It was the middle of the night when Hermione knocked on the door of the room that had been loaned to Frank. He didn't answer it. She wondered if it was absolutely necessary that he be awake, at least at the beginning, for what she'd planned. In the end, she felt as though waking him up wouldn't be too difficult.

She waved her wand, the lock disengaged, and she walked inside. Sure enough, he was curled up on the far side of the bed. It didn't take a lit candle to see that.

Joining him in bed wouldn't be a problem, there was plenty of space. She dropped the robe from her shoulders, and shivered in the cold air. Nudity and November seldom went together well.

Her footsteps made no sound as she crossed the room, silencing charms were marvelous.

She'd cast a silencing charm on his room right before she knocked, as well. After all, if all went according to plan, there was no telling what kind of noises would be made. It wouldn't do for anyone to hear things that might get them in trouble.

Hermione moved the quilt and got into bed beside him.

Now, do I wake him straight away, or just enjoy that I'm here in the first place? She wondered.

Frank radiated warmth, and she was eager to find out just how hot things might get. Reading everything in sight was a great way to get ideas, but a poor way to test theories.

Boys weren't a good laboratory for such things either. They were dull, often stupid, and wouldn't know romance if it were thrown at them. She wanted a man to learn from, play with, and soothe her curiosity. Truth be told, there was a lot more than curiosity involved.

He'd saved her life. He got to her in a way no one ever had before, and there were feelings attached that she hadn't had the opportunity to dissect.

"What are you doing in my bed Miss Granger?" Frank whispered.

"You weren't asleep?" The fact that he was awake didn't scare her as much as she thought it might. He was a singular man after all.

"I haven't been asleep since you were at the bottom of the staircase. This is another questionable benefit of being me: I know when interesting things are approaching."

"Am I an interesting thing?"

"Oh," he stretched and laughed quietly, "you're an interesting young woman. There's quite a difference, Curly."

"I'm glad of that."

Emboldened, because he hadn't ejected her from the bed straight away, she reached out and touched his left shoulder. As she slid from shoulder to wrist, she felt scars under her fingers. He'd seen so much violence, and it left her wondering if he'd experienced a balance of comfort with it.

-**HPDEB**-

Her hand on my arm wasn't the only thing I noticed.

"You're naked, Hermione."

I looked over my shoulder at her, only her face and halo of curls stuck out from under the quilt.

"What's on your mind? I'd like to know before I ask a young woman to leave my bed."

Her reply was more strident than I imagined it would be. "I'll have you know that I'm an adult and fully licensed to practice magic. And, I'm older than you anyway."

I rolled over and regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "Older than me? How does that math work?"

"I'm seventeen and it is 1996. You mentioned that you're thirty, and that was 2018. Simple subtraction means that in 1996 you're eight years old."

I shook my head and snickered. "You're not to be denied, are you?"

"Not if I can help it. I'd like to know what being kissed by a man is like. Boys fumble and retreat which frustrates me to no end. I'm curious to know what it is like when...the kisser...is more mature. Will you kiss me?"

Hermione's nudity was a pretty decent clue she wanted… stuff. Sure, kissing was part of it, but, not the end. Unless she's a nudist. That's a possibility I hadn't considered.

I blinked, hard, and started to weigh consequences. Age. Charlotte back home, recently gone mad, and barely speaking to me...Tried to kill me twenty-eight times. General moral issues.

After some very fast mental judo matches inside my head, I decided that a kiss is a kiss and needn't mean more. And perhaps she'd to go back to her room after a kiss. Satisfied curiosity and all. Right?

"Okay."

The moment I said the word, she scooted over, and pressed as much of herself against me as she could. Wisely, I'd leaned in at an angle. My staff of manly joys was out of reach. It seemed as though it ought to be.

-**HPDEB**-

"Please, Sir." She turned her face up toward his and tried to still her heart. He might hear it and change his mind.

