This Subdued Fire

Soon, soon! The next to the last chapter! Hooray!

To all my readers and reviewers, thank you oh so very much! Many kisses and hugs from me to you.

Disclaimer: I don\'t own them, never did and most probably never will. Therefore, no stepping on toes is intended. Don\'t sue me. I have no money.
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The Last Days

The last week of school sped by in a flurry of activity. Review sessions were held, midnight study groups were hastily formed and now NEWT\'s loomed. The same band of magical folk who administered the OWL\'s were back to test the quivering lot of seventh-year students.

Hermione, Draco, Harry and Ron were at their respective tables, mixing up potions. Hermione added the lacewing to her brew and watched it turn the appropriate shimmering purple. The ding of the timer sounded and she looked up, seeing that Draco\'s potion, Mandrake Restorative Draught by the look of it, had turned out just as well.

Ron\'s and Harry\'s potions, while not possessing the slight iridescence that a truly well made potion has, were good enough to do the job. They each bottled a small bit of potion and cleared away the rest. Next up was Transfiguration. Draco would have a harder time with that one but he was determined to get scores as good as Hermione. As much as he loved her, he was still in competition with her and it still bugged him that he was constantly behind her when it came to academia.

Each were given something to transfigure, but as to what to transfigure the object into was up to each student\'s discretion. Points were given for imagination and ingenuity. Hermione\'s object was a small ivory snuffbox with tiny painted flowers. She thought a bit and smiled. The Head Girl tapped her wand against the box and uttered the incantation.

*Gryphonis Aureus.*

The snuffbox flew out of her hand and landed onto the floor. The pale china container turned a shimmering gold and began to grow. And it grew. It grew and it grew and it grew. The box began to take shape and lengthen until it became recognisable. A sleeping lion, glowing faintly, sat in the middle of the chamber. It opened its huge amber eyes and took a great yawn, roaring softly. The feline got to its feet and shook out its mane, tossing off twinkling gold sparks. It stretched and then unfolded shimmering wings from its body. Each translucent feather was finely delineated. The griffin stretched and, giving a mighty heave, took off from the stone floor of the chamber. The examiners wore expressions of delight and awe as they observed the transfigured animal soar about the room.

The tiny *ding* of the timer went off and Hermione guided the griffin back down to transfigure it back into the delicate snuffbox. The examiners, so impressed they were, broke into a round of applause before remembering that this was a test. Hermione gave them a slight curtsey and left the room.

Draco leaned against the wall waiting for her. He smirked at the pleased flush on her face. \"I take it that it went well?\"

\"You heard the applause, did you not?\" Hermione replied, self-satisfied.

\"Smugness does not become you, darling. Watch and learn.\" He gave her a quick kiss and went inside.

The examiners eyed Draco disdainfully. He gave an inward sigh. Despite his role in Voldemort\'s downfall he was still rotten Lucius\' rotten kid. Damn his father. Damn the fact that he had his father\'s face. Damn, damn, damn.

(Fine. If they want to continue to stare at me like I\'m a piece of hippogriff dung, I\'ll give them something to look at.) Draco examined the object he\'d been given. It was a shiny white quill.

He tucked his wand into his pocket and held the feather in his hands. Cradling the quill, Draco blew a kiss to it and the quill went soaring off into the room, changing into a bright white pegasus mid-flight. There were shocked gasps and \'oh my\'s\' from the examiners. And when the little bell sounded, the pegasus soared back towards Draco, popping back into a quill at the last second. The feather landed in his outstretched hand. As a final touch, Draco took the quill and signed his name in mid-air, the letters sparkling green. He put the last loop on \'Malfoy\' with a flourish, gave the assembled a mock bow and left the room.

Hermione waited for him, as he had waited for her. \"So I take it that the silence is good?\"

\"Positively stunned speechless by my considerable genius.\" He offered her his arm and she took it. They ambled off down the corridor to the Great Hall, this being the last day of NEWTs.

\"Wonderful. I always knew you were a half-decent transfiguration student under all that gel.\"

\"I don\'t even gel my hair anymore, I\'ll have you know. It\'s only for special occasions.\" Draco was slightly affronted by her gentle teasing.

