Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (challenges & assignments)

Auction: Gift fic for Hufflepuff using their prompt - Day 29, Auction 4 - Merlin ALT Enemies to Friends

A4 Divination: Task 4 - Write about someone doing something they love

W/C: 3,912

Summary: Once a week Hermione liked to take herself off to a coffee shop to read. It was her blissful alone time. Until Lucius Malfoy started showing up...

A/N: Deadlines, not checked, will come back to it, you know the drill if you're this deep into this collection. Many apologies for my slapdash manner.

Books, Coffee and Old Enemies

Hermione pulled out the book from her bag, took a sip of her latte, and sank back in the cosy chair. Every Sunday, like clockwork, Hermione could be found in a little coffee shop in Hogsmeade, right next to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. It was her time alone, to get some reading done, and relax herself enough in preparation for the upcoming work week.

It was also her favourite time of the year; September. The students were back in school so the village wasn't as busy as it would be through the summer, her birthday was coming up and it was time for cosy jumpers and scarves. Even the café had been adjusted for the coming autumn; ivory cups had been switched for oranges, reds, yellows, and browns, and the sugar bowls on the tables were now small pumpkins.

And then her relaxed muscles were suddenly tense at one person's voice.

"Cappuccino, Ralph. Thank you," said Lucius Malfoy.

"I'll send it over, Mr Malfoy," Ralph, the owner instructed in his usual cheerful manner.

Hermione bit back a groan, pulling the book up so it covered her face. She'd seen him in passing at work, in the Ministry, but had never seen him here. No matter what had passed, he always walked passed with a sneer directed at her.

It would appear he wasn't going to walk by her today.

"Miss Granger," Lucius greeted, looming over her.

"It's Mrs Granger now," she said sharply, pulling her book down, keeping her finger in her place.

Lucius smiled at her. It looked dangerous. "Ah yes, more redheads to grace the school in a few short years, I suppose."

Before she knew what was happening, Lucius had reached down and took her book away from her. "Excuse you," Hermione snapped. Lucius ignored the comment, turning it over in his hand to read the back. "That's a book, Mr Malfoy."

He acknowledged the comment with a raised eyebrow, his eyes still reading the blurb. When he was done, he held the book out to her, surprisingly with his finger in her place. "It's not becoming of you to be this condescending."

"Would you like to be the pot or the kettle?" she asked in a biting tone, snatching her book off him.

"I am rather fond of a cup of tea from time to time," he replied with a half-smirk. He reached into the inside pocket of his expensive woollen coat, Hermione tensed at the action, but instead of his wand a book was pulled out. "I was unaware Faulks had a new novel out."

He was holding A Fool's Alphabet in his hand. Hermione glanced down at her own book On Green Dolphin Street, thrown at them sharing an interest in Sebastian Faulks novels. "It came out about three years ago. I've only just gotten round to reading it."

Lucius nodded, staring at her for a long moment, like he was trying to weigh up a decision he was making. "Enjoy your afternoon, Miss Granger," he said.

"Mrs Granger," she corrected with a sigh as he walked off to the opposite corner of the café.

XXXXXX

The following week, Lucius was already at the coffee shop, sitting in the corner he'd gone to when she last saw him. Ralph leant over the counter when he spotted her looking at him. "Mr Malfoy's already paid for your drink, Hermione. I think he wants you to join him?"

"What on earth for?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

Ralph shrugged. "I'll send it over, shall I?"

Hermione felt her shoulders drop down in a mild defeat, not that Lucius Malfoy would win that easily. She stomped over to him, fairly certain that he knew she was in the building, but his eyes remained resolutely on the page of his book. She waited a moment as she stood before him and then took the book from his grasp, careful to keep her finger in his place; she wasn't that rude.

Lucius appeared to take it in his stride, like he'd been expecting her to do such a thing, while she looked at the book he was reading; The Human Stain by Philip Roth. "I never made it past American Pastoral," she commented indifferently, handing it back to him.

Lucius placed a bookmark into his place and pointed to the empty seat opposite him as he carefully placed the book down by his half-drunk cappuccino.

"I come here to read in peace for a couple of hours, Mr Malfoy," Hermione said without sitting, "not to chitchat with someone who tried to kill me repeatedly over the years."

"At what point did I actually try to kill you?" he asked calmly, clasping his hands on the lap of his crossed legs. "Maybe put you in danger, yes, but I never attempted to kill you."

"Let's not split hairs over whether it was you or your cohorts." Hermione's latte appeared, passing her in mid-air and gently placed itself on the table. Lucius stared at it pointedly. Tutting, Hermione sat down. "What is it you want?"

"Who said I wanted anything?" Lucius picked his cup up.

