The restaurant they arrived at hand a vast grand entrance, with beautifully sculpted cream colored columns and gold trim decorating the room. The high ceilings were decorated in paintings of the sky and what people considered the images of angles to look like. In the very center sat the largest chandelier she had ever laid her eyes on.
"Where are we?" Hermione gasped as she tightened her grip on his arm.
"Luxemburg, the second richest country in the whole world," He replied.
"Why didn't you chose the first?" She joked.
"I wasn't sure if you spoke Mandarin."
"Finally, someone whose jolted me on something." She said this with a sarcastic yet exasperated tone.
Marcus pulled her closer to him, "You witch, have a smart mouth." Her cheeks flushed again as they approached the front desk.
"Name?" The woman standing behind the counter was absolutely stunning, she had platinum blonde hair which was pulled back into a tight chignon with very dramatic black eye makeup. She would be absolutely perfect for Draco.
"Flint. Marcus Flint." His tone was deep and rugged, it made Hermione's skin nearly melt.
They both watched as the beautiful woman began flipping through the large cream colored book on the desk. After flipping through about four or five pages she reached their reservation name.
"Mr. Flint, you have the Siegfried Suite to the top floor, booked for tonight only. Your dinner reservations are ready as well, the private restaurant is through those pillars and past the garden." She handed Marcus a small card and smiled politely as it took it from her and placed in inside his coat pocket.
"Siegfried Suite? We're staying here tonight?" Hermione asked as he led her to their dinner.
He chuckled, "You wouldn't floo from Narcissa Malfoy's home to your own when you had had two glasses of wine. I assumed you wouldn't want to apparate from Luxemburg all the way to England either."
She began to bite on her bottom lip, "No, I guess you're right. But I didn't tell Luna or Blaise that they had to attend to Cassie all night and I don't have an overnight bag with my essentials."
Marcus stepped in front of her. "Luna already knows everything. She packed you a bag and had it sent to me this morning. It's already in the bedroom. It was her idea to stay here for the night. I agreed with no argument, of course."
He placed his thumb on her bottom lip, freeing it from between her teeth, "Stop biting your lip too, you're making it hard for me to restrain myself from biting it as well and that would ruin our lovely evening I have planned for us."
Hermione quickly shut her mouth and allowed him to lead her to their dinner. He wasn't joking when he stated that they had gone to the second richest country in the world. The hotel they were at was brilliantly decorated, the gold trim Hermione had noticed earlier turned out to be actual gold. On the ground beneath their feet were white marble floors with gold specks incased in them. The marble walkway was even outside too.
"This was originally a palace, owned by a very rich French Prince. He built it for the woman he loved so that when they decided to run away they had somewhere to run to. However, Duchess whom he loved very much had a very angry father. He refused for the two of them to get married.
"He found out about their plans to run off so in the middle of the night he locked his daughter in the cellar of their castle and killed the Prince. He never told his daughter the truth though. His story was that he made a deal with the Prince. He offered to pay him double what he was worth to not marry his father. The man told his daughter that the Prince took it and ran, but not before giving her the deed to the palace.
"She was so heartbroken she gave the palace away to a Duke who lived here in Luxembourg. She told him to do with it what he wanted, she wanted no part of it. After that she ran off. No one, not even her father knew where she had gone. Some say she jumped off what was now the Adolphe Bridge, others believe she ran off with the Duke she gave this place too."
"You're quite the historian," Hermione said.
Marcus smirked. "This was my mother's favorite place. We would come here every year that I was in Hogwarts and spend the entire summer. I know this palace like the back of my hand, so naturally, I should know the history as well."
"What do you believe the Duchess did?" She asked giving Marcus a curious eye.
"What do I believe?" He repeated.
Hermione nodded, "Yes. What do you believe? Do you think she killed herself or do you believe she ran off with the man she gave this magnificent place to?"
"Neither." Marcus answer blatantly.
"Please, elaborate for me."
He sighed. "I think she left after she gave the palace away. I don't believe she killed herself. Due to the fact that her father told her the Prince she loved was still alive I believe she went on an adventure. I believe that she went and traveled the world to find him. But along the way instead of finding him, she found herself. She came to terms with the fact that she didn't need a man to take care of her, she was an independent woman."
