TJ had planned to ask Hermione to spank him the following day but she sent him a Patronus that spoke to him, which was really cool, that said in her voice that something had come up and she had to work late.
Between that and Ginny coming to get him to spend time at the Weasley's house, the Burrow, during his days, he was spent. When the weekend rolled around all he wanted to do was sleep. Hermione didn't seem to mind, though she did make sure he came downstairs for meals.
"Are you doing okay, TJ?" she asked. "I'm sorry my work picked up and I haven't been able to just talk with you. This is the life of a single politician, I guess."
"Yeah, but you're not just a politician, you're at the top. I'm still shocked you were able to spend two weeks with me," he said. He took another bite of food and as he was chewing and thinking about what he wanted to say, there was a tapping against the window and Hermione flicked her wand at it. Instead of the usual little brown owl that TJ had become used to seeing, the bird that flew in was an eagle. Or a hawk. Or some big bird of prey. Its talons tore into Hermione's tablecloth. It seemed nice enough and dropped a white envelope onto the table next to Hermione's plate.
"Wow, umm, you're not local, are you sweetheart?" Hermione addressed it. She looked at her plate and then back up to the bird. "I'm afraid tonight dinner doesn't have anything for you. Would you care for some owl treats?"
It chirped at her and she reached out to pet it on the head. He worried for her fingers; it didn't bite her, though. She summoned something small and brown into her hand and she set them on the table in front of the bird. It chirped again and pecked in her direction. The move made TJ nervous—it was a really big bird—but she just laughed. "I said owl treats, not owl treats. I'm not feeding you a post owl. Eat the treats and you should probably be on your way." TJ was sure the shock was plain on his face because the bird actually listened to her. It bent and gobbled up the treats before leaning forward and launching itself off of the table and back out the window. He just blinked as she closed it with a spell.
"Who sends a bird that big with mail?" he asked, still a little gobsmacked by a freaking eagle that seemed to understand English.
"Let's see, hmm?" She said, picking up the envelope. It was white and square and it looked like an invitation to TJ. She opened it and smiled as she read. "It's a wedding invitation. My friend Luna is getting married in August."
"You said the bird wasn't local?"
"She's marrying Tony Stark."
TJ's jaw dropped, "What? Really?" he laughed. "Well that sort of explains the bird, right? Who else but someone like Stark would use a fucking bird of prey like that?"
"Well, Luna and Tony are in New York so the larger bird is necessary for cross-Atlantic travel even with the little stops they make across Canada, Greenland, and Iceland... but you're right. Tony would have wanted ostentatious, wouldn't he?"
"That's crazy. I thought Stark would be a forever-bachelor. I don't think I've met Luna?"
"No, you haven't. She's... different. Think flower child with a hint of the fae. She's a magi-zoologist. So was her husband, Rolf, before he died. She's got twin boys."
"More twins." He laughed. For the longest time growing up, he and Doug had been the only twins he'd ever known and now he knew four sets, even though he'd never got to meet Fred. Thinking about Doug, though, had TJ starting to itch a little under his skin. He'd only sent the barest texts to his mom and Doug in the last month or so that he'd been here. Thinking about them made him think about Nana and he didn't want to think about her being gone. He stood and picked up his plate, coming around to pick up Hermione's. "I guess I'll wash these."
"Only if you want to, you know you don't have to."
"I know," he said. His words were more clipped than he intended.
"TJ? Are you okay?"
He almost replied with the normal, 'I'm fine,' but he knew better. "Just thinking about Doug and Nana." He hadn't turned to look at her as he answered.
"Do I need to discipline you?" her tone had changed, it was still caring and friendly but there was something else, a hint of I'm-in-charge-here. He shivered and wondered how she did that. He turned to look at her, thinking about what he needed compared to what he wanted. He did want but with his thoughts and emotions getting all tangled up thinking about twins and Doug and Nana and Mama... well, maybe he needed too.
He made eye contact with her and licked his lips. "Please, mistress?"
Her inhale was sharp and audible and he thought her eyes might have darkened. Dilated? He grinned and said it again, with more confidence. "Mistress, please?"
