AN: Lost count the number of times I rewrote this chapter. *makes frustrated noises*
DISSOCIATION.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1997.
"Diffindo!"
Lucius watched as a jet of red light sailed from Potter's wand towards the glinting Horcrux lying on a small boulder. The spell precisely hit the locket and it bounced upon impact, landing on the grass while emitting a chittering sound. Granger walked closer to inspect it before shaking her head in dismay. The locket remained intact as usual. Not even a scratch from a spell that could sever a limb in a blink of an eye.
"Expulso!" Potter hissed and the locket went sailing farther away again. "Reducto!"
With each failed spell, Lucius noticed that the boy grew more frustrated. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Granger was bouncing on the balls of her feet, torn between stopping Potter or letting him shred her mother's garden to pieces.
"Incendio!" the locket burst into flames but Lucius could tell that no real damage was done—except for the nice patch of flowers standing beside the locket that was now turned into ashes. "Bombar—"
"Harry! Enough!" Granger's voice halted him from saying the last syllable of the exploding charm. "Normal spells clearly aren't working."
Potter muttered something under his breath before coming to pick up the still intact locket. Lucius had enough as well.
"Don't you find it strange?" he began after a moment of silence and two heads whipped in his direction, startled. He found it mildly insulting that they had forgotten his presence. "That the great Albus Dumbledore sent a teenager off on this mission to hunt all these Horcruxes but never bothered to tell you how to destroy it?"
A flicker of emotions passed through Potter's face. Doubt, sadness, and anger were the ones Lucius recognized immediately. It was clear that he had hit a very sore spot and he wondered if it was because he mentioned Dumbledore or the fact that the dead Headmaster clearly hid something vital from his favorite student.
When they told Lucius about the hunt for the Horcruxes, the very reason how the Dark Lord stayed alive even after being struck by the rebounded killing curse, Lucius expected them to have at least some sort of plan. He expected it to be quite difficult and probably riskier than their last escapade but not this. Not this thing they were doing right now. Like they were thrust into an endless maze blindfolded and hoping to get out of it by just sticking their hand on the wall until it led them to the end.
He was beginning to doubt this foolish quest and himself as well for going along with it in the first place. He should've contemplated this more thoroughly but the thought of his son alone and defenseless pushed him to make a hasty decision.
"Your job is to help us find Horcruxes," Potter snapped at him. "What Professor Dumbledore said and didn't say to me is none of your business."
He placed the chain around his neck before walking back inside the house. Lucius gritted his teeth and started counting backwards. Merlin knew how much he wanted to kill the boy for a while now. Just one snap of his hands around Potter's neck and it'll be over. He didn't even need to use a wand.
"Do you really have to provoke him?" Granger frowned at him. They didn't fight that much since that first day they came to Grimmauld Place and Lucius liked to keep it that way.
Granger. Like he'll ever actually call her Hermione if the circumstances were different.
Lucius could still vividly remember the surprised look on her face when she suggested he use her wand to tear the sleeve of her shirt. That was when he knew the girl was beginning to trust him. And it was imperative that the girl trusted him completely for his plan to work.
Ever since that day he found out from Potter that the Dark Lord was torturing Cissa for his failures, Lucius knew he had to get her out of the Manor. If the Dark Lord found out that Lucius had sided with Potter, it would not end well with her even if she claimed that her allegiance was still with the cause.
Days passed and he grew more and more anxious about her safety and Potter's lack of vision about her. Hope was such a fragile thing but it was the only thing that kept Lucius going. Hope that his wife wouldn't do anything rash and hoped that Bella would plead with the Dark Lord to spare Cissa. Bella, while unhinged and merciless, still valued family as long as their allegiance was still with the Dark Lord—something Lucius hoped that Cissa hadn't outright retracted. Just until he managed to convince Granger that they needed to go to the Manor to look for Horcruxes—which wasn't a complete lie since he believed that there was a possibility that the Dark Lord had given the Blacks a Horcrux for them to guard much like how he'd given the Malfoys the diary before and since Bella pretty much stayed with them in the Manor, Lucius thought that she had kept it with her at all times, paranoid harpy that she was.
