A/N: One Step's next chapter is currently waiting on my Beta's magic and will be posted when she is done.
Alas, I am posting without supervision. All errors found within are definitely all my own.
Heart of the Herd
Chapter 6: Hoof in Mouth Disease
Briarfoot was attached to Hermione like she was her dam, and she was not under any circumstances going to let go. That was the only truth Severus was certain of at that given moment. Despite her being social with so many students at Hogwarts, the stress of meeting Molly Weasley had been disastrous. When Harry had invited them all to the Burrow for dinner, they had presumed that the wizard had informed the Weasley matriarch of their special considerations. They had obviously been wrong.
To top it off, Hermione and Severus discovered something that all young foals did when they were very stressed out: suckle for milk. To add even more embarrassment, since Briar was a born and raised centaur, she had no qualms about latching onto a "herd mare" and making herself feel better. Hermione's eyes were very, very wide, and her body was quivering in something akin to panic as the young foal latched onto the teats under her equine body.
"Severus!" she hissed into his ear in a panic. "I'm lactating!"
Severus' eyes were equally panicked. "What?"
"L-A-C-T-A-T-I-N-G," she spelled with her mouth and pointed down below herself as if the vision of Briarfoot feeding herself from under Hermione wasn't explicit enough.
Severus paled and looked completely flabbergasted.
Humans, as they both knew, were not normally the lactating without a baby kind of creature. Centaurs, however, seemed to have a very herd-centric physiology. If you were a healthy mare and there were foals about, your body adapted accordingly… even if you didn't have the foals yourself.
Severus did the only thing he could think of and pulled Hermione's panicked body closer to his, and the moment she snuggled into his chest, she seemed to calm. He, too, felt much better, soothing himself by rubbing the base of her mane and running his hands through her hair.
Firenze looked somewhat embarrassed for Hermione's sake. "I'm sorry, sister. I didn't think… I wasn't…" He sighed, facepalming. "I didn't think that was going to happen to you quite so… soon. You aren't even around other mares to… oh buggar."
Hermione buried her face into Severus' chest and clutched his teaching robes like a sloth to a tree.
Severus glowered at Firenze.
Firenze flushed, looking quite flustered. "I'm sorry," he mouthed, his face turning red. "So sorry!"
Severus did a gesture behind Hermione's back. It wasn't polite in eight of ten social circles.
After a few minutes of awkward nursing, at least on the newly adult centaurs' part, Briar peaked out from under Hermione's body and felt safe enough to dart between Firenze's legs and whicker softly. Her eyes were bright, and her body was no longer quivering.
Foals, Severus was beginning to understand, relapsed back into a more equine body language and vocal language when they were stressed, and words would come later after all the strain that had plagued the young filly worked its way out of her system. Apparently, weaning didn't quite work the same in centaurs as they did in humans or even horses, for that matter. Then again, it seemed to be severely stress related past a certain point, because never had Briarhoof been compulsed to do so before that point. She was, however, the smallest of the Hogwarts' centaur. Did that even matter?
He would have to ask Firenze about it in more details after he was done hexing him into the next century for embarrassing his ma—what the hell was his brain thinking?!
Hermione, still quite flustered, eased down to the comfortable cushions, allowing her equine body to fold itself properly underneath her. Severus settled beside her, keeping his body pressed against hers. His arms automatically pulled her human torso close, and Hermione snuggled into him. She took comfort from him in a way that gave him a strange amount of comfort as well.
They leaned into the pile of pillows that they had formed in just the right way to support their human torsos as their equine lower halves folded up just so. Severus leaned back against the pillows and pulled Hermione to him, spooning against her back with a soft whicker.
Briarfoot curled up between Hermione's legs, snuggling into her body, and Firenze let himself down slowly, easing up next to them with soft huff of air. The ceiling shimmered, and suddenly the night sky was above them, much like it was in the Great Hall, only the soft breezes from outside magically blew within. The added breeze calmed Hermione and Severus, and they both relaxed drowsily. Within a few minutes, they were asleep, the drama at the Burrow forgotten. Whatever strain the young filly had would wait for the morning, and hopefully, whatever aftershock from Hurricane Molly could be staved off then.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Severus woke in the early morning as he was prone to do. Before, it had been insomnia, usually caused by the aftereffects of being tortured by a Dark Lord. More recently, it was just habit. Waking in the early morning was peaceful. Even the most rebellious of students tended to sleep in the early morning. It was late at night when all the mischief tended to happen.
