Shadows Of The Past

Chapter Ten: A Happy Witch









Where Lucius begins to woo.









Hermione could only come up with one word to describe herself as she moved through the kitchen making dinner. She was excited. She had been walking around all day with a giddy smile on her face and a tingling, heated sensation pumping through her veins. Jessa immediately assumed she had gotten some and refused to believe her when she insisted that sex had nothing to do with it. Though maybe she shouldn’t say that sex had nothing to do with it, surely it had something to do with why Lucius had decided to make a pass. She giggled a little and then frowned because she had been doing it off and on all day and she wasn’t normally a giggler. But then again she wasn’t normally the object of a very handsome man’s attentions either. It felt good, worthy of something as infantile as giggling.







She had shocked the hell out of Harry when she came home singing to herself and carrying a vase of roses that had been delivered to her at work. He thought perhaps she had gotten another promotion, he hadn’t been prepared for her to tell him that Lucius Malfoy liked her, enough to send her rare sterling roses for no reason. Oh the look on his face. She still couldn’t help laughing as she recalled the fish out of water, gap mouthed expression on his face when she told him. Shock was probably putting it mildly. Harry was beyond shocked and more than a little concerned but not even his pessimism regarding Lucius could ruin her happy mood. She had simply smiled, assured him that she was a big girl capable of making her own decisions and fully aware of the risk she took getting involved with a man as worldly as Lucius.







She had changed out of her work clothes into a pair of worn, comfortable jeans and fitted long sleeved tee the same shade of lavender as the roses that now sat on her kitchen counter, reminding her that someone thought she was special and pretty. Elias was playing contentedly in the lounge while she whipped up a batch of chicken tacos. The heavy beat of a reggae pop tune came drifting from her radio and she reached out to turn it up, letting the music move her.









With the music turned up she didn’t hear Lucius step through the fireplace. He took a deep breath, inhaling the spicy scent of food cooking. Elias jumped up from the floor and immediately threw his arms around Lucius’s legs. Lucius reached out and patted his curly head awkwardly, not quite used to the affection he received from the little boy, not quite certain that he deserved it.







“I brought you something.” Lucius said, reaching out to show Elias the blue gift bag dangling from his fingertips.







“Ooooo….a present!” Elias said giddily as he snatched the bag into his little hand and opened it wide. “A train!” He had dozens but that didn’t matter, he pulled the brightly colored wooden train from the bag as though he had never seen one before. “Thank you, Loo-she-us!” His grin tugged at Lucius’s heart as he dropped back to the rug and began to play with his new toy.







“You are welcome, Elias. Where is your mother?” Lucius asked.







“Kitchen.” He replied distractedly as he pushed the little train around in a circle on the rug. Lucius followed the scent of food and the sound of music down the little hall to her kitchen. He stopped and smiled, leaning against the doorframe as he watched her. She was standing in front of the counter, a rather frightening looking knife in her hand chopping tomatoes. It was such a domestic thing, watching her prepare dinner, he did it often but it was never quite as entertaining as it was watching her in that moment. The song coming through the radio had a Caribbean flavor and with every sultry beat her hips rocked from side to side.







He was hypnotized by the slow, seductive sway of her body, the way she was able to almost become the music. Then he heard the soft, raspy sound of her voice as she sang along.







“I want to give you some love…I want to give you some good, good loving.” She wasn’t a great singer by any stretch of the imagination. She was off key though enthusiastic in her delivery. ”Oh I, oh I, oh I ….Yeah I want to give you some good, good loving.”









“Why are you shaking your bum like that, Mum?” Lucius hadn’t heard Elias approach and actually jolted at the child’s words. Hermione turned around suddenly and the moment her eyes met his her face flushed and she turned back around, her hands braced on the counter in front of her as she prayed that the floor would swallow her up.





“Lucius, I didn’t know you were here.” She said hoarsely, her face flaming.







“Elias, why don’t you go wash up for supper.” Lucius said, laying his hand on the child’s shoulder and steering him down the hall towards the bathroom. Elias stared at Lucius curiously for a moment then darted off to do as he was told.







Lucius made his way across the kitchen, coming to a stop right behind her. Her shoulders tensed and she held her breath as his scent wrapped around her. Why did he have to smell so good?





“I see that you received my gift. Do you like them?” He asked softly, inhaling the light fragrance of her curls.







“Yes…they are beautiful. Thank you.” She said, her voice cracking nervously.







“You looked lovely while you were dancing.” He whispered as he gathered her hair up in one hand and pulled it aside, baring her nape. His warm breath tickled the fine hairs there and she shivered. “Were you thinking of me when you were singing that song?”







