The Taming of the Shrew - Wizard Style - COMPLETE

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11-13-09 F


Thank you all for the lovely wishes for my holiday. I had a great time basking in Southern California sun. We spent one day at Knott’s Berry Farm. It’s now full of hair-raising roller coaster rides (all of which my family did and I passed on). I preferred it when it was a free, quiet, mock-up of a wild West ghost town – relaxing, romantic, fun. At least I got to have a funnel cake this time. Yummy! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funnel_cake)


Answers to your comments -


jw – Lucius was probably flying his ‘flag’ while standing in Hermione’s room, so being waved through without even a glance from her must have been humiliating. Hermione’s response to Lucius’ Viking outfit, therefore, was likely a bit of balm on the festering wound of his pride. Narcissa may become a catalyst.

Aliciana – Halloween in the U.S. is a little more scary these days, with a few bad people giving out doctored treats. Now there are more parties and less trick-or-treating. Sad. We visited our son in So. Calif. A you see above, we went to Knott’s Berry Farm (Disneyland is a couple of miles away, but we’ve done it to death). LOL – Cornwall would be exotic to me. I’d love to go there. I’ve lived in California all of my adult life. Severus’ costume isn’t the most inspired. Could you really see him dressing up as a sheik or a gangster? (Hmm… guhh… never mind.) Anyway, this Severus hasn’t gone over the top (I missed an opportunity there, didn’t I?)

Voracious Reader - I LOVE Lord Felton’s beard. That’s Jason Isaacs’ best facial hair to me, along with his long hair. He looks great in long hair. Sigh…
See: http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f264/rabidbadger80/Dragonheart/?action=view¤t=vlcsnap-113133.jpg
And the breakthrough is coming up…soon. (At least they’ve been having sex in the meantime, LOL).

meankitty69 – If you almost had a heart attack reading about his costume, perhaps you’d better skip the pictures for Chapter 24, next time, then. Just a friendly warning.

Insolence – Hey! No fair. I don’t even like Gamay. I get headaches from wine. (pouts). Oh, if only mucking about with Snape’s sex life really WAS my job. I’d make millions selling peeks under his robes (I studied financial acumen under Lucius). And where have I said that Lucius’ ‘length’ was less astounding than Merlin’s, hmm? He has to coil the thing around his waist to keep it from dropping down his pant leg and dragging on the floor. (OMG, did I just write that lewd drivel? Lucius is going to kill me…) Uh, just kidding, folks. And no, no pink tutus on elves. Maybe I should have dressed Severus in……no. If you want to see Lucius as a Viking, I hope you’re looking at the chapter pictures – hint: Chapter 24. Hugs for finding the typo. I fixed it. (I hate typos in my work.)

Sirsevchick – Lucius is floundering in what he perceives as baffling Muggleborn cultural differences. But not for long. Bad manners will not be tolerated. He has a hard time understanding why Hermione doesn’t accept his word that he isn’t interested in Narcissa, but doesn’t know what to do about it - he’s in Hermione’s bed every night, isn’t he? You like roadbumps (winks)? Hogwarts will be a change for our contentious lovers.

Gilly_sirl – Hermione is certainly warming up to Lucius between the sheets. I think that is part of her problem – reconciling her bad memories with her libido.

dragon37 – You want communication, then awesome sex? Sooner or later both will happen – a lot. No worries there, DF.

BeaBibliophile – So you are in the Lucius camp (whispers camp follower quietly). If you wrote about a costume ball at a great estate, I’d read it. What costume would you dress Snape in? So I almost got you with the wedding dress tristesse? Awww, we wouldn’t want that frozen popsicle you call a heart to thaw; it might even lead to you writing Snape without his cigarettes. I’ve given up on the sagging belly issue, but his lungs are worth saving. Hugs.

blue artemis – You’ve excellently listed all the main potholes in their road to happiness, “pride, naiveté, deliberate misunderstandings and being too used to being in charge of their own lives.” Be assured they will get there, but I admit writing potholes is a lot of fun (laughs happily). Stay tuned for the Chapter 24 pictures for the costumes.

