The next two weeks went better than Hermione would have expected. Lessons with Professor Snape were turning out to be more fun than she thought they would be, if disconcerting. She was noticing things about her professor that she hadn't noticed before. They were the cause of some recent inappropriate dreams starring the potions master. She was extremely embarrassed having long considered herself past that stage in her life. However the lessons were a nice way of working out her frustrations with Ron.
The curly haired witch had been helping Harry with some spells that he could possibly use in the third task. One problem she did have was that she could cast some of the shielding spells silently without thinking much about it. So she had Ron be on the receiving end when practicing with Harry. Of course the redhead complained, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Thus she avoided it letting the obnoxious wizard think she was simply scared to be on the receiving end herself. It was hard enough having to say the spells aloud to begin with to help them. Harry was a natural of course, but they were very much behind her in these skills.
The witch still had private lessons with her professors Moody and Crouch Jr., they had decided that it was fine to both be in the same room when it was just them. She warded the room for them and they had her brother's map, so they were fine from being discovered for a bit longer. Moody was working her just as hard as he had at the chateau.
He drilled into her the importance of the disillusionment spell. It was the reason why he didn't need an invisibility cloak and wouldn't be happy until she was on his level. He knew she could do it, so he refused to accept anything less. While they had given the spell to her as homework, the auror decided he wasn't satisfied with that. He wanted her to be able to cast the spell silently and wandlessly and to be able to cast it even in her sleep!
Disillusion was one of the finer aspects of being an auror, part of their stealth and tracking. He was still debating whether they had enough time to teach her the tracking parts since they were most definitely making use of stealth. Moody was keen on making the witch a fine auror.
After discussing it quite thoroughly, it was decided that Hermione would disillusion herself, cast a silencing charm on herself, and follow Harry through the maze. They knew about the third task since Barty would be the one to put the portkey in the center of the maze. As soon as he touched the trophy the war would begin. Hermione had to be there with Harry. Of course she wasn't allowed to tell Harry about the task, nor was she allowed to tell him that he wouldn't be alone.
The witch was uneasy about the whole thing, but was slightly comforted that Moody didn't like it any more than she did. It was the whole reason why the auror was kidnapped in the first place. Regardless of what happened, Hermione was to let the restoration ritual happen. There was a small disagreement on whether she should have an emergency portkey or not. They knew she wouldn't leave Potter behind, but it was more if she saved Potter and left herself behind.
Severus was very pleased and disturbed with his private lessons with the Granger girl.
The curly haired witch was quite good when given a task and had surprisingly excellent aim, although the first part he already knew. She had breezed through what he had originally planned to be her warm ups. He hadn't expected her to be so fit, she had excellent endurance, and his first few lesson plans were designed specifically to build up her endurance. However it was apparently entirely unnecessary, but he decided to keep going with part of his original plans if only to let her body get used to the motions.
Minerva had told Hooch about the private lessons, who laughed in both of their faces. Hermione Granger was a bookworm through and through. At first glance no one would expect the witch to have a single athletic bone in her body, what with her face being permanently stuck in a book. He did tell them both about her progress and his constant surprise.
Yet it was after they had spent a lesson working on kicks that he slunk into his rooms feeling like a dirty old man. With his luck it had been that day that Hooch decided that her dark friend was in need of her company.
"What's wrong with you, Sev? You look like a brooding teenager, laying like that. I thought you had your workout with Granger today?" she fussed, standing over his flat form.
"I did," he mumbled, his face planted firmly in his couch cushions.
"Bad day?" she asked.
"… No."
"No? Well that doesn't look like a 'no' kind of pose. What were you two working on today?" she pestered the wizard.
"Kicking."
"Kicking?" she repeated, more to herself, "Did she kick you… there?"
"No."
"Did she have bad form or fall over or something? Was she bad? Did you see her knickers?"
"… No."
"No? Severus, you're not giving me much to work with here. Tell me already!" she whined.
He turned his head slightly to the side so he was less muffled, but still looking away from his friend.
"She had perfect form," he groaned.
"Wouldn't you like that though? It means your lessons are going well," she tried to cheer him up.
The grown man just groaned in response. His yellow eyed friend huffed before plopping herself next to him and thinking hard about his situation.
'What's so bad about having perfect form when kicking? He wasn't injured, his lesson went well, she did well… so what could – Oooh.'
"She has nice looking legs, huh?" Hooch guessed.
The wizard just turned back to his previous position and groaned loudly into his couch.
"It's okay, Severus, we're only human. I mean, I catch myself looking at some of the quidditch players still. So she has nice legs, that's okay," she tried to reassure her friend.
"I'm a dirty old man," he complained, still refusing to look at his friend.
"Severus, you're not a dirty old man. You're the youngest one on staff still! I mean we don't think Septima is a dirty old woman, do we?"
"… It's different," he replied.
"It is different, because you're not sleeping with her. So one would think that makes you better than her already," Hooch said cheerily.
