Chapter 23

The Claim

The sound of the village was in the distance. A darkening winter evening surrounded the forest. A soft white moon shined in the sky as witness to their lonely journey while sunlight dissipated toward the horizon. The only sound she heard was his breath as it struggled for control. Draco carried her across his back. Their destination, a mystery to her.

Hermione was incapable to making a sound. Still, as tears dribbled down her cheeks, she beat against his back in resistance.

It was all wrong. She smelled Terry's blood on him. The hot iron left a disgusting taste in her mouth with just the scent alone. He'd fought Terry just to steal her off into the night, angry and vengeful at her as if she was the only guilty party.

He was the one on a date!

She started to kick her feet wildly. Draco's hold on her thighs slipped. She dropped to the ground, finally free.

Her hands fought through her clothes to find her wand buried inside since it was of muggle design. Draco was quicker. Fingernails dug into her shoulders as he pushed her backward, back farther into the shadows of the forest until there was nothing behind her but a large tree trunk. His arms trapped her there. No where else to go without his say.

Fury radiated off him in waves. It was palpable through the air. The tension in his shoulders and the clouds of his breath only told of the rising beast within his control, bound to tear through that barrier and ruin her.

"What were you doing there?" He spat through gritted teeth. "What were you doing there with him?"

She struggled against his touch as he grasped the sides of her face. His eyes drilled through her skin. Their gaze unsatisfied until they were met with hers.

There was heat in his expression, just as much as she believed was in hers.

"I would have killed him. Do you understand? Killed him."

Hermione broke their eye contact. She stared out into the emptiness of the trees. Pain spread through her cheeks as he wretched her back to his examining gaze. It was filled with expectation, as he expected her to be just as he thought of her, an obedient pet to come at his beck and call, without thought of herself or the hurt he inflicted without the slightest care for her wellbeing.

It was not true. She was not a pet. She was a beast, a feral animal, just tamed enough to companionship. There was a level of trust extended to him. As soon as he turned on her, he should have expected claws to tear him apart.

Draco forgot who she was. He forgot what it meant to tangle with beasts.

He was against her. The bark of the tree scratched her cold skin, tearing little red lines throughout her pretty complexion. She wiggled her hips, struggling beneath the weight of his full body. Her hands clenched the shoulders of his shirt. The tear of fabric rippled through the unending silence.

Draco let out a strangled whimper. "Why would you do that, huh? How could you do that to me? Do you get wet with anyone now? Is that it?"

Her hands slapped his face. Hard. The length of her fingers stung against the cold air.

Bound to silence was the worse torture she could imagine. Her vocal cords burned with need. He was able to demonize her without return of just what he had done to her. She was due her fight. That much she knew. Tears poured from her eyes. The cold trails dripped down to the edge of her chin.

Scottish winters were fierce and frigid. She wore a cocktail dress with little beneath. The fibers were pierced with the reaching frost quicker than her tears dropped to the surface.

Draco held his breath. The taut grip on her face gave the unrelenting choice to watch him suffer through betrayal just as she had done privately over the week. First the numb of shock. It was easiest to endure. Then the darkness of sadness on the rowboat, closer and closer, growing with each stroke through the waters of memory.

The heat of rage came last. It was by far most powerful.

Eventually she crumbled to the constant pounding of curiosity. Her eyes pulled from the distant gaze to find his. Through the faint light she noticed the line of water.

She narrowed her eyes. All her strength was poured into her expression that would not cease until the power to speak was released back to her.

Draco gripped the sides of her face tighter. His forehead leaned forward. The raw intensity of his features cut through to her gut as she watched the anger transform before her eyes.

He found his wand. It raised to her face. Her heart sped, but not with question. She knew that he was not there to physically hurt her. Only mentally torture, which seemed a personal favorite of his.

"Finite Incantatem," he mumbled.

Sounds suddenly burst from her lips. It felt good to have the sensation back to her throat and tongue again. Instant relief from that horrible spell.

