Chapter 5
Lucius had lied. He didn’t have anywhere to be. He had however reached his quota for social interaction. Having barely spoken to anyone but Draco and Narcissa in years, he had become quite accustomed to his self-imposed isolation, so it didn’t take much for him to feel the need to retreat into it. Particularly when he found himself face to face with Hermione Granger.
He’d avoided almost all interaction with the wizarding world in the year since his release, other than occasionally bumping into one of his son’s small group of friends. Knowing that he couldn’t cut himself off completely for fear he’d go mad, he’d begun to venture into the Muggle world. It took a little getting used to, of course, but he was a quick learner and soon found himself far more comfortable in the Muggle world than he could imagine being in the wizarding one again.
In the Muggle world he had complete anonymity. He wasn’t Lucius Malfoy, Death Eater, or even Lucius Malfoy, ex Death Eater. He wasn’t a man who’d had to confess his mistakes and regrets to the world, only to have it twisted and splashed across the front page of newspapers. He wasn’t the man who had failed his family. Lucius didn’t know what was harder, to have to admit to how very wrong he had been, or the fact that admitting it made little difference. He would still be judged for the things he had done, his change of heart would still be scoffed at and disbelieved. Still, that was the price he had to pay.
It didn’t, however, mean he had to inflict it on himself more than necessary. In the Muggle world, he could at least enjoy a cup of coffee and the normality of being surrounded by people, without the weight and judgement of their stares.
What he hadn’t expected was that any part of the wizarding world would follow him into the little slice of normality he’d carved out in the Muggle world. And not just any part of the wizarding world, but the war heroine herself, Hermione Granger. The woman who, as just a teenager, he’d had no choice but to fight against. The woman who, too short a time later, he’d had to watch being tortured by his sister-in-law, helpless to protect her, a prisoner in his own home, without even his wand.
Shame washed through him every time he remembered the day Bellatrix had tortured Hermione Granger in front of him. It was worse by far than the events that had taken place at the Ministry previously. At that time, he’d only begun to question his beliefs about Muggleborns. He resented being forced to fight children, no matter what their blood status was, and so caused as little harm as possible while doing what he had to do to keep up appearances. By the time Hermione had been brought to the manor, not only had his views changed, but he’d actually wanted the Light to win. He’d been counting on it. If he couldn’t find a way to get his family to safety, he had to rely on them winning, and ridding the world of that vile half human monster.
Still, he’d had no choice but to watch on as she screamed and writhed in agony. A girl whom he’d not only realised was just as worthy of her magic as any pureblood, but whom he’d also come to admire for her strength and tenacity, as well her obviously sharp mind. He’d known for years that she was top of every class, and that clearly translated into the real world, too. He didn’t for a second think it was anyone else’s brains that had brought the golden trio this far. Yes, they’d all done their part, but he didn’t believe it would have been possible without Hermione.
Yet, somehow, this woman could bear to look at him. Even talk to him. He couldn’t understand it. When he’d been told that she had allowed Draco to share secret information with him, he’d been a little surprised, but reasoned she was a smart girl, she’d measure what risks to take. He’d actually been hugely relieved, for he’d feared that discovering him at Malfoy Enterprises may cause her to cut ties with her son, and he knew that would hit him very hard. Lucius never again wanted to be a cause of any pain for Draco.
The first time he’d seen Hermione in the coffee shop, he’d felt more vulnerable than he had done in a long time. It had almost felt like having a weakness exposed, being seen there. But instead of curling her lip in disgust, she’d smiled at him. It was a small, tight smile, but it was still a smile. Lucius couldn’t begin to comprehend how she didn’t seem to abhor the very sight of him.
The week following their first encounter, he’d almost considered not returning. Surely it had been too good to be true; perhaps he should leave it where it was, and avoid the opportunity to discover it was, in fact, a fluke. However, as Sunday morning arrived, Lucius found that while still warring with himself, the pull to go was too strong to resist. I must be some kind of fucking masochist.
