The sweet little house elf Bip arrived to help Hermione pack. After quizzing the poor thing about how she was treated at the manor and if they were paying her, Hermione felt satisfied enough to let the house elf do her job.
She was quite efficient really and Hermione was trying to stall. The sooner she was packed, the sooner she would have to face her fears and acknowledge that the Manor could still be a trigger for her and Lucius as well.
She took a deep breath, hugged Ginny and planned a girls' night, then she stepped into the floo to her new home.
Draco was waiting for her, along with Narcissa and Lucius.
"Hermione dear! Welcome to your new home. I am so pleased you agreed to stay. Would you like to join us for tea? We have much to discuss."
"Of course. Thank you kindly Narcissa. That sounds lovely." She nodded politely at Lucius. Draco leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, and then took her arm to lead her into the tea room.
Once they were seated, it was Lucius that spoke first.
"Miss Granger, I have the potion's laboratory set up and ready to go for your apprenticeship. I was wondering if you would like to start tomorrow?"
Tomorrow? Hermione was shocked. That was quick. She studied his face before she answered. There was something off about him, but she was having trouble putting her finger on it. Then Narcissa answered.
"Lucius darling, give her a chance to settle in. I know you've been looking forward to it dear, but she has to unpack and get accustomed to the manor."
Hermione blinked. Oh my, she thought. He was excited. He couldn't wait to teach her. That was shocking really. She cleared her throat.
"Tomorrow sounds perfectly acceptable. Does after breakfast work?"
"Yes, of course. We will be working until lunch. Then after lunch you will get a break before your classes."
Draco winked at her from across the table. They would be dancing together again tomorrow for her lesson. Hermione pushed down a nervous flutter as she thought about the last time they danced.
The rest of the day passed serenely at the manor. Hermione managed to unpack all her things and stared fondly at her books mingling with Draco's. It made her heart clench.
"Hermione love?" Draco asked as he walked into their room. She smiled at the term of endearment again.
"Yes?"
"I was wondering if you'd join me for a night ride."
Hermione giggled nervously.
"Dirty girl. No sadly I meant on Columba." He grinned at her, "although that can always be added to the agenda as well." He pulled her hand in for a kiss.
"Is it safe? At night I mean?"
"Of course. In fact, I thought we'd ride together… on your horse."
"That sounds lovely." She smiled and took his hand.
When they were up in the air, she melted back against his strong chest. His close proximity was doing unspeakable things to her knickers. She pushed her arse back against his groin.
"Hermione, if you keep that up, I will be forced to land and fuck you in our field, and we just got started." He chuckled as she moved against him again. He thrust into her once for good measure making her laugh.
"Which constellation is Draco?" She asked looking at the stars. He pointed over towards the correct one. Then he turned and showed her to another group of stars.
"And that my dear, is Leo." He laughed into her hair.
She chuckled and he kissed down her neck.
"I will think about that. You know we have some time. We have a few months until we are married, and then once I stop the contraceptive potion it will probably take a few more months to conceive a baby. Did you.. um. Did you want children before this whole marriage law made it mandatory?" She asked him nervously.
"Of course, family is everything to me. You are now everything to me, and when we have children I will love them just as much as I love you."
"What?" She turned around to face him, her heart beating rapidly.
He smoothed his thumb down her jaw. "Hermione. I love you. I've been in love with you for a while. I'm not even upset about this law because it gave me you. I'm so fucking happy to be marrying you." He said sincerely.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she let out, "I love you too. I really, truly, deeply love you too. I can't wait to be married… and to have your children."
They stayed under the stars for a long time talking about their future and kissing each other on the back of her horse. When he finally took her back into their bedroom, they made love, each whispering promises on the tips of their tongues as they came together.
—
The next day Hermione nervously entered the lab. She found Lucius sitting at a table pouring over ingredients. She cleared her throat.
"Ah. Miss Granger. Before we get started, I wanted to set up a few rules."
