Disclaimer: Nope, no luck in purchasing the wonder boy, so that would still make him belong to JK Rowling. His friends too, they still belong to her.

A/N: I was going to hold onto this chapter for a while, make you sweat for it but I'm not mean like that. So I thought 'It's typed up, on the laptop ready to go, I may as well put it on now.' Now for my thank yous. Super - I'm glad you like how I portrayed Lucius in the last chapter. It's just something that I thought about when I was wondering about all the characters backgrounds. Stargazer Starluver - Glad you like Lucius and HOT.....really? SnapeSeraphin - You know what's funny, I had wrote chapters 7 and 8 together and I didn't have a plan then. The only thing that was written in after the plan was Lucius' past with Nerissa. But I'm really happy that you thought the last chapter was better because I hated it. I thought it was lacking something. BTW, I hope you're studying hard and not spending all your time reading Fan Fic.(Told you I'd pester you from now on);-). MiSSxMELON - I picked the name Nerissa randomly out of a baby's name book. I thought it sounded soft and gentle, like the girl I was imagining. It never occured to me how much it sounded like Narcissa. I'm ecstatic that you enjoyed that little story about Nerissa though, I added it at the last minute. I originally wanted it later on.

Now, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, it took me a while to finally accept what I had done with it. Any advice or problems with it then don't hesitate to tell me.

Chapter Nine

Hermione had another dream about Harry. It confused her. Out of her two best friends, she thought she would have dreamt about Ron, not Harry. She didn't know why she thought that, she just did.

They had been in that room she felt safe in. She wished she knew where it was. She must have seen it before for her to dream about it.

"Where did you go?" Harry asked, clearly worried.

"I was taken to this beautiful rainforest." She informed him dreamily, thinking back to the tranquil place.

"Where is it?"

"It's in-" Hermione found she couldn't finish her sentence. Not because she didn't want to, it was because she couldn't. It was like someone was putting there hand over her mouth the minute she went to tell him where she was.

"What is it?"

"He's stopping me from telling you."

Harry looked puzzled for a few minutes, and then his face suddenly brightened up.

"I have an idea."

She never got to hear is idea as she had woken up. She turned over to find the curtains were open. It was a miserable day. Rain was hammering against the window, while the bushes that covered the bottom half of the window were being blown viciously from side to side.

She reluctantly got up and got dressed. She looked down at her clothes, it still surprised her how well they fit, they had definitely guessed well on her size. It was funny, why had Lucius bothered to show her this sort of hospitality? Why had Voldemort allowed it? She frowned, she had never thought about it before, these clothes and this room were almost showing Lucius Malfoy as being caring. She instantly thought to the previous night but that couldn't have been the cause. These clothes had been here before they had kidnapped her.

She looked around the room, almost as though she was trying to find the answers in there. She blinked as she realised that her sight was back to its usual sharpness. She spotted the parchment and quills on the desk. Pushing her questions to the back of her head, she went to the desk.

Voldemort was sure to be back that night and her sight would disappear again, so she did what she had wanted to do for days. She wrote letters to her friends and parents.

It took her nearly an hour to write them. One was to Harry and one to Ron; to let them know that she couldn't have asked for better friends and that she loved them both. One to her parents; to let them know that she had had a happy childhood and that they had raised her well. They never knew that she had been bullied. She just had to see that proud look they gave her to know that everything would be okay in the end. One was to Dumbledore; to let him know that he was a great man and it wasn't his or anyone else's fault that Voldemort had got her. The last one was to Mrs Weasley; to let her know that she was grateful for all the times she had looked after her and that she loved her like a mother.

She wanted to put in them all where she was. She knew when she eventually asked Lucius to send them for her, he would read them, and then they would never get the letters if she had put it in.

She put each one into its own envelope and sealed them. After she had addressed them, she hid them in one of the clothes drawers. She would ask Lucius when she next saw him if he would send them for her.

Lucius was sat in his study. He hadn't slept at all, his head was pounding and his eyes kept drifting shut. He was a wreck. He had cuts on his knuckles from repeatedly hitting the walls and he had black bags under his eyes from sleep deprivation.

"So where were you last night?" The portrait questioned.

"That has nothing to do with you." Lucius informed him without turning round.

