The first image revealed itself.

A woman was leaning over a stone bench in a forest and behind her stood her lover, his rigid erection pressing deep into her supple body. Her head was back, arched to allow him access to her long neck. One hand was wrapped around her body, cupping her breast, delicately squeezing the nipple. The other quested down between her legs, searching out her womanhood.

The expression on both their faces was of sheer rapt pleasure.

Hermione's insides jerked, her breathing deepened. A smell filled her nostrils. Spicy ... reminding her of Christmas.

Lucius did not speak. He had come in silently. She didn't feel him against her for some time but sensed his presence. The air hung heavy with sensual anticipation. She knew he stood a mere breath away from her; she could feel the regular deep exhalations of air on the back of her neck.

Her eyes had closed as expectation pushed her beyond the limit of awareness, but she forced them open again to stare down at the image before her. She wanted it to move, needed it to.

She was wearing a skirt and buttoned shirt. Hands gently held her arms, guiding her up out of her chair and moving it smoothly to the side. She felt fingers on the zip of her skirt, sliding it down. It fell gently from her legs and pooled at her feet. Stepping out of it, she lightly moved it to the side. Then hands reached around her front, and those same nimble fingers began undoing each button in turn on her shirt, slowly and deliberately.

Still she dared not look around for fear she would break the deep erotic contentment of the moment.

The hands had now moved in to cup her breasts firmly but tenderly, reaching inside her bra and pulling the fullness out to grip assuredly.

Hermione moaned.

Lucius lowered his head to her neck. One hand moved from her breast to draw her hair aside, and she felt soft kisses placed specifically but deliciously along the rise of her shoulder. The hand which had moved her hair aside now quested lower and found her wet and ripe, always ready for him. He reached into her knickers, pushing them down to allow him freedom. A long finger stroked up, firm, deliberate, up to circle her clit. She sucked in a sharp breath, drawing her primed body up. She couldn't contain herself much longer.

Her eyes fell once again onto the picture; it struck her forcefully that she and Lucius were enacting the image before her. But still it didn't move as they did.

She could feel Lucius pressing hard against her back. A low groan of his own was muffled against her neck. His hand moved from her breast to release himself.

Hermione reached down, fumbling to find his hand. She came against it and with tremendous willpower removed it from its perfect attentions to her dripping core. Her fingers entwined urgently with his. Lucius guided his cock with the other. She could feel it pressing hard and damp along her. He pushed her over a gently and positioned himself at her opening.

Then his hand withdrew from his throbbing erection and came round, finding hers and clasping it tight.

And then, their breathing heavy and uncontainable, their joined hands moved to the page before them. Slowly and deliberately, they brought them to rest on the book.

With a gasp of wonder, Hermione saw the image begin to move before her eyes. The two lovers swayed, rocking in erotic bliss, entirely absorbed in each other. And there, as she watched, she saw the faces shift and change. Their features were morphing before her very eyes. The man's hair became longer, blond, the woman's brown and curly. The image had changed to show perfect likenesses of them both.

Their hands remained on the page, but before Hermione could fully process the magic presented to her, she felt him large and rigid once again, poised to enter her. She pushed back to welcome him. With perfect precision Lucius eased in, and with a deep grunt of satisfaction, pushed fully into her.

The two representations of them on the page moved in perfect harmony with their corporeal bodies. Lucius started to pull out, then push back into her in long slow strokes, his mouth still drawing further pleasure from her supple neck, his eyes as firmly trained on the image as hers.

Hermione moaned. She could no longer prevent breaking the silence around her.

A pulse of magic ran fast up her arms. She looked down. The illuminations on the page seemed more vivid, more gilded than ever, alight with an almost iridescent glow, akin to the shimmer of stardust.

Every time Lucius withdrew even a little from her, she felt a pang of loss, and craved him back inside her as deep as he could be.

He didn't increase his pace and as she felt her pleasure building slowly, her body became taut with need. She moaned again, her hand coming up to hold him hard against her.

"More, more. Harder, I want to feel you harder, faster."

With a groan of his own, he thrust faster, pulling out fully before ploughing back into her to the hilt.

"Yes!" she groaned, still keeping one hand firmly entwined with his on the image. Still the picture of the two of them moved. The magic was now pulsing hard up her arm. She felt strength surging through her.

