This chapter is very adult and full of lemons...you've been warned!

This is also the longest chapter so far of this fic, but there was just no way to break it up, so enjoy an extra-long chapter filled with lemons!

Chapter 19

The next few weeks were blessedly uneventful. Harry was constantly trying to figure out ways to corner Professor Slughorn and get the Potions professor to talk to him about the memory; Slughorn, for his part, had taken to fleeing every time he saw Harry coming. It would have been comical had Harry's success not been so vital. Hermione was spending nearly every free moment in the library with Harry trying to find out any kind of information at all regarding Horcruxes, but to no avail. It seemed that any information about them had been all but erased from the Hogwarts library. Not surprising considering they needed Slughorn's memory to give them the missing piece, along with the fact that, judging by the professor's reactions to the few questions Harry had been able to ask, it was almost clearly some type of Dark Magic.

This meant that her time with Draco had been very limited, mostly just very short moments stolen in the evenings and occasionally a few hours at a time on a weekend. They had both been skirting around their feelings for a while now. For her part, Hermione knew without a doubt that she loved Draco. It was just that it felt…weird to simply blurt it out to him while they were snogging or working on assignments in the Room of Requirement.

As for Draco…well, he had also accepted the fact that he was in love with his witch. He harbored a bone deep fear, however, that once he said the words aloud, that love would become a tangible weapon that could be used against either or both of them. That fear, though, was becoming more and more overshadowed by desire with each passing day.

He would sit in the Room of Requirement watching her, learning things about her that slowly drove him crazy with longing. He would watch her as she worked on her Arithmancy assignments, and she would get this look of intense concentration on her face that was sexy as hell. If she was stuck on a particularly difficult equation she would often begin to nibble on the end of her quill. Whenever she was writing essays, she would pull her riotous mahogany curls back into this messy knot at the top of her head, leaving her long, elegant neck exposed to his hungry gaze; all he wanted to do in those moments was to worship that neck with kisses. Everything she did drove him to distraction, dragging him down deeper under her spell.

Finally, after three weeks of near-constant inner turmoil, he snapped. She had started chewing on that damn quill again, hair pulled back from her face, and he knew that if he didn't get some distance between them, he was going to pounce. He stood and began to pace the length of the cozy room, gripping his wand tightly and tapping repeatedly against the outside of his thigh as he did so and paying no attention to the sparks that sputtered from the tip of it.

"Draco!" Hermione scolded, shooting a jet of water from her own wand to extinguish the embers that had just caught fire on the rug as a result of burst of his accidental magic. "What is the matter with you today? You nearly set the room on fire just now!"

"Well, it's not my fault I can't bloody well concentrate on a damn thing!" he shouted back at her. "Not when you're sitting there looking so fucking beautiful that it's driving me crazy!"

He continued to rant, loudly, but Hermione didn't hear much of what he said. He had caught her off guard with his words. He thought she was beautiful? They had spent so much time together, more than a fair bit of that time snogging, she thought, so she had known that he had to have found something attractive about her, but beautiful? And not only when she had been dressed up and made over for the Christmas party, but right now…looking like her plain, ordinary self? The thought warmed her from the inside out as she continued to watch him pace, rambling, until:

"I mean, it's not my fault that the witch that I love is driving me to distraction!"

He instantly froze in his tracks, face currently turned away from her. Hermione stared at his back, absolute disbelief momentarily stealing away her ability to speak. Love?

He turned around, almost comically slowly, to look at her. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"You love me?"

He swallowed hard but did not attempt to take back the words.

"I love you, Granger."

Shit. Shit, shit, shit!

Draco felt like pitching himself off the top of the Astronomy Tower as soon as the words slipped from his mouth. Why in the name of Salazar Slytherin had he said it out loud? He was certain that she would panic at his words and leave, never to come back. After all, who would want to burdened with the love of a worthless fucking Death Eater, let alone someone as perfect and pure and…good as her? He turned around slowly at the deafening silence that followed his shouted declaration of his feelings, bracing himself for the absolute worst.

When he saw the tears filling her eyes and she asked him to repeat the words, he reached for that rare kernel of Gryffindor courage that was buried deep inside, and for which he had never been known, and affirmed the truth of his words.

