A New Order of Wizards - COMPLETE
folder
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Lucius/Hermione
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
30
Views:
51,762
Reviews:
424
Recommended:
3
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Het - Male/Female › Lucius/Hermione
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
30
Views:
51,762
Reviews:
424
Recommended:
3
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Grief
The characters belong to J.K.Rowling. I am only borrowing them for a while. No copyright transgressions are intended and no profit is made.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updated 11-11-06
Thank you Philosopher, for the pic - Lucius' face reflects so many conflicting emotions. Jason Isaacs really took Lucius Malfoy and made him multifaceted, and your pic captures that.
Moxie - I'm not mixed up about your liking MaleDom. Not at all! 8-)
And I thank you all for the reviews.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Twenty-Four - Grief
Hermione dragged her feet toward Lucius’ study. Things had been going so well between them. Their lovemaking had become so rich and varied and now it was over. She was on the verge of tears knowing she would be stuffed back into her lonely shell of an existence, but not seeing any way around it. The closed door loomed as menacingly as a guillotine and it took all Hermione’s courage to rap on the portal.
Lucius called, “Come in,” turning in his chair to see his wife slowly enter and quietly close the door. He cocked his head sideways, a slight, inquiring smile on his face. Hermione looked like she’d lost her last friend. When she didn’t smile back at him, he began to feel a vague alarm. What could make her unhappy enough not to even offer a smile? They had been going along well enough, learning each other’s preferences both in and out of bed, and they were building a cautiously optimistic future of at least friendship. It was a bit early for him to think of anything more, but their old animosity was fading to be replaced by a hesitant enjoyment of like minds and bodies. Both he and Hermione were extremely strong-minded and clashes were inevitable. However, mutual respect for different but equally clever minds was making a bridge between them. Sometimes the verbal clashes were as much fun as the bedroom skirmishes, now that the acid overtones were gone.
Hermione knew she was telegraphing her distress but she couldn’t stop. She went to Lucius and asked him to sit with her on the sofa. He came willingly, worrying a little. Hermione pulled in a deep breath and let it out, “LuciusI’mpregnant!”
“What? I couldn’t understa… You’re WHAT?” Lucius drew back from his wife, the awful certainty creeping over him that she had said…
“I said I’m pregnant. Oh, Lucius, I know you don’t want this, and I understand that it hurts you in ways I can’t even comprehend, but you knew it would happen sooner or later and with the change in our relationship, we…”
“Stop!” Lucius got up from the sofa and went to the window, looking out but seeing nothing. He was stunned. Intellectually he knew his Pureblood future was doomed, of course he had known. Obviously he hadn’t faced reality, preferring to live in his dream world of great sex and a budding friendship with his captor - the reality of losing absolutely and finally to the hated edict. He was slammed up irrevocably against his own arrogance and self-delusion that he could beat the Ministry’s stranglehold. Ah Gods, he’d done it to himself. That was unforgivable. His own seed, tainted with Muggle blood. He struggled not to vomit in front of Hermione. He didn’t want to hurt her, but neither could he look at her just now. “Please, I’d like to be alone for a while.” Lucius was desperately trying to contain a hurt that seared him all the way through to his soul.
Hermione got up from the sofa and left as quietly as she’d come. She apparated to her room and curled up on her bed, hugging a pillow to her now-inhabited womb. Her tears soaked into the pillow for a solid hour before she fell asleep in exhaustion.
The expectation of a new life should have been joyful. Instead it affected the household like a funeral. Lucius kept to his study working feverishly on his investments, interspersed with completely uncharacteristic drinking binges that led to hours of merciful blackouts, after which he’d crawl to his desk and work on his investments again. The elves brought him food, which he only ate during the times he did his investments, so his diet was sporadic and he lost weight. He wore himself out faster and faster with the drinking.
Hermione was worried sick about Lucius, but the wards he’d placed on the study were too strong for her to break and reach him. He had limited the ingress to his study only to the elves, rebuffing humans. Finally, in desperation, Hermione called down the Floo Network to Snape to see if he could break through the wards with his greater knowledge.
