This is it, folks. My first attempt at a lemon. It took a LONG time for me to write something I was happy with, so please let me know what you think of the pacing, the wording, the sexiness, the classiness, etc. etc.
Also, I really want to live in Astoria's bedroom.
Chapter 2
She had actually done it. Somehow, without arousing the notice of her parents or Fletcher, Astoria had smuggled Draco Malfoy into her bedroom. She'd been terrified someone would hear them apparate into the house, so instead she'd taken him the long way through the gardens, in through the back door, up the back staircase, and into her room at the end of the hall. He had followed her wordlessly.
With the tall chestnut doors closed and locked behind them, she cast a silencing charm on the room. She turned back to Draco to see him looking around.
Her bedroom had the usual high ceilings of an old Georgian manor, with heavy plum-coloured drapes covering the windows. In the middle of the room was an enormous carved panel bed with a waterfall of bedding in ambers and ochres. Tucked into the far corner was an antique velvet loveseat flanked by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves packed to the gills with tomes of all shapes and sizes. Scattered in between the volumes were occasional artefacts of intriguing origins: a small dragon skull, an ancient-looking olivewood box, a framed silk handkerchief embroidered with runes. A telescope was pointed out the far window, and the ceiling had been painted a deep indigo that faded into black at the centre, speckled with gold stars that shimmered with their own light. She noticed that their house elf Fletcher had set a fire in the porphyry fireplace opposite the bed; its dim glow and the stars were the only sources of light in the room.
Astoria didn't feel any need to make it brighter. In fact, she was grateful for the dark. Now that she had him here, in her room, she felt her nerve failing. He was surveying the space and its contents which gave her a moment to think. She didn't quite know how to start again, to recapture that moment in the hallway. Unable to think of anything else, she took a few steps towards him. Her lips trembled, so she bit them. She knew if she opened her mouth and started talking, it would just turn into an endless stream of mindless babble.
After scanning the room, Draco turned back to face the approaching Astoria. His eyes were guarded again. I wonder if he does this often. Visit girls' bedrooms. He must have guessed that I don't usually do this, she thought. But she'd be damned if she made it seem obvious. She gave him a seductive half-smile, lowering her lids.
Draco studied her in the low light. He had thought that he'd understand her better, seeing her in her own room. But the space was an odd mix of the luxurious, the curious, and the simple. Just like the blue hair, he thought. A study in contradictions. Brave enough to smuggle me here, and yet she's nervous. And she's trying very hard to hide it. The mix of innocence and nerve was incredibly appealing to him.
Acting on that attraction, Draco repeated the action he'd done at the club, raising his hand to caress her jaw and skim her bottom lip with his thumb. Her eyes fluttered and she tipped her head up invitingly.
"Nice place," he whispered before lowering his lips onto hers.
Astoria's head swam as he kissed her. It was different than before - tamer, more controlled. But it still made her entire body thrum. She couldn't think of another moment in her life she'd ever felt this many feelings. They swirled about, as if she were riding a speeding merry-go-round, flying way too fast without any idea of how she was going to stop. She was used to feeling dizzy and losing each of her senses one by one… but this was the complete opposite. It was as if someone had turned up the volume on everything.
His scent was rich and heady, like amber and citrus. His commanding lips on hers tasted fresh and sweet like a pear, and it felt as though they were trying to draw out a response that words wouldn't be able to offer. The deeply-coloured shadows around them blurred into the gilded paleness of the young man pulling her close. Her head swam with the intensity of it all. She had something to hold onto at least - Draco. Her hands snaked around his neck as if holding on for dear life, one burying itself in the silkiness of his hair. His hands rose to her collar and began to undo the first few buttons.
Oh, Merlin, she hummed greedily. This can't be the smart thing to do. But I don't want it to stop. She closed her eyes and happily surrendered to his explorations. He was sliding his fingertips over her collarbone with a featherlight touch. Light, teasingly, his hands danced beneath her blouse before undoing another button. And then another. Each time he exposed skin, he paused to skim softly over it. His lips had softened, echoing the pressure of his fingers as they aroused her.
Astoria was sure her knees would give way if she continued to focus only on what Draco was doing, so she pulled back with a start. His fingers froze, and his eyes met hers, hard and shining with lust and question. As a kind of answer, she started to undo Draco's shirt. She worked her way steadily down each button until it hung open, his smooth chest exposed. Its hard curves and planes looked like marble in the low light of the room. She reverently ran both hands down the front, parting the shirt open wider.
