A/N: More fluff and nonsense. Very exciting. Also, Liverpool just came to a draw with league leaders Arsenal in the best game they've played all season so honestly... life is good in this moment. #YNWA :D

-0-

Minerva woke, bathed in warmth and safety, and she luxuriated in it for a long moment before common sense pulled her out. She blinked her eyes open and looked around. Her room was as it always was; her clothes, her shoes, her jewellery all where she left them but something felt different.

It took her much longer than should have been necessary to realise that the difference was within her and not with her settings. Their outing to the Highlands had awoken something in her that she could not name, only feel. It had slowly been creeping closer, but their experience had made it burst into her consciousness with such a roar that she almost felt it physically at the forefront of her mind. Though she was still terribly afraid, she was beginning to see more of the definition of this thing. Where before, it felt too big to comprehend; too big and too terrifying to understand, now? After the incident with the dragon, Minerva could safely say that she was beginning to see everything as clearly as she ever had.

She hadn't mentioned it to Hermione - she told herself there hadn't been a moment to - but Hermione was not the only one who had an interaction with the dragon, nor with the woman from Hogwarts of Old. In both instances, she had seen flashes of things - felt things that were not her own. She should have mentioned them. Once, in the cave before the dragon had drawn its last breath and then, when she had touched Hermione's brand new golden streak just after it had appeared. Both visions of things she had recoiled from. But even now, as Hermione stirred and her thumb rubbed absently against Minerva's stomach, she wasn't sure she would ever want to share what she saw, not even with Hermione.

The dragon had seen her soul and shown her loneliness. True loneliness. Minerva had been lonely since she was born. Her mother's resentment, her father's fear. The boys had played together when they came along but Minerva had always been the protector and never the playmate. At school, she had been the swot; studying for hours with no time for giggling or boys, or girls. Her whole life had been the same; doing the right thing in payment for a life her mother had told her she'd ruined.

No wonder she had been so scared of Hermione. Of Hermione's love. And though she was learning and figuring out how to let her in, the dragon had shown her a life without Hermione in it.

She wept at the thought.

Before she allowed it to take hold, she remembered the last time she cried while she was in Hermione's arms. She took a deep breath and blinked her tears away. She did not want to wake her -

Her what?

She still had no idea, so instead of tying her own mind into knots, Minerva took a few deep breaths and calmed herself. She would sob again in the shower, later perhaps, but not now. Not while Hermione was here, wrapped her around her so tightly. She had quickly realised that when she cried, it hurt Hermione and she did not want that.

Despite her outward behaviour that would suggest otherwise, Minerva had never wanted to hurt Hermione. Not even at her lowest moments.

Hermione shifted and Minerva was tugged impossibly closer and she relaxed and revelled in it once more. Their bodies were pressed together at every possible inch and again and she allowed herself to be in that moment.

She was even thankful for it, as the memory and the feelings that the dragon had imparted replayed over and over again. He did not show Hermione the same scenes; perhaps she had not needed to see, but he showed Minerva. Countless clutches of eggs, a lifetime with a mate that loved and was loved in return, snuffed out in one moment. One insignificant moment in time had changed that creature's life for the worst. And there had been so much life after it, that it persevered with. Minerva was not sure she could have coped.

And that had brought everything into stark contrast for her.

Hermione's leg curled around her hip and Minerva tentatively reached down to hold her thigh. It felt so powerful beneath the skin as she rubbed her hand up and down the muscle - evidence that Hermione was not quite as she seemed. Her thumb rubbed over the definition while she considered Hermione being taken from her.

Her heart shuddered in her chest as she considered it and Hermione's leg tightened over her hip. She hummed softly and soothed Hermione's upset.

She took herself back to the beginning; back to that mismanaged Order mission when she nearly lost her.

When. She nearly. Lost her.

Something clicked in her soul and she saw everything the dragon had shown her but from her own perspective. Visions of a future that she had never, ever considered. A lifetime of love, a lifetime of soft touches and hot kisses and sharp breaths and then nothing but loss and pain.

Hermione's hair tickled her shoulder as the younger woman nuzzled her neck. Minerva squirmed as it tickled her neck. She snorted quietly and managed to roll over in Hermione's arms without waking her. She settled beneath her young woman and catalogued her features in the soft light of the morning. Her fingers would not stop tracing the soft skin of Hermione's thigh, now across her middle while Minerva's eyes, after tracing over strong shoulders and a long, delicate neck, immediately fell on the new colour in her hair. Minerva managed to free her other arm and reached for it carefully. Hermione's soft breaths on her cheek were a comfort, but as she touched the wide band of gold that would shine in Hermione's curls just out of obvious view, she closed her eyes.

