THIRTY-FOUR
Friday, 17 October 1944
Thursday night, Hermione had turned in nearly right after dinner so she could read the book. It was barely a hundred pages, but she wanted to make sure she understood the content. She finished it before falling asleep and then read it again throughout the day on Friday. By the time she sat with Malfoy in the common room to wait for Riddle, she had even read it a third time.
After checking her wand for the time thrice in the span of five minutes, Malfoy snapped his book shut and hauled her to her feet. "Come on."
"What are you doing?" she asked, yanking her hand from his as he attempted to pull her towards the common room entrance.
"We're taking a walk."
"I have to-"
"I will make sure you get to the Astronomy Tower right at the stroke of midnight, Granger." He held out his hand for her to take again, crooking his fingers in invitation. "You're about to start driving me mad with how restless you are. A walk would do you some good."
She studied him for a moment and then placed her hand in his gently, threading their fingers together. "Is this a walk or a walk?" she questioned, unable to stop the smirk from spreading on her face.
He grinned right back at her as he slung her bag over his other shoulder. "I'm leaving that up to you," he said, a twinkle of mischief in eyes grey eyes.
She rolled her eyes, but she still felt the heat that flamed through her body and caused her heart to skip a beat. Once outside of the common room, they were careful to keep their voices down and peek around every corner to make sure that they wouldn't be seen or heard. Not that it would matter too much if they were caught.
It was surprisingly easy to talk to Malfoy. The conversation just flowed naturally, as if they had been friends since the first day they met. And it wasn't just small talk. They discussed their interests, finding what was mutual between them, and even their childhood. Although they kept that mostly to pre-Hogwarts just in case.
Upon listening to a story about the first time he got on a broom, Hermione made the executive decision to drag him into the closest classroom. He had taken the hint immediately and drew her in for a searing kiss. As the door closed behind them, he dropped the bag and they stumbled towards the nearest desk which he promptly shoved her down on. He followed the action by wedging himself between her legs and losing his hands in her hair as he angled her face up towards his.
When her lips felt raw and tingly, as though continuing to kiss him would make them fall off, she turned her head to the side. Her lungs burned with the sharp inhale she took and she heard him do the same as his lips fell to her neck. His mouth was wet and hot on her skin as he tasted every exposed inch of her. When his hands tugged gently at the hem of her jumper in askance, she nodded and leaned back enough to allow him to pull it over her head and toss it aside.
He wasted no time in kissing his way down her chest. Hermione shivered as she gripped the edge of the desk hard enough to turn her knuckles white, her thighs tightening around him. Much like the last time she had bared her chest to him, he lavished her scars with attention first, praising her repeatedly. Finished, he moved his hands to her breasts, alternating between touching and tasting them.
By the time he kissed his way back up to her lips, she was utterly breathless and ready to fall apart. Her hips had continually bucked towards his, hoping he would take the hint and apply the friction her body desperately sought. "Draco, please," she panted into his mouth, her hand reaching for one of his to place it over her knickers since her skirt had ridden up.
His finger traced her clit over the fabric and she jolted with want. He smiled against her lips. "Will you let me taste you again?"
She nodded eagerly. "Anything. Just… I need you."
He shuddered against her as he peeled her knickers to the side. Slowly, he trailed his lips to her ear as he wet his fingers in her slick. As he nipped at her lobe, he pushed his middle finger into her core. "Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to take you on a desk, Granger?"
Her body arched into his at his words, pushing his finger even deeper inside of her.
"To see if you can still get the answers right while I'm doing this," he said, adding his index finger and picking up the pace of his movements.
The idea of him doing this to her in class, surrounded by two dozen other people while the professor went about a lecture made her tremble. She swallowed hard and tipped her head back, hoping the cool air of the classroom would quell the heat on her cheeks.
He chuckled in her ear as he angled his hand so that the heal of is palm hit her clit as he pumped his fingers in and out of her. "You like that, do you?" She cried out and reached up to curl her hand around his bicep for purchase. "Sweet Circe, Hermione, I want to be inside you."
A long, drawn out moan tore from her throat as she shuddered violently around him. She hadn't even been close to her release, but the moment he said those words, she found herself racing towards the cliff and falling from it without even stopping. He growled against her ear as his fingers continued to move, extending her release for as long as possible.
He pulled away while she was still in a daze and sighed with relief as she tried to get herself back in order. But Malfoy had other ideas. In the space between breaths, she felt him pushing her gently down on the desk until she was lying completely flat on her back. She barely registered him pulling her knickers down her legs before he pushed her thighs open and leaned down to taste her.
