Hermione's posture stiffened as a shadow cast over the desk she was sitting at, the quill in her hand halted from scribbling on parchment, now it hovered without purpose, a single drop of ink slid slowly off the tip and landed silently on the parchment below.

Two years ago she had been promoted to the head of the Department of Magical Creatures, working her way up very quickly through the ranks.

"How can I-" She looked up right into the cold, grey eyes of Lucius Malfoy. "Help you?" she said slowly, almost in a hushed whisper, her mouth in an instant went dry and her palms began to perspire rapidly.

"Mrs. Weasley…" He trailed off, raising a brow casting a scrutinous gaze over the girl he hadn't seen in quite a few years. She was still the bushy-haired little bitch he had known to come and loathe, albeit she may have grown a few more centimeters.

"Miss Granger," She countered sternly.

"Indeed. My condolences on your long-winded and difficult divorce you are going through."

She gnawed her bottom lip hard between her teeth. He still had the strong chiseled jaw and the long, blonde hair, he still dressed well but something was missing. Perhaps it was the air of over arrogance he usually shrouded himself in. Maybe losing Narcissa was the one thing he needed to knock his arrogance down a few pegs.

Hermione, now at twenty-three years of age had married and was now partway through a very public and messy divorce that was usually splashed through the daily prophet every second day. Ronald wasn't making the whole ordeal easy and she loathed him for that. She wanted to split everything equally and fairly but not him, he wanted more, he wanted to take the entirety of their possesions to spite her and leave her high and dry with nary a thing to her name just to teach her a lesson.

Not that she had done anything wrong; she had just grown tired of being saddled with an inept and barely engaging male. He was drab and he had the conversation skills of a dead Niffler. Actually, no, that was even giving him too much credit. Unless she talked about Quidditch, or how great he was at playing Quidditch, or went to a Quidditch match then he didn't want to know her and he didn't want to talk to her and she was over it.

It seemed if you were a war heroine, the public was a lot more interested in your messy affairs and business than any normal person off of the street and the media often skewed and warped the truth far beyond the realm of normality.

"They told me I needed to see you, they assured me you could quickly and easily grant me the permit I need."

"How can I help you?" She asked, her voice as stiff as her body language towards him.

"I need a permit for a dragon," He said so casually she was sure he might have just asked her about the weather.

"A dragon?" Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion and disbelief. "What illegal or untoward reason do you require a dragon."

"Not just any dragon, a Hungarian Horntail."

"A horntail?" She shrieked a little too loudly, the others in her office turned to look at her. "Why on earth do you need a Hungarian Horntail," her voice dropping several octaves.

"Well, you see. Prior to the war, I could have pulled a few strings and the dragon would have been here within hours with no issue. Now, everything seems to be tied up in ridiculous red tape. We need a permit for this and a permit for that, soon we will need a permit to take a shit," he said exasperated, his face screwing up in disgust.

"In other words, you are no longer held in high enough notoriety or esteem to line a few palms and get what you desire?" She smiled a mockingly sweet smile at him, which only saw his narrow his eyes into slits for a few seconds."

"Can I have my dragon or not, Miss Granger? I grow tired of your antics."

"And what intents and purposes do you require the said dragon. Guarding a dungeon, guarding your illegal offshore bank accounts…"

"Well actually, I need it to protect me."

She snorted so loudly she surprised even herself. "You are a wizard, Mister Malfoy you can protect yourself. You have warded your mansion up to the hilt. I am not granting you a permit to import a dragon."

"Well you see," he began, before pulling out a chair uninvited and sitting gently upon it. "Even the strongest and the best wards can be penetrated, no matter how hard they may be to break down. Everything can be penetrated, Miss Granger."

She flushed a shade of crimson, her cheeks feeling as if they were on fire as she caught a few keywords in what he had said and it unsettled her some, turning her into a vapid, blushing school girl again.

"There are dark wizards, Miss Granger still running free. They have reason to want to come after me and to end me, and now the war is but a shadow in everyone's mind and the protection that was placed over my Manor to keep them all out is weakening and cannot be renewed. They will no doubt be after me with a score to settle. Dark wizards bring dark magic far beyond what I can protect myself against if they all took the chance to gang up." He gently reached out to a dragon statue on her desk, fingering it gently absentmindedly.
"There are more than dark wizards who wish to kill you." She quirked a single brow. "And Sorry. I don't care if Voldemort himself were after you, you aren't having a dragon," She said matter of factly, folding her arms tight across her chest and jutted her chin out.

