A/N: We have so much fun coming up, my darlings. I really think you're going to enjoy it.
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They used the tea and toast that Minerva ordered as an interlude for such a serious discussion. Feeling refreshed after a snack, Hermione stood and wandered over to the fire while Minerva sat lost in thought. She stared at the flames as they danced and wondered what she'd ever done to deserve such a blessing and a curse. Life had gone from being so very simple to so very complicated in no time at all. And while she had come to terms with the fact that this was just how it was going to be from now on, occasionally it grated on her that she had to be the one to cope with it all.
She regretted that thought as soon as she'd had it. Without this, she would not have Minerva in her life and that thought made her heart hurt.
The flames flared gold out of the corner of her eye and Hermione blinked as she looked around. The room shimmered and changed. Minerva was gone and she gasped at the thought until she realised what she was seeing. These were Minerva's rooms, but not as she knew them. It was uncanny how similar but different it was. There was a daybed overlooking the window and Hermione took a half-second to wonder why Minerva had never placed it like that when she realised she was intruding. Two people, beautiful and ethereal, were wrapped up together on the sofa; not unlike the way she and Min had been barely an hour before. She watched quietly until one of them purred gently.
"We have company," they said softly without moving their lips. Hermione heard it in her head as clearly as if they'd spoken. It was not a language Hermione spoke, though she could understand it easily enough.
"I," she looked down at herself and spoke aloud. "Apologise."
They stood and the man turned and looked over at her. She stared at him in shock as she took in the features on his face and the way he was dressed and decided that she wasn't quite sure it was a man. That seemed important to acknowledge, even in her head. She stared now, however, for another reason. The features on that face were the same ones that stared back at her every day.
"Do not apologise," they said. "Visitors are welcome."
She turned as the other stepped towards her and gaped. She looked so like Minerva, Hermione lost her breath.
"You know me?"
"No," Hermione muttered. "No, I'm sorry." She tried to rally but she could not gather her thoughts properly enough. "My -" She paused, wondering what word they used.
"'Love' works quite well," the woman smiled. "Mate? Domina?" Hermione's whole body felt like she'd been struck by lightning as the woman cupped her cheek. She recognised some of the Latin, but the woman's eyes made the rest of the thoughts in her head disappear. "You are so young and so old, all at once."
"I do not know what is happening, nor why I am here."
"Nor do we," the other said gently. Their voice was deep but their features, gentle. "Though as you are here, it must mean something."
"I am the only one," she found herself saying. "The First."
They shared a look and the woman smiled down at her again.
"You have been lost there, little one. The time has come for you to know us. The time is coming for you to know yourself."
"And you will."
"You will find everything you need, in here," the woman said gently, pressing her lips to Hermione's forehead. "And in here." She placed her hand on Hermione's chest, over her heart. Her scar tingled across her whole chest. "You have withstood fire and lightning. You can feel it in here," she pressed against Hermione's chest gently. "And you are more than ready to be The First."
"What is The First?" she whispered, as she looked between them.
"A rebirth," they explained. "A beginning."
"Are there more?"
"A First does not imply more," the woman said gently. Even her tone reminded Hermione of Min.
"You are so alike," she whispered. She reached up and traced the familiar face; Hermione's fingers tingled at the sensation. "How?"
"Fate," she whispered. She took Hermione's hand and kissed her fingertips. "That same fate will show you the paths that are open to you. It is up to you to decide which one to take. The First has so many options, it must sometimes be overwhelming."
With someone connected to her as these two people were, all other useful thoughts fled from Hermione's brain as she stared with only one thing on her mind.
"She is much older," Hermione whispered. "And she does not like fate."
"So was I," the woman laughed musically. Her mate smiled at her like there was nobody else on the earth who had ever smiled and Hermione saw herself again in their face.
"It will ease in time," they chuckled. "She is ordinarily stubborn."
Hermione chuckled with the woman and she nodded in knowing.
"I love her."
"We know," they said with a kind smile. The woman cupped their cheek and then turned to Hermione.
"We can feel it."
"Are there more of you?"
"Yes," she nodded. "But The First was alone for a time."
"Are you all The First's children or is it like magic?"
"I believe you must go now," she whispered softly, twisting Hermione's hair in her finger. Hermione blinked as it shimmered between her fingertips and then turned gold. "Remember that you are one of us. Alone for now, but never alone."
"Wait," Hermione blinked, feeling parts of her slip away. "I don't understand what I'm supposed to do?"
"Trust," the woman smiled as she faded.
"HERMIONE!"
She blinked as Minerva shook her and she scrambled up off her knees and patted down her clothes. Her eyes swivelled over the room as she looked around. She could feel herself breathing hard.
"Min?"
"I'm here," Minerva said carefully. "Are you?"
Hermione was, once again, shaking and she looked down at herself and then again around the room.
"Trouble?" Minerva spoke softly and deliberately. "Speak to me."
The name sparked a flash of recognition and Hermione found herself letting go of the vision and understanding where she was.
"Oh my god," she hissed as she pulled on her hair to ground herself. Something prickled in her hand and she pulled out the strand that had changed. "What the hell was that?"
