Hermione woke up feeling as though her body was on fire. Draco was lying on top of her with his nose buried against her neck. Each time he'd breathe in the air twisted against her glands sending a shiver of arousal through her body.

She gave a small whimper.

At the sound, Draco's arms around her tightened and he growled somewhere deep in his throat. The sound vibrated through her nerves and she felt a gush of liquid heat between her legs. She was aching inside. Every inch of her flesh was attuned and ready. Her nipples were rigid peaks; her sex was throbbing steadily.

Alpha. Alpha. Alpha. Please.

She arched instinctively against him and tilted her head back as much as she could. Draco growled again and she felt his tongue drag across her glands.

Hermione gave a choked moan and ground her hips against him.

"Alpha, please," she said in a low keen.

Draco suddenly froze and jerked awake. His silver eyes were nearly black as he stared down at her, wide-eyed.

"Please." Hermione looked longingly up at him and tried to grind against his erection. She tilted her head back even further to expose her neck.

"Granger?" He seemed to be taking her in; he sniffed the air and his eyes grew darker. He drew a sharp breath that was half a groan and shifted against her.

"Mine," he said huskily as he lowered his head and their lips touched. Hermione moaned and tangled her legs with his as they kissed. His hands slid along her body, pulling her close as his tongue played against hers.

"Alpha, please."

She started pulling her shirt up and shimmying out of her pajama bottoms. She had her knickers halfway down her hips when Draco seemed to suddenly notice. His hands closed her around her wrists, pressing against her glands. Hermione gave a guttural moan and her eyes rolled back in her head as she ground into him.

"Wait. Wait," Draco half growled the words and it felt like he was trying to simultaneously climb off her and pin her to the bed.

"God—fuck. Granger? Granger? We cannot have sex in the infirmary."

Hermione barely heard him.

"Alpha, Alpha—Please. Please take care of me." Hermione twisted her wrists in his hold and felt shockwaves of pleasure ripple through her.

Draco wavered and sank down against her again. Hermione ground her hips up against his. He gave a shuddering moan and dropped his head down into the juncture of her neck. She felt his tongue drag across her glands and writhed against him.

His teeth suddenly closed around her trapezius muscle. Hard but without breaking her skin.

Hermione instantly froze, her eyes going wide.

He held her there for several seconds and then let go and stared down at her.

"Wait." The words were growled. They sank into somewhere deep inside her brain. "I will take care of you. You have to wait."

Hermione's eyes were still wide. Her entire body was still on fire but she gave a small obedient nod.

If he asked her to jump into a volcano, she would do it. If it meant she'd feel his teeth on her again. She would. Anything, anything, anything.

Alpha. Alpha. Alpha. Please.

Draco stared at her for a moment to verify she wasn't writhing or taking her clothes off anymore. He was panting through his teeth. His expression as he stared down at her was ravenous.

He dragged his eyes away for a moment and stood up.

"Pomfrey! I am going. I am leaving right now." He leaned over and picked Hermione up, cradled her against his chest and marched through the privacy curtains. Hermione wrapped her arms possessively around his neck and purred.

"Mr Malfoy," Madam Pomfrey's indignant voice burst through the room. "You are not a medical professional. You do not decide when you can leave the—"

Hermione stared glazedly at the hospital matron.

"I am leaving." Draco said in a flat voice. The vibrations rippled through Hermione and she gave a small whimper and buried her face in his chest. "Unless you prefer being flung from the infirmary for the next several hours. Complain to McGonagall."

He shifted Hermione up so that her head was resting against his shoulder as he turned away.

Hermione tried to be patient. He said he'd take care of her if she waited.

But it was taking forever. He kept walking and walking.

She gave up on waiting and eagerly nuzzled her nose against his glands and flicked the tip of her tongue out to play against them. Draco's entire body went rigid. He stopped walking and shook slightly before he hurried on.

Hermione slowly did it again. Maybe he'd fuck her against the wall. That would be lovely. His divine cock inside her. Hard. Fast. Growling against her throat. His teeth...

