A/N: I think it's Wednesday in the US but I don't actually know. We're off to Australia zoo today and then we're off to spend too much money in their new fancy-pants restaurant. Wish me and my pockets luck - my wife has some expensive taste lololol
Bit of filler today, I will start moving it a little in maybe another chapter, but I need to find the right opening to do so. Stick with me. There will always be a lull in the action now and then - it allows for some personal growth ;)
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Hermione was amazed at the change in Minerva whilst she was being loved, but when she started fucking Minerva in earnest, she was even moreso. Something had changed within her and Hermione exploited it to its fullest. When Minerva's body broke for the third time, she realised the woman had blacked out and she chuckled as she withdrew.
She summoned a cloth and gently washed her lover before she curled around her and closed her eyes. Minerva's mind was quiet, but not absent. She traced glyphs and runes against Minerva's skin until she jerked awake just as Hermione was falling asleep.
"Easy," she whispered. "Easy, mo ghaol."
"Dè fo shealbh," Minerva grumbled as she blinked. "Bha siud?"
"Hmm?" Hermione chuckled.
"I said, what the fuck was that?"
"That was me, fucking you to oblivion after you pretty much broke my mind."
Minerva groaned and pulled Hermione closer with her strong thighs.
"I passed out?"
"You did," Hermione smiled. "And it was glorious. All the candles flared and my hair stood on end and I'm pretty sure all the Crups in the forest howled as well." Minerva snorted and pressed her face into Hermione's warm skin. "What came over you?" Hermione asked. "I've never seen you so," she hesitated and then realised that Minerva could see what she meant anyway. "Free."
"As you said; the sunshine and your beautiful soul."
Hermione laughed and let go of Minerva as she stretched her back.
"Are you alright?"
"I am," Minerva soothed. "I am worn out but before that, I had a strange conversation with an elf and then, I came back here and you were," she chuckled. "You had brought your things and were unpacking and I just -"
"Wanted to reward me," Hermione teased.
Minerva laughed this time.
"I am not so good at scheming."
Hermione kissed her softly and traced her face with soft fingers.
"I would argue the opposite." They fell silent and tried to ignore the thoughts in each other's heads. "The elf is interesting?" Hermione said as she caught most of a replay in Minerva's head.
"He was," Minerva snorted. "I quite liked him."
"I see that." She paused as Minerva recalled the last part. "You named him?"
"I offered with an understanding that he could decline. He insists that if we call him by name, he will come."
"That's helpful."
"Quite," Minerva agreed. "Have you ever seen a young one?"
"Elf?" Hermione blinked. "No, are they ugly?"
"Quite the opposite," Minerva laughed. "Which is why I agreed. Well," she amended. "That and they could do a lot worse than our empty house."
Hermione yawned and pulled Minerva closer.
"You got anything planned?"
"Generally?" Minerva chuckled. "No. You are sleepy today? Are you well?"
Hermione managed to grunt. Minerva chuckled and weaved her fingers in her hair.
"Ah," she muttered as she understood. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Two weeks or so ago, I was horny. Now, I am sleepy."
"I shall send for some chocolate," Minerva chuckled.
Hermione grinned and sighed.
"What do you think about the Chocolate Frog guy?"
"Oh Leannan, I dinnae know." Hermione laughed at the phrasing. "On the one hand, I wonder if it might be prudent just to go together. You will no' be going on your own but I don't reckon you'd let me go alone either."
"Damn right," Hermione muttered. "Unless you'd like to take Severus, perhaps? As odd as it sounds, I'd trust him to watch over you?"
"You would?"
"I've seen him with you. If I asked it of him, I think he would do it."
"I do like the idea of keeping you a secret from this person. Who we don't even know is a man."
"Good point," Hermione acknowledged. "I hate the idea that you'd go alone but you might be right there as well."
"Then we are agreed? I will take Severus and we will investigate?"
"I mean, fine," Hermione chuckled. "I still don't like it."
"I know," Minerva nodded. "But it's okay."
"I trust you, and as weird as it sounds, I trust Severus as well. So between you, it will be fine."
"I have done this a time or two, you know."
"I know," Hermione laughed. "If necessary, I don't want you to think in terms of spells, okay? Just throw your hands out and give them what for."
"Oh we were going to discuss that weren't we, before you magic your hair off."
Hermione laughed and leaned up on her shoulder.
