Two weeks.
Two weeks of proving to the Minister that he was ready to be released back into the wizarding world.
Working with the infamous muggleborn Hermione Granger his last test.
No longer being trapped in another's body and he felt alive again, his inhibitions so quickly melting away.
Lucius led them to some shelves at the back of the shop, usually only frequented by avid customers, choosing to go down an isle that was only so wide that it would comfortably fit one.
"So, Miss Granger." He said as he turned to face her. "What is it exactly that you wish to ask me about?"
Hermione was struggling to collect herself, Lucius was standing so close to her that she could smell the musky cologne her wore, could feel the heat emanating from his body, could count the fine silver threads on his robe, had a strange urge to reach out and run her fingers over them.
That's when something struck her.
She had seen silver threads like that not so long ago, at Hogwarts, worn by none other than Ezra himself.
Hermione's eyes snapped up to meet Lucius', staring into them, trying to see what she thought was there.
"Is everything all right, Hermione?" Lucius purred, his patrician face as calm and serene as ever, a small devilish smile on his lips and a salacious look in his eyes.
It was as if every clue Hermione had discovered about Ezra over the last few weeks suddenly slammed together in her mind, the dust settling and the perfect specimen of a man that was Lucius what was left in its wake.
Hermione did not know what came over her, it was as if all of the doubts she had about Ezra, her fears about him, had all suddenly dissipated, any restraints she had had on her feelings going with them.
She stepped into him, wrapped her hands tightly around his neck and pulled him down into a searing kiss. Her lips were hungry, as were his, responding to her almost instantaneously. Hermione could feel his fingers around her lower back, pulling her to him, revelling in the tight grip, the feel of the bookcase against her back.
She wanted him, well, had wanted Ezra, from the moment she had met him. Although she had never fully admitted it to herself, she would have been unable to deny it too.
Suddenly she could hear voices approaching and it snapped her back to reality. She pulled away from him, both of their breathing now heavy and thick with lust, and her eyes widened as she fully realised what she had just done.
Hermione took a shaky step away from him, her mind was suddenly racing, she had to get away.
A curious expression crossed Lucius' face as she quickly got out her wand.
She looked once more into those grey eyes that she was sure could see right into her soul, in no doubt now that she now understood everything.
"Sorry." She whispered as she disapparated away.
Hermione appeared back in her bedroom with a pop and fell straight onto her bed with a sigh.
What on earth had she just done?
Everything made sense now. Well, almost everything, her recent actions not so much.
Ezra Godtro was an alias, and for five years, had been a name without a body. The Minister must have known, Lucius must have known, that were he to give evidence on the other Death Eaters and if any of them or their families were to find out, then he would be in serious danger. So, she suspected that they made up the name to cover his tracks.
Lucius' lenient sentence now made sense too, it was probably because he'd helped the Ministry with putting away so many people that he got away with so little punishment. It would be easy to assume, like so many had, that he'd bribed someone or used a good lawyer to avoid going back to Azkaban, so she suspected that no one would ever have made the connection between him and Ezra.
She'd worked out why Ezra had suddenly become a real person too, someone with a job, a life of his own, even though it seemed a slightly risky thing to do. What better test to see if Lucius was fit to be out in the world again than to have him work with a muggleborn he most likely harboured hatred for?
She now understood the motive behind the Minister's strange questions about Ezra's behaviour, realised that Severus must have known about who Ezra really was all along too.
On the day Hermione had met Ezra, when he took her to The Ironbelly, that must have been the first day he had left his estate in five years. No wonder he had a table booked, seemed like he knew the place well, it was his favourite restaurant if what Severus said could be believed. She almost laughed when she realised the old customer who ordered in that special wine must have been Lucius, the dust she remembered being on it now making her strangely sad, but at least now she realised how Draco had known about the wine too.
Of course, Draco, Ezra had shown a special interest in him. It made her smile to think that Lucius still cared about him despite what Draco thought these days.
Yesterday, when Ezra had his appointment, it must have been to meet with the Minister to discuss his release, and no wonder he was out and about today instead of carrying on with their job. It would look awfully odd if he didn't go out on his first day of official freedom. She was sure one or two people would get suspicious if he didn't.
As to why his eyes looked the same, she had worked that out too. The polyjuice she made for the aurors, the one which lasted longer, which would explain why she had never seen Ezra drinking it, had one side effect. It didn't change the colour of your eyes.
It was easily remedied by a simple cosmetic spell, but Lucius hadn't changed it. She wondered why.
The body he was using was most likely a muggle, someone no one from the wizarding world would recognise. The height and stature being the same as his was explainable too. It was often helpful for long term polyjuice changes for the body to be similar to your own as the balance and spatial awareness when borrowing another's body could often be a little off. Then again, she wouldn't be all that surprised if Lucius just wanted a body he could still fit into all his clothes with.