"I feel you are harboring a lot of animosity towards me," he asked with a surprised, upward inflection.

"You think… Of all of the horrible and disgusting things you have done and said to me over the years, do you honestly expect me to welcome you into my office with open arms and grant you a permit straight off the bat?"

"Well, actually, yes. I can make it very worth your while if you see things my way." He reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a small, heavy sack the chinked as he did so.

"Are you bribing me?!" She asked with surprised anger.

"Don't think of it as a bribe…Think of it as encouragement."

"I don't take bribes," She said flatly. Tossing her mass of curls over her shoulder defiantly.

"I suggest you think about it… I can make the long, angry divorce between you and Weasley be done in an instant…"

"I don't take bribes and I barely take suggestions."

"No wonder Weasley sent you packing, such a disobedient wife," he tutted.

She snorted. "I left him."

"Oh yes, I forgot the whole strong, independent woman persona is strong with you. How quintessential. I bet you kept his balls in your purse."

She chose to ignore him and she wanted to send him on his way, but at the same time she wanted to make him jump through a series of unnecessary hoops to get the permit he needed to import and own a dragon just to pay back for being a total pompous cunt the entire time she had ever known him. Now, she didn't use that word lightly, or hardly at all, but in these circumstances, it was warranted.

"I'll tell you what. You read these books on POSITIVE reinforcement and if you can prove to me you will use only this to train the dragon and not negative or pain based training then I will grant you your permit, but only once you have proven to me your fully understand the workings on positive reinforcement and you agree to letting me drop in at any time to check the progress of your training."

She ducked under the large desk, pulling out a pile of books almost as tall as she was. With a grunt and a groan, she had managed to place them all on the wooden desk.

"A bit of light reading, huh?" He quipped.

"Just a little."

"What exactly is this positive reinforcement you speak of?" He tried to feign an interest in what she had to say so he could boost the odds of getting his dragon.

"Well," she began, and he just knew, right there and then with the well that she was about to go on a tirade of knowledge.

"When an animal offers a behavior you want, you reward them with something they want, usually, with animals its food. You reward for any effort of the desired attribute you are trying to train. So say you are trying to teach a dog to sit, you reward even the slightest pressure backward and eventually the dog gets lower and lower, which reinforcing the cue as either a word or a physical one."

"Interesting. And you expect me to use the same principals on a dragon. A fire breath, eat you in one mouthful, angrier than Severus Snape was, dragon."

"It's universal. Any animal can benefit from it, Mister Malfoy. It is very interesting and the kindest way to teach an animal. You don't have to use pain and fear to get the behavior you want. Kindness goes a long way." She looked at him pointedly.

"This positive reinforcement… Can you use it on humans?"

She looked perplexed for a moment, blinking as she tried to think… "I don't see why not. Obviously, humans probably don't respond as well to food-based rewards as animals but anything the person desires could be a good reward, money would probably work well with most."

"Indeed," A glint crossed his grey eyes.

"Obviously with humans, you could do it without them knowing. Start small, offer them a reward and work your way up. Eventually, they know they will be rewarded for their actions and willing to do anything for you."

"Anything, you say?" His interest piqued, leaning on the desk.

"Anything."

"And it would be totally legal, unlike the imperious curse,"

"Precisely."

She shook her head for a moment, she was so caught up in the conversation she had forgotten with whom she was talking to and what she was talking about.

"Forget I said anything,"

"Of course."

"Anyway," she changed the subject. "Take these books, and then once you have a full understanding of what positive reinforcement is come back and see me and we may discuss granting you a permit for the dragon your heart so desperately desires."

"Thank you, Miss Granger. I will be taking my leave." He stood, bringing himself up to full height, towering over her and turned on his heel, striding from the office with a purpose.

She groaned with frustration. If she knew one thing, she shouldn't expect to see Lucius Malfoy back for a very, very long time. Or so she hoped.

A/N: The plot bunnies in my head are psycho's, hopping around on the loose high on sugar, footloose and fancy-free. Like I needed another fiction to add to my list of works in progress… Someone pray for me.

My first Lumione, I hope you all enjoy it…

-Aliasmel1