CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Lucius and Hermione were rarely apart follow the debacle in Hogsmeade and their subsequent apologies. He still had moments where he was needed with the other…followers… Other than that, though, they were often seen together. She knew it wasn't a good idea to keep on with him, especially knowing that the Ministry was close to finding her a way back to her own time, but she couldn't help it. She was in love with him.

It was now the middle of April and the students were getting anxious for the end of the year. Hermione and Lucius would regularly meet up in the Room of Requirement to do revision, and every couple nights, the two would bump into each other in the common room at all hours of the morning. One night, Hermione and Lucius had just said good night to each other by way of a sweet kiss when she turned and found herself face to face with Narcissa Black.

'Enjoy him now,' the blonde witch said to her, 'because as soon as I graduate, he's mine. You're nothing but a fling for him. I'm his future and the mother of his heirs. Not. You.'

And with that, Narcissa flounced off to her own room for bed. That night, Hermione had nightmares about returning to her own time and coming face to face with an adult Lucius who hated her. No, hate wasn't strong enough of a word for it. He loathed her for tricking him into having feelings for her. For lying to him about where she was from. For being a Mudblood. On more than one occasion, she woke in a cold sweat, a scream on her lips from some curse or another dream-Lucius had attempted to cast on her. Finally, unable to sleep more than a few minutes without waking from a terrifying nightmare, she made her way down to the common room and toward the cabinet where various potions were kept. She took a Dreamless Sleep, checked off the paper so the elves would know to replace it, and made her way back to bed.

The next morning, Professor Dumbledore pulled her aside on her way to breakfast.

'It will be soon, Miss Granger. A few days at the maximum. Come see me after breakfast.'

She was stunned. A few days? How could that have happened?

All through breakfast, she sat in silence, pondering her next move. Part of her had really begun to wonder if she would ever leave 1972. She was comfortable here with her friends, with Lucius. Pushing her food around on her plate, she thought about exactly how comfortable she'd become. Lucius was a Death Eater, and not just in her time. She'd seen the Dark Mark on his forearm, and just in time too. After the emotion of that day, the fight at The Three Broomsticks, the confession to Andromeda, Lucius's explanation and subsequent apology, she'd been ready to do more than simply kiss him. That skull and snake on his left arm had the well needed effect of cooling her raging hormones. But now what was she going to do?

When she'd first found herself at Hogwarts again, she'd vowed to make as little an impression as humanly possible. When that failed, she'd simply wanted to fade into the background. She couldn't even pinpoint when it happened, but she'd engrained herself in this time, with these people. Even her attempts to distance herself from them, from him, had failed spectacularly. Now she was going to go back to a time where he hated her.

The little bit of breakfast she'd eaten threatened to make a sudden reappearance, so Hermione bolted from her seat in the Great Hall and made her way to the closest bathroom. She dry heaved into a toilet for a few minutes before calming herself down. Tears started to fall as she realized that she would be going back into a battle against the very man she'd kissed more often than she'd care to admit. It was no wonder why he hated her! Hell, right now, she hated herself!

After splashing some water on her face and casting a cleansing charm on her mouth, Hermione made her way out of the bathroom and up to the Headmaster's office. She was mentally berating her own stupidity the entire walk, and when she finally found herself standing before the gargoyle, she realized that she didn't know the password.

'Gumdrops. That's my current password. I'm rather fond of sweets, you know.'

Hermione followed Professor Dumbledore up the spiral staircase and into his office. The portraits of the former headmasters were all snoring lightly, paying no mind to the new occupants of the room. Different colored objects sparkled and twirled and whirled all around the room. Tucked onto a shelf and barely visible, Hermione was certain she spotted a Pensieve. Dumbledore made his way around he rather large desk and bade her to sit before him. After offering her a Peppermint Humbug, which she turned down, he began to speak.

'How are you feeling, my dear? You ran from breakfast with such haste, I feared for your health.'

'Just stress catching up to me, sir. I'm fine, thank you.'

'That's great to hear. Now, just after your exit, an owl arrived from the Ministry. It would appear that they've perfected a way to send you home. You're free to rejoin your friends in your own time whenever you'd like.'