\"Thank Merlin for that.\" Hermione lifted her hand and ran her fingers through the cornsilk fine strands. \"I prefer it like this. I do think you should get a haircut though. The hair in the eyes thing is so unsexy.\"

\"Me? Draco Malfoy, unsexy? Bite your tongue.\"

They entered the bustling Hall. \"You\'ll pay for that remark later on, Hermione.\"

\"I\'m counting on it.\" She gave him a saucy wink and went to join her housemates at dinner.

Ron perked up when she sat down. \"I heard about yours and Malfoy\'s little stunts during the Transfiguration NEWT. Pretty impressive there, Herm.\"

\"Already? Word travels at light speed around here. Anyway, thank you, Ron.\" Hermione scanned the table. \"Where are Harry and Ginny?\"

\"Harry apparently did well on his NEWTs and Ginny wants to, ahem, *reward* him. Don\'t make me talk about my little sister and sex.\" Ron made a disgusted face. \"I swear, if it wasn\'t Harry, I\'d break his face.\"

\"Typical male. It\'s fine for you to shag as many girls as you\'d like but when it comes down to a girl shagging a guy -\"

\"But this isn\'t just any old broad, Herm, this is my *sister*. My younger, innocent, baby sister.\"

Hermione snorted. \"I\'ve got news for you, Ron. Your little sis isn\'t all that innocent.\"

\"What?!\"

\"Yup. Alias: \'Honey-pot.\' And if you tell her I told you or get hacked off at her about it, I\'ll skin you alive, capische?\"

\"Fine. But I better not hear anyone else say that about her,\" Ron groused.

\"Please. No one wants to run the risk of pissing off Harry. He\'d hex any guy that called her that into next year. And no one wants a band of angry Weasleys on their hands either.\" Hermione picked up a roll and buttered it calmly. \"Here. Have a piece of bread.\" She stuck the roll into Ron\'s gaping mouth.

\"mphmfings.\" Ron replied around the wad of buttery dough.

\"You\'re welcome, Ronnie-kins.\" Hermione helped herself to the steaming dinner in front of them.

\"You know, Herm, you\'re a real peach,\" said Ron as he swallowed the last of the roll. \"Lavender never would\'ve treated me like that...well...I won\'t think about that.\"

Hermione could see her friend becoming visibly upset and so she didn\'t press him, but merely patted his back and left him to his dinner. She knew from experience that Ron didn\'t need smothering but needed someone to be there to talk to, should he ever need to. They were about halfway through their second helpings when Millicent came striding over, peridot eyes snapping with excitement.

Ron, still embarassed by ending up asleep, slumped over in the girl\'s lap, gave her a dirty look. \" \'Ere now, what do *you* want?\"

\"Can it, Weasley. I\'ve come to inform you that in honour of the NEWTs being done, Slytherin House is throwing a party. A little get-together to, um, promote inter-house relations. All the other seventh years are invited, a few sixth-years, too. Slytherin\'s providing the alky and it\'s been decided that you are providing the food.\"

\"And why in hell should I do that? And why come to me to do it?\" Ron exclaimed.

\"Please, Weasley. Your brothers were famous for sneaking down to the kitchens and sneaking things out. I\'m sure they passed along their secrets. Therefore, you\'re the pigeon, I mean, guy we picked.\"

\"Pigeon. And if I get caught? Then what?\"

\"I\'ll have one of the Slytherin prefects award you points to make up for it, okay?\"

Ron eyed Millicent warily. \"I\'ll think about it.\"

\"You won\'t regret it. It\'s going to be wicked fun.\"

\"I *said* I\'ll think about it.\"

\"You do that.\" Millicent whirled away to inform Ravenclaw about the upcoming bash, although who knew how many of the goody-goodies would actually show up.

\"Bloody damned female. Just because we had a drink together does not mean I\'m at her beck and call,\" Ron groused.

\"Well, you did end up in her lap, Ron. I should think that counts for something.\"

\"But she\'s using it to her own ends, Hermione! Bloody manipulative that is.\" Ron forked up a bit of shepherd\'s pie.

\"And bravo I say. She\'s not that bad-looking anymore, you know.\" Hermione glanced at Ron conspiratorially.

\"I don\'t need a matchmaker. Lavender\'s only been dead, what, a week? And contrary to what you or that overgrown garter snake think, she wasn\'t just a convenient shag. I *cared* about her.\" Ron tossed down his fork and swept out of the Great Hall.

