The Talk

A/N: Thank you for your epic patience! We haven't forgotten about this story. Here's a little morsel to give you a taste of what's to come.

~o0o~

Hermione woke up and stretched her arms out to find…nothing. She had wrapped herself around Lucius all night – his strong biceps doubled quite nicely as handholds for her delicate fingers to caress and hold – and especially loved the feeling of his long, thick cock pressed hard against her mound. She was only unconsciously aware of it at the time but now that she was fully awake, she missed it. She frowned.

A chill made Hermione reach down for a fistful of covers to pull over her legs. Her bare arm, covered only by the short sleeve of a white t-shirt, brushed against her equally virginal panties and made her realize how embarrassingly wet she still was. She blushed, regretting not bringing a change of clothes to wear after. One of "Professor Malfoy's" first boudoir lessons, she thought to herself with a mental eye roll.

Thinking his name made her feel warm inside, and she unconsciously smiled as she laid her head back down against the pillow.

Just as Hermione closed her eyes, she heard a series of soft steps on the floor that let her know her lover had entered the room. He was wearing a dark grey bathrobe and had an uncharacteristic smile on his face. He quietly approached the bed and edged himself in. In a playful mood, Hermione pretended to be asleep. She felt a gentle kiss against her forehead as the sheets ruffled, and without warning Lucius's hand quietly cupped her pussy. "I know you're faking" he whispered.

She could hear the smile in his voice and it made her giggle. "No you don't."

"Fine then." His hand unwrapped from around her panties and snaked up her shirt. "But sleeping girls don't get nice presents."

She furrowed her brow, a move she had perfected during her years at Hogwarts. "Presents?" In the time she had been with Ron, the only present she had gotten from him was a knitted sweater that his mother had quite obviously sewn. With a pouting look on her face, she opened her eyes. "Fine. I'm up." She gently pushed the covers back to expose a small bit of skin on her legs. Still annoyed that he had left her, she gently removed his hand from her shirt and stared up at him.

Lucius's hand gently held the back of her neck as he kissed her. "I thought you might be. And beautiful though you may look, you do seem a bit cold." He was right; his lips felt so warm against her own. "So I had something made for you." With a snap of his fingers, a red bathrobe materialized in thin air. Dark red, the same color as her house at Hogwarts. The letters "HJG" were embroidered across the front, emblazoned over the Gryffindor house crest.

Hermione smiled and crawled out of bed, stretching her slender legs and yawning with her arms over her head. She discretely snuck a peek at Lucius's bulge, happily noting that her display had the effect she intended. "Lucius, this is very nice…" The silky robe felt wonderful in her hands, and when her fingers rolled across the surface the color rippled slightly. Hermione made a show of turning away from him so he could sneak a look at her arse one last time before slipping on the robe. It ended just above her ankles and the moment it touched her skin, Hermione felt warm.

"It's charmed to make you warm whenever you wear it" he told her. "I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of guessing your size."

"Not at all, she told him with a tender smile on her face. She gracefully whirled toward him, the robe gliding up her smooth legs. "I like it." She crawled into bed next to him, the robe parting slightly just beneath her hips. "Thank you." She kissed his cheek, and slowly made her way to his shoulders.

Lucius moaned softly against her kisses. "Hermione, eager though I am to enjoy another round of slap and tickle with you, you left me famished last night." Without looking, his hand found and cupped her own. "Come join me downstairs for breakfast."

Hermione loved Lucius's strong but gentle grip of her hand as he led her down the hall. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to distract her from what had happened before. Hermione shuddered as she walked past the room where Bellatrix had tried to painfully wring information from her and tightened her fingers around Lucius's hand.

They descended the central staircase in sync, robes rippling down the original marble steps that Lucius's ancestor Augustine had installed over a century ago. Lucius lead Hermione around a corner and into his luxurious dining room.

