A/N: Hi everyone! I really hope you like this chapter. If you are interested in getting updates about my fics, follow me on my FF only twitter at Rileyxpotter17. Enjoy! Lyrics from Marina and the Diamonds, again!

"Rule Number Two, just don't get attached to somebody you could lose"

~o0o~

"So, if anything comes up about work…which it will, should I pretend I don't work at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes? Just the Auror office?" Lacey asked helplessly, looking around the breakfast table. It was 7 in the morning, which meant she had only 11 hours until her date that night and she was not prepared at all. Sirius looked like he was about to fall asleep on the table as he nursed a cup of coffee. Remus, on the other hand, looked very high-strung as he sat next to Narcissa who was picking around the greasy breakfast Ginny had whipped up.

"My husband is a smart man, Lacey. Last night he put in a request to pull your file for his personal perusal. Luckily, Cecelia, the secretary of his office, is one of my very good friends' daughters. I pre-warned her that he might make that request to find out more about you, under the pretense that he was looking for a new mistress and I would like to block his attempts. She's going to hold it up as long as possible but it won't be indefinite," she sighed.

"I can talk to Harry about having it go 'missing', kid'll do anything I ask. And if I mention Lucius in the sentence, all the better. It won't be a problem. Just please love, make as little reference to knowing us as possible. If he finds a trail, it will lead him to Narcissa. It would only be a matter of time," Sirius said, his voice sleepy. Ginny reached over and tugged a little at the ends of his shaggy black hair and he straightened up.

"But please, don't lie…just omit things if you can," Remus sighed. The group before Lacey all seemed more on edge than she was.

"And don't be late tonight, he doesn't like that," Narcissa added.

"I feel completely unprepared for this," Lacey sighed, resting her forehead in her hands and groaning over her plate of bacon and eggs.

"The fact that he asked you to dinner so soon is a really good sign!" Ginny reminded her, "You must have done something right."

"You'll be just fine dear," Narcissa said, standing up from the table and placing a hand gently on her shoulder before moving towards the door, "Thank you breakfast Ginny," she said, trying to hide a faint grimace, "but I have to go. I am meeting with my lawyer to start the paperwork."

She gave a silent, sweeter goodbye to Remus with her eyes before leaving. The remaining four finished eating, but at the end of the meal, Lacey's plate was still half full. She just couldn't bring herself to swallow down much when her nerves were making even thinking nearly impossible.

Work went by in the same manner. She hardly heard anything that Ron said to her, but tried her best to keep up, even when her mind was all the way up on the 5th floor with Lucius, desperately trying guess what he was going to say to her.

~o0o~

"Lacey, what is going on with you. You've been somewhere else all day. You gave puking pastilles to that kid and told him it was fever fudge!" Fred sighed as he walked over to the brunette who was anxiously looking at the clock.

"I'm sorry Fred, I really am. I just have something really important to do tonight and if I could slip out a little bit early, that would be fantastic," she said desperately. It was nearing half past five and she could barely control her nerves enough to ask the favor.

"Lace, with your new Ministry job, now you can only work nights and we need you!"

"There's plenty of people out on the floor right now, Fred," Lacey pointed out the half dozen, orange-jumpered workers peddling pranks to the evening stragglers. He looked down and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Yeah but they aren't like you, y'know. I know we have a ton of kids willing to work here but I like having you here Lace, I really do," there was a softness in his voice that went completely unnoticed by Lacey, who was tapping her foot erratically without realizing it.

"Thanks Fred, that means the world to me. It really does, and I'm not leaving, I just need a half hour off right now. Please. It won't happen again. Promise," she was desperate and it bothered Fred, but he nodded and she practically skidded into the hallway in the back of the shop for her bag and then locked herself into the bathroom. Fred sighed and went back to the counter of the store where George had just finished selling four skivving snackboxes.

"Is Lacey being completely oblivious to your flirting again?" George winked knowingly at his twin who hopped up on the counter and waved goodbye to a pair of mums buying birthday presents for their kids.

"Something is not right with her and I am going to find out what it is."

"She's a woman, Freddie, nothing is ever right with them!"

"OI! Shut up!" Angelina yelled from where she was packing up boxes to her husband and he just laughed.

They were all interrupted when Lacey came out of the bathroom in a form-fitting dark purple dress that showed a large expanse of her creamy white legs. The rest was modestly cut, not showing too much of her cleavage, but she did have on lipstick and some more makeup than she had had on when coming to work. Her outfit ended in tall black heels and she walked slowly towards the twins, clearly trying to keep her balance.