"Don't be a spoilsport." The portrait whined.

"Just go and watch over her." He snapped. The portrait left his frame, grumbling to himself.

Lucius slammed his fist onto the desk in frustration. He flinched at the pain that shot through his hands. Why couldn't he decide which road to take?

He stood up, knocking his chair over, and snatched his wand off the desk. He apparated to the rainforest. He needed time to think so that's exactly what he was going to give himself. His appointments for the day would just have to wait. There was no way he was going to leave his sanctuary until he had come to a decision.

Hermione was sat at the desk, reading the book that she had picked out of Draco's study weeks ago. She had taken this opportunity to read it now as she probably wouldn't have the chance after tonight.

She had laughed when she picked the book up. She wasn't going to live for long yet her learning nature was still pushing its way to the front. She could just imagine Harry and Ron's faces now if they saw her.

She was completely enjoying the book, despite her circumstances. It was about all the different magical breeds and what ages the children came into their magic.

"What are you doing?" A slow drawl came from across the room. Hermione rolled her eyes as she turned herself around on the chair to face him.

"It's none of your business." She snapped at him.

"It is when you're under my roof." He snapped back. Hermione ignored him and turned back to the desk. "Don't turn your back on me, mudblood."

"Go away, scumbag." She sighed.

"No, I will not."

She looked up from the book and saw the quill and inkpot she had used for her letters.

"You sound like a child." She picked them up. "So you know what has to happen now." She got up and walked over to the bed. The portrait's was horrified when he saw what she had in her hands.

"Why must you insist on ruining me?" He asked while he eyed her nervously. She was on the bed now and carefully crawling over to him.

"Why must you insist on annoying me?" She stopped in front of him. Without taking her eyes off him, she dipped the quill into the inkpot. Before she could even raise her hand, he was out of his frame.

Hermione held the inked up quill over the empty canvas and started counting. She got to four when his head was suddenly in the frame. Before he could register what was happening, he had a pair of glasses, a thin moustache and freckles on his nose.

He cursed very loudly while she got off the bed. If only he could get out of the frame.

"Have you learnt your lesson now?" She smirked to herself as she went back to the desk.

"I have no lesson to be taught, but it is quite clear that you haven't learnt yours. Anyway, how did you get to be so quick?"

"You can thank these twins I know. You may have heard of them, they go by the names of Fred and George Weasley." She threw over her shoulder as she sat down.

"Weasley, Weasley," He repeated slowly to himself, "Weasley........I know that name.......why do I kno-....wait a minute.....red heads? There's a whole bunch of them, isn't there? They put shame on all the purebloods and the father is a muggle-loving fool, am I right?"

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" She shouted at the desk. Hermione was shaking from the anger welling up inside of her. She grabbed the sharpest quill she could find. She stalked back to the portrait and hopped onto the bed as though she had been born to jump that high. She pulled her arm back, the portrait covered himself with his arms and she stabbed into the canvas. She pushed the quill in further, making a large whole then started pulling her hand across.

"Never insult my family." She told him with her final wrench to the end of the canvas. She pulled the quill out. He let his arms drop down so that he could survey the damage. She had made a clean rip across the middle of the canvas. She watched him as he kept leaning down into the bottom half of the frame, and then stand back up so that his upper body was in the top half. He looked up to glare at her.

"Only you could call those pathetic excuses for purebloods family." She raised the quill again. "I'm going, but you'll pay for this." He growled, stomping out of the frame.

"Oh well." She said quietly to herself.

It was the late afternoon by the time Lucius emerged from the rainforest. He had lost his temper a few times, along with a few of his trees, in trying to make a decision. It infuriated him that he had been so indecisive, but he finally came to his decision.

There was just one thing he needed to do now; tell Hermione what it was. He couldn't work out for the life of him why he had to do that. He just had to and he would.

Lucius tapped on the door three times with his wand and stormed into her room. He hastily put his wand back into his robe pocket. His heartbeat sped up a little when he saw her reading at the desk.

Hermione looked out of the corner of her eye to see who it was. Her hand went straight to her chest when she felt her heart skip a beat. It wasn't out of fear for what she had done to his portrait, but in excitement at seeing him. That was certainly a new experience for her.

He watched her reaction to his arrival yet she still hadn't looked at him.