And then, a miracle happened.

She stood, and he watched her intently as she crossed the few steps to where he stood. She took his wand from his currently nerveless fingers to set it down on the table where their books and assignments were scattered. Then, she reached up to cup his face in her hands.

"I love you, Draco Malfoy. I have for longer than you could possibly know."

They were the sweetest words he had ever heard in his entire life. Better than when he had gotten his Hogwarts letter; better than the few times in his life that his father had actually told him that he was proud of him; better than that day, so many months ago now, when Hermione had found him, broken down and shattered on the lavatory floor, and offered to help him. Her words ("Come on, Malfoy. I'm going to help you out of this.") still echoed in his head at times, serving as a reminder of why he couldn't give up, although that would be much easier, because there was someone out there on his side; someone invested in getting him out of this mess alive.

But these words…he knew that these words would stay with him until the day he died, regardless of just how soon that day could end up coming to meet him.

He stepped forward, closing the remaining few inches that separated them, and pulled her body flush against his own so they were now touching everywhere: chest to chest, hips to hips, toe to toe. Then, he crushed his mouth against hers, reveling in the feel of her full, plump lips pressed firmly against his own. The taste of her sweet mouth was absolutely exquisite, like fresh fruit and sunshine and just as bright and pure as the witch herself, and he luxuriated in it. His arms wrapped around the petite, shapely body that she kept so well-concealed beneath her school uniform and robes, hidden from the view of everyone but him. He knew well, from their last few snogging sessions, just how luscious her body really was. Ever the proper Pureblood gentleman, his hands did not wander any further than her slender waist, but they itched with the desire to learn every inch of her body.

She broke free of the passionate kiss with a moan that drove him crazy, looking up at him with eyes that were feverish and bright with lust.

"Draco," she whispered. "I want… I want to…with you."

Draco felt his heart stop, skipping one beat…two…then begin to beat again in a furious rhythm. She couldn't mean what he thought she meant. Right? There was no way.

"What do you want, Granger?"

He needed to hear her say the words, to know for certain that it was truly what she wanted and not simply wishful thinking on his part. He watched as she swallowed, then squared her shoulders and rose to her full height, which still only brought her up to just below his shoulders. He saw her gather that famed Gryffindor courage around herself like a cloak and for once, instead of mocking her for it, he found himself in awe of it: of her.

"I want to be with you," she said, her voice firm and filled with conviction in spite of the nervousness that was still clear to see on her face. "Fully. Tonight."

Then she used the hand that was still grasping the nape of his neck to pull his head down, slamming her mouth to his in a kiss that was pure passion, fiery and all-consuming. He felt the heat of it racing through his veins like Fiendfyre, burning away all traces of the boy he had been before to leave a new man in its wake: her man. Breaking away with great reluctance, he asked the one question that he had to have an answer to before he would go any further with her.

"Granger… Are you sure about this?"

She looked up at him and he swore that he could actually see the love shining in her warm brown eyes. He hoped, more than he had ever hoped for anything else in his entire life, that he wasn't simply seeing what he wanted to see there.

"I've never been more certain about anything in my life, Draco. Take me to bed."

Draco watched as a huge bed appeared in the corner of the room along with a second fireplace, clearly compliments of the room's magic complying with his witch's silent request. The bed was massive, with comfortable looking, cream-colored sheets. The fireplace nearby was roaring, and the scene was much too inviting to ignore.

He pressed one more kiss swiftly to her lips, then leaned down to lift her into his arms, one arm tucked under her knees and the other cradling her back. She yelped softy in surprise at being suddenly weightless, then wrapped her arms loosely, trustingly, around his neck and held on as he carried her to the bed.

He dropped her onto the soft bed, smiling at her giggle as she bounced on the plush surface. Following her down onto the comfortable bed, he leaned over her to enclose her in the cage created by his arms. He pressed gentle kisses along her jaw and down that long, elegant neck that had teased and tempted him for weeks now, taking the time to tease the spot just under her ear once he saw the way it caused her to squirm in delight. His open-mouthed kisses continued on their path down her neck and to the hollow of her throat, just above her collarbone, while his fingers began to slowly undo the buttons on her white blouse.

