The Wedding - COMPLETE

______________________________________________________________________

Updated 2-28-07

On behalf of Quarter-Blooded Witch a Snoopy vulture pic so everyone can see what you mean - http://www.bleckly.com/jason/snoopy/vulture.jpg
This is how you visualize Lucius standing over the lunch table at the Leaky Cauldron...

Thank you, Mary Potter for letting me know my anonymous reviews were still being blocked. As you can see, I fixed it. I had thought I'd unblocked them weeks ago.

Thank you all for the thoughtful reviews. I've read them (many times, she mumbles) and appreciated your insights. If you haven't read any other of my stories, I do always have a happy ending - it just might take awhile, that's all. Remember the rollercoaster. YeeHaw.

So...lunch is served.
______________________________________________________________________


Chapter Thirteen


The “Dragon” Restaurant


Hermione was waiting impatiently for Lucius when he got to the foyer at 11:10 AM.


He said immediately, “I apologize. I sent an elf to let you know I’d be a few minutes late. The cistern for one of the outdoor fountains broke and I needed to temporarily repair it with a spell to keep the nearby plants from drowning. I’ll call the metalworker after lunch.” He frowned, “Ah, no, sorry, that would be your job, as owner of the estate. I can give you the name of the person I used and you can make your own decision who to call.” Lucius turned away and intoned, “Accio coat” which came flying from the closet. When he turned back Hermione was right in his face. He stepped back startled.


A little finger was shoved under his nose, “I don’t appreciate your attitude about the estate. It is now ‘ours’ because you are my husband and you signed both the marriage contract and the estate papers transferring co-ownership to you. If you can’t accept that you are co-owner with me, then I’ll assume it is mine solely and I’ll sell it and get a condo.”


“What’s a condeau? And maybe I’m co-owner on paper but not in actuality. None of the contractors will take orders from me any more.”


“WHAT?” screeched Hermione, “Why not? I never gave any orders excluding you from estate matters. I would never have done that.”


“Hermione, you pay all the workers. You sign all the estate accounts now. They’ve only followed your lead. I’ve been cut out of running the estate ever since you moved in. I thought you knew and designed it that way. Remember I had no money to pay them with.”


“No, Lucius, I didn’t design anything. You know I forgot about money. You must not think much of me.” Hermione internally slumped, knowing the rest of what Lucius hadn’t said was that he’d rather have cut off his balls than ask her for any money. “You can tell me what else I don’t know during lunch.” She sadly took his hand and he apparated them both to the front door of the Leaky Cauldron.


“Why did you want to eat here? There are a number of much nicer restaurants available to choose from.” Lucius had rarely eaten at the tavern, it being rather low class for him in normal circumstances. However, he wasn’t totally unknown, unfortunately.


One of the waitresses saw them when they moved to a corner table and she immediately picked up menus and hurried over to them. “Good morning, Lucius, what can I get you today?” Her demeanor said that she’d just added herself to the menu and would be happy to serve a pussy appetizer if he just said the word.


Hermione said coldly, “Just the Wizard’s Special, thank you. I hear the Witch’s Plate is kind of stringy. Probably old meat.”


The waitress looked at Hermione for the first time as if she hadn’t even noticed her before, then she sniffed and left the table.


Lucius turned to his wife and peevishly observed, “I was capable of turning the woman down, Hermione. I don’t need you to run interference for me.”


“Lucius, it wasn’t a matter of you turning her down. It was her totally ignoring me while she came on to you. I wanted to make it clear I was a player in her little scheme. Was there a reason she was so bold? Have you found your way under her skirts before?”


“First of all, what I did before I married you is not your concern. Second, if I have, I don’t remember her. Did you think I was going to make an assignation with her right under your nose? You think I’m so indiscriminate? Maybe I could take her upstairs to one of the rooms and ask you to stand in the hall outside the door while I shag her. Unless you’d rather watch. I can have you at home anytime I wish, can I not? Why would I want to toss that trollop? You must not think much of me either.”


Hermione was fuming when her meal was ungraciously plunked down in front of her. She got a view of the waitress’ ample backside when Lucius’ meal was set down. Hermione ostentatiously traded the two dishes, watching closely for the other witch’s reaction to seeing Lucius get Hermione’s serving. The waitress bit her lip, telling Hermione that the plate she’d been served had been ruined somehow.