"She was a fairly large woman can could handle her own?" Hermione smiled, placing her hand softly asked his stubble covered cheek.
"Precisely." Marcus agreed before chastely kissing her on the lips.
X
"Oh, Marcus," Hermione cried after they finally reached their destination. She assumed they would be dining somewhere public but they weren't. Instead they were led to private sitting area outside. The walls blocking them from everyone else were created out of bushes. Marcus reassured her that they were enchanted so that their conversations couldn't be overheard from other's.
The table was a beautiful glass patio set with flecks of gold scattered inside the glass and metal. White roses petals were strewn all over the ground beneath them and the table they were sitting at.
Marcus pulled Hermione's chair out for her, proving to her he was the gentleman she thought he was. However, before he sat himself down he reached behind his back and handed her a single white rose. She brought it to her nose and smiled.
"How did you know that white roses are my favorite?"
"I'm embarrassed to say," Marcus replied.
She waved her hands around, "It's completely soundproof, you're the one who reassured me of that."
"I've been watching you, more like studying you." He admitted.
"What do you mean?" Hermione inquired.
He cleared his throat. "I'm a very observant person Hermione. A lot of things catch my eye. I assumed you liked white roses because your apartment is completely surrounded with them. I know your favorite color is yellow because that's the color of nearly every blanket and pillow in your living.
"And I know that your eyes are never just brown. They change colors. You're one of those who have special eye colors that change with their mood. I've seen you angry, they're brown, almost like a chocolate brown then. I've seen you said, there are flecks of blue around the iris of your eye when your sad."
"What about when I'm happy?" She interrupted.
"They're green. Not just any green, almost an emerald green. Like right now, it's like looking into a clover field. They're so enchanting, I could look into your eyes all day."
"Women must love this about you." Hermione mumbled.
Marcus gaped at her words. "What?"
"You're a perfect man Marcus, you're beautiful, eccentric, very well built. I guess I just can't figure out why you haven't found anyone yet. It's completely awe-struck."
He glanced down at his wine glass and began toying with the base of it. Tonight, wasn't supposed to be the night he told her of his past, but now he had the opportunity, it was either now or never.
"I was engaged like you once were. To a beautiful woman." His eyes were closed when he said this.
"What happened?" Hermione interrogated.
"It was an arranged marriage. My father set it up, it was more of a business deal. When my mother passed our fortune nearly doubled because everything that was hers was left to me. I was underage at the time so it belonged to my father until I could legally obtain it. So, one of his dearest friends had gone bankrupt and needed desperate help. My father offered to help. His condition was that his daughter had to marry me so that it didn't seem that my father was just handing out money.
"I was a charity case Hermione. This woman wanted nothing to do with me. All I was for her was a man with a large checkbook that could get her anything she wanted. When it came time for the wedding I was legally of age to obtain my inheritance from my mother. She was a beautiful woman, you remind me so much of her.
"I had to fill out paperwork at Gringott's. There, in a safe she had hidden from my father, she wrote me a letter in case something was to ever happen to her. She knew my father was not a good man and wouldn't make the right decisions. Her letter gave me the strength to say no to my father and an arranged marriage. So, I left. I was disowned. He tried to take everything my mother worked for from me, but it was a magically enchanted contract that left everything of hers to me. He had no rights to any of it.
"I haven't spoken to him in years. That's why when Adrian goes to attend to family matters he goes alone. His mother is still in touch with my father. All I asked was for Adrian to tell me whether or not he is a live when he visits. He told me my father asks the same. I couldn't be married to a woman I did not love."
"What's a marriage without love?" Hermione cried.
He scoffed. "A pureblood marriage."
She bit her lip. He was absolutely right. She remembered the story of Narcissa and Lucius. Their marriage was arranged. However, they were the few arranged marriages that actually formed a bond full of love. They were the lucky ones.
Hermione reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Marcus's. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. You're free to live your life as you please."
Marcus grabbed her hand, "I think I'm choosing to live it freely with you."
