CHAPTER FOUR
Friday night, November 28, 1997

Panicked, Hermione tried to dodge under Theodore's arm, but he caught her and turned her to face the wall, pressing in behind, using his body as a barrier against her escape.

"Your talk with Potter was enlightening, especially the part about you dodging your friends at the Samhain Ball," he taunted, lowering his nose to her neck. "But it's your perfume that really gave you away – a light floral that's distinct." He inhaled and gave a deep sigh of pleasure. "God, I've missed this scent! All month, I've been trying to find it again, sniffing around every witch in school like some kind of perv-o lecher. It took standing close to you tonight to recognize it." He kissed her pulse. "I know you were the one, Granger – in that dark storage room in the dungeon on Halloween night. We made love on the old couch in there. I took your virginity. It was definitely an unforgettable experience."

Frightened, she shook her head, hoping to throw him off her trail, but he gripped her shoulders in a tight hold and brought his lips to her ear. "Don't you dare deny it! I know it was you. Your height, the curls of your hair" – he brought some forward for them both to see – "and how soft your skin is" – he ran his fingertips down the front of her throat – "I'll never forget any of that. I can't."

Her body quaked uncontrollably as he once again shattered her sanity to pieces. "You promised not to look for me. Why would you?"

He nuzzled her throat and snickered. "I'm Slytherin," he purred, placing small kisses to her flushed skin. "I lied. As for why, do you really need to ask?" His free hand reached between them to slip under her jumper, un-tuck her shirt and press against her belly. He rubbed in soothing circles over her abdomen, obviously trying to calm her. "Four weeks, and I couldn't stop thinking of you. I needed to know who you were. It drove me mad not knowing. That it's you, Granger," he paused, smiling against her pulse, "is perfect. You've been under my skin since the first time we met, and now you're in my blood, too."

She tried to remain unaffected by his touch, but only this much and her mind took her back to that night, torturing her with memories, making her crave… "What will you do? I'm a 'Mudblood,' remember? The antithesis of everything you stand for. Will you tell your Housemates that you had me first? Malfoy will tear me to shreds, and you know it. But then, I'm sure you'd gain high regard amongst your friends if you did so, wouldn't you?" It was hard not to sound bitter at that last bit.

As if to punish her for such a thought, he lightly bit over her pounding blood point, nudging her shirt collar down with his nose first. "I could care less about that shite. Blood purity is Draco's, Zabini's, and Parkinson's gig - not mine. Besides, you've more than proved that you're twice their worth." He paused, pressing his face into her hair and inhaled again with pleasure. "No, all I want is this right here with you. Nothing else matters."

Mind whirling a mile a minute, she tried to digest what he was saying. "Wait, wait, wait. I don't understand. You've always hated me."

He lifted his head and barked a laugh that was loud enough to make her cringe and worry that someone might have heard it and would come investigating. "I've never hated you, Granger," he contradicted. "I've admired you, and been jealous of that impossibly huge brain of yours and your magical ability. Physically… hell, you were my first wet dream, witch! I've been after your attention for years, but you've been too enamored of the Weasel King to notice." He smoothed her hair over one shoulder, and dropped his cheek to hers. "That I was your first is bloody unbelievable - a fucking dream come true."

The hand that had been caressing her tummy dipped to the space between her thighs, pulling her robes and skirt up so that he could rest the flat of his hand against her knickers. "But see, here's the thing," he whispered in a low, seductive voice, "that one night wasn't enough for me. I want more nights just like it - a lot more." With an agile slip of his fingers, he was under the band and teasing her clit before she could tell him to stop. Her thighs trembled.

"Don't," she begged.

He turned her head with pressure to her jaw so they could look at each other, even as he rolled her small nub of flesh between his index finger and thumb. "You've fucked me up royally, my sweet girl. Every day since Halloween I've woken up with this… hollow feeling… deep in my chest and gut, and my cock would be hard from the dreams I'd have of you." He dipped two fingers down her slit, gathering moisture at her entrance and dragging it up and down through her labia, preparing her for what she knew was going to happen between them. "It's been torture, Granger. I've never wanted anyone this much." He kissed her – just a quick pull of lips. "Did you think about me like that? Was it the same for you?"

