Short chapter, but it's a bit pivotal so far as the plot development is concerned so I opted to go ahead and post. Special shoutout to Nora for this update! Happy Christmas!

11. Get Minerva into bed before graduation.

Hermione was certain that Minerva was beginning to regret her confession the day students had returned from Christmas break. It was blatantly clear to the Slytherin that she was being avoided, and Minerva wasn't even being subtle about it. On the plus side, it was different than the last time this had happened. Hermione wasn't drowning in despair this time, but rather she was filled with a renewed sense of hope. Minerva wanted her. She'd point blank admitted as much, even if her confession had been hastily followed with "But that doesn't change that this thing between the two of us is wrong."

Well, Hermione didn't give two shites if it was wrong or not; she loved Minerva, and she was pretty sure Minerva loved her. She'd known the older witch long enough to know that in order to get her to own up to what she was feeling in a more concrete way, Hermione had to get her to cross a line that she couldn't just pretend never happened. In short, Hermione had to get her into bed. Given that she was pretty much a novice in the world of seduction, this was proving to be a bit of a challenge. There really weren't any books on how to seduce a teacher, or anyone for that matter, which meant Hermione had to get her information from those with more experience in the art of seduction.

Pansy Parkinson and Ginny Weasley were all too happy to offer insight.

"She's not the sort to go for wooing," Ginny speculated. "She's more the sort who wants to be commanded, I think. Pansy, thoughts?"

"Agreed," the other teen replied. "Likely, that's part of the attraction to you in the first place, Hermione. You have always been forceful with her. You never treated her like a Professor, even when we were in first year. She never had a chance to treat you as a student, or even see you that way, because you never allowed yourself to be treated that way. You denied her anything but equality."

"So, what? I back her into a corner and snog her?" Hermione asked.

"Back her into a corner and make her think you're going to snog her," Ginny corrected, "then say something very teasing and walk off."

"How does that make sense?"

Pansy answered for her Gryffindor friend. "McGonagall is torn between feeling like you're an equal and feeling like you've bullied her into this position. She won't accept you unless you make it her choice to do so. The trick her is to make her want to make that choice."

"I don't get it," Hermione frowned.

Ginny shook her head and then stood from the floor that the three girls had been sitting on in Pansy and Hermione's dorm. "Pansy, come here."

Pansy grinned and stood as well, nodding to Ginny to take the lead in this demonstration. "In this instance, I'm you, and Ginny is McGonagall. Got it?"

"Got it," came a skeptical reply.

"Watch and learn then," Ginny said. Then, she turned to Pansy, locking eyes and moving toward her slowly. Pansy, showing a feeling of being threatened, backed away until she was pressed into the wall. Ginny kept moving forward, slowly, never breaking eye contact.

Finally, her body pressed against Pansy's and her hand lightly touched the other girl's waist, and her lips moved so that they were just a fraction of an inch away from the corner of Pansy's lips. "I'm yours for the taking," Ginny whispered, lips ghosting away from Pansy's lips and finally pressing on her jawline, causing Pansy to let out a small gasp. Ginny's fingers moved over Pansy's hips in response, then paused for a moment before gripping the older girl and sharply pulling their pelvises together.

"Oh...gods…" Pansy moaned, and Hermione was pretty sure she was not faking the reaction.

"It's your choice…" Ginny promised, whispering into Pansy's ear before pulling away abruptly and walking to the other side of the room.

It took a moment for Pansy to compose herself. "Shite, Gin. Yeah, that would work. That would so work on McGonagall. I'm bloody straight and that damn well near worked on me!"

Hermione was, admittedly, impressed, and having witnessed the type of seduction the girls had been trying to verbally express, she understood why it would, in fact, work on Minerva. It was about power. Hermione had it, and Minerva knew that. This made Minerva feel weak, which she certainly didn't like. While Hermione had attracted Minerva by forcing equality between them, the fact of the matter was that the equality had been forced, not earned and not developed naturally. Hermione needed to show Minerva that she could have the power as well.

Of course, what Ginny and Pansy had just shown her was more of a step five kind of move in her mind. Minerva wasn't ready for that yet, and Hermione didn't think she really was either.

