Hidden Meanings

Disclaimer: This is Jo's fault, blame her!

angel: Lucius and Narcissa were rather childish weren't they, you have no idea HOW much fun I had writing that chapter.

EmmyloveDraco: You got more. As for what happens in the end, you and me both...

mary: Yes, I was almost going to let them have a cat fight but they're both too dignified for that I feel.

JW: Well, aren't we cynical... I am not giving ANYTHING away.

Dee Dee: Yes, well I thought it was about time Narcissa turned up again. Like I said to JW, not going to give anything away. As for Remus, well, he is too noble to fight, and besides, he knew immediately it was pointless. He's not stupid, why fight when you've already lost?

pinkwands: Brilliant plot twist, I couldn't wait to spring THAT on you. I write Lupin how I imagined him from the books, and not the DT Lupin, in fact I wanted Ewan McGregor to play him and that's how I write him. So no tache, sorry!

BuckyKattGirl: Narcissa is a Bitch, and Sirius was a Dog, match made in heaven I'd say... sorry! It's the English language... yep, it certainly looks like that doesn't it...

Citten: Narcissa wasn't very happy was she? And yes, Lupin did overhear Molly saying it, besides his wolf senses also picked it up.

chenmoji: Thank you. Wait is over!

Plans and Research

Hermione found Lucius in the library the following day, and piles of books surrounded him. She walked up to him and rubbed his shoulders. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. Hermione shuddered at what he was reading. She tried to avert her gaze.

“Well,” Lucius said, as he turned around and looked into her eyes. “I think I can safely say you didn’t marry me for my book collection.”

Hermione swatted him on the shoulder lightly. She walked around and perched her bum on the edge of the desk and started stroking his cheek. He was extremely tempted to swipe the books off the desk and make mad love to her on it, but he couldn’t. He had made a promise and he was going to keep it. If the Order were going to be sceptical about this then fine, but at least he’d sleep at night knowing he had done the right thing – for once.

Hermione furrowed her brow, she didn’t understand. She was wearing her white silk negligee; the one that he usually couldn’t resist. Normally he’d have made love to her at least ONCE by now. She continued stroking his cheek and jaw line. But he kept his attention on his books. She decided to sit right in front of him and she placed his hands on her hips.

“Good morning, dear,” she said huskily.

Lucius looked up at her. She was beautiful and sexy, he saw the shape of her breasts in the negligee and he felt his hands become twitchy on her hips… Merlin! What was she thinking of?

“Morning, sweetheart,” Lucius said, gulping down the urge to touch her breasts. He rubbed his hands up and down her sides, which made her shiver visibly in front of him. She bent down, and kissed him on the lips. He felt a jolt shoot straight down his body, and it made a certain member of his react. “Hermione, dearest, we can’t I am busy. I said last night that I would prove the Order wrong, I can’t do that if I don’t do some research.” He cocked his head to one side and licked his lips.

“Can’t it wait for an hour or so?” Hermione asked.

“I only wish it could, but as sexy as you are, and as much as I want to, I have to put my desires in the back of the carpet and research. When you’ve breakfasted and dressed, perhaps you can help me.”

“Fine!” Hermione huffed. She jumped off the desk and pushed him slightly away and stormed out of the library. Lucius smirked as he did his research. It seems that even the know it all has her limits. He shook his head to try and get the vision of her bending over him the way she did out of his head so that he could concentrate.

He took out some spare parchment and started to write notes down. He was shaken out of his reverie by Dobby coming into the library.

“Does sir wish for coffee?” Dobby asked.

“Yes please,” Lucius said. He then looked down at the parchment and found he had doodled baby names on the parchment. He shook himself back to reality. Why he had written Dwayne was beyond him… no way was he going to have a son called Dwayne. Dobby returned with his Masters coffee. Dobby tilted his head to one side, he observed his Master quietly and surreptitiously.

He has certainly changed, Dobby mused thoughtfully. He even said ‘Please!’ He had never said please to me before. Dobby had always liked Hermione, she was one of the very few who understood him. Now it has seemed that she has changed Master.

“Dobby wants to know what Master is doing?” he asked in a murmur. He began to flinch.

“Master is trying to research ways to destroy the Dark Lord, Dobby, and he is trying to prove a certain teenaged brat wrong!”