Frank leaned forward and met her lips. They were soft, eager, and very mobile. More than a chaste kiss by miles.

When they parted, Hermione gasped, "Oh my goodness. Boys really don't know anything."

-**HPDEB**-

I shook my head, partly to clear it, and agreed. "No, they don't."

Where in the Hell had she learned to kiss like that?

"Could we do it again? I'm incredibly curious!" Her eyes glittered in the low light, but I barely noticed over the static in my head.

I nodded, held her face in my hands, and kissed her. She responded even more fervently than before. It was the kind of kiss that makes time disappear. When her tongue met mine, it sent shivers down my back.

I might go to Hell for it, but I forgot the age difference, and responded to her passion.

-**HPDEB**-

Hermione broke the kiss, panting. It was almost too good, and put everything she'd ever read to shame. She caught his eyes, just as surprised as hers, and put her arms around him. She knew she couldn't say that she loved him, but she could honestly admit to liking him very much. And she knew if she had any chance of getting what she wanted, she'd have to ask for it.

He responded to her embrace. She pressed herself against him and stared right into his eyes, and leaned into him. Her lips touched his cheek lightly. So far, her plan was going perfectly!

"I," she stumbled slightly over the word, "want you. I'm tired of boys who don't know anything, and I'm tired of being seen for my brains and nothing more."

Frank swallowed hard, as if things weren't going where he expected.

She whispered her desires in his ear; a sure method of dissolving a man's objections.

"Please, Sir, show me what it's like. Please show me how a man pleases a woman. Bring me to orgasm. Make me...make me cum. Hard. Let me please you. Let me...serve you." Hermione knew now wasn't the time to worry about proper terminology, or embarrassment. This was lust, heat, pure and simple. "I want you inside me so badly. "

She pulled back to see what his reaction looked like. He reached out his right hand and cupped her face.

"Hermione, I'm flattered. You're really beautiful, and I like you...to say nothing of you being courageous, competent, and intelligent."

She heard his sincerity, and was well aware that he was about to show her the door. Disappointment clubbed her heart and closed her throat. She had known this was a possibility, but she'd put herself out there, and she was being shot down.

-**HPDEB**-

Fuck! She's going to cry. I'm not good at this! This is bad! Whoop whoop! Pew pew! Alert! That's what went through my head the moment her eyes turned away from mine.

Sure enough, I felt the muscles of her face contract...she'd clenched her eyes shut...and my thumb caught the first tear.

-**HPDEB**-

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I wanted to be seductive for you. I planned, researched, and I hoped you'd be interested. There's so much I want to experience with you. Please see me, truly see me for all of who I am."

There was one more thing she'd planned as a last ditch effort before accepting defeat. She got out of the bed and whispered, "Lumos".

She posed in the light, moved this way and that, and then stopped. In the end, she stood demurely with tear tracks on her cheeks, lit by warm yellow light.

Hermione hoped against reason that beauty alone-that she was beautiful enough-would move him. Maybe her tears could reach him, too.

She heard him stifle a gasp, and felt a spark of joy. He'd seen something that affected him strongly: her.

-**HPDEB**-

Dear God, she's gorgeous! How could a robe and a school uniform conceal a figure like hers? Impossible!

I nodded and she came back to bed.

My resistance was about to fall over into messy pieces.

I only had one hand left to play before I caved in. I could tell her the truth. She was blindingly beautiful, and my ability to tell her no was compromised.

-**HPDEB**-

Hermione joined Frank in bed, but didn't extinguish the light. He could see in the dark, but her eyes were more limited without charms. She did not burrow under the quilt either, cold wasn't on her mind. It felt good to be seen by him and watch the expressions move across his features.

There were so many expressions to watch, too!

Frank surprised her when he pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. His chest was against hers, and it felt like a comradely hug. Suddenly, she wondered if being invited to bed was just the prelude to failure.

She felt a little angry, and very disappointed.

