Beyond the Veil -- COMPLETE

_______________________________________________________

Attention CoCo.M and any other readers who missed linking to the pic at the end of Chapter 7, "Too Much Togetherness". I promised a droolrag pic of Lucius. The link is now operable. Try it again. It's worth your while.

_______________________________________________________

Updated 5-3-08


Thank you all for the wonderful comments. I appreciate them more than you can know.


Trying to answer without giving away the store is quite a challenge this time:


Rini – Glad you enjoyed the Regency words. The Malfoy inheritance will be interesting. Getting back to their own time? Hmmm, no comment. I changed endowments to singular, as you noted.

sisterae – To stand up to Lucius, Hermione has to have an armor-plated spine. Luckily she’s well-equipped to ‘handle’ him.

sheherazade – LOL, the gloves were inspired by you. And your fanwank about Regency Diagon Alley is perfect.

Heidi191976 – Glad you’re enjoying it.

pittwitch - I agree, Hermione has enough Slytherin characteristics to keep Lucius from enacting the tyrant. You called it correctly on those stripes coming back to bite her. No brake line? I think I’ll stick to my bicycle.

doodle – Thank you! More coming up.

jw – Yes, the time paradox took me a while to work out, hence the six months working on this tale. What would our Lucius do without money?

Jesse – You do know that I will have not just some, but a LOT of HG/LM action, but it has to feel right for them both. I think Hermione’s ointment trick gave us her current opinion of intimacy with Malfoy Senior. Close but no ‘cigar’ (forgive the groaner double entendre).

Scary Bear Hair – Ah, Scary, you are astute. See Jesse above for info on the lemons. You know, I think Lucius IS a Gemini. I wonder if many Slytherins are Gemini? Draco certainly is, according to JKR.

bluezauza – This is the past. The time travel problem and messing with the past all have to unfold further along. But overall, it’s a conundrum how venturing into the past affects things in most stories I’ve read. Everyone has a take on it. This is merely mine.

Ravenna – Lucius is an out and out clothes horse. It must have been galling to wear those prison stripes for twelve years. The wizarding world doesn’t seem to progress very fast, so I would guess the name Diagon Alley was the same back then. Just my opinion.

tambrathegreat – Lucius does have his sympathetic side – somewhere. It peeps out unexpectedly now and then.

utopia – Hmm, I suppose there is no rule that says one’s hair must be uniform all over. Geriatric Lucius. Do you really want to read about him? My foreshadowing author’s note was all going to be explained in this chapter anyway. Dante’s hell has 9 circles and many sublevels within some of the circles. See: http://hhhknights.com/curr/human/2/hellinferno.html

blue artemis – Your question can’t be answered now. Apologies. I also hope this will lead to amazing sex, just as you do . 8-)

AJlove – 1) He would be his own ancestor, I think, IF the story goes that way. 2) Can’t answer this question yet, sorry…

Slytherin Mistress – I’ll have that “hot, sweaty steamy no strings attached sex” – all in good time. I am decidedly NOT a fan of Lupin as a romantic lead. A personal bias, I guess.

maddie50 – I’m fascinated. Where is the info that Lucius’ patronus is a peacock? I missed that completely. Anyone? Lucius loves his clothes – well they are a setting for a very proud man. Ancestry is fuzzy at this point. Hermione isn’t above a little skullduggery to gain her ends. She’s learning from the best, after all.


Onward ...

______________________________________________________


Chapter Sixteen


Windfall

“It’s not that I need candlelight and rose petals, Lucius,” Hermione said, walking along beside the tall, imposing wizard and holding onto his arm as the other witches were doing with their companions on the busy street, “I just couldn’t abide the idea of being boinked into next week on that repulsive bed while imagining all sorts of disgusting vermin crawling through my hair.”

Lucius was sardonically gratified that at least she thought he could satisfy her after she got her books and ices. When she pointed out to him the idea of loathsome creatures crawling through his hair, it brought on a frisson of revulsion and a slithery sensation slid across his scalp. She was right – that depressing room had been a bad place to begin an amorous relationship. He was relieved that she sounded like she was still willing to accept him physically even knowing he’d been entertained elsewhere.

