Adamo Fidelitas

Adamo Fidelitas: Chapter 01

Disclaimer: The Harry Potter books are the property of JK Rowling. This is an original work done for my own amusement, and no profit is being made from it. This fic will contain NC-17 material, although this particular chapter doesn\'t.

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It was their seventh year at Hogwarts, and the chilly September nights held fear beneath their velvety folds as Voldemort had become as terrible as ever. Most students wouldn\'t venture past their common rooms after dark. Most students lived in mortal dread of Voldemort attacking Hogwarts to get to Dumbledore. Most students hadn\'t been raised by members of Voldemort\'s inner-circle. The pale, silver-blonde young man who was rushing around in Snape\'s deserted Potions classroom was not like most students.

Draco Malfoy hated having his entire future planned out for him. He was acutely aware of the need to continue the fine Malfoy bloodline with a pureblood witch. However, he could have been happier with his father\'s choice of partners for him. Pansy Parkinson was cunning and came from a very prestigious wizarding family, but Pansy was not in the least bit attractive. She had a face like a pug dog and a nasal whine that set Draco\'s nerves on edge.

Draco had followed his father\'s instructions by beginning to date Pansy. In truth Draco respected her talents and generally got on well with her. It was bedding her that left him cold. He could only do it by fantasizing about other seventh year witches at HogwarWhenWhen it was over and she threw her arms around him expecting a cuddle, Draco was already planning his escape.

It had occurred to Draco that if he could only make himself want Pansy that his situation could be quite enjoyable. Under the pretense of \"spicing things up\" Draco had gained Pansy\'s consent to brew up a special potion for them. He\'d used his status as Head Boy to gain access to Ars Amatoria, a book of love and sex magic that was strictly restricted. He\'d finally decided on a potion called Adamo Fidelitas, a strong lust potion that had been created to ensure the faithfulness of a lover.

Draco tossed six finely powdered nettles into the cauldron that bubbled away in front of him. He hated sneaking into Snape\'s classroom to do this but if he had to risk getting caught, Draco feared Snape less than someone like McGonagall.

\"How\'s it coming?\" whispered Crabbe from the doorway where the burly duo stood guard. Goyle, who had been craning for any sounds of approaching teachers, looked back towards Draco as well.

\"This is the last step,\" Draco hissed back, examining his notes. He needed three drops of his own blood to bind the drinker to him. Straightening, he pushed the sleeve of his robe back and picked up the knife he had used to slice the ingredients, which his mother had been only too happy to send. He brought the blade down sharply across his thumb. Then he held his hand over the boiling mixture and milked the wound as he counted out the drops. The potion itself seemed to moan, as it turned the most lurid shade of pink that the Slytherin had ever seen.

Draco arched his eyebrows and grinned in triumph. \"Perfect,\" he announced as he funneled the pink liquid into a silver flask. He capped it tightly and set it on the corner of the table on top of his notes. He shoved the left over ingredients into his satchel and grabbed the cauldron by its handle. \"I just have to clean this. Warn me if anyone comes along!\"

The two goons nodded in unison, as Malfoy rushed away. \"Why\'s he need a love potion, when he\'s already bagging Pansy?\" Goyle asked with his eyebrows drawn together. Crabbe shrugged looking equally confused. The sound of a door closing further down the corridor put them back on their guard. Crabbe peeked around the doorjamb pressing his chubby back against the cold, dank wall, and Goyle scurried to collect Malfoy\'s things. Goyle picked up the flask and was about to warn Malfoy, when Crabbe stopped him. A bushy haired witch with too many books and a badge proclaiming her Head Girl had emerged from another potions lab and was heading up the hallway.

Crabbe motioned for the flask and quickly unscrewed the cap. \"Pansy already has some taste,\" he whispered with a wide grin, \"but Granger could sure do with some.\" Both Slytherins sniggered quietly at the mental image of Hermione Granger following Draco Malfoy around like a needy puppy. It would not only embarrass that annoying Granger, but it would also upset Potter and Weasley to watch her fling herself at their Slytherin enemy. Draco would have to be pleased if they could pull this off.

Hermoine was beginning to wonder if she would have to request the time tuner from Professor McGonagall again this year. The brainy seventh year felt that she had once again taken on more than she could reasonably handle. Her schedule wouldn\'t be so bad, if she didn\'t have this special potions independent study. Snape was going out of his way to make the project as difficult as he could, but from an academic standpoint Hermione appreciated just how advanced a study of potions he was giving her. She was already better than many potions researchers. By the end of the year, she would officially be recognized for having a Master of Potions certificate. Harry and Ron were convinced that she was mental, but since beginning Advanced Potions she really loved the subjbestbest of all. Only Arithmancy even came close.

