Fantasy House

The next few days saw Remus and Hermione as almost constant companions. The full moon was fast approaching and the werewolf found it harder and harder to stay away from her.



The first night of the full moon made it impossible for him to stay away from her. She was his intoxicating drug and he literally growled at any male who came near either of them. He spent the night curled up on the floor, with her wrapped possessively in his arms. At dawn, he refused to apologize for it.



The night of the full moon was even worse. He was a full wolf when he took her. He took her fast and hard, not once, but five times. And each time, he howled his delight as he filled her with his seed.



It was a good thing the Wolfsbane Potion allowed him to keep his human mind. Many times that night, his instincts had been tempted to permanently brand her as his own. His human mind kept him from acting upon those instincts.



Then, as fast as it came, the cycle of the full moon was over. And Remus was filled with regret. He hadn\'t meant to put Hermione in such a situation. But, when he tried to apologize, she refused to accept it.



"Remus, listen to yourself!" she snapped at him after his eight attempt at an apology. "You\'re trying to apologize for something you had no control over. Not to mention the fact, that I don\'t want your apology. I actually... enjoyed myself."



This shocked the werewolf. Lucius and Sirius, who had been sitting at the breakfast table with them, shared a raised eyebrow look. Remus shook his head. "But, it\'s not natural," Remus argued.



Hermione gave an aspirated sigh. "Nothing in this house is natural, Remus. Don\'t you understand that by now? We are six people from very different backgrounds stuck in a house naked and forced to have sex with one another. What\'s so natural about that? Soon, Lucius will have to have sex with his only son. Sirius and Severus, who hate one another, will be forced to bugger each other. What\'s natural about any of this? Even now, I\'m sure Zabini is thinking of other things he could do to make this even worse for us."



As Remus slowly consented to what the witch was saying, Lucius stared at the young woman. "You," he asked, awed, "actually enjoyed being with a werewolf?"



She glared at him. "Don\'t knock it until you try it, Malfoy," she snipped, picking up his finished plate and bringing it to the sink.



He looked affronted at the mere thought and glanced at Sirius. The Animagus snorted into his apple juice, causing the drink to splash over his chest and up his nose. But, Sirius didn\'t mind. In fact, it made him laugh even more.



Lucius frowned.



"Hey, Father?" Draco called, walking into the kitchen, holding today\'s edition of the Prophet. "What do you know about this?"



He handed the elder Malfoy the paper, and waited as Lucius read the article. The man\'s eyes widened and his face darkened in rage. Hermione quickly stepped up behind him to read the article over his shoulder.



Lucius Malfoy has a Room of Sex?



Her eyes widened. "Is this true?" she asked, hardly able to believe the contents of the story.



The man\'s nostril\'s flared as he glared at her. "What self respecting pureblood would disgrace themselves in such a way?" he sneered. "Of course it isn\'t true! Could you imagine the scandal if something like that ever met public eye?"



"Apparently, it has met public eye," Hermione pointed out as she took the article and handed it to Sirius.



Sirius and Remus read the article. Sirius was indignant. "This is ridiculous!" he growled. "Lucius with a sex room?! The man would sooner be seen sitting in a Muggle strip club sipping brandy with Arthur Weasley! That would be more believable than this fabrication!"



Remus pointed. "It was written by Rita Skeeter," he announced. "No doubt another way to bring the Malfoy\'s down. Then again," he looked closer at the article. "These pictures are pretty telling, Lucius. They look as though they were taken in Malfoy Manor, though I could be mistaken."



The Slytherin snatched the paper back to study the photos. He became, if possible, even more livid. "What the hell have they done to my study?! And my library!"



He threw the paper down and stood up from the table. He looked up at the corners of the walls. "I swear, Blaise Zabini, if it\'s the last thing I do, I\'ll make you wish the Dark Lord would return so he could put you out of your misery!"



"Lucius!" Hermione gasped, taking his arm.



She knew she had given her share of insults to the walls, knowing Zabini would hear them. But, she also began to understand how futile it was to do so. She glanced at Draco desperately. They needed to get him to a place where the elder Malfoy could calm down.



But, Draco looked on the verge of spouting his own obscenities to the dark Italian. Hermione huffed in annoyance. Neither Remus nor Sirius were planning on helping her.



Fine! She let go of Lucius and went to the sink. As she was turning on the water, she heard the pureblood continue to spout, in detail, everything he intended to do. It was reflexes that saved Remus and Sirius from the brunt of the attack with the sprayer. Cold water hit Lucius square on the shoulder, effectively closing his mouth as he turned and glared at her.



Hermione held the sprayer before her, though she did not click it on again. "Now, will you sit down and listen!" she demanded. "Or will I have to spray you again?"



The blond\'s eyes narrowed as he sent her a stare that would have killed her if looks had that power. He was completely drenched. The other three men stared between him and Hermione in shock and surprise. Sirius had to bite his lips together painfully to keep from bursting out in laughter.



