In the Domain
The rest of the term for the students seemed to trudge on but for Hermione she felt she was splitting in multiple directions but with one direction there was a sense of acceptance. She went back to the Domain, straight to her father, frazzled and erratic. She had questions, oh so many questions but there were three that shoved past all the others. What was happening to her in the mortal realm? Why was she affected so deeply by the dead, especially the unicorn? Finally, Minerva. That one name, that woman made a subcategory or… simply drove her nuts. Too many questions revolved around her feelings toward the woman. There were too many to count.
In Death's office she sat her in a chair by the fire with brandy in her hand as he waited. She did not know where to begin so she asked her first question.
"What is happening to my emotions in the mortal realm? I was deeply affected by the death of a unicorn, apparently one of the purest life forms on this planet. I cried. I was stunned still at the death of such a creature. Why?" she cracked, almost begging for an answer to make sense.
"Unicorns are rare, and pure. Even I have some difficulty remaining completely unfazed by their demise," Death confessed watching flames.
"It was more than a passing interest, or a spark of an emotion. I felt like I was hit with a blast of compassion. I felt sorrow, deep in my bones sorry over the creature. What is happening to me?" she plead for her answer.
"Oh Hermione. You are not completely mine, remember. Lilith… Andromeda is more HUMAN than human. She feels everything around her with such intensity that she blew me away when I spent my first few eons with her. You are half hers my love," Death said softly.
"I can feel such pain and devastation due to my mother's lineage. Come on," Hermione scoffed crossing her legs as she placed her brandy on the side table. Death moved from his chair and knelt before her bringing her gaze into his own.
"My dearest, I would rather you feel strongly than nothing at all," he whispered.
"You feel. You feel everything," she argued like a petulant child unwilling to believe a word he said then she saw his small sad smile.
"I feel, yes, but not like a human does," Death spoke words Hermione never heard him speak and she cocked her head to the side.
"What about emotions within society. I am fiery and irritable, but I have never been as enraged and yet calm as I have been when I am in the mortal realm?" she Needed answers.
"Oh, I believe a lot of that pertains to your heart waking up from a slumber it never knew it was taking," Death said as he rose from the floor and sat back in his chair.
"I don't understand? She said, trying to find her answers, truths in the flames of the fire.
"Minerva," Death spoke her name and Hermione clenched her eyes shut. She looked at him and sighed waiting, but he did not continue. She knew he would not resume talking until she asked him questions.
"Why do I have great emotions near her?" Hermione snapped her head to the side when she heard a chuckle from the side.
"You have emotions. That is rich daughter," he began to shake from his laughter.
"I FEEL!" Hermione yelled with a growl then closed her eyes, "I feel immensely," she whispered.
"You love," Death whispered back causing Hermione to open her eyes and stare at him. Her eyes bore into his and she began to shake her head as her eyes shimmered.
"No… no… no," Hermione whispered over and over.
"Why not?" Death asked softly. Hermione shook her head and let a tear fall down her cheek.
"I will have to reap her. I will have to bring her here one day dead," Hermione sounded barely above a whisper, "I don't want her to die. I don't want to know a life where she is not living," Hermione confessed, breaking down to the core of the problem.
"We will figure it out love, but in the meantime…"
"I know, find the Hallows and destroy them," she gritted.
"No," Death rebuked causing Hermine to glare at him, "I want to you live," Death instructed softly. Hermione shook her head, "I know her mortality weighs on you but think, would you want to know love and lost it, or walk this existence never knowing how beautiful and sweet if could have been?"
Hermione sighed and shook her head. She was capable of love, she knew this, but she never thought it would happen to her. She never would have thought to find such a gorgeous gift in the soul of a mortal. She spent days trying to find her way in and out of her episodes in the mortal realm. She spent days trying to find solutions to her… problem. No matter how hard she searched or tried to close off her heart she could not. After days away, she came to accept her issue for what it was, a very intense human emotion that she could not, and now would not deny. She might love a woman with the will of iron, and a soul so pure and soft that Hermione could only liken it to a flower. To Hermione, Minerva was her Unicorn, pure, wonderful, and her downfall, however glorious that downfall may be.
Hermione accepted everything and that was how she found herself at the Gryffindor table at breakfast right before winter break with a letter in her hands. Her father needs her at the castle. There was another Hallow in close proximity. Hermione lifted her head and found Minerva's eyes as she turned from the medi-witch. She lifted a letter and had a cock to her head. Minerva nodded. It was as if in that small interlude she had a full conversation stating they would meet later. Both women nodded and went about their morning, each anticipating their conversation later in the evening.
"Hermione?" asked a voice that once grated on her but over time became the sound of a boy alive, "Will you be staying or leaving for the winter hols?" Harry asked, gaining her attention.
"Staying," she said with a smile and a turn of her head back to breakfast smiling. She saw Minerva's eyes as she glanced in her direction, and she heard.
"Wonderful! I am too, I have no place to go…" Harry kept talking but Hermione only made small sounds and listened to her… friend.
In the Mist
The weeks flew by, and kids were on the train. Hermione and Minerva never got a chance to speak. When class was in session the professor seemed to treat her with indifference but watched her with the hawkish eye of a woman looking out for her cubs. In the halls surrounded by many the two women would only nod their pleasantries and go their own ways. Hermione was grateful. After the episode with Dumbledore, she didn't want the man in her business, and the more they acted like student and professor, the less he would be in their business.
