Chapter 18
“So I told Luna I really don’t think Nargles could be an exam topic, but she insisted that…” Ginny trailed off, looking over her shoulder. She stopped and arched her brows, frustration lines starting surface around her mouth. Hermione was at least ten steps back, flipping through pages in the middle of the corridor, frantically searching for something.
It kept happening these days, because it was the week before the exams and Hermione was constantly revising in her brain, even while people talked to her. She was basically going around with all her books shrank in her magically expanded bag, and every time she suddenly felt the urge to look up stuff, she summoned the right tome and flipped through it, unbothered about those around her. She stopped on stairs, opened her notes over food plates, she even had her bag near the edge of the bathtub in the Prefect bathroom, whenever she went for a bath. And revising with Theo was relentless. The poor man was probably sleeping three hours per night, his handsome face lined with exhaustion, purple bruises growing under his blue eyes. But he never took a break, never let her alone, never, for the love of Merlin, uttered a single complaint. Ginny had noticed the level of snogging going drastically down, but Saint Theo hadn’t said a word and Ginny knew it, because she’d asked.
“She’s worried about the NEWTs, Gins, she’s in pantzer mode. It’s okay, I can survive a dry spell for a little while, I’ve been through worse,” he’d said, with his usual one-dimpled smile.
“But it’s not healthy, Theo! She isn’t sleeping enough, and you aren’t either!” she’d objected. Theo had sighed and Ginny had noticed the warmth in his eyes, the depth of his love for Hermione. It was a warmth that could burn into high flames, a depth that could reach bottomless pits, because he would do and withstand anything for her.
“I’m taking care of her, Gins. I make sure she eats and sleeps regularly. As for me, you don’t have to worry. I have never slept much even before this,” he’d reassured her, flicking her nose gently.
Gods he was so in love! Ginny’s heart had ached and swelled at the same time and she’d wanted to wack her curly friend on the head with one of her chunky books. But she had been patient, the exams were near and this madness would come to an end soon. She had been patient for a couple of days. Then patience that had run out, because she most definitely wasn’t Saint Theo.
Ginny stomped towards Hermione, her eyes hard and ablaze. She took the book from her hands and snapped it shut. Hermione looked up, her mouth hanging open, rage already mounting in her affronted gaze.
“Ginny! I was reading that!” she gasped, reaching for the book she was holding away from her. Ginny didn’t budge and set her brows in a stern line. Hermione frowned, sensing that something wasn’t right.
“Enough of this crazy shit, Granger,” she hissed and Hermione went rigid at the sound of her surname on her friend’s lips. Ginny had never called her by her surname. Paired with the glint of steel in her deep brown eyes, it had to mean trouble. She straightened her shoulders and crossed her arms on her chest, readying for a full-Molly scolding. Still, she wasn’t someone to go down without a fight.
“What is this about?” she asked, her chin jutting slightly up.
Ginny’s eyes narrowed into snake-like slits and she made a step forward. “Are you kidding me, Hermione? What is this about? It’s about you alienating yourself for this stupid exams!”
“They’re not stupid, Ginny. They’re the NEWTs, they make or break my future career,” Hermione countered, crossing her arms even tighter.
Ginny scoffed. “Fine, but this doesn’t mean you can shut everyone out of your mind because you have to revise non-stop! It’s been days, Hermione, you haven’t listened to one thing I’ve been telling you! You’re ignoring us all, you don’t show up for meals, Theo is basically keeping you alive by force feeding you between study-sessions,” she cried and when Hermione opened her mouth to protest, she lifted a hand in front of her and continued,”and don’t tell me it’s not true, because I’ve seen it with my very eyes.”
Hermione’s mouth clumped shut, a hollow forming in the pit of her stomach, but she didn’t look away. Ginny sighed and shook her head, the anger fizzling out of her gaze, replaced by genuine concern.
“The point I’m trying to make is….I know this is important to you, Hermione, I really do. But it’s getting unhealthy. And you don’t even see how Theo is overlooking himself to make sure you don’t collapse because you forgot to sleep.”
At that final sentence, Hermione deflated and averted her eyes, a shaky breath filtering through her parted lips. Ginny reached for her arm and stroked it. Hermione hung her head.
“I can’t believe I did it again. Why am I this crazy when exams come around, Ginny?” she whispered, while Ginny snaked an arm around her shoulders and tucked her against her chest.