Lucius' free hand had come up to her breast and he massaged it with tender affection.

It wasn't enough.

"Harder. Do it. I need it."

His own desire was at such a peak that he didn't question her. His fingers closed around the taut nipple and he squeezed. The woman in his arms moaned with sheer pleasured agony.

"Fuck, yes!"

The word that fell from Hermione's lips was not for her a usual one, but under the circumstances it made his cock swell ever more within her. He felt the hot walls of her tight pussy constricting yet harder around him. "So good, witch, so good."

Still she craved more.

"Harder, harder. Fuck me harder. I want it now. I want to come. Fuck me, fuck me, Lucius. Make me come. Make me come so hard I scream."

If she was more vocal than normal, he didn't mind or hardly notice. Her words merely drove him faster and faster towards ecstasy.

Still his hand plied her nipple, still his cock ploughed relentlessly into her. She was moaning uncontrollably now, grinding herself back against him, her hips jolting to meet each thrust.

The lovers on the page, a mirror image of them both in face and body, moved as violently as they did. Lucius caught a glance at the picture as he pushed fully into her once again. Blood rushed to his groin, all energy contained only there.

"There, there, witch! Feel it, feel me. For you! For you!"

He couldn't stop himself bursting hard and deep into her, feeling each spasm of his seed as it hit her very core.

Hermione joined him immediately. With a cry starting deep in her soul pleasure gripped her body, focused around the rock hard cock buried inside. At that moment the glowing page of the book seemed almost to leap out at her, its illuminations blinding in their intensity. The magic surged ever stronger up her arm, fast and overwhelming, bringing her the most profound orgasm she could recall.

She clenched her fingers around his on the page and screamed her ecstasy out, her cry resounding off the books surrounding them. "I'm coming! I'm coming so hard! Fuck! Fuck, Lucius! Never before!"

Her body shook uncontrollably. If it was not for the fact she was impaled on his rigidity, she would have collapsed. Every fibre in her being clenched around him, gripping his body so closely she wanted him fused to her. Her pleasure surged through her over and over again, her first orgasm seeming to lead into another. Her cry was maintained on the air around them, reflecting the rapture experienced by her body.

Only when the last twinges had left them both did they at last remove their hands from the page.

The image came to rest and the faces of the couple reverted to normal.

Hermione glanced at their hands. Lucius' were streaked with blood, so hard had been her grip on them.

He could not bear to pull out of her, but their bodies needed to rest, and with a grunt of loss he slipped out carefully. Hermione immediately collapsed down onto the floor, her breathing still hard and heavy.

She rested her head back against the drawers of the desk. Lucius came to slump beside her, his eyes closing.

After some time she looked across at him, her body still heaving with astonishment. "Oh my God, oh my God, that was incredible. Incredible, my darling, my darling. Thank you."

He smiled. "My pleasure ... literally. As well as yours."

"Oh yes," she panted.

After his breathing had steadied somewhat, he said with mild amusement, "You were certainly very vocal."

Hermione looked at him with surprise, her eyes still bleary. "What do you mean?"

Lucius glanced at her, not sure what she meant. Her words had been loud and clear as far as he was concerned. "Well, I'm not used to you making your needs so explicit."

Hermione looked at him for some time, a slight frown on her face. She couldn't recall exactly what she'd said. Clearly, she'd been completely carried away in the moment.

"Oh ... well ... there we are ... You didn't mind did you?"

He smiled at her. "Certainly not. Far from it. I cannot recall the last time my pleasure was so powerful."

She nestled against him. "I'll go back to being quiet little Miss Granger from now on."

He chuckled. "Anything you want, but there is no need for my sake. You are perfect any way."

"And you ... are too, too delicious." She reached up to kiss him.

"Prove it," he smirked.

She smiled. "As soon as I've recovered." Hermione snuggled deep into him, stroking along his torso. "The book. It's remarkable. Did you see how the picture changed into images of us? I could almost felt the magic transferring into me. My pleasure was extraordinary. I felt so completely at one with you, with my body. I'm sure it was enhanced by the magic in the book."

"I do not doubt it. I told you; only when the purest sexual union is achieved through the book can the magic be fully released."

They lay still for a while longer, unable to move.