On that evening she followed her feet. She stood before a door and heard voices, one firm, and one placating. She made herself invisible and walked through the barrier.
"I have left you and the girl alone," Dumbledore said as he paced in front of Minerva's desk as she ran her eyes over late homework, and the tests from the day prior from her students. Hermione slipped into the corner farthest from the adults and watched the interaction between them. Minerva seemed on edge, and the old man seemed like he crackled with unspent energy.
"As well as you should," she up her quill down and pinched the bridge of her nose after throwing her glasses on the ungraded exams.
"Albus your infatuation with the girl is borderline obsessive," Minerva spoke in a tone that garnered his attention.
"She is a student of Hogwarts, and her business is mine to know," he began to growl.
"Yes, a student! With nothing going on but being a STUDENT! Dear gods man pull yourself together. She is a girl," then her eyes narrowed as she slipped her glasses over her nose, "What are your aims with the girl? What is your obsession truly about? You look like an old man lusting after a child," she spat, and the man recoiled.
"Oh Albus please no," Minerva pleaded with the man but never came from around her desk.
"No, and for you to think that of me says something is terribly wrong," he sighed and walked to the window and stared out, "He isn't a muggle, and she is not muggleborn. I was completely blocked from his thoughts, hers as well. Its disconcerting," he said offering the statement up as a peace offering.
"You are not supposed to skim thoughts to begin with, and I have heard and read that some muggles have an innate instinct to close off their thoughts. Why and how I do not know but that is not my concern. My concern is your obsession with this girl," Minerva scolded him.
"They are powerful Minerva," he said turning from the window and then looked at her before walking to the door.
"You really know nothing? She is simply here as a student?" He tried once more to ger information, anything.
"Yes Albus, I believe she is where she needs to be to grow into who she will become. I am proud that Hogwarts is that place for her to find what she needs to be successful. You used to think in a similar fashion," Minerva said looking the man square into his eyes. He shook his head.
"We used to be so close until that hat went on her head. It seems like everything is upside down," he whispered.
"WE can not be close when you use me in such a fashion. I bid you good evening, Headmaster," Minerva dismissed him, and he sighed taking the hint.
When the door closed, shot a silencing spell to the door and a ward to let her know if someone might be coming near the portal, and sank back into her chair. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against her chair trying to decompress from her episode with Albus. Hermione went to the door she did not want to burden Minerva with her presence.
"I can feel you," a soft voice spoke to an empty room. Hermione turned around and waited. Minerva opened her eyes and looked around and saw nothing then sighed.
"I must be losing my mind," she muttered to herself as she looked down to the tests before her and the homework off to the side. She shook her head and stood and walked to the cabinet and poured a measure in her glass and walked to the couch. Hermione watched everything she did. She watched the planes of her face as she sat before her fire wishing and hoping she wanted Hermione there.
"Hermione, what …"
"I am here," Hermione declared from her side before she could finish her question and sat down propping her feet up on the table in front to them.
Minerva blinked after she gasped.
"I thought I was alone," Minerva spoke lowly.
"Yes, and I did not want you to finish your question not knowing I was here," Hermione said and then looked over, "I understand we have caused you strife, and for that I apologize," Hermione then turned back to the fire.
"We have not had a chance to speak since you have returned. What is happening?' Minerva asked and they both know that question could have been taken from many different viewpoints. That question could open many different doors depending on the subject. Hermione produced the letter her father had written her and gave it to Minerva. She watched the woman read the letter and then place it between them.
"Another one? Do you know which one?" Miner asked, seemingly slipping to her professional demeanor.
"No, but I have a feeling Dumbledore has that one two. I think it might be the cloak," Hermione said, and Minerva looked at her.
"Why do you say that?" she said, placing her drink on the table. Hermione stood from the sofa and looked down.
"If he had the stone all he had to do was ask the dead who I really was," Hermione responded, and Minerva stood as well but neither one of them moved. Then it clicked.
"You took them all?" Minerva asked quietly trying to process. Hermione's eyes grew deep and sorrowful.
"Yes," Hermione whispered and then turned from Minerva, "Just as I will have to take you," Hermione spoke softly to the flames. Minerva saw the woman, glamor gone, and beautiful. She slipped next to Hermione, feeling the warmth of the fire and slid her arms over her shoulder, careful not to touch her.
"That is a part of life, my dear," Minerva verbalized their difference and felt Hermione's shoulders drop. Hermione turned and faced Minerva and reached out and Minerva's breath caught as Hermione reached for her hands, and then touched her flesh. She was cold, so very cold, but the sensations sent a shot of warmth through her. Hermione lifted Minerva's right hand to her cheek, and then closed her eyes. Minerva swept her thumb under Hermione's eye forcing her to open to her.
"I cannot bear to know there is life without you living in it," Hermione breathed.
"Oh. Lass," Minerva pulled Hermione to her slowly and Hermione let her lips connect with her forehead. Hermione closed her eyes as she basked in Minerva's light as if it was a gorgeous summer day. Hermione pulled from the half embrace and walked from the woman with her eyes on her. Minerva simply watched the woman walk away. Once Hermione was through the door and she plopped down on the sofa.
"Getting a little cozy, I see," Andromeda smiled from the other end of the sofa. Minerva didn't give a good gods damned. She felt. She felt in her bones an immensity that consumed her. She felt it deep down and not even Hermione's meddling mother could take that away.