Heat is coming, and Hermione refuses to leave anything to chance. She withdraws her St Mungo’s surgery application, hires solicitors, and has ironclad, two-way consent documents witnessed by staff and friends to record their choice to soulbond. Warded in their rooms, Draco talks her down from spiraling nerves, keeps touch gentle, and promises not to leave. When the heat finally breaks, want turns relentless and he stays—every moment a correction of the first time she was left alone.
