Chapter 2
When they entered the classroom, McGonagall was already standing behind her desk. As soon as Hermione set eyes on her, she felt her knees go weak. The professor caught her eye as she walked past and smiled to her. Hermione felt her face turn scarlet and she tried to hide it by turning away quickly and rummaging in her bag so her long hair would hide her face. She just hoped fiercely that McGonagall hadn't noticed anything.
The lesson began. Like always, the professor would teach them something new about some Transfiguration matter, they would practice a certain spell and now and again, she would ask the students questions to check if they had done their homework properly. Hermione was always the first to put up her hand and answer all the questions, but now there was something strange, she didn't dare to speak out loud. For some reason, she was convinced that she wouldn't be able to talk properly, that she would start to stammer as soon as she felt McGonagall watching her. So Hermione kept quiet, but that didn't go unnoticed and sure enough/therefore, the professor looked a bit concerned when she asked Hermione if she really didn't know how to turn a match into a needle (this was one of the simplest spells). This made Hermione blush even harder, she didn't want McGonagall to think that she was that stupid. So she answered the professor's question as well as possible. Her voice trembled and her hands were all sweaty, but she believed nobody had noticed so far.
When the lesson was over, Hermione felt a bit relieved, glad that she could no longer make a fool of herself. But that night, lying in bed, the other girls already asleep, she kept thinking about today and was annoyed with herself for acting so stupidly, while in fact, she had wanted to impress her professor with her cleverness. Instead she had acted like a fool and the worst thing was, that she couldn't help it.
It stayed like that for the rest of the week. She felt nervous as soon as she set eyes on McGonagall and started to blush. That's what she hated most, because she couldn't hide it. After a while, Ron and Harry started making remarks about it. They thought she was in love and tried to find out with whom. This infuriated her and made her blush even more. She said she was just hot because she had to run to be on time and quickly opened her books and started to read or write, to avoid their teasing questions.
Hermione had always enjoyed the Transfiguration courses but now they had turned into a living hell and every night she cursed herself for behaving so stupidly.
For the end of the week, McGonagall had set an exam. Despite all her emotional troubles, Hermione had managed to learn everything by heart and she was satisfied that she had been able to reach her usual standards. At least she was still able to do this, this had not been ruined.
They were sitting in rows. Because the room was rather small, and the class very big, the rows were not so far apart. This to Harry and Ron's joy because it made it easier for them to copy Hermione's work. To her relief, Hermione was able to answer all the exam questions easily. Now she was able to write her answers down instead of saying them out loud in front of the whole class. Now she didn't stammer and could be herself again.
When she had nearly finished her exam, someone a bit further down Hermione's row, put up her hand. McGonagall came forward to answer the girls question. Hermione heard the professor walking in her direction, but didn't dare look up from her work, for fear of blushing again. The girl was not allowed to speak too loud, so as not to disturb the others, so McGonagall had to lean in a bit to be able to make out the girls question. Hermione heard the rustling of robes and with a shock, she felt the hip of her professor press against her back, as she was leaning over.
The feeling of shock disappeared quickly and turned into something else, something she didn't understand and she couldn't believe feeling. She didn't want this to stop, she wished her professors hip would always be pressed against her like this. She felt the warmth from her body (or was it Hermione's body that was growing so hot?) and could think of nothing else. Only: Please make this last forever. But then, the feeling was gone and Hermione watched her professor walk back to her desk. She dared to look up because McGonagall's back was turned.
From that moment onwards, something had changed. Hermione had felt her professors body and not just a hand. Now, whenever she saw McGonagall, she found herself studying her body and not just taking in the sight of the emerald green robes, but actually thinking about what was underneath them. The body of a woman, just like her own, though older of course. Strange, but she had never thought about her professor in that way.