This Subdued Fire

*Anti-Litigatio!* :D Bondage and mild blood play occur. So, yeah, skip that part (it\'s at the end) if it bugs you.
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The days of September slipped into October, bringing with it the apple harvest and crisp fall air and the scent of heather on the breeze. The start of October also meant another, very important thing: Quidditch season. The first match was between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Hermione had no compunction about cheering (quietly) for Slytherin.

Over the past two weeks, she and Draco had fallen into a vly cly comfortable existence. Their days were spent in classes and in parts of the castle common to all the houses, studiously ignoring each other. He sent her the occasional owl along with the post and vice-versa. But their nights....ah. The nights were spent in splendid abandon. Hermione was delighted with Draco\'s apparent...knowledge and Draco pleased with her willingness to learn. If neither of them fell asleep after their exertions, they most often spent the rest of the night talking.

They talked of many and myriad things. Draco was well-versed in various subjects and he made an amusing and interesting conversational partner. He found Hermione to be just as mentally stimulating as she was physically and he enjoyed having someone he could really talk to. Draco found many of his long standing ideas about Muggles and Muggle-borns challenged. He conceded to himself that perhaps they were not as bad as he had been led to believe.

For her part, Hermione realised that she held a lot of resentment towards Purebloods, believing them to be like the Malfoys and the Blacks and the Zabinis and the Parkinsons. She had formerly thought that nice Pureblood families like the Weasleys were anomalies in the Wizarding world. Not that she could ever conceivably call the Malfoys nice, but her thoroughly British sense of tradition was sympathetic when she saw it from their side.

The stands of the Quidditch pitch were full with yelling, rowdy students, staff and parents. Normally reserved Ravenclaw House was the loudest of all. They nearly caused a riot when Ravenclaw\'s team came out.

Ravenclaw looked sharp decked out in their blue robes. The team lined up neatly on one side of the grassy field. Slytherin sauntered onto the pitch next. Hermione, even without Ron\'s Omnioculars, could pick out Malfoy\'s shining head from the rest of the players. Madam Hooch came onto the grass with the Quidditch chest. All the bodies down there mounted up. Hooch blew her whistle and released the balls. The play had begun.

Draco and the Ravenclaw Seeker, Terry Boot, rose high above the other players. They were looking for the Snitch and calling down plays to the other flyers. The game was going fast and furious. As Draco predicted, Ravenclaw got bogged down in the minutiae of the game instead of looking at the big picture. The blue House scored at a decent clip but Slytherin matched them point for point. An hour into the game they were tied at sixty points. Draco looked down and saw the Snitch hovering about a foot above Madam Hooch\'s head. He nosed his broom down into a dive. Boot thought that Malfoy was pulling that old chestnut, the Wronski feint, out of his hat. However, he looked down at the streaking Slytherin and saw the Snitch flapping nonchalantly above Hooch\'s head.

Terry went into a similar dive but his Cleansweep 9 just couldn\'t compete with a Nimbus 2000. Those damned Numbuses were the fastest brooms on the market. Hermione saw Draco become a green blur in a nearly vertical dive right towards Madam Hooch\'s head. He pulled up sharply just before he ran into the startled witch and he held something in his grasp. Madam Hooch blew her whistle. Draco opened his hand and there was the Snitch, lying complacently in his gloved palm.

Seamus Finnegan made the announcement and the stands became pandemonium. Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor booed and Slytherin cheered. Snape even cracked a small smile. His House had won a match without any cheating that he could see. It was well done of them he thought. Hermione applauded politely. She mentally cheered Draco. And quickly berated herself for the thought.

Hermione looked at the stands through Ron\'s Omnioculars. She saw Lucius Malfoy sitting in the Governors\' section smiling smugly. Her mouth turned down in a moue of distaste. Hermione really detested the fair-haired man. How strange was it then that she should be carrying on a torrid affair with his son - who could be Lucius\' doppelganger. The thought of the heart attack Lucius would have if he ever found out about Draco and herself gave her a lift.

The spectators began pouring out of the stands. Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny found themselves being carried along by the jostling crowd. However, Hermione found herself being pushed farther back into the crowd. Draco appeared at her side, gave her a quick open smile and vanished in a flash. Hermione grinned. Draco\'s little gesture warmed her to her toes. For once, her inner voice had nothing to say about it.

