Hidden Meanings

Disclaimer: You think I am Jo? You girls are so sweet!

pinks: Don't worry about the caps. Yes, Lucius does indeed love her.

Citten: Update here.

angel: Severus was being just as naughty, I love the idea of Lucius and Severus fighting over Hermione... as for Arthur?

mary: Sev should have been nicer to Hermione in the classroom don't you think???

Ripewickedplum12: Glad you do... here's more.

JW: Possibly, you might get your wish.... as for Remus, well we have had an amicable split shall we say.

MikiB: Thank you, humour is something I am trying to work on.

BuckyKattGirl: Severliscious might have someone, you never know.

Meeting with Arthur

Lucius took Hermione up to his own private Owlery; he had four owls, a mating pair with two chicks. Hermione fell in love with the baby chicks immediately. They were Eagle Owls, and as haughty and as proud as the owners. Hermione walked up to one of them who puffed their chest out with pride, and she looked at Lucius who nodded his head. In the Owlery there was a desk with parchment, to make it easier, enchanted so the parchment and desk could be kept clean from the owls dirt.

“Their names are Merlin and Nimue,” Lucius said, introducing the male and female owl. “Although, I did not have an idea they had chicks, oh well, perhaps you’d like to name them, my vixen?”

Hermione turned towards him and there was a scowl on her face.

“Will you stop calling me that,” she sighed impatiently.

“Calling you what, my dear?” he whispered in her ear, as he slid his arms around her waist. She elbowed him gently in the ribs.

“Vixen, I am not a Vixen!”

Lucius smiled and turned his face to nuzzle in her neck and smirked against her soft neck.

“Oh yes, you are, you’re my little vixen,” he murmured against her neck, and his soft lips moving against her flesh made her shiver, and his warm breath made her skin tingle. She tried to fight out of his grip but he held her tight, and she eventually relented.

He turned her around and placed his lips on hers. He then released her and smacked her bum cheekily.

“Lucius!” she exclaimed with exasperation.

“What?” Lucius asked in a mock innocent tone. “Do what you have to do, I should imagine breakfast will be ready shortly.”

“All right, Lucius,” she sighed back. She walked over to the desk and wrote a short note.

‘Dear Mr Weasley,

Hermione here. I HAVE to meet you at the Leaky Cauldron to tell you something very important, and to confess to something that I have done. Please come alone! I’ll be there waiting for you.

Hermione!’

Hermione read over the note aloud and nodded satisfactorily. She folded it up, and sealed it. Merlin swooped down on the desk and stuck his leg out. She tied the letter to his leg and he then flew off. He obviously knew where to find Arthur.

She exited out of the room and walked down the staircase. Dobby was standing at the bottom of the staircase, and he looked up at her. She had won his bet for him, and he was prepared to do anything for her…

“Breakfast Parlour, this way,” he said.

He had shown her to a very comfortable room. It was cosy and small, and it was decorated with a bright, sunshine yellow. The window drapings were soft, and light and creamy coloured, and the chairs were squishy, and terracotta.

“This is warm and light,” Hermione observed. Lucius was eating some scrambled egg and he looked around.

“Suppose it is,” he replied with a cool detachment.

“Not your favourite room then?” she asked.

“No, not really, it’s a little too feminine for my liking. And the colour scheme reminds me of Hufflepuff,” he shuddered. “I’d rather have been a Muggle than end up in Hufflepuff.”

“Some of my best friends are in Hufflepuff,” Hermione replied stiffly.

“That maybe so, but Helga and Salazar never got on really,” he said. “Salazar got on better with Rowena, and for a while, he even liked Godric!”

Hermione frowned, as she selected what she wanted to eat. She found, to her utter delight, Dobby had put ketchup on the table. If there was something she loved about the Muggle world it was ketchup – she sat down with a plate of scrambled egg, and sausage, and baked beans, and then she sat down opposite Lucius.
“I have to go to the Leaky Cauldron,” Hermione said.

“Nervous?” Lucius asked.

“I have to tell a Wizard who WOULD have been my father in law that I am marrying a man that is his mortal enemy.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t put it that strongly,” Lucius purred.

