She returned to Malfoy Manor after dinner and went straight to the library. It was probably rude not to tell Lucius that she was back but she couldn't deal with him right now. He wouldn't understand the problems she had with her muggle parents, or worse, he might say something insensitive.

She remained sitting on the couch re-reading the same paragraph over and over again. The words just wouldn't reach her mind.

"You are holding the book the wrong way."

"Huh?"

"I did not mean to startle you," Lucius said sitting down next to her. He lifted her legs and placed them on his lap. "How did it go with your parents?"

"Fine."

He stroked over her shinbones. "You do not sound fine."

She opened her mouth and closed it again. Hermione sighed. "It was fine but I'm not. It's just, we used to be so close and it's never going to be like that again." A big tear rolled down her cheek.

He handed her his tissue. She held onto it with force. She kept looking at the older wizard for a while. Even though she didn't think he had any ill feelings left for her, she wasn't sure on his exact views on muggleborns and muggles in general. Knowing his background made this a rather difficult topic.

"Do you hate muggles," she asked boldly.

He looked her in the eyes. There was an intensity in his gaze but no malintent.

"No, I do not."

"But?" she asked shyly.

"But I have also no desire to spend time with them either. I think intermarriages unnecessarily complicate things. The seclusion serves us well and if it was up to me, there is no reason to bring so many new people in, it affects our culture."

Hermione stared at the tissue in her hands. "And what about me?"

"Our lives are already complicated and I just so happen to find our conversations… enthralling."

"So, I'm not too troublesome," she asked.

He chuckled. "On the contrary, I might find myself bored otherwise. Do you now want to talk."

She nodded. Removing her legs from her lap, she repositioned herself on the couch closer to him. Leaning against Lucius, she let her head rest on his shoulder. He put his arm around her and kissed her forehead inhaling her scent.

Hermione told him all about her early childhood, how she used to spent her afternoons at her parent's surgery, how their patients offered her help with her homework and little Hermione would get angry telling them she could do it by herself.

Lucius laughed. Having known her for years he could picture that very clearly. Draco could never sit still, especially not as a small child. He could have spent the entire day running around. Lucius was very strict with him, wanting to teach him a sense of duty before he was sent off to Hogwarts; out of his reach.

But Draco had been very stubborn. He once spent an entire week in the sitting room because Lucius had told him that he was only allowed to leave after he had finished his exercises. Raising him had been a challenge.

Hermione was laughing. It seemed to be only fair that he was suffering from Draco at least as much as she was.

After breakfast, Hermione went straight back to the library. Lucius had left early for Gingott's, he had some business-meeting to attempt to and Draco was still out, he probably hadn't returned before sunrise.

Finding peace with a tomb on the development of wizarding Britain's monetary-system, she sat on her couch. Her couch? She did spend a lot of time reading and this is where she slept. It had gotten to a point were Draco felt uncomfortable sitting on this piece of furniture in his family's ancestral home as it seemed like overstepping a boundary. But it wasn't like she had moved in or anything. She just hadn't thought of how to deal with her parents and their damaged relationship.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tapping against the colored glass window. Hermione wondered if she could let the animal inside. She was worried about the ancient books' safety. Her curiosity won in the end. She opened the window.

Just in time, Erol lost his strength and started to fall. With desperation, the animal flattered his wings trying to slow down his fall. Hermione took her wand and with a wordless Wingardium Leviosa, she caught the owl. She dragged Erol up and removed the letter from his feet.

Before she read what Ginny had to say, she cast a few healing charms on poor old Erol. She gave him a treat. "You have to stay here for a bit," Hermione said petting its head. Once she had done everything possible for the old owl, she sat down to read the letter.

The Weasleys were inviting her over for a feast. Hermione was thrilled, she couldn't wait to see them all again.

A couple of hours later, Lucius returned from work. He sat down next to her and let his head fall back.

"Rough day?"

"You can say that. The widow of William Higgleworm decided spontaneously that she wasn't interested in selling his life-insurance company anymore. But the brother of the deceased wanted to sell his shares and for a bonus, he would talk to his sister-in-law."

"And what did you do?"

"I stopped the negotiations and told them that in exactly two weeks or my offer will expire. Three months of hard work down the drain."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Well, I just happen to have the paperwork done to start my own insurance company. Considering that Mr. Higgleworm has no desire to continue his brother's business and the wife is holding onto it for purely sentimental reasons, I should be able to out-compete them within a few years. I have already hired an analyst; Padma Patil. I believe you went to school with her."