She went with the masses of people into the Great Hall. Taking her place beside Ron, she saw Lucius give Draco a firm pat on the back for his accomplishment. Hermione was intrigued. She had the impression that Lucius was a cold man. The open display of paternal pride gave her pause for thought. Still, she held no illusions about the type of person that the elder Malfoy was.

She remembered Draco\'s words from a fortnight ago. She was most definitely in the realm of the obligatory teenage rebellion. If the junior Malfoy had a relationship with a Muggle born it was sure to drive a dyed in the wool Death Eater like old Luscious up a wall. However, like she told Malfoy that night in Greenhouse Nine, she didn\'t care anymore about that. She was long past the age of consent and not particularly concerned about being found out. If the story did break, who would believe it? No one - it was that unlikely. That thought was one of the few that kept her locked into their late-night rendezvous.

Every table except Slytherin was in the doldrums. There was a veritable fiesta over at the green and silver decorated table. Ravenclaw looked suicidal. To lose to Slytherin in the Quidditch opener was not to be borne.

(They\'ll get over it. There\'s loads more games until the end of the season,) Hermione thought, so she didn\'t feel too bad for them. She, herself, sent Draco a silent thought of congratulations. Draco looked up at that moment and sent her a nod in acknowledgment. Hermione was sure she could hear a distinct \"thank you\" rattling around in her brain. She shrugged it off and went back to dinner.

The nearly silent conversation began to cease as the Great Hall began to empty out. The sun hung halfway down in the enchanted sky overhead. The four friends made their way to Gryffindor tower just as the yellow orb began to darken with hints of reddish orange. Hermione bid her companions adieu and went upstairs to catch a nap. Ginny and Harry had the same idea and retired to their dorms to do so. Ron was left on his own and he noticed that Lavender was sitting by herself as well. They exchanged small grins at having been left to their own devices.

Ron got up and moved to the couch where Lavender was. They began talking and he found out that she was an avid Quidditch fan and that her favorite team were the Chudley Cannons, same as him. At this shared fact, they both smiled, really looking at one another for the first time.
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Hermione, having gained the silence of her room and being assured of not being bothered for the rest of the day until it was time to begin her patrol, grabbed a handful of Floo powder, tucked the Floo powder pouch into her robes pocket and Flooed her way to the dungeon sanctuary. She found Draco there waiting, sweaty and smudged, still in his uniform.

\"Well, hello there Granger. Got a kiss for the winner?\" He stood there grinning cheekily at her, his pale face slightly sunburned and rosy.

\"Of course I do.\" Hermione smiled and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She planted a sound kiss on his sweat flavoured lips. \"I thought you did pretty good out there.\"

\"Pretty good?! Woman, have you *no* appreciation for the fine art that is Quidditch?\"

\"Well...no. Flying\'s not my bag, baby.\" She winked at him.

\"Oh, really? Then what, pray tell, is your bag?\" He pulled her up tight to his vaguely damp uniform.

\"I\'ll show you.\" She tugged his hand towards the fireplace. \"Come on. Take this Floo powder, say \'bell tower\' and you\'ll be there.\" Hermione handed him a a fistful of powder.

\"Bell Tower!\" Draco threw the powder and he disappeared in a puff of greenish-yellowish smoke.

He fell out of the fireplace at the bottom of the bell tower and made way for Hermione to come through. Two seconds later she landed in the slightly sooty confines and stepped out. Hermione grabbed his hand and they raced up the the stairs to the top.

\"I\'ve never been in here.\" Draco turned around and around looking at all that was in the bell tower.

\"Most people never have. It\'s off limits to everyone but the Headmaster and Filch. Magnificent, isn\'t it?\"

Indeed it was. Not only was it a bell tower it was also an enormous clockworks which rang the bells everytime there was a change of class. Gears and belts and chains and nuts and bolts were running and squeaking and clanking in perfect mechanical synchronicity. There was a railing overlooking the stairs which spiraled down the length of the tower. Draco went over and looked down. He could just see the bottom where the lit torches glowed faintly. He yelled \"hello!\" Surprisingly there was no echo.

He turned and faced Hermione with a foolish sort of grin on his face. She said nothing, merely backing him up agains the waist high railing. Hermione stripped the emerald green outer robe from Draco\'s slim body. He raised an eyebrow at her.

