"Holy shit. This is huge, isn't it, Hermione?" Benjamin asked from the connected bathroom. The door was open and the light was on, allowing Hermione to take in Benjamin's large pecs and smooth abdomen, save for a few patches of hair. Was her mouth... watering? She looked away.
"Yes, it is," she said after clearing his throat. "We should leave in the morning." Benjamin groaned as he emerged from the bathroom, still shirtless and wearing nothing but green plaid pajama pants. "We're probably about to be camping overnight in a swamp. Just one more day of luxury?" Benjamin was pleading and Hermione caved.
"Fine. We'll rest a bit, shop for supplies, and pack up everything tomorrow." Benjamin smiled widely at her statement.
He reached deep into his duffle bag and pulled out a bottle of smuggled rum from the hotel in New York. Hermione's jaw dropped.
"Ben - you didn't..."
He threw his head back and gave out a dry laugh. "Relax, Granger," he said, pouring both of them a small amount in glasses he pulled from his bag. He offered one to Hermione and they clinked their glasses together before taking large swigs each. Hermione's face scrunched up and Benjamin let out a refreshing 'aah'.
After their second glass, Benjamin poured a third for both of them. They were both feeling a bit tipsy with Benjamin lying on his back with his arms spread atop Hermione's temporary bed. Hermione sat at the foot of the bed, studying the map they had found and comparing it to their notes from MACUSA.
"Do you ever wonder where all this magic came from?" Benjamin asked, a slight slur in his entertained voice. He was sounding very American with every chug he took straight from the bottle.
"I did, then I did a bit of light reading and found my answer. Mostly. Would you like for me to tell you?"
He nodded his head with closed eyes. "Ohhhhhh yeah."
Hermione smiled, placed the map and notes on the floor beside her, and turned to the increasingly intoxicated body in her bed. "Do you know much about Egypt?" Benjamin shrugged. "Well, magic originates in Egypt, which isn't so surprising. According to mythology, the Egyptian gods bestowed magic upon the mortals that worshipped them. Whether or not the story of how it got there is true, what is true is that it was a phenomenon from Egypt. With time and emigration, magic began to spread. Apparently, after Prometheus stole magic from the Greek gods, it took quite some time for their part of the sphere to obtain it."
"That's cool. Do you," he burped, "like mythology?"
"I find it quite an interesting subject to study." Hermione swirled the last of her rum around in her glass. It gave her a bit of a head rush and she excused herself to the bathroom to wash her face. A set of sleep clothes had already been laid out on the counter and she changed into them before finding Benjamin in the same position, snoring on the bed. The sight caused her to smile, but she woke him gently by shaking one of his arms.
"Benjamin... Ben, hey..."
His eyes opened abruptly and once he had time to grasp the situation, he apologized and began to head for the door in with drunken gait.
Hermione beat him to the door and pulled his arm back towards the bed. "It's fine. You're drunk and I don't want you falling down the stairs." She led him to the side of the bed opposite of the bathroom and bedroom door, moved the blanket and pulled it over him when he got under.
Hermione climbed in with her back facing him, turned off the light, and slept better than she had in a long time.
They both awoke the next morning around the same time with Hermione a bit prior. She was showering when Benjamin began rustling around. Once she turned the shower off, she heard him moving about the room. She called out to him from the other side of the bathroom door as she toweled herself off.
"Ben, I noticed you had a bit of camping supplies already backed. Any idea what we may be missing for the Everglades?" She began brushing her hair out as she stood naked in front of the bathroom mirror.
She wouldn't generally admire herself the way she was but she'd began to feel differently about herself lately. Hermione was sure there were times she caught Benjamin ogling her - not necessarily her more unmentionable regions but just her in general. She never forgot that encounter at the Weasley's house and she was trying her hardest to keep everything professional but she did find Benjamin Hendrix... sexy. Honestly, he would need to keep his mouth closed and a shirt on at all times or she wasn't sure how long she could repress her feelings; waking up to morning wood in her back was hardly helping her with her thoughts.
Hermione noticed Benjamin had yet to respond to her. She threw on her bra and underwear and called out his name once more. No answer, but a certain repetition of light thumps confirmed a presence in the room.
She cracked the door open and peered through the crack. There he was - no shirt, wearing what looked like earbuds, and doing pushups on the floor at the end of the bed. Hermione bit her lip and watched the muscles shift in his back and arms. Feeling extremely flustered, she shut the bathroom door. With her eyes closed, she reached into her underwear and confirmed her arousal.