Dobby shook his head; perhaps Dobby had better convince Harry Potter that his Master had changed. That in the two months he had been working with him, Master hasn’t hit him once. He walked up to Master and peered at the parchment with various names.

“Is Mistress pregnant?” Dobby asked.

“Yes,” Lucius sighed. Dobby chewed on his lip.

“Dobby shall prepare a nursery for the heir.”

Lucius laid his quill aside and looked Dobby over. “You have more knowledge on Hermione than I do, why did she give me a chance?”

Dobby began to fiddle with the hem of his apron, and he looked down on the floor.

“Mistress is a kind, wonderful person. She listens to people, and is nice. She gives people chances and defends people that no one else would. Mistress is beautiful in that respect, and that beauty shines through her eyes,” Dobby blushed as he described Hermione; he began to shuffle his feet. “If Mistress was elf like Dobby then Dobby would marry her.”

Lucius smiled, and he sat back in the chair. “Truly, Dobby, do you wish to get married?”

Dobby’s pale green eyes widened in shock at what his Master had just asked of him.

“It is Dobby’s fondest wish, Master!”

Lucius chewed his lip. “Have an elf in mind?”

“Winky, Master! She hates being free, though.”

Lucius sat back on his wooden chair and it creaked. He steepled his fingers and then put the tips of the two middle digits to his lips, and then he leant forward.

“Take her, Dobby. Marry her, and she can be a servant here. If she hates being free then I will give her what she wants back.”

Dobby couldn’t believe his ears! Did Lucius Malfoy really say that he’d give a disgraced elf back her dignity? He bowed so the tip of his nose touched the floor.

“Dobby shall do as Master suggests,” he then popped back into the kitchen. His head in a spin! He couldn’t wait to tell Winky. He had wanted to marry her ever since she came into his life.

~*~*~

Hermione came back into the library wearing some purple robes and she flopped into a sofa. Lucius looked over at her, and he shook his head, she had her arms across her chest and a scowl on her face. That was the first time he had refused her advances. He actually wished he did do what she wished, and then maybe he wouldn’t be sitting in the same room as a thunderstorm on two legs now.

Hermione then turned her head towards Lucius and her scowl deepened. He sighed, and then got up, he walked around his desk and sat on the sofa. He tried to tuck her hair behind her ear but she shied her head away from his fingers.

“Listen, darling, the honeymoon period is over. It’s time to knuckle down and get some work done, that was the object of this marriage after all.”

“I never thought I’d ever say this, but damn those books to hell! You have made me realise that books can only give you so much pleasure; I want you Lucius. I woke up wanting to make love to you but you weren’t there.”

“I wanted to make love to you but there are other things in this life apart from sex.”

“Bloody Dark Lord! The sooner we get rid of him the better.”

“And we’re not going to do that if we have sex all the time,” Lucius said patiently. “I’ll make it up to you tonight, I promise.”

Hermione turned around and her expression softened. “All right,” she sighed. “I’m holding you to that promise by the way.”

Lucius smiled, and then he tucked some hair behind her ear and leant forward to kiss and suckle the spot underneath her lobe.

“I love you, Hermione.”

Hermione stroked his hair and then her expression changed to one that looked as if she meant business.

“All right, give me some books, parchment, quill, and I’ll crack onto some research myself.”

Lucius got up off the sofa, picked up the nearest pile of books to him, and then gave her some spare parchment and a quill and ink. Hermione took her shoes off and curled up on the sofa with a book open on her lap and the parchment on the arm of the sofa.

Lucius tipped his head to one side and walked around his desk and tried to study. But kept glancing at his wife. She had a cute expression on her face as she read her book. It was almost the way a squirrel looked when he held a nut in his hands. She really was adorable.

He laid his quill aside and sat there contemplating his wife. He was almost drifting into another daydream when the wards of his house shook, someone had come to his Mansion. He frowned. He looked at Hermione. She had felt them too, and she had lifted the skirts of her robes and took her wand out… Lucius blinked! She was wearing stockings AND suspenders, and her wand was in her knickers? He shook his head in disbelief. The coy little Madam!

Dobby came in quivering. “It is the old Mistress!”

