Author note: I absolutely must acknowledge one of my favorite stories – The Calendar Club by anonymouth as a major inspiration for this story and The Ties That Bind by Tigertales for its scenes of a certain quidditch match on the beach as having some flavor of what I've had to use here - "His name is Dirk!". Both these stories are ASTOUNDING and a MUST READ. I acknowledge the following HP authors and many others – all of whom have inspired me: Sela McGrane, tigertales, jazwriter, McGonagall's Bola, asouldreams, lolwrwg, tanithw, anonymouth, GreenEyedBabe, onecelestialbeing, Renard Noir, Twisted DKat, CherriiMarina, SassyKinglet21, Mr-Spock1, my dearest Sadainea, and of course – extra thanks for my betas Sadainea and Willowezra.
I own nothing, all credit is given J.K. Rowling.
Love Amongst the Quidditch Pitch
Chapter 2
Headmistress Minerva McGonagall sat in the faculty lounge late that same evening having called an emergency meeting of the entire faculty. She had assigned the Hogwarts caretaker, Mr. Filch, and the Head Boy and Head Girl along with the House Prefects with the nightly rounds of the school for the next couple of hours. She had listed all the faculty on a piece of parchment and they were going through the list to see what roles everyone would have in the Quidditch Honor Challenge. It was not just players, it was those to be covering classes, grading, detentions and rounds for those needing to practice. There was coaching and practices to aid and of course, medical. There were a few that everyone agreed could not risk playing due to their age or health: Arithmancy instructor Septima Vector was too old and frail, Deputy Headmaster and Charms professor Filius Flitwick was a half-goblin and his small size a risk, Filius' wife Herbology instructor Pomona Sprout was a bit "out of shape" for safe playing, Divination instructor Sybill Trelawney could not safely sit on a broom (or at least stay on it for long), Care of Magical Creatures half giant Rubeus Hagrid was no good on a broom – We really should bring back a faculty fitness and flying program… Minerva thought … and History of Magic instructor Cuthbert Binns was a ghost.
The remaining potential players were therefore: McGonagall, Hooch, Granger, Sinistra, Firestrumb, and Fortune. Once Minerva had taken on the position of Headmistress, she had turned her Transfiguration classes over to Pyreen Fortune, at the time a brand new Transfiguration Master from Merlin University who had previously graduated from Hogwarts. After the war, a former Auror, Corbin Firestrumb who as it happens was from Durmstrang but had gone to Merlin University, had applied for and was awarded the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. He was medium height with dark brown hair, a brilliant smile, and a goatee type of beard. Professor Firestrumb had proven to be a good instructor holding to the "Defensive spells only" curriculum that Hogwarts needed but adding in prudent aspects from his war experiences. He was also a fine flyer and along with Pyreen and Hermione, amongst the youngest of the faculty members. Minerva hoped he would remember where his new allegiances were and play.
"Alright," Minerva spoke up stopping all the sideline conversations, "We have six viable Quidditch players, not even enough for a full team and we need that plus backups. Only two of us actually played on house teams, myself and Rolanda, but all of you have played recreationally except Hermione."
Hermione rolled her eyes. Although she was not a huge fan of brooms, she was an adequate flyer but usually had studying to do rather than play Quidditch during her school days.
Minerva continued, "Therefore we are definitely going to need to call upon some non professional Quidditch playing graduates who also have the time to spend on this. Amongst our group, we are particularly missing someone who has Seeker experience that can still do it. Yes, I was a Seeker but I no longer have the reaction, stamina, and speed I need to do us justice."
"What about Neville Longbottom?" Pomona asked. "He's a graduate and although still at university, he is getting his Mastery in Herbology under me so he spends part of his time here this semester. I'm sure everyone has noticed he has "blossomed" into something akin to a Greek God and as his profile in the "Real Men of the Wizarding World" calendar layout told us, he has been using pickup Quidditch to stay in shape…"
Pomona stopped short. She realized she had just admitted to looking at the calendar of sexiest Wizards. She glanced over at her husband Filius who was indeed frowning at her.
"Ahhh honey, I just glanced at it at the bookstore. The calendar raised funds for charity you know," Pomona pleaded.
Minerva cleared her throat to regain everyone's attention and with a slight waiver in her voice said, "Well,… yes,... I believe I was told that Neville looked very fit in his spread. Please send him to me during lunch tomorrow Pomona. Now who else?"
Aurora spoke up next, "Draco Malfoy…" The room grew quiet. Although both Draco and his parents were pardoned for their war crimes due to Narcissa protecting Harry at a critical time, all of them walking away during the Battle of Hogwarts, and after substantial restitutions to the Ministry and St Mungos' Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, there was still some hesitancy when they were mentioned.
Astoria continued her logical argument, "After a delay, he returned and graduated over three years ago. He was a Seeker here before the war and has played friendly games but not professionally. At recent Slytherin House reunions he has mentioned wanting to do something for the school. He married Astoria Greengrass who is also a graduate and who plays with him. His recovery from the mental impacts of his war participation has been methodical and his parents have provided a steady income so he does not have to work. He also keeps the very latest, fastest brooms and has a spare or two I hear."
Minerva sought out critical faces in the room seeking non-verbal comment on Aurora's proposal. The last face she found was Hermione's. There was history there. Years of Draco's bullying, name-calling, and abuse towards Hermione. Her inner strength as she grew, fighting back sometimes literally with a punch to the nose. Hermione was obviously conflicted, her eyes glazed over in thought with worried brows failing to hide uncertainty. Hermione felt someone watching her from afar and snapped out of her trance to lock eyes with Minerva. She blinked, driving old demons and worries back to the past where they deserved to stay. Minerva waited as Hermione took a deep breath, smiled, and nodded her acceptance.
Minerva nodded back acknowledging both acceptance and admiration of Hermione's courage with agreeing to take the Malfoys back into her proximity. She turned towards Aurora, "Aurora, given your cultivation of a dialogue with Draco, if you will please make an offer to him and Astoria as soon as possible, that would be prudent. " Turning towards the venerable Quidditch "coach", Minerva continued, "Rolanda, assuming all accept, that makes nine. Good enough for seven players and two backups. Now given your knowledge of everyone discussed, who should play what positions as we don't have time for tryouts and tests?"