Hermione gasped at the veritable banquet her paramour had ordered. Scented candles floated above the table, complementing the wonderful morning sunlight that the luxurious windows allowed in. All variety of eggs, sausages of both link and patty, crisp bacon, and what smelled like freshly-squeezed orange juice magically appeared on their plates and in their cups as soon as the pair approached. Hermione suppressed a squeal of joy when she noted that Lucius had even had his house elves prepare pancakes for her, a favorite muggle dish that she had enjoyed her entire life. "How did you know?"

The corners of Lucius's lips turned up ever so slightly into a mild grin. "As muggles say, a magician never reveals his secrets."

She was still amazed at the buffet before her, and resisted the urge to roll her eyes and quip that having a younger lover has brought out his corny side and that he should stick to more droll humor. Instead she tucked in and stuffs her face with syrupy pancakes.

Almost out of nowhere, Hermione's stomach began to knot. At first she thought she must be eating too fast, but then she realized it wasn't a physical malady. Everything, from waking up half naked in Lucius Malfoy's bed, to eating at the breakfast table where his ass of a son and malicious wife had supped with him, to receiving a gift symbolizing his least favorite house at Hogwarts, finally hit her.

Above all, Hermione realized she had actually shagged a professor. Hermione, the golden girl who could never do wrong and seemed poised to graduate at the top of her class. Now she was accepting gifts from a man she loathed just a few months ago and letting him…

Hermione delicately set down her silverware, crossed her hands, and took a deep breath. "Lucius, we need to talk."

~o0o~

Shite. Lucius finished his sip of tea and gently returned his cup to the saucer before folding his copy of the Prophet and returning it to the table. "Yes, Hermione?" He kept his face completely straight; years of meeting with Voldemort at this very table had forced him to master concealing his emotions. Life with Narcissa these last few months had only enhanced that skill. In fact, Lucius thought to himself, a rally with his former Death Eater colleagues would no doubt be more pleasant than whatever Hermione planned to say.

"I just…want to be completely honest." The girl who had had so much trouble expressing herself the last few months now seemed completely lucid. "I'm overwhelmed." She looked down at her plate and gestured toward her bathrobe. "This is all very nice of you, Lucius…Professor Malfoy…but I just feel like we're…"

Lucius consciously softened his features. "Moving too fast?"

She looked back up at him with a faint glow in her eyes. "Yes. I mean, all of this" she said, looking around the entire room, "is very nice, but I feel that I hardly know you. Some part of me still wants to take out my wand and throw a curse at you."

Lucius resisted the urge to smile. "I understand –"

"…and the last time I was here, your batshit lunatic sister-in-law came very close to killing me. And that's not even the worst part."

"Then what is –"

"I'm shagging a professor!" Hermione fell just short of shouting it out. "For seven years I tried to do my best in school and build a reputation for myself. Now I'm shagging my professor like some common tart. It's completely fucked up."

Lucius had never heard her swear before. He didn't find it entirely becoming. "Language" he added with an aristocratic raise of his eyebrow. "Hermione, you are a woman of age now. What decisions you make are completely your own and entirely legal. You needn't worry about what others think of you for this. It's not as if anyone will find out, anyway."

"Even if no one else knows," she answered, lowering her voice and looking down, "I will."

"You feel guilty."

"Yes."

"For what?"

"I dumped my boyfriend so we could..."

"Shag like a pair of pissed sixth-year Hufflepuffs?"

"Yes." She let out a small squeak of a laugh at his joke before covering her mouth before straightening. "Lucius, this isn't something to joke about." Her eyes slowly drifted down and rested on her breakfast plate before turning back to him. "How did you even know I liked pancakes?" Her gaze had changed from remorseful to inquisitive and she now matched his raised eyebrow with one of her own.

"It's simply breakfast, Hermione" Lucius said as he laced his fingers together and rested them on the table, looking every inch an indifferent professor and not a man who had recently seduced his student. "I would be a poor host if I didn't offer you some sort of meal."

"But how did you know what I liked for breakfast?"

"Honestly? I didn't. I simply enjoy having them myself on occasion, if truth be told."

