A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows. I know some of you are uncomfortable with the Lucius x Hermione angle and I totally understand. Please know that I am not including this for just smut's sake, but I am hoping that you will see how it advances the plot. Also, Theo x Hermione is the end game here, I promise, so please be patient with our favorites while they work things out between them. If this still isn't really your cup of tea, you might want to skip this chapter. It's Hermione's weekend away with Lucius. You can PM me and I can give you the gist of it if you would prefer. Anyways, that's your warning. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter twenty-one and be on the lookout for twenty-two soon!
Hermione stood in her closet, staring at the broad collection of robes she'd acquired over the years, trying to decide which might be the most appealing for Lucius Malfoy. She didn't really know what to expect for their weekend alone with one another, but she wanted to be prepared nonetheless.
Grabbing her most revealing nightgown in sumptuous blush pink, she dropped the lacy thing into her weekend bag. Her favorite set of navy colored robes were especially flattering and in fashion, though she doubted that they were going to go anywhere in public. Still, they made her feel powerful and confident, so into the bag those went as well.
Arms wrapped around her from behind, pulling her against the firm chest of her husband. "You should bring the cream dress," he whispered in her ear, making her shiver in delight. "Lucius won't be able to keep his eyes off your breasts."
Hermione stiffened then, before slipping out of his arms. How could Theo be so crass as to say something like that to her while trying to be affectionate with her at the same time? Their relationship had cooled considerably. Hermione still felt extremely hurt to know that he was pushing her into Lucius's arms. Didn't he know how much it hurt her when he cared so little about her feelings.
"I don't want to wear them again," she said, her voice low. "They remind me too much of what happened to Ursula."
Theo seemed unphased. "This one, then," he said, before pulling down a rather comfortable set of green robes. "It's not possible for a Slytherin to be unappreciative of Slytherin green." He dropped them in her weekender bag.
Unwilling to change the subject, Hermione turned to face her husband. "Are we ever going to talk about what happened?" she asked. It wasn't everyday that she watched someone killed in front of her eyes and it certainly didn't get any easier. She had begun to feel a deep guilt for all the people that had died because of them — the security guard at the Ministry, MacMillian, now Ursula. Who else was going to die undeservingly?
"What is there to talk about?" Theo asked, brow furrowed as he tried to project an air of not caring. "We handled it. The aurors have came and gone and no one else will be thinking about Ursula. You should try to put it from your mind."
She knew that Theo was just as affected as she was, if not more so. She seemed to recall Ursula mentioning that Alfred had roughed her up before, so was that something he'd had experience as as a child? She was sure that seeing your own father — even if Theo was fastidious about thinking of him as Alfred only — murder someone was even more disturbing. Or at least she thought it was.
"You are all packed, but do you have everything you need for your weekend?" he asked.
Even though Hermione would prefer not to discuss Lucius with Theo, for the planning of this operation it was unavoidable. For one, she could only imagine how concerned Theo would be if she was missing for a whole weekend. But, more importantly, she had needed to conjure up a replacement Diary that she could leave in place of the real one. She needed his technique.
"Yes. I've got the most important item at least," she told him before reaching into her bag and pulling out the dummy diary.
Theo nodded. "Well it looks like you've got everything handled then," he said — not a hint of passive aggression in his voice, even after she'd accused him of doing nothing.
"I should be on my way then. Make sure you take extra care of Arthur while I'm away," she instructed. It was only for a few days, yes, but it was the longest she had been away from her little boy since he was born. Grabbing her overnight bag, she turned to start down the stairs to the floo.
"Hermione!" Theo called putting, grabbing her attention.
She turned to him then, and was surprised by the look on his face. It seemed as if he had so much to tell her, like he was going to ask her not to go, an odd sort of longing reflected in his dark blue eyes. But, if that was the case, he didn't verbalize it. "I'll see you on Sunday."
Wishing he would have said more, would have insisted that she stay with him, Hermione had to tamp down the persistent ache that Theo left in her heart. She couldn't have that lurking in her mind, not when she was going to meet with Lucius.
The blond man was waiting for her when she walked through the floo, practically pulling her into his arms when she appeared. He pressed a firm, lingering kiss to her lips, one that she'd grown accustomed to over the months. "I almost thought you weren't going to come," he said with a grin when he broke away.
"Nonsense," she chided him. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."
"Good," he answered. "Because I promise to make it very worth your while." He pressed her back against the chimney breast, his hands at her waist. He began lifting her skirts up to her waist.
Hermione blushed furiously and pushed his hands away. "Lucius, what's the rush?" she asked with a laugh. "We've got all weekend to enjoy one another."