Lucius swapped looks with Hermione. He scowled. She edged nearer to Lucius. She didn’t have that good a meeting with the woman the previous day. She doubted Narcissa would have improved her mood overnight.

Narcissa swept in regally and looked at Lucius. “You mean you actually KNOW what books are for Lucius?”

“Whatever it is you want, get it over with!”

“I want to talk to your wife,” Narcissa said. “I was going to send an owl, but I thought that if I turned up then you’d have no choice but to let me stay; for a cup of coffee at least.”

Lucius narrowed his eyes, but he looked at Hermione. It was her decision. Hermione looked back up at Lucius.

“All right then, Ms Black,” Hermione said.

“Oh, call me Narcissa do, and you’re name is Hermione isn’t it?”

Hermione nodded silently. She clutched hold onto Lucius hand. Lucius squeezed it reassuringly.

“Well, all right,” Hermione began. “If you want me, dear, I’ll be in the conservatory.”

Lucius bent down and kissed her violently and passionately, letting his hands rove up and down Hermione’s body. He then turned to his ex-wife with a smug twinkle glowing in his eyes. Narcissa just returned it with cool indifference.

Hermione walked past Narcissa, but Narcissa stopped her, and forced Hermione’s arm to go through hers. Lucius decided to disillusion himself to find out what Narcissa was up to.

Narcissa took Hermione to the Conservatory. Hermione offered Narcissa to sit down on a wicker chair, Hermione sat opposite her in a matching chair. She looked at Hermione thoughtfully.

“Now he is not in the room, what truly made you do what you did?”

“I love him,” Hermione said.

Narcissa snorted derisively. She lounged back into the chair.

“Tell me the truth, Hermione. As far as I am aware, no one loves Lucius. Not even his mother loved him. Lucius is not the type TO love.”

Hermione took her wand and aimed it at the fountain. It was made of crystal. It was a big round pool and in the centre stood a Unicorn standing on its hind legs, and the forelegs up in the air as if it was just off for a really good gallop. The water sprouted out of the corn and mouth.

“I do love him, Narcissa. Why does everybody have difficulty with the fact that I love him and he loves me?”

“Because, dear, he always has been a monster, a terror. He is almost inhuman.”

“This might shock you then,” Hermione said. “But before we bumped into you well, he cried on me. He was sobbing, and tearful, he himself doesn’t understand why I love him.”

Narcissa blinked, and then she leant forward. “Possibly faking… he’s a good actor.”

“I know the difference between fake and real, Narcissa, and he wasn’t faking it.”

Narcissa chewed the inside of her lip and then she sighed. She got up and began pacing around the Conservatory. She sat on the edge of the fountain and Hermione had to resist the urge to push her in there.

“Listen, sweetie, whatever spell he has you on right at this moment it’s apparent that it’s a strong one. I can sort this out for you. I’ve just been to see Severus, and it turns out he’s in love with you as well as Remus. Why have Lucius when there are two perfectly wonderful Wizards more capable of loving you than Lucius?”

Hermione shook her head stubbornly; she began to feel like Ce’Nedra in one of her favourite Muggle fantasy books, the Belgariad. Stubborn, self-willed, and defensive.

“I love Lucius, okay I’ll admit to possibly having a crush on Severus at one time. But crushes fade, and love doesn’t. Remus, well, as I said yesterday I viewed him more as a family friend. I just couldn’t fall in love with either of them.”

“But you were in love with a Weasley!” Narcissa exclaimed. “What could possibly change your mind?”

“The Dark Lord personally killed Ronald,” Hermione said. “But I can’t sit around moping. Lucius had knowledge that I wanted at the time, and I had a ripe young body that he needed. Somehow it’s turned out that perhaps we might have ended up with each other one way or another anyway.”

Narcissa looked at the young woman gravely. She sighed and then threw her hands up in the air. She got up off the fountain rim and brought the chair closer to Hermione and then took hold of her hands.

“You think I’m a bitch don’t you?” she asked.

“At the moment, childish is more how I’d describe you.”

Narcissa laughed. “Possibly, but all your friends have a right to feel the way they do. Young Ginny was almost killed by a plan that Lucius had, as was Harry. Remus lost the only chance of ever being able to right himself in society because of Lucius. Sir-,” she faltered at saying his name. “Sirius is dead because of a trap that Lucius helped to lay.”

