This is my magnum opus; something I've been working on and thinking about for at least 5 or 6 years. Many drafts have been written, and I've explored all sorts of different routes and angles. I never really thought I'd share it, but at last I've decided there's no point in keeping it to myself. I love my OC a lot, she's been living in my heart for a long time, and I think if you like Lucius/Hermione, you will like this story.

This will probably be slow uploading, and if you have any ideas for how you'd like it to go, please tell me! Honestly, I still haven't picked an ending.

Be warned - this is very, very dark. I'll put trigger warnings on chapters if they need them.

"Lucius, did you and Narcissa ever consider having more children?"

"My Lord?"

"I think you understand the question, Lucius."

"Draco's birth was very difficult, and Narcissa did not need to be submitted to such pain again."

"I see. And how is Narcissa?"

"Well, My Lord."

"Is she? You know, rumors do fly around here, and I have heard that she is feeling quite ill."

Hasty excuses made, Lucius burst out of the room and made his way to their bedroom, convincing himself that Narcissa would not be there, that she would be in the sitting room as she always was this time of day. But she was there, tucked into bed and barely moving.

"Lucius," she croaked, turning her head to him. "I don't know what happened."

"I do," he replied, taking her hand and smoothing back her hair.

Two weeks later, the same room. The same men. A new subject.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Lucius."

"Thank you, My Lord."

Silence.

"Do you know Felicity Grey, Lucius?"

"She's in Draco's class."

"Yes, that's her."

More silence. Lucius had been staring at his shoes throughout the whole conversation, hand on top of his cane.

"I'm going to have her brought here, for you."

"I don't…"

"You don't understand, I know. Let me explain. Felicity's parents are good Death Eaters, you know them well. I'm sure Felicity even played in these halls as a girl. But she has left our fold and begun to spend time with Harry Potter and his friends. This leaves me with two options: I can kill her, or I can keep her safe, and keep our secrets safe too. So I've chosen the latter, and with Narcissa gone, she will make a beautiful wife to you. You two can have perfect pureblooded children."

Lucius swallowed hard.

"As you wish, My Lord."

He stood up and left the room, back once more to his bed.

Stuck tight between her parents, her hands in a chokehold, there was no air, and when they Disapparated there was less.

In the meeting she picked her nails and sat very low in her seat. It was frigid and her mother kept frantically kicking her under the table, trying to rouse her. Then He said her name, and she was wide awake feeling very much like she had fallen off the end of the Great Lake dock.

"It has come to our attention, Felicity, that you consider yourself a part of Dumbledore's Army. For this, I ought to have you killed. Instead, I've thought of something much better."

The only thing she could think of, through all of his explanations, was how she should never have come home. Roger, beautiful man, had asked her to come to his house for Christmas and she had wanted nothing more than to spend a cozy holiday with him and his sister and his funny Muggle-born parents, but a deep sense of familial responsibility and guilt dissuaded her. And now here she was on the execution block while they were surely having a lovely pudding.

Her parents basically ran out of the room as soon as the meeting ended, and everyone else left fairly quickly. Soon it was just her, frozen in place, and Lucius, standing at the head of the table. He came over to her, and held out his hand. She shut her eyes tight and shook her head, wishing herself away.

"I'm going to take you to a bed. You can sleep there alone. That's it. You don't even have to touch me."

They were there for a long time still, and then she pushed her chair back, and he led her out into her home.