Merlin give me strength she thought while keeping her face passive.
"First, I'd like you to address me as Master Lucius when we are in the lab. Standard procedure of course." He said with a grin, clearly enjoying the power that came with this position.
"Of course Master Lucius." She replied politely not giving into her emotions.
"Second, your hair…"
"What is wrong with my hair!" She asked exasperated that he hated it so much.
"Miss Granger I simply mean to ask you to keep it pulled back while we are in the lab. I meant no offense. It is a safety hazard to keep your hair down." He eyed the errant curls.
"Please call me Apprentice Hermione." She moodily replied.
He rolled his eyes at her blatantly.
"Did Draco speak with you?" She asked, interrupting his instructions.
"Of course. I believe his words were, 'be bloody nice or I'll never be satisfied the rest of my life.'
Now now Hermione, withholding sex already? Perhaps you'll make a proper Mrs. Malfoy after all."
Hermione's jaw dropped before she mumbled, "Technically it's not sex I'm threatening to take away."
Then they both froze looking at each other. Lucius looked quite amused again. WHY on Godric's green earth was she discussing blow jobs inadvertently with Lucius Malfoy. Seriously what was wrong with her.
"Yes well, let's hope it doesn't come to that, now if there aren't anymore interruptions. Your third rule is not to interrupt me when I'm giving you instructions," He replied, full on smiling now.
She reddened a bit and tried to remind herself that she needed to be professional and calm. Then he continued.
"Your first task is to sort these ingredients, identifying each one and going through to check that the quality is excellent, please catalog them into the cabinets when you are through. This is a test Apprentice Hermione. I'll be in my office. Please bring me the list when you're through."
"Very well Master Lucius," She said politely as he left the room.
Turns out Master Lucius was a bastard. There must be over 500 ingredients on the table. She was shocked when she got a closer look.
This would take hours. She growled before looking for gloves. First she went through checking to make sure should could identify all the ingredients. There were over 50 challenges that took her a moment which actually thrilled her. She wasn't used to working with such complex and rare ingredients.
Some of the ingredients were merely in their natural state. Which meant they would take some preparation to use in a potion but also meant they were of the highest quality and that the potion would be a lot more potent. She was impressed with the level of quality he purchased to use on an apprentice. Most masters would not let their apprentices touch these until closer to the end.
She sat deep in thought. Perhaps he felt she could handle it, which meant he had a bit of respect for her despite their tendency to act like oil and water when they were around each other. This cheered her up immensely while she worked.
While she cataloged she couldn't help but think of Draco. He was just dreamy she thought, smiling as she recounted the last few days with him and the way he satisfied her passionately. Ugh she couldn't wait to see him again. What a sap. She hummed to herself while she tried to figure out how to sort the ingredients.
Most masters would categorized them alphabetically, but that isn't personally the way Hermione would do it. That meant you would have to go through a lot of ingredients that are hardly used to find the correct one each time which wasn't efficient.
The way Hermione liked to sort the ingredients was by most frequently used and then subcategorize the ingredients in each section alphabetically.
She nervously thought. Test indeed. If Lucius didn't like the way she sorted the ingredients, she would have to start over tomorrow. She sighed before getting on with it, trusting her gut.
A few hours later she was done. She nervously clutched her list and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. This would be the first time stepping foot in Lucius' office. She knocked softly when she reached the correct door.
"Come in," He replied.
"Master Lucius," she nodded to him.
"Have you completed your first task?" He asked.
"Yes," She responded nervously.
"Come in and have a seat," he gestured her over to a chair in front of his desk.
She handed him the list. Before he looked he spoke, "were all of the ingredients up to your level of satisfaction?"
"Of course Master Lucius. They were of the highest quality. I was quite impressed."
"And did you sort them alphabetically?" He asked before briefly glancing down at the list before him.
"Um. No."
He looked up with a furrowed brow.