She closed her eyes, a hitch in her chest causing her to have to swallow first before replying. "Yes. Every day has hurt. Every day I've ached for you," she admitted, sliding her hand down to join his in its naughty endeavors. Their fingers soon grew sticky together, but the shaking of her heart never ceased and she laid her forehead against his cheek. "I'm scared of this – of wanting you so much."

He rubbed against her like a great cat, skin gliding across skin in an intimate display of affection. "Don't be. It feels right. Nothing else matters but this and us." Their fingers entwined, resting against her most sacred place, and their mouths met with passion once more. "Want you," he breathed between kisses. "Here. Right now. Say yes."

"My wand," she required, needing it to cast the Contraceptive Charm.

He reached into the inner pocket of his robes and passed her his instead. "Use mine."

It didn't have the exact same handling as her wand, but she noted how strangely similar the feel of its magic was to her own when she pressed it to her belly and recited the spell to prevent pregnancy. When it was done, he took the wand from her, dropped it to the floor, and ripped her knickers down her legs, desperate to couple. She caught them with one raised foot when they hit her knees, and dragged them down the rest of the way, while he withdrew from touching her to undress. His fingers flew over his belt and pants, and she heard them drop to the floor behind her. Then, he opened her legs and moved between them. Guiding his aching, weeping length to her entrance, he paused. "Tilt forward a bit." When she complied, he thrust.

It felt amazing to be parted by his thick length again. She cried out, but quickly clapped a hand over her mouth remembering that they hadn't thought to cast a Silencing Charm in advance.

"Shh," Theodore murmured in her ear, already gyrating his hips in a pumping rhythm that drew him partially out, only to drive him back in to the hilt on every return surge. "Nice and easy, my sweet girl. Be quiet now."

He shagged her like that, right there in a darkened nook off the main corridor where anyone could happen across them. Thankfully, the seventh floor wasn't as busy as other floors in the castle, with the Gryffindor Tower entrance the only major attraction to this level – and that was far down and around the corner from where they were at the moment.

"That's it. Want this as much as I do, Granger," he coaxed as she widened her stance and angled her hips up higher, needing him to clip her in that one special spot. As soon as the broad head of his penis began rubbing her just right, her inner muscles pulsed around him. "Slytherin's rod, you're perfect," he praised, stroking her arse with one hand while the other gripped her hip and held her steady. He partially stifled a laugh and thrust hard again and again, causing them both to groan at the intense pleasure-pain. "I'm the luckiest bastard alive." He reached around and caressed her clit, bringing his mouth to her ear again. "Say you'll be my girlfriend, Hermione, and to hell with anyone who doesn't like it!"

It was the first time he'd ever used her first name, and that, combined with his provocative rubbing and plunging into her with strength had her coming before she could think straight. Behind her eyelids, little detonations of white and purple lights went off and she bit down on her hand to keep from screaming.

"Fuck," Theodore gasped, pulling her bum hard into his next pounding drive. "So tight! I can't… I'm coming!"

Pressing his face into the bend of her shoulder and neck to muffle his exhalation of pleasure, he exploded. Hot, wet seed gushed into her. His hips continued to pump even as he ejaculated with each forward lunge.

When it was over, he slumped his weight into her back, holding onto her as if he'd never let go. He kept them intimately connected, driven to the hilt by that last shove. His panting breath was hot through her robes and shirt, and it was a surprise for her to realize that they hadn't gotten naked. He hadn't even opened her shirt to see her breasts, much less touch them. The need between them had been too strong to wait for such pleasantries.

She removed the hand from her mouth and tried to use what little strength there was left in her arms to push them off the wall. Nott stopped her by tilting his weight forward and shoving her back. "Don't move yet," he requested. "I like being in you."

