A/N: Hello all, hope you're all having a lovely day. Only one more after this #sadface. Guess I'll have to write something else pretty soon huh.
As always, thanks to the lovely Lib McGranger for her help in making this as lovely as possible lol
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Whatever Hermione thought might happen next, paled in comparison. Minerva did not waste any time in showing Hermione just how much she had been missed.
Minerva's hands seemed to be everywhere, but it was her lips that showed Hermione the way. Starting at her temples, Minerva pressed soft and reverent kisses against her skin.
"Your brain is one of the things I love most about you," she murmured. "The way you think, the way you learn, the way you teach. It is what I fell in love with first and what I thank Merlin for every day."
Minerva talking while they made love was not new, she did so sparingly. Hermione had never asked her to, but especially in the beginning, she had asked for reassurance at every turn. Minerva, though usually a fast learner, had eventually understood her desire for it, without ever having to be asked explicitly.
"Your eyes capture my soul at every turn," Minerva continued, kissing the closed eyelids. "They hold such wisdom and mirth and show no signs of a life that was hard-fought and won."
A tear squeezed out between Hermione's lids as their bodies pressed together.
"Your mouth sets my soul aflame. Such a simple thing -" She was speaking almost to herself but Hermione hung onto every word. "It speaks so eloquently of your thoughts and desires. It commands people to your whims and drops others," Minerva's eyes met hers. "To their knees."
Her lips tingled endlessly as Minerva kissed her so beautifully, more tears slipped from her eyes.
"And with those lips and that tongue and those teeth you tore my world asunder," Minerva muttered, holding Hermione's face in her hands. Hermione could do nothing but follow Minerva's tongue around her own mouth to Minerva's and back again. That wicked tongue that could cut someone to size with a single word or enflame Hermione's every nerve as she did now.
"Oh, and these," Minerva murmured. Hermione gasped as Minerva flicked her nipples gently. "That have nurtured this family so well." She hummed as she settled in, suckling rhythmically in time with the pinching she gave on the opposite one. Hermione growled and wrapped a leg around Minerva's middle. Hermione felt the tightening in her middle and grabbed the back of Minerva's head to keep her there. Minerva didn't stop like Hermione was terrified she might. Instead, she sucked harder and longer, making Hermione keen as she came.
As Hermione came down from her high, she felt Minerva move a little higher and dropped a kiss to her chest, where her heart was thumping uncontrollably. As she panted and tried not to burst into tears, Minerva cupped her cheek and their eyes met.
"Your brain is what I fell for, but your heart is what I yearn for," she said evenly. "You have loved me far better than I thought I ever deserved. You have given me happiness beyond measure, Hermione. You have brought my soul home in a way that I never thought possible. I love you, not because you have given me a family, not because we have been together for so long, but because, Hermione, I love you."
She didn't bother to fight the tears any longer and she sobbed as Minerva nuzzled her ear and whispered more sweet words into her soul while she slid her hand over her belly. Dropping a kiss against a tear that rolled over her cheek, Minerva followed her hand's path with her lips. Three children - two at one time - had stretched Hermione's skin and made it impossible for it to ever return to where it had once been. Intellectually, she knew it was a privilege to have done so, but it still bothered her when she caught her reflection in the mirror.
"This body made my children, our children, in our image and yet their own. You carried them so beautifully." Minerva whispered. "Watching you blossom with our babies sent me into a spin I did not want to come out of. The way you grew set my body and soul on fire."
That was news, but Hermione could barely keep up as Minerva's teeth raked across the roundness of her belly and sucked hard, marking her. It was primal and she jerked up into Minerva's body in need.
"I loved seeing you pregnant. Loved playing with our babies inside of you. Loved rubbing your back and your feet and washing your hair. I loved the way you loved them; soothing their grumbles as they kicked and squirmed and singing to them when you thought I wasn't looking. Your legs, which carry you so proudly, even when you are tired. That carry our family and keep them steady while I am off doing other selfish things. That wrap around me when you are," she paused as Hermione did just that. "Needy."
Minerva's voice had dropped to a gravelly burr and Hermione's centre twitched at the sound.
"Min, please my love," Hermione whispered, around a sob. "Please."
"Say my name, Hermione," Minerva said, her breath hot on her wet centre. "Say it."
"Minerva," Hermione groaned, feeling her hot tongue sliding inside her. "MINERVA!"
She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak anymore. Minerva loved her so deeply she couldn't even see. She lost track of how many times she broke apart under Minerva's tongue. And then, she was there, hovering above Hermione speaking gentle words of love. Long fingers curled against her and she gasped, her hearing coming back in a rush.
"I love you," Minerva whispered. "Let me love you, Hermione. Let go, my love."
