"I just need to freshen up."

"Isn't this where that whiny ghost lives?" Rabastan asked, peering around the door curiously.

Maddy gave him a playful push. "Don't let her hear you say that. She's all right, if you're nice to her. Usually."

"We could just go in there," he suggested with a smirk. "I've heard almost no one uses it."

That gave Maddy pause. "D'you want a ghost watching us?"

Rabastan shrugged. "What do I care, so long as she keeps her gob shut?"

"The toilets aren't a very romantic place for a date," Maddy objected. "Just give me a mo, and we can go wherever you like."

"All right. Just don't take forever."

As soon as the door closed, Myrtle appeared.

"Is that him out there? Are you going to do it now?" she asked, eyes huge with excitement.

"Shhhh!" hissed Maddy. "D'you want him to hear you? We're going for a stroll. I dunno where. I dunno if anything will happen. But I'm telling you anyway, so you can't say I didn't. You can follow us if you like. Just stay out of sight."

She peered critically at herself in the mirror, smoothing her eyebrows, biting her lips to darken them, and combing her fingers through her hair.

"D'you want him to do it to you?" Myrtle asked. "Stick his thing in your thing?"

"I like him," scowled Maddy. "I like kissing him, and I like making him happy. But I'm not going to let him do that. Not until we're married."

"Has he asked you to marry him?"

"No. But we've only been seeing each other for a couple of months. He still has to meet my mum, and I have to meet his family, before we can be betrothed. Now, shush. I'm going. You can come along or not, as you like."

Rabastan slouched against the wall, waiting for her. Maddy tucked her arm through his.

"Let's go."

"In a hurry, Yaxley?" Rabastan teased. "If I'd known you were gagging for it, I'd've sorted you out weeks ago."

"No!" Maddy's cheeks flamed red. "It's just - we only have about an hour before supper."

Rabastan steered them through several busy corridors, arm in arm, keeping an easy pace, and greeting professors and classmates with a casual nod, as if he had not a care in the world, and nowhere he meant to be.

"How are you getting on with the Runes assignment?" he asked, as he guided her in a turn about the library.

"All right." Maddy lowered her voice, giving Madam Pince, the Hogwarts librarian, a covert glance. "I was thinking of demonstrating the locking charm in thread or ink. What about you?"

"I've been thinking about applications for it involving blood."

Maddy stopped short. "You can't use blood magic for a school assignment. Professor Babbling would never allow it!"

"I know," Rabastan said easily. "I just said I was thinking about it. I suppose I'll use something boring, like wood or metal."

As they turned past the great staircase, he gave her a nudge.

"Hey. Did you do like I asked?"

"Yes," she whispered, cheeks warming again.

Rabastan smirked. "Good girl. C'mon; it's just this way."

They turned down three deserted and increasingly dusty corridors, and climbed a rickety staircase. Maddy glanced over her shoulder covertly once or twice, but if Myrtle had followed them, there was no sign of her. At last, Rabastan halted in front of a faded tapestry depicting three hippogriffs rampant.

"In here."

He tugged the edge of the tapestry away from the wall, exposing a small alcove. A high, narrow window slit let in a little weak November light and a chilly draught. There was barely room enough for the two of them in the small space behind the tapestry, but when Rabastan grabbed her about the waist, and set her on the window ledge, Maddy found they fit neatly enough, nose to nose.

Rabastan kissed her soundly. "This is cosy, isn't it?" he murmured.

"How did you find this place?"

His hands slid up to squeeze her breasts. "My brother told me about it. Dolph says lots of people bring girls here."

Maddy's heart skipped a beat. "You didn't tell your brother we -"

Rabastan grinned. "Nah; he told me about it ages ago."

"Oh. Good."

"So now that I've finally got you alone," Rabastan continued, nuzzling her neck, "what am I going to do with you?"

Maddy wrapped her arms around him, glancing over his shoulder, and taking in every square inch of the small space behind the tapestry. There was still no sign of Myrtle, but somehow, Maddy could sense that she was there, watching them.

"Um, I dunno."

