"I still fail to see why you really wanted to go by car instead of just easily Apparating there," Minerva remarked, sitting on the left as Hermione drove and watching from the window as the car halted at a red light. The end of August and summer holidays had announced itself, and Hermione had suggested to pass away their last weekend, before Minerva would be anticipated at Hogwarts again to ready herself for the new year, in France. Both women had taken the ferry from Dover to Calais, where Hermione had rented a car to resume the rest of their route to Paris. Hermione's main purpose had been to let Minerva experience some more of the other, Muggle world by going on the ferry and then continuing to travel by car like… well, Muggles. Minerva had agreed that maybe it would be nice to do something so unusual for her, considering she usually travelled by Apparition… having been convinced slightly by Hermione, who had occasionally mentioned the advantages, like enabling one to take in their surroundings. Apparition didn't allow any of that. It mainly was fast, and therefore it was maybe so popular with Wizarding folk, like Minerva. Hogwarts' Headmistress had unfortunately gotten ill on the ferry, though… her mood sorely ruined already as a result of that.
The Battle of Hogwarts had left most of the survivors feeling raw and very vulnerable – even the Headmistress. When Hermione had returned for her seventh year at Hogwarts, the line between teacher and pupil had been quite blurred. They hadn't actually stepped over it by unusual physical contact or incongruous conversation, but in their hearts they had over the time period of a year. Hermione Granger had had rather an essential role in the battle and had been much more adult after than she ever had been. While most of the other seventh years had been survivors of the battle as well, Hermione had been… different. She, together with Harry and Ron, had actually been on the run for a year almost while searching for Horcruxes and means to get rid of them.
She had had to keep herself and Harry and Ron safe from quite a myriad of dangers at the very same time, which most pupils would never even have been able to begin to guess about let alone defend themselves against. Most of them would have gotten killed within a month. Logical thought was a lot to acquire when in such circumstances.
At the end of the year, that what their hearts had known for a while already had eventually overtaken them… At the graduation feast, both women had kissed on the lips. Whereas Headmistress McGonagall offered everyone three kisses on the cheeks at coming to get their signed degree, somehow their lips had ended upon each other with the third kiss, touching softly and lingering a bit longer than would have been acceptable even though not long enough for anyone to ask questions. Most of the view had been obstructed by Hermione, who had been turned against the public and whose bushy hair even though loosely knotted had fallen somewhat across their faces. The touch had left both Minerva and Hermione feeling fluttery while the rest of the ceremony had lasted, with them occasionally peeking at each other when they thought no one else noticed, and mostly they had been right enough. The rest of the ceremony had gone rather smooth, nothing else unusual having happened between them. In fact, they hadn't spoken each other anymore before Hermione had left with her mother and father. Years later, Hermione still had no idea whether or not that had been a conscious decision of Minerva… or maybe an unconscious one of herself.
Even though Hermione had not had any reason whatsoever anymore to visit Hogwarts, the kiss had kept her up whole of the night and had positively had her longing for some more… wondering if, considering how much one little kiss had done to her, actually being with Minerva could possibly be even more intense than that. Ron's and her relationship or whatever they had had between them had lasted no longer than halfway Hermione's seventh year, when they had both realized that they couldn't love each other that way; that they were just too… different from each other to have more than a casual relationship without crossing the line to being a couple.
So she had Apparated there the following day and resumed what had begun a day before. Minerva had been… unyielding for a while, keeping on telling her that it only had been accidental, later telling her that it could not be more even if it hadn't been accidental… and then eventually opening her mouth in time to Hermione's curious tongue, Hermione's lips then going down further over her throat as lack of air made it unable for them to continue kissing… them both feeling tingly and lightheaded.
"Oh, yes…" Hermione crooned, naturally pushing up in response to Minerva's thrust as she felt Minerva's breath below her ear, the elder woman panting, and her warm hands slippery in Minerva's as the other held them pinned beside her head… and she felt Minerva's heart beating against her, or maybe it was her own after all. She could feel the evidence of Minerva's arousal as hard pebbled skin slid across her own or the surrounding area…
"Uhh! Please, do that again…" Hermione gasped, feeling Minerva against her, thighs very slippery with both arousal and sweat while draped across Minerva's hips loosely. She was consumed by Minerva: the feel of her, the smell of her… the longing she had for her… Minerva was all over her… Hermione wanted it no other way…
Eventually Minerva's voice combined with the sound of a horn from another driver nearby pulled Hermione successfully from her memory, and she fleetingly redirected her eyes to find that the light had turned to green already.