Granger was the key part of this plan, not Potter.
It was something he had learned throughout their month-long stay in Grimmauld Place. While Potter was the ringleader of the group, it was Granger's opinion that mattered the most, therefore, the one Lucius needed to get close to. He needed her to completely trust him. That was why he decided to help her heal her shoulder and kept his mouth shut at the supermarket even though he severely wanted to refute everything that she had ever said.
Lucius was surprised that she took the words quite literally. They were called Mudblood because their blood was tainted by nonmagical heritage. They were an abnormality. Up to this day, no one knew how it happened. He wasn't ignorant of how things worked and he knew that it was impossible for Mudbloods to steal magic in their infancy but he still considered them to be far beneath people of Pureblood lineage regardless. No, everybody was certainly not created equal. Each one has a place in the society and Lucius was confident in his beliefs that his blood—especially his lineage—held the highest.
"Do you really believe that Lu?"
A voice—a memory he had suppressed long ago along with most of his childhood memories came unbidden. He struggled to shove it on the back of his mind but in the end, the memory won and it played in his mind like watching through a Pensieve.
"Of course, Andy," thirteen-year-old Lucius answered. "Our blood is untainted, therefore our magic is pure. And everything pure is stronger and superior to those who aren't."
"Sanctimonia vincet semper," Andy recited. "That's the Malfoy family motto, isn't it?"
Lucius nodded proudly. "Purity will always conquer."
"What if it doesn't, Lu?" Andy turned to fully face him and in this position, with the way the sunlight was reaching her face, her eyes turned a little brighter, even more mesmerizing. Lucius struggled to hear her words over the frantic beating of his heart. "What if you met someone with a Muggle heritage one day and that person proves you wrong by being powerful and smarter than you?"
"That's impossible, Andy," he reached out to tuck a stray curl behind her ear. He wished he could remain like this with her forever. "Even if I meet someone like that, it's only because they stole magic from their superiors."
Andy sighed and he wondered if it was because of his touch or his answer.
Lucius eventually snapped out of his haze.
That was what his ancestors believed in and that was what Lucius strongly believed in as well. How could he not? Centuries of impeccable breed and vast fortune were evidence enough that they were superior amongst the filthy Halfbloods and Mudbloods. Despite her reputation as the Brightest Witch of her Age, Granger was still that—a Mudblood—and that was all she will ever be. Even when the war finally ended and if the Light side won, traditions would still be upheld. She would still be judged according to her blood status and her upbringing although having top marks in class and being Potter's best friend would get her at least a good position in the Ministry. Marrying into a respectable Pureblood family would probably elevate her status in society but who in their right mind would sully themselves with a Mudblood?
The Weasleys, his subconscious supplied and Lucius couldn't help but sneer at the name. The Weasleys were far from respectable and she would be better off if she married a Halfblood like Potter. Arthur and his ginger-haired brood. Although he would probably make an exception with the youngest Weasley offspring. Only if Miss Weasley didn't end up like her mother.
Lucius stood straight and faced the bushy-haired witch. "I am not provoking him. I am merely telling the truth."
"Well, your truth made Harry all gloomy again. Do you even know how hard it is to deal with him when he's in that mood?" Granger placed her hands on her hips. "You know that Dumbledore is a touchy subject for Harry and yet you still brought it up."
"I apologize, alright?" Lucius raised a hand in surrender. "I am just telling him how ridiculous this quest of his is. We are as close to getting rid of that locket as we are to finding the rest of them. Even if we have gathered all of the Dark Lord's Horcruxes here right now, we still could not defeat him if we cannot even make a dent on a tiny locket."
"We know that a Basilisk fang can destroy a Horcrux," the girl snapped.
"I beg your pardon?" Lucius' eyebrows shot up. "A basilisk?"
Granger stared at him disbelievingly for a moment. "You don't know?"
"A basilisk? Of course, I know what it is," he scoffed. Did she think he was that stupid?
"I meant the basilisk at school. You didn't know about that, did you? You're the reason it got free," the condescension in her tone irritated him but the shock and confusion at learning about a basilisk roaming within the castle grounds won over his annoyance.