"You bought me coffee, you never do anything without reason or expectation of something in return," she pointed out. She started going through her bag for her book, trying to get past all the folders she kept with her at all times.

"No, I believe in favours being returned. Buying you a coffee is an act of kindness – a gesture of goodwill – so to speak, not a favour." Hermione paused her search to give him a withering look at his pedantic use of words. "I am merely taking the first step in trying to right my past, Mrs Granger."

"If you say so," she muttered, returning to looking for her book. She was fairly certain she may have left it on the dining table in her kitchen at this point.

"I'm human. I make mistakes," he added at her lack of belief in his words. "Forgotten something?"

"My bloody book," she said with a heavy sigh, dropping her bag to the floor. "Don't worry, I shan't disturb your reading."

"I'm capable of a conversation."

Hermione looked up from picking her drink up, sniggering as she did. "And what would you like to discuss? My lack of magical breeding or how my husband is a disgrace to his Pureblood status?"

Lucius took a sip of his coffee, an impassive expression on his features. When he realised Hermione was staring at him he said, "Are you finished? I thought you might have more to rake me over the coals for."

"Unfortunately I only have an hour free today before I have to get back to finish some paperwork for tomorrow," she said with a heavy sigh.

"There isn't a lot I actually did to you when you think about it," Lucius pointed out, placing his cup down. Hermione took a breath and Lucius held his hand up, a small smile playing on his lips. "Draco has told me all about your ability to remember every indiscretion and hold grudges."

"That's one way of putting it," she said, giving him a faux-sweet smile.

Lucius looked around at the coffee shop, not as busy as it usually would be for a Sunday afternoon, leaning his chin on his fist. Hermione quietly sipped her latte. She couldn't work out what he was getting out of this moment, but she didn't trust him, whatever it was.

"I'm not very good at making amends, I never have been." He lifted his head, dropping his hand down on the arm of the wooden chair with a light smack against the wood. "When I saw you reading last week I thought that maybe if we found a common ground…" His eyes met hers and she could see a genuine meaning behind his words. She'd never seen anything other than contempt there before.

"There is nothing to keep our paths crossing, why would you both trying to make amends with me now?"

"You helped saved my son's life. It's long overdue that I did the right thing, don't you think? Actually, don't answer that," he added with a small laugh when Hermione had taken a deep breath to start her vocalising her thoughts.

Hermione pinched her lips together for a moment. She finished her coffee before finally saying something once her cup was empty. "I prefer actions, Mr Malfoy. Not words. I don't trust you to not expect something more. If you want to make amends, or expect me to forgive you for past transgressions, then you need to try harder than a latte."

She got up, hauling her bag over her shoulder. No point in lingering when she didn't have her book and wasn't in the mood to make small talk with Lucius Malfoy. "Thank you for the drink," she said politely before leaving the table.

"Have a lovely birthday, Hermione," Ralph called as she walked out.

XXXXXX

The next week, Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief when she entered the coffee shop and there wasn't a Lucius Malfoy waiting to pounce on her.

"He's already been in, my love," Ralph said when he came to the counter to find her craning her neck to look around the café. She brought her gaze swiftly to Ralph to see him putting a cupcake on the counter with a single candle already lit. "This is off Frank and myself. And this" –he pulled out a rectangular shaped present from his apron pocket– "is from Mr Malfoy."

Hermione went from genuine happiness at the cupcake to complete surprise at the present being placed in her hand. It was clearly a book; it was shaped like a book, had the feel of a book. And when she opened it – it was a book. But not any book.

She nearly took a seat on nothing if it hadn't been for Ralph's quick thinking and flicking his wand at a nearby chair. Hermione stared at the book, the wrapping paper long discarded onto the counter. She held it carefully in both hands, worried she might ruining it by not having gloves on.

Hermione knew immediately the book was a first print run because she'd looked up these books for as long as she could remember. It had always been; one day, when she had saved enough. If she ever did. It was Pride & Prejudice. When she looked at Ralph, he was leaning an elbow on the counter with a knowing smirk on his face.

"You'll find him in the Three Broomsticks if you were so inclined to go that way," Ralph said, tapping his nose.

She thanked every deity known to mankind that the sky was clear while she walked over here. She didn't want to put the book in her bag for fear of damage, so thankfully it hadn't been about to rain while she was outside with it, practically running through Hogsmeade to get to Lucius.

A few minutes later, Hermione stood before Lucius, in the Three Broomsticks, watching him sip on red wine, the bottle sitting in the middle of the table looked expensive. Much like in the coffee shop, he had a book with him, sitting on the table, currently unopened. He raised an eyebrow at Hermione by way of greeting.

She held the book out to him. "This is too much."

"Are you always this ungrateful about birthday presents?" he asked, waving at Madam Rosmerta.