Hermione's clit throbbed and she gave a low moan just thinking about it.

They were moving quickly through the castle but Hermione wasn't paying any attention. She was licking Draco until he smelled like her as much as she wanted him to.

She twisted her tongue against his gland and he stumbled slightly.

"Fuck, Granger—Wait."

"Alpha, please," she said against his throat.

She found herself unexpectedly put down. She looked around dazedly and found that they were in a broom closet. Finally.

She jumped Draco, kissing him ravenously.

"Fuck me. Fuck me. Fuck me," she chanted against his lips.

"Good fuck, Granger, just hold on a minute," Draco said in a rasping voice as he tried to untangle her legs from where they were locked around his waist.

"Alpha, please." Her voice dropped low and she was pleading against his lips.

"Come on, good girl, we're almost there," he said, pulling one of her hands out of his shirt where she was tweaking his nipple. "I'm not going to knot you in a broom closet."

"Please..." She sucked hard on his gland and found herself pinned against the wall. He was kissing her hard. She could feel his hunger like fire through her veins. His hands were hot, sliding across her skin.

"Mine," he snarled the word against her throat and she moaned approvingly. He dragged his tongue across her glands and Hermione spasmed under him. "Mine. My Omega."

He slid a hand under the waistband of her pajamas and into her knickers; the tips of his fingers ghosting lightly against her pelvis. Hermione went slack with anticipation.

His hand slipped further down to the apex of her legs.

"You're slick for me." His mouth was breath away from her glands.

Hermione gave a dazed nod.

He sank two fingers into her core. Hermione bucked to take them deeper, clenching around them.

"You're so tight, I don't know how you take me. You're so damn small."

His fingers pumped into her tauntingly and his thumb grazed her clit.

"After you come for me here, I'm going to take you to our room and fuck you until you come around my cock before I even knot you. When you come, I want to hear your scream. I want you to say my name. You're mine."

His fingers curved inside her and thrust hard her as his thumb ground against her clit. His burning mouth closed around her throat and his teeth grazed her glands.

Hermione eyes went wide, "Draco..." she rasped as her orgasm obliterated her mind for several seconds.

She slumped against the wall and he kissed her neck and withdrew his hand. "Good girl, you're a good girl."

He licked his fingers as he stared down at her. "Can you walk?"

Hermione stared at him. There was a inkling of lucidity someone in the corner of her mind, but it was difficult to keep track of it in the black hole of desire that had taken residence between her legs.

"Walk?"

Why would there be walking? He'd said fuck, knot and screaming. She wanted to do those things. Right there, against the wall. Or on the floor. Either option worked. She wasn't picky. Wherever he wanted. She would gladly have him fuck her anywhere he wanted.

She reached out and caressed his cock through the hospital pajama bottoms he was still wearing. His cock was rigid as she wrapped her fingers around the length and tugged it toward herself.

Draco gave a ragged groan and his hips jerked forward as his head fell back. Hermione eagerly slid her other hand along his stomach and down under the waistband, relishing the sensation of his skin under her fingers before they combed through the wiry thatch of hair at the base of his cock.

She wrapped her fingers around his cock. Aside from the very beginning of her heat she'd never had it in her hand. He never let her. But she was so curious. She slid her hand along it eagerly, stepping closer as his hips jerked forward. She started sliding her hand back down toward the base when his hand abruptly closed around her wrist and pulled her hand off.

"God, Granger, I'm not fucking you in a broom closet again." Draco's voice was thick as he pushed her hand away. "Come on, let's get to our room and I'll do anything you want."

He jerked her off the ground and she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist and buried her face in his neck. If she couldn't fuck him, she'd console herself by licking him as he ran through the halls of the castle.

Were there rules against running in castle? She couldn't remember.

"Kismet," Draco said and practically fell through the door, Hermione still in his arms.

He collapsed to the rug and kicked the door closed behind him as he ripped her shirt open.

"Mine," he growled against her throat, pinning her wrists above her head as he dragged his tongue up her throat.