\"A little impatient, are we?\"

Hermione\'s only answer was to pull her long black robe off, revealing the ankle-length black skirt and shirt beneath. Draco perused her from head to toe, not noticing until now that she wore his birthday gift entwined in her hair. The simple gesture pleased him unaccountably and he pulled her tight to himself and kissed her hard.

Lips pressed and tongues entwined, he savored the flavour of her mouth. Hermione sent her stole her hands under the green tabard of his Quidditch uniform. She rand her fingers up to tease at his flat nipples until Draco, pained, broke off their kiss. He grabbed her by the waist and perched her on the railing. Hermione looked so innocent in her mary janes and prim skirt and blouse. All except for the eyes. Her eyes were so worldly and dark at that moment, Draco couldn\'t imagine Satan himself looking naughtier.

Hermione curled her fingers over the rounded railing. Draco eased her skirt up and stepped between her opened thighs. His pointed face was tipped up to hers, grinning evilly. Hermione fell on him, kissing him with all the strength of a ravening beast. He matched her lick for lick and bite for bite. No words were exchanged and they came together in a fast and furious manner that left them both gasping for air. Draco had his hands clamped on her waist just as her thighs were locked around his. Hermione gripped the railing for dear life and they sweated and heaved. His frantic movements were echoed by her hips moving back and forth, straining to reach something. And when it broke over them they sank down to their knees, hyperventilating madly, quivers still running over their nerves.

When Draco finally caught his breath, he queried, \"What brought that on?\"

Hermione lifted her head from the crook of his shoulder and gave a weak chuckle. \"I have no idea. You looked so...and I just had to have you.\" She shrugged and moved away from him to right her clothing.

He sensed her distancing herself from him mentally. Draco got up and paced to one of the bell tower\'s windows, adjusting his own garments as he walked. They were silent, lost in their own thoughts.

Draco gave a softly uttered \"hmm.\"

Hermione perked up from where she sat. \"What is it?\"

\"Tomorrow it will have been a month.\"

\"I know,\" she replied, a faint hint of wonder in her voice.

\"Who would\'ve ever thought it?\" Draco turned from his post overlooking the grounds to gaze at Hermione, still sitting quietly with her knees pulled up to her chest.

She grinned faintly. \"I wouldn\'t have.\"

\"I thought I\'d be ready to kill you by now, \" Draco said.

Hermione tilted her head up at him, catching and reflecting the red-gold rays of the sun in her eyes. \"Same here. You\'re still a stuck-up bigoted poncy little bastard, you know.\"

Draco quirked a silvery eyebrow. \"And you, my dear, are still a rag-tag, nose in the air, bloody-minded know-it-all who hasn\'t learned to keep her big mouth shut.\"
Hermione\'s lips tightened, thinking of a comeback, but thinking better of it, she simply got up and began wending her way down the spiral stairs. Draco went after her, pulling on his Quidditch robes hastily. Reaching her at the middle of the staircase, he grabbed her bicep and spun her around to face him on the narrow step. He pulled her into so that they were nearly nose to nose.

\"You\'re not going to leave. You like this -\" He bestowed a bruising kiss on her lips. \"Too much to stop.\"

She slapped his face with all the heat she could muster.\"You arrogant bastard. Just because I\'ve entered into this unholy mess with you doesn\'t mean that you can control me.\"

Draco\'s answer was to toss her over his shoulder and march down to the base of the tower and into the fireplace. Pulling the pouch of Floo powder out of her dangling robe pocket, he Flooed them to the dungeon lair. He tossed the his erstwhile companion onto the bed where she immediately went to get up.

Draco snapped his fingers and silvery-green ribbons sprang from the four posts of the bed, twining themselves around her wrists and ankles. The more Hermione pulled the tighter they became until her hands began to turn purple from lack of circulation. She stopped struggling and gave Draco a murderous glare.

\"You need to learn to stop running away when the conversation doesn\'t suit you.\" He conjured up a ladderbacked chair and straddled it, looking at her thoughtfully. \"Now. we are going to have a serious conversation whether you like it or not.\"

\"I\'ll be damned if I talk to you. You have no right to treat me like this!\" Hermione struggled again and the silver bindings clamped down painfully on her wrists. She could feel them cut into her skin and turning her head, she saw a slight trickle of blood begin to wend its way down along her forearm.