"Me? I don't ever recall setting something that dangerous free. And how did it even get inside the school premises in the first place?" Lucius tried to rack his mind for any memory but he came up with nothing. Was he cursed to do someone else's bidding? Was his memory wiped?
"The diary you slipped into Ginny's things nearly five years ago. If you hadn't done that, then Tom Riddle's soul wouldn't have possessed her. He opened the chamber of secrets through Ginny. The basilisk was the one petrifying all the Muggleborns in the school and it had been in there since the beginning. Harry said that the snake was a pet of Salazar Slytherin himself," Granger explained. "The students didn't die because they didn't look at it directly in the eye. Seeing it through reflections is what petrified them."
Lucius felt his stomach drop. So that's what's inside the chamber of secrets? He didn't feel any remorse for those Mudbloods that almost got killed. The basilisk was doing them a favor anyway but he felt unease that he might've put his son in danger by setting something that dangerous free. Yes, the snake was killing Mudbloods but what if it eventually ran out of filth to kill? What if it got hungry one night and happened to cross paths with Draco by accident? That would also explain the reason behind Weasley's fury regarding the diary incident. Lucius was indirectly responsible for her near-death experience.
"And what happened to it? I assume it is dead since no more Mud—Muggleborns were petrified."
If she noticed the near-slip, she didn't show any sign of it. "Harry killed it with the sword of Gryffindor and then he used the basilisk fang to stab the diary, completely destroying the embedded soul in it. That's how we knew that the fangs can be used to destroy Horcruxes."
Lucius swore that he'll find out how Potter managed to kill a large snake when he was, what, twelve? "It wasn't the fang that destroyed it, it was the venom coated in the fang. A basilisk venom is arguably more potent of a poison than an acromantula venom. If you have one in that enchanted bag of yours, now is the time to bring it out."
Granger sighed before sitting on the boulder the Horcrux was on. "I don't. And I don't really fancy going to Hogwarts just to pluck one from the carcass of a gigantic basilisk."
Lucius hummed in agreement. Hogwarts was probably the last place they should be in right now since the entire castle was swamped with Death Eaters. Getting in there would be close to impossible. Although there was that persistent voice at the back of his head that wanted to see where the chamber of secrets was hidden. He glanced at the petite witch sitting across him. He was about to ask if she had been inside the said chamber when he realized that she was one of the Mudbloods petrified at that time. He remembered Draco writing to him, expressing his glee that the Mudblood that kept besting him in class was one of the victims.
"How did you survive it? When I went over to the school to deliver Dumbledore's suspension order—don't look at me like that. I did what I have to do—I heard from Severus that you were petrified as well."
"I was in the library researching about it—well now it's you who's looking at me like that. Cut that out! What else am I supposed to do? Anyway," she fixed him a glare. "It was past curfew and I couldn't sleep so I snuck in the library. From what Harry told me of the state of the victims, there were no physical damages apart from their petrified state. It reminded me of Medusa—the woman with a head of hair full of snakes that can turn you into stone when you look into her eyes. And suddenly it all made sense! Snakes. The myth. Basilisks. Everything fits."
"I eventually found a book about it and was about to bring it back to Harry when I heard strange noises. I had no choice but to peel off the page about the basilisk since I didn't want that information falling into the wrong hands. You never know if the basilisk was being controlled by someone. I was with a fourth-year Ravenclaw student at that time. Eleanor Farley's her name. We used a mirror to look at corners and the hallway leading outside the library was the last thing I remember. I woke up in the infirmary feeling sore and that the school year was about to end."
Granger took a deep breath before looking up at him with a small smile. "I was so afraid I had missed out on the exams."
An undignified snort left his lips. "You almost died and you were worried about missing an exam? You need to rearrange your priorities, Hermione."
"Well, I didn't die and the exams were canceled anyway."
Silence stretched before them but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. There were moments where Lucius tolerated her company and this one was one of them. The girl had an analytical mind that could be quite useful in politics or business. It really was a shame that she was born into a nonmagical heritage.
"Do you really believed that Lu?" The feminine voice echoed inside his head again.