She closed her eyes even tighter as humiliation washed over her. Not only had she been caught swinging her backside in the kitchen but she had been caught singing, no doubt horribly, as well. Could it get any worse?







“What are you doing?” Elias asked from the doorway. “Does Mummy have something in her hair?” Elias asked excitedly as he ran forward. “Is it a bug? Or a bogey?”







Lucius chuckled and stepped back, his fingertips stroking over her throat lightly in parting. Elias looked far too thrilled at the prospect of something disgusting in his mother’s hair.







“There is nothing in her hair, I was simply moving it out of the way because her hands were covered in tomatoes.” Lucius lied convincingly. “Did you wash your hands?”







“Yes, sir.” Elias said, obviously disappointed that there was nothing exciting to see. He climbed into his chair and stared at the two adults. Something wasn’t right, they were acting strangely and he didn’t understand. “Why were you staring at Mummy’s bum?”







Hermione’s knife clattered into the sink and Lucius tried to reign in his smile. Leave it to Elias, the child missed nothing and would not hesitate to call a body out on it. He supposed he could deny it but that would be lying and he was trying to get away from the bad habits of his past. It seemed better to dance around it however, given Elias’s tender age.







“I was watching her dance. She is a lovely dancer don’t you think?” Lucius pulled out the chair he had come to think of as his and joined Elias at the table.







“I guess so…but she is a terrible singer.” Elias said as he waited patiently for dinner to be served. While their son chattered on and on Lucius watched Hermione. She was well aware of it too and her face flamed bright every time she turned around and caught him staring. The heat in his eyes was palpable, something she had never seen in another man’s eyes when he looked at her. It was exciting and somewhat frightening to see the change in him. She felt like…well she felt like almost like dinner when he trained that hungry gaze on her.





She tried not to react to it as she placed the food in the center of the table and proceeded to make Elias’s plate. Lucius, having never before eaten a taco required her help as well. He didn’t chatter at her about trains though, instead he gently rubbed her lower back as she stood beside him and assembled his tacos. When she sat down she felt the loss of his touch more than she would have liked. The entire situation was so surreal that she frequently wondered if it were just a dream.







When dinner was over Elias had made a mess of himself and Lucius hadn’t fared much better with a salsa stain on his shirt and shredded cheese in his lap. Hermione beamed beneath his praise when he told her that dinner was wonderful and he couldn’t wait to have tacos again. If something so easy to make pleased him that much then she was golden. He played with Elias while she cleaned the kitchen then stood in the bathroom doorway while she wrestled their son in the bathtub. Then, for the first time, the two of them put him to bed together, reading the story Fox In Socks and tucking him in.







Suddenly they were alone and Hermione had no idea how she was supposed to behave, what she was supposed to do. She settled onto the sofa and watched Lucius stoke the fire in the hearth. He pointed his wand at the stereo and the soft sound of the blues filled the room. She stiffened when he sat beside her, wondering what was expected. They weren’t teenagers so surely snogging like adolescents was out of the question, not that she would have minded that. She had only experienced a few, very few, of those heated moments in her young life. It hadn’t gone well with Ronald when they tried, he would touch her breasts and she would flinch because they were tender with her pregnancy or he would come in contact with her stomach and immediately withdraw, reminded that it was another man’s child that grew inside her. Lucius didn’t strike her as the type of man to do something so base as to make out on the sofa, but then again what did she know?







“Relax.” Lucius ordered softly as he put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her back so that she rested against his side with his arm around her shoulder. “I’m not going to hurt you.”







“I’m not used to this…I don’t really know what to do.” She wanted to sink in to the warmth of his body and bask in the spicy scent of him. She felt awkward and out of place in the arms of a man, a mature man, yet she also felt excited and fidgety.







“Hermione, you don’t have to do anything.” He fought the grin that threatened and began lightly stroking her arm with the tips of his fingers. “Just relax, talk to me, whatever happens or doesn’t happen between us will come naturally when the time is right.” He bent his head and pressed his lips close to her ear. “I’m not some randy young man with no control over himself, there is no rush, and some things are better savored slowly.”





She shivered and his smile spread. Her responsiveness boded well for him. He suspected that an untapped well of passion sat just below the surface and he couldn’t deny the smug delight that coursed through him at the thought of being the man to coax her body into the heights of passion. He continued to stroke her arm, relaxing against the back of the sofa and simply holding her as the fire crackled in the hearth and the music drifted softly around them.







“How was your day?” He asked as she began to relax into his hold.