Snape arrived quickly through the estate drawing room fireplace and immediately asked what had set Lucius off. Then he looked at her more closely and said, “Never mind. Stupid question. How long has he been walled up in his study? And why didn’t you call me sooner?”
“It’s been just over a week and the elves said he was eating, so I left him alone thinking he would come out on his own. Apparently what they deem eating is enough to keep an elf alive, but not good enough for a grown human. I was terrified when the elves said Lucius hadn’t moved for the entire day.”
He went up to the study and examined the wards for several minutes. “They’re very good. Of course, they would be; he has combined regular magic with dark magic. It’s probably why you had no luck. It’s not taught in school. Shortsighted of the School Board, I think. I’m trying to change that.” Snape motioned Hermione away from him, “Stand back a moment so I can try to untangle the wards.”
Snape set about sifting through the strands of magic, which were keeping the door sealed. It took him nearly half an hour to do away with the patterns, but he finally opened the study door for Hermione. She hung back, knowing Lucius wouldn’t want to see her. She asked Severus to go in first. He called back immediately, “You may as well come in. He’s out cold. I think he needs a doctor for his malnutrition. Snape had been momentarily jolted at seeing his friend so wan and disheveled, with a short growth of beard and matted hair. Except at school years ago, he’d never seen Lucius anything else but immaculate. He ran a cleaning spell over Lucius immediately, getting rid of the worst fumes and stale smell.
Hermione ran to her husband and frantically patted him all over, checking him for any external problems, and smoothing his hair uselessly back from his face. Silent tears of fear ran down her cheeks as she leaned in and kissed his unconscious face. “Can you apparate him to St. Mungo’s?”
Snape knew his friend better than to send him to St. Mungo’s. Lucius would fry his liver in oil, if he ever did that to him. “I’ll call the family doctor to come here and deal with him. I’ll apparate him up to his bedroom for you, instead. He may forgive me for that.”
An hour later Doctor Samuels came out of Lucius’ bedroom to the waiting group in the hall. “He’ll be fine. Nothing a few good meals won’t fix. I’m more worried about his mental health. He’s clinically depressed. When he fell into the depression, it took hold as melancholia. Sometimes depression manifests as hostility, which might have been safer, given the circumstances. Of course, no one might have noticed then,” the doctor smiled. He was a fellow Slytherin and had treated the family forever; he knew Lucius very well.
The small joke relieved Hermione as the rest of the diagnosis hadn’t. Her husband was alive and, if not well, at least not beyond help. “What can I do, doctor?”
He looked at her with pity, “I think you know already that he went into this nosedive because of the pregnancy. It’s hit him in his most vulnerable place, his bloodlines. Basically, he’s grief-stricken and only time will heal him. He’s flipping back and forth between denial and acceptance, but his depression means he’s nearing acceptance. It’s a process that usually manifests in about five stages. Depression is the fourth stage. After that comes acceptance, so all you can do is support him in whatever way makes him the most comfortable. He’ll need you. I’ll look in again in a few days. Good luck, Mrs. Malfoy.”
Hermione knew Lucius was almost a maniac about his heritage and she hated being the one to bring him such grief, but she was relieved that was what it was. Grief. He just had to go through some sort of stages of grief for his lost dynasty like anyone else had to go through it for a loved one. If he was already at the fourth depression stage, the poor man had already suffered through the other stages all by himself. She would have to read up on grief to help Lucius.
Snape stood silently by letting the doctor talk to Hermione. He alone knew the depths Lucius had gone to, trying to avoid the edict. He hadn’t dreamed Lucius would crack up over one Halfblood baby after sounding resigned to fate running its own course. Lucius was arrogant and unyielding on issues he espoused, but usually never past the point where it made no sense to continue. Snape reconsidered, except for the Death Eaters and the damned Malfoy family name. Perhaps he’d drop a word in Hermione’s ear about protecting her baby. Better safe than sorry.
