Chapter Notes

Hi... and sorry, sorry, sorry! We are really late with this update! Unfortunately both of my children picked up a tummy bug, (how boys, how did you manage this? we're still masked and under covid rules!) Anyway, the long and the short of it was that there wasn't much time for writing last week.

So, here we are, a week late but hopefully the smut in this chapter will make up for it! ;-) ;-) ;-)

We've also updated the chapter count to 35, I had planned 30, but things didn't quite fit, so 35 it is!

I hope everyone is well and having a lovely week, the next chapter is semi written so we'll be back on the bi weekly Saturday posting schedule now.

Thank you times approximately 700 billion to champagneandliterature, both for being your usual wonderful self, and for meeting my revised chapter count with "let's do it!" Champagne, you rock! :-)

Thank you so much for the continued comments and kudos, we appreciate every single one of our wonderful readers. I've said it before but I'll say it again, our readers really are the best!

See you in two weeks, lots of love, (Claire.) - Phonenix

Cupid's Arrows

Chapter 24 - On A Dark Night In The Potions Lab…..

The potions lab was freezing cold and as dark as the dead of night. Hermione stepped inside on Wednesday evening shivering and feeling highly grateful for the roaring fire that Draco immediately lit in the fireplace. As the flames crackled into life, she hurried around the room, lighting the candle sconces on the walls and trying to keep an unhelpful, entirely unbidden image of the prison cells at Azkaban out of her mind. By the time all of the candles were lit and the room was as bright as it ever got, she had finally managed to push the intrusive vision away.

What she couldn't ignore was the reason the memory had lodged in her mind in the first place. She looked up as the door opened again, and Harry and Pansy strolled in to join them. "What's up, Harry?" She asked, frowning at her best friend's thoroughly disgruntled look.

"Nothing much," he replied evasively, still looking annoyed. Hermione frowned at his blatant lie but managed to hold her tongue long enough for him to continue. "I'd just rather not be spending my evening in here brewing Merlin knows what because my original potion congealed into a lump of concrete in class. It's quidditch night after all!"

"Oh," she breathed in relief. "I see. Did that happen because you were worried about me?"

"Partly," he confessed, "and partly because I was struggling to restrain myself from hexing Daphne and Tracy. The way they kept glancing over at your empty desks, you three, I could very easily have hit them with something!"

"You and me both," Theo agreed. "In fact, I was going to. That's why I walked out. Apparently, unforgivables aren't allowed in the potions lab."

Hermione sighed. "No. They most definitely aren't. Anyway, I'm not going to let them get away scot-free, if that's what you all think," she promised grimly, forcing the image of damp, cold, stone walls and bare, almost inhumane cells back out of her mind. "I fully intend to make them pay for every last drop of pain they've caused us."

"I should think so too!" Pansy exploded. I'm hurt by all of this myself because I considered both Daphne and Tracy to be my friends. For now, and since nothing else seems to be happening, I'm consoling myself with the fact that they've broken the first rule of Slytherin house." She huffed and stamped her foot, looking disgusted at the thought. "When what they've done finally comes out, they'll both be outcasts. So will Astoria. Happily, Millie and myself don't sleep in the girl's dorms with them any longer. If we did, I think I'd have punched them both already!"

"What's the first rule of Slytherin house?" Hermione asked curiously as she hefted her cauldron onto the table in front of her.

"Loyalty," Pansy, Draco, and Theo all said together.

"You don't fuck your friends over, no matter what the circumstances," Draco elaborated and feeling rather touched, Hermione nodded.

"Do we have a first rule of Gryffindor house?" she asked Harry, aware that she was stalling for time rather than telling the others what she had done.

Harry looked up from adjusting the flame under his cauldron. "Yes. Usually, it's "don't mess with Hermione Granger," but I'm starting to worry that you're losing your touch, 'Mione. It's been over two days, and you haven't said a single word to anybody about what you're going to do. You've asked us for patience, but I think you know that's wearing thin. Ron says you've got one more day, or he and Ginny are stepping in. It's not just you that these girls have hurt, remember." He paused, looking from Draco to Theo to Pansy, all of whom nodded their agreement. "So you're running out of time. Have you got a plan to make them pay?"