"I don't even recall why I tried it. I think before I did something without thinking and realised that I didn't even know the spell for it. So I kept practising on other things that didn't matter." Hermione grinned.
"You are incredible, do you know that?"
"I'm just learning."
"That is what frightens me!"
"I frighten you?"
"No," Minerva chuckled. "Not at all." Minerva traced her face and kissed her nose. "But your penchant for experiments makes me nervous for you."
"That's very different," Hermione smiled against Minerva's chest. She kissed Minerva's chest and traced her finger around her nipple.
"Don't you start that again. I need at least a week's rest after all that."
"A week!" Hermione laughed. She rolled them and straddled Minerva's middle. "What am I supposed to do for a week?"
"Well, by all accounts you will be busy anyway."
Hermione smiled and settled on top of her woman with a sigh.
"Perhaps we'll just begin a one-sided affair then." Minerva groaned and poked her side. "This okay?"
"Of course," Minerva whispered as she ran her fingers up and down Hermione's spine. "Always."
The gentleness of Minerva's touch and the heat from Minerva's skin, and the love that echoed within their minds sent Hermione off to sleep moments later.
-0-
Minerva sighed as she felt Hermione fall asleep again. While she lay there, holding her love, she made a mental list of the things she wanted to procure for Hermione for the next week or so. She had not experienced her monthlies for a long time, but what she did recall was painful. She only hoped Hermione did not suffer the same fate.
She chuckled to herself as Hermione seemed to huff in her sleep. For two people so connected in ways that would seem impossible, Hermione had shied away from any real conversation about it. She'd mentioned it when necessary, but they were yet to discuss it in depth.
She understood, of course, but because they were so joined, she didn't wonder they might need to at some point.
"I know we joke, Minerva, but she is very young."
Minerva smiled and looked over at Lucia as she appeared.
"Good afternoon."
"Engaging in my favourite afternoon passtime again, I see."
Minerva snorted and held up a finger. She rolled Hermione gently and soothed her when she protested in her sleep. She stood after summoning a robe and rolled her eyes when Lucia chuckled again.
"Can you walk with me out there?"
"We shall see," she smiled.
It turned out she could and Minerva wondered what the parameters of her appearance entailed. She mentioned as such and Lucia hummed as well.
"I have only really noticed that perhaps it is other people that seem to be the deciding factor. I recall a time I was here with Hermione and knew I had to leave and my exit was followed by a knock at the door."
Minerva hummed and settled on the sofa. It really was a strange thing but she put that on the backburner for that moment.
"I am going to take Severus and meet this person who produced the Draconvir card. I will just have to figure out how to find them."
"I think it will be easier than you think. Amalle and I think they want to be found, so if you make some quiet enquiries, I don't doubt something will pop up."
"Then I shall do so." Lucia sat beside her and they fell silent. "I feel this is the calm before the storm."
"As do I," Lucia nodded. "You need to find out more from your enemy, but I do understand your best spy is now your own."
"He is," Minerva smiled softly. "And I will not put him back into that situation," Minerva muttered. "No matter the tactical advantage we might gain."
"I do not doubt, nor do I blame you for saying so."
They fell silent for a while before Minerva groaned again.
"I feel as though you expend so much energy to come here and sometimes I have nothing to show for it."
Lucia scoffed.
"Perhaps me coming here is just as much about me gaining heart from you, young one."
Minerva laughed.
"Then perhaps you will sit here and take your solace with me? If you agree that it is not wasted, I would enjoy that."
Lucia smiled and reached over to take Minerva's hand and they sat quietly together for quite a while before Minerva huffed.
"We are in a lull and I am frustrated by it."
"You are a child of war."
That held Minerva where she was and she examined that statement quietly.
"Merlin, but I am. Hermione speaks of a life where war is not present and I appreciate the vision and long for it, even, but I cannot help but be unable to see it truly. Especially as we are stuck in this holding pattern for now."
"You must remember that while they are holding you as the figurehead of what you are doing here, you are still a woman, Minerva. A woman with a new lover; one with whom you have not ever had this sort of relationship with. You could take her home. Learn how to live with one another for long periods of time. You could settle for a time."
"I admit, the problem with that is that we have been so isolated there and now I can see an avenue to do so, once we have a connection to here. I spoke with the elves, they have agreed to join our household and I am having a portrait for Michael put up in the house."