“It’s okay, ‘Mione. I mean, it’s kind of mad, but it’s how you deal with it,” she chuckled and Hermione mirrored her, hugging the fiery red-head around her middle. Ginny stroked her back and Hermione absorbed all her warmth, her head burrowed into her silky locks. She suddenly groaned and Ginny moved back to meet her eyes. Shame was written all over her flushed face.
“Theo must think I’m a freak. He wants to break up with me, doesn’t he?” she grumbled, tears forming in her desperate gaze.
Ginny laughed and shook her head. “Poor bloke only wants you to be happy, Hermione. He hasn’t got laid in, what? Two weeks? And no one has caught him smoking either! He is smitten with you, Merlin help him!”
Hermione grimaced in horror. “Two weeks! He’s been watching me study for two weeks without even a proper snog!”
Ginny smirked and knowingly wiggled her brows. “And we all know how much he…likes watching you study, Hermione. He likes it so … hard.”
It wasn’t a secret, it had become impossible to study all together because Theo could only resist so much before he stood and grabbed Hermione by her wrist and took her down the stacks of the library with a weak excuse. They always came back with swollen lips and ties askew, which made Ginny grin like an idiot and Neville blush like a first year. When Luna had once commented how healthy it was to be so open about their carnal needs, collective study sessions had become suddenly sparse.
Hermione giggled. “You know what? I think I need to revise something else today.”
Ginny’s loud laughter echoed in the corridor.
***************
Hermione took off her bag and dropped it on the table, gently moving back the chair. Theo looked up from his notes and smiled, his tired eyes drinking her in like dew in a hot summer day. Hermione sat and smiled, a spark in her gaze, her hand reaching for his fingers wrapped around a quill. She ran her fingertips over his knuckles and veins, up to his wrist and forearm, where his shirt was rolled up neatly. Her breath caught when she drew her index back down on the inside of his arm, the skin pale and tight over his blue, corded veins and the taut tendons of his wrist.
Theo’s lips parted, eyes fixed on her hand caressing his. It was innocent, but it lit up a fire in his lower belly, his body responding immediately, starved for her contact lately.
“Granger,” he murmured, his throat already dry.
“I’ve been such a bad girl, Theo,” she whispered, his eyes snapping up to lock into hers, catching the sultry glint of anticipation firing up her chocolate irises in the dim light of the library.
Oh, Merlin.
“I’ve been so caught up in revision that I forgot about our test trial,” she went on, slowly dragging away her fingers. “I should really get back to work, shouldn’t I?” she asked, a wicked smile flashing her shiny teeth, like a feline predator on the hunt. Theo opened his mouth to say it was okay, that he understood and wasn’t at all affected by her need to study more and fool around less, that he loved her so much he would do anything for her, but nothing came out.
Because she was pushing back her chair.
And she was sliding down.
Under the table.
He was paralyzed, didn’t dare move a muscle and waited, breath held and heart beating erratically in his chest. Why was so hot in there all of a sudden?
When he felt her hands on his thighs, he had to exert an enormous amount of self control not to jerk in his seat. He exhaled from his nose, deep and slow, while her fingers grazed his inner thighs, up to his already hard cock and past it, to the buttons of his slacks. He swallowed, while she popped them open, one by one, her fingers so achingly slow and light he felt shivers run down his back. On instinct, he slid a little on the chair, and leaned on the back, his hand still holding the quill. Hermione pushed her hand up his briefs and gently wrapped her fingers around his length, carefully pulling it out. Theo gasped, quickly masking the sound by clearing his throat, his free hand running up to slide into his hair. Hermione stroked his cock up and down, slowly, her thumb massaging the base of its head with painfully light movements. When he felt her other hand slide in as well and cup his sack, massaging his balls, he had to close his eyes and a small groan escaped his closed lips.
“Granger,” he warned, low and menacing. He heard her shush him from under the table and dared to peer down, feeling her shifting.
Oh, dear Merlin.
In the shadows, he saw her took his cock towards her face and push the swollen tip between her lips, just like she did with her sugar quills. He wanted to cry out. But then she swirled her tongue around the head and teased his tip, her hand tighter around his hard shaft, stroking up and down a little faster. He closed his eyes, gripping the quill, his other hand pulling at his hair on the forehead. He was so overwhelmed he didn’t hear the clicking of shoes walking toward his table.