Today, however, he felt strangely at peace. Firenze had already gone out early, perhaps to take Briarfoot back to mingle amongst her peers or to visit with the main herd. It left him alone with Hermione, and there was a certain peace in that he couldn't deny.
Hermione's hair had an attractive scent to it, and as he ran his hand down her back and along her increasingly attractive dorsal stripe, his body shuddered with desire. Hermione, even half asleep, stirred against his touch, pressing her body closer to his with instinctive mutual desire.
As much as he tried to fight it, he couldn't deny that his body was perfectly happy with the set of circumstances he was placed in, and apparently, Hermione wasn't fighting it in the slightest. She pressed her back against his chest with a soft croon, and she flicked her tail to the side in invitation.
"Hermione," he whispered, his hands hesitating over the smoothness of her skin. He pressed his nose into the depths of her mane. "Is this what you truly want?"
Hermione placed her hands on his, guiding them over her body, some places familiar to the human aspect and some quite new. "Don't stop, Severus," she whispered. "Please."
A part of Severus knew if he let himself go to this compulsion there would be no going back. His growing hunger for her would not something he could deny. If she changed her mind and denied him, it would break him. He could never see her as just a friend or a colleague. His breath caught in his throat, and he felt every touch of their skin upon his.
Desire stirred in lower places in a manner far harder to ignore than ever his human anatomy had been. A hundred horse similes came to mind and he flushed scarlet in half embarrassment and half desire. Magorian's amused comment about mutual acrobatics became all the more clear. Severus didn't consider himself a master in anything resembling lovemaking as his profession wasn't exactly conducive to such things.
Death Eaters tended to not care where they stuck their various parts, and if he had used Bellatrix as a role model, well, he probably would have died of some horrible sexually-transmitted disease. He was pretty sure that the reason Rudolphus and the Dark Lord had a hands-off policy in regards to Bellatrix was that she couldn't keep her hands to herself. The insanity had insured that. Whatever part of her brain that did self control had been irrevocably damaged. She had thrown herself at everyone in various states of her delirium, remembering nothing, and then accusing whoever brought it up as a liar, torturing them with Cruciatus if they dared to disagree. Needless to say, those that took her up on it never spoke of it, and those that didn't gave her a very wide berth.
Severus had once had a handful of lovers, but they had not been emotional attachments. Separation of mind and body had been involved, and they had met fleetingly, indulged their bodies' combined desires, and then left. What he felt now, however, was something far different. He felt desire. He felt… need. He wanted her more than he wanted anything in his life, and it terrified him.
He gently nibbled behind Hermione's pointed equine ears, and Hermione came undone. She let out a soft equine moan, and Severus felt every fibre of his being respond to that sound as though it were for him alone, and perhaps it was. His mind was a flurry of activity, and his hands roamed further across her human skin and equine fur. His hands roamed lower, brushing against her barrelled sides.
Hermione let out a soft squeal, and her tail flicked to the side again, this time she positioned herself in a very undeniable invitation position, and she leaned into him with a shudder. "Severus," she whispered, her voice ragged. "Please."
Severus tilted his head back, his mouth open as he tasted the air with his new senses. She was ready. She wanted him. He could smell it… taste it on the roof of his mouth as his lips pulled back from his teeth in flehmen response. A hundred chemical signals told him everything he really needed to know. He wasn't forcing her. She wasn't being coerced. She wanted him. Why then, was he hesitating?
"I want you," he whispered raggedly, his breath tickling her neck. "I need you."
"I'm yours," Hermione replied. "Please, Severus. I want you."
Third confirmation hit Severus like a brick to the face, and he could no longer keep lying to himself. His need to protect her from himself transformed into a need to love her both in mind and body. There was a crack in his emotional dam, and more and more formed until it broke. He wrapped his arms around her human torso as he positioned his body over her back and let nature take its course at last.
Centaurs, he found out, had excellent stamina. Over a day later, he confessed, at least to himself, that centaurs had supreme stamina, and he wasn't complaining in the slightest. Nor, did it seem, was Hermione.
He made a mental note to thank Neville Longbottom if they ever managed to leave their private chambers.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Briarfoot and Meadowrun whickered happy greetings and immediately attached themselves to Hermione and Severus as they carried picnic baskets out onto the green. Firenze and Flint cantered up from the forest carrying a haunch of venison between them.
