Hermione was dreaming, there was no other explanation for what she could feel… warm breath and a wet tongue circling her left nipple. She moaned a little at the sensation and felt someone move behind her. Curiosity got the better of her and she slowly slid her eyes open. That was when she knew she was definitely not dreaming.
She was not in her bedroom, or even her flat; she wasn't even in the room she was supposed to be staying in at Hogwarts. Looking out from her horizontal position she realized she was in the Room of Hidden Things, or Requirement, depending on what you needed. The previous night flooded back to her, along with a rush of arousal that was becoming harder to ignore. Somehow in the last few moments of sleepiness, Draco had maneuvered her to end up laying on her left side on the sofa, and spooned himself behind her, his quite impressive morning erection poking into her. Not that she minded; and it didn't seem to be bothering him either as he was rather preoccupied with waking her up in one of the best ways possible.
One of his long, pale hands was softly massaging her still moist breast, (how he'd so fluidly moved from her front to her back without her noticing, she had no idea). His thumb was gently stroking over a nipple now whilst his other, more free hand, was softly caressing the plump outer lips of her - thankfully neatly trimmed - quickly dampening center. She felt herself shiver at the gentleness of his touch; it was teasing, ticklish and yet so damn erotic she felt herself arching her back at the tender sensations.
Her reactions encouraged him and he added pressure with both hands, his left focusing more deliberately on her nipple, his right pushing into the moist depths of her pink labial folds. Whether the first touch of her clit was accidental or intentional she wasn't sure but it made her moan and wriggle back against him, wanting to feel him fully against her; it was an overwhelming sensation to be surrounded by him, his warm chest flush with her back, his erection softly nudging around her bum as they moved with the giving and receiving of pleasure.
"Mmmm, Draco," she whispered, heatedly as he stroked more intently over her clit, before circling it in wider shapes than she practiced herself. It was a more obtuse feeling, incorporating more nerve endings and she almost cried as his hand moved away. It was fleeting disappointment though, as he dipped to fingers lower, into her molten pool of arousal. Her clenching around his fingers was completely intentional and had his head fall forward onto her shoulder, groaning 'tease' into her ear as his fingers stilled.
"Keep going, please," she whimpered, grinding back against him as he started kissing her neck. Relief and heat flooded through her when his hand started to move again, his thumb extended to nudge at her clit as he worked the damp flesh.
The rhythm he'd found was building a fiendfyre inside her quickly, which was ironic considering where they were. Her legs were straight and tensing to the same beat as his fingers; her breath grew rapid, panting almost and she felt him curling his fingers to stroke at her g-spot. She was seconds away from orgasm, just a few more strokes and she'd be there.
She could feel herself cresting, about to fall over the edge into one of the most powerful climaxes she'd ever experienced when there was a loud pop from behind the couch and a high-pitched squeak from a small elf.
"Misty is sorries to interrupts!" The embarrassed elf was wearing a green tartan dress, to match her forest green tea-cozy hat, which could only mean she was Minerva's personal elf. Hermione quickly righted her clothes, shoving Draco's hand away from her lap and covering herself with a blanket that was draped over the back of the couch.
"That's alright, Misty. What can we do for you?" Draco smirked.
The elf straightened her small spine, "Mistress Minny be waiting for yous outside assign-ed quartres. She be wantings to talk to yous for idea of combining classes."
Hermione knew her face was red because it was burning so she just nodded, "Thank you, Misty. Please let her know we'll meet her in the Professor's Lounge before breakfast."
The elf eyed them for a few moments to gauge if they were being honest before nodding and popping away. Once they were alone again, Hermione let out an almost feral growl and started fixing her clothes and hair with her wand. The uniform-transfiguration had worn off over night but she still felt like she was about to do the walk-of-shame, in front of Minerva, no less.
Draco was shaking with silent laughter, looking smug. Hermione stood up and waved her wand over herself, casting a mild Scourgify once her buttons were in the right holes and her knee-socks were stockings again, before doing the same to Draco as he stood. Hermione checked the time and noted that it was only six in the morning and that they should have enough time to make it back to their rooms before students began traversing the halls. They quickly exited the highly-adaptable room and after checking that no one was around, made their way up towards the Astronomy tower.
As they neared the tower entrance, someone cleared their throat, "I expect this sort of behavior from the students, not the guest professors."
Hermione winced and slowly turned to see Minerva who didn't look as stern and disapproving as Hermione had expected. In fact, if Hermione didn't feel so embarrassed, she would have thought Minerva looked smug, as though she'd just won a bet.
