75

They lay there, drifting between sleep and waking, ignoring the birds that sang outside and the light that filtered through the curtains. Just before ten, a pair of bright blue eyes peered through a crack in the door, before disappearing.

"Begging your pardon Master." The high pitched voice sounded in the semi-darkness.

"Yes?" she replied quietly as Lucius stirred next to her. "What time is it?"

"It has just gone ten Mistress."

"And what is it you want?" Lucius asked as she rubbed sleep from her eyes and reached for her glasses.

"Professor Dumbledore is just arriving, Sir." The elf gave a low bow as he relayed the information.

"What?" Kathryn bolted upright, straight out of Lucius' arms.

"He is just arriving and says that he is wanting to speak to Miss Potter." The house elf squeaked.

"She will be down as fast as she can. Bring some tea." Lucius said, effectively dismissing the elf, who disappeared with a crack.

"Why is he here?" she muttered to herself as she scrabbled out of bed and into the bathroom.

"To see you obviously." Lucius remarked back dryly.

"Oh very funny." She called back, emerging as she rubbed moisturiser onto her face. "I'm serious, he hasn't spoken to me since it was discovered you know." Not stopping, she continued on into the wardrobe. "I'm sure he despises me."

"I highly doubt that." he contradicted, pulling on his dressing gown and going to pour himself a cup of tea from the pot a house elf had just arrived with. "You have done too much good for him ever to despise you."

"Well," she reappeared dressed in dark, figure hugging jeans tucked into black boots, a midnight blue vest top and a thick, black shrug, "we'll soon find out." Cheekily, she took his cup and finished the tea off. "Do I look ok?"

"Turn round." Obediently, she did so and was surprised to feel him take her hair in his hands. Taking his wand, he conjured a length of thick ribbon the same colour as her shrug and used it to corral her wavy hair at the nape of her neck. "There, much neater."

"Thanks." She turned back round, replaced the cup in his hands and made to leave, only to have him grab her wrist and pull her back.

"Not so fast." He kissed her quickly before releasing her to go downstairs.

"Come down in a little while." She told him as she slipped out of the door.

She found Dumbledore in the back drawing room, looking out over the gardens.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Professor." She said politely as she walked in. "You haven't been waiting long, have you?"

"Not at all, Kathryn." Dumbledore shook his head, a kind smile on his face, his blue eyes twinkling behind half-moon spectacles. "My apologies for waking you up."

"I was in need of a long morning in bed!" she laughed. "Would you like some tea? Or coffee?"

"Yes, thank you," he nodded, "I was offered it by one of your house elves but I preferred to wait."

"Any particular kind?" she asked as a house elf appeared.

"Earl Grey with lemon if you have it."

"Certainly." The elf nodded fervently, having heard what Dumbledore had asked for. "And I'll have coffee." She added. With a low bow, the house elf disappeared.

"How are you this morning?" he asked, taking a seat in a comfortably upholstered armchair.

"Much recovered," she replied with a small smile, settling herself on a chaise lounge adjacent to Dumbledore, "thank you." A house elf appeared through the door with tea and coffee on a tray.

Dumbledore regarded his former student for a few moments as the drinks were set on a small table. Her face was quite neutral, betraying nothing, yet mysterious at the same time; as if enticing him to keep on looking. Yet when he looked into her eyes, he saw fatigue and a pain etched into them. Her clothes were similar to those he had seen her wear at school and when she had been living at Grimmauld Place, if a bit more subdued. Having seen her through the course of the week, however, Dumbledore knew that this outfit was a simple affair compared to what she had concealed upstairs. She looked completely at ease as she was handed a steaming cup of black coffee; she was no guest in this house.

Since everything had come to light, Dumbledore had found himself wondering how he had missed it. How had he not seen the stolen glances, the very real smiles? She had sat before him dressed in sumptuous gowns and prestigious jewels, on the arm of such a man, and he had suspected nothing. He had looked into her eyes and seen no hint of deception, her mind strictly protected against invasion. Yet he had not seen that protection; her mind had been open, as if there was nothing to conceal.

And now here she was sat before him, apparently as practiced at, and as comfortable with, using her influence to get what she wanted just as much as the man who lay upstairs. Indeed, his presence upstairs was testament to that.

"I must confess that I am surprised at your visit." She began once the house elf disappeared again. "I hadn't expected to see you at all. I know that general public opinion isn't exactly in my favour at the moment."