Hermione smiled and hugged them all, nickering a happy greeting. After the failed cookout that was the past weekend at the Burrow, Hermione didn't want the foals to think that was standard, and Firenze had agreed. None of the adults had truly believed that Molly Weasley had intended to insult them, but the slander had hurt Briarfoot, who didn't understand that Molly had seen horse legs and assumed. Humans, they explained to her, tended to assume horse legs were attached to horses. Centaur did not normally come out of the forests to visit places their forest did not connect.
Briar had, after much placating to get her nerves calmed and a good nurse or two from Hermione, settled down and listened to reason. She had, after a time, understood the misunderstanding after the initial knee-jerk reaction, that the Weasley Matriarch hadn't been informed of their "special" guests. Rose hadn't thought it important. A friend was a friend, after all. Harry and Ron figured Molly knew since she read the Prophet, and the centaur figured their figures standing out in the open by the fire had been observed by the people in the Burrow. Assumptions had been made, and Briar had paid the price in stress. Hermione, however, ever one to take care of the young, wanted to make up for it.
She never did anything small.
As soon as the venison haunch was on the spit and cooking, house-elves began to appear with piles of blankets and baskets of food. Minerva came in lead, bringing the fellow professors and the students to join them on the green. Flitwick had loosed a bunch of charmed balls to chase, Neville brought a few baskets of fruits harvested from the greenhouse, Sinistra brought floating pastries that formed into constellations, Vector brought crackers jumped around on the plate and formed equations, and Lupin brought edible history books.
"Remus," Hermione beamed at the werewolf. "You have them eating history? You bad wolf."
Remus smiled widely. The post-war had treated him well. He looked far more healthy, and the people had seemed to realise there were both bad and good werewolves just as there were bad and good people. Remus had proven himself the hero worthy of an Order of Merlin, and he and Tonks had a quiet happy life. He had taken over as History of Magic Professor, and students loved him in that as much as they had loved him in DADA. Even more happily, Remus and Severus had settled into a peaceful coexistence, partly due to Hermione's wrangling and partly due to the post-war aftermath.
Hermione had said it was due to Teddy, who had never failed to prove to everyone that his parents were the best parents in the world. Teddy had even decided to take lessons to become an Animagus on top of being his natural Metamorphmagus. He had wanted to keep his father company on full moons, and he succeeded. Neither Hermione, Minerva, nor Severus were surprised when Teddy transformed into a wolf. With tears in her eyes, Tonks had come to Hermione and begged to be taught how to be an Animagus as well. She hadn't realised it was possible. Oddly it had been Severus that noted that truly caring for another had the power to make the impossible possible.
Ever since Teddy and Tonks had joined him on every full moon's change, Remus' health had become better. He showed no interest in other humans when he turned, only his family interested him, and when the old Black mongrel came to visit, the pair chased each other over the moors like pups again. And while the older werewolf was starting to slow down in his progressive age, Poppy had said that his health hadn't been better. He was, perhaps, the oldest living werewolf, defying the old belief that being a werewolf cut the lifespan in half.
Hermione wholeheartedly believed that it was because Remus and Sirius had survived the war that Harry had turned out as well as he did. When Sirius had walked out of the dust of the final battle with Remus and Tonks, everyone wanted to know how Sirius had survived. Harry, especially, had seen Sirius fall through the Veil, and Remus had been heartbroken for over a year. Whether by fate or intention, the sky had opened up over the ramparts of Hogwarts, and it rained wizards and witches that had "fallen through the Veil." It had been because of that timely save that little damage actually affected Hogwarts. Many of those who had fallen out of the sky had been "victims" of the first war, and joining the second hadn't taken much thought.
After Voldemort had been defeated, the reformed Ministry examined the old gateway and realised that Voldemort had changed it into a prison of his own design. Hundreds and thousands of witches and wizards that had raised their voices against him from the start had suffered "accidents." Many of them had been cast into the Gateway, seemingly to their death. Once the phenomena had been confirmed, the Ministry had released the remaining people trapped within and dismantled the gate, ensuring no others would be condemned to a fate of perpetual limbo.
Harry, though not reunited with his parents, had been reunited with the two wizards that were as a close as family, and the conflicted, somewhat tortured, and abused boy finally grew up, became an Auror, and cherished every gift he had been given. Unlike some who might have been swallowed up in the fame, Harry remained the humble person he had always been. There were a few times when he had puffed out his chest and strutted, but Hermione had always been quick to smack him upside the head with whatever reading material she had been holding. Some things never changed.
