Eight

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I make no money here.

AN: This story was written for the 2010 ss/hg_exchange as a gift for lady_karelia. Many thanks to my wonderful betas, dreamy_dragon73 and Clairvoyant.

"What do you mean, gone?" asked Lucius. "Where would she go?"

"I do not know. I waited on the porch for a while to give the girl some time alone, a chance to compose herself. But when she did not come back to the cabin, I started looking for her. She is nowhere around. I looked in the trucks, all around the cabin, down the road. I cannot find her anywhere," Little Anne said.

"She was quite angry with me. Perhaps she took a walk to clear her head," suggested Severus.

"She had no coat when she went out, and she has been gone for at least twenty minutes, probably closer to half an hour. It is getting colder. Surely, she would have come back inside by now," said Art in a worried tone.

"Can she fly like you, Severus?" asked Little Anne.

Lucius' eyes widened at the old woman's question, obviously surprised that his friend had revealed such a secret to these people, and he looked at Severus pointedly.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Lucius. They aren't wizards, but they aren't exactly Muggles either. Art and Little Anne can be trusted; you may speak freely in their presence.

"In answer, Little Anne, no, she can't fly on her own; even among my people that is a very rare skill."

"She wanted to get away from here and from you, Severus. Perhaps, she Apparated back to the town," suggested Lucius.

"Fuck!" exclaimed Severus, dashing into the bathroom and coming back out, holding Hermione's wand. "She wouldn't have gone very far without this."

"Damn," cried Lucius. "We need to find her. Could she have tried to walk back to town?"

"Eight miles?" asked Severus. "That's doubtful."

"She is known to have a temper; she may not have been thinking rationally. I've seen her storm off several times in a fit of pique," said Lucius.

"If we do not find her soon, we will need to get search parties," said Art. "It is going to get dark in a couple of hours, and the temperature will be even colder at night. It might be as you said, Severus, that she just took a walk to clear her head. But it is easy to get lost quickly in the woods. We need to find her."

They hastily developed a plan. Little Anne would take one of the trucks and drive back towards town, looking for Hermione along the road. Art and Lucius would search the area immediately around the cabin and on the path down to the lake. Severus would search from the air while there was enough light to see. If they didn't find her within the next hour, they would call in help.

Severus had circled the area several times, taking into consideration how long Granger had been out and how far she might have gone before they started searching. He had just decided to widen his search area when he spotted her. He had gone over the same area three times previously and missed her, as her brown sweater and dark jeans had blended in with the underbrush.

She was unconscious and huddled in a ball, half hidden by a clump of bushes. Upon examining the situation, it appeared that she'd slipped off the path, slid down a steep bank and hit her head on a rock. There was a quite a bit of blood on the snow, but he knew head injuries could bleed copiously. He probed as gently as possible and found quite a goose egg on the back of her head. Scanning her with his wand, he determined she had no broken bones, but her right ankle was bruised and swollen, and she was scratched up from her fall down the hill.

The thing that concerned him the most was her low body temperature; her shivering was actually decreasing and her skin was cyanotic, which were both bad signs. Her respiration and heart rate were low and irregular. All these things he knew were symptoms of hypothermia which could be deadly. He decided to get her back to the cabin before trying to revive her. He sent his Patronus with a message, "Lucius, I've found her but she is injured. Let Art know and meet us back at the cabin." Removing his coat and covering her with it, he scooped her up. He lifted her easily and Apparated back to the cabin.

Little Anne had returned and was waiting inside when he arrived. Looking at the girl, she immediately hurried to the bedroom and pulled back the covers so Severus could lay her on the bed.

"I'll build up the fire," said Severus as Little Anne examined Hermione.

"No," ordered Little Anne. "She is too cold. If you warm her too fast, it could cause her to go into shock."

Lucius and Art had returned and stood in the great room. Severus quickly explained where he had found her and what he figured had happened.

As he was speaking, Little Anne had removed Hermione's shoes and socks and was going to attempt to undress her when she turned to Severus. "It is best not to move her arms and legs about too much; movement pushes the cold blood towards her heart. Do you have some sharp scissors so I can cut her clothing off?"

"Here, I can take them off magically. You won't even have to move her," he responded. Pulling out his wand and pointing it at the girl, with a flick of his wrist, he said, "Divesto."

