A/N This is probably the most effort I've ever put into a chapter so I'm pretty nervous! Hopefully it has been worth the wait.

Thanks to all of you who have left feedback along the way, you have also helped me to the incredible milestone of 500 reviews(!) which I never imagined I would achieve. Thanks also to my friends Melpomenis, Anna Psarudaki, and Strip Dancer who have continued to encourage and cheerlead, if not for them I might still be staring at a blank screen. Strip Dancer is also translating this story into Russian, so if there are any Russian readers out there, you may like to look it up on the ficbook website under the title Принадлежащая туману. And of course, a million thanks to my beta, StoryWriter831, without whom I would never have the courage to press the "update" button.

I don't usually bother with song recs, but if you want the right mood for this chapter, look no further than Emika's sultry version of Wicked Games.

Love, artful

PS I suppose I should include a warning for the fact that it is technically non-con (or at least dub-con) due to Hermione's amnesia. I would advise you not to read it if that is potentially upsetting for you. Otherwise, continue at your own risk.

…

I was falling, falling off the edge of the world.

There was no sumptuous room, no flickering firelight, no shadowy bed.

There was only the darkly spinning universe and Lucius...his lips on my lips, his skin against my skin.

I tingled and arched to his slowly-caressing touch, my body pliant as wax in his hands. The sinuous strength and heavy heat of him seemed to enkindle and enflame every part of me, my blood surged around my body and my pulse pounded a wild syncopation against the strong, resounding thud of his heartbeat.

I drank his kisses like wine, inexpertly twining my tongue to his surer, deeper plunges; but rather than quenching, each sweet draft seemed only to make me hotter, thirstier, until I was delirious with need and with desire.

...Is this truly happening? Can this be real?

After so many long months, fraught with discord, the gnawing loneliness and frightening lostness...could I really be entwined in the arms of him, who, in spite of everything, I had fallen in love with? The man who I had once called my captor, whose brutality had marked my body and cruelty scarred my mind—he, who had once trapped me, injured and helpless, on this very same bed, taunting and terrifying me with those insulting, hate-fuelled kisses...never could I have imagined that I would one day return to it willingly... But all was different now; he was a changed man—I, a changed woman; the hate and antagonism, which had spurred that frightening incident so nearly to an irreversible conclusion, no longer existed...now there were only those invisible bonds that wreathed and enlaced us, and the dark world fallen far, far away.

Lucius's arm slid beneath my shoulder blades, pulling me closer as his lips began to sear a path down my neck, my collar-bone, the upward swell of my breast...his breath skimming hotly over my skin, raising goosebumps in the wake of his trailing kisses...I gasped as his tongue flicked across one nipple, while his left hand enclosed the other, his palm rubbing it gently, while his thumb stroked the undercurve of my breast, creating a kind of tightening tension somewhere in my stomach, and a thrumming between my legs. The gasp turned into a moan as Lucius's lips now enclosed the peak, his tongue softly moving and massaging, while his fingers gently pinched the other to corresponding tautness.

...If this is a dream...never, never let me awaken from it...

A tremble ran over me as I felt Lucius's hand begin to slide further downwards, over my ribs, my stomach, resting momentarily on my lower abdomen...and then lower again, his fingers tracing along the edge-seams of my knickers and his thumb now lightly brushing over the lacy fabric, following the barely-concealed line of my sex. His touch was so gentle, so caressing, that I found myself arching to it, my thighs parting and my hips pressing upwards to receive each stroke—but then his fingers dextrously brushed aside and slid beneath the lacy material, and connected with me, the most personal part of me, immediately causing my body to stiffen and my breath to catch.

In the same moment, Lucius unbent his head from my chest, his wide shoulders shifting as he once again sought and claimed my mouth with his, imprinting upon them a kiss that scorched away all encroaching anxiety, his lips slowly moving, his tongue deeply probing, as all-the-while his fingers continued to caress with such skilful, insinuating subtlety that I relaxed and let delirium overtake all else.

