Harry and Hermione heard someone entering the kitchen and blushed, knowing they weren't as quiet as they may have thought. It was unusual for them to not have a real moment of privacy, as everyone else was usually too busy with their own self-important things to even consider listening to them. It may have crossed a few of their minds but for some reason there was always some sort of compulsion charm around them to keep other students away when they were talking about 'important' things. After first year the incident with Neville trying to stop them from leaving the common room the only one who seemed to be able to notice them was Severus. Even Professor McGonagall looked over them as though they were having an everyday conversation.
Leeroy noticed their rosy cheeks and chose to ignore it.
"I couldn't help but overhear that Harry was interested in learning how to keep a firm mental frame of mind."
Hermione smiled and nodded, whereas Harry nodded bashfully.
"It'll be easy to teach you. Once you learn it it's hard to forget since it's one of those exercises you do daily to the point you never forget. Like jumping jacks from primary school."
Harry nodded at the analogy. It'd been years since he'd participated in any physical education, but even without doing so he'd know how to do jumping jacks at any given time.
Hermione however rolled her eyes considering that it'd be more like learning the alphabet. Looking at Harry's reaction though she supposed it would be better to compare it to a physical activity since he was more of a kinetic learner than an auditory learner. They were both visual learners as well, they needed to be when learning wand movements, but Harry was more of a natural learning how to do while doing it.
"We can get started this afternoon if you'd like," Leeroy offered.
Harry grinned at the older man, "I'd like that. Thimi already made me breakfast and I just wanted to talk to Hermione a bit before she left for lessons. So if you want to start earlier…" he hinted suddenly feeling embarrassed for being excited, "Unless you haven't had breakfast yet of course."
"I already ate before you even woke up, kid. We can get started now if you'd like," the older man replied, glad that he was finally able to get a foot in to spend time with his new son.
The young wizard was obviously already comfortable with Hermione and Abagail, but was more self-conscious and standoffish when it came to the older man. It would be his opportunity to have Harry get used to him in the small time he had off from boarding school.
"Yeah."
"Come on then, let's go to the parlor," he said as he already turned around to leave, Harry quickly getting up to follow.
Hermione smiled to herself and got up to do a bit of reading before she left.
Thimi popped in the tea room, turned training room, and lightly tapped Hermione just as the witch looked at the clock and noticed the time. The curly haired witch had been caught in one of her new defense books, while also missing her professors. Just thinking about them made her feel like she was wasting her time doing what they felt was lazing about when she had the time to train. While it was hard, it was also fun taunting them as they were shooting hexes at her…
Maybe she just had a demented sense of fun, already knowing her sense of humor was closely morbid.
She smiled at Thimi and got up, holding her hand out, she would have time to mourn their time together at a later time. It was time to meet her master's friends.
As Thimi brought her to Master Sn- Severus's house, she remembered that he had said that he'd be able to at least get her in touch with Professor Moody. It jolted her as she landed evenly in his living room, seeing an amusing set up.
Hooch was sprawled on the couch with her head on an arm, a leg on Professor McGonagall's lap and the other on the back rest as the professor sat up proper as she usually did. Severus was over in his chair, away from them, but nothing gave anything away that this wasn't a normal layout for them.
The witch smiled at them.
"Apprentice, since this is your first induction to an informal meeting between my friends, I feel it's prudent to reintroduce you to people who you've met in a professional setting."
Hermione smiled and nodded while Hooch rolled her eyes with her eyebrows raised in a most relaxed manner and Professor McGonagall gave Severus a look as though communicating a whole sentence without words; of which he ignored.
"Hermione, this is Minerva and Hooch," he said with a flourish of his arm from his chair.
Hermione smiled at her master indulgently before turning her attention to the witches, "It's a pleasure to meet you in this setting. Please, call me Hermione or Apprentice, if you're more comfortable with it," she added as an afterthought.
"Well Hermione, hopefully you're better in person than you are on a broom," Hooch said with an impish grin.
The younger witch blushed furiously while Severus chuckled at her expense.
"Oh leave the witch alone, Hooch. She doesn't need you poking at her expense already," Minerva said, with a light slap to Hooch's lap.
"Come on Minnie, you thought it was funny too," she replied just as easily.
'Minnie?'
The older witch smiled fondly at the yellow eyed witch.
