A/N: Today is Wednesday. I am vastly running out of chapters so I'm going to take a little break and see if I can get a little ahead. So! There will be no chapter on Friday but I will resume posting on SUNDAY 12th March. Hope that's okay.

Thank you, as ever, to all the wonderful reviewers. It really does make my day. Thank you also to all those who are reading and not reviewing. I love that too 3

-0-

"You good?" Ginny asked, tying up her hair. Hermione smiled as she sat on the bed, watching her get ready.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I'm going to go and meet her in a bit."

"Reckon she wants to make out?"

"GINNY!"

"What," she chuckled. "Just asking. You've been on so many dates already."

"They weren't dates," Hermione hissed. "Get out of here, go make out with your boyfriend." Ginny did blush then and Hermione preened over the retaliation. "You deserved that," she called as Ginny ran down the stairs.

Hermione followed slowly and waved to her friends where they were gathered.

"You got your things?" she asked, glancing at Ginny's shoes.

"Yep. And our wands. We're going to be fine, Mum," Ron said with a grin. Hermione glared at him and he swallowed sharply.

"Get outta here," she chuckled. "Get me some sweets or something. A chocolate cauldron."

"You got it," Harry grinned. "Have fun. We expect a full report when you get home."

She gave him the finger as he left and she sat reading until there were only the first and second years left. She wandered down to Minerva's rooms and smiled as Michael greeted her jovially.

"Hello, Hermione!"

"Good afternoon, Michael," she smiled. "May I go in?" He disappeared and returned looking a little less jolly.

"She'll be out in a moment, lass."

"It's okay, Michael. I understand."

He didn't say anything but she saw him nod as she stepped back and leaned against the castle wall. Since their night in the forest and after she'd summoned Ron the other day, Hermione had been practising without their knowledge. She could, now, pretty accurately feel the others most of the time, no matter where they were in the Castle. Minerva had been the easiest, but she certainly wasn't going to tell her that. Minerva was clearly still troubled with the thought of them, as it was. She didn't need the added stress. Except, Hermione reasoned to herself, that Minerva valued truth above all else, no matter how uncomfortable and so Hermione was torn. She felt like it would be perfectly easy to simply cease to exist if it was what Minerva wanted, but at the same time, in order to protect her from harm, Hermione felt the need to be careful with what she shared.

She would see how it went, she supposed. With their locations, often came their emotions and to begin with, Hermione had struggled with separating them from her own. Albus, especially, was so full of sadness and worry. While she had still been smarting from his dismissal of them earlier in the week, she'd turned up on his doorstep only the day before yesterday and ordered him to have a hot chocolate with her. It was nice, in the end. They had both agreed that they would chat about everything except what was happening and she found a really interesting and kind man, underneath the bravado. Harry was always a little worried but was not so full of life that it took over very often. For instance, she had guessed that Sirius had written back yesterday when his happiness spiked so brightly that she couldn't help but smile and she was just waiting to hear what the letter said. Ron was relatively easygoing and Ginny the same.

It was Minerva that constantly filled her thoughts.

It was now as easy to summon up Minerva's feelings as it was her own. She seemed to be aware of her at every waking moment and even sometimes at night. In fact, just last night she had woken with a jerk, breathing hard, only to find that it was not her nightmare that had woken her, but Minerva's. She'd closed her eyes and imagined hugging Minerva, in her mind. She did not wake again.

"Good afternoon?"

"Hi," Hermione blinked, coming out of her thoughts. She'd heard Minerva's entrance and let her take the lead. "How are you?"

"Fine," Minerva shrugged.

"Good," Hermione said, struggling with the formalities yet again. This wasn't even like how they used to speak when she was a first-year student. "Shall we?"

"You don't know where we are going," Minerva said imperiously.

"True." Hermione acknowledged, not liking the tone or the nervousness rolling off her for no reason. It cooled her own tone when she replied. "I mean, if you wanna stand here for the rest of the day, we can do that too. I just supposed, seeing as you're dressed to go outside, that we were going to do that."