Fire. There was fire inside her nerves.

Hermione gave a guttural whimper under him as his free hand roamed down her body and jerked her pajama bottoms down so she could kick them off. She shoved them off her feet and parted her legs. He dropped his hips down and pressed the weight of his body against her as his tongue continued to lave against her glands.

Her clit was throbbing and she arched her pelvis trying to find relief.

"Alpha. Alpha. Please. Please fuck me."

His hips shifted away and she could feel his fingers between her legs, sliding through her slick. She was so wet for him.

He liked her wet. Dripping. She knew. He'd be so pleased with her.

She parted her legs wider, exposing herself to him. He brushed his fingers lightly along her sex and dipped into her core. Her inner walls clenched desperately around nothing as he drew his fingers away.

Please. Please. Alpha. Please.

" You're so wet for me." His voice was near her ear. His fingers played along the seam of flesh before vanishing. Hermione bit her lip and waited desperately.

He drove into her with one long thrust.

Hermione gasped as she felt herself stretch to accommodate him. He slid through the slick until he was sheathed to the hilt inside her. She arched, and moaned, and relaxed into the sensation of fullness as he withdrew and slammed back into her.

She keened as she canted her hips to meet his thrusts.

"Mine." He let go of her wrists in order to catch her jaw and angle her mouth against his.

She clung to him and felt her mind free fall.

She was only vaguely aware of the promises and praise he spoke against her lips and throat. She was perfect. So perfect. He would always take care of her. He was sorry. He was sorry. He was sorry. She was such a good girl. He'd never let anyone hurt her.

She kissed the words from his lips and ran her fingers through his hair.

When she came, she screamed his name the way he'd asked.

He pulled out enough that he didn't knot inside her when he came. While she lay on the rug panting and feeling her brain re-emerge, he slid down her body, peppering kisses over her breasts and over her stomach.

She tangled her fingers in his pale hair and drew him back up and studied his eyes before she kissed him slowly.

He carried her to the bed and pulled his shirt off before leaning across her and dragging his tongue all the way up her torso to her throat.

Her mind was in a strange, happily dazed place between being an Omega and being herself. She entwined their fingers and kissed along his knuckles.

She pulled his mouth to hers and kissed him and kissed him until she was gasping.

There was something she needed to urgently talk to him about. She tried to remember what. Something important; she'd been thinking about it the night before. Something...

"I had an orgasm last night, all by myself," she suddenly blurted out.

Draco's head popped up from where he was peppering her stomach with kisses and he stared her. She felt herself blush all the way down to her breasts.

No. That wasn't the thing she'd wanted to talk to him about.

Draco was staring at her as though he intended to eat her.

"You were—unavailable and I couldn't concentrate. So I tried. Again." Why was she telling him this? "I had tried before we started shagging and it never worked. But I tried again last night. I imagined I was with you."

Draco's expression grew predatory and Hermione felt her pulse quicken. "I thought about how you look when you watch me come. I thought about how your eyes look."

His expression was a mixture of triumph and ravenous hunger. Studying it was enough to slowly set her body alight again.

"I thought about it and I was able to come." Her voice was breathy. It was hard to remember how to breathe when he stared at her that way.

"Did you now?" The words twisted across her skin.

She gave a small nod and felt her face grow pinker. "I think it helped to know you would have been there if you could have."

Draco looked as smug as a kneazle. He just kept staring and staring at Hermione, until her skin felt as though there were electricity dancing across its surface.

"But it didn't help me sleep at all. I tried for hours to sleep before I snuck into the infirmary." She made a face.

He smirked and kissed her. "It's good you did. I doubt I would have slept without you."

Then he entwined his fingers with hers and dragged his tongue up her throat.

She felt her brain sliding away again. She closed her eyes and let it. Her Alpha was in control. It was fine.

His hands and tongue played across her body. The air was hazy, almost magical and electric from all the pheromones hanging in the air around them as he scent-marked across every inch of her. Hermione lay limp on the bed and felt his hands slide along her spine, followed by his lips and tongue.