(That went over well,) Hermione thought self-deprecatingly.

(What went over well?) Draco answered.

(I was doing a bit of matchmaking and it blew up in my face.)

(Ah,) Draco replied with understanding. (Between Weasel and Millie, I presume?)

(You presume correctly, mon coeur.)

(ooh, I love it when you speak French. Makes me feel all tingly, Granger.) Draco\'s thoughts rang darkly in Hermione\'s brain.

Her laughter bubbled through his consciousness. (You\'re the easiest man in the world to arouse, Draco. How do you stand having the dirtiest mind in Christendom?)

(I rather enjoy it. You know, have you ever thought about what it would be like to...) Malfoy\'s verbal stream of thought cut off as his mind flashed through several memories of them together in rapid succession.

(Oh no, don\'t start that again. Remember what happened last time.) Hermione cut in warningly.

(On my honour, no spells will be used. Just good old fashioned fantasizing.) Hermione could hear the wicked smirk painted on his words.

(No go, Draco. But if you\'re a good boy I promise to reward you later.)

(I will hold you to that.)

Hermione sighed. (So what am I to do about Ron?)

(Absolutely nothing. Let him get over it on his own. He\'s not foolish enough to do something stupid.)

(Unlike myself,) Hermione thought ruefully.

(Stop thinking about it. It\'s over and done with.)

There was a pause. He could hear the rapid-fire buzzing thoughts in her head but she deliberately kept them from him. Draco was puzzled but not surprised at the depth of feeling flashing through her synapses at lightning speed. He didn\'t question her further, not knowing what can of worms he would be opening by doing so. (So...should I meet you at nine for Millicent\'s little shindig?)

(I wouldn\'t miss it.)

(Good.) Draco deliberately turned his thoughts away from Hermione and concentrated on making conversation with the few who still populated Slytherin House. It was sad how many of his peers were either dead or sitting behind bars. Only the young ones were left. Babies, they were. Still, they lived through a war, and none of them could be counted as babies anymore, not really.

It was as if the younger ones (and even the seventh-years) looked to him for guidance. It was, after all, his duty as Head Boy to give them something resembling comfort. But what kind, Draco could not have said. He looked to the manner of his head-of-house. Although his godfather was gruff and oftentimes a sneering bastard, Snape did have his good points. And the man did know what to say to get a first-year to stop snivelling. That counted for a lot in Draco\'s book.

Draco turned his attention back to Hermione. He could catch glimpses of her through the shifting bodies of the students. That hair of hers was a beacon, drawing his eye. Still wild and untamed, it flared around her head like a burnished halo. He shook his head, amused. Who would\'ve known that the very things he used to tease her about would be the very things he loved her for?

In truth, he envied her a bit. She was respected and respectable. Hermione didn\'t have to work to gain people\'s trust. Even her bossiness and know-it-allness had given way into a softer means of dealing with people and the world around her. She frightened him a bit with her newfound strength. As a magus, Draco knew where she drew some of that fighting spirit from. But where the rest came from, he could not say. From the day in their third year when she\'d dared to slap him, he\'d been rather fascinated, despite his upbringing and his misgivings. Fascination had turned into curiousity and when he\'d come upon her that night in the Great Hall, playing with those fluttering insects...well...opportunity presented itself.

But who knew that this volatile thing they\'d started out with would\'ve become so much more over the months? Who would\'ve guessed that the bitterest of enemies would now be the closest of lovers - sharing friends, sharing secrets. And that magnificent creature with the brain the size of Gibraltar would be his wife. It was enough to make a man cry. Although Draco wisely held himself back from such a thing. It wouldn\'t do to sit here sobbing like a little first-year. He was still a Malfoy, after all, he thought with a smirk.

And soon she would be one, too.
**********

That night was Millicent\'s little get-together. Hermione immediately lit a fire in the Slytherin common room. There was awkward tension in the air, but once the booze and food arrived (Ron decided to come through, after all), it eased. Music came blaring from somewhere and the party was on. The lights were dim and all the furniture had been shoved against walls to make room for a dance floor.

