Disclaimer: I, Shyngr8, do not own Harry Potter and his fellow bookmates....J.K. Rowling has the pleasure of owning them.

A/N: - Allana - Is this soon enough for you?:-) I'm so pleased that you like it so much. SnapeSeraphin - I'm worried now, you're one of the best reviewers I've had on this story and you said that you were glad that Lucius was back to his evil ways....well........I might lose you on this chapter then.....I'm sorry.;-). Also, I have no idea about the dramatic twist, this is probably the first piece of work I have done where I haven't planned it out. But, I will try my best to satisfy the drama queen in you. And your work is wonderful and you have been holding out on me.....it should have been on here sooner.

I'm thinking about cutting this story short and ending it within sayyyy.........aboooouuuut.........five to ten chapters. I've only had one bad review on it but I've been getting told a lot that it is a very wrong story, so now I'm starting to feel guilty. Not only that, Lucius is very OOC. I know I need him to be like that for my story to work, but I have seen other people manage to keep him in character and come up with a decent story. What are your thoughts people? Yay or nay on the cutting short? Okay, I've rambled enough.....enjoy!

Chapter Seven

Lucius lay on his bed with his long hair messily lying across his pillow. He'd left his curtains open so that he could watch the night sky. A million thoughts were whirring round his head.

He eventually got up and put his dressing gown on. He had decided to show Hermione something. He wasn't sure why but he needed to show her this. Maybe it was his conscious finally showing up after his years of abuse towards people he considered lower than him. Or maybe he just needed to do something for her before Voldemort discarded her.

He apparated straight into her room, he wanted to do this quickly. She was talking in her sleep.

"Harry, he's slowly killing me. I don't have long left." She cried into the night. Lucius froze, wanting to hear more from her.

Hermione clung onto Harry with all her might.

"You have to fight it, Hermione." Harry urged.

"Why aren't you coming to get me?"

"Where are you?"

She opened her mouth but no words would come out.

"I'm not allowed to say." A tear slipped down her face.

"Fight it, try harder."

Hermione jumped when she felt herself being shaken awake. Her heart started to ache; ache for her friends, her family and her freedom.

She opened her eyes to find she could see fully now. She felt a hand on hers. She turned her head to find Lucius sat on the edge of her bed. Hermione shot up, snatching her hand back in the process.

"Why can't you just leave me alone? Just for one night."

"Why are you scared, girl?"

Hermione laughed at his question.

"Are you really asking me that?" Lucius sighed as he got off the bed. She shook her head as she fumbled to get out of bed. The candles appeared instantly. Forgetting that she could see now, she still felt her way to the end of the bed, out of habit. He watched in fascination at how she had adapted herself for when she had lost her sight.

"How is your sight?" Lucius had heard from his portrait that her sight stopped coming back as quickly each time Voldemort had paid her a visit. It was a sure sign that her body wasn't coping very well with the powerful, dark magic it was being dealt with.

"You have no right to ask me that." She hissed at him. She stood up straight, letting go of the bed. "You seriously ask me why I'm scared after the way you have treated me. You then act like when you care when I can see clearly in your eyes that you don't. So can we just go?" She moved to go to the door. Lucius grabbed her arm.

"Where are you going?" He was puzzled at her assumption that they were actually going somewhere. He knew they were but she didn't.

"Can we just go before I get too used to seeing things sharply or......well, just seeing for that matter." She snapped. He quickly realised what she was talking about.

"The Dark Lord does not require your presence," He drawled. She looked at him, confused. "I do."

Hermione's knees buckled in relief, causing her to fall. Still having a firm grip on her arm, he helped her to stand back up. She was breathing deeply and letting the relief sweep over her body. It was the first time since Voldemort had started his 'torture' that she wouldn't have to go through it again.

Lucius watched her reaction, seeing the relief etched all over her face. He saw the pain she suffered every night from the magic that was being performed on her. He saw her fighting less and less for him to stop. Yet this physical relief he could see from her was more than that. He could see it in her eyes, there was more to this hurt than the physical side.

He let go of her to get a dressing gown out of the wardrobe. He strode back over to her and roughly put it on her. Opening the door, he guided her out into the corridor and she let him.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked as he closed her bedroom door.

"You will see soon enough." He let go her, knowing that she wouldn't run off. Hermione looked at the doors as they walked down the never-ending corridor.

"How do you tell the doors apart?" She quizzed, her inquisitive nature taking over.

"You're a clever witch. Work it out." He smiled without looking at her. She inspected each door as much as she could as they walked along but she really couldn't tell the difference between any of them.

Lucius grabbed her arm as he stopped at one of the doors on his left. She went to inspect it carefully when he suddenly spun her round to face him.

"Do not do anything stupid." He threatened more than warned. Hermione glared at him. He opened the door to reveal a set of stairs going up to another door. He took her hand and led the way up.

Hermione's mouth dropped open when they walked through the door. They had walked straight into a tropical forest with a small waterfall falling into a clear lake. The trees were extremely tall and the branches spread out at the top, blocking most of the night sky. A few black patches with sparkling dots here and there could just about be seen.

"It's only small but I like to come here and clear my head."

"Are we still in your home?" She asked, completely awestruck.

"Yes. That's the beauty of being a wizard." He smirked, reminding her of his cocky son.

Hermione walked over to a large rock at the edge of the lake, wedge between two of the trees. She climbed up on to it and sat down to take a good look at it all.

After a couple of minutes, Lucius climbed up and sat next to her.

"You've got a guilty conscious." She stated.