His eyes found hers through the relief. Their lock brought a silence that swarmed from beneath the trees. It was deafening.

There was a weight to break through the still. It pushed against their chests.

Draco's grey eyes stormed with the want of her voice that she could visibly see his need leech through his flesh. They dipped down. A pause in his features as he gazed at her neck. The sting fell away from her cheeks as his hold on her loosened.

"My necklace." A warm finger prodded the tender flesh of her throat where the cold metal burned into her.

"My collar, you mean."

"You told me - ."

"Yeah, and you told me that you'd stay at Hogwarts. Guess we both know how to lie, don't we?" She snapped.

His hands suddenly slammed into the tree bark near her head. "You think another wizard could take my place, pet? A man like Terrence Higgs might match a man like me? You do remember just what you are, don't you? Mine. My pet. I'm your wizard. Me. Not that lowlife. You think he could replace me?"

"Do you think Astoria could replace me?" Her voice demanded. It was so filled with venom she thought for a moment Pansy was out in those woods. Alas she was the only witch with the power to cut through his precious ego. "Or did you just believe she the more acceptable pureblood match for you?"

He was shocked to silence. The quaking anger in his fist shoved to his pockets as he paced in front of her.

"Who told you?" He finally demanded.

"Do you mean what one of your pawns failed at their job to distract me?"

"Yes!" He shouted. "Yes. Which one of them do I have to sink to the bottom of the lake. Now tell me just how large of boulders I'll need."

She shook her head. An urge to spit at his feet lurched up through her disgust.

Her silence did not sit well with him. The crunch of his shoes through the snow was sharp as he stomped back to the tree. One hand shot out. It latched at the sides of her throat. He held her there against the tree with his face near against hers. Just the ghost of his lips touched her cheeks when he spoke.

"You will obey me, pet. You will heel to my say so whether you like it or not." A tense pressure formed at the base of her neck. It did not stop her breath. "Now, tell me which one of those whom I trusted with great importance to watch you while I tended to one tiny little thing? Hm?"

He wasn't the only one who was angry! He wasn't the only one entitled to betrayal!

"Tell me," he said.

Her jaw clenched tight.

"Tell me!" He repeated.

She peered at him through narrow eyes. How little he was to her.

Something in Draco broke. His voice turned to a roar as it echoed through the trees. "Tell me!"

"Astoria!" She finally shrieked. "Astoria was the one that told me."

The fingers inside her neck loosened. Instead they hanged around like the necklace.

"You're lying."

"I am not," she spat. "She was upset, bullied by Pansy, alone. You were too obsessed with me to notice those of your own house. You've lost sight. You're losing."

To say it was easy to shock Draco Malfoy would be a fallacy. The wizard was prepared for everything. He took it all in stride. But he was moved by her words so much, he had to retreat away.

He paced through the snow. The silver light of the moon showered down through the treetops. It was easy to see him through the darkness of shadow. His ghostly aura around him as a fallen angel.

In another time, she would have been attracted to the fiery wild gaze in his eye, the glow of his hair in the pale light, the darkness and isolation of the trees without a soul to find them. Her body wouldn't have minded the nature as backdrop for the first time her body was used with the purpose of pleasure. The echoes of their sounds as they joined together would have made a beautiful music amongst the trees.

"You!" Draco stopped in his worn path. The dirt of the ground a dark stain amongst the pristine white of the snow. "You let another wizard touch you. You wore, something like that, out. For everyone to see!"

"You started a courtship with another witch! After everything, after you knew I loved you."

The sharp edge of his jawline sharpened with the taut pull of tension. "Loved?" Animation came to his body as it shifted and tensed. "No. No, no. That better have been a slip of the tongue."

She wasn't sure what stabbed her heart, but when his Adam's apple wiggled beneath his flesh, it hurt more than what she gave credit to in her revenge scheme. She'd allowed herself to believe that the sweet release of when she saw him in his own lie that she would no longer feel strongly for him. Stockholm Syndrome was a faint fairytale that she yearned to be true. Her mind might've crafted him as a delusion, the manifestation of her sacrifice for her best friend.

