Original Sin

By amburnikole

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own
ideas….alas everything Harry Potter belongs to JKR

When Hermione opened her eyes, she
felt the tears immediately flow down her cheeks to the silky sheets beneath
her. Her heart ached when she thought of Ron, but she knew the pain would only
be temporary. It had been her choice, after all, to leave him. Loving him
wasn’t the problem. She loved him, she loved their children, but she could not
longer pretend that she was happy. He was so wonderful the first few years, but
then he started to change. He began to resent her and her talents, her job,
even her existence. He tried to keep her home, to run her life, and crush her
dreams. She couldn’t shut herself away from the world, and she could no longer
be suppressed and smothered into the horrible existence that Ron called home.

He hounded her for days afterwards,
begging her to reconsider, and refusing to sign the divorce papers. She was
stone-faced and refused to give into his apologies and pleadings, and by the
end of the month she was Ms. Hermione Granger once more. Surprisingly enough,
things at her office in the ministry were relatively back to normal after all
the hype. She had not received any ill wishes from her boss, whom she was sure
wouldn’t hesitate in getting his two cents in with some snide comment. class=SpellE>Lucius Malfoy had been blissfully
silent through the storm of press and hate mail she received. In fact, he had
been almost helpful at times. He helped her burn most of the letters she
received, turned away reporters, and even hit one photographer over the head
with his cane. After all, they were trying to work and even the smallest
distractions could cause something to go wrong when trying to break curses on
dark artifacts.

She sighed and wiped her eyes with
the back of her hands. A glance at the clock told her she was due to get up in
a half hour for work. Resigned, she pulled herself up to start her routine.

An hour later had her standing
behind her desk at the pile of files to be done for the day.

“ah….an
early bird today Ms. Granger.”

She smiled and looked up.

“Yes. I couldn’t sleep. You’re here
early as well.”

The platinum blonde smirked.

“Yes well, I had my own sleep
troubles. Shall I order us some breakfast and we can start once we are finished?”

“That would be wonderful’ she
replied, taking in the almost unnoticeable circles under the wizard’s eyes
along with his slower gait.

“Mr. Malfoy…maybe
it would do us some good to get some air. Would you be agreeable to going out
for breakfast?”

He raised his eyebrow at her.

“Very well.
Let’s get moving so we can get back. There is a particularly nasty looking
curse on a ring brought in last month that I want to get started on.”

She rolled her eyes at his
retreating back, but smiled as she noticed the almost imperceptible spring in
his step that wasn’t there before.

They had not been to the Scarlet
Rose in some time, but they had one of the best English breakfasts in the city
as far as Hermione was concerned. It was a small pub, but the atmosphere was
warm and the people were warmer.

“Ah Hermione!
Lucius! Been a long time hasn’t it?”

“Hello Archie. Too long my friend.” class=GramE>Replied Lucius.

“Your table is open,
I’ll place an order for the usual eh?”

“Yes please Archie” Hermione
replied.

They moved to sit in the booth by
the last window towards the back.

“So tell me about this ring we’re
going to tackle.”

Lucius
smiled.

“Is was an
estate piece leftover from the Lestranges’
possessions. It is a magnificent ruby set in platinum, but the dark magic it
gives off is almost tangible.”

“Hmm…sounds like it will be a fun
one.”

He chuckled and Hermione laughed,
both remembering the last Lestrange piece they had
broken the curses on. It had been a hand mirror and Hermione’s hair was pitch
black for two days after one of the curses caught her.

Hermione turned her head towards the
bar to smile at Archie when she gasped loudly.

Lucius looked
over to see what was going on.

“RON!?”

There was her ex-husband walking in
with Lavender Brown fawning all over him. At his name, his head whipped around.

“Herms?”

She scrambled from the booth and over to the pair.

“What is this about?”

“Um, well…you see..”

“We’re seeing each other Ms.
Granger” Lavender spoke sweetly, emphasizing the M more than necessary.

Hermione stammered for a moment,
trying to hide the hurt that she felt.

“Already moved on then have you?
That didn’t take long at all.”

“Well it looks like you have too. I
mean you’re here with some bloke….wait is that Lucius
Malfoy? You’re here with HIM?”

Hermione rolled her eyes.

“He is my boss Ronald, or don’t you
remember that? Maybe if you had paid attention more…”

“Here now Hermione that’s enough…you
don’t want me anymore so I’m seeing someone who does. I refuse explain myself
to you. You aren’t my wife anymore. Please excuse us. Catch you later Archie.”
And they turned and left.

Hermione stood there trying to calm
herself and was failing miserably. Her heart was racing, she was fighting off
hyperventilation and tears, and her heart ached again. She jumped when a hand touched
her shoulder. She looked over into the cool grey eyes of Lucius
Malfoy. He looked at her with something in his eyes
she couldn’t put her finger on. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it
again. He looked away from her then and Hermione noticed his hand was still
warm on her shoulder. He looked at her again for a moment before sliding the
hand from her  and
moving away stopping only a moment to look back.

“Our breakfast is ready Hermione.”
Was all he said before reclaiming his seat.

Hermione placed her hand over where
his had been for a moment before reclaiming her place as well. As she ate she
contemplated how those five words had calmed her in an instant. Words of
comfort would have opened the floodgates and somehow he knew not to use them.
They were ordinary words, spoken from a not so ordinary man and they seemed to
bring her back to herself and she was grateful. And he had called her Hermione.