Previously on Love Vessel Chapter 2: Books

Draco cleared his throat. "I was surprised to find you at the Fantasy Faire now I'm doubly surprised to find you have an interest in the twisted side of magic. I knew there was a reason we clicked."

Hermione sighed. "We haven't clicked Draco. And I have no idea what you mean by twisted magic. I'm simply following up on a book I need to round out a set. If you can assist me, I won't refuse your help."

Taking Hermione gently by the elbow, Draco steered her towards the books stall where he informed her he was sure he could help.

Pulling her arm from Draco's grasp, Hermione snapped at him in a low voice. "Enough with the signifying Draco. It's an old and tired trick. Everything isn't about where you get to stick your dick. I'll look for the book myself."

Hermione strode away with Draco right on her heels. "Slow down Granger. I was being serious. Why only volume two? Do you have the other volumes? I told you, I'm familiar with certain things. I know exactly where to find volume two."

With arms folded, Hermione stood waiting for Draco to elaborate on his statements, hoping the bloody prat wasn't having her on. Because, if he was….

/************************************************************************

Chapter 3: Draco

The last forty eight hours had been mind blowing for Draco. For the second time in his adult life, he'd been knocked off balance by the actions of good girl Granger.

As a Malfoy, Draco had found himself invited into circles that were less than …. stellar. The slightly gray, slightly dangerous world of Fantasm had been one. Fantasm was a small, exclusive world unknown to most wizards, and even fewer witches. However, it seemed that Hermione Granger had managed to penetrate the thick veil of secrecy which kept out the uninvited.

Draco was intrigued.

He was intrigued not only on a basic level, but on a deeper level as well. Actually, he'd been intrigued with Granger before he found out about her extra curricular activities. Hermione was just about, if he didn't count that Priestess Witch, which he didn't, the only witch who had left him with his dick in his hand, so to speak.

Draco shrugged. Standing off to the side, he watched Hermione browse through the rows of books. He also heard her loud sigh as she seemed to give up on the search.

"Miss Granger," called out Draco. "Perhaps now would be the time to use the Show Me spell."

The hard glare he received in return warmed his heart as well as his privates. The witch can bob and weave all she likes, but, in the end, I'm going to turn her my way, or get hexed trying.

"Come on Granger. Don't be a prude. I'm only trying to help. If you'd listen to me, you would have your book by now. Shall I go retrieve it for you, or will you continue to be an arrogant bint?"

Hermione laid down the book she had in her hand and marched over to stand in front of Draco. "Why are you stalking me? What is your problem?"

Draco didn't even stop to think before responding. He was getting a bit annoyed with Hermione's uppity stance. In no way was he stalking her. Malfoys didn't have to stalk anyone, because witches fell at their feet.

"Stalking you?" He questioned, top teeth grating against bottom. "You give yourself too much credit Granger. I was trying to help, which you obviously do not need. Find the damn book yourself, and don't come crying to me when you fail. Have a good time sorting through books."

"Fine," she shouted at Draco's retreating back. "Just fine."

/*/

Draco landed hard with a curse still on his lips heading directly for his private stash where he began moving things aside to find what he was looking for. Finally, he put his hand on it, but cursed himself for the effort.

"What is this shite?" He asked himself angrily as he threw his copy of Being The Receptacle, Vol. 2 across the room, and watched it land in a heap. "It's Saturday night and I'm sitting in my flat twiddling my thumbs because some witch is acting the arse. This will not stand."

Before Draco could make a decision about what he would do with the rest of his Saturday, he saw something. From the corner of his eye, Draco saw the flicker of blue flame, but had a ready remark. "Don't try your tricks on me book. Your blue flames do not frighten or impress me. I am one of The Aware, so just lie there in a heap and leave me be."

Draco knew he was inviting trouble treating the book as he was, but he didn't care. His mood had overridden his good sense. Unfortunately for him, this particular volume of this particular series was as spiteful as its brother volumes. As Draco turned to step out of his day clothes, something smacked him hard across the chest. The hit was so hard it actually blurred his vision. It was as though he'd been hit with a fist of granite. Falling to his knees, Draco could just make out the flickering blue flame hovering over the book.

As Draco remained on his knees cradling his chest, super sized words appeared before his eyes.

BRING THE VESSEL

Grabbing his wand, Draco scrambled to his feet a bit undone. The Priestess. This was unheard of. The Priestess did not contact members this way no matter how high their rank. There was either trouble brewing or some cataclysmic event had been foretold. When he got his breath back, Draco had more reasonable thoughts. Again unfortunately, he spoke the thoughts out loud.

"Maybe there is neither trouble brewing nor a cataclysmic event. Perhaps The Priestess just wants a bit of Malfoy dick."

Boom! This time the hit across his chest was double the first.