Now that the moment hit her. It did not feel true.

"You still love me," he said. The confidence waived. Ever so slight.

A tear squeezed from the corner of her eye. She wiped it away with a shrug. "I don't know."

Draco physically recoiled. The inner corner of his eyebrows raised. Both corners of his mouth fell down into the long lines of wrinkles.

He was able to muster a soft whisper of resistance. "No. No. That's not true."

Did she look like she was just some soft witch that would agree with him?

She had been leaned against the body of the tree. Her feet tipped forward. Fingers pushed against the bark to standing. Her brows were down, forehead taut with expression. There was not hesitation enough to stop her from confronting him in ways that he always deemed necessary to confront her.

There was little than a meter between them. The clouds of his breath spanned the distance between them, in their standoff.

"You don't care. You never did." She swallowed. "You don't give a damn about me."

Draco gasped. "All this time, I watch you. You're the only one I ever see."

How much she'd longed for those words, how long she waited.

Pictures of him with the perfect little witch on their date pierced her pleasure. Astoria, the pureblood perfection, was who he had chosen to be interested. The complete opposite of Hermione. If he truly cared, why would he pick someone like her.

"And her. Do you see her too?"

His eyes turned hardened, with resolve or that cunning falsity that was his nature. A deceiver of all truths.

"She. She is nothing to me. I've not had the burn in my balls for months now because of her. Nor have I known the taste of her mouth or the touch of her hands on my cock. The piercing of my pride every other day by her lips, now have I?"

The awakening of her beast proved more powerful than the dormant month it had been expected to wait. It burned. The stretch through her bones was stronger than her doubt.

It was not her nature to stop. Draco was not a wizard of choice. He was a man to be conquered and claimed.

Her heart ached for the violence he used to steal her away from Terry, but the longer the image replayed within her mind, the deeper the claws of her desire sank through her flesh. It was his own desire that brought him past the edge of her control. He had been reminded of just what he'd lose if she left his grasp.

All blame was to be placed upon his shoulders. She just reacted the way circumstance demanded. Terry was a pawn that left Draco insecure in his strength to hold her, and the wizard served just the way she wanted. The blood was on Draco's hand. She merely reaped the benefits of it.

She watched the strength in his stance. A sharp edge of his jawline cut through her own resistance in that way those stormy eyes undressed her. He'd been so angry. The tension in his throat as he fought Terry to the floor, all too muggle for his expensive suits.

Hermione licked her lips. The cold no longer burned her flesh. It comforted the heat through her veins as lust in his intoxicating scent ravaged her insides. Each tight piece of her loosened.

He made a devil out of her once. She might as well truly ruin him for all those pureblood witches.

"Then prove it," she said.

His brows raised. "Prove it?"

Gryffindor chose her well. Though she felt the tremble in her fingers as she grasped the metal zipper, it remained steady enough to split the back of her dress. The sleeves fell loose against her flesh.

Draco's eyes doubled in size as he watched each motion in gracious fear. It troubled him how calm she was. She, on the other hand, was hot. The red fire swallowed.

"Show me just how committed you are to keeping a pet," she breathed. "You do want me, don't you?"

The sudden expanse of his trousers convinced her she hit the mark. It was time to use his arousal to her advantage.

"You know I do," he answered hollowly.

The neckline of her dress fell past her breasts. Her dark nipples, puckered and aching from the chilly wind, were the one blemish throughout her creamy flesh. And his eyes knew. He watched them grow harder as his attention on her bare chest excited her further. She'd never been naked in front of somebody before.

Draco swallowed. The tension still within his throat.

He dared take a step forward with the setting cloud through his mind. Lust started residence within his castle. It opened the gates of himself. She watched it fall at her feet with the welcoming parade. He tapped the knot at his throat. The tie was bound to be strangling him.

Her eyes fluttered up to his face. "Allow me."

