Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: Thank you for the wonderful reviews! And for those who asked, yes I have seen GOF—twice actually. Once when my mother and I went (looking guilty) while my kids were in school and then once to take my youngest daughter (her first movie in a theatre and she loved it). Please keep reviewing!

Chapter 2

The Forest Dwelling

Lucius stood on the landing watching the Gryffindors below saying goodbye at the door. His own son waited between two Order members.

"Hermione, I really am sorry about how I acted." Ron looked at her rather sheepishly. "And you were right—we would both be miserable. But you are one of my best friends…"

"Oh, Ron!" She threw her arms around the red head. Boys were so silly sometimes. She turned toward Harry and hugged him tightly.

"Be careful, Harry."

Lucius felt what could only be described as a knot in his stomach jump.

"I will, Hermione." Harry silently looked at Hermione. He knew what was going through her mind. He had no doubt about that. "If there were any other way Hermione…"

"I know." She nodded and hugged him again. "I know."

Hermione watched from the door as her friends with their guard disappeared from view. A sinking foreboding feeling sunk deep in her stomach. Part of her wondered if she would ever see them again. As she shut the door, she heard Remus' voice float down to her.

"Hermione, you ready?"

"Coming." She turned toward the stairs. Lucius watched the girl swiftly ascend the stairs, coming face to face with him at the top. He said nothing to her as he stared down at her with his usual aristocratic stance. His lip began to curl into a sneer and in response Hermione walked passed him to the drawing room.

Remus waited by the fireplace.

"We are going to floo to a little wizarding inn that is near our destination."

Hermione nodded her head, smiling weakly. She really didn't want to step through the floo only to be taken to some secret destination to be left alone with a man who everyone knew hated her with a passion. With a deep breath, she followed the two men through the floo.

Apparently, Hermione did not wait long enough to floo herself after Lucius. When she stepped out of the old fireplace, she walked right into Lucius' chest, who had turned around to see what the ruckus was behind him. He found out it was only an overanxious Hermione rushing through the floo. She hit his chest and fell flat on her arse. Lucius did not budge from the impact. He only looked down at her with one eyebrow raised and an amused glint in his eye.

"Miss Granger, you behave as though you have never flooed before."

Remus heard Lucius' soft-spoken comment and turned to look at what was happening.

"Oh, Hermione! Are you okay?"

Remus held a hand out to help her up.

"Okay, everything looks fine…lets head out."

They followed Remus out into the sunny day. The ground was still wet from the rain they had the day before also. After about ten minutes, Hermione noticed they seemed to be walking directly toward the edge of whatever small village they were in. Beyond the village there seemed to be nothing but a giant forest that seemed to never end. The men's legs were much longer than hers causing Hermione to nearly run to keep up. Lucius did nothing but turn around on occasion to watch her struggling to keep up and smirk as if it were entertaining in some way.

Remus stopped walking when they reached the edge of the forest.

"Okay, we have a bit further to go…"

Hermione looked at Remus open mouthed.

"We have to go in there?"

She pointed at the forest laid out before them. Remus nodded his head and turned around.

"Just stay close," was his final words before stepping into the trees.

Hermione could not deny the fact that she was scared. If this was anything like the Forbidden Forest, then nothing good could come from this trip. In anxiety, she kept turning to look behind her as the light casting in from the edge of the forest faded into the trees. The deeper they walked into the forest the darker it got. Hermione could feel her heart pounding against her chest. Every sound in the forest seemed amplified, setting her on her toes. On one of these times she heard an odd howl of some sort and turned around to find where it came from. Not really satisfied with not knowing she turned back around only to walk smack into a tree. Not wanting to let anyone know she just walked into a tree she kept quiet despite the stinging sensation on her cheek. The next time this happened she did not run into a tree—she tripped over a large fallen branch.

Remus was glancing back at the time and saw Hermione go down. Immediately she felt the pain in her knees. Remus helped her up and this time he kept a hold of her hand. Lucius watched Remus keep a hold of the girl's hand and sneered in reaction to it.

"Really, Remus. She is hardly a child. Miss Granger should be able to walk on her own."

Remus said nothing, only continued through the forest. Hermione, however, turned her head around glaring at the elder Malfoy. This proved to be a mistake as she tripped over something again causing her to stumble a bit. Lucius only rolled his eyes and looked away.

A couple minutes later and Remus stopped walking. Hermione and Lucius both took in the trees around them and looked to Remus expectantly.

"This will only work if I tell you where you are now."

They both nodded their understanding.

"You are in the dead center of the Forbidden Forest. A dwelling Dumbledore procured for emergencies."

Hermione looked around again. Suddenly a house seemed to be pushing all the trees aside, making itself known to its new occupants. The house was no Malfoy Manor, but it was not exactly a little cottage either; it was still quite large. Hermione looked up at it in awe wondering what kind of emergency Dumbledore had in mind when purchasing such a house. Deciding not to try to figure that one out, she followed Remus inside.

They followed Remus through the foyer into what looked like a small ballroom. Either way, one could definitely throw a comfortable party in there. Just beyond the foyer, as you entered the large room sat a golden spiraling staircase. A door across from the stairs led to a rather cozy sitting room. A bedroom next to it had golden letters on the door spelling "Albus Dumbledore." A door almost hidden behind the stairs led into the kitchen, which was indeed expansive when you add into the dining area.

Hermione smiled at the beautiful place as she followed Remus up stairs. Several rooms where here. Remus stopped in between two doors. Each bore golden letters: one said "Hermione Granger" and the other "Lucius Malfoy." Out of sheer curiosity Hermione looked at the door on the other side of hers. It read "Harry Potter." Then she turned to look at the door across from hers and felt ice run through her veins. It read "Severus Snape."

