Author's Note: Happy Saturday! I had a crazy busy week so no writing got done... luckily I have a ton already beta'd by LaBelladoneX ready to go! No delays for this fic! And I'll be posting two chapters today because, for some reason, I decided to end this chapter with a segue into the next. I'm not going to make you wait a week for the next part, especially since this is a shorter one.

We're getting a bit of delicious anticipation for the Victory Ball in this chapter.

Enjoy! The next one should be posted later this afternoon. I just have to do all the formatting for FFN, which can take a bit of time.

So many thoughts that I can't get out of my head

I try to live without you

Every time I do, I feel dead

I know what's best for me, but I want you instead

Three Days Grace "Over and Over"

Present Day- 2nd May 2002

It had been four years since Voldemort had been defeated at Hogwarts, and Hermione Granger was sick of having to attend a ball every year to celebrate. She was there for the battle, and all this 'celebration' did was remind her of the people she'd lost.

Sure, defeating the most notorious dark wizard of all time was a great thing and she had helped to prevent a devastating future, but sometimes she just couldn't look on the bright side. Today was one of those days she realised as she sat beside Ginny in a salon chair having her hair tamed into an elegant updo.

They were both getting ready to be paraded around like royalty for the night. They would give speeches and help to raise money for war orphans and rebuilding wizarding communities in Britain. The causes were all worthy, but Hermione hated to be the face of them. She hated to have to use her celebrity status to get Galleons out of the nastiest pureblood hags in the country.

Something else had to go wrong. Right at that moment, when she was feeling miserable, she felt her body temperature start to rise. Ginny noticed her flushed cheeks.

"Oh, gods, no, Hermione! Not tonight!"

"Fuck it all!" Hermione spat, reaching into her handbag. She had several vials of her special potion on hand at all times. She swallowed two of them and started to cool almost immediately.

"I hope I have enough to make it through the party. I may have to duck out early, Gin. I can't have this happen in front of all of wizarding Britain."

Ginny looked at her curiously. "Didn't you just have the last one like two months ago?"

"Yes, I don't understand. Something is putting my hormones off. I haven't a clue. I'll have to go to Mungo's tomorrow," Hermione lied.

She knew exactly what was happening to her - Malfoy would be at the ball with his perfect little pureblood wife, Astoria. One look at him and Hermione would want to climb him like a tree. Merlin help her if she caught a trace of his scent and there was any desire on it. She hoped that he would have the sense to fuck his wife before coming to the ball so that she would be repulsed.

"You'd better get off a few times when you get home," Ginny whispered. "Maybe it'll be enough to keep it at bay through the evening. I'm sure Ron would be more than willing to help you get… situated."

"Yeah, don't worry, Gin. I'm going to try my best to get it under control. I don't want to leave you and Harry alone for all the publicity shite."

If Malfoy was there, and he smelled ripe with desire, all the suppressant potions in England wouldn't be able to keep Hermione's heat from starting. Plus, she would get the added bonus of Ron wanting to know why it had come on a month early. He knew she had been with an Alpha at some point, but she had never told him who it was.

She had managed to keep it a secret for almost six years, despite seeing Malfoy numerous times while she and Ron were out together. The fact that her body had hit full Omega maturity about a year ago meant that she had been craving the touch of an Alpha for too long. Ron wasn't an Alpha, and he was growing increasingly frustrated that he could not satisfy her during her heats.

Hermione knew their marriage was going to combust from this added pressure — maybe tonight would be the night. It wasn't like Ron was terrible in bed. In fact, if she had never been with Malfoy, she probably wouldn't know what she was missing. She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to fuck him now that they were both fully matured. Would he knot her? Would she be able to take the knot fully? How would it feel? The more she thought about it, the more her body temperature rose.

"Hermione, you're getting all red again. You'd better take some Calming Draught or something with your suppressants," Ginny whispered.

Hermione let out a whining sound, feeling her slit becoming slick with desire. "I don't have any with me. I wasn't expecting this to start today!"