And as Hermione stared into Remus' warm eyes, she knew that Harry, Remus, Sirius, and so many others had gained in the end of the Second Wizarding War. All of them cherished each other. Teddy had his parents. Harry had his adopted family and friends, and so many others had many things to be thankful for. Fred had fallen over four stories during the battle and a flying Death Eater had broken his fall and hadn't survived the experience. Fred, limping out of the battle with a injured leg, had been tackled by his family. Percy, who had long been on the wrong side of the fight, burst into tears, held onto Fred, and wept. Since then, he'd been at every family gathering, and Hermione knew things could have been far, far worse.
All thoughts the past, however, went flying out the window as Remus enfolded her in a warm hug. Her transformation hadn't affected their relationship in the slightest. He was still the warm and unjudging wizard he had always been.
"Hermione," he said as he pulled away, squeezing her shoulders with his hands. "You're looking good. Happy."
Hermione flushed slightly. "Thank you, Remus."
Remus' eyes had a sparkle to them. "You deserve happiness, Hermione," he said softly so none of the students could hear, "and so does he."
Remus smiled as Severus' ears pinned back on his head, having heard everything thanks to his improved hearing. "Now you know what it's like, Severus," Remus chuckled in a low whisper, "hearing everything that people say about you from across a crowded room."
Severus snorted, but used that moment to make sure every child who wanted one had a kickboard for the lake. Centaurs were, oddly enough, extremely buoyant. Briarfoot, Meadowrun, and Flint were acting like living buoys on the lake, and the other children were paddling around them and clinging to them in between water fights. Firenze was up to his belly in the lake watching the children play around the foals, and his ears were flicking in his amusement.
Minerva was helping children make caramel apples, and it didn't take long for certain four legged students to be almost magnetically attracted to the sweet apple scents coming from her cauldron. Some of the children complained that they centaur buoys were wandering off, but Firenze assured them that they would return, eventually.
Meadowrun pranced away with three caramel apples, with Flint and Briarfoot chasing after her, complaining that she was being an apple hog. The chase turned into a game, and soon many children were playing caramel apple keep-away. Minerva simply shook her head and distributed more apples.
Neville, who still hadn't quite recovered from his distasteful outburst over the flowers, avoided eye contact, and Hermione sighed that he had still not attempted to approach or even apologise. All attempts on her part to invite him over for tea and discussion had been met with deaf ears. She figured he was embarrassed and maybe even ashamed, but it all came down to Hermione couldn't help what she had been turned into, and it wasn't her outburst that had caused the problem. It was up to Neville to make the move, and he was dragging his feet.
Hagrid joined the picnic later in the night, stating he had some emergency with his animals happen. Severus and Minerva instantly looked suspicious. Anytime Hagrid had "something come up" it had ended up badly for someone. It was usually Hagrid and some species of something or another that he had been secretly trying to hatch, raise, smuggle, or introduce into the Dark Forest.
The last thing he had "rescued" had been a type of death adder that was specifically dangerous to centaur. Myth held it responsible for Eurydice's death in the legends of Orpheus and the Underworld. Hagrid had been in tears for months, saying the adders hadn't done anything to anyone and "couldn't hurt a fly." He, of course, didn't mention that he'd been bitten countless times and was immune to the venom, while one bite could have killed a rampaging pachyderm. Harry had been on the team that had to route out and dispose of the adders. Some of them were captured and sent back to Greece before Greece sent special permission to eradicate them from the Dark Forest. They sent back an official warning saying the adder was notoriously hard to eradicate after establishing themselves, and the best method to keep them from killing off every indigenous species was, unfortunately, obliteration. The adder had been, until someone had smuggled them off, limited to a small island off the coast of Greece. They had never touched inland, and thus, they lived without breaking the ecosystem of other areas. People had been the ones to smuggle them off, and people like Hagrid had been ignorant enough to "set them free" as a good deed. Two sailing ships had been killed by a rampaging adder, having unknowingly smuggled the snakes in their cargo bay, and a patch of forest in Spain had been burned to the ground to prevent the spread of the serpents to other areas. Fire and water were their only true weakness. They hated water and they combusted in fire.