At length, Hermione pushed herself up, and with a last contented look at the page of the book, closed it. It seemed as if the page was still alight as she had seen it earlier, sparkling before her very eyes. She folded over the heavy cover and moved it to the side of the desk.

"God, I'm hungry now. Is it time for lunch yet?"

"It can be."

Hermione glanced at the clock as she dressed. It was approaching twelve. "Grimble will moan that we're early. Too bad. I put up with so much from that elf of yours."

Lucius smiled at her. She was usually so deferential to Grimble. It was about time she asserted herself a little. He hauled himself off the floor and took her hand.

"Come along. I'm sure he will provide anything we want, albeit begrudgingly."

He led her from the library down the stairs. Grimble was not there.

"Grimble!" Lucius called loudly through the house. "Grimble!"

Hermione eventually heard the familiar shuffle of slow footsteps. Her heart sank. She crossed her arms as he slouched into the kitchen.

"Yes, master?" came the reluctant enquiry.

"Miss Granger and I require lunch as soon as possible. Some salmon and potatoes, beans perhaps. Thank you."

Grimble sneered. "Lunch is not for another hour, master."

"I realise that, but we require it as soon as possible, please." Lucius didn't expect instant results, simply rapid ones, and spoke politely enough to his house-elf.

"It will take some time. And I have to fetch the potatoes from below stairs. Master never has his lunch at such a time. I cannot be expected to come up with -"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Grimble, just do as you're told!"

It was Hermione's voice which cut through the air. Lucius turned to her, unable to hide his amazement.

Grimble too was frozen in astonishment, his surprise at her sudden declaration over-riding any anger at her tone of voice. But then his face twisted into a sneer of utter hatred, but he did not move.

Hermione stopped. She replayed her own words in her head as if spoken by someone else. They surprised even her. But, as she had said earlier, she put up with so much from the elf. It was about time he left the attitude behind. She pursed her lips and drew herself up but knew her cheeks were flushed. She daren't look at Lucius; she knew he was still staring hard at her.

At length, prompted perhaps by the sudden animosity of the witch, Grimble reluctantly but silently turned and left the room to prepare things.

Lucius came over to her, his confused expression shifting into that now familiar look of tenderness. "Well, you must certainly be hungry. I've never heard you so assertive."

She looked down, mumbling, "Well, I told you, he needs to be more respectful to me, and to you for that matter."

"He works hard for me," Lucius told her calmly and truthfully.

Hermione turned her head away, wanting to move on from the business.

"Never mind." She shrugged the disagreeable incident off. What did it matter what Grimble thought? "Have you got a copy of the Daily Prophet?" She asked merely to purge the matter from her mind.

He smirked at her and went to retrieve it from the sitting room.

When Lucius returned he found Hermione still standing in the middle of the kitchen. She smiled as he entered, her good humour seemingly restored. She stood with her legs slightly apart, one hand on her hips, looking him up and down. She looked ridiculously sexy. Still, she had asked for the newspaper. He held it out for her. "There you are."

She didn't take it, merely continued smiling at him, her eyes occasionally dropping down his body. Lucius turned away, putting the paper on the table. "I'll leave it there for you."

Hermione seemed not to be remotely interested in the paper. She began moving towards him, slowly and sensuously. Her intentions had most definitely shifted. "I seem to recall you asking me to prove how delicious you were." Her hands were moving up his chest, curling around the nape of his neck.

Lucius sucked in a breath, already he could feel himself stirring again. His lover's appetite for food was suddenly reflected in her appetite for sex. He was not complaining.

"I thought you were hungry."

"I am," she smirked, letting her hands trail down his front, undoing the buttons on his trousers and releasing his ever hardening cock into her fingers.

Lucius groaned but was aware that Grimble could return any moment. "Perhaps we should go somewhere ... more private."

But already she had knelt before him, and with a swift and fluid motion her tongue came out and licked around the head of his now fully erect cock. He hissed with pleasure, drawing his hand down to hold her there. Hermione started working fervently, pulling him deep into her, sucking her cheeks in hard around his considerable length, licking, tasting, swirling her nimble tongue rapidly over him.

"Hermione ... gods, Hermione ... so good, so good ..."