Hermione turned to her husband, “I think we’d better eat elsewhere. Apparently the food here is inedible today. Take me to one of those other restaurants you mentioned.”


Lucius wasn’t slow on the uptake and he’d known just where to look when he saw his wife switch the plates. He’d seen the waitress react also. “My pleasure, pet. I think perhaps the cook will hear about his inedible meal, first though. Excuse me a second.” Lucius went straight to the kitchen and it took less than five seconds for the cook to come barreling out to the dining room.


“What have you done, you hag?” he yelled at the waitress. “You trying to ruin my custom? Out!” the cook roared, “And don’t come back. You’re fired.”


The waitress screamed a few obscenities at Hermione, threw her apron on the floor, and ran noisily sobbing from the room.


The cook turned to Lucius and apologized profusely, begging him not to think poorly of the Leaky Cauldron in future. Lucius assured the man his wife came in a lot and would be happier now that the unpleasant waitress was gone. Lucius shepherded Hermione out the door and apparated them to the front door of a very classy restaurant that Hermione had heard of but never eaten at. Before he held the door for her, Lucius said quietly, “Some of that was probably my fault if I did sleep with her before. I hope this won’t ruin your lunch. This restaurant is very good. I think you’ll be happy here.”


Hermione just nodded and entered the foyer of the classy restaurant when Lucius opened the door and guided her through with his hand at the small of her back. Little tingles slid along her spine and settled in her womb. His special fragrance tantalized her. She realized with some dismay she wanted him again. Was she actually turned on by being confronted with Lucius’ past as a stud? She knew it might not even be the past, once the year’s monitoring was up. That depressed her and she shivered in fear at her reaction. She shouldn’t get too attached to a man who couldn’t commit himself to a woman for more than a few hours at a time.


Lucius led them to the Maitre’D and they were seated immediately in a lovely alcove by a window looking out onto a garden and a small creek nearby.


Hermione realized that even though they were in London, the restaurant had created a country setting to enjoy through the charmed windows. She smiled at Lucius who had been waiting for some sign of her approval. He pulled out her chair and she sat on the black velvet seat of the Sheraton shield-back. This was all very upscale to Hermione who hadn’t had much practice being rich. She was a little intimidated by her surroundings and watched her husband for cues on behavior.


Lucius sat down and gestured for the waiter who came quickly to their table. “We’d like your finest Cabernet to start with and bring us two orders of the crab-stuffed mushrooms. We’ll have your Chef’s Entree de Soir with crème brulee to finish. Lucius waved away the waiter who bowed and left.

“I guess the Wizard’s Special is going to be sadly overshadowed by the Chef’s Entrée de Soir.” Hermione drolly observed, “Isn’t it a bit too early for dinner though?”


“I could have ordered Pacific Coast Salmon from America and someone would have apparated there to get it for us. I’m being easy on the staff and they know it. Do you like this place?”


“Very much. Thank you for bringing me here. Did you come here a lot?”


Lucius’ face instantly shut down.


“Lucius, I’m not asking anything incendiary, am I? I’m just making conversation, trying to get to know you better. You needn’t answer the question. Tell me instead about which contractors won’t work for you any more. I’ll find new ones who understand you are master.”


“Am I, Hermione?”


“Lucius, I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you were subjected to those cretins.”


Lucius jabbed at Hermione defensively, “I came here occasionally, sometimes with Narcissa, sometimes upstairs in a private room with someone else. They are very discreet at this establishment. Is that what you wanted to know?”


“Lucius is there anything I can talk about with you that doesn’t lead back to your erotic past? No, I didn’t want to know about the upstairs rooms. You just had such a firm grasp of the menu I thought you had been here many times before. Like I’ve been to the Leaky Cauldron. Really. Sorry I asked. What was the Chef’s Entree, did you see it? I didn’t get a chance to find out from the menu.”


“It’s never on the menu.” Lucius baldly switched the subject, flexing his sexual authority to see if it held, “I will want you tonight.” He heard Hermione’s slight gasp and saw her nipples go to hard points in her chiffon blouse. Being a long-time connoisseur of women’s bodies, Lucius was well pleased at her response to his demand. She showed signs of becoming hooked on sex. He just hoped it would always be with him.