She easily released the clutch, pushing down on the throttle, with her feet moving fast in a dance Minerva was sure she would never get… as Hermione left the crossroads in the distance, both women continuing their way to Paris. A smile came across Hermione's lips as she vaguely recalled some of the times after that first time when they had made love: on the desk and under the desk, on the kitchen counter, on the kitchen table, on their little blue couch… beside the couch when they had rolled off it – most likely because of the couch just being too small for that kind of activity – and neither of them actually had bothered to rise again… the shower, the bath and then of course the bed as well… They had been together for two years now, and they rarely did not make love at least once a day. When Hermione's cycle arrived, she at least made love to Minerva, if Minerva didn't find other ways to entertain the younger witch… There were of course enough erogenous zones…
"Is there any reason for that smile?" Minerva wondered, fanning herself even though the car windows both on her side and Hermione's were open.
"Oh, just… recalling something," Hermione replied, fleetingly looking aside at Minerva sitting in the passenger seat. Hermione's eyes were covered with large sunglasses. Even though there was some wind still, the sun was burning. "Come on, Minerva… sniff the air here. Doesn't it smell good with all the trees and all…?" she tried, turning into an avenue.
"It doesn't," Minerva replied, mumbling somewhat. "All I smell right now is my own sweat."
"Well… who wanted to wear trousers and refused to wear anything without sleeves? I'm sure that everyone believes I'm on a trip with my Gran, with your hair like that. Your hair is beautiful, Minerva. I'll never get why you don't let it loose a bit more often." She giggled, fully aware that she being Minerva McGonagall's lover was likely one of the only – if not the only one – who might get away with it. If anyone else had spoken to Minerva like that, they might have risked meeting her temper and getting hexed. "Imagine everyone's looks upon seeing me hold my 'Gran' close and kiss her with fervor, though…" she added.
Minerva turned her gaze aside, a little smile adorning her features, too. "I'm already hot enough as it is without you having to remind me of what I could do to my love once at the hotel… if anything, because in this unbearable heat…" she said. "What I'm wearing isn't the issue. Linen is quite bearable. I'm used to wearing thicker fabrics at Hogwarts even in the summer, and I rarely whine about it. I'm merely not used to being in a moving greenhouse like this and in which no spell I try seems to work."
"Oh, it is never too hot…" Hermione began, left hand reaching over to lay upon Minerva's thigh, "to be with you and all over you," teasingly trailing it upward and down.
Minerva groaned, laying her hand upon Hermione's and pushing it aside. "Please, darling… focus on getting there," she said, continuing to gaze from the window at all the other cars passing by. That continued on for a few more minutes in silence until… "Why didn't you rent a car like that!" Minerva suddenly exclaimed, seeing one pass by without roof.
Hermione giggled. While Minerva wasn't stupid if it came to Muggles and for instance managed to combine pieces in a reasonably Muggle looking ensemble without issues or aid – unlike other Wizarding folk – it was sometimes obvious that she had never actually lived in their world, in fact having been raised by a mother and a father who both had been educated at Hogwarts and then having lived most of her life – half a century almost – at Hogwarts in solely Wizarding surroundings with occasional trips only to Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley or the Ministry. While occasionally coming by in Muggle London, Minerva McGonagall had never actually appeared to have seen convertibles yet… but then again how often did it happen that she visited Muggle London, and most of the time Minerva didn't visit the centre with its many shops and such. "A convertible?"
"Whatever you name it," Minerva said. "Is there no way we could possibly transfigure this one so it has no roof either anymore?"
Hermione's smile widened somewhat at the seemingly Minerva-unlike comment. "You're the one having taught Transfiguration."
Minerva McGonagall glared up at her. "I still don't see why you have opted to drive instead of Apparate. It only takes us longer, and your argumentation of this enabling to take in our surroundings was a poor one as well. You have to keep your eyes focused on the road, and if I have to look at everything that flashes by at this pace, I'll get nauseous, much like on the ferry."
Hermione couldn't contain a snicker at that. "It doesn't always have to be the easy way."
Minerva McGonagall made an unidentifiable sound. "Drive right. I can't do this in the middle of the street in the view of so many others. I'm not inclined to cause mishaps… or Muggles claiming such as the existence of magic or fearing that they've gone insane," she said, taking her long ebony wand from her trouser pocket and waiting until Hermione had turned into the street on the right which Minerva had indicated. After having ensured that the street was basically abandoned, Minerva McGonagall quietly raised her wand, pointed it at the roof of the car and muttered a lengthy incantation, indeed rendering the car into a convertible before they even reached the end of the street.
"Now that's a sight," Hermione teased, fleetingly redirecting her eyes at Minerva, then at the road again.
