Disclaimer: Not mine as you know.

A/N: Please review. Now read this carefully: First, as a mother I must reprimand some of you for not reading an a/n carefully. Second, as a writer I must now explain. The voting has moved from what it was for to being about this fic. NO! This fic is a Lucius/Hermione. There is no debating this issue. The vote is for my NEXT fanfic…I did say that once already. Okay…please review and let me know what you think.

Chapter 25

The First Spy

Your sweet little hands
Brush right past me
Sometimes you don't understand
Why you can't reach
I bite when I don't want to bend
How silent I can be
So she is silent too
She's the one who saw my words
Broken, Torn at the seams
And broken words were all she heard
Now she's walking away from me
Some never meant
And some meant well
The difference between us is so
Hard to tell
I was so shaken but now
All I see
Is everything she meant to me

--Finger Eleven

She was precariously balanced in the doorway on one foot and using her good hand to hold the framing. The shirt, one of Lucius' shirts, was a white button up that reached just a tad longer than mid-thigh. He watched her standing like that in the doorway. She was technically a prisoner…that thought washed over him. There was so much she didn't know, didn't understand and he wondered if she knew would things be different? Would he be allowed to feel the way he does? Would he allow himself to? She swayed slightly in her spot.

"I'm here on Voldemort's orders aren't I?"

Lucius' eyes lifted up to meet hers. She sounded defeated and resigned. He nodded his head. She nodded her understanding in return. He was a Death Eater after all. Lucius knew this was a possibility when he was in his seventh year and they fought over his future status as Death Eater. He knew then that he would be a Death Eater and she would not…he just didn't know she was a Mudblood.

"Will I have to see him?"

Her voice was low and sounded frightened. Lucius looked at her curiously. He knew that if she were able to stand fully on both feet, she would be nervously playing with her hands. He stood up off the bed.

"All your little…adventures with Potter…surely you have faced him before?"

Her eyes followed him as he stood and shook her head no.

"No," she whispered. "I have never had to face him. It was always just Harry."

The implications of her admission seemed to hit him, propelling him forward. He stood in front of her, looking down at her.

"You've never faced him?"

"No," she shook her head. "Never."

Through all those adventures with Potter she had never been forced to face the darkest wizard of all time…she kept at least that innocence. She was protected from that. He didn't move, just standing there looking down at her. She swayed on her foot again shaking Lucius out of his reverie. Leaning down he place one arm on her back and the other the back of her knees, lifting her off the ground.

"Thank you," she whispered as her hand slid up his chest, resting on his shoulder.

As he carried her to the bed, he began thinking and comparing. She was the same Hermione he knew in the past and yet many years had passed and now she seemed so small compared to him. She was always much smaller, but a seventeen year old boy is still growing. He placed her gently on the bed.

"Why do I sleep in here instead of the room I occupied during holiday?"

He stood over her, looking at her.

"The Dark Lord's orders were for you to remain in my care and not out of my sight. I am sorry, but I can't take the chance of you escaping."

She looked away and nodded her head before pulling the covers back and sinking into them. He watched her movements. He watched the fabric of her shirt shift further up her thigh when she shifted her legs to get under the covers. Swallowing hard, he looked away as the memory of seeing Severus' hands on her emerged. Closing his eyes it only became more vivid and his anger grew. His growing anger created many conflicts within him…he didn't want them. One conflict being why this image angered him—was it because a fellow Death Eater was touching a Mudblood? Was it because this, in actuality, had been the Hermione from his past…the Hermione he could never forget? The only time she had ever seen Voldemort was from a distance when he was still Tom Riddle in appearances…when Lucius received his Dark Mark. His mind flashed to the passion flashing like fire in her eyes as she protested his receiving the Dark Mark….as she protested the very thought of Voldemort.

"Your condescension astounds me. Am I so inferior to you because I would not even toy with the idea of marring my skin with the mark of the evil calling himself Voldemort? Then so be it."