No one knew where any of the teachers were, nor did they particularly care. Thus it was that this little soiree had become that great thing known as a make-out party. Various couples were all entwined on couches and chairs. There were the swayers out on the dance floor and the usual assortment of wallflowers. As for Draco and Hermione, they\'d found a quiet corner to curl up in.

\"So. What have you decided about school?\" Draco asked.

\"I\'ve been in contact with the Dean of Students and she said that I don\'t have to live on campus. So...I could move in with you and Apparate everyday.\"

Draco\'s ears perked up. \"Really?\"

\"Really. I haven\'t been in contact with the solicitor about finding a flat, so as of right now, I\'m homeless.\" Hermione grinned impishly. \"Take me in?\"

\"I don\'t know...I\'m not in the habit of taking in stray cats.\"

Hermione\'s eyes widened, playing along with his game. \"Stray cat am I? At least I\'m not a scaly snake in the grass.\"

\"Look at you, hissing and spitting just like one of those feral beasts. You\'re a Gryffindor true enough, aren\'t you?\"

\"More than enough for a Slytherin like yourself.\" Hermione smiled silkily.

\"Ew. Total cliche, Granger.\"

\"Oh, stuff it.\" Hermione made a face and Draco laughed. \"You know I can\'t bloody well think when your hands are doing things like that.\"

Draco\'s hands had begun to roam about and find their way into interesting places. \"I don\'t remember ever really congratulating you on your NEWTs.\"

Hermione laughed, her breath a bit forced. \"Now who\'s being cliche?\"

\"Yes, but I\'m simply better at it than you are.\"

\"This corner isn\'t that secluded. I haven\'t the inclination to give our classmates a peep show.\"

\"Oh, I don\'t know, Hermione. A bit of voyeurism goes a long way.\" Draco smiled wolfishly.

\"Oh my goodness. You\'re really perving on all of this aren\'t you?\"

\"Hmm,\" he replied as his hands dipped underneath her shirt.

\"I always knew you were kinky.\"

\"No more so than you.\" He gave her a pinch. \"Besides, didn\'t you promise me a treat earlier today?\"

\"Did I? I can\'t remember,\" she replies as Draco shifted her to straddle his thighs.

\"Pervert. A true pervert. Come on, let\'s get out of here.\" Hermione got up and held out her hand to Draco.

He took it and they slipped out of the Slytherin common room. She led him down into the dungeon chamber and with a careless flick of her fingers, the cranberry and gold decor changed into something darker and menacing. Everything there was now black and a pale, icy blue. Even the formerly orange hued fires burning in the torches had become an eerie diamond azure.

Draco raised an eyebrow. \"You\'re in a mood. A strange one, if the decor is any indication.\"

\"Hm.\" Hermione conjured up something pale and silky and handed it to Draco. \"Here. I know you got a bit of your own back in the Forest that night. I thought you might like a little more.\"

Draco sifted the textiles through his hands and as he did, they became like pouring water around his fingers. He said nothing but went over to the bed and turned back the black velvet duvet to reveal the blue satin sheets. Draco ran his hand over them and they pooled like water beneath his fingers. He lay on the bed and found to his utter delight that it was like floating in a warm pond - only a bit firmer. A wide smile crossed his face and he beckoned Hermione to join him, which she did, an answering smile on her lips.

Stopping to strip off her clothes, she climbed into the mattress, startled at the feel of the silk ripplingeatheath her. It felt something like a waterbed, but she could trail her fingers through it and splash. Yet it was oddly dry as well - no wet, tangled hair to deal with. Hermione was suitably impressed with Draco.

\"You\'re very creative, love.\"

\"You set the stage, I\'m merely playing the part.\" His voice had lowered to a rough timbre. He reached for her and she came gladly. Draco raised her up above him, her hands resting on the cool wood of the headboard. He let the watery silk of the scarves flow up and around her wrists. They attatched themselves to the headboard, securing her firmly. Draco slid from underneath her to stand beside the bed.

She had a deliciously wicked side to her that he\'d never have suspected lurking under that googleplex of hair. He reached out a hand and gathered her hair into a low tail, pullinightightly. Her small \"mmm\" reverberated through his ears and made arousal slip through his veins like sweet syrupaco aco ran his fingers down the curve of her spine to the small of her back. A bit of pressure applied and a pain/pleasured sound issued forth.