Lucius hadn't thought of Andy in a long while. He had lost all contact ever since she was disowned by the Black family. Cissa did try to contact her sister but eventually ceased all communications when she was betrothed to Lucius. Looking at the girl in front of him, he couldn't help but be reminded of the woman he used to be so close with. Andy had that same streak of stubbornness and a sense of righteousness to the point of being vengeful. Both also had that wild curly hair but Andy's was more controlled… more restrained than Granger's. But they were different as well. Andy wasn't bookish and preferred watching Quidditch matches over studying in the library. She was the perfect balance between Bella and Cissa: formidable yet sophisticated—something the Mudblood in front of him now could never be.
"What if you met someone with a Muggle heritage one day and that person proves you wrong by being powerful and smarter than you?"
Decades passed since that conversation and Lucius still hadn't met someone that proved him wrong. On the contrary, it only fortified his opinion that society was deteriorating because Mudbloods like Granger and Muggle-loving fools like the Weasleys were changing the old ways.
Although he couldn't help but think. Was that what happened to Andy? Did she meet a Mudblood more powerful and smarter than her? What did she see in that filth that made her turn away from everything she once held dear? That made her turn away from him?
"Do you think there's another Horcrux in Hogwarts?"
He was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed Granger's question. "It's a slim possibility. Three of his Horcruxes were all connected to him: the diary, the Gaunt family ring, and Slytherin's locket. I don't know anything inside the school that could be personal to him."
"Does he have a vault at Gringotts?"
"No," Lucius said. "The Dark Lord got his funding from the Pureblood families so he doesn't have any use for a vault. Not to mention that he despises goblins," the last word was said with a sneer on his face.
"I can't really blame him for that," Granger muttered. "Or you."
He turned to her, his eyes kept blinking in perplexity. "Not championing goblins' rights then, Miss Granger?"
To his amusement, the girl immediately blushed but she kept her chin up as she answered him. "I didn't think you knew about SPEW."
"I was a Hogwarts governor, Hermione. I'm aware of all the things going around in that school," he said, then decided to add. "And Draco may have also mentioned about it in one of his letters."
"Your son is such a horrible gossip," she said annoyed but the corner of her lips turned up. "You know, you're like the Muggle equivalent of a PTA mother."
"A what?" he growled, offended about being compared to those filthy Muggles. Lucius was about to give the girl a piece of his mind, trust be damned, when they heard a shout coming from the house.
"That's Harry," Granger stood immediately, her right hand wrapped around her wand in a tight grip. Lucius reached inside his holster for his wand as well even though he knew that in a duel, he wouldn't be of much use.
The two of them rushed inside and nearly collided with a frantic-looking Potter.
"It's Ginny," he panted. "She's burning up!"
"Infection?" Granger asked before shaking her head. "That can't be. The essence of dittany would've prevented that."
"It's probably a side effect of using Muggle medicine on her," Lucius answered. They didn't know for sure but it was a possibility.
The three of them made their way upstairs to Weasley's room. He heard Granger and Potter gasp when they saw the redhead's entire body shaking uncontrollably. Granger immediately went to Weasley's side and placed a hand on her forehead.
"Get as much ice as you can from the fridge," she ordered Potter before turning to Lucius. "Help me get her in the tub once the seizure stops. We need to lower her temperature."
"How do you know it will work?"
"I just do," the girl said with a tone of finality. Lucius suddenly remembered that her parents were the Muggle equivalent of healers.
He couldn't tell how long the shaking lasted but it eventually did. Granger then rushed inside the adjacent bathroom and started running the water while he carried an unconscious Weasley in his arms.
"Should we undress her first?" he asked unsurely. He remembered Draco getting sick when he was five but it was the Malfoy's family healer that treated him while he and Cissa stood outside his room in vigil.
"Hermione?" he heard Potter call out from the bedroom.
"In here," she replied before answering Lucius' question. "Here, let me."
With a flick of her wand, Weasley's clothes vanished and appeared folded beside the sink leaving her in her underthings. Lucius tried his best not to look at the almost naked girl in his arms as Potter entered the room, dumping a bucket filled with ice in the tub.
"Lay her down gently," Granger ordered.
