Hermione's mind was racing. She had three options and choosing the right one could be the difference between victory and irrevocable failure.
"Knight to H3." The knight shattered Zabini's bishop before taking its spot. "Check."
Blaise rested his chin on his laced fingers while looking over the board. He responded with a sly grin. "Castle to H3. Check again."
Hermione's face broke out in a smile. "Queen to G1. Checkmate."
Blaise's face fell as his eyes flew around the board. Goyle laughed from his chair and Blaise swore under his breath as he pulled out ten galleons and dropped them in Hermione's waiting hand.
They had shown up earlier in the evening looking for Malfoy. Hermione impulsively opened the door when Blaise kept banging and shouting her name. The arrogance of pureblood men was in fact not limited to Malfoy.
Blaise's insistent questioning somehow led to a battle of wits. After several rounds of quizzing each other, Blaise challenged her to a game of chess. Deciding to put money down as a sign of his confidence. Unfortunately for Blaise, Ron had several months when they were on the hunt to teach her all his tricks and techniques. It was Hermione's most satisfying win to date.
"Finally!" Goyle exhaled, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. "It's been hours. Are you sure they were meant to come back tonight?"
"The Dark Lord required their attention after the ceremony. They should be back any moment now." Blaise answered, still staring at the board and replaying his final moves.
"How do you know that?" Goyle asked.
"Nott told me." He said holding up a pocket journal.
"Is that a charmed journal? Does Theo have its twin?" She reached out to grab it, only for Blaise to use it to slap her hand away.
"Yes. And no you cannot see it." He said, putting it back inside his chest pocket.
"Did you make it yourself? I've read about these. How do you keep the link undetected? Do boundary wards effect its abilities?" She fired off.
He sat back, crossing his leg. "Well, well, something I know that you don't. I knew it'd be revealed eventually."
Hermione opened her mouth to ask more questions right as Draco and Theo walked in from the hall. Draco's look of shock quickly changed to annoyance when he saw the three of them.
"Was there some kind of emergency?" Draco said to no one in particular.
"Just waiting for you. Figured this is your preferred place for sharing top secret information." Blaise answered for them.
Draco walked around the sofa where Hermione sat, giving her shoulder a squeeze as he passed and took a seat opposite Goyle. Theo was left to sit on the couch next to her. He gave her an awkward smile before subtly glaring at Blaise on the other side of the coffee table.
"You lot getting comfortable?" He tried to say lightly.
"You missed an impromptu N.E.W.T.S. exam," Goyle complained.
"Greg is just upset because he was out in the first round. I had to test the golden girl. See if she really lives up to the expectations."
Draco looked at Hermione who gave a boastful smile, "And?"
"She did alright," Blaise said flatly.
"Granger wiped the floor with him. It was the only redeeming part of the evening. Took him for ten galleons in chess." Goyle teased, excited to finally poke fun at Blaise for once.
"You lost money to Granger?" Theo laughed.
"He is the one who insisted on it. I would have happily beaten him for free," Hermione quipped.
"Another round. I have to see." Theo insisted.
"No. Say what you came to and then leave. You can take one of the open guest suites on this floor if you don't want to travel home at this hour." Draco snapped and then looked at Hermione. "This is not a public room, Granger." His softened tone made Theo scoff.
"Some of the guys in my unit have been expressing their frustration, for lack of a better term, on the Dark Lords policy on relations." Voldemort's aversion to personal relationships has evolved since he forbad courtships. Even married members were getting assigned to separate missions. Hermione had noticed the change in followers too.
Draco nodded, "Tread carefully. We can always pull back and claim we were testing them if someone gets suspicious." The group continued to debate on how best to approach potential defects. Hermione had a list of people who she felt were great candidates, but she had no tangible explanation on how she came across the information.
Draco finally kicked them out after another hour. The second the door was closed, Draco pulled Hermione up from the couch into his arms.
"Was it horrible?" Hermione asked gently. The last time Draco attended a ceremony at Hogwarts, he came home covered in blood. He nodded against her before letting her go.
"I need to wash up, I'll be quick." He said before grabbing her hand to pull her along with him, "You don't have to wait out here."
She shook her head with a smile, "I'm not sharing your bed, Draco. "We get carried away enough as it is," she whispered.
"That is doing the opposite of convincing me, Hermione." He said lowering her to the couch and took his place on top of her.
Hermione wasn't surprised when Anthony signaled for them to meet. It had been such a long time since they'd spoken last.
