Line Between Nightmare and Dream

Hermione woke up the next morning with a slight fear that last night didn’t happen but the pain between her legs told her it did.

Lucius was a formidable man. She lost her virginity to Ron and she thought she was getting a pretty good deal but Lucius proved that wrong. She got dressed and walked with a skip to professor Phan’s office.

When she got there she heard her talking to a man so she dawdled a bit in the lounge not wanting to interrupt anything important.

“Hermione how long have you been here” Phan asked in an irritated tone

“A few minutes but I can wait” Hermione replied

“Wait why would you wait? Get in here” Phan had a funny look in her eye like she was luring Hermione into a trap.

All it took was to walk through the door to see what the trap was. Lucius stood with a huge grin on his face, and in a very strange outfit. It looked to Hermione like Lucius had not bothered dressing this morning and was still in his pajamas.

“You forgot this” Lucius held up the scarf” “I picked it up this morning and I was wisped away here”

Hermione’s face reddened as she reached for the scarf.

“Don’t touch that” Phan screamed “Who knows where you would end up. Mr. Malfoy if you could please place the scarf back in the box. Thank you. Now why don’t you two have a seat?” Phan said taking a seat behind her desk.

“So I see you two have talked. I had hoped to get the details from Hermione alone but seeing as you are here Mr. Malfoy we can do a group session.” Phan settled herself in

Hermione cringed at the word session she hoped Lucius didn’t feel trapped but he winked at her and got comfortable in the chair next to her.

“Hermione could you tell me how your meeting with Mr. Malfoy went” Phan began

“Well…..uh….it wasssssss GOOD” Hermione managed

Lucius snorted beside her and she glared at him

“We didn’t really get very far into things” Hermione quickly added.

“What did you get into?” Phan asked

Lucius full out laughed this time and Phan began to see the point.

“Mr. Malfoy do you understand the reason Hermione came to you?” Phan asked

“She told me she was having erotic dreams about me” Lucius sounded very proud and Hermione sunk into her seat.

“and how did that make you feel?” Phan added

“I was relieved. The thought of her had been driving me mad too over the last few days and to hear her say she was having the same thoughts took a huge weight off my shoulders” Lucius explained

“I see we are more on the same page than I could have hoped. I’d like to ask some questions to get to the depths of this problem. They will be hard to answer especially with the other party present but it will serve two purposes. One I can hear both sides at once and two you will hear how each other feels. So I need you to be completely honest” Phan explained

Lucius put his hand on top of Hermione’s and smiled at her. She couldn’t run now this was going to happen and every muscle in her body was tightening in that realization.

“I’d like to start from the beginning” Phan checked to see that they were both listening “Hermione, when you first met Mr. Malfoy how did you feel about him?”

‘crap’ Hermione thought. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She tried to push Lucius from her mind, but his hand was so warm on top of hers. She opened her eyes for a second to give Lucius an apologetic look and pulled her hand out from under his.

“He was evil.” Hermione began “He was at the center of Voldemort’s work. I guess I never gave him much thought past that. His associations were all I needed to know” Hermione felt awful for saying all this

“What did his associations tell you about him” Phan pushed

“That he was evil, I assumed he had no heart and didn’t care about anything other than power.” Hermione went on

“Good. Mr. Malfoy?” Phan asked

“She’s right” Lucius replied in a matter of fact tone

“No how did you feel about her” Phan corrected

“That she was a snobby, worthless, know-it-all mudblood” Lucius replied

“Hermione I asked him to be honest” Phan said responding to Hermione’s look of shock

“It’s not the words it’s how easy it was for him to say” Hermione said staring at Lucius

“Hermione I was ordered to see a specialist after the war. It was part of the deal that let me dodge Azkaban.” Lucius explained taking her hand in his again

Now Hermione felt ganged up on. She was the only one who was new to the whole psycho analysis thing.

“So it’s safe to say you two where on the opposite side of the fight.” Phan summed up

They both laughed at the simplicity of her statement

“What do you think about Mr. Malfoy now Hermione?” Phan continued

Hermione was glad Professor Phan didn’t ask her how she ‘felt’ about Lucius. That was a question she would have to think long and hard about….later

“He’s changed. He’s doing great things with his money, and he is being a great father to Draco” Hermione said

“and Mr. Malfoy have your thoughts of Hermione changed?” Phan asked

“Yes” Lucius said and squeezed Hermione’s hand “She is an amazing woman, intelligent, articulate, and beautiful”

Phan couldn’t help but smile, the man had a way with words she would give him that.