"Don't you? Well, I have some ideas."

He moved closer, and Maddy felt a hard shape pressing against her thigh.

"D'you want to see it?"

Wordless, mouth dry, Maddy nodded.

Rabastan lifted the skirts of his robes, tucking them out of the way. As during their previous encounters, he wore no underwear. His staff stuck out, red and veiny, with a thick purple end, smooth and shiny as a peeled egg. Dark, wiry hair grew around the base, and two more rounded pink shapes hung below.

For a perilous, dizzy instant, Maddy was in the kitchen at home again, helpless, her hands glued to the counter, Cameron's fingers gripping her thighs as his ugly red staff lunged at her from the folds of his dressing gown.

Maddy squeezed her eyes shut, balling her hands into fists. She was not trapped. She was not in danger. She was safe with Rabastan, the boy she loved.

"What's wrong?" he asked, frowning.

"N-nothing. It's just - I've never seen a man's ... staff before," Maddy lied quickly, heart hammering.

She did not want to spoil the mood of this rare moment of privacy, or trouble Rabastan over a bad memory. He did not need to know that another man had had his hands on her.

Rabastan looked amused. "It's a cock. Call it a cock."

Maddy bit her lip. She was not accustomed to using such rude language with anyone but her closest friends.

"Cock," she said quietly.

"Say it again."

"Cock," she said, a little louder this time, lifting her chin defiantly to look him in the eye.

Rabastan grinned. "Now say, 'I want to touch your cock, Rab'."

"I-I want to touch your cock, Rab," she repeated obediently.

"Well then, what are you waiting for?"

Hesitantly, she reached out, and rested two fingertips lightly on the end of it.

"C'mon, Yaxley; I already showed you how to do it." He adjusted her grip impatiently, wrapping her hand around the thing. "That's it ..."

His hands returned to her breasts, lifting and squeezing them.

"And what do you call these?"

"Tits?" she said uncertainly.

He chuckled. "That's all right. And what about this?"

Without warning, one of his hands dropped between her legs, grabbing her through her robes.

"Th-that's my - my sacred place," she squeaked.

Rabastan snorted. "It's a cunt. You should call it a cunt."

"My - my ... cunt."

Maddy winced. The word was so vulgar that she had never said it aloud before. She had only ever heard it uttered a handful of times in her life. It sounded filthy. Sluts had cunts; pure-blood girls had sacred places. But if it pleased Rabastan to hear her say it ...

"Good," he said. "Now say, 'my cunt belongs to Rabastan Lestrange'."

She tensed. "My - it doesn't belong to anyone without a promise of marriage!"

Rabastan did not seem perturbed. "But you're going to show it to me anyway, aren't you? It's only fair, after all."

He rocked his hips in demonstration, reminding her of what she currently held in her hand.

Biting her lip, Maddy nodded her consent.

"Good girl."

Lifting the hem of her robes, he gathered them up, bunching them about her waist. At his request, she had worn nothing beneath them. The abruptness of exposure, coupled with the chill of the air, made Maddy shiver.

Rabastan wrinkled his nose. "You should trim that, or shave it off. Girls aren't supposed to be hairy."

"Oh."

Maddy hunched her shoulders, skin prickling with shame. Until that moment, she had been proud of the hair that grew between her legs. She thought it made her look like a woman, rather than a little girl. It had never occurred to her that Rabastan would not like it, or that he would think her disgusting and unfeminine because of it.

"Never mind. You'll know next time."

"Y-you don't want to stop?"

His hands curled around her thighs. "Did I say I did?"

Maddy's shoulders sagged with relief. He was not utterly repulsed by her, then. When he eased her legs apart, she let him do it, grateful for his indulgence. She held her breath as his fingers probed between her thighs. When his fingertip brushed the spot that felt so good, she whimpered, her own fingers digging into his arm.

Rabastan cursed softly under his breath. "Merlin, Yaxley! You are gagging for it, aren't you?"

"I - it just - it feels good when you - do that," she panted.