When Lucius arrived, Hermione wasn’t there. He brushed of the wave of disappointment, telling himself it was actually relief that he felt. He collected his order and settled at the same table as he always chose if it were vacant. Lucius doubted he’d ever rid himself of the defensive habit of sitting where he could view an entire room and all its exit and entry points. In this case, halfway down the room and with his back, as always, to the wall, not even attempting to read that morning as he knew he would never be able to concentrate. Instead, he watched out of the window.
After ten minutes, he saw her. It was impossible to deny she’d turned into a beautiful woman. Her hair, slightly darker than he remembered, twisted up today with a few tendrils falling down and brushing her sun-bronzed shoulders. She wore high waisted light blue jeans, a simple black vest tucked into them, and sandals. Lucius couldn’t help but notice how well her choice of clothing accentuated her figure. It had taken him time to become accustomed to how Muggles dressed, though he knew from The Prophet - as well as a few of Pansy’s magazines - that Muggle fashion was increasingly part of the wizarding world.
She looked straight at him when she walked in, and he thought she looked a little nervous. She walked over with her coffee, and he managed a tense greeting, but words briefly failed him when she asked if she could join him, and so he made do with a curt nod.
It became apparent that she’d made all the moves she was going to, and any further interaction depended on him. Truthfully, he had no clue what to say in a situation he would never have imagined himself to be in. As she began to fidget, her discomfort showing, he took pity on her and asked about her work. Work! Honestly man, that’s the best you could come up with?
It wasn’t as though he could start their first conversation by mentioning any of the things that really mattered. He highly doubted it was the time to acknowledge to her his countless wrongdoings or his deep regret for what she had suffered in his home. No, that would most certainly not make things more comfortable at this juncture. Not to mention, frankly, he couldn’t possibly face bringing it up right now. It was all he could do to maintain his impassive mask while making small talk.
It seemed he had unsettled her when he mentioned her working relationship with Draco. She visibly tensed and he couldn’t imagine what caused her reaction. Only as she let out a breath of relief when he continued to say how highly his son spoke of her did he realise that she must have been expecting a rebuke of some sort. The knowledge of it caused an all too familiar rush of shame, but it was quickly replaced by the shock that reverberated all the way to his tainted soul when she looked up and met his eyes for the first time since she’d sat down. It was as though she knew. As though she could see everything he tried so hard to hide behind his mask of indifference.
Lucius found himself able to relax ever so slightly as they talked about Draco. He’d let his son down, unforgivably in his view, but somehow Draco had found it in his heart to forgive, and their relationship was stronger than it had ever been. Lucius was proud beyond measure of his son and would spend the rest of his life trying to make up for the damage he’d done, although Draco deemed it unnecessary.
His relaxation was short lived, however, when Hermione brought the conversation back to him. As disconcerted as he was by her mention of the isolation in which he lived, he couldn’t help but be amused at the look of horror on her face when she realised she’d spoken so candidly. He covered his discomfort by quickly turning the conversation back to Draco, but couldn’t shake his need to retreat.
It was at this point that Lucius decided he’d handled all he could for the time being. Although uncomfortable, he’d managed a short interaction, but when the conversation turned to him and threatened his carefully crafted defences, he reached his limit. He made his excuses and stood to leave. Strangely, Hermione seemed almost flustered by this.
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Hermione glanced at Theo in surprise, jumping up from her desk and rushing to open the door to see what all the commotion was. She was met by the sight of the Aurors preparing to leave as per emergency protocol. She caught sight of Ron, just about to leave.
“Ron! What’s happened?”
“Not sure yet, got reports of an explosion. I’ll come see you as soon as we’re back.” Before she could open her mouth to tell him to be careful, he was gone, apparating from the emergency apparition station in the Aurors’ office.
For the next forty-five minutes, Hermione and Theo attempted to work, but were distracted by anticipation and worry for their friends. Finally, the door opened to reveal Harry and Ron, who, to Hermione’s relief, looked fit, healthy, and unruffled.
