It was Hermione's turn to nervously speak, "I could just slide around on my bare feet."
Minerva couldn't stop smiling, "Is the big bad wolf scared?" She knelt next to the younger woman and tugged at the laces on Hermione's ice skates, making sure that they were fastened tightly.
"I'm not scared. I just think that using sharp blades strapped to my feet to skate over a frozen lake is a bad idea."
"Hermione, relax. I won't let anything happen to you. I've tested the thickness of the ice, before you panic about that too." The witch stood up and took her lover by the hands, pulling her from her seat on the end of the boat dock.
"Did I mention that I used to be incredibly clumsy?"
"Keep your feet on the ground unless they're behind you, for now." She braced Hermione as the young woman wobbled. "Just relax, focus on your centre of gravity. Push off with one foot and let the other slide forward."
"You're enjoying this."
"Concentrate. And yes I am." Emerald eyes twinkled with repressed mirth, "Turnabout is fair play, afterall." Skating slowly backwards, Minerva drew Hermione away from the support of the dock, her hands keeping the wolf balanced and upright. "Stop looking at your feet."
The young woman laughed a little nervously, trying to copy the motions that she had been shown and follow Minerva's advice. She was starting to relax when the witch spoke again.
"Well done. Now I am going to let go."
"No!"
"Hermione love, you will be fine."
"Please?" The wolf knew she was whining but the trepidation was still there.
"Alright, I'll hold one hand for now." Upon Hermione's nod, Minerva tightened her right hand on the young woman's left, letting go of the other and spun around, a small spray of ice rose up from her skates as she positioned herself alongside the nervous wolf. "How have you never learnt to skate?"
"I'm not much for sports." Hermione wobbled again but this time she managed to catch herself. "My father took me skiing once, I fell into a tree and broke my arm."
"And you were how old?"
"Maybe seven or eight." Hermione didn't realise it but the distraction was helping. Her balance had improved and she wasn't clinging quite as tightly to the older woman's hand.
"And was it a clean, child friendly slope with adequate supervision? One perhaps that you would let Callum ski down on a first attempt?"
"Not from what I recall." Understanding dawned in Hermione's eyes as she remembered the charms that Minerva had cast to ensure a perfect surface for them to skate on, more charms to make sure that the ice wouldn't crack and the way the older witch had checked her shoes - twice. She stood up a little straighter but tried to keep her balance. The wolf inhaled, "You can let go."
Minerva didn't ask if the young woman was sure, she merely squeezed the fingers in hers and let go. For a few minutes they skated together in the snow free circle that the witch had created, Hermione coming close to falling twice but once she got out of the habit of leaning backwards and windmilling her arms, she found it easier to balance.
Once Hermione became a bit more confident, Minerva left her to her own devices and began to skate in the middle of the circle where she wouldn't impede the young woman's progress. She was more than a little out of practice, it had been a decade or more since she had the opportunity to skate and it was something she had always enjoyed. Hopefully if Hermione liked skating, they could do it together again.
The wolf figured out how to stop and how to change direction without wobbling too much. When she turned to face Minerva she was entranced; the older witch was spinning in a circle, sending up clouds of powdered ice and her green scarf was trailing behind her, cheeks flushed rosy from the cold, hair spilling out from underneath the knitted hat she was wearing. Hermione stared, absolutely transfixed by Minerva's beauty and promptly fell over backwards.
The witch heard the startled yip escape from the younger woman and stopped spinning with an abrupt jab of her blade into the ice, just as Hermione landed with an audible thump on her backside. Minerva skated over to her at a surprisingly fast speed, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I just got distracted by this gorgeous witch and tripped over my own feet - like some hormone driven teenager."
They both laughed. "Alright, get on your knees and I'll help you up." Minerva braced herself and helped the wolf get first one foot and then a second underneath her, pulling her upright. "Do you need me to kiss anything better?"
"Maybe my backside."
"Likely story."
Hermione shook her head wonderingly, "You are so distracting sometimes."