“In my defense I will say that after looking at four unadorned, gray stone walls for twelve years, I think my sense of decoration may be somewhat skewed so I didn’t really see how shabby the room was. But you’re correct. We should begin our physical association in more pleasant surroundings.” Lucius wrapped his fingers over hers on his jacket sleeve, rubbing his thumb in slow, intimate circles on the back of her hand, “However, what I’m going to do to you can’t be likened to boinking. It would be like calling the Egyptian pyramids a pile of rocks. It demeans the whole artistry of the multi-faceted intimacy of good sex. I imagine what you got from those boys was simple boinking. Don’t expect that sort of rudimentary experience from me.”

Hermione looked up into a pair of icy hot, pale gray eyes devouring her face and figure and her lack of knickers became a problem as the feminine juices Lucius was calling forth with his carnal promise began a leisurely journey down her thighs unimpeded by underwear. Hermione squirmed as she trod beside her associate, trying to rub the drips together and keep them from meandering all the way down her legs. Think about something else, Hermione. Books! A chocolate ice to lick! Ah, Gods, I want to lick HIM! More languid drips slid their way down her thighs, almost to her knees. Hermione dusted the inner surfaces of her knees with her dress, hoping the thin muslin material was up to the challenge of wicking away her unwanted physical reaction. She unwittingly dragged on Lucius’ arm as she tried scissoring her legs to blot her embarrassing reaction to her handsome escort’s suggestive words.

“Quit dawdling, Hermione. I thought you wanted to get to your bookstore and the ices parlor before everything closes. At the rate you’re going we’ll be lucky to finish with the solicitor and that will be your fault.” Lucius pulled her along more swiftly, coming to the sign for ‘Law Offices of Augustus Nesbitt and Bertram Ridge, Solicitors and turning into the small walkway.

Lucius’ querulous remonstration had the happy effect of disrupting her interior waterfall and she closed her lips over a snippy retort, thankful her little difficulty hadn’t been noticed or remarked upon by the blond bully, but the idea of licking his ‘cone’ tantalized her all the way down the walkway and she amused herself with the smutty addition of two soft ‘scoops’ to savor with it. It felt to her as though the moment she decided to explore sex with this walking advertisement for Slytherin sin her mind had exuberantly executed a swan dive right into the gutter and was paddling along famously. Hermione was beginning to wonder if she knew herself at all.

Her eyes narrowed on the tall figure in front of her currently ringing the chime at the solicitors’ door. Had he unleashed a charm or some spell on her to make her amenable to his erotic wishes? She scanned his body from top to bottom – well, she stopped awhile at that superb bottom to admire the close fit of his pantaloons once more – before winding her way down those tight thighs and calves to his glossy boots. He did cut an undeniably arresting figure. It had been a long time since she had stopped to appreciate the numerous attractions of the male form and this one was spectacular. She was so absorbed in her thoughts and his torso, Hermione didn’t see Lucius turn his head to address her and so missed the penetrating glance he shot her.

Lucius still couldn’t raise so much as a goose bump on his slumbering organ and decried his inability to do anything about the little termagant’s momentous interest in his person. She’d shown more attraction to him today than at any time since he’d dragged her through the Veil. He sincerely hoped her willingness to proceed with their impending affair was unswerving and she didn’t back off from it, but he wasn’t completely sanguine about his chances.

She appeared interested, but a niggling doubt continued to plague him as he stood on the step. Was she doing the dithering or was he? He wanted to bed her, but a certain squirmy sensation kept infiltrating his chest whenever he began imagining the little witch spread across his bed naked. It was as though it was wrong somehow. He was confident as soon as he had stripped off her clothing he would revert to his normal lascivious self and leave this disjointed reluctance behind. If her interest was genuinely steadfast and lasted longer than the enforced numbness his staff had been so deviously subjected to, that would surely spur his libido into what he truly wanted with her. He hoped he wouldn’t have to find another brothel.

