Prisoners of Love - A Mystery - COMPLETE

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Updated 8-6-07


The quality of your reviews is amazing! I feel like I need to go back and polish my chapter to a gem-like sparkle to match the high caliber you all are generating through your keyboards. Don't panic - I polish very quickly. 8-)


Okay, to answer some questions:


The most pressing is about the whereabouts of Ron and Harry. They will show up - I promise. It may seem like forever, but Hermione has only been in prison two days. And remember she was dragged out of bed, sentenced, and thrown in with Lucius all within hours (hence the nightgown.) Give our boys time.


The villains will have to remain incognito, but they aren't Ron and Harry. (I feel a little like JKR, sidestepping questions about the plot and characters. Without the bank account.)


katie - Do you have a story up that I have missed reviewing?


Everyone will be relieved, I know, that ccrawley let me keep my truffles and chocolates. Sorry, they're all eaten.

Oh yeah, did I mention there was some smut in this chapter?

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Chapter Nine

Ceremony and Cleanliness


“Come in, Otto.” Lucius went to the wooden portal and helped open the heavy door. “Otto, we have a favor to ask. Can you notify Warden le Fay that we need to see him immediately?” Lucius added, “Can you ask him to bring his temple ceremonies book?” Lucius met Otto’s eyes and emphasized his request urgently with a solemn visage.

“Yeah, sure, Mr. Malfoy. What if he asks why?” Otto was a little confused.

“Just say you don’t know but I sounded urgent. I sounded urgent.” Lucius repeated his words for Otto’s slow mind. “And can you return with him? Bring one of Warden le Fay’s office personnel too, please. I don’t care who.” Lucius saw his instructions needed repeating so he listed what he wanted again and Otto nodded and left.

“Oh, brilliant! Are the others our witnesses?” Hermione was impressed with the wizard’s organizational skills. Her youth would have kept her from putting together all the details that the more experienced and previously married Lucius easily planned for.

A second marriage might not have been in his plans and certainly not to a Mudblood, but something primitive and urgent within him fairly howled for him to keep Hermione safe. His tenuous mental bond with her was directing his actions, he was sure, because he had never felt this with Narcissa for all she had been a gloriously beautiful creature.

His first marriage, now mercifully in the past, had been charged with two personal goals: the randy, young Lucius had wanted to sleep with the ravishing Narcissa and his dynasty demanded that he produce several Malfoy babies. There had been three Black sisters and their family’s reproductive abilities had seemed extremely promising to his father. After Draco, Lucius had continued to plow his wife for several more years of duty sex even though Narcissa had been a severe disappointment to him physically. But he had finally trailed off to nearly nothing in defeat. By then he had seen that Andromeda had only produced one child and Bellatrix hadn’t had any.

Lucius smiled at Hermione and lightly agreed that the office personnel were indeed to be their witnesses, sitting back down on his cot and relaxing on it, already planning his wedding night. Or maybe afternoon! He watched Hermione stand indecisively for a moment, then she moved to Lucius’ cot also and sat down, scooting up against him to wait. They both knew they were going to have visitors again soon, but neither could keep from playing a fiercely competitive game of tongue wrestling while they waited. It was all either of them could do to keep from yanking off the other’s clothing, but sanity prevailed for the moment.

Within half an hour a party of four men came down the cell block corridor. Otto opened up the door for the Warden, his secretary, who was a younger, more energetic version of the ineffective, indolent older man and obviously his son, and lastly the Head guard, a bruiser with the odd nickname of Bluto. Hermione smothered a smile, seeing that the giant guard did indeed look like the cartoon villain in old Popeye cartoons. She would bet someone in his family tree was a Muggle.

“What is so imperative that you need me? And the temple book. Is one of you dying?” Warden le Fay looked between the two prisoners, frowning when he didn’t see any problems, but then he peered more closely, “What’s wrong with Miss Granger? She appears ill.”

Before Hermione could speak, Lucius said smoothly, “Miss Granger adopted these sores to keep herself safe from a few of your more amorous guards. But that is not to the point. We were seeing each other before I was sent to prison and she was working on my case before she herself was indicted and convicted, erroneously I should add. I have asked her to marry me and she has consented. It makes no sense for us to be incarcerated together and not be married.” Lucius faced the Warden with all the imperious authority that came to him naturally and it was effective in swaying the older man.