BRING THE VESSEL

Draco fell to the floor moaning and cursing. "For fucks sake. I was just making a little joke. I was joking. Please calm down. I do not have any Vessel."

Draco spoke the truth. He didn't have the vessel or even know what it was. He was fairly high up in the hierarchy, but not high enough to be privy to Priestess level information. He couldn't understand why The Priestess thought he had, or had access to the object. Dragging himself across the room, Draco began sifting through every piece of information relating to Fantasm trying to find out what this was all about, because another blow across the chest might kill him.

After he had gathered all the paraphernalia, Draco slowly made his way to the table in his den/library. The library was basically in place as a talking point, because Draco wasn't all that keen on either books or reading. However, this was an emergency. Somewhere among the Fantasm literature he'd collected over the past few years had to be information relating to The Vessel.

/*/

Draco searched and searched. After realizing he had been thumbing and browsing for four hours and it was now Sunday morning, Draco was about to give it all up as a bad job when a page he could have sworn wasn't there initially appeared before his eyes.

The sudden appearance of an additional page where there hadn't been one, surprised Draco. Hoisting his wand, Draco summoned a bottle of Ogden's Finest Brandy and a very tall glass. "I'm either especially tired, or an extreme dolt. Either way, this calls for a tall shot of Ogden's."

After several swallows, Draco pulled the book closer and began to read the words that had recently appeared.

The time has come for The Vessel bearing the mark to return to us. The members demand it. The Priestess demands it. The appearance of the rare Blue, Blood, Super Moon demands it. You have been chosen to see that it gets done by our next meeting, which as you know, will be Saturday next. Do not disappoint us Acolyte or you will suffer.

Having learned a bit of a lesson about speaking his thoughts aloud, Draco kept his nasty thoughts to himself. Acolyte my arse, I'm as high on the totem pole as anyone, was what he was thinking as he continued to review the page.

The Vessel is an integral part of our Blood Moon ceremony. Do not fail us.

As Draco read the last word, the page along with the words disappeared. Having been part of Fantasm for several years, Draco had heard whispers of strange happenings such as this, but this was the first time he'd been involved in anything more than the dancing, fucking and spell circles. He'd had a night with The Priestess, but so had others. Being with the top witch didn't entitle any wizard to take liberties. In fact, there had also been rumors of The Priestess Obliviating wizards who thought their one shag entitled them to become too familiar. But again, Draco was part of a circle for shites and giggles. He wasn't a part of the serious, dark side of Fantasm. The side that could get witches or wizards killed. Obviously, now he was. If she would resort to trying to cave in his chest, there was something he was privy to, even if he didn't know what. For the sake of his health, Draco realized he'd better figure it out quickly.

It was late, or early if you took that slant. Draco was tired, but whatever he needed to find had to be found by Saturday. There was no time like the present to start looking.

Even though things looked bleak at the moment, Draco wasn't totally alarmed. He was a Malfoy. Malfoys didn't frighten easily, but he did want his body to remain intact. Where should he look first? What the fuck was he looking for? A random thought passed through his head, where was Granger when he needed her? Summoning a cup of black coffee, Draco decided he would begin at the beginning. Well, all he had of the beginning. Taking a few sips of the hot coffee, Draco started at page one of Being The Receptacle, Vol. 2.

Since Draco only had volume 2, he had to assume when the book mentioned The Vessel it was some fancy piece of dark art infused with powers. Even so, some of the passages just didn't make sense. The Vessel will…. How could a bloody piece of plaster or glass do anything?

Perhaps it was the hour, or Draco's degree of fatigue that explained why it took him so long to have a breakthrough. Leaning forward on his arms, the epiphany overtook him. This was magic. The Vessel could be anything. It didn't have to be an inanimate object. The Vessel could be anything, including a person. These new thoughts excited Draco. His view may have been too narrow. Turning back to page one, Draco began to search for all clues not just something related to pottery, art or glass.

/*/

At 5:30 Sunday morning, having found nothing, Draco left everything as it was and retired to his bed. The Vessel would have to wait.

As hard as Draco was trying to get Hermione to see him romantically, he didn't expect an entire night of weird dreams about her. There she was, shaking her finger in his face. There she was telling him off. There she was setting that filthy kneazle on him. There she was backing him off with her wand after he tried ….

Draco turned over in his sleep only to fall into more dreams. However, this time it was a different witch, a wild looking, half naked, painted body witch writhing as though beckoning a lover. Draco's dick involuntarily formed an erection, but he continued to sleep and he continued to dream the strange dreams. The witch disappeared, and the fully attended secret circle materialized. Draco saw himself lounging back in one of the chairs watching as The Priestess surveyed the room then brought her attention back to the middle of the circle. Draco could tell she was sexually stimulated by the set of her lips and the span between her legs. This was the dangerous time in the circles when The Priestess gave herself over to rapture. Draco could see himself bending low trying to avoid her eyes. It wasn't that The Priestess wasn't a magnificent shag. It was what went with it. The spells and charms she cast to keep her partner hard were always dark and almost always painful.