Minerva tightened the embrace and held the wolf in, placing a kiss on her forehead. "I'm wrapped in about twenty layers."
"And somehow you're still intoxicating." Hermione exhaled, tucking Minerva's scarf back inside her coat and lifted the zip a little. "Show me how you did that spin."
"Try getting used to a straight line first, maybe try backwards and some smooth turns." Minerva's voice was soft but held a firm note, "Promising not to let anything happen to you, also includes protecting you from yourself."
It was almost an hour later when the two women took off their skates on the edge of the dock and walked into the cabin in socks. Minerva was still flushed from the chill in the air. "You look adorable in that hat with rosy cheeks." The wolf pressed her cold nose against one and then a kiss against pale lips. "Let's get you changed and then I'm pretty sure there's coco powder here, I know we brought milk."
Minerva smiled back at Hermione, stripping off her outerwear. "I'm still bemused by your lack of response to the cold."
The wolf just laughed, putting a pan of milk on the stove to boil. She was wearing just a pair of black jeans and an unbuttoned sheepskin coat over a white T-shirt. "It's a tad chilly, admittedly."
Minerva reappeared a few minutes later dressed in an oversized woollen jumper borrowed from a drawer in the bedroom and a pair of Hermione's jogging bottoms. The older witch was still shivering so Hermione summoned a thick blanket, wrapping it around Minerva's shoulders. "Stop fussing."
"Sit on the sofa and warm up. I'm not going to stop nagging you, it's my job and you should probably get used to it." The wolf stoked the fire, ignoring the wordless annoyed muttering from behind her, made a mental note to bring in some more wood and went to change her trousers for something more comfortable.
"It's not fair. You're walking around in short shorts and a t-shirt."
Hermione chuckled, kissing Minerva's head on the way to the kitchen. "The theory is that our fur remains under our skin to some extent and provides an extra layer of insulation. Or it could be magic." She added powder to the milk and began to whisk it. "There must be some inherent magic involved or our transformation would break bones."
Minerva smiled at her, "I'm not sure that you will ever know."
"There has to be some mystery to the universe."
A few minutes later they were side by side on the sofa, Minerva's still cold hands were wrapped around the mug of slightly bitter chocolate. Hermione leant her head on the older woman's shoulder and inhaled the scent of her witch, relaxing completely. Minerva liked having her so close, "I've never had a partner so attentive."
"Does it drive you crazy?"
Lips quirked up into a smile, "Sometimes, but then you just melt into my arms like you are now, and everything else fades away."
Hermione gave a chuckle in response, "It's an amazing feeling, I feel you against me and smell you - then, I don't know how to describe it… I just feel safe and relaxed."
"When you aren't panicking about being pulled onto the ice?"
"It just took me a while to realise that you'd set me up for success and…" Hermione shrugged, letting the sentence drift off, a little embarrassed and unsure of what to say.
"Hermione darling, I am never going to make you feel like your trust in me is misplaced. I want you to remember that." Minerva wrapped an arm around the young woman's shoulders and started sipping her drink, feeling a good bit warmer.
Hermione had her feet up on the coffee table and was making notes on a pad that was resting on her knee. There was a file open on the arm of the sofa and she had gotten lost in her work. It was a few hours since lunch, Minerva had retreated to the kitchen table with an armload of her own files and they worked in companionable silence.
Minerva finally finished off her plan for the next week. The carte blanche Benji had provided her ensured that she could act with impunity. A veteran of innumerable staff reviews, Minerva knew that she was going to be very unpopular. She was going to cut the school week down to four days, with staff training on Friday's - it would be an intense mix of magical study and teacher training from some of the qualified staff at the main school. The student timetable was going to become more intense, they had to make up for lost time, and it was going to be rough on everyone for several months.
Her attention was caught by something outside of the window and she lifted her gaze to focus on it, pulling the spectacles from her face, placing them on the table. Minerva wasn't fully in control of herself when she stood up from the table quietly and she operated on instinct when she walked over to the door, opened it, and turned into her animagus form.
