"To Steal Time"
By Stacy Galore
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Jo Rowling does. I just play with them.Warnings: (may not apply to all chapters) strong language and explicit sexual situations including, but not limited to, non-con and slash.
Chapter 1: After Hours
It was precariously close to curfew when Astoria Greengrass left the library after studying for the first Arithmancy exam of the year. It seemed that she was the only Slytherin taking the subject in sixth year, so she chose to study in solitude, rather than put up with the constant inquiries of her house mates in the common room as to why she would subject herself to such a torturous course. Astoria looked at her watch. She had five minutes to get all the way down to the dungeon. She started to run so as to avoid getting caught in the corridors after hours. She barely slowed down to turn the corner and nearly slipped on the smooth stone floor. Abruptly, she stopped. Astoria hadn't decided to stop running. All of a sudden, she just wasn't running anymore. Oddly, everything seemed to have stopped. Her heart rate and her breathing pattern weren't racing to fuel her marathon sprint to the dormitory and they weren't slowing down from a speeding pace; they were simply at rest. Her skin was moist with sweat – far more than there should have been, considering she was only running for a minute at most – making her blouse stick to her back. The dimly lit corridor was eerily quiet, as if somebody had uttered a silencing spell. She could have sworn that she had just turned the corner to enter the hallway that lead to the stairs, but she was already at the bottom of the stairs on the dungeon level of the castle.
Astoria, completely perplexed, walked distractedly to the heavy, iron doors of the Slytherin dormitory as she pondered what had just happened. The coiling metal snake that kept the door locked reared its silver head and spoke with a wispy, slow voice, "You're out after curfew, Missss Greengrasssss. I will have to report you to Professsssor Sssslughorn."
"Give me a break. I'm two minutes late at the most," said Astoria, rolling her eyes.
"Sssssomebody needs a new watch," said the guard snake.
Astoria looked at her watch. It was twenty minutes after curfew. She flicked the glass over the dial to see if it was perhaps broken. No. That didn't make sense. If her watch stopped, it would have read earlier rather than later. She continued to inspect her watch as she mumbled the password and walked into the common room.
"Where the hell have you been?" came a suspicious inquiry in a dramatic tone from across the room. Astoria didn't have to look up to know that the voice was issuing from Theodore Nott, her boyfriend with a tendency towards over-reacting and a penchant for drawing negative attention. He bloody well knew exactly where she'd been. There was no reason for him to shout across a sparsely populated room with such an accusatory attitude, other than to humiliate her, as Theodore so often liked to do just to remind the world who wore the pants in the relationship. He overcompensated for his insecurities, usually quite publicly. Astoria used to find it endearing, but after two years, it was wearing on her.
She slowly and silently walked towards the lanky boy who stood with his arms crossed, glaring at him with almost as much condescension as he radiated back at her with his own eyes. Theodore pushed the long, artfully angular fringe of his blue-black hair out of his face with a slender finger to give Astoria the full wrath of his dark stare. She felt her pulse rise and heat begin to gather within – Theo was so fucking sexy when he was angry. She softened her gaze to one of seduction as she put her arms around his narrow waist and placed a kiss on his thin, taut, lips. He never altered his stance as she let her hands slide into the back pockets of his tight, charcoal grey trousers. Theo may have been utterly lean, almost to the point of emaciation, but he inexplicably had a fantastic arse.
"The library. I told you at dinner," she moaned into his chest as she snuggled against him, breathing in the cologne doused all over his sweater. He smelled like a holiday on the beach – crisp like the ocean with a subtle hint of coconut rum.
"If you were studying so hard, then where are your books? And why were you out so late after curfew?" Theodore inquired, still unmoving in his pose that could only be described as a full-body pout.
Astoria was both shocked and embarrassed to find that neither her Arithmancy text nor her roll of parchment were where they should have been – in her arms. She didn't put them down. They were simply gone, and she had no idea where they were. She stepped back from Theo, staring at the mysterious void in her hands. "Honestly, I have no idea."
"Don't give me that attitude," he reprimanded her, more loudly than was necessary, causing the small group of students lingering in the room to disband who were tired of his usual drama.