The Warden’s son and the Head Guard both looked surprised, but the Warden’s calm demeanor wasn’t shaken by the powerful Pureblood’s declaration. His only comment was, “Which guards have threatened Miss Granger?” He was speaking to Lucius as though Hermione wasn’t capable of speech and Lucius knew that would irritate her. He gave his new fiancee a mute warning stare beneath a socially charming smile and put his arm over her shoulders keeping her a bit behind him to keep her silent, uneasily watching her tiny hackles rise. However, she followed his direction and stayed quiet.

Hermione’s goal was marriage to Lucius so she was willing to let the Warden treat her like a halfwit, but she didn’t like it at all. Lucius got a solid pinch on his ass as punishment for her disgruntlement, hidden from the Warden and the others by her nightgown.

Lucius’ social smile became pained as he grabbed her hand, ostensibly to hold it fondly in front of their audience. He figured mentioning the names of the miscreant guards to the Warden wasn’t going to give them much hope of help and possibly only get the guards angry, but he told the Warden anyway.

“I have the names written down, Father. Bluto will look into this immediately,” the younger le Fay said, closing a small notebook as his father nodded his acceptance. The secretary passed a scrap of paper to Bluto who nodded and tucked it into his vest.

“Very well,” the elder le Fay replied to Lucius, “I don’t see any problem. We have witnesses available so if you wish I can do the ceremony right now.” The Warden opened his temple book to the page he needed and began the binding words.

Ten minutes later, Lucius Malfoy had a new wife. And Hermione silently rejoiced in becoming Mrs. Malfoy, although she understood hers was now a very rocky road. She was in love but she knew she hadn’t married Peter Pan - more like Captain Hook - or the crocodile. The Warden said he would bring by the documents to be signed right away and the group left.

Lucius glared at his new spouse and growled, “I won’t mind you biting my ass in passion, but I will not stand for you pinching me when you’re unhappy. I am not a complacent husband as I am sure you will discover in short order.”

Hermione slammed her hands on her hips and glared right back. “I’m not a complacent wife either. I’m small and for some reason, people equate size with intelligence and write me off as mentally deficient or at least only moderately able to think for myself. I know you can’t possibly entertain those ideas about me,” she said sarcastically, “but I resent you representing me as an idiot to others. It’s a very major sore point for me, so I’ll warn you now and perhaps we can avoid future misunderstandings about it.”

Lucius raised a supercilious eyebrow attempting to intimidate Hermione but he wasn’t really terribly sanguine about his success, so the futile eyebrow was put back where it belonged and he decided to be amused instead. After all, he had a wedding night to look forward to, and making his wife livid wasn’t going to give him a good time in bed.

The Warden returned alone in short order, delivering two copies of the marriage contract for the two of them to sign under his signature as the person officiating and the two witnesses who had also signed. When the formalities were finished, the Warden said with an expansive smile, “I’ll keep your copy in the office for you. As you are now legally wed and this is your wedding night, I’m providing a special place for you this evening. Follow Otto with whatever you’ll need for the night.”

Hermione breathed deeply to contain her anger and said sweetly, “I was bundled here so precipitately that I have nothing but literally what I stand up in. If you have a prison uniform and a toothbrush and toothpaste I’ll be in your debt.”

At her words, Warden le Fay looked a little surprised, “You weren’t given the regular packet of supplies we give all prisoners? That should have included soap, your toothbrush and paste, a set of towels, a comb and brush, and two uniforms including underwear. The toothpaste is always restocked whenever you run out and the same for the soap. Of course we change your towels, sheets, and uniforms once a week and toilet paper is always restocked. Just ask a guard.” He looked around the cell as though he expected the items to show themselves.

“Well, that is enlightening, le Fay,” said Lucius. “I’ve been here four months and I’ve never received any of those things either. Lucius didn’t bother to add that the same had been true of the first time he’d been sent to prison. That was old business and would only distract the Warden. He gestured to his stripes saying, “This is the uniform I was given upon my arrival and I’ve been wearing it for this entire time. Could it be that one or more of your guards has a nice black market business on the side?”

