Ch 10: Almost had you
A/N: Here you go, the 10th chapter. I'm really starting to enjoy writing again so you can definitely expect quite a few chapters. This one isn't musical, but I have a couple of other songs in store for you out there. If you're in the mood, let me know what you think about all these musical chapters by the way.
Hermione's eyes flew open the moment Minerva uttered the incantation to release her from the magical dream scape. She was vaguely unsure whether everything she remembered had really happened or if it had all been a dream. 'Ginny... if it really happened Ginny has to know.' Came the thought flashing through her mind.
She scrambled off her bed and found the redhead spread across the bed right next to hers, fast asleep. 'Huh... why didn't she wake up?' She tried gently nudging the girl but to no avail, she was completely out of it. Worry crept up Hermione's spine like an unwelcome cold shiver. After several attempts to shake, poke, nudge, and whisper the girl awake she gave up, determined to ask if Minerva knew what might have happened. 'If I turn out to have dreamed this whole thing up, I guess I can still say that I was so terrified I forgot that Madam Pomfrey would have been choice in such crises...'
Hermione sneaked out of her dormitory room, and was about to exit the Gryffindor common room when she had a second thought. Stopping dead in her tracks she debated whether she should take Harry's invisibility cloak again or just try casting a light-deflection spell on herself. A moment later she found herself sneaking up the steps again and entering the boys dormitory.
She could hear light snoring from most of the beds she snuck past, aiming for Harry's trunk in a bee line.
"Taking another trip, are we?" Came a whispered voice from above her head.
Hermione was so frightened by the unexpected words that she almost screamed but managed to hush herself up in the last moment. All that resonated loudly in her ear was the sound of her palm softly clamping down on her lips.
She slowly raised her eyes to see Harry peering at her from the end of his bed, his head encircled by the red material of her bed curtain. Expectation of a very good answer was clearly visible on Harry's features.
"Um... yes?" Came the somewhat lame answer from Hermione. "I'm so sorry Harry, but I desperately need it." What she did not say out loud was how concerned she was about Ginny.
Harry looked at her for a long moment but finally nodded. "But I expect a full explanation tomorrow." He whispered.
Hermione gratefully consented with a nod and snatched up the cloak as Harry's head disappeared behind the curtain, put it on and sprinted out of the room. She silently contemplated exactly what and how much she would be able to tell Harry. She wasn't even sure she would be able to tell anything to Ginny. 'If there would even be anything to tell...'
She finally reached her destination on the first floor, just off the Serpentine corridor. She entered the office that she had become so familiar with and was greeted by the sight of an expectant Minerva McGonagall. Relief momentarily washed over her as she realized that everything indeed must have happened for real.
"Professor... Ginny won't wake up! I tried waking her but she's so fast asleep she responded to nothing. Is she going to be okay?" She blurted out at once, forgetting the real reason she snuck out at such a late hour of the night.
Minerva was first surprised, expecting a somewhat more pleasant greeting. "It sometimes happens to people who were forcibly banished from an influenced dream. If she struggled against my banishment spell she is bound to be so tired that she'll sleep through the night but she should be fine by morning." Minerva explained, never moving from her spot next to the fire. All the while she had waited for Hermione to arrive she stood near the hearth, staring into the blazing fire. It both warmed her chilled body and helped her to think. And thinking was certainly something she would need to do a lot if she were to figure out the situation they managed to put themselves into.
Hermione, on the other hand, rather uncharacteristically, refused to think any more and just rushed at the wonderful woman standing not more than a few feet from her. Desperate to find out whether Minerva's lips were as soft in reality as they were in the dream she gave the woman no chance the argue, she just grabbed the front of her night cloak and pulled her against her chest. Her other hand snaked up her neck to tangle nimble fingers in dark locks.
Minerva responded in kind at first and kissed back earnestly, their lips wetly sucking at one another. 'Mmmm, they really are that soft.' Hermione thought as her world exploded with fireworks due to the unbelievably soft lips that caressed hers. To her utter dismay, however, it didn't last much longer because Minerva broke the kiss and managed to put about an inch of distance between them.
"Whuh?" Hermione uttered dumbly, looking up at the taller woman through her lashes with lust-laden eyes.
"Come now, dear. As much as I enjoyed that we really must talk first." She gently scolded her star pupil. 'Sweet Merlin, she IS a student. What am I doing with her?' She thought, her stomach knitting into a tight knot.
"What's there to talk about? I like you a lot and you seem to like me a lot...?" Hermione replied, half teasing but making it a question nonetheless.