“Theo, great! I was looking for you!” Neville said, halting behind Hermione’s chair with a big smile. Theo went rigid, blood draining from his face, panic tightening his throat. Under the table, Hermione stilled. Theo swallowed and looked up, plastering a stretched smile on his lips.
“Neville, what’s up?” he asked, his voice coming out a little to high.
“We are organizing an end-of-exams party in Gryffindor Tower for next week,” Neville explained, clearly excited. “I was wondering if you could help me smuggle in some booze after-hours.”
Before Theo could answer, Hermione resumed stroking his cock, pushing it further into her mouth. Theo jerked a little and swallowed hard.
“Yeah, sure, mate. We…we can do that, yeah,” he panted, clearing his throat and rolling the quill between his fingers. Neville’s smile widened, then looked on the table.
“Oh, is this Hermione’s bag? I need to talk to her, is she retrieving some books?” he asked, swiveling around and craning his neck.
Hermione squeezed his testicles and bobbed her head up and down his cock, twirling her tongue around his tip. Theo groaned and coughed, his free hand flying down the table to rest on her curls, trying desperately to tell her to stop.
“Granger…,” he warned her, momentarily forgetting that Neville was still right there. “Uhm, yes, she left her things and went down…” on me, he thought, his jaw clicking. Theo made a vague nod towards the aisle on his left and swallowed again, Hermione expertly wrapping her lips at the base of his cock’s head and sucking lightly.
Neville made to set his bag on the table and sit. “Oh, okay. I’ll wait for her, then.”
“No!” Theo gasped, the quill snapping in half. Her fingers were squeezing his balls and rolling them in her palm. A single drop of sweat slid down his back. He was very very close, and since Hermione wasn’t relenting, Neville couldn’t be there when he tumbled over the edge. The boy froze, his knees a little bent and sent him a puzzled look.
“No, I mean, it’s pointless. I just remembered,” Theo blabbed, slightly pressing his thighs against Hermione’s face, trying desperately to tell her she had to slow down, “Ginny came and dragged her away to discuss something. I don’t know, I was reading these notes, I didn’t pay enough attention. Maybe you should go look for them?” he suggested, hope a little to plain in the lilt of his voice. Neville frowned but then shrugged and straightened up, nodding.
“Right, I need to speak with Ginny too, anyway. Maybe I’ll catch two birds with one stone! I’ll see you at dinner?” he asked, already walking away down the aisle. Theo hummed and waved, his head dipping down to his notes, which he couldn’t make out with his blurred gaze. Hermione was pumping and sucking in tandem, her tongue flicking at intervals over his tip. Pleasure was coursing through his veins like a speeding train.
“Fuck, Granger,” he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and throwing his head back, all pretenses and precautions vanished from his fuzzy mind. He dropped the two broken halves of the quill and dipped his hands down the table, waving his fingers through her curls, his thumbs reaching the corners of her mouth and caressing her lower lip. She moaned quietly, and Theo almost died. He accompanied her movements with small thrusts of his hips, the muscles of his lower abdomen pulling tighter and tighter.
“Granger, I’m so close,” he breathed and almost choked on his words, feeling her hand push under his testicles and reaching the tight skin beyond. She trailed her pad around it and gently pressed in ever so slightly, while pushing the tip of his cock against the ridges on the roof of her mouth and pumping faster.
It was too much. Theo gasped and groaned, spilling in her throat, his heart beating so hard he felt it bumping on the ribs. Sound went off, a low whistle ringing in his muffled ears. His thighs shook around Hermione’s face and he exhaled deeply when she slid his cock out and licked away the last drop. He could see her wicked smile from his hooded eyes and he chuckled, Adam’s apple bobbing up and down his bared throat, while his feverish mind finally cleared.
“Merlin’s balls, Granger. What’s gotten into you?” he sighed, running a hand in his hair.
Hermione slid up from under the table and sat, resting her head on her hands over the table. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips swollen, a satisfied gleaming in her big doe eyes.
“Not much in the past weeks, actually. I was wondering if you would like to,” she hinted, running a feet up his calve under the table.
Oh, dear fucking Merlin.
Theo sent her a look of pure want, a corner of his lips lilting up.
“Give me a minute, Granger, and we’ll go retrieve some books down a dark, deserted aisle.”