A/N. Bum-bum- BUMMMMMMMM (attempt at dramatic music). So Hermione is giving in? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE FUTURE?!
There are a lot of questions, I know. But I promise, answers will come.
I looked over this chapter and found it had a lot more dialogue than any of the others. Curiouser and curiouser.
...~oOo~...
Chapter Six: The Mistress
Hermione never thought she'd be standing in this particular section of any bookshop. Where the bindings of book were deep, passionate reds and bubbly, charismatic pinks. Where the titles were all not-so-clever puns. Where women became objects and every ounce of her feminist rants became worthless.
Sex books. Hermione heavily sighed and pressed her forehead to the shelf, her eyes shut. Why was she here? Why was she even doing this?
If she was being honest, she'd admit that her knowledge on the subject was minimal. She knew the dynamics, the technicality of it, but her personal background was... well, it wasn't exactly helpful. The few nights she'd gotten hands-on experience were done in the dark, under the sheets, and uncomfortable both times were uncomfortable and achy.
Hermione huffed. She may as well have been a virgin.
She looked at her watch. She'd already been there for six minutes. If her companion to the bookstore was looking for her already, Hermione definitely didn't want to be caught in this section -
"Hermione! There you are," Heather said with a big smile, her head poking around the corner. "I thought you said you were going to be in the kids' books looking for a new book for Draco? And now you're in the... Oh." Heather gave Hermione a very scandalous look. "The naughty books, eh?"
Blushing, Hermione cleared her throat. "I've been telling myself they're 'how-to' books, thank you, so please do not kill the illusion I've put myself under."
"What are you doing here?" Heather asked, wagging her eyebrows.
"For purely informational purposes..." Hermione mumbled, keeping her eyes firmly forward.
"Is there a man in your life? Is he not satisfied? Or are you not satisfied? Or..." Heather gasped a little. "Are you a virgin?"
"No!" Hermione said, too quickly. "I just... my experience is limited."
"Well, they've got some good stuff here, it seems," Heather mused. She reached out for one, a book with no title on the cover or binding. She flipped it open and immediately started giggling.
Hermione took a peek over her shoulder. It was a Kama Sutra... but with moving pictures. "Good God!" Hermione exclaimed, looking away quickly. "I refuse to believe that position is physically possible. Wouldn't the poor girl suffocate?"
Heather giggled some more. "I know for a fact that she would not." She winked. Quite lewdly, in Hermione's opinion.
"Heather!" Hermione shook her head. "I didn't need to know, really."
"Hermione," Heather said, placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "These books are only going to give you clinical descriptions and tell you what you want to hear. If you want real, unbiased facts, you can always talk to me."
"You're a bit young, though, aren't you?" Hermione said hesitantly. "To be a fountain of... erotic knowledge."
Heather put on a chagrinned smile. "I was a naughty girl in Hogwarts."
Ack. So she was essentially talked to a Lavender Brown - at least Heather was tolerable, though. Hermione eyed Heather thoughtfully.
"Here, how about this?" Heather said, closing the Kama Sutra and tucking it under her arm. "I am going to buy you this book as a gift. And in return, you can let me live my lifelong dream of being a love guru. Deal?"
"No, no, no! Under no circumstances am I going to let you buy that book for me!"
"Alright, alright. Then I won't buy to book and I can be a love guru. Fair enough." Heather slid the book back onto the shelf and snatched Hermione's hand. "Let's go get some lunch and you can ask me all the questions your virginal little heart desires."
"I'm not a virgin," Hermione mumbled weakly, but allowed herself to be dragged out.
...~oOo~...
"So, who's the lucky man?"
"I told you, there's no one," Hermione lied, stirring a cube of sugar into her tea.
"You're a terrible liar, did you know that?" Heather said with an amused grin.
"So I've been told," she grumbled.
Heather observed Hermione closely for a long minute while they waited for their food the arrive. The Leaky Cauldron was having a busy Sunday, and Hermione was wearing her hair down to hide her face in case she saw anyone she knew.
Then Heather gasped and Hermione almost fell off her chair.
"My Merlin, it's Lucius, isn't it?" Heather hissed, leaning forward, eyes wide as saucers. "You're sleeping with Lucius Malfoy!"
"No!" Hermione said, a bit too loudly.
"You are, you are, you are!"
"No, I'm not," Hermione said firmly, leaning forward herself. She looked around, making sure there was no one listening in. "He... he propositioned me."
Heather's grin reminded Hermione very much of the Cheshire Cat. Any bigger or wider and it would swallow her head. "What did you say?"
"W-well... then I saw the time, and Draco was waking up, so... I had to go take care of Draco," Hermione said quickly.
"You ran away, didn't you?"
"I didn't run... It was more like a hasty jog."
"What happened that made him proposition you, you think?" Heather asked curiously, propping her chin up on her hand.
Hermione's eyes followed the grains of the wooden table as she answered, "It may have something to do with my kissing him."
"You dog!" Heather said gleefully, laughing like mad. Hermione hushed her urgently, but Heather ignored it. "Why'd you kiss him?"
"I don't feel comfortable talking about this," Hermione said. Her face had to be beet red. All she did lately was blush, it felt like, and it was really starting to frustrate her.
"Has Narcissa found out yet?" Heather asked.
"Well, I assume not, considering I'm still working there," Hermione said as if it should be obvious.
Heather's brow furrowed. "You've no clue, do you?"
"No clue about what?"
