Minerva was glad that Hermione had prompted her to change into her animagus form; they wove their way through a cave deep underneath the castle, dodging stalagmites, skirting sinkholes and rough patches in the floor. When they had entered this chamber there had been an overwhelming aroma of sulphur but now from somewhere, the cat could detect a fresh breeze and a gradual easing of the almost darkness around them.

The tabby kept close to the wolf she was following, still a little shaken from the events earlier. Hermione turned sharply behind an outcropping and led Minerva to some steps that had been hewn from the rock. The stairs were human sized but neither animal changed, the wolf leaping up them in a few bounds and the more graceful cat even quicker still.

Minerva was treated to another startling view. They had walked through the mountain that housed the castle and were on the far side of it now. Some ancient geological event had broken through the rock, leaving a sizeable opening, through which more mountains were visible - the stark vista seeming to go on forever. The air coming into the cave from it was frigid in comparison to the hot air that they had been walking through and it smelt fresh and wonderful.

In front of the cave entrance was a large pool of steaming water, it was clearly a natural feature in origin but had been shaped by man at some point in the past. The water was cloudy rather than clear and Minerva couldn't tell how deep it was. The wolf skirted the pool and led her around to where seating had been installed on relatively flat rock.

Only a moment passed before Hermione shifted forms, the animagus no longer averting her eyes for fear of getting an eyeful of naked woman and she still marvelled at the way limbs reshaped themselves into human form, how fur and nails retracted into soft skin. The witch knew that her own transformation was more of a blurring, cat one moment and witch the next, but chocolate eyes still followed the movement with what looked like awe.

Minerva kept staring at Hermione's nude form, silhouetted against that incredible view, it was a sight that made her mouth go dry. The wolf smirked, basking in the older woman's reaction, then unstuck her wand and shrunken bag of shopping from her hip. "Dessert?"

"That's an incredibly tempting offer, lass." Minerva paused considering her next words, "Especially when you're standing there like that."

"Like what?" Asked Hermione with a grin, deliberately bending over the table a little, when she put the shopping down, aiming to give the older witch an eyeful without being crass.

It seemed like she had succeeded when two hands firmly grasped her hips from behind and pulled her flush against Minerva's fully clothed body. "You my dear, are a minx… and a tease."

"Minx… yes." Hermione leant her head back, resting it against Minerva's shoulder, exposing the length of her throat and effectively pushing her bare chest forward, "Tease… not so much."

"What would you call it?" Minerva flicked out her tongue to taste the young woman's skin, running it along the hammering vein at the side of her throat.

Hermione moaned, "Teasing implies that you aren't prepared to follow through."

"And you are?"

"I…" Whatever Hermione was about to say was cut off by a gasp, when lips found that significant spot under her jaw, where Minerva herself was wearing a rapidly fading and faint bruise.

"Here?"

"Yes..." The witch sucked roughly, bringing purple to the surface almost immediately and worrying the flesh with gentle teeth - not hard enough to draw blood or break the skin but certainly enough to leave a lingering and obvious mark. The sound that escaped the wolf's lips was indescribable and a gleam of amber appeared in chocolate depths. Hermione brought up a hand to tangle in ebony hair and keep the other woman where she was.

Minerva could feel the young woman trembling in her arms and she wasn't quite sure what she had initiated but only that she had been compelled to do so by some primitive instinct. "You're mine. He can't have you." The words were muffled against skin but were completely intelligible.

"Yours." Agreed Hermione with a moan that only intensified when those talented hands ghosted up her sides. "But if you don't stop, we are going to end up having a very different kind of dessert than I had in mind."

Minerva pulled back and chuckled, "Well, you will run around naked. You can't expect me not to react."

"I'm not complaining, not at all." Hermione stepped away, pulling Minerva by the hand to a sofa. "But yesterday you wanted to slow down, and today you're marking me, acting all possessive and making me weak at the knees. I just want to make sure that you're thinking straight."

Minerva raised an eyebrow, "It's not like you to be all serious."

Hermione grinned, "Don't get used to it. I'm just trying to do the right thing, I'd hate for you to regret anything that happens between us."

"Pour us some wine, my dear, and let's start with actual dessert."

Hermione obliged, taking glasses from the bag. "Which one of these six bottles did you want?"

Elegant fingers ran over the labels, "Care to try this one?"

"Truthfully, it all tastes the same to me."

Minerva just shook her head, "Philistine."

"Is that a fond note in your voice I detect?"

"I believe that I will enjoy the opportunity to educate you."

Hermione laughed, handing a corkscrew to the older witch. Watching fascinated as Minerva cast a cooling charm on the bottle and opened it deftly. "It's a pleasure to watch your hands work, magically or otherwise."

"Soppy again."

Hermione rolled her eyes and took the cardboard box of Baklava from the bag and put it on the table. "Well I could have told you how desperately I want to feel them on my... skin, but I thought we were concentrating on not ravishing one another."

Minerva almost dropped the bottle. Her eyes were a little glazed over in response to Hermione's taunt and suddenly all she could think about was granting the young woman's wish. For the second time that day, the witch was staring at her wolf with her mouth wide open.

This time when Hermione leant forward, she popped a small piece of honey soaked pastry into Minerva's mouth. The older witch shook off her fixation and obediently ate the morsel of pudding. "Oh, that is good."

"I told you." Hermione grinned and took a piece for herself. The two women began to chat about inconsequential things while they finished the long overdue second part of their lunch.