"I get it, you need to leave early so you can go whoring in Knockturn Alley," Fred laughed, trying to hide his jealousy upon seeing her in such an outfit. He had never known Lacey to dress up like this, and one glance at his twin revealed that even he was shocked.

"No. Not what I am doing. Don't worry about it okay? See you boys tomorrow," she said, blushing, and headed quickly out the door, leaving puzzled looks on both red-heads faces. It was at that moment that George only had to shoot his brother a knowing look promising that he was willing to find out what she was up to as well.

~o0o~

Lacey felt strange walking into the Ministry of Magic at that hour, with everyone rushing past her on their way to the floos to go home to their families. She also received more unfriendly looks than she was prepared for as witches dressed in conservative work attire and robes looked at her dressy outfit with disapproval. Yet, as he had promised, Lucius Malfoy was waiting for her in the middle of the ground floor of the ministry with a completely impassive look on his face.

When she was finally standing in front of him, trying not to shake in her heels, he simply nodded, took her wrist and Lacey felt the terrible pulling on her navel signaling apparition. She swallowed, closed her eyes, and rode out the nauseating feeling that was amplified with side-along and when she felt her heels had hit firm ground again, she ventured a look.

"The bloody Leaky Cauldron? That's where we are going to dinner? That is what I got all dressed up for?" Lacey exclaimed which garnered her some odd looks from passerby as Lucius led her wordlessly into the pub. It was full inside, as it usually was, but a few people quieted their conversation and nosily peered up at Lacey and Lucius when they entered. Her date walked straight to the bar, asking something quietly of the bartender, before beckoning Lacey to follow him towards the back of the pub where stairs led to the rooms. She watched her steps behind him, already not thrilled with the direction the date was going, and was startled when Lucius used a key to unlock one of the rooms. There was a bed in the corner and the furnishings were of a neutral palette, but it looked like the biggest room the inn had. A fire was already burning and there was a small table with some mead and dinner placed upon it. Lacey walked over to one of the seats and quickly sat down while Lucius took a very long time taking off his robes and his jacket before joining her in just a crisp white button down shirt and black slacks. His blonde hair was tied back with a black ribbon, but since it was shorter now, a strand had escaped and was hanging in his face.

"Are you going to say anything to me?" she asked suddenly after a moment of silence when she realized he hadn't even said hello. In reply, he merely opened the bottle of mean and poured them both a glass. Lacey reached for hers hastily, taking a large gulp to try and ease the fear welling up inside of her.

"Sorry. I thought it was best if we waited until we were in private," he said. In all honesty, he was in a bad mood. His work day had been horrible and to top it off, his secretary had proved she was completely useless by not being able to procure Lacey's records. Lucius Malfoy never went into a date unprepared, and he was feeling anxious from the lack of knowledge about the beautiful girl sitting in front of him, which was yet another reason for his foul countenance. He hadn't expected her to look so incredibly sexy. At the ball he saw that she was quite beautiful, but this was completely different. Usually the girls he met with tried to overdo it and ended up looking like complete slags. This girl, however, had done her best to dress up for him and looked amazing, but he knew she was uncomfortable in a way, and it was attractive.

While he took a few deep breaths to calm himself, Lacey dug into the shepherd's pie in front of her, eating politely, but not pickily. And she kept eating to fill the silence between them and to spare her poor stomach, which hadn't had much food due to her nerves.

"Hungry are we?" Lucius asked finally, amusement tingeing his voice. She looked up with narrowed eyes.

"I have to eat. This is dinner. And if you are going to be unsociable, it shouldn't spoil a meal," she shrugged, trying to play off the fact that it greatly unnerved her that he wasn't speaking much. She had expected a much different scenario.

It was at this point that Lucius took a few bites of his meal and some long sips of his mead, watching Lacey finish her meal, dab at her mouth with the napkin, and then drain her glass. She sat back in the chair and looked around the room before settling her pretty eyes on him again.

"Mr. Malfoy, why are we here? I know I don't know much about you, but I know enough to guess that you usually don't dine at places like this. Don't get me wrong, I like the Leaky, but it just seems weird for you to take me here, to see so many people…I…" she began.

"My wife knows I have mistresses, if that is what you are asking," he explained.

"Clearly," she rolled her eyes, "But you don't mind other people knowing?"

"No. She does what she wants as well. Not that I am happy about it…" he grimaced and Lacey straightened, afraid that the conversation was taking a sudden bad turn very quickly, but deciding to play along.

"Oh, does she have a boyfriend?"

"Not that I know of. I wouldn't be happy if she did, but she knows I have had women in the past and our marriage does not suffer from it," he said. Lacey wanted to laugh and tell him how wrong he was, but refrained.