Hermione turned away with a wry smile, despite the seriousness of the situation. She knew she was cornered. Bless Harry. He and Ron were still the only ones who could ever fully call her out like this. "Yes. I do," she admitted, spinning on her heel to face him again. "And it's taken me a couple of days to say anything because I had to organize it first. I had to owl Kingsley a few times, and he's arranged this as a personal favor to me," she broke off anxiously, feeling her heart pound as she tried to work out the best way of putting what she had done into words.

"But now I'm starting to second guess myself because a lot of this does depend on you two and how you feel about it," she hesitated again, wringing her hands and turning to Draco and Theo with a half apologetic, half desperate look. "But, you both said you wanted to go, so I really, really hope you don't mind what I've-"

Harry removed his glasses, rubbed a hand over his eyes, then replaced them before blinking owlishly at Hermione. "Stop faffing, 'Mione. Spit it out. Whatever you've done, it's bound to be brilliant so just tell us!"

"When you say you've been owling Kingsley," Draco said, looking confused, "do you mean Kingsley Shacklebolt? As in Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister for Magic?"

"Yes," Hermione nodded impatiently. "And he's surprisingly slow at returning my owls."

"Probably because he's got a few other commitments on his mind, you know, like running the country?" Theo interjected, but Hermione ignored his quip.

"Theo, you seemed to think your father would be able to break the curse on Astoria. Kingsley's granted us special visiting rights to Azkaban after classes tomorrow. If it's alright with you, that is. I'd like to get everyone together to figure out how we can do this. Then, when we know we can break the curse, I want to confront the girls on Friday evening. I plan to do it in the eighth year common room, in front of as many people as possible." She glanced up, relieved to see Pansy's gleeful grin, Harry's satisfied smile, and Draco and Theo's identical looks of surprise.

"This way we've done the right thing by the girls. We've broken the curse so we haven't ignored their suffering, but once they know that, and they know there is a cure, we let them have it. All of it. We bring everything they've done out into the open in front of everybody. The whole year group will know what's happened, and they'll have to live with themselves forevermore. The only reason I'm okay with publicly shaming them like this is because we're also giving them a way of breaking this evil curse."

Once again, a resounding silence greeted her words. Hermione forced herself to hold her nerve. She knew it was a big ask, yet again, of Draco and Theo, and she'd been fretting over how they would both react ever since she'd received Kingsley's confirmation owl at dinner.

"Wow!" Pansy said after a moment, "I always wondered what the view from the moral high ground looked like, and now I know. It's actually quite pretty up here. Granger, you're a bloody genius!"

"It's brilliant," Draco said slowly. "This, uh, this visit to Azkaban though, is it just to Theo's Dad's cell, or-"

"No, it's to see Lucius too. If you want to see him, that is." Hermione smiled sadly, it had taken an extra three, magically speed enhanced owls to get the finer details of the visit worked out. Hermione had needed to call in quite an enormous favor with the Minister himself to do it, but a double visit had been arranged. Thoronus Nott and Lucius Malfoy were both available for an hour's visit tomorrow evening. Together.

Draco closed his hand over hers on the desk. "I'd like that a lot, actually, Hermione. Left to myself, I'd probably never have arranged anything, and I really did want to see him over the Christmas holidays.

"I know," she said as Draco pressed a kiss to her lips.

"Thank you," he whispered, then turned away to collect his cauldron.

"I'm sorry you ended up mucking your potion up on our behalf, Harry," Hermione said. "What do you think of my plan?"

"That's okay," Harry conceded. "Under the circumstances, you're forgiven. I think the plan is perfect. It's just classic Hermione. I think Ginny may still hex Daphne and Tracy, though."

"Me too," Pansy interjected. "We'll compare curses beforehand, though, so we hit them with a good mixture of things."

Hermione nodded gratefully to Harry, then turned to Theo, ignoring Pansy's remark because she had no idea how to answer it. "What about you, Theo? How do you feel about all of this? Because most of this plan depends on you and your Dad."

Theo shrugged his shoulders then sighed, ruffling his untidy hair with his fingers. "I also think It's perfect. You are-" he paused, looked briefly around the room, then back at her, "-you are coming with us right?"