Hermione, and she confessed to it often, had a soft spot for Hagrid. He had been a warm part of her childhood when so many others had judged her for her blood, her intelligence, her swottiness, or everything inbetween. She couldn't, however, ignore the danger he brought to Hogwarts, and there were times when she, Minerva, and Severus all cursed the clause Dumbledore had written in Hagrid's contract that kept anyone from firing him as long as he took care of the thestral and hippogriff herds for the school. Umbridge had been the cause of that particular clause, and at the time, no one had questioned it in favour of throwing in a monkey wrench to Umbridge's attempt to "fire everyone."
Now that Hermione was grown up, Hagrid tended to clam up when talking about his animals, almost as if he knew that he couldn't get away with things like he used to. Still, Minerva had sent both Hermione and Severus to check on Hagrid a few times in their stealthier Animagus forms. Most of the time it was a false alarm, but, every so often, Hermione and Severus would come back with reports that Hagrid was trying to breed things that should never have been allowed to breed. What they were, exactly, was unknown, but Minerva agreed that things with that many legs, tails, and point venomous fangs were not "cute" or "harmless" as young, let alone grown up. It had been pure dumb luck that no one had been killed, harmed, or maimed by Hagrid's projects over the years, and even Harry confessed he had no idea how to get Hagrid to listen to reason.
Sinistra led a star watch as the sunset, and Firenze assisted by telling the stories of star movements and how the centaurs read the planets and stars together. Sinistra seemed to approve of Firenze far more than she did of Trelawney, but whether that was because they shared a value in the stars or she simply loathed Trelawney like most others did was yet to be proven.
By the time the children were half asleep on top of each other, the professors were well on their way to wrangle them back to their dormitories. Minerva patted Hermione on the shoulder and smiled before returning to Hogwarts. All had gone well, and it had been a good end to a week.
When Hermione excused herself to do the evening rounds, the worn out foals were snuggled up against a baffled Severus who looked like he'd just been hugged by a talking alligator. "What are the chances they sleep in their own dorms tonight?" Hermione asked Severus as she touched the side of his cheek with her fingers.
Severus shook his head. "With or without an Incarcerous spell and a prybar?" He pressed his hand over hers and looked into her eyes with a growing softness.
Hermione snickered. "I may or may not have learned a trick from the herd mares," she said with a wink.
Severus arched a brow.
Hermione gave a piercing whinny, shaking her mane as she flipped her tail back and forth. Immediately, the three foals woke from their doze and attended her side. "Come, time to go back to your dorms, children," she whickered, and the trio of foals followed her dutifully down the corridors.
Severus felt his eyebrows raising into his hair.
"Foals always listen to the lead mare," Firenze chuckled as he came down the hallway. "Here amongst Hogwarts, that mare is Hermione."
Severus scratched his head.
Firenze smiled. "It will be good practice for you, having foals underfoot," he palomino centaur chuckled, "especially when you have a few of your own."
Severus froze. "Few?"
Firenze looked at him strangely. "Do you plan on stopping at one?"
Severus flushed crimson, his ears pinned against his head.
Firenze smiled. "Peace, brother. In time you you will understand that centaur celebrate all births amongst the herd as much as the pairings that make them possible. What you have is to be celebrated. Is this not so amongst humans? To find someone who completes you—to find one who drives you to protect and cherish?"
Severus furrowed his brows, but he nodded in affirmative.
Firenze gave an almost sad smile. "Perhaps, one day, I shall be so lucky," he said as he walked into their shared quarters.
Severus touched Firenze on the withers. "You will," Severus said almost a whisper.
Firenze looked upward, watching the stars float across the magical ceiling. "I hope you are right, brother."
Severus looked up and shared the sky with his centaur brother. "For once, Firenze. I know it."
Firenze gave Severus a warm smile and nodded silently. "Then I shall believe you, brother."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Thank you, Mr and Mrs Granger," Minerva said with a slight bow of her head. "I appreciate you coming to us when getting here is not exactly… easy."
The elder Grangers shook their heads. "It's quite unexpected to see such a grand place," Mr Granger said as he looked out over the greens and the Black Lake. "Our daughter often wrote about it and told us of such things when she came back on holiday. The tales don't do this place justice."
Minerva smiled. "There have been many tales," the Headmistress replied. "Some are even true."
Mrs Granger smiled.
Minerva looked grim. "As I understand it, you were sent something that troubles you? I can assure you that your daughter has not suffered any injury recently."
