Love Thy Enemy

CHAPTER 15: Making Nice





Hermione was just bone weary by the time she made her way up the curving staircase and down the hall to their room. Lucius had gone directly to his study to look over something or another pertaining to his business dealings. She walked slowly into the bathroom and stared at the obscenely large Jacuzzi tub set in a black marble platform with longing.





“Just what the doctor ordered.” She smiled. With a flick of her wand she set the taps to fill the tub with hot, steamy water and added some of her favorite strawberry scented bubble bath. She undressed slowly, tossing her clothes into the chute, knowing that tomorrow they would be clean, pressed and back in her closet. She sighed in pure, unadulterated pleasure as she lowered her tired and achy body into the hot water, sinking to her chin in the soothing warmth.





As she reclined against the back of the tub, her head resting against a towel she had placed there, she began to go over the events of the previous hour. If Ginny had slipped them anything stronger Hermione would no longer be in possession of her virginity. She would have easily allowed Lucius to take her right there in the hallway of the Potter’s home. Hell, she had been tempted to let him do it anyway.





She could easily blame it all on the lust potion but she knew that wasn’t the truth. She wanted Lucius on a physical level, lust he called it, and that sort of shallow emotion did not sit well with Hermione. She just couldn’t give herself to a man she had no warm feelings for. She continued to hope that maybe one day she would soften her heart toward him. But she feared that in order for that to happen, she would have to lose who she was entirely. A man of Lucius’s age was set in his ways and less likely to change, especially for a bride he did not want.





It was dark in the bathroom, the only light came from the moon shining through the skylight above the tub. Hermione stared up at he stars twinkling overhead and that little poem from her childhood began to play in her mind.



Star light, star bright

First star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might

Have the wish I wish tonight.





She hadn’t even realized she had whispered the words out loud until she heard Lucius speak from the doorway.



“No need to wish on stars, I can give you whatever it is you want.” He was wearing only his trousers and a white sleeveless undershirt. His shirt and robes were gone, as well as his shoes and socks.





“You shouldn’t invade a lady’s bath, Lucius.” Hermione said quietly, thankful for the bubbles covering her nudity from his steely gaze.





“I that all I get? No yelling, no threats, no hexing?” He asked. He was concerned over her lack of spirit. Surely he was no such an adept prick that he had broken her already. He did not like this dispirited version of his new bride, her spirit and quick wit was what made his blood boil when he got near her. Her passion was a wonder to behold, even if it was only a passion for his ultimate defeat.





“I’m weary, Lucius. I have no fight left in me tonight.” She said quietly, closing her eyes and trying to block him out.





Lucius frowned, it wasn’t that he actually enjoyed sparring with her constantly, but it made him feel alive again when they did. Being arrested had been worth the chance to feel again, he had been numb since the day he buried his wife and child. His public and private disputes with Hermione had resurrected something in him. Admitting to it was not exactly something he took great delight in, but it was the only explanation he had been able to come up with for why he continued to engage her thusly.





He couldn’t handle her melancholy and decided to rock the boat. He removed his trousers and underclothes and climbed into the tub with her, wincing slightly at the sweet scented water.





“What are you doing?” Hermione sputtered, sitting up and crossing her arms over her breasts as Lucius settled against the rim of the tub across from her.





“Joining you.” He said with a smile. Luckily the spigot was on the side of the tub and not at the end as was customary so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable.





“You weren’t invited! You are naked!” She said, her eyes wide as the bubbles shifted and revealed the very naked form of her recalcitrant spouse.





“So are you, most people bathe naked.” He said, resting his head back and watching her through lowered lids. “Relax, I’m not going to drown you, I just wanted to talk to you.”





“You never want to talk to me unless you have something you want to dictate.” She said, settling back against the tub but keeping her arms over her breasts and pressing her thighs tightly together.





“Are you still beating yourself up over what happened earlier?” He asked. The water really was terribly hot, was she trying to stew herself?





“A little bit.” She admitted. She grew uncomfortable when Lucius was being nice, she couldn’t relax because she always felt as though something were about to blast her if she dropped her guard.





