A Strange Love

Northstar: She’s being controlled fairly easily at the moment, but don’t worry, I am not making her out to be a damsel in distress, as you’ll see...



Avanell: A couple more bridges to cross before that happens I’m afraid... I just want a bit more fun with Lucius first of all...



Mary: Thank you, and I hope you like this to. But yeah, I don’t believe the path of true love runs smoothly.



Dee Dee: Lucius is hoping his current one gets killed fairly shortly. So, he’s making plans for the future. This Lucius is not nice... possibly more realistic. Voldemort would be the least of Lucius worries I think.



Angelnomiko: Yep, well, depends on the muse and sometimes that is not very helpful. As for Neville and Narcissa – well, kind of jumped out on me that one.



Esmerelda: Did the Lucius/Hermione feel off just because you want her with Rodolphus? It felt right to me as I was writing it... just want to know why you felt that? Neville and Narcissa surprised me as well but I do like breaking age barriers in fics. I’ve even read one where Neville ends up with Rosmerta and she was adult when Snape was a child... And thank you for liking my style.



Soniab: Indeed let the hunt begin... and it has in this chapter.



Mission Impossible



Harry looked at Draco and smiled at the other man as an idea struck the dark haired man when they floo’d back to his Mansion. How dare Longbottom tell him to stay put in that dump! Potter and Weaslette came with him just in case.



“Do you have other houses, Draco?”



Draco shrugged his shoulders. “One in Bavaria, and one in America.”



“That’s it?” Ginny asked.



Draco nodded. He smiled a little at Weaslette. “It’s better than what you’ve got.”



Ginny narrowed her eyes but even Harry knew the blond was teasing this time. He pinched Ginny’s waist and kissed her nose. She glared at her man fuming.



“I’ll talk to you about this, Potter!” she huffed.



“Lucius might have taken her to America,” Draco said. “It is far, far away and possibly he would think no one can get to her there.”



“Do you know where it is?” Harry asked.



“I used to summer holiday there all the time,” he said. “It’s by a lake. So, bring a swimming costume.”



He smirked lasciviously at Ginny. Harry gave him a warning look but all the blond did was roll his eyes and walk off, the Gryffindor was almost as selfish as a Slytherin. Surely Harry was convinced that he was deeply in love with Hermione.



Draco was only teasing, he was actually quite happy for them deep down inside. He liked it when someone got what he or she wanted; so he respected the Weaslette for not giving up. He looked at them and sighed. He wished he hadn’t given up so easily on Hermione, now it was too late.



“Come on, Potter, you best get packed. I am going to meet you outside the Leaky Cauldron in half an hour from nine o’clock this evening.”



Harry nodded. He got up and looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. It was eight fifteen already. He stepped through the fireplace with Ginny. Draco handed them the powder and Harry took a pinch and threw it on the fire and yelled out their destination. Draco shook his head and walked out of the room staring around his lonely old Mansion. He turned the light off and went upstairs to pack for a long journey. He was always told to prepare for ALL occasions.



I am going to miss this place, Draco thought sadly.



The Mansion held a certain lost gloom about it that made Draco’s heart sink. “I will come back and look after it properly. And I’ll bring you home a Mistress to.”



He vowed that if he couldn’t have Hermione he’d fall in love with someone else. He was too decent to take Ginny away from Potter, and she wasn’t his type anyway. No, he’d have to meet someone else. He tried to think of anyone at Hogwarts but he shook his head at who did keep cropping up in his head. Strange that he’d substitute Hermione for Luna Lovegood, but she was rather different to Hermione, and he remembered she was rather eccentric. He did like her Quidditch commentary, though. Draco shook his head again and he grinned a little. Luna Lovegood? Now there’s a girl that’d make his father extremely angry to have as a daughter in law; the sheer rebelliousness of it appealed to Draco… he thought longer on his next choice but found Hermione’s face was floating in front of him constantly.



He sighed. He might just have to accept the fact that he will always be a lonely man. He might even possibly be the very last Malfoy. He didn’t care about that though, perhaps it was about time for his family to die. His line had slowly been receding for a while. He was grasping at straws at the idea that Purity can be saved. He had to face the music and dance to its tune. Very many of the pure blooded families were not producing more than one child. Strange those pureblooded families with a bit of muggle blood (centuries old) did better than the ones that didn’t. “Perhaps,” he contemplated as he walked down to the gates, “Salazar Slytherin was wrong.”