He'd undone Astoria's blouse as far down as her belt and had stopped when she'd drawn back. Instead of trying to fumble on blindly with the silver links, he slipped his hands under the straps of her bra and slid them and the blouse off her shoulders. He pulled back, inhaled huskily, and stared at her chest greedily.
Her breasts rose and swelled over the cloth restraining them with each fevered breath Astoria took. She felt heat pour through her, as if his just looking at her had set a fire right at her centre.
"See something you like?" she asked him, attempting to sound sultry. It must have worked, because Draco's eyes flashed.
"Oh yes," he breathed, then dragged his gaze back up to her face. His grey eyes were charcoal, burning brightly with more than just reflected fire. Perfectly composed, he drew his wand and, without a word, cast a nonverbal spell that caused her clothes to simply fall off her body and pool on the floor. She blinked, her eyes wide, but she didn't move to cover herself.
Draco smirked, the arrogant bastard, and that little smile did more to make Astoria's blood rush than anything she could have imagined. Feeling suddenly vulnerable and a little outmatched, she spoke without thinking. "Now take yours off."
His smirk grew, and he waved his wand. Astoria's knees turned to jelly at the sight of the hard, naked, fit man in front of her.
"You are..." she started, but couldn't finish. Her hands reached out to touch that smooth chest, to follow the line down his abdomen to stop just short of where blond hair began. Her gaze didn't stop with her hands.
She wasn't sure she would have been able to deal with his unapologetic hardness below if she hadn't been at least slightly inebriated… and even then. Her eyes darted away quickly, only to rest on his left forearm. A faint red scar in a familiar snake and skull pattern was still visible.
Draco had tensed when he saw her gaze rest on it. He jerked suddenly, twisting his arm so it wasn't visible to her and waited for her reaction.
It didn't make any sense to her, but for some reason, seeing the scar made Astoria feel instantly at ease with him. His hidden past was branded on his skin, glaringly obvious to anyone who saw. She knew only too well the burdens that came with hidden pasts and with guilt. What she found she wanted - more than anything in that moment - was to give him a release from it.
She looked up and met his eyes. He didn't look anxious, but part of him had become guarded and closed off. She stepped closer, their bodies a hair's breadth away from touching.
"You know," she breathed, her words slow and measured, "I can't think of another time in my life that I've ever wanted anything this much, this fast."
He didn't respond with words, but something in his stance released. He snaked his left arm around her naked body, and pulled her against him. The firmness of him pressed against her, and her eyes fluttered with the sensation.
His right hand drew across her face and then dragged it towards his to be devoured. It was everything: the feeling of her tongue against his, her breasts pressed up against his marble chest, his hardness grinding against her. His hands combed down her neck and torso until they clutched against her hips. While pulling her to him, he began to lead her in dance-like steps backwards. The soft covers of the bed hit behind Astoria's knees.
Keep going, she pleaded silently.
Understanding her willingness, Draco braced an arm at the small of her back and laid her out over the bed. Her indigo hair spilled in a pool around her, and she looked up at him. He looked gilded with the firelight behind him, and the dim lights of the stars above him made his light hair glow. Desperate to take him, she spread her legs wide.
When Draco's fingers grazed her slit, she was almost surprised by the sensation of how wet and ready she'd become. She had told him the absolute truth before - she had never wanted anything so much, so quickly. Despite all her logic and wisdom telling her that things were too fast, there was a connection with this golden boy that defied all her revered reason and rationality. All she knew is that she wanted him to be part of her, even if just this once.
"Oh Merlin," she panted - out loud this time. Draco had inserted a finger into her, probing her readiness. Her hands fisted the coverlets, feeling each muscle through her tense exquisitely.
"That's it," Draco coaxed as she moaned again. He had added another finger, and the sensation was enough to make Astoria forget her own name. She had shut her eyes with the intensity, and let her body do what it willed. It writhed and seized with pleasure under his touch.
Draco was enjoying the look of unadulterated rapture on her face. It complimented perfectly the tugging and squeezing around his fingers. It didn't take a stretch to imagine that same sensation on another part of him.