Weasley gained consciousness when the freezing water touched her bare skin. "C-cold," she mumbled weakly, trying to sit up but Granger held her in place.
"We need to lower your temperature, Gin," Granger said. Potter took Lucius' place beside Weasley and held her hand tightly in his.
"She needs the potions," Potter said, his eyes never leaving the whimpering girl in the tub.
"You know it's dangerous to go out there," Granger protested.
"The medicine was only making it worse!"
"I'm doing the best I c—"
"IT'S NOT ENOUGH! YOU'RE NOT DOING ENOUGH!" Potter yelled.
A tensed silence settled around them with the only sound coming from Weasley's incoherent mumbling. Lucius could see that Granger was on the verge of breaking down, unshed tears glistening under the pale light of the bathroom, while Potter was still glaring at his friend without an ounce of guilt for his outburst. Lucius knew what was causing this behavior in the boy and he couldn't have them fighting against each other. That had been his goal in the beginning but not anymore.
"Take off the locket," he ordered Potter.
"Stay out of this, Malfoy," the boy hissed.
"Take that thing off before you say anything more you'll later regret," Lucius insisted.
"I said—"
Potter was already raising his wand in Lucius's direction but stopped when Weasley laid a hand over the boy's arm. "Harry," she croaked. "Stop."
Weasley held out her trembling hand to his face before sliding down to his neck. "Take it off," she said almost in a whisper.
Potter stared at her for a long moment then without a word, he took off the chain and locket and placed it on her waiting hand. Weasley then reached out, handing the locket in Granger's direction.
"Keep it," she said, giving her friend an apologetic smile. A loud yawn escaped her lips. "I'm tired. And cold."
Potter placed the back of his hand across her forehead for a moment before pulling back. "I'll help you off."
That was their cue to leave. Potter obviously didn't need any assistance from them and by the look on Granger's face, a distance from the Boy-Who-Lost-It might be the best. Lucius slipped a hand around her wrist, getting her attention, and noticed that she was gripping her wand tightly. Granger looked up at him, despair and fear etched on her heart-shaped face. This was likely the first time the two friends fought this hard.
Lucius motioned with his head and the girl didn't need telling twice. She silently followed him out of the bathroom and out to the hallway, the door behind them slipping quietly shut.
"You know he didn't mean any of it," he said by way of comforting her. He told himself that it was another way to get close to the girl but Lucius couldn't help the sincerity leaking along with his words. Granger really was trying to the best of her abilities to make things work for the Weasley girl and it was ungrateful of Potter to blame it all on her, influenced by the Horcrux or not.
The girl didn't answer nor look up at him but instead stared at the locket in her hand. A minute passed and when Granger still wasn't answering, Lucius decided to leave her to her thoughts. He hadn't taken no more than five steps when he heard her voice.
"Thank you."
"Herm—"
She already turned around and headed downstairs before Lucius could finish calling her name. With the atmosphere around them now, supper was more likely impossible. It didn't matter. Lucius lost his appetite for tonight anyway.
As he entered his bedroom, he immediately spotted the pile of clothes on the floor beside the bed. It was his Death Eater regalia. These days he felt like two people were residing inside his body: Lucius Malfoy, the Pureblood aristocrat with the regal robes, silky blond hair, and large mansion, and Lucius Malfoy, the disgraced Death Eater on the run with the cropped dyed hair, and Muggle clothes. There were moments where he felt more like the latter rather than the former and there were moments where he felt disassociated from the two identities.
He sat on the edge of the bed and cradled his head in his hands. His mind was drowning with thoughts of his family's safety and of the bushy-haired girl downstairs.
"I could really use a drink right now," he said to the empty room.
Harry sat in an armchair near the bed where Ginny was currently sleeping. She was still feeling warm but her temperature had cooled off since that ice bath.
It was past two in the morning but sleep wouldn't come to Harry. Shame and guilt were consuming him as he stared at Ginny's sleeping form. When the locket left his neck, Harry immediately felt a thousand times lighter than before and it made him realize what he had done. He had hurt her. He really had hurt Hermione.
