An otter.

"ɴᴏ ᴡᴏʀʀɪᴇꜱ, ᴍʏ ᴅᴀʀʟɪɴɢ ᴏᴛᴛᴇʀ. ʟᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏ? ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ. ɪ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɴᴏᴡ, ᴇᴠᴇɴ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀꜱᴋ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ."

Hermione smiled, listening to his smooth baritone before her mind singled out one specific word. Her eyes narrowed at the nickname, and with all her might, she pushed the blond clinging onto her as if his life depended on it.

Draco, who was absorbed in the blissful moment, suddenly felt as if a bucket of iced water got downed on him. His content smile fell from his face, and terror seized his heart.

"Otter?" Hermione questioned in a displeased tone. How dare he? Any nickname is fine. Why does he have to choose otter?

The baffled expression on Draco's face was replaced by a cheeky grin. "Why, yes. Wonderful nickname, isn't it? Suits you perfectly."

"And how so? You're nicknaming me after an animal which I have absolutely nothing in common with!"

"Your Patronus is an otter," he pointed out. Hermione scowled. She didn't like it one bit that he was right. She had completely forgotten. She was seldom wrong, but when she was it was always hard to admit it.

"That may be so," she cleared her throat, averting her gaze. A pout graced her features as her nose squinted the tiniest bit, "But, still. Why otter?" Hermione couldn't help but whine. Her brows furrowed together to emphasize her distress.

Draco found her adorable. He tried to bring her back into his arms. However, she dodges his long limbs, vehemently refusing. It was his turn to frown as his smile turned upside down. How should he appease her?

"How about beaver then?" A tiny lilt of teasing in his tone.

Hermione's lips thinned when she pursed them. She recalled her earlier years at Hogwarts and even before that, when she she was always mocked and bullied for her bushy hair and long front teeth that resembled a beaver's.

Glowering at her insensitive mate, who realized his mistake just a bit too late, Hermione turned around. Draco thought she was going to lock herself in her room and never talk to him again, so he hurried to stop her. '𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘋𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘰!'

Unfortunately for him Hermione paused from her retreat to her room and took her wand out from a hidden pocket in her clothes. With fury blazing in her amber eyes, the calmness of melting chocolate nowhere to be seen, Hermione pointed her wand at Draco. He yelped, his squeak sounding like that of a tiny girl's. Frightened for his life, the Veela's steely grey orbs anxiously roamed around the room in search of a perfect spot to hide. 'Behind the couch? It won't do! It's too far away.'

"Hermione. sweetheart!" A plan formed in Draco's sharp mind. Indeed, the mind works faster when the heart is in the grip of fear. He cowered when Hermione's scowl deepened. He still vividly remembered her punch from their third year. She doesn't look it, but that girl is strong!

He dreaded her power and precision with her wand in her hand, afraid of the list of curses going through her mind as she chose the worst ones to hit him with. Draco knew he had to take her by surprise because once he separated Hermione from her wand he could get close to her and she would be putty in her hands. He wasn't oblivious to the effect he had on her. Needless to say, it stroked his ego to a massive level.

In a sugary sweet voice, honey dripping from his words, he continued to try and calm her down," It was just a joke, sweetheart! I am sorry for being so insensitive, I shouldn't have said that. I'll never call you that again."

Hermione raised her brows before scoffing, "You think it's that easy?" She scowled, "And for Merlin's sake stop with those endearing terms, they don't suit you and make me want to retch." On the contrary, they caused tickling sensations in her stomach, but she didn't want to admit to him that she liked his sweet names. It almost, in a sense, made up for his horrible name calling in the past. It was fun to keep him on his toes. She acted like she was angry, when in reality she was more amused by his reaction. The wand was only a prop to threaten him with, she wasn't actually going to hit him with a spell! That is unless he called her an otter again, in which case she wouldn't hesitate to cover his body with angry boils. That nickname is not allowed to stick!

Hermione didn't miss the mischievous, mysterious glint in his eyes. She figured he was planning something and became more alert. Yet she wasn't prepared for what happened next.

At the pretense of trying to soothe her with his words Draco had been slowly but surely shuffling forward, making Hermione move backwards with her wand still pointed at him and his hands raised up in the air like that of a convict caught in the act of committing a crime. With her hazel orbs stuck staring in his silver ones, Hermione failed to notice the couch behind her. Nearing the couch, Hermione lost her balance when the back of her legs hit the arm of the velvet couch and she fell backwards, her wand flying out of her hands. Before she could fall on the couch an arm swooped in and caught her by the waist. Hermione's hands clutched the front of Draco's shirt as he held her in his arms. She noticed the smirk on the boy's face. It screamed about his sinful intentions. Unfortunately, Hermione was too late by the time she realized this. She was already in the captures of the devil.

"No, Draco! Don't you dare-" The Veela deliberately let himself be pulled by gravity, inviting them to fall on the soft, cushiony couch.

Hermione's words got stuck in her throat as she sucked in a sharp breath. She could feel every inch of his body on hers which caused her heart to hammer in her chest and heat to travel through her veins scorching her inside-out.

Draco couldn't remember the many times he had dreamed of her underneath him in the past month, but they didn't compare to this moment, which was the reality, actually happening. Placing his hands beside her head to hold his weight on top of her without completely crushing her he made himself comfortable and used one hand to brush a few rogue strands of her hair away from her face.

"How can you be so beautiful? It's like you're a carefully painted model, a meticulously sculpted sculpture which came to life. Whoever created you must have taken their sweet time, perfecting every single feature to the tiniest detail." His voice was raspy and low, profound and purring. It made pleasurable shivers run up Hermione's spine. The sexual tension in the room was overbearingly high.

"You exaggerate too much." Hermione knew she wasn't ugly, but it was too hard to imagine herself as the ethereal goddess Draco described her as.

"The truth can neither be underrated nor exaggerated. It's powerful as it is." Draco gently caressed her reddened face with his thumb before swooping in to lock their lips which molded together perfectly as if they had been created for that sole purpose. Hermione let him dominate and explore each and every crevice of her mouth, too tired and invested in the moment to put up a fight. She finally understood why so many pairs of lovers she met found it difficult to keep their hands to themselves. The feel of his lips on hers, pulling and biting them teasingly as she raised her arms to curl them around his neck, her hands reaching up to tug and play with his silky hair was too heavenly for words.

The sound of mingled moans and groans continued for a few more minutes before the kiss was broken and heavy breaths were taken. Besides the orange effulgence, the couple also bathed in the white luminescence of the moonlight entering through the glass window, lying contently in one another's arms. The whole world was bound to be forgotten when they were in each other's presence.