Love Thy Enemy

CHAPTER 12: Knights in Tarnished Armor







Ron and Harry stood in the library of Grimmuald Place and paced slowly back and forth.





“Why do you think she’s crying?” Ron asked.





“He’s done something to her and she just didn’t want us to know because she knows we will go have a talk with him.” Harry concluded finally. “Feel like paying a visit to old Lucius?”





“Let’s go.” The two young men disapparated to the front steps of Malfoy Manor and knocked on the door. A female house-elf answered, backing up in surprise when she recognized Harry.





“We would like to see Mr. Malfoy.” He said, polite but firm. The elf let them into the foyer and popped out of sight for a moment. When she returned she was shaking slightly.





“Follow me please.” She led them through the large foyer and down a long hallway. The manor house was enormous. They passed more doorways and corridors until finally they were let into a large, airy study.





“To what do I owe this honor, Potter. Am I in trouble again?” Lucius asked, smiling as he looked up from behind his desk.





“I want to know what you have done to Hermione.” Harry said, crossing his arms over his chest. Ron assumed a similar stance beside him and glared at the other pureblood wizard.





“I have done nothing to her; I was led to believe she was with you.” Lucius said, frowning slightly as he folded his hands atop his desk.





“She’s with my wife at the moment, crying. I want to know why.” Harry demanded.





“Honestly I have no idea.” Lucius said, shrugging his shoulders. “She was fine when she left. Did you perchance ask her?” He found himself rather curious about his wife’s distress as well.





“She wouldn’t tell us the truth if we did.” Ron said. “Hermione never cries, it takes a lot to push her there, so you had to do something to her. You are the only negative thing in her life.”





“Again, I am sorry but I haven’t a clue. When I saw her last she brought me lunch and told me she was going to see you.”





“Are you hurting her?” Harry was grinding his teeth audibly as he stared down the blonde wizard.





“I am not. I swore to see to her care, and I will.” Lucius said slowly. “Neither of us wishes to be in this predicament, but we will make the best of it.”





“I swear to you Malfoy, I will not tolerate you hurting her.” Harry said, his green eyes flashing.





“So you have said. I give you my word, Potter, that I’ll not harm the girl.” Lucius said.





“The word of a deatheater? Is that supposed to mean something?” Ron asked, scoffingly.





“Former, deatheater. And yes, I stand by my word once it is given. Shall we ask my bride what distresses her so?” Lucius asked, raising one silver brow inquiringly.





“How, she’s with Ginny, she has no idea we are here.” Harry frowned.





Lucius smiled and was overcome with the image of him throttling his little bride for the impertinence of her idiot friends trying to ride to her rescue. Within seconds Hermione popped into the room and firmly into Lucius’s lap.





“What in the hell? Lucius are you thinking bad thoughts about me again?” She asked, grabbing his shoulders to steady herself.





“Welcome home, darling. We have guests.” Lucius nodded towards her friends standing on the other side of his desk.





“Ron, Harry? What are you doing here?” She was confused; she thought they had gone into the other room to play video games or some other idiotic past time they were so fond of.





“It seems that your tears sent your errant knights in defense of your honor.” Lucius said. “Care to tell us what had you crying?” He asked. He really did want to know why she was so upset.





“Oh, boys, it was nothing Lucius did, it was just the stress of the last few days.” She tried to get up and embrace her friends, but she was stuck in Lucius’s lap.





“So it really wasn’t something he did to you that you don’t want us to know about?” Ron asked.





“No Ron, believe me, if Lucius was doing anything at all to hurt me, I wouldn’t hesitate to call on you, or curse him myself. I didn’t land in this situation because I was afraid to deal with him, it was the opposite.” She smiled, so touched by their protectiveness, but also feeling a bit protective of Lucius as well, and that puzzled her.





“You say your word is good Malfoy, I will hold you to it.” Harry said.







“I would expect no less.” Lucius said. “Now if you wouldn’t mind excusing us, we need a moment alone.”





“We will talk to you later, Mione.” Harry said.





“Feel free to use the flue, I opened a connection for my bride to use so that she may see you whenever she likes. She is no prisoner here. And your wife may be anxious to know why her friend vanished.” Harry nodded as he and Ron stepped into hearth and disappeared into the green flames.





“Are you alright?” Lucius asked when they were alone.





“I’m fine, Lucius.” Hermione noticed that his hair was still braided. “Were they rough on you?”





“They are very protective of you.” He said,





“I couldn’t be luckier, at least as far as my friendships go.”





“Unlucky in the deatheater bastard you have been forced to wed.” He said, confused by the jealousy he felt when she spoke of her friends. Why should it matter to him? He didn’t like her any more than she liked him.





“You have your moments.” She laughed.





“I thought perhaps I had hurt your feelings over the photograph.” He said quietly, glancing to the mantle and the backwards frames.





“No, I wasn’t hurt. I think maybe I understand you a little more, you still grieve for your family, and that’s perfectly alright.” She said.





“I just can’t bear to put the pictures away, and yet I can’t stand to look at them either.” Hermione realized that this little glimpse of his emotional side was an offer of his trust, something Lucius did not give lightly.





“Maybe in time, when you are ready, we will turn them back around. Perhaps we can have their paintings placed in the hall.” She said softly.





“That wouldn’t bother you?” He was a bit surprised, had he married another pureblood she would likely have eradicated any evidence that he had had another family before her.





“No, they were your family, Lucius, and I would never try to take their memory from you. I think maybe you should be more concerned that their portraits would not care for me. Sirius’s mother still hangs in the hall at the Potter’s house, they can’t remove her. She swears and carries on all the time so they keep her covered with a cloak to silence her.”





“Well, we will have to see about that later. I’m not prepared to have their paintings hung just yet.” He said, cupping the side of her face. “But the fact that you mentioned it means a lot to me.” He kissed her softly, his lips opening slightly over hers as the spell dissolved between them.





“I should go check with the elves about dinner.” Hermione said, pulling away from him.





“Go ahead, I’ll be done soon.” Lucius felt the loss when she slid from his lap and left his study. What had possessed him to open up to her like that?















****Do not get to comfortable with this “softer” Lucius…..its just a little slip…. :)