Invasion

Angelnomiko: There is another reason as well, but read on to find out more. I hope you like this chapter.



Janeplay: Thank you. Yes, I will do it often. There is no flashback in this chapter, but there will be in the next chapter.



An Excited Marcus Licinius Crassus: Thank you, and yes it got me going to … Nudge! Nudge! Wink! Wink! This chapter is a little edgier.



WeasleyWench: Thanks. Yes, I found that word whilst looking up another, it made me smile so I thought I’d use it. Here the wait is over, I hope you like it.



La Bibliographe: Yes, Narcissa is dead but she didn’t die nicely. Would I do that? Hee hee. Hmm, okay, maybe I would. Don’t worry, Snape won’t manage to seduce Hermione in this story, and you’ll understand why when you read this chapter. Um, in this story, Molly didn’t have to make a choice. Lucius has learnt from his past, and that he wants to be a better man from now on. And his wife and son’s death humbled him a bit. He is going to be a lot nicer in this story than in some others. And in this story he loved his wife very much. Actually some Instant Coffee isn’t all that bad; I can imagine him drinking Carte Noir (my personal favourite but it is very expensive so I don’t get to have it often!) Yes, I did mean dimples. Sorry, I always get those two words mixed up, I will fix that immediately. There’ll be more sincerity in this chapter to.



Kittycat30: Me to. I would adore him to chase me.



Wicraven: Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this one to.



Sampdoria: Lucius will have a long way to go before he can achieve that particular goal. There is a solid reason why Hermione is wary to be near him.



Ravenna: I meant dimples. Not pimples. I find dimples attractive. I hope you like this chapter.



Mary: And boy does she need the comforting! Find out why I said that as you read on.



Citten: Actually, this story has me going. I may be updating this one for quite a while, as I just keep getting ideas in my head for it. I don’t quite know how that happened. Yes, Lucius will have a lot of work to do. I wouldn’t be able to make it a long story if he didn’t. And thank you for your help in that matter, it’s going to help me a lot.



Sheherazade: I do imagine it to be quite the opposite really. Slytherins would probably more likely throw themselves in love once they find their dream Witch or Wizard, as they are the ones that know what they want and fight all out to get it. So, yes, anyway he’ll become more determined, as this chapter will tell you.



999: He has a lot to do. And yes, the drunken love encounter is rather hot, and I do to, besides I just have Jason’s voice in my head when I’m writing the scene’s and I want to hear as much of his gorgeous voice as possible. It will be even sadder when you read this chapter. Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.



Northstar: I hope you enjoy this chapter to.



News from Home



Should I let you in

Into my far from perfect place

Should I let you see

Where I keep my secrets safe



I want to open up

But I've been hurt this way before

Can you tell me

Is it worth the risk anymore ?

Should I let you in?



Through my window

I see you now

You're looking in

I'm looking out

My heart will make up its mind somehow



C/Caffey and M/Holden



Sung by Belinda Carlisle.



Hermione went back to her rented shack in the village. She sighed and laid the hat down on a rickety, wooden table. Some parchments fell on the floor and she sighed as she bent down to pick them up. One was a flyer telling her that there was a Quidditch match, Greece versus Bulgaria. She crumpled that up and threw it in the bin, she had lost interest in Quidditch when she realised that all players turned out to be numbskulls. Well, she smiled as she thought of the Weasley family, not all players. There were two other envelopes. She picked them up and recognised the handwriting instantly. One was from Ginny Potter and another was from Charlie Weasley.



She opened Ginny’s first:



Dear friend.



How are you? Is it really hot in Greece? I keep asking Harry if we can go there to visit you, it has been rather a long time since we saw you, but he say’s no. Apparently you said you wanted to hide from everybody. I don’t know why though; since the turning of the Millennium you have been acting very strange. I wonder what happened? Please, dear friend, you used to tell me everything now you tell me nix!