Little Tiny Bee – Ooh, close escape for me. You thought Lucius unlikable and almost stopped reading? I’m glad you persevered. I always write Lucius as a complex character, not sugar sweet, but with enough redeeming characteristics to balance his less attractive personality traits. In all, he’s just a man with the same human flaws as anyone else. It helps that he’s hot…

Prince_Angel – Eww. I couldn’t put Lucius in boxers. Frankly I can’t see him in tighty whiteys, either. So I let him swing free. The jammies aren’t his normal wear, either, so you can relax. He’s gone back to his birthday suit for evening wear. I’m very happy you’re reading my story, P-A.

Serin Blackmoon – Yes, two pig-headed people are fighting in the beleaguered Malfoy family. Lucius sees Hermione as an incomprehensible Muggleborn, but if he would just look in the mirror he could understand her perfectly - snicker. He’s stumbling over nonexistent cultural differences; he mistakenly ascribes the source of her prickly behavior to her background. But his patience isn’t endless.

Lilashannah – Your wish may be answered in a couple of chapters. You’re right also that they need to find some common ground and open up to each other. (Of course with my ‘happy ending’ philosophy, you know that will happen sooner or later.)

Scary Bear Hair – I think you would love to see Lucius OUT of a Viking outfit as well. I suspect if they played that role-playing game, it would be Queen Cophetua and the beggar man. Poor Lucius. But his skimpy, ragged outfit would have possibilities. A second wedding is not on my agenda, sad to say. I wrote one in “The Wedding” (what a surprise); writing happy mush is not my favorite task. I like the snarky dialogue better. The nightclub promises to be interesting LOL.

HarryGinny4eva – No worries. I love any reviews I get at any time. And you’re clairvoyant, HG4. Excellent! I applaud!

Anon – My son loves Transformers – that’s Bumblebee, right? Terrific Halloween costume!! Lucius and Hermione at the nightclub will be quite an…experience. Lucius really suits a Viking look, I think, both visually and in personality. See the pics for Chapter 24 when they’re posted.

aleysiasnape - Oh my, you’ve read those chapters four times apiece? I hope the next two receive your approbation as well… Lucius always pays for dressing. He looks good in anything (or nothing).

lemonade8 – (Laughing) Have you been reading ahead? OMG, yes, I’ve seen Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook and if I weren’t so taken by Lucius Malfoy, Captain Hook could haul my keel anytime. What a hottie! Check out: http://jasonisaacsphotoalbumsonline.com/movies/PeterPan/images/HookPosterEOzComp%20Post.jpg20
Although, there is a whole section on Captain Hook at:
http://jasonisaacsphotoalbumsonline.com/page6.html

Do you have on your dancing shoes?


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Chapter Twenty-Three

Shall We Dance?



Lucius and Hermione arrived at the crowded Muggle nightclub with the uninspired but descriptive name, The Masquerade, a little later than either had planned. As they were admitted within the portal, Lucius inhaled the multiple scents of alcohol, colognes and the underlying special feminine scents that meant this place was an excellent hunting ground for horny males.

Hermione saw the sign set up on an easel by the entrance, “Oh, good. It’s Oldies Night.” She smiled up at the blond wizard a bit maliciously.

“What? Oldies?” Lucius peered at the sign, then stood up ramrod straight. “That damned Snape.”

“What’s wrong?” Hermione artlessly inquired. “If you’re concerned, the entire Muggle phrase is ‘Oldies but Goodies.” She looked away for a second until she could get her smile under control, then turned back with an innocent expression now adorning her face.

“Am I to be your ‘oldie’ ticket into this Muggle hotspot?” the blond wizard enquired, his irritation apparent even though he spoke sotto voce. “Must the younger crowd bring someone older to be admitted? I’m going to kill Snape.” Lucius had been undoing the clasp at the top of his cape but now he re-hooked it preparatory to leaving.

Hermione couldn’t hold herself in any more and she burst out laughing at the irate wizard, “Oh Lucius, you’re priceless. The sign refers to old songs, not old people. So you do consider yourself old, then? You’ve mentioned several times to me that you’re not old,” she verbally jabbed his Achilles heel. “A few wrinkles around the eyes, perhaps,” she went up on tiptoe to inspect his face, then relapsed onto her feet and laughed at him again.