"Why not just get divorced?"

"Miss Delaney, things aren't that simple."

"Fine," she backed off, "But please explain to me. Why here?"

"I always take women here the first time we meet. Why waste time on anything more if it doesn't work out?" he proposed arrogantly and Lacey had to dig her nails into her palm under the table to keep from retorting something rude back at him.

"Oh, I see. So, you want me to become one of these 'women'?"

"Possibly, if you are open to the idea. But I just wanted to get to know you more. There haven't been many women in my life who have treated me how you do," his eyes grew darker and he took another sip of his mead.

"You mean that don't have time for your rude behavior?" she smiled, "And thanks."

"For?"

"For finally calling me a woman," she smirked in delight and he couldn't help but laugh at her for that. Every second that he spent around her was new, and he was surprised by her cleverness.

"Were you a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts, Lacey?" he asked and she found herself blushing at the use of her first name. The way the ''L" rolled off his tongue made her name sound like a delightfully dirty word, only spoken in the privacy of a bedroom-which, she noted with irony, was where they were.

"No, a Gryffindor," she answered, hesitantly. There was no way she could lie about her House, nor would she want to.

"I am not surprised in the least. But now all I know is that you have a lovely name and are from the Hogwarts house I most detest. I guess everything is about balance, is it not?"

"You can't be the only one asking questions, it is hardly fair," her heart was starting to beat more rapidly and she assumed it was a combination of the alcohol and her nerves and hoped to Merlin that it wasn't because he looked quite handsome smirking back at her from across the table.

"Fine, be my guest Lacey, ask whatever you would like. I have a feeling you would even if I told you not to."

"What was your last mistress like? By the way, that word is so arcane…" she mumbled as an afterthought and Lucius mused on the subject. He didn't know why he felt so comfortable in this strange girls' presence and yet so jumpy at the same time. He knew he should be giving her barely anything to go off of, but her sitting there with a wicked smile and her piercing blue eyes and messy hair and the delightful buzz from drinking too fast made him willing to say almost anything. He had never let his guard down so quickly, and part of his brain, the part not consumed by curiosity and lust, begged him not to speak.

"A mistake. She ruined a lot in my life," he was hoping he would be able to leave it at that, but the girl just leaned forward on her elbows and asked why. He cleared his throat awkwardly, "She was my son's girlfriend. I am sure you know Draco, you can't be what, a year maybe, younger than him? As you can imagine our relationship has suffered because of it."

Lacey's eyes went wide. She had initially been dreading this night, but he had proved easy to get information out of so far and she wondered if it would really be so bad faking a relationship with him if he provided gossip like this that she could tell Ginny, "You fucked Pansy Parkinson?!" she nearly screamed in half-horror when she remembered who Draco was dating not long ago. Lucius cringed and she quickly blurted out an apology but he shook his head.

"Not one of my finer moments. As I said before, a mistake. As a result, I haven't had a…a girlfriend," he tip-toed around the other word, "…for a while now. And that is the end of that."

When he looked at Lacey again, his eyes were much more threatening, and it looked like he had closed himself down. She wondered if she had pushed him too far.

"What do you do at the Ministry?" he changed the subject eagerly, wanting to get away from the bad memories of the day Draco found out about Pansy. He involuntarily shuddered, realizing his family was much more fucked up than he cared to think about.

"I work in the Auror office," she said vaguely, knowing it was bound to come up sooner or later, but hoping he didn't pry.

"With Weasley and Potter?" he asked, but his voice had more than a hint of venom.

"Yes, I am their secretary, Ron's to be exact…" she faltered over her friends' name and he noticed, one of his eyebrows cocking up curiously.

"Are you friends with Mr. Weasley?"

Moment of truth, Lacey thought to herself. As she looked across the table at Lucius, she suddenly felt the urge to not lie, to just be honest. She knew that there was no point in getting around her connections to people he despised and hoped that if she was honest, it wouldn't seem suspicious.

"Sort of, I am close friends with his sister, Ginny. She and I played on the Harpies together before we all got let go. And I work at her brother's shop when I am not at the Ministry," she explained and he listening intently, his face going noticeably dim at the mention of Ginny's name.

"I do hope you don't disclose to Ms. Weasley that you have seen me. I daresay it would make her upset and I have done enough harm to that poor girls' life," he said with a voice full of sadness and clarity.

"I won't if don't want me to," she promised, although she knew there was no way to keep it, "You may not remember this, but I was there the day Ginny got that diary. I was shopping with her family. We've been rather inseparable our whole lives."