Rolanda bolted up and firmly clasped her hands behind her back. She pursed her lips and furrowed her brows in deep thought and consideration and began an examination of the available participants, marching around as a General reviews his troops. After a bit, she walked up to the great Headmistress, reached out and squeezed Minerva's upper arm a few times, testing for muscle tone. She walked away with a "Tsk, tsk, tsk" clicking under her breath. Minerva let out an mildly aggravated huff.
"OK," the Quidditch instructor started up, "Draco is the Seeker; Minerva is the Keeper; Corbin and me are the Beaters; Neville, Aurora, and Pyreen are the Chasers; Astoria will be backup Seeker/Chaser and Hermione will be backup Beater/Keeper. Obviously I'm going to double as coach, Neville can help with tactics, and Hermione can help with conditioning. For the next four weeks, we will work conditioning, basic flying and team flying specific to roles, hand/eye/ball coordination specific to your roles, and classroom tactics. The last four weeks we will transition to applying everything in the field and rotate using the House teams as our opponents. To start, figure out who will handle your grading and night duties as everyone will need three hours a night put aside for the training while you will still all get eight hours sleep a night from now on."
And so it begins…. Minerva thought.
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The schedule for the next two weeks was going to be a monumental adjustment for all involved. First of all, all titles were dropped. They were one Quidditch team while here. Draco, Neville, and Astoria had all agreed to participate so every evening at six o'clock they would come to Hogwarts for a "Rolanda approved" dinner packed with both protein and calories. The first evenings were grueling for some and less of an issue for others. The years after the war had indeed softened some of the vigilance that many adults use to take in terms of staying in shape. The Room of Requirements became a quarter Quidditch field, gym, and broom track. For Hermione, Pyreen, Aurora, and even Astoria and Minerva, continually flying for hours at a time while ducking bludgers was more nerve racking than teaching classes for sure even though right now the bludgers were spelled to not impact a player but stop just short. Then the arm and broom swinging repetition where Minerva and Hermione were defending the goals while the Chasers practiced swinging quaffels at them. Rolanda was not going to add in doing both bludgers and quaffels at the same time until the next two weeks. Beaters would be off in a corner whacking bludgers to each other. Lastly, there was close form flying practice and quick turns that the Chasers, Beaters, and Seeker had to practice again and again. All in all, the more experienced players or ones in better shape accommodated those trying to come up to speed.
Minerva was content with everyone's performance and behavior for the most part. Once Draco and Astoria arrived with Aurora, she had made a point to stay near Hermione. It turns out Neville and Draco had been playing each other in the pickup Quidditch games, so they had worked out a respect and acceptance of each other. Not friendship, but also no animosity. Draco respected Neville's heroism at the climax of things. Neville knew that Draco had fought back from the evil influences of his childhood and was not as much the arrogant teen anymore.
There was one incident though that had deserved some attitude adjustment. Astoria was some forty feet in the air of the Room of Requirement's Quidditch field practicing as a Chaser, along with Pyreen and Aurora, with Hermione being the Keeper. Minerva was taking a break on the floor talking to Neville. Out of the corner of her eye, she had kept watch on the backup Keeper. Although Draco had been rather agreeable, Astoria had been a bit terse with many here and had thrown a few disparaging glances at Hermione. She appeared a bit miffed about Hermione's grand status and notoriety, some of which had come at the Malfoy's expense. Well, Rolanda had just blown the "practice over" whistle but Astoria still flung a full force sidearm quaffle straight at Hermione. To Minerva, it was quite clear the shot was after the whistle and was a cheap shot headed to nail Hermione, not through a goal. Neville watched Minerva tense up and draw her wand quick as a flash and he turned to look up based on her line of sight. Hermione squeaked and started to parry on her broom but before she could even turn the quaffle exploded saving Hermione from being hit. Then there was a yelp from Astoria, the result of a mild stinging hex from somewhere. Neville watched all this unfold in less than five seconds.
Under her breath, Minerva whispered, "Not my woman you don't". Minerva caught herself. Why had she even thought that never-mind whispered it.
Neville's eyes widened but he dared not turn around and acknowledge he had heard what the Headmistress had said under her breath.
Hermione slowly swooped down to land near Minerva and dismounted her broom. She walked over and with a cheeky grin whispered, "Thanks Minerva. Didn't know you cared."
Minerva rolled her eyes and hoped she was not blushing as she finally put her wand away.
It was a relief, after three nights of drills, that Rolanda wanted to talk team tactics for a night as she noted several of her "players" were moving quite slow of late and grimacing a lot. Poppy had reported a few "pain potions" had been dispensed but she would not say to who. Anyway, there were things to learn from Draco and Neville's recreational playing to throw a few kinks and surprises into the more standard tactics that Rolanda and Minerva were used to. Minerva was fascinated to see tactics involving four Chasers instead of three and quaffels being used like bludgers. It was bold and more "gritty" than she was used to. Indeed, although inside the rules, the school would probably refrain from allowing some of the subterfuge. However, she wanted to win and this could balance out some of their physical weaknesses and lack of experience.
Other instructors and House Prefects were in charge of organizing a uniform design contest, banner contest, coordinating ticket sales with Durmstrang, and other preparations including housing for the Durmstrang team. Headmaster Tchekov had agreed to hold the Quidditch match at Hogwarts considering the better weather. He was also confident their team could win no matter where they played.
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Four days later, Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was sitting at her desk reviewing the parchments on the final plans for the Halloween Ball which was only one week hence. Her hair was down, dangling over her shoulder in a long braid. She was clad in her dark grey under-robe, having changed and showered after tonight's practice. Filius had taken over her normal role of teaching some basic waltz steps to the younger students. There was an extra sense of anticipation and fun this year, possibly because of the parallel preparations for the Quidditch Honor Challenge. The students had yet to see any of the team practicing but they had seen some of the former student players that had been coming in nightly. The Headmistress had heard there was a lot of common room whispers about which house was making the most contribution, who was playing what position, and whether the venerable headmistress could still sit on a broom.