"Beautiful..." he murmured hoarsely, his mouth barely lifting from mine, his expression as strange and enigmatic, as burning and intense as it ever was.

As our gazes connected, something within me seemed to stir and shimmer, something far more visceral than the sensations coursing through my body or the elation flooding my mind...but I had no time to try to understand or identify what it was, for Lucius was once more slowly kissing his way down the length of my body, retracing the path already traversed, but this time instead of lingering on my breasts he kept moving down and down towards the place where his fingers wrought their sweet proficiencies.

I was electrified, petrified; desperate for him to stop, fervently wishing him to continue, words of protest over-ruled by gasps of need. My head fell back, my eyes fell shut, and all peripheral thought was crowded out by the sensation of his silken hair spilling over my outer thighs, the faint scratch of his jaw rubbing against the tender inner skin, the hotness and nearness of his breath ghosting over and between those masterful fingers. Then I was crying out, my body arching as he splayed me wide and his lips melded to my sex, his tongue softly flickering into my yielding flesh, as he kissed me there, there, as sweetly and as scorchingly as he had lately kissed my mouth.

Lucius gave no quarter, allowed no resistance; he held me firmly though I weakly struggled against the all-too-saturating pleasure, each lick and lap of his tongue bespeaking his claim and avowing my capitulation, each lingering kiss an indelible and indissoluble writ that he, who had allowed me to spurn him once, would never allow me to do so again... I barely felt his fingers sliding down my thighs, taking the last, lacy item of clothing with them...the darkly-spinning universe seemed somehow to be growing and expanding, I was spiralling upon a crescendo of sensation towards something imperative and unattainable; a plateau of perfect euphoria—and then I was there, on top of the plateau, and it was diamond-bright and blinding, like a sea under full sun; I was born aloft and carried swiftly away, as waves of bliss crashed over me and I felt I might drown in its beautiful, shining depths.

..Seeking some kind of anchor, the fingers of both my hands grasped and bunched in the hair, eliciting a deep growl from him which seemed to vibrate through me as I cried out over and again... then the plateau gave way, the brightness flared and receded; I tumbled dizzily downwards, down into the humming darkness once more...

When my eyes flickered open again, Lucius lay next to me, gazing down at my face, his expression no longer enigmatic. Plainly engraved across those sharp, unearthly features was a kind of hungry, possessive desire which might have frightened me if not for the tenderness also manifest in his iridescent eyes.

"So beautiful..." he repeated in the same, hoarse tone. He reached over to softly brush a curl from my now-damp brow. Then, even more quietly, he added, "...and I, so blind...so cruel..." His fingers trailed over my breathlessly parted lips, then cupped my cheek almost reverently, as if he were compelled yet afraid to touch me. "How could you possibly want...this...want me..."

I closed my eyes again and pressed my cheek to his palm. "I do want you," I whispered. Then, raising my hand reciprocally to his cheek, I looked up into his eyes and again experienced that strange shimmering which vibrated through to the very nucleus of me. "I want you so much it...it hurts, it hurts more than anything you've ever d-done to me, or could possibly do to me. I want you, Lucius...I need you."

I tilted my head to receive his lips, and shivered deliciously as his hand moved down to gently caress my body again. My own hands wandered pleasurably over his smooth, solid chest and shoulders, then down his back—and, with something of a shock of fear and a rush of warmth, I realised that he, too, was naked, though I had not seen him removing his clothes.

Gradually, Lucius's kisses became less lingering and more insistent, his touch less wandering and more sensual, and I could feel a heavy, hot rigidity pressing into my thigh which both alarmed and aroused me. As his hand once more dropped down to nestle between my legs, I pulled back from his kiss and, stammeringly, I said, "I... I want to touch you..."

For a moment, Lucius simply gazed down at me, his eyes dilated and heavy-lidded with desire. Then, slowly, he reached over to cover my hand with his, then guided it downwards to curl around his rigid length. I could not help gasping as I registered the throbbing heat and silken hardness, the heavy substantialness of him—looking down, I saw that my hand did not even properly encircle him.