\"Very interesting, Granger,\" Draco purred.

Hermione loved it when Draco used her surname with *that* tone of voice. It was just the sort of thing to get knickers down around her knees.

\"Is it?\" she asked.

\"Oh, yes. Very,\" he replied. Hermione turned her head and saw his gleaming ar eye eyes. It seemed as though the world had shrunk to contain just them amid the strange torchlight. Draco muttered a spell and Hermione felt arousal hit her like a truck.

She let out a serrated moan and Draco stood back, watching with a wolfish smile. Hermione found herself flat on her back, floating on the sheets. He\'d opened the top two buttons on his fine lawn shirt and stood braced on one of the bedposts, arms crossed. Draco pulled out his wand from a long pocket on the leg of his trousers and contemplated the quivering body of his lover.

Hermione eyed him warily. \"And just what do you think you\'re going to do with that?\"

\"Don\'t you worry your pretty little head about that. It won\'t hurt a bit.\"

She wisely kept her mouth shut.

Draco flicked his wand over her and Hermione suddenly felt a vise-like pressure exert itself on her heart. It eased and when the blood released, the liquid went rushing to every part on her body. She became filled with boiling heat and twisted slightly against the cool waters of the bed.

\"What was that for?\" she asked breathlessly.

\"You\'ll see.\" He winked at her and it lessened the apprehension she felt.

Hermione soon the the merest of fingers running over her skin. Her eyes flew back to Draco lounging against the bedpost. Draco merely smirked and flicked his wand once again. Hermione saw silvery wisps of magic float out and settle like dew on her nipples. Of a sudden the sensation was like twin tongues lapping at the pebbled flesh. The warm wet above and the warm wet below was enough to set her senses reeling. And yet, Draco stood there not saying a word. The slivers of magic wended their way down her body. They began the journey back up once they\'d reached Hermione\'s toes.

Draco watched her reactions carefully. He laid his wand on the beside table and muttered a few words. The magicked air stopped, hovering just above the curled junction of her thighs. It wafted and blew across, like moist air after a storm. Hermione hummed with approval. A snap of his fingers and it seemed as if all the blood had rushed to Hermione\'s nether regions. She felt her pulse pounding and the knowledge made her all the more excited.

There was the sensation of something holding her thighs apart yet there was nothing. She looked at Draco again. A slight flush mottled his cheeks, yet he hadn\'t moved an inch. The ribbons agicagic disappeared and she felt something probing at the petals of flesh hidden in those crisp curls. A rush of warmth overcame her and soon she was just as flushed as Draco. That transparent sliver of magic worked its way over, under and around every bit of moist coral flesh. Hermione could feel it slip its way inside, moving in and out, twisting and plunging at the same time. And when it raked itself over that spot, her eyes slid shut and and the most plead ofd of moans poured from her mouth.

She managed to open her eyes and saw Draco\'s eyes burning with barely suppressed violence. The nostrils on his finely carved patrician nose were slightly flared and she could hear the harsh breathat hat he was trying to subdue. Hermione could feel the magic within her body twist and curl itself once more, almost tickling slightly. Her hips began to move of their own accord. Noises and pleading sounds issued from her throat, but Draco stood there unyielding. A malicious smile curved \'round Draco\'s mouth and Hermione was hit with a variety of feelings all at once.

The feathery touches on her breasts, arms, stomach combined with her already overstimulated flesh proved too much. She screamed one word: \"Please!\" To which Draco did nothing but bare his teeth in a facsimile of a smile. A raised silvery eyebrow and the sensations increased ten-fold. At first her hips couldn\'t find the proper rhythm, there being no traction within the pool of sheets. But as Hermione\'s passion deepened and her orgasm quickened, she abandoned herself to the waving motion of the waters under her back. Over and over, relentlessly the magic tightened its grip on her.

Ahen hen she was lost.

Screaming out Draco\'s name, there were sherry coloured sparks drizzling at the edges of her vision. When she came to herself again, Draco still stood there. He looked indomitable and implacable. There was an argent shine haloing his form and his eyes echoed the magic oozing from his veins. He stretched out a hand and she took it, pulling him onto the bed with her. A whispered word and Draco found himself divested of clothing.