Lucius’ face smoothed out as if his chagrin had never been and he brought out a faint smile for his wife, knowing he’d been purposefully played by the perfidious little witch. She turned away again to look down at the dance floor, and his magnificent eyes slitted in smouldering anger, but when her attention turned back to him his face showed nothing but a remote interest in the nightclub environs as he also looked around. Noting the checkstand he offered, “Give me your cape and I’ll check them for us.” With both capes in hand Lucius left Hermione for the few minutes he needed to bring his temper under control.

Minutes later Lucius returned and from their vantage point at the top of the grand entryway stairs, he looked down over the crowds of gyrating bodies until he spied who he was looking for.

‘This way,” Lucius whispered directly into Hermione’s ear to be heard above the loud music and took firm hold of her hand. Several minutes passed, squeezing between male and female bodies intent on their own partners with a few wandering hands furtively exploring both Hermione and Lucius; finally they arrived next to the couple they were to meet.

Hermione came to a lurching standstill. She didn’t know where to look. Two shocks in one night! She admitted she was flabbergasted, like a schoolgirl seeing her professor’s underwear. Snape was dancing! And he was…wow…he was hot!

“Amazing, isn’t it,” Lucius said drawing Hermione’s eyes back to him where he wanted them. “Narcissa was always inordinately fond of dancing. It’s a tribute to her that she managed to coax Severus onto the dance floor, especially in public.”

Narcissa was dressed as a fairy with a short, pink, floaty dress and tiny gossamer wings that were in danger of being crushed by the dancers around her, not that she seemed to care. The new Mrs. Snape was good at Muggle dancing and she obviously was enjoying herself. It was just as obvious that Snape was playing up to her seductive moves, albeit in a more subdued manner.

The voluminous robes of the dark wizard had disappeared in favor of snug black trousers that hugged surprisingly well-formed, long legs, the trousers similar in effect to Lucius’ leggings. Neither pair was designed to hide their owners’ lights under a bushel. And, further shock, apparently neither man favored underwear. Another education for the new Mrs. Malfoy. Was that a requirement of Death Eaters? Narcissa certainly hadn’t lost anything in the male equipment department by switching mates.

Severus had remained true to his preference for the color black; tucked into a thin belt woven through the belt loops of his trousers, he wore a black, collared poet’s shirt open at the neck with long, billowing sleeves and loosened laces down the front, which seemed to be the extent of his costume, except for the knee-high black boots. Then Hermione saw a single, thin gold hoop dangling from one ear, peeking through his midnight hair as it swished around his face while he danced. Ah, a pirate perhaps. Hermione could definitely see Snape as a ruthless brigand roaming the seven seas. On a broomstick. She sniggered at her internal visual of Snape swooping over churning waves on his broomstick, looking for victims over the horizon and calling coordinates to his vicious crew in their sleek sloop below. Then Hermione looked more closely at the dark-haired wizard. Snape seemed more colorful, somehow. Was that a tan?

Lucius leaned in again and whispered, “Don’t forget I’m no amateur at legilimency and I believe occlumency was never your strong suit. If I find even a trace of my friend over there playing any part in your fantasies I can guarantee you’ll be sorry.”

“Jealous, Lucius?” she taunted. Hermione was learning to know Lucius well enough that his threat of invading her mind was an empty one. He’d been genuinely upset at consummating their marriage when he discovered she was so small. He wouldn’t delve into her mind for such a flimsy reason.

One blond eyebrow rose as an indecipherable half-smile lifted his lips, “Not… exactly,” he finally returned a quiet answer. His head cocked a little to the side as if he ruminated on her question. Gray eyes slid down over Hermione’s scant costume lingering over her finely shaped legs before slowly coming back to her waiting browns. “But you would do well to heed my words. I won’t tell you again.”

Hermione turned her shoulder to Lucius, mutely shaking off his comment as bluff.

Heaving a sigh of resignation, Lucius caught Snape’s eye and asked with his hands where they were sitting.