"Is everything alright?" She asked from behind the cloak once he had performed the silencing charm, and he jumped at the sound of her voice. She giggled at his expense and then revealed herself, now within the safety of the hidden alcove.
"That is the most efficient invisibility cloak I have ever seen. How did Harry get it?" Anthony asked once he could see her.
"Chosen one."
I'm sorry I haven't got any more letters for you," he told her."I haven't gotten a chance to get away and owls aren't safe."
"It's okay. I'm happy to at least get to see you when I can." She pacified him.
"Did Malfoy tell you about Neville?" Hermione took in a sharp breath and shook her head. "He was helping students escape from Hogwarts. He survived but they held him there for a few days." Voldemort only let the students leave the school on business for him. It is part of the reason death eaters have been bringing their sons and daughters around the manor.
"What'd they do to him?" she asked timidly.
"Locked him in the dungeon with a bogart the first two days. The last day they hit him with the cruciatus until he lost consciousness. He woke up in the shack outside of Hogsmeade with his wand. Doesn't know how he escaped." Anthony looked like he was waiting for her to fill in the gaps. Unfortunately, Draco hadn't told her anything.
"Who do you think helped him?"
Anthony started to look nervous before answering. "The head boy and girl would have had access to dungeons. They manage students who are being punished."
She hated hearing about the conditions at Hogwarts. About how far the school had fallen from the magical sanctuary it had once been.
"Anyways that is not the reason I needed to talk to you," he went on, becoming more serious. "Dolohov approved my request to be stationed at Hogwarts. I'll still come here for the formal once a week but other than that I will be at the school or in the field."
Hermione was struck. "You asked to be reassigned?"
He nodded, "All of the attacks we have stopped so far can be linked to here. I'll need to get info from Hogwarts or literally anywhere else if we want to keep them from putting it together."
It made sense. She hardly got to speak to Anthony but seeing him every day was like her lifeline to the outside world.
"Things still working with your Malfoy arrangement?"
She nodded and he didn't pry further. He checked the time and they made quick work of their goodbye. She tried not to be too disappointed, she would still see him at least once a week.
Lucius was storming the hall when Hermione was making her way back upstairs and there was something about his demeanor that led her to follow him. As he passed a group of snatchers providing their debriefs, he grabbed Draco and pulled him towards his private study. She had to get right behind them to hear what they were saying.
"She's stronger than you think. She'll be fine," Draco hissed back at his father.
"The mind is a delicate thing Draco. Restricting contact with the outside world can damage even the sharpest among them."
"You don't know her-."
"You need to be prepared." Lucius snapped as he opened the door to the study, "You are ignorant if you think it'll be the same once-"
The door shut, and silence filled the hall. They couldn't be talking about her. If Lucius knew she was there, he would have either let her go or killed her by now. It gave her some peace until her mind drifted to a certain head girl.
Theo was blocking their door when she returned to the suite. She silently prayed he would just give up and go away.
"I know you're in there," He whispered into his cupped hands on the door.
No divine intervention it seemed. Sneaking around him, she went into one of the empty rooms on the floor. She pulled out a blank piece of parchment quickly folded it.
"Avis", she whispered, and the paper bird started to flap its wings. It didn't transform but it was good enough to take flight. She stood against the wall out of sight of the portrait. "Oppugno."
Nothing.
"Oppugno!" She hissed a little bit harder, but the folder parchment refused to attack Malfoy's ancestor's portrait. Growling she smacked the portrait from where she stood.
"Who's there?!" The aristocratic man wailed for the frame. Hermione grinned, reaching over and shaking the frame again to get the old racist man really riled up.
She ran out of the room as he continued to yell threats and obscenities. Theo was already walking down the hall towards the noise.
"HAVE YOU NO RESPECT?!"
"Oh, pipe down Actaeus, I'm only looking for Draco." Hermione heard Theo console the painting before she closed the door to their suite.
She exhaled with her back to the door and shoved her cloak in her bag, stashing it in her cupboard right as Theo resumed his knocking. She may not admit it, but a part of her was excited he was so adamant to talk to her. Hermione opened the door enough to grab his arm and yank him inside.
"Patience minx, we're just getting to know each other." Hermione realized then she was standing nose to nose with him and took a step back.
"What are you doing here?" She can't help the way her voice tunes up at the end with excitement.
"Malfoy asked me to come check on you."
Hermione crossed her arms, "No he didn't."
"Alright, I wanted to come check on you." He walked over to the couch and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. "And I brought favors," he said, wiggling a small jar.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I don't smoke," she fiddled with her hands in her lap. "Would you like anything to drink, pumpkin juice?" Theo thoughtfully pursed his lips and put the jar back in his pocket.