Mr and Mrs Granger exchanged glances. "We were sent this in the mail."
"By owl?" Minerva asked.
Mr Granger shook his head. "It was left on our doorstep, addressed to us. We thought Hermione had left it."
"Something horrible has happened to her!" Mrs Granger said. "She's been… changed into something unnatural!"
Minerva hesitated as her hand reached for the parcel. She slowly opened the package and frowned. "Do you know who sent these?
The Grangers shook their head. "It came with this note saying that someone had been conducting unauthorised experiments on our daughter and that she was forced to hide out here at this school. They sent pictures. Horrible pictures."
Minerva looked through the parcel and the bundle of photographs piled within. "I fear, Mr and Mrs Granger, that you have been… misinformed."
"Oh, thank God," Mrs Granger sighed with relief. "I was so worried that she's been turned into a monster!"
Minerva, had she had her cat ears, would have flattened them across her skull. She swallowed hard. "I fear that whoever sent you this only told you a… partial truth, Mr and Mrs Granger. Hermione has had to go go through some personal changes recently, but it was done by some mad experiment, I can guarantee you that."
"What kind of changes?" Mr Granger asked, frowning. "Surely it was nothing she couldn't tell us! We're her parents, for God's sakes."
"It was my fault," a male's voice said from the back of the room. Neville came in slowly from the door. "What happened was because of me."
"You're that Neville Longbottom, yes?" Mr Granger said. "I remember you from the photographs Hermione brought home."
Minerva gestured Neville in.
"What happened wasn't planned, Mr and Mrs Granger," Neville said with difficulty. "I was reasearching a cure for my parent's… dementia, I believe is what you call it. I work with herbs and plants you see."
"What does this have to do with Hermione?"
"Let him speak, dear."
Neville squared his shoulders. "There is a rare magical flower that blooms only in certain places. Sacred places. Hidden places. I dug one up and brought it back to study it. I managed to get them to reproduce, but never to bloom. I asked Hermione to look at it for me. Analyse it for healing properties. My hope was to cure my parents because they haven't been… right in the head in over thirty years."
Mrs Granger looked appalled, and Mr Granger's expression softened somewhat.
"Something happened when I gave her the flower. She and another professor was examining it, and the flower bloomed. We'd never seen one bloom, you see. We had no idea what it could do," Neville explained. "The plant had some unforeseen side effects." Neville looked at the pile of photographs in the parcel. "Those are the side effects."
"You're saying," Mr Granger began, "that a plant… turned our daughter into a half horse."
"A centaur, Sir," Neville said, flinching. "Yes."
Both Mr and Mrs Granger turned a little green.
Mrs Granger looked about to cry. "How is this even… how could you… after all she's been through! After all we've been through! Why is this the first we've heard of it?"
Neville looked even more ashamed. "I fear that was my fault as well, Sir, Ma'am. I begged her to keep researching the effects, even in her own blood, in the case it would help my parents. Part of me figured if I kept her busy, the effects would wear off, and then she'd never have to face you. If she was angry at me, then she wouldn't worry so much. I never wanted her to suffer, you have to believe me."
"Does she know you're here? Telling us this?" Mr Granger asked.
"No, Sir, she doesn't," Neville said. "When I heard you were coming, I knew I had to be here to explain."
Mr Granger grasped Mrs Granger's hand. "I have something to ask of you then, Mr Longbottom, before I say something I will regret."
"Anything," Neville said. "Please don't blame Hermione for not contacting you sooner."
Mr Granger set his jaw. "I want to meet these parents of yours. I want to see what was so important that you felt that," he said pointing at the box of pictures, "was perfectly acceptable par for the course."
Neville looked confused at the analogy, but understood what Mr Granger really wanted. "I'll take you now, Mr and Mrs Granger." He cast a look to Minerva who gave him a grim nod.
Neville took in a breath and squared his shoulders. "Headmistress, may we use your floo?"
Minerva nodded grimly. "Of course."
Neville gestured toward the fireplace. "This way, please."
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
When Mr and Mrs Granger stepped out of the floo coming back from St Mungo's, their faces were pale and almost green.
"I thought…" Mrs Granger said. "That magical people didn't need science because they had cures for disease."
"I had no idea you had such suffering in the magical world," Mr Granger said with a squeeze of his wife's hand. "I see now that your world has its own set of problems and woes. We're sorry for your parents, Mr Longbottom. We truly are. I just wish… you hadn't taken our daughter away from us."