"Fucking hell," she cursed quietly as she cleaned herself and washed her hands. It was too bad she wasn't back at her condo in London, she thought to herself. How she would love some release from one of the few toys she owned. She shook the thoughts from her head, washed her face, put the rest of her clothes on, and migrated back into the bedroom. Benjamin stood at the foot of the bed stretching his arms and legs (which she noticed had more definition than his flat abdomen). When he noticed her, he pulled the earbuds out of his ears and tucked them into the pocket of his black athletic shorts.
"Hey. Good morning." He sniffed the air a few times and raised one of his eyebrows. "Smells good." A quick smile was shot her way and she felt her cheeks get warm. He squeezed by her and shut the bathroom door behind him. Hermione heard the shower start up and saw shadows move under the door.
She kept herself busy while Benjamin did his morning routine, in the same space as Hermione for the first time. She jotted down a shopping list as best she could without his input, tidied up the room, and cast a charm on her dirty clothes to wash and dry them instantly. Benjamin confined himself to the bathroom after his shower to change, fix up his dark tousled hair, and give a spritz of some cologne. Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Hermione had rummaged around her bag for some perfume for herself.
When he opened the door, she secretly took in a deep inhale to breathe Benjamin in. In between his outfit and accent, he looked indistinguishable to your average American male.
"You got a list going?" He asked, hovering over the bed where her pen and pad sat.
"Yes, but I'll need a bit of help with our camp supplies. I've never been to a swamp and I'm not sure if there's anything we'll need."
Benjamin tore the list off the pad and folded it neatly before tucking it into his shorts pocket. "Ready?" He asked. Hermione nodded and they apparated to one of the blocks they had passed on the way to the port. The sun was bright and they could feel the humidity in the air brought from the ocean nearby.
They gathered directions from a passerby on the nearest supermarket. Once there, they shopped around for some easy to pack food items and a few missing camping products from their outdoor section. Hermione footed the bill to Benjamin's dissatisfaction and they made for the King estate around noon.
The pair of them organized their packs with Benjamin taking responsibility for packing the camp bag. The house was empty save for them, so Ben left a gracious note for his friends and Hermione left two hundred dollars in Muggle money next to the note.
Hermione led the Disapparition out of Gables Estates. She hailed a taxi, gave instructions, and paid the driver upon arrival to a corner. "Thanks again," she told him before he drove off to his next pickup.
They got onto a bus and spent an hour getting driven to a visitor center at the southern end of the national park. With bags in tow, they sifted through tall grasses, tropical and temperate bushes, and low hanging vines. Hermione halted them and cast a charm to make their bags lighter for easier trekking. Benjamin was ever grateful for her resourcefulness with spells.
"Do you know which direction we're going?"
"Um..." Hermione trailed off before pulling a compass out of her enchanted beaded bag. "We're going North-ish."
"Hang on," he takes it out of her hand and examines the map along with it. He then peered out before them at the marshy environment. "Hard to find something to keep a bearing... I'll hold this, you just walk towards that tree," he said, pointing to a large mangrove tree fifty yards out.
Hermione's calves hand begun to ache two hours into their hike. They had only traveled a mile and a half through the dense tropic, a defeat in Benjamin's mind. The sun would get low in a few hours.
"We can walk on for another hour max. We'll need to set up camp afterwards. Fuck! These fucking bugs, man." Hermione giggled as Benjamin swatted at the air around him. "Hold up," he says, kneeling on the ground and pulling a silver, round canister from his bag. There was a pale, olive-colored substance that looked like some sort of cream. Benjamin began rubbing it in on his showing skin. Once finished, he offered the tin to Hermione who declined. He shrugged his shoulders and told her 'good luck'.
Another hour into their bush and they were on the man still for one of the marked locations. Benjamin began setting up the tent and fire pit while Hermione put up Repelling Charms around the vicinity. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon now and cast an eerie reflection on the marshy pool of water at the backside of their camp. Benjamin stood to admire the display, completely ignoring the crocodile advancing his way.
"Immobulus!" Hermione shouted, the tip of her wand shining white as the spell hit the crocodile and forced it to halt. "Thanks," Benjamin said to Hermione with a nod. He quickly grabbed it by the tail, still stiffened from the spell, and drug it out of their camp. He pointed his wand at the crocodile and gave it a flourish, allowing the crocodile to take off quickly back into the water, fully submerging itself from sight.
"I guess I should check the waters a bit more when laying out the wards," Hermione remarked with a hint of playfulness in her voice.
"No kidding," Benjamin retorted. "It's a good thing you saw it. I am not trying to be sent home in that pine box, especially without one of my butt cheeks." The two of them busted out in a shared fit of laughter as they settled around the stoked fire, watching intently as a pot of cottage pie cooked slowly on the hot coals.
"Did you ever date while at Hogwarts?" Hermione asked out of the blue. There seemed no need in being subtle at this point. She'd been watching him as he'd been watching her. Hermione only hoped if she made a move that it wouldn't be a reverse situation of what happened at The Burrow.
