A/N - This is a lighthearted one shot. Enjoy!
After a long day at St Mungo's, where she worked as a Healer, Hermione Granger returned home looking forward to a peaceful evening. After a long, relaxing bubble bath she whipped herself up some pasta for dinner before settling down in the front room with a glass of wine and her book. For a couple of hours, Hermione enjoyed her peace and relaxation, but shortly after eleven, just as she was heading towards bed, there was a knocking on her front door.
"Who the hell could this be?" Hermione muttered to herself, turning around and heading to the front door.
When she opened the door, Hermione's eyes widened at the sight of her boyfriend, Draco Malfoy, standing on the doorstep, holding his father upright. Hermione's initial thought was that Lucius was hurt, and Draco had brought him to her for help. But then Lucius gave her a lopsided grin and she realised the older wizard wasn't hurt, he was merely drunk.
"What's going on, Draco?" Hermione asked as she stepped back to let her boyfriend enter the house with his drunken father.
"I need your help, Hermione," Draco replied, struggling to keep his father on his feet.
"With your drunken father?" Hermione questioned with an arched eyebrow.
"Yes," Draco answered, dragging Lucius towards the front room where he dumped his father on Hermione's sofa. "Mother will kill him if she sees him like this."
"I'm not surprised," Hermione retorted, rolling his eyes as Lucius began to sing off key. "What happened? I would have thought your father could handle his drink."
"I always thought so," Draco said. "Maybe he's just getting old and can't handle the pace, or maybe it was the strong Italian spirits Blaise was pouring down his neck."
"I should have known Blaise was involved somewhere," Hermione snorted. She and Draco hadn't told anyone about their relationship, so she didn't know Blaise very well, but she could remember enough about him from Hogwarts to remember he could create havoc in an empty room. "And what part did you play?"
"I'm innocent," Draco protested. "I tried to stop them, but neither Blaise nor father would listen to me. They were both determined to outdo one another."
"I take it Blaise won that battle," Hermione said.
"I don't know, he was worse for wear when he left the pub," Draco admitted. "I left him in Theo's capable hands, while I tried to sort father."
"I still don't get why you brought him to me," Hermione said, turning her attention back to Lucius. Fortunately, he'd stopped his singing but he was trying to struggle to his feet in search of more alcohol.
"I was hoping you might have a sobering potion," Draco said. "I don't have anything like that at my penthouse, and I can't send him back to mother in this state. She knows he was with me, and she'll kill me for letting him get in this state."
"Sorry, I can't help," Hermione replied with a shrug. "I don't have anything like sobering potions."
"But you're a healer," Draco protested. "You're well stocked with every useful potion."
"I'm well stocked on potions that will help people who are genuinely ill," Hermione pointed out. "I have nothing to help people who drink to excess. Sorry Draco, I can't help."
"Damn," Draco swore, stopping Lucius from drowning the dregs of Hermione's bottle of wine and returning him to the sofa. "What do I do now? Mother is going to go mad. Maybe we can brew the potion."
"It takes eight hours to brew a sobering potion," Hermione said. "And another half hour before that to prepare all the ingredients. Ingredients, I don't even know if I have, by the way. I don't think you're going to get your father sobered up tonight."
"Bollocks," Draco muttered. "I guess I'm just going to have to take him home with me."
"And won't your Mother be mad he's stayed out all night?" Hermione questioned.
"More than likely," Draco admitted. "But what other choice do I have. I either take him home with me, or send him home and get us both in serious trouble with mother. At least this way, I can just say he fell asleep on the sofa."
"That won't be a lie," Hermione said, turning her boyfriend's attention to his father, who was now reclining on the sofa, snoring softly.
"Bloody hell," Draco whined, running his hands through his blond hair. "Now I've got to wake him up."
"Don't," Hermione said with a sigh as she picked up her wand and summoned some blankets from the spare room. "Let him sleep. We can deal with him in the morning."
"I really don't deserve such a great girlfriend," Draco said, giving Hermione a peck on the cheek as she threw a blanket over his snoring father.
"No, you don't," Hermione agreed with a good natured smile. "Although you are going to have to work out what to say to your father in the morning. You're going to have to explain to him why you brought him here."
