Love Amongst the Quidditch Pitch

by Luthearl

Hermione has returned to Hogwarts as the Potions professor and to pursue Minerva. Headmistress McGonagall is challenged to a faculty quidditch match by another university. Will this bring our ladies together? Read and see.

3. Chapter 2 (Part 2)

I own nothing, all credit is given J.K. Rowling.

Love Amongst the Quidditch Pitch

Chapter 2 continued

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The Headmistress sat in front of her fireplace in her forest green night robe, a Firewhiskey in her hand. She was glad that the practice had gone much better. That they were starting to click as a team. In three more weeks she thought they would stand a chance. Then after being impacted by the bludger, she had learned Hermione had been watching the whole time. She came back to her chambers finally able to let her guard down. Instead of the normal late evening routine of doing school paperwork after her shower, she had been flooded with the images of those brown eyes soon as she entered the room. She needed to drown those eyes out of her mind this evening. So she relented to the seduction of a Firewhiskey or two.

Hermione stood outside the entrance to the Headmistress' quarters. The password had not worked. Now she was angry. How dare Minerva go as far as to change the password without telling her. How cowardly. The brunet's fiery temper flared as a flash emanated from the spiral entrance and it began to rotate. She smiled and leaped on … glad you are with me Hogwarts, she thought.

Minerva was a little surprised when she heard her staircase rotating, she had not given out the new password to everyone yet. Perhaps Filius had something critical for her attention she thought. She got up from the couch and put her Firewhiskey on the canter table. Minerva turned just as Hermione stormed into her office.

The young Gryffindor was in her finest, most confident mood. Her totally open outer teaching robe flared in her wake, worthy of Severus Snape himself, and her partially unbuttoned inner robe showed off a glimpse of her flushed chest. Her goal was to drive Minerva out of her controlling comfort zone as always, but in a more direct fashion. Being in her chambers gave Minerva an advantage, but Hermione pushed towards the Headmistress invading her personal space without care. Coming up within half an arm's length, she stopped and cut to the chase, "You are going to tell me why you walked away from me on the dance floor and why you have avoided me for the last two weeks."

Minerva was now extra thankful she had taken a hit of Firewhiskey. She stood her ground, "How dare you march in here and speak to me in this manner. How did you even get in here?"

"Never mind that. Answer the questions," the shorter witch responded grabbing on to the Headmistress' left forearm.

Minerva yanked back her arm, "Are you insane? Stop this Hermione, at once. I'll not speak with you on this nor with you in this state."

The shorter witch closed in even more, keeping her eyes locked with Minerva's and effectively pinning Minerva's legs against the canter table, "No. We WILL speak of this. I will get my answers."

Minerva could feel the heat coming from Hermione's body. She could feel various spots along their frames where they or their clothing were touching. They had not been this close since the dance. The guilt flickered back into her mind making her hesitate. She glanced away, considering various options to flee. Hermione saw a break and tried to push through, "I'm in love with you and to have you walk away without explanation hurt more than you can imagine. It also hurts to see you being such as coward."

Now it was Minerva's turn to stare back into those intense fired-up brown eyes and push back. She could not believe the words coming from the young professor's mouth. She took a deep breath and physically pushed Hermione away by the shoulders. "You are insane," the older witch growled back while moving to strategically put the couch between herself and the younger witch.

In a blur of whipping black robes, Hermione spun to follow her target, "Only in my love for you."

Minerva felt a strange tingling race through her. She gripped the back of couch and finally raged back, "STOP SAYING THAT."

The Headmistress' raised voice cut through to Hermione just enough to stop her forward progress, "Why Minerva? Why should I stop saying I love you when I do?"

There it was again. Hermione had said it again and the tingling going through Minerva shifted to panic. In the fashion of the emotional coward that she was indeed acting like, Minerva attempted to transfigure into her cat animagus so she could run away. She gasped and clutched at her chest as she felt pain rather than the feeling of her body shifting into its comfortable cat form. She snapped her eyes toward's Hermione, "What did you do? I can't transfigure."

The young witch gave the Headmistress her space and showed open hands, "Nothing Minerva. I'm not casting anything. But you are not leaving here unless we solve this."

"Not in my school," Minerva growled back. How dare the young witch lie and obviously cast something that stopped her transfiguration. She would simply apparate away, as only the head of Hogwarts could apparate within the school, until Hermione left. Then it happened once again. A feeling that the spell was working then a slap of pain as it was stopped.

She clasped the back of the sofa again, hand to her chest, "Stop it. Stop it Hermione."

"You are doing it, not me. Stop trying to run and face me," the young witch said in a calmer fashion. She did not want to see Minerva in pain.