Hermione rolled her stiff neck as she prepared to head up the staircase out of the dungeons. She could hear the cracking of her vertebrae echo in the silent, empty passage. As she passed the final doorway a massive bulk slammed into her, knocking her completely off balance. Hermione opened her mouth and yelled in surprise as she tumbled backwards. She scrunched her eyes tightly shut, as she prepared to hit the stony floor. Some kind of sweet liquid splashed into her mouth, and she reflexively swallowed it as she landed on her bottom with a bruising thud.

\"What the bloody hell was that!\" a cold voice demanded in a hiss, and she immediately recognized the speaker. She looked up to see Draco Malfoy glowering at his toadies. His skin was flushed pink with anger, until… until he saw the open flask in Crabbe\'s meaty fist. Malfoy snatched the flask away immediately and checked its contents. Hirogarogant features displayed his shock at not finding what he\'d expected, and he blanched as he recapped the half empty container. \"You great, hulking idiot,\" he spat at Crabbe. \"That was for Pansy,\" Malfoy growled. Then he looked at Hermione with genuine nervousness in his silver eyes. \"Do you have the slightest idea how badly it would botch things up if Mudblood drank this?\" he asked glaring at his cronies again.

Hermione tried to spit any remaining residue out of her mouth at his words. A sickening, metallic sweetness coated her tongue and mouth, and she grimaced. \"I did swallow some of it, and it tastes disgusting,\" she croaked. \"So help me, Malfoy, if I find out that this…\" She watched Malfoy\'s expression travel from shocked to murderous as she spoke.

\"Dammit!\" the icy blonde cut her off as he backed down Crabbe. \"You\'d better hope, Crabbe, that giving what\'s left to Pansy counteracts Granger, otherwise I may be using an Unforgivable on your brainless arse!\" Malfoy sneered.

Since the potion was intended for Malfoy\'s dog of a girlfriend, it probably wasn\'t anything fatal, Hermione reasoned. His reaction to her drinking it still worried Hermione though. She\'d gathered her scattered books, and she was anxious to escape the presence of her least favorite Slytherins. Since Voldemort\'s return, she\'d begun to take Malfoy\'s threats more seriously. With his father at Voldemort\'s right hand, she wondered if Draco Malfoy already hid a tattoo of the Dark Mark beneath his robes. But she refused to leave until she found out what sort of potion she\'d just swallowed. If she needed to rush to Madame Pomfrey for an antidote, Hermione wanted to know.

\"Answer me, Malfoy! What was that potion?\" she demanded, letting her annoyance burn through her words. She hated it when people talked about her as if she weren\'t there.

Malfoy crossed his arms over his broad chest and eyed her coldly, as he looked her up and down. He towered over her, and Hermione was forced to notice how much he\'d filled out since they were kids. He looked quite lean and strong after all the years of Quidditch. The thought was disconcerting, especially when he was staring her down in a deserted castle corridor. \"Well if Weasel ever goes through puberty, you may find out. Unless you\'re too great a prig for even him,\" he finally offered with a satisfied smirk.

Hermione bristled at his words. \"I should have realized that you are incapable of giving a straight answer,\" Hermione nearly yelled at him. \"You probably mixed it wrong anyways, because I don\'t feel any different, you prat!\" she fumed.

The blonde Slytherin laughed and took a step closer towards her. \"I mixed it right,\" he drawled. \"Do you really want to know what was in that flask, Granger?\" he nearly purred continuing to advance on her. He enjoyed the fear that played just behind her eyes. Any chance to tease the muggle-born know-it-all was a great diversion in Malfoy\'s opinion. His grin broadened as Hermione backed against the wall, and he put his hands out to either side of her as he leaned in closer.

She could feel the heat of his breath against her cheek, as he spoke again. \"What the little, lost Head Girl drank was a lust potion. So if you don\'t feel any different, I\'ve got to wonder just how long you\'ve been fancying a shag from me, Granger.\" He drawled fixing her with one of his dangerous stares as though he was looking through her into her very thoughts.

