Unlikely Alliances

I was surprised by how good the simple dish she prepared tasted. She retrieved a bottle of wine and I opened it for us. This was really no different than what we’d been doing since I returned to the manor, but it felt completely new. Was this how lower-class couples behaved? And unlike before, when Weasley looked up from her dinner she smiled at me. How very odd. It seemed too sudden a change in her demeanor; we had been dire enemies only the day before. Perhaps like a cold bud she bloomed with a little warmth. That would also make her fragile. If it were to frost again, she might wilt.

I was composing poetry in my head, I realized. Beautiful women will do that to a man, I suppose.

Ginny
I sent Malfoy upstairs so I could clean up. My blood was up, although we’d just been sitting quietly together. I only hoped his headache had dissipated while we ate. I went to his bedroom door and knocked. He answered and I pushed the door open.

“You don’t have to knock, you know,” he said. He was undressing, and I stopped to watch.

“I grew up in a house with six brothers.”

Malfoy’s movements slowed, and he turned to look at me.

“You’re staring at me.”

“I’m enjoying the view.”

“You’ve got the same look in your eye as someone examining prime livestock,” he protested.

“Malfoy, you are prime livestock,” I said, smiling. “Please continue.”

He shook his head and unbuttoned his shirt, tossing it in the laundry hamper by the bathroom door. The white cotton undershirt followed, and I felt a stirring in the pit of my stomach as the muscles in his back rippled with the motion of throwing the shirt.

“You have an incredible body.” The complement rolled off my tongue without any real thought; Malfoy turned, hands on his belt.

“I’ve seen better days,” he said, unclasping it and stepping out of his trousers. I could see an ugly scar on his knee where the splintered bones had broken the skin. Harry had done a number on him.

“That must have been a sight.”

Malfoy slipped out of his boxer briefs and stood before me comfortably. What amazing confidence he must have, I thought. My eyes flicked down and back up of their own accord, and he smiled.

“Something on your mind, Weasley?” he asked.

“Just how much I want to fuck you,” I answered. He stood still as I approached him, running my hands over his chest.

Lucius
The moment she touched me I thought about Narcissa, and how different things would have been if I were here with her. Foreplay with her had been like slow dancing with a corpse. Weasley’s fingernails skimmed my chest slightly harder, leaving pale red lines.

“The feeling is certainly mutual,” I said.

Weasley made a growling noise and attacked my mouth. She pulled me toward the bed, and I realized that the fire I’d so admired in her personality extended here as well. There is nothing more exciting than a woman who is aggressive in bed, and I had a hard time not throwing her down and taking her with her clothes on. Even with all the patience I could muster, I tore her blouse. Rather than stop, she made a throaty noise and rolled us so she was on top. Heat raced through my veins as she bit my neck.

God but she was something else. I finally pinned her down by the wrists and held her with the weight of my body so I could penetrate her. She hooked her leg around my waist and pulled me flush against her body.

I held back as long as I could, but her hands were everywhere, and I bit back a cry as I came. She clutched my hair desperately, shuddering with me. I buried my face in the sheets beside her shoulder, listening to my heart pound in my ears. Weasley was breathing harshly, and I pulled back to look at her. She smiled up at me and pushed herself into a sitting position. I was uncertain what she intended; she nudged me onto my back and straddled my legs, kissing at my throat. The dampness of her sex against my skin sent a shiver through me.

“Weasley.”

“Hmm?” she asked, raising her head.

“I can’t.”

“You might surprise yourself,” she murmured. “Take your time.”

I felt suddenly very old. She was used to men her own age, who might be able to pleasure her again five minutes after the first round. It was terribly embarrassing to me that I couldn’t give her what she wanted immediately, but she didn’t seem to mind. She slowed her touches and after some minutes I was surprised to find my body warming to her once more.

We cleaned up and went to bed; I could feel my eyes dragging closed even as I touched the pillow. My first instinct was to curl up on my side of the bed, facing outward, as far from Narcissa as the mattress would allow. But Narcissa wasn’t the one sleeping next to me, and Weasley snuggled up against my back. I turned to gather her into the curve of my body. She fit beautifully. I rested more peacefully that night than I had in years.