Anyway, there is something particularly special I wanted to impart to you. After so many years of trying, Harry and I have finally gotten pregnant. I am actually six months but I didn’t want to get too excited as I have had so many miscarriages. Harry won’t let me out of his sight. He’s even taken time off work to keep an eye on me, silly boy that he is. I don’t know. I sometimes think I preferred it when he didn’t know I existed. I love him so much though, so strike that last sentence. I am actually pleased because that means that my baby and Charlie’s baby would be in the same year at school. I am also hoping that they are going to be in the same house to.



Oh, just one more thing before I sign off (Harry’s trying to get the quill out of my hand as he’s telling me I need to rest!) I am just warning you that Lucius Malfoy is looking for you. I can’t understand why. He’s been dogging Harry, asking him about you, and practically threatening legal action if he didn’t tell him where you were. I am afraid that I wilted under the pressure and told him you are still in Germany right? Because that’s where I told him you were, Hedwig will find you wherever you are, she’s an intelligent owl.



He’s been acting odd for three years you know, you should have seen the look on his face every time he saw you plastered on Viktor Krum’s arm. (You do realise that despite the fact that he gave me that diary I had a slight naughty crush on him?) Hee hee, Harry’s gone apoplectic over that last sentence. I knew that would get him off my back. Just be warned that’s all. If I didn’t know him any better I’d say that, that man is in love with you. Just be cautious that’s all, you’ve been through so much, dearest Hermione, that I cannot bear to see your heart broken again. And Lucius Malfoy may be the one to completely undo you.



Your loving and listening friend.



Ginny Potter.



PS: Hello, Hermione, I ditto everything Ginny has said but I think you can understand why I won’t let her apparate over to Germany. I miss you, come home soon, I want this baby to know it’s aunt! Harry.



Hermione rolled her eyes and shook her head. Harry had adopted as his sister when Ron had died. He even introduces her as his sister to strangers. She wished he wouldn’t. She was actually quite proud to be Hermione Granger, and wished that Harry would just lay off. She was missing them to, but she couldn’t go back to England, not yet. She was quite happy in Greece. The warm weather suited her.



She laid that letter aside and tore open the second envelope; she had made friends with Charlie Weasley shortly after she got engaged to Ron. When Ron died he became a support and a friend to her. Molly tried everything in her power to try and get Hermione with Charlie but was disappointed when they realised what she was up to and told her quite firmly that they had no other desire for each other but friendship. Hermione had already introduced him to Luna Lovegood and Charlie was instantly smitten with the young woman, much to Molly’s chagrin.



Molly didn’t give up though. She was going to try and set her up with each of her son’s in turn. Percy didn’t turn up for the date, and the twins both turned up at the same time and said that they’d be willing to share her. Molly clutched at straws when she whispered that Bill was still mourning for Fleur; Bill was in fact dating Tonks at the time, as Remus was also dead. Hermione then had to put her foot down and tell Molly that though she appreciated her efforts, the only one of her son’s that she could give her heart to was dead. Molly never spoke to her since.



Hermione looked down at the parchment and smiled:



Hermione.



How’s you? Luna and I are missing you terribly. What is there to report? Nothing much, except that I want you to go to the Greece versus Bulgaria game that’s happening soon. I am surprised Ginny thought you were still in Germany. I wish you’d keep everyone up to date, as Luna and I aren’t the gossiping kind. I only say that because I want you to write me a detailed description of all the moves. Plus I have a bet on with Tonks that Viktor Krum will do a Wronski Feint and win the match by a whisker. She thinks Greece will win because of their new seeker.



Luna is getting fed up with her pregnancy and wants so much to just get the baby out. I wish that she would to as she’s becoming unbearable to live with. I’ve told Harry that he should immigrate to New Zealand in a few weeks time, as Ginny will become just as tyrannical. I am thrilled though that they are finally pregnant. She’s going to be a great mum. I’ve always had a soft spot for Ginny, you know, she’s my favourite sibling. I’m just ecstatic that Harry Potter is my brother in law. I wish you could have been my sister in law to, then that would have made life just that little bit more perfect than it already is: Percy was a right prat and I can’t really find anything nice to say about the twins; and I guess it wasn’t Bills fault. Tonks got there first.