He could practically feel the pounding of her heart and the heat coming off her as Hermione blushed furiously. She looked like she was about to argue the point when he suddenly closed the final few inches between them and covered her mouth with his own. He brushed his lips roughly against hers, and his insistent tongue pushed past her parted lips. He grasped the nape of her neck so that she couldn\'t draw away, but to his delight she wasn\'t trying.

Hermione\'s first thought was to hit him with every hex she knew, but something held her back. At the first touch of his lips, Hermione felt a connection snap into place between them. Her heartbeat pounded loudly through her head, and prickly tingles ran through some of the more exciting parts of her anatomy. She felt wrong and dirty to be snogging her enemy outside an empty classroom, but she didn\'t want to stop. As the passion continued to overwhelm her, the reason that this was wrong began to elude her. Then there was only the explorations of Malfoy\'s mouth, the heat of his presence, and sounsounds of their small moans and ragged breathing.

Every sensation was heightened, and Hermione\'s thoughts felt drugged and euphoric. Everything seemed surreal. He twined his tongue with hers as he explored the heated wetness of her mouth, and his lips continued to stroke hers as though he were encouraging


Hermione\'s knees were giving out. She was sure she was about to crumple to the floor again as they buckled, but Malfoy\'s swift hands caught her around the waist, drawing her tightly against him. She traced the shells of his ears and the line of his jaw with her fingertips, while his hands rubbed up and down along her spine and her sides. She could feel her breasts flattened against the hardness of his chest, as they pressed their bodies against one another. Everything was electric, and Hermione caught her thoughts rushing ahead to even more compromising positions as a distinct bulge rubbed against her stomach with a rhythmic motion. She whimpered into his kiss, and her leg began to wrap around his hip before she could stop herself.

Without warning Malfoy pulled away from her, leaving them both breathing hard. He traced the pad of his thumb over her kiss-swollen lower lip. \"Pleasant dreams, Mudblood,\" he drawled in a saccharine tone. Then he turned and walked away, followed by his laughing friends. He\'d proved his point, he thought grimacing at the sweet metallic taste of the potion that clung to his mouth after the kiss. He\'d give the remainder of the potion to Pansy, and then he would hope for the best. Leave it to Potter\'s friends to always get in the way of his plans, Draco thought darkly. But just maybe it was worth it for the chance to put Granger in her place. \"Oh and, Granger, please remember to keep your big mouth shut about this. With any luck I can break this stupid spell tonight,\" he shot back over his shoulder with a smirk and a little wave goodnight. \"Not that you feel any different.\"

Hermione grabbed her forgotten texts and rushed back to the Gryffindor Tower as quickly as her shaky legs could carry her. She didn\'t even look to see if Malfoy watched her run away. She didn\'t want to meet anyone. She certainly didn\'t want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to lock herself in her room and convince herself that none of this had ever happened. She might also consider brushing her teeth for the next hour just to get any lingering traces of Malfoy\'s kiss out of her mouth. She considered magical means of disinfection as she gave her password to the painting of the golden maiden with the shining unicorn and climbed through the opening into her private room. At the moment she was glad of the advantages of being Head Girl, because it gave her privacy in which to figure out what had just happened. At the same time she hated it for giving her that same opportunity to think.

Within minutes a gentle tapping at the portrait hole sounded, and thinking became a moot point. Hermione reluctantly answered the knock. Her two best friends stood waiting outside, and upon seeing her they anxiously climbed into the room. Hermione had disabled the alarm in her room especially for them, and Ron in particular had been spending lots of time in her room. She knew from Ron\'s expression that he could tell something was bothering her, and Hermione tried to relax for his benefit.

\"Hermione, is something wrong?\" Ron asked seriously. The earnest look on his face was very sweet, and somehow it helped Hermoine to calm down. She and Ron had been casually dating since her breakup with Victor Krum after their sixth year. Rather than make the situation awkward for Harry, their dating had made the trio stronger now that Ron and Hermione no longer had to vent their attraction through petty squabbles.

\"Oh, I was just coming out of my extra potions, and I think I may have taken too many classes again,\" Hermione said offhandedly.

\"Well, I bet Snape is trying to make it as awful as he can too,\" Ron said and gave her a sympathetic look, as he plopped onto the end of her bed and began leafing through the very difficult tomes that Hermione always brought back from the library. He wrinkled his nose up at Hermione\'s taste in reading material.