_______________________________________________________________
A/N: Yes, a left turn. Time to advance the plot. Sorry, no lemons...
Reviews welcome anyway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updated 11-11-06
Thank you Philosopher, for the pic - Lucius' face reflects so many conflicting emotions. Jason Isaacs really took Lucius Malfoy and made him multifaceted, and your pic captures that.
Moxie - I'm not mixed up about your liking MaleDom. Not at all! 8-)
And I thank you all for the reviews.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Twenty-Four - Grief
Hermione dragged her feet toward Lucius’ study. Things had been going so well between them. Their lovemaking had become so rich and varied and now it was over. She was on the verge of tears knowing she would be stuffed back into her lonely shell of an existence, but not seeing any way around it. The closed door loomed as menacingly as a guillotine and it took all Hermione’s courage to rap on the portal.
Lucius called, “Come in,” turning in his chair to see his wife slowly enter and quietly close the door. He cocked his head sideways, a slight, inquiring smile on his face. Hermione looked like she’d lost her last friend. When she didn’t smile back at him, he began to feel a vague alarm. What could make her unhappy enough not to even offer a smile? They had been going along well enough, learning each other’s preferences both in and out of bed, and they were building a cautiously optimistic future of at least friendship. It was a bit early for him to think of anything more, but their old animosity was fading to be replaced by a hesitant enjoyment of like minds and bodies. Both he and Hermione were extremely strong-minded and clashes were inevitable. However, mutual respect for different but equally clever minds was making a bridge between them. Sometimes the verbal clashes were as much fun as the bedroom skirmishes, now that the acid overtones were gone.
Hermione knew she was telegraphing her distress but she couldn’t stop. She went to Lucius and asked him to sit with her on the sofa. He came willingly, worrying a little. Hermione pulled in a deep breath and let it out, “LuciusI’mpregnant!”
“What? I couldn’t understa… You’re WHAT?” Lucius drew back from his wife, the awful certainty creeping over him that she had said…
“I said I’m pregnant. Oh, Lucius, I know you don’t want this, and I understand that it hurts you in ways I can’t even comprehend, but you knew it would happen sooner or later and with the change in our relationship, we…”
“Stop!” Lucius got up from the sofa and went to the window, looking out but seeing nothing. He was stunned. Intellectually he knew his Pureblood future was doomed, of course he had known. Obviously he hadn’t faced reality, preferring to live in his dream world of great sex and a budding friendship with his captor - the reality of losing absolutely and finally to the hated edict. He was slammed up irrevocably against his own arrogance and self-delusion that he could beat the Ministry’s stranglehold. Ah Gods, he’d done it to himself. That was unforgivable. His own seed, tainted with Muggle blood. He struggled not to vomit in front of Hermione. He didn’t want to hurt her, but neither could he look at her just now. “Please, I’d like to be alone for a while.” Lucius was desperately trying to contain a hurt that seared him all the way through to his soul.
Hermione got up from the sofa and left as quietly as she’d come. She apparated to her room and curled up on her bed, hugging a pillow to her now-inhabited womb. Her tears soaked into the pillow for a solid hour before she fell asleep in exhaustion.
The expectation of a new life should have been joyful. Instead it affected the household like a funeral. Lucius kept to his study working feverishly on his investments, interspersed with completely uncharacteristic drinking binges that led to hours of merciful blackouts, after which he’d crawl to his desk and work on his investments again. The elves brought him food, which he only ate during the times he did his investments, so his diet was sporadic and he lost weight. He wore himself out faster and faster with the drinking.
Hermione was worried sick about Lucius, but the wards he’d placed on the study were too strong for her to break and reach him. He had limited the ingress to his study only to the elves, rebuffing humans. Finally, in desperation, Hermione called down the Floo Network to Snape to see if he could break through the wards with his greater knowledge.
