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The Downfall of Greed	By : tcarlson Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Lucius/Hermione Views: 40824 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do I make money off this fanfiction.

Chapter List
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I was reluctantly thrust from my peaceful slumber by an annoying tapping. Groaning, I turned over and buried my face in my pillow, reaching out to pull the girl back into my arms and hopefully find another few hours’ sleep. She allowed herself to be pulled into my embrace with a happy sigh.

“There’s an owl at your window,” she commented as she molded herself to my body.

“Screw the bloody owl.”

“It’s quite insistent.”

I cursed and stumbled over to the window, letting in a burst of frigid air in along with the owl. It held out its foot to me and I took the letter. It didn’t wait for a reply.

I cursed again as I read the letter. “Bad news?” the girl asked from the bed. She was sitting up with her back against the headboard and the book I had grabbed last night opened on her lap. She was more than halfway done with it already. She must have gotten up with the sun to start it.

“Take your time with that book. I may not be generous enough to allow another one after I get back from the business I must attend to.”

“You need to go into the Ministry?”

“For the day, yes.” I focused on dressing and she went back to reading.

“Did you know that from 1832 to 1833, Goblin banking increased 70%? It was the biggest jump ever in history.”

“How can you find that book interesting?” I asked.

“I make do with what I’m given.” She smiled at me through the mirror. I raised my eyebrow at her.

I straightened my hair and gathered papers from the table by the fireplace. “I should be back by dinner,” I told her as I stuffed the papers into a briefcase. “The House-elves will bring you meals. Don’t venture out of the room and I’ll make sure that no one ventures in.”

She nodded in understanding and shuffled to the end of the bed where I was standing. She knelt up to straighten my tie. “I was hoping that we would spend the day in bed… together.”

Her breath hitched as I grabbed her chin and kissed her forcefully. “Tonight.”

“I hope today goes well,” she said as I left the room.

I shut the door behind me and walked over to Draco’s room. He sleepily sat up as I opened his door. “Wha-?” he mumbled.

“I was called into the Ministry for an emergency. I will be gone all day. You are not to go in my room and bother her. Understood? I will know if you do.”

“K…” He flopped back and was snoring again by the time I closed the door.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I don’t know who considered it an emergency and who felt the need to call me in, but I was going to hex them. The head of the International Relations Department, a thick man appointed by Voldemort himself, thought that a minor incident in Salem, Massachusetts warranted a grade 2 shutdown of the entire Ministry. It had nothing to do with my duties within the Ministry and it got me stuck in hours of unnecessary meetings and paperwork. I was beyond angry.

It was long past dinner when I returned home. All I wanted was a stiff drink and to go to bed. I thought about going straight upstairs to her but the soft glow of the fire in the library in the otherwise dark house peaked my curiosity.

“Draco?” I called out as I made my way toward the door.

Instead of Draco’s voice, I was greeted by the high whisper of Voldemort. “Come here, Lucius,” he ordered. My stomach dropped. It’s never good news when the Dark Lord makes himself comfortable in your home.

I cautiously entered the room. He was sitting in my favorite chair by the fire, drinking my expensive Firewhiskey. At his feet, knelt the girl. She was visibly shaking and had tears streaking down her cheeks. Her eyes pleaded with me to get her out of her current situation.

“Good evening, my Lord.”

“Sit, please, Lucius,” Voldemort said as he gestured to the opposite chair. I sat down stiffly. The girl attempted to move over to my side, but was restrained by a hand on her shoulder. “I trust that everything at the Ministry is sorted out?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

“Good.” His hand moved from her shoulder to her neck, where he stroked it absentmindedly. She flinched and let out a small sob. “Hush, I haven’t even touched you yet,” he admonished. So he hadn’t taken any liberties with her. Good. I relaxed a bit. “Since I knew that you would be gone all day, I had decided to come and better acquaint myself with Miss. Granger.”

“I hope you found her accommodating.”

“I never got around to finding out. In fact, I had just gotten her settled down when you came in the door.”

“She was being difficult?”

“No. You misunderstand me. She wasn’t even here when I arrived. Which I found odd.”