His brief meeting with the women he was now employing at his new business acquisition had shown him with their chatter the unpalatable fact that the grapevine was alive and well between the various upscale houses of ill repute. Each of them knew the regulars at the other properties and there was a constant attempt to lure customers away from each other. That meant that most all the males were well-known and discussed thoroughly and if he wanted to stroll into a competitor’s for some recreation on the side, he and his preferences were going to be dissected, analyzed and disseminated through all the bordellos before he could button up his pantaloons. That basically put paid to him quietly slipping into another upscale house for some sexual relief. He supposed he could change his appearance, but maintaining the glamour while in the throes of an orgasm would be tricky. Lucius didn’t want his real appearance known to any more Muggles than necessary. His one experience with the low-class brothel was enough to keep him away from that milieu completely. The low-class harlots of this time apparently didn’t believe in the efficacies of soap.

He would never use his own brothel’s employees both because he felt mixing business with momentary pleasure was purely stupid and for fear that Hermione would find out and whisk herself out of his life. He couldn’t be certain she would never go back there - she had a reputation for trying to save the downtrodden. He remembered her abortive attempt to save the house elves from the drudgery of their servitude at Hogwarts. Draco had reported that bit of bleeding heart, rabble-rousing to his father who had slipped a quiet word to Dumbledore about the subversive activities his Mudblood student was dipping into. Lucius felt the old wizard hadn’t done much, but it turned out most of the elves weren’t interested in Hermione’s campaign and Lucius let it drop.

Lucius knew his little witch was something of a loose cannon when it came to the plights of others and he didn’t intend to be in the path of one of her righteous crusades. Not when keeping her was now so important to him, so important that he was beginning to feel a tinge of desperation at the possibility he could ever lose her. It was going to be tricky enough holding on to the bordello as an ongoing business in the undoubted face of her disapproval, however, he didn’t intend to sell it as he knew she had at first assumed. The profits were too good for him to just give up the income. Ah, well, a problem for another time. Lucius stood tapping his booted toe impatiently on the stoop, waiting for anyone to answer the bell. What was taking them so long?

“I could wait for you in Flourish and Blott’s,” Hermione offered, “then that would cut down on the time you -”

“I think not,” Lucius interrupted, scowling, “I don’t want you to go anywhere in this place without me. I thought I had made myself crystal clear on that subject.” He rang the chimes again rather louder than before.

Hermione subsided into quiet grumbling behind the blond dictator. The way the day was going, she would never be able to get inside Flourish and Blott’s before they closed for the evening. The day was marching on as they stood waiting for someone to answer the dratted chimes.

A moment later, the door opened and a wizened old man peered out at the couple in question, “May I help you?”

The situation reminded Lucius of their first day in London standing on the stoop of the landlady’s building. “Is this Nesbitt and Ridge, solicitors for the Malfoy family?” Lucius brought all his centuries of haughty heritage to bear on the little man, raising his chin and glaring down at the tardy doorman, a lofty challenge in his eyes.

The little doorman squinted at the lordly wizard, staring at him for a moment before throwing the door wide, “Come in, come in, you must be the heir. We’ve been waiting for you to arrive. And this must be your lovely wife. Hello my dear, please come in and we’ll have some nice tea.” The old wizard turned back to Lucius, “I imagine you wish to discuss the inheritance and the entails.” He introduced himself with a bow to Lucius and Hermione, “I am Nesbitt, Augustus Nesbitt, and my partner is Bertram Ridge. He’s out just now with another client. This way, please. Sorry if you were waiting. I’m a bit deaf now and with Bertie away I don’t always hear the bell.”

Lucius bowed in return and hissed quietly to Hermione to curtsy, knowing the old man couldn’t hear him. She frowned in silent question but did as he asked, trying for a little bob like she’d seen in TV films at home. Lucius nodded in approval and he and Hermione were led to a comfortable parlor cum office, which included a massive desk and numerous cubbyholes of parchments along a wall. The solicitor went immediately to one of the cubbyholes and withdrew a bundle of parchments, taking them over to his desk and spreading them out one by one over the surface.