"If you want me too," she said softly as Harry and Pansy turned away to give them a moment of privacy.

"Yes, please." He moved closer to her, then cupped her cheek in his hand and ran his thumb gently over her lips. "I need you to come. I can't walk into Azkaban without your support."

The vulnerability in his eyes almost made her break down in tears. She nodded. "Theo, please be honest. Is this too much for me to ask of you? If it is,we don't have to go. I can think of a different plan, we can just ask Sirius or look in the Grimmauld Place librar-"

Theo cut her off with another kiss. "It's fine, Hermione. Azkaban gives me the creeps, and I did once vow never to set foot on that Godforsaken island again, but I want to see my Dad. All I'm asking is that you're beside me. With you and Draco beside me, it's fine."

"You've got both of us-" Draco confirmed, thumping his cauldron down then giving Theo a soft kiss and a significant look. "Why are you here tonight, then Pans?" he asked, finally turning away from Theo to study the recipe they were going to follow. "Did your potion die a hideous death too?"

"Of course not!" Pansy said indignantly. "I'm here for moral support. And because, well, because I figured that I could make another batch, partly for practice but mainly because it sells so well. Plus, I was kind of hoping for another shag on Slughorn's desk but since you lot are here too, that looks unlikely to happen. Theo, don't say a bloody word, I am not doing that in front of you!"

Having recovered from his trepidation about visiting his father, Theo flashed her his most innocent look then mimed zipping his mouth closed. "You didn't have these concerns about doing it in front of Luna and Parvarti, now did you?" Draco asked, making Theo laugh.

Harry plonked his potions book down on the table and sighed, ignoring the provocation. "Anyway, Harry," Draco continued, clearly enjoying winding his old nemesis up further, "I remember a time when you used to regularly mess up your potions because you were watching me. It makes a change for it to be Hermione's fault!"

Harry put his wand down and stared wordlessly at Draco while Pansy balled up her scarf and threw it at him. "Girding solution, then," Theo said loudly, "before you two come to blows. I thought we'd just gotten over the emotionally charged portion of the evening! Shall we focus, boys and girls?!"

Harry sighed, dropping his incredulous gaze away from Draco's smirk. "I really don't want to be doing this right now."

"Don't you?" Theo asked as Hermione started sorting the necessary ingredients out on the desk. "You don't think this is the perfect potion for brewing without the interference of a teacher?"

Pansy giggled at Harry's blank look. "Harry, what does Girding Solution actually do?"

Harry sighed. "I don't bloody know. I never professed to be any good at this subject, D.A.D.A. is my thing, you know, being the vanquisher of all evil? I'm no good with a cauldron. All I do know is that we're all missing quidditch practice for this."

"Let me enlighten you as to why this isn't a bad thing," Draco said, opening a packet of fairy wings. "Firstly, it's pissing down and freezing cold. I like to fly as much as anyone, but the rain has turned the snow to sloppy slush, the wind is howling, again, and I'm glad I'm not out flying in it tonight. Secondly, Girding solution enhances endurance. Take one vial of this, and you'll have a lot more stamina than usual. If you know what I mean?"

Harry's eyes grew wide. "Oh," he said softly. "Oh!"

"Oh exactly," Pansy passed him his stirrer. "Interested now, are you? And since Slughorn only wants one vial handed in from each of you, I don't see why we can't all make a batch, just turn in one vial each, and keep the rest."

"Girding solution has a short shelf life, but it sells amazingly well on the Hogwarts black market," Theo said, pressing another kiss to Hermione's lips, this one to silence her protests, "just saying."

The girding solution was annoyingly complicated to make. Slughorn stuck his head into the dungeon halfway through the evening, informed them that the quality of their potion would be included into their final N.E.W.T. scores, asked them to leave their labeled vials on his desk, bid them goodnight, then disappeared. "Not yet!" Draco yelped, grabbing Hermione's wrist just as she was about to add a toasted dragonfly thorax to her bright orange potion. "Wait until the flying seahorse has completely dispersed and it's turned turquoise, or you'll have some side effects that will seriously upset the people we sell it to."

Hermione frowned but held back as instructed. "Are you really going to sell this?"