She crossed the little distance between them and laced her fingers through the tied fabric until the length of her fingers rested between the tie and his throat. Their eyes caught. The need in hers matched the utter desire within his. She lifted her lips toward his, breathing in the hot exhale of his throat like a shot of whiskey she knew would be the last of her, and used the last bit of clarity to pull the tension of his tie away from the place where he needed less pressure.

It was his lips that captured hers in a breathy kiss. His tongue slipped through their barrier with surprising vigor, delving through and leaving no place, not even the back of her throat, untouched by the slick pink tongue.

His mouth abruptly wretched away from her. "I can't."

A shuddered breath flavored the air with his fear. Hermione gulped it with greed.

Draco's eyes dipped down. His eyes roamed the expanse of her chest, viewing her breasts and the excited heave of her lungs as she waited for his blessed release of control to the wiles of urge. The cold of his hand cupped her breast. It was startling, not in temperature but in softness.

The muscles of her legs quivered. His thumb swirled against her nipple. She was surprised by the arousal that bled down from that touch.

"Love me." Her mouth exhaled a soft whimper.

"I-I-I can't."

"Malfoy's make the rules. Isn't that what you said?" She brought her kiss against the divots of his neck. The pounding pulse vibrated her lips. "You can do what you want."

He shuddered, again. The warmth of his fingers against her flesh tingled in their path around her breaths, up her throat, to the side of her face. They pulled her away from his person. "Is this what you want?"

He thrust his lips into hers. Her breath swallowed by his mouth, the shock straight from her lungs to his.

Her hands ran along his sides. The taut hold of his waistband made it impossible to slip her hands inside his trousers. His cock pressed through. It rubbed against her body as he grinded against her.

Their faces ripped away when the threat of fainting became more urgent. Draco's face was beet red. His breaths were uneven, shaking.

"Does it matter?" She asked.

He brought his touch along the height of her cheekbone. "Very much so."

Hermione allowed herself a glance at his beauty. It was etched with indecision. The fall of his touch went to an empty waist. Her dress hanged from her hips, hallway off her form. The height of her thong knickers were visible at her hip bones with dense red lace.

She grasped the hand at her face. "You've taken my heart. Why not take this too?"

"Because… it is not my place."

"It is if I'm your pet."

His face curled to a disgusted sneer. "Even you don't buy all that. I know you don't."

She pulled his hand downward below her bellybutton. His fingers stretched. Below the fabric they moved as a snail's pace. The hollow core of her body not much farther in descent. Their eyes remained locked as he touched the virgin skin of her body, unseen by everyone.

Flutters crossed her belly. Her breath caught when his fingers animated with touch. One grazed the top of her pussy, with or without purpose, and she whimpered with anticipation.

A grin flickered across his lips. A single finger slid down through her lips. The gush in her knickers brought a moan from her lips as her mind imagined what he might do with his fingers.

Her eyes fluttered open at his probing expression. The question still in his mind. Should he?

"Are you so convinced?" She moaned. "Do I not seem to want it?"

Draco was drawn into her visible excitement. The dripping wet at his hand encouraged the roaming of her sex with each finger spreading through her tissues like a growing flower meant to ravish her.

Her hand clenched the fabric of his shoulder when the small tip of his finger parted her, primed for entrance.

His other hand raised to the base of her throat. It lifted the haze of ecstasy her mind wished to surround itself with, and raised her gaze.

Was there trust enough to let him have that kind of power over her?

"Once I start, I won't stop."

It was meant to warn her. All it did was confirm.

"I'm not stopping you," she answered.

Again, she moaned at his teasing. He barely touched the aching parts of her body. The raised bud of her clit twitched. Every brush over top the flesh that did not press right into that good spot meant to crumble her to nothing.

It burned her with frustration. "Just touch me," she demanded.

He grinned. His fingers suddenly thrust up into her body. Her legs opened wide. It was harder to stand straight. He'd use his fingers, then rub her clit with vigor until she would just see the end when his touch would slow down again. He'd growl at her frown.

