Authors Note- BACK! tada! in the interim of my...break...from LIOLI (it sounds so cool when you say it out loud!! Lioli!!) i have written a good chunk of the middle! i got so excited, so yeah. lolz, expect faster updates when we get to the sections around there! so, i hope that this is a good chapter, like, i havent lost the knack for this story ;P

Lucius stared into space at his desk. For some reason, he just could not shake the picture of her from his mind. She was just sitting there. Curled into a ball, speculating on life. Not reading, he could tell she had looked at the books though. She had sat and smelled the air, he did that, from time to time. The library had an old, dusty, almost tangible smell. Lucius knew that Hermione was knowledgeable, she loved books.

But it was so odd. She was in his library. Narcissa never went to his library. All the women he had grown up with or been related to had not been fond of holing up in a dark room full of manuscripts. However, there was diversity in the world, and not everyone was the same, he thought, shaking these insanely juvenile thoughts from his head. He wasn't discovering some new brand of female; there were women who loved to read everywhere. Why was he harping on this?

Hermione was sitting, surveying his land. He presumed she was thinking about how she wound up…for lack of a better word, ronless.

In any case, it was almost dinner. He had no word from Draco, and since there were only five house elves left (Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, Frilly, and Edward), he would most likely have to get her for dinner. He smirked at nothing. How relaxing was this, trying to figure out a way to tell her dinner was ready?

Very. The blush that had spread across her face was absolutely delightful. She was so embarrassed. It really was terrible that he should take so much joy in it. Sort of.

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Hermione had fallen into a light doze, when she heard a chiming sound. Sitting up abruptly, she looked around the room. "What? Who's there?"

She yelped as Lucius' face appeared in the fire. "Hermione, dinner is ready. I assume you found the dining room on your adventures this morning; I will see you there in five minutes." He raised his eyebrow, then cut off the connection quickly, chuckling to himself. It so appeared her face had achieved a new shade of red.

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Hermione, after regaining control of her face, headed for the dining room. She gently pushed on the door, greeted with the view of the Malfoy men staring out the window at something and talking. Upon her entrance, they turned.

"Hello, Hermione!" Draco said, hands in his pockets. Lucius turned, saying nothing. Her cheeks turned pink.

"Hello Draco." He turned to the chair at the end of the table closest to him.

Lucius walked along the side of the rectangular table opposite Hermione towards the chair opposite Draco. "Please." He gestured at the chair a few feet from her, situated on the long end. Ducking her head, Hermione took the seat.

A male house elf (only Hermione could tell the sex of an elf at a glance) scrambled in, platter taking up all his arm space. A female one walked in, tureen encircled in her arms. This routine continued for about a minute, and then Flopsy scurried in, hissing "Edward! Edward! You forgotted the corn!" She held the small bowl out to the elf, then caught Hermione's eye.

Flopsy blushed, and looked at the ground. Hermione smiled at her. The two men saw the exchange, and looked at Hermione quizzically. She looked back at them.

"What-?"

"It's nothing, Draco." Hermione said, shaking her head at Flopsy. The elf nodded and scurried out.

Lucius raised an eyebrow at Draco, who shrugged. Draco then cleared his throat. "So, Hermione, what did you do today?"

Hermione focused very hard on the food on her plate. Bad question to ask! "Oh, just sort of hung around…" she trailed, putting a piece of meat in her mouth, hoping to deter questions. She couldn't help looking at Lucius, he was dutifully holding in a smirk.

"Oh."

Lucius took this pause in conversation to crisply cut in. "Well, Draco, what are you doing tomorrow?"

Draco looked into the space above the table. "Well, I do believe I'm going to work. Pretty boring day. Will you be going out tomorrow?"

"No, I don't have another meeting until…next week I think it is…Hermione, will you be home the same time as Draco?"

Hermione blinked; she hadn't been paying attention. "Oh, um, six…right?" she looked at Draco, who nodded, chewing. She looked back at Lucius. "Six."

He nodded. "Dinner is at six thirty, unless you have something else to do."

"Alright, no I don't have anything."

The dinner dissolved into meaningless conversation. Edward came back in to clear the table, and Hermione began to ponder what she would do until bed. Then Lucius said something bringing her out of her thoughts. "Well, I will see you in the study in…ten minutes?" He stood, pushing in his chair. Hermione looked up at him, confused. "Ah. Well, Hermione, after dinner we meet in my study for a quick brandy."