Hermione barely glanced over her shoulder when another wineglass appeared on the table. Assuming he was expecting company, she gently placed the book down on top of his, checking there was nothing on it before she did. It pained her to let go of it, but give it back she must.

"I'm not trying to be ungrateful, but I have ingrained in my head how much it is worth and it would be wrong of me to accept such a gift."

Lucius peered down at the book for a moment. "Would it ease your guilt if I told you that I never bought it. It's from my library and it is better suited in yours than mine?"

"I can't," she said earnestly, hoping he understood she was rejected the gift because it was him – well, it was partly because of him. "Ron bought me a lovely set of Dickens novels, I can't let you outdo my own husband when he'd tried so hard to find the right present. Especially when you're doing this to ease your own guilt."

Lucius nodded slowly. "Okay. I understand your predicament."

"No, you don't," she said with a small laugh. She could see the confusion in his eyes. He'd never had to understand the need to save or be careful with money, and mocked others who did.

"Maybe not as much as I should," he admitted. "Are you going to sit for the wine or stand like a hooligan?" He pointed to the empty space beside him on the bench.

She looked at the wineglass, realising it was for her. A wave of nausea served as a little reminder. "I can't. I'm pregnant," she said quietly, not sure why she'd given her reason.

Lucius laughed quietly, placing his wineglass down on the table. Hermione flinched at how close it got to the Jane Austen book. "Another Granger to outsmart another Malfoy – Draco is to be a father," he added when she frowned at him. "Fourteen weeks precisely."

"Sixteen," Hermione answered, again, questioning why she was telling him this much. "I only allow myself the one coffee a week." She rolled her eyes. "I have no idea why I keep giving away information to you like this." She finally took that seat.

Lucius waved at Madam Rosmerta again. She came bustling over with a happy, bright smile. "Well, this is a turn up for the books. Good to see old rivalries coming to an end after everything, eh?"

"Quite," Lucius said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes for the bar owner. "Might we have a pot of tea for Mrs Granger, please?"

"I'll send it right over."

They watched her go back to the bar in silence. Hermione jumped, not realising Lucius had moved, to find him gently placing the book in her hands. He lifted her hand and placed it on top of the book, patting it for a moment before taking his hands back and relaxing into his seat. "If you explain to Mr Weasley where it came from, I'm sure he will understand."

"I don't know what to say," she said as the teapot and a cup arrived, with a milk jug trailing after it.

"You say thank you and that'll be the end of it," Lucius instructed.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

XXXXXXX

As Hermione's bump grew, so did a friendship with Lucius Malfoy. Without any kind of verbal agreement, they started meeting at Ralph's coffee shop every Sunday afternoon, almost like a bookclub for two people, as that's what most of their conversations revolved around. It was safe to keep it to that for now.

Especially when the hormones really took hold after the twentieth week and she found she would cry at anything. Lucius had said he hated Great Expectations and Hermione was inconsolable for ten minutes, to the point where Ralph thought he might have to make Lucius leave the store. And when Lucius attempted to tell her she was glowing, she called him a fraud and almost took him out with a blast of accidental magic shattering the sugar bowl. Thankfully the shards only caused superficial cuts and the sugar washed out of his hair.

Book talk was definitely safer.

And as winter arrived, so did the snow, which was getting a little perilous for Hermione to trudge through with her bump already keeping her so off balance. Lucius, not wanting to lose the only real friendship he'd ever had that wasn't his wife, suggested she Floo to his library instead. "Our house-elf does a delightful hot chocolate," Lucius added, which nearly got him murdered on the spot until he suggested she meet the house-elf first before assuming this one was mistreated.

Once Ron was satisfied with the situation, after staying for one afternoon and nearly crying with the boredom of book talk, Hermione felt safe enough with Lucius that she could visit him at his home. It also helped that the baby seemed to really like causing bursts of accidental magic when she was angry, so Hermione was certain that if he attempted something, then the baby would murder him if she hadn't done so.

XXXXXX

Hermione arrived at the Manor on her thirty-fifth week, already in a bad mood from the baby leaning on her bladder all day and having had a bad week at work after being told she had to remain at her desk for the rest of her pregnancy.

Lucius came out from behind one of the large bookcases, a solemn look on his face. "You and I need to have a discussion."

"It's been a hell of a week," she said sharply, dumping her robes on the couch by the fireplace, "so if you're intending to argue with me today, I'm in the right mood for it."

Lucius looked down at the book in his hand. "You could have warned me about Beth."

"Beth?" Hermione held her hand out to him. "Let me see that." Lucius placed the book in her hand. It was Little Women. "I understand now."

"Why would the author make someone as sweet as Beth to be the one to die? Why wasn't it Amy, or even Meg?" Lucius asked with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"It's not real, you know." She handed the book back to him before pushing at the bump, feeling the baby's foot sticking out.

