Summary: Hermione's been enjoying some harmless flirting with her boss, Lucius, but is it harmless, or would she like it to be more...

Didn't know how lost I was

Hermione picked up the pile of folders that she was taking home with her and turned, walking straight into the soft wall of a person with an aftershave she knew well, having worked around it for the last few months. Just to make an extra point about boundaries, Hermione gave him a sharp elbow out of the way.

"Do it again and I'm going to curse a bell to your neck," she warned the human wall.

"I merely came to ask you if you wished to have dinner at the Manor this evening?" Lucius asked her retreating back.

"Oh." Hermione turned back to see him rubbing at his ribs, amusement in his eyes. "You still need to stop being a creep, though. There's nothing wrong with announcing your presence when you enter the room, you know?"

"And deny myself the chance of catching you unaware at any given moment? I think not," Lucius said with a smug grin.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Stop looking at me like that!"

"Like what, Miss Granger?"

"Like you're trying to undress me," she said. She felt her cheeks flame with heat at the words she hadn't truly meant to say out loud. She let out an angry grunt of frustration and left.

"We serve dinner at eight," his voice called after her.

Needless to say, Hermione did not take up the invitation that evening.

X

Hermione took her cup of tea out into small square of grass that was her front garden. She lived in a terraced house in the middle of London, but it was her own place that she could hide away from the world in. Her safe place where she could be herself. She sat on the bench under the window of her living room and pulled her legs up into a crossed-legged position.

She liked this time of year as the evenings started to stay lighter for longer, the temperature was warmer and everyone on the street was more friendly to each other with their passing greetings.

But that heartbreak and loneliness she'd never shaken since Ron would linger over her. She thought she was safe like this, living by herself, away from everyone, keeping all her knew her at arm's length. She tried to remind herself she didn't need someone to be complete, she was perfectly capable of getting along in the world as she was.

She just didn't want to.

And then Lucius Malfoy had turned up in her work place – her new manager (so off limits in so many ways) – and she definitely knew she no longer wanted to. Why did it have to be him to show her that?

Was it because he never reprimanded her sharp tongue against him? Or was it because he gave as good as he got? Or was it because it was a type of flirting that meant it would never go anywhere – should never go anywhere?

Hermione absently took a sip of her cooling tea as the storm of thoughts swirled around her mind when…

"These streets are oddly identically, are they not?" Lucius' voice floated to her, making her choke on her tea.

She sat up quickly, wiping her chin as she watched the man in question stop on the other side of the small brick wall of her little garden. "There are laws for stalking your workers, Mr Malfoy," she said before she could hold her tongue.

Lucius shrugged lazily. "If that's what you want to call a dinner invitation."

Hermione frowned, glancing at her watch. "Now? Tonight?"

"Why not tonight? I'm even wearing something pretty." He waved a hand at his smart, tailored suit that was definitely more enticing than his usual work wear.

Hermione started to stand, struggling a little as pins and needles took over her legs and made her sit back down, which then caused the rest of her tea to spill over her jeans. "That was graceful," she muttered.

Lucius hopped over the brick wall with little effort. "You will sit in these ridiculous positions." He took the cup off her and held his other hand out to her, which she took gratefully, even though the pins and needles were already subsiding.

They both paused as they stared at their joined hands.

"You have very soft hands," he whispered as a devious grin spread across his lips. She snatched her hand away, already reading his thoughts. "That was a compliment."

"Try the dinner first, then we'll discuss that… compliment," she said firmly.

"Or…" Lucius' voice trailed off, his footsteps close behind her in the narrow hallway of her home. She turned as he pulled her to him, his lips finding hers with ease, like he'd be able to always find her in the dark.

He pinned her to the wall as she clung on to him, her heart beating erratically in her chest and her hands shaking as she hugged his neck. And just like that, the loneliness started to melt away with that one kiss.

Lucius pulled away a little, their heavy breaths mingling, his fingers dug into her waist. "I wasn't sure if you'd return that," he admitted.

"I wasn't sure I knew how to anymore," she answered truthfully.

He pulled back even more, to look her in the eyes properly. "You've been hurt?" he asked.

"More than I thought possible."

Without another word being said, Lucius understood it all.

He kiss her softly, chastely.

"About that dinner, then…?"

Word Count: 908

Written for:

Yearly

- Insane House Challenge - 217. (emotion) hesitant

- 365 - 354. (word) Compliment

Quarterly

Victoria Sandwich

- (word) Undress (1)

- (dialogue) 'Why not tonight? I'm even wearing something pretty.' (2)

- (song) Like a Virgin (4)