"Why are all these names on doors?"

Remus smiled down at Hermione before answering her.

"Every door possesses a name of whoever will need it for emergency reasons anytime during their life. How Dumbledore did it, I could not tell you. But the house knows and the names appear."

"But…"

She pointed as Severus' name. Remus shrugged.

"I know. The Order is quite thrown by this. Though, I must say it was a shock to us when Lucius' name appeared along with yours back during the World Cup. Well, I must be going."

Lucius and Hermione both walked Remus to the front door, Hermione because he was one of her closest friends and Lucius because it was the polite thing to do. At the door, Remus turned to Lucius and nodded.

"Lucius."

Then he turned to Hermione.

"If you look on the desk in the drawing room you'll find your assignments. I'll stop by once a week to pick them up and deliver new ones. Now, go fix yourself up. You are a mess from your mishaps through the forest"

She nodded and said goodbye. The moment she shut the door she felt a wave of nausea wash over her. She was alone in this house with Lucius Malfoy. Panic wanted to set in. Closing her eyes, she tried to calm herself. Lucius' voice rang her thoughts drawing her attention to him.

"Follow me, Miss Granger."

She turned around and watched him cross over to the drawing room. He stopped in the doorway and looked at her. When he beckoned her through the door, first she had no choice but to follow. Tentatively stepping into the room, she tried to keep an eye on the man that seemed to enjoy frightening her. Keeping an eye on him did not prepare her for what he did, however. Before she could understand what was going on, Lucius swept down on her lifting her up and sitting her on top of the desk next to her schoolwork.

Lucius watched her squirm under his gaze. She kept tugging at her skirt as if to make it cover more of her legs. Lucius let her squirm for a few minutes before allowing his eyes to travel slowly down her body to her knees—they were bruised and bloodied from her fall. Hermione shifted in her seat again refusing to look directly at Lucius. More than anything, she wanted to run from the room, especially when she remembered the night before. The way he had moved her rob aside was disturbing to her on so many levels. And now? Now, he just plops her up on a desk to look at her?

She felt the coldness of the silver serpent of his cane slip up under her chin urging her to look up at him. He observed the darkening bruise that settled on her cheekbone and scrapes from her run in with the tree. She saw him start to remove his wand from his cane and Hermione reacted without thinking. Before Lucius realized what she was doing, Hermione whipped her wand out pointing it at Lucius' chest and hopped off the desk.

"Don't even think about it."

Anger, panic, and fear coursed through her body. She could feel herself shaking and just hoped Lucius couldn't tell. He lazily looked down at the wand and then up at Hermione. Her eyes were ablaze and he found that quite…intriguing. Reaching out, he snatched the wand out of her hand before Hermione could utter a curse of any sort. Her mouth fell open in indignation.

"Do not point your wand at me again, Miss Granger. I used to be a Death Eater."

He stuck her wand in an inner pocket and looked back at the girl standing there with her mouth agape. Reaching his hand out he put two fingers under her chin and urged her mouth shut. She registered what he said and finally responded.

"You mean you are a Death Eater. Given the chance I am sure you would crawl on your knees to your lord," she hissed.

"Really, Miss Granger. I was simply going to rid you of your wounds. Or would you prefer to keep them and call them your badges of courage?"

"No, I do not want to keep them," she snapped at him. With a wave of his wand she was healed. As he settled himself on the sofa in front of the fireplace he couldn't stop thinking about Hermione and how quickly she drew her wand and the fire that danced in her eyes. It was quite easy to see why, beyond being a Mudblood, that his son tormented the girl in school.

He watched her through the corner of his eye as she headed for the desk and immediately began looking over her assignments. As she pulled out quill, ink, and parchment, he couldn't help but to watch her. She was such a loyal friend to Potter. She was quite powerful in her own right, he had to admit, and she had blossomed into such a beautiful young woman in his opinion.

A shame she is Mudblood.

With a sneer that gave him the look of being disgusted, he turned his full attention back to the book.

Hermione worked through lunch and dinner, not paying any attention to what was going on around her. Two essays and three worksheet type questionnaires later, Hermione put her things up and slowly headed out of the drawing room and climbed the stairs feeling exhausted. Halfway up the stairs she remembered that Lucius still had her wand.

Great.

She wanted it back, needed it back and knew her only choice was to knock on his closed door and ask for it. She never got a chance to. Before she could turn to face his door it swung open revealing Lucius standing there with a smirk rivaling his son's.

"Miss Granger, I take it you would like this back?"

She turned and saw him standing in the doorway holding her wand up. Out of a nervous habit, she looked around as she softly spoke.

"Yes, I would."

He held it out for her to take. She reached out anxious to have that security back. When she grabbed it, Lucius grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him until her body ran into his. He held her there pressed up against him. She felt her breath hitch in her throat at the feel of him against her. His hair and breath tickled her as he spoke softly, but in a tone that left no room for argument.

"Do not be mistaken again, Miss Granger. I bow down before no one. The Dark Lord was simply a means to an end and I would never sully my knees or my name by crawling around on my knees before him."

Hermione's heart was pounding in her chest. He quickly shoved her out of the door before she could make any comment, if she planned to make any comment. She stumbled back but kept her balance as he slammed the door shut. Hermione stood there for a moment in a dazed shock.

Bloody hell! Maybe Voldemort should fear Lucius Malfoy taking over.