Minerva's eyesight started to grow hazy, even with her spectacles on it was hard to focus. She was tired, very tired. Happy but tired … and sore. She was still spending three to four hours each night after Quidditch practice on school needs and doing some checking of the scoring of the homework parchments from her classes. She had not been getting anything like the 8 hours of sleep that Madame Hooch wanted everyone to get. The piles of correspondence on her desk were still getting deeper and deeper. Here it was once again getting late, and after signing off on the last of the Halloween Ball plans, she was still slated to have Hermione visit for her weekly Transfiguration Mastery discussion. They had a basic outline of her specific project and had overlaid all the mandatory Mastery requirements. There was no specific "schedule" requirement. For that Minerva was glad because right now, she was overbooked. Even when she tried to lay down, her achy body was protesting. She had finally succumbed to taking a mild pain potion or three.
The Headmistress shook her head to clear her vision and signed the Halloween Ball payment allowance in her distinctive ornate scrawl with custom emerald ink. She flexed her stiff arm and hand as soon as she put the quill down and slouched in her chair. She was right handed and the Keeper practice had been rebuilding muscles she had long forgotten about. The pain went from her right hand all the way up into her neck and down to the lower back. The Headmistress was adverse to showing said pain to any save Poppy out of pure stubborn pride. The grand hero sighed, Order of Merlin - First Class in two wars and she was sore from three weeks of Quidditch training.
Minerva's animagus-enhanced hearing could always tell when her outer revolving entrance was being accessed. She heard the faint sound of the password, currently "bagpipes", and the stone-grinding-on-stone sound of the stairs rotating the person up to her office entrance. Minerva wanted to look a bit more refreshed so she quickly smoothed her hair, blinked her eyes a few times and took some deep breaths to clear the cobwebs in her head. Just as Hermione entered, Minerva forced herself to sit up straight as she would normally be at her desk but she could not hold back a slight grimace.
Hermione sloughed in, her old school backpack now holding her Transfiguration Mastery work, her blue jeans, light yellow long-sleeved polo, maroon jumper, and slightly damp hair reflecting the fact that she had also changed and showered after practice. She brightened the moment she saw the venerable Headmistress behind the desk, hands folded on top of some parchments, as if she had always been there.
"Good evening Minerva," Hermione offered with a grin while sitting down in the chair in front of the desk. She liked these rare opportunities to see Minerva with her hair down.
Minerva smiled back, "Good evening Hermione. I believe we were going to review the fundamental concepts of energy-matter balance involved in transfiguring items that greatly differ in size or composition. Let's review what is truly happening, what is happening to each molecule in the universe, if you need to transfigure a feather into a chair."
The two brilliant witches conversed on the subject for about half an hour, quoting various journal articles. Hermione had to take out her parchments to make some notes on references to review. She produced one reference from her backpack, a recent one from a Salem Academy professor involving transfiguration results inside a vacuum chamber at a variety of pressure levels, that Minerva had not seen yet.
As Hermione stood up and leaned to hand Minerva the copy of the reference, she noted that Minerva reached for it with her left arm, even though it was further away and she definitely heard a gasp as Minerva twisted.
A concerned frown creased Hermione's face, "Are you okay Minerva?"
Minerva finished grasping the parchment and leaned back clenching her jaw. If it was anyone else, she would huff and just continue on. But she was tired and this was Hermione, with whom she was feeling something growing that she had not felt in decades. Minerva relaxed and arched backwards a bit, taking the pressure off her lower back. She felt like she wanted to let the defenses down. She took off her glasses, again with her left arm, and rubbed the spot between her eyes to try and reduce the strain in her head.
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the back of the chair, "I have to admit I'm tired but also quite sore from recent activities."
Minerva heard movement as Hermione came around the desk. Her heart started to beat a little faster and the air had grown still. Hermione had listened to Minerva admit to being sore. She was just tired enough herself to be bold. They had already been flirting for weeks. She was sure that Minerva was interested. Minerva had hexed Astoria for her. Neville had come up to Hermione later with a shy "matchmaker" grin and told her what Minerva had said when she thought no one was listening. Now Minerva, with her hair down, was in front of her with her eyes closed.
In a low, calm voice, Hermione coo'd, "Keep your eyes closed. I am supposed to be aiding with everyone's conditioning. I'm going to help you feel better and relax."
Minerva was not sure about the "relax" part given her heart was now pounding in her chest and she was not so sure this was a good idea, but something told her to go with it.
Hermione took in a slow fortifying breath and reached out to carefully pick up the Headmistress's right hand. The hand initially went tense, the Headmistress releasing a quick gasp partly from pain along her arm, partly from pure tension. Minerva willed her hand to relax. Hermione inwardly smiled and took another gulp of air. Minerva's hand was colder than hers and so soft. She slowly started to massage each finger, paying special attention to the joints. Hermione turned the hand over the pressed firmly into the palm with her thumb in a smooth, circular motion. When she got to massaging the pad at the base of the thumb, Minerva quietly groaned.
It felt good, Hermione's hands were warm and soft. The massaging was helping, bringing feeling and blood flow to her hand. She felt it literally getting warmer. Hermione was now massaging all around the wrist and started to do long strokes along Minerva's forearm, over her snug under-robe, before slowing down again to dig into the sore muscles with her fingers and thumbs. The more Hermione came up the arm though, the more the tension on the shoulder hurt from holding it up. Hermione could feel the arm starting to shake, the tension of holding it up with a sore shoulder she suspected.
"Stay relaxed and keep your eyes closed. I'm going to transfigure your chair to recline Minerva."
Hermione carefully placed Minerva's hand back down and pulled out her wand. A red bolt emanated from the tip of her wand causing a red glow around the back of Minerva's chair. There was adequate room to not only lean it back but make it taller and wider and she made sure it was very soft and had thrown on a warming charm on to boot. Minerva felt the chair back disappear simultaneous to Hermione's hand coming up behind her neck. She was slowly lowered down and could not help hissing again. Her back protested even this slow motion although once complete, the pain receded.