"I'm going to fuck you again." The words brushed against the shell of her ear and sent a shiver down her spine.

She gave a dazed nod, and he pulled her hips up just slightly and sank into her. He dragged his lips along her shoulders. He combed her hair aside in order to explore the nape of her neck with his mouth and tongue as he thrust.

Hermione arched her back in order to take him deeper, and moaned as she pushed back to meet his movement.

He dragged his teeth across her shoulder, and she whimpered into the mattress as her inner-walls gripped him. He nipped her harder, and her entire body shook.

Bite me. Bite me. She wanted to say it but she swallowed the words.

"You're so good. You're so perfect." He started muttering his praise and promises against her skin.

When Draco slumped down, he pressed a kiss to her temple and gathered her in his arms.

Hermione sighed and dozed against his chest for several minutes before her brain suddenly decided to reassert itself fully. Her eyes popped opened and she stared up at Draco. He was studying her through half-lidded eyes.

"Mal—Draco, what does being interested in me mean?"

His eyes immediately widened and his expression grew closed. She felt his hand twitch against her spine. "What—do you want it to mean?"

Hermione pressed her lips together and sat up. "I want to know what you want. Not what you think I want."

There was a flicker in Draco's eyes that looked almost like terror. Then his eyes narrowed, the way they did when he was performing mental Arithmancy; calculating odds, trying to decide which choice to make.

"Draco, this isn't a trick question," she said in a sharp voice. "Just tell me what you want. I just want to know. I'm tired of guessing or assuming and then finding out I have it all wrong."

Draco sat up, his expression set. "I'm interested in you. I've said that already. I want you. You've done the research. You know exactly how this usually goes. How is that not obvious?"

There was an underlying Alpha tone in the words that sent a shiver through Hermione.

She swallowed. "Alright. But do you want me just because you're an Alpha?"

Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes. "No."

She eyed him. "Really?"

Draco met her gaze. "Yes."

Hermione's mouth twitched and she tried to move forward delicately. She twisted her fingers in her hands. "Can you actually differentiate between yourself and the biological imperative?"

"Of course I can," Draco folded his arms and jutted his chin up. The posture made his biceps and pectorals bulge unhelpfully. Hermione tried to avert her eyes and not get distracted ogling.

"Are you sure?" Hermione studied his face carefully; looking for any signs or cues to give her a sense that he was—him. "Because I—can't always. Things seem rational and then later they're not."

Draco snorted and cocked his head as he met her stare. "Well, you don't really have the same experience as I do generally. For the most part, it's quite distinct for me."

Hermione felt herself brighten and her heart rate jump slightly. She swallowed and ignored it. "How?"

"Well, it's multifaceted. It's not like I didn't expect to be an Alpha. I don't regard being an Alpha as distinct from who I am the way you do with your presentation. That said, there are instincts and biological imperatives that I can ignore most of the time."

"What do you mean by most of the time?"

Draco licked his lips. Hermione's face immediately warmed. "Well, I wasn't exactly thinking when Theo sat next to you in class. I just wanted you to remember you were—mine."

Hermione's glands tingled and she felt her nipples harden just hearing him say it. She squirmed slightly and crossed her arms.

"But I wouldn't ever cross a line even if I wanted to biologically."

"What—" Her voice betrayed her by jumping a full octave. She coughed and tried again. "What you do mean?"

"You've read the books. The biology is always there. Alphas are wired to want Omegas. So I want you—," his voice dropped into a near growl, "—to be happy, to be pleased with me, and I want—to bite you."

Hermione felt heart flush across her skin and in her lower abdomen. Apparently no matter how much sex she'd just had, hearing Draco say "bite" was enough to turn her into a sopping mess. She could still feel his teeth on her shoulder when he'd bitten her to calm her in the infirmary.

When had she gone from thinking the idea of biting was vile and animalistic to the sexiest thing imaginable? Then again, she had never thought having someone lick her sounded appealing either. Now she'd gladly spend an entire month having Draco lick, kiss, and nibble across her body.