Directed by a silent, pointing wave from the other wizard, Lucius touched Hermione’s shoulder to gain her attention, then he led her over to a small table on one side of the dance floor and pulled out a chair for her.

Avoiding his critical, horribly addictive eyes, she sullenly settled into the proffered chair, resenting his courtesy after he had just dressed her down for something she felt she didn’t merit. She was only admiring a new and, to her mind, vastly improved version of the previously bitter, angry Potions Master whom she was still only getting used to. It hadn’t been anything personal. Lucius was unreasonably jealous, calling her to account for a few glances.

Hermione drew in a breath as Lucius idly watched the other couple dancing. Was he gazing at Narcissa? He had to be distressed that he was no longer married to such a beautiful woman, the one who had borne him his son, nasty little git that Draco was.

When the song ended, the Snapes returned to the table and took chairs close together so they could whisper in each other’s ear. Lucius raised a bare, finely-muscled arm and attracted the attention of one of the cocktail waitresses who immediately came to his side with a speculative slide of her eyes over the blond wizard, lingering on his exposed chest before meeting his amused eyes.

Severus and Narcissa already had drinks, so Lucius ordered only for himself and Hermione, smiling at the waitress with a look that said he acknowledged her as attractive. Everyone but Hermione knew Lucius’ habits and saw merely that he was using a long-honed social smile to get him faster service. Hermione saw her husband flirting with another woman, one whose personal assets were amply displayed above a neon blue bustier.

“Must you flash your ninety Galleon smile at her? She’s only getting our drinks. And don’t stare at her…her… costume with your magic eyes. They’re lethal,” Hermione said peevishly.

“What’re lethal? His eyes? Or the cocktail waitress’, erm, costume? And why ninety Galleons? Why not a hundred?” asked Snape, willing to be entertained at his friend’s expense.

Hermione turned to Snape with a flash of her eyes, sensing a fellow needler, “Because he’s not offering her full value. She would have to provide him with a bit more than drinks to get his hundred Galleon smile.”

“But Hermione,” Narcissa explained, “Lucius is getting something for you, too. It’s just his natural behavior. It means nothing personal.”

“If Severus smiles invitingly at the waitress when she comes back, would you mind?” Hermione asked a shade truculently. She heard Snape hiss with displeasure at her baiting of his wife.

The question was fraught with pitfalls and Narcissa saw them immediately. Say ‘no, she didn’t mind’, and she was intimating that she either didn’t care if Snape did it, or his smile would be ineffectual in comparison to Lucius’. Say ‘yes’ and she would be going back on what she just said about Lucius’ behavior being innocuous – Lucius could smile that way, but Narcissa wouldn’t want Snape to do it. As she hesitated, her big, blue eyes stricken, Lucius took the problem from her hands.

“Let me understand, please, exactly what I may not do in company,” he said silkily. “You see my smiles as blatant come-ons to any woman? You would rather I didn’t smile in public so you could be certain I wasn’t making surreptitious assignations right under your nose?” Lucius pursed his lips in disapprobation, “In other words you think I am capable of making clandestine sexual arrangements with other women as a married man?”

Narcissa gasped and Snape began to smile viciously, but Lucius wasn’t through, “Am I to understand that you see this covert behavior as normal for me because – dare I say it – you would behave the same way? You are drawing conclusions based on your own sense of honor, or perhaps dishonor?”

Hermione’s eyes widened at the bald attack on her morals, not knowing quite how they had gone from Lucius flirting with the waitress to her having the morals of a slut. She was in the wrong again. Lucius had instantly stepped in to defend his ex-wife against her. He gave away his beautiful smiles to all and sundry, reserving his scowls for her.