"Are you hugging me because I'm a child?" Asked Hermione, bitterly.

"No, I'm hugging a friend, a woman, who's crying," he whispered in her ear.

Hearing that made her cry just a bit harder. So close! Such a failure!

"Not because you think I'm beautiful?" She sniffled at him "Or am I not enough to merit more?"

-**HPDEB**-

"Hermione, I'm not good with words. Hurting your feelings is the absolute last thing I want to do."

"Then tell me why you won't...one good reason...see me as a woman who desires you." There was bare steel in her words.

I blew out all the air in my lungs, forcefully enough to ruffle her hair. Honesty was the best policy, and I really wanted her to leave on her own and not order her away.

"I do see you as a woman who desires me. I don't know why you feel that way, but I can accept that you do." I caressed her cheek, and contemplated what I needed to say next.

"Then why?" Hermione began.

"Just a minute, I'm not finished. There's someone I care for at home." I felt her deflate. "She was terribly injured and I wasn't able to protect her when it happened. She lived, but we lost our unborn child, and she went crazy."

-**HPDEB**-

Hermione's hands flew to her face, dislodging his arm. She was mortified at herself, and heartbroken for what had happened to him and the woman he must have loved very much.

She whispered, fresh tears dampened her fingers, "Can she see you through her madness?"

-**HPDEB**-

"Curly, she's tried to kill me a number of times." I stopped to take a breath before saying something I've wanted very much to ignore. "I haven't wrapped my brain around the truth. Charlotte and I didn't survive what happened."

What Hermione did next nearly broke me. I'm good at pushing heartbreak away, until someone kicks my walls over. This little witch was perilously close to doing just that.

-**HPDEB**-

She couldn't help herself, Hermione pulled him close. Comforting him was more important than anything, even her desires.

"I'm sorry Frank. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"You didn't. I just hurt." He shrugged. "I have to let go sometime or I'll never heal."

"Let me help." She kissed him on his cheek. "May I please, Sir?"

-**HPDEB**-

I lay there with her arms around my neck. Me… a rogue, a murderer, unsure of my humanity, and felt my throat tighten. She was honest, to her core. She actually cared, and she barely knew me.

I told her the truth, and she was kind to me. That frightened me to death.

I whispered, "I don't want my hurt to spread to you. I don't want this to be a bad decision and backfire."

-**HPDEB**-

She straightened her spine and stared into his eyes.

"Mister Stewart, I know my own mind, and the consequences of my actions." She softened. "Don't throw me out of bed. Please don't."

He didn't, he kissed her again instead. His hands moved against her body, and she wanted to melt.

She was used to having a mind that wouldn't shut up or let ideas go, but his lips on hers dropped her into a place where all she could do was feel and react. The way he touched her breasts, how he knew what he wanted and just did it, made her heart skip beats.

"More! Please!"

-**HPDEB**-

I was stuck between incendiary lust and aesthetic bliss. Hermione's body was the sort of perfect that only young people have, and only then for about fifteen minutes until age catches up. I wanted to consume her. Worse than that, I wanted to keep her. It was exactly what I'd been afraid to feel, and right then I really didn't give a shit.

It was about time I faced the truth. If I ever stood a chance to be happy, I needed to face the things I didn't want to: Charlotte and I are done, and taking responsibility for what happened to her was killing me.

The woman in my arms surged against me and pressed herself as flat to the front of me as she could. Then she writhed. I couldn't help myself, I growled.

As I kissed her she ate at my lips.

-**HPDEB**-

She felt the effect she had on him; he was pressed against her thigh, and she wanted it. Images flashed through her head. Every position she'd ever encountered in a book, gymnastic or not, flooded her imagination, almost as though the images themselves were having a riotous orgy. It was glorious!

Hermione tried to grab his erection, but it was just out of reach. She would have stretched to have it, but Frank put his hand in her hair. When he pulled it, exposing her throat, she made a noise that was between a moan and a cry of joy.