What else is there? Oh yes, Snape has been around a few times. He’s been trying to outdo Dumbledore I think, he keeps coming to the pens with syringes saying that there must be a fifteenth or sixteenth, or whatever number he’s up to now, use of Dragons blood. I always wondered why you didn’t land a date with him? You’re both crazy and you both want to find an ultimate, humane cure for Werewolves. How about it? Shall I tell him that there is a beautiful Grecian Princess waiting to be rescued from the Cyclops?



And there is one more thing. Look out; Lucius Malfoy has been acting right weird. I know he turned and is supposed to be good now, Luna totally believes it. I just don’t, this is a guy that almost killed my sister. He’s been asking questions about you. I think Ginny may have given in and told him where you finally settled well where we all thought you settled. I think you should wrap yourself up in many layers, or put an uglyfying spell on yourself or something, I care about you too much to see you go to him! Like I said, Snape’s still free, and actually he isn’t that bad!



I hope that you return home soon, if not I’ll get Snape to drag you back, even he mentions you sometimes. And not unkindly either!



Charlie



Hermione rolled her eyes. What was it with Weasley’s? They all wanted her to avoid Lucius Malfoy, which was a bit late now, and they all at one time or another have tried to set her up with somebody. Not that Charlie was scraping the barrel when it came to his preferred choice for her. Severus Snape was an intelligent man. She wanted so much to write back and tell them all she was perfectly capable of living her own life.



She was sorely tempted to tell everyone that she had already slept with Lucius Malfoy, carried, and miscarried his baby, and that any friendly warnings was like throwing water on an already stamped out fire. She could imagine what would happen then. Everyone would descend on mass and demand to know all the horny details. She also didn’t want to tell them the one thing that hadn’t truly settled in her mind yet. She walked down the narrow hallway into the cool sitting room and flopped ungraciously onto the sofa. She supposed she could go to the Quidditch match, she wasn’t exactly going to be able to catch Viktor’s eye in a stadium of thousands.



She sighed and looked at her watch, she had time to catch the bus to Athens to do a bit of shopping and then she’d come back have a little nap and go to Anthea’s to read up on more of her background to this village. She would have to see about the Quidditch match. She got up and picked up her bag and checked her purse for money. She would write to Charlie and Ginny tomorrow; she had some shopping to do today. She was about to walk out the front door when she heard a smart tapping sound. She opened it up and her jaw dropped when she saw Lucius Malfoy standing there smiling.



“I thought I made it perfectly clear that I don’t want to see you.”



“I never agreed to such a plan,” Lucius sighed. “You have just informed me that I could have been a father again. Do you think I can easily sweep that under a carpet and act like nothing happened? I am sorry, Hermione, I am not like that. I married Narcissa because she was carrying Draco at the time,” he tilted his head to one side. It was always something Hermione had found profoundly cute. “As it turned out I did grow to love and respect her very much indeed. She died for me, and her son; a true noblewoman indeed.”



“I had only met her once or twice,” Hermione said. “I heard that her death was horrific.”



He placed his hand palm flat on the doorframe. “Hermione, please, whatever has happened to you I can help. I didn’t hurt you; you never even gave me a chance.”



“I wasn’t entirely sure you’d have been pleased if I turned up in your office and told you I was pregnant with your child.”



“I would probably not have been pleased at first, no, but I wouldn’t have hurt you or been too angry. I would have berated the both of us for our stupidity. You didn’t have to go through all that alone,” he walked up to the top step and stood just a few centimetres away from her. He noticed her pupils were dilating and her lips were parted slightly. “Why did you run?”



Hermione lowered her eyes to the floor. She noticed how lovely his body looked in the black cotton tee shirt and trousers he was wearing. She felt a little suffocated in his presence. She sighed.



“I’ve got two letters from friends both warning me against you, apparently you’ve been threatening them if they didn’t tell you where I was.”



