FIC: Making Progress (2/2), Hermione/Luna, NC-17
Title: Making Progress (2/2)
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Hermione/Luna
Word Count: 12,008 total (5989 this part)
Summary: Hermione begins treatment of a patient who is scarred in more ways than one and finds herself thrown completely off balance
Author's Notes: Written for stephanometra in the sexy_brilliance fic exchange. Thanks to thescarletwoman and cocohufflepuffs for betaing!
Hermione sat down on the bed two weeks after the tea party. Today her goal was to coax Luna onto the bed, which she was still ignoring in favour of sleeping on the floor.
"I had a dream about you," Luna said vaguely by way of greeting.
Hermione smiled down at her silvery head. She'd stopped wearing the green onions days ago. "Did you?"
Luna nodded, shifting closer to Hermione and, in an unprecedented move, leaned her cheek against Hermione's knee. Hermione froze, shocked. She'd slowly been getting Luna used to kind human touch, holding her hand or her arm as she helped her shuffle around the room to get her walking again. But Luna had never reached out to her like this, especially not in so affectionate a way. Tremulously, Hermione touched her hair, stroking lightly. Luna sighed and relaxed against her.
"I was dreaming that we were quite young."
"At Hogwarts?" Hermione breathed, using the name of the school for the first time since Luna had first been brought here.
Luna shook her head. "Before that. I was showing you my garden. Lovely pansies and bubotubers and daffodils. There should have been sunflowers, but there weren't any. We were going to plant some, and then have another tea party. I woke up before we could, though."
"I like sunflowers," Hermione said, running her fingers through Luna's long hair.
"Me too. I like anything to do with the sun."
Was it still too soon to ask about the little cell she'd lived in where no sunshine had penetrated? Perhaps she should, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It would only upset the girl, and Hermione thought she'd had more than enough pain for one lifetime. They lapsed into silence for most of the rest of that morning, sharing the sunlight together, Luna's cheek never leaving Hermione's knee.
"You're very pretty," Luna said as Hermione stirred reluctantly, knowing she really did have to go see her other patients today.
Hermione flushed, taken aback by the abrupt words. "What?"
"Pretty. You are, that is." Luna sat up and smiled at her dreamily. "I like your hair. Did you know that it doesn't stay in your bun? I like that. It doesn’t stay where it's told it has to."
"Thank you, you're very pretty too," Hermione said, unsure how else to respond. Luna beamed at her, and Hermione smiled at her and slipped out of the room. It was true enough, she supposed. With her pale skin and eyes, Luna possessed a strangely ethereal quality that did indeed make her rather pretty.
When Hermione wrote her report that night, she didn't mention how comfortable the moment had been, though Hawkins confronted her a week later, after she'd had the corridors cleared of people.
"What are you doing?" he demanded. At her quelling look, he added, "...ma'am."
"I'm going to take Miss Lovegood for a walk," she said sharply. "She's not left her room yet and I don't want anyone around to frighten her."
"You've never done anything like this before."
"I've never had anyone like her before," Hermione countered. "She needs special care."
"And that's the reason she hasn't begun to talk about her trauma, I suppose?"
Hermione slammed the flat of her hand against the wall, startling them both. Her palm stung. "Just what are you hinting at, Hawkins? Out with it!"
"You're too emotionally invested in this one and you're no longer unbiased," he snapped back. "I know she was your friend-"
"Is my friend," Hermione said waspishly.
"And that's my point exactly," Hawkins said, exasperated. "You're too protective of her and it's impeding her progress. What are you, an occupational therapist? You're supposed to be helping her mind recover, not just her muscles! "
"Out!" Hermione shouted.
"You're ignoring your other patients, and for what?"
"Out of my ward this instant!"
"Fine!" He stormed off, leaving her completely alone and furious.
She fetched Luna immediately, still quivering with anger. The nerve of that incompetent boy! He didn't understand the situation. How dare he insinuate that she didn't know what she was doing?
"You're angry," Luna observed, reaching out to touch Hermione's cheek. "You're skin is all warm and red. Do you have Fwooper Flu?"