"That is the perfect opportunity then," Lucia smiled. She reached over and tucked Minerva's hair behind her ear. It was such a maternal move that Minerva froze for a moment and didn't quite cover it with an embarrassed laugh.
"Oh, Minerva," Lucia sighed. "I am sorry."
"Do not apologise for other people's issues," Minerva muttered darkly. "My mother was not soft, or kind, but that is not yours to wear."
"You were hurt," Lucia whispered. It wasn't posed as a question so Minerva didn't feel the need to answer it as such. Instead, she opted simply for the truth.
"If we were home, it was me that took the blame for things no matter whose fault it was or how divine the action was. My mother was broken and my father was scared. Before I went to Hogwarts, he could hide it well enough that for a time, I had a rather lovely childhood with him, but once I began to develop my magic, he couldn't hide it as well. It challenged everything in his soul and I sometimes really, really hate my mother for doing that to him."
"She sounds as if she was just as damaged?"
"She was from a Wizarding family. A good one, an old one. They were as obsessed with blood purity as Draco's perhaps." She got up and stepped to the window. Speaking of her past always made her horrendously uncomfortable, but with Lucia, she felt as though it was easier. Perhaps because it was like telling herself. "She went against everything to marry him and in the end, the universe punished her for it in the most horrendous of ways. It brought to light the lie she lived and then proceed to exploit it over and over again."
"Perhaps she just made a single incorrect decision that morphed into something else. I have in mind you also made a decision once, that followed you for a long time?"
"Merlin," Minerva sighed. "I did."
"Are you so different?"
"Yes," Minerva snapped. "I only made myself unhappy, not everyone around me."
Lucia chuckled and joined her at the window.
"It is perhaps time to forgive your mother, and yourself, for past decisions. What has happened, in your life now, is so far removed from all that. It is as if you are reborn."
"It does feel like that some days," Minerva sighed. "I want to give her everything," she whispered. "I hurt her, for a long time, because of all this," she winced. "Bullshit, but I cannot seem to let go of it."
"You did," Lucia soothed. "You did for a time but then you have also made amazing progress in letting it go. Acknowledge that so you can start there. She is so young, in this world, that she would not understand. No doubt that makes you feel quite alone sometimes. But it is okay just to let it go."
"I will try," Minerva promised. "I am trying."
"I know you are. I feel that was why I came here today, but as you are already ahead of me in that, I might take my leave of you. Enjoy the time, Minerva. It will not last."
"I will," Minerva said as she turned to her mirror image. "Thank you, for your -" She sighed and decided just to say what she meant. "Love, Lucia. It is appreciated by both of us."
Lucia leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Minerva smiled sadly as the woman faded and looked around her room. It felt a little like a time capsule these days. She was so busy, and spread so thin, she had not had the time to just sit and enjoy it, for she did enjoy these rooms. She'd had the option to change them when Albus made her his Deputy but she loved everything about them and had declined.
She nodded to herself and waved her hand to plait her hair. She wondered at Hermione's discussion of elemental magic. She recalled, vaguely, discussing wandless magic with her, at the beginning, when Minerva was training her for the Order. They hadn't discussed it properly, but they had touched on the notion that some magical users were simply more adept at wandless magic. She wondered, now, whether Hermione's new found skill was just more of that and whether she and Albus, in particular, had not been partaking in that form all along.
Huffing to herself again, she summoned an elf and asked for some tea and sat down behind her desk. True to his word, Albus had taken most of his paperwork back and though she had not checked, she assumed he was at least keeping up with it. She wondered whether it might be worth checking then decided that she had told him what she expected of him and so she would simply leave it to him.
She chuckled to herself. She felt so like it was Hermione's voice saying that, rather than her own and she groaned as another pile appeared on her desk. She would rather be done with it, than leave it for another day so as soon as her tea was poured, she got to work.
Perhaps, Lucia was right. Their week away had been heavenly, but then Dedalus' death had put a damper on the feelings of security they had found together and separately. Perhaps they might spend more time at home - a few days each week perhaps - to get used to being together all the time. So far life had seemed to keep them so busy that, aside from that week, they had not really figured out everything they needed to be, together.
She jotted down a few things on a piece of parchment and set to getting though her paperwork so that when Hermione woke later, or even tomorrow, they would be ready to meet their new elves, install Michael into their home, and then, perhaps they would get to the business of living for a while.