"Course I bloody am," Theo chirped. "But I'm also going to take some myself, then I plan to fuck the pair of you senseless."

"I heard that!" Pansy squealed, but Theo merely laughed, "Merlin Theo, have you no shame?"

Theo blew her a kiss. "Not a great deal, as you well know. Now, Hermione. Add your dragonfly now."

All in all, it was a miracle that by the end of the night, four labeled vials of what appeared to be perfectly brewed Girding Solution were sitting on Slughorn's desk. Harry and Pansy were first out of the dungeon, Pany carefully pocketing several vials of illicitly smuggled potion on her way.

Theo eyed Hermione speculatively as Pansy's giggles faded away down the corridor. "Do you have any idea how much I want you right now?" he asked, stepping forwards to cage her in against the desk.

Immediately she whimpered, wondering what it was about Theo that brought this reaction out in her every time. She shook her head, sighing as he backed her up further, then rolled his hips into hers, grinding himself against her and instantly turning her legs to jelly. "I think you might need to tell me exactly how much," she whispered.

Draco chuckled and stopped tidying away to listen. "Do you want to know what I'm thinking about right now?" Theo asked, loosening her tie then undoing the top two buttons of her blouse. Staring into his brilliant blue eyes, she nodded. "Well, right now, I'm feeling the need to remind you that despite your unquestionable brilliance, and your quite frankly astonishing ability to wrap the Minister for Magic around your little finger, you belong to me." Theo smirked at her sharp intake of breath and the loud gasp that Draco gave behind them.

"You belong to both of us, in fact, and if one of us wants to hitch your skirt up, turn you around, bend you over your workbench, then fuck you senseless to remind you of that fact," he paused to kiss her, then pulled back to look her in the eye once more, "we can. In fact, both of us could. Right now." He smirked, watching her sink her teeth into her bottom lip, and lifted an eyebrow in question. She nodded to encourage him to continue. "Draco would go first, and because of your transgressions and your blatant flirting with the Minister, he'd be at his most dominant. You'd be seeing stars by the time you came undone all over his beautiful cock."

Hermione let her head fall back as another whimper escaped her lips. "Then," Theo continued, "when you and he were done, it would be my turn." He paused to kiss a line from her mouth, along her jaw, and down her neck. He sucked a love bite into her sensitive skin and she moaned, writhing against the crush of his powerful body. "Do you want to know what I'd do to you, beautiful?" he asked.

She nodded, still wriggling helplessly under his touch. "Well, I'd keep you bent over the desk, but I'd kick it up a notch. I'd bring your arms up over your head and tie your wrists together with my green and silver Slytherin tie-" he broke off, smirking at her moan, "oh, you like that idea, do you?"

Utterly transfixed, as usual, she nodded once more. She felt Draco move up at her side, then begin to kiss her other cheek, and she pressed forwards into his touch. Theo chuckled, stepping back to give Draco space. "So, you'd be naked, bound, and bent over a desk right in the middle of the potions lab. I'd unzip my trousers, step up behind you and fuck you till you screamed my name, and remembered exactly….. who…. you….. belonged….. to."

"Mmmm!" she breathed as Draco's hands slid down her sides. She felt his fingers brush against her hips and her skirt started to rise as he bunched the material up in his hands.

"You like the sound of that, gorgeous girl?" Draco asked, his hot breath tickling her ear.

Hermione nodded. "Yes!" She wondered, not for the first time if there was something wrong with her that made her enjoy being spoken to that way, but Theo just laughed softly.

"No, sweetheart, you are perfectly normal to like this dynamic. Some girls would probably slap me for some of the things I say, but this is meant to turn you on. And, I love the fact that it does. Stop worrying."

She wasn't even surprised that he'd heard her thoughts. Instead she felt rather grateful for the reassurance. She nodded, wriggling her hips to encourage Draco further. He turned her around, then lifted the remaining material of her skirt so that her bottom was exposed to the chilly dungeon, and she silently congratulated herself on her choice of underwear. The dark green thong was one she had worn specially, hoping to tempt the boys after they had returned to their dormitories later that night.