"I guess it's coming out time," Draco replied with an unconcerned shrug as he gave Hermione a quick grin. They'd been talking about telling people about their relationship for a few weeks, as they were now sure that it was serious and they had a future.
"I guess so," Hermione replied.
Taking hold of Draco's hand, Hermione led Draco back to the bedroom while Lucius lay sprawled on the sofa in a drunken stupor.
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When Lucius awoke he felt as though someone was pounding on his head with a hammer. Even before he opened his eyes, he recognised the signs of a massive hangover and he cursed himself for getting in such a state. Not that he could remember getting in such a state, and he certainly couldn't remember getting home. Preparing himself for Narcissa's inevitable wrath, Lucius slowly opened his eyes and frowned when an unfamiliar room came into focus.
"What the hell?" he muttered, sitting up and immediately regretted moving so quickly as the room swayed in front of his eyes.
"You're awake," a feminine voice called from somewhere to Lucius's left.
Slowly turning his head, Lucius found a young brunette witch watching him with an amused smile on her face. Lucius vaguely recognised the young woman, but his brain wasn't functioning properly and he couldn't for the life of him recall her name, or how he knew her.
"This might help," the witch said, handing Lucius a red mug.
Lucius gazed down at the mug on his hands, and the steaming black liquid inside. The aroma coming off the mug wasn't one he recognised, and he was hesitant to drink something he didn't recognise.
"It's coffee," the witch explained. "A muggle drink. It'll help wake you up."
"Muggle," Lucius repeated, finally able to put a name to the face at the mention of muggles. "You're Hermione Granger."
"That I am," Hermione replied with a nod of her head.
"What am I doing here?" Lucius asked, warily taking a sip of the bitter, black liquid and finding it was delicious.
"Draco brought you here last night," Hermione explained. "He thought I might have been able to sober you up."
"Obviously you failed," Lucius muttered, taking another drink of his coffee.
"As I said to Draco, I don't keep sobering potions, and before you ask, I don't have a hangover potion either," Hermione said. "I don't drink, or at least not to the excess that I need help sobering up."
"Where is Draco?" Lucius asked, suddenly realising that his son was nowhere in sight. "And why did he bring me to you?"
"He had to get to work, he said something about an important meeting," Hermione answered. "And as for why he brought you here, you'll have to ask him."
"You're her, aren't you?" Lucius questioned. "Draco's mystery witch. I know he's being seeing someone, but he's been very secretive about the whole thing."
"Yes, we've been seeing each other," Hermione confirmed. "I think he was a bit unsure of how you would react to him dating a muggleborn, so we've been seeing each other on the quiet. Plus my friends are bound to have something to say about me dating a Malfoy."
"I'm sure they will," Lucius muttered. "And for the record, I have no problem with you. Draco's happy, I can see that. I'm just sorry that my past behaviour forced you to hide your relationship."
"Don't worry about it," Hermione said with a small smile. "It'll all be coming out into open now anyway."
"I'll make sure Draco knows I have no problem with your relationship," Lucius said, finishing off his coffee and thanking Hermione for the drink. "Right now, I really should go home and face the music."
"You can grab a shower if you want to freshen up before you go home," Hermione offered. "There's spare towels, and some of Draco's toiletries in the bathroom."
"It would be better than going home smelling like a drunk," Lucius said. "Thank you."
Hermione showed Lucius to the bathroom, before heading off to tidy away the blankets he'd used the previous night. Lucius was thankful for the chance to freshen up before he went home and faced his wife. He just wished he had a change of clothes as well, but he couldn't have everything. He was just lucky that the witch Draco had gotten involved with was a good person and she'd been willing to help someone who had never done anything to deserve her help.
After a refreshing shower, where thanks to his son leaving some of his things he didn't have to use anything feminine smelling, Lucius redressed in his clothes from the previous night, although he first used a bit of magic to freshen them up. Leaving the bathroom, he paused when he heard Hermione's voice coming from the front room. He could also hear a male voice, and while it sounded familiar he couldn't quite place it. All he knew was that it wasn't his son's voice. Before he had a chance to enter the front room and see who Hermione was talking to, Hermione poked her head out of the room.
"Did you find everything?" she asked, entering the hallway, but not quite shutting the door behind her.
"I did," Lucius answered with a nod. "Thank you for your hospitality."