Minerva glanced down at herself and rolled her eyes. Hermione tried not to smile but she waved Minerva forward to walk ahead of her. It didn't last long before Minerva stopped.

"I am doing this badly," she muttered. "I'm trying to be professional."

"Why?" Hermione asked tightly. "Is it professional to go with me outside the school? Or to coffee? Or a picnic? Is that what you want?"

"I don't honestly know what I want anymore," she muttered. Hermione waited her out as she bit her lip and started rubbing her forehead. The pain and confusion made Hermione want to drag her into her arms, but she knew it would not be welcome, so she did the next best thing. She reached out, interrupted the motion and squeezed Minerva's hand as she pulled it away.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're going to rub through to your brain one day?"

Minerva frowned and then laughed as Hermione squeezed again and then let it go.

"Yes," she nodded. "Poppy tells me often."

"She's much more than I think we all give her credit for," Hermione chuckled.

"I don't want that," Minerva said suddenly. Hermione blinked and her heart skipped a beat. "I mean," Minerva continued quickly. "I don't want to be professional. I was," she huffed. "I spoke out of turn. I wasn't thinking."

Hermione nodded and looked up and down the empty corridor.

"Minerva, may I propose something?"

Minerva gave her a wary look, which made Hermione chuckle, but Minerva gave in.

"You may."

"We will simply go to this place, wherever you had planned, together and in the meantime you tell me about your friendship with Madam Pomfrey."

"I would prefer you to call her Poppy. She won't mind."

"I have been invited to do so, and I understand." And she did. Calling any of the teachers by their titles was just another reminder that Hermione was still a student and she was sure a big part of Minerva's reticence was to do with that.

As they walked side by side to the gates, Minerva told the story of how she and Poppy had met at Hogwarts and then fallen out when Minerva left school after Poppy's secret marriage to Minerva's brother came to light.

"You made up though? I hear it took a little while."

It was a small tease and Minerva, to Hermione's surprise, took it as such.

"Ha," Minerva shook her head. "Poppy was clearly being generous. It did," Minerva nodded as they reached the gate. "But I owe them much."

"I'm glad you have family, Minerva. I bet you're a fabulous Aunt Minerva to her kids."

"I need to ask you about that," Minerva frowned as she paused with her hand on the gate. "Nobody knows of them save me and Albus. How did you know?"

"Do you want to take us to where we're going first? Or finish it here?"

"Here, if you don't mind."

"Okay," Hermione smiled. "I suppose it was a bit like what happened when I reached out for her wrist. I went back and apologised a few days later when I realised how confronting that might have been for her."

"She said."

Hermione nodded, having guessed as much.

"She shook my hand after we spoke and it was just there. Her feelings, I suppose. Not her thoughts. I'm not a mindreader but I felt the love she had for them, plural."

"Does this happen with everyone?" Minerva asked, her voice a little too high to be all interest and no worry.

"I had contemplated not telling you, but I know that you value my honesty above all."

"That was you, last night, wasn't it?" Minerva hissed accusingly.

"Yes," Hermione shrugged. "But it wasn't on purpose. Your nightmare woke me and I just imagined hugging you for a while and then I went back to sleep."

Minerva stared at her for a long while before dropping her gaze.

"As did I." Hermione let the silence grow before Minerva spoke again. "You feel what I feel?"

"Not all the time." Okay, a small lie. "Sometimes."

"That is such an invasion of privacy."

"Which is why I don't concentrate on it. I'm sure if I did, like with Poppy, I would feel far more than just little glimpses now and then."

"I hate that it has come to this," Minerva said quietly. "That I cannot even think without you interfering."

"That is hardly fair," Hermione argued. All of her frustration poured out of her and she huffed. "I do my best not to do it at all, let alone interfere. And I didn't do it on purpose. I didn't choose this, Minerva. I didn't ask for it. This happened to me and honestly, at this point, I'm not sure if I shouldn't have just died."