Years of friendship with her and he had never talked to her that way. Yes, they argued a lot of times even with the smallest of things, there were also a few disagreements but Harry had never raised his voice like that with her. He couldn't erase that look on her face from his mind when he yelled those words.
Hermione's biggest insecurity was not being able to meet everyone's expectations of her and being dubbed as the Brightest Witch of her Age all the more made it difficult for her. As the one who was prophesied to defeat Voldemort, Harry knew how hard it was.
And it wasn't her fault in the first place—something Ginny had pointed out as well when Hermione and Lucius left the room and Harry had begun to explain what happened that led to this.
"Then tell her. Apologize to her," Ginny said to him once he had finished explaining his side of things. "I'm also mad at you right now, Harry. Hermione's like a sister to me. What you said to her wasn't right."
"I know, Gin," Harry took off his glass and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what came over me."
"It's that locket. Trust me, I've been there," she said as she settled comfortably in the bed. "If I wasn't feeling like fell off the broom high up the Quidditch pitch, I would've thrown your sorry arse off the window."
"I know you would," he smiled sadly at her.
"Go to her, Harry," Ginny ordered him. "You're the only one she has. Don't drive her away."
"She has you too. And Ron."
Ginny shook her head, her eyelids were already dropping. "It's different with you two. Ron doesn't understand that but I do."
"Gin—"
"Go, Harry," she said softly, eyes closed. Her breathing eventually deepened but Harry still remained in his seat, unmoving.
He continued to sit there in silence as the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon eventually floated above the night sky. The only company he had was an unconscious Ginny and the turbulent emotions plaguing him.
The loud rumble of his stomach made Harry realize that he had skipped supper. It was now too late to go back to sleep, but too early yet to start the day. He finally decided to leave Ginny's room and went to the kitchen to make something small to eat. Hermione usually went to their family library after breakfast so that was where Harry decided to wait for her.
Near the library, Harry heard noises coming from her father's study. He nudged the door slightly open and saw Hermione crouched on the floor beside the desk, clutching her hand to her chest where Slytherin's locket was dangling. It looked like she was having trouble breathing and her entire body was trembling. Harry rushed inside and place the cup of coffee to the side. As he reached her, he noticed her tear-streaked face and the guilt he was feeling before magnified ten-fold. How long had she been in this state?
"Hermione, what's happening? Are you in pain?"
Hermoine looked in his direction but it felt like she wasn't really seeing him. Harry had seen it before during their third year when Hermione attempted to take twelve subjects for her OWLS. He found her in the common room in the middle of the night crying and shaking because she couldn't cope with the stress. He and Ron eventually convinced her to drop two subjects but Hermione remained subdued the entire year.
"Hermione," Harry tried putting his hand on her shoulder but Hermione jerked away at his touch. "Hermione listen to me. You need to take deep breaths."
"I'm dying," she gasped.
"No, you're not. You're having an anxiety attack," he assured her. "Deep breaths, Hermione. Just like what we did before in the common room. Look at me."
Her eyes focused on him finally. "Breath, Hermione. It'll pass."
He continued to talk to her soothingly until she had finally calmed down. "I feel faint," she eventually said, her shoulders sagging due to exhaustion. He wanted nothing more than to pull her to his side and hug her so tight.
"Did you eat anything since—" Harry stopped. He couldn't bring himself to say the words. Since I yelled at you in the bathroom. Hermione shook her head no and stared down at the carpeted floor of his father's study.
A deafening silence cloaked them. The dim light coming from the desk lamp was the only thing illuminating the room. Harry swallowed the lump in his throat.
"I'm so sorry," he began. When Hermione continued to look at the floor, he pressed on. "I was upset about everything and I took it out on you. I know it's not an excuse and I… I'm really sorry, Hermione. I—"
He was suddenly seized by a terrifying thought. Don't drive her away. What if she decided to leave them? What if she got tired of this pointless endeavor Dumbledore had handed him? What if—
Harry jumped a little when he felt Hermione's thumb stroking away the tears from his cheek. He hadn't realized he was already crying. "I'm really sorry," he sniffed.
"I know you are," Hermione said. "But I'm still mad at you. You don't get to do that to me again, Harry. You don't hurt the people you care about. Promise me that."
