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A Simple Proposal	By : Tri Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Lucius/Hermione Views: 26263 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 6
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, its characters, locations, and everything in between. I make no profit from this story by using the characters and places. My only gain from this is reviews and writing practise.

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“You want me to be a bloody escort?!”

“Miss Granger, again, I ask you to refrain from using such lewd langue.”

“I can do what I fucking damn please!”

“Then, at least sit down!”

If Hermione wasn’t pacing a hole into his Persian rug, she might have jumped at Lucius loud bark. Like a dog following her master, Hermione sat back down in the leather winged chair. Unlike a normal dog, Hermione was deviate and kept her eyes narrow at the Pureblood as her arms folded under her breasts.

Lucius let out some air, as if he was holding it in for hours. “There, we can discuss this matter like adults.”

Hermione scoffed, “Too adult for my taste.”

His lips curled into a frown. Lucius leaned back into his chair, though relaxation would not be given to either one of them. Hermione took her eyes off from glaring at the pureblood to looking at the accursed stack of papers on his mahogany desk. A contract.

“I have told you before today of my intentions were with you, Miss Granger,” Lucius pointed out. “To join me on official Ministry outings, as in a date. So, yes, you will join me as an escort in the simplest of sense.”

“That was before I knew that you were going to have it your way all the way to having you pick out what I wear.” Hermione bit back. “I am not a doll to be dressed.”

Lucius rolled his eyes, “Like your fashion sense is up to par with my own. Much less this decade.”

Hermione colored, both in anger and embarrassment. “I like the way I dress.”

“Oh, really now? All I see on you are thrift store suits and second hand dresses. A woman should be wearing fine garments; silk, velvet, soft fabrics to match her soft exterior.”

Her wand hand twitched at her side as she just itched to zap him. However, he was right. She knew how to dress herself yet, with the cost of living and her wedding ceremony, money had been tight. It didn’t leave clothing expenses much to be desired. “But…did you have to include what…underwear I have to wear?” her face was turning scarlet.

He didn’t pay her flushed cheeks any acknowledgment as he simply shrugged his shoulders. “I just know what kind of underwear goes right with what dress. I rather not have you photographed with a visible panty line.”

“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this….” Hermione breathed out, her anger subsiding as she set herself back to reality.

“May I ask why what made you choose to agree to this? I’m pleased but, I must know. I thought you wanted to save your department all on your own.” Lucius question, as curious as the slippery cat he was.

Everything was bubbling up to the surface; everything was breaking through the dam with a sudden burst, leaving behind nothing but rubble. A tidal wave of emotions hit her so hard she felt she was being knocked down. Hermione buried her face in her hands, biting her tongue so hard it came close to bleeding. She did not want to cry in front of Lucius damn Malfoy.

His gentle touch on her shoulder made her jump a couple of inches. Looking up with her vision being filled with water, she saw a cup of tea in his offering hand. There was a quick flicker of pity in his eyes but, it soon vanished. Hermione took the cup carefully; looking down at it like it was a ticking time bomb.

“It isn’t poisoned or anything.” Lucius stressed out, his voice deadpan from the other use of that phrase. “You look like you could use it. I can get you something stronger, if you would like.”

“No, it’s….it’s fine.” Hermione stared at the golden hue of the tea. “It is just unexpected of you to offer me anything.”

Lucius leaned against the desk, keeping himself propped up by his arms. “I don’t like seeing women cry. It is wrong. It is off-putting.”

Hermione sniffled, “I wasn’t crying,” his raised eyebrow said he didn’t buy her lie. “I was near to it. It’s been a taxing week. Or rather day.”

“Enough to make you come to me.”