The slap shocked both of them and Hermione had to concentrate very hard on not retaliating without thought. She held very still and blinked at Minerva's horrified face. The older woman was shaking visibly and there were tears gathering in her eyes even though the red patches on her cheeks were shining forcefully.

"Don't you ever say that again," Minerva hissed. "Don't you -"

"Do not ever strike me again," Hermione growled, making Minerva step back in shock. She kept her distance as they stared at each other, breathing hard until Hermione could speak with some normality. "Minerva, I could have seriously hurt you. Please don't ever do that again. I can be so quick to react, I don't want to ever hurt you, even by accident."

Minerva's chin wobbled and Hermione's anger evaporated.

"I'm so sorry," Minerva whimpered looking down at her hands. "I was so -"

"Hush," Hermione sighed, pulling her into her arms for the first time since all this began and damning the consequences. "It's alright. I'm fine, we're fine."

Minerva's arms were tight around her middle and she held the back of Minerva's head against her and they both breathed a sigh into each other's shoulders. Hermione let go, only to cast a Notice-Me-Not before wrapping her arm tightly back around Minerva. She rocked them slowly for a while and basked in how right it felt. It was bliss. They didn't speak, and as far as Hermione was concerned, she could have stayed like this for days.

"I had a sudden vision of my life without you," Minerva whispered. "It was unbearable. It hurt," she muttered as she lifted her head. She touched Hermione's chest above her heart. "Right here."

"I'm not going anywhere, Min," she muttered. She ran her hand over Minerva's hair, giving into the want. "It's okay. No harm done."

"I struck you," Minerva blinked, her thumb rubbing along Hermione's cheek. "I apologise. I'm so so sorry. I wasn't even -"

"I accept your apology, it is done. Let it go."

"I am so discombobulated, Hermione, today is perhaps not the day I should have done this."

"What is today?" she asked quietly, not drawing attention to the fact that Minerva was still tucked under her chin and held tightly in her arms.

"The anniversary of my parent's death," Minerva whispered.

"Oh, Minerva."

"I was going to take you to their gravesites and perhaps show you my husband's as well," Minerva sighed and rested her head on Hermione's shoulder. "My brother."

"So much loss," Hermione whispered, re-tightening her arms around her. "I do not have to go with you, or if you'd prefer to -"

"I would like it, if you did," Minerva told her. "I don't," she hesitated. "You will be the first person -"

"Then I shall be glad to," Hermione smiled. "At your service."

Minerva chuckled sadly. She stepped back and wiped away her tears and offered her hand.

"I realise, again, that even as I am struggling with this, I am not taking into account how you must feel," she frowned. "I am sorry. I mean, generally. I do not mean to blame you, I just -"

"It's okay." Hermione soothed. Now she could feel a little of what Minerva was feeling; she could feel just how conflicted she was. It gave her the hope she needed to allow all manner of sins. "We each deal with what we can. My acceptance of this has come quicker than yours. It must be a little grating."

"In part that is it, but I am trying to remember that I am not alone in this. And I will get better at it," Minerva promised. "Now," Minerva tried to smile but it was clearly difficult and Hermione didn't blame her. "Shall we?"

Hermione slid her hand into Minerva's, in a slightly different configuration than Minerva was offering, but there was only a brief pause as their fingers slipped together. Hermione chanced it and rubbed her thumb over Minerva's.

She opened the gate and Minerva Apparated them away as soon as it was closed behind them.

It was chilly that far north but Hermione couldn't feel it. She had to say that whatever extra abilities she had been given, never being cold was pretty great. She smiled at Minerva and slipped off her own coat to drape it over Minerva's shoulders. She pulled it closer and clicked her tongue at Hermione's ease even as she snuggled into the residual warmth.

"I suppose," she said with a wry smile. "That would be an advantage throughout this whole thing."

"I was just thinking that," Hermione chuckled.

Minerva's hand on the gate had Hermione pausing behind her. The sadness permeated the very air and she reached forward and placed her hands on Minerva's shoulders and squeezed gently.