The waves lapped at them, stroking their heated bodies with languorous touches. The enchantments were still on Hermione and at the barest glance racoraco\'s skin against hers sent the arousal rushing back through her veins.

He slipped inside of her easily, his earlier toying with her making her very ready. Hermione moaned with undisguised pleasure as Draco let the motion of the waves guide his movements within. His kissed scorched her already fevered skin and when his lips latched onto one hardened nipple, Hermione became dizzy with the surfeit of pleasure. She was vaguely aware of Draco\'s own shout through her screaming cries and then all was silent.
***********
Saturday dawned warm and fair. The inhabitants of the dungeon room slept peacefully on, lulled as they were by enchanted water. The pale blue of the torches brightened until the light was too intense to ignore under slumbering lids. They awakened to an aquarian world tinted to a shimmering blue. It was like being under the clearest, purest azure water in the world. Hermione was slightly awed at this unconscious demonstration of Draco\'s talent.

\"Do you like?\"

\"I do indeed.\" Hermione turned a full, unguarded smile onto her fiance.

\"Good.\" Draco pulled her into his arms. \"I was thinking that perhaps we could arrange for your things to be brought to the house before school let out.\"

\"That sounds good. Is your, erm, castle unplottable?\"

\"No. But you may find it in need of a bit of modernizing.\"

\"Modernizing? Like what?\" Hermione sounded a bit suspicious.

\"Well. We never got around to putting in proper modern plumbing,\" Draco said, a bit sheepish.

\"Merlin\'s teeth, Draco. We\'ll have to have the entire place renovated.\" Hermione fixed him with a gimlet glare as she got up from the bed and went into the adjoining bathroom to shower.

He called to her through the roar of the water. \"It\'s not that bad. It\'s rather charming. Aside from the plumbing aspect.\"

\"Well, make arrangements and we\'ll muddle through somehow.\"

Draco got up and went into the bath. He poked his head through the shower curtain to leer at her. \"Yes...there\'s something to be said for modern conveniences.\"

He looked at her through the cascading water, the soap bubbles slithering down her back. Draco stepped in behind her and took the loofah from her hand. As he began scrubbing her, he dropped the loofah and let his hands roam over more interesting parts besides her back and shoulders.

\"You know...if you start that, we\'ll never get upstairs.\"

\"You may depend upon it.\"
*****************

They did, however, make it upstairs. They walked into the Great Hall just in time to catch breakfast. Instead of Hermione sitting with Draco at the Slytherin table, as was her wont, she dragged him to the Gryffindor table. There were more than a few raised eyebrows but no more so than usual. Even in these last days of term, after everything, houses still abided by their boundaries. The unspoken law was that no Slytherin, especially one who was as Slytherin as Draco, would deign to sit at the Gryffindor table. Harry was there, Ron was not, having taken his meal earlier and had now gone to sleep off his hangover.

Harry, for his part, looked like death warmed over. Ginny looked much the same. Their eyes red-rimmed and skins sallow, they looked like a right pair. Both scowled at Hermione and Draco as they sat, looking fresh as daisies.

\"It\'s a bloody great shame the way you two prance around looking like you\'ve stepped off the cover of \'Witchsquire\'.\" Ginny sneered at the couple.

\"Yeah. How\'d you manage to escape this hell? And why does the bloody damned *sun* have to be so bright?\" Harry whined, head in his hands.

Draco smirked at them. \"You see, Potty, when one has attained a certain level of maturity, one finds that one can hold one\'s drink better than an untried, wet-behind-the-ears whelp.\" He forked up a bit egg and wiggled the slightly wibbly yolk at Harry and Ginny.

Ginny, seeing the yolk quiver at her rushed from the table, her green skin contrasting horribly with the red of her hair. Harry, to his credit, managed to stay there. He glared at Draco hatefully, trying not to acknowledge a silently chuckling Hermione.

\"I don\'t think I\'ve ever hated you as much as I hate you now, Malfoy,\" Harry ground out.

Draco was theatrically shocked and hurt. \"Oh, Potter. It wounds my heart to hear you say such things! Tell me they aren\'t true!\"

Then the Slytherin prince gave a short bark of laughter and ate the quivering egg yolk, chewing it with relish. Feeling a bit spiteful, he opened his mouth and gave Harry a flash of see-food. Harry\'s eyes widened and then shrank as he turned green and took off from the Great Hall.

