Lucius and Severus were in bed when Severus decided they needed to have a conversation.
"How are we going to do this?" he asked, bluntly.
"Do what, love?" Lucius replied sleepily turning to face Severus, breaking their usual spooning.
"What are we going to do about Hermione? How are we going to deal with ourselves? What are we going to do?" asked the dark haired one, searching Lucius's face for an answer, despite the lack of light. Lucius sighed and reached across Severus and tapped a small metal, rune-marked pendant on the night stand which had a permanent Lumos charm set upon it. Thus, it allowed the touch of a want to push a small amount of magic into it to create something akin to a bedside lamp. It had been a pet project of Severus' that he started after Lucius almost set their room on fire with the traditional candlestick. As the light turned on, Lucius could see the worry on Severus' face.
"I don't know, one day at a time? WE cannot just force her to tell us. I believe we'll have to tell her our stories and see if she trusts us but I don't know if—what was that?" Lucius stopped himself abruptly, looking at their bedroom door before grabbing his dressing gown and tossing Severus' own gown at him when he saw Severus move out of bed as It would not do to face an unknown, potential threat in their pajamas. Grabbing their wands, they headed out of the room. When they reached the living room, they stopped, it was Hermione crying somewhere in the room, but they had yet to locate her. After a few moments of scanning the room, they saw the closet door near the entrance to their quarters ajar. Upon opening the door they found Hermione curled up within herself, her face streaming with tears as she looked up at them.
"I'm sorry. I had a nightmare," she mumbled, looking away in shame.
"Young one, why are you sorry?" Severus asked, sinking down to his knees and placing a hand on her arm.
"I woke you, didn't I? I can't even handle nightmares anymore," her tears increased.
"We were already awake," he replied, Lucius moved to sit next to Severus, but left room for Hermione to have a visible path out of the closet, should she need it, so she wouldn't feel trapped or overwhelmed.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"There is nothing to be sorry for. Now, what was your nightmare about?" Severus asked.
"He was here. He told me I needed to go back, so I went in here. He wouldn't hurt me while I was in the closet, he would only ever heal me," she spoke quietly.
"He's not here. You know that, right, love?" Severus asked her, allowing her to, once again, seek comfort in his arms.
"He might find me again and take me away," she sobbed, clinging to him. They stayed with her for a while, Severus letting her cry. As her sobs started to slow, Severus shifted and murmured, "let's get you to bed, yes? I can get you a calming draught which should help you fall back asleep." He picked her up and took her to her bed, while Lucius went to fetch the potion from his cupboard. He settled her under the covers, yet she refused to let go. Even after she took the potion that Lucius handed her, she held onto him.
"Please, don't leave me," she whispered.
"We'll wait with you until you fall asleep," Lucius replied, soothingly. She looked at him in alarm.
"He'll get me," she started to wrestle with the bed sheets.
"Hermione! Stop! He won't find you. We'll ward the door so that no one but yourself may enter or leave until we dismantle them in the morning," Lucius amended and she calmed down, although worry still graced her features, however she had tired herself out and quickly fell asleep as the draught started to work. Lucius and Severus warded the doors and her room as well as adding ones to alert them if she woke again.
The two men woke twice more in the night from their wards being triggered. Hermione had not actually woken up, but she had been close which is what tripped the wards. Either Severus of Lucius would go to her and rub her arm or back to let her know that she wasn't alone, it seemed to work quite well. They knew, if this kept up as it was, they were going to have to find an alternative to their sleeping patterns.
"I'm sorry," Hermione whispered as she walked into the kitchen area the next morning, her demeanor as quiet as her voice.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Lucius's automatic reply came, as he looked at her pointedly.
"I woke you up and kept you awake," she replied, a little more forcefully, although still held remorse in her voice.
"Did you purposefully have a nightmare with the intention of waking us up?" Severus asked, looking over the Daily Prophet.
"No."
"There you have it, nothing to be sorry for," Severus smirked triumphantly at her before Lucius passed her a scone and a cup of tea.
"But I still woke you…" she trailed off, looking unsure and playing with the edge of her plate nervously, not actually touching the food.
"I'll grant you that, only because it's fact, however you did not wake us for an inconsequential reason. Granted, we might have to come up with a different sleeping arrangement so that everyone is able to sleep fully. Last night, however, was not your fault," Severus asserted. He had folded the newspaper and Hermione saw the teaching garb that she had remembered from her youth, something she hadn't seen him in recently.