"You, Hermione, I like, yes...unlike the fact that you are just barely of age...and not even that in the muggle world. Not to mention that I am 44 years your senior" Minerva said as she guided Hermione by the hand to the sofa they occupied last time.
She was not very surprised when Hermione sat close enough to leave little space between them. "Well, professor..." Hermione started slyly "I don't think the muggle world needs to know about us" She said with a knowing look. "And..."
She was about to press her point about how unbelievably difficult it was to exist with the Influenced dream spell permanently stuck on her only to remember that her professor in fact should know all too well.
Minerva did not need her keen senses to pick up on the girl's distress, her eyes suddenly grew abnormally large and her features reflected nothing but guilt and mortification. "Whatever is the matter, dear?" She said, cringing at the term of endearment she involuntarily used. 'I should not be encouraging her like that...'
in her current state, Hermione failed to notice what she had been called. She also had the good grace to be thoroughly ashamed of herself as she admitted what they had done. "we...sort of... well... wecastthespellonyouthreetimestoo!" came the words in a rush that Minerva could barely catch. The older witch looked dumbfounded for a moment. 'Sweet Merlin...'
Hermione could see the muscles working under her beloved Professor's skin as her throat convulsed when realization hit her. At that moment she could have been hexed within an inch of her life she was so distracted by that tiny movement of muscle. She was fascinated by Minerva's very being and she was damned if was going to let this woman's insecurities stand between them.
Minerva, on her part, felt completely dumbstruck by the revelation. 'This cannot be happening... am I really condemned to being submitted to borderline pornographic dreams until I bed a student less than a third of my age? This is just ridiculous...' The thought and the threat of losing her job was circling around in her head practically from the moment she realized that she had less than innocent interests in her pupil.
Hermione could feel Minerva tensing next to her and she readily prepared for the next obstacle she would have to face.
"Hermione. Be that as it may – and rest assured that I do not hold this bit of...unpleasant turn of events against you – I am not readily willing to lose either my job, or standing in society... due to magically enhanced hormones. I'm sorry, but I'm going ask you to return to your dormitory for the present." She knew that she was being harsh but if she were to survive the last month of the school year at least, she needed to be as far from the cunning siren sitting next to her as possible. Not wanting to shatter the girl's feelings she attempted to be reassuring by squeezing the her softly quivering hand.
"I'd also suggest that we make our meetings, especially private ones, as scarce in this last month as possible." She could see that her star pupil was about to argue so she laid a gentle finger to her lips, effectively shutting the girl up. "Trust me, Hermione, you have no idea how intense this bit of magic can become." She could feel her skin tingling when it touched the tantalizingly plump lips that she had been kissing mere minutes ago.
"While I'm sure that you have done extensive research you most likely have not found record of what exactly happens when you make the Influenced Dream permanent on two people AND make them each others' focus without the possibility of release?" Minerva made it a question.
Hermione just shook her head, her inquisitive eyes focused on her professor's. "I'd imagine it... intensifies exponentially?" Hermione made an educated guess. Not being far from the truth, Minerva rewarded the girl with a proud smile.
"You could say that. The effects start invading not only your dreams but also your time spent awake. Especially if you spend too much time with your focus without consummating whatever it is that you are compelled to dream about." Minerva did not need to spell it out to the girl, she could see realization dawning behind those unbelievably warm brown eyes.
After having secured Hermione's promise that she would not be making unnecessary trips to her office, particularly alone, they had managed to part without any more illicit incidents – despite Hermione's attempts to get a goodbye kiss. Merlin knew Minerva was going to be up the wall as it is, she did not need further incentive to her dreams.
Next morning...
The next morning found Minerva drenched in sweat, panting from the near orgasm she experienced in her sleep. Much to her annoyance she woke up exactly as she was about to come under the ministrations of what she expected to be a rather talented set of lips. 'God, the poor girl is going to have some tough expectations to live up to if my dreams are any indication.' Minerva mused as she absent-mindedly allowed a hand to snake down her body to where she most dearly wished a visit from a certain brunette. She barely had time to conjure the memory of her dreams from last night before her orgasm crashed through her and left her feeling momentarily sated.
Hermione felt that the world was a sad and sorry place when she woke up. She woke from a spectacular dream that involved a certain emerald eyed witch and left her feeling an unbearable itch between her suspiciously damp thighs.
She was appalled at the idea that she would have to avoid her mentor-love interest for the sheer dumb BAD luck that all this had happened before she was of age in the muggle world. 'If only I still had my time turner... THE TIME TURNER!' Hermione slapped herself on the forehead. She had completely forgotten that she had used a time turner throughout her entire third year, which must have meant that she was at least a half a year older than she actually should be. Jumping out of bed an instant later, she began plotting what she believed – even if she said so herself – to be one of her more ingenious plans.