“Perhaps I learned dishonor from you. Was forcing me into marriage an honorable act?” Hermione turned from her husband and blazed one searing look of acrimony at an embarrassed Narcissa, got up and waded through the dancers to the ladies’. With a helpless look at the two fuming wizards, Narcissa got up and went after the small, miserable witch.


~~~


Hermione adjusted her costume and fiddled futilely with her wild curls, eyeing Narcissa’s perfectly coiffed hair with more than a touch of envy in the mirror as the other witch moved up beside her at the counter.

“Well, here we are again,” Narcissa said, joking uneasily, “hiding out from the boys in the loo.” The beautiful witch gave up when she was met with stony silence and asked plainly, “Hermione, why are you angry with me? I don’t understand.” Narcissa found Hermione’s eyes in the large mirror they were both using.

“I’m not angry,” Hermione said snippily, her cheeks red with rage.

Narcissa just stared at the little witch, whose whole attitude fairly shouted that she was angry.

“Oh, well, no, I’m not angry. I’m just…just…” she sighed, not proof against the gentle woman. “You’ve been married to both of them. They both wanted you, even Lucius. I find it hard to believe he would have meekly acquiesced to marrying you no matter his youth, if he truly didn’t want it. In contrast, Lucius forced me into our marriage to carry out his and Snape’s plan for their own uses, but otherwise I’m of no interest to him.”

Narcissa hid her mouth behind her hand. “Oh dear, that’s so funny.”

Hermione glared at the blonde witch, “You think I’m funny?” Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

“Not you, Hermione. Your misguided analysis. Do you really think Lucius would let anyone push him into anything he didn’t want to do? You just said yourself he wouldn’t have. What you just saw was only his way. He doesn’t even think about using his looks to get what he wants any more. It comes to him as naturally as breathing.”

“Like you?” Hermione sucked in a horrified breath. “I didn’t mean that,” she said, but Narcissa’s look sharpened.

“Is that what this is?” Narcissa’s gaze gentled again, making Hermione cringe with the sympathy she saw in the older woman’s lovely, cobalt eyes. “My dear, even living with him as short a time as you have, can you imagine Lucius being browbeaten into marrying you? Why not marry one of a hundred other women who would have jumped at the chance to marry a billionaire, a very handsome billionaire? You have nothing to fear from me. Lucius doesn’t love me. Not that way. Not as a wife, merely as a friend. I couldn’t maintain our friendship if he felt anything more for me. Severus wouldn’t have it. And,” she said adamantly, “neither would I.”

Hermione frowned, “Well…he did say something about being blackmailed into marriage. By your husband!” She gladly took the side issue to get away from her unforgivable rudeness to the other witch. If Lucius ever found out she’d said such a nasty thing to Narcissa…Hermione bit her lip with despair.

Narcissa frowned, “Blackmail? Severus? Those two are as tight as ticks on a troll. How odd. You say Severus blackmailed Lucius into marrying you?”

“Well, not me precisely,” Hermione said honestly. “Just marrying someone so Lucius could take over as Hogwarts Headmaster for their plan, their bloody, stupid plan. It was the School Governors who narrowed Lucius’ prospects to me… I think. I’m not sure about that part.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Narcissa mulled over Hermione’s information. “I don’t believe the blackmail. Lucius wanted to marry you. That much is crystal clear to me. You need only to discover why. And the answer won’t be any blackmail… or their plan. Not completely, anyway.”

“It can’t be because he’s attracted to me.” Hermione didn’t want to divulge any bedroom tidbits of her marriage, but her despondency leaked out a bit, “even though our marriage… well, you know it isn’t in name only,” Hermione’s cheeks heated with embarrassment.

“Oh, that thought never crossed my mind,” Narcissa bit her lip, trying not to laugh. “And I’m sure it never crossed Lucius’ mind as an option, either.”

“No,” Hermione said uncertainly, “He made that clear before he married me, but I think I don’t have enough sex-drive for Lucius. He… um… he’s rather insatiable, at least I think he is. I’m not sure how much sex happens in a normal marriage. I haven’t really bothered to date since I broke up with Ron. I was more interested in making a success of my research business and it took far more time and energy than I initially thought. I didn’t begrudge the work, but it left no time for socializing. I always figured I could find someone after I had my business on a firm foundation. Then Lucius came along and ruined my plans to further his.”