Hermione blinked, totally flustered by the light, reassuring touch. Luna smiled gently, for all the world as though she were the sane one comforting a distraught patient. In spite of herself, Hermione leaned into her fingers, reaching up to touch Luna's knuckles.
"No, just a minor professional disagreement." At last propriety got the better of her and she guided Luna's hand from her cheek, though Luna didn't let go of Hermione's fingers, interlacing them and smiling dreamily at her.
"Are you ready to go for a walk?" Hermione asked, already calmer. The fact that just being with Luna could have that effect was somewhat worrying all on its own.
"Mm-hmmm."
"Are you sure you're ready for this? If you're frightened, we can put it off a bit."
Luna laughed. "Silly Hermione! Why would I be afraid while you're here with me?"
Hermione squeezed her hand and they slipped out the door. "Right. I'm here with you."
Luna's gait had improved considerably, and though she was still a bit stiff from the muscle regenerative charms, she was as strong as any normal person. And damn Hawkins to hell and back, that meant that he was right. She should have started working with Luna before now to begin to flesh out her experiences in the cell. She knew her Freud. The only way for Luna to move on was to accept what had happened, to ingest it, as it were, or she could never move on.
Maybe Hermione didn't want her to move on. That thought scared the hell out of her. What was going on with her? She'd never acted like this before. Never been anything but professional toward one of her patients. Why was she doing this? Clearing it from her mind, she asked, "How are you doing?"
Luna smiled absently. "I like being out."
Hermione's heart sank. Had she been keeping the girl locked up when she should have been helping her forward? Was she just as bad as the Death Eaters who had kept her hidden away for a year? "I'm very glad to hear it. You went through a bad time when you couldn't go out at all."
Luna froze. "It was very dark," she said at last, not moving.
They stood together in the corridor, sunlight filtering through the large windows. "I know," Hermione said, resolve strengthening. She wouldn't keep putting this off for her own mysterious reasons any longer. "I heard a little bit about it. I'd like to hear about it from you, though."
Luna shook her head. "I think it's time to walk."
Hermione slipped an arm around her waist to give her comfort. "Whenever you're ready," she said.
"I like having you here." Luna began to shuffle forward again, and Hermione bit her lip.
"Oh?"
"It's like having a friend come to visit every day."
"I am you friend, Luna."
The girl shook her silver hair. "You're paid to talk to me. Don't think I don't know that. No one else comes. No one, even when they're supposed to come for-"
She cut herself off abruptly and didn't say a word for the rest of the walk, instead leaning on Hermione and keeping her face turned into the sunshine.
As soon as Hermione finished off work that night, she Floo'd straight to Harry's without announcing herself. "Are you completely without tact?"
Harry looked up from his Quidditch magazine, frowning at Hermione. "Says the woman barging through my fireplace without so much as a 'hi, are you decent'?"
"You're not decent," she snapped. "A decent person would have gone to visit a friend and comrade in arms by now."
"What are you-"
"Luna is all alone and you've never once tried to visit her!"
Harry stared at his ranting friend. "Hermione, calm down. I didn't think she could have visitors."
"Bull," she said, trying to stop her voice from going shrill and failing spectacularly. "Are you telling me that if you thought I was dead and then found out a year later that I was alive and I'd been through the hell that she's been through, you'd wait 'til you were told I could have visitors?"
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "No, but that's different."
"How on earth is it different?"
"Because you're my friend."
"And she isn't?" Hermione was fighting back prickly tears. Why was she so emotional? "She fought by your side all through the war! Ever since the Department of Mysteries, fifth year. She was with us when we left school in seventh year, and she was with us for the four years we kept on fighting after that!"
"Yeah, but-"
"Harry James Potter!" she shrilled. "No buts. You will collect your friend Ronald, if you can pry him apart from his girlfriend for an hour or two, and you will go visit her!"
She turned on her heel, leaving Harry speechless behind her.
Clearly she'd frightened some sense into him, though, for two days later, as she approached Luna's room, she could hear a low murmur of voices, punctuated upon occasion by Luna's exuberant giggle. It was a good sound, one she didn't hear enough. Hermione shoved the door open to find Ron, Morag MacDougall, and Harry chatting with Luna, the whole group watched over by Hawkins. The mediwizard still hadn't forgiven her for their argument earlier that week, and he only nodded without a smile in greeting.
