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He was seven when he first met her.
It was a warm Wednesday afternoon and Lucius was accompanying his father on a few errands in Diagon Alley. Abraxas was already grooming him, teaching him the finer points of business politics and Lucius normally soaked it all up, made a mental note of every advice his father gave him, but right now, he just couldn’t give a damn about it.
He was so distracted by the broomstick displayed on the front window of Quality Quidditch Supplies. It was the newest broomstick design called Nimbus 1000 and was said to be the fastest one ever made. Antonin even said it was better than Oakshaft 79 and Cleansweeps combined. Lucius could already imagine himself riding it across the Malfoy estate, but it will remain just that—an imagination.
It wasn’t that his family couldn’t afford the broom. Merlin knew his father could buy even the company that made the broomstick. It was just that Abraxas wasn’t really fond of those things, calling it absurd. Why use a broomstick when you can just apparate away? Were his exact words. Quidditch also appalled him, much to Lucius' frustration and would often express disappointment at his only son and heir whenever Lucius would ask him to buy him one.
And so Lucius just contented himself by admiring the shiny new broomstick every time he would be in Diagon Alley.
“Lucius!” his father hissed. “Stop loitering there like a peasant and come here!”
Lucius immediately snapped back to reality and as he turned around to run towards his father, he collided into something soft yet sturdy and he fell on his bum on the concrete pavement.
“Oh dear, I’m so sorry,” he heard a female voice say and he was about to tell the woman to watch where she was going but the words got stuck in his throat.
Lucius looked up to see warm, chocolate-brown eyes gazing at him with a mixture of concern and something he couldn’t quite figure out. She looked older but about a decade or two younger than his mother. Her hair was nearly the same shade as her eyes and was neatly tied in a French updo with a few wavy strands hanging loose.
“Are you alright?” The witch asked, offering to help him get up. It was when Lucius noticed a sapphire ring on her left hand that looked oddly familiar. He didn’t ponder that long though and just shrugged it off, thinking it was just another fancy ring.
“I’m fine,” he replied gruffly, not taking the proffered hand. Lucius wasn’t used to being touched by other people. He then excused himself and proceeded to walk towards his father who was waiting impatiently in front of Flourish and Blotts.
“Wait!” He heard her call out to him and he stopped in his tracks. He turned around and there she was looking at him so strangely. It was like she knew him.
It’s probably because I’m a Malfoy, he reasoned.
“Lucius!” his father called again. Lucius tore his eyes from the odd witch and jogged to his father’s side. As they walked inside Flourish and Blotts, he chanced a glance across the crowded street but she was already gone.
He was eleven when he saw her again.
It was a busy Sunday morning and Lucius was doing some last-minute shopping with his mother for his school supplies. Tomorrow would be the start of Hogwarts’ school year and he would be entering as a first-year along with Antonin and Rodolphus.
He was equally excited and nervous. Excited because he’ll finally have an excuse to buy the latest Nimbus broomstick currently on display at Quality Quidditch Supplies. Nervous because what if he got sorted into a different house? All Malfoys were sorted into Slytherin and they took pride in it. So much so that they even chose the snake as part of the family’s emblem.
“Come along, Lucius,” his mother called out, interrupting his thoughts.
They entered Flourish and Blotts and his mother went to the counter to pick up the books they had pre-ordered. Lucius was lingering nearby, perusing some of the books displayed when he heard an oddly familiar feminine voice.
“I’m here to pick up the first edition of Magick Moste Evile,”
Lucius whipped around to see who had ordered such extreme book about the Dark Arts and there she was. The woman with the warm, chocolate-brown eyes. Four years since he’d met her but she still looked the same.
She was fairly beautiful, no doubt about it and Lucius could tell that the witch was also wealthy. The way she carried and dressed herself spoke how well off she was.
But he didn’t know her. There were only a handful of wealthy wizarding families and Lucius knew every one of them. His father made sure he knew which ones he should and should not associate with. Somehow the witch was a complete mystery to him.
“Mother,” he gently tugged her mother’s robes to gain her attention.
“What is it, Lucius? Do you want to buy another book?”
He shook his head no, a few strands of his already long platinum hair falling on his face. “Do you know her?”
Her mother followed his line of sight and smiled when she saw what her son was talking about. “Isn’t she old for you, my son?”