"Oh." Her eyebrow returned to its resting position, and Lucius couldn't help but notice that some of the tension seemed to drain from Hermione's face as she gave a long, deep sigh.

"Despite the fact that you have spent most of your life in school, you are an adult now, Hermione." Lucius uncrossed his legs and straightened in his chair. "You ended a relationship so you could try something new with a different man. That is an adult thing to do, not a juvenile one. Perhaps your true discomfort here is moving from the realm of juvenility to adulthood." He smiled softly at her. "Give it enough time and I think you will find it far preferable to riding dragons or trying to deal with crazed Death Eaters."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but she uncrossed her arms and a pensive look played across her face. "I suppose you might be right."

"Yes, I suppose I might be. Surprisingly, sometimes people other than Hermione Granger do have the answers sometimes."

Hermione didn't smile, but Lucius saw something bright ignite behind her eyes. "And here I was about to reward you for being so kind to me and talking me through this. I suppose you'll just have to work harder next time and try to keep that sarcastic streak in check if you really want it."

"That was not a sarcastic remark" he said with a straight face. "You really should learn to trust other people as much as you trust yourself."

"Damn you and your penetrating insights" Hermione said as she gave him a playful shove.

"For a Head Girl, you certainly aren't acting the part of a responsible leader. I wonder if I can deduct points from Gryffindor off campus…"

Hermione snapped back and straightened in her chair. "You wouldn't."

Lucius picked up his cup and sipped his tea slowly before looking her up and down. "Perhaps not. Not this time. Only because you fill out that gift I gave you so nicely."

Hermione gently pushed back her chair, sauntered over to Lucius, making a show of dramatically swaying her hips, and sat in her professor's lap. She slowly draped her hands behind his neck and drew closer and closer to his lips, not a millimeter away from them…

"I have to go" she whispered before pulling away and winking. "Head Girl duties call, and if I recall, I have a paper to write for a certain Potions professor. We will talk again soon, though. I promise."

Lucius nodded and struggled with whether or not he should pin her to the table so she could enjoy the raging erection she had given him. Ultimately he decided against it, simply nodding curtly and remarking "Miss Granger" by way of goodbye.

"Have a wonderful weekend, Professor Malfoy."

Lucius couldn't help but stare after her as she walked way.

~o0o~

Mispy grumbled to herself. The day's rain had left puddles in the stone walkways of Knockturn Alley, and she had already almost fallen into one and drowned. She thought about renouncing the deal she had made, but ultimately pressed onward and entered a secluded pub.

Inside, her contact was exactly where they had previously agreed to meet: at a table in a relatively isolated section of the establishment. Taking a moment to compose herself, Mipsy walked forward and seated herself next to a dark, hooded figure.

"Misses' hunch was right. Lucius has taken a new lover," stammered Mipsy.

Her partner sat stone still and silent. The darkness cloaked her features, so Mipsy could not tell how this piece of news had affected her. "Who is she?"

Mipsy wrung her hands together and bit her lip. "Mipsy shouldn't tell. Mipsy can't betray Master Lucius…"

"Remember our deal. Tell me everything," answered the hooded woman without pause.

"She is young, a student at Hogwarts. She didn't offer her name when Mipsy let her into the manor. When Mipsy was cleaning, she heard Master Lucius shout a name from the bedroom." Mipsy winced. "Hermione."

For half a moment, the hooded woman sat absolutely still. Then she held her hand out and let a small bag held closed with a drawstring fall to the table with a clunk. "Our agreed upon fee for your trouble." Seemingly motionlessly, the woman's chair pulled back from the table and rose to head for the door. "Our plan moves forward. You will hear from me again soon."

Mipsy nodded nervously. As her companion strode purposefully toward the door, Mipsy hoped no one noticed the stray lock of dark black hair, pierced by a single blond shock that protruded from the woman's hood.

Gee, who could that be? More to come soon, we promise!

A/N from Rileypotter17: thanks to Benkins for taking the lead on this! Let's show him some love!