Hermione's head fell back against the desk with a loud thunk. She raised one hand to her chest to squeeze her breasts while the other grasped at the edge of the desk to keep herself from toppling off of it. Draco's tongue devoured every inch of her core. From flicking at her clit to plunging the muscle in and out of her as he had with his fingers, Hermione knew she wasn't going to last long.
When she felt herself standing at the edge again, her hips rose off the table and ground against his face, her thighs clamping down over his head, keeping him right where she wanted him. What pushed her over was him drawing her clit between his lips and flicking it with the tip of his tongue. The barely there sensation sent her careening off the desk and into a pure white void of nothingness.
When she came back down, all of her bones had turned to jelly and she melted against the desk, desperately gulping air into her lungs. Malfoy was still gently lapping at her core, as if she were his favorite flavor and it was being discontinued. "Dr-Draco…" she begged, trying her best to shift away from him from the overstimulation.
He moaned against her, gave one last lick through her folds, and then stood up. His pupils were blown wide as he stared at her, licking his lips of her essence and then wiping the rest from his mouth on the back of his hand. He reached for her, gently bringing her back into a sitting position so that he could kiss her. She sighed into his mouth, still waiting for her mind to decide that tasting herself on his tongue was wrong and make her ashamed of what they had just done. She was glad when it didn't happen.
As she reached for his belt, he laid his hands over hers and shook his head, drawing back from the kiss. "You can make it up to me another day."
"Are you sure?"
He chuckled again, the sound making her smile. "Merlin, no, but I wasn't lying, Hermione. I want… More. And I don't want to go that far just because we got caught up in the moment." He grasped her chin lightly and stared at her, gaze turning serious. "Can you honestly tell me that you're ready for that?"
She wet her lips and then sighed. "I guess I shouldn't be late meeting Riddle anyway."
She saw him bristle at the mention of Riddle, but he leaned in to kiss her again anyway. "I'll wait up for you in the common room," he said, the tip of his nose brushing her as he pulled away.
She nodded and carefully slid to her feet to redress. She even cast a few cooling charms on herself before slinging her bag over her shoulder and kissing Malfoy once more before taking her leave for the Astronomy Tower.
Riddle was standing at the railing when she stepped onto the landing. His bag was nowhere in sight. Hermione set hers gently off to the side and slowly approached his side. "Are we not working on our project?"
"I believe we have a much more interesting topic to discuss tonight," he replied, keeping his eyes turned towards the sky.
"How do you want to do this? Are you just going to go in there and sift through my memories or are you going to ask me questions and then fact check to make sure I'm not lying?"
"Did you read the book?" he questioned, ignoring her.
"Three times."
He did look at her then. Just a simple turn of his head, a brief flicker over her face, and then back to the sky. "What have you ascertained from the text?"
She took a deep breath and went over the mental notes she had made in reference to the tome. "That in order for me to even be able to attempt calling on Grey magic, I have to already have an affinity for the Dark." She sighed. "Which I don't."
"You do."
She shook her head. "No, Riddle, I don't. I've seen what Dark magic can do and I despise it. I don't want it anywhere near me. Wearing your locket was one of the worst experiences I've ever gone through and it was a relief to see it destroyed."
He turned so sharply that she jumped. She felt him slip into her mind and she scrambled to conjure the moment Harry and Ron had come back to the tent that night. How Ron had held up the mangled locket to show her it was done. He focused on the image for a long moment before letting her mind settle once more. He did not withdraw from her mind, but he pulled back to the fringes and took a deep breath as he tried to regain his composure and illusion of calm.
"You may think you despise Dark magic, Hermione, but it is only because you are afraid. You are intrigued and fascinated by the subject. You want only to expand your mind and learn everything this world has to offer. The only thing holding you back in your exposure to Dark magic is how others would perceive you should you go down that path."
Her stomach flipped as she pondered his words carefully. In the far recesses of her mind, she knew that he was right to some degree.
"Say there was a world in which that fear would be removed, would you shy away from it?" he asked. "Or would you give in and absorb every morsel of knowledge that crossed your path?"
"I would choose to learn," she answered without hesitating.
Riddle's smile was slow as it took hold of his lips, the action sending a chill down her spine. "That is the essence of Grey magic. It will enable you to try your hand at Dark magic without staining your core. Should you be able to wield it correctly, you will not have to worry what others think of you."
Hermione swallowed hard at the prospect.
"You will meet me in the Restricted Section on Tuesday when Draco leaves for Ancient Runes. I expect you to have three aspects of Dark magic that you find interesting. I will direct you to the appropriate reading materials and we can begin there."
She nodded and they stood there as the silence stretched around them, thickening the tension.