Astoria had always imagined going this far with someone to be more romantic, tender even. Tender was not how she would describe the potency of this encounter. The attraction, the bare want and need. Part of her wanted him to just keep stroking until she was as high as the star strewn ceiling. The other half of her wanted something more to take its place.
And then the fingers were withdrawn, and a perfect stillness marked the moment. Astoria didn't dare open her eyes yet, knowing what must be coming. She concentrated on the sensations, the scents, the sounds. A slight pressure, greater than the two fingers, pushed against her slowly. She heard him let out a slight groan and felt his right hand dance up her body. As the heat from his closeness touched her like a kiss, she heard him say "Open your eyes, Astoria."
She opened them, to see two perfect grey eyes watching her. He wasn't smiling exactly, but it was obvious he was as wrapped in the moment as her. The sheer pleasure and pressure from below rocked through her as he thrust slowly and steadily. She swam happily in those pools of grey, still locked with hers.
Even though the room had been soundproofed, Astoria still felt the urge to try and muffle her gasps and moans. After one particularly loud whimper, Draco drew closer to her face and silenced her with a kiss. No, correction, a devouring. To be filled and savoured in two places of her body simultaneously was more erotic than she'd ever imagined. As he kissed her, Draco came so close that their bodies brushed against each other from pelvis to chest. Her breasts pressed into him, giving way easily to his solidness. His hands had claimed each of hers and, with a twist of his pelvis, he rubbed against her in exactly the right spot.
She couldn't help it and cried out. Encouraged by her noisiness, Draco continued. He seemed to thrust deeper each time, and would hold himself up in her for one exquisite moment before pulling out to thrust back in. The feeling was unreal, Astoria thought - or she would have if she felt herself capable of any thoughts at the present.
They rocked together in that intimate dance, wordlessly matching each other's rhythms until she felt him speed up the movements. Guessing what this meant, she closed her eyes and chased her own release. It built and built, folding over itself with little peaks and free falls of pleasure. When Draco's thrusts became light and rapid, she held fast to help him on his way. She felt an unexpected wave of accomplishment when his face twisted in focus and he emitted a strangled cry. He was holding himself up into her, pulsing between her legs without moving, and Astoria knew he had climaxed.
She ran her hands up his back and down his arms, which were holding his body above hers. He was breathing heavily, and after a few moments he rolled off her. To Astoria's delight, he was still touching her; one of his hands clasped her thigh possessively.
As he lay beside her regaining his breath, she couldn't help it. She wanted her release as well. So with his hand clasping her, her right hand found its way to her silky centre and began to stroke.
It didn't take much, so built up had she been after such a night. Before Draco even realized what was happening, Astoria felt her body shudder and shake. He'd been lying back with his eyes closed, catching his breath and rearranging his composure when he felt her vibrate under his hand. Surprised, he turned to look at her as she arched off the bed, her neck pale and thrown backwards in pure delight.
She is not at all who I thought she was, he mused.
They lay still on the bed, both utterly destroyed. Draco's hand came off of her thigh, and Astoria's breathing began to slow. She found she couldn't wipe the grin off her face. Draco was quiet, but she appreciated the silence. She wasn't sure she'd be able to form words for at least another hour. After a full two minutes, she made an attempt to tame the smile into something more nonchalant and then rolled onto her side to look at Draco.
He was lying flat, hands folded comfortably on his chest, his eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. The ghost of a smile played over his face. He looked… cocky, she thought. You probably look just as smug yourself, she thought. With her eyes twinkling, she sighed in a satisfied way. "Well. That was… pleasant."
His eyes darted over to meet hers, his expression unreadable. "You are completely ridiculous."
Astoria wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not, but she was feeling so wonderful that she decided to take it as one regardless. Flopping back over onto her back (though not as gracefully as she'd hope to) she replied, "Why, thank you. I do try to do my best."
Draco was surprised to find himself laughing. He couldn't remember the last time he'd really laughed. Likely just a side effect of sexual satisfaction, he assured himself.
Astoria heard the laugh and whipped her head around to stare at him. Laughing so freely was the last thing she'd expected. To be perfectly honest, she'd had absolutely no idea what to expect. This was, after all, Draco Malfoy, the Prince of Slytherin. Mr. Big-Head himself.
