Love Thy Enemy

CHAPTER 33: Facing Off









“Lucius, do you have a minute?” Hermione approached her husband slowly. She hadn’t seen much of him since the night in the gardens. He had become distant and had buried himself even further in his work.





“Not really, is it important?” He didn’t even look up from the papers in front of him.





“No. I don’t suppose it is, I just miss talking to you is all.” She said quietly.





“Well, I am a busy man Hermione, businesses do not run themselves you know, if I sit about talking all the time nothing will ever get done.” He said rather coldly.





“Did I do something wrong, something to make you angry?” She asked, wishing for them to go back to the budding friendship of a few weeks ago.





“Obviously not, or you would have known long before now.” His icy tone hurt.



“I suppose I would have. I’ll just leave you to your work then.” She said quietly. Lucius sighed and looked up at her.





“Are you off to pout now?” He asked.





“No, Lucius. I don’t pout.” She said, her own tone growing slightly bitter.





“What is this Hermione? What did you come in here for? Do you want to argue? Do you want to fuck, what?” He asked callously.





Where had this come from? Where was the man who had been so sweet just a few short weeks ago?





“You are being a real bastard right now, Lucius.” Hermione stared at him, unsure what to think about the change in his behavior. She wanted to cry but she wouldn’t do it, her pride wouldn’t let her. “What has changed? What happened to make you suddenly turn so cold?”





“The novelty of a mudblood in my bed wore off I suppose.” Hermione recoiled as though she had been hit and the tears began to burn.





“I see.” She said, her voice strained as she fought the tears. “I suppose I thought we were becoming friends.”





“Well you supposed wrong.” He snarled. “We aren’t friends and we never will be.”





“I’m still your wife, you could at least try to be civil to me.” She whispered.





“No, my wife is dead, you and this union are a sentence handed down to punish. Don’t forget that.” Hermione nodded slowly and handed him a folded piece of parchment. “What is this?”





“We are expected in court tomorrow morning to stand before Shacklebolt.” She said, keeping her gaze averted and her voice level.







“What for?” he asked, reading over the missive.





“I suspect it has to do with our marriage, and the spell.”





“What about it?” Hermione met his icy glare and stared at him through her tears.





“It’s broken.” She pulled her rings from her finger and laid them in front of him on his desk. “And now so is my heart.”



She turned and walked out with her head held high. He had seen the tears in her eyes but she had not let them fall. He picked up the tiny platinum band and diamond ring, holding them in the palm of his hand.



“What have I done?” He asked aloud, closing his hand around the rings. He had deliberately set out to hurt her. Despite his efforts to shield them, his feelings for her were deep and his attachment to her strong. He was angry that he had allowed himself to become vulnerable to her. When he realized that he could no longer write his feelings off as sexual infatuation he set out to create distance between them before he fell any further.





If her ring was removable then that meant she loved him. Lucius sat up and looked at the platinum band on his own hand. He pushed it off slowly with his thumb.





“Son of a bitch.” He said, watching it fall to the desk and spin for a moment on the dark wood surface. He picked it up and slid it back onto his finger, then slid hers onto his pinky. They needed to talk. He stood and walked out of his study and headed for the stairs, she most likely went to their room or the library.





“She’s not here.” Draco said as Lucius started up the stairs. Lucius turned to his son’s portrait.





“What do you mean she isn’t here? Where is she?” He asked.





“I don’t know, she came out of your study and disapparated. She was crying though, you must have been a real prick to make her cry. I did some really shitty things to her in school and never made her cry.” Draco said, staring at his father.





“She loves me.” Lucius said incredulously.





“I knew that. Why would she be crying about it?”





“I rejected her.” Lucius said, sitting on the steps. “I insulted her and deliberately hurt her.”





“You love her, too. Whether you admit it or not. You’re going to lose her you know.”





“No, I will not! She’s still my wife.” Lucius said angrily. “I’m pretty sure I know where she went.”







***Potter Residence***







“Do you want tea, or something stronger?” Harry asked. Hermione was curled up on the sofa, her head on Ginny’s shoulder, her eyes swollen and her face streaked with tears.





“Tea will be fine.” She said. Her eyes were itchy and she was exhausted. “Can I stay here tonight?” She asked.





“This will always be your home if you need it, Hermione.” Harry said, passing her a cup of tea.





“Thank you.” She sighed wearily and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her palm. “I can’t stay there, with him.”





“I blocked his access to the flue.” Ginny said. “Maybe some time apart will do you both some good.”





“How do you fall in love with an enemy after only four months of marriage?” Hermione asked no one in particular. “Why can’t my life just be simple for once?”





“Where is the fun in that Mione?” Harry was the only one who didn’t jump when the hard, steady pounding on his front door began. “Didn’t take him nearly as long as I expected.”





“I don’t want to talk to him; I’m going up to my old room.” Harry waited until she was on the first landing before he opened the door.





“Hello, Lucius.” Harry had his wand drawn and was blocking the doorway.





“I want to speak to my wife Harry, I know she’s here.” Lucius said, glaring down at the young man.





“She doesn’t want to speak to you right now. She’s resting.” Harry said. Lucius looked over his head, an easy enough task given that Lucius was at least a foot and a half taller than Harry. He didn’t see her, but he could see Ginny glaring at him as though she would curse him at any moment.





“You don’t have the right to interfere.” Lucius said.





“Hermione is my best friend, Lucius. I love her as if she was a sister and she came here, to me and my wife when you didn’t want her. That gives me the right.” Harry was getting angry and his green eyes were flashing.





“I never said I didn’t want her!” Lucius bellowed, trying to shove past Harry.





“Don’t do it, I will take you straight to the ministry if you enter my home without my permission.” Harry said menacingly.





“I need to talk to her.” Lucius said quietly. Harry softened and stepped outside and closing the door.





“Look Lucius, I feel for you, really I do. But she needs space, and if you are hoping to work things out you need to give it to her.” Harry said, tucking his wand back into his pocket.





Lucius stared at Harry, then back at the door. He didn’t want to admit it, but the boy was right.





“You’ll take care of her?” Lucius asked.





“I always do.” Harry said.





“Tell her I will pick her up tomorrow, we have to be in court at nine.” With a loud pop, Lucius disapparated, unaware of his wife watching him from her bedroom window.







*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***



BAD LUCIUS! He loves her, she loves him……is Draco right?