"I have class to teach this morning, but Lucius will be with you. I believe he's planned something for you both," Severus smiled, and odd expression for her to see with him dressed as the scary professor. She nodded, taking a sip of her tea, not noticing the pleased looks that passed on both Severus and Lucius' faces. It was only a few minutes later that Severus left to teach in a dramatic fashion making Lucius roll his eyes and Hermione giggle. Severus looked back briefly to smile at her laughter before exiting the rooms entirely.
A few minutes more left Lucius and Hermione in a silence while finishing their breakfast. She had never been completely alone with the man and felt slightly awkward being alone with him now, despite her feeling comfortable and safe in his presence.
"Well, I'm going to clean up, if you would like to, you may look at the books in the front room," Lucius smiled, put off by the awkward tension between the two of them.
"Can I help?" she asked, feeling useless. She didn't want to be completely dependant on the two, nor did she wish to not pull her own weight around the apartment, especially with something as simple as cleaning up after a meal.
"Of course, if you really wish to," a small smile graced his face.
"I want to help," she asserted.
"Alright. Now, just place the dirty dishes into the sink and they'll wash themselves. "
"Does it matter which side of the sink?" she asked once she saw the sink had two sides. When he replied that the dirty ones go on the left side, she placed the dishes she held into the sink. She was amazed when she saw the dishes move and a sponge work each plate into a later. She had never actually watched how wizards washed their dishes.
"It's so innately magical," she smiled in delight.
"You've never seen a magical sink before?" Lucius asked.
"No," she admitted, "at least never while it was working."
"Fascinating, isn't it?" as he spoke his eyes were transfixed on the sink.
"Common place for you, though," Hermione responded.
"I was never allowed into the kitchen. My father said it was beneath me and with the manor being so large, it was never really a problem. I never saw one until my adulthood, with Severus," he confided in her. Despite appearing to be complete opposites, they seemed to be very similar. They shared a few moments together before continuing to clean the kitchen.
Once they had finished, they moved to the sitting room, Lucius armed with a plate of biscuits. There was no way he was going to have this conversation without chocolate. That, and he really enjoyed the sugar.
"Now, I'm not asking you to tell us everything that happened right now, however I wanted to tell you what happened to me," Lucius started, holding up a hand to halt her questions. "Please, try not to interrupt, it's difficult for me to talk about what happened and if you stop me, I don't know if I'll have the courage to keep going again."
Hermione nodded her ascent cueing Lucius to launch into his tale, reiterating the story Severus had already appraised her of, yet this was different. When Lucius told his story it hit her much harder, especially when he was remembering the lack of emotion he held and how he had missed Severus, his love, and the overall lack of physical contact during those years. When he closed his eyes and shuddered at the end of his story, Hermione felt a kinship with Lucius and had tears falling lightly down her face. She could not stop herself from surging forward and hugging the blonde man seated next to her. Lucius, surprising Hermione, fiercely returned the hug, clinging to her physically and their emerging bond.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, but it was spoken directly into his ear. "Thank you for telling me, especially since you didn't have to." She was truly grateful and she felt it explained some of his behavior. He seemed to have partially retreated to a child in some of his manners as a way to connect to the time prior to his imprisonment in his marriage. As she pulled away, she whispered her gratitude once more before kissing his cheek. They say for a moment before Hermione started speaking.
"It was during a battle that I was taken. It was in Hogsmeade. I was hit with a stunner, I believe. Either way, I woke up in a dark, windowless room. I remember being unable to move, I don't remember why. Fear, maybe? Lethargy? I don't know.
"Then, he came into the room. He started to touch me, but stopped when he realized I was awake. He didn't say anything then, but he rarely touched me after that, while I was awake, anyway. There were times when he would stun me and I don't know what happened during those times. I don't know if I want to know.
"I was kept inside the only times I was ever let out of the room was to get ill again, so he could keep 'healing' me.
"But I got out, in the end. He left the door slightly open when someone apperated nearby. I ran out, it was lucky it happened then, I was due to 'fall ill' soon. I ran out of the room and he tried to grab me, we fought, Lucius. I know I wounded him. I don't know if he is dead, but if he didn't get help, he most assuredly is dead. I killed him. After that, I don't know what happened, I remember running and then I remember waking up in the Hospital Wing and it's been two years," Hermione sobbed, unable to contain herself, she was working herself into hysterics. She felt alone and the only think keeping her sane at this moment in time was Lucius' arms around her. After some time, she quieted and they both fell asleep, as they were exhausted in the retelling of their stories and the lack of a restful sleep from the night prior. They ended up wrapped in each other on the couch, where Severus found them and smiling softly, covered them in a soft blanket when he came in during the lunch hour.
A/N: Read and Review!