Lucius strolled over to the desk to peruse the parchments laid out while the old solicitor turned to Hermione and led her over to a small settee and gently settled her in front of a tea service. The old wizard left her, presumably to pour the tea for them all while he went back to the desk to join Lucius in examining the documents.

“These are all the major papers pertaining to the Malfoy holdings. I’m sorry, I don’t have your first name, Mr. Malfoy. Nor your wife’s, so we couldn’t complete all the legalities until you arrived,” the solicitor apologized for the incomplete papers.

“My full name is Lucius Abraxas Malfoy. My wife’s name is,” Lucius turned to Hermione with a practiced smile, “Dearling, how would you like your names recorded on the documents? First and middle, or first, middle and maiden? Why don’t you tell Mr. Nesbitt which way you would prefer your names to appear?”

“Oh, please call me Gus.” the little solicitor said. “And I shall call you Lucius, if I may?”

Lucius graciously inclined his head to the slight, old gentleman and turned back to Hermione, his eyebrows raised in what looked to anyone as an innocent query.

Hermione knew Lucius didn’t know all her names and she was suitably impressed with his clever avoidance of acknowledging his ignorance to the old solicitor. “I think I should just prefer the three - my first name, middle name, and then…” she cleared her throat before adding in a strangled tone, “Malfoy.” She smiled evilly at Lucius, letting him stew for a few seconds as the solicitor turned back to him for the information of her names. Then she took him off the hook, “So you can write in Hermione Jane Malfoy if you will.”

“Thank you Mrs. Malfoy.” Mr. Nesbitt touched each of the parchments with his wand affixing the correct names to all the parchments. Then he stood back as Lucius used his own wand to sign his and Hermione’s names. “That completes the official transferal of all properties, investments and monies to you, Lucius. I may call your wife Hermione, I hope?”

Lucius again nodded graciously, earning a sour look from the little witch as Hermione realized she was little more than a piece of property in these times. The blond wizard then went into business mode, “I will want copies of all these parchments to look over so I may acquaint myself with all my responsibilities. Does Gringott’s know to allow me access to the Malfoy vaults? I will also need someone to apparate me initially to each of these listed Malfoy properties so I may look them over, but perhaps one of your elves can do that tomorrow or the next day. For now, I would like to be taken to the principal Malfoy residence to settle in. We are staying in temporary accommodations and would like to take up residency in our permanent home. If you can take me there briefly and then return us here, I will be able to take my wife later. I have promised her some more shopping and we have a few other places yet to go.” Lucius looked expectantly at the other wizard who beamed at his newest client.

