AN- okay you guys, i am so so SO sorry its short, but its extra makey-outy and blushy and stuff to make up for it! and by that i mean I was the one blushing while writing it, all they do is kiss, none of that hanky panky. yet. WHO SAID THAT? lolz. continue! i shall explain at the end.

Hermione walked into a quiet manor. Draco was probably out or still at work, which, she thought, smiling to herself as she looked up the flight of stairs, was probably to her benefit. Mounting the staircase and beginning her walk to The Invalid's room, she ran over the possible things that could happen.

He could kick her out. It wasn't really likely, in his current state.

Should she have brought a camera? Her lips curved wryly. No of course not. She wasn't that mean…yet. There was no telling how far she could go in this house…

Chances were he would be as blustery as he could while sick but secretly enjoy it. But if she had miscalculated, and he threw something at the door, sick or not, he was going to be viciously talked to.

Rapping on the door, she softly called his name. No response. Hermione thought for a second. He could be pretending to sleep…it wouldn't hurt just to peek inside.

Hesitantly, she turned the knob, a little taken aback at the lack of wards or a lock, and then peered around the door.

Lucius was propped up in bed, not sleeping at all, glaring a little dizzily at the door. The room was dim, due to most of the lights being out and the curtains drawn.

Grinning, she walked into the room, shutting the door behind her. "How are you feeling today?"

"I am not a child." He said with as much dignity as he could muster, fighting against the urge to sniff.

"I know you aren't a child, Lucius, but if you wish to be treated as the adult you are, stop acting so silly."

He straightened his posture even further, affronted. "Malfoys are-"

"NEVER silly. So why are you acting so?" she said good naturedly, walking to his bedside and pulling one of the several pillows from behind him and fluffing it.

Lucius looked very disgruntled. She continued to take, fluff, and replace the rest of his pillows. "Are you going to answer my question now?"

"I feel stopped up. Like I have a head full of water. Are you satisfied now?"

"Oh, Lucius, really!" She said, bending over him and feeling his forehead. Part of her enjoyed how far she could get while he was at this disadvantage, but mostly she wanted him to get well.

"There are spells to check for fever."

Hermione grinned softly. "Objecting to my touching you? You must certainly be sick."

He smiled wanly. "And what if you catch this, hm?"

"I'm impervious to such things. Unless you get the flu, in which case I'm done for." He laughed softly as she sat on the bed next to him. Sliding her fingers in between his, she asked "Are you sure you're alright? You have everything you need?"

"Hermione, please, I am quite alright. Do not worry and go to dinner. Please."

They sat in silence staring at each other for a minute. "I remember the first time I so much as peeked at your bedroom." Hermione said. "And you made fun of me."

He smirked, the one quality seemingly unaffected by his cold. "Ah yes. I remember that occasion. Well you've gotten past the door, I am prone, and as they say, the ball is in your court."

Hermione quirked an eyebrow at him before looking around the room. She had been too preoccupied with making sure Lucius was alright to really notice anything before. In short, the room was…spacious. Huge, in fact. Even though the room was dim, she could guess the color was off white or beige, which she liked. It made sense for him, it seemed, to want a large, airy space for a bedroom. When he slept, the wall to his left consisted largely of windows. The rest of the room had chairs, desks, dressers, a fireplace, a bathroom and closet (maybe even several). She turned back to look at his face. "I would love to take advantage of that fact, but I don't want to overexert you." He snorted and she smirked. "I will have to postpone the acceptance of your offer."

"As soon as I get-"

Hermione cut him off by standing from the bed. A sort of unbearable excitement had taken up residence in her belly. To alleviate this, she elected to leave. "As soon as you get well again, I know. Well, I am going to heed your advice and go to dinner, I'm quite hungry you know, feel better!"

She turned on her heel and made to leave for the door. As it had so many times before, a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, giving her a sharp tug and spinning her backwards into a tight embrace.

All the air had flown from her lungs. "Lucius, what are you-"

He settled back some, moving his nose to just underneath her ear. "I am not quite positive, I just wanted to-"

Hermione gasped as he kissed her just below the ear. What to do, what to do?

In the meantime he had moved to her neck, and rather delicious flames were heating up her lower belly. She turned her head to the side, catching his lips with her own. He should get sick more often.

After a while, they broke apart, Lucius laying his head on Hermione's while she attempted to regain a normal breathing rate inconspicuously; she couldn't take solace in the fact that he was too, because she didn't have the excuse of a head cold.

She could get used to just sitting like this, back pressed to his chest. Twisting a little so she could see him, he looked a little dizzy. "Do you have any water?"

"On the desk…"

She removed herself from his arms (a little reluctantly) and poured him a glass, bringing it back and handing it to him. "What have you eaten today?"

"I cannot actually remember…" he said stuffily, slowly reclining back on his pillows.

"I'll send up some soup or something in a little while, alright?"

He made a noncommittal humming noise that she took for assent. Hermione sat on the bed, holding his hand and making slow circles with her thumb until he was asleep. She pressed a feather light kiss to his cheek and went to dinner.

