The Burden of Being Lucius

Hermione was in her library, enjoying a leisurely day off when the floo activated, signaling Lucius' return.

As he swept the soot and ash from his robe, he had an incredulous look on his face. “Is there something wrong Lucius?” she asked as he wrinkled his brow in frustration. She stood to assist him in his endeavor to clean himself.

Lucius seemingly ignored her question and continued to silently curse the bastards who had his wand.

When Hermione stood next to him, she reached up to smooth the lines in his brow. “Did your meeting with the Minister go well?”

“I wouldn't refer to it as a meeting. It was more along the lines of an issuance of commands. I've been subject to Crucios more pleasant than that” Lucius said snidely. “He felt the need to blindside me at every opportunity.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you read today's Prophet?”

“Yes” Hermione said reluctantly.

“You didn't read the editorials, did you?”

“Rita Skeeter's tripe does not interest me. That bitch has had it in for me ever since I was a fourth year. All she ever prints are lies and innuendo” Hermione said scathingly.

“That editorial was the reason for my meeting with the Minister. Skeeter noticed us leaving the cloakroom, inferred a few things about our activities and now the Minister wants me drawn and quartered. Damn Pureblood Laws.” Lucius muttered his last comment, not wishing to show his distress.

“What do the Pureblood Laws have to do with what Skeeter wrote? I thought they had been abolished. Now muggleborns and half-bloods can be promoted and receive benefits formerly available only to those whose magical lineage traced back five generations.”

“They are not 'laws' in that sense. They are more like restrictions and consequences of a pureblood's interactions in society.”

Hermione was confused by his ambiguous explanation.

“It was a way of keeping willful children in line. Back in the 1800s purebloods actually wrote into law what was expected of their children and themselves as upstanding members of the community: no illegitimate children, marital fidelity, marriage before inheritance, that sort of thing.”

“Are you ever going to make your point?” Hermione asked in an exasperated tone.

“My point is not that I'm single, marriage is expected of me. That fact that it's public knowledge we slept together gives me option of you as my betrothed or having a group of vigilantes after me.”

Hermione felt her chest constrict, her ability to breathe escaped her. Her vision blurred in and out for a moment as she swayed, struggling to process what Lucius had just told her. “Married?” she stammered.

“Hermione, here” he gestured towards the sofa. “Sit before you fall. Put your head down and breathe slowly.” Lucius spoke soothingly, knowing exactly what she needed to regain her composure, as he had done the same thing countless times after coming home from raids and revels.

“I can't...*gasps*...you can't expect me to...*gasps*...MARRIED?” Between her shock and her inability to breathe, Hermione was having difficulty expressing a coherent thought.

“Breathe Hermione. Just breathe” Lucius said calmly. He needed her composed and alert before he explained the rest of his tenuous situation.

Slowly coming back to herself, Hermione spoke softly and tentatively. “I don't think I'm ready for marriage. Certainly not with you.” Hermione winced as the words spilled from her mouth. “What I mean to say is, outside of the war's circumstances, we hardly know each other.”

“We're not required to wed straight away. We can have a lengthy engagement, unless of course you're enceinte. If you are, we must wed post haste. If not, we can remained betrothed for up to a year.”

“Why would we need to marry immediately if I were pregnant? It's not uncommon to be unwed parents.”

“It's yet another stipulation of the Pureblood Laws. Illegitimate children are not recognized as heirs. Regardless of proven paternity, children born out of wedlock are not entitled to inherit.”

Hermione was dumbfounded at his statement. “That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Besides, why would it matter? Isn't Draco your heir?”

Lucius was increasingly irritated by her flippancy. “It matters because I won't have you looked down upon simply because I refused to acknowledge my child.” Lucius sighed in exasperation, “Think of it as a marriage of convenience. You'll have everything you could possibly want at the tips of your fingers. Jewelry, clothes, luxurious holidays. Whatever you could possibly want, I can give it to you..”

Hermione's eyes narrowed at his cavalier remarks. He could see the spark of ire in her eyes. “I'm not some whore you can snatch up and toss money at whenever the mood strikes you. Contrary to popular belief, I am a real person with real feelings. Am I not allowed to have an opinion?”

He was shocked at her remarks. Lucius then knew he needed to amend his statement. “Of course you're allowed to have an opinion and I don't think of you as a whore or an inanimate object without emotion Hermione. This is also your future we're speaking of, I want you to have a voice. At present, it would be an extremely bad idea for me to go against the Ministry. Regardless of these laws being archaic and old fashioned, if I don't make a conscious effort to woo you and win your affections they'll make my life a worse hell than it already is.”

“Why would they do that?” Hermione asked curiously.

“Isn't it obvious? You're the Gryffindor Golden Girl who can do no wrong and I'm the big, nasty Death Eater out to corrupt you. In their eyes, marriage would make any intentions I have toward you honorable. Will you at least think about the advantages of marrying me instead of focusing on the negative?”

Hermione drew a deep breath, seemingly resigned to her fate. “What if we can't make it work? What if we are absolutely miserable married to each other?” Hermione asked, her eyes begging for an explanation.

“What if we can make it work? What if we are so sublimely happy we want to die from the sheer joy of it? I don't wish to beg or coerce you Hermione, but if this doesn't happen I stand to lose A LOT.”

“How much is 'a lot'?”

“My home, all of my investments and money save for a small pittance for Draco to inherit.”

“All because you didn't marry? That seems a bit extreme to me.”