She swallowed thickly and pressed her thighs together while she tried to focus. She stared at the sheet and gnawed at her lip for several seconds.

"So—How does that work? That's just biology, so you'd feel that way about any Omega. The fact it's focused on me—," she hesitated and her eyes dropped down to her knees. Her chest started to hurt slightly. "—doesn't actually have anything to do with me. If it were anyone else, it would be the same."

"It wouldn't." Draco said it as though he believed it.

Hermione snorted and shook her head carelessly. "It's fine." Her voice was unconvincing, even to her. "I mean—it's not really, but I get it. You don't need to act like you wouldn't happily be doing this with any Omega who happened to present at Hogwarts."

"Really?" Draco's tone was suddenly acid-coated. "Is that how it is for you? You have a biological imperative, so all the Alphas here at Hogwarts are interchangeable?"

Hermione looked up at him indignantly. "What? No."

"Then why assume it's different for me?" He was using his pratty snob voice that Hermione loathed and she felt herself bristle.

"Because it seems pretty obviously different. You thought I was blackmailing you and somehow concluded it was fair. You say you're interested, but were you planning on mentioning it, or were you just going to go along the way we were and step back without a word if I announced I was going to start shagging Theo instead?"

Draco's expression turned black at her last words, but he also didn't reply.

Hermione's shoulders slumped. "See? This is the problem. I do this to you. None of it's real. You just react to accommodate whatever you think I want and then rationalize your conclusion retrospectively."

"Do I? Thanks, Granger, I don't think I'd even know my thought processes without you." Draco's voice dripped with disdain.

"I don't hear you denying it."

"Right. And I'm the only one who rationalized a conclusion? You thought I didn't want a damn thing to do with you and you just accepted it too. How is that any different?"

"I was adapting and I didn't want to mess things up. I didn't feel like I had any other option."

"Well so was I. Going along with what you wanted didn't make me unaware of what I wanted."

"So you're claiming you've been sincerely interested in me this whole time. Are you like Theo then, and you've had a rebellious little crush on me since fourth year?" Hermione's voice was mocking.

There was something surreal about sitting naked in a bed with Draco Malfoy and arguing about whether he fancied her.

"Good god, I'd forgotten how annoying you are." Draco scowled.

Hermione felt something catch in her chest and her eyes widened. She pressed her lips together for a moment and then drew herself up. "Well, I guess it's a good thing we finally talking. So you can remember that and realize your interest is just—fake. I'm annoying. We have never been friends. This is the real us."

She stiffly slid off the mattress and started snatching her clothes up off the floor. Draco's hand shot out and caught her by the wrist.

"Don't you dare run off, Granger. You're the Gryffindor. Since when has finding someone annoying and finding them fanciable mutually exclusive?"

"Oh. I don't know. Usually." Hermione was spitting like a cat as Draco dragged her across the bed and proceeded to wrap his arms and legs around her like a koala bear, gripping her wrists in his hands.  She tried to squirm free and he proceeded to hug her more tightly.

"What are you doing?" She twisted her wrist and managed to poked him repeatedly in the ribs. He jerked but refused to let go.

"I'm keeping you here until I'm done talking to you. Now stop stabbing me."

He could have just ordered her to stay. With the quantity of scent-marking, a word from him in Alpha tone and her brain would have immediately folded. But he didn't, so she could scream at him and order him to let go if she really wanted to get away.

She stilled.

"Now then," he said in a smug voice as he dug his chin into her shoulder. "When you were visibly pining over Weasley while he was snogging the Brown girl all over the castle, was that because you were convinced of his perfection? You never thought he was annoying?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and poked him again. "That's not the same."

"Really? Why not? Because you were old friends? Knew each other too well?" He snorted. "I spent years pouring a not inconsiderable amount of energy into disliking you, noticing your flaws, and trying to surpass your marks in school. Would my interest be more convincing if I said you were Venus reborn with the mind of Rowena Ravenclaw and started writing poetry about your hair? Would that make you think I wasn't in the thrall of some biological imperative?"