"Wipe that look off your face, Hermione. I want those pretty lips open. Let me see your tongue."

The steady swirling of his thumb had her head thrown back, lips wide open, with wave after wave in unnamed desciption rippled through her body. Her toes fought against the straps of her heels when the pleasure brought a toe-curling need to her feet. His hold tensed. She remained fixed in a single position as his fingers worked in and out of her, expanding and shallowing in their thrust and thickness with each pump of his hand.

The stiff grip against her throat had her instinctually excited. Every moan was stifled just a tiny amount.

Draco lifted a smirk. His eyes flickered downward. A devilish look glinted the corner of his eye. He flicked the loose hanging of her breasts, sharp pain in her nipple, and she winced for the expected sting but was in disbelief at the pleasure it gave. Her eyes rolled back.

"Do you like that, pet?"

She bit her lips and nodded. "I love it."

More than anything, she wanted that body to be just as naked as she was. His torso was a work of art. Defined muscles with deep grooves in between each one, a riverbed just the perfect size for her tongue.

His face leaned close. "Do you love me?"

A power was in his gaze now. She could not turn away. The hand at her throat kept her straight. She was forced to show her embarrassment as she confirmed just what he wanted to know. His eyes were witnesses to everything she felt as it crossed through her expression. "Be careful in your answer. Very careful. My need for you will only grow."

The need to be that one witch, the one that Draco needed as air and breath and water and rest. The intoxicating drug it was spoiled her thoughts with lust. Her insides shivered.

His hands continued to shag her in endless repetition as he awaited answer. Thoughts were difficult to balance when all she wanted was his cock to be the one inside her.

Draco Malfoy was a threat to many things. He threatened the safety of her friends, the Order, life at Hogwarts as fair as it could be. He'd blackmailed her and hurt her, more than once. His mind kept her surrounded with safety, deflected wizards away with muscle and then punished the ones that didn't heed his words. He was out of his mind protective and controlling, possessive and a total wanker. Everything he did was irritating.

And yet, Hermione couldn't help but be aroused by him. There were pieces let through his tough exterior. He gave her Drogon and that necklace and wouldn't take her virginity without being convinced to do so.

She loved the way he was easy to frustrate. The slippery nature of his tongue brought a smile in more than one way. Her heart sped when he was around, and when he smiled, she was so satisfied with herself that she would miss half the lecture because of it.

The world was hard outside the castle. It was not viable. The pair of them were fire and petrol. Neither should have found the other so appealing. Not in a thousand centuries.

The truth was in plain sight whether she wanted to realize it or deny.

"I do," she whispered.

Draco wasted no time to toss his coat to the ground, pushed her atop it, and started ripping the dress off her hips. It was with so much force that the sharp tension set in her jaw as the fabric ripped apart. His pace never slowed. The buttons of his shirt pulled from their hold and exposed the bare of his torso.

The clink of his belt and the release of his breath knotted Hermione's nerves. Her belly hardened.

She laid there on the ground as cold wet seeped in through the fibers and thus onto the surface of her body. A bare expanse of evening sky shined above. The lessening color was a beautiful backdrop to the image of his determination above her, an arm on either side of her body, trapped to surrender release onto his cock as he demanded it of her.

He lowered his chest to hers. Moist lips dragged down her neck. A stiff pressure grinded against her pussy with the intent to plunge through, the only wait in its pace was the attention at her face.

Lowered to his elbows better enabled a hand knotted within her hair. It had their faces locked together. Grey and brown swirled. Thrill tortured their lungs, whether to breathe or hold.

It wasn't until her hands slipped beneath the cover of his shirt to the depths of his torso, gripped each one of his shoulders and dug her fingers into his flesh that the stiff pressure grew harder into the slit of her pussy. The tip turned slippery with all her juices. He kissed harder into her embrace.