"You have fought hard."

Minerva blinked her eyes open in shock. The woman stood before her and looked kindly at her. Minerva was arrested by the sight. Aside from the apparent difference in their age and a few things Minerva didn't want to think about, they were identical.

"I -"

"Fought hard against a fate that brings you everything you've ever dreamed of."

Minerva swallowed and nodded.

"It was," she paused. "Complicated."

"Life is complicated," the woman rebuked gently. "It will always be complicated."

"She is -" Even as she went to say it, it no longer felt right. "She was -" Minerva huffed at herself. "I thought she was a child. She was a child in my world."

"And now she is changed. Her body may be younger than yours," she said kindly. "But her soul is older than mine. Your world's foibles are beneath you, as they have always been. Why would you spurn its nonsense for all of your life and then settle into it when you are at the precipice of greatness?"

"She said she was The First?"

"Do not prevaricate." Minerva bowed her head in apology but the woman did not dwell. "The first of anything is hard, you know that with conviction." Minerva sighed. She was so full of guilt over what she had put Hermione through, knowing as intimately as she did what it was like to plough the untrodden path of life.

"I am ashamed."

"You need not be," the woman chuckled. "She knows your soul. She forgave you the moment she fell in love with you."

Minerva pondered that and though Hermione had said it over and over, from this woman it felt different. It felt real.

"What if I cannot give myself to her as she wishes?"

"You answer me that," the woman shrugged. "What if you do not? What if you choose not to accept her love?" A hole opened up in Minerva's stomach and she curled around it in horror. "You should not be afraid of love," the woman soothed. Her hands traced Minerva's face as Hermione's often did. "Especially not her love. It is a love that will transcend time. You will never be unsure of it and," she cupped Minerva's cheeks. "You will never be alone. The choice is yours," she said softly. "But you would be a fool to spurn her."

Minerva took a great shuddering breath and was suddenly back in bed. She stared at Hermione who looked at her with the same intensity. Minerva's every breath shook and she swallowed as she blinked.

"You okay?" Hermione asked, her hand hot on Minerva's waist.

"I saw her," she whispered. She realised that her hand was pressed against Hermione's cheek with her hair between her fingers. "I was playing," she blushed as she twisted the strand of gold back into the rest of it. "With your hair and she appeared to me."

"The woman, like you?"

"Yes," Minerva blinked. "But she was not like me. We looked similar perhaps but she was so young and -"

Hermione kissed her.

For a long moment, Minerva simply felt it but as the woman's words echoed in the back of her mind, she tentatively reached up and kissed Hermione's back. They had kissed before with varying degrees of feeling, but this kiss seemed different from all the others. She was not sure if it was the setting; she was very aware of where they were or whether it was the feeling that now coursed through her body. It might have been the fact that they were both in sleepwear with messy hair and tired eyes but more than that, Minerva wondered if it wasn't because in that moment she realised she did not ever want to be without this.

Hermione pulled away. She was panting softly and her eyes glowed. Minerva smiled and kissed her softly, stopping and starting again and again until Hermione growled and prolonged one. Minerva laughed through her nose as she pushed Hermione's hair from her face and traced the soft cheek.

"We should arise," she whispered, though she didn't move.

"She wasn't similar, Min. She was you." Minerva rolled her eyes. She should have known Hermione wouldn't let it go.

"She was more than I am, Hermione."

"That woman," Hermione clarified fiercely. "Is exactly how I see you."

That shocked her and she stared.

"But she was so strong, and," Minerva shrugged and tugged at her face. "Young; beautiful!"

"It's probably because she doesn't pull on her eyes like that," Hermione joked. Minerva smacked her arm gently but her stomach flip-flopped as she stared into Hermione's eyes.

"That's how you see me?" She asked quietly. "I mean, she looked like a -" She shrugged again. "A warrior, a goddess?"

"Yes," Hermione chuckled. "Yes, Min." Minerva blinked and understood. "Domina; my queen."

She lay there, in Hermione's arms, lost in thought. Hermione's fingers traced patterns on her shoulders where she could reach and on her side, where her hand remained. Minerva shifted when Hermione caught a scar in the wrong spot but other than a soft kiss in apology, she left Minerva to her thoughts. She felt the warmth of Hermione's lips in her hairline at times and after her brain went around and around she wrapped her arms as best she could, around Hermione's body and did something she'd really not ever had the courage or opportunity to do.

Minerva McGonagall snuggled into another body.

