The hospital wing was bright and cold. Madam Pomphrey had put curtains around Hermione's cot to give her some privacy and reduce her exposure. It hardly helped; they had already violated her privacy in her most vital moment.

They had released her from the room the night before, when the episode - as Pomphrey called it – finally stopped. Every time the door would open during the week, her heart would soar thinking it was Malfoy, coming back to her. But it was never him, and the charms and potions they gave her to try and ease her distress, did nothing but rip her heart out all over again.

Madam Pomphrey healed her broken wrists and fingers quickly, as well as the cuts and scratches she earned by banging on the door trying to escape. The bite mark Malfoy gave her refused to heal and was still covered with a bandage. They kept insisting that they were trying to help her, and Hermione tried to explain that they couldn't. That they were ruining everything.

The hospital gown was scratchy, but Hermione felt detached enough from her body that she didn't care. Her passenger… the passenger had given up. It tucked back in the corner of her mind, broken.

Hermione almost didn't believe it when she caught a scent in the air. But she sat up, the passenger even rising in interest.

Malfoy appeared from behind the curtain, closing it quickly behind him. His breath was elevated slightly, and Hermione watched his chest rise and fall, not fully believing it.

"I don't have much time," Malfoy said softly, walking over to her cot and sitting by her legs. Hermione folded them in front of her to give him more room. "How are you."

Hermione just shook her head, looking down. The last thing she wanted to think about was the past week. Not wanting to relive a moment of it.

"I'm so sorry," Malfoy said, reaching out, but then pulling his hands back before he touched her. "They had me locked- fucking chained. I broke out a few times, but they stopped me before I could get through your door."

"You tried to find me?" Hermione said, hopefully. It helped, knowing he didn't abandon her.

"Of course, I did. They'll pay, Granger. I'll make them all pay," he promised.

Malfoy pushed her hair back, revealing the top of the bandages covering the still open bite wound on her shoulder. He looked at it possessively, careful not to touch it.

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have done that," Malfoy apologized, staring at the spot and it started throbbing again. "Not like that. Not then. It was…"

"Too soon," Hermione finished, and he nodded in agreement. Neither understanding what that meant, but knowing it was true. If the bite had happened a few minutes later, it would have worked properly. She stuttered remembering how the Professors forced her to let them attempt to heal it. "They- kept touching it. Trying to heal it. It was awful."

"Will you show me?" he asked, gently.

Hermione nodded, reaching up and removing the bandage. The teeth marks were still open wounds, bright red. But Madam Pomphrey had at least managed to stop the bleeding, as unnatural as the treatment felt.

Malfoy's lips parted as he stared at the wound and the passenger finally sat up. He looked in awe, instead of disgust like the others, who made her feel ashamed to have it.

He gently wrapped one arm around her lower back, pulling her closer. With the other, he brushed her hair back again, his breath the first touch of him on her bare skin.

"Can I try…?" Malfoy asked.

"Please," Hermione said desperately, her voice shallow and hoarse from days of screaming.

He traced his fingers down her shoulder, getting closer. Then, he stuck out his tongue, licking the entirety of the wound in one swipe before kissing the top and repeating.

Hermione sighed, her head falling back. Malfoy held her as his tongue continued healing the bite, arousing the sensitive skin underneath at the same time. The sting was gone within seconds. All that remained was a faint scar, and Malfoy kept licking and kissing around it as Hermione fisted the front of his shirt.

Kisses started to trail up her neck and jaw and Hermione hummed in relief. The passenger finally roused as Malfoy was there to greet her. Malfoy licked from her jaw to her temple, tasting her.

"My perfect girl, I'll never let them take you again," Malfoy swore, holding her tighter. "I'll make it work. I'll do anything."

The doors to the hospital wing opened, and Hermione heard muttering as people finished their conversations before walking inside.

Malfoy looked behind them, vision blocked by the curtains, but they could smell the others coming. Contempt radiated off Malfoy as he stared in their direction.

"They said I'm not to get within ten meters of you or I'll be expelled," He snarled, but when he turned to face her, he softened, caressing the side of her face to reassure her. "They can't see us together or they'll start watching our every move."