“Mother!” Lucius admonished his mother. He hadn’t realized how loud his voice was because the owner of the shop and the woman in question were now looking at him with a bemused expression on their faces.
Lucius ignored the shopkeeper and he fixed the woman with the best Malfoy glare he could muster, something he’d been trying to copy from his father but it only seemed to amuse her more. The woman winked—Merlin help me, did she just wink at me?—and left the shop. Leaving Lucius standing there, his face red from embarrassment.
“She seems to like you too.”
“Mother!”
He was seventeen when she first touched him.
It was a quiet Friday night and Lucius was perched at the bar of The Leaky Cauldron, his fifth glass of Blishen's Firewhisky on his right hand and a piece of parchment on the other.
He kept rereading it over and over again as he got drunk, hoping the words would change but as he tossed the alcohol in his throat, the words remained the same. He was going to marry Narcissa Black when they both had graduated Hogwarts.
He was on his way back to the Slytherin dungeons from his Quidditch practice when his father’s eagle-owl came swooping through a window of the castle. It landed on his shoulder and Lucius took the letter attached to its leg.
He wanted to burn the letter and pretend he didn’t read anything but as he entered the Slytherin common room, everyone turned to look at him and in the center of it was Narcissa, holding a parchment he thought containing the same words as his.
Not wanting to face them all, Lucius turned and ran. Once he had passed the Hogwarts wards, he apparated to the first place he could think of which was Diagon Alley.
Now here he sat, pissed as hell. He signaled Tom the barman again for another refill but the feisty barman pursed his lips instead.
“That’s enough, boy.”
“I’m not a boy! And I want another one!” He slammed the glass on the counter forcefully. Lucius wanted to forget just for one night.
“Your father will hear about this,” the barman warned him and Lucius sobered up a little at the mention of his father.
“Fine,” he tossed a handful of galleons at the counter and staggered his way out of the pub. He didn’t want to go back to the Slytherin dungeons so he decided to walk a bit to clear his head.
As he passed by the entrance to Knockturn Alley, he noticed a figure walking. Curious, Lucius decided to find out who it was and as he got closer, he realized with a start that it was the same woman he met years ago.
“Hey!” he called out to her. His entire world was spinning but he didn’t care. Lucius used the walls to support himself as he half walked, half dragged himself towards the witch.
The woman instantly reached for her wand but let it go as soon as she noticed it was just a teenage wizard.
“What are you doing here in Knockturn Alley?” he asked although he was pretty sure he slurred every word. Lucius wondered if she even remembered him.
“You’re drunk,” she scolded him instead.
“I was celebrating,” he managed to say. So she did remember him. He pulled out a piece of parchment from his pocket and waved it in front of her. “Apparently, I’m engaged.”
The woman smiled at him sadly like she already knew. Well, everyone in the wizarding community probably already knew even before it hit the front page of the Daily Prophet tomorrow morning.
“Go home,” she urged him. “It’s going to be alright.”
“How would you know?” he asked.
“I just do. Now go home before you get in trouble,” she was nudging him back to Diagon Alley and Lucius just let her. He was too drunk to care and besides, he liked the feel of her hands on his skin.
“Don’t be cocky and apparate while you’re drunk,” she said as they reached Diagon Alley. “Use the floo in The Leaky Cauldron. It'll take you to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.”
“I know,” was all he could reply. Lucius felt bereft when she released her hold on him.
The woman smiled at him again and turned around, making her way back to Knockturn Alley.
“Wait!” he called out. “Who are you?”
“You'll find out soon,” she said before she turned a corner and disappeared.
He was thirty-seven when he found out who she was.
It was a Saturday afternoon and Lucius was doing errands in Diagon Alley with his son, Draco. It was his turn this time to accompany his son on buying the school supplies the boy needed for his second year at Hogwarts. They could’ve just had it delivered to their home but Draco insisted (and by insisted, it meant throwing a tantrum) that they go out to Diagon Alley themselves.
“Father, I’m heading to Flourish and Blotts!” Draco called over his shoulder as he ran for the bookshop, not even sparing a glance in his direction.
“I swear, Narcissa is spoiling that boy too much,” Lucius muttered as he went to Gringotts to withdraw some galleons.
A few minutes later, he heard his son’s unmistakable snarl as he entered Flourish and Blotts. Lucius wondered who the unlucky witch or wizard was who incurred his son’s wrath.
