Annie wasn't sure how long she kissed Elio. It could have been hours. It could have been days. It could have been weeks and she wouldn't have cared because she would have had him. Right now, that was all she needed.

Sometimes their kisses were intense, fiery passion overcoming them as Elio pressed her against the wall and raked his hands through her hair while she struggled to breathe. He would thrust into her and she would almost come undone at the feeling of it. "Please, mia topolina," he would beg into their mouth during those kisses. "Let me have you. Let me show you what it is like to have me."

And then he would thrust again and she would gasp while he grunted into her lips. Elio was hungry during those times. Feral, just like he promised. And the longer he did it, the higher the heat inside of her built, the more she was starting to wonder if she was becoming feral too. Because part of her—a part that was growing the more they kissed—wanted to explore these sensations with him, to know what it would be like to be satisfied by Elio.

Do you like the idea of being mine? The idea that I will make you burn for me as much as I do for you? Well, Annie felt the licks of flames nipping at her ankles and she wasn't sure how much longer she could keep them at bay.

Other times, their kisses were slow and lazy. He would wrap his strong arm around her waist and pull her closer while he took his time tasting her. A different sort of desire overcame Annie's brain when they kissed like that, one she couldn't explain. She had never felt anything like it before. All she knew was that she would keep kissing him forever if she could.

As his lips moved slowly against her, Annie's heart clenched. She leaned into his warm body, noticing not for the first time how much taller than her he truly was. "I love kissing you," he whispered against her lips. "Have I mentioned I love kissing you?"

She bit back a smile. "Once or twice."

"Only once or twice?" His eyes lit up with mischief she was beginning to recognize. The corner of his eyes would crinkle right before he would say something that would make her heart feel like it was going to thud out of her chest. "Well then, Little Mouse, let me say it louder."

"Oh, no. You don't have to—"

But he was already backing away, his arms outstretched as he shouted, "I LOVE KISSING ANNIE!" The sound echoed against the empty black marble of Malfoy Manor. It even made some of the oil lamp flames flicker.

Annie couldn't help it. A giggle burst out of her mouth before she could stop it. Soon, she was holding her hand over her mouth as the lightness of her smile overtook her face.

Elio's eyes widened before he strode over to her, yanking her hand down with a disbelieving look on his face. "You have the most beautiful smile," he murmured, looking at her like he was committing it to memory. "Please don't ever hide it from me."

A light blush came to her cheeks. "Alright."

"Why don't you smile more?" he asked, cupping her cheek and running his finger over her lips. They still held the memory of her giggling.

"I don't know... things like that don't come naturally to me."

"Things like what?"

She leaned into his hand for a brief moment before stepping back. "Being normal. Going out. Talking to others. Smiling."

"And yet you've done all of them with me." Annie was about to open her mouth for a rebuttal—to explain that he was different, that anyone couldn't help but be comfortable around him—but he stopped her by closing the gap between them again. "Those things might not come naturally to you. And you might not feel comfortable doing them but that's only because no one has taken two seconds to look at you and see just how utterly wonderful you are. You are worthy of being normal, Annie. Fuck, you're worth way more than that. Do you know how lucky it feels to be the one that your smile is directed at? It's bloody incredible. I feel like the greatest man on Earth now. I hope I can see it a lot more now."

He thought that he was the lucky one? Had he seen himself? He was the most attractive man she had ever seen. All dimples with a toned, tanned body and hair that was the perfect amount of messy. Eyes that were the perfect amount of blue. A jawline that had her trembling. Had he really seen himself? Because Annie was certain that if he had, he wouldn't be calling himself lucky. She was plain.

Elio leaned down and kissed her cheek. "You're so beautiful," he whispered, seeming to read her thoughts just by looking at her face. "I've never seen someone so lovely, so heavenly, and so enchanting."

Annie gulped before gently nuzzling her face against his. She breathed in his woodsy scent to calm herself. Calm herself? Was it possible that the mere scent of him could already calm her? But when Annie took a deep breath, she realized it was. He wasn't the only one that was enchanted. "I think you're lovely too," she whispered. "N-not just on the outside..."