He was on her again, his lips dropping to her neck to suck and bite against the skin. "Salazar, witch," he growled. "You keep me at arms' length for weeks, and then once we are truly alone together, you stop me still. Do you even want me?"
Swallowing, Hermione stopped herself from answering honestly. "If you think that I will fuck you in your entryway the first time we are together, when I finally have a bed available to me..." she trailed off, biting her lower lip. "It's a wonder any woman would submit to your brutish ways, Lucius."
"I'll show you brutish," he answered with a grin, before lifting her and throwing her over his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, they apparated to his personal room and he tossed her on the bed.
She erupted in a fight of giggles. Hermione never would have guessed that Lucius Malfoy would have the strength to pick her up like that but she supposed she had underestimated him. "This is more like it," she purred, leaning back on a throne of fine down pillows.
Lucius was already unbuttoning his robes. "You were right. I want this moment seared into my brain for the rest of my life, and this certainly paints a prettier picture."
Hermione's fingers flew to her own robes, suddenly aching to get out of the restrictive material. She would need to be careful with Lucius's pretty words, least she found herself believing them.
"Stop what you are doing," he commanded. "I want to take my time unwrapping you. After how long you've made me wait, I intend to have you begging me to fuck you first."
She gasped, but let her hands fall down to the sides. Lucius — now shirtless and pale and strong — knelt on the edge of the bed and began crawling towards her. Hermione tried to remind herself that getting the horcrux would be worth it.
Later, after they had shared a bath in a luxurious tub that no one had any business owning, Hermione and Lucius lounged by the fireplace, eating charcuterie and cheese off of a tray that the house elf had brought.
It seemed that her intuition had been right and less was more in Lucius's eyes. He adored her in her nightgown, a fact that he had mentioned more than once. "Do you wear that for your husband?" he asked, apparently not caring how crass that sounded.
Great, Hermione thought to herself, hating how this nightgown would forever be a reminder of what she'd done here. Even though Theo had known, encouraged it even, Hermione couldn't help but feel so ashamed to be betraying him with Lucius. "Yes," Hermione teased. "Though it's been a while."
Lucius at least looked somewhat scandalized then. "I'll have to buy you something else then," he answered, letting his fingertips trace along the tops of her breasts. "Something for my eyes only," he added, before closing the distance between them to press kisses along her neck. His large hand cupped her breast, thumb finding her hardening nipple through the thin pink fabric.
Hermione gave him a nervous giggle, wondering how it was possible that he was still so insatiable. Running her fingers through his hair, Hermione pulled him back so that she could look at him. "Why don't you go get in bed," she encouraged. "I'll refresh our champagne and be right over. We can continue when we aren't squished on a tiny couch."
"Who knew that you were such a princess?" he asked with a laugh, but did as she said, dropping his soft cotton robe as he walked away from her, completely unashamed of his physique.
"I just like being able to spread out and not have to worry about rolling onto the floor," Hermione insisted, her hand slipping into her weekender bag the moment he was turned away and pulling out the tiny phial of sleeping draught. Pouring it into his empty glass, she quickly filled it with champagne.
When she turned back around he was laying sprawled out against the pillows, his hand working between his legs as he watched her. Hermione grinned at him, before making the slow walk to his side. Handing him his glass, she was pleased to see him take a big drink. Calculating the time in her head, she was certain she had less than two minutes left to endure with him.
Crawling on the bed, she sat astride Lucius's lap, pressed her hands against his chest. Bending over, she kissed and sucked along his neck until she felt his breathing slow and even out. Looking up, she was pleased to see him dead asleep.
Standing up from her spot on the bed, Hermione pulled Lucius's robe over her pajama clad form. She didn't think she'd be running into anyone in the halls, but she didn't fancy the idea of stumbling into Abraxas and having to explain why she was creeping about barely clothed in Malfoy Manor. She wondered what he would think about his son's bad behavior, but didn't fancy being on the receiving end in case it was less than positive.
Hermione grabbed her overnight bag and crept out into the hall, intended to make the short walk down the hall to Lucius's office. She was amused to see that he didn't even keep any warding on the door, likely thinking that being within his own home he was more than safe. If he knew what it was that Voldemort was actually asking him to hold onto, she highly doubted he would be so cavalier with it's safety.
Slipping into the chair behind the desk, Hermione opened the drawer it had been in last time. She was pleased to see that it was still waiting there for her, completely unguarded. Swapping out the horcrux for the false one that she had created, Hermione wondered if Lucius would ever realize her treachery. She nestled the real horcrux into her overnight bag in a pocket with an undetectable extension charm on it, a clever recreation of her tiny beaded bag, so she was certain that Lucius wouldn't be able to sense the dark magic in it.
Then, she returned to Lucius's room.