"Introduce me," Hermione said softly. "I would dearly like to meet them."

Minerva nodded but didn't speak. She opened up the squeaky gate and took two steps, leaving Hermione behind. Hermione made to follow but Minerva stopped and looked back at her with an unreadable look in her eye. She glanced away and took a deep breath before she looked back and offered her hand again.

Hermione slid their fingers together again and followed Minerva through the tombstones to a small corner of the graveyard.

"My máthair," Minerva muttered, her accent slipping. "Iseabail Ross. Me Da, Robert McGonagall and," her chin wobbled just a little but Hermione pretended not to notice. "My younger brother Rab," she looked up as Hermione was reading the names and dates. "Robert, Junior, I suppose."

"Hi," she whispered, choosing not to look at Minerva. She squeezed Minerva's hand and let go, dropping gracefully to her knees in front of the three old but well-kept graves. "It's lovely to meet you."

"Hermione, it's okay, you don't -"

Hermione shook her head and she felt, rather than saw Minerva turn away. Despite the uncomfortable feelings coming from Minerva behind her, Hermione chuckled and reached forward to touch each headstone individually.

"Your daughter doesn't cope with change very well, does she," she pretended to whisper. Minerva tutted but Hermione felt her interest piqued. "I'm sorry I could never meet you all," Hermione said gently, pulling a few weeds and letting them go on the wind. "I'm sure it would have been lovely. But please know that no matter how all this works out, I'll take care of her. I'll keep an eye on her." She flicked her wrist and a ball of blue flame sparked into being. She placed it gently onto the small plinth on the well-worn headstone. She did it a further two times and smiled as they all burned happily together. "It's an honour to be her friend." Hermione looked up to find Minerva watching her with tears in her eyes. "It's an honour to love and cherish her."

Minerva dropped less gracefully to her knees and sobbed in her hands. Hermione clicked her tongue and pulled her close, helping her move when she needed. She settled Minerva between her legs and pulled her back against her. Minerva stiffened just a little but Hermione rubbed her arms to warm her and ground her as well.

"Relax," Hermione said quietly. "I can keep you warmer this way."

Minerva relaxed back against her after a time and Hermione's arms came to rest loosely around her middle.

"They were never very effusive," Minerva explained through quiet tears. "They did not understand me and my father feared magic. But I loved them. And I think, despite it all, they loved me too"

"They did," Hermione whispered into Minerva's hair. "I know they did because everyone who meets you, does." The woman didn't answer but she shivered and pulled Hermione's coat closer around her. "Here," Hermione muttered. "I've been itching to try this."

Minerva looked over her shoulder at her from where she was settled against Hermione's chest as Hermione took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She breathed out long and slow, through her nose and felt a blanket of warmth settle over them. Minerva sighed and snuggled closer, despite herself.

"Better?" Hermione whispered.

"Yes," Minerva exclaimed. "But I don't -"

"Oh, at this point, I've stopped trying to understand," Hermione chuckled. "I don't think I'll ever breathe fire, but that's gonna be pretty useful, I shouldn't wonder."

Minerva snorted and with her cheeks glowing, she turned so she sat across Hermione's lap. Hermione blinked as she settled against Hermione's shoulder.

"Are you -"

"I am attempting to be better at this."

"Min, you don't -"

"I need to tell you so much," she sighed. "I spoke with Micheal," she confessed. "We," she paused and Hermione looked down at her and gave into what she wanted and traced her cheek with the back of her finger. "We spoke as we should have long ago."

"About -"

"You," Minerva whispered. She looked up into Hermione's eyes and Hermione could do nothing but stare back.

"Was he," she shrugged. "Kind?"

"He was," Minerva chuckled. "Much kinder than I deserve. He showed me how selfish I have been. I know that you have mentioned it before -" Hermione started to speak, but Minerva's fingers covered her lips. "I have been. He made me see just how awful I was behaving. And I'm so sorry, darling. I'm so, so sorry."

