Disclaimer: Not mine, nope
A/N: okay…chapters are normal now…so chapters 13 and 14 are as they should be. Please enjoy and please oh please review.
Chapter 15
Returning
Lucius stood in his room looking out his window at the night. He heard the shower cut off and knew Hermione would be stepping out any moment. For a moment, he wondered if he could handle what he was about to do himself, but he knew it was the only way. He had to get through to her before they returned to Hogwarts.
When he heard the bathroom door open, he turned around. She stood in the doorway dripping wet with a small towel wrapped around her. Keeping eye contact with her, he pointed his wand at his bedroom door.
"You won't be able to get through the wards so don't try leaving."
Hermione's eyes shifted to the door. A slightly nervous apprehension stole over Hermione. What did Lucius want to talk to her about? Turning his back to her as he headed back to the window he was looking out of earlier he spoke.
"Take the towel off, Miss Granger, and get yourself in the bed."
Hermione had stepped farther into the room and just stood there shocked at what Lucius just told her to do. She hadn't moved yet when Lucius sighed and said, "Now."
Lucius took a deep breath and cursed his choice of windows. The darkened night made it too easy for Lucius to see Hermione's reflection in the window as she slowly dropped the towel and climbed under the covers.
Calm Lucius. This will only work if you stay in control.
Hermione didn't know why she just did what he told her to do. Maybe it was his tone…the same tone that left no room for negotiations. Her heart was pounding in her chest when Lucius turned around from the window. Hermione was sitting up in the bed holding the sheet up to her. Lucius looked her up and down as if he could see through the sheet.
"Tell me, Miss Granger, did you fear the Lucius Malfoy you ran into in the Department of Mysteries?"
Hermione was not expecting that question. Looking down, as if ashamed by her response, she whispered "yes." Lucius nodded his head.
"And now, Miss Granger? Do you fear me now?"
Hermione sighed as if exasperated by the question. Wrapping the sheet around herself, she stood up out of the bed. She walked up, looked Lucius in the eyes, and said more confidently "no." Lucius grabbed her by her upper arms, forcing her back on the bed, and pinned her arms to the bed above her head. He hovered over her as he leaned down and with as much venom as he could muster he hissed out at her.
"Why not Miss Granger? I am the same man you feared then."
He felt her body underneath his own squirm slightly. He could feel the fear coursing through her veins. She was shaking her head no.
"Yes, Miss Granger, yes. Accept it."
He leaned down further and whispered into her ear.
"And perhaps you should think about the position you have gotten yourself into now. You are no match for me if I decided to take what I want. Remember that when you are looking at that picture and seeing some fantasy that does not exist."
Abruptly he stood up and swept from the room. Still wrapped up in the blanket, Hermione curled up in a ball and allowed the tears to fall.
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Severus was sitting in his room reading when Lucius stormed in.
"My shower is not in working order."
Severus indicated the door leading to his bathroom. Before Lucius could get through the bathroom door, Severus' words halted him.
"So, were you scaring little girls again?"
Lucius turned around and looked down his nose at him.
"Someone needed to open her eyes to what I am."
"Really, Lucius?" He held up the picture from Hermione's bag that she tried to give Lucius for Christmas. "Because this picture truly shows something completely different."
Lucius maintained his calm.
"As I said, Severus, someone had to open her eyes to what I am."
Severus nodded and looked down at the picture again. After a moment, he looked back up at Lucius.
"Or did you need to remind yourself of who you were?"
Lucius didn't answer. He sneered and turned into the bathroom. Once the door shut, Severus stood up and left his room.
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Not long after Lucius left the room Hermione walked to the bathroom and found her wand. When Severus walked in, he found her wrapped up in the sheet still and sitting in the middle of the bed. She had her wand out casting the same charm over and over again. Tears streamed down her face as one serpent after another shot from her wand, slithered around the room, and then disappeared as if made from smoke. Severus watched this for a moment before entering completely and shutting the door. At first, Severus didn't think she noticed his presence. Then she spoke in a detached voice without looking up at him.
"It won't change. I thought it would change."
Severus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Bloody brilliant job, Lucius.
Walking around, he sat in a large cushy chair that sat across from the bed. Leaning his elbows on his knees so that his hair fell forward slightly, he looked pointedly across the room at Hermione and beckoned her over with his finger. Standing up, keeping the sheet around her dragging the ground, she walked up to Severus. Surprisingly, he did not stand up as if to tower over her in order to intimidate her. Instead, he looked up at her tear-streaked face, reached his hands out to her waist, and slowly pulled her down into his lap.
