It had been over a month. She had avoided it for this long but decided she couldn't leave things unclear anymore. She decided to do it where it would be unlikely he would cause a scene. The great hall. Monday morning. Breakfast. The throng of students eager to begin the week with a hearty meal created the perfect cover. Hermione Granger worked up the nerve to corner Draco Malfoy as he entered the hall; she fought in vain to stop the fresh memories of their first and final night together from bursting past the mental barriers she erected. It was almost surreal that it had even occurred. Hermione prided herself on her intelligence, but she had yet to formulate a half-way decent theory to explain how she ended up sleeping with Draco Malfoy. It wasn't that she had regretted her decision. It was that she didn't and truly could not fight against the overwhelming desire to give herself to him. It wasn't a spell, a potion, or even hormones. It was something else entirely.

"Not that I intend on stopping Granger, but are you sure about this?" Draco breathed in her ear, causing a shiver or pleasure to travel up her spine.

He was deftly undoing the buttons of her school blouse to reveal a plain white bra with a hint of lace.

"Y-Yes." Hermione stammered. "Don't stop," she added as an afterthought, intending to speed up his ministrations.

Spurred on by her response, Draco quickly relieved her of her skirt and underwear. Her bra followed soon after. Her clothes were rendered unwearable as he removed them in a violent and impatient fashion.

"Um... could you maybe... as well... since I'm so..." she said motioning to his fully clad form and her nude one.

"I'll undress when I damn well feel like, which, luckily for you just happens to be now." The huskiness of his voice reverberated right to her core. Moments later Draco Malfoy, Prince of Slytherin, was standing in front of her in all his naked glory. And glorious it was.

Before Hermione knew it, Draco was touching her in all sorts of delicious places. Some she hadn't even realised were erotic. She muffled a gasp of pleasure in Draco's shoulder, softly biting the skin.

"Am I to be the lucky bloke to pop your Mudblood cherry?"

Hermione felt a flash of anger at the disgusting term he so often used, a pink tinge stained her cheeks from her anger and embarrassment that he was indeed to be her first. But no matter how hard she tried to summon up the will to leave him, she couldn't.

A deep chuckle escaped his mouth; he considered her physical response and steamy silence as confirmation.

Attempting to gain some semblance of control, Hermione reached down to grasp Draco firmly.

She felt and heard the growl that echoed through his throat and chest as a result of her actions. He gently removed her hands and said, "I think we'd better start."

Draco scooped Hermione into his arms and carried her over to his metallic silver bed sheets. He laid himself on top of her and whispered sensually, "I'd rather be inside you for the first time you make me come."

He raised his head to gauge her reaction to his provocative words. Never had they spoken to each in such a manner.

A light flush began to heat its way up Hermione's cheeks, Draco ruled this as a victory and smirked.

"Take a breath" He advised, intertwining his fingers with hers.

At her small, almost imperceptible nod he gradually began.

Both were breathing heavily, completely consumed by the experience. They locked eyes; Draco made the final push through and swallowed her small cry of pain with a passionate kiss.

Both remained perfectly still for a few moments.

Hermione rotated her hips experimentally and was rewarded by a shock of pleasure tinged with a dull ache that she wanted to experiences again, and again, and again.

As their pleasure and ecstasy mounted, so did their rhythm.

Hermione dug her heels into Draco's back whilst he steadily increased his pace and angled his hips.

Hermione stroked her finger from Draco's back and to his shoulder, when he hit a particularly enjoyable spot she gripped his forearm tightly, holding on for dear life. She felt the skin was slightly raised.

The curious witch lightly traced the outline of the figure on his forearm. Draco slowed down as realisation dawned. She had discovered what had only been rumoured.

Draco Malfoy had the Dark Mark.

Looking down in resignation, tears collected in her chocolate brown eyes and her mouth opened in a silent scream. There it was, stark and ugly against his pale skin.

A lone tear escaped when Hermione closed her eyes to regain composure. When she opened them she was drawn into the depths of Draco's eyes. His brow furrowed in frustration, he did not appreciate her trying to get inside his mind.

"This is who I am," he stated unapologetically. Hardness settled in his eyes as he awaited her reaction.

Without warning, Hermione grasped Draco's shoulders forcefully and began to arch her hips whilst rocking against him with renewed vigour.

Hermione leant up to murmur in the throes of passion, "Just tonight... just this once."

A delightfully warm tension was beginning to build in her core; she was almost exploding with her release. The words that finally pushed her over the edge were, "No...It won't be. There will be much more, I promise you."

By the morning, she had returned to her own room. She didn't wake him or leave him a note. Everything she wanted to say needed to be said in person so he could see the unmistakable glint of conviction in her eyes when she said it. Hermione Granger was terrified and she felt violated. Not by Draco, but by whatever entity had decided to intervene and complicate her life. Two things occurred to her when she was getting changed out of the Slytherin quidditch jersey she had stolen from Draco. The first was that Draco was a Death Eater. The Second was that both of them were in very real danger. Draco would be cast out as a blood traitor for daring to sully himself with Queen of the Mudbloods herself, or most probably worse seeing as how he aligned himself with a cult that readily tortures and kills muggles and wizards alike. If she hadn't already provoked Voldermort enough by existing, Hermione had also made a habit of becoming his mortal enemy. To add insult to injury she had slept with his newest rising star. It was obvious what she had to do.