Luna was deep in conversation with Morag and it occurred to Hermione that the pretty Ravenclaw had been in Luna's year and house at Hogwarts. They would have shared a dormitory and gone to classes together. Hermione felt something cold and unpleasant settling in her stomach at that thought, and she tried to push it way, focusing instead on how pleased she was that Luna had visitors. Friends. She was going to slip out again and leave them to it when Luna saw her and squealed.
"Hermione, everyone's come to say hello!"
Hermione smiled and moved into the room, started when Luna reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her onto the bed next to her. Luna laced their fingers together as she often did these days, though Hermione didn't usually blush like this. Harry winked at her, and she smiled her thanks back at him.
"We're just talking about Hogwarts," Luna said happily, and Hermione inhaled sharply. They really hadn't covered that territory yet. Was Luna really talking so easily about it with everyone?
"We're telling her that no one ever commentated on Quidditch games like she did," Ron said with a grin.
"I'm going to try to find your Gryffindor Lion Hat, Luna," Morag said. "Or one like it. It was really quite inventive."
Luna chattered happily about Care of Magical Creatures and Thestrals, lunch in the Great Hall, and Hermione's house elf cause. She talked about classes with Snape and how the Hogwarts Express had made her seasick and the time she'd captured a winged kneazle in her room. All the while she held Hermione's hand, thumb stroking her knuckles lightly as she talked.
After an hour or so, Hermione, Harry, and Ron left Morag to keep Luna company and wandered down the hall toward Hermione's office.
"Thanks," she said, hugging them both fiercely. "It means a lot to her and it just broke my heart when she said she didn't have any friends to come and see her. I'm sorry if I came down hard before, Harry."
"He said he thought you were my mum at first," Ron teased.
"You're doing really well with her," Harry said. "She seems almost normal." Ron made a scoffing sound, and Harry added, "Well, as normal as Luna ever was, anyway."
Hermione couldn't help a laugh at that. "Did you find anything more out about her prison?"
"Matter of fact, I'd been meaning to owl you. Turns out the gaol housed some pretty high profile prisoners, personal guests of high-ranking Death Eaters."
"Amos Diggory, Elie Proudfoot, Dedalus Diggle, Hestia Jones, Lana Meadows, and Arnold Peasegood," Ron listed.
"And Luna was put there personally by Voldemort," Harry finished.
Hermione blinked. "That would mean he'd placed the feeding and waste removal charms on her himself," she said, working it through.
"And when he amplified all of his spells at the end, that was one of them," Harry agreed. "So it renewed itself and kept her alive when all of the others died."
"Blimey," Ron said. "Poor Luna. Why would he have wanted her there?"
They retraced their steps back to Luna's room, and after saying goodbye to the happy patient, Harry, Ron, and Morag left. Hermione slipped in and sat on the edge of Luna's bed. The girl immediately laid down next to her, her head in Hermione's lap and a soft sigh of contentment on her lips. Hawkins shot Hermione a look that she couldn't decipher and withdrew.
Hermione stroked Luna's hair comfortingly. It was so soft, and Luna was so trusting. So different than anyone else she knew. She didn't care that Hermione was famous, or had famous friends. She was just Luna. "Did you enjoy your visit?"
Luna nodded. "I like them, even if they all look at me like I'm crazy."
"You're not crazy," Hermione said, sharper than she'd meant.
"No, but they always thought I was." Luna cupped Hermione's knee and squeezed. "You did too."
"Not anymore."
"Maybe a little."
Luna had such a frightening way of cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "Luna, you're surprisingly not crazy. After everything that's happened."
The girl stiffened and didn't say anything. Hermione pressed on, knowing that she'd been putting this off and she couldn't any longer. "The year spent in that place. Do you want to talk about what you remember?"
"I remember everything. Hermione," Luna said, sitting up abruptly and nearly smacking her head into Hermione's chin. "You're smart- you could have been in Ravenclaw with me. You know charms and things. Can't you just put a spell on me and make me forget all of it."
Hermione shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Luna. I could but it wouldn't help. Your body would remember the trauma, even if your mind didn't. It would make it all the more difficult for you."