Hermione hated seeing Minerva in pain. The much younger witch had been having sore muscles too, but not to this level. Of course, besides her years, Minerva had actually been practicing more than Hermione as the primary Keeper. Soon as she could, she wanted to lean Minerva back to take the pressure off her back and shoulder. Hermione had finished leaning the older witch back but did not want to move. Here she was, leaning over the reason she had come back to this school full of good and bad memories. Minerva's face was softer and more youthful with her piercing green eyes closed and her hair flowing down. Hermione was forgetting to breath. She desperately wanted to touch Minerva's skin, to run her knuckles down the sides of her face, but this was not the time for that.
Minerva felt better once she had leaned back on the soft and rather warm expanded chair back. She almost opened her eyes to look at Hermione as she leaned over her, but she dared not. Her heart was already pounding, she dare not open her eyes and bring it to a stop. The Headmistress felt the smaller woman's warm body draw back and return to massaging her right hand and forearm. Hermione whispered a vibration charm and the surface Minerva was laying on started to vibrate slowly in waves going up and down her back. Now she could enjoy all aspects of this attention without her shoulder and back being under stress. Hermione continued to the elbow and upper arm. Stroking to encourage blood flow. While gently kneading the bicep and tricep, Hermione slowly rolled some knots that she felt.
Minerva brought her left arm up and laid the back of her hand against her forehead. This was helping so much. The slight pain as each muscle was stimulated, the moderate pain of a knot, they all blended into a shear release of tension as the massage did its work. The muscles in her back were responding to the warmth and undulations of the reclined surface. Why hadn't she thought of this? The hot showers and bath were a help, but she could not lay back as she was here.
Hermione was now working on Minerva's shoulder and nape. Both of her warm hands molded away the tightness. Hermione could literally feel the irregular, hard tissues relax. She was trying to stay calm and put Minerva first, even if this was an erotic dream come true.
"Mmmmmmmmmmm", Minerva hummed in appreciative pleasure.
Hermione could not help breaking into a big grin, "I'm glad you are enjoying this."
Hermione started flowing the massage back down the arm. It felt much more flexible now and there was no sign of pain emanating from Minerva as she moved it. Hermione made it back to the hand, that learned graceful beautiful hand. She caressed it, turning it over and over. This was no longer a massage, but an exploration. She was transfixed, memorizing every line on the palm, every scar, the mapping of the veins on the back, the plain buffed nails. Suddenly, the hand slowly moved to take hold of one of hers. The younger witch gasped realizing she had been caught crossing beyond the massage line. She sheepishly looked up and sure enough, she looked into the emerald green eyes of the Headmistress. Fear came over her face. Fear that she had crossed a line that would cost her. She didn't know what to do. She was hardly breathing.
Minerva had been floating on a sea of tranquility as Hermione progressed back down her arm. The warm vibrations continued to do their magic on her back while the arm was loose and no longer fighting every movement. She had given in to all the signals and relaxed openly in front of the young witch. Then she felt the tingling coming from her hand. The caresses were causing wonderful shutters shooting up her arm, through her chest, and down her spine. She carefully peeked out and saw whiskey brown eyes gazing at her hand, studying it. Hermione licked her lips and bit her bottom lip as she turned the hand over to continue her examination. Minerva felt a warm tension growing in her abdomen. Yet again, a feeling that she had not felt in a long time. The older female slowly took hold of one of the soft warm hands that had done magic on her sore muscles. Hermione gasped and looked up to see Minerva had been watching her. When she saw the look of panic coming over the young witch's face, Minerva squeezed the hand and her lips formed into a contented smile. Hermione relaxed, took a breath, and sweetly smiled back.
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The Halloween Ball was in full swing. Hundreds of students, former students, faculty, former faculty, Ministry invitees, and guests were filling the Great Hall to a level that had not happened in years. A band had been hired to play a mix of old and new music. Their skeleton themed makeup and costumes blended well with the tombstone themed stage. The massive single tombstone backdrop was labeled, "Here Lies the Durmstrang Honor Challenge Quidditch Team". Banners generated by each house lined the walls with colorful images of the holiday, of rivalry between the houses, but also of the Honor Challenge rivalry. Hundreds of various sized carved pumpkins lined the serving tables and floated at various heights high above, their comical faces backlit in flickering orange and yellow colors. The lighting on the main dance floor would change based on the music being played. Besides the swirl of dancing couples on the floor, there was a swirl of dancing ghosts mixing in with the pumpkin illuminations. Tables were filled with fanciful Halloween themed treats with a main course of kabobs of chicken and beef.
Minerva had felt a bit bold this year, perhaps too bold. She would never wear a "costume" but she did believe in some festive dressing and something had wanted her to push it up this year. She had chosen a baseline of a slightly form fitting, high collar black silk dress with long sleeves that extended all the way to a button connection around each thumb. It accented her long, lean graceful arms giving her an almost "spider-like" quality. Just below the arse, the dress was split in the back and a flowing train insert allowed the bottom of the dress to flare which made walking and dancing easier while still fitting snug through the hips and hanging straight in the front. By itself, the dress was a bit more "form fitting" than Minerva was comfortable with in public. She had transfigured a blood red, sleeveless long vest with silver trim, a single silver chain clasp in the front, and silver spiderweb pattern. It had a stiff collar that was several inches high in the back and flowed lower to blend to points in the front. It highlighted her long neck and gave a touch of "regal spider queen" to the ensemble. She had worn her hair in a high bun, but had accented with a matching blood red bun cover, blood red nails, red lips, and shiny red three inch heels. At the last moment, she had bolstered her mental courage by adding a eye-mask made of black velvet and trimmed in short red feathers. She then followed up by bolstering her physical courage with a double hit of Firewhiskey. Just who am I dressing for? – she kept asking herself. The liquid burned its way down and warmed her chest. In her heart, she knew. She wanted to see if a particular someone special would notice her. I must be out of my mind - she thought.
