Harvest Moon

I\'ll answer individually next time. You all would not BELIEVE the last two weeks I\'ve had.



***



Arabella smiled wickedly and walked over to the small table, picked up a pretty little red flogger and handed it to Hermione. “No time like the present to start learning, Hermione.”



Hermione stared at the flogger as though it would bite her at any given moment. “I . . . I . . . don’t think . . .”



“Therein lies the trouble. You think too much,” Lucius said. “Ara, show her first.”



“You’re a bossy bottom,” Arabella laughed, taking the flogger from Hermione.



“You are a feeble top,” Lucius said, deliberately goading her.



“Oh, it’s on now, pretty boy,” she laughed before pinching him on the behind. “Hermione, keep to the shoulders and top part of the back. This flogger is small and easier to aim so you don’t get the spread of the tails like you do with a larger one. It will sting like mad and leave welts but won’t do any permanent damage,” she said, turning and flicking the little whip at Lucius’ back.



Lucius sucked in a breath through his teeth at the sudden pain that flared through him. He smiled a little and let himself sink into it. Every straight male submissive’s fantasy, he thought. It truly was as arousing and interesting as he had first thought it would be. He trusted both women, something he would have never admitted to anyone else but it was there. Ara at least knew he would not have turned his body over to just anyone. The fact he trusted Hermione to this level was a testament to his deepening interest in her. But he’d mull that over at another time. Right now he just wanted to enjoy what was being given to him.



Hermione saw all of the muscles in his arms and back go taut then relax as several more strokes were applied. It was strangely fascinating to watch as Lucius’ pale skin turned pink in certain areas as the flogger came down over and over on his flesh.



Arabella smiled, knowing that look on Hermione’s face from others so well she could almost read her mind. It was the look of someone whose horizons had just been broadened in the most fundamental of ways. There was also a look of hunger in the other woman’s gaze. After a few moments she came around and placed the flogger into Hermione’s hand again. Directing Hermione by holding her hand over the other woman’s as she made the first strikes to Lucius’ back. After it was clear Hermione had the right way to do things down, Arabella stepped back and let her go alone.



***



Arabella flopped down onto her couch with a heartfelt sigh of contentment. It had been tremendous amounts of fun showing Hermione the proper ways to apply tools of pain. It had been especially satisfying to teach her in subtle and overt ways, what Lucius enjoyed in that arena. She smirked a little to herself. It would be supremely rewarding to watch the two of them get together on a more serious level. They’d been dancing around each other for a month or so now, skirting the issue. Though she could certainly see why on both of their parts. Hermione would feel she couldn’t get too close to him just now due to the fact he was embroiled in the cases she was investigating. (No matter what the Ministry thought, Hermione and Draco were still investigating them.) Lucius would be having issues with the fact she was twenty years his junior and Draco’s working partner. Such silliness.



She’d managed to convince Lucius to take Hermione to dinner that evening. After all, they needed to be seen together in public before they were seen at the Gilded Lily. Since they’d both seemed to need a nudge, she had no problem nudging. Maybe it was a weak nudge for him to go out with her but any port in a storm. Add to the fact neither of them seemed to have any trouble with it after the initial “reasoning”.



She wandered into the kitchen, taking out one of the cast iron skillets with the intent of making French toast. She noticed something odd when glancing to the side of her microwave. A silver spoon was lying on the countertop; the end design was intricate scrollwork that formed an “M”. She frowned, knowing she didn’t own any silverware with that pattern. She reached out to move it with her finger, touching it gingerly before feeling a yank in her midsection like an invisible cord being pulled.



She landed in a crouched position in an open area near woods. Shaking her head she swore under her breath, “When did I get to be that bloody stupid?” The alarm warnings were going off in her head that she needed cover fast and she made her way to the edge of the woods, ducking behind a tree just as she heard the loud *pop* of someone apparating.



“Bollocks!” she swore under her breath. She instantly recognized Lucius’ Deatheater mask but knew it wasn’t Lucius wearing it.



“Dear little Arabella, come out, come out, wherever you are,” the person behind the mask called.



“Like hell I will. You’ll not get me that easily, bastard,” she grumbled. She closed her eyes and focused, feeling the person’s energy wasn’t moving at the moment. “Can’t find me if you can’t see me.”



“I know you’re here, muggle. Do you really think you’ll win this game?”



“No. But I’ll sure as hell not make it easy for you,” she growled to herself. She took several deep breaths before saying “Loki, master of disguise, Loki, you of wit so wise, let me fade from watchful eyes.” She sighed in relief when she felt the spell take effect. Knowing it wasn’t something the vast majority of the Wizarding world in general would remember how to do nor recognize the effects of. It wasn’t exactly an invisibility spell but it tended to make people overlook the glaringly obvious.



***Mad Ramblings aka Author’s Notes***

Yes, I know the “scene” could have been more detailed. You’ll all get a VERY detailed one in a couple of chapters. You’ll also get Hermione and Lucius’ thoughts on the whole thing the next chapter or so.

The spell used in this chapter is Hide In Plain Sight spell from The Dark Archetype. A word of warning: Be really damn careful invoking deities like Loki if you don’t work with them on a regular basis. It can backfire so badly you wouldn’t believe it.