The whole range of emotions played across Hermione's face as she sat there staring at the wall just over Dumbledore's left shoulder. She could go home! Back to Harry and Ron and her parents! But she needed to know everything, first. The next hour was spent going over all of the specifics of what would happen when she got to the Ministry. She asked about the process of going forward in time, when she would return to, and how they could ensure that she didn't end up going back and reappearing on top of someone. Apparently the Department of Mysteries had figured for everything, because they had a rather airtight plan to get her safely back. When it seemed that everything was all worked out, Dumbledore asked if she had any other questions or concerns.

'What will I tell them?' she responded after a minute. 'They're just as much my friends as those in my own time. How am I going to leave him?'

'Him? Miss Granger?'

'Them. How am I going to leave them is what I meant.'

'Perhaps you don't have to tell them anything. I can make your excuses for you and you can depart right now. Your friends are in class, so I can have the house-elves pack up your things and store them for you until you return from this place to your own time. You needn't say a word.'

'No. I can't do that. I owe it to him …them… to at least say goodbye. Can I have until tomorrow?'

'Any time you wish to leave, simply return here to my office and we shall be off. I'll leave the password as it is today so you will have no issue getting up here.'

Hermione nodded and thanked her professor. Then she bid him farewell and made her way back down to the Slytherin Common Room to gather her things. She would take Professor Dumbledore up on his offer to store her things, but not in the way he would have imagined. Instead, she took her belongings to the Room of Requirement and requested a place to keep her things separate from others until she could return. With that accomplished, she made her way to lunch and rejoined her current friends for one last afternoon of classes.

~*~*~*LMHG*~*~*~

She knew that he'd come. It didn't matter what she did, how they were getting along, or how much distance she'd tried to put between them, he would still be there. The Slytherin Common Room in the wee hours of the morning had become their refuge, even more than the Room of Requirement. It was still strange…not just being in Slytherin House, but also taking comfort in a man that she knew would grow to hate her, yet that didn't stop her from secretly enjoying his company. Even now, sitting next to him with her latest news weighing heavily on her, her heart and her mind were waging a silent war with each other.

'Tell me what's wrong,' he whispered.

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering him. 'I'm leaving. I know term isn't over for a couple of months still, but I am needed at home. Professor Dumbledore told me that I could leave immediately if I wanted to, but I…'

Lucius reached out and took her right hand in his left before raising his other hand to wipe the tears that had begun steadily falling down her cheeks. She knew that she was making a spectacle of herself again, but at that moment she didn't really care. There was a part of her, a rather large part if she were being honest, that simply wanted to throw caution to the wind and stay in 1972. She could finish her education and be with the only man who made her feel more alive than her first love, Ron. They could run off together, she and Lucius, and live happily ever after. It would work. It had to work!

When she felt his breath on her cheek, she gasped in surprise before raising her eyes to his. In that moment, it was just them, two friends who had slowly become more, two people who cared so much for each other that it seemed as if the world would end without the other there to stop it. The first brush of his lips against hers was a mere whisper of movement. His kiss was soft, tentative, and exploratory, as if he was waiting for her to pull back and slap him again. Her head screamed at her to stop but she was sick of denying her heart. She let him kiss her, moving her hands up his arms, past his shoulders, and to his neck. Pulling him close, her tears continued to fall as they mutually deepened the kiss, pouring all unsaid thoughts and feelings into the meeting of their mouths.

They kissed for long minutes, slow moments filled with passion and longing, but eventually they had to pull back for air. When they did, Lucius brought his left arm up to brush the hair away from her face. At that moment, Hermione opened her eyes and caught the shadow of something on the inside of Lucius' forearm. Once again the reality of who exactly she was with fell upon her like a bucket of ice water. She forcefully removed herself from his arms and stood, tears falling anew. Hermione looked down into her hands and knew she had to get out of there.

'This was a mistake. I need to… I have to leave. I need to get out of here. I shouldn't have stayed.'