Headmistress Minerva McGonagall had stopped the room cold when she entered. All conversation came to a halt as she glided to the front of the room greeting various visitors, professors, and guests. She was glad that the massage a week ago and her repeated use of the heated, vibrating recliner had decreased her stiffness and soreness to much more manageable levels. She gestured her elegant right hand at the band giving them an indication to play and started off festivities by taking a turn around the dance floor to a standard English Waltz with Professor Corbin Firestrumb. Corbin was dressed in an ornate Musketeer-type costume. She was quite pleased with the Durmstrang graduate, now Hogwarts professor. Not only was he fully participating in the Honor Challenge offering insight into standard Durmstrang Quidditch tactics besides being an aggressive beater, he was a excellent dancer. Now she did have to intercede in his curriculum a time or two to see about adjustments to some of the more advanced work. He would smile widely, his small goatee wiggling at her, as he debated her on how "the best defense is a good offense" as he had introduced a few of the more "stinging hex-like" spells earlier into the curriculum than normal leading to extra incidents during the Dueling Club. He had been able to convince her allow him to keep the new spells in given he improved instruction on how to defend from them at the same time. As the song ended, the Professor pulled the Headmistress a bit closer and then powered her into a dip. Minerva gasped in surprise, grabbing at the back of his shoulder to steady herself as he flashed his signature teeth and whispered, "You look stunning tonight Headmistress. Anyone we know?"
Minerva hoped her cheeks did not match the color of her vest as she calmly responded, "Thank you Corbin, just encouraging the festivities in my own way." He smiled while carefully pulling her back up. He took a step back and bowed from the waist, pulling his large brimmed hat off in a swooping flair to match, "Thank you for the dance Enchantress." She responded with a gracious nod and a raised eyebrow.
Professor Granger, as potions professor, had the normal "potion's professor" job of designing a variety of punches for the Halloween Ball festivities. This means she did not have to do any chaperone duty at the ball fortunately. She also had the job of ensuring all substances remained untainted throughout the event. Since the great "lust potion" debacle decades ago, there had been strict enchantments and wards to ensure the punch remained tasty and free of contaminants. She had carefully designed a variety of citrusy, bubbly, creamy, minty, buttery, spicy, savory, and foamy concoctions and one set of plain water, tea, coffee, and pumpkin juice offerings. A few of them turned your mouth a color which would go over well with some of the more bloodthirsty costumed guests. Due to final preparations for the ball on top of the Quidditch practices, she'd had to cancel meeting with Minerva privately on Transfiguration this week so they had not been alone since the massage. After all the punches were in place and properly protected, Hermione had rushed off to get into her costume.
A waltz had just ended when the sultry jazz singer entered the ballroom. Five horizontal rows of long, dark blue string fringe flowed from her chest to her mid-thigh over the dark blue underdress. Shapely legs ended in four inch shiny blue heels. The thinnest of straps came over creamy shoulders. She had changed her hair to a shoulder length wavy bronze accented by a sequined blue beret. A silver eye mask was enhanced with blue eyeshadow and defined eyebrows and a microphone in her hand completed the look.
It took people a few minutes to figure out who the jazz singer was. She kindly refused a few offers for a dance or to go get her a drink. She was looking for one person in particular. It took awhile before she spied a tall, lean figure in a black dress with a red collared vest. The music had switched to more recent flair so the younger people were out on the floor slamming to a Slipknot song complete with white and red strobe light effects. Fortunately, the Great Hall had been specially warded so that the music was directed to the dance floor and quickly dissipated to a very low level outside its boundaries. People could easily converse unless they were very close to the dance floor.
Minerva felt the tell-tail hairs on the back of her head tingle. Someone was watching her. She took another sip of tea and smiled at the Ministry official who was relating his opinion on allowing cell phones into the school. He was not for it. She refused to get into a debate at the party so she simply smiled slightly turning her head to search for the "watcher". Across the dance floor, she locked on a shapely blue-clad woman. The mystery figure nodded her head and bit her lip with a shy grin. Then she started to move. The teacup shuttered slightly in Minerva's hand as she took in the sultry vision in blue as she slowly skirted the crowd around the dance floor and came closer and closer. Once again, the room started to get a bit warm.
The Jazz Singer sauntered up to the Spider Queen and spoke in a lusty, low tone, "You look incredible Headmistress." Indeed Minerva looked outstanding to Hermione's brown eyes. It took her breath away.
Minerva felt a warm flush, on the inside at least, on the outside she simply displayed a small smile and a nod, "As do you Professor."
Hermione did her best to look calm and nodded back with a little grin.
The rowdy younger crowd of dancers suddenly broke from the dance floor and there was a mob at the punch bowls line. After several very intense songs, the band switched to accommodate a return to a more moderate and low pace faire. The melody of a lively waltz floated between the two flirting witches. Several couples started out to the dance floor. Minerva smiled as a few gallant young men or women nervously approached a partner of their choice, extended an invitation and sometimes an arm, and regally led them to the floor. Waltzes of old still had a wonderful magic to bring people together. They allowed a level of contact that was not too much, nor too little. They did not distract with complicated steps or giant tempo changes. A lack of words allowed pleasant conversation.
Hermione watch the Headmistress's eyes twinkle as they followed the couples of old and new to the dance floor. Time was at hand she thought. The young professor swallowed the lump in her throat and took a deep breath.
"Care to dance?" she croaked out. Well that was smooth… Hermione thought.
The regal Spider Queen turned her eyes towards the sultry Jazz Singer. She hesitated for just a moment, but well, this was why she wanted to be noticed. The combination of the earlier Firewhiskey and the false sense of security of being behind a mask did their job. The Queen put her teacup down on a nearby elevated table, took the microphone prop from the Jazz Singer and placed it on the same table, and put her hand out. The Jazz Singer took the offered hand and strode with pride out to the floor. Since the Jazz Singer had asked, she led. The two costumed witches clasped opposite hands, the Jazz Singer placed her hand on the Spider Queen's waist while the Queen put her hand on the Singer's shoulder. Hermione started to sway and get their timing down, then she pulled to start them flowing around the floor.