"You and Blaise seemed to get on," he said, ignoring her offer. "He's been talking about you constantly the past few days."
"Yeah- uh, Blaise was great! Greg too. Well he was… more of a spectator really…" Hermione lost her voice as Theo openly looked her over. "It almost felt like being back at school."
"Hm. I thought so," he snapped out of his thoughts and relaxed back in the seat.
"Thought what?" Hermione knew Theo was acting weird.
"It appears to me that you are trying to fill a Potter and Weasley shaped hole in that little Gryffindor heart of yours." If Theo was attempting to sound playful, he was failing miserably. His smile looked anything but friendly. "Now I don't spend as much time with Malfoy as you, you got me there. But he doesn't strike me as the Weasley."
Hermione was struck dumb. She just stared at him and blinked while he raised a brow at her. She huffed a laugh, but Theo didn't return the gesture. There was only one reason he would be averse to Blaise being deemed as 'the Weasley'.
"I don't fancy Blaise, Nott." She finally retorted and he instantly looked uncomfortable. He looked down, fiddling with a string on his robes.
"Every girl fancy Zabini, Granger, it is nothing to be ashamed of," Theo said looking up through his lashes. "Draco insists you're not shagging. And both of you were so adamant about that fact the other day. I couldn't blame you for getting lonely. Even a golden girl like yourself would hardly have to lower her standards to be with someone like Blaise."
How are all boys so stupid?
"Just because were not shagging doesn't mean that we're not involved. There are several other ways to be intimate before reaching that… stage." She lost a bit of her nerve at the last word. She lost it completely when she saw Theo's satisfied grin.
Fucking snakes.
Theo failed miserably at getting his face back to neutral. "Plenty of ways, yes. And which ways has Malfoy convinced you to be intimate-"
"I'm not telling you!" She shouted back.
Theo lost it. He was giggling to himself with both amusement and pride as he pulled out his pocket journal to scribble notes to Blaise. The two of them must have orchestrated this interrogation together. Hermione couldn't help how infectious Theo's chuckle was and was smiling while she ripped the journal out of his hands.
'Malfoy is a big, wanking, Gryffindor snogging, LIAR-'
Hermione slammed the book closed and proceeded to assault him with it.
"I'm sorry! Blaise made me!" He laughed between hits. "And you have no idea what he promised me if I were successful." He winked and snatched his journal back.
"Why do you two care so much?!"
"Malfoy is so pretentious. Not to mention a prude. The only thing more shocking than him having a girl in his room, is having that girl be you." He pulled out his small jar and parchment again. "I'd fancy a pumpkin juice if you're still offering?"
Hermione called Neddy and she was setting up tea and snacks while Theo rolled and chuckled to himself. He took the first long drag and then offered it to her, but she politely declined.
"What do you do all day in here?" He asked, looking around.
"Read mostly."
"Do you have to stay here all the time?"
She opened her mouth to respond but didn't know how to answer without making it sound like Draco was holding her hostage. "I've been out to the grounds a few times with Malfoy when there aren't as many people around. But, yes. Mostly just in here."
Theo pulled out his notebook and smiled around the joint as he read a few lines from Blaise. He suddenly looked up at her. "Quidditch pitch?" Hermione confirmed with a nod.
Hermione fixed herself a cup of tea before turning the questioning around on Theo. He was proven too good at getting secrets out of her. He was witty and clever but didn't make her stumble over her words like an idiot the way Malfoy.
"So… you and Blaise," She asked tentatively. He looked at her like he was daring her to continue. "Did you make those journals yourself?" If she could get her hands on one, maybe she could communicate directly with the Order.
"Sorry Granger. You'll have to write your prince love letters the old fashion way. It's a right of passage." He stood up to leave. "I'd be happy to pass any along for you if you'd like?"
"As if I'd trust you with it." She muttered while he walked away.
"We'll earn trust in time. Just keep your hands off my man, yeah?" He teased her and grabbed the handle on the door. "Well, your hands wouldn't know how to do much anyways, would they?"
She attempted to steal her expression, but she could feel the heat in her face betray her. Theo chuckled as he left the room smugly, having got one more piece of compromising information from her.
Hermione's world was shrinking and becoming bigger all at the same time. Every other relationship she had now came with the caveat of secrecy. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't tell Draco about her friendship with Anthony, he wouldn't want to risk the exposure. She also felt it wise that she didn't tell Anthony about her interactions with the other Slytherins. It was only fair; they couldn't mention her presence to anyone.
