A/N: It's Wednesday, my dudes. I'm definitely missing a few of you on this schedule, but we shall persist :) Enjoy, my dears.
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"I have to stop before I march down to the Slytherin common room and tell them what I think of them," Hermione huffed as she threw down her quill.
Minerva laughed as she wrote her comments at the bottom of the parchment and signed her name. She pulled Hermione's pile closer to glance at the name and smiled supportively.
"Ah, yes," she nodded. "I am often accompanied by a glass of whisky when I know hers are in the pile."
Hermione laughed and shook her head again. She'd had four cups of tea by the time and she'd wanted to give up for the fifth time in about as many minutes. Minerva peered over her glasses at her.
"I did say you did not have to do this."
"Oh." Hermione waved away the concern. "I know, but we're more than halfway through. I may just need to stay away from everyone for a week so I don't strangle them for their stupidity."
Minerva nearly spilt her tea as she laughed.
"Darling," she protested between giggles. "Although that would definitely cut down on the number of essays we would have to mark."
"I see no downsides."
"Hermione!"
Hermione smirked at her, but let it go.
"Can I order us something for lunch?" she asked instead.
"Ooh," Minerva mused. Hermione smiled when she heard her stomach rumble. "Oh," she chuckled. "Apparently, I am ready for something. What do you think?"
"Honestly, I'm famished, I wonder if there's any breakfast left. A fry-up would be amazing."
"I doubt they save it," Minerva mused. "But they'd make you more."
"Would you eat that? Or do you want something different?"
Minerva thought about it for a while before she shrugged.
"That sounds delicious."
Hermione called a House elf and asked them if it would be possible to do what they wanted. As usual, the little thing cowered before her, but after she'd finished speaking, the young elf was only too happy to oblige. They marked a few more until the elf returned to warn them it was ready.
"Just in time," she grinned. "I am famished."
"I'm quite the same," Minerva assured her.
They ate in relative peace and chatted a little about the Pensieve and the Founders. Hermione suggested that they should probably see if there was anything in Minerva's extensive collections about pre-Hogwarts Hogwarts or something about the Founders that they'd missed because of assumed knowledge. They finished their meal and their conversation before they went straight back to the last essays. They seemed to go on forever before Minerva settled them in their year levels and Banished them to her classroom. Hermione stood with a groan and stretched. She squeaked as Minerva's fingers trailed over her bare back where her shirt had ridden up and she turned and let her arms come to rest on Minerva's shoulders.
"Hello," she smiled as Minerva rubbed her nose against Hermione's neck.
"Hi," Minerva mumbled. "It seems silly -"
"It isn't," Hermione soothed. "I missed you too."
Minerva laughed against Hermione's shoulder and let Hermione rock them before Hermione let down her hair and massaged her scalp. The moan made them both blush but Hermione kept on rocking them from side to side pressing on her scalp until Minerva sighed and tucked her face against Hermione's throat.
"I bet you can dance, can't you?" Hermione asked as Minerva followed her steps.
"Of course. You?"
"No," Hermione chuckled. "Perhaps you can teach me."
"I would like that," Minerva breathed.
"Is now too soon?"
"Sorry?"
"I wondered if you might give me my first lesson now?"
"Och, Hermione," she blushed. Hermione challenged her with an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. "I see I'll be helpless against that as well, then," Minerva muttered as she stepped forward.
Hermione secretly rejoiced at the longevity in some of her complaints but again, did not bring attention to it. Instead, she slid her hand into Minerva's and let the woman shift the furniture back.
"Are you going to give me the lordly lion speech now, or is that reserved for group lessons?"
Hermione squealed as Minerva pinched her side with a smirk and settled them in the middle of the room.
"The real question is, my darling, who will lead?"
Hermione smirked as she pulled Minerva against her and stepped forward. She hadn't been lying, not really; she could not do more than the dance they'd been taught for Yule Ball. Minerva seemed to realise the steps they were doing and went along with it. Having been just obnoxious enough to have learned both her part and Victor's, it wasn't too hard to bring back the memories of the steps Hermione had learned to make sure her part, at the time, fit with it. She started the steps and smirked at Minerva as they got to the lift.
"You don't have to -"
Hermione ignored Minerva's suggestion completely and lifted her in time with the beat in her head. Minerva squealed a little and laughed as she came back down.
"Hermione!"
"I didn't lie completely," she promised. "I know that dance but no others."
"You are a very accomplished waltzer, love," Minerva smiled. "Perhaps -"
She waved her hand and the wireless behind her desk sprung to life. Minerva rolled her eyes and took out her wand, using it to finesse the channels until she was happy with the sound. They had stayed together and she rocked them in time with the beat.
"Feel that?" she asked. "One two three, one two three."
Hermione nodded her head in time until she could recognise it in the music and nodded.