Hermione reached once more into the bag and pulled out a couple of towels which she magically floated across the room to rest on a rail near the edge of the pool. "I don't suppose you thought to bring a swimming costume for me?"

The wolf chuckled, "You could always bathe naked," but before Minerva could reply, she reached into the bag for a couple of one-piece swimsuits she had bought in the market for the older witch. "Your choice though…"

With that she walked over the hot spring and stepped into the water, not looking back to see what the older woman did. Once the water was deep enough she began to swim laps, just waiting for Minerva but taking care not to look at her.

Sensitive hearing let her know when Minerva entered the water, then a moment later she heard a shocked exclamation. "It is hot!"

Hermione began to tread water before heading to the far side of the pool and grabbing onto the edge. "Yup, pretty warm. Come look at this view, it's the only place you can see it without climbing the mountain."

Only a minute or two passed before Minerva reached out and held onto the smooth edge. "Was this carved by hand?"

"Magic I think, it's a little too perfect to have been done by traditional methods."

Minerva leant her head on Hermione's upper arm, looking out over the mountains. The wolf gulped when she realised that the position gave her the ability to look straight down Minerva's surprisingly ample cleavage. "Mind out of the gutter please, my dear."

Hermione mentally gave herself a shake and hummed her agreement, turning her attention to the view. This close to the cave opening they could feel the cold air but the bathtub temperature water stopped either woman from getting chilly. "It's going to snow."

"How can you tell?"

Hermione lifted her head and sniffed, "I can feel the pressure change and there's always a special smell about snow. Plus those clouds look fairly ominous."

"I love snow. Ever since I was a child. One winter our Manse was completely cut off from the village for a fortnight. We just stayed home and played all day outside and snuggled up by the fireplace at night."

"That sounds wonderful."

"How much snow do you normally get here?"

"No more than a couple of feet at a time, normally that is." Hermione bent her neck and kissed Minerva's wet hair. Then she pushed back from the edge with her feet and floated on her back, looking up towards the cave ceiling that was mostly hidden behind clouds of fragrant steam.

The older witch swam back across to the shallow end and lay relaxing in a depression that seemed made for her body, leaned her head back and closed her eyes, listening to the faint sound of water somewhere close by.

Hermione was back working on reports, waiting for Minerva to finish in the shower, when she heard a quiet knock at the door of their quarters. She got up with a chuckle, having identified a familiar scent from outside and opened the door smiling.

"Evelyn. What are you doing here?"

"Minerva?" Asked the small child looking around with hopeful eyes, she stumbled over the three syllables a little but still seemed proud to have managed it.

"She's in the shower."

"Oh. Me too?"

The young witch ruffled the girl's hair, laughing inwardly as she wondered what her human mate would think of that, and said, "Maybe best you wait out here."

"Will you play with me?" The child switched to grown up syntax, realising that she was more likely to get what she wanted from her aunt if she did so.

"Of course I will." Excited, the girl bounced on the balls of her feet and rushed to drag out her toy box from under Hermione's bed. "What do you want to play?"

"Dinosaurs… and horsies." The witch nodded, because that obviously made sense to a five year old.

The two wolves were so engrossed in the game that they didn't notice a few minutes later when Minerva stepped out of the dressing room. She hadn't heard the girl arrive so the sight that greeted her was a surprise but certainly not an unwelcome one. She leant back against the door, arms folded casually, and observed Hermione interact with the youngest member of her family.

It was adorable and Minerva recalled what Hermione had told her the night that they met, that bearing a baby was not a prerequisite for mating, but she realised in this moment that children were, for her, essential. That whatever the combination of pheromones and the proximity of the younger woman was doing to her body, she wanted them to have a pack of their own. To be able to walk into a room and see her mate playing with a child that had a blend of their features, with Hermione's sense of fun and her own oft hidden mischievous side. That for her, the future needed more than just her wolf in it.

It was then that Hermione looked up, tilting her head curiously as she struggled to read the soft but intense expression on the older woman's face. She smelled the air, using scent to try and work out the puzzle in front of her. Then it all made sense in a flash of inspiration; the expression on Minerva's face was longing, not the sexual desire that she had seen earlier that day, but the witch was staring at her and the child on her knee with a deeply yearning countenance.

Minerva watched as Hermione's face changed from pleasantly surprised at her presence, to confused, then watched understanding dawn on her pretty features, before a slow wide smile crept across her face and seemed to light up the young woman's entire being. Emerald green met chocolate brown, as the two women shared an eye contact that was so intimate that it left them both trembling.

"Minerva," cried the small wolf finally looking up from where her Ankylosaurus was riding a piebald horse, completely oblivious to the charged atmosphere. She launched herself into waiting arms and cuddled the witch. "Auntie 'Mione wouldn't let me in the shower with you."

The witch chuckled, changing the subject quickly. "What are the two of you playing?"

"Just waitin' for you."

Hermione nodded, getting up. "She came all the way here on her own looking for you."

"You did?"

"Yup."

Leaving the odd couple to their chat, Hermione switched on the kettle and poured a glass of juice for the youngster. She prepared three mugs of tea, knowing that her sister-in-law would arrive shortly to wrangle her wayward pup.

Authors Note: Well folks, we've reached the bit where what you're reading has caught up with what I am writing. You may be lucky and get a chapter tomorrow if I finish it on time and Libby can beta it by then. So updates will be a little slower but we are progressing fairly rapidly. Thank you for all of your lovely comments.