermione as usual waited patiently for her friend to continue, watching in amusement as the red head glanced around to see if anyone as listening. This was a Muggle coffee shop, no one cared, let alone had ever heard of Lucius Malfoy. Suddenly it crossed her mind that it might be something awful and her patience vanished.
"Oh for Merlin's sake Ginny, I had less than three hours sleep last night, if you don't tell me soon, I swear I am going to fall asleep in my coffee."
Ginny looked a little irked at her friend's impatience, but clearly the magnitude of what she was about to impart superseded that.
"Well I heard Dad telling Mum that he and Narcissa have parted, they aren't together anymore."
"I know what parted means" Hermione was once again treated to a more than annoyed look from the red head "Sorry Ginny, the lack of sleep is making me irritable."
Hermione was suddenly concerned by the timeline of the Malfoy split, trying to appear as uninterested as she could, she took a really unwanted bit of her croissant and popped it in her mouth: "So when did this happen?"
"Seems like a while ago, but it must have been after New Year though, because she was at the big party they threw at the Manor, there were pictures in the Daily Prophet society pages, she looked stunning."
Hermione did her best to stifle a yawn and took a sip of her steaming coffee: "I saw both Draco and Lucius …Malfoy" She tagged the Malfoy on quickly, even after only one evening it was all too easy to think simply of Mister Malfoy as Lucius. The last thing she needed was any inquisition from Ginny, although she knew just from mentioning seeing them, and the look on her face, it was coming.
"WHAT!" She shrieked at Hermione, suddenly remembering where she was, she lowered her voice. When? You never said, Hermione!"
Oh why hadn't she just kept quiet, three hours sleep really wasn't conducive to the grilling she knew she was about to get from Ginny Weasley in a public coffee shop.
"It was a couple of weeks ago, I got dragged along to a Ministry bash by Kingsley Shacklebolt, it was all very last minute. I only went because I didn't feel I could say no to him. Draco and his father were both there, it was no big deal."
"NO BIG DEAL" Her voice rose and fell once more. "You have to be kidding! So I assume Mrs Malfoy, wasn't with them?"
Hermione shook her head wearily, she really hadn't given Narcissa Malfoy's absence a thought, until now, and truthfully even now, she wasn't actually that bothered. It might have been a glamourous evening, in a swanky location but, it was also business and in all honesty Hermione could understand her not wanting to attend.
"No it was just the two of them."
"Did you speak to them?"
Hermione found herself a little annoyed at her friend's inference, as if she was talking about a troll or something equally as unpleasant. She held on to her defensive tone, the third degree she was getting was bad enough, without Ginny reading anything else into it, although she was certain she wouldn't escape totally unscathed.
"Only in passing, actually it was Draco who spoke to me. There really were so many people there it was just a cursory Hello, nothing more."
Hermione omitted the part about the chat and champagne that really would open a very different can of worms, she could see Ginny was already about fit to burst.
"Did Draco look…..."
"Hot" Hermione supplied, watching her friends face colour sheepishly, this time she didn't even have the excuse of too much alcohol. Caffeine and sugar didn't have quite the same effect. Hermione found her patience wearing a little thin.
"Only in terms of temperature, it was very warm in the hotel and like I said there were lots of people there. Should I mention your boyfriend Harry at this point?"
Ginny flushed a shade deeper, the red of her face, clashing violently with her hair. "A girl can appreciate a good looking guy…..."
Hermione had the feeling Ginny was going to say something a little crude, but due to her friend's, lack of sleep and rather short fuse, clearly thought better of it, instead she turned her attention back to the older Malfoy. This in turn made Hermione squirm just a little bit, she didn't want to lie to her friend, whom she loved dearly, but admitting she'd had dinner with Lucius Malfoy the previous evening and that he was the reason for her lack of sleep…. Merlin's teeth! Even in her own head it sounded bad.
"What about Mister Malfoy?"
"Did he look hot?" Hermione supplied once more, trying to keep her tone sounding amused rather than acerbic or irritated, which was really how she felt.
Her remark was met with a sardonically raised, thinly plucked red eyebrow. She knew from a very long friendship that the only way to appease Ginny Weasley was to just go with it.
"You know Lucius Malfoy as well I do, impeccably well dressed, beneath all of those robes I am sure he was really hot."
That really didn't come out as Hermione had intended, her attempt at humorous sarcasm failing miserably with her lack of sleep, instead it came out sounding very suggestive, she flushed at her own words, earning her two raised eyebrows and some very girlish giggling from her friend. Impatience was turning to exasperation.
"Believe it or not they were both very polite, we exchanged half a dozen words, Hello, how are yous, that kind of thing. It was a very public Ministry event; what did you expect?
Ginny looked a little disappointed, Hermione wasn't sure what she expected her to say, but clearly what she had, wasn't it. She redhead went back to stirring her coffee and her own tale.
"Well, apparently, Mister Malfoy himself told Kingsley Shacklebolt, so it's not just idle gossip, if that's what you are thinking. The Minster told dad and well of course you know he and Mum don't have any secrets."
Ginny just happened to overhear and now here she was telling Hermione, who couldn't help but wonder if Lucius Malfoy had intended for news of his separation to have become quite so public, so quickly, or leaving the marble halls of the ministry in quite such a way. The thought that he hadn't, sent a shudder of fear through her, the wrath of Lucius Malfoy wasn't something you wanted to incur under any circumstances.
"So I guess now it's going to be common knowledge." Hermione failed to hide the annoyance in her voice.
"Well he shouldn't have told anyone if he didn't want people to know, that's how news gets around."
She resisted the urge to retaliate with, that's how gossip get around, because as Ginny had pointed out it wasn't actually gossip, and she really did not have the energy to debate semantics. Tiredness aside, she found herself feeling oddly defensive of the Malfoy's, Hermione had never liked gossip, if even perhaps technically it wasn't, but there was more to it than that. She needed to get home and get some sleep before she said something to Ginny she might regret, in more ways than one.