TWELVE

Wednesday, 11 November 2020

The volume of everyone attending dinner in the Great Hall wasn't enough to pull Hermione from her thoughts. She barely heard a word anyone around her said as she stared down at her plate. For the past week she had been living on the edge of her seat as anticipation built up for her next night alone with Professor Riddle.

For the past week, all she could think about was the kiss they had shared before they left his office. Of the way she felt his arousal pressing against her core from the way she straddled his lap. The way her scalp tingled as he wrapped his hair around his fist and tugged on occasion. Even now, she could taste the hint of Firewhisky that flavored their kiss.

She knew parting from him that night would be hard to do. Neither one of them seemed keen on bursting the newfound bubble of bliss they had created for themselves. It was refreshing to kiss him with reckless abandon as she had that night. To do so with no guilt between them. To know that she didn't have to worry about thinking if he would regret it or not. To not wonder if it was the last time she would get to taste him.

What she hadn't counted on was how hard it would be to see him the next day. To walk into his classroom and know that she had to behave. That she couldn't cross the room and throw her arms around him like she wanted. Instead, she had to force herself to walk straight to her desk and sit. She did so with a secretive smile on her face; one that, when she finally dared to look at Riddle, he returned in kind.

But it was the last time he looked at her for the duration of his lecture. Despite understanding why he would keep his gaze averted, she couldn't help but fear his rejection. It wasn't until later that night when they crossed paths in the hallways after dinner that he was able to reassure that fear. It was a simple brush of his fingers along the back of her hand, but it was enough.

For six days, they had done a rather good job of keeping this little secret to themselves. It was hard not to tell Harry, but she knew the risks. As much as she trusted her best friend, she couldn't jeopardize Riddle's career. It would be a sure-fire way to put an end to whatever they might be and they had only just begun. She hoped that could change someday, but for now, she was content with keeping her secrets to herself.

That was until Tuesday's lesson in Riddle's class.

He was teaching them a new spell; one that required some of the trickiest wand movements Hermione had ever encountered. It made her feel a little better to see that Draco was too busy trying to figure it out for himself to make fun of her. But she was so engrossed in getting it right by herself that she didn't notice Professor Riddle making his way around the room to help everyone.

She stiffened as she felt his presence behind her. Her throat constricted as she swallowed hard. As he brought a hand up, his arm stretching alongside hers so his fingers could wrap around her wrist, she forgot how to breathe. He guided her, her body moving with ease as if they were a single unit. After a few attempts, she was the first student to have success with the spell. And the moment the light blue sparks short forth from the tip of her wand, Riddle was gone.

The loss of him at her back made her shiver, but it was the look Draco gave her that made her freeze.

He was the first to break away from their staredown and it took every last bit of her resolve to not run from the classroom or have a breakdown. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew, but she refused to give him any answers. She avoided looking at him altogether for the rest of class and made sure to steer clear of him for as long as she could. He had already voiced his suspicions, but she wasn't in the mood to have that conversation with him.

But that incident only had her desperate to see Riddle alone again.

She knew it would be foolish to switch up how often they saw each other outside of class. That someone else was bound to suspect something, but it made her desire for it to be Wednesday again even stronger than it usually was. And when the time finally came, she was nearly bursting at the seams. It was all it took not to run through the halls to get to his office. She hadn't even let Draco's little smirk as she took off from their dorm get to her head.

Hermione forced herself to slow down as she turned the corner to the hallway where Riddle's office was. As eager as she was for their moment of alone time, she didn't want to come across that way. She even took a few seconds outside his door to compose herself. And when she was ready, she took a deep breath and knocked.

She wasn't sure what exactly she had expected their tutoring sessions to morph into, but the sight of him shuffling through papers on his desk gave her pause. He looked more out of sorts than she felt with the sleeves of his black button up rolled up to his elbows and his Slytherin tie hanging haphazardly from around his neck. She noticed the way he tensed as she approached, but as she sank into her usual seat in front of his desk he relaxed.

"Anything I can help with?" she asked, gesturing to the papers before him.

He gave a light smile and slowly lifted his gaze to hers. "I believe I'm supposed to be asking you that," he said, his voice light despite the worry lines that creased his forehead.

"I help you, you help me," she replied with a grin. "That's the type of partnership I prefer."

Her heart skipped a beat in the moment of silence that followed. She was worried he might tell her once again that they couldn't do this. That it was inappropriate and ask her to leave. But just as she began to panic, he hummed and gave a nod of his head. "Just deciding on which lessons to cut from the remainder of this term. After seeing everyone struggle this past week, I realize we'll need a little more time and perhaps another duel."

"Good," she beamed. "Another chance to bust Malfoy."

The tension between them dissolved after that and they wasted no time in diving into his lesson plans. It wasn't something he had ever let her be privy to in the past, but now that she had seen what being an educator entailed, she was glad to have crossed the profession off her list ages ago. She was all for planning ahead and having all her ducks in a row, but it stressed her out to do so. To do it for a living where other young minds were at stake seemed like too much pressure. After that was done, he helped her with her Potions essay which led to a debate on how to ethically source magical ingredients.

Time just seemed to fly by and before either of them realized, it was time for their tutoring session to come to an end. Realistically, they could take as long as they wanted, but should anyone start to question them, they both knew it was best to stick to a schedule. But having to leave without exploring their new relationship was maddening.