Draco laughed his arse off, the chuckles bouncing from the stone walls. Hermione was consumed with mirth also. \"You\'re terrible, love, simply terrible.\"

\"I know. But it was truly worth it. Have a bit of scone.\" Draco passed Hermione a piece of the fluffy bread, smeared with butter and jam.

She bit into it and a contented smile curved her mouth. \"Wonderful. Shame that they can\'t deal with such epicurian delights.\"

\"Too right. Dashed shame it is.\" Draco winked at her and they laughed more.

Those at the High Table were amused by the antics of their Head Boy and Girl. Even Snape found it funny. He hadn\'t paid his visit to Lucius and so, finishing his meal, left the building and Apparated to the island where Azkaban rested.

At the gates he obtained a visiting pass and the guards led him to the maximum security section of the prison. Much as in a Muggle penitentiary, there were thick partitions separating the visitor and the prisoner. This glass however, was laced with adamant, to control the magic of the condemned. The guards led Lucius forth. The madness which had always lurked in the older man\'s eyes was now at the forefront of his gaze. Those grey-tinted orbs fastened on Severus and he gave an internal shiver. Lucius did not look the proud patrician now. His hair was lank and matted and his fine garb had given way to dun coloured prison robes.

But not even a life sentence and the dementors sucking away at his life\'s essence could dim the eternal malice that the elder Malfoy possessed. He sat across from Severus, his eyes and face mocking and cold.

\"So, Spy. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?\" Lucius drawled with all the patrician pomposity at his command.

Severus drew on all the disdain and hate and disgust he felt for Lucius. \"I wanted to congratulate you.\" He replied coolly.

Lucius raised a brow, much in the same manner as his offspring. \"Congratulate me?\"

\"Why yes. I would\'ve thought that one of the guards told you. You know, gossip travels so fast in our world,\" Severus said.

\"What *are* you prattling on about, man? Has being out from under the auspices of our great and magnificent Lord Voldemort addled your already soupy brains?\"

Severus chuckled darkly. \"Oh, no. It\'s just that I\'m so delighted. It seems that Draco has finally decided to take a wife.\"

\"A...wife?\" Lucius was stupefied.

\"Yes, Lucius,\" Severus drawled. \"A wife. Hermione Granger to be exact.\" Severus felt an immense sense of smug satisfaction as he sat and looked at his godson\'s father.

\"So. This is Draco\'s final act of defiance. Not to be unexpected.\" Lucius, to Severus\' surprise, took the news calmly. But Snape did not underestimate the elder Malfoy.

\"If you even think of -\"

\"Oh, bosh, Severus,\" Lucius replied silkily. \"What can I do from here? In this hellhole? I can\'t even scratch my arse without the guards all over me.\"

Severus took in Lucius\' bitter tone but was not taken in by it. \"Lucius. Mark my words.\" And here, Snape leaned forward, nearly pressing against the glass, his dark eyes burning with slight fire. \"If you strike out at them in any way, you\'ll *pray* for the Dementor\'s Kiss.\"

\"I wouldn\'t dream of it.\" Lucius didn\'t doubt Severus. Indeed, despite his taunts, Severus was, aside from Voldemort, the most frightening wizard in his acquaintance. The coldness that emanated from the younger man made even Lucius wary.

Still, Severus\' despicable sense of honour was nauseating to say the least. He had a streak of nobility that had always rubbed Lucius the wrong way. That is not to say that there *is* a wrong way to rub Lucius, but it always irked him when Severus would quail at some act that went beyond the man\'s very thin line of acceptability.

However, the thought of his son, a Malfoy, actually wedding that officious little peasant...Suffice it to say that Lucius was not pleased. Magus or not, Rose Queen or not, she is, was and always will be a mudblood. And if his son was foolish enough to let the demands of his immature and soft heart overrule blood loyalty then Lucius was not going be responsible for his actions.

Lucius gazed at Severus placidly and then got up and walked away. He was angered at the younger man\'s coming to this, this *cage* and telling him that the purity of his ages-old bloodline was to be sullied. The smugness was apparent in Severus\' tone and demeanor. Let Severus sweat. Lucius smiled maliciously. It would do the old boy a bit of good.