“Now, now Draco. Play nicely,” he drawled as he smacked his cane on his son’s shoulder. He really needed to teach his son how to play the game.
Lucius finally had the chance to meet the legendary Potter boy his son’s been raving about since last year. The boy either had guts or as naïve as the rest of the Weasleys for even mentioning the Dark Lord’s name out loud.
“You must be very brave, to mention his name... or very foolish,” he drawled haughtily.
“Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself.”
Lucius flicked his gaze from the boy to the girl with the mass of wild brown hair beside him and Lucius felt himself stiffened when his vision landed on a pair of familiar warm, chocolate-brown eyes. The same eyes that had haunted him for over twenty years.
A myriad of emotions bubbled up the surface: anger, betrayal, and disappointment were the more prominent feelings. Lucius noticed Draco looking at him expectantly and it was then he realized that this was Potter's Mudblood friend his son was talking about.
“And you must be... Miss Granger.” He had hoped that maybe his son was wrong, that maybe the little girl in front of him was the child of the woman he saw years ago but glancing around, he saw her parents sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the sea of witches and wizards. “Draco’s told me all about you and your parents. Muggles, aren’t they?”
Their interaction was interrupted by none other than Arthur Weasley himself. Lucius was so furious about the revelation that he’d lost his temper with him. A brawl erupted that got them tossed out of Flourish and Blotts.
“Seriously, father?” Draco said as they walked to the front door of the Manor later that day. “You’re the one who’s been preaching me about patience and control and yet you got into a fistfight with a Weasley no less.”
Lucius ignored him and continued to stomp his way to his study. What a lovely day to open his prized Arcana XIV cognac and fade away into oblivion.
“What’s wrong with your father?” Narcissa asked as she passed by Lucius who completely ignored her.
“He lost a fistfight with Arthur Weasley,” his son replied.
“Shut it, Draco.”
He was forty-seven when he first fell in love.
It was a lazy Monday night and Lucius was pacing the floors of his office at the Ministry while Hermione Granger sat opposite him, chewing the end of her dicta-quill. They were working on a rather difficult tender for some data cleansing in the Ministry.
It had been five years since Voldemort's downfall and four years since his divorce to Narcissa. Despite being completely pardoned by the new Minister, the Malfoy name had completely lost its prestige and influence. So when Kingsley Shacklebot approached him one day, two months after his divorce, to work as a liaison for the Ministry’s Department of Treasury, Lucius immediately accepted.
But he nearly turned back and quit when he entered the office one day only to came face to face with one Hermione Granger—the newly appointed head of the DoT.
After all these years, Lucius had still been—for lack of a better word—bitter that the woman who had haunted his dreams since he was a boy was, in fact, a Muggleborn witch who he now realized, had time-traveled to the past. It was the only logical explanation he could think of.
But days turned to years and the closer they work together, the more Lucius seemed to take an interest in her. It eventually grew to something more but Lucius didn’t dare act on it—yet.
“Why not collaborate with your company instead? L&S is under Malfoy Enterprises and they specialized in international data cleansing. I’m surprised you haven’t grabbed the opportunity to present a bid,” she raised an eyebrow at him as if challenging him.
“It will be bad for the Ministry to trust a former Death Eater to handle their sensitive files,” he informed her.
“That’s the thing, Lucius. Former. It’s been what? Five years? Both sides must let go for us to move forward,” she leaned back in her chair and regarded him carefully. Lucius felt himself unravel right before her blazing eyes. “You have changed Lucius—for the better. I think you deserve another chance. And besides, I don’t think you really believed in those things.”
He should’ve been seething with rage at the assumption about his beliefs, but he wasn’t because it was true. It was something his father had taught him a long time ago and Lucius had always looked up to his father, the same way Draco used to look up to him. Working with Hermione Granger for almost three years had only proved how much of a fool he was.
Lucius can’t remember the last person (aside from his mother) who believed in him—the good in him—as much as Hermione did. Looking at her warm, chocolate-brown eyes gazing at him, Lucius felt something inside he thought he was incapable of feeling. Merlin, I think I’m in love.
He must’ve said it out loud because she had this shocked expression on her face which then turned into amusement. Shit, shit, shit. His face red from embarrassment, Lucius immediately seized her momentarily silence as an opportunity to escape.