"ARGH!" Minerva screamed her annoyance into the air, followed by a string of Scottish profanities with which she would not be caught dead on her lips if she could help it. Normally she loved the morning period just before classes started as that was generally the only time she had to and for herself. After managing to climb out of bed several orgasms later she decided that a long languid bath was due. She could not, after all, appear for class smelling like she just had sex, could she?
Despite her animagus form being a cat she cherished hot baths that were often her only respite after a long day of teaching. After the vicious attack she survived last year she never failed to linger at the scars the four stunners had left on her chest. Much to her dismay, although less to her surprise, she found her hands wandering lower yet again, making their familiar route right across her stomach to that one place between her thighs that seemed to impossible to satisfy.
'Damn it... am I going to be this horny ALL day?' She wondered with exasperation. Knowing full well that she needed to get ready soon if she were to have any breakfast at all she willed her fingers to move faster, concentrating on the oh so familiar tension that was building inside her body at least the dozenth time that morning.
She barely had time to come down from yet another high when she felt a familiar tingling that started from her spine and sent her senses, particularly her sense of smell into overdrive. "I cannot BE in goddamn bloody HEAT! Noooooo..." She wailed desperately. She knew the feeling all too well to be mistaken, no matter how much she hoped. The one downside of being a cat animagus was that she also inherited her animal form's mating pattern. And just Minerva's luck would have it, cats went into heat primarily in the spring and fall, sometimes as often as every few weeks if they went without mating. She assumed that the wretched lust bouts she had been suffering the last few days brought on her heat as well.
'Bloody son of a …' Minerva cussed as she aggressively dried her body. If she had been wary of seeing Hermione in class before, she now positively dreaded it. Being in heat was nearly unbearable in itself, but combined with the Influenced Dream wrecking a deliciously lustful havoc inside her head? Minerva feared that she would be lucky to survive a single class without jumping her student, let alone a whole week.
Transfiguration class later that day...
'When will it end?' Unknown to everyone in the room, the rhetorical question usually asked around the middle of the class by the academically less ambitious students was, in fact, repeating itself incessantly inside the head of both Minerva and Hermione from the very beginning of the class – although for different reasons.
Minerva, on her part, maintained an admirable control of willpower in not allowing even the smallest of hints to surface about her being completely off her game that day. She did not need to face the door to her classroom, she knew the exact moment when Hermione entered. She could smell her. 'Merlin... ' Thanks to her animagus senses running rampant she could smell the intoxicating aroma of the girl's skin, mixed with a very subtle hint of arousal from a distance, she presumed most probably because she had been thinking about her. 'I wonder what she dreams about me...' It was a heady aroma but all she could allow herself was the luxury of taking a deep breath of it before turning away from the chalkboard. 'Teacher now, horny feline later. A month later.'
Hermione's much more unschooled features betrayed a range of emotions throughout the entire class but fortunately for her no one seemed to notice. Minerva spent the entire class introducing the basic theory of human transfiguration and warned her sixth years that a single step out of line would result in permanent banishment from the classroom. Unlike kitten transformations, human transfiguration was not something easily corrected and she would have no nonsense in her classroom even if they were only covering the theory of it this term.
When class did finally end Hermione stayed seated, pretending to be reading and even asked Harry to leave her there. She had no intention of breaking her promise to Minerva but she needed less students to be around to deliver her secret message.
Unlike other students who only saw her the stern head of house she actually saw the woman and noticed how rigid her usually smooth and elegant movements were as she rearranged the classroom for her next class. 'Fighting some urges, are you, pussycat?' Hermione wondered silently, making a mental note to run that nickname past her at her earliest convenience.
Minerva gritted her teeth in an effort to keep her hormonal impulses under control. She busied herself with the meticulous cleansing of the chalk board but to her dismay the sweet smell of her student was not only lingering but seemed to be invading her senses more with every minute. She knew that the girl had not left the room but dared not look at her lest she interpret it as an invitation. 'She bloody promised! What is she thinking?'
When she finally did find the courage to spare a glance in the general direction of the students' desks she noticed that they were almost entirely alone. Primal instincts kicking in she debated whether she should just unceremoniously flee the scene. 'Better run and live to fight another day...'
Forgetting about herself she turned around completely and stared at Hermione openly. For the most part the girl merely returned her stare, albeit pretending to be nose deep in a book. She was toying with her, if the mischievous smirk gracing her lips was any indication. Minerva felt herself tense when the young minx surreptitiously glanced around, assuming that Hermione was about to make her move. Anxious in anticipation of what was to come yet unable to pro-actively head it off, Minerva stood there transfixed, almost as if she was hit with a petrification spell.
