Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Muggle Art - Task #8: Charing Cross Bridge (Claude Monet) - write a fic featuring a fluffy light/dark pairing
Auction Prompt: Day 2 Auction 2 - (trope) Secret Relationship
Summary: Hermione Granger and Lucius Malfoy had put a lot behind them, but they were by no means friends... or are they?
W/C: 3454
It Was Safe
This was not how Hermione imagined seeing in the New Year – traipsing around the chilly London streets in a silk dress designed for the summer and heels that made the balls of her feet feel like there were on fire. But here she was, cursing herself for not grabbing her robes, looking across the Westminster Bridge, seeing the familiar blond hair she was searching for. It was hard not to see it, Lucius Malfoy always stood out in a crowd.
The people around him excitedly paused to watch the fireworks light up the night sky while Lucius remained stationary, his head tilted up, the colourful flashes lit up his face every few seconds. The smell of gunpowder began to permeate the air.
Hermione wasn't even sure why she'd come to find him, after everything they'd said to each other through the night at the Ministry ball. He wasn't supposed to be there. It had gotten her back up. Maybe she'd been unnecessarily harsh, even if he did give as good as he got.
She hugged her arms tightly around her body and pushed on. The sooner she apologised to Lucius, the quicker she could be in the warmth again.
Three Hours Earlier
The Atrium of the Ministry was filled with a number of large, circular dining tables surrounding the fountain in the centre of the vast space. It was Kingsley's idea to put the New Year's Eve ball there, to see the statues on the fountain at all times and remember the work they still had to do. New year, new beginnings, he'd said.
Each table was dressed in white with baby blue trimmings. Everything sparkled and twinkled and felt like a magical wonderland with enchanted snow falling, but not quite reaching the people.
Hermione settled into her seat, Ginny occupying the one to her left. She glanced at the name on the place card and frowned. That had to be a mistake.
"I thought your father didn't come to these kind of things, Draco?" Hermione looked across the table to find him whispering in Harry's ear. "Draco!" she snapped. She picked up the place card and waved it at him. "Why is your father seated here?"
Draco shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. "It's not my fault you are the only two singles at our table – I'm only stating a fact, Granger," he added quickly when her eyes flashed with anger. "I wasn't having a go. Calm yourself. Anyway, I didn't know he'd accepted his invite. I thought he was going to be in Paris."
Hermione bit back a snide remark that was on the tip of her tongue and jammed the place card back on its spot. She nearly broke her neck looking for someone who might swap places with her and spotted Percy. Yes, Percy would do this for her.
Ginny's hand grabbed onto Hermione's wrist before she'd even started to stand. "Oh no you don't! I see you looking at Percy."
"I'm not happy about Malfoy senior sitting here either," Ron said across the empty chair to her, "but I'll take him over Percy. At least your arguing will be entertaining." He swiftly leant back into Lavender when Hermione tried to smack him with the napkin she'd had on her lap.
"I see your violent streak hasn't abated, Miss Granger," a familiar drawl said behind her.
Ron gave her a faux-apologetic smile before turning to Lavender, who gave her a genuine one. Hermione sighed and focused on putting the napkin neatly on her lap, the silk material not quite making it an easy job.
"Good evening, Mr Malfoy," she said coolly, her gaze firmly on her plate.
She felt him take his seat, the soft wool material of his suit jacket brushed against her bare upper arm, and a spicy aftershave floated over her. Hermione could feel his eyes bore into her, goading her, like he always did in public.
"They call that clothes in the Muggle world?" he asked, the amusement clear in his tone. She scowled at him as he took in her golden silk dress with thin straps, pausing for a moment at the fitted bodice with its scoop neckline.
Hermione turned to Ginny, murder in her voice. "Are you sure I can't punch him?"
"Yes." Ginny removed the knife from Hermione's place settings.
"Even if I just do it a little?" she pleaded.
"I'll have you know that silky little number was my doing," Draco spoke up, raising his champagne flute at Hermione. "Otherwise she'd be here in some awful skirt suit."
"Not all of us can be shallow about our appearance, Draco," Hermione said through gritted teeth and a dangerous smile.
"Play nice, everyone," Harry said, his smile was warm but his tone was icy as he looked at each person at the table.
Even Lucius muttered an apology, having long since gotten on board with being an upstanding citizen of the Magical community and crossing no lines.
When the meal arrived at their table, Hermione tried to stick to Ginny for conversation, but she was too interested in Pansy, her girlfriend. She attempted to catch Harry and Draco's attention with no success, both of them kept whispering and giggling like a pair of schoolboys. It was no good look to Ron and Lavender as that meant having Lucius in her peripheral.