“It would be my pleasure, Lucius. Please excuse us for a moment, my dear Mrs. Malfoy. This will not take long, then we can have a cup of tea to celebrate your new position and responsibilities.” The solicitor stepped up to the much taller blond wizard, took his hand and the both of them disapparated instantly, leaving Hermione with nothing to do but pour three cups of tea.


~~~~~


Hermione stepped into Flourish and Blott’s first, having hurried ahead of Lucius this time, and she blissfully inhaled the addictive smell of new books and the familiar dust of the shelves. She turned to her ersatz husband with a face wreathed in pure joy. “Hurry, Lucius, they may not be open too much longer. It’s already too cold to have ices now,” she said, her eyes tracking every aisle, shelf, and display as she danced in a circle, scanning everywhere at once. She waited only until Lucius was through the door and then she sped away into the bookstacks with wings on her feet.

The afternoon tea had taken longer than Hermione had wanted because in the old solicitor Lucius had found a knowledgeable informant on all the background he could wish from a man who didn’t expect him to know much already. Lucius had been able to gain reams of important information on his inheritance and the local social milieu, not to mention all the gossip on the various other wealthy members of the magic world while Hermione had basically dropped off to sleep sitting up. The conversation about strangers she had never heard of was soporific to her where she sat on the soft settee in the warm, close atmosphere of the office.

Mr. Nesbitt was a veritable fount of rumors, innuendoes, and outright scandal on all the highborn members of their society and Lucius drank it all in. To him, knowing the shortcomings and closet skeletons of his new coterie was an essential part of swimming in his treacherous social waters. Lucius figured the backbiting and infighting couldn’t be much different from his own time and he wished to be fully armed for defending his turf.

Lucius was, therefore, in an excellent mood and disposed to feel expansive with Hermione’s desire to visit the bookstore. He knew she hadn’t had much recreation in the entire time she’d been in 19th century London and deserved a little fun. Lucius winced at her knowledge of his fun, but he actually felt a bit ill-used since he hadn’t even enjoyed it much. He walked a few paces further into the bookstore before stopping short as a rotund wizard with a dusty white apron approached him.

“Mr. Malfoy? My name is Basil Blott. I co-own this book emporium. I say, you do look quite a lot like your dear uncle. I was saddened to hear of his passing. He wasn’t much of a bibliophile, unlike his father. Will you be interested in arcane literature? I understand the Malfoy library is very extensive. ” The pudgy wizard was nearly a foot shorter than Lucius but he looked up at the blond with every appearance of pleasure, bowing in a bobbing motion, then bouncing up and down on his toes in high good humor, chattering on.

Lucius gravely bowed back and said, “My wife is in your store, Mr. Blott. She is the bibliophile of the family. I would appreciate your providing her with any books she desires. I will settle the bill tomorrow after I visit Gringott’s.” Mr. Blott professed himself delighted and shot away to find his new customer.

Lucius was beginning to think he had gone crazy when he went through the Veil. Here he was acknowledging a Mud -…a…ah, Muggleborn as a Malfoy. Surely the shiny new leaf he had promised to turn over didn’t require that drastic a sacrifice? He was naming Hermione his wife to all and sundry in the magic community, making it virtually impossible to deny the legal bond already. For some reason everyone assumed she was his wife, the same as they assumed he was a rightful heir to the Malfoy fortune and properties. Would the real heir come forward soon, disrupting Lucius’ claim to the name or was he really the designated heir?

Lucius saw Hermione briefly as she skipped between book aisles and he knew he was lying to himself. Mudblood or Muggleborn, he wanted her. He had been built for double harness and had been happy as a married man. It had been a painful blow when he had been abandoned by Narcissa, feeling not only lonely, but terribly alone and cut adrift. He had always known that women were easily won if he wanted them and in his bachelor days he had enjoyed a full social life, but he had been content in his marriage, enjoying the challenges of being a Death Eater with his wife at his side.

They had both had similar political views and had at first shared the Dark Lord’s agenda. With time, though, Narcissa had worried more and more about how Voldemort’s ideas were being carried out and what would happen to Draco. Lucius had finally shared those fears but both of them were by then in too deep to do anything but go along for the ride. His family had been lucky to escape with their lives.

That marriage had been over for many years, but Lucius truly preferred being married and he was not unhappy that Hermione was being backed into that relationship with him. Many of the stories about his proclivities about the range of his partners had been apocryphal, if not about the variety of sexual activities he enjoyed. Narcissa had allowed most of them and even enjoyed some. He mostly hadn’t needed to go elsewhere for his erotic pleasures. He hoped Hermione would have an even better track record of sexploits with him. She was the only one with the same knowledge as he and marriage to her would be the most comfortable solution to his future. As he had told her to her face, she was quite desirable to look at and her intelligence lit an answering spark in his soul. Lucius found a wooden side chair near the dictionaries to sit and wait for his ‘wife’.