He wanted those memories gone. He looked out the French doors at the moon. The memories wouldn't go away…they were taunting him.

"Go ahead hold your head high in your false sense of pride, Mister Malfoy. By all means you believe it is justly deserved. Just remember that pride you hold so dear when you are a fallen broken man because of your 'Dark Lord.' Remember it well Lucius Malfoy—it will be your only true friend."

Breathing deeply he turned his gaze back to Hermione laying there in an attempt at sleep. Despite what her words had been, she seemed still to view him in such a light as a friend. He had a crush on the girl when she popped out of nowhere into his dormitory bed, but that night—the night she stood before him, fire blazing in her eyes denouncing everything he ever believed…that was the night a seventeen-year-old Lucius fell in love with one Hermione Dagworth-Granger A. K. A. Hermione Granger.

Turning away from Hermione in the bed and his memories, Lucius stepped into the bathroom to shower and change. His hope was to wash it all away.

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Hermione heard the bathroom door close when Lucius entered. The room was dark with the exception of the moonlight pouring in through the windows and French doors. Sighing, she moved to lie on her back. The moment she turned a hand came out of the darkness by the bed and clasped over her mouth…preventing her from screaming. Her eyes wide she looked toward the owner of the hand. It was Severus Snape.

"Do not scream. I am going to remove my hand."

She nodded her head in understanding.

"What are you doing here," she asked in a whisper, glancing toward the bathroom door.

"I came to thank Lucius for alerting the Dark Lord to our…activities in the library."

Her forehead scrunched up.

"Why did he do that?"

Severus looked at her with a bit of amusement on his face.

"You mean there is something Hermione Granger does not know?"

If looks could kill, Hermione would have caused Snape to drop dead. She pulled herself up with her one hand and looked at him.

"Are you referring to the crush he had when he was seventeen?"

Severus chuckled ever so quietly. They both looked toward the bathroom door. They could hear the water still running from the shower.

"Crush, Miss Granger? A few years back, over quite a lot of firewhiskey, a very sauced Lucius Malfoy made quite the confession." Hermione nodded her head for him to continue. "He admitted he loved his wife, Narcissa, but he could never love her as he loved Hermione Dagworth-Granger…he feared finding you and wished for it in the same breath. Imagine my surprise the following evening when you, Potter and his little friends were responsible for his capture at the Department of Mysteries. I had already figured out you were the same girl, but maturity had yet effected your features. I think it is possible that Lucius saw a hint of who you were in the ministry that night and that is where he failed his mission."

The water cut off and both Hermione and Severus grew silent. She turned quickly toward him.

"You can get into my cabin?" He nodded his head yes. "Go to it. Up the stairs in the loft there is a box sitting before the mirror….bring me the book that is sitting just inside. I need it."

She spoke quickly. With a curt nod, Severus left through the French doors and flew off on a broom as hasty and quiet as any spy could. Hermione's head turned toward the bathroom door when it opened. Lucius walked out in his pajama bottoms eyeing Hermione curiously. When he went into the bathroom, she was laying down. She started to lay back down mumbling something about a dream.

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In his dream, he was seventeen again and she came to him with a nightmare. He enveloped her in his arms until she drifted to sleep. It felt normal…like home. Her image lay in his arms and slowly, she faded away. As soon as she was gone from view, Lucius woke up. He looked over at Hermione lying next to him. This was the reality—she was a prisoner per Voldemort's orders, he was old enough to be her father, he was a Death Eater, he was the epitome of everything she stood against…it didn't matter how he felt…how he wanted to protect her…set her apart from all the others…it just didn't matter. His life was full of lies…deceit…darkness.

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He stood in the darkness of Lucius' room staring down at them.

How quaint.

