Lust, War, and... Love?

Chapter 24: Call of The Dark Lord

  Hermione threw a curious glance around as she entered the Slytherin Common Room. The darkened low-ceilinged, long room could make a perfect snake den. But it was much warmer than the chilly underground corridors, and thence more inviting. The fire crackled merrily in the elaborately decorated stone fireplace. The dark green chairs in front looked cushy and welcoming.

She felt Draco's breath on her neck. His hands cradled her hips. The familiar tingle filled her abdomen. The long day was coming to an end, and they both were now left to themselves in the empty Slytherin quarters. Hermione thought about having to walk through the cold and deserted castle all the way to the Gryffindor Tower after the tryst and a brief shiver ran down her spine.

"Should we go to the dorm?" She took a few more steps and savoured the warmth emanating from the fireplace.

"Why?" Draco was now at her side and rested his elbow on the high back of a chair. He surveyed the deep chair, upholstered in soft moss-coloured velvet and imagined her luscious body nestled in it like a precious pearl. "Let's do it here."

"What if someone comes in?" Her insides tightened with anxiety. She glanced at Draco. The fire cast flickering light on his lanky figure, adding a warm hue to his pale complexion.

"Nobody will come at this hour." His eyes glinted, and a wolfish grin bared his teeth momentarily. "Snape isn't at Hogwarts tonight. He went to visit my Mum."

"Oh, if you really must..." With a shrug to conceal her worry, Hermione settled in a chair next to Draco's. She waved her wand and the fire grew bigger, radiating more heat into the room.

In a few seconds Hermione was too hot. She raised her wand to reduce the fire, but Draco's voice stopped her. "Undress."

She turned her head, and her eyes landed on him. Draco stretched in the other chair, his clothes in a untidy heap on the floor. The sight of him made her perspire even more violently in her mohair sweater under her robes. She wondered what he was up to tonight.

Soon her clothes were folded neatly on the floor next to Draco's. He took in the sight of her, naked and beautiful in the warm glow of the fireplace.

"Sit down, Hermione." His voice was thick with the lust inflamed by the anticipation of what he was going to do to her.

Hermione sank into the deep chair. She had a brief attack of self-consciousness. She slid forward to the edge of the seat, hungry for his touch.

Draco kneeled in front of her and caressed her legs with his lips. He trailed small kisses on her smooth skin. His teeth grazed the soft surface and he heard Hermione inhale sharply.

Everything ceased to exist for him at this moment, except for the welcoming warmth of Hermione's body, the tantalizing scent of her skin and the sweet sound of her small gasps.

All other things were fading into obscurity for Draco - his hysterical Auntie with her screeches through the enchanted Galleons, the stubborn Vanishing Cabinet that Draco wished so many times to blast into pieces out of sheer despair, the overeager Katz whom he was equally eager to curse all the way to the South Pole, and the ever-present spectre of the ominous Dark Lord that haunted him incessantly over the past weeks.

He raised his head and met Hermione's glistening eyes. Her sensuous lips were slightly open, and her cheeks were flushed. She was breathing heavily.

Draco straightened up and reached for his wand. Hermione, in a semi-daze induced by the heat and lust, watched his movements languidly. He picked up the wand from the floor, and then his fingers stroked her abdomen. Hermione drew forward, wanting him to excite her more.

Instead, he withdrew his hand. Before Hermione had time to protest, his wand moved in a circle over her body. A slight burning sensation tickled her momentarily and a wave of sinful pleasure rolled through her torso.

"No, not this, Draco -" She reflexively covered herself with her palms. It felt so wanton to her to enjoy it in this room.

"Why not?" The same second his hands caught her wrists and pinned them against the high chair back above her head. His face was inches from hers.

"It - it isn't proper..." She was sinking into his pale grey eyes. "If someone comes in -"

Draco chuckled and his hands slid down her body. She wiggled, and he kissed her lips.

"No one will bother to come here, Hermione."

Hermione relaxed. She knew Draco loved to push her limits. Every time she shed a vestige of propriety she craved him more. She knew that he knew her well enough not to take her protests seriously. Not when she mumbled her words like she did now. Hermione closed her eyes and surrendered to his eager mouth.

Draco broke the kiss off and kneeled in front of her. He explored all of her body with his lips and the sweet taste of her skin made his mind drown in lusty haze.