He opened the gates and walked a further five feet before slinging his bag over his shoulder and saw his Mansion for what might seem the last time. He Apparated to the Leaky Cauldron with his heart literally packed in his suitcase.



~*~*~



Hermione woke up on a sofa. She felt the fire’s warmth on her skin. She turned around and saw Lucius standing at the fireplace. He was buffing his shoes against the edge. He turned his head around and smiled.



“Ah, you’re awake, good!”



“Where am I?” she asked all muzzle headed. “I seem to remember being ridden in the swimming pool!”



“Yes, you were fantastic by the way,” he said. “I have to go somewhere now. Can you be a good little girl whilst I’m gone?”



Hermione furrowed her brow. “Where are you going?”



“Out,” Lucius said. He walked up to her and smiled as he knelt down. He cupped her chin in his hand.



“I want to go with you.”



“And risk you being captured?” he asked. “No, I am not letting you leave this Mansion.”



Hermione groaned. She looked down and noticed she was barely covered up. Lucius dipped his head and licked her nipple.



“I need to breathe,” she said.



“Wonder around the garden,” Lucius said. “But no sneaking off – I wasn’t lying when I said that I’d know.”



Hermione nodded. She smiled at him and nodded her head. She believed him. He was satisfied that she wouldn’t try anything whilst he was gone. He went out of the room to another fireplace. He didn’t want her to follow him. And there was one room he didn’t dare show her. He was grateful that even here he had a secret room; and the only room he stocked with floo powder. Hermione wasn’t the first Mistress he brought here.



His mind slipped to Francine. She was a leggy blonde with breasts the size of rocks, but her brains weren’t there. She pleased him for three months then he got tired of her. He went back to that wonderful time in the swimming pool. She was absolutely fantastic:



“Far too good for anyone but me!” he growled as he pinched the floo powder and went to his Mansion in America. He had a feeling Draco would turn coat on him as soon as he could. He heard everything that little brat said. “Especially for that insipid little coward.”



He was going to run into Draco, Potter and the Weaslette at the American house. He was going to kill that scar headed brat and his red headed cohort once and for all. As for Draco, he’d devise special punishment for him.



~*~*~



Harry and Ginny met Draco outside the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron at the appointed time. Harry took down his cowl to show the scar, and Draco lifted the sleeve of his robe to show the mark.



“Have you told anyone?” Draco asked.



“One person,” Harry said.



“Who?”



“Remus Lupin,” Harry said. Draco scowled slightly. He still didn’t like the Werewolf.



“He would not let us go unless we gave him an address,” Harry said. “Apparently Neville has been disappearing a lot lately to.”



Draco rounded his shoulders and sighed. “Right then,” he said. “We best go.”



Harry took Ginny’s hand and Draco took her other hand, which she didn’t like as the two young men attempted their very first transatlantic Apparition.



~*~*~



Severus, Rodolphus and Narcissa were sitting in a cave watching some of their old friends raid their house. Narcissa was shivering; Severus wrapped his cloak around her shoulders but she was still cold.



“I don’t think I can take much more of this,” she said.



“We’ll be here a lot longer than you think,” Severus replied. “Just try and keep warm. Here,” he was about to wrap his arms around her shoulders when they heard a pop.



“It’s all right,” Neville said. “It’s me. I brought a few provisions for you.”



Neville laid out food and drink at their feet. Narcissa stared gratefully at him. Neville looked at the fragile woman. He felt pity for her and walked up to her.



“I heard something that might give you some hope, Mrs Malfoy,” he said as he knelt down in front of her. He took her hands in his and looked in her wide eyes. “Harry and Ginny are apparating to your American home to find Hermione.”



“But that would mean that Draco is helping us?” Narcissa asked with hope shining in her eyes.



“I believe so,” Neville replied. He smiled at her and took out his wand. He pointed it at a rock and turned it into a nice big cushion. He picked her up and led her over there. He turned another rock into a blanket and wrapped her up in it.



Narcissa was shocked. She had never come across such kindness and tenderness before. Her sister would have called it weakness but Narcissa saw the strength that was within this act of the boy. He had every right to kill her.



“Look,” he said turning towards Severus and Rodolphus. “I still don’t know where Hermione is but knowing that Harry’s on the case inspires me. If he can find a Philosophers Stone he can find Hermione.”



Severus shook his head. The boy was so innocent it was almost endearing.



“Neville,” Narcissa said in a hushed voice. “Can you stay?”