“Yes,” she nodded, taking a breather by sipping on the tea. Hermione had to recollect herself or else, tears would be spilled. “I’ve worked every angle, every plausible option, just to save my Department or at least prolong the shutting down of it. My people were willingly to put in the extra hours, working until a new day started, to support me. I have had to say ‘no’ to really good proposals and drudgingly approve proposals just to satisfy the Ministry’s requirement. But…the inventible happened. They all left. Left the sinking ship like rats!” Hermione wanted to snarl, hiss, and curse as she remembered the empty office but, her voice came out weak and tired. “What is the point of trying to save a Department when it doesn’t even exist?”

“Who says the Department is gone?” Lucius answered her rhetorical question. “Were you handed a pink slip?”

“Well….no. But, I can’t keep my Department if there is no one to help me run it!” Hermione exclaimed, her jerky movement to sit up sent the tea over the rim and onto the floor.

“Miss Granger.” He held up a hand like he was calming down a raging wave. “I did say that if you became my apprentice-”

“Escort.”

“Apprentice,” he stressed out, glaring silver daggers her interpretation. “That I would take care of you and your Department, did I not? Fund your Department’s projects, hand you some connections of mine, and need be, fill your Department with people.”

“No one could replace my crew,” Hermione commented. “They believed in the future, the future of many good people.”

“If they were noble people, then they wouldn’t have fled.”

His words stung, sending her wincing like tasting like old lemons. Lucius hit the nail on the head. Hermione knew, deep down, that what he said was the truth. She knew her crew to be good and just people, full of noble intentions. But, one sniff of defeat in the air, and they ran in the opposite direction.

“Now,” Lucius sat back down in his chair, pulling the contract closer to him to make an amendment. “How many people were in your Department?”

“Fifteen,” Hermione sighed, each of their faces appearing in her mind/

“Fifteen,” Lucius echo as he wrote down on a separate piece of paper, which looked to be names. “By tomorrow morning, your Department will be well stocked and ready to go.”

At this, Hermione eyes went wide. “You can’t be serious,” he didn’t look like he could crack a smile anytime soon. “How can you find fifteen people who have the same goals as me?”

When she first proposed her Department, she spent weeks and even months finding people to fill it up. Some were reluctant to join in; some didn’t want to leave their low-paying but secure job to join in on her bandwagon, and some just right out refused. To have him fill up the empty desks within a few hours, it was unheard of, even impossible.

“I have a few people in mine,” Lucius had already filled a second page of names. “However, you must never complain about the people I picked out.”

“But-”

“Never,” he nearly growled out. Hermione swallowed down a lump in her throat, he was different from that charming man everyone thought he was. “I will be your primary investor, your partner, so I own a good majority of the Department. What I say goes but, I won’t abuse or perturb the way the Department functions. Of course, this new amendment to the contract means you must give up something else in return.”

“W-what?” She stammered, feeling as if her soul was about to be sold.

“This apprenticeship was going to be a simple one, with a few rules and a more breathing room. Now,” he placed the pen down gently and looked up at her, his eyes dark. “You are going to be more of an apprentice to me than just a colleague that I simply mentor.”

Hermione knew she wasn’t going to like this. “What do you need from me?”

“I will need you to live with me.”

“What?!” Hermione was up in her feet in a flash. The hard thud behind her told her in her haste that she knocked over the chair. “Are you mad?! I can’t….I can’t live with you!”

“I am perfectly sane, Miss Granger,” his voice was calm but she knew there was a trace of annoyance sewn through his words. “I mean for you to stay in my home while you are under my hand.”

“I still can’t just move in with you!” she kept yelling in protest despite his cold stare. “I have my own life and I can’t just upheave it. I share an apartment with my friend, Ginny, and I can’t just leave her to take care of the flat; she will never keep up the payments. Nevermind the fact that I am engaged and it would be wrong to live with another man! And have you forgotten that I hate you?”

“Then why even come to me if you weren’t willingly to sacrifice something.” The corner of his mouth twitched upward.

Her face colored. “I…I wanted to explore all my options.”