"I actually feel it is more efficient to organize them by frequency of use and then subcategorize alphabetically from there," she cleared her throat when she was finished As her anxiety rose.
"I see." He responded with a blank expression.
"You may return tomorrow, same time. You are excused Apprentice Hermione." He said looking down at the list again in a dismissal.
Hermione glowered. What did that mean? She stood up angrily, and was about to leave the room when she turned back to ask him if she would have to redo it tomorrow.
Before she spoke, she noticed on his desk three photos. One of Narcissa on their wedding day, one of Draco as a young boy, and one newspaper clipping framed from the Daily Prophet. Her jaw dropped again.
"Mr. Malfoy! What is that picture doing on your desk," she asked angrily forgetting to address him by his title.
"Oh yes, Mr. Potter sent that as an early Christmas present. I thought it was a very nice gesture on his behalf to make amends." Lucius grinned at her again, amusement pouring out of the sod.
Hermione stormed out of the office, and headed straight to the floo.
—
"Harry bloody potter!" Hermione yelled as she stormed into his flat.
Harry was sitting next to Ron on the couch playing that awful muggle game again. When he saw Hermione he smiled.
"Hello Hermione. To what pleasure do I owe this visit?" He asked innocently. Ron grinning at his best mate.
"Harry." She forced out through clenched teeth. Looking around the flat until she found another framed picture and held it up to him.
"Oh! That. I knew it would fascinate you completely as to the magic I used. Go ahead, ask your questions, I'll share my brilliance with you."
"Yeah I have a lot of questions, number one, how dare you?" She crossed her arms.
Ron and Harry fell together on the couch laughing at their friend.
It took a full minute for them to stop, Ron walked up to her and pulled her into a hug.
"You have to admit it's a riot Mione!"
She tutted.
"No really! It's the funniest bloody thing you've ever done, and I for one never want to forget it. Best early Christmas gift ever."
"Did you have to give one to Lucius SODDING MALFOY?" She bellowed.
"No of course not, I just found it hilarious to do so. I even brought it to him in person."
"Gah! I hate you!"
"Just consider it payback for your behavior at my engagement party. I'm already fielding questions about if you need to be cut off for the actual wedding."
Hermione threw her hands up in the air. Before sitting on the couch between her two friends. They wrapped their arms around her and squeezed her comfortingly.
"Luckily Mr. Greengrass just loved you! He said in no uncertain terms you were to be given full range of the bar."
Hermione burst out laughing at this.
"Oh dear. Well, I'm pleased I haven't ruined that relationship for you. How is Mrs. Greengrass in regards to my behavior."
"She's mostly just ranted about Draco actually. Says he must be a bad influence on you." Harry mused warmly. Hermione smiled at that and kissed each boy on their head before getting up to floo back to the manor.
—
Luckily Draco's wing at the manor had its own floo, so Hermione could go straight back to the comfortable couch in the library and lay down.
"Where have you been?" Draco stormed over to her.
"What? What's wrong?" She asked surprised by the anxiety and stress rolling off Draco in waves.
"I know you finished with my father! Was he rude to you? Did you hate it? Do you want to move from the manor?" Frankly he was freaking out a bit.
"Draco. Sit." She gestured to the chair nearest to her.
"So? Tell me what happened!" He started to bite his nails again.
"It was… fine. Highs and lows, I'd say. I just got back from yelling at Harry."
"Oh. Well that's fine." He moved over to the couch and sat by her feet, lifting them up to massage them.
Hermione looked back at him with a sweet smile.
"You don't need to try to get on my good side Draco, I'm still very happy with you." He paused to give her a genuine smile before resuming his massage on her feet.
"Harry gave your father one of the framed photos."
Draco laughed, squeezing her feet, and Hermione continued, "he had it sitting on his desk."
"Harry?"
"Your father."
Draco stopped rubbing her feet immediately and pulled her up into his arms with a smile.
"Hermione. You have no idea what this means."
"What? That your father wants to laugh at my embarrassment forever?"
