A/N: Quick and gentle reminder that one should not pay for fanfiction. It is so fragile, my loves, that one misstep and we might lose that forever. Fanfic is for you, specifically and singularly. Don't profit from it else we all be torn asunder. There are rumours afoot that sound kinda dire and we need to protect this freedom that we are given by NOT squandering it for a bit of cash.
Anyhoo. Enjoy. I took notes... NOTES... on what to do next so I guess we're going to start there lol
-0-
Lucia woke earlier than her love, and spent a long time scratching her fingers through her short hair. The curls had always fascinated her and she smiled as she curled one around her finger and let it go. She sighed when she realised that she was disturbing Amalle and she rose.
The house was silent as she made her way to the kitchen. The House Elf was called and a drink procured, she took it to the best seat in the house. As she watched the sun rise above the mountains, she wondered at the misstep she had taken by coming here.
Well, not a complete misstep; anywhere was better than where they had been but Minerva's reaction had shocked her. She had expected them both to be happy and while Hermione had been, Minerva had been the total opposite. She had railed against their appearance. She could not lie, that had hurt somewhat.
On the one hand, she understood. She understood Minerva as well as the woman understood herself. But on the other hand, like Hermione, she thought that the advantageous position of having two other Draconvir in their midst, would overcome the feelings that a potential parental figure might.
How wrong she had been.
She sighed and finished off her tea. She had taken to the drink quite well after some initial disgust. It was an acquired taste that she would get used to, rather than love. She would have preferred wine but she knew that things must change with their new home. This seemed to be the first thing.
She paused as she heard someone enter the kitchen and held still when she realised it was Minerva. She closed her eyes and listened to the soft footfalls of bare feet on the tile and then on the wooden flooring of the living room. The pause when she realised she was not alone and the almost inaudible sigh when there was no other option but to join her.
Despite her belief that she and Amalle had done the right thing, Lucia still paused as Minerva came around the lounge and sat down. Lucia watched as she sipped her tea and sighed as she allowed herself to relax against the back and in a move rather unlike what Lucia thought Minerva might make usually, pop her bare feet up on the coffee table.
"Do you want me to -"
"Are you going to run away any time I enter a room?" Minerva asked evenly.
"No," Lucia replied in kind. "I am trying to do right by you."
"I am unsure that is wise as it is I that has the issue, not anyone else."
"You are allowed to feel what you feel," Lucia said quietly. "That has never changed. I made this decision, no matter Amalle's words. I made the decision to be here because I wanted to. Because at no point back then, did I feel as though I was Home. And here?" Lucia sighed and looked out of the window. "I am a world away from my world and yet it feels like home more than anywhere else has ever been."
"Then own your decisions and let me fight my own battles," Minerva huffed.
"I came here to help. I came here because we love you. If I hurt you, I will do my best to heal that wound."
"You cannot. It is not your wound."
Lucia held her tongue as Minerva sighed.
"Will you join me for that walk that Hermione bullied you into?"
Lucia laughed through her nose and reached out for Minerva's hand.
"I would love to."
"You will need clothes," Minerva muttered. "I will be back."
She got back up, tea in hand, and disappeared back down the hallway. Her words were true enough as she came back with an armful of clothing and behind her came a small collection of footwear.
"I do not know exactly where you are from but the wind here is frigid, at times. You will need to dress for it."
"I come from far, originally, but our home was yours as well. We lived in the Castle you call home. I am well acquainted with the frigid temperatures," she chuckled.
It did not take them long to dress, and in the meantime, Minerva had written a note and stuck it to the kitchen table. Lucia waited while she checked this and that before she turned to her and nodded.
"Alright, let's be off then."
Lucia waved her forward and stood, braving the cold wind while Minerva locked the door behind them. She followed over the road and only hoped that this was not folly.
-0-
Minerva could feel Lucia's trepidation and her hope and was not certain she could do much about either. She led them down to the beach which was roaring angrily in the wind. She chuckled as a particularly strong swell sprayed them with salt before she took Lucia's hand and pulled her through the intricate maze of rocks and to the course sand. The noise of their boots on the beach was drowned out by the noise and they walked for a long way before Minerva remembered that Lucia may not have been a walker in their life before. She turned just in time to see her huff stretch and Minerva realised she'd been rather rude.
"I'm sorry," she called. "We will stop." She pointed up to the little cove where the stones made a satisfactory little wind break. "Up there."
Lucia nodded and followed where Minerva led, letting her set a few spells - one of which was a warming spell on the little space they had.
"I usually sit here and listen to the wind and the waves," Minerva said as her magic blanketed the outside sounds a little. "Unfortunately if I do that, I will not speak so I will silence it for now and we might talk."
"When I catch my breath, I surely will," Lucia muttered darkly.
Minerva laughed and sat on the damp sand and offered her hand to Lucia and nodded her down to the floor. After a little wobble, the woman managed to sit demurely beside her and they fell into silence.