The hairstylist sprayed her hair within an inch of its life. "I think this should keep it from frizzing, but you need to cool down or it will be ruined."

Hermione paid the woman, told Ginny she'd see her later, and Apparated home. Ron was in the bedroom and immediately noticed her flushed face and dilated eyes.

"Oh, fuck, Hermione, not tonight! It's only been two months. Why is it happening now?"

"I don't know!" She lied easily. "I'm going to drown myself in suppressants and a Calming Draught and try to get off a few times before we need to go so I can hopefully make it through most of the night before I have to lock myself away."

"Do you want help?" He asked, looking wary.

"That depends. Can you do this without getting frustrated with me?" Hermione responded.

He rolled his eyes. "I know I'm not an Alpha, Hermione, but you knew that when you married me! I can still get you off any other time."

"I know, Ron, but I'm going into heat! This isn't my fault! I didn't ask for it! I wish I was just a normal fucking witch who didn't turn into an insatiable, hormonal mess, but here I am!" She screamed.

Ron looked at her with sympathy. "I know, Hermione. I hate that I can't give you what you need in this situation. I really do. It just makes me feel even more undeserving of you than I usually do."

"We can talk about this later. I need to get myself settled if we have any hopes of attending the ball," she snapped, grabbing her vibrator from the nightstand and heading into the bathroom. She brought herself to climax four times, cleaned up the mess her body was making, and down more suppressants and two vials of Calming Draught. She splashed cool water over her face and did some more formal makeup charms.

Hermione walked into the closet and took her emerald green dress off of the hanger. She told herself over and over that the color meant nothing, that she wasn't trying to tempt grey eyes to examine her. She wasn't thinking about the Alpha she had been with before she knew what Alphas or Omegas really were, before the war, before everything had changed.

Before she let herself settle for marrying Ron so she wouldn't break his heart and ruin their friendship.

Draco looked over at Astoria as she was getting ready for the ball. She was tall and slender, so classically beautiful with her long blond hair and aquamarine eyes.

His parents had picked a wonderful wife for him.

They had been married for almost a year, and their engagement had been short. He was still getting to know her; she was two years younger than him, and he had always thought of her as 'Daphne's little sister' when they were in school. Draco had never planned to allow himself to be married off to another pureblood witch. Since his sixth year, he'd had his eyes on the Gryffindor princess, the little sex goddess. It seemed she was the only one who could make him that hard and huge, the only one who made him feel utterly intoxicated with her scent, the only one who fit perfectly in his arms, despite how tiny she was.

And then the war came — as a direct result of his actions with the Vanishing Cabinet — and his fantasies of a perfect life with the girl of his wet dreams were shot to hell. She might have forgiven him for Dumbledore, but he knew she'd never forgive him for what happened at Malfoy Manor. In the end, he stood there and watched her marry Ron Weasley, just like he had watched her get tortured by Bellatrix.

Ron Weasley had been trying to take her place and protect her then, so he was the one who really deserved her. But the thought of his hands on Granger's body almost drove Draco mad for a solid six months after they were married. Every time he saw them in public, Ron was touching her in some way, whether it was holding her hand, wrapping an arm around her tiny shoulders, or holding a hand to the small of her back. Draco knew he was fucked when he was envying a Weasley.

He looked at his wife, nearly the opposite of Granger in every way. She smiled back while curling her hair with her wand. He had offered to send her for a day of pampering at a spa or salon, but Astoria always insisted on performing her own beauty charms. It was an odd thing for a wealthy, pureblood wife to do, but he wasn't going to complain. He kind of enjoyed watching her get ready.

His wife was beautiful and a sweet woman, but she didn't have the brains or courage that Hermione Granger did. She didn't have the same fire. There was no raw, unyielding passion between them. Astoria let him shag her almost every time he wanted to, but she never initiated intimacies between them.

While she continued preparing herself for the ball, Draco thought back to the best and worst time of his life…