Luna threw her arms around Hermione's neck, looking down pleadingly into her eyes. "Make me forget, then. Please, Hermione. I know you can help me."
She was so close and it would be the easiest thing in the world to brush her lips against Luna's, just to give her comfort. Hermione was startled by the thought and instead she said, "I can help you, but in order to do that, we have to talk a bit about what happened."
"I can't." She buried her face in the crook of Hermione's neck and clung to her.
Tears threatened to overtake Hermione as she held the girl close, kissing the top of her head to comfort her. She rubbed her back and rocked her gently. "It's all right, Luna. I promise it's all right. You never, never have to go back there again. We don't have to talk about this today, all right?"
"You were supposed to come for me," Luna sobbed.
Hermione froze. "I beg your pardon?"
"That's what he told me. It's why he put me there- I was bait. I was there so that you and Harry and Ron would come after me and he could catch you. But you never did."
"Oh god," Hermione whispered, clinging to the other girl. "They told us you were dead. We didn't know. Luna, I'm so, so sorry. We didn't know."
Luna nodded but didn't let go, and Hermione held her until she fell asleep. Both of their faces were stained with tears. Hermione tucked her in, taking small comfort at least that she was using her bed now instead of sleeping on the floor, and retreated, shaken.
She sat in her office for hours, attacking the pile of paperwork that she'd been ignoring all week, trying not to think about Luna's revelation. God, she'd been in there as bait. Hermione couldn't even remember now who had told her that Luna was dead. She hadn't inquired any further about it. Why the hell hadn't she taken it upon herself to discover the truth?
Because she hadn't felt then how she felt now. She couldn't stop thinking of Luna. About the way she felt in Hermione's arms and the way she looked up at Hermione, full of trust. About the fact that she didn't hold any of her other patients like that.
Oh god.
Hermione dropped her face into her hands, her cheeks flushed as she contemplated and analyzed it all. She had never thought about kissing a patient before. She had never thought about kissing a woman at all, for that matter. Well, she'd had those confusing dreams about Nymphadora Tonks when she was seventeen, but she imagined that was simply stress and working closely with the other woman. Now...
She wasn't attracted to Luna, was she? She couldn't be. It would be the height of unprofessional. She wouldn't be able to treat her properly because her emotions would interfere and...
Wasn't that exactly what Hawkins had accused her of?
She closed her eyes, visualizing that moment in Luna's room, the soft curve of Luna's lips and the feel of her silvery hair running through Hermione's fingers. What would have happened had she offered the comforting kiss she'd considered briefly? In her mind, she saw herself leaning forward to brush their lips together, and in that moment as warmth flooded through her, she knew. Oh god, she knew. She wanted her. And Luna would be horrified. Here she was, turning to Hermione for comfort after Hermione had abandoned her. And now Hermione wanted to exploit her! She wanted to take that trust and turn it into something ugly. She had to end it. She just didn't know how.
~*~
She brooded all weekend long, plagued by mental images of Luna smiling at her as they talked, chastising herself for not being able to keep things professional. This had never happened before! Why now? She tortured herself with insecurity and self-loathing until she couldn't take it any longer. On Sunday night, she Apparated to work, needing to put a stop to it once and for all. Damn Hawkins for being right. She was going to transfer Luna's case to him immediately. It was only fair. It was the only way to get Luna the help she needed, the help that Hermione had deprived her of because of her own stupid desire to protect her. Desire… god, she didn't want to think about that at all. She Floo'd to St. Mungo's and drew up the paperwork straight away so that she couldn't back out of it.
She marched down the hall as soon as Luna was officially no longer her patient. When she opened Luna's door, she saw moonlight caressing the girl's face. Luna was sitting up in bed, watching the night sky. What time was it? It had to be close to midnight.
"Hermione," she said dreamily, standing up and turning around. Moonbeams made a halo around her moon-coloured hair, and she smiled softly. "You don't usually come here today. I hoped I would see you, though."
Hermione couldn't look at her, but she couldn't look away, either. Luna was strange in feature and demeanour. She was damaged physically and emotionally. She had never played with a full exploding snap deck, and she certainly wasn't doing so now. And god, Hermione wanted her so much. She bit her lip, furious with herself.