But instead of continuing to rub the delightful spot, his fingers were moving, exploring. One of them found the entrance to her sacred place - my cunt, Maddy reminded herself - and pushed roughly inside, making her squeak with surprise.

"Oh, yeah, there it is," Rabastan muttered, moving the finger in and out. "I wanna hear you say 'fuck' now, Yaxley."

"Fuck," she repeated, in a voice that shook.

It was more vulgar than "cock", but less so than "cunt", and there was a certain thrill to saying it with his finger inside her.

"Good," he panted. "Now say, 'I want Rab's cock to fuck my cunt'."

"We can't -" she gasped, even as her hips rocked with the movement of his finger.

"I just wanna hear you say it."

"I-I want Rab -" Maddy closed her eyes, shaking her head. "I can't."

"But it's all right if I finger you, is that it?"

She managed a jerky nod. "But if you just -"

Wrapping her free hand around his, Maddy guided his touch back to that pleasurable spot. He rubbed her there for a moment, as she gasped and panted, but he forgot again quickly in the excitement of the moment, and soon his finger was back inside her.

"Here, I wanna try something," Rabastan panted.

Before she could ask what, his finger had slipped out of her again, and his hands were on her hips, urging her to the very edge of the window ledge.

"Lean back."

Maddy did as he bade her, letting him spread her thighs wide apart. He rocked his hips forward, touching the hand that still gripped him tightly.

"Rub my cock on yourself."

The breath caught in Maddy's throat. The forbiddenness of it sent a thrill of excitement through her.

It's all right so long as he doesn't put it in, she reminded herself.

"OK."

Guiding it to her, she pressed the tip of it to the good-feeling spot. Maddy's eyes fluttered closed as it slid against her own slippery wetness, feeling more wonderful than anything she had ever experienced. A soft sound escaped her throat, as the excitement rose inside her.

"Mmm, that's good," Rabastan rasped.

He pushed her hand away, rubbing the full length of his cock against her.

"You like that?" he panted.

Maddy gripped his shoulders, half wanting to push him away, and half wanting to pull him close. It was hard to think about much of anything with him rubbing against her like that. She felt as if her skin were stretched very thin, and at any moment, she might burst with pleasure.

"Yeah. Just don't - you know ..."

"Don't fuck you?" he asked with the breath of a laugh.

Maddy bit her lip. "Please don't take m-my maidenhead. I have to stay pure!"

"I won't make you bleed," Rabastan promised. "I just wanna see what it feels like for a second. I'll only put the tip in."

"I-I don't know."

"I said I won't fuck you." There was an edge of annoyance in his voice. "Don't you trust me?"

"I trust you, Rab," Maddy whispered.

Her whole body was trembling - from fear or excitement, she did not know which. She watched, entranced, heart hammering, as he guided himself to the right spot. She could feel him just there, the very tip of his cock touching her entrance, but she could not see it past the folds of her robes, bunched about her waist. Maddy shivered. This was how it would feel on their wedding night, just before he -

She gasped as he pushed the tip inside her. It was so much thicker than his finger had been. She felt it stretching her, but it did not hurt like she knew it would the first time they did it for real. It felt - wonderful. Maddy realised she loved having him there, inside her, filling her, stretching her. This was what Freya Lovelace had meant. This was what real love was supposed to feel like.

"Hold still," Rabastan panted, "or I might go too deep by accident. Then it'd be your own fault if you weren't 'pure' anymore."

"H-how far in is it?"

"Not far. It doesn't hurt, does it?"

"N-no."

"Then don't fret about it."

Maddy tried her best to hold still as Rabastan made small thrusting motions with his hips. She could feel the rhythmic slide as he moved in her. She could not tell how deep inside her he was, and she was not sure she wanted to know. It felt too good.

"My cock is in your cunt," he grunted. "Say it."

"Y-your cock is in my cunt -" she gasped.

Tendrils of raw excitement were curling and uncurling inside her, springing from the spot that so loved his touch, even though he was not touching it now, to twine around Rabastan's cock, where she held him snug inside, and growing in intensity with each passing second. She whimpered and clung to him as a sudden shivery explosion bloomed between her legs, bigger and more intense than the night when she had touched herself.

