This story hit me fast and hard. I am but a slave to the muse at present, and she had me chained to the keyboard. This fic will be short, maybe only four chapters. Lots of smut upcoming, but I need to set the stage. If you saw my announcement in my group you'll know all things Victorian are on the brain. So while I will hopefully hear from the Of Wands & Wishes muse soon, currently she's eating ice cream and ignoring all pleas.

Pairing:

Draco Malfoy & Hermione Granger

Tags:

Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Victorian, Possessive Behavior, Alpha/Omega Dynamics, Mating, Mating Cycles/Heats, Mating Bond, Mating Bites, Claiming, Rough Kissing, Oral Sex, Rough Sex, Knotting, Breeding, Pregnancy, Happy Ending

Father once spoke of an Angel. I used to dream he'd appear. Now as I sing, I can sense him. And I know he's here.

-Andrew Lloyd Weber The Phantom of the Opera

Hermione righted herself after she fell forward again, the road that the carriage trundled done was well worn, and she had lost count of the number of times she had fallen from her seat. When she was once again seated she looked at her companion, an austere man who she had spent the last decade with, Lord Snape was Hermione's guardian. His long nose, like normal was down and his eyes moved quickly over one of the books he had brought with him.

"How is it you manage to stay upright, sir?" Hermione asked taking a moment to smooth down her skirts, though she wondered at the logic of the action. Surely they would just get mussed up again.

"My feet are planted firmly, and I brace my back against the wall of the carriage," he replied not even looking up from his reading, but she was far too used to this to mind. Lord Snape was a bachelor of some forty years, he had been great friends with her parents before they went missing ten years ago. They had been on a ship bound for Australia to secure large parcels of land to expand their land holdings in the expanded British Empire. They were never heard from again.

In the years that she and Lord Snape had spent in each other's company, she had learned to love the strange quirks of her guardian, that made him the talk of the ton. He refused to allow Hermione to debut into proper society, even though she held titles from her mother's family. There had been much gossip over his decision to keep her safely tucked away, and it hadn't been until the last fortnight that Hermione had been made aware of why that decision was made.

She had already been promised to a man, whom she had never even laid eyes on, and Lord Snape had honoured his request that she remain away from society. When Lord Snape had sat her down fifteen days ago and explained that they would soon be departing for Northern England, she had wondered the reason, as they rarely left their home in London. But she had been unprepared for his next move, and that was to explain that her use of suppressants was to stop, a decision she had tried to argue, but Lord Snape just leveled his normal arched eyebrow at her feminine antics.

Hermione had found out when she was barely fourteen that she was part of a small subset of the population who suffered by being Omegas. A term that tasted like vinegar in her mouth, and one she tried desperately to avoid. She had grown up expecting to one day make a match with a gentleman, a man who would gain all of her property and holdings, and in a sense in charge of her life, but he would never have a say over the feelings of her body. Being an omega afforded her no such freedom. Once her heats hit, she would find herself much at the mercy of her mate, an Alpha who would dominate her body and mind.

That was the reason they were on this broken down road, in an unfamiliar carriage, traveling in the last few hours of daylight. So that she could be sold off to the man who had arranged for her hand before she had even understood what an Omega was. But Lord Snape had known before her, as had her parents, apparently, there was a simple blood test that was done on infants to find out their designation. So plans had been made, without her even understanding the role she would need to fall into.

"How much longer?" Hermione asked needing a reason to stop thinking about the desolate situation she now found herself in. For years she had dreamed of falling in love with a true gentleman, but slowly her dreams had shifted to one of a similar life of Lord Snape. Left alone with her books and with her studies so that she could continue her love of learning. She just hoped that the man who would soon claim her would find it in his heart to allow her access to her books.

Lord Snape looked up from his book for the first time in hours, and gazed out at the rolling countryside, "It actually appears as though we will soon be there."

With those words, he rapped his walking stick on the carriage roof, and they slowly rolled to a stop.