Little Anne seemed pleased with the results. "That is a useful thing to do...no movement, no jarring the body." She quickly checked Hermione for signs of injury. "It looks like just a sprained ankle and the bump on her head...no frostbite. Luckily, she was not out there that long. But because she was without a coat and unconscious on the cold, wet ground for so long, her body temperature dropped quickly. We must warm her slowly." She turned to Severus and Lucius and ordered, "You two, get in here now and strip down to your shorts."

Both of them looked as if she had hit them with a bludger.

"Don't just stand there and stare at me. You are wasting precious minutes. She needs to be warmed slowly; body heat is one of the best ways. Skin to skin contact. If she weren't so cold and were conscious, we could give her warm liquids and warm her by the fire, but she is too cold. As I told Severus, if she is warmed up too fast it could send her into shock. Her heart could stop beating. It must be done slowly. Now get in here; one of you behind her and the other in front."

Lucius looked at Severus. "Is there any treatment we can do magically that would be safe?"

Severus shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I don't want to attempt something that might harm her. We'd better do as Little Anne says."

The two quickly stripped down, pulled back the covers and crawled into the bed.

"Holy fuck, she feels like ice," exclaimed Lucius as he settled in front, pulling Hermione up against his chest. He murmured something in her ear as he cradled her gently. Severus barely caught the words, "Don't you even think of leaving me now, little witch. We need you...damn it...I need you."

Severus climbed in behind her and settled as close as possible. Little Anne pulled the covers up over them tightly.

"Do not massage her or move her limbs about while she is so cold," Little Anne reminded them. "It can force the cold blood from her limbs to her core, her heart. She must warm up gradually. All we can do now is wait." So saying, she left the room.

It was silent in the bed for several minutes before Severus spoke softly. "Clearly, I am not going to be able to apologize to her first. You might as well tell me what this is all about, Lucius. Why are the two of you here looking for me?"

Lucius spent the better part of the next hour relating all of the information about how wizarding Britain had fallen into shambles where plagues and crimes and economic crisis abounded. He explained Hermione's project to try to find a solution with Arithmancy, the resulting discovery of the triad and the history of former triads. Severus asked questions throughout, and Lucius answered them as best he could.

Lucius finished his tale. He looked into his friend's eyes over the top of Hermione's head. "I must say, this is a bit awkward, Severus," he commented with a chuckle. "I had pictures in my mind of the first time we might all come together in this position, but this is nothing like I had imagined."

~

Severus awoke the next morning to his raging hard-on pressed firmly against Granger's curvaceous arse, his own right hand fondling a warm plump breast and Lucius' arm draped across both Hermione's body and Severus' waist, lightly caressing his butt cheek through his boxers. The girl is obviously warm now and out of danger, he thought. Now, to extricate myself gracefully without waking anyone.

He carefully removed his hand from her body and slowly slid back a few inches. Instead of sliding off his arse, Lucius' hand tightened and gave him a knowing squeeze. Looking up, he saw his friend's eyes crinkled in silent laughter.

"Lucius, you idiot, let go of me before the girl wakes up, screaming bloody murder to find herself naked and in the same bed as me," he whispered sternly.

With a sigh and a final squeeze, Lucius withdrew his hand and cuddled up closer to Hermione.

Once Severus exited the bathroom, Lucius rose as well, saying, "I suppose you're right, best not let her wake up to find me in her bed. It might be difficult to convince her it was all in the name of administering first aid."

Severus looked from the bed to Lucius. "You mean you haven't... I mean, the two of you don't...?"

"No, not due to lack of desire on my part, believe me. She didn't want to start anything if it wasn't going to lead to the final result, namely the triad. But no recreational sex, as she put it. Hermione seemed convinced that even if we found you, you might decline to join the triad. For some reason, she seems to think that you don't like her. I must say, after hearing the two of you go at it yesterday, I'd have to think perhaps her fears were not unfounded."

"It isn't that I dislike her so much as... it's just... well, I don't understand it myself. But seeing her here suddenly brought back memories, memories I've kept buried for a good long while. Those years. Voldemort. Dumbledore. The war. Potter. Lily... I don't know why, but I just wanted to lash out at her, hurt her for bringing them all back to the surface. It made me angry, and when she started calling me names, I just lost it. Stupid of me, I know...childish...but what's done is done."