"Will you relax and enjoy the evening," Ginny instructed in a whisper when she spotted Hermione hadn't touched her food.
Hermione shot her a dirty look. "There's nothing relaxing about the evening," she whispered back.
"The food is rather delicious, Miss Granger."
Hermione jumped at his proximity when she felt his breath race over the back of her neck when he'd spoken to her. She turned sharply and accidentally elbowed Lucius in the ribs. Hard.
Without thinking, as Lucius leant forward, wincing as he clutched at his ribs, Hermione placed a hand on his forearm and whispered quietly to him, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that."
Lucius nudged her knee with his own and looked up at the table. Hermione felt the heat of a blush creep up her neck and warm her cheeks up. She knew her friends were looking, but she didn't know how to turn the situation around.
"I hear you've been known for you spiteful streak, but I believe they kept quiet about how often you like to be violent. First Mr Weasley, now myself," Lucius said coolly.
Hermione snatched her hand back, clutching it into a tight fist on her lap. "I'm not the one who needs to learn about personal space," she said through gritted teeth.
"Everyone, we'll be clearing the tables in ten minutes for dancing," a booming voice echoed through the Atrium.
"About time!" Hermione shot up and walked away from the table quickly, no destination in mind.
One Hour to Midnight
Hermione remained at the edge of the dance floor after a couple of dances with her friends. While her shoes had been a good idea when she tried them on in the shop, they were not a good idea for dancing. She cradled a champagne flute, sipping it slowly; having not eaten much of her meal, she didn't want to get drunk.
"Is the music not to your satisfaction either?" Lucius' voice said as he approached her.
Hermione rolled her eyes, spotting Draco and Harry watch the pair with concerned eyes while dancing manically to the fast-paced music being played by the live band.
"Bite me," she muttered before downing her drink in one long gulp.
"Classy, as always," he said with the breath of a snigger.
"I didn't realise I was here for the sole purpose of impressing you. Do forgive me, Mr Malfoy, for not behaving myself in an acceptable manner for you. I'll try harder next time," she said, the sarcasm dripping in her tone.
"As long as we're cleared that up," he replied, raising his glass to her. He had a smirk on his lips and Hermione felt a flash of hot anger rush through her. "I'm under no illusion of you ever extending any kind of courtesy to me. You'll give yourself a heart attack at this rate," Lucius said when he saw her cheeks flush in her outrage.
"Hermione, come dance with us," Ginny said, appearing unexpectedly by her side. She pulled at Hermione's elbow.
"Why should I leave this spot? I was here first." She pulled herself out of Ginny's light grasp, inwardly cursing herself for sounding so petulant.
"Spiteful and petty. What adorable attributes you have," Lucius said with the hint of a sneer.
"Well…" Hermione floundered for a moment as she dumped her empty glass on a tray floating past them. "You have the moral backbone of a chocolate éclair."
Ginny snorted, covering her mouth quickly. Lucius frowned for a moment. He gently flicked his wrist, sending his untouched drink to another passing tray.
"Tell me, Miss Granger…" He took a step closer to her, leaning over her slightly. She held her ground. "How are your morals looking these days? From what I hear, you've given up on your little House-elf crusade. You didn't try much to relieve them of their so-called shackles, did you?"
Hermione felt herself go hot and cold with shame and embarrassment. She'd tried. She'd driven herself to a near mental breakdown trying to get those laws passed. She was going to try again in the new year.
She glanced to Draco, knowing that he could've been the only person that had told him. "At least I never abused them," Hermione said in a dangerous tone. She turned her gaze on him sharply. "Can you say the same?"
Lucius stood up straight. He took one step back from her. His jaw clenched and his nostrils flared out.
Hermione didn't know where it came from. She saw the action and the words just came out.
"Don't you start flaring your nostrils at me! In public!"
Hermione frowned in confusion. Why on earth had she said that? Ginny sniggered, then giggled, and then laughed. Harry and Draco, having joined them at the tail-end of the argument looked to Ginny for answers.
Lucius sighed wearily, like he'd had to deal with idiots for yet another day. "I think this party is too boring for my tastes. Gentlemen, do come see me for lunch tomorrow. Draco, be sure to send your mother an owl or she'll start blaming me for you staying away again." He looked at Hermione with an amused but odd expression. "Happy New Year, Miss Granger. May it bring a fresh start for you."
"What happened?" Harry asked, trying to get Ginny to stop laughing long enough to tell them.
Hermione watched Lucius disappear down one of the corridors that lead to one of the exits directly to the streets above them. "Did I really tell him to stop flaring his nostrils?"