She stood and took the dishes from him, setting them in the sink and starting them washing with a twist of her wand. She took his hand and led him upstairs. He was already half hard in his pants. She brought them into the bedroom and used magic to pull the velvet-covered bench that Angelina had created into the middle of the floor. She opened the top and pulled out the flogger, paddle, and crop and closed it, setting the toys on the side of the seat.
She paused like she was nervous and he didn't want her to be nervous, so he made her focus on him. He started stripping, letting his clothes fall wherever he dropped them. She nodded and sat down on the bench to give him room.
Once he was naked, he settled over her lap, enjoying the soft feel of velvet on his knees and elbows. He wondered if his boner poking her in the leg would bother her. He closed his eyes and hummed as he felt her hands gentle on him, at his shoulder, his hip, the back of his thigh.
"How many smacks should I warm you up with?"
"Fifteen?" he asked. She'd had ten warm-up smacks and he figured they both might need a few more to get the feel for it.
"Okay," she said. She rubbed at his ass first and the swat that came down was much harder than their last attempt. It stung and he grunted. He tried to remember, had she made noise at the beginning?
The next one came and it was just as sharp and he breathed through the quick flash of pain. She wasn't holding back this time. Sometime around smack nine, his ass was on fire and he wasn't sure why he was doing this. Swat ten hit low on one of his butt cheeks, closer to his balls and he yelped and twitched. The movement ground his cock against her thigh and the velvet of the bench and he groaned. Oh yeah, that's why he wanted this.
"How are you feeling, TJ?" she asked, letting her hand soothe the burning skin. He didn't know what number of pops they were on.
"Good... green..." he wiggled and let his eyes roll back, "Feels good," he muttered. "Please?"
He sensed her reaching in front of him with her hand to pick up a toy. He didn't open his eyes to see which one it was. There was a whistling swish and he tightened up in expectation of it but he didn't feel anything. He vocalised a soft confused sound and moved to look at her.
She giggled and let her free hand caress down his back. "Just getting a feel for it. Ten with this one, I guess?"
He meant to say please again, or call her mistress, but didn't get the words out before that whistling swish sounded again and a line of pain bloomed across both asscheeks. His eyes went wide open and his mouth did too, and a high-pitched whine came out of him. Damn, that hurt, but in conjunction with his wiggling on her lap, the pleasure chased it away. "Fuck."
"Still green?" She asked.
He nodded quickly and closed his eyes again. She didn't immediately bring the crop back down again. "Please, mistress," he whispered. A little, excited huff of breath was her only warning as she brought the crop down again, still across both cheeks but now further down, near the top of his thighs. He must have made a noise because she was shushing him and petting his hair but he didn't know what it was. Smack three and four came in quick succession and he almost squirmed off her lap.
"Be still, darling," she said and her hand came to his side to keep him from falling off. "Maybe only one more, hmm? This one looks painful. Your bums all pink with pretty little lines. I see what Angelina meant by how pretty it is. I bet a lattice effect would look great." He moaned and she seemed to give in, the last smack wasn't nearly as sharp as the previous.
He still wiggled and whined and ground his weeping cock into her thigh. God, he wanted to come but he wanted... he wanted... "Thumpy?" he murmured.
"Are you sure? I was thinking the flogger might be nice, too, you know... it doesn't sting as much. We'll have to try different combinations to see which one feels best after the other. Still green?" she asked.
"Uh-huh."
"Okay then," she said and he was vaguely aware of her switching from the crop to the paddle. "Five with this one?"
He didn't answer. He didn't care, he just wanted... it was up to her anyway. He didn't... it wasn't his place. He wasn't quite prepared for the way the paddle seemed to vibrate all the way through muscle and bone, though. It hurt.
He rocked forward to try to move away from the pain and moaned. He could chase it with pleasure. The second swat was just as painful and he rocked against her again but the good feelings didn't overtake the pain that time. He whimpered and the third swat came down. He yelled and squeezed his eyes tight against it. He licked his lips and tasted salt, was he crying? "Yellow," he whispered.