"Hermione's a sensible witch. With suitable groveling, I'm sure she'll forgive you."

"I. Don't. Grovel," said Severus pointedly as he stalked from the room.

"Hmmm... bad choice of words," said Lucius, thinking of all those years Severus had to do just that, as they all had, at the feet of Voldemort. Just as he was about to follow him into the other room, a soft groan came from the bed.

Sitting carefully on the edge, he gently cradled Hermione's face. "Are you all right, love? How do you feel."

She groaned again. "Ooohhh, my head is pounding like someone hit me with a Quidditch bat." She shifted a bit in the bed and gave a little yelp. "Ow, my ankle hurts like hell, too. What happened to me?"

Still holding her, he commanded, "Open your eyes and look at me." She did, and he examined her pupils. "What to you remember?"

She thought for a minute, her brow wrinkled in concentration. "I was arguing with Snape, but then he started saying things about Ron, and I lost it. I started hitting him. Then you came in, and I went outside. I was furious, and I just wanted to walk a bit to calm myself down. But then, I... I'm not sure... I think I slipped on some ice or something. I hurt my ankle, and when I tried to get up I fell again, I think, but I don't remember anything after that for a while. I remember vaguely being very cold and trying to scrunch up to keep warm."

"When you slipped, you fell down an embankment, and you must have hit your head. That's why it's pounding right now. It looks like you twisted your ankle pretty badly too, but nothing's broken. Severus checked for that when he first found you."

"Snape found me? Why didn't one of you fix my head and my ankle?" she asked, puzzled.

"Because at the time we were more concerned with saving your life. You'd become dangerously hypothermic. You seem to be doing better now. I'll have Severus take a look at you. He's much better at healing spells than I am."

"Just give me my wand, and I'll do it myself," she demanded, holding her hand out.

"No, I think not. You are still a bit muzzy with that head injury. I don't think it would be a wise choice for you to be pointing a wand at yourself right now."

Snape came and healed her foot and head as best he could. After waiting so many hours, there was some lingering soreness, more so than if her injuries had been healed right away. He offered a perfunctory apology for his behavior the day before. Hermione offered an equally perfunctory acceptance and apologized for losing her temper as well. After that little else was said between the two of them for the next few days.

~

Hermione stayed in bed most of the first day, recovering from her ordeal. She could hear the two men in the other room, talking, chuckling together, renewing their friendship. She felt a bit left out of things, all by herself.

She was happy when Little Anne stopped by to check up on her. She brought some homemade soup and sat with her while Lucius went out with Snape to look at the sites he was keeping an eye on for his magical sprouts.

Lucius then spent most of the afternoon sitting at her bedside, fussing over her. Truthfully, he admitted that he'd been more than just a little frantic at the thought of losing her. She assumed it was because he was worried about the triad, but he hinted that it had little to do with that at all. Once she'd drifted off to sleep, Lucius continued to sit at her bedside holding her hand, gently tracing runes on her palm. Severus looked in and silently observed his friend's behavior, then stepped back out without comment.

The next day, Hermione insisted on getting out of bed and limped into the great room to sit on the sofa. Still, little was said between Severus and Hermione. She politely asked if she could look at some of his books, and he just as politely granted her permission. That was the extent of their communication for that day, other than mundane things like: 'would you like another cup of coffee?' or 'please pass the salt.'

Severus wandered the forest daily, looking for likely spots for his sprouts and for signs of the ground thawing as the snow was melting more each day. Lucius took the opportunity to have a serious discussion with Hermione, regarding the triad.

"Lucius, realistically I don't know how you can even still consider it. I don't see how it could ever work. He hardly speaks to me, barely even acknowledges that I am here. It seems to me it would be pretty difficult to conduct a Tantric ritual when one third of the triad won't even make eye contact. I would also assume that for this to be successful it would require a modicum of trust between the three of us and right now, to be perfectly honest, I'm just not feeling it."

"You haven't gone much out of your way to be cordial to him either. It's a two-way street, you know?"

"That's not true," she defended herself. "Earlier today, I tried to start a conversation about one of his books I'd been reading. Yesterday, I tried to ask him about his travels. You made more comments than he did. His responses were monosyllabic or mere grunts; it's very hard to maintain a discussion in conditions like that. I just don't know what to say to him to get him to open up to me. I'm sure he still thinks of me as an insufferable know-it-all."