“It was alright, we were fairly busy this morning but slowed down this afternoon. I got to chat with Jessa for a bit.” He couldn’t see her cheeks redden and she was relieved not to have to confess to a tawdry yet informative conversation with her friend and co-worker about the male anatomy. “Then I came home and talked to Harry before I started dinner.”







“Did you mention the change in our situation to Potter?” He asked, curious as to how she would approach their budding relationship.







“Yes. He was curious about the armful of roses and my unusually cheerful mood.” She felt her eyes drooping as a warm languorous feeling washed over her, causing her to melt into the cradle of his body.







“I made you unusually cheerful? That is a new one.” He chuckled softly. “Normally I make people frightened and nervous.”







“Once upon a time you did make me feel that way…but not now, not the man you are now.” She sighed when his fingertips stroked the side of her neck and let her head rest against his shoulder.







“How did he take it?” His voice was hoarse with emotion. Her words were so simple but they stuck deeply and he was touched.







“About as well as you might expect. But he knows that he can’t tell me who can and can not be in my life so he let it drop. I don’t expect it to be the last I hear on the subject though, especially when the word spreads.” She was being mesmerized by his touch, so gentle and so innocent yet it fired her blood like nothing ever had before. “Have you spoken to Draco?”







“Yes. He has forgiven me and wants to meet his brother but will wait for us to determine when the time is right.” Lucius turned his head slightly and pressed his lips to the top of her head. He was relaxed and comfortable in her little house with her in his arms and it was a source of fascination for him. Everything with her was a new experience for him, from the day to day interaction with their son to the casual courting just beginning between the two of them. He was finding himself completely wrapped up in the simple domesticity of being with her.







“And did you mention us?” She asked, both curious and afraid of how Draco might react to her. No doubt he believed her some sort of home wrecker because of what happened that night so long ago.







“Yes, I did.” Lucius’s grin lifted the corners of his mouth at the memory of his conversation with Draco. “He was…encouraging.” The laughter was there in his voice and she picked up on it, turning her head to look at him.







“Encouraging?” She queried, watching the way his eyes twinkled in amusement. “I see…he approves of you dallying with a younger witch.” She rolled her eyes. “Men.”





“At least he no longer hates me…or you. You know, when I first told him about that night his first concern was for you.” Lucius said softly.







“For me?” She blinked in surprise.







“I told him of my fear that I had forced you, before he ever reacted to the rest of the information he wanted reassurance that I had not hurt you.” Lucius saw her face soften and his lips itched to press against hers. “He will not be a problem for us nor will he be an issue for Elias. He is rather curious about his little brother and eager to meet him.”







“Perhaps we should wait until Elias knows that you are his father. He will already have to alter his perception of you; it would be less confusing for him if he doesn’t have to do the same with Draco. This way he can be introduced as his brother with no confusion. If that is alright with you.” She didn’t want to seem as if she were completely controlling the entire situation. She was trying to let go, to let Lucius in but it wasn’t easy. She still couldn’t fight the urge to wrap herself around her baby and hide him away, keep him all to herself, but at least she recognized it and was trying to overcome it.







“That sounds reasonable. I think that we are making a lot of progress towards being able to tell Elias that I am his father.” He couldn’t wait for that day to come. The child was already in his heart and he longed for the day when he would hear Elias call him “Father”.





“I agree, he adores you. When you aren’t hear he talks about you constantly. You have bonded with him surprisingly fast.” Hermione smiled softly. “I never realized how many of your little quirks he had until you began spending time with us. It’s amazing to me that you weren’t in his life yet he tilts his head exactly the same as you, holds his pencil the same and he even has the same sadistic sense of humor. I wonder if you talked as much as he does when you were small.”







“Not likely, my parents wouldn’t have tolerated it.” He had raised Draco the same way he himself had been raised. Children should be seen and not heard. He had been raised by his governess, same as Draco, brought out on occasion long enough for company to ooo and ahh over and then sent straight back to the nursery. He couldn’t imagine Elias living that way. The thought of his spirit being broken and restrained made him feel angry. It also made him feel guilty as he began to wonder what Draco might have been like had he been allowed to fly free. What might he have been like with someone there nurturing him instead of always trying to reign him in and make him a proper pureblood?









“Does he annoy you?” Hermione asked. It was something she often wondered about. Elias could be aggravating at times with his incessant chatter. She often grew short on patience but knew that he was learning about the world and about people through his talking, even if he often said the wrong thing.







“I would be lying if I said he didn’t rub my nerves from time to time, but mostly I find him amusing. The boy has a head for details, even if he is too young to understand what they mean. He sees and hears everything…I know you don’t like me saying it but he is a brilliant spy.” He grunted when her elbow jabbed him in the side then laughed and hugged her close. “I promise I won’t train him in espionage.”