“Oh yes,” Lucius said. “Well, imagine how I felt that morning when I expected to wake up next to a lovely, young witch and found that side of the bed cold and empty with a note that said: Sorry, but I can never see you again! I know I’ve been a monster in the past but I can’t think what I did that night that upset you so much, you asked me to pound the living daylights out of you remember!”



He stepped so much closer to her that she choked slightly on his aftershave.



“I remember,” she said. “Look, I said all what I needed to say. I wish to get -!” before she could finish her sentence his lips crashed down on hers and he kissed her. She drowned into his kiss. He swept his arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.



“I have been hiding that for three years,” he gasped. “I have been in terrible torture and agony since that night. I wanted so much to have been a more regular feature in your life. Do you think I approached you because I wanted a kick? I approached you because if I had to be brutally honest, I have wanted to approach you for weeks, that moment seemed to be the right one.”



She stepped away. She wished the man would just leave her alone. She did not want to be in a relationship. She was not used to being in love, and the amount of pain it caused when she was, didn’t seem worth it. He followed her as she backed away from him; her lips were pulsating with his kiss. “What do you want from me?”



“I want you, dammit!” he exclaimed thumping his fist on the wall. “Is that so difficult for you to understand? Why are you having difficulty with that fact?”



“Because you’re Lucius Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy wants the best of the best. Lucius Malfoy made me feel like dirt and insulted my parents. Lucius Malfoy tried to kill my friends and me. I am finding it extremely difficult right now to reconcile that Lucius Malfoy, with this Lucius Malfoy. Now, there’s the added complication that we’re connected to each other.”



“Yes so,” Lucius said. “All right, I admit that my past actions are enough to make you wary of me. And perhaps we should have slept in separate bedrooms that night, but we didn’t. You were partially to blame for that night too.”



“I know I was, and I am not blaming you,” she said. “I just don’t want to get into any type of relationship with a man right now.”



“Why? I won’t hurt you. I want to be with you, why would I hurt you?”



“Lucius, it doesn’t work like that! I have been in love with three men in my life. Ronald Weasley, (probably the best of them all), died. Viktor Krum dumped me because his mother hated the way I cooked, and she thought I wouldn’t look after her ‘precious baby’ the way that he was accustomed to; and Steven was a muggle that thought he could cope with my being a Witch only for me to come home one day to find him gone. He left the night before we slept together. I just can’t cope with it.”



Lucius rubbed his forehead and stepped inside her home. She grabbed her wand and pointed it at him. He rolled his eyes.



“All right, so your heart is tender at the moment, but you are Hermione Granger, a wonderful, warm, kind woman who used to give everyone a second chance. You haven’t even given me a chance.”



Hermione lowered her wand she was trembling. “I don’t know if I should.”



“Hermione,” Lucius edged closer, she was like a snake in a corner. “Hermione, I can understand why you’re hurt. I can understand why you don’t trust people anymore, especially men. Believe me, if anyone knows what it’s like not to trust it’s me, and you don’t want to be me. Let me be the man to show you that you are worthy and wanted.” Lucius sighed. She was shivering and crying he so wanted to kiss those tears away, and show her that she was his, and that she was never going to be hurt again. “You are too beautiful and charming to be left single and lonely.”



“I’m not lonely!” she said.



“Then why are you researching your family line?”



“To try and make some sense of my own history,” she said. “To understand more about where I come from; and to see if there is some shred of magic blood in my family before me.”



“Well, we’re connected. All we have to do is go back to Wiltshire and look at my family tree.”



“No, you can if you like, I’m staying here.”



Lucius took another tentative step to her. “Come on, Hermione, I didn’t expect to see you here.”



“Liar!” she snarled. “Ginny told me already that she gave away where I was.”



“Yes, when you were in Germany, and Germany was all she said. It took me ages to find you from there. Even then I failed. One day, I came home and found a letter on my table with strange handwriting, Luna Weasley wrote to me. She told me where you were. She said she gave me the information because she sensed my love for you.”