"So, do you want to give up? Just go back to England and tell Kingsley it's not going to happen."

"No, that's not what I want. But I just don't know what to do. I think...no...I know that you and I have come to a point that I would be willing to try. But I don't see how I can do it with Severus. I honestly still think he really doesn't like me, so we can't very well blame him for not wanting to make a lifetime commitment to someone he loathes."

"He doesn't loathe you," Lucius assured her.

"You could have fooled me." She pouted.

"I have explained the situation to him. He says he is willing. Honestly, to be a part of something like this is a magical rarity. According to Kingsley's research, only six triads have existed in the last millennium. To wield that sort of power, carry that responsibility, it is an opportunity that is hard to pass up."

"Is that your only motivation? To obtain power?"

"Well, there is also the fantastic Tantric sex with an alluring woman half my age," he teased. "And I have to admit that to be chosen is a bit of an ego boost. The Malfoy name has taken a beating; it would be nice to be respected again."

Distracted, Lucius toyed with a strand of her hair."That's funny," he said, winding it around his finger, then rubbing his thumb over the silky softness of it. "I always thought your hair would be coarse, but it's not at all." Giving his head a little shake he brought his attention back to the matter at hand. "What of you, my dear, if we were to carry out this task, what would your motivation be?"

"Oh, you know my reputation as a do-gooder. It would be hard for me to turn my back on a chance to bring balance to the wizarding world. Working at the Ministry, I've seen the statistics. Everything seems to be in a downward spiral. Magic itself is becoming erratic while crime is on the rise and the economy in decline. People are dying from unheard-of, incurable plagues. Even wizards and witches well trained in magic are losing the ability to control it. If we can change this somehow, how can I refuse?"

Her voice shook a bit as she continued. "And yet, honestly, I just don't know if I can spend the rest of my life with a man who despises me...much less perform sex magic with him. Someone who thinks I'm some sort of nagging bitch who is inadequate when it comes to pleasing a man."

Lucius replied, "I don't think that's what Severus is thinking, no matter what you may believe. And I know personally that it isn't true." Tipping her chin up to look into her eyes, he bent his head, bringing his lips to hers, and kissed her.

She didn't pull away; instead she reached behind his neck and pulled out the black ribbon he used to tie his hair back. She threaded her fingers through his hair and kissed him leisurely. They took their time, lips sliding, tongues exploring, teeth nipping and nibbling. When they broke apart they were both breathing a bit harder. She continued to toy with his hair as his tongue traced down her neck again, and he nibbled his way to her collarbone.

She moaned as he sucked gently on her neck while his hand cupped her breast, and his thumb traced circles around her nipple.

"I thought you said no recreational sex?" whispered Lucius in her ear.

Pulling his hair to tip his head back so she could look into his sparkling grey eyes, she said, "This is just kissing... petting, Lucius. I'm not going to have sex with you, not today, anyway."

"Not today. But someday?" he asked expectantly, grinning at her. "Someday soon?"

She grinned back at him. "Yes, definitely someday. Soon." She hesitated a bit then added, a little embarrassed, "Umm... I'm glad you don't find me inadequate, but I must be honest about this. I really haven't got a lot of experience."

"How much is not a lot?" he asked while slipping his hand under her sweater to fondle her breasts.

"Well, just Ron really. But we were very enthusiastic. I guess what I'm trying to say is we did it a lot, but it was only ever just him. I've never been with anyone else." She gasped as he pinched her nipple.

He chuckled as he went back to nibbling his way back up her neck to take her lips again. "Well, that certainly isn't a problem. Good to know that you were enthusiastic, though. Enough talking, more kissing." So saying, he laid her down on the couch and draped himself over her, and they spent the next hour kissing and getting to know each other.

~

Looking up at the clock, he saw that it was nearly three o'clock. Pulling away from Hermione and sitting up, he helped her sit up as well. "Severus will be back soon. I'll have a talk with him soon. But I need to know your intentions, Hermione. Are you willing to go through with this whole thing? Are you willing to join this triad with Severus and me?"

She sighed. "I want to say yes, Lucius. But I'm so unsure of him. I'm afraid," she admitted.

"Let me talk to him. I have an idea. You probably won't like it. He won't either, I'm sure. But I think we need drastic measures, and this may be the only way."

tbc