"You did," Ginny said with a deep breath, "it was beautiful."
Draco snorted. "Interesting insult, Granger. Now that he's gone, will you actually join us for a dance?"
Hermione shook her head at his proffered hand. "No. I think I'm going to go home. I've not really enjoyed tonight and my feet are killing me."
"Slap a Charm on them," Ginny insisted, trying to grab at her arm.
"No, honestly. I just want to be in my bed now. You enjoy your night and tell me anything I missed."
Hermione hugged the three of them quickly and left the same way as Lucius.
Midnight
Lucius looked to Hermione as she approached, like he'd sensed her.
He smiled, shrugging his jacket off quickly. He wrapped it around Hermione's shoulders, straightening the lapel as he did. Hermione slipped her arms in the sleeve, the warmth of it easing the chill she was starting to feel.
"You should be with your friends," he said, rubbing her upper arms.
Another firework went off, it lit up his grey eyes and they showed nothing but affection for her.
"You should be in Paris with your friends," she replied.
Lucius watched her for a moment and Hermione felt like the crowd around them had disappeared. It was just them two on a London bridge, on a chilly night, welcoming in the New Year. He trailed a finger slowly down her cheek before resting his hand on the side of her neck, his thumb rubbing at her jawline. It sent a different kind of shiver down her spine.
A devious smile suddenly appeared as he glanced up at Big Ben. "I've got an idea…"
Hermione laughed excitedly as he pulled her through the crowd, back off the bridge, and into a dark alcove of the building opposite Westminster Abbey. A moment later, they were in Elizabeth Tower, with Big Ben behind them and a view of London's night sky in front of them. She clung onto Lucius, biting down a shriek. He shifted, pulling her arms around his waist and held her tightly to him.
"I've got you," he whispered, leaning his chin on top of her head.
She used to hate how tall he was. How much he could loom over her. But that was then and this was now.
They silently watched the last of the fireworks going off along the Thames, people distantly singing and shouting below them, while they held each other, not feeling the icy wind as it blew around them and made the bell sound like it was humming an eery tune.
"Hermione?" Lucius said her name just loud enough to be heard over the wind, lifting his head.
Hermione leant back in his arms to look up at him. There was curiosity in his eyes with a hint of mischief. "Lucius."
"Since when did my nostrils flaring become such a scandalous affair?"
Hermione closed her eyes, groaning in embarrassment as she leant her head on his chest. "I can't believe I said that."
Lucius laughed. She felt his hands trail down her arms to her hands clasped behind his back and pulled them apart so he could step out of her embrace. Hermione forced herself to look at him and was surprised to find he looked serious… worried even.
"You look beautiful, by the way. The dress suits you," Lucius said honestly. He was a perfect liar, but Hermione had learnt months ago that when Lucius was being truly honest he would frown a little, as if it was costing him something dearly to tell the truth.
Hermione pulled a hand from his firm hold and tugged lightly on his dark grey bowtie. "You should wear one of these more often."
Lucius quickly captured her hand again, he held it to his chest. She could feel his heart beating hard through her hand. "I don't want to do this anymore."
"Oh," was all she could say. She blinked rapidly when she felt an odd pain shoot through her chest. They'd agreed it was just a bit of fun for a while. That it wouldn't last. It couldn't last. She was her and Lucius was him.
She wasn't ready.
"You misunderstand me," he said quickly when she tried to pull her hands out of his, "I mean the hiding and the fighting in public."
"It was your idea," she said, frowning. "You said that this was too complicated to make it anything but a secret – that no one would understand."
Lucius sighed heavily as he nodded. "At the time, I meant it…" He trailed off as he looked at their surroundings. The odd firework was still lighting up the sky in the distance and the crowds weren't thinning out below them if the noise coming from was anything to go by.
He looked back to her and Hermione bite back a small gasp at the intensity of his gaze. "You have no idea what you do to me." He lifted the hand he had clutched to his chest and kissed the inside of her wrist. It sent a funny little thrill down her arm. "There was a time when it was easy to be cruel to you, to push your buttons… I cannot do it anymore, not to the woman I love."
Hermione took an involuntary step back but his grip on her hands stopped her from going too far. She searched his face, his eyes, for any clues this might be a joke he was playing on her. The small frown was still there; the hint of a crease between his brows.
"You do not have to say anything in return, nor do you have to continue with our relationship if this isn't what you want, but…" He took a deep breath, the grip on her hands tightening painfully for a second. "I'd rather end this now than continue with what we're doing."
