Author's Note: Welcome to my little Omegaverse!

This story is being written for my amazing Dramione-loving BFF Courtney, who fell in love with A/B/O and was constantly on the hunt for more Dramione stories.

My wonderful Beta, LaBelladoneX, thank you so much for everything you have taught me thus far and for spending innumerable hours reading and editing. Nevermind the many conversations and brainstorming sessions you've helped me with (thank Merlin for the time difference, right? I would drive anyone in the US crazy with my schedule!). I may have started writing it for Courtney, but you are the reason I've gotten this far with it! I am forever in your debt.

I currently have 31 chapters written (~85,000 words), and I feel like I'm about halfway through. For now, I will be posting one chapter a week on Saturdays since I am in my busy season at work. Once I feel like I'm wrapping the story up, I'll increase that to twice a week.

A few things to take note of for future, non-prologue chapters:
- The sixth year portions are going to be smut-centric. Remember, they didn't even like each other at that point. It's all hormones and attraction.
- The portions of the story from sixth year are supposed to be implying the A/B/O part, though neither Draco nor Hermione has fully presented. There is a lot of talk of scent and deep attraction, though neither of them know why. Therefore, no heats or knotting at this point, either. I mean, I think Draco would research it if he knotted... just saying.
- Anything bolded will be the "Alpha" inside of Draco's head.
- Anything italicized will be the "Omega" inside of Hermione's head (unless otherwise specified)
- I'm not going to have a set pattern where I do one chapter of flashback, one of present day. It will be a surprise the whole way until the flashbacks conclude.
- At the beginning of the story, Ron and Hermione are married and Draco and Astoria are married. There will be infidelity. Sorry if that's not your thing.

And here we go...

March 2002

Hermione was sitting at home, waiting for the inevitable rise in her body temperature and the torrent of slick to pour into her knickers. She'd already been holed up for more than twenty-four hours, and she was starting to think she'd marked the wrong date on her desk calendar. The past day was spent reading potions journals and coming up with new projects to tackle with Padma at the apothecary. She was beginning to get frustrated with her own body when suddenly she had an idea.

An hour later, Hermione was running up the stairs to the spare bedroom she reserved for her heats. She made sure everything was set up the way she liked it — hydrating and nourishing potions on the nightstand, a plethora of vibrators, plenty of extra batteries (she hadn't yet been able to figure out how to power her toys entirely by magic), and her bathrobe hanging on the closet door knob. She cast a cooling charm that should hold for more than a day at this time of year.

When she felt like she could not do anything else to further her comfort, Hermione undressed. She positioned herself in the middle of the bed, closing her eyes. There was a moment of hesitation — she swore she wouldn't keep torturing herself with the memories. However, she just wanted to get this fucking heat over with, and she knew that thinking about him and their eight months of sexual trysts would make it start.

It had been almost five years since the last time they were together, but Hermione could still remember how every inch of his body felt against hers, the smell of his skin, the look in his eyes as he took her, the sound of him grunting out her name or calling her 'his little lioness', and the taste of his tongue and… well, other things you'd expect to taste during a sexual encounter.

Hermione let the walls inside her mind drop, and there he was — tall, platinum blond, scorching grey eyes, and muscular (a new development since she had seen a shirtless photo of him from his honeymoon in the paper).

He grins at her and kisses her in greeting. He tells her that he's missed her, and he's so happy to see her again. It had been three months since she last indulged in this half-memory, half-fantasy world…

After her lover gets through his pleasantries, Hermione finds herself in a familiar room. The sight of the giant four-poster bed makes her heart race, and he's leading her to it. He stops beside the bed and starts stripping his clothes off.

"What are you waiting for, my little lioness? Aren't you as eager as I am to fuck?"

Oh, Merlin, if only he knew!

In her fantasy, she lays in the middle of the bed. Her lover is totally nude, and he approaches her, removing her clothes slowly, one piece at a time, and starts kissing every inch of her skin. Once she's naked, he turns her so she's facing away from him and licks the back of her neck, his hand working its way between her legs.

As soon as Hermione thought of him licking her neck, her heat began both in the fantasy and in reality. Even though it made her feel guilty, Hermione was so relieved Ron was away working for the duration of her heat. She'd be able to fully enjoy her fantasy lover, complete with screaming his name when she came.

After all, she is an Omega, and Draco Malfoy is her Alpha.