Lucius shot her a scathing look. "I was perfectly fine until you told me to read this book, I don't understand it. Was Louisa May Alcott a witch to make me care so much for a character?"

"She was actually," Hermione said with a wince as the baby kicked. Lucius helped her sit down on the couch. "But I don't think being a witch has a reflection on her writing. You'll just have to accept that you might actually care about someone that isn't yourself. Even if they are fictional."

Lucius dropped the book on the couch by Hermione like he'd been burnt before covering his face with one hand. "How will I ever allow myself to be seen out in society again if people know I… care!" he said dramatically into the palm of his hand.

In the few short weeks that Hermione had been meeting up with Lucius, she'd learnt very quickly he was partial to sarcasm with a hint of dramatics to add to it. It was the deadpan delivery that sometimes made it hard for her to know if he was being truthful or pulling her leg. The wicked glint in his eyes usually gave him away.

"Where did we all go wrong?" he demanded loudly, dropping his hand with a slap to his thigh and staring up at the ceiling. "I must barricade myself away at once!"

Hermione pinched at his wrist. "Enough of your shenanigans or I'm going home!"

Lucius smirked, picking the book up and placing it on the low coffee table by the couch. "I promise I'll be good."

"You best had be," she muttered, sinking back. As she did a mug of hot chocolate appeared above her bump. "Thank you, Hetty!" A bar of chocolate appeared by the mug.

"You spoil that elf." Lucius took a seat next to her, his own hot chocolate appeared.

"Someone has to," Hermione said with a grin, breaking open the bar of chocolate. "You'll just have to share my chocolate." She offered him a piece when no chocolate bar was forthcoming for Lucius.

He politely broke off a piece and ate it before asking, "How has your week been?"

"I've got high blood pressure and water retention. Do you know what that gives you?" she asked, annoyance flushing through her at the idea of desk duty for the next couple of weeks. It had left a thoroughly sour taste in her mouth.

"Boiling water?" Lucius sniggered at his own joke.

"Right. I'm going home!" she snapped. She didn't move. She still had another five weeks to grow her baby, but that didn't stop her feeling like a beached whale when she sat down.

"I see that," Lucius commented. "Would you like some help?"

"Not off you," she muttered, sipping her hot chocolate. "Oh no."

"Hermione… did you…" Lucius was looking at the couch where she sat.

"No, I did not! My waters have broken!"

"Oh! OH!"

Hermione shoved her hot chocolate at Lucius, who took it without hesitation. She yanked her wand out of her jumper sleeve, muttering, "Expecto patronum." The corporeal otter appeared immediately and Hermione sent her message off to Ron.

"What do you need? What should I do? Narcissa!"

XXXXXX

Rose Granger-Weasley appeared into the world in less than half an hour. Impatient, like her mother, and loud, like her father. In the Malfoy library. Ron had barely made it as Narcissa helped Hermione to the floor to push and Lucius had come back with a Healer.

As Hermione sat up against the couch, in a daze, Lucius and Narcissa stared in shock at what had just happened. Ron, who was cuddling Rose like she was the most precious thing in the world, said, "Well, if we can't trust you now, I'm not sure when we can."

"Technically this makes her a Malfoy now," Lucius said, a smirk starting to show on his lips. "We've always wanted a daughter, haven't we, Narcissa?"

"Over my dead boy," Ron said in a singsong voice, his eyes never leaving his daughter.

Narcissa rolled her eyes at the two men goading each other. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up and in a bed." Narcissa helped the Healer take Hermione to a bathroom for a shower.

"What are you going to do now?" Lucius asked, standing by Ron to look at Rose. He could already see Hermione's features in the child, but a fine layer of red hair on the head.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, as she was born into such luxury, how will you keep her in the manner to which she is born, if you'll pardon my wording."

Ron lifted his head to smile at Lucius. "Today my firstborn child has arrived, you can't wind me up. Nice try though."

Lucius laughed, a singular, meaningful one, and clapped Ron on the back. "Congratulations. Welcome to fatherhood."

"You can hold her though," Ron said, turning to face Lucius.

Lucius raised his eyebrows in surprise, but didn't hesitate in accepting the offer. Ron gently placed Rose in his arms. "Why don't you check on Hermione while I show Rose the library. I'm sure she and my grandson are going to be thick as thieves in here."

"They're having a boy?"

Lucius gave Ron a sad look. "Malfoy curse. No daughters," he said nonchalantly, his eyes on Rose but his voice filled with raw emotion.

Ron had no words for that. There'd always been rumours, but never confirmations. Instead, he quietly left the library while Lucius rocked a sleeping Rose.

"You are the future, Rose," he whispered, "make it better than I did."