Then, with his large hand still wrapped around my much-smaller one, Lucius began to slowly pump himself against my palm. I watched, transfixed, a tingle of fearful fascination trembling over me as I tried and failed to imagine how he could possibly fit inside me. A hiss of breath in my ear brought my attention back up to his face; I drank in the evidence of his pleasure, the beautiful flush of colour on his usually-so-pale cheeks, and sheen of exertion on his marble brow, his Adam's apple moving as he shallowly swallowed. His eyes...his eyes...

Suddenly, in a fluid motion, Lucius unfurled my hand from him and pinned it up above my head, his body shifting to move over me, while his other fingers caught my left wrist and pinned it next to my right. As he bent his head to kiss me with deep, fervent plunges of his tongue, his hands unclamped from my wrists, and I felt him reach down between us as his legs parted mine, pressing wide my thighs.

The heavy heat of him aligning himself to me triggered a flood of returning panic. Bringing my hand to his chest, I pushed him back, breaking our fervent kiss. "Wait...Lucius...please..." I whispered.

He stopped immediately. "What is it, my darling?" he murmured. His pupils were dilated to fathomless oceans of silver-ringed blackness.

...'my darling'...he had never called me that before...

He waited patiently as I stuttered out the awkward words sticking in my throat. "I'm... I don't think that I've ever...ever done this before..." Lucius did not reply, but I thought I saw something like astonishment cross his face, and to my dismay I heard myself begin to nervously stammer, "I-I mean, I don't know for certain—that is, I can't be absolutely positive, because—but...but I'm fairly sure...well, I think..."

Slowly, softly, Lucius leaned down to kiss my lips, bringing my ramblings to a stop. Then he lifted his head, his fingers tilted my head up and he gazed searchingly into my eyes. "Do you wish to?" he asked me. "Answer me truly, Alice."

Again the strange synergy between us stirred something deep and restless inside me. I wondered if he felt it too. I took a steadying breath. "Yes," I said solemnly. "Truly. I mean, if you don't mind...that..."

At this, he smiled. "No," he replied, with a slightly sardonic gleam in his eyes. "I don't mind that."

"But, is it...is it...safe? Do we need..." I flushed deeply, "...protection?"

Lucius bent his head, this time to brush my flaming cheek with his lips. "It is safe," he said. "I promise."

I nodded my unspoken trust in him, and noticed a shadow flicker across his face, that same, dark self-detestation that he had worn moments before warning me to go back to the safety of my room. But seconds later it was gone, and there was only the all-consuming, smouldering desire of a man who had found what he wanted within his grasp and had only to reach out and take it. Those recent words echoed through my mind '...I am a flawed man, Alice...I am selfish, avaricious, impatient...'

But what mattered his selfishness, when it matched my desperate need? Why deny him what I so vehemently craved myself?

"I'll try not to hurt you," he said softly, his weight shifting again as he re-aligned himself to me. "But you need to help me. Relax, my darling...try to relax..."

He gritted his teeth and pushed gradually forward, his body trembling with the effort of being careful. But, despite his efforts it did hurt—my breath drew sharply and I bit my lip, trying to stop myself from crying aloud. It hurt, god, it hurt—and yet it was a beautiful thing, the pain, something exquisite and perfectly sublime—

"Please..." I gasped, my fingers clawing into the bedding, "please, Lucius..."

His body tensed and he halted; he thought I was begging him to stop. "No, don't stop!" I whispered urgently, "—please, I want you to—"

For a moment he stared down at me, his eyes glittering with silvery intensity, then he closed them and, brow furrowed with concentration, he surged forward, over me, into me.

I cried out, and for a suspended moment I was overtaken by a deep, throbbing pain inside me—too much, I couldn't—couldn't take this—but then almost in the same second it had peaked and subsided, replaced by a strange but not unpleasant feeling of...I don't know...a kind of pressure and fullness. For some seconds Lucius was quite still, leaning down to softly croon in my ear, "Breathe, Alice...my own, my darling...just breathe...breathe..."

Only then I realised that I was holding in my breath, and I let it go in a shuddering gasp which made Lucius's curtain of hair flutter. I turned my head and pressed my forehead against his quivering bicep, inhaling his opiating scent, and somehow my body seemed to unwind, to stop its protesting resistance, and simply accept.

Slowly, with infinite care, Lucius drew back and then pushed forward again, this time eliciting a small cry from my lips, neither of pain nor pleasure, but an inescapable synthesis of both. The hurt was no longer acute, and was sweetened by other, more pleasant sensations: a bewitching friction, an incredible satiation, and the profound and indescribable connectedness of us.

Tears flowed down my cheeks, but they were not of distress, rather a resurgence of the overwhelming relief I had experienced earlier, when that unbearable barrier between us had finally crumbled and Lucius had folded me to his heart. To be this close was everything. So close that nothing could ever come between us again.

He was so gentle. It was not easy for him, and perhaps somewhat painful too: I felt and saw the exertion of his self-control in the straining of his muscles and tension in his face, I heard his low growl through clenched teeth. He carried his weight so as not to crush me, although the sheer size of his body caused my hip-joints to jar. I clung to his shoulders, my nails digging into the taut skin, my body shaking with the torrent of new sensations...the scorching heat of our fused bodies...the heavy push and dragging pull, deep within the very core of me...the excruciating, wonderful sting of being too-widely stretched, too-deeply filled...perhaps it was too much, after all...

"Am I hurting you, Alice?" Lucius's strained voice brought me back from the frightening inundation that threatened to overpower me.

"No," I gasped. "Yes!...A-a little..."

"Wrap your legs around me, my darling," he said, stilling to let me move. I did as he said, bringing up my trembling legs up and locking my ankles around his strong thighs. Immediately I felt the difference, the angle taking the pressure off my hips and somehow bringing Lucius even deeper, yet more comfortably inside me.

"Now..." He eased back carefully, "...move with me, if you can..."

Slowly, slowly he sunk himself inside me, patiently waiting for me to arch against him before drawing back again. "That's right, darling. Breathe with me...move with me... Again..."

Unhurriedly in...and out...in, and out...I caught his rhythm and was soon moving and responding to each long, leisurely stroke. That winding, tightening sensation was returning to me, tying my stomach in knots, making my channel clench around the intruding thickness. Gradually, as I relaxed, so did he, relinquishing his rigid self-control, developing a steadier rhythm that slowly increased in pace and force, as he began to make surer, deeper plunges, filling me more fully than I had ever imagined possible, the friction making me writhe and press up to him, my mouth spilling out gasps and moans, in duet to Lucius's deeper litany of tenderness and reassurance.

My ankles unhooked from Lucius's thighs and raised to clamp around his lower back, the tilting of my hips bringing him deeper again, and causing his pelvic bone to rhythmically rub against the most sensitive part of me, making me cry out as he plunged harder, deeper, quicker, pounding into me with long, full thrusts that brought me careering dangerously close to that slender precipice between agony and ecstasy... then the world was quaking and on fire, the stars were falling down around me—or perhaps I was falling, falling upwards into heaven—and I was crying out his name. Beseeching, invoking, requiring, again, again, and yet again.

As my channel frantically fluttered around his stretching, filling thrusts, Lucius captured and entwined my fingers with his, bringing my hands up to either side of my head, then he bent down and plunged his tongue into my panting mouth, and I felt a shudder run through his whole body. With a low groan, he heaved heavily forward; I felt his length spasm inside me, and there was a spurting, viscous warmth that seemed to seal us even more tightly together, as we both came to sweet, shuddering completion.

And in that moment there was a rush of crackling energy; a shimmering light momentarily swarmed over and around us, bathing us and the entire room in a beautiful, silvery glow...

Or perhaps it was only the moon, briefly breaking from her shroud of dark clouds, for when I blinked the light was gone, and all was as dark and dizzy as before.

...

END OF PART TWO

A/N For the record, there are three parts to this story, so the next part will be the home straight. I really hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave me with some of your thoughts. Love, artful