1: Secret Visits
Lucius
If someone were to have asked the pureblood master of Malfoy Manor point blank the reason why he began to visit Hermione Granger's prison cell in his cellar he would not have been able to give you a straight answer, save that his time in Azkaban humbled him more than he cared to admit. The other prisoners his sister in law Bellatrix LeStrange were holding disturbed him as well: the wandmaker Garrick Ollivander, the Lovegood girl, even Harry Potter himself to a certain extent. The Weasley boy he could not bring himself to think much of, due to the old rivalry. But the others? Oh yes, this entire set up was just a bad business all around.
He shuffled along, holding up Narcissa's wand to light his way, since Voldemort took it upon himself at the last meeting to confiscate his wand, and in his last engagement with the Potter boy, managed to destroy it completely. The loss of his dragon heartstring, elderwood wand hurt him deeply, because it had been with him ever since he was eleven years old, and it had never once failed him in all the years he owned it. His wife's wand was made of oak with veela hair at its core, and while it was powerful, it did not feel like a natural part of his arm like his original wand did.
He walked past by Luna Lovegood's cell, which she shared with the goblin teller, and Ollivander, past Potter and Weasley's shared cell, in which they were sleeping on their separate cots, their hands linked together. Lucius tucked this interesting tidbit of information away for possible later use like the good Slytherin he was, and moved to the private door at the end of the hall. He unlocked the door, and Miss Granger was up, and trying to write in what looked like a journal.
She looked up at him, her eyebrow raised in a silent question. "What do you want, Malfoy? Come to gloat at me yet again? This is the fifth time you have visited me."
He crossed the threshold into her cell, and changed out her bedding for fresh blankets, sheets, and pillows that he enlarged to their full size out of his robe pockets. "There, that's better. Does it look like I am gloating, Miss Granger? I gave you a private cell, ensured that you had candles to write by, I even located your personal effects for you, and this is the thanks I receive?"
Hermione took a calming breath before speaking again, "I'm sorry. But, you could free all of us, or aren't you master of this house any more? I'm confused as to why you are being kind to me at all. I am nothing but a mud blood to you, remember?"
Lucius brushed at some non existent lint on the throw blanket on Miss Granger's cot before sitting down. "It's not that simple. Let's just say that I would have been better off if the deatheaters had not released me from Azkaban." He held up Narcissa's wand, "He destroyed my original wand to fight your friend, and I had to borrow my wife's wand."
Hermione looked like she was debating with herself to believe him or not, but then decided on mistrust, "Oh, boo hoo. King Ferret has to live with a dose of reality in this war. I had to lose my parents! I used my own wand to remove their memories of my existence out of their minds to protect them, and had them relocated to Australia. Your goons still found them, and made their deaths seem like an accident. My mother was pregnant at the time, and they must have been trying for some time, because I was a miracle baby. You lost your wand? Cry me a river, or call someone who cares, take your pick, just leave me out of it."
He knew that he couldn't press her any further, and refused to take the bait on her anger. "I am deeply sorry for your loss...Hermione. Good night."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Sure you are, don't let the door hit you on the way out."
He left, and Narcissa urged him to keep trying, despite the girl's constant venom thrown in his direction.
Two weeks passed, and the tortures of the prisoners continued, and it all grated heavily on his nerves. Until Bellatrix went too far, and it was time for him to act once and for all...