"Although I think Mr. Potter is still an arrogant arse and your boss is quite a fool, what happened with Ginny is something I have always regretted," he said with sincerity, looking meaningfully into her eyes. One of the reasons Lacey never thought she could convincingly do this job was because of what he had done to Ginny. Yet, he seemed so full of sadness about that one moment in time that she couldn't help but put the issue off of the table when it came to him and her and the job she had to do.

"You know, she was raped down there…Volde…Tom, I don't know…I just, I wanted you to know that," Lacey said, sniffing in emotion. It wasn't something that many people knew. Mrs. Weasley didn't even know it. Only she and Harry did. She wasn't even sure if Sirius would ever find out. Lucius looked down at his now cold food, "Yes, unfortunately, I did know that."

"Oh, right. Of course you would," Lacey nodded, hit with the unpleasant feeling that even though one large issue was being discussed already, there was still the fact that he was a former Death Eater, and of course the mark would still be on his arm. She wasn't sure if she could ever handle looking at it.

Lucius suddenly reached out and took her hand lightly from where it had been resting on the edge of the table, "I didn't mean to bring up something so horrible. All I mean was that I have no ill will against your friend," he said it stiffly and formally and Lacey nodded in reply.

Trying to put a smile on her face she asked, "Erm, Lucius?" she scratched the back of her chocolate brown hair that had now frizzed slightly with the proximity to the fire and he looked at her, curious, "I can't figure out why you asked me to dinner, or why you would even be interested in getting to know me."

He looked away from her, studying the dancing fire for a moment, "As I said before, it has been a long time before a woman has asked me to dance, stepped purposefully on my feet, argued with me, and walked away from me in a period of five minutes. You made quite an impression. Call me a masochist if you like, but your actions that night had the opposite effect of what I am sure you intended."

"How can you be so sure I wanted to upset you?" she tried her best to flirt, and found that this time around, it was easy for the words to leave her lips, "I accepted your dinner offer after all…although I am slightly overdressed for the occasion," she motioned to her outfit which gave Lucius a moment to graze his eyes over the fabric and what was beneath it.

"You look stunning Lacey, and next time I won't make the same mistake," he was bolstered by her flirtation and squeezed her hand gently before pulling away, "May I take you home?"

Lacey blushingly looked over at the bed, "So you had no intention of ever making use of the room?"

"I don't know what you have heard about me, Lacey, and I can hardly fault the fact that there are rumors, but I do prefer to be a gentleman when at all possible," he said and got up from the table, helping her up as well. Lacey panicked. So many emotions were coursing through her body but she tried to act unaffected as they left the room.

"I actually live really close by, we could walk," she offered to stall for time. He took her arm in his and soon they were out on the dark alleyway, all the shops closed up for the night. It was quiet between them, but it was a comfortable silence and Lacey led him up the stairway on the side of the apothecary to her apartment.

"This is it," she said, embarrassed as they stood in front of the door, but he said nothing about it.

"Thank you for the company Miss Delaney. I do hope we will be seeing more of each other," he gave her a heart-stopping smile that showcased a completely different side of his handsome face and brought her hand to his lips to kiss gently. She nodded he agreement and he let her fingers slip through his. She fumbled for her wand and unlocked the door, hesitating on the threshold as he watched her from the top stair.

Both sets of icy eyes locked for a minute and Lacey hardly knew what came over her when she had thrown herself against him, her wand lying forgotten on the floor, and kissed him hard. He was surprised at first, but soon one of his hands was soon buried in her thick brown hair and the other cupped her cheek as he kissed her back.

"Oh fuck, I am so sorry," Lacey giggled in embarrassment, her body humming as she pulled quickly away from him.

"Is every word out of your mouth a dirty one Miss Delaney?" he asked, a smile playing on his lips. She shrugged helplessly and he began to descend the staircase.

"Keep it that way, it's rather charming," he said over his shoulder and she couldn't tell if he was joking. She hurried into her apartment, locking the door and nearly hyperventilating.

I just snogged Lucius Malfoy. Hard. Without being forced to. I just lept on him. What the hell is wrong with me? I just enjoyed my bloody night with him. Oh…oh no Lacey, this is not good. This is not good at all…

She kept talking out loud to herself as she went about her apartment, fussing and straightening pillows out of anxiety before collapsing onto her only partially made bed.

You were just getting into character Lace, that's all. You are just doing a really great job, she tried to convince herself and reason out what had just happened, but before she could think of any logical explanation, she had fallen asleep.

A/N: I really hope you guys enjoyed this! What do you think will happen next between Lucius and Lacey? Will Fred find out? Please review!