“I wish I could, Mrs Malfoy, but with Harry and Ginny gone, Professor Lupin is keeping a tight rein on the rest of us. He seems to feel that we’re more at risk. Thankfully no one suspects what I’m doing yet!” He glanced at Narcissa and remembered she gave him a kiss. He still blushed from the thought of what that kiss did to him. She looked so sylph like it was heartbreaking. Neville knew he’d do anything to protect her. “I’d like to stay,” he said.



She smiled and rested her cheek on her hand and went to sleep. He turned to look at the two grown men and they coughed with slight embarrassment. Severus especially. He knew what sort of life this kid had and yet he managed to survive it pretty well. He still smiled and had no thoughts of revenge. Dumbledore favoured the wrong boy… so did he!



“Mr Longbottom, is it possible to talk to you?” Snape asked.



Neville nodded and they walked out of the cave and Severus leant back against the wall.



“What is it, sir?”



“This won’t be easy for me to admit this,” Snape said. “But I’m sorry.”



“Sorry for what?”



“Sorry for the way I treated you. It was unpardonable.”



Neville looked around the landscape. “Were you there in that group that tortured my parents?” he asked the ex Professor.



“No,” Severus replied. “I was marking essay’s at the time.”



“Then you have nothing to be sorry for!” Neville exclaimed. “Yes, I was afraid of you. Yes, you were rather nasty, cruel and vicious. But, unlike Harry, I understood why. I was pretty crap at Potions and I would never have understood the subject no matter how nice you could have been. There were nicer teachers there than you and I still failed miserably at their subjects. You knew that. I knew that. You were only being extremely truthful at the end of the day… and between you and me, even I sometimes think Harry crosses the line when he shouldn’t a little too much.”



Snape smiled. “Thank you, Mr Longbottom.”



“See, now we’re even I’d say.”



Snape looked up at the darkening sky. The pensive gloom cloaked the moor in an eerie light. He loved the wildness of it all.



“If you find out anything else, be sure to tell us.”



“I will.”



“Oh, and Longbottom don’t you dare tell anyone what I said to you just now.”



Neville laughed. “When we meet up with Hermione I’ll tell her just to see her smiling smugly at Harry. I think it’s kind of cute when she’s smug. I just want to stroke her hair or something.”



He apparated away before he could hear Snape’s reply: “You and me both!”



He looked at the sky once more, and hummed Wuthering Heights. One of the very few songs he loved. He looked at Narcissa who was now warm and sleeping. Rodolphus was leaning against the wall. His jaw was set.



“I’m going,” he said quietly.



“What?” Severus asked.



“I know where that is,” he said. “I’m going. If she’s there then I can save her.”



“If she isn’t you could die,” Severus replied.



Rodolphus turned his head sadly. “So be it!”



He walked out of the cave and went a little down the hill. The wind whipped his cloak about him and his hair flew behind. He apparated to Villa Malfoy in America – Snape sighed and turned around to look at Narcissa. Great, he thought sourly. Back to babysitting the blonde Princess!



~*~*~



Lucius looked around his American home and rolled his eyes. He had always hated it here but some of his Ancestors fled to America hoping that there’d be less persecution in a New and untried land. They didn’t bargain against all the Puritans. It was a massacre but they still managed to build a home and live a few generations before giving up and coming back home.



He crept behind a settee and placed a disillusionment charm on himself. He heard three pops in front of him and he looked up. His son was holding the Weaslette’s hand. He curled his lip in a snarl. He noted she wasn’t pleased with it.



“So,” Draco said. “It’s clear she’s not here.”



“How do you know?” Harry asked.



Draco turned his head. “If she was the curtains would be opened. The sheets would be off the furniture and the fire would be on. Use your head, Potter, do you see Hermione being in a place like this?”



“I didn’t see Hermione with anyone like your father but it’s clear that’s happened,” Harry said testily.



“If she has it wouldn’t be her fault,” Draco said. “I know Lucius. He even made me believe things.”



“Like?” Harry asked.



“Like,” Draco sighed. “The fact that being Pure is the greatest of honours and we should mark that honour by only sticking to our kind. What baloney that turned out to be.”



Lucius was quivering with rage. So, his son will desert the great Malfoy name and leave it in the mire like he knew he would. Harry looked at him.



“When I first met you I was prepared to think the worst of you and you didn’t do much to prove me wrong over the course of six years. You’ve just proved me wrong by that one statement.”