His mouth trailed along in the wake of his hands, pressing kisses and gentle nips upon every inch of skin that he revealed. Once he had fully removed her shirt from her body he leaned back, taking a moment to simply bask in the beauty of her tanned, gorgeous skin. He was distracted by the sight of a vicious scar that marred the flesh just above the swell of her right breast; a scar that was unmistakably the result of a curse.

"Where did this come from?" he asked, reaching out to gently run his fingers over it with a lump in his throat at the thought of her being hurt.

"The," she had to pause and clear her throat, husky with desire, "the Department of Mysteries, last June."

Draco felt a gut-wrenching panic. His father had been there… Had Lucius been responsible for it? He wasn't' sure he could bear the guilt if he had.

"Was it…did my father do that to you?"

"No. It was Dolohov, he…um…" Draco could tell that she was having a hard time focusing on carrying on a conversation at the moment, but she tried; for him. "He hit me with some kind of…I don't know what it was exactly, but it was like a purplish whip of flame, from his wand. He was Silenced at the time, so I guess it wasn't as effective as he wanted it to be, but I had to drink quite a lot of different potions and spent several days afterward in the Hospital Wing. But I'm okay now Draco. Please!"

She was squirming by the last word, reaching out for him, waiting for him to continue. As if I could deny this witch anything she asked of me, he thought. His hands reached beneath her body to undo the clasp of her bra, then he pulled the plain white piece of cotton away from her skin to drop it on the floor behind him. Her pert breasts were the perfect size, just plump enough to slightly overflow in his hands, and were tipped with luscious rosy nipples. One of his hands reached out to cup a breast as the other splayed across her side, running up and down from the top of her skirt to the underside of the opposite breast.

He took a moment to look at her face, just to make sure that she was okay. The look he saw there was one of pure ecstasy. Her eyes were closed, breaths coming in shallow pants, hands fisted in the sheets at her sides. Satisfied that she was okay with what he was doing, that she truly did want this as much as he did, he leaned down and drew the tip of one breast into his mouth.

Hermione gasped in surprise and pleasure as Draco's hot, wet mouth engulfed her nipple. Her hands left their anchor in the sheets to grab frantically for purchase in his silky, white-blonde hair. Her backed arched into his embrace without any conscious effort on her part, and she couldn't have kept her squirming legs still even under threat of death. The feelings flooding through her body were unlike anything she had ever felt before. They were all-consuming, and she needed...

"More!"

She heard Draco chuckle, a deep, husky sound, as his lips left her right breast, only to move to the left one and lavish upon it the same attention he had given to its twin. Finally, he resumed his downward trajectory, stopping to plant scorching kisses all over the bared skin of her belly, until he reached the barrier of her skirt. Reaching for the button at her hip that held the garment in place, he easily popped it free of its hole, allowing him to slide the skirt down her legs and following its path all the way down to her feet.

He proceeded to kiss his way slowly, tortuously, up her right leg, starting with her right foot and leaving no square inch of flesh unclaimed. He took several extra moments to thoroughly worship the tender flesh at the back of her knee, which Hermione learned almost immediately to be a shockingly erotic spot. Continuing higher, he carried on until he reached the crease of her thigh where it met the edge of her knickers, only to bypass the place where her body yearned for him most and instead reversing course to show the same care and attention to her left leg.

Just as she felt certain she would go mad with desire, squirming madly on the sheets that lay beneath her body, he came back up to her. He hooked his thumbs under the waistband of her sensible cotton knickers, and her nerves finally overcame her Gryffindor bravado.

"Draco, wait…"

Immediately he stopped, every muscle in his body locking down tightly to comply with her wishes.

"I'm…um, that is…I've never…"

She saw his jaw go slack in disbelief but continued, taking in a deep breath for courage.

"I'm a virgin, Draco," she announced in one sudden exhalation of breath. "I don't want to stop; I just wanted you to know that before we…you know."

She watched as his quick mind processed her words in a fraction of a moment, then he surged forward to lock their lips together in a fiery kiss that told her more about how he felt than his words ever could. Their kiss slowly grew less frenetic, easing until they were sipping at one another like a fine wine.

