Just Around the Riverbend

YOU GUYS ROCK!!! I didn't really expect such great response from this story, as this pairing isn't really my forte. But hey...one Malfoy is as good as the others, right? I like to read HG/LM all the time, but I've never written it.



Sureves Epans

Ithilwen

Voracious Reader

Heidi191976

margaritama

Jessi

Carha

CoCo.M

dolphindreamer

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Hermione yawned and stretched languidly on her bed, reaching up to brush a tangled curl from her face. Wow….the sun was extremely bright this morning…usually it was still pretty dark when she got up for work. Wait a minute….why wasn’t there an alarm blaring in her ear?



She looked over in a panic to see that her clock clearly read 10:03. With a howl of anguish she jumped from her bed, and began throwing on clothes that may or may not match. She grabbed her wand from her night stand and cast a teeth-cleansing charm, grimacing at the metallic twang of raw magic in her mouth.



She rushed from her room, nearly knocking Harry over in the process.



“Mione? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” he asked. He had just gotten out of her shower, wrapped in nothing but a towel, and was dripping water in her hallway.



“Yes!” she cried, running for her work bag. “And put some clothes on, you’re getting my floor wet!” she cried as she rushed out the door. She sprinted to the nearest public Apparition point, and popped into the Ministry’s foyer as quickly as she could. She shouldered and ducked her way through the crowd, getting several leers and rude comments.



By the time she reached her department it was 10:40 on the dot, and she skidded to a halt in front of her supervisor, who was standing at the door tapping his foot, and looking at his pocket watch.



“Please, sir, I-”



“No excuses, Granger. You are asked to be here at 7:30. Is that too much to ask? Apparently it is. Now if you don’t get to the parchment vault right this instant I will drop you from this department so fast your curly little head will spin!” he snapped. Hermione took off like a frightened pup, and missed the smug grin on the man’s face as she nearly tripped over herself to get into the vault.



“Good gods….Muggleborns are so skittish. Especially the young ones.” He said, before chuckling to himself and going off to find another female employee to harass.



~~



Hermione stood against the door to the vault, gasping to catch her breath. She was in fairly good shape, but even that wasn’t enough to spare her from gasping like a fish out of water after the marathon she had just run.



“What’s the matter, Noodle?” asked one of the male employees, Jason, that worked there. She didn’t like him at all, and she liked that damned nickname even less. He called her that because he said her hair looked like a bowl of noodles.



“My alarm didn’t go off this morning. Mr. Pinkerton yelled at me.” She said, looking forlorn. Jason came over to her, and put his arm around her, just to be ‘friendly.’



“Don’t worry about Pinkerton. He’s an arse. Say….I’m having a party at my place this weekend, and I’d love to escort a hot lady like yourself. Care to join me for a good time?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows at her. She scoffed with disgust, and shrugged Jason’s arm off of her.



“Ugh….I’m late, not desperate.” She said, heading for her stack of parchments. It had taken her all week to stack them neatly by content and length.



Jason glared at her retreating form. The little Mudblood thought she could just turn him down? Oh no she didn’t…

Jason saw Mr. Pinkerton coming out of the corner of his eye, and smirked evilly as he advanced on Hermione. He tapped her gently on the shoulder, and when she turned to give him a piece of her mind, he put a hand on the back of her neck and drew her forward quickly, planting a kiss on her lips. She put her arms up to push him away, but he held her tightly until he heard a loud ‘ahem’ behind them, and he pulled away.



“Geez, Hermione….I didn’t know you wanted to jump me that badly.” He said with a smirk. Hermione’s face turned red, and her hand drew back, and lightning-quick she planted a stinging slap right on Jason’s cheek. Then her knee came up and she brought him to the floor with a swift kick to the groin.