"Just re-writing a little history, Minerva," Hermione responded, trying not to feel like she'd been 'caught with her hands in the cookie jar'. The truth was the easiest way to go anyway as the Headmistress was not someone easily deceived. "Some memories need it."
Minerva smiled indulgently, still with an edge of smugness that Hermione assumed meant she had definitely won a bet. "I find myself agreeing with you, Hermione. Please just make sure you keep your canoodling away from the students' eyes."
Hermione found herself blushing as she nodded. A quick glance at Draco told her that he was having the same reaction. He looked so adorable when he blushed; it made him look younger and Hermione remembered him at the age of fourteen, covering his eyes with his mid-90s floppy hair.
"I'll see you in the lounge to discuss combining your older classes. For now, I'll leave you to prepare for breakfast; Neville has crossbred two versions of sopophorus and wants to show me the result. Apparently, it was something inspired by Harry or Severus… or both. I don't know; something about a book from your sixth year."
Hermione gasped, knowing exactly what Minerva was referring to. "The Half Blood Prince," she whispered under her breath before getting louder. "That bloody book. Harry was insufferable in sixth year. Between his sudden expertise in potions and his obsession with Draco, he's lucky I stayed friends with him at all that year."
"What book?" Draco asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"I'll tell you later. I really need a shower before breakfast and classes get started. I'm a bit nervous about it, to be honest. I feel hypocritical considering…"
"Please don't finish that sentence in front of the Headmistress," Draco interrupted her quickly, feeling like he was still a student.
"Everything will be fine, Hermione. You are an accomplished and respected witch," Minerva complimented, holding back her amusement at Draco's comment and Hermione's blushes. She hadn't realized they were saving the full extent of their sex-life until after they were married. She thought it was rather sweet. "As it is, I just wanted to give my approval for your idea of combining classes for the older years tomorrow. I'll see you both at breakfast."
Hermione and Draco watched the Headmistress turn on her heel and head towards the main staircase; neither quite knowing what to say. She sighed before looking at her fiance, knowing they would be parted for the day after breakfast; she didn't want to be parted from him all day but made up for it with… "up for re-writing more history later?"
He smiled his adorable smile, the one that was half way between genuine and smirk, maybe it was a genuine smirk, and pulled her into his arms, kissing her breathless. "I think that can be arranged, if we're not too tired."
Planting one more kiss on his face, she smiled. "I'll see you in the lounge so we can pitch the idea of combining the classes with Minerva before breakfast. Right now, I'm going to go get ready for the day before my willpower disappears and I drag you into the shower with me."
Draco nodded his agreement, although considered disintegrating her willpower with more kisses, before they parted ways at their rooms. Hermione dumped her bag on the sofa in her room and showered quicker than she normally would, before pulling her hair back into a high ponytail, applying some minimal makeup and dressing for the day. She chose a royal blue blouse, black pencil skirt, her favorite Louboutin heels and a black day robe left open over her clothing. She found it was fairly easy to combine muggle and wizarding clothing in a fashionable way without minimizing either and decided to leave the pointy hat and robe set for the older year groups tomorrow - the ones likely to have more attitude. It also made the most ornery purebloods angry, which made her vindictively happy. After checking her outfit once more to make sure she looked professional and fashionable, she left her rooms, warding the door and tucking her wand into a hidden pocket in her skirt.
Draco showered and dressed as leisurely as he always had, only checking the time when he stepped out of the shower to make sure he wasn't late. He dressed in a sharp black muggle suit and shiny black dragonhide shoes, before grabbing his potions coverall robes and draping them over his arm. Leaving his rooms, he still had a pep in his step and a soppy grin from his morning with Hermione as he made his way to the Professors' Lounge, setting wards over the door to his room to make sure no one got in to snoop, he placed his wand securely in a thin pocket designed for that very purpose. He'd only ever been in the Professors' Lounge once; it had been in third year when Professor Lupin had taken their class there to practice with the godawful Boggart. He was still thankful it hadn't gotten to his turn; the thought of being told, by a bloody boggart, in front of all of his classmates that Hermione had beaten him in every class, was still a mortifying thought.
They were both on time to their meeting with Minerva and found her waiting in an armchair in front of the fireplace. She nodded to them both and offered tea, which they accepted; each of them sipping on their beverages for a moment before Minerva began the conversation.
"You want to combine the older year classes for your sex-ed course and your potion class?"