'Hermione, wait!' Lucius exclaimed, rising from the sofa and stopping her before she could flee to her bed. 'What are you on about? What was a mistake?'

'This! You! Everything!' She was sobbing even harder now, her voice strained and wretched. 'I shouldn't have allowed myself to get to know you. I shouldn't have become friends with you and I most certainly shouldn't have kissed you! What a right, fine mess I've managed to make of things,' she added to herself.

Lucius was taken aback, looking as if she had physically struck him. 'You regret knowing me?'

'Yes!' she yelled reflexively. Then, as if sense had come back to her, she sunk to the floor and shook her head. 'No. I don't know. It's just so hard,' she whined.

Lucius chuckled and slid down to sit across from her on the floor. 'Nothing worth having is easily attained.'

Hermione could only laugh. 'What reality are you living in, Malfoy, because I would sure like to join you there. Do you honestly believe there's any chance for us? Any hope at all that we could make a go of it and not have the world as we know it fall apart? You're more foolish than I thought if you truly feel like we could be together.'

Lucius scowled at the suggestion and she went on. 'You're already contractually bonded to the youngest Black daughter. You and I both know that the only way for you to escape that union would be for Narcissa to become pregnant by someone other than you.'

'That would never happen,' Lucius injected. 'I've hardly seen her look twice at anyone other than myself.'

'Exactly. Aside from that, what do you really know about me, hm? You know my name, know that I love to read, that I'm a perfectionist, and that I have family in France. What else, though? You don't know my parent's names, nor what they do for a living. My friends are a total mystery to you; all you know of them is that they exist somewhere that isn't here. You don't even know my middle name. For all you know,' she added as an afterthought, 'I could be half-blood or worse! I could be a Muggleborn!'

He scoffed at the idea while reaching across to take her hands in his. 'There are many things I know about you, Hermione Granger. I know your birthday, I know your hopes and dreams, but most importantly I know that I love you.'

Hermione was temporarily stunned by his words. Tears fell from her eyes as a sad smile graced her features. Lucius leaned into her then, capturing her mouth, and trying to ease her sadness with his kiss. She allowed it only for a moment before pulling back from him and standing.

'It isn't enough,' she whispered. 'I'll leave here and you'll forget about me. You'll go on, marry Narcissa, and have a son to carry on your perfect lineage. You'll inherit your fortune on your twenty-first birthday, take over for your father, and carry the Malfoy name into the next decade and beyond, but I won't be with you. Besides, You-Know-Who is actually pleased with your proposed marriage and we wouldn't want to disappoint him, now would we?' she asked with a semi-sarcastic chuckle. 'My leaving is for the best and it's how things are supposed to be. I need to go back to my friends, to my home, to a place where I have a shot at a normal life.'

'There's someone else, isn't there?' he asked in resigned realization.

'There is the hope of someone else, yes. There is someone at home that I do wish would look at me the way that you do, but I fear he still has a lot of growing up to do. I think it will be a while before he realizes that what he wants is right in front of his face. We've been friends forever, though, so it may take time to realize I've grown up.'

'Will I ever see you again?'

The question caught her off guard, and part of her really wanted to say yes. She wanted to yell and scream and shake some sense into him, to keep him from becoming the man he was in her time, but it was too late for that. Instead, she shook her head in denial. 'I will miss you. Somewhere along the line, and definitely against my better judgment, I fell in love with you.'

Hermione turned away from his slumped form and began to make her way to the stairs and her bed. She felt stupid and weak for making such an admission to him, but there was a part of her that hoped her actually saying the words would make him hate her less when he grew up and realized who she really was. Then again, there was a really good chance he would hate and resent her for it. Either way, it didn't matter. She'd meant what she said and the words could never be unspoken.

As her foot hit the first step, she felt his hand on her wrist. Hermione paused mid-step as he pressed himself against her back and wrapped his free arm around her waist.

'Don't go,' he whispered into her hair.

'I have to. I don't have a choice.'

'Stay with me.'

'Lucius…"

'Please, Hermione. Tonight. Just give me tonight.'

She took a deep breath, leaned back into him, and nodded.