"I won't tell them," Hermione promised, frantically.

Malfoy placed another open mouth kiss to the healed spot on her shoulder before meeting her eyes. "You still want me?"

"Yes," she answered, instantly.

Malfoy smiled, and she couldn't help but return it. He placed his forehead against hers, and with their content smells mingling together above them, Malfoy leaned forward, and pressed his lips against hers for the first time.

It was slow. Unrushed as they savored each other in a way they hadn't before. Hermione brought her hands up to hold his face, and Draco pulled her closer with the arm that he'd kept wrapped around her.

His thumb traced her jaw, and she parted her lips to let his tongue slip into her mouth. He tasted her with lavish strokes, taking his time to kiss her properly.

The doors closed and they could hear people walking towards them. She pulled away, but Malfoy kissed her again, unwilling to let them steal this moment as well.

"I'll find you," he promised, standing up but keeping their lips connected. "Whenever you want me."

"I need you," Hermione confessed. The thought of being without him again sent her back into that room.

"They will never keep me from you again," he said. "You're such a good girl. You didn't deserve that. I'll protect you. Please, trust me."

"I do," Hermione said, and her passenger agreed.

The voices were getting closer, and Malfoy kissed her once more before stepping away.

"I'll see you soon," he said with a grin.

"See you soon," she mirrored, smiling herself.

He rushed forward kissing her firmly one more time as the footsteps were nearly on the other side of the curtains.

"Go!" she scolded him quietly from around his lips.

He was smiling fully as he backed away, darting forward for one more peck before disappearing on one side of the curtains a moment before McGonagall and Madam Pomphrey appeared on the other side.

"Ms. Granger, how are you feeling?" McGonagall asked.

"Great," Hermione answered cheerily, hexing them in her mind. "Am I alright to go?"

"Oh, the wound healed. I knew that last wrap would do it," Madam Pomphrey said relieved. "We should probably keep you a bit longer."

"You've kept me long enough," Hermione snapped. I'm not yours to keep, the passenger added. "Truly, whatever came over me has worn off. I just want to go back to normal."

The two-woman looked at each other, relieved. After a bit more convincing, McGonagall sent for Parvati to walk her back to her room. The professors had told the students that she had come down with a fever as explanation for her absence.

"Do you want to rest a bit?" Parvati asked once they got into the common room. Hermione nodded, knowing damn well she was going to sneak out to find Malfoy the moment she was alone.

"Granger!" Cormac yelled running towards her.

He reached out his arms, like he was going to grab her but then suddenly stopped.

"What did they do to you?" Cormac asked angrily.

"I don't know what you mean?" she lied.

"Hermione," Harry said, relieved, hugging her without hesitation. Unlike before, she kept her face far away from the spot on his neck. "Thank God."

"They said we were lying. Said if we didn't keep quiet, they'd expel us all," Cormac went on, enraged. He breathed deeply, and Hermione realized that he was experiencing her scent for the first time. "They said you were ill. But Harry and I- others too- we could smell it. They were torturing you. For days!"

Hermione looked around, Parvati looked equally apologetic and confused. "Well… I'm better now. Can't you tell?"

Cormac nodded, clenching his jaw and Harry put a hand on his shoulder. "Let her rest. She's been through enough."

"We should have been told. We should have been given a chance -" Cormac rambled.

Parvati pulled Hermione to their dorm, locking the door behind them.

"What does Mclaggen mean? A chance for what?" asked Parvati.

Hermione shrugged her off, removing her clothes and climbing into bed. "I gave everyone a chance; I just chose someone else."

"Chose Malfoy?" Parvati clarified. Hermione was hardly surprised; she was cleverer than most people knew. "That's what some of the boys were saying- that you were with Malfoy. It wasn't just Potter and Mclaggen, there were over a dozen demanding to find you."

That's what the professors get for meddling in where they don't belong. Obviously, they didn't realize what her scent would do to the others in the castle. "Yes, I chose Malfoy."

"Okay," Parvati said, sitting on the foot of her bed. "He's fit enough."