“I think we should continue this tomorrow,” he said abruptly as he tried to get away as far from her as possible but Hermione held a hand up to stop him from leaving.
“No, we have to finish this tonight. Kingsley needs this tomorrow to present for the Wizengamot session on Wednesday.”
Lucius sighed defeatedly and turned to face her.
He should’ve known that escaping her would be impossible. Unless the ground he was standing on suddenly opened up and swallowed him.
“Well, in that case, I suggest you come with me. There’s a lovely little French restaurant in Diagon Alley I’ve been wanting to try. We can eat and work from there,” he said as he helped her gather the papers. He’d already tried the said restaurant but he figured it was a good excuse.
He hadn’t realized the witch stopped moving, even probably stopped breathing altogether. Lucius looked up and there she was, staring intently at him with one eyebrow raised in question.
“Are you seriously asking me on a date?”
“I’m—I wasn’t—I just—gaahh!” Lucius threw the papers back on the desk and ran a hand over his tired face. “I just wanted to eat,” he sighed.
He was startled when he felt a slender hand on top of his shoulder. Lucius looked to see Hermione smiling fondly at him. “That restaurant better be worth forgoing the work we need to finish tonight.”
He immediately perked up at her words. “We can always try a different one next time if it didn’t live up to your expectations.”
“Next time? Are we confident tonight?”
Lucius gave her his winning smile, something he didn’t copy from his father. “I’m confident every day.”
Later that night, as he dropped her off at her house after their dinner, Lucius finally worked up the courage and kissed her goodnight.
The loving smile she gave him felt like summer in December.
He was forty-nine when he proposed.
It was a scorching Thursday noon and Lucius was striding (or more like ominously gliding) towards Flourish and Blotts with a purpose. People left and right were scurrying to be out of his way for fear of being hexed to oblivion.
That was what it looked on the outside.
On the inside though, Lucius was a walking mess of nervousness. Inside the pocket of his robes was a velvet black box that contained the ring he saw Hermione was wearing when he bumped into him when he was young.
It had been a coincidence, really, but he should’ve known better that nothing was ever a coincidence especially when it came to him and Hermione.
Lucius was helping Draco look for a ring in their family heirloom collection to use for his proposal to Astoria Greengrass. They had already combed through half of it when Draco pulled out a black jewelry box lined with gold embellishments.
“Oh, that’s your grandmother’s jewelry box,” Lucius remarked. “Maybe something in there would strike your fancy.”
So Draco dug inside the box, looking for the perfect ring. A few minutes later, he held up a sparkling sapphire ring in front of his father.
“What do you think?” he asked Lucius.
Lucius looked up and glanced at the ring. “That’s the ring your grandfather used to propose to your grandmother.”
“I like it,” Draco raised the ring higher, angling it so the light from the window would catch it. “I might have to resize it though. Astoria has such thin fingers, even thinner than Granger’s.”
At the mention of his girlfriend (he still cringed every single time he referred to Hermione as his girlfriend, claiming he was too old for that kind of term), Lucius’ head whipped so fast he nearly had vertigo. He snatched the ring from Draco’s hands (which earned him a ‘Hey!’ from his son) and examined the ring closely. He suddenly had the oddest sensation of familiarity with it. Lucius had seen the ring a handful of times but there was still something about it that was nagging him.
It was only then when Draco tried to reach out and take the ring when the memory came back to him at full force.
He was seven again in Diagon Alley and sitting on the concrete pavement, arse hurting from the fall. A hand reached out to help him stand but Lucius noticed the sapphire ring on her left finger instead.
“Merlin,” he whispered. Lucius plopped down the nearest chair and closed his eyes, trying to process the fact that the woman he had seen since he was seven was his future (second) wife.
“Father are you all right?” Draco said tentatively. “Can I have the ring back now?”
“Yes and no,” Lucius abruptly stood and pocketed the ring. “Just pick whatever’s in there. I have to go.”
And so here he stood in the middle of Flourish and Blotts, staring at the back of his girlfriend (cringed) who was talking animatedly with the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper noticed him first and gave him the same bemused expression years ago.
“Lucius? What are you doing here?—not that I didn’t want you to be here,” Hermione said as she gave him a light peck on the lips. “I thought we were supposed to meet later for lunch?”
“I just found out something,” he breath nervously. “And I had to come here immediately.”
