Page 109
It had been almost a week since Pansy had looped her arm through Hermione’s and led her to dinner. And in those six days Hermione found Pansy, and the three boys that always trailed her, by her side more frequently than her usual companion Ginny. Per the deal, Ginny was handed the beautiful skirt and Pansy moved to the bed next to hers after they returned from one of the longest dinners she had attended since returning to school. It was filled with laughter from trying to keep up with Pansy and Ginny’s sisterly bickering and it almost made her forget that she used to feel like an outcast.
Like every week, she woke lazily on Sunday morning. It was the one day she allowed herself to stay in bed past seven. But unlike every other day she couldn’t hear the snores that usually poured out of Ginny. She almost panicked. But when she looked to her right, she found Pansy sitting atop the neighboring bed and remembered the switch that had taken place the night before. Pansy looked serene with her legs crossed like a pretzel and a mug tucked in the fold of her knee, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers and flipping through a muggle magazine. She looked… ordinary. Like a muggle and not at all like the pure-blood witch with attitude that she presented to the rest of the world.
Pansy’s eyes never left the glossy pages as she reached for her wand beside her, flicking her wrist delicately toward Hermione. She flinched out of habit and then mentally scolded herself for being a dolt when a steaming mug that matched Pansy’s appeared in the air next to her. She sat up gingerly and reached for it, letting the warmth seep into her hands, and when the earthy smell of coffee hit her, she practically moaned. She hadn’t consumed any since returning to school as tea seemed to be the preferred beverage amongst the students and faculty. A small dish containing sugar cubes floated over to her followed by a creamer pot. She plopped a single cube in and added just enough cream to change the color of the black liquid but not enough to change the taste. She took a sip and let her body fall back against the wall behind her while she savored the drink. The two of them sat in their beds quietly enjoying their morning while their roommates continued their slumber. No words were needed and it calmed something deep within her.
Monday, she woke at her normal time of five-thirty, which seemed to be too early even for Pansy. Hermione made her way to the showers and took her time inching underneath the spray. Needing to give herself time to adjust before she could begin her washing. Hermione liked having the bathroom to herself in the morning, she didn’t want or need other showers running beside her. Ever since the Triwizard tournament the thought and feeling of being surrounded by water was suffocating. She had just finished shampooing and conditioning when the first of the girls fumbled in and blindly went about their morning routine. She cast a drying spell and made her way back to the bedroom.
Pansy was awake, dressed, and picking at her nails by the time she returned.
“Oh good, you’re back. Between waiting for you and Ginevra I was about to starve.”
Ginny snorted and rolled her eyes. “You could have gone with Daphne.”
Pansy sent her a scathing look.
Hermione dressed quickly now that there was pressure to leave for breakfast, forgoing her usual steady pace and possible studying. Pansy took her arm again, just like she had for all of the meals since Saturday’s dinner and escorted her out of their dorm to the Great Hall. Neville, Luna, Susan, Theo, Blaise and Malfoy were already seated when they arrived and mumbled their good mornings with barely open eyes or around bites of food. The girls seemed to be much more morning oriented than the boys. Daphne and Goyle had chosen to sit at the Slytherin table following Hermione’s comment on Saturday. She almost wished she would have lashed out sooner.
Tuesday had been much the same. Except when they stood to leave breakfast, Theo was the one linking his arm through hers while sticking his tongue out at Pansy as if she was too slow and lost some imaginary race to her side. She managed to separate herself from him about halfway to their classroom, thankful when Pansy slipped in between them so that Theo’s outstretched arm fell around her shoulders instead. She was used to Ron and Harry talking a lot but majority of the time the conversation did not require her participation unless they needed her to figure something out for them. Theo fired questions at her fully expecting her to engage and understand the hidden meanings sewn into his carefully chosen words. Hermione knew he meant well but between the nonstop chatting and his lack of personal space, it was just a bit much for her.
