Harvest Moon

The ability to apparate directly into Malfoy manor was odd at best, Hermione thought. She was glad Lucius had asked her to meet him in the library because she at least somewhat knew her way round it. She paused for a moment upon hearing a strange sound. At least she presumed it was strange for the Malfoy household though she really wouldn’t know. Someone was wandering amongst the bookshelves, singing. She frowned a bit, not certain if she was having auditory hallucinations before following the voice.



Burn out the day

Burn out the night

I can\'t see no reason to put up a fight

I\'m living for giving the devil his due

And I\'m burning, I\'m burning, I\'m burning for you

I\'m burning, I\'m burning, I\'m burning for you



Hermione came around a corner and stood completely still for a moment, too shocked to move much less speak. Lucius Malfoy had his back to her, perusing a book and singing to himself. It seemed somewhat surreal to her to be hearing this. But she supposed it was no stranger than Draco eating grape jelly on eggs.



He turned, spotted her standing there and abruptly stopped singing.



“I’m sorry, Hermione, I didn’t hear you come in.”



“Since when do you sing muggle music? Or sing at all for that matter?”



“Ah, I have many secrets you’ve yet to discover,” he said, smirking a bit. “Actually, my mother was quite fond of muggle music. What I was singing happened to be one of her favorites. I gained my interest in music and books from her,” he said, his gaze taking a far off look.



“You sound as though you miss her terribly.”



Lucius sighed heavily. “I do. Sometimes I think she was the only person in my life who ever really loved me. But I suppose I’m being maudlin since it’s the day after Samhain.” He shook his head as though to clear it and squared his shoulders a bit. “Well, shall we go and find out if what everyone presumes is true?”



“And what would that presumption be, Lucius?” Hermione asked, one eyebrow quirking up in question.



“That my old Deatheater mask and robes are missing from the family vault, of course.”



“Of course.”



They left the library and walked through corridor after corridor of the mansion. Hermione wondered how on Earth Lucius and later on Draco had ever managed to avoid getting completely lost in this massive place. They wound their way down several flights of spiraling stone stairways, the air growing cooler and more and more damp as they went. Hermione knew by the feel that they had to be deep underground by now.



Lucius finally halted in front of a huge iron banded oak door. He took out his wand and Hermione half expected a series of complicated incantations to unlock the door but that wasn’t what happened. Lucius pointed his wand at the door and simply said alohamora. The lock clicked open and the massive door swung inward to reveal a room of riches straight out of a faerie tale. Gold glittered from every corner, bars of silver were stacked neatly in rows as high as her head, jewels of every variety winked in the dim light of the room. She was temporarily awestruck as she’d never seen anything like it in real life outside of a museum.



Lucius smiled a little before wandering over and picking up a diamond the size of his fist. “It’s good to see that the house elves have been keeping it cleaned in here. I’ve not been in this room for at least ten years or so,” he said, looking thoughtful and tossing the diamond up and down as though it was a child’s ball.



“Why would you keep all of this here?” she finally asked after regaining her scattered wits.



Lucius shrugged. “Most of it is what wouldn’t fit into the vaults at Gringotts. Then there’s the fact that my father always felt it a good idea to keep a certain amount of wealth on hand just in case. Just in case of what I’ve no idea. Though I do have certain suspicions as my father was not the most honest of men.”



“Must run in the family,” Hermoine said sarcastically.



“Indeed. But if you thought I was bad during my Deatheater stint you’d have believed my father to be the devil incarnate. Which is something he would have encouraged, by the way. Now, where did I put those things?” he mused, looking around the room.



“Aren’t you afraid someone will steal this?” she asked, looking around at what had to be millions in galleons worth of riches before wandering over to where he was standing.



“Hardly. Only family knows where the vaults are and how to open them. Even when the dark lord and the others were staying inside the manor no one came down here,” he said, walking over to an ornate cabinet. “Ah, here we are.” He paused, then waved his wand, revealing an intricate web of spells guarding the contents of the cabinet. He frowned after tracing several with his wand, releasing the bindings. “Someone has tampered with this.”



He’d barely gotten the words out when a high pitched whine sounded in the room. “Get down!” he shouted. Grabbing her around the waist and forcing her to the floor, shielding her body with his as the cabinet exploded. Bits of wood and metal showered down on and around them, sticking in Lucius’ hair and clinging to his robes.



Hermione was more than a little startled about the first thing that registered after the shock of what had just happened wore off. Because it was not the fact important evidence had probably just been blown to bits but how sinfully good Lucius Malfoy felt pressed firmly against her.