"Your intended sent a package before we departed London, I will get it for you, it is a dress. You will change, and we will continue on our way," Lord Snape explained his dark eyes betrayed the emotion that was being stirred inside of him.

Hermione struggled to breathe but nodded as he left the carriage. She turned to her left and pulled the stays of the curtains for the window and had just turned back towards her right when Lord Snape returned holding an elegant silk box with an emerald bow. Hermione took it with shaking hands and sat it on the seat Lord Snape had just vacated.

"I will ride with the coachman for the next few miles, the drive to our destination is a hidden one," Lord Snape said shutting the door behind him with a click. Hermione pulled those curtains closed, and the inside of the carriage was almost pitch black, except for the two candles lit beside the door.

She grabbed the stub of one candle and brought it closer to the silk box. Hermione undid the bow and flipped open the lid and gasped. Before her was a deep green, damask section of silk. Peaking out from the side was a bit of black lace that was of the finest quality she had ever touched. Hermione pulled the dress from the box with careful hands and stared at the beautiful gown breathlessly.

Hermione was suddenly worried about even wearing such a magnificent gown, but it didn't seem as if she had an option, her simple cotton skirt and blouse would be very out of place is this was an example of the clothing worn by her intended.

By the time the carriage stopped again, Hermione had tightened her corset just enough that the dress fit perfectly, giving her what she hoped would be a good silhouette. The black lace was indeed of excellent quality as it felt like silk against her skin.

There was a knock on the carriage door, and Hermione opened the curtains again and turned the handle. "We will be there in just a few more minutes Miss Granger, are you ready?"

As Lord Snape climbed back into the coach, he was careful not to tread on her voluminous skirts.

"Lord, might I ask you about my intended? You have not told me much," Hermione asked biting her lip. Lord Snape usually found some of her questions impertinent and hoped he would not resolve to not answer her.

The Lord's sharp black eyes looked into her honey eyes carefully before he sighed and began to speak, "I have only met Lord Draco once before, but I knew his father when we were in school together, and I have heard they are similar attitudes. When I met him, he was a rather serious young man, and though he is a few years older than you are, he was very mature for his age. From what I'm to understand his father, His Royal Highness Lucius spent most of the year in London with the court and working with Parliament. So Lord Draco was forced to take charge of their Manor's holdings from a young age," Lord Snape paused and sat his book at his side, the carriage swaying to the right on the road. "The rest of my experience with him has been through letters which have all centred around you, and he is most eager to meet you. I did send him the portrait that Sir Alton painted of you, and he remarked that you were of incredible beauty."

Hermione's cheeks flushed, and she turned from her guardian, she may hate the direction her life was taking, but she hoped for the best. Maybe she could find some happiness in her new life. She noticed for the first time how the rolling hills had changed into a thick forest, and she leaned towards the window.

"Their home is in the woods?" Hermione asked unsure how she felt about that. She had only ever lived in London, and though Lord Snape had taken her a handful of times to his friend's homes, they had all been in the countryside, far away from woodlands. Suddenly some of the stories she had read came swimming through her mind, tales of monsters and fantastical creatures.

"It is surrounded by woods, yes, but it is situated in the middle of a wide clearing of plowed land," Lord Snape answered his eyes scanning the view outside the carriage just like Hermione was.

Hermione starred for a few more minutes when the landscape changed to one of fields of crop and tall grass.

"Yes, just a minute or two now," Lord Snape said buttoning up his long black frock coat again.

Hermione swallowed, and grasped her hands, twisting them together as she tried to control the nerves rising in her stomach. Just as the carriage came to a stop, an expanse of skin on her neck began to prickle uncomfortably, and she placed her hand against it.

Lord Snape exited the carriage first and held his hand out for her. Hermione kept her eyes down until her little heels crunched against the gravel, but when her brown eyes took in the sight before her, she couldn't help the gasp that crossed her lips.

To be continued. . .