"I love you, Hermione," he said huskily, his voice now a full octave deeper than normal in the wake of his desire, "but if you're not ready for this, we don't need to go any further. I promise."

If she had thought she loved him before, it was nothing compared to how she felt in that moment. The sound of her name on his lips for the very first time sent shivers racing up and down her spine; it was, without a doubt, the sexiest thing she had ever heard. She could feel the evidence of his desire pressing against her bare thigh and knew that the amount of physical restraint he would have to exert to stop now would be monumental. His willingness to do so, for her, made her heart swell.

But she didn't want him to stop. She wanted this. She wanted Draco.

"I want you, Draco. I'm ready."

He kissed her one last time, reverently, then picked back up where she had stopped him only moments before, sliding back down her body with his mouth leading the way. He slipped his thumbs under the waistband of her panties, stopping just for a moment to look up at her again, then slid them from her body, exposing her to the cool air of the room around them. One finger teased her entrance before sliding into her hot, tight core. She was certain that she was going to combust, so intense was the pressure that he was building inside of her with his intimate exploration.

Slowly he added another finger, and Hermione thought that she truly might just explode; she could feel her body stretching to accommodate him and while it was a bit uncomfortable, it was not painful. Not really. The pleasure coursing through her body at his actions was…indescribable. She writhed beneath his hands, incoherent words and moans spilling from her lips. Finally, when she was sure that she couldn't stand it for another minute, he pulled his hand away from her body.

"You are fucking sexy as hell, Hermione Granger," he growled, and she felt a wave of power rush through her at his words. She didn't know if that was true, but she knew that he made her feel sexy.

He moved to stand beside the bed, stripping his own clothes off quickly and with no ceremony or artifice, then rejoined her in the rumpled sheets. Finally, they were skin to skin, and it was the most blissful feeling Hermione could have imagined. He kissed her again, tongue lazily twining with hers as he slowly pressed his way into her tight body.

It was different than what she had expected; not really a pain, like she had read about in the romance novels that she often borrowed from the library near her house. It was more like an…intense pressure. With one final push, followed by a small stab of discomfort, he was buried fully inside of her body.

"Are you okay?" he asked, panting slightly from the effort it cost him to hold back.

"I'm more than okay, Draco. But I need…I don't know…" she said, straining for something that her mind didn't fully understand but her body already knew, moving underneath him intuitively.

"I know what you need, Princess," he whispered hoarsely. "Stay with me."

He groaned as he slowly began to move inside her, and she felt as though she was being pushed towards the edge of a precipice. She wasn't afraid of the feelings he evoked within her, however; she knew that she was safe in his grasp. She grabbed onto him, arms wrapped tightly around his body and nails lightly scoring his back, and held on tightly. She never wanted to let him go.

Just when she began to believe that she would remain on that edge forever, never discovering what waited below, one of Draco's hands slipped down between their bodies to begin stroking her right above where they were joined, and the feeling was magnified a hundredfold…a thousandfold. Soon she was gasping for air, reaching for something….something… And when she shattered, she didn't fall over the precipice – she flew.

As she came back to herself, she felt Draco's whole body shaking above hers, and then he joined her in that place. The strong cords of muscle in his arms stood out with the tension in his lean frame, and then his arms collapsed, and he dropped down on top of her. For a moment she simply reveled in the feeling of the weight of his body pressing her into the mattress below, of being completely surrounded by him as his body lay atop hers. Then he rolled to the side, taking her with him so that their bodies were still entwined with one another.

She felt sleep tugging at her and, although she knew she couldn't stay the whole night, the temptation to fall asleep in his arms was simply too great to resist. Just for a little while, she thought. I'll sleep here for just a little while, with him, before I go back to Gryffindor Tower.

Before sleep claimed her, she mumbled:

"I love you, Draco."

"I love you too, Hermione," he replied quietly.

She fell asleep with a smile on her face. Her last thought before she was dragged into sleep's welcoming embrace was that she quite liked hearing her name on his lips…

Song Inspiration: Turning Page – Sleeping at Last

The Light – Sara Bareilles

This is my first time writing something quite this spicy (although it won't be the last... wink wink), so hopefully you all enjoyed it!

sbz