He was still staring at her ceiling. She looked up at it herself, smiling a little sadly at the constellations shimmering there. It was bittersweet to stargaze these days. As she took in the familiar glowing forms, she felt her eyes drawn to the sinuous form of The Dragon, slithering between the Bears high up in the Northern sky.
"Have you ever read Hyginus' Poetica Astronomica?" she asked him.
"I never cared much for Astronomy." His voice was flat, bored.
Undeterred, Astoria continued. "Neither did I, at first. I hated the class after my first lesson. Too many complicated names, measurements. But then Tu… I discovered that behind the names of the constellations and planets lay hidden the most fascinating stories." She quirked one corner of her mouth into a mischievous half-smile. "And by fascinating, I mean sexy. I suppose eleven might have been a bit young to learn about all the wild, sexual exploits of Greek gods, but then… I've always been precocious."
She turned back to look at him with a sultry, knowing expression. He looked amused, she thought with relief. She hated awkwardness almost as much as she hated stupidity. His eyes met hers, and flashed momentarily with something exciting. She was curious as to what had crossed his mind… but then wondered if she really wanted to know.
"Precocious, you say?" he said to her, his voice smooth as glass. "Does this have anything to do with your skill at swallowing things?"
Astoria could confidently say she was not ready to sleep yet.
An hour or so later, Draco had drifted off. Astoria's blood was still pumping too quickly to do the same, but the rest of her felt wonderfully heavy and satisfied. She'd learned just how handy her potion-swallowing skills really were. She'd also learned how to ask for her own pleasure. The sense of accomplishment she felt wasn't that different from learning a new challenging Charm, which made her wonder just how strange she really was. Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined herself here, with Draco Malfoy in her bed. Nor could she have ever expected the care he'd shown her. As he slept, she watched him with ease. There was something so vulnerable and lonely about him lying there. Or maybe she was projecting her own fears and worries onto him.
The motion of his chest rising and falling calmed her. She gazed back up at the north end of the ceiling where the undulating curve of stars shimmered. Hyginus' words tickled the back of her mind as she began to drift off.
'Today we see him forever asleep as the much-knotted, battered, and twisted Draco.'
Astoria awoke with the sun blazing through a crack in the curtains. She looked over at Draco's form an arm's length away, sleeping soundly. Carefully, so as not to wake him, she snuck out from the coverlets and retrieved her robe from the closet. After wrapping herself in it, she tiptoed over to one of her shelves to retrieve a small inlay box. Her box of secrets.
Quietly tapping it with her wand and thinking her password, the box opened. Inside was a number of things from her Hogwarts years, but Astoria was searching for one thing only. Out of the box, she pulled a small sealed vial filled with a dark port-coloured liquid. Years ago, Tullia and Astoria had giggled over the idea of ever having sex. After all that they'd discovered together in the randy tales of ancient myths, they'd sworn that they'd do it how they wanted, when they wanted, and on their own terms. This had led them to covertly brewing their own 'prevention potion', based on a recipe Tullia had found in her mother's spell collection. They'd made enough for both of them, bottled it up, and swore they'd let the other know when they finally had cause to use it.
But Tullia wasn't here now. She wondered briefly what Tullia would think of her behaviour over the past 24 hours. Part of her thought she'd be appalled… she could almost hear Tullia's squeak of "Draco?! Draco Malfoy?! Are you mad?!" But on the other hand, she thought Tullia might be proud of her for finally calling her own shots. Astoria broke the wax off the little bottle, drained it, then placed it empty back in the box.
She had called her own shots. And even feeling slightly rough, she didn't regret any of it. Draco hadn't treated her like she was about to break. He'd used her as thoroughly as she felt she'd used him. To mutual satisfaction. If that wasn't the best way to begin having a sex life, she was happy to be ignorant.
After the box was back on its shelf, she pulled the little cord hanging beside her fireplace. As if it were like any other day, a steaming coffee set appeared on the table by the little loveseat tucked in the corner.
Now what? she wondered. It wasn't as though she was any kind of expert on the etiquette of 'the morning after'. She looked over to his slumbering form. His face was peaceful, younger, unmarked by lines of worry and anger. Why wake him? So she brushed her hair, put away her scattered clothes, settled onto the loveseat to drink her coffee, and only then let her mind replay what had happened the night before.
