Harvest Moon

Taz: Now you know Narcissa and Bella are special.

Voracious Reader: Go get a degree in profiling, dear. I\'d love to have you on my team some day. Seriously.

Zets: You know the added danger is what makes it fun for Lucius and Hermione.

To everyone else still reading, I hope you enjoy.



***





Hermione leaned back against Lucius’ chest and watched the fire in the fireplace. Odd that such a small thing could make her more content than she had been in ages. She had never had this kind of time with anyone else. Certainly not with Ron. They had always had a sort of wild, impatient rushing between them. Reflecting on it she supposed that came with being a teenager because she’d been susceptible to is as well.



“Exactly what is going on in your head, Mine?” Lucius asked.



She glanced back at him. “Nothing really. I was just thinking how nice it was to simply sit with someone and be comfortable in their presence as opposed to . . .” she let the sentence trail off there. She still wasn’t quite sure what she and Lucius were to eachother or where they were going from this point.



“As opposed to what, Mine?” Lucius prompted.



She sighed. “As opposed to passionate insanity, I suppose.”



“There isn’t anything wrong with passionate insanity,” Lucius said. “Those times are marvelous when you care about someone. One simply has to realize that isn’t all there is to it.”



Hermione chuckled. “I thought you said you didn’t know anything about love, Lucius.”



“Love, no. I don’t know much about it from firsthand experience. But I do know it when I see it in others. Such as in my son and, please dear gods, my soon to be daughter in law. Lust, that I probably know more about than is reasonable for even a man my age.”



“Oh, yes, you’re so terribly old, Lucius,” Hermione joked.



“I am old enough to be your father, you know,” Lucius said, running one hand through her hair.



“I’m rather well aware of that since your son and I went to school together.”



Lucius groaned. “Please don’t remind me of that. It’s bad enough as it is with Ara teasing me about cradle robbing.”



“She’s one to talk considering the very young men I see sniffing around her all the time.”



Lucius laughed. “That is certainly true. Though I think she has an age limit of at least twenty five at this point.” He sighed, brushing a thumb along her cheek. “I am truly uncertain how to proceed from here,” he said, looking her directly in the eye.



She reached up and threaded one hand through his hair. “I think you’re supposed to kiss me at some point in time during this cuddling session.”



“Is that an invitation?” he asked, one eyebrow quirking up a little.



“And if it is?”



“Then I can do nothing but comply to a lady’s wishes,” he said, leaning forward and sealing his lips to hers.



“Father, are you in here?” called a voice from the other side of the portal. At that moment the library door flew open and Draco burst in, stopping short just inside the room when he spotted the two seated in front of the fireplace.



Lucius forcibly bit back the growl that threatened at the interruption. “Son, do I need to purchase a leash for Luna to keep you on?”



Draco smirked a little. “No, we have those already,” he said, grinning down at his father and partner. Finally! He thought to himself.



“Fine. Is there any particular reason as to why you’re invading my library?” Lucius asked, not letting go of Hermione even though she was squirming in his grasp.



“Actually, I needed to talk to my partner. Since she’s usually in your clutches, I thought it would be best to start looking for her here. Lo and behold, I was right,” Draco said, grinning.



Hermione blushed a little and finally managed to wriggle out of Lucius’ hold. She stood up and looked at Draco expectantly. “Well? Why did you need to find me?”



“The reports came back on the wand Ara took from our perp.”



“Oh? How did you manage to get hold of them? Harry isn’t known for sharing information, you know,” Hermione said.



“No shit. In case you were wondering, I didn’t ransack his office or hex his man knickers to Siberia to distract him, much as either of those things would be massive amounts of fun. I managed to get a look at them through the very nosey MME.”



“Praise be to all the gods for Luna,” Lucius said, levering himself up from the floor as well and coming to stand behind Hermione.



“What did they find out?” Hermione asked, leaning back into Lucius.



“They had Ollivander trace the wand back to the person he sold it to. Which happened to be . . .”



“Liren Malifucus Malfoy,” Lucius finished for him.



“Exactly.”



“Well, we had already surmised that,” Lucius said. “Therefore it really doesn’t assist in figuring out anything else.”



“Maybe not,” Draco said. “But it did tell us how he managed to gain the level of skill required to dissect these women like he has been.”



“Oh? How is that?” Hermione asked.



“They did prior incantatum on the wand. There was a thirty year gap between spell sets.”



“Not surprising. Liren has been in stasis for that long. How did they know there was a thirty year gap?”



“Because it evidently solves one of the cold case files Potter has been looking into. Baltus Grubber’s murder. It was the last one before the murders of women started showing up as prior incantations. All of those were within the last year or so.”



“I knew Baltus Grubber. He was a friend of my fathers. There wasn’t a more oily bastard on the planet so his departure from this life was no great loss. He always tried to paw Narcissa and Bella, even when they children,” Lucius said, looking disgusted.



“Yes, well, the new murders are variations of his. Though his body parts were apparently removed while he was still alive and screaming, including taking out his eyes,” Draco said with a shudder.



“That would be very like Liren. I’d wondered what had happened to several of the house elves because they kept showing up injured and refusing to say what had happened. He’d evidently been practicing,” Lucius said.



“I think he’s managed to perfect the art by this point,” Hermione said.



The door opened again and this time Tweak’s head came around to look at them. “Master, they is a letter for yous from the healing place,” she said, coming into the room. “It has just been arriving, sir.”



Lucius walked over and took the letter from her, patting her on the head. “Thank you, Tweak. That will be all,” he said, watching as she scurried out again before opening the letter. He flipped it open and read quickly, then turned to Draco and Hermione. “We need to get to St. Mungoes. Taz is awake.”