"Sweet fucking Salazar," she heard Draco mutter, and she giggled as he ran the palm of his hand over her back, pushing her down over the desk then continuing to stroke his fingers down over her bottom. His first swat was gentle. She leaned forwards slightly more, bracing herself on her hands and sticking her bottom out further, then swaying her hips to encourage him. His next three slaps were not so soft. "Remember your safeword," he whispered.

"Green," she gasped, feeling his fingers venture under her thong. A moment later, his hands disappeared, and she heard the buzz of a zipper.

"Keep talking, Theo," Draco said as he stroked his hand over her tingling skin.

"That's such a pretty sight," Theo said. Hermione could hear the satisfied smirk in his voice as he leaned casually against the neighboring desk. "Look at you both, so desperate for each other, so wet Hermione. I can see your beautiful cunt glistening in the candlelight."

Draco used his knee to nudge her legs slightly further apart, and she felt the hard tip of his cock nudge up against her silken folds. He moved her thong to the side and she lifted up onto her tiptoes to get the position right. He pressed his hand on her back, bending her further over the desk, and she gasped. This was another new position, but she had been daydreaming about this scenario for a long time. The fantasy coming true now was better than she'd dreamed possible.

Draco moved his hips, slipping inside her with a muttered oath. He paused for a moment, but she no longer needed so much time to adjust to either of the boys' intrusions. She wriggled herself backward impatiently, smiling at his answering sigh as she impaled herself fully on him. "Is this angle alright?" he asked.

She nodded breathlessly. "Oh! Yes! She gasped as he started to move. "It's perfect!"

"It looks perfect from here too," Theo confirmed. "All I can see is Draco's beautiful cock sliding in and out of you, and it's sexy as fuck. Those little mewling noises you're making are going to get us caught though, so unless you want Draco's hand over your mouth, shhh."

Hermione gasped as Draco picked up his speed. "Are you comfortable?" he asked in a strained voice, and she whimpered loudly without thinking. "Shhh," he breathed, echoing Theo, "unless you really do want my hand over your mouth?"

The thing was, she did. She turned to meet Theo's amused gaze as she attempted to push that thought into his mind. She'd already seen the subtle movement of his wand and felt the soft wash of the silencing charm he'd cast, so she knew there was no real danger of them getting caught. Holding his gaze, she let out another quiet but deliberate moan. "Hand, then Draco. If she can't behave herself, you'll have to make her." Hermione closed her eyes as Draco's hand slid around to cover her mouth, and he upped his pace, snapping his hips into her sharply with every thrust.

It felt so good, she braced herself against the table, bucking back into him, meeting his frenzied rutting, over and over until her breath came in pants around his fingers, and she struggled not to cry out in ecstasy.

Draco released her mouth then snapped her hips hard back into him. Her walls clenched desperately around him as he thrust deeper than she'd ever felt before, and a second later, he grunted as he reached his release. He fell forwards, supporting himself on his hands over her back while he caught his breath. After a moment, he carefully pulled himself out, then hurriedly zipped his trousers up while Hermione dropped her head down onto the desk.

She tensed with a thrill of anticipation as she felt the brush of Theo's hand over her bottom. "Hello, darling," he whispered in a voice that made her knees buckle. "It's my turn now. Are you alright?"

Still gathering her scattered wits, she nodded. "Mmhmm. You?"

"Yes. Very much so. How's this beautifully pink bottom feeling?"

"Good," she gasped as he scratched his fingernails lightly over her sensitized skin.

"I thought I told you to be quiet while Draco was fucking you," Theo growled, and she stilled as he dug his fingers slightly harder into her. "But you weren't. She saw Draco wave his wand out of the corner of her eye, then let out a semi strangled yelp as Theo brought his hand down with a resounding crack. "That's not being quiet either!" he said, sounding highly amused.

Hermione bit her lip, torn between wanting to submit to Theo's commands as she usually did, and a new, reckless desire to push him further to see what he would do. He pulled his tie off, holding it up to examine it teasingly. As promised, he took one of her hands in his, then gently moved her arm up so that her hand was above her head. He left it there, then walked around to do the same on her other side. When he was satisfied she was comfortable, he dropped down to crouch at her eye level and slowly wrapped the tie around her wrists. "My, my. This color looks good on you too," he said, then stood back to watch her test her bonds.