“Miss Granger!” Mr. Pinkerton cried, wincing in sympathy as Jason had the wind knocked out of him. “That’s it! First you show up three hours late, and then you’re caught basically molesting a fellow employee….then when you’re caught you attack him. Just….just get your things and leave.” He snapped angrily. Hermione opened her mouth to defend herself, but Mr. Pinkerton interrupted her. “No! No excuses. Now get out!” he added.



Her job didn’t really require her to have any sort of office or personal items, so she gathered up her purse and jacket forlornly, and left the Department of History and Records, damn-near ready to cry the entire way. Instead of going home to face Harry, who would definitely have some questions, and would offer to beat the shit out of Jason (and she wasn’t so sure she would decline the offer in this state of mind) , she went to Flourish and Blott’s to browse the books again. She hadn’t really gotten a good look at them last time before she had been rudely interrupted by Stupid and Stupider.



She found the spot she had left off at, and gingerly pulled the book from the shelf. She opened the book again, browsing the table of contents. As she turned the page to the preface, a small crash to her right caught her attention. She turned her head to see a young girl swaying slightly on her feet, rubbing her head.



“Spirits of the earth and sky!” the girl snapped. Ah….American… “Was that a book or a freakin’ rock?” she added, more to herself than anything else. She bent down to pick up the large book that had conked her on the head, and snorted.



“Stonehenge: The Early Years. Ah…a book about rocks.” She said. Hermione snorted softly.



“Describing Stonehenge as ‘rocks’ is like describing Buckingham Palace as a ‘house.’” Hermione said, a light smile on her face. The girl looked up, and Hermione marveled at the brilliant blue of her eyes. They looked so familiar for some reason….but where she had seen eyes like that she couldn’t place…



“I didn’t mean to insult anything….I was just mad that this stupid book nearly gave me a concussion.” The girl said. Hermione laughed.



“Quite understandable. It is a large book, after all.” She said. “So what brings you across the pond?” she asked conversationally. The girl’s eyes darkened in another familiar way, before she lowered them to the ground.



“I’m staying with my cousin for a few years until I’m of age. It’s to keep me out of the system because both my parents were killed, and I have no one else.” She said softly, and turned back to the book shelf.



“Oh…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry….” Hermione replied. The girl looked up, and gave a weak smile.



“S’all right. You didn’t know.” She said, and plucked a book from the shelf. She placed it on a very large stack, and Hermione’s eyebrows rose slightly.



“Are all of those yours?” she asked. The girl nodded, and plucked another book from the shelf. “You must like to read.” She said. The girl nodded again. Hermione approached the girl, and held out her hand. “I’m Hermione, by the way.” She said. The girl turned from the shelf, and took Hermione’s hand warmly.



“Daisy. Daisy Melfy.” She said, and shook Hermione’s hand.



“That’s a pretty name.” Hermione said, and looked at the stack of books Daisy had placed on the floor.



“Beginner’s Guide to Wandless Magic? Potions for Preteens? A bit ambitious, aren’t you?” she asked. Daisy looked down at the books.



“I like to teach myself a lot.” She said with a shrug. Hermione gave her a brilliant grin. She liked this girl already.



“So who’s your cousin?” Hermione asked, noting that the books she was choosing weren’t exactly cheap.



“Lucius Malfoy.” Daisy said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Hermione’s grin faded, and she blinked.



“What?” she asked.



“Lucius Malfoy is my cousin. He’s really my fifth cousin through my father’s side, but it’s close enough that it’s legal for him to be my blood guardian. He seems a bit distant, but he was kind enough to take me in, so I’m not going to say anything about him.” She said. Hermione stared at Daisy in silence, giving the girl a good look after what she had said.



She was rather petite…she would probably be very curvy when she matured. She couldn’t be any older than thirteen or fourteen. She obviously wasn’t Caucasian. She appeared to be Native American. What was Lucius Malfoy doing with such a girl? She didn’t know…but she also couldn’t ask…that would be very rude indeed.



“Oh.” Hermione said lamely.



“Ah….Miss Granger….harassing my cousin, are you?”