“You do understand that being someone’s apprentice, no matter the field, the apprentice must live and learn with the mentor?” Lucius lips turn into a frown, as if he was beginning to think of the meaning of life. “But, I understand your concern about your friend, Ginny. Merlin knows that she cannot afford to live by herself, no matter the housing. I will compromise with you. For the fifteen people I will hire, you will stay fifteen weekends in my homestead.”

“Fif-fiteen weekends?” Hermione recoiled, her stomach doing cold flip-flops at the image of spending afternoon tea with the Malfoy family.

“You will have your own quarters, my house-elves will tend to every one of your needs, and no one shall disturb you.” Lucius vowed.

“Then why bother having me stay?”

“It will be a way to monitor you and I can teach you on a more hands on basis. Over the weekend, I will be teaching you some certain skills.” It felt like he purred out ‘hands on’.

Hermione ran a hand down her face, trying to recover her sanity. Everything was spinning out of her control. “This is a lot of think about. Can I….can I think about it? I’m alright with the apprenticeship, even you dressing me up but, moving in with you….it is a lot of take in.”

He took her plea and nodded, handing her the contract. “Everything will stay intact for your end of the bargain. Anything that is added is the fact of your empty Department and you staying in my home.”

“Thank you.” Hermione hugged the contract to her.

“I expect an answer soon, Miss Granger. Before the day is done. We can’t have an empty Department for long. And Miss Granger?”

“Yes?”

“Please think about this with logic in mind, not with the heart.” Lucius smiled at her, a twinkle in his eye. “The heart tends to cloud the mind.”

With a wave of his hand, he shooed her out of the door. Hermione looked down at the stack of parchment; it felt as heavy as a boulder.

--

On her third glass of wine and fifth round of reading the contract, Hermione had no idea what to do. Here was this brilliant offer, a chance to change the world and be able to support those who needed it. Hermione could help so many werewolves, give them comfort about not bring any danger to themselves or others. Maybe in a few years, werewolves wouldn’t need to live in fear and be able to live among everyone. It would make the memory of Remus Lupin proud.

Then there were the consequences of taking up this offer. Hermione, would essential, be selling her body and mind to Lucius though, not in the way she had thought. Rather being a sex slave, she would become his apprentice slash escort. Maybe an escort was not the right term that fit. All she had to do was to dress pretty, which he would give out dresses for her to keep, and show up on his arm. Hermione could tolerate a few hours with him, only if there were others.

Did that mean she could tolerate being in his presence for a full weekend? Hermione could barely stand being alone with him. He drew up some complicated emotions within her. One moment, all she wanted to do was to strangle his long, alabaster neck followed by a moment of feeling vulnerable under his gaze. It was an emotional roller-coaster for her. Could she survive a weekend full of it?

There was the clause in the contract that if she felt threaten by him or even hurt by him, that Lucius would cease the apprentice but pay for a full year of the Department’s funding. Hermione was more willingly to sign the contract because of that.

Hermione sighed, finished her third glass, and leaned back in her chair. There were too many factors to think of, all of them rambling about in her head, to the point it was becoming nauseating.

“Hey, do you want pizza for tonight?”

The sound of the voice made Hermione jump slightly in her seat. Ginny stood in the doorway of Hermione’s office. “What?”

“Do you want some pizza for dinner?” Ginny repeated. Her lips curled with worry, as if Hermione was as sick as a dog. Ginny approached her, “Are you alright? You seem jumpy.”

“I have a lot on my mind, recently. I will be fine,” her tight smile did little to change Ginny’s face. “Come on; let’s get some pizza for tonight. My treat.”

Hermione was halfway out of the door when Ginny called out. “What’s this?”

She froze in her steps, knowing exactly what Ginny had in her hand before she turned around. The redhead was looking through the contract, her face turning paler by the second, before ending with a grimace look on her face.

“This is an apprentice contract…”

“I know…”

“With Lucius Malfoy!”

“I know!” Everything suddenly became real. It wasn’t a dream that her overworked brain came up with. Now, it was real as the clothes on her back.