Snape arrived quickly through the estate drawing room fireplace and immediately asked what had set Lucius off. Then he looked at her more closely and said, “Never mind. Stupid question. How long has he been walled up in his study? And why didn’t you call me sooner?”
“It’s been just over a week and the elves said he was eating, so I left him alone thinking he would come out on his own. Apparently what they deem eating is enough to keep an elf alive, but not good enough for a grown human. I was terrified when the elves said Lucius hadn’t moved for the entire day.”
He went up to the study and examined the wards for several minutes. “They’re very good. Of course, they would be; he has combined regular magic with dark magic. It’s probably why you had no luck. It’s not taught in school. Shortsighted of the School Board, I think. I’m trying to change that.” Snape motioned Hermione away from him, “Stand back a moment so I can try to untangle the wards.”
Snape set about sifting through the strands of magic, which were keeping the door sealed. It took him nearly half an hour to do away with the patterns, but he finally opened the study door for Hermione. She hung back, knowing Lucius wouldn’t want to see her. She asked Severus to go in first. He called back immediately, “You may as well come in. He’s out cold. I think he needs a doctor for his malnutrition. Snape had been momentarily jolted at seeing his friend so wan and disheveled, with a short growth of beard and matted hair. Except at school years ago, he’d never seen Lucius anything else but immaculate. He ran a cleaning spell over Lucius immediately, getting rid of the worst fumes and stale smell.
Hermione ran to her husband and frantically patted him all over, checking him for any external problems, and smoothing his hair uselessly back from his face. Silent tears of fear ran down her cheeks as she leaned in and kissed his unconscious face. “Can you apparate him to St. Mungo’s?”
Snape knew his friend better than to send him to St. Mungo’s. Lucius would fry his liver in oil, if he ever did that to him. “I’ll call the family doctor to come here and deal with him. I’ll apparate him up to his bedroom for you, instead. He may forgive me for that.”
An hour later Doctor Samuels came out of Lucius’ bedroom to the waiting group in the hall. “He’ll be fine. Nothing a few good meals won’t fix. I’m more worried about his mental health. He’s clinically depressed. When he fell into the depression, it took hold as melancholia. Sometimes depression manifests as hostility, which might have been safer, given the circumstances. Of course, no one might have noticed then,” the doctor smiled. He was a fellow Slytherin and had treated the family forever; he knew Lucius very well.
The small joke relieved Hermione as the rest of the diagnosis hadn’t. Her husband was alive and, if not well, at least not beyond help. “What can I do, doctor?”
He looked at her with pity, “I think you know already that he went into this nosedive because of the pregnancy. It’s hit him in his most vulnerable place, his bloodlines. Basically, he’s grief-stricken and only time will heal him. He’s flipping back and forth between denial and acceptance, but his depression means he’s nearing acceptance. It’s a process that usually manifests in about five stages. Depression is the fourth stage. After that comes acceptance, so all you can do is support him in whatever way makes him the most comfortable. He’ll need you. I’ll look in again in a few days. Good luck, Mrs. Malfoy.”
Hermione knew Lucius was almost a maniac about his heritage and she hated being the one to bring him such grief, but she was relieved that was what it was. Grief. He just had to go through some sort of stages of grief for his lost dynasty like anyone else had to go through it for a loved one. If he was already at the fourth depression stage, the poor man had already suffered through the other stages all by himself. She would have to read up on grief to help Lucius.
Snape stood silently by letting the doctor talk to Hermione. He alone knew the depths Lucius had gone to, trying to avoid the edict. He hadn’t dreamed Lucius would crack up over one Halfblood baby after sounding resigned to fate running its own course. Lucius was arrogant and unyielding on issues he espoused, but usually never past the point where it made no sense to continue. Snape reconsidered, except for the Death Eaters and the damned Malfoy family name. Perhaps he’d drop a word in Hermione’s ear about protecting her baby. Better safe than sorry.
_______________________________________________________________
A/N: Yes, a left turn. Time to advance the plot. Sorry, no lemons...
Reviews welcome anyway.