"And why should that affect my paying you a visit?" he asked curiously, his twinkling blue eyes meeting her deep green.

"Well, I lied to you." She replied plainly. "I lied to everyone. I betrayed everything I stood for, for someone who was everything I hate. You have every right not to want to see me."

"I must admit that I was initially unsure of what to think." Dumbledore explained in a friendly voice. "After Fudge placed you under house arrest you were effectively swallowed by the house." He explained. "I hear what your brother and the others said after they visited you. They were scared at the change they saw. Considering all that they had discovered, although now it was comparatively little, they did not know you anymore."

"I know that this has been hard to accept." She nodded. "And they have every right to be angry. I will not challenge them."

"I confess that I was angry," he told her, sipping his tea, "but it was more anger at you not telling me. I still do not understand why you didn't."

"I know I could've told you and been safe," she admitted with a sigh, staring down into her lap, "but he wanted to break me. If I'd told you, he would have won. I didn't want to admit my weakness by passing responsibility to someone else."

"Of course, there was also disbelief as I had suspected nothing. I had seen you together and had not seen anything beyond what was there."

"You saw what I wanted you to see." She corrected. "At least, last year that is, before that you'd seen what he wanted you to see."

"But I never questioned it. I should have. You were thrown together too much to be only coincidence."

"I made it look like coincidence; you've seen and heard that this week." She shook her head. "You should not admonish yourself for not seeing anything. Besides, you had more important things to think about."

"But you were one of those important things," he reminded her," you and your brother both were. Your safety was key to everything."

"I put myself in danger, not you." She shook her head. "Anyway, it is done and there is little point regretting what we cannot change."

"Indeed." Dumbledore took another sip of tea before continuing. "Now, with regard to my purpose here today, I assume that you have noticed that you have not seen me since you left school that morning in June?"

"I had, yes."

"Well, I now come before you to tell you what I think as I, like the rest, have had to wait to hear exactly what transpired."

"Surely you understand my reasons as to why I have waited?"

"I do, and I admire them." He smiled and nodded. "Now, although I might have been angry at the lies you told, I now wish you to know that I consider your actions noble and exceedingly brave."

"Thank you."

"To the unknowing eye, what you did seems foolhardy. I cannot deny that it was, but it your actions afterward that make the difference. I could not be prouder of you for what you did. I know that it was a great personal sacrifice, and risk. We all owe you a great debt."

"You owe me no debt." She shook he head, setting her empty cup down. "I did what I had to."

"I understand, indeed, I admire your resilience to such a monstrous means of torment and I cannot begin to imagine how it must have pained you. I see now, you know, how he flaunted it and no one realised. I guess you had done so much and proved yourself so strong that we never thought that such a thing could occur."

"You know I wanted it to deal with it myself because I did not want to admit that such a thing happened to me, don't you?" she told him with complete honesty. "It was just the way he was about it," she tried to explain, "so gentlemanly. In public he'd take my arm, hold open doors, and help me in and out of cars. In private he would have his way and I would let him because I'd learned that the price of refusal was worse than the humiliation of being compliant."

"Be assured that I think no less of you for what you did."

"But what about after, when it became everything it never should have been?" she asked. "You cannot think so highly of me then, can you?"

"Well," Dumbledore seemed to be choosing his words carefully, "I must admit that the turn in events was quite shocking. I'll admit to not really knowing you before that point. For the past two years I have had no inkling of anything but politeness between yourself and Mr Malfoy. With your discovery of the intent of that portkey, I began to suspect some partiality on his part, but certainly nothing on yours."

"No one ever did. Hermione was the one who suspected that his attentions had more than politeness behind them. I suppose who I was meant that I was in no danger of suspicion. They could not even contemplate that I was capable of what was really going on."

"It was only when you were not to be found that something was suspected. It was Harry that got the link between your being missing and Mr Malfoy's absence from those Death Eaters either dead or captured." Dumbledore explained to an intently listening Kathryn. She had never actually been told how they had been led to Malfoy Manor in the first place. "That was when we began to fear the worst, for you were badly injured."

"Yet you did not arrive until morning?"

"That was a decision on my part," he went on, "I didn't think that it was prudent to go charging in here straight away when we were substantially weakened. We also believed that he would prefer to use you as a bargaining tool. We never dreamed that you would be safe."