It was in that moment that Severus realized that Hooch was hogging the couch and Hermione didn't have a place to sit. Unless Hooch moved over, which he highly doubted, she would have to sit with him, or rather on his lap. Looking over at Hooch with a pinched look he was sure that she was aware of it as well.
Noticing his look, Hooch's grin grew.
"Hermione why don't you have a seat. It's awkward with you just standing there in what's supposed to just be us getting to know you," Hooch said.
Hermione looked back and forth noticing that all the seats were taken.
"You'd have to move your legs for me to sit down," she replied with a hand on her hip.
Hooch pursed her lips making a humming noise as though she was thinking, "Mmm, no. I'm very comfortable. You could always sit on Severus's lap," she retorted, her face sporting a cheshire grin.
The curly haired witch's face burst red with wide eyes before flicking them over to Severus who was also sporting a small blush and looking away from her.
"I- I don't think that's, uhm… feasible?" she tried weakly.
"Why not? I'm too comfortable to move, and Severus didn't say 'no'," she responded.
Minerva was hiding her own grin behind her hand.
Hermione's eyes flicked back over to the surly wizard, who was still looking away from her, staring holes into the white haired witch. She did notice however that he moved his arms that would allow her to sit on his lap comfortably, making her blush harder.
She walked over to him and daintily sat on his lap, her body turned facing the witches on the couch and, extremely aware of the warmth that came from his crotch. Unbeknownst to her Severus blushed harder once her bum was squarely on his lap, now intimately aware of how firm it was pressed against him. It didn't help that Hooch and Minerva had front row seats to this discovery and baptism to their physical intimacy.
"So Hermione, aside from what we know about you in a professional setting, please tell us something we might not know about you," Minerva initiated.
Looking quickly at Severus in the corner of her eye before looking back at the other witches, her blush still firmly in place, her brain stuttered for a moment being put on the spot.
"I'm not sure if Master Severus told you, but I'm a member of the Royal Family. I'm sure you remember," she nodded at Minerva, "It won't hit the papers just yet, but the rumors are strife and I'm sure word will get to Hogwarts sooner than later."
"So you're a princess?" Hooch asked.
"She's not a princess, she's Lady Hermione Granger," Minerva said.
Hermione nodded, "I'm not close enough to be a princess. It would take a lot of deaths before I'd be in line to be the Queen."
"I'm sure it'll put a bee in half the school's knickers," Hooch grinned.
Minerva looked at her friend and chuckled, "It should be somewhat amusing. Hopefully it doesn't become disruptive though." She finished with a crooked smile.
"What do you think will be the most amusing reaction?" Hermione asked.
"Before I would have assumed young Malfoy, but I think it might either be Miss Parkinson or Miss Chang."
"I think the best reaction will actually be Sybill," Hooch purred.
"Trelawney?" the young witch asked incredulously.
"Oh yes. She's quite sweet on Severus here, even though he's never given her the time of day."
Hermione looked at him in the corner of her eye, "Good on you."
The witches cackled at the curly haired witch's response. Her opinion of the spindly witch was legendary. Even in the privacy of the staff room Sybill would fiddle with her shawls any time Hermione was mentioned. Severus pursed his lips and glared at his friends on the couch.
"Sybill is an annoyance and thankfully the rest of the staff is aware of the unspoken agreement to keep her at least one seat away from me," The dark wizard further explained.
The hazel-eyed witch laughed, that sudden tidbit catching her off guard. The thought that the staff purposely put a buffer between Severus and the fraud, as though he needed the protection from her was beyond amusing to the apprentice.
"I do look forward to that announcement. Sybill disliked you before, but I'm sure you'll be the focus of her annoyance after your apprenticeship is announced," Minerva said.
Hermione pursed her lips, her face showing exactly what she thought of the other curly haired witch.
"I have tea with Sybill at least once a month to check up on her since she only attends mandatory meals. Severus here would do the same, but as a Head of House he's not afforded that luxury," the elder witch said with a smile.
"I was in her class but for so long, but I could still smell the sherry on her. She tries to hide it with all the incense in her classroom," Hermione replied with a slight sneer of distaste, eerily reminiscent of her master.
Minerva blinked and turned her head slightly with a small look of concern, "What do you mean? I know she drinks in her private time…"
"Oh. Something you actually don't know about me in a professional manner. That incident I had with the polyjuice potion?"