Hermione tightened her grip and held her there. Minerva had had other people in her bed - of course, she had. But none of them had ever felt this right. They'd been kind and some of them had been fun, but they had never been this. It had always felt stilted, somehow. This, as she traced the edge of Hermione's scars and pressed a kiss against her pulse, this felt easy. She could readily admit that to herself now. This had felt easy even when it had been at its most uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry," Minerva whispered after a while. "That I could not see what you were offering me. That I was stubborn beyond words."

"You realise that some of those things are things that make up who you are? And that I did not fall in love with just the best parts of you, Min, but rather all of you?" Hermione asked gently. She scraped her fingernails over Minerva's hair and Minerva shivered at the comfort. "I was well aware of who you were when I realised that I loved you, that I was in love with you. I knew it would be a long road. But it would be a worthy road." She let the silence sit for a while before she nuzzled Minerva's cheek. "Can I ask you what she said?"

"Nothing of consequence to any but me, I suppose," Minerva muttered. "She knew of my past and reminded me that being the first of anything is lonely. And that as I wished someone would help me in my journey, I had been spurning yours."

"Min, that's not -"

"No, she was right," Minerva laughed morosely. "Just as Michael and Poppy and Albus were. I should have listened. Regardless of what was happening between us, I should have remembered."

"I love you, Minerva," Hermione said softly. "I've told you before, there's no need to hang onto that. That is in the past."

Though Minerva was sure Hermione wasn't expecting a reply and Minerva wasn't quite ready to give her an answer that would match the sentiment, Minerva cupped Hermione's cheek and looked up at her. She tried to pour all the love and affection she had into that one look. Hermione smiled and kissed her softly, but deeply, for a long while until Hermione's stomach, once again, forced them apart.

"Urgh," she blushed. "Sorry."

"I should have known," Minerva soothed with a smile. She felt lighter than she had in such a long time. "Come along, let us have some breakfast and perhaps we could spend the day together? I have some marking to do, but you could help if you wish?"

"I'd like that," she smiled. "Thank you."

-0-

They ate breakfast quietly, but not awkwardly. Minerva was quiet but content and Hermione was happy to let her be. She had her own quandaries to ponder and so many of them. If it wasn't so dangerous, she'd have liked to have written them down and she made a note to figure out where she'd put her muggle invisible pen. It would be very handy right now. A part of her remained inquisitive about what Minerva had seen, or been shown as well, but a bigger part of her was simply thankful for those that had helped ease her love's mind.

Whatever Minerva had seen, both with the dragon and their people, Hermione knew it had helped. She wasn't going to tell Min that she knew the dragon showed her something - what did it matter, but she was content to let her sit with it until Minerva felt like she could tell her. If that day ever came. If it didn't, then that was okay as well.

She finished her tea and sat and watched Minerva as she stared off into space. She knew those feelings. The weight of all the knowledge seemed to drop on the top of your eyelids and press down on them until you had no choice but to comply. If she hadn't been so accustomed to every move Minerva made, Hermione might have missed it. The small, almost imperceivable flutter of her eyelids.

"Hey," she whispered, not wanting to startle the woman, but wanting to interrupt whatever unhappy thought she'd just had. "Want to sit for a while longer or shall we mark first?"

Minerva blinked, having clearly been lost in deep, deep thought and she stared at Hermione for a little longer than was normal before she shook herself.

"I'm sorry, I was miles away."

"I know," Hermione smiled. "I was just asking if you were ready to do that marking now, or if you'd prefer to do it later?"

"Oh," Minerva nodded. "Now, I suppose. I do prefer not to have it hanging over me all day."

Hermione nodded but didn't tell her that she already knew that. Instead, she summoned a House Elf and thanked them for their meal and asked for a clean table. She supposed she should send a note to the others just to tell them that she was alright, but as Minerva dropped a rather large pile of parchments on the desk, she forgot all about it.

"Whoa," Hermione chuckled. "I see."

"I admit, I may have put a few off in favour of doing it this weekend before," Minerva shrugged. "Before you invited me out."

"Luckily," Hermione grinned. "With the both of us, we should be through it in no time."

Minerva rifled through the pile, sorted it back into year groups and passed some over to Hermione.

"I sent a message to Albus to ask if he would officiate your exam," she muttered absently. "And take over your Transfiguration officially. He agreed that would be best."

"That's fine," Hermione nodded, not wanting her to get stuck on thoughts of Hermione's schooling. "Let's get through this so we can enjoy our day."

Minerva sighed as she looked at it and Hermione took her hand while she was close enough. She had missed her touch while she'd been sitting opposite at the table.

"It won't take long."

"I know, but this is undoubtedly one of the worst parts of teaching," Minerva chuckled. "Reading the same thing, over and over in varying degrees of competency. And getting so frustrated with some who clearly haven't even bothered."

