Characters: Hermione Granger, Lucius Malfoy and doubtlessly a lot of the usual suspects in Harry Potter.

Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters mentioned in this story. They all belong to J.K. Rowling.

Warning: Everything in this fan fiction takes place after Book 7, so you have to go along with that, also general knowledge of the books in actual publication may be of use to you. 

Author's Notes: This plot bunny really comes from Drucilla and I talking about trying to redeem Lucius Malfoy which I admit never occurred to me until after the movie for CoS. This won't be an entirely cliché story nor will it be sick or squicky, I promise (hence the taking place after Book 7).

~~~

Her first month at Hogwarts had already gone well, which was a relief for Hermione. After all, being back at Hogwarts was nothing unusual. The school and its grounds had long-since become a second home. Being an assistant professor to Professor Flitwick had been a little bit more difficult, not that she had been treated that differently by the professors. Maybe everyone had just expected that Hermione would be one of the students who never left.

Sometimes Hermione missed what had happened before Voldemort's attempt at gaining power. Everything had changed briefly and then the Wizard World had gone back to way it had been. She was still just Hermione Granger, daughter of dentists and general fount of arcane knowledge. Maybe she was just disappointed. She had expected more to happen to her by her Seventh year and certainly after it.

She missed Harry, although she would see him before too long. Of that she had no doubt.  He was taking his time to recover and deciding what he would do with his future. She wondered if she ought to have done the same. She missed Ron as well and some of the unresolved issues that had never quite been discussed by either one of them. He was off with one of his brothers doing who knew what. She had heard from him once or twice.

Truthfully, she received more letters from Mrs. Weasley and her parents than either one of them. She mused that Harry she could forgive but Ron would have some explaining to do over the holidays.

There is no escaping the Weasleys, she thought as her looked at Ginny who sat beside her staring gloomily at the hard wood table.

"Now, Ginny, I can't do anything about your wand, but I don't think that is the real problem. The problem is your enunciation of the spell."

Ginny looked at her blankly, still moping. She had been moping for weeks as far as Hermione could tell. First crushes never really died, did they?

"It's in the way you say it. The way you wave your wand."

"But I am saying it right."

Hermione shook her head and managed a strained smile. "All right, for example." She glanced over at Professor Flitwick's stool at the front of the room and pointed her wand. "Mobiliarbus."

She carefully and clearly sounded the word out to Ginny who through mumbling her spells had been getting all of them wrong.

The stool floated towards them and stopped on top of the table besides Ginny.

"There, you see, Ginny. You can do that even with an old wand like yours. I'm sure of it."

The youngest Weasley sighed and rolled back her sleeves. The girl had perseverance, Hermione would give her that but she was just as stubborn as Ron about…well, everything.

She thought about saying something about the key importance of articulation as Ginny pointed her wand at the stool and once again mumbled the spell under her breath.

The stool stayed where it was but a silver and gold bolt shot out of the wand shooting around the walls of the room before bursting into little sparkles of powder. Hermione sighed and drummed her hands on the table before brushing the glittery remnants of spell out of her hair.

"Well, you've proved that your wand works."

Ginny's eyes were wide.

Well, at least she's no longer moping, Hermione thought with a sisterly smile. She patted the other girl's shoulder.

"I'm not exactly sure what you muttered, but I'm sure it was harmless so let's just not think about it and continue from here tomorrow? I think you and I could both use a break."

"I guess so. I'm sorry Her--Professor Granger."

"It's all right. This happens to the best of us."

"Really?"

"Of course," Hermione said with confidence. It had never happened to her of course, but certainly it happened to other students at the school.

"...Well, thank you," Ginny said with a sad smile before gathering her books and Ron's old wand and heading out the door.

Hermione sighed as she set Professor Flitwick's stool back down in the front of the classroom. Is that really what happened to a love struck witch? Hopefully Ginny would grow out of it. Glitter was one thing, but who knew what might happen next time if the girl didn't stop mumbling and muttering her spells and charms.

At least this part of the day was over.

~~~

She spent most of her afternoon in the library. More specifically in the restricted section which she now had a lot more access to. The Slytherins at the tables outside the area regarded her with disdian; she just smirked at them and carried her books up to the counter.

Madame Pince regarded her with wary, annoyed eyes as she marked down the books that Hermione was taking out. Hermione had never held any high hopes of every gaining polite service from the librarian so she never took it personally.

She managed a curt "Thank you" before briskly stalking out of the library anxious to read the books. She smiled as she looked at their dusty covers.

Then there was a loud thud as she collided with someone. She managed to keep her balance but dropped several of the books. She noted that a gloved hand caught one of them, the others landed next to her feet.

A gloved hand?

She looked up and frowned.

"Ah, Miss Granger, still living here at Hogwarts, I see."

"Mr. Malfoy…still alive and in the fullness of health."

Her voice betrayed none of her surprise though she knew full well that despite the Malfoys' soiled reputation, Lucius had managed to not get himself killed or even arrested despite his involvement in the Rising of Voldemort. Draco Malfoy had somehow managed to become Assistant Professor to Snape. A position she had really wanted, but she hadn't been upset to work with Flitwick instead.  There were other rumors about the Malfoys particularly Lucius and Narcissa's "seperation" but she had never bothered to pay attention to them. She wished she had.

"Worried about my health, Miss Granger? That's sweet of you."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes or commenting and bent to pick over her other books. He watched her, resting a hand on his cane and the other still holding her book.

"Draco never mentioned you being a librarian here at Hogwarts."

"I'm not a librarian, I'm an Assistant Professor."

"Ah, I assumed from the dust in your hair that you were working under Madame Pince."

"Dust?"

He made a slight face as he moved his cane to his other hand and touched her hair. His gloved hand came away covered in sparkly dust.

Hermione made a face as well more from him touching her hair then the powder itself. Ginny's spell. She wondered just how stupid she looked at the moment and felt her ears turning slightly red.

"Yes, well, it's…from…"

He waved a hand dismissively. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, Miss Granger."

She waited for him to add a rude comment. Failing that, she searched for something hidden in his words, something subtly insulting. She frowned as he merely handed her the book he had been holding.

"Thank you," she said tersely.

"You're welcome."

He might have made a slight motion to go but she found herself irritated that he…well, that he had…it didn't matter.

"And what brings you to Hogwarts. Surely you didn't come all this way to examine the amount of dust I had on my hair."

Lucius smiled briefly. "I came to visit my son, if you must know. I suppose bumping into you was just an additional…pleasure."

"Ah."

Silence. He glanced at her and even though nothing was meant by it she felt like she was being baited. Why wasn't he saying anything? Here was a golden opportunity for gloating of any kind and he wasn't taking it.

"Is there anything else, Miss Granger?"

She frowned. "No."

"Good day to you then."

"….Good day."

She shook her head as he walked away. How could someone not do anything yet still be absolutely infuriating. She hoped he wouldn't be here for very long although obviously he had been given permission by McGonagoll to visit his son. She didn't doubt that were Dumbledore still alive and Headmaster of Hogwarts that he would have let Lucius do the same. Lucius wasn't dangerous so much as slippery as an eel. 

So no sense dwelling on him, she thought to herself as she went up to her rooms.