Step one happened the very next day, when during Transfiguration class Minerva misquoted an article. Normally, Hermione would have used a moment like that to call Minerva on the error, in front of the students, embarrassing the older witch. This time, she remained behind after class to address it privately. "Professor?" she respectfully asked permission to speak.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" Minerva replied tersely, obviously assuming Hermione was attempting to discuss something other than academics.

"I just wanted to let you know that you misquoted the article from Transfiguration Weekly. The way you worded it keeps the meaning of the article the same, but in case any students wanted to cite the article in a paper, you may want to consider making sure they are quoting the original author rather than your paraphrasing," Hermione said calmly, never breaking eye contact.

Minerva looked perplexed, and Hermione understood why. It was out of character for her not to take advantage of an opportunity to show Minerva up. There was a time and place for nit-picking, she was beginning to realize, but not here in the classroom. Minerva deserved more respect than that, and Hermione was now starting to see how poorly she'd treated the woman she loved in the past. That was going to change now.

Step two had taken until the end of January to complete. In the course of the month, Hermione had taken every opportunity to show Minerva due respect, even ceasing to call her Minerva when they were alone together. Eventually, the Professor stopped looking surprised to be treated that way by Hermione. Granted, Minerva was still making an effort to avoid her, so the being alone together thing had only happened a few times.

Step three was a show of power play like Ginny and Pansy had suggested, but not in a sexual manner. The opportunity presented, conveniently, on Valentines Day, when Minerva was chaperoning the students in Hogsmeade. When Hermione saw her standing alone, she approached. "Hello, Minerva."

As predicted, Minerva glowered. "Miss Granger. What do you need?"

Hermione crossed her arms, and let out a sigh. "I need you to acknowledge that regardless of whether or not anything happens between us in the future, you and I have a relationship that does not exist in the student and teacher dynamic. Although yes, I am still a student that you teach, I am also an adult with whom you've had a physical relationship and developed an emotional attachment. Addressing each other by given names is appropriate in private. Further, Minerva, considering that I'm sure half of your reservations regarding what's developed between us is because of my age, it is a bit baffling to me that you are the one avoiding me - an action that could hardly be construed as mature behavior."

At first, Minerva stood there gaping like a fish, seemingly dumbfounded at the audacity of Hermione's words. Then, as the younger woman had hoped, she processed what was said and nodded. "You're right, Hermione," Minerva said quietly. "And I apologize. While I remain adamant that nothing can happen between us, regardless of what we might feel, I have behaved badly in how I've treated you. You've done nothing but give me a respectful distance, and I've reacted as if you were throwing yourself at me at every turn."

"Apology accepted," Hermione replied. "Good day, Minerva."

"And to you, Hermione," the older woman replied, offering the Slytherin the first smile she'd given her in months.

Step four had required Ginny and Pansy's expertise. They helped her style her hair in a way that seemed more mature, but not so mature that it looked like she was trying too hard. The same went for her muggle wardrobe. The end result of the look meant her hair was often up in a loose bun, and she took to wearing slacks rather than jeans, and button downs rather than jumpers. The things she did in her spare time also shifted. Rather than planning pranks, she could be seen tutoring the younger students over the course of the rest of February and March. By the time students were getting ready to leave for Easter Break, it was obvious that Minerva had noticed the little changes, and approved.

Ginny and Pansy claimed to more than once have caught Minerva staring at the young woman she claimed to not want, with a look on her face that said want very much. While the other girls found this incredibly amusing, Hermione mostly found peace in the way Minerva was looking at her now. For the first time, she felt like Minerva was seeing "Hermione, the young woman I care for" as opposed to "Miss Granger, the student I want to beat senseless," and it was exactly the kind of encouragement that Hermione needed to execute step five when most of the student body was gone for Easter Break.

Only hours after the school had all but emptied, Hermione located Minerva in the Transfiguration corridor - much thanks to Harry's map - and managed to arrange for the Professor to quite literally bump into her. "Oh, Hermione, I'm sorry!" Minerva exclaimed genuinely. "I didn't see you."

"I should have been looking where I was going," Hermione fibbed. "Not that I mind running into you. Any plans for the holiday break?"

Minerva shrugged. "Some peace and quiet before fifth and seven years return and are suddenly thrown into mass panic over impending OWLs and NEWTs."