"I reacted badly," Minerva said quietly but honestly. "I am sorry. I am not angry with you, not really. I think you made a terribly dangerous decision but it was yours to make. We will live with the consequences as well as we can. You are free to do as you please."
"Minerva," Lucia gasped. "That is cruel and heartless. I did this for all of us."
"You did this for you," Minerva said quietly. "As you should. But it is now me that has to deal with it. Yet another reminder that my love is too young to do anything in this world and putting even more stress on me! You did not think things through. You should have told us, we could have prepared. I could have prepared for you just showing up in my life as if you belong in it."
"That is cruel."
"Possibly, but none of it is incorrect. Where do you plan on living? Are you staying with us? Did you ask if you could impose on our sanctuary for a length of time? I will put you up, of course I will but it is just another thing that I, Minerva, have to deal with."
"You would debase your lover like that, so easily?" Lucia challenged. "You think she is not also under stress?"
"I think she is too young to fully comprehend what this does. She has not lived. Which is why I did not want all this in the first place." She was shouting now and she stood, stepping angrily back and forth. "It is always me. It is me that has to protect my friends, protect my pupils, my school, my home. It is me that does that. Hermione had no draw on her time that this interferes with, no prior commitments that she had to give up."
"Neither did you," Lucia deadpanned. "You were not living before she came into your life. You said that yourself. Do not invent a history to make your present feel better. All this nonsense so that you would not have to examine your hurt. All this for what?"
"I do not want another mother."
"I am not offering," Lucia argued. "I am here, I look like you, that is unavoidable now. But I do not have to be your mother, Minerva. I maintain that I can be your friend."
"And what of me!"
"That is the real crux of the matter, isn't it," Lucia softened her tone. "It is too late, isn't it."
Minerva dropped to her knees.
"I loved my mother until the day she died and she hated me for the same length of time. There is no healing that. That is something I live with every day."
"No, you cling to it, like a shield. If you would let go of it, accept that she made one bad decision that affected everyone for the rest of their lives and give her the grace to have made that bad decision, you would be able to let it go."
"I was cruel to her."
"You were a child," Lucia soothed.
She reached forward and Minerva closed her eyes against the offered hand. She took a deep breath and took the hand Lucia was offering and shifted onto her backside.
"You are like the mother I have never had, and yet I do not want it now. I do not want someone else that I need to worry about. That I need to protect. If I lose you, I will not survive it."
"You would," Lucia said softly. "Just as you would your friends. Death is as much a part of life as living is, parum amoris." [little love]
"Don't start that," Minerva muttered.
"Come." Lucia pulled on her hand and Minerva went when she wanted her to; pressed up against her with her back to the world. "Now," Lucia whispered as she wrapped her arm around her. "Let us begin again, hmm?"
Minerva felt very young as a soft kiss was pressed against her hair and she sighed and nodded.
"It would please me if we could stay with you until it is time to go back to your Hogwarts. If that is not acceptable, then we could return there at any moment. Amalle and I were not so obnoxious to come here without any means of supporting ourselves. We buried a portion of our wealth in the grounds of Hogwarts where, hopefully, it has survived untarnished. I would ask for your help in both finding it and making it applicable here."
"Okay," Minerva muttered. "That sounds fair."
"The second thing I would ask of you?" Lucia asked quietly.
"Hmm?"
"Relax," Lucia chuckled as she kissed Minerva's hair again. That same little spark of warmth ignited in Minerva's belly and she closed her eyes against the tears. "And let me love you, alright? I promise not to be ostentatious, I promise to do so carefully and the minute you think it is too much, you must tell me and we can adjust. Alright?"
Minerva felt rather juvenile as she nodded and then grumbled a yes out loud.
"Good, now, my backside is going numb in the cold and Merlin knows what this is doing to our bones. Let us go back and perhaps you and I can have breakfast together before the other two are up."
"I would like that," Minerva nodded as she stood.
She pulled Lucia up and they walked back to the house, arm in arm. They missed their chance to have breakfast alone as Hermione greeted them both with a smile and a hug, but Lucia promised they would come back to it later.
-0-
"Better?" Hermione asked as she snuggled up behind Minerva later that night.
"Yes," Minerva admitted. "We hashed it out."
"I know," Hermione muttered softly. "I don't mean to put the burden on you, you know."
Minerva felt the blood drain from herself and tried to turn.
"No," Hermione whispered as she held her still. "It's okay. It was the truth, I know, I just, I am sorry that I unintentionally do that."
"Hermione, release me."
She did and Minerva turned over in her lover's arms to cup her face.
"I need you to listen to me as you have never listened before, can you do that?" Minerva begged. "Leannan, hear me when I say this."
"Okay," Hermione whispered.