Draco turned in his sleep once again. The panic seemed to seep out of his dreams, because at this particular event, The Priestess only had eyes for the painted witch writhing in the middle of the circle. With a slow wand movement, The Priestess separated the witch from her clothes as she drew her ever closer. The witch didn't seem to notice she was totally nude, or if she did, she made no effort to cover up. The closer the witch came to The Priestess, the more harried and sexual her dancing became. However, once the witch was within touching distance of the Priestess, her entire body became stationary as she swayed in place. As The Priestess stood and reached out to touch the witch's bare breast, a very visible, blue curtain shield materialized preventing her from attaining her goal. The growl which emanated from the throat of The Priestess caused the circle to hastily disperse. Wizards fell over themselves getting out of the room not knowing and not caring how the dancing witch had managed to foil a sexual attack by The Priestess. Their goal was to get out of the way of what was happening.

In the dream, Draco found himself rooted to his chair, watching. In his bed, the scene caused him to ejaculate as he waited for The Priestess to get through the curtain and have her way with slim, golden, nubile female in front of her. As his dream self watched and waited, the unexpected happened. Instead of the Priestess being the aggressor, the naked witch took control. With closed eyes, parted lips and a wide stance, the witch reached through the blue curtain with a snakelike movement and drew The Priestess towards her. With a growl of her own that cleared out the last spectators including Draco, the witch declared it would be she who was satisfied that night.

The unlikely interaction pulled a soiled Draco straight out of his dream. Feeling the wet effects of his ejaculation against his skin, and remembering nothing of the evaporating dream, a disgusted Draco jumped out of bed divesting himself of the soiled underwear vanishing it as he went.

"What in bloody hell is this about?" Draco wondered out loud as he stepped into the shower turned to hot and full.

Now wide awake, Draco waved his wand to send all the soiled bed sheets to the dirty clothes bin and with another wave of the wand watched as his bed made itself.

For several minutes, Draco sat on the side of his bed trying to sort out this abnormal behavior. Never in his life had he ejaculated on himself without provocation. He'd ejaculated by his own hand. He'd ejaculated at a witch's hand. He'd ejaculated during sex. Never, had he gone to sleep, especially in his current state and ejaculated over nothing. The entire prospect left him puzzled.

/*/

Since it was now close to 11:00 am on Sunday morning, Draco called for brunch to be laid out. On his way to the dining room, Draco stopped in the library to gather the materials he had left out earlier that morning. With what happened to him during the night, Draco wasn't sure his accident hadn't been caused by The Priestess. Not wanting any more surprises, he was determined to find every bit of information concerning The Vessel.

Determination overpowered Draco's hunger. By the time he remembered the food, everything was cold. Setting the brunch aside, Draco spread all his information out across the large dining table and began his study in earnest. He had reviewed every document relating to Fantasm and was once again studying Being The Receptacle, Vol. 2. When his house elf came to the door holding an envelope.

"Owl for you Mr. Draco."

Glad for any intrusion, Draco hurriedly took the envelope from the little elf's hand.

"Thank you Welles." He said before turning the envelope to read the return address.

The sender hadn't bothered with a return address so Draco opened it to see who was Owling him this early on a Sunday. To his surprise, the Owl was signed Hermione Granger. Even before reading the letter, Draco thought crossly, so now she needs me.

And need him she did.

Draco,

I feel my remarks of last evening were rude and uncalled for. Please accept my most sincere apology. I would also like to extend a dinner invitation for tonight at 6:00 to make amends for my abhorrent behavior. I realize you were simply trying to assist me with my search which I appreciate. My search came to nothing as you can imagine. I would be grateful if you would still be willing to point me in the right direction. If time and temper permits, I'd really like to hear how you became acquainted with the book series.

I'm still in the same flat. If I don't hear back, I'll expect you at 6:00.

Hermione Granger

Draco laughed as he threw the letter down on the table. Granger was begging forgiveness. How novel. If she wasn't on his radar as a potential conquest, he would have thrown the bloody letter in the bin. But, she was, so he decided to accept her invitation, and, bring his copy of the book. In addition, if he was in a chipper mood by the time 6:00 rolled around, he might even bring some additional material. Just because…

"….Because I want to get in her knickers." He sung in a high falsetto voice just before calling for a fresh brunch setting.

When Welles appeared with Draco's second brunch of the morning, Draco gave orders for him to get one of their finest bottles of white wine from the cellars and put it under a chill spell.

"I've been invited out to dinner, and I'll be taking it with me tonight."

"Yes, Mr. Draco sir. I'll be doing that right away."

After a cursory glance at the materials strewn across the table, Draco smiled. It was looking like he'd be getting a leg up on that conquest thing for sure this evening.