Minerva found herself floating on air. Hermione led divinely. They did not talk or laugh. No one wanted to break the spell. She barely needed to have her eyes open. The Headmistress gave over control willingly to the smooth direction of the Jazz Singer's hands. They wove an artistic circular spiral pattern around the dance floor perfectly matching the tempo of the music. Minerva smiled and leaned her head back just a bit, soaking in the view of the floating pumpkins from underneath. Why? Why was she so willingly participating in this? - she wondered. But for now, she did not care. She had not felt so good in years. As for Hermione, she could tell that Minerva was relaxed, that she was effortlessly following where she was being led.
Professor Aurora Sinistra observed the dance floor from her slightly elevated position on the steps to the observation platform in the corner of the room. She had chosen to brighten up her attire by covering herself in a silky forest green shirt and darker green pants. A leather vest, a silver bow over her shoulder, and a pointed matching forest green "Robin Hood" hat gave her the "movie-like forest archer" look she was going for. Each half hour, a faculty member was on duty monitoring behavior and to keep students from leaving the immediately area. She had volunteered to get her duty over with first. Usually students did not try to sneak off and snog until later in the evening. Of course, she was a bit unsure what she was observing on the dance floor. The clashing colors and costume styles of the two witches, yet the perfection of their dance. The height difference, the age difference, the stoic Headmistress and the caring Professor and yet it seemed they simply fit. Aurora could swear she felt the very walls of the room rumble in time with their steps.
Just as the waltz was getting close to its final stances, Professor Vector came over to relieve Aurora. The Head of Slytherin had a wickedly conniving thought and carefully slithered over to the side of the band's stage. With a whisper and a generous donation of a few galleons, the band seamlessly ended the waltz and began a magical sultry jazz song. The sexy sound of a lone saxophone carried through the air as the floor lighting changed to dark blue and maroon. The atmosphere closed in around each couple as the dim lighting created tens of individual worlds across the floor. Some couples pulled each other into warm embraces making it hard to tell where one began and the other ended. Newer couples stayed in the waltz stance, but maybe pulled in a little closer.
The Spider Queen was caught a bit short as the waltz flowed straight into this romantic mood song. She stopped moving and stared down at the Jazz Singer, glad the apprehension on her face would be hidden by the mask and the dim lighting. The Singer smiled and sighed, this was her element. She didn't want to scare the Queen though. She took both hands of the Queen and moved them out wide still keeping a separation, but bringing their bodies much closer along their length.
Minerva gasped, was she really going to do this? The whiskey buzz was wearing off. What would everyone think? Just back up… and calmly walk off the floor… she was thinking to herself. Then the hands started swaying. The slow sultry motion matched the undulating sound filling the air. The Headmistress' body was not quite following along yet, but her eyes were following the slow flow of the glinting fringe swaying on Hermione's costume. It was hypnotic. Her slow labored breathing was trying to calm the pounding in her chest. The hands rose and fell in slow motion to the wail of the song. Minerva's arms started to participate of their own accord. The world seemed to close in on them. There was only them. Green eyes strayed from watching the fringe to watching creamy shoulders smoothly moving up and down. She closed her eyes, daring herself to not fall under the spell in front of her. Now her body was slowly being caught up in the magic. Swaying. Only their hands touched. Why was it so hard to breathe? Swaying. Her hips followed the flow of her arms. Swaying. A single lone note rang out from the golden instrument. Hermione dragged the back of her right hand up Minerva's long, graceful arm and across her throat in a slow, sensuous caress.
Fire. Drowning. The great Headmistress was overcome with the fire running through her body. She couldn't breathe, the air had grown as heavy as water. She quickly grabbed the hand at her throat, pressing into it, like a rope thrown to pull her from a dark pit.
Septima Vector felt a wave of heat flow through her as surely as the hot flashes she remembered from her distant past. Her still keen eyes could see the ripple flowing through the air and being absorbed into the very walls. She saw the flicker of every pumpkin illumination, wall sconce flame, and candelabra candle. The elder faculty member had no idea what had happened, but something had just livened up the whole castle.
They were no longer swaying. Hermione could feel the new heat from the Headmistress not only through her hand but through their very clothing. She grew a little worried. Was Minerva even breathing?
The young faculty member moved her fingers to grab onto the hand now pressing into hers, "Minerva, are you alright?"
The words broke the spell that had come over the older witch. She once again heard the soulful song still playing. Air refilled her lungs. She felt the hand pressed against hers. The confused Headmistress opened her eyes, as if waking up from a dream. Brown eyes looked up at her with concern. Minerva took in her situation. Halloween Ball, dance floor, sultry song, dim lights, out here with young, female faculty member and former student. She was warm and tingly all over and she had almost unconsciously extended her magic to encompass Hermione. She pulled the hands down from her neck and took a step back in a panic. What was she thinking? the older witch silently scolded herself.
As the song ended and the mood lighting started to brighten again, the Headmistress removed her mask. She look upon the Jazz Singer, breathing deep, slightly flushed. They both were. No longer could she take in the vision in front of her, she looked away, "I need to go," Minerva said to no one in particular.
The Jazz Singer sadly watched as the Spider Queen turned and briskly walked away, taking a large chunk of her heart with her.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Two weeks had gone by. Two horrible weeks. If she was not having to be on a broom and dodge bludgers nightly, Minerva would have been downing the Firewhiskey. Not that she wasn't being affected anyway. Her lack of sleep and stress level was definitely making her a liability to the team. There were playing the Hufflepuff team, and getting soundly beaten. This was the second week of these practices against the weakest house team. Now some of it was adjustments to actually playing outdoors as a full team and in full gear. Rolanda had called them all down once to make some adjustments to their strategy and it had helped. Neville had indicated that they needed to actually not hold back on blocking firmer and direct bludgers as needed, even though it was students they were playing. Rolanda agreed, Durmstrang was not going to be holding back anything. She also looked Minerva straight in the eyes and said in a snippy tone, "Remember, you are not supposed to let the other team throw balls through the big circles… Remember that? You are supposed to block them and throw the ball to a teammate."