Hermione tugged on Minerva's hand and pulled her closer. The unspoken implication was there as she wrapped her arm around Minerva's hips and put just enough pressure on them to show her what she wanted to do, but not enough to be forceful. Minerva sat on her lap with a chuckle.

"I am rather too old for this."

"I wish you would stop lying to yourself," Hermione muttered without taking the bait completely. "It's really very distracting."

Minerva's mood broke and she laughed as she nuzzled Hermione's face.

"Thank you," Minerva whispered as she studied Hermione carefully. "For making this easier for me at every moment. For being able to understand my hesitancy even though you do not feel it."

"I love you, Min," Hermione shrugged. She had tried to think of a different statement but it seemed to say the most. "I'm sure that, in these moments in particular, it is very uncomfortable but again, while I'd prefer to learn from the best," she traced the pretty pink blush forming on Minerva's cheeks. "And you are undoubtedly the best in my eyes. I shall officially withdraw from your class and that problem is now over." She shrugged. "Not that he and I will ever get anything done, mind you, but on paper, he would be my teacher." Minerva didn't say anything but Hermione saw her eyes clear a little and nodded. "Please don't worry. Anything Albus doesn't teach me, you can do it unofficially."

Minerva rolled her eyes and startled Hermione when she initiated a quick kiss on the lips. Hermione blinked but Minerva was already getting up and summoning quill and ink. She paused as the inkwell came to rest on the table.

"Did you wandlessly and wordlessly levitate our cups last night?" Minerva suddenly blinked.

"Um," Hermione thought back. "Yeah? I think I did?"

Minerva blinked.

"Will you show me?" Hermione took a deep breath and looked around for something to use. She picked up a quill but Minerva stopped her. "Something heavier."

Hermione understood and picked up the closest book. She held it in her hand at eye level and stared hard at it until she felt something click in her brain. She nodded and it stayed in mid-air when she let go. Minerva made a noise of amazement and Hermione pictured it on the table and grinned when it did her bidding.

"I -" Minerva stared. "Hermione!"

"Honestly, I've been practising," she chuckled. "It's getting easier with the bigger things."

"You are astounding, my darling," Minerva said warmly. "Truly astounding."

Hermione grinned even as she blushed. Minerva's hand was sure on her shoulder as she split the pile of parchments in front of her.

"Please don't feel that you need to do this," Minerva said softly. "But if you insist, I would suggest doing these first. First years; Gamp's Law recaps."

"I remember and I would love to help," Hermione assured her. She reached up and held Minerva's hand on her shoulder and looked up at her. They stared for a long time before Minerva, again, instigated a kiss. They giggled as they didn't quite match and Minerva tutted and came around Hermione's side before she cupped her cheek and kissed her properly.

"Can I -" Minerva brushed back her hair and looked at her expectantly. "Doesn't matter," Hermione shrugged. "Never mind."

"You are wondering why I am doing this today?"

Hermione took a deep breath and shrugged helplessly. Minerva nodded and looked away.

"I honestly do not know," Minerva admitted. "I -" She took a deep breath as well. "I do not want to tell you in part," she blushed. "Not because of any reason in particular but because it was meant for me. It made sense to me -"

"Min," Hermione ducked a little to meet her eyes. "It's okay. This -" She motioned between them. "Does not require us to tell each other everything, as far as I can tell. I don't feel as though you're lying to me by omitting things that mean something to you. Do," she frowned. "Do you understand?"

"You know, don't you," Minerva studied her face carefully.

"Not the content," Hermione assured her. "I felt the dragon withdraw and I felt you get upset, I put two and two together. I'm sure that while you weren't with her for long, you would still have had questions for our ancestor friends, but I don't need to know. I do not say the word trust lightly, Min. I mean it with everything I have. I trust you. That does not mean I need to know every thought, every conversation you have with everyone."

"Surely you could tell anyway," Minerva mused.

"Not so much specifics," Hermione admitted. "I felt the emotion. I am working on blocking some of it out so that it is not so intrusive. Because that's not fair; to you or to anyone else." She held Minerva's hands before she could go back to her seat. "The point is, please don't feel you must share everything. I would love to know anything you think of, but not because you feel you must. I am not like that Min," she stared hard into those beautiful green eyes. "I will never be like that."

Minerva squeezed her hands and nodded but did not offer anything further. Hermione felt that, despite the sudden heavy turn, they had made so much progress today. She couldn't help but smile as she pulled her pile of parchments towards her.

There had been no downside to this day so far and as Hermione started reading over the 1st year's essays, she relaxed into it. They were safe for the moment, uninterrupted and in all honesty, she wasn't sure how this day could get any better.