Lucius did not sit, but continued to glare at Hermione as he folded his arms and waited. She did not lower her gun, but she spoke, "I know you\'re angry. You have every right to be. Each day that passes, your family\'s name gets dragged into the mud just a little more. But, Lucius, throwing threats at the cameras is not going to help our situation."



She turned to the other three guys. "I want each of you to listen carefully," she said. She wasn\'t surprised to see Severus had entered the kitchen. No doubt he had been alerted to Lucius\' shouting.



"From the looks of it, we will be in here for a long time," she told them. "Probably even longer the more we work against the situation. Each time we yell at the cameras or threaten him, will most likely be more time spent here. I don\'t know what Zabini\'s intentions are with us."



She hesitated as she slowly lowered the nozzle. "I don\'t even know if we\'ll get out of here alive," she said, softly, though she loathed to admit it. "We can\'t keep fighting, on the off chance that he might let us go."



"And what\'s the possibility that he\'ll willing let us go?" Draco asked, annoyed and curious. "Face it, Granger. We\'re probably all dead."



Hermione dropped her hands to her side and looked at him curiously. She looked at each of them in turn, before realizing exactly whom she was looking at. Her face slowly started to light up with a new hope and she smiled.



It was the smile of a woman slowly beginning to go mad, and each man, in his turn, started to question her sanity. Then, she started laughing, which really made them think she\'d gone mad. "Hermione, dear?" Sirius asked, timidly, lifting up a hand towards her.



"Oh my god!" she shouted, dropping the nozzle completely as she fell to the floor in a fit of laughter.



She had just solved one of their problems, and she was rejoicing.



The men glanced at one another. Hermione Granger had finally cracked.



(II) (II)



Harry and Ron looked through all the piles of things they had retrieved from Malfoy Manor. There were bank statements, money orders, books of receipts, magazines, Prophet clippings, and a whole list of other junk.



On one table sat, quite ominously, the day\'s edition of the Prophet. It was still a mystery to both men how Lucius\' sex room had been leaked. They were the only ones, aside from Narcissa, who knew about it. And they knew she wasn\'t about to admit to such a scandal that could implement her.



"I don\'t get it," Harry said, for the umpteenth time.



Ron still didn\'t understand what his best friend was talking about. "Here\'s a receipt from Flourish & Blotts," he said. "Looks like Malfoy really enjoyed his biographies."



Harry stole a glance at the receipt. "Yes, I think he does," the raven-haired boy commented. "That\'s not the only receipt like that." He moved a few items around and pulled another receipt out and showed it to Ron. "Here\'s one where he went shopping at some old bookstore in Argentina. Apparently, he really enjoys old biographies as well as new ones. Hermione would be in heaven."



Ron nodded, though his smile was a bit sad. "Where is she, Harry?" he asked. "All this stuff, and we are no closer to where they might be."



"That\'s what I don\'t get," Harry admitted. "All this stuff. All these receipts, transcripts, and bank statements. Not one of them shows any evidence that Malfoy ever bought even a breast shaped lollipop, much less any of the stuff in that room. In fact, all that we\'ve found are things for Draco and Narcissa. Jewelry, toys, and other random things."



Ron put the receipt back and opened yet another transcript book. "Well, here\'s something interesting," he stated, showing Harry the book.



Receipts from Borgin & Burkes, along with some other seedy stuff.



(III) (III)



The men continued to stare at her while she laughed herself to tears. None of them were sure what they should do.



"Hermione," Remus finally spoke up. "Are you all right?"



She nodded as she wiped her tears away and tried to calm herself down. When she could finally breathe long enough to talk, she posed, "Has any of you bothered to think who Zabini has managed to trap together?"



The men were even more confused. "Herm..."



"Oh, my god!" she suddenly shouted, looking at them in fascination. "Maybe he was right! I can\'t believe this! Look at yourselves and stop being a bunch of dunderheads!"



She stood up and stared at Severus. "Think about it, Snape. Who has Zabini managed to trap together?" she asked. She turned to Draco. "Who would anyone think twice about putting in the same room alone?" She walked to Sirius and Remus and looked over at Lucius. "Who are we?"



Realization dawned on the men. Sirius took up laughing where Hermione had left off. "What an idiot!" Draco shouted, joining in the animagi\'s laughter.



"Of course!" Remus stated, looking at Severus. "We had some of the highest marks of our year, didn\'t we?"



Severus nodded, though both he and Lucius frowned. Lucius stared at Hermione. "What does it matter?" he asked.



She gave an aspirated sigh. "Think, Lucius. You\'re smart. We\'re all pretty smart. If anyone can figure out how to outsmart Blaise Zabini?" she paused and a smile spread across her face. "Well, let\'s just say, I think Mr. Zabini has bitten off more than he could ever chew. If he wants a show, let\'s give him a fucking movie!"



"And how do you propose it end?" Severus asked.



A smirk to rival Salazar Slytherin himself spread across Hermione\'s face. "With Zabini on the streets, wandless and Knutless."



"Did she just say \'nutless?\'" Draco asked, still laughing too hard to hear the answer, if there was one.