In a flash, she knew something undeniably true. She would do anything he wanted, give him everything, for as long as he wanted her. There was no more bluster in her, not for him.

It was exactly what she wanted, and scared her more than Death Eaters.

Frank's lips on her neck and his hand in her hair filled her with a ferocious joy. She couldn't help but buck her hips against him, and she felt him growl against her throat.

"What have you been been reading Miss Granger?"

"Everything!"

Frank licked her ear, and whispered his next question. "There were things you wanted to know, Curly. How a man pleases a woman, that's one I recall."

-**HPDEB**-

I let go of her hair and she looked at me with spaced-out, glassy eyes, and nodded. It was all I could do not to laugh. She looked like a bobble head, and it made me incredibly happy...more than anything else in recent memory.

"This is one way." I said to her and slipped my hand between her legs.

-**HPDEB**-

She'd never shied away from exploring her own body, and enjoyed it as often as was practical, but his fingers drew screams from her mouth.

Every book about sex she'd ever read tried to describe how intense pleasure can be, and those words didn't do it justice. Nothing had prepared her for how her body responded to his touch.

"Oh no, Hermione, you're not done," Frank purred after her first orgasm peaked and subsided, "there's at least one more."

"No," she gasped, "I can't. There's no way."

He proved it six more times.

"I don't think I can move." Her head lolled towards him. "I'm not sure I'm breathing. I can't be breathing. I've expired from orgasms."

Frank chuckled and assured her that she was completely wrong.

"Hm. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it?" He mumbled.

"I...I might...perhaps," it annoyed her to no end that she was slurring her words, "be offended by...what you said."

"Oh? Would you rather I use my mouth to further your education?"

"God! I really would die!," she protested, and rapidly changed her mind. "Yes, please,Sir!"

A while later, maybe a whole eternity, Hermione was grateful she'd said yes. Very grateful indeed! He barely had his tongue on her before she was begging for more of it, and for everything else she could think of. She thought she'd be embarrassed by all the things she said, but that was something to be dealt with afterward. Other things were more pressing on her mind.

"May I," a sudden attack of shyness burst against her fortifications, "pleasure you? May I? I want to...your...erm...make you. Anything you want from me!"

-**HPDEB**-

I didn't laugh. She'd been very vocal about her desires when I was playing between her legs. Raunchy as hell, in fact. The switch from salacious to nervous was adorable.

"I'd like to be practical for a moment. I don't have condoms here. Do you?" I asked her.

-**HPDEB**-

"Oh!" She felt as though she was on more solid footing, and could address his concern appropriately. "Contraception charms and potions were taught in a magical version of sexual education in first year. I...erm...took the potion before coming here. It works for a month."

"Oh. I see." He nodded, and bent over to kiss her. "In that case, what was it you wanted?"

"I want you inside me. I want to know I pleased you...I want to...God, I want to please you, Sir!"

Frank was stunned by the sheer force of her words. If he'd opened his mouth to speak, he would have babbled like a fool.

"Please." Hermione whispered. "It's what I've wanted. You saved me. Let me serve you, and be with you."

She was spaced-out by a flood of sensations and unfamiliar desires...deep desires. It was so intense she wanted to beg, and cry, and do demeaning things if only he'd take her.

"Ok, Curly."

He fell into her outstretched arms and took what she begged him to. Her joy mesmerized him, her passion defeated his self-control, and the pleasure made him an animal.

After, they rested in one another's arms. She was so tired, but so fulfilled.

"Thank you, Sir. It was more than I ever dreamed." A sudden stab of insecurity came. "Did I...did I...please you? Did you enjoy me?"

"Yes. Dear God, yes. You're amazing, Hermione. Absolutely amazing!"

She was so happy she cried, and laughed, and snuggled into him. Her plan had worked, and she'd pleased him very much. If this was contentment, she wanted more of it, every single day.