What a mess.
She sat on the balcony until after sunset and the coolness of the night forced her back inside. She turned the water in the shower so hot her skin was still steaming for several minutes after she walked out. She opted for her silk pajamas, a set of shorts and a shirt with thin straps, to let her body cool down.
Draco was back and waiting for her on the couch in his room. He had his occlumency book out on the table and seemed to be in the middle of a meditation. Emboldened, she walked up behind him and tilted his chin back so she could bring their lips together. He responded immediately, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth, and gently tracing her cheek with the back of his finger.
"Hello gossip."
She scrunched her face. "Sorry."
His eyes raked over her, and she would be lying if she said the revealing fit of the silk set didn't play a part in her choosing it.
"Did they give you too much of a hard time?" She asked innocently, sitting on the floor between them.
He blinked and cleared his throat before answering, "I have years of dealing with their harassment. You'll have to learn to recognize their antics soon."
"Are they going to come here often?" She sat up excitedly.
"They will if you keep opening the door," he taunted her as he leaned over the table.
Hermione simply shrugged and Draco stood and walked to the study. He came back in with his chess board under one arm and his whiskey in the other. He set the board down and the pieces took their positions. Hermione nodded her head in understanding.
"Am I meant to let you win?" She asks him sweetly.
"No need," he said, taking a swing of his drink. "I figured you may want to practice against some real competition."
"Ah. And how much does my "real competition" have riding on winning?"
Draco unbuttoned the cuffs of his sleeves and rolled them up, revealing the top on the dark mark on his forearm. "Fifty galleons."
They were both more conservative with their moves in the beginning of the game. Hermione determined to win as ever and Draco refusing to lose his bet with Blaise. Hermione liked when he thoughtfully furrowed his brow in a way that looked innocent rather than intimidating. He started twirling the broken pieces in his long fingers as he thought through his turns. When he started to trace his lips with his fingers, she snapped.
"Stop trying to distract me!" She said after neglecting to play her turn for over two minutes.
"You're one to talk, wearing nothing but scraps!" He gestured to the thin strap that had fallen off her shoulder causing the front to slip down.
"I didn't even know we were going to play!" She exclaimed while she fixed it. "Besides I'm not the one that has anything to lose."
She could see the moment an idea strikes him. "Care to make a wager?"
"Let me check my vault."
"I don't want your money, Granger."
"Bishop to B8. What do you have in mind?" She said as she picked up the pieces of a pawn.
He surveyed the new position on the board while he thought it over. "How about, if I win you must refer to me as a professor for a full twenty-four hours."
"That's stupid."
"Well, it wouldn't incentivize you if it was something you'd enjoy." He said looking up through his lashes.
"And what enjoyment would you get out of it exactly, Professor?" She snarked and he groaned before taking a sip of his whiskey.
"Castle to A3. Yep. That's my prize. Now you pick something."
She looked around the room, trying to find inspiration. "If I win. I get to sleep in your bed."
His jaw went slack. "I forfeit."
"Alone!" She clarified with a grin.
"You cruel girl." He took a large drink, looking over the board intensely. "Fine. If I win, you address me as professor. If you win, we trade sleeping arrangements for the evening." The shake hands over the table and go back to playing in silence.
Hermione won. It was almost too easy.
He was sulking in the doorway of the bathroom as she crawled up the bed falling into the fluffy pillows. She turned to Malfoy with a huge smile on her face and wiggled her fingers at him in greeting. He raised both brows and wet his lips before backing into the bathroom to shower, closing the door behind him.
He wore only pajama bottoms when he walked out and his mouth was still tasting of spearmint toothpaste as he kissed her goodnight.
"Nox," he whispered and the room was black.
Hermione lost track of him as he walked away. She was starting to feel a little guilty when she felt a weight shift on the other side of the bed. She knew he was being too mature about this.
"Malfoy!" she scolded as she sat up.
"Shh, it's late." He said snuggling up next to her. She couldn't help but laugh. She shoved his shoulder so that he was lying flat.
"I won. We had a deal. I get the bed; you take the couch." Hermione said, flopping back down.
"No. Our official agreement was to trade sleeping arrangements. Your arrangement always includes the option to share my bed. It's not my fault you never take advantage of it."
That cheat. She ought to scold him on the decorum of fair play. He just looked so pleased with himself and she would hardly be able to think straight with him smiling at her like that.
"Fine, I'll just take the couch then."
"No good. I would never do that." Hermione turned on her side to face him, trying to purse her lips together to hide her smile.