“LOVE?” she screeched. “WE SPENT ONE BLOODY NIGHT TOGETHER!”



“That night meant something to me,” he said darkly. “And I gather by the way you’re acting it meant something to you. Now, please, put the wand down so we can talk properly.”



Hermione’s hand quavered slightly, Lucius had never seen anyone so frightened before, not even when he was torturing muggles daily. He wondered exactly how this muggle man had treated her? That was for another time. He had to get close to her first of all.



“As long as you won’t touch me?”



“I’ll try not to,” he sighed. She narrowed her eyes and let Lucius inside her shack. “Right,” he said when he noticed her place her wand in the waist belt of her dress. “Shall we sit down?”



She looked at him and folded her arms across her chest. “I suppose,” she replied. She walked into the house, he followed but still cautiously, after all she was armed and he was not. She stopped at the door leading to the sitting room, she waved her hand and said: “Here. I need to get some orange juice, do you want some?”



“Yes please,” he replied. He walked into the room and sat down on the seat. She walked in five minutes later carrying two tall glasses of orange juice with ice cubes in them.



“All right, so you came here when I told you that I don’t want to see you, and you’ve scoured half of Europe to find me. I guess I should give you time to explain yourself.”



“I thought I had,” he sighed; he took a sip of his orange juice. “Listen, Hermione, I don’t know how I can prove this. But I won’t hurt you. I want to be your friend, confidante, lover, and husband. I want you to realise that I no longer am the tyrant you once knew, that I am just like you.”



Hermione sipped her orange juice. “Lucius, I have been through so much.”



“And if you tell me it will help you, at the risk of sounding a little clichéd, a problem shared is a problem halved.”



Hermione giggled slightly. “Are you going to give up?”



“I’ve been looking all over Germany for you,” he said. “So, I don’t think so.”



She lowered her eyes. “All right, there is a Quidditch match, Greece versus Bulgaria. Pick me up at eight, as the match starts at nine pm.”



“Hmm, I was hoping more for a quiet night in. I have some muggle films that I think you would like.”



“Which ones?” she asked.



Lucius sipped some orange juice. “Casablanca. Star Wars trilogy. Lord of the Rings. You name it; I’ve got it I suppose. I’d watch anything you want. I don’t want our first date to be shared by a crowd. What do you say? After we’ve read what we have to read from Anthea, come back to my place. We can have a drink, dinner, and watch a film?”



Hermione chewed her lower lip. Lucius wished she wouldn’t, as it was a turn on!



“Um,” she began. “All right,” she said. “But no touching.”



“I can not guarantee that, Hermione, this is a date. I’ll want to hold you a little.”



Hermione nodded. She gulped down her orange juice. “Dammit! I’ve missed the bus!”



“Well, I’ll go back home, see you at Anthea’s.”



She narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “All right,” she sighed. She had a plan. “See you at Anthea’s.”



Lucius smiled. “You don’t mind if I apparate do you?” he asked.



She shook her head and he got up and left her sitting room. She picked up the two glasses and walked into the kitchen. Oh well, she may as well begin writing to Ginny and Charlie now.



***



Lucius sighed, that went easier than expected. He looked at his reflection and was thinking of taking a swim before he went to Anthea’s. He saw someone cresting the hill and he ended up standing at the fence. It was Snape. What was he doing here? Lucius frowned. He walked up to the younger man and Snape leapt over the fence. They shook hands and thumped each other on the arms.



“What are you doing here, Sev?” Lucius asked.



“I am here to talk to you,” Severus replied. “And please don’t call me Sev!”



“I only do it because it annoys you, Severus, you know that.”



“Have you found her?”



“I have,” Lucius said. “She’s being more Slytherin than I know how to be! I have to be gentle with her. I am not used to being gentle.”



“You know why, don’t you?” Severus said. He sat himself down on a lounger.



“No,” Lucius said. He sat down on the other one. “She told me that she was pregnant and miscarried.”



“Didn’t she tell you how she miscarried?”