Wednesday, Blaise called her Hermione for the first time which caused her to almost drop her cauldron on the way up to Slughorn’s desk for grading. He then followed her to the library when he inquired what she did during her free period and scowled at all the books she had been trying to teach herself Italian from. He promptly called a first year who was restocking books in the row over and told him to take the lot away and spent the next two hours undoing the ‘revolting mutilation’ she had attempted to accomplish with his language on her own. She had never feared a professor before, maybe Snape, but she feared Zabini. She was sure to have nightmares of him scolding her for her lack of finesse with his first language.
Thursday was a combination of all the new routines that had settled into place in just five days. She got up early for her shower and returned to Pansy and Ginny waiting for her. Pansy walked with her to classes. Theo made her laugh more than she thought possible at lunch and in the halls between classes without bombarding her with touch as he seemed to understand that it was too much for her. Blaise made her repeat words, sentences, and small phrases in the library until her tongue felt heavy or she had pronounced it to his liking. Followed by dinner and cozying up in the common room.
Malfoy was the only one who hadn’t surrounded her within in this budding friendship. He liked to hover on the edge, observing, sometimes getting in a few barbs with his friends, but mostly watching all their interactions as if he were studying them. Studying her.
By Friday, Hermione was drained. Feeling accepted and wanted was great, but Merlin, it was foreign and exhausting. Almost as grueling as trying to be the girl everyone wanted her to be but without the weight and pressure of being perfect. Pansy must have picked up on her quietness because she began boxing out anyone from getting near her throughout the day, apart from Ginny. Her new friend had even shot a stinging jinx at Theo when he made a joke about the wildness of her hair. It had been playful and non-insulting, the kind of quip a brother would make to a little sister, like Fred and George used to do to Ginny, but Hermione didn’t have the energy to smile at him or snap back how she might’ve Monday or Tuesday or even Wednesday. Blaise followed Pansy's lead and smacked him upside the head while Ginny and Malfoy glared at him until he raised his hands up in mock surrender.
“Alright, alright. Someone’s touchy today.” He retorted before calling down the dinner table to where Susan was sitting at the end talking with a Hufflepuff who had joined her. “Hey, Sunshine! How’s the weather over there by you?”
Susan blushed and Theo’s eyes sparkled.
Hermione settled into to her spot on the bench by the windows after finishing her small supper. She left the table before everyone else and for the first time that week, they all let her leave unaccompanied. She wasn’t used to having a constant presence in her space but on her walk back to the common room she noticed she that didn’t hate it as much as she initially thought she would. She supposed it was due to Pansy, Blaise, and Malfoy also having a fondness for quiet time. Happy to just sit in the same space but be in their own respective worlds mentally without the need to fill the silence like Ginny, Ron, Harry and Theo. It was oddly comforting.
Pansy had claimed the other end of her bench after a while. Curling herself up much like Hermione but instead of a book in her hands it was charcoal and paper. The Slytherin boys took their normal seats by the fire while Neville, Luna and Susan were on their second floor balcony. Daphne and Goyle were not present for which she was thankful, and Ginny was most likely spending time with the Quidditch team getting ready for their opening match scheduled for tomorrow. Hermione let her focus fall back to the words on the page, delving back into the story she had started last Saturday. She had yet to reach the infamous page 109, but she was close and could feel the tension building within each paragraph.
She made it three more pages when she was suddenly caught off gaurd. Tomorrow was the nineteenth of September. Her birthday. She had completely forgotten until the main female character in her book celebrated her own with the wolf pack that had taken her in. The irony of their similar situations was not lost on her. Both her and the main character had managed to lose themselves, only to be found and taken in by an unlikely group of friends. The only differences between them were that her new friends were not werewolves and they would not be celebrating her birthday as she had no intention on telling them about it.
Hermione had never really cared for her birthday. As far as she was concerned it was just another day. Another day where she had to try and act how everyone expected her to. Another day of people looking at her but not seeing her. Over the years she found it was easier to not be disappointed by those around her when she expected nothing from the beginning.
She sighed. An anxious venom began to spread through her veins causing her to start picking at an errant string on the cushion beneath her. The only person at Hogwarts who would possibly remember her birthday was Ginny, and luckily, she would be focused on her Quidditch match versus Slytherin for the entirety of the day. Maybe Hermione would be able to make it through without any surprises or forced displays of affection.