"Oh, no, that's something you and Draco do, I couldn't impose-"

"Nonsense! Unless you don't like brandy-"

"Though no one can deny Father's." Draco put in.

Lucius looked at Draco, smiling slightly. "In which case," he looked back at Hermione. "We can find something else for you to drink. Come, Hermione, you live here now, you must come to our small gatherings."

Hermione smiled a little, still sitting as Draco walked up behind her. "Well, I like brandy fine."

Lucius nodded. "See you in ten minutes."

Draco stopped his father from leaving, Hermione paused in getting up. "Wait, does she know where your study is?"

Hermione began to blush again as Lucius looked at her, half smirking. "Oh, no, she knows how to get there."

Hermione closed her eyes after he left. Draco followed him out, looking at Hermione confusedly. Sighing, she left to return to her room.

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Hermione hesitated before gently knocking on the study door. It actually wasn't closed all the way, so the door swung open and she poked her head through. Draco turned from his chair, Lucius looked up from the cart covered with decanters and liquids.

"Hello." She said with a little smile.

"Come in, come in." Lucius said, selecting a crystal decanter. "Brandy, correct?"

"Yes, please." Hermione said, entering the room and taking the seat next to Draco.

"Well. I hear you're up for consideration for the new International Department Head." Draco said, before taking a sip from his glass.

"Just consideration. I know that Andrine Kemp wanted that position, too."

Lucius handed her the glass, then reclined behind his desk, shaking out his hair as he did so. It corrupted Hermione's attention for a moment; he had gorgeous hair. "Well, you are a war hero, one would think the Ministry would hand it to you."

She tore her eyes from his hair and responded "Well, I made sure to tell them expressly that I wanted to be really considered. Not selected."

Lucius nodded, Draco sipped from his glass. She continued. "Anyway, if I don't get the position, I would like to try for the Muggle-Worthy-Excuse-Committee."

Draco started to laugh, Lucius elegantly raised an eyebrow smiling. "Why THERE?" Draco said.

"Well, I always thought it would be fun. Might get tedious after awhile, but still, how do you explain away…oh, I don't know, say in third year, when Harry inflated his aunt. How do you do that?"

Draco shot forward. "He did what!?"

Hermione sighed. "It was an accident, she was bad mouthing his parents, and he got upset and she accidentally…blew up. And away."

Draco sniggered. Lucius shook his head, as if to clear it. "Well, how would you explain it?"

Hermione pursed her lips. "Well…you might say that…it was an escaped hot-air balloon. The reason it was so small was because there was a launch field a city away."

"True. What about the noise? Assuming she made some sort of shriek."

"Air escaping."

Draco was quieting, and Lucius sat back, smiling at her. "Well, I think that that might pass."

"He blew up his aunt." Draco said.

"We've established that." Lucius said, lips twitching.

Hermione was almost astounded. She was giddily amazed at the notion that the Malfoys were a laughing sort. She had heard Draco laugh before, but Lucius? Smiling this much? Next thing she knew he would be laughing.

But, on with the conversation. They continued, talking about the odd things that needed to be disguised from the muggles' prying eyes.

A little ways into the conversation, Draco was laughing so hard his face was pink, Hermione had been giggling for the past few stories, and she had even heard Lucius snigger a few times. But then, Draco began to laugh even harder and said "Do- do you remember that one time, we were in France, and that horrendous woman, the big fat one?"

Lucius furrowed his eyebrows. "Madame Bouchard?"

"That one! She was at a café, and she brought her own spelled kettle?" He turned more towards Hermione. "Something malfunctioned, and the entire thing blew up, right there, on the street!"

Hermione watched, eyes taking in the scene. Lucius threw his head back, laughing. It was a deep, rich sound, making her shiver a little.

She dismissed the shiver, she had, after all, never heard him laugh before. However, she had to admit she liked the sound.

They continued their conversation till much later, all of them beginning to feel exhausted. Draco and Hermione had work early in the morning, both of them remembered as they dragged down the hallway.

Hermione fell backwards on her bed. Sighing, she closed her eyes. Maybe living here wouldn't be as weird as she thought.

My note- YAY! okay, lets REVIEW this go-round? PLEASE! mucho love to MARY! and HappeeGoLuckee! cos you two reviewed. lolz. i know you cant always review, though. SO! i hoped you liked this chapter, now i'm back in the swing of things and im actually EXCITED for the next chapter!!! YAAAY!