“I have heard him say he wants to kill you, Lucius,” Hermione said, her brow creased in a worried frown. “Gods! I was supposed to marry HIS son, and now – oh what a bloody mess!”

Lucius tipped his head to one side and then decided to walk up to her. He knelt down on the floor and then he put his hands on her lap, and she turned towards him.

“Arthur Weasley would understand, I am sure,” Lucius purred. “He’d perhaps be more forgiving of me, than I would with him were the situation reversed.”

“I doubt it,” Hermione mumbled.

Lucius stood up and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. She looked at him and he smiled down at her.

“He truly would be a disgrace to the name of Wizard if he rejected you when you truly needed him the most.”

Hermione nodded her head, and she turned her attention towards the rest of her breakfast. Lucius watched her for a minute or two to make sure she was satisfied and then he walked out of the door. Only to bump into a very tired looking Severus, who regarded Lucius with a very filthy look.

“Didn’t sleep well, old friend?” Lucius sneered.

“Oh shut up!” Severus exclaimed.

“And what was it that kept you awake, Severus?”

“Do you want me to Levicorpus your butt off the floor?” Severus asked.

Lucius sniggered and walked past Severus. He sauntered up the stairs and then Severus walked into the Breakfast Parlour.

“Hermione,” he greeted when he opened the door.

“Severus,” Hermione replied. She looked up and saw that he hadn’t even gotten dressed yet. He was in his grey nightshirt. Hermione blushed, as she looked at how short in the leg it was.

“Are you well?” Severus asked.

“Sort of, I have to ask Arthur Weasley to witness my marriage to Lucius, and I am just scared as to what his reaction might be.”

Severus regarded her for a minute. It wouldn’t do to suggest he come along, after the act he had committed he was surprised he was still walking free.

“I am sure Arthur will understand, he’s not as stupid as his sons,” Severus said.

Hermione just glared at him. She then returned to her plate and finished eating.

“Help yourself,” she said primly.

“Merlin! You’re not even bearing the name yet, and now you’re acting like one!”

“One what?”

“A Malfoy, you are already beginning to act like one.”

Hermione smirked as she got up and walked past Severus.

“Severus, why do you look so awful today?” she asked, as she was about to open the door.

“I had some very, er, uncomfortable dreams,” he replied.

Hermione peered at him but he wasn’t going to give anything away so she just shrugged her shoulders and opened the door. She was about to walk out of the door when she felt him standing behind her. She turned around and he was standing very close to her.

“Severus?” she asked.

“Do you have to be so damn pretty, Hermione?” he asked her in an accusing tone.

“Pretty?”
“Yes, and sexy!”

Hermione was gobsmacked. She looked up into her ex-Professor’s eyes and almost fell down to the floor. There, in his eyes, was a hot burning look of passion, and Hermione had to physically draw a foot back.

“Well, I am sure that you’ll just have to – to -!” she turned and fled before the gaze did anything to her that she might have regretted. She was Lucius, and that’s whom she’ll remain loyal to.

Severus turned on his heel back into the Breakfast Parlour; he almost had her there. She was a very strong, loyal person though; it would have to take something big to tear her away from Lucius now. He looked at the food provided and heard his stomach growl. He decided to have a bit of everything. ‘What you’d really like to nibble on is upstairs isn’t she, Severus?’ the nagging voice in his mind said. Severus ignored it.

~*~*~

Hermione was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, she had decided to wear some fairly ordinary muggle clothes, and she was tapping her fingers on the table, and she kept checking her watch at two-minute intervals. She brought out a money pouch that Lucius had given her so that she could at least buy a few drinks and – if she was still there at lunch time – something to eat as well.

Eventually Hermione smiled at the sight of a red haired, tall, thin man. Arthur looked around the smoky atmosphere of the Leaky Cauldron. He found her, sitting in at a table and chairs set against the wall.

“What will it be, Arthur?” Tom the barman asked.

“Nothing, Tom, I’ve got to go back to work soon.”

“Cup of coffee?” Tom asked.

“You do that now?” Arthur asked.

“Sure!”

“Okay, then a coffee, please.”