It took Hermione a few minutes to register the slight chill in the air and she glanced at the empty dining table and slightly open door bemused. She lifted her nose, getting a strong whiff of feline and could almost visualise the scent trail that led out towards the lake. The wolf curiously tilted her head, wondering what her lover was playing at. She decided to give her another twenty minutes before following and she returned to her work.
The time was almost up when Hermione heard a clatter from the direction of the kitchen and smelled blood. Her head snapped up, eyes glowing a dangerous gold before she realised that it wasn't human blood. She leaned over, placed the file and pad on the table, standing up for a better view.
Walking towards her with considerable difficulty, was a large tabby cat, carrying a dead duck by the neck, grasping it tightly in her teeth. Hermione raised an eyebrow and met her halfway. "Hungry?"
The cat dropped the bird with a wet thud and opened her mouth, showing needle sharp teeth as she hissed at Hermione. Feline eyes glared at the woman challengingly for several seconds before seeming to soften then Minerva shook the snow out of her fur and morphed back into a human. Rather redundantly the witch spoke, echoing words Hermione had spoken a few days earlier. "A prey animal that I caught and killed myself."
The wolf smiled, licking her thumb before using it to wipe the duck's blood from Minerva's bottom lip and sucked the digit into her own mouth absently. "Are you sure?"
Minerva nodded at her, resolute. "Do I need to do anything while you are hunting?"
"Maybe give it an hour, then light a fire in the brazier out on the decking? We can do the messy stuff out there."
Minerva nodded, then said, "Be careful." It was obvious that the wolf would be going after larger prey than a duck and it was probably necessary for the mating ritual. After all, the whole purpose of it was to prove that Hermione was capable and brave enough to provide for her mate, along with any resulting offspring.
"I will." She kissed the animagus, then walked out of the cabin, closing the door behind her. Hermione banished her clothes back to the bedroom and cast a few charms on the property to alert her to any intruders. She secured her wand in its usual place and shifted into her wolf.
Hermione lifted her muzzle into the wind, the slowly falling snow was changing the scent patterns in the air but she was undaunted. The reindeer herd had been moving into the trees when she last saw them and scent would remain for longer in the still forest air. She started to trot in that direction, covering ground rapidly - the effortless movement one that the wolf could keep up for hours but she wanted to be home sooner than that. Hopefully they hadn't gone far.
The weak late afternoon sunlight barely illuminated the space between the trees, Hermione's dark coat blended into the shadows and she began to track the herd by the scent that lingered in the undergrowth. The smell of the sick elderly animal became more apparent, the fresher that the trail became.
An hour passed and Hermione knew that she was close by the sheer fact that she could hear the breathing of the small herd of ruminants, the clicking of their knees with every step, and the sound of their hooves crunching on the frozen forest floor. She knew this area well, about half a mile deeper into the woods was a small fast-flowing rocky stream with a steep embankment beyond it. The herd would be slowed by the terrain, giving her a chance to separate the sick animal.
Reindeer were on the large side for a single wolf to bring down but she was certainly capable of it and if the animal she was hunting was as ill as its scent suggested, it might be easier than she thought. Hermione's posture completely changed, she lowered her head and stretched out her neck, barely making a sound as she slunk through the trees, getting within a hundred yards before stopping.
She deliberately stepped on a dead branch, letting it break under her paw, sounding as loud a gunshot in the quiet forest. The herd of reindeer had certainly been aware of her subtle approach but took every chance to graze before they had to run. Now they bolted. Hermione bunched up her hind legs, leapt from the undergrowth and extended her forelegs, digging paws into the ground and using them for leverage, pulling them underneath her body, letting her hind legs overtake them - driving her forward into another leap. Wolves have been known to reach forty miles per hour and Hermione built up her acceleration quickly, herding the animals towards her chosen ambush spot.