Draco awoke to find Astoria curled on the marsala-coloured velvet sofa with a mug in her hand and her mind far, far away. Her hair was still that ridiculous blue, and it matched her equally-ridiculous indigo robe splashed over with red poppies. He felt himself growing harder than what could be explained away by morning stiffness. Annoyed at his apparent inability to control his physical reaction to her, he sat up briskly with his back to her, reaching towards the nightstand for his wand.
Astoria saw him get out of bed from the corner of her eye, but didn't want to be caught staring at him. It wasn't until he came over to her, fully dressed in trousers and shirt, that she looked up at him. A wave of heat ran through her. Even wearing clothes that had spent a night on the floor, Draco Malfoy was enough to get the blood pumping. The beams of morning sunlight peeking in through the curtains made his hair shine like white gold, and his gray eyes were dark with sleep. They looked that dark last night, but not from sleep. She had been just thinking of them greedily raking over her naked body.
"I need to go." Draco said flatly. Astoria reacted to the emotionless tone with irritation and coolness.
"Would you like a coffee before you go?"
He very slightly raised an eyebrow, and she thought he might actually be amused by the suggestion.
"No."
"Well, the room is still soundproofed from last night, so you should be able to disapparate without causing a fuss." She stayed seated, waiting to see what he would do next. Ball's in your court, Draco. He gave a brisk nod of acknowledgement and turned away from her, obviously in a rush to leave. Astoria felt a pang of disappointment. She didn't want to give up this easily. Instead, she decided to try and annoy him into a response.
"Not even a kiss goodbye?" She tried to keep her tone as bored sounding as possible.
It worked. Draco's head whipped back, meeting her eyes. They were still dark, but Astoria was less sure that it was from sleep. She thought he looked like trouble and a thrill of excitement coursed through her. She seemed to be making trouble a habit. Astoria put her mug down on the side table and stood up slowly, pouring as much grace and indifference into the movement as she could. Her legs felt weak, but she held her ground and stared right back at Draco. For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then without a word, he crossed the floor and yanked her suddenly against him. His mouth closed over hers. All she could think was how demanding his lips and tongue were, and how insistent his body felt against hers. She didn't shut her eyes. Instead, she watched his lust unfurl. His roughness excited her, as he scraped his teeth over her bottom lip. One of her hands raked down his back. They both gasped for air.
His hand dove in between the robe's front to possess a breast. The other grabbed her waist and pulled her against him even harder, so that she could feel just how badly he wanted her pressed against her abdomen.
Without any warning, he was spinning her around and bending her over the settee. Surprised but immeasurably aroused, she held herself there and listened as he unbuttoned his trousers. Desperate to touch him, she threw a hand back. Instead of letting it grab onto him, his own hand trapped it and pushed it back down to the cushions. Astoria posed in wait, drifting in a world of blind desire. She pleaded silently that he would take her fast and hard, with no control or thought.
He seemed to read her mind and shoved into her ruthlessly. She let out a short gasp, which swiftly transformed into a throaty moan. What had changed? she wondered. This lustful man seemed a completely different person than the Draco she'd spent last night with. All signs of his iron-grip control had vanished, and what remained was driving Astoria deliciously mad.
She braced herself on the settee and let herself be ravished. As if outside herself, she heard their ragged breathing somehow in time with the rhythmic slapping of his body meeting hers hard. He was relentlessly pounding into her, breathing even harder than she was. It sounded like a violent symphony of want.
His breathing changed and his hands suddenly clenched. She heard him let out a strangled cry. He held himself over her for an endless moment, his breathing still hard. Then without a word, he pushed himself back up, took a few steps away, and disapparated.
Astoria fell to her knees, her torso now resting on the velvet surface. Every nerve in her body was singing. Just when she thought she had learned to expect the unexpected. She had never felt so alive, so desired, so used and depraved. She stayed in that graceless position long enough for her breathing to slow down gradually and processed what exactly had just happened.
He'd released the iron grip on his emotions that had been present almost every other moment they'd spent together. The night before had been intimate and charged… but it had not been like that. Perhaps the only other time she'd felt such rawness from him had been when he had first kissed her in the club hallway.
She thought perhaps that Draco, like she, had had to learn how to hide his true feelings from even those closest to him. And when that guard came down… it was irresistible. And Astoria wanted more.