"Don't you want to know how we destroyed it?" she asked.
His head tipped to the side and his lips curled in amusement and anger. "Do I want to know how you managed to destroy a piece of my soul? One that I worked hard to preserve?" He stepped closer to her, his hand coming up to curl around her throat. "It feels as though you want me to hurt you, Hermione. Why else would you ask me such a preposterous question?"
She swallowed hard and wet her lips. "I-if it were me," she whispered, her voice shaking as much as her body. "I would… I would want to kn-know."
His fingers flexed as he debated on whether or not to apply more pressure or let her go instead. His nostrils flared and she could feel his anger in the presence that still lingered on the edges of her mind. "If I want to know something, I will for ask it. Until then, do not volunteer information." His fingers did tighten then and he dragged her closer to him. As a reflex, her hands rose to try and pry him off of her. "You should consider yourself lucky that I cannot hurt you, Hermione."
All she could do was whimper and wish that she hadn't provoked him. She hadn't even meant to do so. She was just asking a simple question. Had she known he would take it as her trying to prove something to him, she would have kept her mouth shut.
He continued to stare at her for a moment and then loosened his hold, but didn't remove his hand. Hermione gulped in large breaths of air and let her hands rest on top of his. She blinked back tears, trying her best to keep them from spilling down her cheeks. But there were too many and before long, she felt them rolling down; her body trembling with fear.
She flinched as his hand moved upwards and it took her a moment to realize that he was cupping her jaw, his thumb brushing the tears from her skin. The sudden display of affection made her head spin with confusion. This was extremely uncharacteristic of the Tom Riddle she knew.
"You need to work on controlling your emotions," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. "One look at you like this and Draco will see red." He canted his head to the side. "I would hate to have to hurt him so soon, Hermione. We have only just begun."
She knew he wouldn't even hesitate to wreak havoc on Draco's mind the moment they got back to the common room if she showed up looking like a victim. She nodded again and took in deep breaths as she tried to calm herself. She even squeezed her eyes shut with the hopes that she would force the remainder of her tears out.
His presence in her mind began to expand. He worked his way in from the edges slowly until he was in every crevice, blanketing her in an eerie calm. She began to relax then, the combination of his mind and his thumb still stroking her cheek seeming to do the trick. When she opened her eyes again, her vision was free of tears and her body had stopped trembling.
"Five minutes, Hermione," he warned. "Do not make me come back to collect you."
She gave a curt nod and held her breath as his hand slipped away from her cheek and his presence retreated completely from her mind. It wasn't until he was out of sight that she exhaled and stumbled back, hand searching for the wall to hold her up. Her hand rose to her throat, her fingers tapping tentatively at her skin.
Try as she might, she was unable to wrap her mind around what had just happened. He had been angry with her from the get-go and she had provoked him on accident. And yet, despite his anger, he had helped calm her moments later. Why he would do such a thing was beyond her, but she wasn't going to squander his sudden kindness by making him wait for her.
She forced herself to get it together and then grabbed her bag before joining Riddle at the base of the tower. They walked back in silence and he bid her and Malfoy goodnight before leaving them alone. She threw herself at Malfoy and kissed him soundly, thanking him for their encounter, and then bidding him goodnight as well before her façade crumbled and he saw the truth.
Tuesday, 21 October 1944
The weekend passed by in a blur. Before she knew it, Hermione was watching Malfoy pack up his things for Ancient Runes on Tuesday and kissing her before heading to class. She waited until she was sure class had started before packing up her own items and making her way towards the Restricted Section.
She was surprised to find Riddle already there, leaning back against one of the shelves waiting for her. She hadn't seen him come into the library and wondered how long he had been there. Had he come in behind them after Defense?
"I can't pick three," she said immediately. She swallowed hard at the way his eyes narrowed at her and she rushed on to explain herself. "While I have experience with Dark magic, I don't really know a whole lot about it. I have never been able to make a decision in all my life without knowing all the facts. This isn't any different. It shouldn't be any different. I need to know what topics there are to discuss before I narrow it down to the ones I really want to learn about."
His expression had changed to one of utter fascination by the time she had finished speaking. Before she knew it, he was smiling at her. She felt something stir in her stomach. It wasn't just one of his cold smiles where there was darkness beneath the surface. No, this was a real smile; one that she never thought he would have been capable of.
"Very well. I have a few books in mind that I want you to read." She watched him disappear down one of the stacks and return with two tomes, each only a fraction larger than the one on Grey magic he had given her. "Can you finish these by Thursday?"
"Yes," she said, taking the books from him.
He inclined his head. "I will have more for you then." He paused to study her for a moment and then took his leave without another word.