The Headmistress took some calming breaths, rubbing her chest through the thick night robe. She finally looked back up at Hermione. The young witch had stayed in place, with her hands out clearly showing she was not wielding her wand. Minerva could not believe those type of spells or wards could be done wandlessly, especially within her own chambers.

The formidable witch cleared her throat and made an attempt to stand up straighter and regain some composure, "First, you tell me how you are doing this."

The young witch finally put her arms down, "I'm telling the truth. It is not me. It's Hogwarts. It wants us to work this out."

Minerva shook her head. The complexities of this school would always astound her. Not only would the school not let her leave the room, it would probably know if she was lying. On slightly shaky legs, the Headmistress rounded the edge of the couch and sat down. She brought her right hand up to clasp the collar of her robe and bring the two open edges together. The feeling, similar to the high neck of her teaching robes, comforted her a bit. Her left hand she placed in her lap, the fingers slightly curled in agitation still. She could face a stampede of hippogriffs easier than face talking to one lone witch about her feelings and her history.

Hermione noticed a nervous glance in her direction from the trapped older witch. The younger witch slowly moved and sat on the opposite end of the couch. They sat in silence for awhile both looking forward at the small fire crackling in the office floo.

Hermione heard Minerva take in a deep breath. The older witch practically whispered, "It's just not possible Hermione."

"What's not possible Minerva? That I love you?" Hermione quietly asked while turning to look at the object of her affection. She saw Minerva wince. "You hate me that much? That just hearing me say "I love you" is disgusting? If you are not gay, just tell me."

She never looked over at the young witch. She dare not. She whispered again, "No. You are getting it all wrong." Minerva thought about throwing all the arguments at Hermione about age, being Headmistress, their shared orientation coming out, being set in her ways, but they were all lies, all subterfuge, and the school would know it.

She took another deep strengthening breath, "They die."

Hermione frowned, "Who dies Minerva?"

Keeping her eyes locked on the flickering flames, the older witch responded, "Anyone that loves me that I've loved back."

The young witch took a moment to contemplate the short pulses of information she was getting. Minerva had loved people that had died. It still didn't quite seem to be enough to get at the problem. Hermione scooted over on the couch just enough to be able to reach out and put her hand on top of the one Minerva had in her lap. A shutter flowed through the Headmistress and she looked down at the young hand covering hers.

"We have all lost loved ones Minerva. Through the wars, through accidents, people die." Hermione responded.

Minerva closed her eyes and gently shook her head while forcing the honest words out of the deepest, most personal corner of her soul, "No. It's not that. I mean every serious lover I've had has died sooner than they should of. At least once and maybe even more, directly because of me. Because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time when I should have been there."

Now there was a lot more information that the brilliant young witch soaked in. One, Minerva was gay. Two, Minerva was afraid because more than one of her lovers had died early and possibly because of her. Three,….therefore Minerva was afraid of loving her back. Wait… had Minerva hinted at something? Hermione slowly, carefully, closed the hand covering Minerva's.

Hermione quietly responded, "You have been through incredibly dangerous times where those situations occurred more. It is truly not the case now." Hermione rubbed her thumb against Minerva's palm, "But it's too late. You love me don't you? You realized it all the sudden on the dance floor and panicked and thought you could run away and drive me away. You think you are saving me. But you're not. I've spent years away from you. Trying to forget you and I could not. I'm happier here, near you, whether you will let us be together or not."

Minerva stared down at their cupped hands. Her older, thinner, whiter spotted-skin paled against Hermione's flush, warm, smooth hands. Indeed she knew she was lucky that this young sprite loved her. Slowly the Headmistress accepted the words that rang true. It was like Hermione was reading her mind.

"Yes. …I .. love you and it scared me. Never mind all the ways it is not a good idea from our age to our orientation to our working status. None of that scares me though. All of a sudden, after decades of devoting myself to the school and wizarding world, you brought out long dormant personal feelings and … desires," Minerva hesitated for a moment, an embarrassed flush creeping from her face down to her chest, "and then I remembered the pain, the guilt, and I did want to save you from my cursed love life. I've no right to accept your love. I'm old, I'm set in my ways, and I've truly damaged my partners because of my nature or my stature. You deserve someone your own age without a history to plague your bed."

Hermione felt the relief flood her. She swore the entire room relaxed, as if Hogwarts knew the truth was out and had removed the traps. The young professor smiled and scooted on the couch even closer to her love so that they were sitting side by side.

"Minerva, look at me." Hermione coo'd.

The great hero of both wizarding wars finally turned her head to lock emerald eyes onto her secret love. She looked down on that glorious young face, a small smile, glistening whiskey brown eyes full of understanding and forgiveness, and she felt such relief that she smiled back and a rare tear flowed down an aged cheek.