"Good. One step forward," Minerva instructed, grimacing a little when Hermione did so without warning.
"Sorry!"
"It's fine," Minerva waved it off. "Let me explain first, then we'll try."
Hermione nodded and resolved not to move until she was instructed.
"Right," Minerva nodded. "You take one step forward and then one to the side and the third you bring the first foot to the second."
"Show me?" Hermione asked, a little more breathy than she'd intended.
Minerva stepped away, repositioned her hands in the air and listened as the song changed. The time seemed to remain the same and she nodded as it began and then she moved.
Hermione was mesmerised. She immediately saw the steps and how they matched the beat and she wanted so desperately to join in, but Minerva's body was born to dance. She resolved, right there, to take Minerva to every single Ministry Ball she could make it to, just to give her the opportunity to do so.
And to give Hermione the opportunity to dance with her in front of the world.
She saw an opening and stepped closer while Minerva's eyes were closed. They remained closed, though she smiled as Hermione slid her hand around her waist and stepped forward, then to the side. Just as she'd been instructed.
"Good," Minerva whispered as they danced around the room. When she was comfortable with the basics, Minerva quietly instructed her on how to add other elements to it. By the time they had danced around the room more times than Hermione could count, she could spin Minerva around at will, and without instruction, did so once, twice and in a fit of puckishness, dipped her low after a third.
Minerva threw her head back and laughed. Her hair trailed the floor and she flourished her hand over her head. Hermione dragged the flat of her hand from Minerva's stomach, over her sternum and up to her face, where she held Minerva steadily and kissed her. Minerva wrapped her arm around her shoulder and sighed against her cheek as Hermione stood her back up.
"You are a beautiful dancer," Hermione said, out of breath.
"It is particularly easy with a partner who learns as quickly and as efficiently as you, love," Minerva nodded. "Thank you. I have not had such a partner in quite a while." She ran her thumb over Hermione's bottom lip. "Nor one who held me quite so beautifully."
They stilled and Minerva's eyes pierced Hermione's very soul until their lips came back together. Hermione allowed her hand to sit against the small of Minerva's back, while the other mapped her middle and then slid up over her shoulder and rubbed gently against Minerva's neck. The groan the older woman gave was deep and Hermione tightened her grip to pull Minerva closer. Time was immaterial as she got lost in Minerva's mouth. Only when she slid her hand back across Minerva's stomach and felt it flutter did she realise what she was doing.
"If we don't stop, I may not want to," Hermione whispered as they parted.
Minerva blushed and touched her fingers to her lips and nodded. They held each other and listened to the next song on the wireless that Minerva had not bothered to turn off. When Hermione felt like she could cope with everything warring in her head, she kissed Minerva's cheek and stepped away. Their fingers remained tangled together to keep their connection but Minerva drew her to the bookshelves.
"Would you prefer your favourite edition or would you like to look further afield?"
Hermione quizzed her with a look as Minerva smirked and pulled a book off the shelf. Hermione took it to stop Minerva from dropping her hand to catch the big book and looked at the cover. A chuckle escaped her as she saw the title and she tucked it under her arm with her chin up in the air. Minerva joined her in a little giggle and kissed Hermione under her chin before she turned back to the shelves and drew a book for herself.
Finally forced to let go of each other, they settled at opposite ends of the sofa with their feet crossed over each other. Hermione pulled off Minerva's slipper, smirking at the look Minerva gave her until she squeezed her heel gently but steadily and Minerva groaned. Hermione couldn't help the blush that heated her cheeks as their eyes met over their books.
"If you keep that up, darling, I shall have to put you to work rather more often."
Hermione snorted and massaged Minerva's foot while she cracked open Hogwarts: A History and turned to the pages about the Founders. Her fingers continued to press on Minerva's feet while she read.
It was idyllic.
She devoured the pages and wondered how many other pages were just wrong in her favourite book. She scoffed at a part and Minerva looked up from her book and smirked at her. She pulled away the foot that Hermione had worked on and swapped it with the other one.
"Like that is it?" Hermione chuckled.
"I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, love," Minerva grinned. She wiggled her toes to prompt Hermione to start working and Hermione ran her finger up Minerva's ankle with a little fire in her eyes. She watched Minerva shudder and she winked as she went back to her book. The contentment from Minerva was immense and Hermione revelled in it. She settled the book against her knee and rolled her thumb in the arch of Minerva's arch without thinking, just as content in herself as Minerva was.
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The feeling of Hermione's fingers tickling up her leg caught her by surprise. She shuddered at the feeling and tried not to show just how much it had affected her. In truth, after the extraordinary dance and then, as Hermione continued to massage her feet, Minerva felt her body warm in a way that it had not done in a very long time. The words on the page turned into a blur as she got lost in her head. She suddenly and quite desperately wanted something that she had no idea how to ask for, nor whether she should.