At his words, hateful reality popped her bubble of warm comfort. Godric's bones, had she really just had sex with Theodore Nott again? Was that his softening penis covered in their combined fluids that was just now beginning to ease out of her? Was that really his come dripping down her thigh?

Circe, how odd.

He sighed and withdrew from her body, stepping back. There was a rustling, and then the sound of his trousers being re-zipped and his belt buckle re-fastened. "You regret that," he didn't ask it, but stated it as a fact.

Straightening up, Hermione smoothed her skirt and robes down. The excuse of hunting for her knickers and slipping them back into place gave her much needed time to compose her nerves and consider his statement. Did she regret what they'd done?

When she was ready, she turned to him, noting in the dim light from the corridor beyond how angry and tired he looked. "No, I don't regret it," she confessed.

He seemed surprised by her answer and swung his gaze back to hers, wary. "You don't?"

Looking him up and down, she realized just how tall and handsome Theodore Nott really was. Oh, it wasn't that she hadn't noticed his striking, true blue eyes before, or that his rakishly styled, glossy, chestnut-colored hair, with its long bangs and short cut back and sides hadn't caused her fingers to itch to run through it. She'd paid attention to him, but her preoccupation with a certain ginger-haired git had made it impossible for her to really give serious consideration to another man. Now, however, a whole, new road was laid before her, and she thought it rather exciting and interesting.

It all began here.

"Not a bit," she explained. "It was just a tiny shock to realize that it's you, and that I liked that we… That is to say, I enjoyed… um…"

"Sex with me?" he offered, a hint of a smile twitching at the corner of his teasing lips.

It was funny that her cheeks chose just that moment to light up like a Christmas tree's topper. Embarrassed that she couldn't appear more mature about it, she dropped her eyes to the floor. "Well, yes."

From the top of her vision, she saw him step closer, and then his arms came around her and he pulled her tight to his chest. The strong scent of that same spicy cologne as he'd worn on Halloween night, as well as clove cigarettes clung to his shirt. "Look at me, Hermione."

She did as asked, noting the good six or seven inches separating their heights.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes."

Theodore went from handsome to gorgeous in a microsecond, as a brilliant smile lit up his face.

"Well, that's good to hear," Harry snarked from the entrance of the alcove, holding the Marauder's Map in one hand, his wand in the other. "Because it would suck to have to beat the ever-loving shite out of you, Nott, for shagging my best friend out in the open like you just did. Next time, try a dorm room." He glanced around Theodore to where Hermione was peeking around him and shrugged in apology. "I worried when you didn't get back to the common room by curfew. Sorry." He pointed at the map with his wand, as if that explained how he'd found her and why he was standing there eavesdropping.

Hermione gave her best friend a flat stare. "Harry?"

He seemed to shrink a little under her glare and the tone she'd used. "Right, I'm going. Later!" He made to step away, but stopped, looking back down at the map for a second, folding a few pieces up. "Oh, and by the way, Filch is..." He triangulated where the old caretaker was. "He's apparently prowling the dungeon corridors at the moment." He looked up at them, and pushed his glasses back on his nose, giving them a knowing grin. "Isn't the Room of Requirement just down the way? Might be a good place to lay low for a while, until he finishes his rounds in a few hours. Just saying."

With that, her best friend was gone.

Theodore chuckled, swung her around in his arms, planted a resounding smooch on her lips, and herded them towards the small niche's exit. "There are times I swear that one should have been in Slytherin." He stooped to pick up her satchel on the way out and pretended it was too heavy to pick up. "Merlin's right tit, Granger! What are you packing in this thing - a bag of Bludgers? And was Potter talking about the actual Room of Requirement, like the one mentioned in Hogwarts, A History?"

Pleasantly surprised that he'd read her favorite book of all time, Hermione took her new boyfriend's arm and led him towards the opposite end of the hall, towards the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. "Why yes, Theo, he was. Here let me show you."

TO BE CONCLUDED…

Author's Notes:

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