Hermione sat straight up and composed herself. She knew what she had to say was going to be tough for Arthur to hear, especially the part on her hug just to steal one of his hairs.

“Hermione, Remus told me that you had disappeared somewhere, I am so pleased that you are still alive.”

“Pardon?” she frowned.

“The seal on the letter,” Arthur said scowling. “I am fairly familiar with this seal you know.” He took the letter out from his tatty robes and he put it on the table in front of her. “What did you do, Hermione?” Arthur asked in a serious tone.

“Um,” Hermione felt herself blush. “Remember I hugged you outside Azkaban?”

“Yes, I thought it was because you were scared to go in there, although I can’t say I blame you.”

“No, I wasn’t scared. I tricked you, so that I could steal one of your hairs, and then I put it in some Polyjuice potion when your back was turned. Arthur, I rescued Lucius Malfoy.”

“Why?” Arthur asked in a reasonable tone.

“Because it’s more than likely that he knows how to destroy the Dark Lord, once and for all.”

“And why would Lucius Malfoy want to kill You-know-who? He only does something for something. What incentive have you given him to provide the information?”

“I have given him, me,” Hermione said.

“HERMIONE!” Arthur yelled.

“Narcissa has divorced him and Draco wasn’t his son,” Hermione explained. “So, I thought that as he had lost his wife, and his only heir. I agreed to marry him and bear him an heir. If I am pregnant within six months then he’ll start providing the Order with useful information.”

“Hermione, why have you done this?”

“Because I want revenge for what that bastard did to Ron!” Hermione exclaimed.

“And marrying Lucius is revenge?” Arthur asked.
“Yes, because don’t you see that Lucius is now betraying the Dark Lord. He say’s that – that -!” she blushed.

“Go on, Hermione,” Arthur encouraged.

“He say’s that he’s been in love with me since the Quidditch World Cup,” she mumbled. Arthur sat back and whistled.

“And how do you feel about him, Hermione?”

“I think that I can come to love him deeply. I know that I care about him.”

“That’s just you’re problem, Hermione, you care for everyone,” Arthur pointed out.

“Anyway, Lucius and I need two witnesses for the Wedding to be legal. I was wondering if you could be mine?”

“Who is Lucius going to have?” Arthur asked.

“Severus,” Hermione squeaked. She couldn’t say all the things that she had been up to these past couple of days.

“I see,” Arthur said in a controlled voice.

“I AM NOT BETRAYING HARRY, ARTHUR!” Hermione yelled.

“I wasn’t saying, you were,” Arthur said calmly.

“Please, Arthur, please set aside your prejudice. Lucius has, he really has. In fact he was the one that suggested you. He trusts you, weirdly enough.”

“Coffee, Arthur, and one for the lady,” he winked at Hermione.

“Thanks, Tom,” Arthur said. “How much is that?”

“On the house, Arthur,” Tom said.

Arthur and Hermione sipped at their coffee’s in silence and then when Arthur had come to a decision he put his cup down on the saucer and looked at the young, defiant woman before him.

“All right,” he sighed. “I’ll come and be your witness. Just to make sure he won’t ever hurt you.”

“Thank you, Arthur.”
“That’s all right, so when are you two going to get married?”

“Tomorrow,” Hermione replied. “He has changed, believe me he has.”

Arthur looked at Hermione; there was something of scepticism about the way Arthur looked at the woman that spoke volumes. It was practically shouting at Hermione at how Arthur truly felt, and she knew tomorrow was going to be a tough day. Ron and Draco’s enmity was playing, compared to how Arthur and Lucius felt about each other.

“We’ll see,” was all he said.

Hermione drank some more of her coffee.

“Come early,” she said. “I trust you know where the Mansion is?”

Arthur nodded. He felt as if his stomach had plummeted somewhere down to his ankles. He should just smack Hermione for being a naughty girl and get her back home where everybody was worried sick about her.

Molly’s going to kill me, he thought, once she finds out!

A/N Sorry that the updates aren't coming as fast as they used to... but I am now busy with my own site that is entirely dedicated to Severus and Lucius, a place to put fanart and fics, anyway, here it is. What do you guys think? The address is in my profile.