DISCLAIMER: I don't own it...JKR does
HARRY POTTER AND THE BOOK OF ANUBIS
CHAPTER THREE
A smile twisted her lips as she curled up on the soft bed she lay in, her muscles protesting the wearied movement, but her mind luxuriating in the feeling of the cotton sheets against her nearly bare skin. The soft rustling whisper of the sheets caused another sweet sensation of wholeness to filter through her body. So THIS is what it meant to live.
Opening her eyes, she gazed at the ceiling of the room, the soft white glowing in the early morning light of dawn. A shadow moved to her left, but she ignored it, intent on just Feeling. It had been so long.
"Miss Granger?"
A twinge of familiarity niggled at the back of her mind, but she continued her study of her surroundings. Her sharp ears picked of the shuffling sounds of someone pacing almost leisurely, her nostrils flared as the smell of peppermint assuaged her senses. Allowing her eyes to drift closed again, the tentatively poked her tongue out of her mouth, licking her swollen lips.
Salty, with a hint of a sweetness borne of innocence. Never been kissed? Interesting development.
"Miss Granger?"
Again, with the voice. She turned her head to the side, opening her eyes to stare into the cerulean depths of the ancient Wizard's. A purr escaped her as she stretched, cat-like, muscles rippling beneath her golden skin. "Yes? I assume that you are going to ask me who I am."
The old Wizard smiled, and obliged. "Who are you?"
"I am. . ." She furrowed her brow for a moment. "Me." Shaking her head, she laughed, a tinkling sound that sent a stab of pleasure through her. Trailing her fingers up her body, she allowed them to linger on her throat as she spoke again, feeling the vibration ripple through her larynx. "My name is. . .Hermione Granger. And my name is. . .Bastet." Shaking her head, she snorted. "No, that can't be right. I can't possibly be two people at once, can I?"
"I don't know, can you?" His voice was gentle, and she immediately liked it.
"Obviously, since I am."
"Obviously." He echoed. "And how are you two people."
"Well, I don't know, rightly. I suppose that I am Bastet by association, and Hermione Granger by birth. Both are familiar and warm. Inviting really. Perhaps I am neither and both again at the same time, an entity forged of two. Is that possible?"
"Anything's possible." With a smile, the man turned, "None of your peers have awakened yet. Should I call you by Bastet or Hermione?"
She pursed her lips, "Please, call me Bastet, for I feel more of her than I do of the other. She is. . .or rather, I am. . .quite dominant." A shadow moved at her right, and she whipped her head about, cat curiosity shining in her cinnamon eyes. "Akanatin." She breathed, catching sight of the sallow-skinned Potions Professor.
Raising a brow, Severus opened his mouth to retort, but found the words just wouldn't come.
She leaned forward, barely aware that her coverlet had fallen away, aware only of the stab of pleasure that assaulted her senses and made her toes curl. A distant memory of a lover's touch made her purr. "So long. . .it has been, beloved."
"Miss Granger, please refrain yourself." Severus managed to gather his wits about him, his obsidian eyes hardening and his demeanor cooling instantaneously.
Her head snapped up as she regarded him in cold fury. "How DARE you!" Her words were a hissed warning. "You DO NOT speak to me in that manner again. Lover or not!"
"I am MOST CERTAINLY not your LOVER, is that understood, Miss Granger?" A vein throbbed in his temple as he turned on his heel, not waiting for the girl's answer.
XXX
"She looks like herself, even sounds like herself, but that . . . person, is NOT Hermione Granger." McGonnagall railed at the Headmaster.
Shaking his head softly, he shrugged. "There isn't much we can do."
"There must be SOMETHING!"
"Minerva, think for a moment. They are Gods of an ancient culture inhabiting the body of teenagers. They have both memories, both abilities, knowledge of everything surrounding them and who they themselves should be and are, and they also have the fears and illusions of children. They are unsure of themselves, even as they are sure of themselves. This is all very new to them."
"Does it really make a difference, Albus?" She dropped her head, her eyes drifting closed.
"Yes, it does. Everything happens for a reason, Minerva, everything. In time, even we will see why this has been brought down upon them. We can only hope that they will learn and grow from the experience."
"And. . .what if. . .what if the personalities mesh so completely that they phase into each other. What then, Albus? What will we do with seven Mortal Gods? And how can we hope to control them, or help them?"
Dumbledore tugged on his beard silently.
XXX
"Sekhmet?"
The fiery haired girl lifted her eyes, a smile breaking out across her face as she leapt from her bed, enveloping the other girl in a hug. "Sister. . .it has been so lonesome here by myself."
"What of our Lord?"
"He sleeps still, it must have exhausted his powers to make sure our binding was complete."
Hermione/Bastet stepped back, her shoulders dropping as she took on a stance of pure sexuality. "My love has returned."
Ginny/Sekhmet gasped. "But, you cannot plan on. . ."
She nodded.
"No, it will be forbidden!"
"I doubt it, sister dearest."