Minerva nodded, whereas Severus was listening interestedly knowing that the reverse effects were different for all when it came to animal hair for a rare and controlled potion were far and few between. It wasn't recommended and some people were never able to fully transform back into humans. One of the potion masters who decided to experiment with becoming an aardvark and ended up keeping the hump for the rest of his life. The white-haired witch however never heard of anything involving polyjuice potion. It wasn't a potion they made at Hogwarts, even for NEWTs. The furthest they got was the base to be tested, never a fully finished potion.
"Well even though Master Severus was able to reverse a large percentage of it, near perfect, I was told beforehand there wouldn't be any guarantees," she shrugged, "I still have sensitive senses, and my teeth are still pointed," she said putting it lightly, "I have to glamour them every morning. It's the one piece of magic I was allowed to use outside of school."
"You simply must leave them for Halloween, the rest of the castle might think it's your partaking of the holiday," Minerva suggested.
Hermione was pleasantly surprised at McGon- Minerva in an informal setting and nodded with a smile.
"So you were able to smell sherry on her?" Severus asked, steering the conversation back to more serious matters.
Hermione wiggled a little bit before she remembered she was on his lap and blushed fiercely fully aware of the semi-hard flesh across her bum. Severus on the other hand sat still and looked up towards the ceiling as though praying to Merlin for Grace.
Hooch grinned impishly, "The sherry?"
"Yes, she smells heavily of sherry and if it weren't for my sense of smell, I would have never caught it under all the incense."
"Did the incense give you a headache?" Severus asked.
"The incense is so heavy in there it gave Harry a headache, it gave me a migraine. So on top of her trying to teach a facet of magic that can't be taught her classroom is heavy on the senses."
"What if it is just your 'eye' being closed?" Hooch asked playfully.
"If it was just my inner eye being closed then the smell would have had it squeezed so tight it decided it wasn't worth it for the next millennia," Hermione replied cynically, tossing her hair over her left shoulder, away from Severus's face.
A loud laugh burst from Hooch's mouth, and the witch slammed her hand over it in surprise.
"You and Severus will have a marvelous apprenticeship," Minerva quipped.
"Thank you, Professor," Hermione said.
"Please call me Minerva," she smiled at the wild haired witch.
"Thank you, Minerva," Hermione said, the name feeling foreign on her lips. It was another name to practice in private.
"You'll be seeing more of us in the castle, so behind private doors you should call us by our names," Hooch said, finally gathering herself together.
"We should be going. We don't have much to do today, but I know Sev probably has a semi and would like us gone now. We've tortured him enough for one day. You can use the rest of the day for whatever else you'd like," Hooch said with a saucy smile, stood up and pulled a red Minerva to her feet.
"See you later, Sev," she said, "Hogwarts, Hooch's quarters," she held the older witch firmly and pulled her through the floo with her leaving before either of them could get their bearings.
They looked at each other red faced.
"I would apologize for her, but it's something to get accustomed to," he said.
"So it's safe to assume that's just Hooch?" she asked, her voice one octave higher than normal.
"That is a very safe assumption."
They remained seated for a bit longer despite the couch now being free. The close proximity was comforting and quite cozy. They both chose to ignore the hardness that was now firmly against her bum.
"I had planned for the meeting to be a bit longer, and a tad more awkward," he said.
"Overall for a first informal meeting, I think it went well," she replied.
"Agreed. Minerva even told you to call her by her first name."
The witch nodded, agreeing that it was a good stepping stone.
"Was Hooch ever a Slytherin?" Hermione asked as an afterthought.
"Surprisingly yes, although not many people would guess that. Most assume she was either a Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. It became a moot point after she started to play professionally. She was a reserve for seeker, but when some people started to accuse her of cheating because her eyes were yellow like a hawk's, it grated on her nerves. Many people who knew her before could attest it was her natural eye color, but many of the foreign teams and older players had doubts. She retired not long after one team tried to have her team disqualified for cheating because of her 'obviously magical' eyes."
Hermione sneered and rolled her eyes at the stupidity of some people.
"So I take it to avoid backlash she just left on her own terms?"
"Yes."
"Are all your friends smart?" she asked teasingly.
"They wouldn't be my friends if they weren't. As you should know I can barely stomach stupidity in my classroom. So that leaves the question as to why I would want to associate myself with dunderheads in my personal time."
The curly haired witch just giggled at her master.