"Okay, TJ. You're doing so well, baby, so well. What do you want?"
"Dunno," he murmured, only slightly worried that his erection was failing.
She hummed and started caressing his ass with a soft, cool hand. Her fingers trailed down to his balls and it tickled but then she hesitated and pulled her hand away. "May I touch you, TJ?"
"Fuck yes, please, green," he said.
"Do you want to turn over?"
"Don't care." He pressed against the bar and against her legs, leveraging himself onto his hands and knees. Her little hand wrapped around his cock and squeezed and then moved over him. It took an embarrassingly short amount of time before his orgasm overwhelmed him. When it was over, he felt a bit wrung out like he'd cried out all of his emotions.
"Come on, darling, let's cuddle." He didn't know how he got from her lap to the bed or even if they'd cleaned up. All he knew was he was curled up against her with her arms around him and soft whispers fell like a light rain on his bare skin. "You're such a good boy, TJ. So sweet. I love you, you know. You're very loved. I've got you, cry it all out. You're okay."
After a long while of her rocking him and whispering to him, he said, "Oh."
She leaned back from where she was holding him close so she could see him better. "You okay, TJ? Want me to put the bruise paste on you? I think I hit you too hard, baby, I'm so sorry."
"Maybe?" he asked and his voice sounded small. "Then covers... It's cold."
"Okay, roll over for me." He did and the sigh that followed him at the first touch of the cooling gel was heavy. As the pain faded, it felt like all of his worries left with it. "How's that feel? Still hurting?"
"S'good," he murmured. He just wanted to cuddle more. He burrowed under her covers and waited, wanting to count the seconds until she came back but not quite himself enough to think through the numbers. It seemed she was gone forever before she came back, warm and soft against him under the covers.
"I've got some water for you and some chocolate. Can you drink and nibble on some? Here, its got a straw." She pressed a straw to his lips and he drank and when she pressed a small square of chocolate against his lips he took that too. When he finished chewing she got him to drink some more water. "All right. Now rest, love, I've got you."
He might have hummed in contentment before he fell asleep.
When he woke up, she was still wrapped around him but instead of the pleasant heat she'd been before, he was overly hot. He squirmed to get some space between them and only felt a little bad when he woke her up. It was still dark in the room.
"Hey TJ," she said softly, voice thick with sleep. "Are you okay? You worried me."
"Huh? What do you mean?" He yawned so wide his jaw cracked.
"You cried a lot. Heavy sobs like when you first told me about your grandma. I sent a Patronus to Angelina asking what I should do. She said to make sure you stayed hydrated, give you some chocolate, and just hold you close and keep reassuring you that you were safe and okay."
"Oh. I'm fine now, I guess." He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. He was pretty sure she'd said she'd loved him earlier but he didn't know if she'd said it on purpose or not. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. Did she love him like a friend, like she loved Harry or George? Or was what she felt for him something else? She'd given him an orgasm, so were they dating now?
He brought his hand up to his still naked chest and thighs under the blanket. There wasn't dried jizz there, so she must have cleaned him up. She confused him. "I don't think I like the paddle."
"It's okay. We don't have to use that one."
"But you liked it..."
"I did. Maybe I'm just heavy-handed? I don't know." Her smile was interrupted by a yawn. "Do you want to go back to sleep? Just so you know, if you want to get dressed, I went ahead and put your clothes in the laundry basket so you'll need to get clean ones."
He yawned again and snuggled down into his pillow. "I think I could sleep some more. It was just hot. You're a furnace."
She giggled and when he was settled she moved closer and wrapped an arm around his waist anyway.
He laid there a long time, thinking. Maybe he didn't have to have all the answers just yet. Whatever this was, it was still new and confusing between them after all. He knew that they were no where close to the request he'd made of her when he first arrived. The itch of wanting a baby had eased a little after helping take care of Ginny's kids. He knew he wasn't responsible enough or clean enough to be a parent and although he'd asked her while he was high, he had been truthful; if he could have a kid, he'd want one with her.
Before he closed his eyes to go back to sleep he whispered, "I think I love you too."