Hermione scowled and Parvati smiled playfully. "So, the bad thing you were speaking of, did it come? Is that what happened"

Hermione's eyes started to water. "Yes."

"And Malfoy can help?"

"Yes, he would have if they didn't disrupt us," answered Hermione. It was dangerous, but she trusted her not to say anything to anyone.

Parvati nodded, accepting the half answers, trying to be as supportive as she could. "Is it going to happen again?"

Hermione turned on her side, ignoring the pull that made her want to flee into Malfoy's arms. The alarms had stopped, but the clock had reset. And she knew, she wouldn't survive another coming on her own.

"Yes."

Several footsteps hurried down the corridor. Students were heading to the great hall in groups with only minutes left until the dinner feast. His student was coming too, with a fucking clan of oafs standing way to close to her. They knew she was his. Even from a distance, he could smell how his scent had invaded hers.

Draco peaked out of the hidden alcove to see the Gryffindors make their way. There was his little Gryffindor, brave and putting on a smile to placate the people around her. Her steps even sounded more pleasant than anyone else's. He waited, and the moment she was in front of him he pulled her in, pinning her to the wall with his body and pressing his lips against hers.

Soft hands gripped his shoulders and pushed into his hair as she kissed him back. Granger's tongue entered his mouth greedily, and it took all his willpower to pull away from her.

"More," Granger moaned.

"Meet me after dinner. Third floor corridor," Draco instructed her, pushing her towards the entrance, not daring to be found. "I'll be waiting for you."

Granger left and caught up with her housemates. When he joined his own table in the Great Hall, he could sense all the others looking in her direction. Breathing in her essence.

Their essence.

They would never know how glorious Granger smelled on her own. Corner looked at him, furious and Draco smirked. He bit her before it was time, and the effects wouldn't last forever, but until they wore off there was no question to whom she belonged. They would do it again next time, properly.

Until then, he would mark her any moment he could.

Starting after the feast.

After most of the students returned to their Houses, Draco made his exit to the third floor. There was no telling how long he would have to wait. Granger would have to make sure there was adequate time between their departures. When he finally sensed her coming, her realized she wasn't alone. Patil was walking with her, and they stopped suddenly at the landing. There were whispers, and then to Draco's delight, Patil left back down the staircase.

Once the staircase stopped moving, Draco cast a spell to keep it away from the third floor, and another to keep their scents from escaping, so that no one would disturb them.

Draco was still hiding in the shadows as Granger started to walk through the dim corridor. There was nearly no candlelight, and all he could see was the outline of her silhouette.

"Malfoy?" Granger called, quietly. Her voice was so sweet. She sounded nervous, and he was only going to watch her for another moment.

One of the candles behind her flickered and she turned suddenly. Nervousness started to seep from her pores, but so did excitement. Arousal.

Fucking hell, she really was perfect.

Draco tapped his wand gently on the stone wall, and she spun around again. They had been wound so tightly, in need of being unraveled. A safe place to be themselves without the old geezers trying to tell them how they should be.

He pointed his wand to the unlit candles to set them ablaze and Granger gasped. Adrenaline rolling off her in waves and he knew she could smell the same coming from him. She never reached for her wand, only kept wandering the corridor. Waiting.

Draco started to circle her, staying in the shadows but wanting to observe her from different angles.

"Did you come alone?" he asked, breaking the silence.

Granger turned to face the source of his voice, but he enchanted it to come from left of where he truly stood. "Yes. Parvati walked with me so the Professors wouldn't suspect."

"Such a smart witch," he cooed, and she kept searching. Growing more aroused as he played with her, just like he knew she would. Now that he could smell her, he could push further than he dared when she kept him in the dark. "Will anyone come looking for you?"

"No, only you," she whispered into the dark.

"I can find you whenever I want now," he said darkly. "Your scent calls to me."

Granger squeezed her thighs together, and Draco felt his cock twitch in his trousers. "I'm not the one hiding."

"Why don't you give it a try," Draco dared her, and her lips parted in confusion. "I can't wait to catch you, sweet girl."

Hermione took a step back, arms falling to her sides.

"Run."

