Choices

Chapter 6: Quicksilver

The days rolled on, as they are wont to do, and as they did OperationD.L.M. progressed at an agonizingly slow rate. It had been nearly a month since Hermione and Elkara had had begun their little operation and neither one had been able to find the opportunity to get close enough to Lucius Malfoy to be able to carry out the second step of their plan. In fact, the only time that either of them had even been with hearing range of the man was in their Defence classes. It seemed to Hermione that the man was intentionally avoiding contact with everyone, including the other teachers. She hadn't even seen him in the Great Hall for meals. One stormy morning near the end of September Hermione had decided that she'd had enough of the man hiding from the world and decided to take matters onto her own hands.

Why do I even care? , she thought to herself as she made her way to her professor's office. He's nothing but a smarmy, snarky, old Death Eater! But he's still a person, and he needs help. I can't let him end up like Harry did after Sirius's death, or worse. But he's a MALFOY. Malfoy's are people, too. Her internal struggle continued until she found herself standing in front of the door to the senior Malfoy's office. She had made sure Elkara was safely ensconced between Harry and Ron in the library before she'd made her way to Malfoy's office, so that was one less thing she had to worry about. Taking a deep breath, she raised a fist and timidly knocked on the door.

She heard some muttered curses from the other side of the door, and she thought she heard the words, "damn Snape, leave me alone." She nearly ran away when the door was violently yanked open and the blond man glared down at her, growling,
"What do you want, girl?"

Mustering all of her Gryffindor courage, she squared her shoulders and said, "We haven't seen you in the Great Hall for meals."

She stopped herself, confused at the words that had come out of her mouth. She hadn't known what she was going to say, but she was sure that wasn't it.

The elder Malfoy's glare became a smirk, and he asked, "Do you really enjoy my appearance that much, Miss Granger?"

Hermione blushed, but looked him in the eyes, noting that they looked like quicksilver. She decided that she needed to save some face, so she said, “No. To be quite honest the sight of you sickens me a little, however, your absence from meals is making the rest of the student population suspicious of you."

The brunette mentally kicked herself. Damn it, Hermione. You just told a teacher that the sight of him sickens you. You'll be in serious trouble for sure. And you don't even feel that way.

Lucius's silver eyes danced with mirth at the girl's audacity. He was so amused by it that he decided he wasn't going to punish her, not with detention or a deduction of points, anyway. "Miss Granger, I like your honesty, however I am deeply offended by what you've said."

"I'm sorry, Professor, I know I spoke out of turn. I didn't even mean it, but..." words failed her as she tried to come up with a good reason for saying what she'd said. "I'll take whatever punishment you want to give me, Sir. I'm sorry for what I said."

The man looked down at the brunette, a plan forming in his mind. "Miss Granger, I accept your apology, and since you've apologized so sincerely you won't be punished this time. However, if you speak like that to me again, you will be punished severely."

"Yes, Sir. I am really am sorry for what I said."

"I believe you. Did you want anything else, or was your sole purpose to come here and insult me?" he asked, sneering slightly.

Hermione blushed again, and stammered, "I didn't come here to insult you. I only meant to tell you that people are becoming suspicious of you only being seen in classes and no where else."

"I see. Thank you for the warning, and good day to you." With that he closed the door in her face.

---

That night, Hermione was surprised to see Lucius Malfoy at dinner. She smiled to herself, happy that she'd gotten through to him. She looked up at the Head Table, and inadvertently made eye contact with Lucius. He winked at her and was delighted to see that she blushed a brilliant shade of red and had suddenly become extremely interested in her plate. He nearly laughed out loud when her blush suddenly became brighter and, grabbing the Weasley girl and Miss Shidu, left the Great Hall.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Ginny asked as soon as the doors to the Great Hall had closed behind them.

Elkara nodded, saying, "Yeah, Hermione, you've been off all day. What's up?"

"Let's go back to my room and I'll tell you all about it."

---

When they were comfortably settled in the Head's common room, Hermione told them the whole story about what had happened that morning, and Lucius winking at her at dinner. "....and now I think he's toying with me. I'm not sure what the purpose of it is, except to make me uncomfortable."

El grinned a deliciously wicked grin and said, "Hermione, you know what this means, right?"

Hermione looked at her suspiciously, asking, "What?"

"Two things actually. It means that Lucius Malfoy has a sense of humour, and it means full out war," she answered, still grinning.

"I want to help," Ginny said, a very serious expression her face. "Luna's in my DADA class. I'm sure she'll help, too."

"Gin, I love you," Hermione told the younger, a small grin forming on her lips.

They spent the next hour trying to decide the best way to get to the senior Malfoy. There planning was interrupted by the entrance of Draco Malfoy.

"Are you three hens planning on leaving anytime soon?" he asked, half-jokingly.

Hermione and Elkara had to restrain Ginny, who had jumped up ready to curse the life out of the blond boy.

"Gin, it's okay. Malfoy was teasing," Hermione told the younger girl, trying to soothe the younger girl.

Draco rolled his eyes, and said, "Well if this is the how I'm going to be treated, then I don't think I want to be here."

Hermione glared at him. "You're not making it any better, prat."

"Ginny, let's go to my room. I think there are some things you need to know," Elkara said, putting her arm around the redhead's waist and leading her away.

When the door closed, Draco and Hermione sat down in the two armchairs near the fireplace. The two had actually managed to become pretty friendly toward each other over the last month, since Draco had admitted that the only reason he'd been the way he had was because it was expected of him and he didn't like being the way he was. Hermione was struck by how much Draco looked like his father, especially his eyes that were the color of quicksilver. The two easily entered into a conversation about their classes and who was the worst teacher. Draco had recently changed his opinion of Hagrid being the worst teacher at Hogwart's and instead decided that it was Trelawney, Hermione agreed with him, and they spent a happy twenty minutes bashing the poor woman's teaching style.

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Sorry it's so dreadfully short. The writers' block is still hounding me. Thank you all for the lovely reviews, they really make my day.

Also, if anyone wants to beta for me I would greatly appreciate it.