Lucius shook his head. “What happened? It’s obviously something I need to know. I just assumed that her body just rejected the baby.”



“It was perfectly fine,” Severus said. “So was she. She probably would have had the child had that not happened to her.”



“Severus you don’t have to be cryptic around me,” Lucius said. “I am not the Dark Lord.”



“Don’t tell her that I told you,” Severus said. “I am the only person that knows.” The dark haired man sighed. “She had a muggle ex-boyfriend called Steven. He was horrible to her; he kicked her, punched her, and told her that she was a worthless speck of dust. He made her serve him and his useless friends food and drinks; he didn’t even get himself a job. She believed it when he said that he loved her and that he would stay with her. Anyway, he finally left her saying that he didn’t want to be associated with a girl that would win the World’s Ugliest Woman contest. Well, then she slept with you and became pregnant.”



“How many people knew about this pregnancy before I did?” Lucius asked.



Severus could see him shaking. How could anyone deem Hermione Granger ugly? He had an image of this Steven being a thin, rakish man who didn’t shave and grunted instead of talked. If that were the case then what attracted Hermione to him in the first place?



“Just me,” Severus said. “She came to Hogwarts and I found her stumbling. When I reached her side she was covered in blood. I asked her what happened. I was utterly shocked I can tell you.”



“What did happen?” Lucius asked in a slow deliberate voice. Severus knew that Lucius would wring the answer out of him.



“She was raped by Steven. He turned up at her house, forced his way in, and raped her. The stress and the violent way he did it were horrific. And was no doubt the reason that the baby miscarried.”



“Was the muggle apprehended?” Lucius asked.



“Yes, after the evidence. It was a very hushed up affair. Hermione wished for it to be as quiet as possible. A few memories had to be altered and there was a lot of code speak for a while. I had to watch her rape several times; each time I threw up!”



Lucius was balling his fists against his legs and he rubbed them up and down grinding his teeth. “How dare that ingrate ruin such a work of art?”



“I would not disagree with you, Lucius, I think she’s lovely to. I am pleased that you at least you have never had to see her being – well – treated like that.”



“I will watch it, though, just so I can help her. Why didn’t she come to me?”



“She was scared. She told me that she didn’t want you to know in case you hit her. I urged her to tell you. I said that you would not harm a woman. Least of all a woman carrying his child, but the girl has a unique stubborn streak in her and she was fully convinced that you were going to do the same thing that the muggle did. If only that Weasley boy hadn’t have died, she’d have been happy.”



“Was it really that horrific?” Lucius asked, his voice shaking.



“Let’s just say that I’d rather have watched the Dark Lord kill her!”



Lucius sucked his breath over his teeth. “What exactly happened?”



Severus sighed. “I couldn’t!”



“Please, I need to know,” Lucius said in a quiet voice.



Severus looked at the blond wizard and shook his head. He had wished he kept his mouth shut.



“All right, but if you tell her I told you give me fair warning so I can be far away from her.” Lucius nodded. “He broke the door down and found her in the sitting room reading a book. He was absolutely drunk out of his skull. He forgot that he was no longer with her. He grabbed her and slapped her about. She fell on the table and cut her arm. He shook her yelling obscenities and then proceeded to slam her against the wall and he undid his trousers; he pushed her down and forced her to take his penis in her mouth. After she vomited he dragged her hair and bent her over the table in the kitchen and slammed into her gruffly and harshly. He slapped her again. He flipped her over and repeated the performance; all the while telling her that this was going to be the only penis she’d ever have in all her life. When he finished he picked her up by her hair and slammed her face on the table. When I watched that; it only made me wish that I were nicer to her. She had been through hell and back and she charged me to tell no one about it. I hated holding this in.”



“Did it make you feel anything else for her?” Lucius asked.



“Of course it did,” Severus sighed. “But she winced every time I went near her. Any man for that matter! You should have seen how Potter looked when she flinched away from him, I never thought I’d ever feel sorry for that boy but he always offered wide watery eyes when she did; he hated not being able to go near her. We all did. That muggle has completely wiped all trust of men out of her system, and she was such a bright, smiling happy girl.”