"You lost on purpose."
He leaned in to kiss her. "Best fifty galleons I'll ever spend."
Her Slytherin was just as cunning as the rest it seemed. Though, his cleverness had a unique effect on her. She deepened their kiss, pushing her body flush against his. He returned her enthusiasm, but he kept his hand firmly on her to keep the most important parts of them from touching.
It was maddening.
She wound her arms tightly around his neck and she could feel her nipples harden against him through the thin silk of her camisole. Draco must have felt it too. Not a moment later he pinned her arm to the bed. He looked her over, her chest rising and falling, nearly exposed and the flimsy straps had fallen off her shoulders again. The moonlight coming in from the window illuminated the side of his face. It was so subtle; his features would be lost in the shadow of the night if she didn't know to look for him. No one else had likely ever seen him this way. The way Draco looked in his bed, lit up by the moon. Another part of him she wanted to keep for herself.
He unlaced their fingers to bring his hand to her breast, running his thumb over her barely covered nipple. She leaned into his touch wanting more. Encouraging him. The next moment, his mouth was on her and she could feel the warmth of his tongue as he enveloped her peak through the silk.
Hermione arched into his mouth. The pleasure shot straight between her legs as he continued to trace her nipple with his tongue. It was a line between ecstasy and torture as he still neglected to touch the part or her that she needed the most. Why wasn't he touching her? She didn't know how to ask for it. She had never had to in the past.
Oh my god.
Theo's words from earlier in the day came racing back to her. She has never touched him. And he was right- she didn't know how. But if Draco felt anything like she did now, how she touched him would hardly matter. Is this how he felt every time they indulged in each other?
She really was cruel.
She quickly turned so they were both on their sides. She kissed his neck like she knew he liked and slowly tracing her hand down his stomach until her fingers started to slide underneath his pants. She moved slowly, giving Draco time to stop her if he wanted.
He grabbed her wrist and held it just outside of his waistband. She looked up at him, and it was clear by his blushed face and hooded eyes that he was just as aroused as her.
"I want to touch you," she breathed, remembering how good the words sounded when they came from him. He choked on his breath in response, and she felt victorious for the second time that evening. She tested moving her hand again, but he just held onto her wrist tighter.
"I just- I-… oh, fuck me…" he growled shoving his face in the pillow. "Not tonight. Tonight, I am proving that you can sleep here without us getting carried away."
He sounded as unhappy with the arrangement as Hermione felt. Hermione met his lips again, determined to change his mind. She was already carried away. Far away. She wanted him to go with her this time.
"We should go to sleep," he whispered, barely audible as he moved her hand off him and pinned it to the bed next to her head. He started kissing down her collarbone and chest, making his way back to where the silk was still wet from his mouth.
"Please," she moaned. He finally took mercy on her, tracing his hand down her body until he cupped her between her legs.
"Is this what you want?" he whispered in her ear, and she nodded enthusiastically.
He pushed her leg and she let her knee fall to the side. She was more open than ever before, Malfoy's bed allowing room for him to spread her legs further apart. When he finally slid his hand between her folds she whimpered and closed her eyes.
"Look at me," he said, commanding yet gentle. She obeyed immediately and locked eyes with him. The next moment, he slid a finger inside her while circling her with his thumb.
"You're so close, aren't you?" he said in awe, moving his finger and thumb in rhythm with one another. She was. She was trying to hold on. She wanted to feel his hands and hear his words for a little bit longer.
"Can you take more?" he whispered with a shallow breath in her ear. She nodded again, but he didn't accept it as an answer this time. "Tell me."
"Yes," she whimpered, and he took her earlobe between his teeth as he pushed another finger inside of her.
She could hear Draco encouraging words in her ears and he pushed her over the edge. She was saying something herself, but it was too complicated for her to understand. All too far away from where his hand continued to move in and around her.
It was the longest the pleasure had ever coursed through her. When she came back down, she looked up at Draco and wasn't surprised he had been watching her. She pulled her legs back together, starting to feel self-conscious of the excessive way she had been spread before him. When he finally removed his hand from her, the same light that illuminated his face now made his fingers glisten with her essence. Draco didn't seem to mind. He just fixed her shorts and shirt to cover her more appropriately.
Hermione felt a bit sticky with sweat but Draco pulled her straight onto his chest and started caressing up and down her back. She rested her arm on him and started tracing small circles with her fingers where they lay while they muttered their goodnights.
She kept waiting for shame to creep up and overwhelm her. But it never did. There was only Draco holding her and sleep that eventually came to take her.