The feeling of being bound only increased her desire. She looked up at him and silently pleaded with him to touch her again. "You look so beautiful, Hermione," he said, stepping back behind her and rubbing his hand gently over her inflamed skin. She stared straight ahead, transfixed by the tie that was wrapped around her wrists. She knew she'd never be able to look at another one without picturing this night ever again.

Theo's next three slaps each increased in strength, and by his fifth stroke, all coherent thought had left her mind entirely. By the tenth blow she was desperate to have him inside her. She squirmed back against him and bucked backward into thin air. Her walls were clenching on nothing and her clit was throbbing with an intensity that bordered on uncomfortable. "Alright, gorgeous?" he whispered, soothing away some of the sting with the palm of his hand.

The next thing she felt was his hands parting her thighs and his crazily talented tongue dipping down to taste her arousal mixed with Draco's release. She squirmed wantonly against his languid licks, then hummed with relief as two of his fingers found their way inside her.

She gasped, stilling with shock as he licked a line all the way up to her bottom. "Yes or no?" he whispered, pausing with his tongue millimeters away from her most private parts.

"I've never, I mean, we've never-"

"Not yet," Theo confirmed, parting her cheeks with his hands and blowing a stream of cool air over her and making her shiver. "And we don't have to if you don't want to. It's your call. Yes or no, sweetheart?"

"Yes, but," she bit her lip as he licked her gently once more.

"But what?"

"Nothing."

"Hermione, tell me." His voice brokered no room for argument and she shivered wildly at the commanding tone.

"I was going to say please be gentle, but then I realized I didn't need to say that with you because you always are. Both of you are."

Theo paused, and she could imagine him nodding in satisfaction. "Good girl. You do need to say it because that tells me you're nervous about it. Anyway, we're gentle when it's right to be gentle, not always."

"And I'm delighted to hear that. I wouldn't want you to be gentle all the time," she replied then gasped as her brain caught up with her words.

Theo chuckled. "Fancy pushing your limits, do you?" She was beyond being embarrassed by her body's response to that question now. This time she just nodded, whimpering incoherently yet again. "I'll remember that," Theo promised before dropping his head and licking directly over her puckered hole. She squirmed against him, it felt deliciously naughty and as his tongue circled her lazily, flicking back and forth before slowly dipping back down to her clit she wondered how it would feel to have one of the boys take her that way.

"You taste of Draco," Theo said, standing up and dropping his trousers with one hand while he continued to caress her with the other, "the pair of you taste so good together."

She smiled as she felt his impossibly hard erection pressing against her and demanding entrance. After a moment of teasing, he slid straight up inside her already slippery depths. "So wet, Hermione, so soft and already full of Draco's come." Lost in her feelings, she could only nod, even as Theo pushed her down and picked up his rhythm to a frantic speed. "The only thing I don't like about this position is that I can't see your face. I like to watch your eyes as you come.''

Frantically she nodded, her cheek pressing into the cool wood of the desk while her body burned with fervent desire. "Sweet fucking Merlin!" Theo grunted. "Come, sweetheart. Now!" She cried out, her body instinctively obeying his command, and her second intense orgasm of the night washed over her. When Theo moved away, she flopped down onto the table in front of her, totally spent. A moment later, she blinked as Draco crouched down at her eye level, grinning cheekily, while he untied her wrists. "Alright down there?!" he asked.

"No!" she wailed dramatically, "I think I died. I don't think I can move, ever again."

"Well, I don't mean to worry you both," Draco said, in a tone that instantly conveyed worry. "But I've already sent Slughorn away with a confounding spell once. I doubt it will work a second time without raising his suspicions. Come on, let's get out of here!"

That news gave Hermione the sudden jolt of energy she needed to get up from the desk. Wincing at her rather sore bottom, she righted her clothes, grateful for the hurried but thorough cleaning charm that Theo remembered to cast over her, then took his hand and followed Draco out of the door.

They reached the top of the stairs just as Horace Slughorn appeared, walking rather unsteadily, whistling a cheerful tune and carrying a half empty bottle of Madam Rosmerta's best mead and an empty box of crystallized pineapple in his hands.