"I've transferred you into Hawkins' care." There, she'd said it and now she could leave.
Luna's clear eyes widened. "What? Why would you do that?"
She didn't know how to answer that question. If she told the truth, Luna would be repulsed. Hermione was a girl, and someone who was supposed to be taking care of Luna, not taking advantage of her. "He needs to cut his teeth so he can start looking after patients himself. And you're doing well, so you're a good place for him to start taking over."
Luna shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. I need you. You said you'd help me get better."
She wrapped her arms around herself and said, "A conflict of interest has arisen, all right?"
Clear eyes searched her face, Luna's expression of surprised hurt lancing straight through Hermione's heart. "Is it... is it because I'm your friend?"
Hermione nodded vigorously. "Yes. That's it exactly. It's not right for me to continue to treat you."
"But you told me you helped Seamus Finnegan and Percy Weasley. Weren't they your friends too?"
"Not like this," Hermione said, her breath catching. She shouldn't say anymore.
"Tell me why. Please. Why are you leaving me? You promised me you wouldn't leave me!"
Hermione gasped back a sob as tears overtook her suddenly and viciously. "Luna, please, please don't force this. I can't... you have no idea..."
A rustle, movement, and before Hermione's brain could process what was going on, she hit the wall, her wrists pinned on either side of her head. Luna's eyes were bright. "Tell me," the girl said, using her body to keep Hermione's in place. Hermione whimpered softly at the press of hips and breasts against her own.
"You don't know what you do to me," she breathed.
"No more than you do to me," Luna whispered, brushing her lips against Hermione's. Both women shivered. "Please don't leave me."
Hermione bit back a sob, her emotions in turmoil, her body responding to Luna's almost against her will. It wasn't right. She shouldn't have let herself fall like this, should have noticed the signs and stopped it before it really started. But Luna was taller, and thanks to the muscle regenerative charms, stronger than Hermione was, and she held her against the wall with ease. God, Luna's body was so warm, her lips so incredibly soft... she didn't mean to lean into another kiss but there it was, contact that was deliberate and needy. A touch of Luna's tongue that caused Hermione to melt against her, parting her lips for the most heady kiss she'd ever-
"Luna, we can't," she gasped, eyes wide.
"We can," the other girl whispered. She leaned forward, expression serious, moonlit eyes dancing, and Hermione couldn't help the way her stomach clenched at the frisson of deep awareness running through her body. Their eyes locked. Hermione couldn't look away. Slowly Luna pressed her lips against Hermione's again, deliberately and infused with pure joy. And desire. Oh god, desire. They stood that way, unmoving, watching each other as the kiss lingered between them. Sweet and sensuous. Luna's grip on Hermione's wrists slackened a bit, and Hermione knew that she could put an end to this madness, push herself away and never see Luna again. That thought made her heart ache in protest. She didn't want to do the right thing- the correct thing- in this situation. What she wanted was the girl in her arms. Or rather, the girl who should be in her arms. And so Hermione freed herself.
"Luna," she murmured, twisting her hands to slip out of Luna's grip. She wove their fingers together and kissed Luna again, the first kiss Hermione had actually initiated between them. Luna moaned dreamily as their mouths met and moved against each other, as tongues touched each other tentatively at first and then with growing delight. Their hands were clasped tightly between them and they rocked gently from side to side, lost in the sensation of lips and tongues and so much built up emotion. Hermione couldn't remember the last kiss she'd shared like this. Luna's tongue teased hers, light and confident, warm lips moving against hers, fingers squeezing fingers. Luna's skin was cool with moonlight and warm with want. How could this ever be a bad thing? Hermione let go of Luna's hands and wrapped her arms around the other girl's neck, a cascade of silver hair tickling her skin.
"I can't do this and be your counsellor," Hermione whispered, stilling for a moment. Luna stroked her cheek.
"You have such soft skin. You're so pretty," she sighed. "I can live with that silly boy counselling me if it means I don't have to let you go."
"Don't let me go," Hermione whispered, and it was all the consent either of them needed. Luna hooked an arm around Hermione's waist and led her back to the moon-soaked bed. Together they pushed it against the wall, making Luna's little hideaway on the floor disappear.