Hermione had fallen for Ezra but something had felt wrong. As soon as she had worked it out, when everything became clear, she suddenly felt free to accept him. To do what she'd been wanting to do since they first met.
It was only when she remembered who she was actually kissing that the panic set in.
That was Lucius Malfoy. Pureblood supremacist, Death Eater, a man who hated her kind, had stood by and watched her be tortured in his home, and yet, at the time, she hadn't cared.
The Lucius she had gotten to know these past two weeks was not any of those things. He was a man she thought she could maybe, one day, love.
The look on his face when she left was etched in her memory, it held so many emotions that she couldn't identify, was scared to try.
What was she going to do now? What was he going to do?
They would have to finish their work together, it would look most suspicious to everyone else if they didn't complete it. She knew Lucius would show up, he was a smart man and would understand what they had to do, but part of her didn't want it to be just because he was obligated. Hermione wanted him to be as driven to finishing it as she was, because he was hungry for the knowledge, the satisfaction of discovery, and maybe, because he wanted to spend time with her too.
After debating it for about half an hour, Hermione swung her legs over the side of the bed and made her way over to her writing desk. She penned a letter to Lucius, well, Ezra, confirming that they would still be meeting tomorrow with the archivist.
She quickly folded up the letter before she could change her mind and handed it to Leku who promptly flew off with it, after a quick stroke of his feathers of course. Hermione realised now why Lucius had given her the owl, it would do no good to have given her an address that could be linked back to him, far safer to simply have a bird that knew where to go.
With another sigh Hermione decided she would just have to wait until tomorrow to see what was going to happen, thankful she had so many books to distract herself with, sure she would have spent the whole afternoon thinking about Lucius if she did not.
Lucius had continued his business in Diagon Alley for an hour or so before he became so distracted by thoughts of Hermione that he decided he had to go home, sure he'd been seen by more than enough people for word to get back to the right witches and wizards at the Ministry.
He realised it would only be a matter of time before Hermione worked out who he was, but was surprised it had been so quick. He knew it had been a mistake to keep his eyes, he knew it was her damn potion he had been taking after all.
When he was Ezra, he felt like a different person, someone without prejudice, without a tainted past, without all of those mistakes, someone who his son could maybe be proud of, but he couldn't bring himself to change his eyes too. He wanted to see their reflection in the mirror, so that he could never forget that no matter how hard he may pretend, he was still Lucius Malfoy. The coward. The criminal. The monster. Those eyes would never forget, they had seen it all, and he would not insult all those he'd hurt by wiping them away.
Lucius had come to like Hermione, care for her, want her. It was as if being Ezra had made him into a different person, someone who could be with her, someone who could forget how he used to feel about her.
Part of him had been waiting for her to work it out, waiting to show her who he truly was, and the urge to tell her had almost been unbearable these last few days.
Another part dreaded that she would leave him once she knew.
When Hermione had kissed him today, he felt more alive than he had in so many years, so relieved that she seemed to have accepted him.
Then she had pulled away, the look in her eyes haunting him, and he was so scared about what she would do now. Would she abandon their project, abandon him? Confront the Minsiter perhaps? After all, he supposed anyone would want to know if they were working alongside a criminal, would hate to be deceived. Ah yes, he was more than a criminal to her, he was the epitome of everything she despised, someone who had caused her so much suffering.
Lucius sighed and hung his head in his hands. He had hoped that this wouldn't be over so soon, before it had even really started. Whatever this was…
It was then that Lucius heard the tap tap tap of an owl pecking on the window, his heart leaping when he saw it was Leku, dropping the very next second when he thought of all the possibilities that Hermione's letter could hold.
Lucius took the envelope from Leku and placed it gently in the centre of his large desk.
He sat in his chair and stared at it for a solid five minutes, eventually deciding that there was no point in postponing the inevitable. Taking his letter knife he slowly opened it, slipping the single sheet of parchment from inside. He read it quickly, it was short, and he was relieved to find out that Hermione at least still wanted to see him tomorrow, to continue their work, and he knew he would take the opportunity to try and explain things to her, if she would let him that is.
Lucius penned a quick reply, letting her know that he would be there, but stopped short when it came to signing his name.
Who was he to her now? Which of the men he could be was truly hers?
Hermione was relieved to see Leku back so soon, holding a response.
She let him in and he ruffled his feathers, handing her the letter, and she read it quickly.
Dear Hermione,
Yes, we shall meet where we discussed tomorrow morning.
I look forward to it,
Lucius
This chapter is quite a bit shorter than the previous few, apologies, but this just felt like the right place to finish it off.
Next one will be longer and I've already started work on it so should probably be up after the weekend (I still don't have internet at home - it's still killing me - so I have to wait to post until I get to uni)