\"It is our last year here, so I\'m sure he wants to take as many points from us as he can while he still has the chance,\" Harry added, causing all three to laugh at the truth of it. Harry sat down next to Ron. \"How can you find potions so interesting, when you have to learn about them from that nasty slime-ball?\" he asked. The thought had bothered him before, but he tried not to voice it.

Hermione got the serious look that usually meant a mothering lecture was about to follow. \"You shouldn\'t talk about a teacher with so much disrespect--even if we don\'t like him. Professor Snape does know his subject thoroughly. He is one of the most knowledgeable Potions Masters in the world. I think that\'s the real reason that Dumbledore never gave him the Defense Against the Dark Arts job.\"

\"I always thought it was because he\'s an obnoxious git,\" Ron sighed. He laughed at the dirty look that Hermione shot at him, and he darted over picked her up and carried her back to the bed before she could pop off into another lecture. He dropped Hermione so that she was placed between him and Harry. \"Now, you can either join me and Harry in the common room, or we can both tickle you until you agree to have some fun with the rest of the humans,\" Ron promised her. \"It\'s not healthy to try to be so perfect all the time.\"

\"I can\'t help how I am,\" Hermione admitted testily. For once her frazzled nerves had nothing to do with her perpetually overloaded schedule. \"I suppose I can spare half an hour before I start on my thesis paper for Professor Binns,\" Hermione conceded. \"Just promise me that I won\'t be spending that time watching the two of you play wizard\'s chess with no notice that I\'m even present,\" she added in a mock threatening tone. \"Otherwise you will lose me to my study of the economic repercussions of the Goblin Rebellion, and you may never find me again under the stack of research books,\" she teased.

\"Please, Hermione,\" Harry implored, \"I don\'t think I could go back to the days when Ron\'s only outlet for dating was to practice snogging on his pillow!\" He laughed and ducked away, when Ron made a half-hearted attempt to slug him in the arm.

\"At least I didn\'t call my pillow \'Cho\',\" Ron retorted, leaning back upon his hands and fixing Harry with a proud glare.

\"Yeah, but that was only before I started dating Ginny,\" Harry reminded the red-headed boy. The uncomfortable look on Ron\'s face told Harry that he\'d won this round. At the mention of his only sister Ron always became torn between his role as Harry\'s friend and his duty as Ginny\'s big brother. It was entirely feasible that the poor boy could go into seizure if Harry ever told him anything too salacious about his relationship. Harry was very cautious about actually disturbing Ron, but it was fun to occasionally tease Ron about it.

Harry smiled disarmingly. \"Maybe I should go challenge Ginny to a game of wizard chess, so that you two can have a little quality time to unwind,\" the green-eyed wizard offered. He knew that Ron was itching to have Hermione alone for a snogging session. He\'d recognized the dreamy look on his best friend\'s face all evening. \"You guys can join us in the common room before Hermione has to start her history paper.\" With a wink Harry disappeared through the portrait hole, and his dark head could be seen jaunting down the hall for a few steps before the painting closed behind him.

\"Nice to finally have some time to our selves,\" Ron began self-consciously. \"You look lovely, you know. I-I…\" he stammered. \"I\'ve been fantasizing all day about pinning you down and kissing you all over. Must be that little skirt you wear under your robes.\" He concentrated on Hermione\'s bedspread as he spoke, because the admission made him too shy to look her in the eyes. Ron wrapped his arm around her waist and leaned in close touching his forehead to hers and rubbing noses with her affectionately.

Ron leaned in closer and covered Hermione\'s glowing cheeks with butterfly kisses as he embraced her tenderly. His fingers slipped through her long brown curls as though he were memorizing the very weight and feel of her hair. She\'d finally managed to get the frizz under control, and it was so much softer than he\'d ever expected in his early daydreams about Hermione. He gazed deeply into Hermione\'s smiling eyes and without further word he kissed her.

Hermione responded gently to the soft, velvety caresses of Ron\'s lips against hers. Everything felt safe and warm, so long as Ron was close. She deepened the kiss, grinning at his small whimper of surprise as she pushed him onto his back. She stroked his warm cheek and traced the line of his jaw with her index finger.

Everything was normally so innocent and cuddly with Ron, but suddenly Hermione was feeling wilder than her normal self. She pushed Ron\'s sweater up so that she could feel the softness of his stomach under her fingers. She found his small flat nipples and pinched them slightly, swallowing his surprised moans. She grazed them with her fingernails just enough to make him jump. She wanted to climb beneath his skin and push his buttons. She wanted to see how far she could stretch his control before he would stop being a gentleman. She wanted to be completely out of control.

