A/N: Hello all, Just wanted to let you know that I will try to update this once more before the weekend if possible. My mom is having hip replacement surgery next Tuesday and I will again be traveling back and forth in order to care for her. I do not know the particulars as of yet and probably wont know until Monday. I cannot guarantee that I will be able to update this or any of my other stories next week at all so stick with me and know I will not abandon my stories... but family does come first. Thanks for all the reviews and Happy reading.

Also, this chapter is a bit shorter then the rest but I think it gets the point across to Draco.

Lucius clicked his jaw as he walked towards his son, Draco looked like he was going to wet himself but Lucius refused to back down.

"I believe, Draco, That I told you to stay out of my business, did I not?"

Draco sank back a little further and didn't quite meet his father gaze, "Yes, sir" he replied

"Then why do I find you calling Hermione horrid names due to her... relationship with me?"

"I don't understand it, Father, It doesn't make any sense to me what so ever... she's a Mudblood."

Lucius quickly pulled his wand and cast a silencing charm around the room, he didn't need any stray ears listening in or Hermione for that matter.

"Sit Draco." Lucius ordered. Draco did as requested, wondering if he was due for the hexing of a lifetime.

"I think you need to understand a few things, Draco, Things that I have never told you before. I want you to listen to me and I want you to retain the things that I'm about to say."

Draco nodded and continued to watch as his father paced.

"When I was your age, My father came to me and insisted I marry your mother. Narcissa was pure blood, beautiful, and in my fathers opinion, the perfect bride for a Malfoy. I was left without a choice and married your mother. However, Narcissa nor myself were in love with each other but I upheld my duty as a husband and I treated her as my wife."

Draco frowned, he thought he loved Narcissa.

"But I thought you loved her." Draco stated.

Lucius nodded, "Over time I did. It wasn't the kind of love a normal husband and wife had – it was more a respect kind of love and that was all she felt for me as well."

Lucius paused and looked around the room, seemingly trying to get his thoughts together.

"That fact is Draco, I have spent my life with a woman that I did not want in the first place. I know it is harsh, but that is the reality of arranged marriages. Narcissa would have chosen someone else just as I would have done but we were both pushed into it by our parents." Lucius then sighed and looked over at his son, "I still respect your mother and even love her to an extent – but she doesn't make me feel the way Hermione does."

Draco paled, surely his father didn't mean he loved her.. so he asked, "Are you telling me you love her?"

It was Lucius's turn to frown, "Of course not" Lucius replied quickly, "but I do respect her in a way I never expected." Lucius paused again for a long minute before continuing, "Hermione did something a few weeks back, which I know you are aware of, and for some reason I cant get passed it. My entire adult life, people have befriended me for what I could give or do for them. I generally never let anyone get close because I knew what they were after.. Hermione however was different. She did what she did without expectations, she didn't want anything from me in return and her only intentions were to keep me alive – it's rare to find someone like that with out any motives of increasing their status or the size of their money pouch."

Draco knew what his father was saying was true, but did it have to be Granger.

"All I am saying, Draco, is that I want you to leave her alone. I will handle my business just as you handle yours. I do not want to hear that you have called her a whore or any other such names when she isn't. My decision to be with her is just that, my decision, and I want you to just stay out of it – do we have an understanding?"

Draco knew that question was a nice way of saying ' you'll do what I say, no questions asked.'

"Yes sir" he replied

Lucius smirked, "Good to hear. Now if you will excuse me, I believe I came here for a reason."

Draco cringed knowing what his father meant and he knew he wasn't going to stick around to hear it.

"Goodnight, Father" Draco said and walked towards the portrait hole, The Slytherin commons were calling his name.

Lucius waited until the portrait hole closed behind Draco before he turned and made his way to Hermione's room. When he reached the door, he have a quick knock with his cane but when no one answered, he walked in and spotted Hermione, curled up in a ball and sleeping.

He slowly approached the bed and looked down, noticing her pillow was slightly wet and her face tear streaked. He didn't love her, they both knew that, but for some reason he couldn't explain, he did care about her and it angered him that his own son was the one that put her in this state.

Lucius took off his robes, toed off his boots and socks and crawled into the bed next to her. She didn't stir in the least so he decided to just let her sleep for a bit and let her body calm down. He planned to talk to her and let her know that he did not agree with what his son had said, but right now all he could do was wrap an arm around her waist and join her in sleep – conversations would take place in the morning.