Hermione snorted and elbowed him. Draco shifted to avoid it and Hermione realized his still rigid cock was nestled against her arse. She wriggled punishingly and was satisfied to hear him give a low hiss before gripping her more firmly.

"I find you annoying," he said in a tight voice. "Full stop. You are part nightmare. I have a keen sense of self-preservation and being anywhere near you, particularly with that wand you're still carrying, sets me on edge. You are fucking terrifying to be on the bad side of. When you think you're right, you're more underhand and ruthless than anyone I've ever known in Slytherin. Additionally you only bother to brush your hair biweekly and you're covered in ink smudges fifty percent of the time. I always find your fingerprints on my skin and shirts after I snog you."

Hermione felt the tips of her ears grow warm and ducked her head down.

Draco cleared his throat. "However, I also fancy you. Both rationally and biologically you are—" his voice faded for a moment. "Fuck if I even know how to describe you. I always thought bravery was the most idiotic quality a person could have until I saw my aunt torturing you. You exist in a different stratosphere than I do. I would never have testified for someone like me. I don't even understand how anyone can be the way you are." He dropped his head down against her shoulder and tightened his hold further.

"And you're quite—pretty." His voice was vibrating through her skin and down her spine and it made her grow warm and tingly in a number of places. "Which I never expected to actually admit to you. Your eyes in particular—and your mouth, and your—self generally speaking—I'm not even going to describe it right now because I'll get distracted and just start shagging you again." He cleared his throat and shifted slightly. "But also your brain. I didn't even know I could be sexually attracted to someone's brain. Is that a kink? I'm just going to assume it's completely normal. I'm obsessed with your mind. Not just talking with you about Arithmancy or charms but—the way that you think. It just—fascinates me. Your eyes light up when you explain complex Arithmantical theory and it makes me want to snog you. Even though I know I'm going to end up covered in ink." His tone was petulant.

"I'm not that messy. It's mostly my fingers," Hermione said, scowling over her shoulder at him even though her face was still somewhat warm from blushing.

Draco quirked an eyebrow. "Right. Unless you've touched your face as some point while writing. In which case it is often on your nose or cheeks, or even your mouth on occasion. Don't blush, it's actually adorable. I much prefer ink on my collars to lipstick. But that's really not relevant. The point of all this is that you are both annoying and fanciable, Granger. Deal with it."

Hermione gave a low laugh but then sat quietly for several seconds. "I just—when exactly did you start to think this? Is it all just since I presented? Because if it is—then it might just be the biological imperative."

Draco snorted with disbelief. "If the biological imperative is that elaborate I don't think there's any point in trying to fight it. But since you're so damn skeptical, I have—," his voice jumped slightly, "—actually fancied you since the summer."

Hermione started and looked up at him, raising her eyebrows. "You did?"

Draco's expression twitched. "It was intended to be a sort of passing thing. I didn't exactly plan for it. When they announced your name during my trial I assumed I was screwed, but instead you testified for me. You—I—it made me wish I'd been your friend rather than—well, what I was. But you didn't seem want anything to do with me and ran off when I tried to talk to you on the train. Fancying you is rather masochistic of me, no matter how you look at it. I tried to keep my distance."

He looked away. "But—when I heard you crying—I knew I wasn't the person to go help you, but I couldn't make myself turn around to get someone else. I—knew it was you. It was the same way it had been at the manor. And I—I didn't want to be the person who didn't do anything to protect you again. I didn't know you were an Omega until you climbed into my arms. Which in retrospect is somewhat unbelievable, but in my defense, I was distracted trying to find you."

Hermione gave a small gasp.

She'd assumed, always assumed that he'd broken into her room fully aware of what she was. Alphas went to Omegas. They'd do anything to reach an Omega. She'd assumed when he'd said he'd heard her crying he'd somehow identified her as an Omega.

"You knew what I sound like when I cry? That's why you were there?"

"I—still have nightmares about you in the manor." Draco's voice was low and he dropped his head down against her shoulder.