"I did, we had Arithmancy together, she's really god."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She moved closer to him and began massaging his neck. He moaned quietly under her administration."You are wonderful."

"I know," Hermione said smiling broadly.

His gaze wandered over the room. It stopped when he spotted Erol. "What id that pathetic excuse of a bird doing in my library?"

"Lucius, Be nice! This is Erol, he's the Weasleys' owl."

"Ah, a Weasley bird, that explains a lot."

"Lucius! He's old. Who knows what you'll look like at the end of your life."

He huffed. "Malfoys always look fabulous."

Hermione stared at her hands. She felt suddenly very uncomfortable. His dislike for the Weasleys was still present. She really liked the family, they've been close for a very long time. But she also didn't want to upset Lucius. He still hated Arthur, she didn't know why. Maybe there was no reason or they simply got off on the wrong foot. Hermione was worried that this would cause problems in their relationship even before it started.

"What is bothering you?" Lucius placed his hand on her lap.

"It's just that I'm invited to a family gathering at the Burrow…"

He removed the hand from her lap. "And you are wondering if I had a problem with it?" He leaned back and sighed.

"I didn't mean to offend you. I just really like to spend my time with you but I also feel very connected to the Weasleys and... "

He placed his finger on her mouth. "Shh. I will not dictate who you will spend your time with but I can not promise that I will ever see eye-to-eye with Arthur."

Hermione smiled. She jumped up at him, almost sitting in his lap and hugged him. "Thanks that means a lot to me."

He nodded while his hand was still resting on her back. "You will come back, will you not?"

"Of course, I will."

"If you do not wish to continue sleeping on the couch… my bed is soft and only a few steps away."

Hermione blushed heavily. "I might accept your offer." She chewed on her lower lip.

"I would hope so."

Hermione wrote Ginny a quick note. Realizing that Erol wasn't in any condition to fly to the Burrow all by himself. She burrowed Lucius' eagle owl. Brutus looked not pleased, but she thought it was best if Erol would return home as quickly as possible. She placed her note and Erol in a little basket and bound it on Brutus' leg.

"Are you really ok with me going?" Hermione asked one last time.

"Of course, I am," Lucius said kissing her forehead. "Now go, the sooner you leave the sooner you can come home."

She looked at him one last time before stepping through the fireplace.

"You came," Ginny exhaled, hugging her friend.

"I told you I would."

Ginny winked. "I thought there was something more interesting in the library."

Hermione blushed.

"Knowledge is the key to power," Percy said and Hermione was relieved that she got off easy; this time.

Sitting at the table next to Bill she was promptly asked about her plans.

"The past year, I've been doing some research on house-elf health care and Lucius thought I should use the time before our graduation to edit and then publish my results."

"You should definitely do that," Pansy said, bringing a whining Fred to the table. "I would definitely brew your potions if only to piss my mother off."

Pansy was wearing an old t-shirt and hair was tied in a loose pony-tail. She hadn't even bothered to cast a glamour on her swollen eyes. Hermione still didn't know what to think of the self-proclaimed Slytherin-princess. She sat down next to Fleur who was in a rather cheery mood. The French witch had started working again a couple of months ago and was now at the point where she got back into her groove.

"I'm still unsure whether I should publish it or not. On the one hand, some of those salves and potions are barely better than placebos but on the other hand, like Lucius said, once I publish I plant the idea that house-elves deserved health care in people's minds. And when there's a market, positioners can improve on my work." Hermione sighed.

Did he really manage to talk her into publishing imperfect work? While Arthur pinched his arm feeling obviously uncomfortable with how close Hermione was his nemesis was. Fleur took the time to tell Pansy how great it was that she was finally able to leave the house again, alone. Without Victoire clinging onto her, she was able to have a proper conversation with another adult. There was something deeply satisfying about being productive.

"The only thing that keeps me sane is that George promised to watch Junior so I can go out again," Pansy said.

"Not looking like that," Fleur said.

Molly glared at them. The two witches ignored her and kept chatting.

"You seem to spend a lot of time with Lucius," Arthur said.

Hermione blushed. Biting her lips she looked at her hands. Why was she so damn obvious?

"She lives in his library."

"Ginny!"

"It's true though."

"Can we talk in private?" Arthur asked.

Hermione followed him to the porch.

"Please tell me you don't like him?"