Hermione smiled sweetly, "Yes, we think it would be a good opportunity for the older student to learn how to brew the contaceptive potion, while also learning how to have safe and protected sex."
Draco nodded, "It isn't a potion that is generally taught in Potions, because most students go to their head of house or Madame Pomfrey for the potion. But if they learn how to brew it themselves, once they graduate they won't have to buy it from an apothecary, and they can be sure it won't be the watered down version most apothecaries seem to sell."
Minerva eyed them for a few silent moments before nodding, "I do not disagree. If you want to combine the classes, you are welcome to do so, but we will have to rearrange the schedules. We'll have the younger students sex-ed classes today and then you can have the combined course tomorrow. Usually half the older classes have potions today and the rest have it tomorrow, I'll change it to have the older years all have potions tomorrow. I will let the other professors know of the changes, as it will also change the younger years schedules. It should be done by the end of breakfast. Speaking of, breakfast is about to begin, so you should go and get acclimated to being here for the next few days."
The two guest professors nodded, thanked Minerva and made their way from the lounge towards the Great Hall, where they entered through the Professors' Entrance and met Neville at the head table. He gestured for them to sit by him and they took him up on the offer, taking the seats on the end of the table.
Breakfast went well and seemed just as noisy and rambunctious as it had been when they were growing up. Hermione felt quite nostalgic, watching the students as the mail arrived and they ate happily. She was suddenly hit with a sharp pang of grief over all those they'd lost to get to this point, but she didn't feel overwhelmed yet, so she shoved the pain back and continued eating quietly, listening to Neville and Draco discussing plants used in potions.
After the students left for their first classes of the day, Hermione, Draco and Neville stood to walk the long way out of the Hall. Checking the time, Draco had to leave sooner and kissed Hermione on the cheek saying, "I'll see you at lunch."
Noticing that Neville found that funny, he frowned, "What's so funny, Nev?"
"Nothing." Neville chuckled, shaking his head.
Hermione glared at Neville a moment before rolling her eyes, "Neville thinks it's funny that you think you'll see me at lunch. He's remembering what I was like as a student and knows how I am going to be spending my lunch working on my course. You have too many classes to work out the combined course, so I'll do it. You just focus on 'not letting the dunderheads blow up their cauldrons'" she said in her most severe Severus imitation, "and spend lunch with Neville. You don't get to see him often so you should take advantage of the opportunity."
Draco seemed to get it and grinned, "I forget sometimes that you're the know-it-all bookworm of Gryffindor." He liked that they could banter back and forth without offense. It showed how much they'd both grown and he was grateful for it.
Hermione scrunched up her nose at the epithet but nodded with a slight pout on her lips, "Combined classes aren't until tomorrow so I won't see you until tonight."
"Awww, are you gonna miss me, Granger?" He asked, slightly mockingly.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Not if you're gonna be a prat about it."
He kissed her again. "You love it when I'm a prat."
She couldn't help but laugh, "Keep telling yourself that."
He snickered, then sighed. "Love you, Granger."
She smiled, "Love you too, you great prat."
Laughing, Draco waved back at them as he made his way down to the Potions classroom in the dungeons. He needed to quickly familiarize himself with the way Vane had the room set up so that he wouldn't be playing catch up in front of the students. He only had half an hour until classes started. According to his schedule it was first years, first; Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.
Neville grinned at her, "I know how you felt during breakfast. We've been friends too long for me to not notice, you never stay that quiet when academics are involved unless your mind is distracted by something… haunting. If it helps, the summer I started here, I stood in the spot where Bellatrix died in the Hall and screamed and cried and yelled at her. Forgot to put up silencing wards though and ended up scaring the life out of Minerva, Poppy and Pomona."
Hermione tried not to laugh at his statement but couldn't stop herself completely in the end and let out a rather unladylike snort. Once her laughter died down, she sighed, "Does it ever get easier?"
Neville shrugged, "Over time. Sometimes it hits me out of nowhere, but usually things are always going on that I'm too busy or distracted to really notice or pay much attention to it."
Hermione nodded and looked back into the Hall from where they now stood at the entrance. She smiled wryly, turning back to Neville as he offered to walk her to the Library before her class. She declined, thanking him and he nodded before squeezing her shoulder gently and heading out the front doors towards the greenhouses.
