Pins and Needles

Chapter 4: Interludes and Examinations

After an unusually long and peaceful night, Hermione came downstairs the next morning to find Minerva in the kitchen drinking coffee and puzzling over a wizarding chess riddle on the Daily Prophet's last page. Knocking gently on the door frame, she said, "Good morning."

Slightly startled, Minerva looked up. "Oh, thank Merlin. Now I have an excuse to put this away without feeling like I have given up on it. Good morning, dear. And please, do not feel like you have to knock." She waved her inside. "Shall we have breakfast together?"

They proceeded to order their breakfast with Deely, who then vanished again. Taking note of Hermione's confused look, Minerva explained, "There's an elf kitchen downstairs. I'm afraid this one has been mostly for show ever since my mother died. Well this, and making coffee and tea, which I find oddly satisfying to do myself."

After asking for Hermione's preference, she proceeded to do just that and was finished almost exactly at the same time Deely reappeared and placed their food onto the old oaken kitchen table.

Halfway into her poached eggs on toasted bread, Minerva suddenly stopped eating to look at Hermione intently. "She is free to leave any time she wants to."

"Deely?" Hermione felt relief flooding her. She had been pondering how to address the topic without appearing rude.

Minerva nodded and went on, "I used to take this for granted because, obviously, I would never keep anyone against their will. However, a few years ago, someone," she pointedly looked at Hermione, "made me reconsider the power dynamics in a master servant relationship."

Hermione gaped. "You heard of S.P.E.W.?"

"Of course. I would be neither a worthy head of house nor a decent deputy headmistress, had I not. Now there is a parcel with a pair of socks and a gift card made out to Deely and signed by me in the basement and she knows it. In fact, I am allowed to remind her of it once a year."

"So she doesn't have to ask for it." Hermione beamed. "That's brilliant."

Minerva just shrugged. "I was not able to convince her to accept payment, but there is a decent sum in that parcel that she is free to take should she decide to leave."

Hermione felt her eyes tearing up. Annoyed and embarrassed at how easy it was to put her off balance these days, she quickly reached for her cup of coffee to buy herself some time. Then she said, "Thank you."

Minerva frowned. "Whatever for? Trying to be a decent human being?"

After thinking for a moment, Hermione answered, "Yes, actually. That and not ridiculing me."

"It can be hard to make people see past their preconceptions. That does not make you wrong."

By the time they had finished breakfast, the rain had lessened a bit, but there still was a constant drizzle. Standing at one of the kitchen windows, Hermione found herself looking out into a world that consisted of every imaginable hue of grey but no other colours at all.

"Still think it beautiful?" Minerva had quietly come up next to her to hand her a second cup of coffee.

"Perfect for curling up with a book and reading the day away." Hermione grinned. "So yes, I like it." Glancing sideways at the other woman who was holding another cup for herself, she hesitated briefly, then added, "I missed you, you know?"

"I did not."

"Well, it's true."

Minerva did not say anything, directing all of her attention on her coffee instead. Just when Hermione had accepted the fact that she would not be getting an answer, she spoke up again after all. "Likewise."


They had agreed Hermione would get her things right away. There were not actually a lot of them and with her enchanted bag it would not take her long to get it done. "Would you like me to come with you to help?" Minerva asked.

"No!" Hermione vehemently shook her head. At Minerva's surprised look, she added, "I didn't exactly put a lot of love into decorating and, um, maintaining my place."

"Meaning you do not want me to witness the mess?" Minerva did not bother to hide her amusement.

"That's a rather blunt way of putting it." Hermione had blushed furiously. "But yes."

"Alright. If it makes you feel better." Minerva started towards the library. "Come on, I will get a fire going and shift the wards so you can just floo out of here and back again later. No point in taking a stroll through this kind of weather."

As she started the fire, she felt somewhat guilty for having embarrassed Hermione with her teasing. In an attempt to put her at ease she said, "It would not have made me think any less of you. Stop worrying." She refrained from adding that, given Hermione's current situation, she would not have expected anything else. True as it was, it would only have served to embarrass the young woman even further.


After Hermione had returned and they had had a light lunch, Minerva introduced Hermione to the book list for her apprenticeship curriculum that she had drawn up in the meantime. At first, the ever eager young woman had been a little disappointed because the number of books on the list had been considerably less than she had expected. When she had mentioned that, Minerva's reply had been, "That is because there is no such thing as 'optional further reading' for you. You will end up reading them all, and sooner rather than later. Consider this the first batch. Just so that I have the slightest chance of keeping track." They also agreed that Hermione would come up with a first draft of a schedule to her apprenticeship herself, focussing on the order of topics rather than specific dates.

After lunch, Hermione quickly unpacked and then joined Minerva, who had moved to the library to start composing an article for Transfiguration Today. Hermione happily pulled all of the books on her list out of their respective shelves and felt herself falling in love with the library all over again. She quickly familiarised herself with them and then proceeded to draw up her proposed schedule right away, enjoying herself immensely. Yes, she had missed this. And no, she would not be missing her work. More than her studies though, she enjoyed being able to do all of this in a place like this with a person like Minerva at her side. She glanced up at her and then at the clock. They had not even spoken for at least two hours, both concentrating on their respective tasks, but the mere fact of being there together made her feel incredibly comfortable.

After dinner she had presented her schedule to Minerva. Together, they decided to mostly keep to the order Hermione had proposed, with Minerva only needing to switch a few topics. She had not been surprised to learn that Hermione wanted to become an animagus, but had been glad she had been able to convince her eager student that it paid off to concentrate on the theoretical foundations first. That had saved her from explaining that, while her pedagogical reasoning certainly was sound, she also wanted to ensure Hermione was a bit more emotionally stable before attempting such dangerous spells.

After they were both content with their plan, Minerva said, "There's one more thing. Not to be a spoilsport, but you are required to have completed your N.E.W.T. in a field before acquiring a mastery."

Hermione did not appear to be fazed, simply answering, "I know."

Minerva continued, "I do apologise for not reaching out to you before this year's exams." All eligible students had been offered the chance to sit their exams at the Ministry a few weeks after their initially scheduled dates. Minerva had personally made sure the Trio had been included even though they had missed the last school year. "With all of the chaos after the war's end I only realised on the day of the exams that you were not there."

The unspoken question in those words was hard to miss and Hermione answered, "I wasn't ready to meet everyone again. And I very much did not want to end up on the Daily Prophet as 'The Brains' again, simply for taking seven N.E.W.T.s. They had only just begun to calm down."

Minerva sighed. "You should have sent me an owl. We would have figured something out. Again, I am sorry for not contacting you."

Hermione grinned. "I did send an owl." She allowed herself a few seconds to enjoy Minerva's confusion before adding, "To Madame Maxime."

Minerva stared at her with a mixture of fascination and incredulity. "You took your N.E.W.T.s at Beauxbatons?"

Hermione shrugged. "My French is not all that bad and they were kind enough to let me write my answers in English."

Minerva shook her head. "You are indeed full of surprises."

Having finished all of the planning concerning her mastery for the time being, Hermione wanted to dive back into her books right away, but Minerva intervened, dryly remarking that there was no need to cover the content of a month within just one evening and they agreed on finishing the day with a game of chess.