A pair of smoldering grey eyes rose unbidden from her memory, and suddenly all she could picture was Draco Malfoy\'s face dark with passion. She relived the feel of Malfoy\'s lips over hers and the pulse of desire that throbbed between her thighs after the hot brush of his tongue against hers. She wanted to feel his hands all over her. She imagined his pale skin naked before her eyes, as she caressed him. She concentrated on Malfoy\'s erection rubbing against her, as she ground her hips against Ron. Ron! With a loud gasp she pulled away from Ron and pushed herself to the far end of the bed.

\"\'Mione are you okay?\" he asked reaching for her shoulder. Ron looked more confused than ever. A lock of flaming hair hung in his eyes, making him look cute and disarming and very inviting. \"Where did that come from?\"

Hermione wanted to relax into his touch, but the memory from the dungeon was too clear in her mind. She should be having wonderful and romantic thoughts about Ron, whom she adored. Instead she was having torrid thoughts that could set the entire castle ablaze, and every time she closed her eyes she was seeing them with Draco Malfoy.

Hermione ran her fingers though her tousled hair and tried to calm her breathing. \"It\'s okay, Ron. I just must be more overworked from potions than I\'d thought. I can\'t seem to stop thinking about my study class, and well…. I just can\'t do this if I\'m thinking about Snape even indirectly. It feels pervy.\" She told him. The line about Snape might have been a lie, but in all honesty it felt too pervy to have these thoughts about Malfoy when she was with Ron.

\"Thinking of Snape during that is pervy!\" Ron marveled. He slapped his thighs. \"Right then,\" Ron said as though he were taking desperate action to save her, \"that proves that you need to be around normal humans and fast. We can go find Harry and Ginny, and I guarantee we\'ll make you forget all about that nasty ol\' Snape.\" Ron bent his head to look her in the eyes as he spoke and they both grinned.

She would think about this all later, she decided. Malfoy had said that with any luck he would be able to break this spell tonight, and for the moment Hermione was just going to have to give him that chance. If he couldn\'t she would either have to go to the teachers or break it herself. Most likely she would have to break it herself. She couldn\'t bear the thought of this getting out as gossip any more than Malfoy could. Even if only the teachers knew, Snape would have to be the one to brew councounter potion and that would be horrible enough. Not even seeing Malfoy getting expelled for brewing questionable potions would be worth a year of Snape sniggering over a bizarre lust relationship between her and the spawn of evil. Besides, Ron would not only be upset by the thought but also would probably do something stupid in his anger. He always was the first to rush to her defense.

Hours later, after a fun night with her friends and a good chunk of her term paper, Hermione was still lying in bed thinking about Malfoy and their situation. Her fingers dipped further below the lacey waistband of her cotton knickers. She pulled herself out of a particularly naughty rumination about places she\'d like to feel his mouth while he pinned her against the dungeon wall. Shouldn\'t this spell have been cancelled by now? This couldn\'t be a good sign.

Meanwhile, in Pansy Parkinson\'s darkened room Draco Malfoy had problems of his own. This had certainly been his most successful night of rutting with Pansy, and she was more than thankful to him, believing it to be the result of the potion. Technically, he knew it was the work of the potion, but only because he\'d been fantasizing about Granger the whole time.

Pansy shifted and possessively wrapped her arms around Draco\'s bicep, and Malfoy could only pray that the shadows were deep enough to hide the sudden grimace on his face. He had a stomach turning premonition that he probably wasn\'t done for the night. Sleeping with Pansy hadn\'t done a damned thing to soothe the decidedly scorching thoughts he was having about Granger, and he had the sneaking suspicion that no amount of banging Pansy was going to have an impact. What kind of dangerous dark magic could turn that know-it-all bint into the inspiration for Draco\'s most fevered and creative spank-me thoughts? At least once in his life, Draco wanted to get something right. It would be a nice change of pace for him. Damn Hermione Granger!

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Author\'s Note: Aratoratoria is the Latin name for The Art of Love by the poet Ovid. I was inspired to use that title after finding Ars Amatoria (a Snape/Hermione fic) by Maenid. I also loved reading Ovid\'s work in World Literature, and I loved the idea of giving him a nod in this story. Expect more homage to Ovid in chapter 2.

Ars Amatoria means \"The Art of Love\"

Adamo Fidelitus translates roughly to \"Fall in Love with/Find Pleasure in Fidelity\".