“And what’s your excuse?” Hermione asked warily.

“He used to beat me black and blue. Sometimes he even Crucio’d me if I went so far as to defend Muggles and their Magic children. He used to come in drunk, and hit Draco, and me, and he used to torture Muggles on a daily basis, and imposed the Droit de Signeur on young Muggle women in the nearest vicinity, and I used to beg and plead him to stop but I got slapped. Believe me, Hermione, when I say that he is NOT a nice man.”

“So far within our two months of marriage he hasn’t done anything of the sort, in fact this morning he had turned down my advances.”

Narcissa squeezed Hermione’s hands and gazed at Hermione with real care in her eyes. “Sirius loved you, you know. He said that if we were to ever have a daughter then it would probably be someone like you.”

“I doubt it,” Hermione said. “Look,” Hermione sighed, “I know that everyone has their reasons to hate Lucius, and I do to, but there is too much hatred going on in the world at the moment. We need love. I truly believe Lucius loves me, you know.”

“You’re pretty stubborn, aren’t you?” Narcissa asked.

“And I generally get my own way,” Hermione said, “eventually.”

Narcissa smiled wryly, and then she sat back. She looked around the Conservatory again, examining some wild plants.

“Sirius and I made love in here the night before he died,” she whispered. “He wasn’t supposed to come but he couldn’t bear the confines of Grimmauld Place, and so he snuck here, and we made love for the last time.”

Hermione dropped her eyes to the floor and tried not to get the image of that in her head. “I made love to Ron the night before he died to.”

Narcissa got up off the chair and Hermione followed suit; it was obvious the other woman felt as if she should leave. Hermione led Narcissa to the front door, and Narcissa rubbed Hermione’s arm and leant over to kiss Hermione on the cheek.

“We’re only concerned, you know.”

“I know, but honestly, I can handle him.”

Narcissa sighed and walked out of the front door, she then walked down the pathway, and Hermione watched her as she disapparated and then Hermione shut the door. She walked back into the library where she saw Lucius storming around the room, his eyes flashed anger and his lips turned to a scorning smile.

“So that’s the best she can do,” he said with control. His hands were shaking; the only visible sign of his fury.

“You were listening?” Hermione asked with shock in her voice.

“I wanted to know what she meant by coming here uninvited to talk to you,” Lucius said. “And I wanted to see you deal with her.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Lucius. “Was all that true?” Hermione asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, did you do all that?”

“Yes,” Lucius answered honestly. “I told you yesterday I was a monster.”

She placed a hand to her forehead and sank down on the sofa. “You did, it’s just that – it’s kind of different to hear it.”

“Whatever I did to Narcissa, I am not proud of it,” Lucius said, “I will try and correct the mistakes I made.”

Hermione looked up at Lucius, the fear was in his eyes. She got up and wrapped her arms around his waist and settled her cheek on his chest, where she heard his heart beat furiously.

“I know you will, Lucius, but it’s not me you have to convince,” she said.

“Actions speaks louder than words, Hermione, so let’s get to it.”

She nodded and let him go. She sat back down in her comfortable position on the sofa and began to read. Lucius sat back down at his desk. They both researched and studied in silence. Lucius was becoming more determined every minute to prove them wrong.

Hermione, however, had her mind on something OTHER than research. She saw the look in Narcissa’s eyes when she mentioned Remus. She heard a slight tone of warmth hidden away, and she thought of a pleasant plan to bring them together.

As she said to Narcissa, life was too short to spend it in continual hatred. Perhaps if Narcissa found someone else, she might leave them alone. And Remus might feel as if he has part of Tonks returned to him. The plan was perfect in all but one respect. She needed Lucius to help her, and she wasn’t sure what Lucius would think, or even if he would help! She had better mention it, AFTER they made love.

A/N The Belgariad is my favourite set of fantasy books, as I love all the characters, and don't hate any of them. It's also one of the rare sets of books that I agree with all the pairings the author, David Eddings, had written. There is even a pairing slightly HG/SS in the continuation, The Mallorean. I suggest you read them if you haven't. They are better than Harry Potter, but only slightly.