Minerva rolled her eyes at the condescending tone but could not dispute the instructions. She was lacking concentration and coordination. Minerva looked at her tried and true broom. She didn't need to zoom around on the latest, fastest ride. Her broom was quick and comfortable enough for the Keeper position. Then once again, it happened. She shook her head as a familiar image popped into her mind. Once again, the very hurt brown eyes looking at her from across the dance floor. It pierced her very soul, that image. Since that time, she had avoided the young professor as Hermione had avoided her also she assumed. Hermione had done her teaching, but no longer came to work on the Mastery and Minerva had not sought her out. Hermione had missed practice after practice feigning being ill. Early on, Minerva had thought it true as Hermione appeared pale. Poppy had reported the young witch was "indisposed" a lot in the evenings but would not discuss anything with Minerva nor Rolanda stating medical privacy.
Nothing had been going right off the Quidditch field either. The staircases seemed to be plotting against her such that every time she needed to go somewhere, they made it difficult and had dumped her right in front of the young professor several times. Her special oversized bath seemed to be lukewarm at best, no matter how she complained and spelled. Her rooms were either too hot or too cold. Just yesterday, she had been stuck in her own classroom for an hour, unable to get the door to open. She knew what it was after just a few days. Hogwarts was "invigorated" again and was acting like a smitten teenager trying to force the Headmistress back into Hermione's arms.
Minerva was shaken from her reflections by a gravely bellow from above by Madame Hooch, "Are we going to get a Keeper up here or should I rotate Astoria in as Hermione is no where to be found again."
An hour later, the play of the team of veteran's had improved. Corbin and Rolanda had upped their bludger game to the point where one Hufflepuff had crashed landed in the sand and now their Beaters were actually having to do their job and not just help their Chasers score. Draco had caught the Seeker once. Chasers Aurora, Neville, and Pyreen had tightened up by practicing two tactics. The "triple threat" a formation where they were a constant reverse pyramid with the ball holder slightly behind in the center and the front two blocking and the "flank" where one Chaser would always be well off the other two towards the center of the field in case the ball needed to be tossed well away.
Minerva had cleared her head with the thoughts of how much this game meant to the school. How excited everyone had become and she just could not let them down with her personal problems. She flew back into position with renewed vigor and vowed to stop the onslaught of scoring quaffles at all cost. Finally, she got into it making some firm catches, a few rebound returns, and overall some solid goal play. A bit of her old form was finally showing through and her mind was finally on something else besides Hermione.
Rolanda called for a final scrimmage restart for the evening. Now that the "gloves were off", the Hufflepuff team had decided to channel their best game also. All the house teams had met before the field practices against the Honor Challenge team had started. They reminded each other that the better they played, the harder they practiced with the veteran team, the higher the chances were that Hogwarts would win the Honor Challenge.
Astoria, serving as referee, released the snitch, which whizzed off to hide for a bit, and bludgers who flew off to attack the nearest players, then she threw the quaffle straight up in the air to start the scrimmage. Rolanda slammed a bludger towards the Hufflepuff chasers clearing the way for Neville to zip in and grab the quaffle. Corbin deflected another bludger shot at them from an opponent while Aurora and Pyreen flew into "triple threat" position, blocking out the Hufflepuff keeper and allowing Neville to score. Astoria released the next quaffle and further play ensured.
It felt much more like a real game now. Everyone was taking each opportunity to score seriously. Astoria caught a flash zip across the sky as Draco had obviously caught a glint off the golden snitch. The Hufflepuff seeker tore after him. The Hufflepuffs, in control of the quaffle, formed a full frontal assault towards the Honor team's goals led by their beaters as a defense for the ball carrier. The other two of the Hufflepuff chasers flew well forward towards the scoring goals, and the Honor team's keeper. As both bludgers flew towards the centralized group, both Hufflepuff beaters beat back the dangerous balls knocking them forward so the they would follow the chasers. The chasers kicked into gear tearing towards the goals. The Honor team chasers were coming up behind the Hufflepuff ball carrier starting to box her in for a block. Rolanda and Corbin had been repositioning after initially sending the bludgers towards the other team. They were too far into the center of the field before they noticed the bludgers had been sent towards the Honor team's side and were extra "vigorous" chasing the Hufflepuff chasers.
Minerva was in her "keeper zone" and had total concentration on the quaffle. She trusted her other teammates to take care of the bludgers. The Hufflepuff chasers were coming right at her and at the last second they zipped left and right. She caught site of the bludgers that had been hidden behind them. One of the bludgers followed the original chaser, but the other switched and honed in on the new Keeper target. The next five seconds were a blur of fast action. Minerva started to rear up, but knew it was too late. The bludger hit her straight in the upper right chest pad, twisting her body so that her foot came off the stirrup and her center of gravity was no longer over the broom. The safety pad had spread the force of the hit, but it had been some time since she had been impacted by something this hard. Minerva was caught short of breath and although she had kept a firm grip with both hands on her broom, she was having trouble getting her center of gravity pulled back over the top. She should have been practicing more with full pads, she could not curl into the broom as tight as she was used to. Hard as her hands tried, she could not twist herself back over the top and she landed up having to curl her unsettled leg around the broom or she would have fallen. The Hufflepuff chaser tossed the quaffle through a goal while a scream echoed from one of the stadium seats.
"Minerva!" echoed through the stadium.
The game came to a standstill save having to still monitor the bludgers. Rolanda shot up to push Minerva back over the top of her broom so that she could regain the proper seating. Minerva took in a deep breath shrugging off the lingering tightness from the bludger impact and getting her foot back on the stirrup. She swung her eyes in the direction that the cry had come from. She scanned and searched the grouping of seats and just as she turned to obviously head that way, Hermione threw the invisibility cloak off.
Later that night, Hermione had had enough. Earlier, she had been pacing in her quarters yet again. Her class parchments were marked already so she had once again snuck out to watch the Quidditch practice. Harry had been kind enough to let her borrow his invisibility cloak without questions. She knew a part of her was letting the entire school down, but she simply could not be near Minerva right now. At least not when Minerva obviously did not want to be near her. Then she had seen Minerva hit and almost fall and could not hold back the scream of concern. She had showed her Gryffindor courage and revealed herself rather than running when Minerva was going to seek out the source of the scream. Hermione had walked away after the reveal and so here she was, pacing in her quarters again.