Hermione chuckled. "The only test I'm worried about is Defense. The written I'll do well enough in, but the practical…"

The Professor huffed. "You and I have traded hexes enough for me to safely say you'll do fine on the practical."

"Traded hexes, yes," Hermione agreed. "But we've never just dueled for the sake of testing skill. I don't suppose I could talk you into doing some exercises with me while we don't have a castle full of people in the way…"

Hermione took a deep breath. The offer was there, and yes or no, it was Minerva's choice. Were they ready to actually do something together? To the Slytherin's relief, the older witch smiled brightly at the idea. "Sounds like fun. When?"

"I'm free now," Hermione countered. "If you are."

"Nothing to do but grade some papers that I'm honestly in favor of blowing off for the time being," Minerva confessed. "Room of Requirement should suit us well enough, don't you think?"

"Certainly."

The two women made their way to the Room of Requirement, asking it for a space to duel. "Any rules?" Minerva asked, drawing her wand.

"Rules have never suited us, Minerva," Hermione jibed, eliciting a wry grin from her companion. "Though fair warning, Dad's training included hand to hand combat alongside wandwork."

"Excellent," Minerva replied, eyes gleaming at the notion of a challenge like this.

"Don't you dare hold back, McGonagall," Hermione said lowly, drawing her own wand. By the way Minerva's eyes widened, she clearly understood the double meaning to the statement, but even if she was suddenly regretting agreeing to this, there was no backing down now. She was too Gryffindor to turn tail at the first hint of trouble.

For a moment, it looked as though Minerva was going to ask a question, but the moment passed and she positioned herself to attack. "Duel."

Sparks flew out of both their wands and for the better part of twenty minutes they silently dueled, the occasional vulgarity escaping each of their lips as hexes hit their marks. Eventually, Hermione came to the conclusion that ultimately, Minerva would likely best her when it came to wand work, but she didn't know if the older woman could rival her agility in hand to hand combat as well. Hermione moved closer and closer until they were too close together to cast spells, and wands were silently banished back into respective holsters as kicks and punches started flying in the place of hexes.

"You'd pass the Auror Office fitness exam," Minerva ground out, dodging a roundhouse kick from Hermione. "You're going to ace the practical Defense OWL."

"Winning isn't everything," Hermione replied, raising her arm to block Minerva's left hook before dropping to the ground and kicking the older woman's feet out from under her. The Scottish woman landed on her back with a grunt, and Hermione quickly moved to straddle her and pin her arms above her head. "But it is fun," she added with a wry grin.

Minerva was panting, and Hermione wasn't sure it was entirely because she was out of breath. "Yield," the older woman called.

This was the moment. Hermione could accept the surrender and thank Minerva for the exercise, simple as that, or she could make an unmistakable move. Summoning every ounce of courage she had, her hands let go of Minerva's pinned hands and moved down her arms. She gripped the older woman's hips with her knees, shoulders with her hands, and then twisted so that a moment later, it was she who was laying back on the mat and Minerva who was resting on top of her.

"I already have yielded," Hermione whispered, looking into stunned green eyes. Her hands ghosted Minerva's waist, causing the woman on top of her to let out a soft moan. "But it's not just up to me."

"Hermione…" Minerva uttered, breathless. "We… can't."

"Only because you won't," the Slytherin countered. "But I think you're running out of reasons to say no."

Minerva's forehead dropped till it rested on Hermione's. "That doesn't change that I should still say no to you."

Hermione tilted her head up in a way that nearly brought their lips together. Her hands moved up to cup Minerva's face. "Then tell me no."

"I...Hermione, I…"

"Can't?" Hermione whispered, thrusting her hip slightly. "Then say yes, Min. Because that's the only thing left to do."

Minerva said yes. She said yes by, after one more look of painful conflict, she relaxed into Hermione's lips and they began to kiss. "I want to hate you so much…" the older woman whimpered as the kisses grew frantic.

Hermione flipped Minerva again, not even breaking the kisses. "I want to love you, more," she responded, beginning to tug away articles of clothing. "Don't hold back."

"Never…" Minerva agreed, joining her soon-to-be-lover's efforts to disrobe them. "Never again, darling."

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