Behind her Hermione heard the real Draco gasp in audible shock. But Harry was too stunned to speak. His eyes darted wildly from Lucius, to the bare stone bench where he had last seen Sirius, and back again to Draco's father.
Hermione realized that if anyone was going to do anything, it would have to be her. She stood up suddenly, letting go of Harry's hand as she did so. 'Mister Malfoy,' she said. 'This is all my fault.'
Lucius' gaze flicked to her and she saw disbelief written across his face. 'And who,' he said, with some difficulty, 'are you?'
'I'm Draco's girlfriend,' she said. 'I'm…Mandy Brocklehurst.'
She bit her lip and sent out a silent apology to Mandy, whose name she had picked because the Brocklehursts were an old and well-respected wizarding family, a fact Lucius Malfoy would be sure to know.
Harry, who was goggling at her in the manner of a stuffed frog, tried to grab her ankle warningly. She stomped on his hand.
'Draco and I were having an argument,' she said, batting her eyelashes at Lucius.
'He said your family had the biggest dungeons in Britian, and I said that the Rookwoods did, and, well….' She glanced down. 'I made him take me down here.
Its all my fault!'
And she burst into tears, which was not hard to do since the situation was already so stressful. As she had expected, Lucius Malfoy, while perfectly at ease with all sorts of torture and nasty Dark magic, was unprepared for the spectacle of a crying teenage girl. He looked deeply shaken.
'Stop that,' he said to Hermione. 'How did you get here, anyway?'
'Floo Powder,' said Hermione, and cried harder than ever. 'I just missed Draco so much when he wasn't at school….And I wanted to see Sirius Black, because he's one of the most feared wizards in England, and I just couldn't believe you had captured him, Mister Malfoy….oh, I never knew Draco's father was such a great wizard….'
This perked Lucius up. 'Well,' he said. 'No harm done, I suppose, especially as Black is no longer even here. We have moved him to another cell.'
Hermione peeked at him through her fingers, hoping he might drop a bit more information, but he seemed disinclined to do so.
'I must say,' Lucius added, looking at Harry now, 'I'm relieved to see you have a girlfriend, Draco. I was beginning to think you were going to turn out to be gay.'
There was a stifled sound from behind Hermione as the real Draco spluttered indignantly.
'Um,' said Harry. 'Right. Well, I'm not. Although I can see why you thought so,' he added. 'All those frilly clothes…'
He broke off as Draco stomped an invisible foot down on his ankle.
'And she's quite pretty, too,' said Lucius, who was now looking at Hermione again. It was not a look she liked. 'Why don't we all go back upstairs and get…. a little better acquainted?' He turned to Wormtail. 'Peter, you stay with the prisoner in the other room until he gets here.'
Wormtail nodded. He was looking at Hermione with a confused expression on his face. With a sick swoop in her stomach, Hermione realized that he was probably wondering where he had seen her before. Because the truth was, he had seen her before — with Harry. Of course, she had been thirteen then and she was sixteen now, and there are no greater changes that take place in a girl's appearance that those which take place between thirteen and sixteen — she was at least a foot taller now, had managed to tame if not straighten her hair, and of course her teeth were different, and her figure….yuck, she hoped Wormtail wasn't looking at her figure.
'In the meantime,' said Lucius, 'Amanda and I will go upstairs and talk. Draco, get up off the floor. You may come with us if you wish.'
And he swept out of the cell, taking Hermione's arm as he did so and propelling her forcefully upstairs. A very upset-looking Harry followed behind them.
Hermione sat across from Lucius in his study. It was a room she would have liked under other circumstances, since it was lined floor to ceiling with books. Stained glass windows glimmered in green and cobalt, depicting various Malfoys dressed as sorcerers and warriors. A fire was roaring in the grate, and Lucius had pulled up two overstuffed chairs by the blaze, one for himself, one for Hermione.
There was nowhere for Harry to sit, so he stood next to Hermione's chair.
'So, Amanda,' Lucius was saying. He had his fingers templed under his chin and was smiling, showing all his pointed teeth. Hermione thought she liked it better when he was looking pissed off. 'How did you meet my son? I'm interested in what a beautiful girl like you might see in Draco.'
What a weasel this man is, Hermione thought furiously. 'Loads of girls like Draco,' she said blandly. 'He's very popular.'
'Are you in Slytherin as well?' asked Lucius.
'No,' said Hermione quickly, both because she was revolted by the idea that she might be in Slytherin, and because she was afraid that if she said she was, Lucius might wonder why Draco hadn't mentioned her once in the past six years. 'I'm in Ravenclaw.'
'Then you must be very clever,' said Lucius.
Hermione didn't know what to say to this, so she said nothing. Harry cleared his throat. 'She's one of the top students in our class, Father,' he said.
Lucius' eyes flicked to Harry, then back to Hermione. It was as if Harry wasn't there. 'I'm glad you're here, Amanda,' said Lucius, 'You've picked an auspicious time to visit. Great things are happening at Malfoy Manor. In fact, a number of my friends are arriving this afternoon and I was planning a small reception. Can I assume that you will attend?' His e yes rested momentarily on Harry. 'As Draco's…date?'
Lucius said 'date' as if it were a word he hadn't said in thirty years.