"He saved me." She said quietly. "He saved Harry. I owe him so much, yet he does not hold the debt."

"Indeed," Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully, "not something many would expect of Lucius Malfoy I think."

"No." She shook her head. "Most of what I know is a far cry from the Lucius Malfoy that other people see."

"And that is what you must prove." Dumbledore gave her an encouraging smile. "And I have no doubt that you shall do so with considerable aplomb."

"And what else do you think?" she asked. "If you don't mind me asking that is."

"Of course you may ask, after all, that is partially why I came." Dumbledore smiled. "I am immensely proud of you and I greatly appreciate the personal sacrifice you made, we all do. It was incredibly selfless and I could not have hoped for you to do anything braver. As for the other side of what happened, aside from that fact that you had such a high-ranking Death Eater in your pall and you did not exploit it, I think you very courageous to stand by what you have done."

"I knew I would have to, from the very moment I sought him out I knew that I would one day have to answer for my actions."

"Something which you have been doing although, forgive me, it appears that there is still something you are not saying." Dumbledore gazed at her with those extraordinary blue eyes.

"I do not know if I can say it." Although she did not give any subject, Dumbledore knew of what she was speaking. "What would such an admission make me? Would anyone believe it for what it is?"

"Only you can answer those questions." Dumbledore replied wisely. "Although I must confess, I arrived before you were woken up and looked in on you."

"Oh."

"If you fear a lack of reciprocation, from what I have seen, I would question why."

"Ah, so you know that Lucius is here."

"Yes, that was quietly done compared to the start of the week."

"Well, I casually threatened them with exposing any of their dark secrets."

"You know their dark secrets?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"No," she smirked, "but there's no harm in looking. I don't dare ask whether you approve."

"Approve of what?" he asked with a mysterious twinkle in her eye. "I do not know whether I dare venture comment on your threatening the Wizengamot." He chuckled.

"Well, it's only a threat if you take it so." She shrugged.

"As for your bringing him home, well, that is your business. Just between you and me, I think you have perfect reason and the restrictions that Cornelius has seen fit to impose upon you are utterly ridiculous and without foundation."

"I suppose that remaining here keeps me safe from the public, but it does get far too lonely at times." She sighed, staring down into her lap. "Besides," she looked him now straight in they eye as she spoke, "Lucius is no danger; I do not think he has been for some time."

"Indeed I do see that and, on looking back over events, I think you will find that major Death Eater activity coincides quite frequently with times he was occupied with you." He gave her a small wink.

"But there was nothing in the papers," she raised a quizzical eyebrow, "when I came back I always checked the papers and there was never anything in."

"Oh Kathryn," Dumbledore sounded quite shocked; "surely you haven't forgotten that the Ministry hushed up half of the atrocities committed by Voldemort and his followers."

"Oh, of course."

"Some might not have been discussed in front of you, your brother and your friends because they were perhaps too terrible even for your ears. Then again, you in particular do have a very intimate knowledge of the scope of their cruelty."

"And my foster parents were the victim of one such attack." She added, remembering that horrible day. Although not even a year had gone by, it felt like an awfully long time ago, considering all that had happened since. "And he even told me it was her. He freely admitted that it was Bellatrix Lestrange. I did not need to ask."

"Am I correct in my assumption that you have no desire to hold him criminally responsible for what he did to you two years ago?"

"Yes."

"Then, technically, your testimony is null and void in that it could be deemed involuntary. All that your testimony should have bearing on is his actions as a Death Eater. Of course, Cornelius is twisting its relevancy by making it about explaining what happened."

"He is determined to see me punished."

"He is ignoring most conventions and is going for the Barty Crouch approach; fast trials and severe, if sometimes ill advised, verdicts."

"Wonderful." A dry voice spoke from the doorway. "What excellent news for me." Kathryn could not fail to crack a smile as Lucius walked into the room.

"Good morning Lucius." Dumbledore greeted him with a smile.

"And to you Dumbledore." Lucius offered his hand which, much to Kathryn's surprise, Dumbledore took. "I hope you are not too angered to find me here as opposed to Azkaban."

"Not at all. At this point I feel that your presence in Azkaban would be a waste of resources."

"Thank you. Although I can assure you that there are few who will share your opinion beyond those in this room."

"Well, now that you are here, I can get to my business which relates to the pair of you."