“Oh, thank Merlin, you’re okay!”
“You worry too much, ‘Mione. We’re always okay.” Ron told her, as he took the seat opposite Theo’s desk, leaving Harry to follow into the one opposite Hermione.
“I do try to tell her,” Theo piped up, pursing his lips in disapproval.
“Really, Theo? Because I’m pretty sure you’ve spent as much time as me pacing this office when they go on emergency call outs over the years.” Hermione raised her eyebrows in challenge.
“That’s beside the point,” Theo raised his chin haughtily, “I still tell you not to panic, don’t I?”
“Yes, Theo. Yes, you do tell me not to panic, while you yourself are panicking.” Rolling her eyes Hermione turned back to Ron and Harry, who were looking amused. “So, what happened?”
“Not much, to be honest. A call came in, saying there had been an explosion in an abandoned house just outside Hogsmeade so we got there, put out the fire, and that’s basically it. We’ve got to go back, until they’ve finished the search, but we thought we’d come and let you know everything was okay.” She smiled at Harry; he was always more patient when it came to her worrying, probably because he was a worrier himself.
“Thanks, Harry.”
“Hey, can we come back with you?” Everyone looked to Theo. “I know you probably don’t need us but please, for love of magic, give us an excuse to get out of here for a bit. Cases have been so quiet recently I’m almost reduced to filing,” Theo begged with an abject look of horror on his face.
“Yeah, I don’t see why not,” shrugged Harry. “To be honest, extra eyes never hurt.”
Theo jumped up in excitement. “Come on then, field trip! Let’s go.” He looked down at Hermione as if to ask why in the world she was still sitting. Raising her eyebrows and smirking, she turned to her desk and began neatening up a few things with exaggerated care. Theo grabbed her arm, hauling her to her feet with him. “You’re not even funny. Now move.”
Harry and Ron both burst into laughter at their antics before they all headed out.
They apparated into an open space close to Hogsmeade. They could see the village easily from where they stood. “So, who exactly called in the explosion?” Hermione asked.
“See that house on the right, at the end of the street?” Harry pointed, waiting for Hermione to nod before he continued, “Hannah Abbot’s great aunt lives there. The window facing this way is the kitchen window. She was washing up and saw it, and sent a patronus straight to us.”
“When we asked the other neighbours if they’d seen anything they all said no; they’d heard something, but figured it was George and Lee experimenting again,” Ron informed them. George and Lee had a small warehouse on the outskirts of Hogsmeade where they made a lot of their stock and tested new items.
“For heaven’s sake! If it had been them, they could have been hurt. Why would no one report it?” Hermione stamped her foot to reinforce her point.
“To be fair ‘Mione, you must remember from when you used to stay at The Burrow and Fred and George were experimenting, eventually there are so many weird bangs and noises that you just get used to it.”
“Hmm, well I suppose that is true,” Hermione admitted with pursed lips.
“Hellooo! Field trip, remember! Does anyone actually want to focus on what we’re here for?” Hermione found it rather hilarious to be reprimanded by Theo, so impatient was he to do something interesting.
They approached the house, talking briefly with one of the Aurors who was milling around outside. Apparently, they’d used some diagnostic spells and found some traces of dark magic, but nothing to indicate who cast it or what had been cast. They moved into the house which was, as Harry had said, completely gutted. Almost everything was black. A large cauldron lay on its side in the middle of what looked as though it had been the kitchen.
“I still don’t understand how only one person saw this.”
“There aren’t many other houses that have windows facing this direction, and the ones who do were empty when we knocked. It's the middle of the day on a Tuesday; people are at work.”
“Plus,” Ron chipped in, “we think it only took us about three minutes to get here and put the fire out from when Mrs Abbott first saw it, so that didn’t give much time for anyone else to see it.”