At his command, Granger took off down the corridor. The air was saturated with them, creating an ocean and Draco followed in the wake of her current as she ran. She knew the floor better than he did, no doubt from sneaking around the castle in her younger years. The sound of her heart racing drummed in his ears, and she finally stopped to hide and catch her breath.

Her back was to the wall, and she was looking left. He watched her chest rise and fall, with exertion and excitement from a few feet away. Sweat was causing curls to stick to her face, and she pushed it back messily as she peered down the dark corridor. He casted silently, causing the door down the hall to move and creak, and she gasped before running right towards him.

Draco let her pass and then snatched her from behind, lifting her off her feet with his arms wrapped around her middle. She screamed in surprise before throwing her head back on his shoulder and laughing as Draco spun her. Her cheeks were blushed, and her smile was so bright. Not able to wait any longer, he licked up the column of her narrow neck to her ear, groaning as he pulled the lobe between his teeth.

"How'd I do?" Granger asked excitedly, still out of breath.

"So well. So, so, well, my beautiful witch," he started rambling.

Draco shouldn't have tasted her so soon; he was starting to drift away. To fade into the solace her smell granted him. Not that he would harm her in any state, but the time he free fell into her with no control was difficult to remember.

And he wanted this moment burned into his memory- replacing the one that got violated.

Granger turned in his arms, wrapping her arms and legs around him and crashing her lips onto his. He gripped her arse with both hands, squeezing and lifting her higher and tighter. The cool wall of the corridor made her gasp when he pressed her back against it. He gripped her hair and tugged, ripping her shirt open with the other hand to expose her neck and chest.

The bite mark on her neck was already fading. Draco sucked over the top of it, and Granger rolled her hips, rubbing her cunt against his cock. Gods, he needed to stop tasting her or he was going to cum in his trousers.

The best place to taste was between her legs, he remembered. He met her lips feverishly one more time before kissing down her front until he was on his knees.

"Malfoy!" she yelped, afraid. She looked around the room waiting for someone to appear.

"It's just us. As it should be," he promised. He snuck his hands under her skirt, pulling her panties down for her to step out of. He shoved them in his robe pocket once they were freed. "Just you and me."

He pushed her skirt up to reveal her. Fuck, one taste and he was going to fade, he knew it. Looking up at Granger, her eyes were already darkened. Even after all they had been through, she didn't hesitate to fall with him, so why should he?

He licked her, long and slow and her knees buckled. He draped both her legs over his shoulders, holding her up completely and using his arm lifting her skirt to hold her against the wall for balance. She was completely at his mercy. Trying to fuck his face as he flicked his tongue over her clit.

Her hands tightened in his hair, and she moaned. He dragged his tongue down and started fucking her opening with it. Her hips were desperately trying to get him deeper, and her head shifted from looking down at him and resting on the wall behind her. When he slipped a finger inside, her thighs trembled from around his shoulders.

"Yes, yes, yes," his beautiful girl chanted. It was song and hymn to his ears. "Don't stop."

He groaned and sucked on her clit, sliding another finger into her tight hole. His cock was going to stretch it so nicely. She would have to work so hard to fit him, but he could be patient. Feed her inch by inch as slowly as she needed.

"Take me," Granger practically purred. He looked up into wide eyes. Nearly innocent and so fucking beautiful. The thin white bra she was wearing did little to hide her hardened nipples, and Draco decided that would be what he devoured next. "Malfoy, please. I'm so empty."

The last two words she started chanting, speaking in time with the rolling of her hips. Draco turned his head, sucking on another decadent spot of her inner thigh that made her scream.

"I'm not fucking you for the first time in a dusty corridor, witch. I'm going to make you come so hard though. Would you like that?" Draco said, voice full of lust.

"Malfoy-"

Draco nipped the sensitive spot- another gland he discovered- and Granger gasped.

"Say my name," he commanded her.

"Draco," she moaned, obediently. "Draco, please fuck me."

Better. But for some reason, it felt like there was a part of him that was still nagging for acknowledgement. He rewarded her still, grabbing both of her thighs and buried his face in her cunt. Licking and sucking her until her legs trembled, her cunt twitched, and she screamed out his name and came on his tongue.