"What makes you say that, Miss Granger?" He questioned calmly.

"Because your eyes don't have that usual coldness about them. There's something else there."

"How does that give me a guilty conscious?" He looked at her to find her looking him straight in the eye. His heart missed a beat.

"This place means something to you and you brought me of all people here. A mudblood as you like to call me." She looked down at the lake.

"Your point being?" He couldn't take his eyes off her. He wanted to, his heart wouldn't allow it.

"My point being is that I mustn't have very long to live and you know this. Suddenly your conscious has come along and slapped you in the face so you've brought me here. This place being the last nice place I'll see before I'm discarded."

It hurt her to talk about her looming death yet she also felt calm about it. It was like something in the forest had soothed her soul and made her accept it. Lucius was shocked at her accurate analysis of his motives.

"How long do I have left?" She asked, her voice breaking slightly.

"I'm not the one you should be asking that."

She sighed as she pulled her legs up and lent on the tree to her left.

"I want to ask another question, but I can't be sure that you won't punish me."

"Do not give me cause to punish you and I won't." He lazily told her. She took a deep breath.

"What is it he wants from me?"

He looked across at her, confused at why she would think she would get punished for such a question.

"Don't look at me like that," she spat, "I've paid greatly before now for asking that question, the next punishment worse than the last." He met her eyes and they were full of fire. Not as bright as when she had arrived but there none the less. She was right though. He had gotten harsher and harsher yet no matter how much agony she was in, he refused to stop. Even if she passed out from it all, he carried on. He was annoyed with her for daring to even question his master's motives. Now, he realised, it was just a simple question and the punishment was for the wrong reasons.

"He wants Potter." He finally told her.

"I know that, but what exactly does he want from me that will get him Harry?"

"He wants everything that makes you." He kept his eye contact with her while he watched a range of emotions go through them.

"So he needs to go through my worst memories to get that, does he?" There was more hate in her voice than intended. It stunned him to hear the hate.

"He wants it all, Miss Granger."

"What's his plan once he has it all?" She had to use everything in her willpower to keep her voice steady and not cry at remembering the memories he had been making her relive recently.

"I can tell you no more." He finally looked away from her. She manoeuvred herself so that she was facing Lucius with her back against the tree. She looked down at her hands in her lap, her bottom lip wobbled every few seconds.

"It doesn't make a difference if you do tell me. I'm going to be dead soon." He looked back across at her. There was that damn fluttering again.

"Do you want to go back?" He asked her curtly.

"Can I stay a little longer?" She pleaded. Lucius nodded as she looked up at him.

There was a comfortable silence between them while they gazed around at their surroundings. Hermione took off her dressing gown and folded it up in to a make-shift pillow. Lucius watched as she curled herself up into a foetal position and lay her head onto her new pillow, which she had placed next to him. He fought hard against the temptation to stroke her hair and lost his battle.

She jolted when she felt his hand smoothly run along her hair, yet she didn't stop him. It was a comfort to her. Her mother use to do it to calm her down after a nightmare when she was little. The only difference was that this wasn't a parental affection, it was something else.

She watched and listened to the waterfall. She loved the way the ripples from the waterfall went across the lake and then bounced back of the sides. The whole atmosphere washed over her, relaxing her. She sighed, happy at feeling at ease for the first time in nearly a month. Her thoughts suddenly turned to Lucius; her captor.

"Why did you kiss me?" She asked, breaking the tranquil silence.

"I've answered this question before."

"Not truthfully." He remained silent. "You're not going to tell me, are you?" He stopped stroking her hair and in one swift movement, he jumped off the rock, making a soft thud with his bare feet on the earth.

"I think it's time you went back." He instructed her as he straightened out his silk dressing gown. She reluctantly sat up and put her dressing gown back on. She climbed down with his help. He walked away once she was on the ground while she stayed rooted to the spot.

"Why won't you answer my question?" He stopped.

"It is none of your concern." He threw over his shoulder and carried on walking.

"It is when you kiss me." She shouted. He turned round and strode back to her. Hermione shook a little from fear as he stopped right in front of her. She had to put her head right back to see his face.

"Why must you push me?" He snapped.

"Because I can see in your, yet again, cold eyes that there is something more to all of this," She pointed to their surroundings, "than a guilty conscious. Your conscious may have pushed you to bring me here but I can definitely see more."

They glared at each other before Lucius spun on his heel and stormed towards the door. Hermione chased after him, reaching him as he got to the door. She yanked his arm to make him turn back round.

"Tell me." She spat, not letting go of his arm. Her fear had dissipated in her insistence of wanting to know. "I'll be dead soon, anyway. You may as well."

"Why are you so insistent on knowing?" Lucius was itching to tell her everything but his whole being was stopping him. This was unlike him. It was wrong. He shouldn't be feeling anything towards her. In fact he shouldn't be feeling anything, he hadn't for years and he definitely shouldn't be now.

"I'm a know-it-all who wants to know everything." She replied sarcastically. He moved to turn away but she stopped him. She knew she was pushing her luck, she needed to know. "Please." Lucius looked at her face to see the need.

"Are you sure?" She nodded in response. "You may not like the answer."

"Try me." She urged. Lucius brought his hands to her face; gently stroking her cheeks with his thumbs as he slowly bent his head down to hers.

Hermione's eyes widened as she realised what was happening, yet didn't stop him. A warmth flood through him as his lips met hers, the same warmth he felt when he had kissed her for the first time. However, it surprised him when she started to kiss him back.