"What do you want?" She asked quietly, half knowing the answer. She still had her hand over her heart, willing it to slow down. She needed to be calm, ready to handle her punishment.

"Did I scare you, Miss Granger?" He closed the door behind him and walked over to her.

"No, it was.........nothing." She looked up at him. He ignored the butterflies as he cleared his mind. He couldn't let any emotions escape through on to his face.

She stood up, not wanting him to tower over her too much while he punished her. Not that it would help; she probably would be on the floor within seconds.

"Please, just get it over with." Her voice wobbled. His heart ached for her. He ignored it.

"Fine. I'm here to inform you of something that will affect you." His voice was harsh. She looked down, not wanting him to see her relief. He hadn't spoken to his portrait yet. She fought the urge to look over to the ruined canvas. Then she realised something about his harshness.

"I'm not going to live for much longer, am I?" She stated, rather than asked, still looking down.

"No." He told her coldly. "The sooner you are out of my house and life, the better. You've done nothing but annoy and confuse me and I will not tolerate it any longer. The Dark Lord should be done with you soon and it can't happen quickly enough."

Hermione nodded, understanding what he was saying. She went to the drawers that held her letters in. Now was the time to ask him. She went back to Lucius with them.

He felt a piece of his soul aching as he watched her yet he still refused to change his mind about his decision. He had chosen his side and path in life many years ago. There was no one he was going to change that for.

She fumbled with the letters, wondering if she could trust him enough to do this favour. She understood completely the statement he had just made to her. This was his way of life; the way he had been raised. Who was she to think that he could actually change? She may have felt compassion in his kiss but that didn't mean anything now. It was gone for good.

"Could you do something for me?"

"Why should I?" Hermione jumped at his response. She looked straight into his eyes, hoping against hope that he couldn't see the guilt in them. He still hadn't spotted the canvas.

"Please." She begged. He was going to snap if his heart didn't calm down.

"What is it?"

"Could you send these for me?" He looked down at the letters she was handing him. "I haven't put anything in them about where I am. You can read them if you want, they'll only bore you though." He snatched the letters off her and put them in his inside robe pocket.

"Anything else?" He asked impatiently. Hermione glanced downwards then back up. She bit her lip nervously, and then took a deep breath.

"Could I kiss you?" She asked in a whisper. Lucius' eyebrows went up in shock.

"Why would you want to do that?" He questioned, amusement creeping into his voice.

"Because I felt something in your last kiss and I want to make sure I didn't imagine it."

"And what would that be?"

"I felt love and it made me wonder if you actually know how to love."

"Excuse me?" He was extremely shocked. She may be young but she certainly didn't miss a trick. He couldn't understand how she could feel something like that from him when she didn't know him. She had been right, though; there had been love in that kiss. "Why would I not know how to love?"

"Maybe you do, I don't know. Maybe I didn't imagine it and there is some warmth in that cold heart of yours. Maybe your statement to me just then is your way of trying to control love." He stared at her in amazement. Was he really that transparent? Her confidence was building as she continued. "Or was it really my im-"She was cut off by him pressing his lips against hers. His tongue pushed urgently into her mouth, hers instantly greeting it.

He worked his hands round her waist and pulled her to him, hers explored his body through his clothing. He picked her up and placed her on the desk while they continued to kiss, the passion increasing at an alarming rate.

Lucius pulled away as though he had been burnt, gasping for breath. He turned to leave; however, his passion got the better of him. It was a new experience to have someone want him just as much as he wanted her. This is what should have happened with Nerissa.

He stepped back towards her. She was staring into his eyes the whole time, trying to read him. He kissed her again; roughly and urgently. He leaned against her to push her down onto the desk. He hovered over her with his hands propping him up. Suddenly he stood back up and away from her. Hermione got up off the desk and stood opposite him.

"Is that enough to put your imagination at rest?" He asked spitefully.

"That was more than enough." Her voice was shaking; it wasn't the kiss that had caused it. 'It's now or never.' She thought to herself. She started to lift her right arm up. Lucius' expression changed from cold to horrified and slowly to angry as he watched her movements.

"Very clever, Miss Granger."

Lucius Malfoy had his very own wand pointed at him by Hermione Granger.