“I wanted more than anything to have my father proud of me. I soon realised that was an impossible mission. He was born without the ability to love. He wants Hermione just as a trophy. I can’t believe he truly loves her… and I fear for her. I watched my mother being beaten when I was six years old. She was bleeding, when I went to her to hug her and kiss her better Lucius yanked me by my hair and told me to grow a spine. He said I had a penis not a vulva!”



Ginny raised a hand to her mouth and Harry bowed his head. He might hate the Dursley’s but Uncle Vernon had NEVER beaten up his wife. Harry looked at his shoes and scuffled them on the floor.



“I thought you were the spoilt little rich kid that bullied your father,” he said. “I’m sorry.”



“It’s one of the reasons why I respect Snape so much. He has always shown kindness to my mother whenever he could,” Draco sighed. “Snape even brought me my first toy broomstick. He was more a father to me than Lucius ever was.”



Harry was shocked at this. Snape actually brought a child a toy? That seemed so incongruous. He looked over his shoulder.



“You know my mum told me a story a couple of months ago which I found hard to believe, too.”



“What’s that, Draco?” Harry asked.



“Apparently we met as babies,” he said. “Snape took me to the Order HQ when he was forced to baby-sit me, and he had to come to the Order HQ. Your mother held me. I sometimes envision in my dreams a female with long red hair and green eyes smiling down on me. I hear her tune hum in my head sometimes.”



Harry was slightly jealous of this. He had none of that. All he had from his mother was her scream of death. He looked in the mirror and saw his scar. No, he had his mothers love. Lily only touched Draco’s skin but she touched Harry’s soul.



“I am pleased that my mother left her mark on you too,” Harry said. He really couldn’t be selfish now. Draco may be rich but he didn’t have everything.



Lucius added Snape on his list. How irresponsible to allow his son to be touched by a Mudblood. Lucius smirked a little at the thought of making the raven-haired man squirm. Perhaps he’d kill him in front of Draco to show the boy what could happen to him.



“Where to now?”



“We best stay here for a week,” Draco said. “This’ll be a great place to practice duelling skills, as we’ll need them.”



“I agree,” Ginny said. “Besides I feel a little woozy.”



“That’s natural,” Draco said. “I did the first few times. Here, you best sit down.”



Harry led Ginny to the sofa that Lucius was hiding behind. She sat down and Lucius decided to have some fun with her. He kept messing up her hair. She shrugged him off a few times before getting fed up with it.



“Do you have a ghost here?” she asked. “Like a poltergeist or something? I keep getting this thing messing with my hair.”



“No,” Draco answered. “No ones died here, Weaslette.”



“Stop calling me that, the name’s Ginevra to you!”



Draco bowed mockingly. “Ginevra it is.”



Harry stepped between the blond and his fiancée. Draco rolled his eyes. Potter was definitely acting like a Slytherin with the way he possessed her. Draco looked at Harry and shook his head. The blond admitted that he didn’t blame Potter. She did have a rather promiscuous reputation. He would tell Potter later on that he just was not into red heads.



Lucius rolled his eyes. He’d show himself soon enough. He too watched Potters display with interest. He wondered not for the first or last time why the bloody kid wasn’t put in Slytherin. He watched his son sit down on a single chair. He smirked a little.



“Are you all right?” Harry asked Ginny.



She looked up at him and sighed. He was always so serious. She noticed his rather possessive move to and a small part of her enjoyed the confrontation but the large part of her loved him the more for it as it made her feel protected and loved. The rest of her was annoyed by it; she could fight her own battles!



“I’m fine,” she said.



Harry looked at her and nodded. He sat down beside her and Lucius couldn’t be more pleased; yes he knew it was childish but he couldn’t resist. He gently teased the arms of Harry’s glasses to make them move. Draco watched with narrowed eyes.



“Ginny! I told you before not to do with that to my glasses!”



“I’m not doing anything Harry.”



“She isn’t,” Draco said in a calculating voice. He took his wand out of his trousers and pointed it at the spot behind the couch and took the disillusionment charm off his father. “Well,” he said twirling the wand between his hands. “If it isn’t my dear old Papa!”



A/N – So, Draco has practically renounced the Purity of Blood dogma that he was almost forced to believe in. Harry and Ginny are getting close to him as a person. Snape and Neville have solved their differences and it seems Neville is getting a soft spot for Mrs Malfoy... wonder what Draco would make of that! Plot thickens as always, and reviews are always welcome!