Hermione wasn't going to admit it but she was more nervous about her classes than ever before. She remembered Severus's words about teenage boys and her 'assets' and rolled her eyes as that's all the teenage boys seemed to look at. Similarly, of course, all the teenage girls were staring at Draco, like he was a piece of meat, at breakfast. She tamped down the green eyed monster that was trying to escape though, and remembered their tryst that morning. He was hers; they didn't stand a chance.
After spending an hour in the library, looking over her lesson plan for the younger students, she made her way back to the Great Hall. It had been determined that the large assembly room would be the most fitting place for her classes as it would accommodate a whole year group (or two) easily. Minerva had mentioned before leaving the hall that she had added the third year students to the same classes as the fourth years, just to try and start implanting the responsibilities the youngsters needed to have about their own bodies as early as possible.
At ten minutes past the hour, thirty-six teenagers walked into the Great Hall, looking around to see if anything was different since they left an hour ago. It seemed like nothing was, except that Hermione Granger was the only adult in the room.
Hermione cleared her throat and waited for the whispers to die down. "Good morning and welcome to the most embarrassing two hours of your academic lives. Take your seats please, don't worry about house tables right now. Just sit where you want, with people you don't mind having a giggle with."
There was some shuffling around and chatter whilst everyone found somewhere to sit. Hermione noticed the girls tended to band together in giggly groups; the boys did the same, slapping each other on the back or laughing at a quietly iterated joke - no doubt a dirty one; not that she was cynical about such things, she just remembered the humor of most of the Weasley boys when they were together. The house divisions weren't as clear as in her days at Hogwarts but they were still sort of present.
"Okay," she began, scanning the students. "How many of you know why I'm here?"
About five hands shot up in the air and Hermione smiled, noticing that Victoire and Teddy were among them, and remembering her youthful enthusiasm for answering questions. She pointed at a girl in Ravenclaw robes, with milk chocolate coloured hair, tied in a bun. "Miss…?"
The girl put her hand down and introduced herself as Jessy Burden. "You're Hermione Granger. I read about you in the latest edition of Hogwarts: A History. You're in the new Appendix at the back dedicated to heroes from the war. It said you were the brains behind Harry Potter's defeat of Tom Riddle. It also said you're a qualified Healer and Deputy Head of the Department of Education at the Ministry of Magic now."
Hermione found herself smiling at the young Ravenclaw as she rambled. The girl reminded her of herself. It was sweet, until… "And in answer to your actual question, the Headmistress told us that you were here to give us 'the sex talk'." Blushing a little, the girl used air quotes with her terminology and as much as she was loathe to admit it, she knew Severus had been right; she did need to call it a sex talk. She had to force herself to not roll her eyes though; no need to 'pull a Snape' and show exasperation.
Thinking of her father's words from years ago - "call a spade, a spade" - and how she always applied that to her life: Voldemort had been a murderer, a psychopath, a dark wizard - call a spade, a spade - he was not a Lord; dark or otherwise. He never deserved that title, never earned it.
It took a moment to pull herself back from the dark turn her thoughts had taken but she was nothing if not a multi-tasking, compartmentalizing whirlwind of mental acrobatic so with a deep breath, she refocused on the girl who had used air quotes around 'sex talk'. 'Pulling a Snape' was seconds away as she replied to the Ravenclaw.
"Thank you for sharing my biography with the class, Miss Burden," she said, a little sarcastically. It was hard to not emulate Severus when trying to talk to teens. "You are correct in my qualifications and the reason I am here. You left out a few of my Masteries but I can let you off… just this once. In fact, take five points for Ravenclaw."
Hermione watched as a nearby housemate gave the girl a hug and suddenly she wished she was back amongst the student body, gaining points and having the camaraderie of peers. It was something she hadn't realized she was missing.
"I will take questions at the end of the presentation but for now, do you want to start with boys or girls?"
A cacophony of sound erupted as everyone shouted their choices and Hermione realized her mistake immediately. Putting her wand to her throat, she wordlessly cast sonorus before speaking loudly. "Silence. Okay, a show of hands please, for… girls."
Most of the girls put their hands up and a few of the boys too. Hermione reasoned that would mean starting with the pubescent changes to the female anatomy first but she decided to give the other option too.
"Boys?" Eleven hands went up in the air. At least four people hadn't voted at all. She waved her wand, sending diagrams and fact sheets to each person. "Ok, girls it is. Separate into groups of four please and come up here to collect your worksheets."
More murmuring and shuffling ensued as the little witches and wizards moved into what Hermione assumed was common groupings. She decided that for now, she would give them the comfort of tackling the basics with their friends. Once everyone had sent a designated person up to the front to collect worksheets, which was an instruction left over from her muggle primary school days, she started speaking again.