Lucius’ words earned him a look of such startlement that Lucius realized this lazy official was completely clueless and had no ability to keep his prison under his control. If Lucius ever got out alive, the first thing he would do was have the inept Warden replaced.

“I’ll have Otto bring all your things to your wedding retreat. Please excuse me now. I have a few things to attend to.” The Warden left the cell with a determined stride that Lucius hoped meant expulsion for Jax and Ben, but he wasn’t betting on it. He didn’t give the man much credit for a backbone - he must be criminally naïve to be so oblivious of his own work environment and employees.

Otto returned and bid the two newly married prisoners follow him as he wended his way through several corridors, finally coming to one not lined in gray stone. Hermione admired the polished white granite walls, but looked at Lucius in confusion and whispered so Otto couldn’t hear, “Why is everything so neat and tidy here and so unpleasant in our block?

“These corridors are the ones le Fay probably uses, so they’re maintained, plus this is the area for all visitors, who are never shown our cells. We are taken to ‘visiting’ rooms when anyone comes to see us and a guard stands in the room with us, so no secrets or complaints are ever uttered. Luckily Snape is quite good at legilimency, too, so we can converse a little nonverbally and he brings me those Daily Prophets.” Hidden in the Daily Prophets were pieces of financial information that Snape had inserted for Lucius, which weren’t noticed by the bored guards. Lucius then used the owls to reply with any major responses he needed to make. It was a cumbersome system for both of them but necessary for their business interests.

Lucius expanded, keeping his voice low, “It wouldn’t do for the black market guards to make the Warden or the prisoners’ loved ones suspicious of the extent of their sloth, although I guess I’ve not met whoever runs the operation. All of the guards in our block are only a few steps above a woodlouse for intelligence. I imagine the backed-up drains when I first got here still haven’t awakened our Sleeping Beauty Warden to the scope of the illegal activities going on under his nose. The man’s an idiot and we have to suffer for it.” The dark wizard shrugged, “He won’t be Warden longer than a week after I’m freed.”

Otto stopped at a plain wooden door painted white with a metal number three on the panel. He unlocked the portal and showed the pair into the small apartment. “This is for Ministry officials who visit,” Otto explained when asked who used the room. Uncharacteristically, Otto added, “But no one ever comes.” It was the work of a moment to show them all the amenities – the main room which was the bedroom and a small bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink. He left quickly, warding the door.

Hermione immediately checked out the small area, noting the wide bed covered in a serviceable quilt made of a blue, green and red plaid material, and the carpeting in a golden beige with the furniture made of a dark golden-stained pine. A comfortable blue upholstered armchair sat to one side near a reading lamp and side table.

But it was the bathroom that drew Hermione like a lodestone. She swung open the door to find an entire en suite bath with a decent sized shower stall, a toilet (thank the Gods), and small counter with a sink in it and two drawers plus a cupboard. The bathroom fixtures were white porcelain and silver faucets and the counter was painted white with blue trim. Hermione immediately stepped into the bathroom, closed the door and stripped off her flannel nightgown, running the shower on high to get the warm water working. She hadn’t been able to wash for nearly four days counting the time her trial had taken place and she was nearly gibbering at the thought of a hot shower.

Lucius stood at the door and waited for Otto to bring the promised items to their room and all the supplies and clothing came very quickly, making Lucius wonder exactly where all of it was stored. He selected a size zero prison-striped top, two towels, and the soap and shampoo and headed for the bathroom, entering it just as Hermione was stepping naked into the shower.

“Lucius, please! I’m taking a shower.” She hid behind the frosted glass shower door glaring at her new husband, but then she saw the things he had in his hands and said, “Just leave them on the counter, please. You can be next. She closed the shower door on herself and slipped under the warm water luxuriating in the heat. Three seconds later the shower door opened again.

