Diamond in the Rough

A/N:

Thank you all very much for your reviews and thoughtful comments!

LaBib: you had me completely laughing out loud with your comment on the clown suit, it inspired me, so, hope you don't mind too much, I borrowed it! You will find it below. Thank you for your reviews. I absolutely adore your writing!

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He looked down at her and could see amusement dancing in her eyes. In that moment, he realized how thoroughly the little witch had played him last night. The minx. He was surprised. Normally he commanded the situation, more especially since the defeat of the Dark Lord. She had not only managed to wrest him of his control but had turned the tables on him completely. She was more of a challenge now than ever before. He had been expecting a brilliant bookworm; however, he now knew she most likely would give back as much as she got from him. Something he would need to ponder on later. A more pleasant surprise was to find she was quite a delectable little package once you removed the dust and quills. He was looking forward to slowly unwrapping her so he could savor all of her hidden layers.

He was gazing at her with far too much intensity for her liking. This close to him she could smell that spicy scent of his and she began to feel her heart beat faster. She took in his beautifully sculpted features and that long, lean, hard body realizing she was far too aware of him. Damn him.

She slowly backed away from him into her living room, fingering her wand under her robes. He followed her out into the small living room, pausing to look at pictures, various bric-a-brac and curios she had on display throughout the room. She watched his perusal. He was a remarkably beautiful man. She thought with objectivity. He was wearing fine woolen black robes that emphasized the width of his shoulders. A high necked, dark burgundy velvet waistcoat hugged his broad chest and narrow waist. A silver snake pin with a large emerald eye sat at the neck of the waistcoat. He had tied back that lush platinum mane of his with a black ribbon. He straightened up and looked at her intently. “You are planning on changing are you not?”

“What’s wrong with what I have on?” She was wearing nondescript slacks, a simple, flowered blouse and a well-worn robe. He blinked once and leveled a cool gaze upon her not saying a word just looked at her steadily until unnerved she said, “Fine, I’ll go change.” She needed to get some distance from him anyway. His nearness was causing her body to begin to respond to him. For Goddess sake, just that long intense look he had given her began to make places low in her body start to hum. All from that bloody kiss. Irritated with herself she made her way into her bedroom.

She stood before her closet, indecisive. She pulled out a pale yellow dress and jumped when a low, silky voice whispered into her ear. “The color will do nothing for your skin tone and that cut is quite dreadful.” He moved towards her closet and began to look through her clothing. His breath against her ear had caused a shiver to run down her neck. She had to shake her head to absorb what he was saying to her.

“Your clothes are quite ghastly and in atrocious condition. I’ve never seen such an appalling array of outfits.” He mused as he continued to examine her wardrobe.

Irritated she snapped, “We can’t all be clothes horses like some people,” muttering under her breath, she said, “damned popinjay.”

“We will make an appointment with Madam Malkin early next week. You will need to be completely outfitted from head to toe. I suppose what you are wearing will have to do, for now. So much more work than I had anticipated.” He turned from her closet, looked her up and down briefly and started walking out of her bedroom, “Come along.”

“I’m not a dog Malfoy, I don’t come on command. I don’t need new clothes. My clothes are fine as is.”

She had that stubborn chin of hers held up in the air and had she actually stomped that little foot of hers?

He turned back to her his eyes narrowed and gave her a hard look and with a wave his wand, cast an incendio and her clothes in the wardrobe went up in flames. Hermione jumped back and with a sudden whoosh, her clothes turned to ash in a matter of seconds. With a wave of his hand, Lucius vanished the remaining ash. Hermione stood staring at her now empty closet, her mouth open. Lucius feeling quite pleased with himself, Gods, she had finally shut up, walked out of her bedroom.

Hermione stormed into the living room, color high in her cheeks. She was irate, how dare he arbitrarily decide what she would do and issue judgment on her personal possessions. “How dare you. You are such a high-handed pric…”

He stepped over to her and wrapped his arms around her so she couldn’t pull out her wand. “Language Poppet.” He could feel her anger coming off her in waves. Smirking, he apparated them to the restaurant.

He took her to an exclusive little restaurant in the high district of Diagon Alley. It was not an area Hermione had frequented previously, given it catered to the very wealthy. The maître d' seated them in a small alcove that allowed them privacy but provided an expansive view of the restaurant and its diners. Lucius ordered wine and dinner for them both and turned towards Hermione taking in her stiff, little posture. He waited while their server poured them wine before speaking.

He was such an arrogant, pompous, dictatorial… He watched her emotions play across her face. “Hermione, I admit I may have been a little rash with your wardrobe.” She looked up at him surprise in her eyes. She had not expected him to try to make amends.

“You would agree that I have a certain reputation to maintain in my role on the board of directors at the ministry as well as my societal connections? As my wife, you will need to help me maintain that reputation.”