“Hey, what’s this?” Theo, who had wandered off while they spoke, waved them over to where he was crouched in the corner. He was pointing to a sliver of green amongst the vast amounts of soot and charred debris. Harry summoned one of the Aurors collecting evidence, and they magically retrieved and bagged the item. On closer inspection, it appeared to be a Hellebore leaf, somehow completely undamaged by the blast. They peered in unison at the cauldron behind them.
“How the fuck is that not burnt to a crisp?” Ron exclaimed.
“Some potions require a spell to be put on certain ingredients, to prevent them from burning or cooking down into the potion, because the potion requires them to be boiled in it, but then removed entirely. It could be that.” Everyone stared at Theo. “What? You don’t think I’ve been friends with Draco, the potions nut, all these years, without picking up a thing or two?”
“Nice.” Ron looked impressed.
“You know, I’m beginning to think we’re looking at some kind of underground, black market potions ring,” Harry said, looking to the others for their thoughts.
“You could well be right, Harry. Shall I take this over to Draco and see if it would be of any help with the other potion they were trying to work out?”
“Yeah, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“I’ll come with you, Princess. Then we can pick up pizza on the way home. We haven’t had it yet this week.”
“That’s because it’s only Tuesday! But yes, ok, pizza does sound good tonight.”
“You two are so strange.” Ron shook his head in bemusement.
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It wasn’t until the Friday that Draco came back to them, turning up at Hermione and Theo’s office.
“Well, this is unusual.” Hermione smiled up to Draco who was still standing in the doorway.
“Well, don’t stand there, man, come in!” Theo told him. Draco walked into the room, closing the door behind him and took the seat in front of Theo’s desk, angling it so he could see them both. “But she’s right, what are you doing here? You never come here.” Theo added suspiciously.
“Well, I’ve basically not left my office until at least 7pm every day this week. There was only so much I could take. I’ve got some news about the potion, but then I was wondering if you both fancied going out for lunch?” Draco looked a little uncomfortable as he finished speaking. It wasn’t hard for Hermione to imagine why; the visit to their office was unusual enough, but to invite them both to lunch was unheard of. As Lucius had rightly pointed out, not only did Draco rarely socialise, but when he did, it was behind closed doors.
“You’d better call the Aurors in here, Hermione; this is definitely an imposter.” Whereas Hermione had the tact not to mention how out of character this was, Theo most certainly didn’t have such diplomacy.
“I can change my mind, very quickly, you know.” Draco glared at his oldest friend.
“No need, because Theo’s going to shut the fuck up now, aren’t you, Theo?” Theo shrank a little in his chair, so withering was the look Hermione had fixed him with.
“We’d love to get out for lunch, Draco. But first, what did you find?” She leaned forward in interest.
“The original remnants, as far as we can tell, are essentially a super strong Pepper-Up Potion. I do mean, super strong – I’d estimate it would keep you awake for days, but we’re not at a point where we can test it yet. We may not actually even get to a point where we feel it’s safe enough to test.”
“Gods, no! Of course you can’t test it if you’re not sure of it. You said as far as you can tell?”
“Well, yes. It’s not made of the usual components of a Pepper-Up, just most of them, with some added extras.”
“Hmm…” Hermione bit her lip in thought, “and what about the Hellebore?”
“Nope, nothing to do with it. We tried including it, in various quantities and at various times throughout the brewing process and it just rendered the potion null and void each time.”
“Hey,” Theo began. “You know you said that original potion was like a stronger Pepper-Up? I wonder, if you could perfect it, if the Aurors could use it, or a modified version of it, in their stake- outs? We know Pepper-Up only has limited abilities, so it could really help them.”
“It’s definitely worth considering; we’ll look into it,” Draco agreed with a nod.
“Yes, you could be onto something there, Theo,” Hermione smiled across at him.
“Well, you know by now that I’m not just a pretty face.” Hermione and Draco both rolled their eyes.
“We’ll let Harry and Ron know when we’re back from lunch. It’s not urgent and, frankly, it’s a little anticlimactic. Though it would be wonderful if we could use the discovery to help the Aurors. Ironic that their own potion might be what helps the Aurors stay awake to catch them.”