"Knew you wanted it," Rabastan panted. "Fuck, Yaxley! I'm almost there -"

"No -" Maddy gasped, pushing him away. If he finished inside her, maidenhead or no, she might still have his baby.

She felt him slide out of her, and looked up to see his frown.

"I'm sorry!" she cried. "I didn't mean -"

"If you're not gonna let me finish in your cunt, you'll have to finish me another way."

"I know -" she said, reaching for him.

"Not like that."

He grabbed her by the waist, and lifted her down from the ledge.

"Time to put that pretty mouth of yours to good use."

Maddy blinked at him, uncomprehending. But Rabastan's hand on her shoulder, pressing her down, made his meaning plain. She hurried to comply, not wishing to disappoint him again.

His cock looked much bigger, close to. It glistened wetly, inches from Maddy's nose.

"Go on. Give it a suck," Rabastan urged.

Putting out her tongue, Maddy delicately licked the smooth tip. It tasted odd, but not unpleasant. She realised with a jolt that she was tasting herself on him. Wondering at it, she licked him again.

Rabastan's hand gripped her jaw. "Open your mouth."

Obediently, she did so. Immediately, it was full of him, pushing deep, gagging her. She braced her hands on his thighs, wanting to push him away, but his hands were tangled in her hair, holding her.

"Suck it!" he panted. "You're doing great. I'll be done in a minute ..."

Maddy struggled to please him. She could bear it, if it was only for a minute. She could bear anything for the man she loved.

An eternity later, thick, viscous fluid flooded her mouth, bitter with a tang of salt. Not knowing what else to do, Maddy forced herself to swallow it, grimacing with revulsion. She desperately hoped she would grow accustomed to the taste of Rabastan's seed, but for now, it was all she could do not to retch.

Maddy looked up to see Rabastan, flushed and smiling. Taking her by the hand, he drew her to her feet, and folded her in the warmest embrace Maddy had ever known. A thousand flowers bloomed inside her chest as she held him close, listening to the slow, steady thump of his heart, and feeling utterly blissful. Maddy had never been happier, or more deeply in love. This perfect moment, right here, in Rabastan's arms, was the only thing in the world that mattered. She turned her face up toward his, to seal the moment with true love's kiss.

Rabastan pulled away. "That was pretty good, Yaxley. Catch me again once you've brushed your teeth."

Maddy stared at him as he straightened his robes, feeling confunded.

"See you at supper," he said, giving her backside a pat, then he ducked out from behind the tapestry, and walked away, whistling.

As soon as Rabastan was gone, the air shimmered above Maddy's head, and Myrtle appeared.

"That was - I've never seen it like that before!" she squealed, eyes huge.

Maddy cringed in humiliation, realising everything the ghost girl had seen her do. In all the excitement, she had somehow forgotten about their invisible spectator. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss what had just happened with a nosy apparition.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed the show," snapped Maddy.

"I did," Myrtle sighed rapturously, drifting down to the window ledge in a melodramatic swoon. "When he put it in you, I almost felt something!"

"He didn't really," objected Maddy. "It was only the end bit. It doesn't count."

"If you say so," Myrtle smirked. "From where I was watching, it looked like almost the whole thing."

"If that were true, he would've taken my maidenhead," Maddy hissed between clenched teeth, trying to keep her voice down. "It didn't hurt, and I didn't bleed, so he can't have done."

"It looked like you enjoyed that part, at least."

Maddy scowled. "Are you calling me a tart?"

Myrtle gave her a sour look. "No. It just didn't look like you liked it much when he stuck it in your mouth."

"I didn't mind it," said Maddy stoutly. "I just wanted to make him happy."

"Dunno why you'd bother," shrugged Myrtle. "He doesn't seem very nice."

"Piss off," Maddy spat.

Myrtle gave her a careless wave. "Lemme know when you're seeing him again."

The ghost girl dove through the tapestry and vanished.

Maddy clenched her fists, seething with suppressed rage, then went to make herself presentable for supper.