"You're welcome," Hermione replied with a smile.
"I should be getting home," Lucius said. "You'll have to come for dinner one evening."
"I'd like that," Hermione said, saying goodbye to Lucius as he headed off to face his wife.
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For months, Harry Potter and his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley had been convinced Hermione had a secret lover. Not only was she practically glowing these days, but she was often mysteriously busy or more eager than normal to have a quiet night in without her friends. Then there was the fact that several times, Harry had smelt a lingering musky, masculine scent on her. The pair had waited patiently for Hermione to confide in them about her secret lover, but when she still hadn't mentioned her love life to them the pair had become impatient and had hatched a plan to prise the identity of her lover from her over a dinner at their house.
Harry had arrived at Hermione's to invite her to dinner, and when he arrived he thought he was finally going to discover the identity of Hermione's lover. He could clearly hear the shower in Hermione's bathroom, and his friend had a flushed look about her as though he'd interrupted something. However, Hermione didn't comment on the running shower, and when the bathroom door opened and Harry was hit with a waft of the musky scent he'd smelt on Hermione before, she quickly excused herself and darted into the hallway.
From the front room, Harry couldn't quite hear what Hermione was saying to her visitor. However, Hermione hadn't pulled the door completely shut behind her and by angling himself just right, Harry got a clear view into the hallway. But the last thing Harry expected was to see Lucius Malfoy step into view as he quietly spoke to Hermione. Harry watched with wide eyes as the pair said their goodbyes and Hermione watched Lucius leave with an affectionate smile on her face.
"Bloody hell," Harry muttered, moving across the room so Hermione wouldn't realise he'd seen who had been visiting her.
"Sorry about that," Hermione said as she re-entered the front room. "So about dinner. Did you say tonight or tomorrow?"
"Tonight," Harry replied, still trying to get his head around what he'd discovered that morning. "Only if you're not busy though."
"No, I'm completely free tonight," Hermione replied with a bright smile. "It'll be nice to catch up, I feel like I haven't really seen you and Ginny for ages."
"You have been pretty busy just lately," Harry said. "Work must be keeping you busy."
"It is," Hermione said. "Speaking of which, I really should get going. I'm doing a few extra hours this morning. But I'll see you tonight, Harry. Do you want me to bring anything?"
"Just yourself," Harry replied.
Saying goodbye to Hermione, Harry left her flat and returned home. He'd promised Ginny he would let her know what Hermione said about dinner so she could sort the food, but he doubted his girlfriend would expect to see him in person. Sure enough, Ginny was totally shocked to find Harry back home within the hour, as she'd just expected to get an owl from her boyfriend to let her know what Hermione had said to their invitation.
"Is something wrong?" Ginny asked in concern. "Is Hermione okay?"
"She's fine," Harry answered. "She said yes to dinner."
"That's great, but you could have just sent me an owl," Ginny said.
"I could, but I wanted to tell you what else happened while I was at Hermione's," Harry replied, as he quickly filled Ginny in on what he'd seen and heard.
Ginny listened with wide eyes before bursting into laughter and shaking her head. "You nearly had me there, Harry."
"I'm being serious, Ginny," Harry said. "There was someone in the shower when I arrived, and I saw Lucius Malfoy leave with my own eyes."
"But he's married," Ginny argued.
"Not to mention much older than her," Harry muttered.
"I don't think the age thing matters that much," Ginny said with a shrug. "Malfoy may be an older wizard, but he's a pretty hot one. If you're going older, Lucius Malfoy is definitely the way to go."
"Ginny." Harry looked horrified at what his girlfriend was saying.
"I'm just saying that Malfoy senior is hot," Ginny replied, unconcerned by her boyfriend's horror. "What I'm struggling with is the idea of Hermione seeing a married man. She's not the other woman sort, and she can hardly claim not to know about his wife. Just what is she playing at?"
"I don't know, but I don't like it," Harry muttered. "She's going to end up hurt, Ginny, I just know it. We have to stop this before it goes any further."
"It looks like the point of tonight's dinner has changed," Ginny said, thoroughly agreeing with her boyfriend that they needed to intervene for Hermione's sake. "Instead of quizzing Hermione over her mystery lover, we'll talk her out of the mess she's making. Don't worry Harry, we'll save Hermione from getting her heart broken."