"I'm not giving you attitude. I swear I have no idea!" Astoria insisted. She waited for the room to clear and then spoke with a hushed voice, explaining the odd thing that had just occurred, as the boy listened with skepticism written all over his furrowed brow.
Theodore exhaled shortly and derisively. "If you have something to hide from me, you don't have to make up a stupid fucking lie like that. Just tell me to go mind my own fucking business." Astoria liked it when Theodore used off-color language, and was particularly excited by his liberal use of the F-word. It was a departure from his aristocratic air that he always put on for everybody. He only spoke this freely in front of her and his close friends.
Astoria pulled him by the hand to sit with her on the couch. The common room was now empty. She draped her arms over his shoulders and gazed at him with her silvery blue eyes hoping to melt his icy demeanor. She said with a honeyed tone, "Theodore sweetheart, you know I don't hide anything from you," as she brushed her lips along his pale cheeks, sweetly threatening to kiss him, but never applying any pressure.
"It just sounds so absurd," he scoffed.
She whispered dismissively, "I know. But I'm sure there's a good explanation for it. We'll think about it more in the morning." She smoothed her hand over Theodore's chest and rested it on his thigh. Right now I want to show you how much I've missed you."
"Since dinner?" he sneered.
"No, you know what I mean," Astoria intoned mischievously, then kissed him, sliding her tongue past Theodore's rigid lips and perfectly aligned teeth.
He yielded to her kiss, weaving his fingers through her wavy straw-blonde hair. He paused to take a breath and asked, still with a hint of suspicion, but with aroused interest, "What's gotten you all hot and bothered all of a sudden?"
She answered, "We haven't been together like this in a long time."
Theodore raised an eyebrow and smiled. No, rather, he smirked. Like an uptight, moody prince, Theodore rarely smiled. It was always a triumph to entice the slightest upward movement from his lips and Astoria prided herself in being able to do it. "What are you proposing?" he asked.
"Why don't you let me show you?" she said as her hands glided under the bottom of his sweater to the clasp of his leather belt.
Theodore grabbed her hands and asked with a scandalized whisper, still smirking, "Here? Tori, we might get caught. God, how did you get so fucking horny?"
Astoria closed her eyes and moaned into his neck, "Say it again, Theo."
"What?" he asked, though he probably knew exactly what she meant.
"That word." She gently grazed his pale skin with her teeth.
"Fucking," he said plainly, the amused smirk never leaving his face.
"Yes. . . more." She traced his earlobe with the tip of her tongue.
Clearly amused, but not aroused, he rattled-off a slew of foul words with a haughty staccato to his voice, "Fuck, shit, pussy, bitch, Weasley, cunt, mudblood, arse, Potter."
Astoria said with breathy desire in her hushed voice, "Oh, Theo, I want you so badly right now."
Condescendingly curious, Theodore asked, "Seriously, Tori, what's gotten into you? You're like a possessed woman or something."
She admitted, "Its you. You're so fucking hot when you're angry and swearing at me." She took the collar of his white shirt into her fists and kissed him hard.
He squirmed uncomfortably out of the kiss. "I'm just not used to seeing you this way in a public place."
"Do you want to go to your room?" she asked with hope rising in her voice.
Theodore advised, "No, if we go to my bed things might get out of hand."
She spoke seductively, tracing the growing lump in his pants with her finger. "Why not just let them get out of hand?"
He exhaled sharply and reminded her, "Darling, we made a vow."
Astoria huffed exasperatedly, "Yes, yes, yes. That stupid vow."
"Astoria, it isn't stupid. It is very sacred to me. I want to save it for our wedding night." There was hurt in his voice and in his eyes – that vulnerable, boyish inflection that wasn't quite a whine, but the closest thing he could come to it.
They had promised each other that they'd save themselves for marriage. It was Theodore's idea at the end of Astoria's fourth year, when their physical relationship began to escalate. The notion of staying a virgin until marriage was certainly archaic, but incredibly romantic nonetheless. Not only that, it was a promise of forever. He never officially proposed to her – it was just a given fact and an expectation that they would some day marry. Astoria didn't particularly need to be betrothed at such a young age, but it was comforting to know that Theodore would stick with her should she want him to. A part of her wondered if it was just Theodore's manipulative ploy to keep her faithful to him when he graduated from Hogwarts – he was in his seventh year and she still had two to go. Either way, it was flattering, so she went with it. There were many instances when she wanted to break that vow and give in to her desire, but he reined her in when she got out of control. Theodore was her voice of reason. He gave balance to her impulsive nature and ensured that she remained the perfect picture of a pureblood Slytherin princess.