While the monetary considerations and her entire future were being plotted out by Lucius, Hermione was flitting up one aisle and down the next, reacquainting herself with all her old ‘friends’ and seeing a few books, which had been extremely rare in her time, just sitting on the shelves openly as though they weren’t coveted by nearly every wealthy family in the magic community. Hermione chuckled to herself. If she was going to play lady of the manor, she knew what she would be adding to the collection for future generations of Malfoys. How ironic that her knowledge of rare books should profit the future of Malfoy Purebloods.

Book after book was selected and sent toward the counter until Hermione had an even dozen piled haphazardly into a tower before she decided she had enough to keep her occupied for a while. A very happy little witch rushed back to the front of the store to find her companion and nearly tripped over his outflung legs in the gloomy dictionaries aisle.

“I’m finished, Lucius,” she exclaimed, excited by her new collection of tomes, “Oh! What are you reading?” She saw Lucius was buried in a book of his own, floating it in front of his face. When she got no answer, she tipped her head sideways to read the spine, ‘Ancient Artifacts of the Wizarding World’. How sweet he was, trying to learn something about her field. She peered around the edge of the floating treatise to see Lucius sound asleep in the chair, his arms folded across his chest and his chin sunk into his neckcloth. Well! She had only been a few minutes, not like his hours long chat with that gossipy old solicitor. It was only…she looked around for a wall clock. Ten P.M.! No, it couldn’t be that late. They had left Mr. Nesbitt a little after seven so… Oh no, she couldn’t have spent nearly three hours in the bookstore. Lucius must be famished. Why hadn’t he collected her earlier?

Hermione gently shook Lucius’ shoulder and slipped her fingers through his slightly disarranged hair, nudging him from his peaceful nap. He really was a beautiful specimen and his hair was silky soft to the touch.

Lucius murmured sleepily, “Kitten?” before his eyes snapped open and he sat up straight in the chair. His wintry orbs fastened on the woman who had been starring in his dream except this one was wearing clothes. A wash of heavy lust sped through him as he saw her standing there until he realized his intimate interlude with the witch had all been a sleeper’s fantasy. His tight pantaloons immediately forcibly signaled to him that his body had been proudly participating in the somnolent pretense and it was in complete working order again as his groin urgently protested the stricture of the material where it shouldn’t be.

Lucius stood up dropping his book lower down to hide another part of him beside his face for a totally different reason. “Are you finished?”

“I’m so sorry, Lucius. Why didn’t you roust me out of the book aisles? Time just flew by. Did you know there are several very rare books on these open shelves? I think it would be a good investment for the future to buy some of them for your home library.”

“Another day, Hermione. I’m tired and I want to apparate us to the Malfoy home where Nesbitt took me. We still have a bit of preparation before we can just drop into bed.” Lucius looked around. “Didn’t you find any books you wanted?”

Hermione grinned up at the wizard, “They’re over at the counter. Can you help me carry them? I don’t have any pockets even if I shrank them. I could ask for a bag, I suppose.” She led Lucius to the counter where her towering selection wavered.

“All those?” Lucius was bored and hadn’t slept well in the chair, several kinks making themselves at home in his spine. “Do you need them all, Hermione?”

“Did you need to know about the dozens of people whose peccadillos Mr. Nesbitt – or am I allowed to call him Gus - poured into your avid ears? You took longer than I did, although I admit I got to sit on something a bit more comfortable and had refreshments. Oh, and you must be hungry. I know I am.” Hermione lifted the top book off the tower to hand to Lucius so he could shrink it and put it in a pocket. When she was finished Lucius’ form-fitting jacket looked more like a hamster with its cheeks stuffed full of nuts.

He was now thoroughly irritated and very hungry and his patience had run out. “I’m apparating us to our new home. There are house elves who can make dinner for us. Hold tight.” He grabbed Hermione and pulled her against his chest and suddenly she felt a slight displacement and the scenery changed drastically.

“Oh my,” she said.


tbc...

_______________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Hmmm, it seems that Lucius and Hermione have suddenly fallen into the Malfoy wealth. That's one worry off Lucius' shoulders. It does look as though his new leaf program of consideration of others will need some guidance from Hermione, however. Will his old arrogance start to seep back into his personality? (*Grin* had it ever left?)

As always, reviews happily accepted.
.
.
.