Hermione touched the other girl's chin and said softly, "I've never... with another girl. I don't know how."
"Do you want me?"
She took a shuddering breath. "So much."
Luna smiled enigmatically, running her fingertips up and down Hermione's arm.
"We don't have to go any farther than you want," Hermione persisted. She would not take advantage of this situation.
Luna's smile widened. "Let me show you," she said, pulling Hermione onto the bed. The girls knelt before each other. "Let me show you how much I feel, all right?"
"All right," Hermione whispered. She cast a Silencio charm around them. With a gentle push on her shoulder, Luna guided Hermione backward until she was stretched out before Luna, suddenly not the one in charge. If she ever had been tonight. Luna traced her cheekbones with the very tips of her fingers, almost not touching Hermione at all.
Another touch, thumb pad grazing Hermione's bottom lip, and Luna whispered, "You help me every day. Let me help you."
Hermione tried to sit up. "This can't be about gratitu-"
Luna silenced her with that thumb. "This is about everything."
Whimpering, Hermione kissed her thumb and drew it into her mouth, feeling incredibly bold, warm and aching. Luna's eyes unfocused for a moment before she bent forward, replacing the digit with her mouth. What had, only a few minutes before, seemed foreign was now completely natural, and Hermione craved more. She reached for that beautiful silvery hair, but Luna stopped her.
"No," the other girl whispered, catching Hermione's hands again and pressing them back against the mattress. "Let me. I want to show you."
They held each other's gazes for a beat and then Hermione said, steady and trusting, if a bit huskier than usual, "Autonectum." Her wand fell from her grip as the sheets twisted around her wrists, binding her to the bed. Luna froze, holding her gaze, and then bent forward, cradling Hermione's jaw as she descended like a succubus made of pure moonlight. Their lips met and Hermione knew she was lost. She belonged to those penetrating eyes and exploring fingers. Her mouth opened, and Luna sighed as their tongues found each other again, Luna's tongue chasing Hermione's, dancing with it. With each new plunge of Luna's tongue, her fingers found some new plane of skin to explore, skating down the column of Hermione's throat, rubbing small circles against her pulse points, back up to tangle in her hair.
"More," Hermione gasped, barely recognizing her own voice, so thick with need.
"Yes," Luna agreed, hand venturing downward for the first time to touch Hermione's leg, urging her thighs apart. Hermione did so gladly, moaning as Luna settled between them and leaned up to plant kisses along Hermione's collarbones. She unbuttoned Hermione's robes without looking, too intent on mapping Hermione's neck with kisses and bites. Hermione could feel each teasing touch as she unfastened the robes, sitting back at last to watch the black fabric melt away from Hermione's body like shadows before moonlight. Luna did the same for Hermione's blouse, parting the garment to reveal her torso.
"You're curvy," Luna giggled, and Hermione's blush deepened.
"I-"
"It's good that you're curvy." Luna cupped Hermione's breasts, clad in a simple white cotton bra, and Hermione gasped. It had been so long since anyone had touched her this way. And she'd never craved it like this before. Luna reached toward the window and plucked a black feather from the cabbage still resting on the window sill. Smiling mysteriously at Hermione, she brushed its soft tip against Hermione's lips, her neck. Lingering, playing, until Luna's mouth descended, suckling at Hermione's nipple through the fabric of her bra as the feather tickled and stroked her neck.
Hermione writhed against the bed, the stimulation too much and not enough all at once. "Luna," she begged, not sure what she was asking for. "Please."
Luna arched upward again to kiss her once, twice, continuing her tactile exploration of Hermione's body as she did. "Relax," she whispered against Hermione's lips, and slithered downward, kissing random bits of skin as she went. She settled between Hermione's legs, propped up on one elbow.
"What are you-" Hermione gasped at the first brush of careful, light fingers between her legs. She hadn't had a chance to think through the logistics of being with another woman in the sense of- oh! Moist, warm… Luna's mouth was against Hermione's clit, kissing and sucking through her knickers. She'd never felt anything like it before.
"Luna," she whispered, pulling against her restraints.