Draco thrust into her slowly, savoring each depth, amazed by her face as it changed with each new motion. His cock parted through the uncharted waters of her sex as an explorer, the pure satisfaction in his own smile as his cock was welcomed to a slippery warm place. He thrust in her once more. The length that entered her had her pushed deeper into that snow. Slush and water cascaded down the length of his coat as it was overtook with the ravages of winter, and neither moved away. Lost in each other's rutting passion.

Her legs were wide open to him. The slender lengthy body between them, atop her. A shining moon watched as the two sucked and kissed and pulled at each other's bodies. Nothing threatened to take them away, but their minds focused on the claim. The claim of the body joined with theirs.

His grunts with each harsh slap of his skin against hers fueled the twisting burn in her belly. She was in awe. The hardened glaze, his attention now focused on how hard he was able to make her tremble. He brought his hand between her legs to rub against the special place she showed him and had her squealing beneath his touch.

Draco rose to his knees, all while his place inside her remained. Her body was taken by the cold air. Nipples in the most agony at their forgotten importance.

She gripped her breasts as she watched his bare body pierce hers. It was hot. Her body erupted with another gush of white. The line of her naked form before his to ravish as he did had her body tensed in every joint.

His hands thudded the ground. The platinum strands clouded her eyes.

He growled against her ear. The hot breath warmed the frozen sound. "Just remember who owns you. Remember whose cock has been through this pussy the next time another wizard touches you." Her breath caught between all the moans. It was hard to breath; sensation filled her mind. The echoing sound of their physical bodies entangled with the desires of primal animals in rut. "I'll own you every night if I have to. Is that what you want?"

Her eyes shuddered close. She was only able to nod.

His body pushed higher through her slick wet. It pushed against a part that sent instant shivers throughout her thighs.

The storm grey eyes watched her body writhe beneath him with a smirk. "Good, pet. Good girl. See if you can do it again."

It became a game of how much she might quake and cry out in total ecstasy. His hand reached out and grasped one of her nipples.

"Oh my Godric," she groaned. Her hands started to crawl away. It was all so good and so much.

"No, you don't," Draco growled. His hands dug deep into her hips. "You'll not go anywhere until you've finished all over me. I want those juices on my cock so that I might smell you when I sleep and when I wake, those lovely knickers of yours in my hand. These are mine now."

Their lace dangled above her eyes. Her jaw fell open. From the rough forcing of his body against hers that vibrated throughout the folds of her flesh, not just the hole he buried himself inside of, she was incoherent. All she was able to do was relish the length of his cock.

"They're yours." She gasped out. His pace quickened. She felt the growing hardness tipping the scales of the tightness of her belly. She was going to explode.

Her arms shot out. Her fingers clenched to fists in the snow.

One thrust sent her over the edge. All at once, liquid pleasure leaked from her limbs down to the point of her climax. Her throat groaned and moaned. Everything turned sensitive. The muscles of her pussy tensed with a newfound sensation. Sparkles glinted in her eyes.

Another moment, Draco was back on top of her. His mouth pressed against hers, breathing in her breathy moans and shrill cries as his cock continued to push into her in post-orgasm tenderness.

The flesh of his shoulders was punctured by her nails, a fact that made him cry out. His body suddenly went still. A seeping hot filled her pussy. She felt the contents of his cock emptied into her body as his claim of what he'd done to her. It was bound to be there for days. His marking. The spill of Malfoy inside her pretty, muggleborn pussy.

Lucius would throw a fit if he knew what his son had done to her. Hell, the whole world would.

She was limp upon the ground. Draco, limp atop her.

Their breaths were deep and exhausted. A shag required more energy than she gave credit. Her mind was cleared, bloody brilliantly. She dragged a finger down the back of his ear, the length of his neck as his face buried into her bare chest.

She'd done it. Draco was hers now. His flesh might have marked her with his seed, but she, too, laid claim upon him. Not only was his mind, hers. Another witch never stood a chance with him. They'd know. They'd smell it on him. His betrayal to all their precious pureblood beliefs by laying with a muggleborn would show just as clearly as his hatred melted away, little by little, she'd chip away at that darkness. It covered light. In that time, he'd be hers. All to herself.

