Cougar
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Chapter 2: Effortlessly Graceful
He was there in the hallway, leaning up against a statue as she went by.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Scorpius said in way of greeting. The only sound came from the clicking of her heels.
"Professor," he added and she gave him a look and walked by.
He was there in her class.
"Now swish and flick! Pronunciation is key to this spell." Hermione watched as the first years tried aimlessly to elevate their feathers. They scrunched their face, held their breath, and jabbed their wands. She couldn't help laughing with amusement at each first year's attempt.
Her smile vanished instantly however when a boy, much too old to be in this class, waltzed into the room. The first year's heads whipped around to see the head boy saunter into class. Scorpius didn't look at her; he just merely bent down to a student's eye level, gently grasped her wrist and properly showed her how to flick her wand. The first year, little Sally with bright blond curls and fair skin, blushed with the immediate contact of their skin and profusely thanked him.
"That's Scorpius Malfoy!" Casey Baddock whispered to her friend. "He never comes to first year classes!"
"My sister said he once came to hers. She's in fifth year see, and he was apparently dating Dominique Weasley!" Hermione hushed the gossiping girls and told them to resume their wand work. They put their heads down in embarrassment as Scorpius approached.
"Why do you insist on distracting my class?" Hermione asked. He lent his body on the edge of her desk, looking effortlessly graceful.
"I thought it was only you looking at me."
Hermione's whole body turned ridged. He had noticed then had he? "I think you should leave."
He smiled, got up and left the classroom to the disappointment of the first years.
He was there when she dropped a book and even there when she spilled her pudding in her lap. But most importantly, he was there when she closed her eyes. Scorpius was everywhere, through her eyes and mind. She could never, ever get away. She began to notice other things about him, intentional or not.
His scent when he leaned over to hand her his charms essay.
"I hope this will please you," Scorpius cooed, his eyes looking her up and down across her desk. She wasn't amused. His smell was in her nose, and she hadn't slept at all with his face in her dreams. She didn't understand how this boy could crawl under her skin.
Hermione chuckled joyously, praying that no one could hear him. She plastered a fake smile on her face and said, "You're just a boy."
There was the taste of pumpkin pie on his breath; his dessert of choice every other night.
He looked at her from the Slytherin table, as he had each night from the moment they had laid eyes on each other. He watched her laugh with Hagrid, and listen to Professor Binns drown on with eager ears.
Scorpius had never seen a woman like her. She was well rounded in absolutely everything. She was charming, sassy, the brightest witch of her time, and to top that off, she was bloody gorgeous.
Hermione glanced up from her dessert pudding and briefly looked back at Scorpius. He was again eating his pumpkin pie. Christmas was here, and the school dances had begun.
"The object is to transfigure the mouse, a living breathing creature, into another animate creature, that being a frog. Any questions?" Hermione asked her seventh year class, pausing to look around.
"I actually do professor," Malfoy said, not even bothering to put up his hand. It was a common occurrence for him to speak up during charms class.
Hermione internally sighed. "Yes, what it is?"
Scorpius jumped up from his seat, over his desk and approached the front of the class. Hermione noticed her daughter cringe from her chair at Scorpius' display. As he came up, he pulled out his wand and swished it lazily over one of the mice on her desk.
Instantly it changed into a rose. He picked it up and pushed it towards her hand, despite Hermione's instant protest.
"Will you go to the yule ball with me?" he asked, the pumpkin breath blowing into her face. The class was surprisingly silent, all fearing for Scorpius' life. No one would actually considered doing what he had just done.
Hermione pressed her lips together, and in a strained voice commanded, "You have done the assignment incorrectly Mr. Malfoy. Take your flower and return to your desk!"
He did with a smile, tilting the red flower away from her and swinging back to his spot.
His voice, soft and low, that caused goose bumps to erupt along her skin.
It seemed he was using that voice for others besides her now. After the display with the flower, he had stopped and extended the rose to her daughter.
"A rose for a Rose," he said in that whisper.
Hermione watched as Rose, beautiful and smart Rose, took the stem on the tips of her fingers and flushed the deepest red.
In her very own charms class, Scorpius Malfoy had charmed his way into her daughter's heart.
When the dance arrived, Hermione stood in the corner of the room, dressed in a modest black a-line skirt and matching off the shoulder top. She winced at the music. Truly she felt old.
Feeling old was comfortable for her, she accepted it. But feeling jealous she did not. Hermione couldn't deny that spark in her stomach as she watched Rose waltz in the great hall with Scorpius on her arm. He looked much better in a suit than Ron ever would, she couldn't help but thinking.
It was surely wrong to think that way about your very husband. But worst of all, she was jealous of her own daughter! But why? Perhaps it was that she could never have gotten such a boy as Scorpius during her school days. Perhaps it was the soul fact that it was Scorpius.
Hermione witnessed the envious stares of Rose's peers and knew her own eyes cast the same glow. It was shaming. She felt sick and disgusted with herself. She felt hot and stressed and delirious all at the same time.
Hermione was startled by the appearance of Neville at her side. "A little treat for your hard work," he announced. In his hand he held a glass of champagne.
"Is that really appropriate?" Hermione asked, looking down disapprovingly. "We're chaperoning."
"It's our dance too," he said with a chuckle and handed her the glass. Hermione smiled and took a sip before Professor Longbottom sauntered off to go separate two students dancing much too close on the dance floor.
She glanced over at Scorpius gently brushing a strand of Rose's red brown hair away from her face, and Hermione took another gulp. She took another when he glanced up and his eyes shot electricity through hers.
Hermione wasn't being the responsible, mature professor she was, but a school girl out of control, as she filled her glass over and over.
There were bubbles in her stomach and her head felt light and airy. Her footing felt loose and her eyes glossier. She stumbled out of the ball as composed as she could, when the dancing had come to an end.
She hadn't gotten far, when she felt her legs give way and she collapsed against a wall. Hermione hadn't felt like this since her and Ron's wedding, when she had drank too much wine and ate too little cake. She had lain in their wedding bed, giggling to herself and watched as Ron's freckled face inched closer. Each step focused the clarity in her eyes until she could count each sun spot burned on her husband's nose.
She closed her eyes, remembering. When she opened them Scorpius was in front of her.
His looks, his voice, his smell, his taste. Out of all of it, Hermione could not lie to herself that it was his touch she longed for. And that scared her most.