“What? You want… you mean for sex? Just like that?” Hermione was having a little trouble breathing for the pounding of her heart. Her body was preparing itself for him already, the clenching in her womb making her a little woozy thinking about what he offered.


“Was I not clear? Sex, my room, tonight. Yes. Just like that. Should I have a trumpet fanfare? Even I don’t think sex with me merits that much notice.” Smiling slightly, Lucius gently inhaled and could smell Hermione’s own scent infuse her light perfume. Shite, why did he do that to himself? Now he had a hard-on. Thank the Gods the meal was just starting. Perhaps he’d made an error not asking for a room upstairs. Lucius slowly adjusted his trousers so his wife wouldn’t know she wasn’t alone in her arousal. It was always better to have the upper hand with a woman if a man could manage it without his penis shouting his condition to the world. Sometimes biology handed it all to the female. Multiple orgasms, subtle signs of arousal instead of blatant ones, sometimes it just wasn’t fair.


Their food had been served with panache and Hermione was enjoying her meal and her companion. The beautiful ‘scenery’ added to her pleasure in the day. It had started out somewhat shakily, but the relaxed atmosphere of the richly decorated dining area settled her nerves and stomach. Lucius was actually making an effort to join in light conversation, and she was slowly learning a bit more about her gorgeous, nettlesome husband. She was about to ask him more about his financial acumen when she saw something from the corner of her eye and turned toward the movement.


A beautiful ebony-haired woman in a scarlet dress and gold accents came up to their table and greeted the dark wizard like an old friend, “Lucius! I haven’t seen you for the longest time.” The woman gave Hermione the once over and turned away from her ostentatiously, saying, “Darling are you slumming today? You could have called me, you know. How sad for you to be making do with second-class goods. I’m sure we could find something better to do than have a mundane meal in the public dining room with a,” the woman smiled at Hermione, annihilating her with her eyes, “Muggleborn.”


Lucius looked at Hermione who was smiling angelically in return. He distrusted that look and wanted to avoid a catfight in public. Hermione was going to blame him again for this new female’s attempt to mark him as her territory. And she wouldn’t be wrong. He’d had this one too. He had feigned a bad memory for the waitress at the Leaky Cauldron but he had taken her to bed some years ago. He only remembered her because of his surroundings at the tavern and her creative blowjob.


He got up and put his napkin at his place, “I don’t believe you’ve met my wife, Hermione Malfoy. Hermione, this lovely woman with the manners and reputation of a Knockturn Alley whore is Adria Stonely. She was just leaving. Please do show yourself out. And Adria,” Lucius gave the woman a benevolent smile that never came near his eyes, “if you ever malign my wife again, remember I know a few things that would only add to my reputation while decimating yours. It was nice seeing you again without the leather whip, and I do hope that genital rash cleared up.” Lucius sat again and dismissed the woman by lifting his wine glass and sipping it with relaxed enjoyment as he gazed out the window.


Adria gave Lucius a malevolently assessing stare and without another word turned on her heel and marched off through the dining room. Soon several chuckles arose around the room, and then a few guffaws. Lucius turned to see what the hilarity was for. His mouth dropped open as he saw what everyone else in the room was laughing at. The entire back of Adria’s clothing was transparent, showing two black and green dragon tattoos on the cheeks of her butt.


She did have a nice figure and a few males weren’t laughing so much as panting, but Hermione noticed Lucius wasn’t one of them. When her husband glared in censure at her, she merely smiled at him while putting her wand back in her purse, “She won’t be able to see what everyone else can. The spell will wear off when she removes the dress. I assume she’s Slytherin, what with the green dragons? You already knew about the tattoos, didn’t you? Or are they A.L., After Lucius?


Lucius kept silent – he’d licked those dragons. Hermione hadn’t seen what Adria had tattooed on her front and the Gods willing she never would. He didn’t think his wife would recognize the tattooed penis flowing from between her breasts down to her navel with the testicles being her tits, but he didn’t want to take the chance. It hadn’t been done with his permission after all. He was sort of innocent, really.