"No, of course not. Did you notice the rest of the photos?"
"Yeah. Just you and your mother.." she finished, not connecting the dots.
"Don't you get it? He only has photos of family on his desk. He's… well, he's fond of you I suppose. He's accepting you as a Malfoy." He kissed her head and smiled into her hair.
"He is?"
"Yes, he would never put the photo on his desk otherwise. Those photos haven't changed in 15 years. He's never put another one up. This is a good sign love."
Hmm. Hermione thought. She felt her heart warm a bit. This was disturbing her.
"But I'm a muggleborn."
"It doesn't matter Hermione." He pulled her in for a deeper kiss. Hermione pulled back to ask him a question.
"If I did something he approved of would he ignore it or praise me? And if he disproved would he wait to confront me about it or tell me immediately?" She was thinking back to her categories of potion ingredients.
"If he was pleased he would ignore it and find a way to subtly show you later. If he disproved, he would immediately make you rectify the situation." Draco responded thoughtfully.
"Oh." She smiled now, extremely pleased, "I think this apprenticeship will work out after all. Now can we rest before the dancing? I can only imagine what that horrible lady will say now that you have bedded your bride you dancing dragon you!" She giggled.
He pulled her down on the couch with him, kissing her dearly and summoning a soft blanket to wrap over them. They drifted off peacefully.
—
The next day Hermione went early into the lab in cautiously good spirits. She was determined to change her attitude about the situation and remain positive. If he could try, so could she.
The dancing the previous evening had actually been a ball she chuckled to herself at her lame joke. It turns out Madam Baile thought they were much improved even if she did have a lot to say about Hermione's engagement party moves. It turns out Hermione would only need one more dance lesson before that class was deemed finished.
Hermione was actually enjoying her classes for the most part, she always had enjoyed learning, and the pureblood customs were fascinating. She was pretending she was an anthropologist trying to immerse herself in a new culture.
Hermione surveyed the cauldron in front of her. Perhaps she would even get to brew today, she thought hopefully.
Lucius entered the lab. He was surprised to see her there early but greeted her nonetheless.
"Master Lucius, I wanted to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I think you have a lot to teach me and I'm excited to learn from you." She said honestly, "also, please feel free to call me just Hermione if you wish."
He surveyed her closely before sitting in the chair near her.
"As you wish Hermione, if it pleases you, when we are not in the lab, you can call me Lucius." He said awkwardly. Then he began.
"The first few weeks of brewing will be mastering the basics. I need to make sure you still remember the potions up to NEWT level. Then from there it will be Mastery level potions and then improvisational potions. That is the most important. To complete your mastery, you will need to create a unique potion for patent. You can think on that later. Next to the caldron you'll find a list of first year's potions. A bit boring for you, I'm sure, but it should go quickly for you at least." He finished kindly.
"That sounds very comprehensive. Will you be observing me in the lab?" She asked.
"Some of the time, for the first few days, and then sporadically through the weeks." He replied.
It was a terse relationship but moving along in the right direction Hermione reflected.
"Please feel free to talk to me as you wish while I brew, I will not get distracted." Hermione told him. Then she realized she was just inviting awkward conversation with the man, but for relationships to move forward, she supposed it was the right call.
He looked at her thoughtfully while she began.
"Miss… Hermione, I mean, how did this business idea come about?" He asked with genuine interest.
Hermione started preparing the ingredients for the first potion.
"Well I suppose I saw a need for the business from my own struggles." She answered honestly.
"From the war?" Lucius asked.
"Yes."
"I find myself sometimes, unable to… cope, with my memories." Lucius spoke to her candidly. Shocking Hermione again.
"Well, I am happy to listen to you, I know you don't know me very well, but this will one day be my job and I do understand some of what you're going through." She said delicately. "Talking about it is important."
"I will think about it." He replied, retreating to the potions cabinet to check on her organizational system of ingredients. Or perhaps to hide from his admissions and vulnerability.