Twenty minutes later, the trio were sitting down to lunch in a mid-scale Muggle restaurant not too far from the Ministry. The three of them had never been out socially before, but it quickly became apparent that they were quite at ease. The fact that they were in Muggle London definitely helped as Hermione and Draco, at least, still drew a lot of attention even individually. Draco, as well as his past, was one of the richest men in the wizarding world, not to mention an undeniably very attractive wizard.
“Granger, I wanted to run something past you?” Hermione turned to Draco with interest.
“What about me?” Theo burst out in indignation. “Why wouldn’t you want to run something by me, too? I’m only your oldest friend.”
Draco, who was equally as used as Hermione to Theo’s dramatics, didn’t take the bait. “Feel free to get involved if you like, but, honestly, it seems more Granger’s kind of thing than yours. Unless you’ve also secretly become a compulsive control freak with other-worldly organisational skills?”
“Hey! I am not an…” Hermione gave up as they both gave her incredulous looks, as if amazed that she’d even try to argue it weren’t true. “Ok, fine. I am. Now what is it?”
“Malfoy Enterprises is going to hold a fund-raising ball, or gala, or…something. See, this is why I need you.” Hermione had already sat straighter in her chair, her eyes lighting up in excitement, hoping she was correct about where this was going. “I was hoping you may be able to take the lead on it. There’s a meeting scheduled for Monday, the first one, with what we already have of a planning committee.”
“Ok, well firstly, what are we fund-raising for?” Hermione reached down and pulled a small pad from her bag.
“Your use of the word we is very encouraging. The answer is that I’m not one hundred percent certain yet. Definitely something in relation to orphans from the war, but what exactly is still to be determined. It’s something else I could use your help with. You know Malfoy Enterprises has given a lot to charities for war orphans, but until now we’ve not become actively involved. It’s something I always wanted to do, but I wanted to get the family name in a better standing first. I didn’t want it to come across as a play just to get in people’s good books. I wanted to build the trust of the community first. I think we’re ready for it now.”
“Oh Draco, that’s fantastic! I mean, I would love to help with this.” Hermione paused to jot down another note, causing Theo and Draco to share a smirk. “My only concern is that it’s likely to be very time consuming, especially if you want me to take the lead,” she let her gaze wander in thought briefly, “but to be honest work has been so quiet recently, that I’m pretty sure Kingsley wouldn’t mind me taking some time for this.”
“It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask. It wouldn’t exactly do the Ministry’s reputation any harm to have you involved in something like this.” Theo pointed out.
“Ah, there’s the Slytherin in you, my friend. I almost forgot he was in there, so often do you drown him in your melodramatic tendencies.” Draco mocked his friend.
“I think you’ll find that keeps people all the more unsuspecting, thus being all the more Slytherin.” Theo haughtily lifted his chin.
“Touche,” Draco remarked, tilting his glass in Theo’s direction. Theo smirked in reply before Draco turned back to Hermione.
“There was one other thing I wanted to mention.” Hermione looked up from the notes she’s started making, noticing that Draco was fiddling with his glass and looking a little uncomfortable.
She shared a glance with Theo before prompting, “Yes?”
“I’ve been trying to encourage my father to take part in the committee.” He paused, looking to gauge her reaction, but she managed, with difficulty, to remain impassive though her heart rate had increased. She noticed Theo looking at her and glanced away quickly. She still wasn’t ready to tell Draco about her interactions with Lucius, but she also had no idea why. Draco continued as she looked back to him, “I haven’t had much success yet, but I think I’m making progress. I just wanted to check that wouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“No, of course not, no problem at all.” Hermione smiled. “So, what time does the meeting start?” She avoided Theo’s questioning eye when he realised she wasn’t going to mention anything to Draco. She knew they’d be discussing it as soon as they were alone. One of many things Theo had in common with Hermione was curiosity, and the complete lack of ability to leave things alone. Good job curiosity only kills cats.