It was then that Hermione noticed that he was fidgeting and she instantly switched to Overprotective Girlfriend mode. “Did something happen? What is it, mon cher?”
At the mention of her pet name for him, Lucius slightly relaxed. “Nothing, cara mia. It’s just...”
He took a step back and gracefully knelt on one knee. Lucius heard a few gasps from the other customers of the shop but his attention was solely focused on the witch in front of him. He pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket and opened it to her.
“I know we haven’t talked about this yet and this isn’t the most romantic setting but I just had a revelation right after Draco showed me this ring. I didn’t even think, I just came over here as fast as I could,” Lucius realized he was rambling and took a deep breath. “Hermione Jean Granger, will you do me the honor of being my wife? Will you marry me?”
There was complete silence as everyone was waiting for her answer. Seconds ticked by and Lucius was starting to get anxious. He saw the shopkeeper who was still smiling at them and it gave him a bit of courage.
A hand on his cheek pulled his attention back to the witch in front of him. “You will explain everything later at lunch,” she said sternly and Lucius visibly gulped. It was a tone that brooked no arguments.
At his nod, Hermione’s features softened and she plucked the ring from the box. “It’s beautiful.”
“So is that a yes?”
“Of course it is, doofus. Come here and put it on my finger.”
Lucius didn’t wait to be told twice. He stood and smoothly slid the ring on her finger. “Perfect, just like you,” he said as he pulled her to him for a kiss. They’ve completely ignored everyone including the shopkeeper who was clapping their hands in congratulations at the newly engaged.
He felt her presence even before the wards of the Manor had alerted him to her arrival but Lucius didn’t stand to greet her at the entrance. He waited for her, a smile dancing across his lips. Lucius knew what Hermione did today. It wasn’t long before she found him sitting in his study, a book in his hands.
“Hello Mr. Malfoy,” she greeted as she came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest. “I’ve missed you.”
“Hello Mrs. Malfoy,” he smiled as he put down the book he was reading. Lucius craned his head to the side to give her a loving kiss. “How was your trip today?”
Hermione came around and sat on his lap. “It was good. I got what I came for. We have another addition to our library collection,” she kissed him again, deeper this time. When they pulled apart, Hermione rested her forehead against his. “I saw you again today.”
“Oh?” Lucius feigned surprise but she knew him now. They both perfectly knew what she was referring to.
Hermione smirked. “You were so drunk that night I had half a mind to levitate you back to Hogwarts and tuck you into bed.”
“Ahh,” he merely said as he trailed kisses along her jaw. “Not one of my finest moments.”
“It’s okay,” Hermione sighed as she tilted her head to give him better access. “You look so adorable there trying your very hardest not to appear drunk when in reality, you were leaning heavily onto me so you wouldn’t fall.”
Lucius raised his head and pouted at her. “I’m not adorable.”
“Oh you were,” she gave him a peck on the nose. “And you are now, pouting at me like that.”
Lucius only grunted and resumed his earlier ministrations. After a minute, Hermione heard him grumble something against her neck.
“What is it, my love?”
“Nothing.”
Hermione didn’t buy it and tilted his chin up to face him. “Tell me.”
“I just wish it was you,” at her confused look, he elaborated. “I wish it was you I had married instead.”
Hermione’s features softened a bit at his words. “Don’t be ridiculous, Lucius. I wasn’t even born yet.”
“I know but I wish you had stayed in the past.”
“Oh, Lucius,” Hermione cupped his cheeks. “You know how time traveling works—I had to limit my interactions with everyone or it would have serious repercussions in the future. And I need to come back to the present—to you.”
Lucius smiled at that. “You prefer the old present me rather than the young me from the past?”
“Hey!” she slapped him on the chest. “You're not that old. And besides, I married you, didn’t I?”
“Well, people were under the impression that you were under the Imperious Curse,” he remarked dryly.
“Ugh! Remind me next time I travel back in time to have Rita Skeeter rejected when she applies to The Daily Prophet.”
Lucius chuckled but at the mention of her next time travel, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. “I often wondered though, why did you stop traveling to the past? I never saw you after this last visit. I waited for you for almost twenty years!”
“Oh, I did?” she wondered too. “I guess we’ll find out eventually.”
They did.
Five days after Hermione’s last time travel, they found out that she was two weeks pregnant with their first child.
Fin.