Standing from her seat, she took quick strides towards Draco. He looked elated and annoyed, no doubt bitter from waking up alone this morning.

With a swagger in his step, Draco sauntered towards her drawling, "Well, well, well, talking to me again? So, I noticed a certain piece of clothing had run off inconveniently enough, I'll be needing it back I have first practice of the season this afternoon –"

Hermione cut him off, "Malfoy. I - I just wanted to make it clear that we won't be... together again," she started off confidently. "I can't be with you. It was a mistake and it can't happen again, I don't know what made us do it. What you are... I can't live with it. I could never touch someone who is a follower of Voldermort and ultimately a selfish prat who wants to use me for his own self gratification."

Without waiting for a reply, she turned on her heel and started back towards her table.

Hermione Granger, who is renowned for her intelligence, was wrong for what could be the first time in her life. Draco was not deterred by the vast amount of people in the great hall.

Grabbing her wrist firmly, Draco spun her back around. He was rapidly attracting the individual attention of every student in the Great Hall. Conversation ceased, many students turned their attention towards the couple expectantly and curiously.

"Granger... this is over when I say so -"

"I think not," she hissed.

She proceeded to walk away again, but was stopped by sheer shock at his next words that seemed to echo on for hours through the highly acoustic hall, "I know you want me just as much as I want you. I know you felt it. The power that surrounded us."

An embarrassed flush was rising up her cheeks at an alarming rate. Whoever wasn't listening prior to Draco's outburst was now firmly attentive. The meaning of his words was not lost on the crowd.

"Let's talk about this later," Hermione attempted to reason.

"No! You know what, if you were worried about people finding out about your little indiscretion, sleeping with me that is. It's done. So, skip the moral crisis."

A collective gasp echoed amongst the crowd. The unthinkable had just occurred.

Hermione's throat felt thick with tears, she was overwrought by the emotions inside her at Malfoy's words.

"You insufferable git," she choked. Stumbling backwards, she prepared to launch herself into a dead run towards her dormitory.

"I don't know what you're blubbering about, I'm the one with a reputation to protect, which I believe I just tarnished severely. Now that I think about it, doesn't seem so worth it," he declared unashamedly.

In moments, his biting words had reached the farthest corners of the hall.

Everyone was staring intently at her, awaiting her response to such a public slander.

Her first instinct was to lash out in anger, she trusted this instinct.

"How dare you," she rebuked. "Your reputation will suffer a fatal blow if you don't shut it, Malfoy. Or are you forgetting what exactly I discovered about you."

That silenced him. For about thirty seconds.

"Go ahead," he goaded. "Tell everyone. I was actually beginning to wonder why Dumbledore hadn't already carted me off to Azkaban. Tell them who it was exactly who you gave yourself to. I'm sure they'll look upon you with more pride then they already are."

Hermione took a second to glance around the hall, what she observed caused fresh tears to spring to her eyes.

Her house looked upon her with such disgust she thought she might be sick. The slimy Slytherins leered at her and cheered Draco on.

Suddenly Harry and Ron burst through the crowd and stood in front of her protectively, she was barely aware of their presence. Hermione was now sickeningly aware of the act she had committed. And the consequences.

"Malfoy, push off before I turn you into the slimy ferret that you are," Harry threatened through a clenched jaw.

Hermione couldn't take the humiliation anymore. Her knees gave out. She landed with a thud, causing the three boys to look at her broken form.

She started at her hands, unable to think, unable to speak, unable to move.

She slept with Draco Malfoy. Death Eater. Manipulator. An insensitive and vile human being. She had known he possessed these despicable traits from the moment she laid eyes on him, yet she had committed this unspeakable act anyway.

Hermione didn't have anything else to lose. She might as well tell him. It was quite possibly the only thing that could shut him up. And he deserved. Oh, did he deserve it.

Slowly, she stood.

Putting her hands on the shoulders of her two best friends, she signalled them to stand down.

They looked at her in curiosity, but hesitantly lowered their wands.

"Calling off your dogs are you?"

Hermione remained silent as she stalked towards him, this unsettled Malfoy deeply.

"This is your fault you know, we could have gone of happily shagging, there was something there with us. I'm not talking about nancy boy feelings, but a primal power. No one needed to know, but you had to mess with what quite possibly could have been a good thing. You being my Mudblood whore, me being -"

He stopped mid tirade. The fury reflected in the fiery depths of scalding brown eyes caused a shiver of pure unadulterated fear to claw its way up his spine.

Leaning in so close that her lips were pressed against the shell of his ear, Hermione announced none to quietly to Draco and three quarters of the Hogwarts student body, "I'm pregnant."