“So you feel no attraction to Lucius at all?” Narcissa was at first dumbfounded, then she realized that couldn’t be right. Not from the things Lucius had let drop to Severus and even to her. Narcissa knew Lucius was having a difficult time presenting himself as more than an ogre from a wicked fairytale, but she reasoned, if Hermione was jealous of her, it could only mean Hermione cared about Lucius. Unless…

“You aren’t upset that I married Severus are you?” Narcissa peered closely at Hermione’s reflection. “Did you have hopes in that direction?”

Hermione’e eyes widened in surprise. “Snape?” She pulled her disgusted reaction back just in time to keep the dismay from her voice. “Umm, no, I hadn’t thought of Snape, uh, Severus, in that way.” She was certainly seeing a slightly less formal side of the wizard tonight, dancing and moving those taut, male hips against his wife, and Hermione remembered she had enjoyed a crush on the man for a few months when she was a student, but his abrasive personality had thoroughly scrubbed away any desires she might ever have had in that direction.

“No,” she said honestly, “I had no thoughts in that direction. If I had to be married to Severus, one of us would be kissing a Dementor after the wedding night. The other one would already be dead in the marriage bed.”

She laughed a little shakily and Narcissa smiled, saying, “It’s true you are both very forceful and don’t like to be controlled. Yes, I can see a painful ending to any romance between the two of you. But, Hermione, Lucius has some of the same tendencies. One of you has to…oh, how to say it…”

Narcissa’s patrician brow furrowed, then she turned and addressed Hermione directly, instead of through the blunting medium of the mirror. “You pull against him. You refuse to give yourself over completely to him, to his care. He has a very wide streak of protective instinct and I think you are fighting him over what he cannot change in himself.” Narcissa put one gentle hand on Hermione’s arm, “You will never have harmony in your home if both of you try to lead and Lucius will never follow.” Narcissa squeezed Hermione’s arm lightly and left the bathroom.

Hermione turned back to the mirror, but she saw nothing through the tears that had suddenly blinded her. Lucius certainly had a partial spokeswoman on his side. Maybe Narcissa was telling the truth – that she and Lucius were just good friends. Hermione, however, didn’t want to be another Narcissa, letting Lucius have all the control in their marriage. Hermione couldn’t be like that, and if Lucius needed her unquestioning obedience he was headed for another divorce.

Why did she have to bow to that supercilious Pureblood, just because he was her husband? He’d taken her choice of husbands away from her – she owed him nothing. Hermione saw the door to the nightclub opening and stepped into a stall to avoid the newcomer, sitting down on the commode and disconsolately facing the worst problem. Did he have to be so fiercely, painfully magnetic to her senses? It wasn’t fair. Silent tears mixed of rage and despair – and longing - splashed on the tile floor.

Had he shown her any signs she was special? The wedding present of diamonds slid through her mind, but she shoved it away as only a Pureblood duty. His gentle behavior, holding her and singing a funny lullaby, when she had reacted badly to his drawing room on their wedding day… well, she couldn’t explain that, but so far, that had been his only protective behavior toward her. The rest was unceasing corrections for her lowbrow background. Sometimes, the Pureblood morés were more convoluted to her than the staircases at Hogwarts.

Her future spread out before her, bleak and contentious, livened only by the steady bouts of admittedly glorious sex. But that was all it was. The idea that she could mean anything more to him than a shield at Hogwarts and a hot, wet, convenient hole was ludicrous. He didn’t want her, not really.

A small sob escaped before Hermione got her emotions under control again, her sense of righteous anger back into place, protecting her feelings and longings. She didn’t want to long for him. Not him. Hermione returned to their table after dabbing cold water on her eyes.

Instantly, as she approached, her animosity at being used flared up again, seeing her husband waiting patiently at the table while the other couple danced. Lucius rose and pulled out her chair for her and the flames licked higher. Her mind screamed, So proper, so dutiful, so… so… arghhh. Hermione was vengefully re-molding herself into the woman scorned and she relished the role as she let fly with more poisoned words.

“Do you suppose he’s already supplanted all of Narcissa’s erotic memories of you? She certainly finds him verrrry attractive.” Hermione nodded her head toward the other couple, recklessly deciding to throw another barb at Lucius’ impenetrable armor. Hermione knew Lucius didn’t have anything to worry about on her account but she wasn’t inclined to tell him so.