The question, however, nearly made him spit out the mouthful of rum. He swallowed it down with difficulty and cleared his throat. "Um... not particularly, no. Did you?"
She shrugged her shoulders as she poked the fire with a long stick. "Not really. Viktor Krum was sure a fan of mine in my fourth year. We went to the Yule Ball together."
"I know. I remember — it was blue and... a bit poofy at the bottom."
Hermione's stomach began doing somersaults. "You-you actually remember the dress I wore?"
"Of course. I remember Ron's, as well," he offered with a sly chuckle. "Do you remember, there was a young guy on stage that sang some Muggle song about magic?"
Hermione tilted her head in confusion. Benjamin rolled his eyes and began singing the tune with lackluster enthusiasm:
"I got the magic in me,
Every time I touch that track
It turns into gold.
Everybody knows
I've got the magic in me.
When I hit the floor,
The girls come snappin' at me.
Now everyone wants some presto magic,
Magic, magic, magic..."
"Oh, yeah! I do remember that! It was fun. Why do you ask?" Benjamin continued to look into her face with a smug expression. Hermione finally realized why he asked. "That was you?" He nodded enthusiastically, the smile still painted on his face.
The food finished cooking and Hermione made their plates next to the fire as Benjamin pulled a few bottles of water from their food bag. They scarfed their food down, obviously lacking in nutrients from their hot walk through the Everglades. They attempted to migrate into the tent but even with an enchantment to enlarge the interior, it was blistering hot. Both Hermione and Benjamin, separated by the middle of the tent, laid in bed nearly naked, their bodies sweating fiercely.
At some point during the night and while Hermione was tossing to get comfortable, a rustling from the other end of the tent caught her attention. She peaked through the slit in the canvas door of her quarters to see the pale, naked behind of Benjamin exiting the tent. The sounds of urination could be heard nearby, and once it stopped, he came back into the tent, his thick member swinging freely against his thighs. She gasped at the sight and closed her hand over her mouth, fearing she was caught.
Footsteps made it right to the entrance of her quarters. She could see his toes poking out below the canvas. Her heart began to beat out of her chest as a few light flicks on the entrance flap.
"I know you're awake, Hermione," Benjamin whispered to her. "Do you want some company?" She adjusted her legs, pulling her knees up to her chest. When she did so, her lower lips rubbed together, signaling her arousal. She gave him a quiet affirmation and she noticed he now had underwear on as he sat at the foot of her bed.
"Can't sleep?" He asked, again in a whisper.
"Not really," Hermione replied. "I've never been so hot in my life." This brought out a devious chuckle from Benjamin's throat. "What about you?"
"I just had to piss. We didn't grow up with central heat and air so I'm kind of used to sleeping with stagnant air."
Hermione's head dropped, feeling the shame of growing up with necessities that others considered luxury. She could smell his musk from the light sweat he worked up from the Florida humid heat.
"Hermione?" Benjamin asked through the darkness, his voice a deep and raspy whisper yet again.
"Yes?"
"I know this is a bit forward… you know by now that I won't overstep your boundaries but I am wondering… can I… can I kiss you?" He breathed the last words out in a single breath, as if it took everything in him to get them out.
Hermione hardly cared to answer the question. She'd wished he would just do it. She also wished that he had no interest in her. The feeling in her gut and in between her legs could only lead to a slippery slope downhill, Hermione thought to herself. But how long had she been fighting this feeling?
She was kneeling on the cot facing Benjamin, who had turned to face her. His hands reached up into the darkness in search for her arms, which he rubbed his hands up and down, soothing Hermione's thoughts for just a moment. She felt for his face and her thumb brushed against his bottom lip. She licked her own before planting them onto his.
Her head began to spin and the throbbing between her legs increased in severity. Her arousal was causing her to become more enthused in her kiss as she began to insert her tongue past his lips in search for his own. Benjamin pulled away breathless.
"H-Hermione. This is…"
She cut him off once more with his lips, pushing him down onto her cot as she straddled his waist.
"Hermione, are you sure?"
"Shut up," she told him sternly, kissing him again and rubbing her covered womanhood against his increasingly erect member. Benjamin pulled his lips from hers and groaned lightly in her ear, cursing here and there as the friction built up between the both of them.
His hands had reached for her ass and love handles, caressing them lightly with care as Hermione worked her way to his neck where she began sucking uncontrollably. Benjamin's groans were becoming increasingly more intense and frequent. She could feel his thickening manhood rubbing against her ass cheeks. Her wetness was apparent.
"Wait," she whispered as she unloaded herself from him, standing beside the cot to take off her soaked underwear. She climbed back on top of him and reached down for his cock, taking the hot rod in her hand and groaning into Benjamin's mouth as she massaged his mushroom head.