"I," Hermione considered waving it off and then decided not to. Minerva had behaved badly and it would be better to acknowledge it so they could hopefully move past it. "I accept your apology."

Minerva nodded and tucked her cold nose against Hermione's warm skin.

"I'm so scared, Hermione," she muttered.

"You don't have to be scared of me. Of us, whatever we are."

"I'm scared that I enjoy this," she hesitated but Hermione squeezed her shoulder in support. "That I want this." Hermione froze and looked down at her. "Under it all, I just -"

"You do?" Hermione blinked.

Minerva closed her eyes. Though the shame rolled off her, Hermione could feel it underneath; a warmth almost, permeating even that.

"Oh, Min," Hermione muttered. "It's okay to not understand, to not know. To want this and also not. You have nothing to fear from me, okay?"

"Hermione," she whispered. "I shouldn't want this."

"Why," Hermione asked gently.

"You are so young. You cannot possibly understand how terrifying it is, to be my age and be told that I must be with someone your age. You will do and experience so much more but I have already done so. We are so far apart in experiences that I fear we will never understand each other."

Hermione let her lips come to rest on Minerva's forehead as she fell silent for a while.

"Like your mother and father?" She took the gamble and it paid off as Minerva seemed to deflate. "We're not them, Min. We're not. I don't know how to tell you clearer that I have loved you for so long. Cherished you for longer, even. It's okay if that's too much right now, but I need you to understand the scope of this. Apparently, whatever this dragon-thing is, it, I, need a mate in it all. But I, Hermione, just want a friend - if that friend is someone to love and cherish perhaps into her old age then all the better. But all that other stuff is just secondary and I'm not concerned about it at all. It comes with some great perks." Minerva snorted. "And some less good ones, but that is not what is guiding me in this. Perhaps it gives me a degree of want -" Minerva blushed. "But if that part of me demands a mate then of course it's going to be you. Because you are my best friend and the woman who holds my entire soul. And honestly?" She looked down at Minerva, who had tears streaming down her face. "I couldn't ask for a better one."

Minerva sobbed, audibly and clung to Hermione as she cried.

Hermione consoled her as best she could, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that the crying would help Minerva come to the right conclusion. She wanted it too, Merlin, she wanted that, but Minerva deserved the time she needed. And Hermione would honour that for as long as she needed.

Minerva cried until she couldn't any longer and they felt quiet, listening to the wind howling through the stones that dotted the landscape. Hermione was a little cheeky and let down Minerva's hair, using the access to run her hands through it and massage her scalp. The strands flying about in the wind made a beautiful visual to watch while she waited for Minerva to calm.

"I have missed this," Minerva whispered, her voice gruff with emotion. "I have missed that time with you."

"I have missed you," Hermione sighed. "I don't want this day to end." A thought occurred to her and she looked down at Minerva. Her cheeks were ruddy and her eyes were puffy and Hermione was sure that she'd never looked more beautiful. "Wanna find a cup of tea with me?"

"Yes," Minerva whispered. "I would like that. I -" Hermione felt her take a deep breath and she sat up. The wind whipped her hair around and Hermione reached forward and gathered it in her hand and tied it up in a ponytail just for now.

"Oh, you should wear it like that occasionally," Hermione chuckled. "Looks good. Weird," she admitted, making Minerva snort. "But good."

"I shall take it under advisement," Minerva rolled her eyes. She crossed her legs and sat facing Hermione for a long time before offering her hands. Hermione smiled at her as she took them. Minerva's shoulders dropped and she nodded to herself.

"I want to be a part of this," Minerva said certainly. "I want to take some of the weight from you. I don't know what I will feel, or how I will do this, but I want to try. I just do not know how."

"Remember when we went for dinner at that pub?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Minerva nodded. "I think of it often."

"I do too," Hermione chuckled. "But do you remember how easy it was? How it felt like nothing except the two of us going for dinner?"

Minerva sighed and nodded.

"I see."

"You do?"

"I do," Minerva nodded. "So. Come for tea with me?"

Hermione chuckled.

"I'd love to."