As she had mentioned to Narcissa, she was perfectly aware if she and Snape were thrown together only one of them would still be breathing the next morning. He would try to break her just like all those years at Hogwarts and she would give him fits before most likely bleeding to death under his infuriated sectumsempra.

Hermione let her gaze roam over the other couple’s gyrations, comparing the two wizards. While both men were more twisted than a politician’s tongue, Lucius seemed to have an ego made of dragon hide barring his weak point of his age, which Hermione secretly thought was rather cute – even funny, given his undeniable looks. She had certainly managed to send him up over the oldies sign. Otherwise, she rarely got any reaction out of him at all, unless she pushed him into a temper with her nasty comments. She might as well be another ornament in his home and not a very cherished one, either.

Snape, on the other hand, could care less about his age, but the rest of his ego was held together with baling wire and had been long buried under self-protective layers of bitterness and estrangement, meaning he was more easily wounded. He would kill her if she let loose her sharp tongue on him. As a couple she and Snape would never suit, but the mind-boggling oddity of his being out on a dance floor was fascinating to her and she watched him, mesmerized that Narcissa had found a way into that heart of darkness with her very lightness.

Severus’ dancing consisted of sinuously moving his tall, spare torso, narrow hips, and wide shoulders close to his wife, never taking his fathomless black eyes off her as he loomed over her lithe, fairy frame, his hands on her waist and hers clasped around his neck. They weren’t dancing energetically to the nightclub music; they were merely moving together to their own internal music.

Narcissa obviously had a very positive effect on her new husband. The man was clearly smitten, but it didn’t take a Rhodes scholar to see who ruled the roost in that house. Hermione shivered a little at the idea of Snape for a husband. Gods, never! She would far rather have Lucius - snobby attitude, cold courtesy and all. Even if he didn’t truly want her.

Narcissa obviously suited Severus quite well. Had she also suited Lucius? Was Lucius’ preferred mate a timorous submissive? Hermione supposed Lucius was smarting over losing such a beautiful woman, whether or not they suited.

Why he had now married a Muggleborn of mediocre looks was a mystery, beyond her value as a wedge into the Ministry’s coffers, her value as a pervert tamer at Hogwarts to help with their fricking plan, and a container for more Malfoy babies. Narcissa’s assertion that Lucius had another reason for marrying Hermione seemed very farfetched; Hermione didn’t think there was another reason.

Hermione still didn’t like comparing herself to the beauteous Narcissa, certain her own attractions paled to insignificance next to the elegant, quiescent woman. All Hermione felt she had going for her was her youth and since age was a sore subject with her husband, even that probably grated on him.

Hermione finally turned back from her musings on the two marriages and looked up at her husband to find twin, pale chips of kohl-lined ice glaring down at her. She swallowed, suddenly remembering who ruled her roost. He had a strong ego, but he was more competitive than Cinderella’s ugly sisters and probably just as unscrupulous.

Hermione didn’t want to trip that particular personality quirk, not tonight. It would not only earn her a punishment, but she might cause dissension between Lucius and the other couple. Her gaze caught his and a frisson of fear stretched her nerve endings taut. She began to worry that she might have already riled Lucius a bit too much.

Lucius steadily stared at his wife – he had been watching her follow the other couple’s movements on the dance floor. His temper rose a notch. “Would you like to dance?” he asked, wanting her attention away from what he viewed as his competition.

Thinking it would be politic to distract the scowling wizard, she nodded and the two rose and ambled onto the dance floor where they slowly began to undulate to the heavy, dark beat of the music.

Hermione knew some damage control was urgently needed so she brought out her most seductive, heavy-lidded look and focused on Lucius’ chest, walking her fingers up the impressive, naked expanse and humming low as she shimmied closer until only a few millimetres separated them. He was susceptible to the female form and she played on his sensual nature a bit ineptly, but with some charmingly naïve verve that captured his intense notice.