"Okay, the first thing we're going to do is test what you already know. This is not going to be a marked test so there's no need to panic, or groan quite so loudly, but it is to test your knowledge. The two parchments you've just collected have a diagram with spaces to write down which parts of the internal female anatomy you can name; the names you need to find places for are on the board up here. The second sheet is a list of questions relating to changes the body goes through during puberty and magical maturation. Talk to those within your group and combine your knowledge to fill in your parchments as accurately as you can. You have twenty-five minutes. Begin."
Hermione set a timer and then took the twenty-five minutes to observe the students as they worked together. She was proud that none of them seemed to have any prejudices towards the other houses, in fact most preferred to intermingle and work together, rather than work alone; the groups of four weren't exactly one of each house but they were mixed up well enough. She leaned against the head table as she watched them and smiled as she saw Teddy and Victoire working with another Gryffindor and a Slytherin. Obviously house prejudice was scarce nowadays.
"Alright, time's up." Hermione announced as her timer hit zero. The students all stopped working and set their quills down, looking at her expectantly. She swished her wand and the worksheets all fluttered up to the head table and stacked themselves into a neat pile.
"While I look over the worksheets to see what you all know, I'm going to have you read through this booklet. It's a slim tome that the healers at St. Mungo's give out and then we will discuss it and the worksheets once I've looked them over."
After twenty minutes of reviewing the worksheets, Hermione was pleasantly surprised by what the students knew and wasn't that surprised by what they didn't know much about. Standing from the seat she'd taken, she cleared her throat and addressed the students, drawing their attention from the booklets she'd handed out previously.
"Alright, that went well. Clearly some of you have researched a little for this class. That doesn't mean you know everything though. There is always room for improvement and we're going to start with empathy. How many of the girls here have thought it would be easier to be a boy; and vice versa? Let me assure you that puberty is as irritating and frustrating for any other person as it is for you, regardless of gender…
Girls, you have menstrual cycles to contend with, which include cramps, bloating, the actual bleeding, sometimes even nausea and headaches too. On top of that, you're having to put up with hair growth and chest growth, the beginnings of romantic or sexual interest from others around you and as much as this shouldn't be an issue, competition for friends, boyfriends and girlfriends. Add all that to the pressure of OWLs, NEWTs or just regular classes and homework and it makes for very stressed out and grumpy individuals - hence the stereotype of mood swings and you lot being 'difficult to deal with'.
Boys, your journeys into manhood are just as stressful. Voice changing, even more hair growth and the one thing I have personally never envied… having your interest in someone all too apparent without either baggy robes or a concealment charm, which none of you have learned yet. Something to look forward to in your NEWTs.
With this in mind, who now thinks they would rather be of the opposite sex… purely for the ease of your problems, of course. If the wish for that change is something more ingrained to who you are, then feel free to speak to me tomorrow afternoon, privately. I will hold office hours between 2 and 5 pm."
"Now, we shall discuss the differences between puberty in girls and boys, and I want all of you to pay attention and be respectful towards myself and each other. If you have any questions that you do not want to ask in front of your classmates, you may come to my office hours, tomorrow afternoon or write me a note and send it by owl during your free time."
The class continued fairly well, with few interruptions as the students were surprisingly attentive. She chalked their attitudes up to being young and still respecting their professors. She taught them about puberty, which most of them were either starting to go through or about to go through, and answered a few questions about periods and acne.
A few girls asked about the difference between training bras and real bras. She explained that training bras were for girls that were just starting to develop in the chest, and that what they considered real bras were for girls who stayed a consistent size for a long period of time or that needed more support; she even went into explaining that some girls wore sports bras because they were more comfortable than normal bras and that there are all different kinds of bras for all sizes and that if they thought they needed a bra, they should ask their mother or a female family member they trusted to help them find some that would work for them.
After the bra discussion, which most of the boys seemed to have tuned out, a few of the more unruly boys asked about "morning wood", which she explained was completely normal in the male reproductive system. She explained that 'nocturnal penile tumescence' is not directly related to sexual arousal or a result of having a sex dream, but that it is actually a sign that the nerves and blood supply to the penis are healthy.
With her last comment, the bell rang throughout the castle, signalling the end of the two hour class period and the students patiently waited for her to dismiss them; she smiled and let them go quickly, ready for a break and a coffee herself. "Don't forget that my office hours will be tomorrow afternoon, from 2 to 5!"