"Let's just hope we're not too late," Harry said with a sigh. "Something tells me she's already fallen for Malfoy."
"Then we'll be there for her as she recovers from the heartbreak," Ginny said firmly. "What's important is that we get her to see sense, and make her see that sleeping with a married man is only going to lead to trouble. There's no happy ending here, so we need to get Hermione out before she's in too deep."
Hoping that it wasn't too late to save Hermione, Harry said goodbye to his girlfriend and headed off to work. All day Hermione was on his mind and by the time he went home he was determined that he was going to put an end to his best friend's destructive behaviour. He loved Hermione, and he was not going to let her throw her life away on an older married man – even if in Ginny's opinion he was hot.
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Even though Harry hadn't asked her to bring anything, Hermione picked up a nice bottle of rosé wine on her way to her friend's house. After what had happened that morning she knew it was time to let her friends know about her new romance. Now that Lucius knew about her relationship with Draco, Hermione knew there was no reason to keep it from her friends any longer. Fortunately, dinner with Harry and Ginny was the perfect way to raise the topic of her and Draco as she hoped the pair would be more reasonable than the likes of Ron and some other members of Ginny's family. Hermione was hoping that if she got the couple on side they would support her when it came to telling everyone else about her unexpected romance.
Arriving at Harry and Ginny's, Hermione began to get nervous about telling the couple about Draco. She was convinced the couple suspected she'd been seeing someone, so she figured it would be easy to drop it into the conversation, but it was clear from the moment she entered the house that something was bothering the couple. Hermione was just hoping that they weren't in the middle of an argument and dinner was about to get uncomfortable.
"Is everything okay?" Hermione asked her friends. "I can leave if you need some time alone. We can do this another time."
"We're not fighting, Hermione," Ginny said with a low chuckle as she saw what their friend thought.
"Then what's with the atmosphere?" Hermione questioned.
"Maybe we should do this before we eat," Harry said, glancing towards his girlfriend and getting a nod in response. "Let's sit down Hermione, we've got something we need to talk to you about."
"It sounds serious," Hermione remarked as she found herself settled in the couple's front room, facing the pair of them as they scrutinised her.
"It is," Harry said. "We're not going to beat around the bush, Hermione. We know about you and Malfoy."
"You do?" Hermione gasped, wondering how long her friends had known her biggest secret. "How?"
"That's not important right now," Ginny said. "What's important is that we know."
"What were you thinking, Hermione?" Harry demanded angrily. "Malfoy of all people. Are you crazy?"
Hermione was taken aback by Harry's obvious anger, but she refused to apologise for merely falling for someone. "I know it's unexpected," she conceded. "And I know we've all had issues in the past, but we're grown-ups now and we're mature enough not to let the past define the present. If we can put the past behind us, surely you can, Harry."
"It's not that simple though, is it Hermione?" Harry countered. "What about his family?"
"They're one of the reasons we've kept quiet for so long," Hermione admitted. "But we've made progress there just lately, and I'm confident they'll be able to accept us."
"Accept you, are you serious?" Ginny scoffed. "They won't accept you. They'll hate you, and to be honest, I can't say I blame them. I thought you were better than this Hermione."
"How dare you," Hermione exploded, jumping to her feet. "I knew you might not approve, but I didn't expect you to be so vile."
"And I never expected you to be such a home wrecker," Ginny shot back, also jumping to her feet. "I thought you were better than some cheap tart who would sleep with a married man twice her age."
"Married man?" Hermione frowned. "And what do you mean, someone who's twice my age? Draco isn't married, and he's certainly not twice my age. He's younger than me actually."
"Draco?" Harry questioned in confusion.
"Yes, Draco," Hermione said slowly, getting an inkling of what her friends were thinking. "My boyfriend."
"Boyfriend," Ginny repeated, shooting her boyfriend a horrified look.
"I think I've made a bit of a mistake here," Harry offered sheepishly.
"I would say," Ginny snorted. "Hermione, I'm so sorry. I had no idea you were with Draco."
"I'm thinking from everything you've said that you thought I was sleeping with Lucius," Hermione said, her eyes darting between her two best friends.
"Sorry," Harry muttered.
"What I don't get is why you would think that," Hermione said. "You both know me. Do you either of you think I would sleep with a married man?"