"Oh, Theodore. I'm so sorry. You're right," she sighed.
"Its OK, Tori. I love you." He pecked her on the lips.
"I love you too," she cooed. They cuddled silently on the couch for a brief moment.
Then Theodore suggested with that sexy little smirk of his, "You can still . . . you know." Astoria and Theodore had stayed true to their vow over the years, but usually found ways to circumvent it and did everything they could think of, short of intercourse. She was well versed in the delicate art of oral sex.
"I want you to talk dirty to me while I do it," she whispered subversively as she slithered down to the floor and kneeled between his legs.
"No. What if somebody hears?" he said as he quickly scanned the empty room with his eyes. She made short work of his belt, button, and zipper then gave him an inspiration to talk dirty.
Theodore groaned as Astoria took him in one hand and teased the tip of his cock with her tongue, "Oh, god, you're so fucking good at that."
"At what?" she asked, looking up at him with smoldering eyes, burning like a blue flame, then coaxing the words out of the boy as she took his entire length into her mouth achingly slow, gripping every ridge and blood-filled vein with her lips as she went down.
"At sucking my cock. Oh, fucking hell, you're so good."
Astoria glanced up to find Theodore with a rare smile on his face. His eyes were closed and his head was tilted back with blissful abandon. It aroused her to give him such pleasure, to know that only she could break his cool, regal exterior and allow him to express an emotion other than haughty aloofness or overwrought disdain.
His fists tightened around her hair as she quickened the pace. "Mmm . . . That's a good girl . . . Yeah, suck it . . . Suck my cock. . . put my big fucking cock in your mouth." His vulgar whispers heightened Astoria's own excitement and she couldn't keep her hand from wandering down between her legs. As she manipulated herself, she brought Theodore close to climax. "Oh, sweet mother of Merlin. . . I'm going to come in your mouth. . . and I want you to lick it all up. . . oh, fuck . . . I'm going to come." She stroked him with the head still in her mouth and soon the bittersweet taste of Theodore's essence was streaming down her throat in hot bursts.
When he released his grip on her hair, she knew he was finished. She slid off of his softening organ and stood up. With a flick of her wand, she conjured up a glass and then spit out Theodore's ejaculate. Good pureblood girls never swallowed. Astoria admired her ability to reduce her boyfriend to a puddle of post-orgasmic, sleepy, euphoria as she stood before him. She smiled proudly and then sat down on the couch next to him, snuggling up close.
"I love you," she whispered, nuzzling her pointy nose into his neck.
"Love you too," he said weakly, still reeling from the orgasm. "I better go. Don't want to fall asleep here," he mumbled.
"What about me?" Astoria asked with disappointment.
"Yeah, you should go to bed too," he replied, opening his eyes partly and then slowly sitting up to zip his trousers.
"But, Theo, I need you," she whined.
"Tori, I'm so tired. Next time," he said sleepily, then pecked her on the cheek. "Goodnight."
Astoria pouted and bitterly said her goodbyes before shuffling off to the girls' dormitories. It was so frustrating. Theodore almost always finished. Astoria never finished. She was lucky if he actually went down on her, and when he did, he could never bring her over the edge. She thought she came close to completion a few times. In fact, Astoria had never experienced an orgasm. Even when she masturbated, she didn't know what to do to achieve that sweet release. She was a tightly wound ball of over-stimulated nerves. Astoria calmed herself the only way she knew how. She went into the girls' bathroom, opened the window, and sat on the black marble ledge. From the pocket of her skirt she pulled out a thin silver case with the Slytherin crest etched into it. It was a gift from Theodore – a case for quill tips. But she'd emptied it out and used it as a cigarette holder. She took one out and lit it with her wand, breathing in the soothing smoke and exhaling it into the cold autumn night.