His head hung limply down, staring at the sight before him. The sex they'd enjoyed so far had been staggering but always tender and giving. Her new found ardour took him by surprise, but he found himself without the wherewithal or desire to question it. Blood pulsed fast around his head. Her mouth worked him ever more skilfully, taking him deep before pulling up to lick teasingly into the slit. But through the rush of pleasure filling his head came a regular thud - approaching footsteps.

With his last vestige of reason, he pulled back from her, his cock purple and dripping. She reacted with a groan of loss, but he quickly bent down to pull her to her feet and out of the room. Grimble arrived back just as the door was shutting behind them.

"Hounds of hell, that was close!" Lucius hissed, not with anger but adrenaline. Hermione hardly noticed. She pushed him hard against the wall in the hallway and immediately returned to her unfinished business. He didn't stop her.

Hermione gripped his lower length in one hand, cupped his heavy sac in the other, and with a few more deep drags of her exquisite mouth over his smooth head, he knew he was close.

"I'm going to come, I'm going to come, witch. Wait, pull off me." He fumbled for a handkerchief.

She flung his hand away. "No! I want to taste you. I want you in my mouth. Come into me." She lowered her head to him a final time. Lucius was beyond rational thought. As her tongue swept hard over him again he burst heavily into her, his white seed falling thick into her mouth.

His groan of fulfilment echoed through the cavernous hallway.

Hermione sank back onto the floor, holding him in her mouth. Lucius glanced down long enough to see her neck muscles tense to swallow him, her eyes closed in apparent bliss. He couldn't deny her perfection.

He slumped down beside her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I would not have presumed."

"I didn't want it any other way." She smiled at him. "You see, you are a gentleman after all."

He smiled back, unsure what to say but wanting to address his curiosity. "Have you always done that?"

She thought about it for a moment and the answer took her a little by surprise. "No."

It was true. She had never particularly enjoyed the act, and when she had indulged a partner she had never allowed them to come in her mouth. This was the first time. She certainly didn't have any qualms now. She smiled at him. "Just for you, Lucius."

He kissed her gently in thanks before standing and adjusting his clothing.

He pulled her to her feet and she fell heavily into him with a smirk.

"Come along. Lunch may be ready."

They ate the meal Grimble had provided without a repeat of Hermione's temper. The elf remained out of the kitchen as much as possible.

"I'm afraid I have to go out this afternoon. I've a meeting with the owner of some of the adjacent land to discuss some boundary issues."

"Is he a wizard?"

"No."

"And you tolerate him?" She spoke with teasing exaggeration. He gave her a mock glare of disapproval.

"I rarely see him, but it is important to make the effort to remain on good terms with these people."

"Does he know what you are?"

"Of course not. He just thinks I'm an eccentric English landowner like him."

Hermione realised she was going to be deprived of his company for much of the rest of the day. She set her mouth into a petulant sulk. "I don't want you to go out."

"I'm afraid it's essential sometimes, even for me. You yourself encourage it."

"I know, but I thought we could ... you know ... go back to bed."

Lucius raised an eyebrow. It was only a day or so ago that their roles had been reversed and she had been the one keen to get out of the house. "I think we can manage until later. We've generated enough memories this morning alone to sustain us." Hermione didn't return his laugh.

Lucius frowned. She was clearly still in a bit of a mood. He shrugged it off. He had known enough women not to let it get to him. Still, it was unusual for Hermione to give into petulant mood swings.

"I'll see you later. You can get lots of work done without me harassing you."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

He stood and moved round to her. She pushed her chair back and stood also, turning to him. He reached in and kissed her cheek. Immediately, she turned her head and met his mouth with her lips, opening wide for him. Lucius was swept away instantly again in her passion. For a time he could not move and returned the kiss with equal ardour. But reality eventually intervened. He was due at his meeting. Extricating her hands from around his neck, he pulled back.

"My dear, I really must go."

She tried in vain to recapture his mouth. "I want you. I want you all the time. You are so beautiful, so beautiful."

"Hermione." His voice was firm. "I'm going now. I'll see you later."

And before he could change his mind, he strode forcefully away from her and out of the kitchen.

Hermione folded her arms and stared after him. She huffed, resentment brewing within her. He never went out alone. Shaking herself, she exhaled deeply and contemplated returning to work but decided against it. Instead, she retrieved the Daily Prophet from the kitchen table and took it into the sitting room to read. The library could wait.

Upstairs on the desk the pages of the Book of Desire were still glowing.