It was enough and Hermione screamed, her voice breaking as she snapped. Her back bowed and her body trembled as she grasped hold of Minerva and let her body dictate everything.
"You are my heart, Hermione Granger. I love you. I have always loved you. I will always love you."
She sobbed, clutching Minerva to her and refusing to let go. Minerva gathered her up and rolled them so she could hold Hermione to her as she came down. Hermione cried against Minerva's neck as Minerva sank her damp fingers into knotted hair.
"I have you, my love. I have you."
Hermione eventually calmed and she hid beneath Minerva's hair, breathing her scent in and taking comfort from strong arms around her.
"I love you, Minerva," she whispered, eventually. "I love you so much."
"Will you let me take care of you?" Minerva whispered. "Let me draw you a bath?"
Hermione nodded mutely and she smiled a wobbly smile as Minerva ran her a bath and came back for her after. Hermione was so tired she could barely stand, but Minerva bent a little and swung Hermione up into her arms.
"I'm heavy," Hermione whispered.
"No," Minerva muttered. "You are not. You have never been."
Hermione didn't have the energy to argue and she groaned as her tired body was placed slowly into the water. As before, Minerva washed her gently and after, drew her from the water into a soft, warm towel and eased her into equally soft pyjamas. Hermione was so overwhelmed with feelings that she could only cling to Minerva until she was tucked into clean sheets. Minerva pottered for a few more moments, dousing the lights and cracking the door in case the children needed them.
"You are the only thing in my life," Minerva muttered as she got in. Hermione rolled back into her chest. "The only things that matter are here, in this house. In our home. You and our babies."
Hermione sighed and opened her mouth to speak, but another voice stopped her.
"Mama?"
"Come here little love," Minerva's soft chuckle called, inviting their daughter into her arms.
"Mummy," Cat breathed as she clambered up onto the bed with her little hands. "Mama."
"The Mamas are here, baby," Minerva said, in the tone that she reserved only for the children. "Sleep, little one."
Hermione chuckled as Cat snuggled on top of Minerva and under Hermione's arm. As she had done since she was born, she reached up and played with Minerva's curls while she sucked her thumb and sighed happily.
"I am sorry I lost sight of this," Minerva whispered, her fingers dragging along Hermione's shoulder. "I shan't do so again."
"I'm sorry that I lost sight of you," Hermione whispered, finding her voice. "And that I let my hubris nearly destroy everything."
"You didn't," Minerva muttered, her lips caressing Hermione's forehead. "And you aren't, but let us agree to let this go now?"
"Yes," Hermione nodded. "Start anew?"
"Refreshed," Minerva suggested. "There is too much love between us to begin again."
Hermione nodded and lay watching Minerva soothe their daughter. I brought to mind something else.
"I didn't know that you felt that about me," Hermione breathed. "When I was pregnant."
"I was embarrassed at how much it affected me. I," she blushed. "May have been thinking of that, the night we made Eòghan."
Hermione snorted quietly and pressed a kiss to Minerva's shoulder.
"Poppy suggested that we perhaps should not have another," Hermione said sadly, meeting Minerva's eyes as she looked down at her. "But I would try again, for you?"
"Not at the expense of your health, love," Minerva shook her head, though she too had sadness in her eyes.
"We could try?"
"I -"
"Think about it," Hermione offered around a yawn. "Talk to Poppy. Eòghan's pregnancy was easy. I believe it would be alright." She chuckled and soothed Cat's frown with her thumb. "Nothing could be worse than what happened with them."
"That was the scariest moment of my life."
"I -"
"I have fought mass-murderers, dodged killing curses and defended my family with deadly consequences but seeing the fear in Poppy's eyes while your blood stained my hands." A shudder when through her, disturbing Cat. "It nearly killed me."
"I'm right here," Hermione soothed both of them.
"Yes," Minerva sighed, kissing Hermione's hair and then Cat's as well. "And so are they."
"Would you spend New Year's with me?" Hermione asked, tracing Minerva's nose. "Let Mum or Poppy take the kids?"
"Yes," Minerva sighed. "I would like that."
"Good," Hermione murmured. "Sleep now."
"In a moment, I hear a mouse in the hall," Minerva chuckled, but Hermione was already on her way when another voice asked for her quietly. Alex threw himself onto the bed. Hermione smiled at his excitement as she dropped off to sleep, and sighed into his hair as he burrowed between them with a giggle.
"I promise," she muttered, reaffirming what they had already spoken.
"And I promise you," Minerva muttered, entwining their fingers. "Sleep love."
"Wake me tomorrow?"
"I will."
"Happy Christmas," Hermione whispered.
"Happy Christmas, my love."
