The albino King cobra with the pale grey eyes took a moment to orient itself, and then it slithered over to Hermione in a sinuous glide, moving fast. It ate up the distance between them in seconds.

A cold dread hollowed out Hermione's belly as the snake came within striking range. It was an instinctual mammalian response to seeing a large, venomous serpent up close, she knew, and wholly uncontrollable. As Draco slithered up along her bare leg, his skin soft and cool as it rasped against her, she couldn't hide the shudder of fear that ran through her.

He felt her riding terror levels and paused, coiled half in her lap, the other half of his long body still on the floor, giving her time to adjust to the situation.

"You're heavy," she noted with a nervous laugh, saying the first ridiculous thing that crossed her mind. It felt like a lead weight rested on the tops of her thighs. "I told you that you eat too many sweets, didn't I?"

Very slowly, he finished pulling the bulk of his long body up and into her lap, his eyes never leaving hers.

She swallowed down the giant lump that had crawled up her throat. "Oh my God, this is the closest to a snake I've ever been. I mean, I had a run-in with Nagini during the war, and that was close enough, thank you very much, but this-" She gave an anxious titter and started babbling. "I'm afraid I might just pass out. I've never passed out in my life. Does it hurt? You wouldn't take advantage of me if I were laid out unconscious, right?"

Draco's tongue peeked out to scent the air and he swayed a bit back and forth as if to tell her 'no'. At least, she thought that's what he was trying to convey, but since she didn't speak snake, it was the best guess she could make.

When he was finally still, his reptilian body fully off the floor and in her lap, she took a moment to look at all of him, her mind moving a mile a minute over the details. "Your tongue is pink with black forks. I thought it would be red all over. Silly stereotype, isn't it? And your eyes are round, like a human's, not slitted. That's because cobras don't have slitted eyes, because they're diurnal. That's right. I read that in this book on snakes I once..."

She trailed off as she reached out to touch him, fascinated by the texture of his skin, but she froze at the last moment as his entire head shifted towards the movement and his hood flared open.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for Draco to calm. A second or two later, the hood relaxed. His tongue peeked out to kiss her palm in apology, and he bumped her hand with the bottom of his head in unmistakeable permission to stroke over him.

With her fingertips, she very carefully smoothed down his head. "It's you, right? In my head, I know it's you, but I'm really freaked out right now. You're really big. No, don't show me your fangs. I think this is all I can handle right now."

She stroked over him from the top of his crown to the tip of his tail, over his belly and under his chin, and he practically vibrated the whole time. Clearly, he liked her touch.

Truthfully, the more contact they had, the less scary it became for Hermione. Her inquisitive side was fully awakened in those moments of exploration, and her eyes darted everywhere, taking in small details and filing them away for later assessment.

"You're... so, so beautiful," she whispered.

Feeling infinitely more comfortable with each other by this time, Draco hovered closer to her until at last his face was next to her throat. His soft tongue stroked over her pulse as he scented her. Hermione trembled and fought to control her fear as she let him have his reciprocal chance to experience her. This was, most likely, the first time he'd touched a human while in snake form, given how careful he'd been not to let his secret out, so it was all new to him, too.

What wondrous things did he see, feel, hear, taste, and smell that normal humans could not? Hermione was suddenly very curious to know.

His tongue wasn't wet, but it did tickle as it flicked out to sample her at various spots along her neck and behind her ear. He nuzzled her with his snout, moving with sensual caution over her skin. She closed her eyes as his head came around her cheek, heading towards her mouth.

He kissed her with his tongue in small licks and it felt oddly intimate... if not a little unnatural.

There was a sudden shifting of weight across her lap, and then Draco's human lips were pressing to hers as he regained his true form, reversing the spell. His hands were in her hair to hold her steady as he knelt to either side of her legs and held himself up so as not to crush her. His soft, hot, human tongue parted hers, dipping in to taste and tempt, and Hermione's whole body thrummed to life under him.

They got lost in the kiss, letting it romance and remake them both.

"Thank you," he whispered as he pulled back a bit so she could catch her breath. "I've never... that was... You were so warm, and your scent..." He shook in her arms, the experience having moved him as deeply as it had moved her. "I've never trusted anyone this much, Hermione Granger. No one else knows me like you do."

Something significant shifted between them in that moment, with their foreheads pressed together, their eyes locked on each other, and their mouths only an inch apart. The revelation was a startling, unexpected turn of events, shaking up Hermione's whole world with a truth so blinding, it was impossible to deny.

He really does love me...

"I never thought it would be you," he admitted, peeking through long lashes at her.

...and I love him.

"Me, either," Hermione admitted. "But it feels right."