Keen golden eyes identified her target close to the front of the herd; it was a dark greyish brown male beginning to go white with age, his ribs were pronounced and he limped from one shoulder. Like most of the males at this time of year, he had lost his antlers and was so weak that he didn't appear to be much of a threat. She angled her approach, letting a good third of the reindeer slip away into the trees on her left.
A small juvenile separated from its mother, tripped and fell almost directly in front of her. Hermione almost turned as she ran past and could have grabbed it with her teeth, but she resisted the animal urge, focussing again on the weakest pack member. They were almost at the embankment when she adroitly split the herd again, less than ten remaining in front of her now.
The wolf could feel her muscles burning, her rapid breath coming in hot steaming plumes and she couldn't keep up this pace for much longer. The sickly reindeer began to drop towards the back of what was left of its herd, only a few feet from Hermione's muzzle now. She leapt forward on her next stride, sinking fangs into the meaty part of his upper leg - then shook her head quickly to cause maximum damage but let go when the large animal kicked her hard with the other hind leg, its sharp hoof opening a shallow cut along her ribs.
They both stumbled into the narrow stream bed, the other reindeer scrambling up the embankment, leaving predator and prey alone - standing still and facing one another. It was exactly the situation that Hermione had wanted to avoid. Even weakened, the larger animal was formidable prey and she didn't want a standoff. The main reason that wolves hunt in packs is to make the hunting less risky and easier. Alone she would struggle with this task but failure wasn't an option - she had a gorgeous woman waiting at home for her to complete this hunt. Taking down a large and dangerous animal was important for the mating ritual, her worth as a wolf and a provider was something that she had to prove.
Hermione bent her head and lapped at the water, not taking her eyes off of the reindeer. The animal really was in awful shape, his old rheumy eyes struggled to focus on her and he was swaying from exertion. The animal would have been dead within the next day or so and had been suffering for quite some time. The wolf stopped thinking with her human side, switching over entirely to her animal instincts, because Hermione Granger did not like to kill and that even included prey.
The wolf began to circle at an effortless lope, keeping the reindeer turning to maintain his view of her. The higher his heart rate, the faster he would bleed from the wound on his rump. Pads and claws provided better footing on the icy rocks than hooves, several times this caused the older animal to stumble again. Hermione took advantage of that, opening another two large wounds in the rear end of the reindeer.
Swaying in earnest now, the reindeer dropped to his knees but before he could struggle back to his feet, the wolf was on him. Fangs sunk into his
throat, opening a mortal wound in an artery and clamped down suffocatingly on his windpipe. Death came quickly to the old animal and Hermione tried to make it as painless as possible but it was several minutes before his heart stopped.
The wolf let go, shaking her head violently to get rid of the stiffness in her jaw. Gold eyes moved to the darkness at the top of the embankment, Hermione stared for a moment, before contorting her body into a stretch. What are you doing here Andrew?
At the top of the slope, the large grey shape of her friend stepped out of the shadows. The Council wanted the two of you observed while you were away from the settlement. The others are near your lake house watching over your witch and I came to make sure that you didn't bite off more than you could chew. But that was a nice kill.
It wasn't unexpected but Hermione was glad that it had been her patrol team who had obviously volunteered to be the spies for the Council. Thanks. The other wolf would know from her scent, all the things that she didn't say. She shifted back into her human form, then knelt down in the icy water to wash the blood from her face and hands.
"Are you happy Hermione?" He had shifted forms to continue talking to her.
The female wolf smiled, "I am."
"It's good to see."
Hermione cast a featherweight charm on the reindeer's body and levitated it onto her shoulder. She grinned wolfishly at her friend, before gently gripping her wand in her teeth, shifting back into her animal form and began to lope along the stream in the direction of the lake. It wasn't that far and she wanted to get back to Minerva, who hopefully wouldn't be put off by the fact that she was liberally covered in blood.
Authors Note: I hope you weren't squicked out too much. Thank you so much for the reviews and messages. Also a huge shout to Libby for beta'ing despite getting attached to 'Rudoloph'