Mastering Temptation

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Slytherins, Movies and Pastry









Hermione was trying to get around in her small kitchen to finish dinner, but it was difficult to manage with three fully grown wizards in her way. For some reason Severus, Lucius and Draco decided that they wanted to watch her. She spent a lot of time turning off appliances that the curious Malfoys kept switching on and swatting away hands that were stealing bites of food.





“I don’t know why you wont let me send a few of my servants down to help you.” Lucius said, jabbing his cane at her microwave and frowning when it beeped and the door popped open.





“Because I prefer to do it myself.” She said, reaching over to shut the door. “Stop touching things.”





“Why do you need so many of these contraptions? Can’t you use magic?” Lucius asked, leaning over to sniff at the pork loin she had just placed on a platter and set on her kitchen island.





“Do not get your hair in the food!” Hermione said, shoving him away and swatting him with her towel.





“She doesn’t like to use magic to prepare food. She’s a good cook actually.” Draco said, rifling through her junk drawer and playing with a pen that had a puffball on the end of it.





“I can attest to that.” Severus said, winking at her from his perch on a stool. “She cooks for me all the time.”







“I’m not sure if I can trust your opinion, post coital euphoria can alter your perceptions, she could be feeding you dirt and you wouldn’t notice in that moment.” Lucius drawled, still unsure about eating a meal prepared the muggle way by a non-professional chef.







“Hey! I’ll have you know that I have cooked for him several times when sex wasn’t involved thank you very much.” Hermione said indignantly.







“Regardless, he’s a besotted fool and therefore his opinion about anything concerning you is not to be trusted.” Lucius said, refilling his wine glass and taking a seat on the empty stool beside Severus.





“Does my opinion account for anything?” Draco asked. “I have had her cooking many times and haven’t shagged her once. At least I can't remember if I did.”





“You’d remember if you had.” Severus muttered, causing Lucius and Draco both to laugh raucously.







“No, your opinion is even more worthless as she has been holding your leash far longer than Severus’s. You are essentially her pet.” Lucius said.





Hermione glanced over her shoulder, shaking her head at the twisted trio as she continued to mash the potatoes in a pot. She jumped when Draco flipped the switch that turned on her disposal.





“All right, purebloods out of my kitchen, now!” Hermione said, flipping the switch back down.





“Why does Severus get to stay?” Draco pouted as she ushered them out.





“He had a muggle parent and lived in a muggle house, he knows what this stuff is and he isn’t touching everything and turning it on!” She said. “Turn on the telly for your father, Draco; he likes to surf through the channels when he visits.”





Hermione turned around to find Severus standing at the counter with the hand held masher tending to the potatoes. She smiled and wiped her hands on the towel she had tossed over her shoulder.





“Now that is sexy.” She said, walking over to stand beside him.





“What is?” He asked.





“You, cooking.” She said, smiling at him as she leaned back against the counter.





“This isn’t cooking; it’s the same as pulverizing potion ingredients. But if it works for you I’m not going to argue.” He said, setting the pot aside and reaching for her. He threaded his fingers with hers and pushed her arms behind her back.





“Everything you do works for me.” She said, enjoying the way he had her pinned against him.





“My witch is easy to please, that’s beneficial.” He said, brushing his nose alongside hers briefly before he kissed her.







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When Harry Potter floo’d into Hermione’s house, he did not expect to find Lucius and Draco Malfoy sitting on her sofa watching the television. He stood there for a few moments, completely ignored by them, and thought about how odd it was to see them so engrossed in muggle entertainment.





“Hello, Potter.” Draco said, never taking his eyes off of the television.





“Draco. What are you doing?” He asked.





“What does it look like? We are watching the telly.” He said.







“Why? I thought you two hated everything muggle.” He said as he walked over so he could see what they were watching.







“Not everything. Father likes to watch Hermione’s television, but he absolutely will not allow one in our house.” Draco said, elbowing his father. “Say hello to Harry.”





“Hello, Mr. Potter, how are you this evening?” Lucius asked, not really paying attention to the newcomer.





“Fine thank you, Mr. Malfoy. What are you watching?” Harry asked.







“Monty…something or another.” Lucius said distractedly.