Hermione's eyes flipped open. Between her breaths, she craned her neck to see what he was doing to her.

"No - you can't do this," she gasped.

"Why?" he said in a muffled voice, still pressing his lips against her skin. Then his kisses devoured her eagerly, which made Hermione arch her body from the pleasure.

"Oh - please - " she pleaded. "This - is - indecent -"

He looked up at her. "You're delicious like this." Merlin, how he loved to test her. Her response made him want more of her.

He took in the view of her, panting and blushing in the depths of the chair. He leaned forward and took her mouth in his.

Hermione kissed him back, and it was insanely carnal. She was in his power and he did with her whatever he pleased.

Then he traced her lips with his forefinger.

"It's crazy," Hermione confessed, as she took the tip of his finger in her mouth and tasted it with her tongue. Her eyes were riveted to his face. His intense gaze searched her features, but he said nothing.

He kneeled again, and she felt his hands slipping behind her back and his mouth exploring her body again. Hermione welcomed his caresses eagerly, while she rested herself in his arms.

After he withdrew and settled in the other chair, she touched herself. Her skin was so sensitive to his caresses...It was more than just being naked.

"Come here." Draco gestured for her to sit down in his lap. "You - you are divine. I'm honest, Hermione."

She basked in his words of admiration and in the robust heat from the fireplace. Serpents carved into the sides of the stone mantelpiece seemed to shift and writhe in the dancing firelight. Hermione got up and walked over to Draco's chair. As she cuddled in his lap, she kissed him tenderly on his lips, then rested her head on his shoulder and stared into the fire. His arms were around her in an instant, pulling her closer to his torso. She loved it.

Draco breathed in her scent. He loved her so much. Hermione was his joy and his pain. But she would never believe him if he confessed his feelings for her. Too many times she had heard him assure his wretched fiancée of his undying love.

"Sleep in my bed tonight," Draco demanded. "No one will notice your absence in your dorm."

Hermione wavered. She did not feel like traversing the draughty and gloomy corridors. But she would have to do that in the early morning anyway to make sure no one would suspect her of spending the night not in her dorm. And she wanted to sleep in a bit...

"Okay. I guess I'd have to get up at six again and get to my dorm before anyone is up."

They rose from the chair, and, not bothering to get dressed, proceeded to the dorm. Draco waved his wand to move their clothes there.

The dorm was a smaller version of the Common Room, with beds instead of chairs and couches. Like the Common Room, it had a low ceiling, white globe lights and rough stone walls.

Draco's bed was the only one that had bedding on it. Comforters and old-fashioned striped mattresses were rolled up in bundles on the other beds.

"Merlin's bloody pants, whose trunk is it?" Irked by an unwelcome surprise, Draco pointed to a second trunk on the other side of his bed. "That's Blaise's bed over there. But he'd never told me of his plans to stay over the holidays!"

Hermione scrutinized the very familiar-looking trunk. Dark brown artificial leather edged with antiqued brass strips. Her heart skipped a beat. She could be wrong. Many students had similar trunks, typically found in department stores.

"Can we open it, Draco?"

"It isn't mine." He prodded it with his wand and the lid flipped open.

"It's mine!" Hermione exclaimed, looking at the clothes, books and toiletries stashed in it.

"Oh." He leaned over the open trunk. "Lots of books in here."

"But how did it get here?" Hermione was flabbergasted. "No one told me I had to move to the Slytherin House."

"I guess it was implied. Snape's work, I'm sure."

Hermione was more inclined to attribute the idea to the Headmaster, but she held her opinion back. The thought of the teachers covertly watching over them unsettled her again. It was very much like Dumbledore, who never seemed to disclose more than he believed necessary.

"I guess I'm expected to stay here." Hermione looked at Draco who was now reclining on his bed. She would be sleeping in his bed for the whole break. The realization was titillating and abashing at the same time.

Draco rewarded Hermione with a big grin and instantly pulled her under his comforter. His bed was too cramped for the two of them. Draco cast an expansion charm on it but the bed agreed to widen by half a foot only. Hermione's attempts did not bring any better results. Instead, Draco's pillow grew five times its normal length and one end of it was now hanging off the edge. They laughed at the mishap, and soon fell asleep in each other's embrace, not bothering to shrink the pillow.