"Go ahead." Lucius took a seat next to Kathryn, giving her a light peck on the cheek as he did so.

"I have decided to offer you the opportunity of being placed under the protection of the Fidelius charm." He explained. "Firstly to ensure your safety, particularly that of Miss Potter, from the general public and those unknown supporters of Voldemort who we have not apprehended. There are still those who will attempt to finish what their Lord did not, whilst also purging a traitor." He nodded in Lucius' direction.

"Oh that has been made very clear to me." He nodded darkly. "I hear them shouting and I do not think it is just due to the Dementors."

"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "and whilst the Ministry has not yet acknowledged it, you are greatly responsible for the defeat of Voldemort. What if he had sent Bellatrix Lestrange to check?"

"I have only said this to two people," Lucius continued cautiously, "but I couldn't tell the truth. I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"I understand," Dumbledore nodded, "and think all the better of you because of it."

"Again, there are few who share the sentiment." Kathryn sighed. "I thank you for your offer, Professor, but I have to say no."

"Might I ask why?"

"My parents had need to hide, I do not. As much as I would love to, it would be seen as an affirmation of my guilt." She explained. "And I do not wish to spend the foreseeable future in nothing but a grand prison. I want the free life that I have never been able to enjoy."

"Certainly."

"Thank you."

"The option is still there should you ever have need of it."

"I will not forget."

"And now, if you will excuse me, I must take my leave." He gave them a warm smile. "It is ironic how one finds oneself with even more to do in peace time."

"Yes, although some of us have ended up in rather unexpected situations." She replied wryly.

"Indeed." He nodded solemnly. "Well, good day Miss Potter, Mr Malfoy." With a final nod and smile, he disappeared out the door.

"Was I right to refuse?" she asked quietly as she leant against his shoulder.

"I think so." He nodded thoughtfully. "Although, depending on how things turn out, the offer must not be forgotten."

"Well, we have yet to get there." She gave him a smile, lacing her fingers with his. "And if I have my way, it won't."

"That will not be easy to achieve."

"I don't do easy." She replied coolly. "I'm not sure if anything I've ever done has been easy."

"I suppose that's a comfort." He teased her; pulling a disbelieving face. "Albeit a very small one." She responded to this remark with a slap on the shoulder.

"Oh you're lucky I don't intend on leaving." She chided him.

"Indeed I am." This time his voice was sincere. "So what time might we expect people for lunch, as I assume they will still be arriving?"

"Any time after twelve." She shrugged, standing up and giving her arms a little stretch. "So I'm going to jump in the shower before they get here. And it's entirely up to you if you follow or not." With a final smile, she drifted out the door and back up the grand staircase. He dutifully followed and watched her as she walked. She took the stairs slowly, a wistful expression on her face, running her hand up the polished rail as she went. Her shrug was hanging loosely off her shoulder; revealing the long, elegant curve of her neck. She spied him watching.

"What are you looking at?" she asked, looking down upon him with a tempting smile.

"Something I never knew I had." Smiling and shaking her head, she continued on until she was out of sight.

As much as he knew it would be most satisfying to follow, he diverted his attention to the kitchens and the preparations for lunch. He imagined that there would be a rather large party, and instructed the House Elves to prepare for such an event. The menu they proposed was sufficiently lavish, yet understated and summery at the same time. After telling them where they were to eat, he descended to the wine cellar to find something to go with the lunch. He wasn't sure if Champagne would be seen as too much, but he selected several bottles anyway; he was not going to be thought a poor host.

Returning upstairs he found her lounging against the pillows of their bed, wrapped in a dressing gown the colour of twilight, and reading a book.

"I was most disappointed that you didn't follow." She said in a mock petulant tone, looking at him over the top of her glasses.

"Well," he sat down next to her and stroked a hand down her leg, "I did think that lunch needed seeing too. And besides, you're still here." He gave her a mischievous smile.

"And we've got time," she smirked back, "people aren't going to be here for at least another hour." His hand pulled at the belt that held the robe closed, exposing her fair, flawless skin to his eager eyes.

"But of course," his hand moved abruptly away, "if you'd rather read." She scowled at him, realising that he was doing to her exactly what she had done the night before, and quickly set her book aside.

"I don't think so." Reaching out and grabbing a fistful of his shirt, she pulled him back down to kiss her. Gladly, he tumbled down beside her, kissing her tenderly as she expertly unbuttoned his shirt.