Their meal was finished anyway, so they left the restaurant and apparated home to take care of the cistern problem. That took Lucius the rest of the afternoon. Hermione took a nap. Her tussles with two of Lucius’ former paramours had made her tired and she also hoped she’d need her rest for the night’s activities.


While Lucius was inspecting the cistern leak, an elf let him know that Snape was asking for admittance. Lucius sent the elf to bring Snape to him in the garden and five minutes later Snape came walking down the gravel path. “So you’re earning your keep as an undergardener now?” Snape quirked his lips at the dirt smudges on Lucius’ shirt.


Lucius had laid his suit jacket over one of the marble fauns decorating the small clipped grassy area a few feet from the old cistern, making the statue into a makeshift clothes hanger and giving the faun a spurious air of respectability.


“Absolutely not.” Lucius looked down his nose at the other wizard, affecting a haughtiness that was truly so Lucius, but in this case was merely playful. I’ve always been HEAD gardener for my estate. It’s one of my ways of relaxing. Flowers can’t talk back or hit me with crucios. I spend so much time indoors with my finances, it’s actually a pleasure to come out into the sunshine, even if it’s because of an imminent disaster for this part of the garden. “So what, may I ask, brings you here?”


Snape made himself as comfortable as he could on a nearby stone bench, settling down and rearranging his robes after using his wand to blow off the accumulation of summer dust and the odd leaf. He gave the blond wizard an assessing stare and then said, “Ginny heard from Hermione that the two of you are contemplating parenthood together. I need to be reassured that you are still the real Lucius and not some boggart gotten way out of hand.”


Lucius’ previous lighthearted animation twinkled out instantly. “You think I am wrong to pursue having children with Saint Hermione?” The Malfoy chin went up and his whole stance became shuttered. Did Snape think he was polluting the Order of the Phoenix’s darling witch with a fell scheme to infest her with evil Death Eater offspring?


Snape knew his friend very well and could see Lucius was retreating into his old defensive habit of viewing the world through eyes that saw everyone as an ill-wisher. He chuckled, throwing Lucius completely off his protective hobbyhorse. “Actually, my thoughts were more in the line of ‘look out magic world if Lucius and Hermione make a baby.’ Any child born of you two will probably have more power in one little finger than the combined abilities of the entire Hogwarts student body. I think there was perhaps a cosmic reason for the Pureblood Malfoys to dislike Muggleborns. If the two of you ever get your genes together our whole societal landscape could change. That’s heady – and scary – stuff.”


Lucius slowly unbent and looked thoughtful. “I hadn’t really analyzed our mutual desire for children from that standpoint before. Of course, it’s only speculation and it’s well known that genes can be very tricky, so I’m not going to dwell on any possible unnatural skewing of our potential child’s talents. That way lies madness for me. One megalomaniac in my life was more than enough.” Lucius finally smiled again, “With Hermione as the mother that would never happen anyway. She has a wickedly aggressive ability to keep one from taking oneself too seriously. Her parenting should be enough to keep the magic world safe from our progeny.”


Snape inclined his head briefly at the logic of Lucius’ words. He looked around at the soggy ground, “So, what’s the problem with this section of your garden? It looks a bit more like a shallow pond.”


The two old friends left the topic of future Malfoy generations and concentrated on the more mundane problem of shoring up an old piece of metal whose structural integrity was nearly beyond help. When Snape finally apparated home after a consuming afternoon fighting old plumbing, he didn’t even notice he was covered in mud.

____________________________________________________________

A/N:

My poor characters had to have a bit of a rest from constantly jumping in the sack, so in this chapter they got to eat a fancy lunch instead. More lemons next time. I Promise. Hermione and Lucius have cleared the air a bit and now they're refreshed and ready for more combat between the sheets.

_____________________________________________________________

A/N (part two):

I have a question. I listened to Jason Isaacs introducing himself as Lucius Malfoy to Harry Potter in Flourish and Blott's in the second Harry Potter movie, "Chamber of Secrets" and he pronounced his first name, Loo'-see-us. In my head I've always said, Loo'shus. Which way do you pronounce it?


Please send a review my way if you're enjoying my story. I'm getting new reviewers which added to my staunch supporters really makes me thrilled.