Love Undeserved

Lucius Malfoy sat in his dark castle, all gloom and doom while simmering at the thought that the “mudblood” could out-perform ninety-eight percent of the wizarding world in magic skills. He searched deep in the depths of his personal knowledge and in the dusty tomes of his forbidden library to understand how a muggleborn could possibly perform complex magic without a bloody wand! All he was taught, all the books he consulted made this impossible. After months of research and inquiring of the most knowledgeable minds on the subject, he could not come to a conclusion. Everything in Wizarding history was telling him it was wrong. On the eve of his son’s return from graduation, Lucius knew what he had to do. He must get his hands on the Granger chit! Only by studying the subject herself could he come to a reasonable conclusion. He was confident her ability would probably be the result of some kind of power transfer rather that her own unfortunate genes. He only had to prove his theory correct and then he could move on with his sorry excuse for a life.

After the final battle, Narcissa had killed herself and left him alone, with a son who harbored a deep hate for him. All he had was his ideology. All he held onto was his knowledge that being a pureblood made him a better person and a better wizard. Then Granger had to exhibit abilities rarely seen in the greatest of wizards and the wall of his beliefs began to crack. Lucius knew when or if that wall came down, he would die with its fall. Proving Hermione Granger was just a lucky recipient of a magical gift would prove that pureblood genetics were superior to the mixed blood of lesser wizards and witches.

All evening long, Lucius delved into his Slytherin mind for a fool-proof scheme to get Granger to come to his abode willingly. He remembered how his son bragged to him about Granger’s powers and viciously taunted him with it. He also knew Granger had an abundant interest in Defense against the Dark Arts. When he realized his chance, he only hoped she would take the bait.