Her frazzled nerves and frustration melted away with each breath until her mind was clear. Soon thoughts of the strange thing that happened in the corridor crept back. Maybe somebody hiding around the corner jinxed her. Perhaps it was a prank. Who would do such a stupid thing? Astoria didn't have any specific enemies. Sure, there were people she didn't care for and there were people who didn't particularly like her either. But she never publicly acted on any bad blood. There was never anything serious enough to act upon.
Pansy Parkinson walked into the bathroom wearing shockingly pink, satin pyjama pants and a white camisole. "Hey, Tori," she greeted Astoria then climbed up onto the ledge to join her. "Can I have a fag?"
Astoria obliged, glad to have somebody to talk to. "Pans, something really weird happened to me tonight."
"What? Did Theo finally put out?" she joked.
Astoria rolled her eyes and sighed. "Of course not. So bloody frustrating."
"Tell me about it. Draco has been such a fucking prude lately. I don't know what his problem is. I haven't gotten laid in ages. If he isn't careful, I may go relieve my frustrations elsewhere."
Astoria giggled, "Pans', you're such a slag. Whoever said Slytherin girls are frigid was seriously mislead. It's the boys that won't put out. But seriously, something strange just happened." Then she told her best friend all the odd details of what had occurred in the corridor.
Pansy proposed, "Clearly, you were jinxed by somebody that has something against you. Maybe they wanted you to get caught out of the dorms after hours so that you'd get detention."
"But that's so juvenile. Who in Merlin's name would do such a thing?" Astoria marveled.
"We're not the most popular girls at school, you know," Pansy admitted.
"Thanks, Pans'," Astoria said sarcastically with a bruised ego.
Pansy explained, "I mean, there are a number of people who hate us because we've monopolized the attention of the most eligible men in young pureblood society."
"Hate is a rather strong word. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it that. Envy, yes. But hate? Enough to play stupid tricks on me? I just can't fathom anybody would be so petty."
Pansy suggested, "What about that girl Tracey Davis? She's always making eyes at Theo. And that ruddy ponce, Blaise. And Romilda Vane."
"No, Romilda and I are cool. We're not friends or anything, but we're straight with each other. And Blaise? Are you fucking kidding me? It's blindingly obvious that Theo isn't gay, so he'd be wasting his time. As for Tracy, she's not clever enough to do such a thing."
Pansy ruminated as she exhaled a long trail of smoke, "You know, it sounds like the sort of infantile, stupid thing Draco and Theo would do."
"Yeah, it does. But they weren't there to laugh hysterically at me when I came back to the common room. In fact, Theo was livid." Astoria confessed.
They paused and smoked silently, pondering the mystery. Pansy broke the silence and flicked her cigarette butt out the window. "I'm all out of ideas, babe. All I can say is watch your back."
Millicent walked into the bathroom in a fluffy bathrobe with her cat trailing her closely behind. "Ladies," she nodded to the two girls and proceeded to apply cream to her broad face.
Pansy jumped off the ledge and stood at the sink beside Millicent. "Give me a bit of that, Millie dear."
"You're such a moocher, Pans," the large girl complained as she grudgingly handed the tiny glass pot over to the small girl.
"Yeah, Pans. You're always taking my fags," Astoria teased her.
"God, I thought friends were supposed to share," Pansy whined as she dabbed cream on her cheeks. "You, of all people, should understand that, Millie."
Millicent blushed and knocked into Pansy playfully with her hip. "Hush, Pansy."
Astoria was too distracted to question the subtle innuendos exchanged by her two friends and was about to leave when Millicent said, "Tori, I think you dropped your Arithmancy text book in the common room. I nearly tripped on it on my way back from Vincent's room."
Astoria was perplexed. "Where did you find it?" She didn't remember having it with her when she came back to the common room.
"I said, the common room floor. But I put it in your room," said Millicent.
"Hmm. Your enemy is in your own house, darling," suggested Pansy in a scandalous tone.
"What in Merlin's name are you talking about?" asked Millicent.
"I'm telling you, Tori. Blaise Zabini. That poofter wants your boyfriend."
"Would somebody please let me into the loop," begged Millicent.
"You can have the honors, Pans. I'm going to bed," said Astoria as she left the bathroom to go deliberate on the possible explanations.