I frowned in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“The house was empty when I got here. I searched everywhere for her and came to the conclusion that you must have made other arrangements for her for the day. But none of my faithful Death Eaters had any idea where she could be. I came back here about an hour ago to confront you. That’s when I found her curled up sobbing in the grass outside your gates.” Anger bubbled under his words.

“That’s impossible. I made it so you had to have the Dark Mark to enter or leave the gates. And I checked to make sure the Mark on her back would not interfere with that. She had to have been accompanied by a Death Eater to get out there!”

“She was. My dear, why don’t you tell the story?” He tapped her sharply on the head.

She looked at me with tear-filled eyes and shook her head slowly. “Who took you out, Miss. Granger?” I snapped.

“Draco and Professor Snape,” she whispered.

“Why?” I was so angry that I was seeing red. Of course, Severus would take the opportunity to take what he’s so long wanted when I was called away. But why would Draco help? I gripped the sides of my chair to prevent myself from hurling something breakable against the wall.

“They brought me back to the Order.”

The Dark Lord launched himself out of the chair and paced in front of the fire. “Traitors! Both of them! They will pay, Lucius. I will have everyone looking for them. I shall kill them with my own hand.”

I panicked. Draco? A traitor? “I’m sure Draco had nothing to do with it, my Lord. Severus must have coerced him somehow.”

“Silence!” he roared. “No matter what the circumstances, he still tried to help her escape! As much as it pains me to kill the end of a Pureblood line, you are still of breeding age, Lucius, and can have another child without much difficulty. But he must not be allowed to live. He will be made an example of.”

“But she isn’t with the Order! She came back! Maybe Draco brought her back and had just gone with Severus for proof that he is the traitor.”

“She came back of her own accord. She seems to be quite attached to you. And Draco’s absence seems to establish his guilt.”

I covered my eyes with my hands. “My son. A traitor. I don’t want to believe it.”

Voldemort turned from where he had been leaning on the mantle to stare into the flames. “Believe it. If it is any consolation, I will make his death quick. Severus shall suffer.” His gaze ran over the girl sobbing silently on the floor next to the chair. “The fact that she came back on her own testifies to your successful work with her, though. With that I am pleased. She was safe at the Order and still returned to you. I think it is time for a trial night with me. You will deliver her to my manor at dinnertime tomorrow.” With that, he swept out of the room.

As soon as the front door slammed behind him, the girl crawled over to me and knelt in front of me. I stared down my nose at her. She attempted to take my hands in hers, but I only gripped the armrest of the chair tighter. “Why did you come back?” I hissed. “Why couldn’t you have just stayed away? The trouble you bring isn’t worth anything you have to offer me!”

She laid her head in my lap and her body shook with silent tears. “I was sitting in the Order headquarters. I was safe. I was surrounded by friends. But you weren’t there! You are the center of my world and without you, I am nothing. I couldn’t go back. After what I’ve been through, they’d treat me like porcelain. They would have walked on eggshells around me. I’d live a protected and sheltered life.”

“So you came back here for a life of confinement and torture?”

“I came back here for you! I ran out and did wandless Apparition. Do you know how badly I wanted to get back here, how much magic I drained out of my core to be able to do that? I’ll never be able to do that again. And I did it to get back to you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have. I can’t even stand to look at you, you pathetic Mudblood.” I pushed her off of me and stood over her. She stood up and tried to touch me. I flinched back to avoid it. “Don’t touch me. I don’t ever want any part of your dirty body to touch me ever again.”

“Why are you mad at me? I did nothing wrong!” She backed up and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked so lost that I almost went over to hold her, but I held onto my anger and kept my distance.

“You did nothing wrong?” I asked in a deadly whisper. “My life was fine without you! As soon as you came into it, everything went to Hell! My wife left me! My best friend turned traitor! Voldemort is going to kill my son!” I turned around to hide the tears threatening to pour down from my eyes. I hadn’t cried since I was ten and I wasn’t about to restart now. “My son…” My voice cracked.

She crept closer to offer me comfort. Instead of the hug she was expecting, she got a hard slap across the face. We both stood there stunned at what I had done.

“I know it seems hopeless now…” she started.

With a growl, I launched across the space between us and grabbed her hair. She struggled as I pulled her out of the room and down the hallway. I shoved her through a once-familiar door and slammed it behind her.

She slept in the dungeon that night.
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The Downfall of Greed