She reflected to two weeks prior….
After the Halloween Ball, when Minerva had left her on the dance floor, Hermione had done something extremely rare. She had gone back to her room and gotten plastered to the point of passing out. She awoke and spent much of the early morning planted over her toilet before she felt a cold faint coming over her again and she called for a house elf. When the elf saw the professor's situation, Poppy was summoned.
Hermione groaned as she opened her eyes just a bit. Even the low light of the room was blinding. Everything hurt: her head, her throat, her stomach, her ribs, her knees. Through the slits that were her eyelids, Hermione could tell she was in the medical wing in a privately curtained area. She reached up to massage her pounding head and noted an IV was attached to her arm.
"Finally awake are we." Poppy's voice range through her head like a gong.
Hermione groaned again, "Ughhh, not so loud. I need medicinal potions. Lots and lots of them."
The hospital matron stood there in her maroon long dress and smartly pressed white cover apron with medical emblem and smirked, "I'm the medical professional here. You did enough self-medicating already. You basically had very bad alcohol poisoning. I've hydrated you to help flush it out of your system, but needed to see you awake to figure out how many brain cells you might have killed."
The matron was in a no nonsense mood. She walked over to the nearby table and picked out three potions of various colors. Walking up to the young professor, she ordered, "Drink these. Pain, nausea, vitamins and glucose. Then you are going to tell me exactly what you were thinking. Hermione, this is serious. Your reaction could have been much worse. You could have died. We are under a strict medical professional to patient secrecy here. I'm obligated to not leave without a full explanation. So spill it."
Hermione gulped down the potions feeling very much like the foolish school girl once again being scolded by the medical matron for her bad choices. After a minute to let the potions start kicking in, Poppy helped Hermione sit up in the bed and propped her up with some pillows. She brought over a tall stool, sat down, and waited for Hermione to start.
Hermione took a deep breath, "I'm in love with Minerva McGonagall and she can't stand the sight of me now….."
Hermione poured her heart out for the first time to another human being. Maybe it was the results of her alcohol binge reducing her defenses. Maybe she simply wanted to finally have someone else know. She had never been close to Poppy so she felt safer actually. Like Poppy would not be judgmental.
Poppy listened as Hermione wove her story of unrequited love beginning further back than the Matron could have ever believed. She listened carefully. Was this truly love? Or just a case of hero worship? The young professor plowed through her version of the closeness during Mastery discussions, the massage, the hexing during the quidditch practice and Minerva's whispered confession, the glances and finally, the Halloween Ball.
Hermione was stuttering and gasping and crying, "… and .. and she just turned and said she needed to go…", sniffle, "she walked away without another word." Hermione put her hand up to rub her pounding forehead, "I don't know what happened… What I did… I…. I was happy… I thought she was too… We are meant for each other…. I just feel it… I could feel her magic flowing around me..." Hermione quieted and stared down at the white hospital covers, thinking through the events again and again.
The matron had taken it all in calmly trying to remain impartial. Poppy had to represent judge and jury in this situation as a faculty member showing the previous night's level of indiscretion was to be treated in the most serious of fashions.
"So you went back to your chambers and almost drank yourself to death," the medical professional continued. "Tell me honestly Hermione, what were you thinking?"
Hermione looked up at Poppy, "I was just so shocked. It came out of nowhere, her turning away. I was racking my brains trying to figure out why and I'd just come from a wonderful party and a wonderful dance and… I never even watched how much I was drinking and I was angry so I was throwing it down faster than normal. No, I was not trying to "end it". Never. Not even for her. I might leave again. But me drinking that much was not intentional."
Poppy heard truth and regret in Hermione's response. She believed her and continued her query, "You realize as faculty here, you are always "on duty" in a sense. There are no perfections of wizardry here of course. I've seen even the Headmistress a bit "under the weather" during times of celebration and during times of great loss. But this needs to not happen again Hermione. Not to this level. You could have really hurt yourself."
Hermione steeled her jaw, "It won't. I promise."
Back to the present…
Two weeks had passed and Minerva had avoided Hermione in all ways. The young witch paced in her chambers after returning from being discovered at the quidditch practice. Something had to change. She had tried to wait until after the Honor challenge but the young witch could take no more. For two weeks, Poppy had been kind enough to let Hermione hide out periodically in the medical wing and even talk with her about her situation.
Hermione reflected on some of Poppy's recent sage advice over a shared pumpkin juice, "I cannot guess Minerva's intensions nor whether she led you on. I've only heard your side of the story. I can tell you that she has always been very private. From what you have told me, she opened up to you like I've never remembered her doing with anyone in decades. It creates a feeling of vulnerability, to be open with someone. Minerva has had the weight of Hogwarts and the rebuilding of wizardry society on her shoulders. I think she has already been feeling vulnerable during all these years of rebuilding and put aside any other parts of her personality. Perhaps, to have you also stir her physical and emotional sides was simply too much. She won't address it if it is not related to the quality of the school. She would never let a personal issue impact the school. If you want to get answers, you will have to go to her and force her to answer."
The words now rang in the young witch's head, "…force her to answer."
Hermione looked at the clock. Practice had ended awhile ago. Minerva would be tired and alone in her chambers. To trap the Headmistress into talking to her within Hogwarts would not be easy. The young witch needed a powerful ally. Then it came to her. The Headmistress and the school were joined in a special way as all true heads of the school were. It allowed them special privileges and the school could respond to some of their needs. Now what was going on when the three times that the stairs had dumped Minerva right in front of her? Usually stairs created the perfect path for the Headmistress. Hermione closed in on the closest wall. Of course, in her room all the walls were covered with bookcases. She placed both palms and her forehead against the structure.
Projecting as much wandless magic as she possibly could, she let the words flow, "I've never talked to a building, but I know you are here. You fought for us and gave up part of yourself as surely as we did. You protected the students, and faculty, and Headmaster and now the Headmistress as well as you could. Help me now to show her that I love her and I think she would love me if she let herself. Let us show her that she could have a fuller life and bring light and energy back into this school even more."