He nodded. "It feels right."

Harry's stag Patronus came through the wall right then, interrupting them to ask for Floo permission. Hermione grabbed her wand off the sofa next to her and summoned her own Patronus to answer him.

At first, the shimmery spell coalesced into a simple ball of light. Then it shifted, and the form it took was definitely not that of the otter she'd once upon a time been able to summon.

"Well, your need for a new wand and why I was able to use your old one without any problems now makes sense," Draco stated, looking over his shoulder at the misty form of a female King cobra, curled up with hood flared, waiting for instructions.

"A fundamental life change will do that, I suppose," she said, a bit in shock over the revelation. The alternation in her spirit totem was a significant thing in and of itself, but that it matched Draco's Animagus form... Tonks had experienced the same thing when she'd fallen in love with Remus Lupin; her Patronus had changed into a werewolf. She'd said it was because they were soul-mates.

Draco gave Hermione a very satisfied, masculine smirk. "I guess you're officially re-sorted a Slytherin now."

"A part of me thinks I should be worried," she murmured, calling the Patronus to her hand. It came without reservation, slithering around her arm with affection, and she suddenly realised that snakes really didn't frighten her all that much anymore. "Funny enough, I'm not."

She released her Patronus with instructions to go to Harry, telling him to come back tomorrow morning with Draco's things. Then, she grabbed her lover's smug face and dragged it down to hers.

"Now, let me show you the proper use for that smart mouth of yours, Malfoy."

For the first time, Hermione held nothing back as she kissed him, uncaring of how unprofessional she might appear if anyone walked in on them. She was through being afraid and hiding behind her office or other such excuses to escape Draco and the second chance at love he was offering her. Just because things hadn't worked out with Ron didn't mean every relationship she had was doomed. So, she was giving them their shot, as he had asked – without family, Ministry, friend, or snake influence to muck things up this time.

They made love again right there in the library all that afternoon and evening, she as soft and sweet as Eve to his wicked serpent, and she discovered that what she did with Draco was as pleasurable as original sin, but as far from sinful as could be.

~FIN~

Author's Final Notes:

Reggia de Caserta = A royal palace in Italy that boasts 1,200 rooms!

Bible references included Samson (Book of Judges) and Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden (Genesis).

Well, we've come to the end of our tale at long last. No sequel or epilogue planned. Thank you for joining me on this journey!

Was Draco's snake form what you expected? Originally for the fest, I'd chosen the Monocled cobra for Draco, but after thinking about it, I decided the King cobra fits him better for the following reasons:

1. King cobras are the world's largest species of cobra, and the longest venomous snake in the world (constrictors and pythons are not classified as venomous, and no known species of sea snake or viper or krait reaches the length of a King cobra). They average 3-4 meters in length in the wild & almost twice that in captivity, and weigh in ~12 kilograms. Despite this, they are extremely fast and agile. They are the undisputed Kings of the venomous snakes in terms of size.

2. King cobras are not like any other cobra in the world - they are their own genus, Ophiophagus (the sole member of that genus, in fact).

3. King cobras prefer to avoid confrontation, but when provoked, they are an aggressive species (their hiss even sounds like a growl). They are feared not just by humans but by other snakes, as King cobras cannibalize other snakes to keep them/their numbers in check (they are the only known snake species specifically designed for this purpose). BTW, Ophiophagus is Greek for 'snake eater'.

4. King cobras have recently been discovered to be picky when it comes to choosing mates (both sexes will snub those they don't find physically appealing) and they are also monogamous breeders, returning to the same area every year to find and breed with their chosen mate - something no other snake species does as far as we know. This shows a remarkable intelligence and long-term memory capability. The females are further unique in the snake kingdom in that they are dedicated parents, staying with the nest until the hatching.

5. King cobras are the most intelligent of the snake species. They have been scientifically proven to recognise themselves in mirrors - a feat very few mammals and birds can master, and no other snake species has demonstrated to date. That they are also picky when it comes to selecting a mate shows they recognise the importance of breeding only with the strongest and fittest of the species.

6. King cobras also have the second highest recessive gene count among snakes (the first being their other cobra cousins), meaning the chances of albinism is higher in the species than in other snakes.

Basically, King cobras are the Great White sharks, the Kodiak bears, and the Bald eagles of the snake kingdom. They're vicious and deadly when needs be, devoted to their mating and clutch, willing to pick off others of their own kind and devour them for lunch, intelligent, a bit vain, and can come in the white scales/grey eyes combination. What do you think? Please review & let me know!

In any case, I hope you've enjoyed this tale, and thanks for letting me throw in a little snake conservation biology. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to Ladysashi for the idea & the beta! :)