"I would have said no, but Harry was pretty convincing this morning," Ginny offered in her defence.
"I only repeated what I saw," Harry said. "And to be fair, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believe it myself."
"Just what did you see, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"First of all, let me just say that Ginny and I have suspected for a while that you've been seeing someone," Harry began.
"I did think you had an inkling that I was seeing someone," Hermione admitted. "But what made you think it was Lucius?"
"I saw him this morning," Harry said. "When I arrived at yours, I could hear the shower going. I then saw you saying goodbye to Lucius. Plus I could smell that musky aftershave you sometimes smell of."
Hermione chuckled slightly as she viewed that morning from Harry's perspective. Aside from the fact she was still slightly hurt that Harry thought she was sleeping with a married man, she could see how he'd come to such wild conclusions. Without knowing all the facts, it would look as though something strange was going between her and Lucius.
"Okay, I can see why you got suspicious," Hermione conceded. "Although for the record, that musky scent is Draco's shower gel not his aftershave. Lucius had used some this morning to shower. I thought it was better than offering him my shower gel which smells like peaches."
"But why was Lucius in your shower this morning?" Ginny asked. "If you're with Draco, why is his father showering in your flat?"
"He spent the night on the sofa," Hermione said, quickly filling his friends in on what had happened the previous night.
"What an introduction," Ginny laughed.
"It was rather unconventional," Hermione confessed. "But in a strange way, I think it might have helped Lucius accept me. I think even he would have found it pretty hard to object to me being with Draco when I'd been so accommodating."
"So he really has no problems with you being a muggleborn?" Harry checked. It was no secret that Lucius had been a Death Eater in the war, and while he'd claimed to have left the dark behind him when Voldemort fell, the likes of Arthur Weasley had always maintained he was bad to the bone.
"I'm not naive enough to believe he's totally accepting," Hermione replied. "But I do believe Draco's happiness is his main priority. I'm sure it won't be easy, but I do believe he won't cause any trouble. I'm just hoping I can say the same about my friends."
"You can for me," Harry said quickly. "I'm sorry Hermione. I jumped to all the wrong conclusions, and I'm sorry I believed it even though I was horrified at the thought of you sleeping with Lucius."
"For the record, I wasn't horrified at the thought of you sleeping with a hottie like Lucius. I was merely concerned about you possibly sleeping with a married man," Ginny said.
"You think Lucius is a hottie?" Hermione asked with a laugh.
"Don't you?" Ginny retorted. "I know you're dating Malfoy, but you've got to admit his dad's fit. You'll be a lucky witch if Draco is as hot as his father when he's older."
"I love the way you assume Draco and I will be together when we're Lucius's age," Hermione chuckled.
"Call it a hunch, but I have a good feeling about the two of you," Ginny replied with a grin. "And I notice you didn't deny Lucius is a hottie."
"I will admit he's a very attractive older man," Hermione conceded, sharing a sly smile with Ginny. "But his son is even hotter."
"I want to know everything," Ginny urged her friend.
"I'll tell you what you want to know," Hermione said. "As long as you both promise to back me up when I tell Ron and everyone else."
"After the accusations we've just thrown your way, we'll be there for you all the way," Harry vowed. "And we're very sorry, Hermione."
"Really sorry," Ginny added.
"I accept your apologies," Hermione said with a smile. "I guess it did look a bit dodgy this morning. Let's not mention it again, especially to Draco. I'm not so sure he'd see the funny side of it."
"How can he not?" Ginny asked with a chuckle. "You have to admit, it is funny."
"It is," Hermione conceded with a smile. "But Draco can be pretty jealous at times. Even in jest, I don't think he would like the idea of someone thinking I was sleeping with his father. Let's leave this between the three of us."
"That's fine by me," Harry said eagerly. To be honest he didn't want people to know what a fool he'd made of himself by jumping to such ridiculous conclusions.
With a promise to forget about Harry's misunderstanding, the trio headed into the kitchen for dinner. As they ate, Hermione told Harry and Ginny all about her relationship with Draco and the couple promised that they would be there for Hermione as she faced the Weasleys with her news. They even promised to have dinner with Hermione and Draco one evening as they got to know the Malfoy that Hermione was actually sleeping with.
The End.