“Why do you have this, ‘Mione?” Ginny shook the contract. “I said that if you needed money, we could help you.”

“It isn’t that simple, Ginny,” Hermione breathed, the floor below her feet began a bit wobbly. “This is my last chance at saving my Department and my job. Everyone left, Ginny. Troy, Susan, and the others…they all left. No money you, Harry, or even, Ron have will save a dead Department.”

“You are willingly to serve Lucius Malfoy?”

“Yes.”

Ginny lowered the contract, the shock had subsided. “Oh, Hermione!” she pulled the older witch into her arms, holding her tightly. “I am so sorry. I never thought that Lucius was going to serious. You know how Malfoys are; they like to mess with people. But this, this contract is legit! What are you going to do? Will you sign it?”

Hermione sighed, “I don’t know, Ginny,” pulling away from her friends embrace, she took up the contract again. “If this was with another person, if Lucius Malfoy was not involved, I would have signed up right away. What are a few Ministry functions and weekend visits compared saving my Department and changing people’s lives?”

“But it sounds kind of fishy…” Ginny observed. “Are you sure he isn’t asking anything sexual?”

“Coming from a woman, who said a few days ago, said that I should have sex with him.” Hermione scolded the younger woman.

“That was in a moment of jest!” The redhead began, her cheeks coloring from embarrassment. “I thought it was a joke. I never thought you would cheat on Ron with Lucius. You…you aren’t thinking of having an affair with him are you?”

Hermione visible flinched, mostly from the strong concern in her friend’s voice, as if Ginny didn’t trust her. “You know me, Ginny…Ron and I might get into fights but, I would never cheat on him.”

“Then what about Ron?” She brought up. “What are you going to do about him? He won’t like you being Lucius Malfoy’s apprentice, much less sleeping at his house.”

Hermione knew Ginny was right. Ron would blow a gasket if she ever mentioned the idea of living in Malfoy Manor. True, she and Harry had begun to tolerate the family but, Ron loathed them and sneered every time the name was mentioned. When Hermione tried to tell Ron about Lucius visiting her office, she hadn’t even mentioned his offer before Ron went in a loud, angry, red-cheeked rant. After Ron began to cursing the Malfoy about a small incident with the elevator at the Ministry, Hermione had gone to bed to shut him up. There was no way that Ron would agree to-

“Please think about this with logic in mind, not with the heart. The heart tends to cloud the mind.”

Lucius voice echo through her head, like a whisper from a dream. Hermione must have closed her eyes because when she opened them again, Ginny was looking at her seeking an answer.

“Hermione? What about Ron?”

“He doesn’t matter.” Hermione said simply.

“But, you two are engaged. He wouldn’t say yes to this.” Ginny stressed out.

Hermione shook her head at the dismal of her concern. “Ron is not a factor in this. I won’t let Ron’s anger stop me from fulfilling my dream of helping people. If he complains or tries to get me to quit…then, he can forget about our wedding.”

“Hermione!” Ginny yelled in protest.

“I mean it. If Ron can’t sacrifice his anger and hatred while I will sacrifice my time and dignity, then Ron will never appreciate me and my efforts.” Hermione stood tall with her words. Before Ginny could try and pull the contract away, Hermione grabbed it from her hands.

Hermione scrawled her signature on the line and initialed where it mattered. Once the last splash of ink stained in her name, the black letters turned gold and sealed the name. The contract twisted and turned like it was caught in a washing machine, before disappearing in a pop. Hermione knew the contract was officially sealed and on its way to the Ministry records. Hermione wasn’t going to back down.

“Now,” Hermione looked at the shocked redhead. “How about that pizza?”

--

Author’s Note: Well, this is an interesting set-up. However will Hermione live with Lucius and not cheat? And what about the familiarity between Ginny and Lucius? Hehehe. Next chapter, we will get a surprise guest! Maybe even two! Please, review!
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A Simple Proposal