Pleased to find him still dead asleep, she slipped under the covers herself and tried to go to sleep, listening to her heart pounding away against her ribcage.
Hermione wasn't sure if she slept at all, but before long the sun was streaming in through the windows, the rays hitting across her face and she could no longer pretend to be asleep. Lucius began to groan at his side, groggy and uncoordinated as he came out of his magical sleep.
"Good morning," she said with a smile, turning on her side to face him.
Lucius seemed to be struggling to piece together the details of the night before. "Merlin, I feel like I was hit by a bludger," he said only for his white blond eyebrows to furrow together in confusion. "Did you drug me? I can't remember anything beyond our dinner last night."
She was unsure what to do for half a beat, before she decided to play it off with a laugh. "Well, I'm sure I've never heard it said quite that way, but I suppose I did a number on you," she said with a smile. "You were rather worn out when I was finished with you," she lied, running her fingers across his chest.
He grabbed her hand tightly in his, squeezing her fingers until they just began to hurt. "I don't mean like that," he hissed. "I mean I literally don't remember."
Hermione pulled her hand away from his. She sat up with a huff. "I can't believe that you would actually ask me that, Lucius. How could you even suggest it?" she said, hoping she sounded suitably hurt. "Especially when I did that thing you asked me to."
Lucius flushed, not knowing what this made up thing was. Perhaps he had some hidden kink in his mind, one that he hadn't shared with anyone, and he was afraid he revealed it to her. "Wha-what thing?" he stuttered out.
Finding that this act was certainly working to pull any suspicion away from her was working marvelously, Hermione continued to lean into it. "As if you don't know," she sneered. "You just want me to say it!" She began to see this little tiff as a great way to get out of Malfoy Manor a bit early. She didn't want to stick around now that she had the horcrux in her possession anyway.
Throwing the covers back, she slipped out of bed, dodging Lucius's arms trying to pull her back to him. She marched over to her bag and pulled out her last set of robes and began to get dressed as quickly as she could.
She could hear Lucius behind her getting up from bed. Hermione was unsurprised when she felt his hands on her waist, trying to pull her back against his body. "Hermione, come on, I was only joking," he promised.
"Save it, Lucius," she countered, batting his hands away from her.
"Come back to bed and we can work this out," he continued, undeterred. "I can make it up to you, I promise." He pressed some kisses against the side of her neck, but Hermione was already ducking out of his arms, her overnight bag sufficiently packed.
"I very much doubt that, after you've hurt my feelings so terribly," she pouted. "What? Am I not memorable enough for you? I thought I was something special." She turned to face him, fire in her eyes. She was truly shocked at how much he was caving in when she pouted just a little bit.
"Of course you are memorable. You are the best lay I've had in years," he said, not realizing that she might not find that all too appealing. "Narcissa won't be home for another six hours. Please, we don't have to cut this short."
"No, we really do," Hermione insisted. "I'm the best lay you've had in years...honestly."
"I didn't mean it like that," he said.
Hermione was sure that Lucius still didn't completely understand why they were having the argument or what specifically he was apologizing for, but it didn't matter. Her desire to leave had nothing to do with him and everything to do with the horcrux. She stomped out of his room and towards the floo with her bag in hand. She was stepping through to her townhouse while Lucius was nearly begging her to come back.
She practically collapsed in the chair when she got home, feeling utterly exhausted after spending so much time with Lucius. He was more difficult than anyone else they knew in their current time for her to be around.
Just as she was about to relax, Theo waltzed into the room, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. "Did you manage to get it?" he asked.
Hermione reached into the bag and pulled out the Diary and tossed it into Theo's hands. "Yes, I got it," she said, feeling utterly lifeless. "Now all that remains is the Cup. I'm not sure how we will get into the Lestrange vault, but..." she trailed off.
"We will figure it out," Theo agreed, paging through the blank diary. "We have to."
"Yeah," Hermione agreed, revisiting the snide urge to bring up the fact that really it was her doing all the work to get the horcruxes so far, while he was off drinking with Antonin.
"Do you...do you want to talk about it?" he asked tentatively, as though he knew it wasn't the right thing to say.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Do I want to talk about how I slept with Draco Malfoy's father to get a horcrux?" she asked. "I'd really rather not, Theo." It would hurt too much to see how little it bothered him that she had been with someone else when they were married. She certainly wouldn't want to talk about it if the tables were reversed.
She stood up from her chair, suddenly wanting nothing more than a hot shower and a long nap. "Listen, I am going to go unwind a bit," she told him, not wanting things to be unnecessarily tense between the two of them. She was too upset in the moment and knew she would end up saying something she would regret. "I'll talk to you at dinner."
Trudging up the stairs by herself, Hermione was struck by how alone she felt for the first time in the past.