"About Lucius and Narcissa..." Heather's head tilted curiously. "You really don't?"
Hermione shook her head, not liking where this conversation was going.
"Rumor has it that Narcissa knows all about Lucius's affairs, that they're very open about it," Heather said, finally lowering her voice. "Theresa thinks it gets her all hot and bothered that he goes around with other women but always comes back to her."
For some reason, Hermione was suddenly queasy. "Is that so?"
"It's only a rumor, but... It's a sort of cat-and-mouse they play, I think. He likes seeing her jealous, and she likes the make-up sex," Heather said with a delicate shrug, sipping her tea. "But if you can get some fun out of their sick and twisted marital games, then go for it. I've heard Lucius is very good."
Why did this bother Hermione so much? She was using Lucius - so what did it matter if he was using her in turn? It was a means to an end, and as long as they were both being manipulative, no hurt would come from any of it. But she was still nauseated.
"Well... that's good, I suppose," Hermione said, trying to feign casualty. "As long as I don't lose my job over it."
"You're very lucky, you know," Heather told her with a smile. "Lots of wives would have their governesses' heads for fooling around with their husbands."
...~oOo~...
Heather had, in fact, been very "well versed" in pleasure, locked doors, and bed sheets. She gave Hermione plenty of relaxation techniques, saying that nerves can ruin everything. She told Hermione what to avoid and what to try.
Frankly, Hermione found it all incredibly fascinating, if not the most embarrassing conversation of her young life. And at the very end of the Sunday out, Hermione went to her bedroom to put her new clothes and things away when she found a book in her bags that she most certainly did not buy.
Heather, that sneaky little witch.
Shoving the magical Kama Sutra book into her underwear drawer, deep under her socks and knickers, she shut it and silently cursed Heather's name. How infuriating.
She went about unloading the rest of her things and she found yet another purchase that she did not make. It was in a small, shallow white box. Interesting, she thought, reaching for the lid. Inside were layers of thing paper, and once she pealed those away...
That girl was an absolute menace. She needed to be put in her place.
Never had Hermione seen such revealing attire, even for lingerie. It was a disgracefully short, lacy black neglige with matching knickers that she was sure left nothing to the imagination. Hermione laughed when she saw the last thing in the set, though. Slippers. Fuzzy black slippers with little bows on top. How ridiculous.
She held up the lingerie to the light. Just as she expected. Utterly transparent. Why did people even bother with this stuff? It was the same exact thing as being naked, only way more expensive.
"Is that for me?"
Hermione almost screamed, clutching the delicate fabric to her chest.
Lucius stood in the door way, looking a mixture of amused and... aroused. Of course. Hermione coughed lightly and held the neglige tighter, crumpling it.
"Er..." Hermione uttered, looking for an explanation. But there really was none. "It's... it's a gift. Just a silly gift." She stuffed it rapidly back into its box, closing it quickly.
Lucius's smirk didn't falter. "Well, I'd like to send whoever gave it to you a thank-you note."
Running her hands back through her hair, Hermione bit her lip and stared at the white box. That evil white box.
"You've been avoiding me," he said, stepping into the room and easing the door shut behind him. He looked all the fabulous, wealthy, young heir that he was. Untucked shirt. Pressed trousers. Hair pushed back from continually raking his hands back through it. Shiny, heavy metal ring embedded with emeralds.
"Today is my day off. I went out," Hermione said vaguely. Every nerve in her body was jumping, her muscles clenched tight. The anticipation of this conversation was too much.
She recalled Heather's words from earlier. "It's just sex, Hermione. People shag every day."
Hermione wished she could feel the same way. She wished she could be so blasé about this.
Why was it so nerve-wracking?
Hermione's heart went on a ricochet when she felt one of Lucius's long, elegant hands touching her waist. He moving with a slow, fluid grace behind her, using the other hand to move all of her hair over her shoulder. He pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck and Hermione shivered. It wasn't even a bad shiver... it felt nice.
His hands were warm and his mouth was soft, trailing kisses around to the side of her neck. Her head tipped to the side of its own accord, her brain slowly detaching itself from her body. Every thought in her head was turning to mush as she found herself intently focused on the movement of Lucius's lips.
This was different than the other morning. The other morning, Lucius had kissed her with a sleepy playfulness, fingers twirling and knotting her hair - much like Draco did when he was getting tired and wanted a nap, actually - before he very formally propositioned her, she pretended to realize the time, made a quick excuse about his son, and ran out.
But now Lucius was kissing her throat with purpose. He nipped gently over the point where her pulse fluttered at hummingbird speed.
"You've yet to give me an answer," he whispered, his voice lower and huskier than she'd ever heard before. It did funny things to her tummy.
His proposition. That's right. He couldn't just ask things like that when her brain wasn't working.
Hermione cleared her throat, trying to remember what speaking was. "Er... yes."
Lucius chuckled lowly and the sound vibrated against her neck. It was a very pleasant feeling. "Are you sure?" he inquired, teasing in his tone.
Numbly, Hermione nodded.
"But I'm warning you," Lucius said, growling sensually. "I'm a demanding man... and I don't share well."
Hermione swallowed and a distinctive heat pooled in her belly. She nodded again.
And that was how Hermione became Lucius Malfoy's mistress.
...~oOo~...
A/N2. So. Lucius is possessive and jealous. Not usually a good combo. What will happen next?
~ So Long And Thanks For All The Fish ~