\"It would be in your best interests *not* to wiggle around so much. Just lie quietly and talk. As much as you like to run your mouth, talking shouldn\'t be a problem.\" He smirked at her maliciously.

\"I hate you.\"

\"No, you don\'t. And I don\'t hate you anymore either.\"

\"Oh no? Then why this?\" Hermione flicked her gaze to the oozing cuts on her wrist.

\"You did that to yourself.\"

\"Bollocks!\"

\"You\'ve got a really filthy mouth when it suits you, Granger.\" That had the effect of shutting her mouth. \"Finally, she\'s silent! It\'s a miracle.\"

Hermione snorted.

Draco made a little moue of distaste. \"How very unladylike. As I was saying, we\'re going to have a serious chat.\"

Hermione rolled her eyes. \"About what?\"

\"About this, you silly bint!\"

\"As I recall when I wanted to have that conversation you were unwilling to commit to any sort of emotion, \" she reminded him.

\"Yes...well. Things change.\"

Hermione snorted again. \"Not bloody likely.\"

\"You doubt me?\"

\"Have you given me any reason to believe you?\"

\"No. Which is why I\'m telling you now.\"

\"And if you think I\'m stupid enough to fall for that claptrap...\"

\"When you\'re not being a judgmental bitch you\'re really quite nice, Granger.\"

\"Sod off.\" Hermione shifted a bit and the bonds tightened unmercifully, pushing a stifled groan out of her throat. \"Will you let me out of these sodding things!?\"

\"I quite enjoy seeing you all trussed up like that. Very tempting indeed.\"

\"Bastard.\"

Draco chuckled darkly. \"I think my father would take exception to that. I most certainly am not a bastard.\"

\"I\'m not talking about your lineage but your personality.\"

\"Ah. Well as to that...I\'m sorry.\"

Hermione\'s eyes widened.

Draco rolled his. \"No need to look so shocked. I *do* say it on occasion. But there is something in you that brings out the devil in me.\" He grinned so boyishly that Hermione softened in that moment.

\"Apology accepted. Now will you please let me go? My fingers are numb and my wrists and ankles are screaming.\" Draco snapped his fingers but instead of the bonds disappearing completely they loosened, although not enough for her to be released.

\"What are you about, Malfoy?\"

\"I told you I like seeing you like this.\" He softly uttered something Hermione couldn\'t hear and of a sudden she felt flushed with heat.

Hermione let out a rippled sigh and fixed accusing eyes on Draco. \"What did you do?\"

\"Nothing that wasn\'t necessary. I need you in a soft frame of mind and this was the only way.\"

\"Manipulative little - ooooohhhhh.\" Another wave of heat rolled over her nerves and she settled deeply into duvet covering the bed.

\"That\'s right, keep being angry.\" He smirked at her knowingly.

\"How can keep from being anything but - oooohhhHHHHhhhhhhfuck! What did you *do*??\" Hermione was now squirming on the bed and her skirt had inched up from her ankles to her knees.
\"Don\'t you worry your pretty little head about that. If you lay quiet and listen, you\'ll be fine.\" Hermione did as she was bid, for once.

\"Comfy? Good.\" Draco got up from his chair and began to pace the room. \"Look. I\'m beginning to actually like you. Don\'t say anything, I know how incongruous that may seem. But I do enjoy your company and well, your acid, agile tongue.\" He gave Hermione a naughty wink.

\"Is that all that you have to say?\" she asked archly.

Draco was taken aback. \"Isn\'t that enough?\"
\"The fact of the matter is that I find that I like you as well, when you\'re not being a high-handed little bugger. *Like right now.*\" And there was another rolling flash of sensation that fizzled its way from toes to tip. Draco hooted with laughter watching Hermione try not to give it voice.

\"Damnit, Draco! How do you expect anyone to carry on a lucid conversation like this?!\" He laughed again, noting that she must be near the breaking point if she\'d slipped enough to call him by his given name.

\"Stop that laughing!\" A long serrated moan bubbled up and out and he noticed the tears beginning to stream down her face. Draco took pity on Hermione, after all, cruelty had its place, just not at that particular moment.

*\"Finite Incantatem,\"* he intoned. Hermione\'s breathing became more even and deeper.

