The Wedding

The weeks leading up to the wedding were busy for everyone involved. Ginny and Draco had temporarily moved back to Malfoy Manor so that they could oversee the wedding preparations. Reluctantly, Hermione had agreed to take the week before the wedding, as well as a few days after the wedding off from work, so that she could be there for her best friend. It had, she admitted to herself, taken Draco’s promise that she could use his father’s lab in the dungeons if she wanted to get a little work done while she was there, that had finally persuaded her to take that amount of time off from the Ministry.

With no current Mrs. Malfoy, Ginny had taken over the role of hostess, and greeted Hermione when she arrived at Malfoy Manner. Hermione couldn’t help but shake her head as she was led to the room that she would be staying in; this was one place that she would have never in a million years expected to find herself.

After showing her her room, Ginny gave Hermione a tour of the estate.

Starting with the Great Hall, where the reception was to be held, Ginny showed her the kitchens, some of the other living areas, and finally, the library.

Ginny led Hermione down the richly carpet hallway, “I knew that you would be interested in seeing the library – and since you have so kindly agreed to come here so early, and it’ll be a few days before other people start to arrive, I thought you might want to have a look around here.”

Hermione nodded. She hadn’t really known Ginny to sound this formal, but she hadn’t ever seen Ginny undertake so much in getting this wedding organized, either.

Ginny opened the door and walked in, with Hermione following her. Hermione was too enthralled with the floor to ceiling bookshelves, and cabinets to notice that there was someone already in the room.

“Ah Ginny. Come in. This must be, er, Miss Granger?” At the sound of her name, Hermione turned her head. Lucius Malfoy. He stood up from the wingchair he had been sitting in and approached the two of them. He extended his hand to Hermione, briefly kissing the back of the hand that, startled, she had proffered as he spoke, “Please, call me Lucius.”

Hermione nodded, a little surprised. “Hermione. Ginny’s, er, maid of honor.”

The senior Malfoy nodded. “Yes, Ginny’s told me all about you. I hope that you will avail yourself of my library; there are works in here that have been in the family for tens of generations.” He paused when Hermione nodded. “Dear,” he addressed Ginny, “Have you shown her the laboratory space yet?”

Ginny shook her head. “Not yet. I thought I’d show her the library first, and then go down stairs.”

Lucius nodded. “If you have other things you need to do, I can take Hermione down there..” He paused, waiting for his future daughter-in-law’s response.

Ginny looked over at Hermione with an unspoken question in her eyes: would this be alright. Hermione nodded slightly, and then spoke up, “That would be fine, Mr-, er, Lucius,” as she stumbled over his first name uncomfortably.

He nodded and smiled as Ginny left the room.

Lucius smiled as he looked at Hermione. He vaguely remembered her from his numerous trips to Hogwarts; she was always with Potter, or one of the numerous Weasley offspring. She had matured rather well, he though, taking in her carriage, her bone structure. Oh, yes. This could be amusing. “Hermione, may I offer you something to drink? Some tea, or possibly some brandy? I’d like to show you a little of the library, before we head down to the dungeons, if you don’t mind.”

Hermione nodded. “Brandy would be wonderful, please.” She sighed. She’d need it. Lucius Malfoy. Merlin! The man had an ominous feel about him. Likely it was because she knew too much about his history from Harry and Ron. She stole a quick glance at his hands as he poured the brandy. Interesting. Even now he wore black gloves. Hmmm. What was that about?

He handed her the brandy, with a slight tilt of his head. “Welcome to my home, Hermione.” Her voice slid over her name like it was made of silk. “Please. Take a seat. I’d like to get to know my daughter-in-law’s best friend a little better if I may.” Somewhat suspicious, Hermione sat down in the chair Lucius indicated, while she held the snifter in her hand, letting the warmth of her hand warm the brandy.

Lucius watched her intently, watching her casually air the brandy in her glass before taking a swallow. Seeing her take notice of him, he nodded briefly again. “You can appreciate a good brandy, I see.”

Hermione nodded. There was something inextricably fascinating and yet terrifying about Lucius Malfoy. On the one hand, his long blonde hair made him look like a wood elf. On the other hand, that same long hair seemed to suit him in a way that was unexpected. It gave him an almost sensual appearance.

Oh Merlin! What was that?!? Nope, Herm, just think of the man as sinister – better yet, just don’t think of him at all. He’s just Ginny’s soon-to-be father-in-law, she told herself.

Lucius smiled inwardly. It was obvious that the girl was checking him out. He knew he looked good. There had been several weeks where he’d had too much brandy, and not enough sleep, but those were mostly behind him. And he’d had years of doing a lot worse than that, but it hadn’t hurt his looks. True, he’d acquired a few more lines on his face as a result of the Azkaban incident, but he knew they made him look distinguished, not old. And the girl. Well, she wasn’t bad looking. Not gorgeous by any standards, but she had a fire in her eyes that was quite appealing.

Aware that Lucius was staring at her intently made her aware of the fact that she had been doing the same. Merlin’s balls! Ahem. “Perhaps, er, Lucius, you could show me some of your collection here – I’ve heard that you have a fine collection of ancient texts, but I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance to actually peruse it.”

Lucius smiled. Easily flustered. Maybe this wedding would be fun after all. “Certainly.”

He debated briefly. He’d wait and show her the really interesting books later, when she felt a little more comfortable with him. He didn’t want to scare her off immediately by showing her the largest private collection of dark magic books in the world. No. He’d wait.

With a slight pressure on her elbow, he guided her to some of the more innocuous books in his collection. “This,” he commented, picking up a small, and obviously very old book, “is a commentary on Scandinavia runes – the book was written about 1300 years ago. Here, take a look.” Hermione took the book, and was astounded at the condition of it – something this old and this valuable belonged in a museum. Delicately, she looked through some of the pages, marveling at the writing, and the obvious age.

Lucius smiled; it was nice to see someone else who could appreciate the book as a text, and not just as the several thousand galleons that the book would fetch at a sale. And he had plenty of books like these to keep the woman around for a while. The dungeons could wait for later.

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