Her busy fingers found first one male nub and then the other under his leather jerkin, lightly plucking and delighting in the uncontrolled twitches she was summoning from her mate’s vulnerable body. The open jerkin showed a familiar muscled chest of golden skin and she trailed her fingers higher till she reached the hollow below his throat, caressing the heartbeat there.

Lucius’ wintry gaze narrowed on his aggravating wife and his mind was summarily made up. If she liked watching a wizard dance, she could watch him. And that would be just the start of her evening for the disrespectful little jade. He offered her a sly, calculating glance as he slowly began matching his own beautifully crafted body to the heavy beat, undulating in a way that could only be called scandalous.

Hermione’s eyes popped out of her head as the blond wizard caught her up in a trance of wanton carnality, his platinum hair swaying over his black, leather-covered shoulders, the thin braids caressing the smooth skin of his recently shaven cheeks as his hips swayed hypnotically in sensuous torture. She had never expected that her studied attempt to divert her stodgy husband would lead to nearly being made love to on the dance floor by an incubus.

With infinite patience Lucius lifted his arms and sifted his fingers through the bottom fringe of his hair, drawing attention to his impressive biceps and the twin hammered gold armbands hugging them. On him the effect of those armbands was nothing short of breathtaking, his slowly gyrating actions mind-blowing to the lust-ridden little witch now avidly ogling him instead of scrutinizing Snape. Hermione was trying to look everywhere on him at once, but each time her eyes rose to his, she saw a frost-rimed stare dissecting her.

His hips circled wantonly as he lowered his hands in a slow arc out to each side, palms up in supplication, luring her, offering her his body, never taking his breath-stealing, silvery eyes from her. He was like a dissolute, pagan god offering her a place in his iniquitous kingdom.

She tried to avoid his eyes, concentrating on another part of him, but only fell into a vision of his sculptured pecs glistening with a fine sheen of sweat – her eyes tracked a drop as it made its way down the smooth, golden skin of his chest. It disappeared under his brown leather belt with its snake-design buckle.

She knew what was provocatively being offered, bulging in that scarlet triangle between his legs - his slim hips, now rocking forward and back, now circling in front of her, were nearly irresistible. She felt at once vulnerable and very feminine shadowed under his much greater height. Hermione’s heartbeat sped up with her rapidly escalating desire for this man who was holding her in thrall with his body.

The elegant blond wizard’s now-favored foresty cologne wafted to her, combined with his own male scent that she privately labeled ‘posh’. The man even smelled rich and always, always of dark, come-hither sex. Sexually they were like tinder and flame. The libido she had thought defunct or nonexistent for years lit like a blowtorch at his sheer carnality – again.

Lucius raised his chin to face the ceiling and closed his eyes, looking for all the world as though he were having a beatific orgasm while his hips never ceased moving…moving…circling, drying the little witch’s tongue to the roof of her mouth. Suddenly Hermione wanted. She wanted all that he was enticing her with. This was what he could do to her in bed. Those hips were what he could always do to her in bed.

Her knickers were soaked in seconds and Lucius caught her unique scent of arousal. Two could play her little game of one upsmanship and he’d had years more than she had to perfect his game. Lucius instantly dropped one hand and drew his fingers through her curls until he grasped the nape of her neck, then tightened his hold almost painfully, sending a flash of pure carnal fire straight to her core.

Swiftly he turned her body and guided his lightly panting prize past their table where he gathered in her pitchfork, then aimed her toward an open stairway near them and up into the murky darkness at the top of the nightclub.

He kept nudging her up the stairs, higher and higher until they came out onto a balcony that ran around the whole floor at the very top of the large room. One could look down into the gloom of the poorly lit dance floor and see everyone gyrating to the subtle, pounding beat of the music. Hermione attempted to take a step and instantly the hand at her nape stopped her. She understood this was Lucius’ game and she went still.


tbc...

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Don’t forget this chapter’s pics -

http://labibliographe.livejournal.com/53769.html

Next chapter, 24, will have a picture of Lucius in a Viking outfit at our accompanying web site listed just above, for those of you who would like to see him in something besides his fur robes. (Please, no ribald comments on Lucius and missing robes.)

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