Brown eyes caught the liquid trail and Hermione leapt into action. She twisted, bringing her opposite hand around to grasp the back of Minerva's head. She guided the stained cheek down to her lips and kissed the tear away.

Never taking her lips from Minerva's face, she whispered, "No tears. We are going to get through this all right now." Hermione took a deep breath in, finally able to take in the scent of Minerva in the open, without having to hide it.

One hand wound around Hermione's waist, the other moved from holding the night robe's collar to sweeping through auburn waves, bringing the strands closer for her to smell and caress with thin lips. Hermione nuzzled against the cheek moving her lips lower and lower to drag her bottom lip across a strong jawbone. Hermione was appealing to the cat animagus. She was gently nuzzling and rubbing her lips, cheeks, forehead, and nose around Minerva's face in a sensuous rotation. A low purring sound suddenly erupted from deep within the Headmistress' chest.

Minerva chuckled, clearing her throat and pulling Hermione's head so that their foreheads pressed together, "Sorry about that. I cannae always control it."

Hermione noted the accent weaving through Minerva's voice now and she placed a warm hand against the side of the older witch's long graceful neck. Their eyes locked, "I never want you to be in control with me…". The statement dripped with innuendo. Minerva felt the warm breath of the words puff against her own lips making them tingle. Green eyes dilated in response.

Minerva took in a deep breath of Hermione's scent, angling her head to bring their lips even closer. She had to be prudent, even with her pounding heart screaming for action, "There are no guarantees that this is going tae work. You know that, right? I cannae promise that I'm easy tae be with."

Hermione was panting with anticipation, "I know and neither am I."

The two witches' lips met in a heated kiss, tongues immediately battling, hands wringing through hair. They would take it slow, but this first passionate kissing session was going to last awhile.

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Three weeks had passed and it was the day before the Honor Challenge Match. The Hogwarts Honor Challenge Quidditch team had excelled in their practices and were at an absolute peak. No one was currently seriously injured although they had a continuous rotation of bumps and bruises. Some of them were in the best shape that they had been in years with any soreness well past them. The team of faculty and ex-students had gone from playing as individuals to playing as a team to playing as the experienced players that they were. The had gone from codling to knocking Slytherin's nastiest players all over the field. The Headmistress had signed a "no retaliation forever" parchment before the student teams would pull out all their best moves. Rolanda Hooch had landed up with an immediate concussion, but recovered and was no worse for the wear. Draco had been forced into the ground resulting in a broken arm and a funeral for an incredibly expensive broom. A new one showed up the next day. Hermione had returned and although nowhere near as good a Keeper as Minerva, she could play the position in a pinch. Using her potions background, she had aided Poppy in improving the bruise salves a bit for faster recovery.

Ravenclaw House had won the uniform contest creating a baseline blue upper costume with thick green and red trim, and crossed wands on both lower ribs of gold, bronze, and silver. The same color scheme repeated on the outer cape except the crossed wands were replaced with a large scroll letter "H" made of yellow trimmed in black. The stadium banners rotated fairly between the Hogwarts team's basic cape design scheme and Durmstrang's chosen set of colors which were crimson, trimmed in violet, brown, and black, representing its four Semey (similar to Hogwarts' houses). The visiting team's main symbol for this event was a white Sphinx with the face of a wolf, the powerful legs of a hare, and an owl flying overhead with its claws in the attack position. The game started tomorrow at noon. The weather was to be brisk, but they had been lucky and the first snow had not quite hit yet. It was due any day now though so tomorrow would be totally overcast.

Hogsmeade was booked up solid housing rowdy Durmstrang fans and a fair number of Hogwarts alumni. Most could simply floo or fly or apparate in on the day of the game, as the Durmstrang students were being allowed to do, but some ex-students and supporters wanted to revel in school spirit and be able to have a safe, close location to sleep off any overindulgences. The Durmstrang Honor Challenge team and associated support personnel were being given quarters at Hogwarts by reconfiguring the Room of Requirement into several rooms and a comfortable barracks and they were arriving via the school ship. Betting being run out of the various Hogsmeade taverns was running hot and heavy with the odds 3-to-1 in favor of Durmstrang.

Headmistress Minerva McGonagall stood at the raised platform at one end of the Great Hall along with the other members of the Honor Challenge Quidditch team. She had chosen to wear her finest black teaching robes with her Celtic knot clasp and her tall witches hat. All the eating tables had been removed to allow room for both students and visitors from both schools to fill both sides of the room lengthwise. Minerva was gratified to see a reasonable number of Durmstrang females scattered in the group. A tribute to Headmaster Anton Tchekov's successful activities to widen the Durmstrang student base. It was too soon for any of the females to be on their Honor Quidditch team, but Minerva had noted several females on their Semey teams. A wide pathway was left from the main entrance of the room to the platform. A pathway to allow the formal entrance of the Durmstrang team. Banners of both teams flowed in waves along the length of the room.