Hermione sighed, “Yes, I agree with you. However, you have this tendency to dictate, command, order.” She began to anger again, heatedly she continued, “You don’t ask, there’s no discussion. It infuriates me.” She took a large sip of her wine and continued, “just because we have been matched does not mean you can capriciously make decisions for me. In fact, I don’t want you to make decisions for me without discussing them with me first.” She snapped at him.

Goddess, she was a bossy little thing. “I can agree to discuss things with you,” he assented as if he were a lord granting a boon.

She eyed him warily, that had been far too easy, “Thank you,” she said quietly nodding her head at him.

With a tentative truce in place, they proceeded to have a nice meal. The food was delicious and Lucius Malfoy could be quite charming and entertaining when he wasn’t trying to constantly boss her around. They talked about some ministry gossip and argued passionately about a magical creature rights law making the rounds. The time went swiftly. Hermione soon found herself back in her living room.

Lucius held her in his arms from having apparated them from the restaurant. She nervously eyed the silver buttons on his waistcoat. He lifted her chin with his forefinger and pressed his lips against hers. The kiss caught them both by surprise; it was sweet, soft and wet. He pulled himself away from her with difficulty. He looked down into her lovely face, her caramel eyes were clouded with passion. He ran his thumb across her full, bottom lip and said, “Tomorrow.” He moved away from her, stepped into the fireplace and called out, “Malfoy Manor.”

She flopped down onto her couch and looked at her fireplace for a long time. She reached up and touched her lips. He drove her to absolute distraction. How could she feel such attraction when more than half the time she wanted to wring his neck or hit him with something heavy? She stood up and went into her bedroom. She got ready for bed and found herself looking at her empty wardrobe as she lay against her pillow. The damned overbearing, domineering, arrogant man.

Tomorrow would be a long day.

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Hermione had set her alarm to go off early so she had time to get ready leisurely. Harry and Ginny would be meeting her here at 9:30 and they would apparate to the ministry together a little before 10:00.

She ran a hot bath and sunk into the bubbles taking in the sweet scent of apricots. Sipping her tea, she placed her feet on the edge of the tub and crossed her feet at the ankles. She was getting married today and although it wasn’t the wedding she thought she’d have, she did want to make certain it was a memory she could look back fondly on. After all, wizarding marriages were life-time bonds, as much as she was tempted to, it wouldn’t do to show up in a clown suit. She snorted into her tea as she pictured the look on his face if she showed up at the ministry in a top hat with a flower sticking out of the top of it, painted white face, round red nose, and gigantic clown shoes. She laughed aloud; she could save the clown outfit for some other occasion.

She pulled the packages from where Ginny and she had shopped out of her robe’s pockets. She waved her wand and enlarged the packages. Hanging up her purchases, she spent an inordinate amount of time making her hair lay in smooth fat curls that tumbled down her back. Ginny would help her with her with her make-up when she and Harry arrived. She pulled on her bathrobe and went to make more tea in preparation for when Harry and Ginny got to her flat.

Ginny finished putting the last touches of make up on Hermione and helped her step into the robes they had purchased for the ceremony. Hermione stepped into her shoes and looked at herself in the mirror. She was reminded once upon a time of a young girl in blue dress robes who stood before her mirror prior to a Yule ball.

“Oh Hermione, you are so beautiful. You are going to knock Lucius Malfoy on his butt.” Ginny grinned at her friend warmly.

“That’s the plan.” She smiled back at Ginny as they took in her reflection. Hermione followed Ginny into the living room where Harry was waiting for them. He was gobsmacked when he saw Hermione, “Wow, ‘Mione, you look bloody amazing.”

“Thanks Harry.” She said softly.

“Okay Potter, you can stop salivating over her.” Ginny smirked. Harry shook his head and smiled at his wife, kissing her on her temple. “Shall we, Ladies?” he looked at his wife and best friend.

“Let’s!” Hermione said, reaching for Ginny’s arm. She straightened her shoulders and with a pop, the three of them apparated to the ministry.

They apparated into the ministry atrium and proceeded to make their way to ministry registrar’s office. It was early for a Saturday morning but folks that were there stopped and stared as the three made their way to the 5th floor.

Lucius was going over the final paperwork that would need to be signed by both he and Hermione after the ceremony took place. Draco was leaning against the door jam. He turned suddenly when he heard his son say, “Good Goddess Granger, you look incredible.”

He looked past Draco to the vision that stood between Potter and his wife. Hermione’s hair was pulled back from her face with pearl-encrusted combs. Her hair tumbled down her back in a cascade of curls. She was wearing formal tea-length robes in various shades of blue that molded her curves and made her skin glow. She easily would put other women, whether they be pureblooded or any kind of blooded witch to shame.

He stepped up to her and held out his arm. She placed her arm on top of his. “You look beautiful, thank you.” He whispered down at her and she gave him a small, shy smile and they made their way over to the officiant.

A/N:

Again, thank you, your reviews really inspire me and in some cases have changed the direction of my story somewhat!