This was the first time Hermione ever held a prick in her hands. Had she known that just the touch would be enough to have her crave it more than air, perhaps she would have made a move sooner. On anyone. She didn't care about anything other than the feeling of being filled.
She rubbed the hot tip against her wet hole, occasionally moving it a bit up to give sensation to her clit. "Mmmm," she moaned out. She was ready, and with her on top, she was in control.
Hermione's interior was warm, wet, and tight. Benjamin, who had been lying back and enjoying the ravaging, groaned just as Hermione whimpered from inserting the head of his rod into her sex.
"Oh god!" Hermione cried out as he allowed her to slide further and further down his cock until her honey hole swallowed his shaft. She began moving up and down in a rhythmic fashion, her walls swelling up and Ben's thick shaft twitching with each slam onto his balls.
"Fuck… fuck…" Benjamin groaned. Hermione's breath and his became in sync. She rode him for only a few minutes and could feel that Benjamin was harder than he was when he first entered her. This was her first time and she was simply enjoying the sensations, unaware at the growing climax within Benjamin.
"H-Hermione…" he stuttered as she continued with the same rhythm… the same heat… the same overwhelming feeling of Hermione Granger's womanhood surrounding his member. He could hardly hold on. "Hermione… Herm… ione… Hermione, I'm going to…"
Hermione knew enough about the male anatomy from Ginny to know what was about to happen. She would need to make a choice, and within seconds.
She didn't care. About anything. Nothing — other than the absurd amount of pleasure she was feeling. She was so close… so close to-
"Hermione! Gaaaaaaaaah," Benjamin cried out as his helpful thrusts began to shiver and shake. She felt his cock twitch inside of her and felt the warm release of Benjamin Hendrix. This sent her over the top.
"Ahh… ahhhhhhhh," she moaned as she was overcome with a bodily high that left her twitching legs like Jello. She pulled herself off of him, his softening prick bouncing off of his lower abdomen. Warm liquid streamed down her leg and she quickly left for the wash area to clean up.
When she returned, Benjamin was lying in her cot fast sleep, his snores echoing through the trees outside. She smiled wholeheartedly, and looked onto his nude body for a few minutes. He was beautiful. Nearly perfect.
That night, Hermione lay in Benjamin's cot, overcome by her feelings of lust and love. He was good to her: he treated her with respect and showed care for her wellbeing. He was intelligent, handsome, and family-oriented. She fell asleep that night only wishing that this would not be that slippery slope she wished to avoid.
In the morning, Hermione was awoken by the smell of campfire smoke and breakfast. Benjamin's back was to her as he began plating eggs, sausage, biscuits, and diced next to the fire. A twig snapping behind him caused him to turn his head in her direction. His body stiffened up until he noticed it was Hermione. He sat back down on the log he was on and smiled at her in a way he hadn't before.
"Good morning, beautiful. Nice hair. Hungry?"
He was being nonchalant, but he had never called her 'beautiful' in greeting. She didn't think about the aftermath last night when she was… losing her virginity. She nodded to Benjamin in reply as she replayed the events in her mind. Hermione took the plate from him and was appalled to find she was absolutely famished. She shoveled food in her mouth much like Ron or Ben would, and was content to realize while Ron was turned off to a large appetite in a woman, Benjamin seemed to find a personal entertainment in it.
"You don't have to watch me eat, you know. In some cultures, it's considered quite rude," she joked before taking another bite of scrambled egg.
"I'm sorry, it's just — it's nice to see someone so enthused to eat my food. How are the, uh, biscuits? It's… been awhile since I've cooked them like this."
"Honestly, they're much better than the ones I tend to pull from the oven."
"Hm. You're not using a box recipe, are you?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Do you make nothing from the box?"
He shook his head as he looked down at his plate, scooting around a cut piece of sausage with his silver fork. "I'm telling you, if you didn't know any better you'd think I was raised by poor, farming Muggles."
"There would be nothing wrong with that if it were the case, you know."
He was still looking down at his plate. "I appreciate that it doesn't bother you, Hermione. I'll admit that I had my own thoughts about you but you've continued to surprise me."
Hermione blushed before silence overtook them as they finished up their plates. They tackled breaking down camp in a timely fashion and began pressing on towards the closest marked location on the map. They trekked through a mile of thick flora before Benjamin stopped in his tracks.
"Why are we—"
"Shh!" Benjamin hushed her as he looked around him on high-alert. "There's someone here. Keep your eyes peeled." Just as Benjamin was looking above them scanning the canopy, a hooded figure Apparated on the trail in front of them.
"Benjamin!" Hermioned whispered to the oblivious man that stood in front of her.
"BENJAMIN! LOOK OUT!"