Hermione wore a very smug, self-satisfied expression, clearly enjoying the power she seemed to have over her esteemed professor. When the last student finally left the room, Hermione stood up and with the flick of her wrist sent a small parchment, folded into the shape of a bird, flying Minerva's way. Offering the stunned woman a rather luscious grin and a wink she turned on her heels and struted out of the office in such a manner that left the animagus utterly hot and bothered.
'Damn, that arse on the girl...' Minerva thought absent-mindedly, only to mentally slap herself the next moment for the highly inappropriate comment. 'Bloody little minx, if only she had not had the guts to show up completely naked in my office...' Although in her weaker moments she cherished the memory she was quite sure that it would eventually come back and bite HER in the ass.
Being forced to tear her eyes from the nether regions of the girl after she left the room without sparing her a glance, she finally noticed the little bird shaped parchment patiently waiting on her table to be read.
"Minerva,
I do believe that we both had forgotten about the time turner you gave me three years ago.
Unless I am mistaken I must be at least 18 already.
See you...later."
The Scottish woman was so awestruck by the contents of the message that she had to sit down to compose herself. The possible implications overwhelmed her cognitive capacities to such an extent that she only noticed that it was time for her next class after most of her students had already arrived.
Later that night...
'Humph... I seem to have fallen asleep finally.' Minerva noted as she distinctly remembered that she most certainly had not been wearing any clothes for the better part of the late evening. Yet now she was fully clothed.
"Yes...well, it is rather difficult to transport you into a dream scape in a state I have not yet seen you in." She heard Hermione's voice commenting on her thoughts. She whirled around, searching for the obnoxious young lioness and found her comfortably seated on a rather large sofa. "Care to join me?"
"I think I should not." Minerva said tersely. "What in the world possessed you to do this?"
"The fact that I am not under age even by muggle law?" Hermione made it a question in a mock-effort to seem innocent.
"Officially you are." Minerva countered, her temper rising.
"Which is why you are in my dream rather than me in your room right about now." Hermione offered. She patted the sofa again in an attempt to get the gorgeous albeit pissed off woman to sit down next to her.
"And just how, pray tell me, did you pull that off?" Minerva asked, not amused at all.
Hermione was growing somewhat restless upon her mentor's lack of enthusiasm but forced herself to keep calm. She knew it was only a matter of time before she won the woman over. "Research." She said slyly, instead of offering a full explanation. "I'll tell you all about it if you'll get your wonderful backside over here and sit with me."
"How do you know what my backside is like?" Minerva couldn't help but flirt back. It was all she could do to not lunge at the girl and devour her. Something had to give. She figured her best option might be to flirt back. She was certainly against the idea of ravishing her star student in a dream scape. If it had to happen before the girl graduated the very least was that it had to be away from the castle. Possibly in a bed. With soft velvet sheets...maybe a candle or two...'Dammit woman! Snap out of it!' She growled at herself in frustration.
Much to her dismay it seemed that Hermione really could read her thoughts as she chuckled while she patted the sofa yet again. "I think I'd like that. Come on you stubborn woman, I promise I won't bite. Today." She said playfully. 'If Minerva had intentions to be so romantic I could perhaps behave for another couple of days...a little.'
Minerva warily approached the sofa and sat down, making sure to keep a good distance between their bodies. She was not sure whether she distrusted herself or the girl more. She also made a pointed effort to ward her mind from any further intrusion. The young cub's looks already gave her an advantage, she did not need to further that with mind reading. She had a nagging feeling that something was off but for the life of her she could not place it. But it felt somehow important.
"Again I must ask, dear, how did you manage to get me into this dream scape? Surely you were not foolish enough to cast the same spell a fourth time?" Minerva asked, worry lacing her voice. She, in fact, did not know if that would wreck more havoc but she was not keen on finding out.
"Merlin in PJs... no!" Hermione countered, mortified at the suggestion. "I snuck into the restricted section again to read some more on this spell. I was annoyed that I had not found out about the side-effects of repetitive casting." She had the good sense to look sheepish before continuing "And I stumbled upon an interesting footnote." Here she took a moment's pause, and deliberating whether she should test her luck she scooted just a wee bit closer. Minerva visibly tensed but she did not fee. At over sixty years of age she was not about to be terrorized by a little minx of a girl who god knows why couldn't keep her hands off her if she could help it.
"And what did the footnote say?"