“I told you, the only wrong doing was on the part of your devious little friend. Do you have any idea why she would slip us a lust potion and then hurry us off into a private section of the house?”





“Girl talk. She knows about my unfortunate reactions to you and insists I should just give in and let it happen. Find a good part in this marriage and run with it.”





“Maybe there is a Weasley I like after all. Why do you find being attracted to me so unfortunate?” He asked, stretching his long legs out along side her and crossing them at the ankle by her hip.





“I told you earlier.” She said, jumping when he bumped her naked hip with his foot and winked at her.





“Ah yes, you don’t love me, or like me.” He said. “I can’t be completely unlikable.” He said with a thoughtful expression on his face. “I have a few friends, and I am quite social for the most part. Why I was even civil to Potter, and it didn’t even require all that much effort on my part to be so!”





Lucius looked so proud of himself for behaving in public she almost wanted to laugh. Could he really be making an effort to become friends?





“There are moments when I like you, Lucius. But then you usually say something arrogant or just plain mean and ruin it.” She jumped when he touched her foot beneath the water.





“I’m not going to pull you under, relax.” He laughed and pulled her foot up to rest on his thigh, massaging gently and pressing his thumbs into the arch. She actually moaned softly at the unexpected pleasure coursing through her. Getting used to wearing high heels was taking its toll on her poor feet.





“You don’t have some kinky foot fetish do you?” She asked, peeking at him through one eye. Lucius actually laughed out loud then, a real laugh that softened his face and made him look almost boyish.





“No, but you do have rather adorable little feet. I just noticed that you always seem so eager to remove your shoes and thought maybe the new shoes were making your feet ache.” He said, still chuckling. “Why, do you have any fetishes I should know about?” He asked teasingly.





“I have no idea.” She said, his gentle massage moving to her calves and easing her tension. She was relaxing more and more, her eyes closing again.





“How is it you have had no lovers? Very few women make it into adulthood untouched.” The feel of her tight, virgin flesh beneath his fingers still tormented him. It had been unexpected, as had his exquisite joy in finding her untouched.





“School, war, more school, work. Not to mention the criminal record I now have for being a public nuisance.” She said sleepily. “Some men find that a bit off putting. Besides, I am not the type of woman men fall over themselves for.”





“Maybe not before, but very few men could take their eyes off of you at the theater; you looked amazing, even I was entranced.” He said softly.





“They weren’t looking at me; they were looking at the little mudblood forced on the powerful Lucius Malfoy.” She scoffed.





“I was looking at you, and I was proud to have you on my arm.” Hermione opened her eyes and looked across the tub at the handsome blonde man who had invaded her bath. Everything in her wanted to respond with some smart comment about how she was what he had made her up to be, at least as far as her appearance went. But she realized that he was trying to be kind, trying to make her feel better about the situation so she held her tongue.





“Thank you. What about you, this can’t be pleasant for you, being sexually attracted to a mudblood?” She asked.





“It’s not unpleasant exactly; I rather enjoyed your touch.” He smirked when he saw her eyes flash slightly. “I would not have chosen to remarry at all, my….liaisons had all been with purebloods in the past, with a few exceptions during my seedier history”





“Lets make a rule right now; I do not want to hear anything, EVER, about your deatheater days.” She said fiercely. Lucius smiled, there was that spark again.





“Well, those women were not exactly the cream of the crop but the alternative was suffering a crucio. What could you do right?” He saw her eyes narrow as she pulled her foot from his lap. “Anyhow, I suppose if I HAD to be forced into marriage with a mudblood, at least it was someone society respected, the princess of the golden trio. You have other attributes as well, you are intelligent, clever, quite an adept witch, and you clean up rather nicely.”





“You make me sound like a prospective business acquisition! It’s almost like you are considering purchasing a horse! Do you want to see my back teeth? You pompous ass!” She grabbed the towel she had been using as a pillow and wrapped it around her as she climbed out of the tub. Lucius actually laughed at her wet feet slipped a bit on the marble tile, causing her to drop one side of her towel as she braced herself on the doorframe. He got a rather nice view of her slick, firm backside before she disappeared into their bedroom.