“It will be interesting to see what house he ends up in when he goes to school.” He possessed tendencies of both a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, time would tell which one would dominate she supposed.





“Malfoys have always been in Slytherin house.” Lucius said thoughtfully. “Of course they have also always been pureblood up until now.”







“And legitimate.” Hermione said, her eye twitching slightly in annoyance at her own words. How many times had she heard the lecture about having a child out of wedlock from various people? She had been called damaged goods and Elias a bastard, her heart breaking a little with every simple minded and archaic comment. She couldn’t believe that she had brought it up, no doubt he thought her bent on marriage now.







“Now that isn’t necessarily true.” He said. “The men in my family have fathered their fair share of children on the wrong side of the blanket. Men have kept mistresses for centuries and accidents happen. Those Malfoys simply did not inherit.”







“Do you have other children?” She asked. It had never occurred to her before that he might have spread his seed far and wide.









“No, there is only Elias and Draco.” He had always chosen mistresses that had proven to be barren though he would never admit that to her. He had been careful to the point of paranoia as a young man, making certain that he not only used a contraceptive spell but French letters as well. Hermione was in fact his only ‘oops’. “To date you are the only woman to make me lose my head to the point of irresponsibility.”







“I think I might be flattered if I thought you had really wanted me that night. But since I know you didn’t…”







“I want you now.” He interrupted quietly. “I was out of my head that night, I wish that we could forget it happened, or at least forget that it happened the way it did. You deserved better than that for your first time.”







“My only time, so far.” She confessed softly. Lucius didn’t comment, his head was spinning as he contemplated the fact that her body had never been given to another. He could potentially be the only man to ever know her intimately. His body’s reaction was instant and acute. He hardened painfully, his erection pressing against the back of his zipper insistently, eager to get out and seek the honeyed warmth of the woman beside him. He clenched his jaw and slowly eased away from her. “Should I not have admitted that?” She asked, suddenly nervous that she had done something wrong. She was such a novice at the whole witch wizard thing she was certain that she would muck it up.







“No, your admission was…it was…” What was he supposed to say? He couldn’t tell her that knowing no other man had been inside her made him hard enough to split wood. “It made me even more determined to do this right. That means it is time for me to go.”







“I don’t understand.” She stood when he did, her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what was going on. Lucius reached out and stroked the backs of his fingers along her cheek.







“Your only real experience with men, with me, was a painful moment of grief that resulted in your life changing completely. I have a chance to make up for that, to make it right by courting you properly, by taking things slowly and making it good, for both of us. That means I leave before things get out of hand and go too far.” He said.







“Things were going to go too far?” Her eyes were wide and he could see the curiosity mingling with the hope.







“Oh yes… because I want very much to kiss you.” His hand slid along her cheek until his fingertips were lightly stroking her ear. “And once I started kissing you I wouldn’t want to stop. Then I would want to touch you, and once I started touching you…things would definitely have gone too far.”





“You want to kiss me?” She asked breathlessly. She was swaying towards him, her eyes glazed over and her pupils dilated.







“Very much.” He whispered just before he touched his lips to the corner of her mouth. He pressed gently, lingering for a moment before pulling away. It was all he could do to resist the soft, moist temptation of her lips parted so prettily and more than ripe for the taking. “Goodnight, Hermione.”







“Goodnight, Lucius.” She sighed a little, a disappointed sound that he found amusing and encouraging. He wanted to seduce her, not overwhelm her. He wanted to build on the attraction they felt, create something solid and explore the potential between them and that meant reigning in his passion. He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip lightly before he turned quickly and accessed the floo, leaving her before he lost the ability to.













A/N: So…hi! You guys (mostly gals =) ) Rock! I love how much you love Elias and I love that you are enjoying this story. Ive only got a few minutes before work, so Ill answer a few questions…..





Janeplay Yes…Draco comes to play a lot in the second half of the story. Never fear there is plenty of Slytherins for everyone!





Bill’s Bedroom The candyland conspiracy needs to be outed!!! Any mom with kids under age 8 is already a victim of it!!





Madietta Im not offended. It takes a lot to offend me and Im of the frame of mind that everyone is entitled to their opinions and the right to express them =) I write the way I see it and I don’t see the need to make the characters completely dependant on magic. The Weasleys and Malfoys were raised with magic, Hermione wasn’t, so I see her as being more likely to do things, such as her laundry and housework, the muggle way. This is just how I see things. Im sorry if it bugs you and I respect your opinion and appreciate you taking the time to write! I hope you continue reading =)