“Python…..Holy Grail.” Draco said, laughing at the antics of French knights atop a castle.







“Alright...where is Hermione?” Harry asked, thinking that it was odd that a man like Lucius would watch something so absurd.





“Kitchen.” Draco said. Harry shook his head and made his way to the back of the house and into Hermione’s kitchen. He immediately turned around and went back to the living room.





“Back again so soon?” Lucius asked. “That black knight is a persistent bugger isn’t he?”







“I don’t care to watch Hermione and Snape snogging against the kitchen counter.” Harry said, settling himself into a chair.





“They do that a lot. You get used to it.” Draco said, smiling a bit when he heard Harry give an annoyed grunt.







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“So, Potter, where is your wife this evening?” Severus asked as they settled at the table.





“James isn’t feeling well, so she stayed home to take care of him. She says hello.” Harry said. He was staring at Hermione who was scowling in the direction of the living room. She stood up and tossed her napkin onto her chair.





“Uh oh…father is in trouble now.” Draco said laughing as he watched Hermione stomp through the doorway and turn off the television.





“What is she going to do?” Harry asked, concerned for his friend as she went to confront Lucius.





“Don’t worry, Harry. She takes his wand, pulls his hair and even hit him with his own cane once. He will not harm her. He likes the attention, and he absolutely adores her.” Severus said, chuckling softly when he heard her scolding Lucius.





“Lucius, dinner is ready, get in the dining room and sit down, now.” She said before returning with the scolded wizard following behind her.







“If you like the television so much, why don’t you just get one of your own?” Severus asked.





“That would require me to have the house wired for electricity and then they would have to put one of those hideous round things on the outside. No, I will just content myself to indulge when I am visiting my favorite witch.” Lucius said. “Did you know that according to this Monty fellow, witches weigh the same as a duck and are made of wood?”





Everyone at the table stared at Lucius as though he had sprouted another head.



“What exactly were the three of you watching?” Hermione asked, laughing.





“Holy Grail.” Draco said, laughing.





“I wouldn’t go around quoting lines from that movie, Lucius; it could get you into some trouble.” Hermione said.







“Lucius quotes movies?” Harry asked, fighting off the laughter as he imagined the elitist Lucius Malfoy telling someone that their mother was a hamster and their father smelled of elderberries.





“He recently quoted Batman to me.” Hermione said, watching Harry’s eyes soften a little. He was seeing a different side of Lucius, viewing him as something other than a deatheater and that was what she was hoping for.







“So do you have a favorite?” Harry asked. Lucius looked up and furrowed his brow thoughtfully.





“I don’t know, I only recently figured out how to use Hermione’s television. I find it fascinating what muggles find funny.” Lucius said. “Do you know I watched a program where a young man engaged in sexual congress with a pastry?”







Severus looked up sharply, his eyes wide, his fork halfway between his mouth and his plate. Draco was laughing at the end of the table while Hermione buried her face in her hands. Harry tried, but he just couldn’t hold it back, he started laughing. Perhaps Malfoy wasn’t so bad, if he could change enough to give muggle comedy a chance and enjoy it, then maybe Harry could rethink his opinions as well.





Hermione looked at Harry, a sweet smile on her lips that showed him just how much it meant to her that he was socializing and enjoying himself with her adopted family of Slytherins.





Severus frowned at the mental picture and set his fork on the table. He wasn’t sure why anyone would find something like that funny enough to film it. He and Hermione generally watched classic films when they watched television. He turned to Hermione with an almost ill look on his face.





“Please tell me we aren’t having pastries for desert.”









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OK, I know that it is highly unlikely that Lucius would be watching Monty Python, but its Utopia’s fault, she put the image into my head when she mentioned Monty Python….so then I had to watch the movie…..then it sort of stayed there…..and Zairaphel encouraged my spiral into comedy.





So yes, I am well aware it was WAY OOC, but it was fun. : ) How can you not love Lucius being fascinated by the television?





Alright….getting close……..







Utopia - I love the MP movies….just watched the Four Yorkshire men tribute with Alan “yummy” Rickman and Eddie Izzard(my favorite comedian). I also like Ricky Gervais and his show Extras, Dan Radcliffe was hilarious on there. Hope ya finally got that revision done!