Chapter Forty Five

Harry's POV

"Hermione!" Harry squealed before turning to Lucius. "What did you do?!"

"I merely stunned her, Potter, calm down," Lucius said as Harry struggled against his grip.

"Oh, God, Lucius, she saw us!" Harry cried desperately.

"Harry –"

"What do I say to her?"

"Listen to m–"

"What's she going to say to me?!"

"Calm down!" Lucius hissed giving Harry a gentle tap on the cheek. "It's a simple matter of Obliviating her."

Harry stopped his thrashing about in Lucius' arms and stared at Hermione.

"But... I... Do we have to?" he asked suddenly. He was sick of keeping secrets from his best friends; it made him feel so alone.

"Come again?" Lucius exclaimed.

"Can... can we see how she'll take it?" Harry asked. Besides, if Hermione did react badly there was the Obliviate charm.

"You're mad!" Lucius growled.

"No, I'm not! Hermione's my best friend and she's always understanding about everything I've ever told her."

Harry glanced up at Lucius who looked bemused.

"You owe me for the suffering I'm about to go through, Potter."

"Fine."

Harry stepped away from the man and knelt beside Hermione's stunned body. He watched as Lucius slowly raised his wand towards his friend.

"Enervate," Lucius said.

Hermione slowly started to come round, her eyes blinking rapidly while she ran a hand through her bushy hair.

Once she met Harry's gaze, Harry saw the worry in her eyes.

"H-Harry! Are you okay?" she gasped. She then saw Lucius who was leaning on his desk casually and she glowered at him. "You!"

Hermione instantly reached for her wand, determined to hex the man who had been assaulting her friend, but Harry managed to stop her before she could attack.

"It's fine... Listen, 'Mione, there's something... I need to tell you," Harry mumbled.

"We need to go to Professor McGonagall Harry! You have to tell her what he was doing to you!" she cried, gripping his arm painfully tightly.

Harry shook his head.

"Wait... what you saw was... was..."

She raised her eyebrows at him, waiting for him to continue but when he didn't, she prompted him.

"Harry?"

Harry rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"It's... oh, God, Hermione I don't know what to say!" he said frantically.

She took his hand and Harry admired how calm and collected she was, considering what she had just witnessed.

"Go ahead, you can talk," she said, though she was still throwing glares at Lucius.

"I... well... first can you promise me you won't tell anyone?" he asked weakly.

She looked at him uncertainly.

"Harry, I –"

"Please!" He squeezed her hand gently.

She opened her mouth as though to speak but decided against it and nodded.

"Okay." He took a deep breath. "What you saw with... with him," – he guessed Hermione would take the 'him' to mean Lucius – "is... is... well it's complicated but... like..."

"What Mr Potter is trying to say," Lucius interjected, pushing himself off the desk, "is that he and I struck up a bargain in the middle of the summer holidays."

Harry watched Hermione's expression change through all this. She then turned to face Harry.

"What kind of bargain?" she whispered.

"Um... well, Lucius had information against Voldemort and ... and I figured we could do with some extra help..."

"What did you agree to, Harry?" she asked seriously.

Harry felt his cheeks start to burn and he found that he couldn't explain what he'd agreed to do; how could he say it without getting Lucius in trouble? All the excuses made Lucius sound malicious and evil.

"He agreed," came Lucius' voice from above Harry, "to this."

And before Harry could begin to protest or scramble away, Lucius had bent down to kiss Harry's lips, lifting Harry's head up under his chin.

Knowing it would look bad if he didn't respond, Harry tried to act as enthusiastically as he could before his friend so she would know he was okay with it all.

Finally Lucius released Harry who slumped back down again and nervously faced his friend.

"I'm sorry," he said huskily. "I couldn't tell you because it's... it's wrong. But I've realised that me and Lucius get along well. Really well in fact, and I just hope that you'll understand this is what I want."

Hermione looked as though she was trying to cover up her startled, appalled expression with an understanding one. It resulted in her looking slightly deranged.

"I... I don't know what to say, Harry," she said. "To say I'm happy for you wouldn't be true, because I'm worried for you. How do you know this isn't part of Voldemort's plan to get to you?"

Lucius stepped forward indignantly.

"How dare you imply that I would do such a thing!" Lucius hissed. "You want proof I've changed? Take a look here."

Lucius pulled his shirt sleeve up to reveal his left forearm.

"That is where the –"

" – the Dark Mark used to be," finished Hermione, looking at Lucius' arm as though she'd like to study and experiment on it.

"How?" she breathed. "I thought they were permanent?"

"Me too," admitted Harry. "But during the time he's spent with me, it started to fade, and eventually it disappeared."

"Incredible," she sighed. Then, as though snapping out of a trance, she said, "But Harry, you must realise how dangerous this relationship is! No one can find out!"

Harry and Lucius shared a quick glance.

"Draco already knows, as does Severus," Lucius said with a sniff. "Blaise Zabini found out but I modified his memory."

Hermione looked aghast.

"Can I ask why my memory wasn't modified?"

Before Lucius could open his big mouth any more, Harry answered.

"I... the truth is I wanted to see how you'd take it," Harry said bashfully. "I hate keeping secrets, especially from my best friends."

Hermione's indignant expression changed to a warm smile.

"I'm glad you told me," she said genuinely. "Though I'm not sure it's the way I would have wanted to find out."

Harry smiled and helped Hermione to her feet.

Before he could thank her again, however, there was a loud thumping noise on the door, shortly followed by Ron storming in.

"I agree with Hermione!" he said bravely. "Harry should be heard out!"

Harry stifled his snigger at the clueless Ron.

"It's fine, Ron; it's all sorted." He then turned to Lucius. "Thanks for hearing my side of the story, sir."

Lucius gave a noncommittal grunt and turned back to his desk, while Harry walked out with Ron and Hermione, Hermione looking at him slyly.

Lucius' POV

Mortification.

Humiliation.

Degradation.

These were only a few of the things Lucius was feeling after the incident with Harry's friend.

He had been hoping that the girl would have reacted badly – that way he would have been able to Obliviate her with good reason.

But no. Granger had to be a loyal, understanding friend.

However, one good thing had come out of this; Harry owed him, and Lucius would milk it for all it was worth.

* * *

After the rest of his – incredibly dull – day, Lucius sped to his room.

All day during his lessons he'd been thinking up different ways in which Harry could pay him back. He'd thought of having Harry suck him off, but no – the boy seemed to enjoy it too much. He'd thought about giving Harry a slow, torturous orgasm but no – Harry seemed to like it when Lucius played with him for an extended period of time.

However, during his last class of the day, he'd come up with the most brilliant plan for his revenge.

And it required preparation. This was why he was in his quarters, arranging his room so it would be obvious to Harry what the boy had to do.

Lucius smirked to himself as he imagined Harry's reaction to this... extravagant debt. The boy really wouldn't expect any of this.

Harry's POV (again?!)

Harry received a letter at dinner from Lucius. Unperturbed, he opened it, making sure no one could see what was written in it.

There, on the parchment, were six, neatly written words:

You owe me.

Seven o'clock tonight.

Harry chuckled; he found it funny how Lucius always seemed to need repayment for the most trivial thing. However, he wasn't bothered – tonight would just be more sex.

Or so Harry thinks *evil smirk*

Thank you to everyone who's got this story on alert and bigger thank you's to the reviewers :) It makes my day when I get a review .

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