“I will restore that trust in her,” Lucius said. He was trying so hard not to apparate right now to her little shack to bring her back here wrapped up in cotton wool. He was sickened by what Snape had told him. “I had never done anything that horrific. Had I?”



“You weren’t very nice,” Severus said. “Some of the things you did, did make me throw up as well, but at least you treated women of all types with a modicum of respect. I was hoping you have found her. Everyone is worried for her at home. I’ve even received letters from her father. He writes to me twice a week; she hasn’t even been communicating to him, in his words:What has happened to my little Sunshine Princess?. She just wants to cut herself from the world. I am scared of her mental state to be quite honest, if she shuts herself away from everyone who truly cares for her she could do anything to herself.”



Lucius sighed. “Well, I have a date with her tonight. If I can I’ll make sure that she won’t leave. Although that may be difficult, she was hard enough to convince for one date. She was most adamant about me not touching her. I caught her unawares and kissed her.”



“Hmm, how hard did she slap you?” Severus asked.



“She didn’t,” Lucius replied. “I suppose it was because I caught her by surprise.”



“She dislocated my jaw when I thought she was ready for a kiss,” Severus rubbed his jaw. “I didn’t blame her. I couldn’t. She was very volatile. I felt so sorry for her. I thought that if she saw that I wasn’t going to hurt her then she might – well – it doesn’t matter. What matters now is that you know, you can find ways to make her care again. If anyone can do it, you can. You’re more persuasive than me; less strict, and you smile more. She’ll need that. Also, chocolate, I found she was more likely to talk if she had chocolate.”



“Thank you, Severus, I wondered why she didn’t want me to touch her; I just thought that it was because I treated her a bit harshly that night, but now I know the truth I can help her more.”



“Just get her to tell you this, when she can tell you that’s when she can tell her friends. They need to know.”



“I agree,” Lucius sighed. “Thank you again. I must prepare to go to Anthea’s, here is something for you.”



Severus arched an eyebrow. “Oh?”



“Yes, it turns out that she and I are connected by blood.”



Severus smiled a little. He looked at his old friend. “I have to get back to England.”



“I have already made it my mission to bring her back home; now I know that I mustn’t fail.”



“Failure is unacceptable. If you fail this, then I will never forgive you! Merlin only knows how much I’ve come to care for that young woman. I only wished she could have learnt to trust me like she used to.”



“Understood.”



Severus apparated back to England leaving behind a very pensive, thoughtful Lucius, he felt that Severus hadn’t told him everything; and he certainly softened the rape story more than perhaps he should have done. It looked like he had his work cut out for him.



He took his clothes of for a quick swim to cool down. He swam a few laps, went back into his house and took a shower. He got dressed and had a salad for lunch. He apparated to Anthea’s and knocked on her door. He walked in. Anthea smiled. She led him to a room; he looked around.



“Where’s Hermione?”



“In the next room!”



He frowned. He thought he made a small bit of progress, but now he knew what truly happened to her he was prepared to waive it for the time being.



“All right, where are my documents?”



“Already on the table, Mr Malefoy,” she answered.



He shook his head; the woman would never get his name right. He walked into his room and prepared to read the documents. He looked at the wall that separated them. He wondered if this Anthea knew what Hermione had gone through. He sipped his coffee and picked up the parchment.



A/N – Well, I don’t know about you but I agree with Lucius, I want to wrap Hermione up in cotton wool to at this point and tell her that not all men are as bad and wicked as Steven, or as foppish and idiotic as Viktor. Writing rape scenes always makes me feel ill, which is why I didn’t flashback to it, and just had Severus giving the story. No wonder she’s gone off men right now! Anyways, what will Lucius do next? What is on that parchment? And will Bulgaria win that match? Tune in on the next exciting instalment of Invasion!



And Belinda Carlisle was one of my favourite singers of the eighties.