There was something about learning wandless magic that helped Hermione feel whole again.

Lucius, as always, was a serious but patient teacher. They had worked well into the afternoon until Lucius insisted she needed to rest, but the following morning right after breakfast she’d found him waiting for her again in the ballroom – ready for another lesson. The more she worked on the skill, the calmer her mind became. The firmer her feet felt planted in reality.

As Hermione cleaned up and wandered towards the library after a brief walk outside on the grounds, she felt a little something like herself again. Her skin felt like her own, not too tight or itchy, and the book she’d tucked into her shelf stayed quiet.

Pushing open the large double doors, she could hear the gentle scrape of fingertips on parchment, the whisper of pages turning. Draco sat on one of the loveseats close to the large hearth, his hair damp from flying in the snow. The sleeves of his thick black sweater were pushed up past his forearms, exposing the pale skin of his wrists and hands. Every time he turned the page, she could see just a sliver of the skull and snake brand.

For the first time in days, her body reacted to the sight of him.

“Hello,” she said softly, walking over to stand beside the loveseat.

Draco had been so careful with her in the week that followed the attack. Always announcing his presence, asking permission to touch her, to kiss her, to hold her. She couldn’t put into words how much she appreciated it. But now, after time working with Lucius, she didn’t want him to treat her like spun glass.

She wanted to feel powerful again. To feel like his equal.

He looked up slowly from his book, a soft smile playing around the edges of his lips.

“Hello, love,” he said in the same soft tone, then patted the cushion beside him.

Curling up beside him on the loveseat, she let herself lean against his arm, reading the fiction book over his shoulder that he held. After a moment he shifted, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer, pressing his lips into her hair. Then, he stiffened.

“I… I’m sorry – I should have –”

Hermione placed her fingertips over his lips, shaking her head.

“You have taken care of me so well, Draco. I’m okay… Well, I’m getting there. I don’t want you to worry,” she said, letting her fingers trail the smooth skin of his cheek over his jaw.

“I’m always going to worry,” he answered, his thumb stroking her ribs. “We protect one another, remember? We take care of each other.”

She smiled, nodding.

“You protected me. You’ve taken care of me…” Heat fluttered in her stomach, an idea forming in her mind.

She slipped from the loveseat and shifted until she was in front of his knees, sliding her hands up his thighs. There was something about the feel of his quads that did something to her – broom thighs, she thought absently.

Draco gaped at her; his eyes widening as she parted his knees to shift closer.

“Now… let me take care of you,” she whispered, taking the book from his hands and placing it on the small table beside him.

Her fingers crept higher, towards the buttons of his pants but his hands closed over them.

“You…” He swallowed. “You don’t have to do this. After – after everything that’s happened.”

Hermione shook her head, a small smile on her lips.

“I want to do this, Draco. Let me take care of you.”

He looked at her for a long time, searching her face for any sign of hesitation.

“Unless… unless you don’t want me to?” she asked, her voice hesitant with sudden insecurity.

Draco blinked, a shy grin pulling up the corner of his mouth.

“Love I can tell you with the utmost sincerity, that is not the case,” he said with a chuckle, sliding a hand through his damp hair.

A wicked smile crossed her face as she reached again for the placket of his trousers, slowly undoing every button. By the time she’d pulled the fabric open, Draco was panting, his grey eyes liquid metal. He reached for his wand, casting a ward around the library, then dropped it on top of the discarded book.

Hermione slid her hands over his cock before drawing it out. It was already hard, thick and long – the tip already ruddy with expectation.

“You’ll have to teach me,” she said, leaning forward to ghost her breath along the soft skin.

Draco let out a soft chuckle, his hand cupping her cheek.

“My witch is thirsty for knowledge,” he said. “Kiss it, darling.”

She rose up on her knees, leaning forward to press her lips to the tip. Licking the bead of salty precum from his skin.

“Now take it in your mouth, trace your tongue around the tip.”

Slowly, she pulled the head in, experimentally swirling her tongue around the tip and moaning at the taste of his sweet and salty skin. Clenching her thighs together as Draco groaned.

“ Fuck , that’s it. Just like that. So good,” he moaned, the hand on her cheek sliding up through her hair. “Suck, love, see how much you can take.”

Drawing her head down, she let her tongue relax as she drew him deeper. Looking up, she watched as Draco’s head fell back, letting out a low moan as the tip of him hit the back of her throat.

She gripped the rest of him that wouldn’t fit, sliding her hand around the base. Then, she began to bob her head, sucking and swirling her tongue on the tip before sucking him back down.

Draco gave a strangled groan, his fingers in her hair tightening but she could tell he was holding back. Trying not to lose control. But that was all she wanted. She wanted to see him come apart from her touch – her mouth. Wanted to feel that power.

So she reached with her free hand to press his fingers tighter into her hair, then grabbed his other hand and placed it there as well.

“ Fuck ,” Draco cursed again. “Does my little lion want me to come apart in her mouth? Is that what you want?”

Hermione moaned, sucking harder as she did so, letting the vibration of her need wash over his skin.

It was enough to make Draco lose control. He began to thrust up into her mouth, and she could tell he was still trying to be as gentle as possible as she braced her hands on the cushions beside him.