Draco stirred. His energy restored, albeit slowly. He raised to his elbows.

"Tell me again," he whispered. "Tell me you love me."

"I love you, Draco."

It completed whatever he constructed within his mind. He placed a gentle kiss upon her lips, and then hopped up to dress. It was fast until he was fully dressed, impeccable in his style, as he always was. He helped Hermione to her feet, proceeded to help her back into her own outfit, but stole the pair of knickers. They were stuffed within his pocket.

Again, he kissed her. A finger tapped against the necklace at his throat with a subtle smile before they made their way back to the castle.

"What do you want them for?" She asked. "They're ladies underpants."

"They're yours," he corrected. "And I want them."

"But what for?"

He smirked. "Just in case I start to miss you."

She choked in surprise. "Miss me?"

Draco nodded. "I'll have your knickers to keep me company."

Hermione groaned. "Oh, I might have known. You wizards just can't put that energy to good use. You've got to serve yourself a bit of a dessert before dinner."

"Before breakfast, usually." Draco chuckled at her horrified face. "A witch like you has to be aware of the natures of wizards…" his voice trailed off. She almost thought to ask him if he was okay when she realized his jaw had turned sharpened. It was clenched tight.

Their footsteps were the only ones on the path back to Hogwarts. It was just before the curfew. They'd be lucky if they made it back without being punished for tardiness. The crunch of each foot fall was a blaring reminder of the quiet calm of dusk.

"Speaking of wizards," he finally said. His hand slipped through the pockets of his suit coat. She wondered if he was fingering the red lace in there. "Was it Higgs that invited you there or you that planned it that way?"

Oh. Terrence. She hoped he was okay.

"A bit of both," she answered honestly.

She'd made peace with him being used for her ends, but she felt guilty over his bloodied face. Draco had hurt him bad. There was so much blood.

"Explain," he barked. The anger raised inside him again.

"He'd offered to take me out. I just decided when and where."

It was not shocking that Draco was moved to fury as he stepped. His tracks were deeper in the snow. Their breaking of ice beneath his step shattered through the serenity of their trek back.

"Why didn't you tell me? Hm? A wizard asked you out on a date," he said. "That's something I deserved to know."

"Oi! I have just as much right to be angry at you! You planned your date first. You asked a girl out because you liked her. I asked Terry out so that I might make you jealous. There's a stark difference between the two."

He was hardly the blameless one. She was not, she knew. But he wasn't either.

Their silence resumed. Nothing but the brisk hard steps against the ground. The castle grew closer and closer with each minute. Torches against the gates glowed through the darkness. Soft balls of orange and red with dancing flame inside their cones.

A professor was posted at the gate. Professor McGonagall was there with her arms crossed tightly against her chest. The stern look in her eye spoke to their lateness. She never tolerated those who lacked the decency to keep a schedule.

Hermione dipped her head low because she knew just how disappointed she had made her professor. Why had she wanted to shag Malfoy in the woods?

Oh, right. Because it was amazing.

"Mr. Malfoy. Ms. Granger. I must say I am surprised at the pair of you. Do you know what time it is?" The professor removed the glasses from her nose. "If you weren't two house Prefects, I'd have half a mind to give you both detentions."

"So sorry, Professor McGonagall. We lost track of time."

The beady eyed witch appraised Draco. There was no doubt she was not thrilled with his presence with Hermione. McGonagall was apart of The Order of the Phoenix. The rumors of the relationship between Draco Malfoy and Hermione were fluent throughout the members, which caused a bit of distrust. Even now, there was suspicion in her eyes.

Though there was no evidence of their previous romp, sweat started to drench the fabric beneath her arms. She wrapped her arms around her chest in an embrace. It helped cover the transparency of her flesh that surely told the tale of her loss of virginity.

"Seeing as it is you two, I'll forgive it. Please, return to your dormitories. And don't be late again. Next time I shall not be so understanding."

They were allowed within the gates. The warmth of the castle already burst against their cold faces.