"I'm still here, mum, dad," Hermione said from the side of Minerva's desk. She set down the tea she was drinking. "I'm not dead."
Mrs Granger gasped and ran forward, stopping only inches away from her daughter. She looked like she wanted to hug her, but was unsure where to even start. Hermione towered over her now, her equine body set her many hands over where her human torso would have begun, and her mass alone had changed greatly.
Hermione, however, did the only thing she could, opening her hands to the embrace and pulling her mother to her with tears running down her face.
Her mother sobbed into her daughter's body, clinging to her as though she were a life raft. "Oh, honey," We already had to forget you once. I'm never, ever going to let it happen again."
Hermione trembled and bowed down on her front legs to put herself at a more appropriate human hugging height and crushed her mother to her breast. "I love you mum."
"You'll always be our daughter, you hear me?" Mrs Granger said stoutly. "We'd love you even if you came back with multiple heads."
"They told us the most drama would end after you stopped being a teenager," Mr. Granger said as he approached his transformed daughter. "Those books don't know anything, do they?"
Hermione let out a sob as her father joined the huddle, and the Granger family was reunited at last.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
"Mum, dad," Hermione said a little shyly. "This is Briarfoot, Meadowrun, and Flint. Briarfoot, Meadowrun, Flint, these are my parents: Mr and Mrs Granger."
"Pleased to meet you," the three foals chimed, bowing their front legs down.
"This is Firenze," Hermione said. "He teaches… the stories of the stars and planets, and this is Severus. He teaches Defence Against.."
"Dastardly Arts," Severus said, extending a pale hand.
Mr and Mrs Granger looked up into Severus' face and swallowed hard. Hermione smiled a little, know the effect Severus had on the typical person as a human, let alone a centaur standing at over seventeen some hands.
"Dastardly Arts," Mr Granger said. "Sounds like the stuff of war."
Severus seemed to contemplate that for a moment. "Indeed it is."
"Is it anything like Military Science?" Mr Granger asked.
"Quite a bit," Severus replied thoughtfully. "Planning for the most intelligent of foes and not being surprised when the enemy throws you imbeciles."
Mr Granger laughed genuinely. "I like you, Sev… Severus is it? You seem to have a fine head on your shoulders. As I've understood it, you too were changed with my daughter? You weren't born this way?"
"I was born this way!" Briarfoot said proudly. "Well, my dam says I was born all leg and no sense."
The other two foals giggled.
Briarfoot snorted. "Flint was born with two hooves in the water and two hooves fire. Meadowrun was born running. Everyone says her dam flirted with an Arabian centaur when she was young."
"Briar!" Firenze snorted. "Manners!"
Briar and the other two foals giggled.
"I was born this way," Flint and Meadowrun said together.
"As was I," Firenze said. "Many, many moons ago."
"He's ancient," Meadowrun mouthed to Mrs Granger.
Firenze ahemed.
The foals giggled and snuggled up to Hermione's body for reassurance, using her as a defence against Firenze's wrath.
Severus shook his head. "I was not born this way," he confessed. "Hermione and I have been… adapting together."
"It must he hard," Mrs Granger said. "Adapting."
Severus sighed. "It was unexpected, as you know, but, I have known Firenze for many years, and these miscreants have been under hoof for some time now. I have also been in touch with the herd long before this. It has helped."
The foals moved over to flomp on Severus, letting him know that they were comfortable with him as well.
Hermione chuckled at the migration.
Mr Granger seemed to think of something. "Not to make light of this situation, Hermione, but what happens with the effects wear off?"
The foals gained a panicked expression, their ears flicked back against their skulls. Flint clung to Firenze. Meadowrun clung to Severus, and Briarfoot dove between Hermione's legs and snuggled against her with a frightened whicker.
Hermione immediately touched Briarfoot on the head, soothing her mane and whickering softly. Hermione looked at her father as he sipped the tea she had given. "I'm afraid we don't know if it will, dad. There is a good chance that this is what I am."
Briar combed Hermione's legs with her hands nervously, chattering her teeth slightly in distress. The foals had become bonded to Hermione very quickly as a centaur, and the bond she had had with them as a human has been strong to begin with. What she had now, however, was something much stronger, and the very thought of losing Hermione as one of their herd was a terrifying as losing their dam or their sire. It was, perhaps, even more terrifying due to fact that if Hermione and Severus turned back their herd presence at Hogwarts would be down to Firenze, which was hardly a stable group with multiple stable adults.