They were sound asleep, so he slipped the book on the bedside table. His attention turned back to Lucius asleep with her. Observing their positioning he couldn't help but entertain how much displeasure this could bring Lucius. Lucius lay on his back…his chest bare, as he never did sleep in a shirt. Hermione, wearing nothing more than a white button up of Lucius' lay partially on Lucius…her arm was draped over his form with her hand coming to a rest where his shoulder and neck came together…her face snuggled up against the other side of his neck. The arm she lay on wrapped around her body as if he were holding her close. Severus felt the sneer forming.

Then his eyes landed solely on Hermione. At some point in their sleep, someone had kicked the covers off, as they were no longer under the covers. Severus' eyes caressed every portion of her body as she lay there…unaware. Very slowly and quietly, Severus held out his hand. Barely touching her, he ran the tip of his fingers down her leg. When he removed his hand, Hermione shifted, snuggling closer to Lucius…sound asleep. With an evil smirk, Severus began moving his hand back toward her.

Severus never saw it coming.

Before his hand could reach her again, he found Lucius' wand pointed right between the eyes. Lucius had not moved one muscle beyond the hand holding his wand. Eyes open, narrowed on Severus with a look of disgust.

"Touch her Severus and it will be the last."

Severus swallowed. Even Lucius' whispers could sound venomous. Severus pulled his hand back, holding both hands up in the air as if showing Lucius that he was unarmed…and not touching Hermione. He watched Lucius slowly remove himself from Hermione and stand up.

"Why Lucius you seemed quite comfortable considering how inferior you claim Miss Granger to be."

Lucius took a step closer to Severus, his wand trained on him.

"Leave. Now."

The tone of Lucius' voice left no room for argument. With a self-satisfied smirk, Severus disappeared through the French doors.

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When Hermione woke up, Lucius was looking out the French doors deep in thought. He heard her move and looked toward her. With a flick of his wand, her tray of food moved across the room and across her lap.

"I must leave you for just a bit."

Hermione watched him as he made strange wand movements around the balcony before walking back through the doors. She swallowed her pumpkin juice.

"I thought Voldemort's instructions were for me not to be left alone."

Lucius was silent for a moment, watching the girl eat occasionally looking up at him as if to say 'got you.' Taking a couple steps closer, he looked down his nose at her.

"You won't escape."

Her eyes left his face, noticing the book on her bedside table. Severus had been there in the night? She looked back up at him.

"You're right. I won't."

As she ate, she watched him gather his clothing and enter the bathroom. He did not come out until she was done eating her breakfast and had set the tray on the side table on top of the book. When he stepped out, he was in his usual attire with his hair pulled back in a black ribbon.

"You're going to see him aren't you? Voldemort?"

Her voice seemed small. Anger rose up in Lucius' chest constricting his very breath. How dare she assume that was where he was going. He stepped over to the bed, towering over her.

"That is none of your concern, Miss Granger."

His voice was a hiss of venom. She cringed ever so slightly at the sound. He was leaning down as if to look into her eyes and read her very thoughts. She didn't flinch…holding his gaze. She reached out a hand. He felt the soft caress of her fingers tracing the barely visible scar down his hairline and a portion of his jaw.

"Pride and perfection…he cannot give you that. What happened to the Lucius I met in the past?"

His anger flared. Leaning down into her face, he hissed.

"That Lucius was nothing more than the delusions of a Mudblood passing herself off as something better than she was."

The sound echoed in the room…the sound of her hand across his cheek. Hermione was beyond reason…not thinking of what Lucius would do to someone who would deign to slap him, not once, but twice as she pulled her hand back to do it again. With the burning sensation on his cheek, he still saw her hand fly back to slap him again. As her hand flew toward his face, she felt his hand reach out and grab a hold of her by the wrist, tightly. Pushing her back, pinning her good hand to the bed he leered over her sneering. He saw the fright in her eyes and cast it off. Leaning down toward her ear, she felt the pressure of his body on top of hers. His breath tickled her neck as he spoke.

"My…my…Miss Granger. Such vile actions from someone so…"

He paused looking down at her body before leaning in toward her ear again.

"…weak and helpless at the moment."