Trying to shake off the uneasiness that her birthday had spurred within her, she returned her mind to the book in front of her and got lost in the story. So lost in fact, that she didn’t even realize what page she had gotten to until her heart began racing from the words that were now caressing her brain. The infamous page 109. The page where everyone in the wolf-pack had gone to bed following the birthday celebration, except for the brooding Alpha, and while everyone was sleeping, he snuck into the girl’s room with the leftover birthday cake that he refused to touch during her party.
He wished her a happy birthday and sat next to her on her bed, the main character said something sassy in return while trying to push him out of her space. He caught her wrist and then they sat there staring heatedly at each other. But then something more happened. The tension that had been building between them for the last 108 pages finally reached a breaking point. Hermione’s cheeks flamed and she let a gasp slip out of her mouth when the Alpha dipped the fingers from his free hand into the cake and proceeded to smear frosting down the girl’s jaw and throat. That same hand gripped her jaw and angled it to give him more room for his tongue as he licked and nipped at her skin following the path his fingers made.
Hermione bit her lip when the Alpha pushed on the girl’s captured wrist coercing her to lay back while the frosting covered fingers on his other hand reloaded and then drew a trail across the girl’s collarbone and in between her breasts. She shivered when he released her arm, satisfied that she would keep it there, and thumbed one of the girl’s nipples while he lowered his head and pulled the other one into his mouth, making his girl moan before telling her how pretty she sounded for him.
She was quite sure she was panting by the time the Alpha’s hand reached its final destination growling at the wetness he found. And she snapped the book shut after his head settled between her legs, letting his tongue take the first swipe through the girl’s folds as he stared into her eyes.
The sudden sound of pages cracking together had everyone looking in her direction. Hermione couldn’t bear to look anyone in the eyes, terrified they would be able to see what she had just read written all over her face.
“Everything alright over there, Granger?” Theo sang, his voice sliding over her overstimulated senses and giving her goosebumps. She wasn’t even attracted to him. She couldn't imagine what it would do to her if it had been someone else's voice… oh god. Her thighs clenched.
“Yes…” she managed to get out, the word sounding breathy and strained, “yes, just rather tired. I think I’m going to call it a night.”
She stood, eyes still looking anywhere but at someone directly, and began moving.
“Granger?” Blaise called after her.
“Hmm?”
“Your bed is in the opposite direction.”
It was truly not possible for her cheeks to gain anymore color. They had already been flushed and now she had been so lost in arousal that she had walked towards the door of their common room instead of the door to the girl’s dorm. She was far from being the brightest witch of their age. She was a mess.
“Oh, right.” Hermione spun and hurried from the room choosing to ignore the chuckles and ‘what’s gotten into her’ echoing from behind her.
She managed a quick teeth cleansing charm and dove into her bed, squirming and rolling from side to side even long after the other girls had filtered in. The pulsing between her legs had never been this intense in her life and it was slowly morphing into an unbearable ache. One that she was desperate to relieve.
Hermione wasn’t completely naïve. Of course, she had read about sex and the other activities that proceeded it. She had touched herself multiple times, even let Ron try once, but nothing ever came of it. It felt good but she could never find a release.
When she couldn’t take just laying there anymore, she accio’d the book and cast a dim lumos bright enough to read but subtle enough not to disturb the others and opened to the page where she had stopped earlier. Her logic was if she was going to suffer, she might as well finish the chapter and live vicariously through her book doppelgänger.
The main character described everything so vividly. The feeling of the Alpha’s tongue on her most sensitive bundle of nerves, swirling and suckling her to the point where her body was spasming. The soft silky strands of his hair between her fingers that she used to hold him in place as she rocked against his face when her orgasm hit. The look in his eyes while he watched her fall apart and the sweet but filthy praise his whispered against her ear after her body melted back down to earth. The taste of herself on his mouth when he kissed her before leaving her room.
She fell asleep wishing someone could make her feel like that. Wishing someone would give her what she needed. And dreaming of familiar strong but slender fingers stroking her everywhere while imposing grey eyes held her hostage.