"That there had only been one instance, for the sake of academic interest of course, of two people deliberate casting the spell on each other three times and where to find the paper that came out of the experiment." Hermione offered some more information but she deliberately left the exciting parts out. If she couldn't tease Minerva sexually she was going to tease her intellectually at least.
Minerva, completely oblivious to what she had done, unconsciously scooted closer to the little vixen at the other end of the sofa. She had to admit that her interest was now thoroughly piqued.
"Well, out with it!" She said excitedly. If for nothing else, Hermione would be grateful that she pulled this off for just this one moment. She had seen her beloved professor a great many things but truly excited was not one of them. The enthusiastic glint in her eye made her look at least ten years younger.
"The paper said that if those who were targeted three times happened to be targeted with each other as focuses would have a sort of ethereal connection that could be... harnessed... to open communicational channels between them via the Somnium nexum spell..." Hermione had intended to further explain how she was now able to touch her without actually touching her but her Transfiguration professor's incredulous face made her stop mid-sentence.
"That...is an extremely complicated spell, Hermione. Whenever did you manage to cast it on me without my noticing at all?" Minerva almost let it slip that that was exactly the same spell she had used to teach her two cubs a lesson the other night. She was rather proud at her student for being able to cast it in the first place, but she was completely at odds with regard to when that could have happened. It's one thing that she had not seen Hermione raise a wand to her, Merlin knows she spent enough time with her back turned on her, but to not even feel it? She had a sneaking suspicion she desperately needed disproved but she schooled her features in order to avoid spooking the girl unnecessarily.
Having no way of knowing exactly how serious their conversation would be turning, Hermione could not resist a cheeky comment. "While you were burning holes through my clothes with your eyes after class today. I was so intent on 'studying' not only to avoid my classmates but so that you would not notice the incantation." She was halfway to being very pleased with that comeback but the sudden look of shock on Minerva's features made her frown instead.
"Hermione. Tell me that you are NOT implying that you did wandless magic. And the Somnium nexum of all spells? Tell me that I am misunderstanding you." Minerva said in a strangled voice.
Hermione furrowed her brows, her mind reeling in an attempt to catch up with a part of the conversation she must have zoned out of. "I've been able to do wandless magic to a lesser extent for some time professor. Why is that so bad?"
Instead of answering Hermione's question the now very concerned looking animagus stood from the sofa and started pacing, peppering the girl with further questions. "What do you mean to a lesser extent? Since when have you been able to do wandless magic?"
Hermione was still trying to catch up with her professor but it was obvious that something had Minerva on edge and it was SO not what she had in mind.
"WHY are you so worried? What's wrong with wandless magic?" She asked instead of answering the questions.
"Hermione, this is serious. Break the channel and come to my office. At once." Minerva ordered, worry kick-starting both her teacher persona as well as her naturally protective nature.
Hermione, on her part, was losing her temper with her beloved professor's lack of willingness to answer her questions. "Why?"
"Because I just told you so." Minerva ground out.
"But WHY?" came the now furious counter question.
"Damn it, this is not the time to play twenty questions. Hermione stop being so childish!" Minerva said in frustration.
"Well then STOP treating me like one!" Hermione almost yelled. "WHAT happened? Why is wandless magic suddenly so wrong?!"
Minerva pinched her nose in exasperation. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm her nerves. 'Am I really treating the girl...like a child? Is she NOT a child at 17...or 18 even?' She peered at the young woman above her glasses. 'Her body was certainly adult enough...' the thought unintentionally broke into her mind, dragging along the dangerously sexy image of the girl shuddering stark naked in her office room.
Willing herself to look at Hermione as more of an adult rather than as a wee lion cub she was supposed to nurture and protect, she did what she had vowed not to do at least until the coming week. She stepped closer to the alluring young woman, who, much to her surprise, looked extremely beautiful even as anger hardened her features and thinned her lips into a pale line.
"Hermione, dear, please. Just come to my office." Minerva pleaded. "I don't want to discuss this in a metaphysical realm. Wandless magic in itself is not bad, although only less than two dozen witches and wizards in the world can harness it proficiently." Minerva finally settled for a half truth.
In a desperate attempt to convince the girl that this was indeed serious she swiftly knelt by Hermione's side and grabbed the girl's hand. "Hermione...if my suspicion is correct you could be in mortal danger."
A/N: Yes. I am evil. Very evil. It's the result of a nasty condition called mal-review-ition. And although I'm completely to blame for my condition with my not posting and all... all of your wonderful readers have the remedy: it can only be remedied by lots of wonderful reviews :) Please let me know what your thoughts are on this chapter!
P.S. I'm planning on alternating between angsty and funny chapters to draw out the potential in this story line.