“Hermione when did your thoughts about Lucius change?” Phan said after a few moments

Hermione thought back. She tried to find the last time she thought of Lucius as an enemy.

“Well I guess it’s complicated. I wouldn’t have considered talking to him until Draco and I reconciled. Draco told me about the projects his father was funding, including rebuilding Hogwarts and I began to think Lucius had turned himself around. But I…guess I began to change my perception of him the time I was a prisoner in his house” Hermione explained

“How did your ideas change then?” Phan asked

“I felt like he wasn’t really interested in the games the other death eaters played. He was different with alone than when other death eaters were around. It made me feel like he was just putting on a show for them to keep his footing in the group” Hermione explained

“Mr. Malfoy what was your state of mind at that time” Phan asked

“I was losing face with the Dark Lord, mostly because I disagreed with him recruiting younger and younger death eaters. I couldn’t leave though. At the time Voldemort was killing naysayers and hunting down anyone who tried to defect. I had to stay; I had to protect my family. When they brought me Hermione I knew what was expected of me. I knew if I didn’t treat her badly they would question my loyalties. If they thought I wasn’t doing my job they’d punish my family and give Hermione to someone else to deal with” Lucius voice was getting weak. He turned to look at Hermione “Hermione I promise you everything that I did was the bear minimum to keep you with me. I was afraid that with anyone else you would be killed”

Hermione’s heart leapt, ‘to keep you with me’, he did care.

“Mr. Malfoy why did you do the bear minimum? Wouldn’t it have been better for your standing to kill Hermione and prove your loyalty?” Phan asked

“My loyalties weren’t with the Dark Lord anymore then. I was just riding it out and hoping the other side would win soon. I tried my best to stay on my feet with in the ranks and that’s it.” Lucius explained

“When did you start seeing Hermione in a new light” Phan asked

“That week she was with me. She was so brave and could stay calm in the most stressful situations. Her loyalty to her friends was amazing, and she was smart and observant and…well gorgeous.” Lucius smiled at Hermione

Phan was pleased to see things falling into place finally.

“Mr. Malfoy you have been very helpful, but I would like to speak to Hermione for a bit” Phan said

“Absolutely, I’d like to change out of my night clothes anyway” He looked at Hermione “Can I call on you later?”

“Dinner would be nice” Hermione suggested

“Dinner it is. Should I come by your house?” Lucius asked

“No, I need some time to tell Harry and Ron” Hermione replied

“Why don’t you meet me outside the Rendezvous at 7pm” Lucius suggested

“I’ll be there” They had a little bit of awkwardness trying to decide if a hug was enough of a goodbye but Lucius let her go and left through a nearby fireplace.

“Well that was very encouraging” Phan said

“I suppose” Hermione said back. She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do about Lucius.

“Hermione this is what I saw. I saw two people who have shared a common traumatic experience and come to the same conclusion. That their time together was worth more than just a passing moment.” Phan explained

“But it wasn’t the same experience, He was in control and I was helpless” Hermione said annoyed

“Hermione you weren’t listening. He was helpless too. I agree he could have made more of an effort to protect you but he did everything he was willing to do” Phan explained

“I still don’t see how this explains my dreams” Hermione said

“Mr. Malfoy was the epitome of evil in your mind. He was everything you spent your developing years fighting against. Now he’s changed. He has become what you ultimately worked for. It seems completely normal to me that you would feel a pull towards him, just like an artist feels pride in their masterpiece” Phan explained

Hermione wanted to laugh but as she thought about it it fell into place. She was proud of Lucius. Not only that but she realized he had been her protector and what girl doesn’t want that.

“But…”Hermione began

“Hermione I doubt this will ever make sense. War doesn’t make sense and the things we experience during them make even less sense. The only thing we can do now is to listen to one another and try to find common ground. My suggestion is to stop thinking” Phan interrupted

Hermione understood that. Last night she had let go of reason and experienced the best sex of her life. Maybe if she let go of that same tendency to over reason her relationship with Lucius she could…have something more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LadyBlueEyes~ I love your stories! I’m glad I can return the favor

Heidi191976~ Thanks for all the reviews. I don’t want to give anything away but I do love a Hermione Lucius match-up.