“Such a quick study,” he moaned. “Swallowing my cock like a good girl.”

But as he thrusted his words became more garbled, less intelligible until she could just make out certain words.

“Fuck… Brilliant… Mouth… Good…”

She felt tears leak out of the corner of her eyes as he continued to hit the back of her throat, but she didn’t care.

This was need.

This was control.

This was power .

One of his hands left her hair, his thumb swiping tenderly at the tears. The action was totally in contrast with the frantic pace at which he was moving inside her mouth. Heat pooled in her core and she clenched her thighs together again, trying to relieve the sudden ache.

“Love… I’m going to… If you don’t want me to… In your mouth…” Draco gasped; his pale cheeks flushed.

Hermione sucked harder, taking as much as she could into her as Draco moaned loudly, coming down her throat in great pulses. His neck flushed red, head thrown back as he came, his hips stuttering with pleasure. She sucked eagerly at his skin, drawing it into her mouth and then leaning away from him, showing him his come on her tongue.

His grey eyes widened, his mouth popping open as he watched her swallow the last of it.

“You…” he breathed, at a loss for words.

Then, he grabbed her, crashing his lips over hers, his tongue swiping through her mouth to taste himself on her tongue. She moaned as he drew her up to straddle his thighs, one hand curling into her hair while the other slid down her throat, over the curve of her breast. His thumb circled the peak, drawing her hardened nipple to push against the fabric of her shirt.

“So… Beautiful…” he murmured between kisses, his hand sliding lower to the waistband of her jeans. “These fucking muggle denims.”

With a flick of his thumb he undid the button, sliding his hand against her skin until his fingers found her clit. Hermione gasped, her head tilting back as she tried to ride his fingers, but Draco kept a firm grip on her hair.

“Look at me,” he commanded in a low voice.

She immediately opened her eyes, feeling herself gush onto his fingers. Draco’s eyes widened. Slowly, his fingers circled her entrance, sliding easily through the wetness there. She mewled, trying to grind her hips down to push them deeper – to where she needed them.

“Such a needy girl,” Draco said in that same low tone, shallowly thrusting his fingers inside her wet heat.

“ Please ,” she begged, her lids fluttering.

“Eyes open,” he said firmly and she gasped, obeying.

Then he withdrew his fingers from her and she watched as he took them into his mouth, a moan sliding from his lips as he tasted her on his skin. She moaned in response, watching him lick his fingers clean.

“So sweet,” Draco groaned before grabbing his wand to vanish her clothes to the adjacent chair.

He kissed along her jaw, down her throat and to the space where her shoulder met her neck. He paused there, sucking greedily at the skin – marking her – before his long fingers slid again through her folds.

There was something about her being completely naked on top of him, while he was fully clothed, that made Hermione’s insides turn liquid. Her fingers scrambled, against him, sliding through his hair and trying to draw herself down onto his teasing fingers.

But then she gasped as she felt the head of his already hard cock taking the same path his fingers just had. His grey eyes captured hers.

“Okay?” he asked, his mouth slack.

She nodded, but he only grinned, not moving an inch, his free hand grasping her hip to stop her from pushing down.

“I need you to say it, love.”

Hermione moaned, rocking her hips against the smooth head.

“ Yes ,” she breathed.

Draco lifted a pale eyebrow.

“Yes, what, little lion?” His mouth closed over her breast, teeth pulling her nipple in a dizzying mix of pleasure and pain.

“Fuck me, please, Draco. Please, please, please,” she begged.

For one moment his eyes closed, relishing her words before he released her breast with a wet pop and pushed her down onto him.

In tandem they moaned, Hermione’s hips rocking against him, trying to set the pace that would soothe the ache building inside of her. Draco’s hands were everywhere, sliding over the smooth skin of her back, her ass, her shoulders, her breasts. Worshiping her.

Their mouths met, teeth and tongue clashing together – fighting for dominance. Fighting to consume the other. She could feel the whisper of magic around them, their magic rejoicing at their joining. Then Draco pulled back, his eyes devouring her as his long fingers reached between them to circle her clit.

"Look at me, I want you to see what you do to me,” he said. “I want your eyes open as we fall apart.”

Her brows pulled together, inner walls fluttering around him. She moaned incoherently, beads of sweat sliding down her back.

“Say my name, I want to hear it,” he commanded in that low tone. “Come for me, Hermione. Now .”

She exploded around him, her eyes open as she cried out his name. She watched the pleasure on his face, his cheeks flushing and his eyes bright with love as he followed her over the edge, thrusting up into her and then holding their hips tight together.

Slowly, the world came back to them. Their foreheads pressed together, sharing the same air. Draco leaned forward, pressing a loving kiss to her lips once, twice, three times. His fingers sliding gently down her cheek.

“You smell of the snow and the rose garden…” Draco said softly, then pulled back. “What did your amortentia smell like?” he asked suddenly, referencing a recent potions class.

She smiled softly, leaning into his touch.

“Parchment,” she said, kissing his left cheek.

“Spearmint,” she continued, kissing his right cheek.

“And the smell of the grass that clings to you when you’ve just returned from playing quidditch on the manor grounds,” she finished, placing a chaste kiss on his lips.

“I love you…” he said quietly before she could ask about his. “ Endlessly.”