And then he kissed her again.

It was another one of those sweet kisses, the slow ones that made her toes curl and her brain go fuzzy and her heart thunder. Elio cupped her cheeks with both hands, moaning against her lips.

"Christ, mate, if you're going to suck her face off, at least do it somewhere remotely private," a disgusted voice said from down the hall.

Annie jumped away from Elio, her cheeks already turning red with mortification. Well, she jumped away as much as he could. It was almost as if he had sensed she would be embarrassed and pull away so he clamped a solid grip on her wrist and held her closely to him. Part of her thought it was sweet how he didn't want to be away from her. A larger part of her cared more that she was just caught snogging a man outside of a ball.

She looked down the hall to see bright blond hair and smug green eyes looking between the two of them. Scorpius Malfoy was smirking while he crossed his arms and made tsk sounds.

"Scorpius?" Both she and Elio said. His eyes whipped toward her. "I knew you knew him. How?"

Annie wasn't sure she was ready to tell him who her family was. When people learned that her father was the Dark Lord, it usually went one of two ways. Their eyes would widen and they would tremble in fear while begging for her favor or they would look at her with disgust and never speak to her again. Annie wasn't sure she could handle Elio doing either.

"We've spoken before," she said softly, looking down because she was sure that if she looked up, he would see the lie written all over her face. It wasn't even a lie, really. More of an omission. Still, it felt like a lie when said to the boy who had poured his heart out to her.

"Yes, before," Scorpius agreed with a pointed look in her direction. I'm sorry, she mouthed, instinctively moving toward Elio. When had he become her source of comfort? Just as she was about to move back, Elio moved his arm from her wrist to her waist and began to rub circles on it. Scorpius's eyes zeroed in on the contact. "Well, it would seem you two have become acquainted."

Elio grinned before kissing the side of Annie's head. "You could say that."

Scorpius shook his head with both amusement and disbelief. "I can't wait to see how this turns out. This will be rich. I was just saying how boring things had gotten around here."

Annie's eyebrows furrowed but it was Elio who spoke. "What do you mean?"

A smile danced around the edges of the blond boy's mouth. "Oh, nothing. Just that I can't wait for you to meet the parents. Please do save me a seat for that show."

"Surprised you can even have a seat for a show with your head so far up your ass, you git." Elio pulled Annie closer and leaned in to whisper in her ear, though his voice was still loud enough for Scorpius to hear so it wasn't really that good of a whisper. "Sorry for my friend. He seems to have forgotten how to treat a lady."

"Oh because shoving your tongue down her throat is really how to treat a lady."

Elio grinned and nuzzled Annie's cheeks. "Maybe not a lady but it's certainly how I like to treat my lady. Though I suspect it's more of a treat for me than for her."

My lady. It still felt kind of surreal hearing him call her that. Annie wasn't sure what they were to each other—yes, he had called her his Annie and she had called him her Elio but that didn't mean they were in a committed relationship. She wasn't sure she should want to be in a committed relationship with him. How was she going to be with someone if she could hardly stand to leave her home? If her family threatened him as soon as they learned about him? If she didn't feel like she was worthy of him?

Annie had some doubts that whatever they were could last beyond this shadowed corridor. But when he did things like that—called her his lady and nuzzled her cheeks—it felt like he was slipping past each one. Like he was dismantling her walls one brick at a time no matter how bad of an idea it was to let him in.

She looked up at him and stared into those deep blue eyes. "It's a treat for me too, my Elio," she whispered, never breaking from the ocean gaze.

Elio leaned town and gently placed his lips on hers. But before they could get too far, a throat cleared. Annie surprised herself—and Elio—by not jumping backward. "As much as I love to watch you two snog, I actually did find you for a reason."

With a smile, Elio didn't take his eyes off of Annie as he replied. "And that reason was?"