Hermione, for one of the few times in her thirty years on the planet, had no words. She looked at his bowtie, then their hands, then at the bell in all its cast iron glory. Anywhere but Lucius' eyes otherwise she wouldn't be able to gather her thoughts, to think this out logically.
The only thing she'd always been impressed by Lucius was his capability for patience, no matter how long he had to wait. And wait he did as they stood that way for ten minutes.
Finally, Hermione's thoughts became words.
"You said that you wouldn't be able to live with the shame if we were caught," Hermione said, an edge to her voice, "remember?" She pulled her hands out of his. "That night you kissed me for the first time then acted like I'd put a curse on you."
Lucius sighed as he nodded, defeat in his face.
"And like a stupid idiot, because I was tired of being alone at nights, I went along with it. Merlin forbid I have some dignity about the situation." Hermione put a hand on his bicep, she made sure to keep a tight grip on him, that it would pinch, and yanked her shoes off. She needed to pace while she got this off her chest. She flung the offending items at his feet and walked a few steps away before turning back to him. "What was it you said – that you wouldn't hurt me but you couldn't be seen in public with me?"
"That's not what I said." Lucius shoved his hands in his pockets, holding her gaze firmly. "I won't break you."
Hermione hit the heel of her hand into her forehead. "Of course. Words are everything in this, aren't they?"
"Hermione," Lucius started softly, pulling one of his hands out of his pocket, holding it palm up towards her. "Might I ask why you're angry that I'm in love you but you were never angry about the terms we – I laid down?" he asked, correcting the pronoun when she scoffed.
"Because it was safe," she snapped, her breathing becoming ragged with a fear building deep in her. "You can't hurt me if we don't love each other, now you can!"
The words echoed briefly in the bell, and continued to do so in their minds.
"Are you…" Lucius shifted his weight to one foot, the small frown now becoming deep; his understanding the situation expression. "You love me?"
"Of course I do," she muttered, folding her arms. It didn't have the effect she wanted with the sleeves on Lucius' jacket being too long. She felt like a child having a temper tantrum. "But I swear to god, Lucius, I will kick you off this tower if you're playing some kind of game with me. I will physically drag you back by your hair and—"
Hermione never got to finish her sentiment as Lucius strode over to her and pulled her into their first kiss of the New Year. When he pulled away, leaning his forehead on hers, Hermione took the moment to pinch his waist, knowing his ticklish spots.
It caused an odd grunt to come from him as Lucius roughly moved away from her with a weird laugh. "What was that for?" he asked, rubbing at his side.
"That's for using the House-elf situation tonight," she said firmly. "Draco won't get away with telling you either."
Lucius had a devious smile on his face, already pulling Hermione to him before she could move away. "Allow me to make it up to you, Miss Granger."
Hermione narrowed her eyes, her lips pinched tightly between her teeth so she could stop the smile building from the way she felt in his arms. "Show me what you have in mind and I might consider it," she said with a giggle when he swooped in to kiss her neck.
"It would be my divine pleasure."
Other Prompts Used
Summer Seasonal
- Days of the Year & Religious Events - 5th July - 'They call that clothes in the Muggle world?'
- Indoor Plant Week - 35. (weather) Chilly
- Body Piercing - 26. (word) Spiteful
- Beer Day - 17. (word) Relaxing
- Book Lover's Day - 57. 'Are you sure I can't punch him?'/'Yes.'/'Even if I just do it a little?'
- Colours - 1. Baby blue
- Locations - 1. Big Ben
- Crystals - 10. Write about seeing fireworks
- Tarot Reading - 7. Write about someone experiencing true happiness
- Gryffindor Challenge - Script 6. (Dialogue) 'You have the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair.'
Gobstones
- Grey Stone - Fulfilment
- Accuracy - 6. (dialogue) 'You have no idea what you do to me.'
- Power - 10. (word) Delicious
- Technique - 4. (word) Snide
Fight Club
3. Heal - (trope) Secret Relationship
Fortnightlies
- Shark week - Wobbegong Shark - (word) Shallow
Summer Quarterly
- Drinks 7. (colour) grey
Writing Club
- Bromance to Romance - 9. (colour) golden
- Book Club - Seth - (object) bowtie, (theme) Secrets, (word) fire, (action) blushing
- Lizzy's Loft - 16. 'I won't break you.'
- Elizabeth's Empire - 7. (word) Illusion
- Angel's Archive - 10. Baby blue
- Amber's Anime - 5. (word) Permeate
- They Said What? - 4. 'Don't you start flaring your nostrils at me! In public!'
- Artist Appreciation - 21. (word) Complicated
Yearly
- Fantastic Beasts - 146. Plimpy - 'Bite me.'
- 365 - 81. (object) bowtie