"I notice her breasts, Hooch!" he confessed to his friend.
"So you notice her tits? Does she have a nice set?" she asked her friend curiously. The last time she had a good look at Granger, she was a first year.
"… Yes," he answered after a while.
"So she's physically attractive and she's fit! It's not your fault you like the fairer sex, Sev. I mean, imagine how I feel. I don't come into contact with many witches who swing my way here," she tried to cheer her friend up.
"You know I won't tell Minnie, right?"
"I know…" he mumbled.
That was one of the reasons him and Hooch got along well. They were able to speak frankly with one another about sex, both being interested in witches. Hooch called it girl talk and Severus refused to partake when she called it that. So when Severus was having witch troubles, Hooch was always the one to find him.
There were times when his prostitutes weren't clean and he turned them away just as quickly as they undressed. There were also times when a witch made a pass at him at Hogsmeade and he wanted nothing to do with them; not the way they were interested in him. Then there were the propositions that he received yearly from students. Hooch was the one who had these conversations with him. He was simply too embarrassed to even mention finding a witch attractive to their older friend.
Hooch understood the potions professor's dilemma though. Aside from his first year Severus hadn't found a student attractive enough to garner his attention. He was strictly a professor and was extremely professional. He was probably the only one on staff, aside from Hagrid, who could say he never bedded a student. He noticed some of the witches of course, but not enough for him to be distressed by it. It was that moment that Hooch knew that Granger was special.
When the time came she would support her friend, she was sure it would happen. When it did though she would have to let Minerva know in a gentle manner. She knew the older witch had a soft spot for the younger witch and would probably come out claws first.
Hermione continued to go to the library to do her own homework, where Viktor would find her and spend some time with her. After starting her private lessons with the potions master she couldn't help but notice the similarities between the wizards. It was a curiosity to her, while Viktor didn't have Snape's voice, they were similar in appearance. They both had dark hair and eyes, large noses, and they were both tall and thin. While Viktor was awkward on land, he had a certain grace in the air. Professor Snape however had a certain grace about him, everything he did. After finding him graceful while he sparred with the dummy, she payed extra close attention to him in everything he did.
She had always loved watching him demonstrate how to dice or mince ingredients, watching him work with his hands was always a guilty pleasure. She wondered what else the professor could do with his hands. She blushed furiously every time she thought about it. She was starting to feel a little guilty constantly comparing the two wizards, but she wasn't sure what to do about it just yet. With so much going on her romantic life wasn't exactly at the top of her list.
She was pleasantly surprised when Goyle would join them, the Slytherin was very polite and courteous. During class times and in the halls he politely avoided her. When Malfoy tried to start something, he would simply stand there. He would sometimes chuckle at his friend's antics, but he stopped being an active member.
Hermione understood not being able to control your friends, yet still standing there even when they made an ass of themselves. So she wasn't upset with Goyle for who he was friends with. She was just lucky that people weren't upset with her with how Ron acted.
So they did their homework together and it was pleasant. She was right, he was similar to Neville, which she liked. She just hoped things would be the same or at least similar when the other schools left.
Thimi had continued to take care of her mistress like a good elf. She didn't meet up with her mistress as often as she used to, but she did check up on her and give her potions at night. She made sure her mistress wasn't in any more discomfort than she had to be. With all the training she was still doing, she knew her mistress's muscles had to ache. She had forgotten to give her a muscle relaxer twice and wanted to iron her hands for her forgetfulness.
Secretly Hermione liked the dull ache in her muscles, if only a little bit. She would sometimes stretch her sore muscles out to feel the ache better. She had to bite her lip to keep from moaning at the pleasurable pain. Overall she knew that it wasn't logically ideal to go about her day sore.
She did the two days Thimi forgot her potions, and each day her knickers were left in a most embarrassing state. Thimi was used to dealing with such things, especially having had to clean up after a teenage wizard, so she didn't say anything. She knew that it was natural to have sexual urges and that the body would sometimes just pleasure itself at unusual times. For Hermione though, each time she was in a small amount of pain, and she was thoroughly embarrassed.
Thimi had decided against going to Maga for help. Things had gotten more complicated with her mistress having gotten her a blood-bonded brother. Their relationship was secret so no one was supposed to know. She had spoken with Dobby about it though, and the other elf assured her that he took care of Harry Potter's things.
The house-elf had however busied herself more with checking on the Lovegood girl from time to time at the behest of Crookshanks. The half-kneazle had taken Hermione's request to heart and he made sure he included the Ravenclaw in his patrols. He protected the young witch from quite a few attacks and protected some of her things.
Luna noticed this and had taken to thanking Crookshanks by giving his some scraps of food from the Great Hall. She even appreciated Thimi finding some of her missing things and even washing them. She hoped that next year her and Hermione would be good friends. Her familiar and house-elf were like a blessing, she was extremely thankful to the older witch.