Harry nodded his head vigorously, too choked up to say anything.
"And you should apologize to Lucius too," she said sternly. "You were about to raise your wand at him, Harry, and you know that he can't fight back or even defend himself because of his broken wand."
Harry looked away at that. It was true. He was about to curse Lucius and if it weren't for Ginny, who knows what damage he could've done. He remembered Draco, who was shaking uncontrollably in a pool of his own blood on the floor of the boy's bathroom after Harry had cast Sectumsempra at him. He wondered if Lucius knew about that incident.
"I will," he said dejectedly. The prospect of apologizing to someone like Lucius Malfoy was something Harry didn't look forward to even if he was the one at fault. But if it would make Hermione feel better, he would do it. "I think we should take turns in wearing the locket," he said. "This much dark magic certainly affected us in some way."
Hermione agreed. "And I thought about what you said a while ago. I think I'll go to Diagon Alley later and get a couple of potions for Ginny."
Harry felt relieved at that but at the same time, he was suddenly worried about Hermione going there on her own. "I'll come with you."
"Stay with Ginny," she insisted. "Lucius can go with me if you insist on me not being alone."
"You sound like you completely trust him," Harry peered at his friend.
"He might know a shop there or two where we can buy some potions without needing a prescription from St. Mungo's," she said defensively. "He can't hurt me, Harry. His wand barely even works. The only thing he can probably do is run away and I don't think he would do that. He wants his son back as much as we need to find the Horcruxes."
"Alright," he reluctantly agreed.
"I think I'll try to catch as much sleep as I can," she said. Harry stood and helped her up. "Remember your promise, Harry."
He nodded and watched Hermione leave the room. Harry picked up his now cold coffee and went back to the library but was stopped short when a voice behind him spoke.
"You really don't deserve to have a friend like her, you know," a deep voice sounded from the shadows.
Harry turned around with his wand in his hand, the first syllable of the stunning charm already at the tip of his tongue. "Were you eavesdropping?"
"I was getting coffee when I heard voices," Lucius Malfoy stepped off from the dark corner of the hallway. "It seems I am not the only one who couldn't sleep tonight."
"So you decided that it was a good enough excuse to spy on someone else's conversation?" he snapped.
"Tut, tut, Harry," Lucius clucked his tongue at him. "I haven't even heard the apology yet and you're already starting another fight? What would your dear Hermione say?"
Harry didn't miss the inflection in his tone. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well," he began. "For someone who claims to be involved with Ginevra, you sure do look cozy with Hermione there. If I were you, I wouldn't string them along like that. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
"What the bloody hell is the matter with you? Hermione's like a sister to me," Harry was surprised at Lucius' accusations. Did it really look that way to some people? He remembered Rita Skeeter's article before and the way most people reacted to that piece of news.
"To you," Lucius said. "But what about her feelings?"
"I'm sure Hermione feels the same way. And besides, she's with Ron!"
"The other Weasley? Dear Molly isn't really wasting her time, is she? The Boy Who Live for her precious daughter and the Brightest Witch of Her Age for her young cretin. I think that would ensure the Weasleys for a few generations."
"Shut up!" Harry hissed. Hermione's words were beginning to fade away from his mind. "The Weasleys have been nothing but good to me. Your family's the one who has been making my life miserable since I entered Hogwarts."
"Of course," Lucius rolled his eyes. "Paint us as the villain. My son offered his friendship to you at the beginning of the term and what did you do?"
"Your son is a bully—"
"My son knows who he should and should not associate with," Lucius took a step toward Harry. "I suggest you take a cue from Draco as well, Harry."
"Thanks, but like what I said to your son back then," Harry raised his chin up defiantly, the way he did back then to Draco. "I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself."
He didn't bother waiting for a reply. Harry walked past Lucius and headed upstairs to his room. The apology can wait until the Malfoy patriarch stopped being a complete arse.
AN: Short and uneventful but it's necessary for the ~*plot*~ lol. Don't worry though. Hermione and Lucius will have another field trip in the next chapter.
Also, ice baths aren't really recommended nowadays (acc to my doctor) but since the setting of this story is in the 90s, I guess it's still okay?