Just Around the Riverbend

FINAL EXAMS SUCK MONKEY BUTT!!!

I'm so sorry about the delay guys....it's been so hectic here. I want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and everyone who has reviewed the story period. I hope you enjoy this next installment. Now that Finals are almost done I should be able to spend more time with this ficcie. I've got lots of good plans....and most of them involve smut. :D WIth Lucius ^_^

Now....enjoy.

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Lucius held the young girl tightly in his arms as he rode. Her shoulder was bleeding profusely, and he dare not try to remove the arrow for fear of making it worse. He would never tell anyone how afraid he was that she would be hurt permanently. He was positive that she would live, but he was afraid that the use of her arm might become limited.

Daisy was blinking in and out of consciousness. In her few years on this earth she had never been in so much pain. It felt as if her shoulder was on fire, and she couldn’t feel anything below the arrow. She was being jostled slightly, and she opened her eyes to see what was making her bounce so. She lifted her head and saw her cousin’s face, his pale blue eyes unblinking, and his jaw set. He looked angry….She hadn’t meant to upset him. She hadn’t meant to get hurt. But he had come barreling in like some sort of half-cocked hero, and had blasted Arbino before she could explain anything.

She tried to say something to her cousin, but as she opened her mouth a particularly nasty jostle from the horse made her give a pitiful yelp instead.

“Hush now, you silly girl. Try to rest on the ride back up to the manor.” He said softly, and tightened his grip on her slightly.

She leaned her face against his chest and closed her eyes, fading back into unconsciousness.

~~

When Daisy opened her eyes again, she was in her room in the manor. She was tucked into her covers, and her shoulder was wrapped neatly. Her cousin was nowhere to be found.

She gingerly pushed back the covers with her good arm, and slowly climbed from the soft bed. She felt bad about what had happened. She could have gotten herself killed…but her cousin didn’t understand the pull that nature had with her. The energy she had used restoring the tree would keep her satisfied for a little while, but eventually she would need to do it again.

She padded barefoot downstairs, hoping to find her cousin so she could attempt to better explain why she had run off. She found him in the library sitting at his large desk, an old-looking tome in front of him. She was amused by the fact that he had on reading glasses. They actually made him look quite debonair. Not that he wasn’t handsome without the glasses. Her cousin was somewhat like a tiger. Beautiful to look at, but deadly to mess with.

She cleared her throat gently, and he looked up.

“Daisy…you’re awake.” He said softly, reaching up to remove his reading glasses.

She gave a weak smile. “You wear reading glasses.” She replied. He looked at the glasses in his hand, and nodded.

“They help to relieve the stress on my eyes when working on papers or research for long periods of time.” He said. There was silence between them, and she half-expected him to start yelling at her.

“I’m sorry.” She said suddenly, startling herself. There were a few more tortuous moments of silence dbefore Lucius sighed.

“What you did was stupid. You could have gotten yourself killed.” He said, his voice level and calm.

“I know. But you don’t understand…” she started.

“You can’t just go gallivanting off into the woods whenever you like, Daisy. What kind of guardian would I be if I allowed that kind of behavior?” When he said this he watched the color drain from Daisy’s face, leaving her skin a sickly palor.

“Are you going to send me back?” she asked, her voice breaking.

“What? Daisy, that’s-“

“I’m so sorry, cousin. I won’t run off again!” she said, tears beginning to leak from her eyes. Lucius put his reading glasses down and stood from the desk. He reached out and took her face in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheek. Daisy was vaguely aware that this was one of the first times he had physically touched her outside of Side-along apparition and the ride back up to the Manor.

“Daisy…listen to me.” He said softly. “I’m not sending you back. But you must understand….what would the Ministry think if anyone knew that you had run off into the woods unsupervised? You must think harder on things like this, Daisy.” He said, his mouth turning down in a frown. He withdrew his hands, and Daisy sniffled.

“I…I’m sorry, cousin. I didn’t think about it that way… But…what am I to do about my pent-up magic?” she asked. Here Lucius actually smiled.

“I’ve been researching that while you were….out. And I’ve found a suitable solution.” He said, and pointed to the large tome on the desk. “Closed up spaces don’t help your magic much, but there are testimonials from Green Mages throughout this book that state that an open garden suffices perfectly. I’ll just have someone come and knock down a few walls, and you can extend the existing gardens out as far as you want.” He said, and nodded once, pleased with himself.

That seemed reasonable to Daisy. But it also seemed like a lot of trouble to go through just for her.

“Won’t that be expensive?” she asked. He raised a blonde eyebrow at his little cousin.

“That’s not an issue here, Daisy. I just want you to be happy and healthy. Now….today is your Sewing lessons. But since you can’t really sew with one hand, Coco has agreed to allow you to get a jumpstart on theoretical designs. You’ll be sketching today.” He said. Daisy groaned inwardly. That fat tart was telling her things she already knew. Her mother had been a Master Seamstress…she only listened to that woman to please her cousin.

“Great…” Daisy said softly.

~~

Hermione sat on her sofa, staring at a fingerprint on her blank television. The past few days had been….odd. She had spent the majority of her time over at Malfoy Manor, for one, and she had also become acquainted with a totally different side of Lucius Malfoy. Their trip into the forest hadn’t been very fruitful for finding out much about him. Both had been preoccupied with finding the lost teenager. Although it hadn't been completely unpleasant waking up near- eep! Not a thought she should be having!!

After Daisy had been retrieved, she had watched the normally cool Lucius Malfoy nearly have a panic attack when he found out the arrow in his cousin’s shoulder was poisoned. The antidote had been administered quickly enough that there was no lasting damage save an extended wear of some bandages.

Hermione had seen something in Lucius Malfoy that she was sure hadn’t been there before. And it confused her.
Not only that…but they had talked. To keep his mind off of his unconscious cousin, Malfoy had engaged her in….small talk. He was intelligent…but she knew that. She had come to like the small conversations that she would have with him. Was that so bad?

She didn’t think so. But just to be on the safe side she wasn’t going to tell Harry. The poor dear had just gotten back up the heart to go back to Grimmauld Place, and she didn’t want to upset him. Truth be told she actually missed having him at her place. She was so lonely now that her and Ron weren’t together anymore. Sure he was a prick….but he was company. And most of the time he had made her feel safe. She liked having him there to walk beside her as she came home late from shopping. When he stayed over, she knew that should anyone be brave enough to attempt to burgle her house, that Ron would protect her with his life. But he was an arse every other minute, and it hadn’t been worth it in the long run to stay with him.

And what she had been contemplating just moments earlier had frightened her a bit.

Hermione Granger liked the company of Lucius Malfoy.

Oh Merlin.

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Hmm...it wasn't as suckish as I thought it would be, but it was a little short. Well....at least there's something there. ^_^ Yay.