"The ball is ending soon. I knew that whatever you two were doing in 'secret' probably wasn't something you wanted drunk purebloods to see. Which, by the way, we have to work on your stealth. You're lucky I'm the only one who noticed that it was just you two missing or you would have been the talk of a lot of gossip in the morning. Elio, you're used to the gossip but Annie dear? That might make your poor little heart jump out of its chest in shock."

Elio's arm tightened around her waist. "Like hell, people will be talking about her," he growled.

"They will be if you two don't take this somewhere more private," Scorpius said with a pointed look. "I mean, the corridor right outside of a packed ballroom? It's like you wanted someone to walk in."

Annie's face turned bright pink but Elio just muttered, "Don't worry, darling. Scorpius just likes to be overdramatic. We're far away from the ballroom."

"Not far enough that leaving guests won't find you." Annie's shoulders slumped. He did have a point as much as she didn't want him to. "That's right," Scorpius said, seeming to notice that she was finally agreeing with him. "Whatever you two are doing can be done later. There are plenty of balls and there are, of course, letters. So allow me to escort little Annie here—"

"Don't fucking belittle her," Elio growled. "She's a grown woman and deserves to be treated like one."

Annie's eyes widened as she stared at Elio's (admittedly) very handsome profile. That strong jaw, those cheekbones, the long eyelashes... Did he really just defend her like that? Granted, it was a pretty small offense—one people did all the time, treating her like she was young and helpless—but if he was that willing to snap at his friend and stand up for her, maybe he really could survive her family. Her heart shuddered inside of her chest as a million butterflies flew around in there.

Scorpius held out his hands in surrender. "Okay, jeez. I'm sorry. I won't call her little Annie anymore." Elio's jaw was still clenched and his oceans seemed full of sharp waves but he nodded anyway. "As I was saying, I'll escort Annie to her room so we don't risk her family seeing you with her and causing a problem while you go back home so I can get some damn sleep."

She felt her heart clench. Annie knew that Elio was about to argue with Scorpius's plan but she also knew that he had a point. It would be bad if James saw her go to her room with Elio. Her brother would overreact and Elio would probably stoke the flames. James didn't take too well to humor and it seemed like Elio used it to diffuse the situation more often than not. But Annie also knew that she really wasn't ready to say goodbye to him.

"He's right. We can see each other next week at the Parkinson's ball. I can talk my parents into letting me go."

Elio cupped her cheek. "A week? That's far too long." There was pain in his eyes. Pain and longing.

Annie kissed the palm of his hand gently before stepping back. "I know. But if this is meant to be, then a week won't make a difference."

"No, but it can drive me fucking insane."

She smiled softly. "Thank you," she whispered. "For everything."

"Everything?"

"Standing up for me. It meant more than you will ever know. And... and the dance. The kisses. All of it." She smiled to herself, though it felt a little pained. "I'm not sure if I've ever had such a wonderful time in my life. Tonight was perfect. Thank you."

Elio looked like she had just broken his heart. In a way, she had just broken hers too. Why was this so hard? Because you know your parents probably won't say yes to the Parkinson Ball but you don't want to tell Elio that. Because you finally started to let him in and now you're trying to push him back out again. "Why do I feel like you're saying goodbye?"

A corner of her mouth quirked up. "Because I am."

And then Annie walked over to Scorpius, took his outstretched arm, and walked with her cousin down the hall. She wasn't going to look back at him but something inside of her made her stop and look at those ocean blue eyes one last time before she walked away.

"Goodbye, Elio," she whispered to herself.

Scorpius sighed. "It's probably for the best. I can't imagine your father would approve of any boy, let alone him. I love my best friend but his past is... not ideal. You did the right thing."

But if that was true, then why did everything in the world feel so wrong?

Annie didn't turn back anymore, not even when she could feel his eyes lingering on her back. She just said her goodbyes and kept walking.

I'm trying to get back into writing... I'm sorry! Thank you all so much for understanding. My personal life has been so chaotic but I'm truly trying to find time to update now. Luv u all and thank you for your sweet comments. I love reading them :)