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Hidden in Plain Sight	By : Katay Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Lucius/Hermione Views: 17098 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Author's Chapter Notes:
I'm sorry I'm so late on this update! I hope you all enjoy and let me know what you think!!!

Chapter 13:

�Luna!
Over here!� Hermione called across the packed Starbucks (what, you actually thought a Muggle could
come up with something that fabulous?).

�Hi, Hermione! You�ve got quite a bunch of snafflers
over your head; Lucius give you a smooch earlier?� Luna winked at Hermione.

Hermione
simply shook her head, amazed at how perceptive and yet � well, loopy, her
friend could be. �We�re meeting for dinner later. He�s got a bunch of work to
do at the Ministry before the promotions come up.�

�You
don�t have any left, then?� Luna sipped her coffee hesitantly, cautious of the
burning liquid.

�Oh,
nothing too extensive - I had most of it done weeks ago � Lucius is a bit more
of a procrastinator, not that he will ever admit to it.� Hermione shook her head.

Luna
nodded sympathetically, �Rolf is a bit like that too; but they�re men � for
some reason we find a way to live with it.� She waved her hand airily, �So now
start explaining! How long have you been married? When did you start going out?
How? Why?! There�s so much to discuss!�

Hermione
laughed, �Gods, I know, I know! And you?! Rolf � you�ll be explaining too
missy.� She wagged her finger at the blonde, �Well, the answer to the first
question is fifteen years on Christmas, but we�ve really been together for
about seventeen. As to that, you recall we were working together on the
werewolf registration, right? Well I suppose it all sort of evolved from
there.�

**

February 2000

Vienna, Austria

�You
set her up to it.�

�I
did not! Malfoy, will you stop it and focus! I do not care whether you are
friends with my housemate or not, I do not care if you are unhappy that she finally contacted you, I do not care if
you are merely trying to assess whether she has malevolent intentions towards
your highly-esteemed person. I. Do. Not. Care. I do, however, care whether we finish this
damn list or not by tonight. I, for one, would like to go back to our hotel,
take a bubble bath, and get some fucking sleep.�

He
tried to avoid the images of her sliding around a bubble bath and slowly,
seductively stepping out of the inlaid bath, water sluicing down her soft,
silken legs. Legs that would momentarily be wrapped around his hips as he
picked her up and pounded her into the � GOD
DAMN IT.

�Well,
why on earth is she inviting me to lunch then?�

Hermione
let out a frustrated screech, �For Merlin�s sake Lucius, I don�t know. Maybe
she wants to get to know her only other family member again. Maybe she wants to
see if you�ve changed. Maybe she�s lonely and wants to talk to someone her own
age. For fuck�s sake, I don�t give a bleeding fuck � ask her your
bloody self.�

�Such rage. And I highly doubt it is the latter option, she
could hardly tire of your intellectual chatter. I promise you, one hardly
notices you�re under thirty with that mind of yours.�

Hermione
gaped at him and then eyed him warily, �What have you been smoking?�

�I�
pardon me?� His eyes wide, he attempted to process what she had just asked of
him.

Hermione
gestured at him wildly, �I asked what you�ve been smoking, or what potions
you�re on � surely you didn�t just tell me that I�m intelligent and can
converse.�

�I
simply meant that as a man twenty-five years older than you, I hardly notice
the age difference intellectually. Your mind is far more mature than most at
your age.� He peered over the tome he�d been looking through, somehow looking
down on her even as he complimented her.

Hermione
glanced down at her hands, �Yes, well � well, yes, it is rather. I suppose
that�s why I have such a hard time relating to people my own age.�

Lucius
glanced back at his book, �Indeed. Now, what should I wear?�

Hermione
threw her hands up in the air, �Sweet Circe. Lucius,
do you, or do you not want to finish these tonight?�

He
slammed his book shut, a cloud of dust rising from it and covering him from
head to foot, �Hermione, we have all tomorrow to look over these as well. Has
anyone told you that you are a slave driver? In fact, I put my foot down.�

He
slammed his book shut, a cloud of dust rising from it and covering him from
head to foot, �I will not do any more work until I have eaten an entire meal
away from books, smoked my cigar and had a shower to get off this accursed
dust.� He spat out the last word as he attempted to clean himself off with a Scourgify.

Hermione
couldn�t help giggling, �All right you pansy.�

She
stood and picked up the books on the table and left to place them in their
original positions on the shelves, �Let�s go back to the hotel, clean up and
then go out to dinner ...� she glanced over her shoulder at him with an
indescribable look, �or would you prefer to eat alone. I certainly don�t want
to dampen your evening.�

Lucius
gave a great huff of annoyance, �You would not be ruining my evening Miss Granger � stop fishing for compliments. We
will have to work on that self-confidence of yours; it is far too low for
someone like you.� He nodded and walked off to the entrance of the library,
while Hermione stood back in the stacks, mouth agape.

**

Hermione
sipped her coffee slowly and peered over Luna�s shoulder with unfocused eyes, �And
so we went to dinner. And what a dinner! I think we were both so starved for
companionship; that unending ache of being alone in a group of people � only a
few of whom you can talk to, that we looked to the other, our former opposite
to fulfill the void.�

Luna
asked softly as not to disrupt the other woman�s reverie, �What of the others
though, Harry, Ginny, everyone?�

Hermione
ran a hand over her hair, �Ginny and Harry were too caught up with each other
to fully comprehend, and it wasn�t as though I could go to Ron. After the
miscarriage, he and Lavender were tense enough � not to mention that debacle
between him and I at Lucius� Christmas party. And really, after the war, we
needed to form our own identities.�

She
shifted and took another sip, savoring the foam in her mouth, �Everything
really changed during that Vienna
trip. We got to know each other, we saw each other in
a new light, a social light, beyond our previous interactions. And honestly, it
was Vienna, the
atmosphere, the spirit � we went to the opera and saw the ancient structures
that next day � it was intellectual foreplay if nothing else.�

She
ran a finger around her coffee cup, �Stimulating the mind and through it the
body, every tingle from a mythical tale and every moment of awe at what those
former generations had accomplished, had the potential to, and did, arouse. I don�t know if it was an
unconscious approach by each of us or if it was inevitable.�

�Our
talks were certainly never full of rainbows and silly dreams, but arguments,
memories, opinions, and prejudices � on both sides. I was still young, reeling
from a war I was never prepared for in a world I had only known about for 10
years. He was facing a new wizarding world and being forced to revalue
everything he�d known since childhood. We argued passionately sometimes and
others cold fury was the ruler of the day.�

She
refocused on Luna�s face with a sheepish smile, knowing that she had been
rambling for awhile, �Oh, Luna, I can�t really explain it � Vienna,
Rome, it was
both magical and logical, but then it ended. The project had its foundation and
it was sent to some other department, I haven�t any idea really � merely that
it was published and accepted by the Wizengamot � and
the Order celebrated it as a tribute to Remus and
even Bill.�

�Life
felt like it was finally on track for me.�

Chapter End Notes:
Whew, so I know its short but I promise more is coming. I've gone with a bit more of a narrative style in this chapter as I think it suits the feel and how I want the material to be brought across. I'll be going with this style for probably the next few chapters, so I hope you all can accept that :). And as regards my personal life, my husband is at home and is recovering nicely. Slow and steady, so the updates will be slow, but hopefully steady as well :). Thanks to everyone for their support!
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Hidden in Plain Sight