"It was not the real truth. I do not feel as though you place a burden on me. It is natural that, at the moment, there are things that I must do. For obvious reasons. I promised you, not too long ago, do you remember? I promised you that those fears and thoughts had disappeared and they have," she whispered the promise against Hermione's lips. "They have. But it does not negate the work that is sometimes necessary for me to do. I was only telling Lucia that by doing this with no warning she has added unnecessary work for me to do on top of all the other things I do happily. I remembered something later, this afternoon, I mean. While we were laughing in the living room. I recalled when I first met them and she gave you this -" Minerva twisted the golden strands of hair around her fingers and when it let go, brushed it back to nestle into the rest of it. "I recall her telling me that you were older in soul than even her. I believe it. I feel it. You are far and away above everyone, my love. And that is why I no longer feel as though I am -" She took a deep breath. "Doing the wrong thing."
"Min -"
"What did I tell you, through this whole thing?" Minerva whispered as she pressed against Hermione's front. After such an emotional day, she wanted a little reassurance she wasn't completely losing her mind.
"You told me that you would not bed a child."
"And I still am not, nor will I ever do so. You are no child. You are First. My Dragon. My mate."
Hermione growled as their mouths met and Minerva kissed her deeply. A whispered spell from Hermione's lips between their kisses left her bare and she groaned as she felt Hermione's weight settled on top of her.
"I love you," Minerva whispered. "I will always love you, Leannan. Until we are nought but space dust and magic."
Hermione growled again and Minerva had no more words to whisper as her love took her hard and soft and all the ways between. She arched as teeth scraped over her belly before a soft mouth engulfed her centre and her body shook beyond her control. It felt as though Hermione was possessed as she went on and on until Minerva screamed her release into the night. She trembled when Hermione crawled back to their pillows and dropped down beside her, evidence of their love on her chin.
"You're a sight," Minerva chuckled as she trembled.
"Need you," Hermione muttered as she straddled Minerva's middle. "Help me."
"Always," Minerva whispered as she tried to get her limbs working enough to do as she was asked.
She sat up and engulfed Hermione's breast with her mouth as she slid three fingers home. The way her lover arched for her made Minerva shudder as Hermione rode her fingers.
"I love you from beginning to end," Hermione whispered as her wings unfurled and fluttered like leaves on a breeze. "I love -"
"I love you, Leannan. Come for me now."
She did as she was told and that was something in itself as Minerva breathed heavily against Hermione's sternum as she came down.
"You are so good at that," Hermione muttered as she rested against her head. "I want to help, okay?" Minerva blinked up at her, conscious of the position they remained in. "No, listen," Hermione muttered as she rolled her hips. "I won't take no for an answer. I want to help. It's time for me to learn. While we have the time, now."
Minerva just stared as she moaned as she rolled particularly hard against Minerva's hand.
"Don't let me hurt you."
"I won't," she muttered. Something about the whole interaction felt out of control somehow and she wasn't quite sure what she wanted.
"Take me, Min," Hermione muttered. "Take me, mark me. I'm yours."
As ever, whenever her lover spoke to her like that, Minerva complied and she tipped them both sideways and settled between beautiful, strong thighs.
"I will take care of you, as I wish," Minerva muttered as she slid back in and made Hermione gasp. "You are mine to keep. And I will."
The words felt as though they were not her own, but at the same time, she meant them. Though she had railed earlier about it, she was merely picking something that niggled and using it as a barrier. She did not want Hermione to pick up her slack, she wanted to have and to hold. She groaned against Hermione's throat where her teeth gripped the skin as she moved to long, deep strokes. Hermione's arms and legs wrapped around her as they raced towards their end.
"I want you to feel -" Hermione muttered.
Minerva couldn't have spoken if she'd have tried but she heard the whispered spell and by now, knew exactly what it was and she uttered such a deep groan that she felt it in Hermione's body. They rolled together, over and over again until she felt it begin.
"Min -"
She did not stop, she could not. She wanted the ending that she had wound Hermione up for and though her own legs were shaking as the feelings Hermione was experience were echoed in her own, she grit her teeth and fucked her until she screamed her name.
She arched atop of her lover and fell down, only narrowly avoiding Hermione's chin as she trembled and twitched. They breathed in the silence as their bodies eased and she withdrew. In a fit of puckishness, Hermione captured her hand and sucked her fingers clean.
"Bloody hell, Leannan," Minerva chuckled as she shifted to the side. "You will be the death of me."
"What a way to go," Hermione smiled as she rolled over and kissed Minerva like they hadn't just done all of that.
"You give me life," Hermione smiled. "I could go on for hours."
"You wear me out," Minerva chuckled. "And now I need a shower."
"We'll shower tomorrow," Hermione muttered, pulling her beneath her body. "I'll wash the sheets as well, if you like. But don't go."
Minerva smiled that despite her words, Hermione snored quietly against her neck. Chuckling and tangling their fingers together on her belly, she pressed back against the warmth. Life was not yet perfect, not by any means, but it would settle.
It had to.