Mr Granger seemed to realise he had distressed the "children" and frowned. "I am sorry. This is new to me… to us. There is much we do not know of the magical world, or what certain things mean to you. It is obvious you care of my daughter very much, yes?"
The foals nodded emphatically, nickering.
Mr Granger's expression softened, and Mrs Granger seemed more at ease. "I meant what I said before, Hermione. We lost you once to a war when no child should be expected to fight in one. We got you back. I have no intention of letting this get between us either. I do wonder why this plant, however, didn't turn Mr Longbottom into a centaur instead of you."
The foals made faces. "Professor Longbottom would make a horrible centaur."
Severus snorted. "And I'm so much better."
The foals looked at him curiously as if to say "well, yeah!" and "obviously."
Briarfoot gave a large yawn and covered it immediately.
"Someone should be getting back to the dormitories," Hermione said, not missing the tired yawn.
Briar shook her head adamantly, clinging to Hermione's mane with her hands.
Hermione looked like she was going to put her foot down, but with the pleading expressions on all the foals' faces, the centaur witch seemed to realise that this was a night of exceptions.
"Mum, dad, I set you up to sleep in that room there," she said, pointing to the nearby room that Hogwarts had graciously conjured for her without her even asking. I set you up with blankets. You're probably exhausted. We can talk more in the morning."
Mrs Granger looked relieved. "Bless you, dear," she said, shuffling off to the guest room.
Hermione folded her legs under herself and laid down, nickering an invitation. The three foals immediately attended her, laying down beside her in a shared huddle as they snuggled with each other and against her. The lull of the three foals against her seemed to remind her body that she was exhausted as well, and it wasn't long before she was dozing off with them.
Mr Granger stood with Severus and Firenze, watching the scene play out. "I never thought I'd say this, but she's a natural mother," he said softly, his face relaxing. "I guess, maybe, later I'll be looking at grandfoals."
Severus made a soft choking sound.
Firenze placed a hand on Mr Granger's shoulder. "She has a great heart, Mr Granger. I have no doubt she learnt that from her mother and father. What form she takes will never change that or who she is."
Mr Granger squared his shoulders. "We've always been proud of her. I just wish, sometimes, that I could parade her around and tell the neighbours 'Look! See how wonderful my daughter is. Look at all she can do!' you know?"
Firenze nodded.
Severus stared at the pile of foals on Hermione. "Do not worry, Mr Granger. There are far more than you think that know exactly how wonderful she is. She helped save the world, " Severus said with a small smile, "and that was only the beginning."
Mr Granger smiled. "My daughter… Saviour of the World. I can sleep well knowing that." He patted Firenze and Severus on the back and walked toward the guest room. "Goodnight," he said, shutting the door behind him.
Firenze smiled. "I see now where she gets her resilience in the face of panic." He stared at Severus a moment. "What troubles you, brother?"
Severus looked nervous. "That was, as they say, the first time I had to meet the parents."
Firenze's eyes widened. "You mean, they didn't know? Surely they could smell that you were mates?"
Severus flushed.
Firenze pursed his lips together. "Oh. Well, that went well!"
Severus gave him a look.
Firenze snorted. "Trust me, brother, it could have been worse. The first time I courted a young filly, her Sire chased me across the moors with his bow notched threatening that if I ever came near her again, he would castrate me with his hunting knife."
Severus paled. "How is that 'civilised,' Firenze?"
Firenze grinned. "It was civilised, brother. He at least gave me a head start!"
Severus made himself busy tucking himself up next to Hermione as he folded his legs underneath himself.
"My turn to do rounds," Firenze chuckled as he let himself out.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-
A/N: I see the Grangers as being a very practical people. Emotional? Oh, yes. Prone to freak out when their daughter's pictures show up on their doorstep making her out to be a monster? Definitely. Totally unhinged? No. I think in my head, they would be the type to want to know why Neville was so blinded before making a decision as to ream him out or not. I see them as seeing St Mungo's Ward as a tragedy. I see anyone who can forgive their daughter for Oblivating them willing to make big steps to accept her new form. I also see Neville as the type to be willing to fess up to her parents long before he is able to fess up to HERMIONE.
As for the parcel, anyone have guesses who sent it? Heh. Heh. Heh.