Lucius stood there absolutely stark naked holding some soap and the shampoo in one hand as he slung the two towels over the open door with the other. “Move over, Mrs. Malfoy, I’m not waiting for you to take all the hot water in an hour-long female lovefest with cleanliness. You’ve been deprived four days. I’ve been deprived four months. I’ll do your back and you can do mine.” Lucius stepped into the stall and closed the door, shutting the two of them in together, as the water cascaded onto them both. “Merlin’s balls, that feels good. Here, use the soap on my back.” Lucius handed a big bar of nice-smelling green soap to Hermione and twisted his back toward her.

Hermione just stood there frozen with her mouth at half-mast, completely flummoxed at having a tall, naked male in the shower with her. She’d never even entertained the idea of showering together and she didn’t know how to react. How did she cover up her own assets when he took up so much space that most of them were already solidly pressed up against him? She had been so busy worrying about her own naked body that she had missed seeing Lucius in all his glory and now he had turned away from her.

Lucius looked over his shoulder down at the little witch and sighed, “Hermione, you’re going to drown if you don’t close your mouth. Can we hurry up here? I don’t know how much hot water we have to use, and I don’t want to find out in the middle of lathering my hair. My back, NOW!!”

Hermione faced a broad expanse of perfect, warm, golden ivory skin which lovingly draped his shoulders, following the masculine contours and rolling muscles of her husband’s back, then sloped down to his slim male waist and flared out and bisected onto the hard rounded planes of the glorious butt she had wanted to sink her teeth into. Still did. She mourned the three vivid, shallow stripes she’d gouged into his back when he’d caught her peeping, resolving to be careful of them when she washed him.

She looked down to see thighs and calves toned like a hippogriff handler’s as though he could easily control one of the dangerous beasts with his legs alone. Gods, the man made her insides all gooey and he hadn’t even turned around yet. Hermione felt like hyperventilating as she vigorously rubbed the soap bar between her hands, gathering lather for her first foray into true intimacy with her handsome wizard.

Lucius looked over his shoulder again, seeing her slathering up some soap lather and he relaxed his stance, leaning up against the side of the shower stall on his elbows to give his wife a little room to wash.

The top of Hermione’s head came to the height of his shoulders and her lips were just a millimeter away from the spot between his shoulder blades, but she resisted kissing the smooth skin of her virile spouse; instead she slid soapy hands on the sides of his rib cage, feeling his hot body temperature as her hips pressed against his butt muscles in order to fully reach up his back.

Lucius gave a small jerk as he felt his wife’s soft belly melding against his backside. Her lithe form was a severe temptation, but he wanted to scour four months of leftover scum off his body before he served her up for his evening’s delectation. He stood still for her inexpert cleansing technique – she was using her fingernails a bit too much, raking him from waist to shoulders and causing his manhood to throb uncomfortably with unappeased lust. His previous experience with her fingernails made him a bit leery, but the sensation this time was making his expectations soar.

When she slid her tiny hands around his sides and captured his male nipples with one of her raking swipes, he gasped in blissful pain and bit his own lips in an attempt to keep from moaning out loud. His tool mercifully hit the side of the stall relieving a bit of the pulsing stress as he bucked involuntarily with the sudden sensation of arced lightning in his nipples that sent shockwaves through his body straight down to his groin. His breathing turned erratic and he closed his eyes in mute prayer that he wouldn’t lose his seed in the shower.

Hermione was having a wonderful time torturing her demanding mate. Maybe she didn’t have any firsthand experience, but she was extremely well read and the male physique wasn’t quite a mystery to her, albeit only through pictures and prose. This was eons better – this hands-on exploration of a beautifully sculpted male body that was hers, all hers. She could feel his tiny shivers and see his skin jump as she deliberately, delicately clawed his back and chest, discovering exactly where he was most sensitive to touch. Her shyness was fast fading into the shower’s watery mist as her desire escalated feverishly. With a private, evil smile she quickly skimmed her hands down his flanks and up across his buttocks, sending her fingertips into his crack to soap him up there.

Lucius jerked violently at the shocking intrusion and nearly shot through the stall wall, smashing the underside of his poor turgid organ into the tiles. “I said my back,” he hissed, his nerve endings flickering back and forth between pulsing pain and profound pleasure. “Dammit, I’ve crushed my cock.” Lucius was so high from having his body scratched, he had been floating in a fantasy of getting his new bride to suck him off in the shower.