Hermione shivered at the smooth, cultured voice. She turned around to see Lucius Malfoy standing behind her, looking very much the dastardly villain he truly was. He was dressed in dark blue robes, trimmed in silver, and was still toting about that annoying little pimp-cane.



“No, Mr. Malfoy…I’ll leave that to you.” She said, and smiled cheekily. His icy blue eyes narrowed, and Hermione cursed inwardly for not recognizing that eye color on Daisy. Daisy looked between the two, and shook her head. There was obviously some kind of history, good or bad, between them, and she really didn’t want to be in the middle of it.



“I’m going to go find the little witch’s room. You guys play nice now!” she said, and wondered off to find a toilet in this god-forsaken bookshop. She’d already gotten stared at somewhere else when she said ‘bathroom.’ She’d finally given up after the clerk looked at her for five minutes straight without getting what she was saying. She really needed a translator book or something….



Hermione and Lucius seemed to be sizing each other up. Hermione was quite sure if she could get Lucius on the ground she could stomp his windpipe, and Lucius was fairly positive he could snap the witch’s neck without any serious impediment from her.



“Still on the ever-present search for any scrap of knowledge you can get your hands on?” he asked, his voice taking on a semblance of politeness. But Hermione knew better.



“Why yes, sir, I am! Are you still on a quest to rid the world of those pesky little half-bloods and Mudbloods? Found a suitable leader with his own blood-problems, yet?” she countered, looking for the entire world as if she cared.



If looks could kill both Hermione Granger and Lucius Malfoy would have dropped dead instantaneously. Lucius was interrupted from his glaring contest several moments later by a shy tug at his sleeve. He turned to see Daisy standing there, her face a bit pale.



“Uh…I need…to tell you something.” She said, her voice soft. She motioned for him to lean down so she could whisper it. With a final glare at Hermione, he leaned forward a bit so the petit Daisy could lean up and whisper in his ear. Daisy’s cheeks turned horribly red, and she whispered something in Lucius’ ear.



He suddenly stood straight up, and took a step away from Daisy, who looked like a deer in headlights as Lucius swore softly.



“What am I to do about it?” he asked after several tense moments. Hermione looked between the two. Lucius seemed to remember her presence, but didn’t look at all happy as turned to her. “Um…Miss….Miss Granger….I think my cousin….might….need your….help.” he said. Hermione had never seen the perfectly postured Lucius Malfoy lose his poise like that. So she got a little worried.



“What’s wrong?” she asked, and looked at Daisy. The girl murmured something unintelligible. “Hmm?” Hermione asked, stepping closer. Daisy walked up to her, her face a Weasley-worthy shade of red, and motioned her like she had done to Lucius. Hermione leaned down a bit, and Daisy leaned close to her ear.



“I st-started my…uh….period.” Diasy said. Hermione looked at Daisy. Whoah. No wonder Mr. Malfoy looked all flustered. All men melted into a puddle of terrified and horrified goo at the word ‘period.’ It was just a fact of nature…



“All right, then. Um…I think you might have to come with me. I can’t really help you in the middle of a bookstore…” Hermione said.



“I’ll…erm….take care of your books, Miss Melfy. Miss Granger…you can bring her home when you’re…..done. I do believe you know where I live?” he asked. He hadn’t meant to sound rude when he said it, as he was still spooked by the whole ‘period’ thing. But Hermione’s eyes darkened. Hell yeah she remembered his fucking house. Stupid dick-headed mother fucker.



“Yes.” She spat out. But her expression softened a bit when she saw that Daisy was damned near ready to cry. “Let’s get to the nearest Apparition point before anything gets ruined.” She said, and gently ushered Daisy from the store. When the two had left, Lucius let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.



Ye gods above and below….having a teenage girl in the house just got a lot more complicated.

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Oh....Poor Lucius. I'll comfort you, honey. Oh wait...I'm suffering from the same DAMN fate as Daisy. Darn you, Mother Nature....darn you to heck!