“It was meant to be an enticement for marrying and a punishment for what was once considered 'immorality.' Now, I will only ask one time and I shall do it in a manner paying respect to your heritage” Lucius said as he sank to the floor on one knee. “Hermione, will you marry me?”

She was stunned speechless that he would make the effort of a proper proposal simply because it was what she would expect as a result of her upbringing. The emotion of the moment threatened to overwhelm her. Trying to speak around the knot in her throat, she managed to ask “Why?”

“I'm sorry? Why what?”

“Why me? Out of all the women at the ball salivating to be with you, why did you choose me?”

Lucius looked at her for a moment, stunned at her query. “I was drawn to you. Some unknown force urged me to approach you. I could see no one else with whom I could have a meaningful and intelligent conversation. To answer your question, I chose you because fate made it so.”

Hermione felt her throat close up once more. He had been so eloquent in his explanation, she couldn't help but be moved by it.

“Now, would you be so kind as to answer my question?”

“Yes, I'll marry you.”

Lucius visibly relaxed at her response. He rose from his position and sat next to her on the sofa. “Excellent. Now we can go ring shopping. I need to have tangible proof of my devotion to you when I speak to your parents.”

Hermione looked at him like he had just told her the world was about to end. “ What do you mean 'speak to my parents'? What are you talking about?”

“Naturally I must ask your father for your hand” Lucius said as if he was appalled she believed he would do otherwise.

“Why?”

“Tradition demands it. Think of it as yet another obligation we must fulfill. Now, I expect your parents live in Muggle London. We'll go to my jeweler in Diagon Alley, choose your ring, then apparate to your parents' home to discuss our engagement.”

“I hope transcontinental apparition isn't a problem for you” she muttered, marveling at the dramatic turn her life had taken.

“I prefer a port key to long distance apparition. Why would you need to know that though? We'll only be going into London, won't we?” Lucius seemed unsure at her ambiguous remark.

“My parents are in Australia.”

“Why do they not live closer to you?” he asked confused.

Hermione steeled herself for a tedious discussion of her parents' whereabouts. “Up until what would have been my seventh year, they did live in London. I modified their memories and relocated them to Australia under the names of Wendell and Monica Wilkins. I feared for their lives, so I did everything I could to ensure their safety.”

Lucius was astonished. “You weren't even 18 at the time and you performed some very powerful and complicated magic which requires a Ministry license on your own parents?”

“The time turner I used in third year aged me approximately 9 months, so I was almost 19. I couldn't exactly trust the Ministry to do it as they were inundated with Voldemort supporters. So I researched long term memory charms and how to weave in new memories so I could cast the spells myself.”

“Astonishing” he said, clearly in awe. “Is this why you don't want me to meet your parents? You haven't broken the memory charm yet?”

“I've brought back their memories, but I can't reestablish the trust they had in me. They were appalled that I would dare raise my wand to them. They've told me they'll never forgive me” she said with hurt clearly evident in her voice and eyes. “To be perfectly honest, it would be pointless to seek their approval as they could care less what is happening in my life.”

“Well, it's not something that needs to happen right away. We'll discuss this again at a later point in time. For now, there is another bit of unexpected news the Minister felt he needed to drop in my lap.”

Hermione muttered “Dear Merlin, this day just keeps getting better and better.” She eyed him warily and said “I'm almost afraid to ask...what news?”

“Draco has decided that when he receives the bulk of his inheritance he wants sole ownership of the manor.”

She looked at him, confused.“How could he possibly do that? Isn't your manor ancestral? I didn't think the deed to your home would pass to Draco until after your death, not once he reached majority.”

Lucius sighed “In normal circumstances that would be true. However, when Voldemort returned I made certain provisions for Draco in the event the situation became unstable. If I ended up dead or in prison, I did not want Draco and Narcissa to be destitute or not have a home if the Ministry seized all my properties and investments. Once Voldemort was defeated I regret to say that I never altered those provisions.”

Hermione was seething. “Now your own son can kick you out of what is rightfully your home? That little wanker” she muttered. “Clearly my punching him didn't knock a bit of sense into him.”

“When did you strike my son?” he asked curiously.

“Third year when he was bragging about Buckbeak the Hippogriff being sentenced to death” she said off handedly. “Apparently I need to hit him again.”

“The damn liar. Draco told me the Transfiguration classroom door caught him in the face. No wonder he lied. He didn't want to explain to his father how a mere slip of a girl marred his pristine countenance. I had to take him to a specialist Healer. You broke his nose. I don't ever wish to be on the receiving end of your ire.”

“No. That privilege is currently reserved for the Ministry and Draco. Where will you live now that you are being exiled from you home?”

“It is expected that I will live with my wife.”

“Won't it be rather uncomfortable to live with Narcissa? She jibed, clearly not wanting to accept that he was referring to herself.

His mouth was set in a grim line. He was clearly not amused.

“I apologize. This is just a lot to take in. First you tell me that we must get married. Then you inform me that you need my parents' consent. Finally you mention Draco's treachery and how we'll need to live together because of it. Forgive me for being overwhelmed. Why is this happening to me? Was I a serial killer in a past life and this is karma's method of retribution?” she began weeping at the thought of not only losing her independence, but losing herself along the way.

Lucius felt a tightening in his chest at the sight of her distress. “Hermione, please don't cry” he crooned delicately in her ear. “I understand that you have had more that your fair share of difficulties for someone so young. But that is no reason to let these trying circumstances get the better of you. Now, let's see some of that fabled Gryffindor courage. We need to see a man about a ring.”