"That is my line," Minerva scoffed. "What happened?" She paused and reached forward. She took the strand of hair, at the front of Hermione's head and examined it. She twisted it and curled it robotically until she jerked and pulled away.
"Hermione -"
"I don't know," she whispered. "I was staring at the fire and letting you think but then I saw it dancing, purposefully. I don't know how to describe it better. I saw figures in it and when I blinked and looked up, I was in this room, but it was not this room. There were two people in it and one of them, the woman, looked so like you. Older, but not, somehow. They could see me and talk to me. I touched her!"
Minerva's eyebrow showed her displeasure.
"Dragons?"
"Whatever we are," Hermione nodded. "Yes. They weren't speaking English, Latin I think, but I understood it. When I spoke they understood me. They even spoke to me in my mind. They asked me who I was and I spoke without meaning to. My," she growled in frustration. "I did not intend to say anything but my mouth said that I was The First. Like a title. And we talked for a while." She blushed as Minerva gave her a look. "About you, a little, but about others and it wasn't very long. I stood in front of her and my whole mind went blank. But she told me to trust and that I had been through fire and lightning and was more than ready to be The First."
"Blood hell, Trouble," Minerva sighed. She stepped up to Hermione and pushed her hair back so she could look into her eyes. "If I wasnae already grey, love, I would no doubt be, in no time at all."
Hermione held Minerva's hands to her cheeks and laughed, even though a tear ran down her cheek.
"She was beautiful, love," Hermione whispered deliberately. "But she wasn't you."
Minerva blushed and Hermione could tell she'd realised what she'd said. Hermione just hoped she hadn't stopped Minerva from repeating it because quite often, that small word made Hermione's insides boil.
"Tell me again what she said to you?"
"They told me to trust," Hermione whispered. She brought one of Minerva's hands down to her chest and pressed it against her heart. It was thumping hard enough for Minerva to feel it. "I haven't mentioned that the other one looked like me but without one particular gender. I could see my features in them but they did not identify what they were or preferred. We did not have that much time."
Minerva frowned and Hermione could see the cogs turning in her head.
"I do not like this," she muttered. "I refuse to be a puppet of time."
"Domina," Hermione muttered. Minerva looked up sharply.
"What?"
"She called you Domina." Hermione blinked, feeling exhaustion numbing her thoughts. "Queen?"
Minerva shook her head.
"Not quite, but close," she admitted. Minerva reached out and Hermione realised she was swaying. "What else before you pass out on me?"
"The First is the beginning. A rebirth. I am the only one, but everything I would need would be in here," she pressed a finger against the spot the woman had kissed her. "And in here. I have to trust."
Minerva stepped forwards and brought Hermione's head to her lips where she lingered in exactly the same spot. Hermione blinked but didn't mention it. She wondered absently whether Minerva could feel possessive, given her thoughts and feelings over this, but she was too tired to figure it out tonight.
"Come," Minerva said softly. "We must sleep. If you would permit me?"
Hermione blinked and tried to figure out what Minerva was asking but she couldn't. Minerva seemed to understand and held Hermione's hands tightly while she walked them to her own room and pushed Hermione gently down onto it. Hermione was already half asleep as she was settled under the covers and tucked in. She turned and reached out for her love but Minerva wasn't there. She growled and in the haze between waking and sleep, heard her love chuckle from across the room.
"I'll be there in a moment, Trouble, be patient."
The name again woke her up, just a little, and she watched through tired eyes as Minerva got ready for bed. She had already changed which made Hermione less concerned about watching. She sighed quietly as Minerva let down her hair and brushed it out. As she took off her rings and looked critically over herself in the mirror for a long time, Hermione compared her to the woman in her vision. They were identical. Except they weren't. Identical or not, Minerva was more beautiful than any other being in the world that Hermione knew of and her soul cried out for her to be nearer. She watched as Minerva made quick work of plaiting her hair. Hermione was fascinated by those long, delicate fingers weaving the hair together and found it as beautiful a scene as she'd ever witnessed. Minerva must have realised that Hermione wasn't completely asleep as she turned when she got to the end and their eyes met across the room. It was dark, but not dark enough and Minerva stared at her for a long time before she tied off her hair and got up. She blew out the candles nearer the door and delicately knelt on the bed to lean over her.
"I may not know what we are doing here, my darling," she said softly. She reached out and took the new streak of hair between her fingers and twisted it into a ringlet then tucked it behind her ear. "And I may not know what any of this means. But I know," she breathed and looked away before she looked back. "I know that when you look at me like that?" Hermione could feel sleep tugging on her and she needed Minerva in her arms before it won. "I feel like the only person in the world."
Hermione wanted to tell Minerva that for her, she was the only woman in the world, but instead, she pulled on Minerva's arm and made her get into bed. Minerva chuckled and let herself be pulled into Hermione's body with a soft moan as the sheets and the warmth and the soft mattress eased their tired bodies. Hermione wrapped her arms around Minerva's chest and tangled their fingers together when Minerva slid hers on top. As her eyes closed in sleep, she rolled them so Minerva was under her, tucked away and safe in her arms.