Pins and Needles

Chapter 11: Closed Impetus

Several weeks had passed since Hermione had first started sharing Minerva's bed and neither of them had seen any reason to change their arrangement since then. Some nights one or both of them would still have trouble sleeping, but overall their nocturnal habits had vastly improved.

Nevertheless, Minerva was much more of an early riser than Hermione. Sometimes Hermione would open her eyes to the sight of Minerva sitting on the bed reading and she found she particularly treasured these mornings. Usually though, Hermione would awake on her own and head down to the kitchen, where, just like on her very first morning in the manor, Minerva had had her first coffee by then.

Today, however, was different as she was awakened by the insistent tapping and increasingly annoyed hooting of an owl that she immediately recognised as Pigwidgeon. She quickly got up and opened the window wide enough to let the bird come through. Relieving him from his letter she muttered an apology. "If you'll wait a moment, I'll get you a treat." But the owl just gave her one more annoyed hoot and left.

She took a closer look at the letter and realised it had been sent by Molly. The tension that had gripped her the moment she had seen Ron's owl, but that she had not been conscious of until this moment, left her. She quickly read the few sentences it contained before changing and heading downstairs, letter in hand.

Upon reaching the kitchen she immediately announced her news. "Molly is throwing a Christmas party."

"I know." Minerva held up a letter of her own.

Hermione hopped onto the counter stool next to Minerva's. "Are you going?" she asked while stealing a sip of coffee from the other woman's cup.

"Absolutely." Minerva's tone left no doubt.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you would be quite as enthusiastic."

Minerva sighed. "I really am not." She took another mouthful of coffee herself, then surrendered her cup and set out to replenish their supply. "I am quite sure I shall be frightfully uncomfortable with all the ruckus that is to be expected."

"A babbling, bumbling band of baboons?" Hermione quipped.

Minerva had already opened her mouth to call for Deely, but now turned back to Hermione again, her confusion evident. "Excuse me?"

Hermione chuckled, then explained, "At the Triwizard Tournament. You warned us not to behave like that during the dance lessons before the Yule Ball."

Minerva shook her head in astonishment. "It would appear you were quite serious when you said you could quote me."

"Well, yes," Hermione blushed, "but that one is actually no proof at all. Every Gryffindor from back then would be able to, years one to three included." She took a moment to empty her cup, allowing herself to enjoy the situation for a bit. She had been living with the other woman for several months now, but had not seen her befuddled like that before. Then she continued, "Fred and George were throwing that sentence around for the rest of the school year."

Minerva rolled her eyes but did nothing to hide her amusement. "Well, I have never claimed to be particularly fond of … fatuous, fiery feasts of frolicking." The words and the stern way she delivered them had the desired effect of making Hermione laugh out loud. "Be that as it may, Molly is a good friend. And when a good friend of mine is ready to face the world again after a terrible loss, being there most decidedly takes precedence over my sensitivities."

They called for Deely and ordered their breakfasts before Minerva went on, "Also, much as I enjoy your charming company, I do believe it is time we venture out into the world again."

Hermione made a face. "I do believe we did very well without the world." She held Minerva's slightly admonitory gaze for a few seconds, before relenting with a sigh. "But you're probably right."

Minerva gave her a smug grin. "I always am," she said before turning back to the kitchen counter to prepare their second round of coffee.

Shaking her head slightly in disbelief, Hermione said, "You're not one for false modesty, are you?"

"Whatever would make you say that?" Minerva quipped while keeping her attention firmly on her task. Only when she was satisfied their coffee was brewing as it should did she turn around again to look at Hermione. Her tone not being one of banter anymore, she continued, "Would it surprise you if I told you that I used to be? Much like you, I might add."

Hermione pondered the question for a moment. "It would, actually."

Minerva shrugged. "It is not a character trait that tends to reap big rewards."

"You're telling me I should work on changing that?" Hermione asked.

Minerva shook her head. "I am telling you it is what I did."

After taking their coffees to the dining room and thanking Deely for delivering their food, they ate in comfortable silence for a bit until, suddenly, Hermione stopped to just stare at her companion for a moment. Then she said, "I just realised something."

"Care to share?"

"Well, thinking back to those dance lessons … Ron complained for days afterwards that, of all the people in the room, you had to choose him for a demonstration. The twins told him to be happy to have danced with a lady at least once in his lifetime. Me, I was even more annoyed than usual by his whining." She hesitated, feeling herself blushing once again. "I didn't understand it back then, but I was so jealous." She quickly diverted her gaze to her plate and took another bite.