“Oh, sorry,” Hermione crooned against his spine, sneaking a little lick, “I though you said ‘backside’. My mistake. Here, let me help you.” And she reached her soapy hand around to his groin, sliding her little fingers up and down his abused tool. “Does that feel better now?” Hermione was feeling up her first penis and she was a little dismayed at the sheer girth of a staff she couldn’t even get her fingers completely around. She wished he would turn around so she could see what she was touching.

As she rested her cheek on his back and blindly slid her fingers up the length, they kept going and going – Hermione bit her lip in nervous awe - this was never going to fit in any orifice she owned. But it was so exciting to touch Lucius’ private property that she soon forgot the detail of size in her wonderment at the sleek, firm, hot flesh she was groping without seeing. The Braille system did have some definite advantages.

Lucius growled in agony as her erotic ministrations initially nearly sent him into convulsive spasms. But as he froze with the searching little fingertips on his aching tool, her touch became soothing to the burning in his groin; the painful reverberations generated by the smack against the tiles ebbed. The jolts of his tender nerve endings finally subsided enough that Lucius gently disengaged Hermione’s hand from his body. “No more. I want to enjoy the rest of the evening, not lose all the kiddies down the drain of the shower.” He plucked the shampoo off the small shelf in the stall, “Why don’t you wash my hair instead?” He handed her the bottle and faced the side of the stall again, leaning his head back for his petite wife to pour the cleansing agent on the wet, pale strands clinging damply to his back.

Hermione was disappointed at having to let loose of such a fascinating part of her husband’s body, but she resigned herself to waiting for any more intimate touches and she poured a little of the scented shampoo onto her mate’s soft hair, replacing the bottle on the shelf. Hermione set to work, massaging Lucius’ scalp and building up the suds, spreading them up and down his long tresses, then rubbing the flaxen mane and cleaning it.

His moans of sublime enjoyment encouraged her to do a very thorough job, leaning up against his back as she used her fingernails to lightly score his scalp. She wiggled her mons against those deliciously firm buttocks in an attempt to relieve some of her building arousal, making Lucius’ abused erection throb again. When she felt she had done enough, she pushed at his shoulders, “I’m ready to rinse, Lucius. Bend down and put your head under the water.”

“I’ll rinse my hair,” he said, handing the bottle to her. “Why don’t you get your own hair done, while I wash the rest of my body? Not to wish to offend,” he said sardonically, “but I think I’m better off doing it myself.” Lucius needed more time to recover from the bashing his distended organ had suffered against the shower tiles as it now was also pulsing from having a petite muff of curls beguiling his backside.

Hermione wanted to get her hair washed too, so she philosophically accepted the shampoo and got her hair done in record time, stealing the soap back from the dark wizard so she could finish up her own body. When she had completed her ablutions, she handed back the soap to an avidly watching Lucius who was nevertheless protecting his sensitive groin against the wall of the shower. Little flailing elbows were all he needed to put a premature end to his plans. Plus, he hadn’t minded losing the soap to his little witch as she was slathering up several interesting areas he hoped to gain access to momentarily.

Hermione had decided, since her husband was going to be seeing – and touching again - everything she owned in a few minutes, it was ridiculous trying to be coy in the shower. So she unconcernedly rinsed off and sailed out the stall door, grabbing one of the towels and leaving Lucius to finish up his legs and feet alone. His back was to her, so she still didn’t get a very good view of the one part of Lucius that drew her curiosity like a kitten to yarn, but oh, that macho butt needed some decorative bite marks. Hermione felt like drooling at the idea of testing his taut butt muscles with her teeth.

She smiled to herself at her shameless urges with all that tall, gorgeous collection of tawny skin and muscles, and bone. And his fascinating, sinuous mind. She loved it all and was already wallowing wantonly in her married life. The tiny phantasm of apprehension that darted briefly across the surface of her joy whispering of his lesser feelings and superior attitude was quickly relegated again to the shadows in her mind as she waited impatiently for her husband to finish in the bathroom.


tbc...

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Yup, more smut in the next chapter.

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