PAGE BREAK

Draco was smirking. "Well, Hermione, did you go visit him? I don't see any marks of abuse…"

"Ha- ha, Draco. Yes, I did, and he is very stuffy and dizzy but I think he is recuperating well. Pass the salt."

He sent the condiment her way. "He should make an appearance by dinner tomorrow. Never fear."

Hermione 'hmph'-ed and summoned Flopsy. "Flopsy, if you could, please send some soup or a broth up to Lucius' room…and perhaps some mint tea if you can manage it."

"Yes, yes Miss Hermione! Flopsy is getting this for Master Lucius right away!" Flopsy squeaked eagerly before popping away.

Hermione then struck up a conversation about Gabrielle's imminent arrival, which consumed the rest of dinner. They elected to forgo the brandy and adjourn for the evening. As they parted ways in the corridor, Draco said "Oh, Hermione, by the way, when I had said 'marks of abuse' earlier, there is one VERY subtle one taking up residence on your neck…"

Hermione gasped, hand flying to the offending area. Draco smirked as she swiftly turned on her heel and flew towards her bedroom.

Draco was a liar, she thought, staring glumly at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. It wasn't subtle at all.

PAGE BREAK

Hermione rapped briefly on Lucius' bedroom door. Waiting for a response, she looked down at herself. Drat. She was wearing the plum robes that he seemed to love so much. But it was unavoidable really, the only scarf she had that was suitable to cover up the mark on her neck had a plum colored pattern.

Giving up and opening the door, she marched in. Lucius was sitting up, looking decidedly better, and drinking a cup of tea while reading the paper. He glanced up over his reading glasses which were riding low on the bridge of his nose and smirked at her scarf. "Good morning. I never thought you as one to adorn herself with scarves."

"You know very well what you did!"

"Now lets remember. I am an invalid."

"Lies! Look at you, you're almost well again." She fought a grin. "I just came to see you before I left, check up on you and everything."

He blatantly ignored her. "Hermione, why not simply heal it?"

Her face reddened. That thought hadn't even crossed her mind. "Maybe I didn't want to heal it!"

His smirk grew. "Or did you forget?"

"Maybe. Or maybe I just didn't want to heal it but I can't exactly leave it out for the world to see at work, hm?"

"Either way, I am quite satisfied."

"You would be!" she snapped, belatedly realizing her compliment. "Make my life difficult why don't you."

"Have I told you before that you look ravishing in plum?"

"Yes, verbatim."

"Good."

"Don't flatter yourself, I'm wearing these because they were the only ones that matched the scarf." She pouted.

"Well then, my dear, I shall just have to buy you more scarves." He said silkily, eyeing her hidden neck.

She made a very large effort to ignore the tingles running down her spine. Her efforts were wasted. "Hah! We'll just have to see." She softened a little. "I have to go, finish recuperating so we can argue like two normal adults, please! I expect to see you for dinner."

"You are forgetting something."

She sighed almost like it was an effort and walked over to him, giving him a quick kiss before pulling away. "I'm going to 'forget' to go to work if you keep this up."

"Do, I'm sure they will accept a note of some kind…"

She grinned. "Nice try, but don't you want to know how many compliments I get on the scarf?"

"Carry on."

PAGE BREAK

Nine compliments. On the damn scarf. Hermione briskly stepped up the walk to the front door of the Malfoy manse pondering whether or not to tell Lucius. Was being smug bad for recovery? She thought it might be.

Opening the door, she set down her briefcase and loosened the scarf which had become a bother towards the end of the day. Deciding that she would go see if Lucius was fully recovered, she made to turn towards the stairs when she felt a presence behind her and the cool scarf slid from around her neck. She gasped softly. Look who was up.

"I see you're well again." She said, smiling wryly and turning towards Lucius, who was looking better than ever and dressed in his typical black.

He drew her closer to him with his fingers on her hips, elegantly raising an amused eyebrow. "Absolutely. Now, tell me, exactly how-" he placed a searing kiss on her lips, "many compliments you received on your little fashion statement."

Damn. "None." He kissed her again until she could barely breathe, winding her arms around his neck. "Nine," she breathlessly confessed, "but that doesn't mean-"

"On the contrary, my dear, it means that you should wear scarves every day." he smirked. "You thought you could fool me."

She laughed a little. "I knew I couldn't, but trying never hurt anyone, after all," she played with the ends of his hair, "look where it got me."

He smirked again and leaned in to kiss her again. Unfortunately Draco decided to come home at that exact moment.

"I'm home! And I wanted to- MERLIN ARE YOU TRYING TO BLIND ME?"

AN- okay i am about to go on vacation, so i didnt want to just leave you hanging when i had a perfectly lovely makey-outy chapterlette sitting on my computer! so i am posting it to tide you over. i have the next two weeks with NO INTERRUPTIONS to formulate a new chapter in the sun, so just give me two and a half weeks (no internet, so i need to type it all up and stuff, lolz) and i swear to Jo that it will be up. its her birthday by the way. shes 44. happy birthday JKR! anyway, forgiiiive meeee! i hope the whole thing was okay, i am REALLY awkward about the whole kissing thing, its difficult for me to write, so please review and tell me how i did! vacation love!