\"You\'re a real piece of work, Malfoy.\" Hermione glared at him with a look that would\'ve frozen fire.

He swept her an arrogantly elegant bow. \"Thank you, my sweet. But now...now is the time to put far more honeyed words into that mouth of yours.\"

Draco walked over to the bed and looked down her bound form. He took off his outer robes, shoes and socks. Climbing into the space between her outstretched legs, he noted the slight look of apprehension in Hermione\'s expression. He felt unaccountably pleased by that.

He reached down and took her shoes and argyle socks off, appreciating the line of her high-arched feet with their silvery blue toenails. He raised an eyebrow. \"Blue, Granger? And here I thought you were cheering *me* on today.\" Draco swished a hand over her toes and the polish changed to a gleaming Pernod green.

\"Much better.\" He uttered something so low that Hermione\'s ears didn\'t catch it and of a sudden she found herself completely divested of clothing. \"And that is much *much* better.\"

And so it was better. The deep golden color of the velvet duvet complimented her skin and hair. In her thrashing upon the bed it had come loose from the chopsticks and spread in twisted roping locks around her head. \"Hmmm....nice but I think it could be improved, just a bit.\"

The velvet beneath Hermione changed from antique gold to a deep cranberry color that looked as rich and as liquid as a glass of well aged port. Hermione had lost all vestiges of her summer tan and she glowed faintly rosy against the crimson of the cloth. Draco, unable to resist, leaned down and bit the tender skin of her inner thigh. He watched the blood well from the teeth marks and licked the drops up avidly even as the skin began to close itself. Levering himself up he saw Hermione\'s eyes had gone dark with the last remnants of the charm he had cast over her and a renewed longing.

\"Ah. It\'s an excellent start.\" Draco looked pleased and treated her other thigh to the same.

Hermione felt the pain tingle along her nerve endings and transfigure into something
just shy of pleasure. \"mmm.\"

Draco looked at her and saw that her eyes were closed, she was sinking intotatetate of mind where she was aware of nothing but sensation. It was where he wanted her to be, to live on her nerves when it was just the two of them together. He reached out and trailed his fingertips over one soft breast, lingering at the nipple. Moving down again, he bit it firmly, pleased at the gasp of pain Hermione gave. He could taste the coppery taste of blood on his tongue. His lips clamped around the injured nub and sucked firmly.

The mingled feelings of pleasure/pain were running up and down Hermione\'s synapses. The unfamiliar feelings set her brain to glittering with new information to process. When Draco moved his fingers to the juncture of her thighs all coherent thought fled as she processed the dual stimulation of his mouth on her nipple and his skilled fingers between her legs.

With every drop of blood that he extracted from her capillaries, Hermione could feel something different within her. It made her not want to resist Draco any longer, at least while they existed in that moment. She merely wanted to give herself up to him. When at last he deemed her ready, Draco charmed himself nude and he slipped inside of her slowly. Hermione could feel herself stretching to accommodate him. She registered that the bonds holding her hands and feet in place were no longer there and she wrapped herself around his slender body.

The intensity of his pace quickened and he carried Hermione along with him. Her thighs tightened unmercifully around him. She raked her square nails down his back and he stiffened slightly, feeling them breaking the skin. At her peak, Hermione bit down on his shoulder and she could taste the warm coy say salty liquid flowing into her mouth. She relished it, taking what she considered her pound of flesh from him. If she could\'ve left marks on the blond Slytherin she would have.

She lay back, watching Malfoy\'s face change from a stiff determined expression to one of intense relief and relaxation before he collapsed on her. She stroked the short strands of his hair and murmuroft oft words intended to soothe him. Hermione ran her tongue along her teeth and lips and was surprised to still taste his blood.

At last he quieted and rolled away, pulling her with him. It was the first time that he\'d ever held her after one of their encounters. They were bonded, even if neither one knew it yet. It was some of the oldest magic there was - blood magic. Laying there in the quiet and dark of the room, the dimmed torches casting shadows on the stone walls, a curious thing took place. Rose petals of the deepest crimson red began falling on the entwined lovers in their repose. They dripped from the stones of the ceiling to flutter to the bed, so that there was velvet above and velvet below and Hermione and Draco in between.

And they lay there content and at ease.