Lucius pulled back just enough to see her eyes…full of fire as he remembered them. He felt her quick breath underneath him. His anger started to waver and fade though he would never make her aware of that fact. Abruptly, he pushed himself off Hermione and swept out the door.

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Lucius walked into the Headmistresses office with his nose in the air and his serpent cane in hand. All eyes looked to him. He looked the poster child for control. His eyes roamed the room looking at its occupants. Remus stepped forward handing Lucius a school bag…Hermione's school bag. Lucius took the bag with a curt nod, slinging it over his shoulder. Then Remus handed him a scroll of parchment.

"All her assignments for the next few weeks are on there," Remus explained. "I believe that will do her until we see what Harry does."

Lucius looked around the room to observe everyone once again as he asked the room at large, "and is Potter's…motivation improving any?"

"Yes, yes it is," McGonagall answered. "We are keeping a close watch on him to ensure he doesn't try to rescue the girl. Tonks is with him now searching the Room of Requirement for the cup."

Lucius nodded his head. Looking around the room, he noticed Severus' usual presence at these little meetings absent.

"And where is Severus?"

He didn't look anyone in they eye. Instead, he surveyed the portraits while he awaited a response. His eyes fell on the portrait of Dumbledore. The old Headmaster smiled at Lucius as if they shared a secret. Lucius sneered at the portrait as if daring it to try to say anything.

"I believe he was going to check in on Hermione," Remus answered.

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Hermione sat up in bed reading the journal. She had been reading it all day…the details in it were riveting. It held details of events and happenings at Hogwarts and with the development of the Order of the Phoenix. She founds sections Dumbledore wrote in reference to her and Lucius.

Glancing at the French doors, she noticed something in the distance growing closer. It was someone on a broom…it was Severus Snape. She watched as he flew over the grounds toward the balcony.

He never made it.

It was as if an invisible wall stood around the balcony and Severus flew right into it.

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Lucius was walking toward the manor when Severus fell from the sky to his right. The thud of his body made Lucius smile as he turned and nodded toward Severus. He didn't say anything to the fallen Death Eater. Walking in the manor, he headed straight up the stairs to his room. He found Hermione sitting with a book in front of her and a look of worry on her face. The slight smirk on Lucius' face told her who was responsible.

"Is Severus okay," she asked concerned.

"Yes. Some lessons must be learned the hard way."

He deposited her schoolbag next to the bed and handed her a scroll of parchment. She held the parchment and just watched him disappear into the bathroom. Unrolling the parchment, she saw her assignments. She couldn't understand how or why he would bring her this. Sighing, she glanced down at the journal to finish reading the section she was on.

It was a week after Miss Granger left that he entered my office with renewed faith. Mister Malfoy claims to have seen his future through Miss Granger and he now knows what he must do to ensure that future…

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The water fell from the showerhead, beating down on Lucius. It was soothing and relaxing, but did not stop the thoughts. He wondered if Remus and McGonagall's little plan was going to work truthfully. How long before Harry gave them the slip and went after Hermione?

How long before the dark lord would require her presence?

Shutting the water off, he stepped out of the shower wrapping a towel around himself. Looking around the bathroom, he rolled his eyes at his own absentmindedness. He didn't grab his clothes before going into the bathroom. With a sigh of agitation, he stepped out of the bathroom.

Hermione still sat on the bed, staring at the passage she had just read. A look of incomprehensible confusion on her face. She looked up when he stepped out of the bathroom. He was still wet, dripping water from his hair, dripping from her body as it slid down his chest and arms. Nothing but a towel on, but still she seemed not quite there. The look on her face stopped Lucius in his tracks. His eyes locked with hers. She was giving him the oddest look…not anger or happiness, just confusion it seemed.

"Why didn't you ever tell me," she asked.

An eyebrow quirked he looked down at the journal.

"Tell you what?"

She looked down at the journal again and then back up into his eyes across the room. Her voice was that of a whispered secret.

"That you were the first spy."