Hermione gripped his hand tightly. There was something huge and predestined feeling about herself and Draco which she had difficulty wrapping her mind around.

That she had testified for him. That he had presented the way he had over the summer; so differently from any of the other Alphas at Hogwarts. That he was the first Alpha she'd encountered, and he'd unknowingly jump started her presentation. That he'd found her. That he was the only person who could have. That he hadn't even found her because he knew she was an Omega. He'd been looking for her. Draco Malfoy had been trying to find and save Hermione Granger.

It was as though there was a path they were both unknowingly walking down—even during the war before either of them had presented. As though something was leading them toward one another.

When she looked in his eyes and it felt as though their magic and souls were touching.

"...the more fundamentally magical someone is, the more likely that Fate will become a force in their love life. Genetically speaking, Alphas and Omegas are about as fundamentally magical as wizarding folk can be without Magical Being blood. So there's a lot more of a likelihood that they'll have someone they've destined for."

The corner of her mouth twitched and she shook her head.

Soulmates were an absurd concept.

"I didn't know that was why you found me," she finally said.

"Well it was. So the question isn't really about me. It's about you." Draco's tone switched from conversational drawling to more clipped and cautious. "You're the one who wasn't interested before. It's much more likely that it's just a biological imperative on your side than it is for me."

Hermione drew her chin down and glared over her shoulder at him. "Me? I'll admit the biology catches me off-guard at times, but I'm not delusional, Draco."

Draco smirked down at her. "Right. We'd obviously be friends. Even without your presentation and heat, you undoubtedly would have jumped me and proposed we get into a casual relationship, I'm sure." He snorted insolently, but his voice seemed to be slowly growing more reserved and even deadened in tone.

There was a pause and she felt his hold on her wrists loosen. He gave a low bitter laugh under his breath and tilted his head back. 

"None of this would have happened if you'd had any say in it. That's fairly clear. You—you—should consider other Alphas. You have options, Granger. You should actually consider them. But I'll help you—for as long as you want."

Hermione froze. Draco let go of her wrists and started sliding his hand away. She caught hold of his fingers, and gripped them tightly while shaking her head with disbelief.

"You just spent all this time convincing me that you're really interested in me, of your own free will, no biological imperative necessary and now you're proposing that I find a different Alpha and have sex with you in the meanwhile. Do you even hear yourself?" Her voice was indignant.

She turned in his arms and straddled him. Which—was not the best idea, because they were both naked and every time she looked at him squarely she was reminded of how edibly attractive he was.

She bit her lip to stop herself from leaning forward and nibbling on him.

Draco jerked and looked away. "It's complicated on my end. You have options. I do not. My future involves hiding in my manor until my probation ends and then going abroad somewhere I'll only occasionally be spat on. You've been out to prove yourself since you set foot on the Hogwarts Express first year. You're in the perfect place to do that now. I'm in—I fancy you, but I want you to be happy more than I want you to be mine. Soulbonding isn't something you get to back out of later."

Hermione closed her eyes and scoffed before glaring at him. "I realize you're a Slytherin, but not everyone prioritizes proving themselves and social climbing over their relationships. Good grief, is this your idea of being noble? Offering to be my fuck buddy until I find someone who will give me the social climbing opportunities I might want for my hypothetical career? You Slytherins are utterly absurd. No wonder everyone think you're all evil."

Draco jerked his chin in and his eyes grew darker. "I'm trying. I have very little experience trying to be noble."

Hermione snorted and then burst out laughing and buried her head in his shoulder. "My god, you are so—Sorry. I'm not trying to be discouraging. I really should be crediting you with trying—"

She sat up and pressed her hands against her eyes. "Please stop trying to be noble, Draco. I much prefer it when you're sneakily trying to keep me in the infirmary with you."

She parted her fingers and stared at him. Her heart started pounding as she met his eyes. "I—actually think I fancy you too, Draco." She bit her lip. "So, I would like to—to not be in a casual relationship with you. If you want."