It dissolved the remaining control he had. He devoured her more, and she squirmed and moaned openly until she came again. After that she was less responsive, so Draco pulled back, sensing she wanted to be done and putting her down.

Granger's hands went to his trousers as soon as he stood, opening them quickly and pulling him out. Her gasp of surprise made him twitch, proud and aroused. Her hand circled him, and she started to stroke him, still boneless and exhausted from her orgasms.

To help her, he wrapped his hand around hers, showing her what he liked.

"Move your skirt," he growled, not thinking about the words, and just letting his instincts take over.

Granger pulled her skirt up immediately, making her pussy and lower stomach bare. It only took a few more strokes and he came.

It poured out of him, painting Granger's lower stomach with ropes of white and dripping down to her cunt. Several strands traveled to the seam between her folds, and Draco watched for a moment, entranced, before using a finger to push it in between.

After that he couldn't stop. He used his palm to rub his cum all over her pussy, coating her in him. He got more off her stomach, and then rubbed it into the scent glands he found on her inner thighs and her wrists. As lost as his mind was, he was able to stop himself from loading cum on his fingers and shoving them inside her. That was a line that even in his drifted state, he knew he shouldn't cross without her saying so.

"Draco," Granger's voice sounded, pulling him up quicker from the depths he fell to. "You're… you're so big."

Draco chuckled, looking down to see her soft hand was still holding him, and that her fingers couldn't even meet in their grip. Looking further, he was shocked to see the base of his cock had grown, nearly thrice the normal size of the rest. It would have worried him, if he didn't see how Granger stared at it with unadulterated desire.

"You want this inside you?" Draco asked her.

"That will kill me," Granger said flatly, making them both laugh.

The energy between them finally felt normal. Absent of frenzy and desperation. Draco looked into her eyes, once again honey-brown, and he wondered how anything in the world could be so beautiful.

Lifting his hand to stroke her face he stopped, remembering what coated it. Granger bit her lip to hold back a smile, and quickly casted a spell to clean their hands and stomach, but to his delight, she left his cum to dry on her cunt and thighs.

"How do you feel?" Draco asked.

Granger rested her forehead to his. "Better."

He kissed her nose, enjoying the calm but knowing they were pushing the limit on their stolen time. "You said you wanted me to fuck you. Is that true?"

"Yes," she answered without shame.

"Do you want to wait until your next…" he didn't know what it was called, and he refused to use the word 'episode'. It made it sound like something bad. The only thing wrong with what happened was the people that got in the way.

"I can wait if you want to?"

"That is not what I asked."

"I don't want to wait," she admitted, and the blood started to rush to Draco's cock again.

Draco kissed her lips softly, grabbing her hands and linking their fingers together. "We'll do it right. I'm not fucking you for the first time in a dorm room or dusty hall. That's not good enough."

Granger hummed in approval. "And after the first time?"

"I'll fuck you in the Great Hall if you so wish it. Right in front of McGonagall, and she can watch our cum pool on the table where she eats once we are finished. Regretting the day she ever thought she could come between us."

"She only meant to help," Granger defended her. She was too kind. Too forgiving.

"She'll help when she graduates us and we are free from her influence forever," Draco insisted.

Granger sighed but followed beside him as he directed them back towards the staircase. Her hand felt so soft and small in his. Granger had never struck him as particularly petite; she was average height. But it was the way she made him feel stronger and taller as he held and moved her, that made him treat her delicately. She trusted him not to hurt her, and he would never betray that trust.

Granger walked out to leave first; he would give her a few minutes before following to make sure she made it to Gryffindor tower.

"Will you find me tomorrow?" Granger turned and asked before walking away.

Draco smirked, looking her up and down. "Are you planning on hiding?"

She smiled back, lighting up the corridor like the sun lived within her. "I am now."

She kissed him, raising on her toes so he hardly had to lean over. "Bye, Draco."

"I'll see you in the morning, Hermione."

Draco stood at the top of the staircase, watching her walk away. Admiring how she carried herself. Wishing they wouldn't be punished if they were seen walking together.