Severus' arms wrapped around her comfortingly and rubbed her back to sooth her more so. With one arm around his neck and one hand resting on his chest she cried.
"Sh…sh…you are an insufferable little chit you know that?"
He felt Hermione laugh against his shoulder.
"So, you tell me."
There in the chair in Lucius' room, Hermione Granger fell asleep being comforted by Severus Snape.
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The scene before him stopped him dead in his tracks. He felt his blood boil at the same time he felt like a bucket of ice had just been tossed over his entire body. There is his very own room, where he had left the girl, was Hermione still wrapped in the sheet curled up in the arms of his "friend." The thought that the girl had nothing on but a sheet and was in Severus Snape's lap only angered him more so.
"What are you doing," Lucius hissed most vehemently.
Severus' eyebrow rose up at Lucius' words.
"She is asleep, Lucius," Severus whispered. "Can you not tell she has been crying?"
Severus stood up, lifting the girl and placing her gently on the bed.
"Of course I can tell, Severus, but you have absolutely no business holding and comforting her in such a way."
Severus looked at his friend. Lucius' nostrils flared he was so angry.
"You didn't want that job last I checked, Lucius." He started to walk passed Lucius out the door, but stopped next to his friend and looked at him. "Perhaps, Lucius, you should rethink your position before Miss Granger finds what she sees in you in someone else." Severus shoved the picture he had carried with him into Lucius' hand and walked out the door.
Lucius looked down at the picture. With a defeated sigh, he sat the silver frame on the nightstand and turned to look at Hermione's sleeping form. The moonlight flowed in through the window casting its light on Hermione. Walking over to the window, Lucius drew the curtains cutting off the moonlight. With the room in darkness, he sat in the large chair he found Severus in and watched the girl sleep through the night.
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When the morning of their departure to Hogwarts arrived, Hermione had not seen Lucius since that Christmas night and that morning was no different. At breakfast, Severus noticed Hermione glancing at the only empty seat, but he said nothing. He also noticed Ron and Harry watching Hermione and glancing at each other with worried expressions on their faces.
On the train, Hermione was quiet. She either read or stared out the window at the passing landscape.
"Hermione, are you okay?"
She looked up, pulled out of her thoughts by Harry's voice. Looking around, she noticed everyone in the compartment looking at her waiting. She smiled sweetly.
"I'm fine, Harry. Just a lot on my mind. I feel as if I am going to be so behind even though I had the assignments."
This seemed to satisfy everyone…everyone except Draco.
"Hermione, you are resuming your Head Girl duties so we need to walk the corridor for a bit."
Hermione nodded her head okay and followed the Head Boy out. They walked for a few moments in silence. Finally, Hermione spoke. Something had been eating her up since it happened and she had to know.
"Draco, I expected to hear your mouth about my being in your father's room that day. Why haven't I?"
Draco stopped walking and looked at her.
"I'm not as slow as your Gryffindor friends are." He shrugged and began walking again. "Besides, I am pretty sure father would not stand for it. Look at him and Snape right now."
Hermione stopped walking and grabbed his arm.
"What do you mean 'look at him and Snape?"
"Snape told me what happened on Christmas night in private. We were discussing my father as of late."
Hermione looked at him still trying to figure out how to put that with 'look at him and Snape.'
"So?"
"Well, father returned to his room and found you asleep in Snape's lap—something I would keep to myself if I were you. Let's just say I do not think father has ever been that angry with Snape before."
Draco turned and continued there walk through the corridor. Hermione's mind whirled wondering why Lucius would say one thing to her and then act the complete opposite. It was mind boggling. As they re-entered their compartment Hermione couldn't help but to hope and wish that once she got to Hogwarts and into the swing of classes that all would go back to normal. Somehow she didn't really think it would, but there was always hope.
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The next morning Hermione ate her breakfast with a book propped against a pumpkin juice jug. Her concentration was broken when Harry nudged her in the side a little too hard.
"Ouch! Harry!"
She looked at him and noticed him sheepishly point to an owl standing in front of her eating off his plate.
"Oh…sorry Harry."
Grabbing the letter, she read it as a smile grew on her face. From the head table Lucius ate his breakfast watching the girl read the letter he knew to be from Severus. Her smile caused him to grip his utensils so tight his fingers were turning white.
Dear Miss Granger,
I shall be at the school on Wednesdays and Fridays to continue your training. I will meet you at seven 0'clock in the evenings at Lucius' chambers. I am sorry to say he is still in charge of your training. I will see you then.
Severus Snape
Hermione read the letter.
"Lets go," she said to the boys as she stuck the letter in her bag.
Their first class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts.