Author's Notes:
Diligently working on getting these chapters out for you!
Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed! You've kept my muse going and inspired me to write, write, write for you! MUCH LOVE TO YOU!
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: DEEDS & FORFEITS - PART I
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland
Madam Aset's Horcrux, inside the Room of Requirement
(real date and time unknown)
.
Draco stared at the card the deck had dealt for him where it lay upon the coffee table, face down.
"We're supposed to start every new round with a single question," he stated the obvious. "The deck just dealt us each a question card."
The question of 'why' turned over and over in his head.
"Are we supposed to only answer our own card, then," Potter asked. "Or do we all answer every question, one after the other?"
Gryffindor's Captain looked to him for a suggestion.
Draco didn't have an answer. Instead, he glanced down at the card in his hand—the one Granger had earlier passed off to him—hoping for inspiration.
It still shocked him to see Madam Aset's face reproduced as a piece of art on the back of the bloody thing. Why hadn't he noticed that before?
Because she purposefully kept you from paying too close attention to it, his Slytherin instincts told him.
The depths of this entire conspiracy still seemed so farfetched, and yet… When he'd inspected the cards the first time he'd gotten them back to his dorm room weeks ago, he recalled now how the art on the back had seemed almost indistinct and definitely unimportant to him at that time. Ditto for the list of names on the inside cover.
-Which was precisely how Concealment Charms worked.
They were spells that were cast on objects to obfuscate. Individuals attempting to pay close attention to those objects were then compelled to either look away, distracted by something else, or made not to care. He knew because he'd done his share of casting Concealment Charms over the past several years.
Basically, he'd been fooled by the same magic he'd used to frequently irritate Filch, Umbridge, and nosey Gryffindors.
-Which meant the conspiracy wasn't an invalid possibility at all.
-Which meant…
Tossing the card onto the table before Granger, he quickly stood up and faced his partner. "We need to talk." He held a hand out to her. "In private."
She didn't hesitate to take his hand.
The level of trust she showed him now, compared to where they'd begun this journey just last night, still amazed him. This game really had given him everything he'd wanted. Now, he was waiting for the price to fall on his head.
"Bathroom and rest break, two hours," he offered, "assuming someone here can't hold it before the next round starts?"
Potter seemed to get the clue. "Uh, yeah, I'm sure I'll need to…uh, go. And Tracey, too." He looked at the limp beauty in his arms. She was still under the sway of her TWN. "Uh, Diantha Euterpe Davis, you will obey only me for the rest of this game, even after I release you from this spell. So…um…I release you now."
Davis blinked, the fog cleared from her eyes and she sat up. Looking around, she realized where she was, and when the memory of what had been done to her hit, she broke down into fresh sobs. Potter sighed and embraced his witch again, whispering sweet nothings and apologies in her ears.
Draco didn't want to stick around for when Pans was set free next, watching Weasley's face and knowing what was coming. He was sure his friend would be screaming down the roof at the way she'd been handled, and frankly, Draco had his own issues to confront that were weighing him down. He'd leave Parkinson to her partner, who seemed to have a good enough handle on her.
With Granger's hand firmly resting in his, he guided her to their private room. Once there, he opened the door, let her hand go, and waited for her to walk past before he turned and shut the door behind them, locking it.
The silence that followed was almost suffocating. Granger waited him out.
Staring at his bare feet, Draco took a deep breath for courage. This whole sharing thing was new for him, and it was difficult. As an only child, as a Slytherin, having grown up in the home he had, he was shite at baring his soul, but he was trying for her.
And the truth was he was scared.
"I think I know what the riddle means."
"You mean the card that said, 'The first must play to win, or all are cursed to lose'?"
He nodded.
She took several steps back and then sat down on the bed. "I'm listening."
His mind spun with thoughts, but he kept coming back to what she'd said earlier, that this was Psyche's horcrux. If that was true, then the true owner of the cards was suddenly very obvious to him.
"I think it means either Eros or Psyche has to win, not one of us."
"Why would you say that?"
He glanced over at her. "It's a trick phrase to get us spinning in circles, wondering which of us it refers to. It's designed to make us turn on each other when no one cops to being the 'first'. But none of us can really claim that title, because we weren't the first to play with the cards, were we? Eros and Psyche were. The deck belonged to one of them. One of them is the 'first'."
His witch mulled that over. "That's…an interesting theory. Do you believe they sat and played cards together, too?"
"It's a good bet, given one of them killed the other over the cards. Maybe they were betting and someone lost, and the loser became enraged." He shrugged. "Whatever got them there, they were clearly in the same room with the deck, and at least one of them was playing with it when he or she died."
His witch frowned, contemplating that. "But if it's true that this game is designed only for either Eros or Psyche to win, then why stipulate that we all have to keep playing or else we'll be cursed, especially if we're slated to lose anyway?"
That was something he'd been thinking about as well. "Well, aside from the obvious that the longer they can keep us in here without forfeiting, the more life energy they can steal from us, it's like I said: they want us to turn on each other."
"To what purpose, though?" she asked. "Amusement at the suffering of others?"
"Probably," he agreed. After everything that had gone down tonight it was obvious that at least one of them, if not both, was a sadist at heart. "But it could also be for revenge. One of them murdered the other and locked them in this horcrux with them forever, right? So what if we're just their pawns in a game they play to get at each other, a game that repeats every four years with new players?"
Her expression changed, matching the same type of horror he'd felt when he'd first considered this possibility.
"You mean all of the evil they've caused in the past, corrupting people's hearts, destroying them into madness…it's all just a game of wizard's chess meant to pass the time and irritate each other?"
"That's exactly what I mean." He crossed the room to sit at her side on the bed, and he took her hand in his. She was trembling, in rage or in fear, he wasn't sure. He definitely knew he fell closer to the anger side of the equation, himself. "You said it yourself, Granger: everyone's feelings have been unnaturally tampered with all night. From the start, there was a series of small combative moves to feel each other out. Then there were actual skirmishes between couples, even us. It's like the cards have wanted us to tear into each other from the first question, to destroy whatever bonds or interests we had in each other before the game. Each successive question has tested friendships or relationships, sometimes both. I'm sure we were meant to be at each other's throats by now."
"We haven't fallen prey to that influence, though," she said, seeming awed by that fact. "We've overcome our issues, each of us." She looked up at him through sooty lashes, her cheeks pink with pleasure. "We've all fallen in love with our partners."
He gave her hand a small squeeze. He'd been in love with her before this game, true, but he couldn't deny that those feelings had only grown in ways he never would have anticipated over the last several hours.
"Which was why Eros or Psyche got desperate enough to cross the line," she added. "This wasn't in their plans. They'd expected us to become like everyone else who had ever played the game before us. We were supposed to become like Lockhart, Lovecraft, even Umbridge, but we haven't…because we're all in love."
She'd hit the Snitch on the head. "Like you said, the fact that they can't crack us has made them desperate," he added. "They cheated to push us, and they paid a heavy price for it. Now they're going to finish the game one way or the other, and they're going to make sure they win or we're never getting out of here."
"So the longer we play, the more damage we're going to do to ourselves and each other?" she asked, leaning her head down on his shoulder.
Draco wrapped his arm around her and laid his cheek down on her soft hair. "And the more morally compromised we become as a result," he added. "They could make us do some horrible things to each other, Granger. Things there won't be any recovery from."
"Like use someone's TWN against them, or forcing us to reveal our darkest secrets, or-" She pulled his hand up to look at it. It no longer hurt where he'd injured himself earlier. "-break our hands on mirrors in a fit of rage."
His lips curled with a self-deprecating smirk. "A jealous rage," he admitted, feeling the fool for that once more. "The thought of you with others was… It's hypocritical, but it bothers me to think of other men touching you. Malfoys don't share well."
Lifting her head, she looked up into his face. "I don't want anyone else, Draco."
God, she was so beautiful. The way she looked at him now, it was what he'd always hoped for. He still couldn't believe he was lucky enough to see it, to have it directed at him. Reaching up, he twisted his fingers through her curls and pulled her closer.
"I want you as I have never wanted any other woman."
"Then make me yours," she offered, tilting her mouth up to his, begging for his kiss. "And be mine at the same time."
He didn't ask if she was sure, because he could see in her face that she was ready for him at long last. Instead, he reached under her hair and undid the clasp of her halter top, slowly dragging it down to reveal her lovely, naked torso. Her nipples were already hard, he noticed, begging to be touched, stroked.
He cupped her breasts in his palms, leaned forward and captured her mouth at the same time as brushing his thumbs over the pink, tender tips. She groaned and arched into him. His lips were soft, parting hers with gentle teasing until she was moaning and grabbing his shoulders in a silent demand for more. He continued his wicked caressing as he thrust his tongue into her mouth and took his fill of her taste, assured her lips would be swollen and red from his kisses. When her nails dug into his skin, he chuckled, knowing she was impatient for more.
Still, he took his time revealing her body, sliding his palms over every inch of skin as he laid her back on the bed and stripped her dress off. She was barefoot, and he kissed and licked the delicate back of her calves and knees as he lifted her legs, bending them back. Working his way up her thighs, he reached her centre and rubbed his nose over the soft panties that covered her core. They were damp already and smelled of her arousal.
He growled in the back of his throat and licked a path over that wetness, dying to tear them out of the way to get past them and inside her. Instead, he forced himself to take his time, to cherish this lead-in, wanting to give her some of the fantasy she'd desired of their first time together.
Hermione's hips writhed under his attentions. She mewled and dug her nails into the coverlet beneath them, and called for him as he tilted his mouth to the side, lapping at the soft skin of her thigh. "Please," she begged, and he gave her exactly what she wanted by undoing the bows at the sides of her knickers and pulling them down her lovely legs.
With a hungry gaze, he parted her soft folds with his thumbs, finding her slick and ready for him.
"Not yet," he whispered against her engorged clit as he nuzzled it and then ran the tip of his tongue around it. She gasped and grabbed onto his hair, pulling at him. "First, this is mine," he told her and let her draw him in until his lips were sealed around the small flesh and suckling upon it with soft pulls. All mine, forever, he thought as he looked up the length of her gorgeous body.
Her legs were shaking, her body flushed with need. She cupped her breasts, began pulling and pinching her nipples as he dropped his mouth to lap at her opening. He tasted the remnants of his seed upon her still, tasted her desire for him alone, felt another moment of pride to know he'd been the only man to ever make her climax. She was his as much as he was hers, and he would prove it to her by loving her right.
He took his fill of her here, too, licking and stroking over her silken pussy, thrusting his tongue deep into her and then alternating with his fingers to stimulate her in ways she'd never known before. He tormented and teased her, working her hard until her chest was heaving and she was pleading with him to fuck her.
A hard suck upon her clit and a twist of his fingers just so and the orgasm hit her unexpectedly with a force that had her arching off the bed and screaming. Draco licked her through it, prolonging it, continuing the sensual torture until she was limp and utterly sated.
Pulling back, he looked down at her lying in a jumbled mess, panting, her body glistening with sweat and her cheeks on fire, and he smiled.
Her eyes were heavy lidded with a renewing lust when he began removing his clothes. She didn't move, just watched him as he stripped for her once more, taking everything off and letting it fall where it may. When he was ready, he crawled over her, his lips hovering over hers.
"Can I love you now?"
Her lips curled with a tired smile and she reached up to run her fingers through his hair. "If you wish."
His heart ached as he bent to claim her mouth and to slide his cock deep into her at the same time.
Oh, god, it was…perfect.
Pausing for a moment for his brain to reign in his body's demands to move right away, Draco dropped to his elbows and pressed his face into her throat. He was throbbing inside her, could feel every pulse of his heartbeat in his hard, straining length, and prayed for the strength not to come. That hot pull in his groin told him he was close, and it took a supreme effort of will to calm down.
"Draco?"
He turned his head, dropped kisses to her throat. "You're so beautiful," he whispered, hot breath panting against her ear. "And all mine now, Granger. Mine even after this. Mine for always."
Feeling more in control, he pulled out slowly but thrust back into her quickly, giving her no time to disagree, no time to use that mouth for anything other than calling his name and begging him to give it to her good. As her legs came up and tightened around his thighs, he grabbed the back of her hair and her hip and held her steady to accept him at an angle he knew would be satisfying for the both of them, working her with a deep, measured rhythm that refused to be rushed.
He held her gaze as he pumped into her, watching her expressions as she discovered what real love-making could be like. Hermione was warm and soft, her hair a silken tumble between his fingers, her body a snug, velvet clasp around him. It was sheer torture for him, when all he wanted to do was pound her hard, rock the bed, and hear her scream again. Instead, he took his time, rolling his hips, every muscle tight and controlled to assure her maximum pleasure.
Quickly, tremors overtook her body and she tightened up, her core going molten and liquid around him. "Draco," she cried, and pulled his mouth to hers as her body burned up in his arms. He pulled her hips up, marrying them together, felt her body throbbing and milking his shaft as she came, and gritted his teeth through it, determined to feel her first orgasm around him from start to finish.
It was glorious. She was. Her little cries, her whispering his name again and again in his ear as she held onto him as if he was her only shelter in this storm of intense feeling…
When she relaxed in his arms, her head falling back onto the mattress, there was a serene smile painted upon her pretty, well-kissed lips, and a gratification in her eyes that told him he'd fulfilled her wish. That thought burned though him, more potent in the pleasure it brought him than even having experienced her climax.
To his surprise, her hands wandered his body, sliding over his skin with a delicate touch, making his muscles jerk under her wandering fingers. "Let go," she bade him, reaching around and gripping his arse with some bit of aggression, pulling him in tight. "Be wild for me now."
Panting, he pressed his forehead to hers, his lower body still deeply embedded in her slick pussy. His blood pounded through his veins, making him sweat. "This first time, you wanted it soft, sweet," he reminded her. "Remember?"
"Yes, and you gave me that," she told him, grinning from the sex high she was feeling. That healthy blush of having been loved so well and so thoroughly painted her cheeks, and again he felt a bit of arrogant pride at having done that to her. "I loved it…but now I want the real you, Draco Malfoy. Give him to me, too."
The possessiveness in her tone set his off. The need to own this witch in every way, to make her scream his name again came to the forefront, prodding him. This time, he gave into it, and it roared through him, consuming his need. Buried inside her wet core, his sex went rock hard, thickened.
His grip on her hair tightened, he pulled one of her legs up and pushed it outward, opening her up so he could watch what he did to her next…
Circling his hips, he teased her until she was whimpering and trembling again. Her nipples were aching, little points that begged for his mouth to ease them. He gave in, wrapping his lips around first one, then the other, flicking them with his tongue and tugging on them with his teeth until she was a restless bundle of nerves under him once more.
"Fuck me," she cried, shaky and eager. "Oh, god, please…Draco, just fuck me already!"
It was what he'd been waiting for…her imploring voice, her pleading touch, and her body on fire for what only he could give it. He let go of all civility then, released the lock on his control and let his obsession and his love for this witch overwhelm him as he worked his cock into her hard and deep. His blood thundered through his veins as he made sure she knew she was well and truly owned by him then, powering into her sweet, soaked cunt until the bed moved with each thrust and she was wailing in pleasure. He suckled at her throat, bit down over her pulse, left love marks across her skin as he claimed her with both his body and his soul.
In a bold move, she forcefully turned his head and took his mouth, and every bone in his body, every muscle screamed with fire as his release finally roared through him. It was unstoppable ecstasy, a flame of pure relief and joy rushing up and down his spine. Thrusting deep, he arched his back, held her thigh down, and ripped his lips from hers to watch as he poured his come deep into her.
"Take me," he hissed, his body jerking as he continuing to fuck her through each blast of semen, filling her with his essence. "Take all of me."
It was both pure agony and ecstasy to finally have her completely, to know all of the scheming and fighting he'd done for years to get this chance to love her had paid off. He'd won. No matter what Eros or Psyche did to him now, he'd go down knowing he'd beaten the odds and gotten the girl of his dreams.
Panting for air, his body just seemed to give it all up then and he slumped down on top of her, utterly drained. Granger wrapped her limbs around him and held him to her sweaty breast and hummed in happiness.
He gave a weak laugh as he rolled them to their sides and slipped out of her. Pulling her into his arms, he lightly stroked her hip. "Good?" he asked, his brain much too exhausted for a full-blown chat, but knowing he could at least do this much.
She snuggled closer, slipping her leg between his. "Everything you promised and more," she said around a yawn.
"Good," he grunted. Then, "I love you, Granger."
He could feel her smile against his chest as he closed his eyes and nodded off.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
He woke up sometime later, contented and hazy brained. Hermione's soft hair tickling his arm had brought him awake. He moved to shove it off…
As his fingers slid through it, he belatedly realized there was no curl to it. It was straight, and somewhat coarse.
"You're an excellent lover. No wonder the real me gave you this game."
The voice wasn't Granger's.
Instantly alert, Draco shoved away…
Sabrina Aset lay next to him on the bed, nude and flushed. Her mouth and nipples were red and swollen, and her thighs streaked with drying semen…
Her smile was feline and just as vicious.
"I applaud her for sending you to me," she said, lying back and stretching. Her body was gorgeous, flawless…but it wasn't Granger's, and so he had no reaction to it whatsoever. Except horror as he looked between her legs and saw her pussy had been well-used and left wet. "I'll say this, little Malfoy: you certainly know how to get the job done...just as that sniveling coward, Cantankerous Nott had, and the Riddle boy before him."
She caressed the area of her lower belly, just above her mons Venus.
"Won't Sabrina be pleased to find that when she takes me back into her this time, I'll be bringing with me another surprise for her? She so does love those."
She sat up and rose to her feet in an elegant pull of muscle, her movements panther-like.
"A pure-blood son for a sterile heir."
A robe appeared in a snap and she donned it, pulling her long, blonde hair over it and cinching it at the waist.
It was only then that Draco understood what she was saying. Horror filled him, such that his first reaction was to running screaming into the next room. Somehow, he managed to keep his sanity and find his voice.
"What have you done?"
The horcrux spirit of Madam Aset threw him an exasperated sideways glance. "Isn't it obvious, my dear?" She rubbed her hand over her lower abdomen, directly over her womb. "You know, I considered the Weasley boy earlier tonight, but to my disappointment, he'd already gone and gotten the Parkinson bint up the duff. I missed my chance, as I was too distracted with the rest of you. He did give me a good opportunity to try out this face, though," she said and suddenly morphed into Hermione before changing back. "Just to see if I could fool others. It seems I've got the knack for being an actress as well."
"You…bitch," he ground out between clenched teeth. "What have you done?!"
"Well, I couldn't pick just anyone, could I?" she continued to taunt him. "And in any case, pickings were slim this time around. The son of Potter…well, he isn't exactly pure-blood or controllable, is he? And he's entirely too goody-good for any normal woman to take seriously. Too many strikes against, even if he is cute as a button. Your Theodore Nott's ancestor has already had a turn and that offspring, Gilderoy Lockhart, proved to be a complete disappointment. Better not to dip too many times into a poisoned well, yes? As for Zabini-" She sneered. "I can't touch another Veela, especially a mated one. And thanks to that meddling mate of mine, another Fae is off the menu, too, which is why the handsome Irish boy had to go. That left, precisely, you." She gave him a canary-eating grin. "Handsome, pure-blood, rich Draco Malfoy…with a cock that more than satisfies even someone with my appetites. Yes, you were the perfect candidate."
"There's no way you're pregnant," he challenged her, feeling green around the gills at the thought. "It was one time, and it can't have been more than an hour or two ago."
Her teeth were perfectly white…and her stare a bit demented when she replied, "Oh, darling, a woman just knows these things—especially one who's been pregnant multiple times before."
He was going to hurl his guts up at any minute. "Why?"
Her laugh was like little birds in the garden, chirping away. "One of my recent favourites, Lucian Bole, the poor dear is so desperate for a son… He'll pay handsomely for yours and it will keep us living in luxury for years to come. No need to take on clients." Her expression became one of barely-repressed disdain. "Men are such bores."
Draco nearly vomited up the entire contents of his stomach right there. He would have, in fact, if Sabrina hadn't said what she did next.
"I'm sure once Eros is done seducing your lovely partner next door, well…" She patted her belly again. "Perhaps your son and her daughter would someday like to play the game as well. A second chance for the two of you, who will never be together now."
She laughed and it was a victorious and cruel sound.
Then, between one blink and the next, she was gone.
Uncaring of the state of his nudity, or the fact that his body felt several degrees slower than usual due to its exhaustion and he stumbled twice on the way out, Draco ran for the room's exit, rounded the jamb, and attempted to tear open the door to the suite next to his. It was locked.
He pounded on it, screaming.
"GRANGER! Don't let him touch you! He's not me—he's Eros!"
He snarled and slammed his shoulder into the door, he tried wandless magic to unlock it, he banged upon it until his knuckles bled and he was sobbing in rage.
"Don't believe him, Hermione! He's lying! RUN! Fuck, please, just run!"
That son of a bitch had better not touch her, he thought, fury and jealousy blinding him to all else. Granger was his! She was his witch, his woman…his future wife!
He cast wandless spells, violent spells that crackled and ignited and exploded against the door, but none of it worked. The room remained sealed against him, and no sounds could be heard coming from the other side.
"I'll kill you!" he screamed as he continued hurling his body against the wooden portal, desperately trying to smash it in. "You bastard, Eros, I'll fucking murder you if you touch her!"
He was going to kill them.
Eros and Psyche were both going to die tonight.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Notes:
Another twist in the tale, but to be fair, this was foreshadowed in previous chapters (very subtle, but there). Did you catch it?
Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts.
XOXO,
- RZZMG
.
Musical Selection for this chapter: "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi. Lyrics are as follows...
Shot through the heart,
and you're to blame.
Darlin', you give love a bad name.
An angel's smile is what you sell.
You promise me heaven, then put me through Hell.
Chains of love got a hold on me.
When passion's a prison, you can't break free.
Oh, you're a loaded gun.
Oh, there's nowhere to run,
no one can save me,
the damage is done.
Shot through the heart
and you're to blame.
You give love a bad name.
I play my part, and you play your game.
You give love a bad name.
Paint your smile on your lips.
Blood red nails on your fingertips.
A school boy's dream, you act so shy.
Your very first kiss was your first kiss goodbye.
Oh, you're a loaded gun.
Oh, there's nowhere to run,
no one can save me,
the damage is done.
Shot through the heart
and you're to blame.
You give love a bad name.
I play my part and you play your game.
You give love a bad name.