Minerva surveyed the room. Other key faculty and staff had been positioned at intervals along both sides to ensure all festivities remained polite and non-confrontational. Both sides had agreed to not have a ball or formal reception before the game, but just a simple entrance ceremony and then both teams would retire for private dining and a full night of rest. Both teams were allowed an hour of private practice in the Room of Requirement configured back into a practice arena in the morning. After the game, there would be a dance and celebration to Honor both the participant teams, no matter who won.

THUMP… THUMP THUMP

There it was, the first sounds of the Durmstrang team's entrance parade. The sound of their thick wooden walking sticks slamming on the stone pavement just outside the Great Hall.

THUMP… THUMP THUMP THUMP… THUMP THUMP

Slowly, the beat got louder and faster. Then the first of the grey-clad males made it into view and each thump on the floor could be seen to cause a flash of sparks. Around his broad shoulders, he wore a fur-lined and edged crimson cape with double-eagle heads embroidered in gold on the back. The Durmstrang fans began to cheer and cry out in support, while in the spirit of Honor challenge, the Hogwarts supporters began to clap courteously. It was still a secret who was on the Durmstrang team other than the Headmaster, so all were curious to see who would be coming through that door.

THUMP… THUMP THUMP

A second male entered some five paces behind the first one. You could tell the men entering were not the clean shaven, buzz cut muscled youth of the school, but older and more individual in their appearances with a variety of hair and beard assortments. A third and fourth team member entered and a gasp was heard go through the hall. The fourth team member was the great Haakon Toov. The best chaser to have ever played in some expert's opinions. Everyone had assumed Minerva would be the oldest player on the field, but Haakon would take that honor. Although well over eighty, his dark hair, held back in an elegant pony tail, was only mildly streaked with grey and it was clear that we was by no means out of shape. His steps were firm, his face clean shaven with piercing black eyes, and his lean body still resembled the sleek form that gave him speed and an incredible banking and turning ability.

THUMP… THUMP THUMP

The procession continued through the door, sticks flashing against the hard ground, chins high in the air, each the very image of confidence. The first player was halfway down the pathway to the platform when team member six entered. There was an eruption from the spectators that finally overwhelmed the THUMPING sounds of the procession when the great Seeker, Viktor Krum entered. He had retained his signature buzz cut and shortcut beard/mustache combination and was in every way the Tri-Wizard competitor that they all remembered. He had shown great honor and even though from Durmstrang, he held a place of high regard with Hogwarts' students and faculty. The final main player, Headmaster Tchekov entered, and then four backup players followed. The procession continued to the animated cheers mixing in with the beat of their walking sticks as they approached the platform. The Durmstrang team split half to one side and half to the other as they formed a line with each of them facing the platform with the exception of Headmaster Tchekov who proceeded up the stairs to embrace the Headmistress in symbolic greetings.

THUMP… THUMP THUMP – the final beat thrummed through the room.

Professor Granger, standing at one of the far edges of the Hogwarts Honor Challenge team since she was a backup player, gasped. Her and Viktor had parted amicably before the war and had kept in touch just a bit, but he had not told her he was on the team. Come to think of it, she had not told him that she was either. Nor had she revealed that she had only kissed two men in her life before she realized that she was gay and that he was one of them. Matter of fact, she had come very close to losing her virginity to him but had realized that she was not making a smart decision in her emotional state at the time. He was simply the first young man that had looked at her as a beautiful young lady. He had been very understanding and therefore held a special place in her heart. Regardless of his Durmstrang upbringing, his dark and powerful persona, and solid size, Hermione knew he had the heart of a poet. Hermione finally looked down. Viktor had come to her side of the platform and sure enough, he was looking up at her with a gleam in his eyes. He nodded his head every so slightly in greeting and Hermione nodded back.

The Hogwarts Headmistress began her formal greeting, "Headmaster Tchekov, Durmstrang Honor Challenge players, students, staff, and supporters of both teaching institutions, welcome to Hogwarts. May the game tomorrow bring healing to the wizarding world. May the sportsmanship and honorable competition strengthen both our schools. I offer you the full hospitality of my school and my staff. Please let me know anything that you may need."

With that statement, Viktor's lips quirked into a sly grin and he arched an eyebrow in Hermione's direction. Hermione's eyes widened and then closed and she shook her head ever so slightly.

As Headmaster Tchekov replied with his own words of welcome and acceptance, Minerva felt a strange tingling coming from the hairs on the back of her neck.

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