To buy herself a few more minutes in his presence, she brought up her conversation with Hagrid the previous weekend.

"Mister Scamander is coming by for tea next weekend," she said, shoving her book into her bag before tugging the string closed.

"Hagrid finally made it happen," he said with a small smile. "That's good to hear. I'm sure he'll be a wealth of knowledge for you."

She nodded and let her fingers drum absently against the top of the chair. "You still plan on joining us right?" she asked, her voice a little less confident than she would have liked.

The apple of his throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. "Hermione-"

"I already told him you would be and he was more than happy to have you there," she rushed on. "It would mean a lot to me if you were there," she added, her words quieter than the last.

With a small nod, Riddle got to his feet and moved to stand by the side of his desk. He held out his hand for her to take and tugged her forward when she did. He leaned down to touch his forehead to hers as he lifted his other hand and tucked a cluster of curls behind her ear. His touch made her tremble and she had to bite her lip to keep from whimpering.

"I'll be there," he promised, his voice barely above a whisper.

His hand slid down her jaw until he lightly wrapped his fingers around her chin. He then tilted her face up and pressed his lips to hers. She sighed the moment it happened and he took that as permission to slip his tongue into her mouth. Her tongue was eager to greet his and her hands slid up between them to fist at the material of his shirt in order to steady herself.

This kiss was reminiscent of the one they'd shared in the Book Nook. As much as she liked the slow, exploratory kisses of their last encounter, she preferred this. The all consuming need to devour one another as if he was the air she needed to breathe. As if they would both meet their demise the moment their lips stopped moving against the other's.

A half moan, half gasp escaped her lips as he pushed forward, pinning her between the rough stone wall at her back and him at her front. He wedged his knee between her thighs and pressed upwards until she felt him against her core. She gulped for air as he moved his lips from hers in favor of dragging them down to her neck. She tossed her head back and clung to him as he nipped up and down the column of her throat.

They both paused as her hips rocked involuntarily. The feel of her clit grinding over his knee made her shudder from head to toe as she hissed in pleasure. She thought it might break the spell they had found themselves under. That he would get cold feet and pull himself away from her. But when he did nothing but let his breath warm her skin, she rolled her hips again. She did it slowly, testing the waters, and on the third pass he cursed under his breath and lifted his lips back to hers.

With every roll of her hips, Riddle pressed himself closer to her and deepened their kiss. Her nails dug into his shoulders as she picked up the pace of grinding herself over his leg. He swallowed each and every one of her moans and when her pace became erratic, he lowered one of his hands between their bodies. A cry of relief swept through her as his hand slid up her skirt and he swiped a digit across her clit over the soaked gusset of her knickers.

Up until that moment, her hand had been the only one to touch that part of her body. Hermione's moans were louder than before as she broke the kiss in order to toss her head back in ecstasy. She didn't care that the back of her head hit the stone wall. Any pain she might have felt was chased away by the intense pleasure his touch brought.

She continued to roll her hips, in search of the release he was pushing her to the brink of. His hand on her jaw slid back to her hair, holding her head back as he pressed his forehead to hers. Her lips parted and closed over and over again as if she were trying to speak. But the closer she got to her release, the more incapable she was of producing words.

Riddle, on the other hand, had no problem speaking and he seemed to know just what to say to push her over the edge.

"Come for me."

It was as though her body was waiting for him to grant permission before imploding from the inside out. Her mouth hung open in a silent cry as her eyes squeezed shut in time to see the universe exploding behind her eyelids. Every single part of her body seemed to be made of nothing, allowing her to float to another plane of existence altogether.

And Riddle was right there to see her through it.

Slowly she came down from her high, her body still on pins and needles with the aftershocks of her first orgasm at the hand of another. When she opened her eyes and got her vision to focus, she was rewarded with the sight of Riddle staring at her. His face was tight as though he were holding back, but his eyes were nearly black with desire.

But as she relinquished her grip on him with one hand in favor of letting it fall between them to return the favor, he grabbed hold of her wrist and shook his head. She blinked in confusion as he leaned in to press his lips to hers once more and then stepped back. She leaned on the wall for support, not trusting her legs quite yet.

"It's late," he said after a moment, his voice as strained as the look on his face. "You should head back to your dorm for the night."

"Professor-"

The way he flinched when she spoke made her stop. Panic began to rise as he turned away from her. Tears blurred her vision as she worried at her bottom lip. She wouldn't be able to cope if he rejected her again. Not now. Not after this.

But when he turned towards her again, he had her bag in hand. She was slow to take it from him and sling it over her shoulder. The moment she was situated, having adjusted her clothes as well, Riddle surprised her by cupping her face between both palms and tilting it up so he could kiss her again. She stood there, savoring the feel of his lips on hers, but wondering what would happen when he lifted his head again.

"I want to," he whispered, his thumbs stroking the high points of her cheeks. "Merlin I want to… But I don't want to rush."

Hermione swallowed hard as she searched his gaze, hoping that was all he was getting at. When it was clear that he wasn't going to say anything more, she sighed and her body sagged with relief. "Okay," was all she could manage to say.

They only dared to linger for a few seconds more before he pulled away again. Without pausing, he moved for the door and doused the lights behind them before locking up. "Goodnight Miss Granger."

"Goodnight, Professor," she returned, a smirk on her lips at the way his eyes darkened again.

And a moment later they parted ways, starting her countdown for the following week anew.