Minerva again glared at her. "Then what am I supposed to do, wear a pair of huge sunglasses and an even huger straw hat, like you?"
"Loose hair would be a beginning – not that you would dare," Hermione said, aware of having spoken the magic words.
"That's even hotter."
"See, you don't actually dare." In fact, daring Minerva McGonagall usually succeeded in getting her over the edge. If you were sure that she wouldn't dare do something, you just had to say so… and Headmistress McGonagall would show you so herself that she did. Hermione momentarily eyed the GPS as she halted at the end of the street. The sound of the lady's clipped voice instructing the way had annoyed Minerva so much Hermione had muted the system, having continued to drive with occasionally peeking at the screen to make sure they were still following the itinerary.
She used her indicator, turning left as their GPS seemed to lead them to the street which they had just left by turning right on Minerva's command. She would take the first street left again to return to the street in question. A quietly muttered spell banished all of Minerva's hair pins, letting her long graying hair tumble free. Another spell conjured a pair of sunglasses – even though less huge than Hermione's – in the elder woman's lap. Taking them and sliding them onto her nose with a mutter that might have been, "I can't believe that I'm going this", Minerva then stuffed her wand into her trouser pocket again. "Better?" she asked, turning to Hermione.
Hermione fleetingly turned her gaze aside to notice a rather neat pair of sunglasses balanced on Minerva's nose. She'd never have guessed to actually see the headmistress wear them… They didn't really look that bad at all, Hermione found. "You still need a hat," she said.
"I'm not wearing a large straw hat like you."
"Minerva, you'll have a serious headache by tonight if you don't wear one, having basked in the full sun for hours. I had hoped to take a stop about five for a bite of food and something cold, and in the afternoon the sun is usually worse," Hermione said, navigating left once again and turning onto the main avenue. "Besides…"
Minerva sighed, interrupting her. She reached for the long ebony wand in her trouser pocket again, and waved it pseudo inconspicuously, quietly casting a shield over herself to keep the sun's rays from having their effect on her and keep the aforementioned headache from really happening before stuffing her wand away again.
Hermione smiled, hoping that Minerva had cast more than a sun shielding spell.
The rest of the drive passed by in reasonable silence, with Hermione mainly focusing on the route, having to zigzag through a load of other cars and small streets as they surely neared their destination. One could see the closer you got to Paris, the busier everything became. With only reasonable traffic, the GPS indicated that they would arrive about a quarter to seven. She had consciously chosen to avoid the highways, even though that would have been much faster.
By four-fifteen Hermione spoke up. "I could do with something cold right now," she said without looking at the woman sitting in the seat on the left. "What if we stop by the next parking?"
Minerva nodded. "That sounds good to me. I could do with a stretch of the legs."
Not long after that, they indeed passed by a parking, and Hermione thus took her chance, turning onto it and maneuvering the car into a spot. She quietly undid her seatbelt and turned to Minerva, her question immediately dying on her lips upon taking in the sight of the venerable headmistress. She couldn't contain her laughter for more than a few seconds until she positively burst into giggles. Minerva's eyebrow quirked as she quietly undid her seatbelt as well, eyeing Hermione, who was basically squirming from laughter in the driver's seat of the rented car.
"What now?" Minerva wondered, sighing.
"I told you… to wear a hat!" Hermione said, sure enough Minerva had not anticipated this. The sight called a few scenes of Bridget Jones's Diary to mind, the movie she had seen the Saturday prior when Minerva had been at the Ministry to run over some matters with the Minister ahead of the new school year, and Hermione herself had gone to shop in Muggle London to keep busy that day instead. It had already been a while since she had bought new summer attires. By then their weekend away had already been arranged, so Hermione had thought buying something nice for Minerva to look at would be nice. She had seen the posters hang in town when shopping and had impetuously walked into the movies, already having bought quite a lot and quite satisfied with her purchases, and had gone to watch it alone.
"I already took care of that," Minerva replied, self-assured. "I'm fine."
"You look like you've been in a rollercoaster… for the last half hour!"
"Roller– what?" Minerva repeated. Watching Hermione merely continue to laugh and suspecting she wouldn't actually get an answer anyway, Minerva quietly turned her head to look into the side mirror of the convertible and gasped upon seeing her reflection. She was absolutely mortified, seeing her usually wavy, satin like, long graying hair on end as if it had been in a… it was all tangly and looked like it hadn't been combed in years.
She turned her gaze aside at Hermione, usual pale countenance gone as her cheeks flushed. She couldn't recall ever having been more embarrassed. "Couldn't you have told me?"
