Hermione groaned as she shifted her small pile of books from her right arm to her left, trying to fish her wand out of her pocket while navigating the staircase. The young witch had spent much more time in the library than she had originally intended and she knew that she was going to pay for it. But her apprenticeship was demanding and on top of grading, teaching, and mentoring, she had her own studies to keep up with. As she lit the end of her wand to illuminate the dark hallway, Hermione groaned again at the late hour and the thought of having to face an early morning class of first years.
However, the real source behind her discomfort was her aching muscles, all of which could be attributed to a certain Headmistress and her recent… demands upon her apprentice's body. Hermione shook her head as she continued down the next flight of stairs, trying to dislodge the impending fuzziness settling in from her exhaustion. She could not complain, really, as the older woman was giving her something she had wanted for a very long time. She just never imagined that Minerva would be so demanding and upon her at all hours of the day. The brunette could not imagine a time when her body hurt more. Her arms were tight, her back ached, and the tendons of her feet and hands felt stretched from overuse.
But really, Hermione thought with a smirk, this was something she had wanted since she had learned it was a possibility to have. And she could not deny that she appreciated Minerva's constant attention. It was a good hurt really, and an intimate reminder of how far they had come during her time at Hogwarts.
The young witch smiled widely at the thought of springing the news on Ron and Harry. Maybe next Hogsmeade weekend she would invite them both for a drink and begin hinting at the recent changes in her life. Ron probably would miss every subtle sign, but Harry would catch them and it would surely drive him mad. Or, she could just reveal everything in one go and grin madly as they both stared at her, not sure what to make of their friend.
As Hermione came to the bottom of one flight of stairs and the top of the next, her thoughts shifted to the dark haired woman that was her mentor. While not unexpected given the nature of their relationship, the two had been spending almost all of their free time together. It took every bit of her self-discipline for Hermione to stay focused on her studies. Really, Hermione thought, how can she expect me to learn anything when she is always sitting just a little too close, looking a little too enticing, and-
Hermione yelped as two hands darted out from her left from behind a suit of armor, one pulling the pile of books from her arms while the other pushed her hard enough on her lower back to displace her gravity just over the end of the top step before her.
"Change!"
For a brief moment, despite her panic, as Hermione tipped head first to certain injury, she enjoyed the scent of lavender and ginger that enveloped her newly acquired senses. And then, almost as quickly as the attack came, she did as commanded. Concentrating, her spine grew past her tailbone. Her nails changed to claws as her hand and foot bones elongated, turning digitigrade. Her ribs rounded, her body shrank, and thick fur sprouted all over her body.
A small red fox landed on sure feet and crouched at the bottom of the flight of stairs from which she had previously been pushed. Once sure that no harm had come to her, she began to pant heavily from the protesting pain put forth by her muscles, for that was the seventh time today that she had surprised her like that. But, Hermione thought proudly, the first time that she had landed without a stumble. Hearing a noise, the little fox turned and glared at the smirking figure descending the stairs above her. Feeling that her point had been made, Hermione shifted into a distinctly canine stretch, enjoying the pull across the back of her rear legs and between her shoulders that one just could not achieve in human form.
Minerva McGonagall stopped at the bottom of the stairs, peering down at her protégée. "You are certainly getting much better at that, my dear. We shall have to work on your reaction time though." The fox straightened and sat at the witch's feet, cockering her head as if to say what else were you expecting at one in the morning.
Shaking her head and smiling gently, the Headmistress let go of the pile of books in her arms, levitating them next to her with a nonverbal and wandless spell, and bent over to scoop up the clearly exhausted animagus. Shifting the small creature to resting in her left arm, Minerva began to stroke Hermione gently under her chin.
"I know that all of this is painful now, Hermione, and you most likely feel as if your muscles are detaching from your skeleton, but you will be thankful in the future when you can seamlessly transfigure into your animagus form in any given situation." If Hermione had not been so exhausted she probably would have nipped the gentle fingers to express her displeasure, but she felt herself lulled into a warm bliss as the fingers moved around the back of her jaw and into the thick fur behind her ears.
While still miffed, Hermione could not deny that she loved the attention and the chance to be in the older woman's arms. As Minerva began to descend the stairs once more to return Hermione to her rooms, the fox, exhausted, settled into the crook created by the arms around her, burying her muzzle in the collar of Minerva's robes. And, while the contact was not nearly close to what she craved from the other witch or the pain resulting from activities she would rather be engaged in with her, Hermione thought that any touch from this woman was, for now, enough.