After a moment of silence, Minerva replied, "I can assure you, I never meant to come between you and young Mr. Weasley."

Nearly choking on her food, Hermione started to protest, "That's not what I–" before she took in Minerva's amused grin and decided to just shoot her an angry glare. That woman really was insufferable.


When she approached the library in the evening, Hermione heard music playing. Before she had any chance of identifying the piece, it stopped abruptly to be replaced by another one just seconds later – which soon met the same fate. Stepping inside, she immediately discovered the source as well as the reason for the interruptions. Minerva had put an antique gramophone onto the playing table and was obviously trying to find a particular piece of music.

"What are you doing?" Hermione approached the scene, trying to make sense of it.

Minerva did not look up but answered, "Looking for …" she paused to listen for a few seconds, then started to smile, "... this."

Hermione could not place it. "What is it?"

"A waltz." Minerva stated, as if it was the most ridiculous question she had ever heard.

Hermione shot her a look. "Well, yes. I can hear that. What–"

"Would you like to dance?" Minerva was standing there, her eyes twinkling.

"Um …" Minerva's obvious good mood was infectious and Hermione started to grin, but nevertheless found herself eyeing their somewhat cramped surroundings sceptically. "Here?"

With several quick flicks of her wand Minerva had all of the furniture lined up at the walls. She then turned to put the gramophone's needle back to the start of the track, before approaching Hermione again and holding out her right hand.

Hermione stepped into the closed position she had been taught before the Yule Ball. As she had not done any classical dancing since then, she was not sure she would remember how, but it all came back in a rush. As someone who had been teaching students to dance, Minerva clearly knew how to lead, so Hermione soon found herself just relishing the feeling of being swirled around like that.

A booming final chord marked the end of the piece as they finished their dance on a dip. Both were somewhat out of breath and a bit flushed by the exercise. Their beaming smiles left no doubt whatsoever that they had been enjoying themselves immensely.

As Hermione let herself be pulled up again by Minerva, she heard the next piece of music start playing. It was much slower than the waltz they had just been dancing to. For a moment, Minerva seemed to freeze, her inner debate on how to react hard to miss. Hermione quickly moved to take the decision out of her hands. Stepping into the other woman's arms she started to sway, hoping to goad Minerva into a slow dance. After a few seconds she felt the arms around her tighten their grip. Content to let Minerva take the lead again, Hermione relaxed into the embrace and let her head sink against her dance partner's shoulder.

Enjoying the gentle movements, Hermione found her thoughts drifting. During the last days and weeks making sense of her emotions had become increasingly difficult. She treasured the intimate friendship that had been so fast to develop between them. Never before had she felt so comfortable with another human being. Hell, they had been around each other more or less constantly for almost three months now – the sheer fact that they could still stand each other at all, yet alone enjoy each other's company, spoke volumes.

By now, however, it had become impossible to ignore that her feelings towards Minerva were quickly moving beyond the borders of what she could still, in good conscience, call friendship.

Relishing their closeness, she felt herself take in a deep breath through her nose to fully savour the other woman's scent. Minerva did not wear any perfume, but Hermione caught a whiff of what had to be her lotion combined with a tinge of coffee breath and, well, Minerva. The room suddenly seemed a lot warmer.

Galloping would probably be a more fitting term to describe the speed at which her feelings were evolving. She did have a hard time keeping up with them. Trying to think it all out probably was not helping either, she decided.

She closed her eyes to shut out everything that was not them. The very presence of Minerva's hands on the small of her back felt like the most intimate caress even though they kept perfectly still. Unconsciously tightening their embrace even further, Hermione had to bite down on her lower lip to avoid a gasp at the increased friction.

Alright, stampeding.

It would appear things were rather obvious after all. All that remained now was figuring out how to best react to this epiphany. Which, unfortunately, was not nearly as obvious. Neither were Minerva's feelings on the matter.

Raising her head again, Hermione drew back far enough to meet Minerva's eyes. She could see her inner turmoil reflected back at her. Feeling that there really was only one sensible thing to do in this textbook moment, Hermione was still trying to gather her courage when suddenly the music started skipping, jumping wildly from one part to another over and over again. Disentangling herself, Minerva quickly made her way across the library to stop the gramophone. Smiling apologetically, she said, "It is a really old record," before busying herself with putting the library's furniture back in place.


Notes:

The chapter title refers to a dance step because, well, they're literally dancing. But also because they keep dancing around each other figuratively.

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