She let the book drop to her lap and watched Hermione instead. She was a voracious reader and even before this, Minerva smiled as she watched Hermione's eyes flit over the page and then the next page, then the next. Her fingers continued to massage Minerva's foot and Minerva's stomach clenched at the pad of Hermione's finger once again traced the bone of her ankle.
She cleared her throat and nodded to Hermione's feet currently resting on her coffee table to distract herself.
"It seems completely unfair that you should do such work while I sit idly by," she offered as innocently as she could.
Hermione looked at her for a long moment and Minerva did her best to try not to feel what she was feeling. The little twinkle in Hermione's eye told her that she wasn't being very successful but she jutted out her chin and again motioned to Hermione's feet.
"Min -"
"Don't," she muttered. "Just -"
The big book dropped onto the coffee table and Hermione shifted forward so she was sitting as close as she could. As she got closer, she let Minerva's legs slide over her thighs and stopped a respectable distance away. Minerva's cheeks burned and she tried not to pull her knees together. She felt so exposed, physically and mentally, but Hermione held her eyes and rubbed her warm hands up and down Minerva's thighs hypnotically.
"Hey," Hermione said gently. "Take a breath."
She did so, sucking in as much air as possible as Hermione seemed to suddenly realise what she was doing and stilled her hands.
"I'm not going to do anything Min, just breathe."
She gripped Hermione's hand and held on for dear life. This woman, this young, barely into adulthood woman was so mature, she seemed to show Minerva up every day.
"I feel like an idiot," Minerva muttered as she looked at the ceiling.
"You're not an idiot," Hermione soothed. "This is a big deal."
"Are we talking about the same thing?" Minerva breathed.
"You tell me," Hermione challenged. "What are you talking about?"
She didn't answer. She couldn't, not just yet. Instead, she kept staring at the ceiling while Hermione sat between her parted thighs and rubbed her thumbs on the insides of her knees.
"I did say I was damaged, didn't I?" Minerva scoffed at herself.
"Hey," Hermione chuckled. "You are so melodramatic."
"Me!"
"Yes you," she laughed and despite the tiny feelings of insult, Minerva couldn't help but laugh as well. "You get so into your own head you just bring out all these issues that I thought we'd put to bed?" She leaned forward and Minerva held her breath as her hands slid along her thighs to her hips and held them there while she rubbed her nose along Minerva's. "You could just say what it is you want to say?"
"I can't," Minerva breathed.
"You can," Hermione murmured as she pressed a line of gentle kisses down her neck. Minerva swallowed and tried not to moan as she sucked gently on her skin. "You can say anything to me without feeling the need to feel anything other than supported."
She felt a tiny nibble and her hand slid into Hermione's hair as she shifted and got to her knees. Minerva tried not to hyperventilate as Hermione seemed to hover over her and she pulled her closer.
"Tell me what you want," Hermione muttered as their lips met. "Tell me how I can help you."
"I want -" Minerva's voice disappeared from her throat and she swallowed around it. It felt like there was a whole apple stuck there and she tried to remain calm as Hermione's eyes seemed to devour her. "I -"
"Tell me," Hermione whispered as she came to rest slowly on Minerva's body.
Minerva was trembling as her legs naturally opened wider for Hermione's hips between them and she gasped as a hand pulled one a little higher and a thumb rubbed hypnotically against the back of her thigh.
"I want you," Minerva managed to choke out. "I want -"
Hermione did not make her say it twice and Minerva shuddered as Hermione kissed her hard. She moaned as Hermione's tongue wrapped around her own and tightened her grip on the back of Hermione's shirt to make sure she didn't disappear.
"I'm here," Hermione muttered as she kissed every part of Minerva's face and then traced her tongue down the straining ligaments of her neck.
"I want -"
"You have me," Hermione promised. "From now until forever, I love you."
Minerva pulled away and took a few deep breaths, no doubt indicating to Hermione that she was struggling. Hermione looked at her carefully and Minerva could almost feel her measuring the emotion in the air before she smiled. She kissed Minerva chastely and sat up, pulling Minerva with her.
"It's okay," Hermione whispered. "It's totally okay."
They sat, wrapped around each other until Minerva took another deep breath and looked into Hermione's eyes.
"I want you to help me understand," she asked softly. "And then I, I -" She stood and took a few steps away, to look out of the window for a while before she turned back. Hermione watched patiently from the sofa. "I want you to take me to bed."
Hermione stood and kissed her again. Minerva moaned as Hermione took such gentle care of her that her hands were shaking as she slid them up into the younger woman's hair.
"And we will get to that when we do," Hermione soothed as she pulled away. "For now, though, let us begin at the beginning."