"Thank you, professor," Hermione said.

Detention for a Prefect was downright mortifying. Even being close to receiving it was enough to shake her back into shape. That was the last time she would tempt Draco into a standoff so late in the evening.

The castle was empty as they walked. Curfew was soon. Most students were tired out after a day in Hogsmeade. It being Valentines Day, no doubt, had most ready for the day to come to an end.

Hermione set upon Gryffindor Tower, ready to shrink out of the dress and cuddle in front of an open fire with Drogon. It was time to lay her revenge to rest. She was successful, but not weightless in freedom. Thus, was the choice she made. She wore the consequences of sacrificing another person's feelings for her so that she might enrage Draco. It was not right. She had to atone for that falter in her ethics.

Terry deserved an apology. He was a person, not a pawn. She'd allowed her momentarily need for revenge overshadow his right to not be manipulated.

The thought itself was enough to shame and shock her. Terrence Higgs, heartthrob of the wizarding world, actual gentlemen, athletic and humble, wanted her, a bushy haired Gryffindor as a date, and she used him? In what universe did it seem plausible for her to turn down a wizard like Higgs for someone like Malfoy?

To her surprise, Draco did not follow the Grand Staircase down to the dungeons below but rose with her toward the higher levels of the castle.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Seeing as it was one of our first dates," he said with a soft humor, "it is customary for the gentleman to walk the witch home."

"Oh. Right."

They were silent as they moved through the castle. She was right in her assumption. Not a single soul stirred through the stretched corridors. Hogwarts was devoid of its vibrant life closer to dark, the warmth of students tucked away in its safe corners.

Hermione hummed to fill the silence. Emptiness brought forth her fears. Silence and darkness were hard to fight in the encroaching night where all those things reigned king.

They turned a corner. The Flat Lady portrait was there, still awake luckily, and singing with vigor that her horrendous voice carried through the empty air. It was the first time she'd been grateful to see the large, irritating woman all term.

Draco's hand steered her away from the eyes of the portrait into a hidden alcove instead, just behind hanging tapestry. It was a breath full of dust and established spider webs.

Their warm lips collided. He found hers through the darkness of the alcove, teasing her with his tongue in excited play. It was impossible to resist. She allowed her mind to fall back to the wiles of lust. Breaths erupted out of their noses as they were overcome with sudden urges. Draco's hands were laced through her hair. Her arms held onto his shirt and kept him locked in place.

A stiff erection grinded into her thigh. He pushed her against the cold stone wall. Her feet raised higher than the floor the more he held onto her, running his hands all over her. Familiar flooding pooled at her entrance. The absence of her knickers had her rather exposed. Drips of their combined cum on the floor toward Gryffindor Tower was a thrilling way to end the night though.

Her body relaxed against his. It was becoming all too common: legs parted with him in between, his lips fluttering from her neck to her chest to her shoulder back to her lips. An open palm massaged his erection. He arched his back to meet her grasp, smiling through his smiles, enjoying her soft intakes of breath in the silence of the castle.

The buttery finish of his mouth reminded her of butterbeer and the Three Broomsticks. It made her grin as they retracted. Draco straightened his shirt. He made certain to adjust her, too. The one thing his eyes lingered on was the moon charm at her neck.

A glint came to his eye. He ran his fingertips along the chain.

"Just once more," his soft voice pleaded. He took her hands and raised them to the back of his neck. Their noses brushed together. "Tell me again."

"I love you, Draco."

A/N: I don't plug very often. I love fanfiction and I am fairly new to the scene. However, I was a writer before fanfiction. I've released three novels. One that has greatly been affected by my work as a fanfiction writer is called, Beast of Shadow. It is available for download on Amazon and Google Playstore. If you are interested, please check it out. I'd greatly appreciate it. No pressure, though. You're all amazing readers. I cannot thank you enough for your support through a WIP. I know lots of readers don't like to invest in WIPs because of the possibility that it might not be finished. You motivate me to finish this story. Never stop the love. Please 3