"Sshhh," Luna said, the word a soft hiss against Hermione's knickers. She drew the feather along Hermione's inner thigh, kissing the skin that was goosebumping in its wake. Hermione shivered as the light caresses and kisses travelled along each leg. And without further warning, Luna hooked her index finger around the thin strip of fabric of Hermione's knickers and pulled it to the side. Cool air touched Hermione's cunt seconds before Luna's tongue did, and Hermione nearly screamed at the contrasting sensations. She did cry out as Luna's tongue traced the contours of this most intimate part of Hermione's body, long, slow strokes that sent shockwaves of pleasure singing along her nerves. Luna tasted her thoroughly, humming her approval before the first teasing tickle of tongue against clit. Hermione damned near arched off the bed, her hands twisting helplessly in her cloth bonds. Luna's luminous eyes peered upward along the length of Hermione's body, watching each moan, each toss of Hermione's head, each time she bit her lip. Whoever would have thought a tongue could be so versatile, Hermione wondered as Luna drew tight circles around her clit, pausing to flick it directly and suck it into her mouth. Never in her limited sexual experience had she been treated like this, paid such attention to and driven mad by pleasure not quite intense enough to send her over the edge.
"Oh please," Hermione moaned, writhing with ecstasy. "Please, I-"
Luna paused for just a moment, everything hanging in the air as if hit with a stunning spell while she slipped a finger into her mouth. Hermione watched it disappear between Luna's lips, watched her cheeks hollow as she sucked it. Luna's skin was pink too, her eyes bright with arousal as the finger that had been inside her mouth reappeared and touched Hermione's cunt, sliding into her body instead.
"Luna!" Hermione gasped. "Oh, Luna, that's-" And Luna's mouth returned to Hermione's clit, her tongue flicking against it double time to the slow, smooth in-and-out strokes of her index finger.
Hermione came with a scream, her toes curling and her vision winking out in an explosion of moonlight, pleasure, and lips, warmed and moistened from her own body, kissing her with so much love.
Epilogue
Hermione loved mornings like this, when she woke up a few minutes earlier than her alarm was charmed to sound, the gentle patter of rain against the window reinforcing how warm and comfortable she was curled up in bed. Rain would be good for the garden behind the little house, filled with lovely pansies and bubotubers and daffodils. And lots of sunflowers. She was warm from sleep and from the woman still half-sleeping in her arms. Luna was shifting and moaning softly and Hermione sighed with deep contentment, taking in the delicious sounds and the soft raspberry scent of Luna's silver hair. Her hand moved wickedly between Luna's bare legs, just the way she knew her partner liked it. So different than those first fumbling touches over 4 years ago, after Luna had unbound her from the bed in St. Mungo's and Hermione had insisted on returning the favour for her mind-shattering climax. She'd come a long way since then. How far they'd both progressed.
Hermione kissed Luna's scar-crossed neck and nipped at her earlobe as she laid a finger on either side of Luna's clit and stroked rhythmically. Luna rocked into the touch. Breathily, she moaned, "Hermione." And then, more fully awake, "Oh, Hermione!"
"Morning, Moonlight," Hermione said, her own voice still raspy with sleep. She knew ever bit of scarred skin on Luna's body now. Loved every bit of it.
Luna giggled at the nickname, turning her head to steal a quick kiss. "Close," she gasped against Hermione's mouth, and Hermione sped up, squeezing Luna's clit on every other stroke.
"Oh- Oh!" Luna's whole body tightened and quivered before she melted back against Hermione in wordless release. Hermione's hand stilled and withdrew, and Luna turned in her arms for a long good-morning kiss.
"Big day," Hermione said as they disentangled themselves from the sheets and each other.
Luna smiled dreamily at her. "I'm going to start a pot of tea. Do you want honey in yours today or relish?"
"Honey," Hermione laughed.
"Sweetheart," Luna giggled and raced down the corridor to their kitchen.
Still laughing, Hermione stepped into the loo and started the shower. She couldn't believe how far they'd come together. Whoever would have thought that after finishing her rehabilitation under Hawkins' watchful eye, Luna would turn around and go back to school to become a Healer in her own right? Hermione smiled as she immersed herself in the hot spray and steam. They were going to meet their friends for a good-luck breakfast at Ron and Morag's place, and she wondered if Harry would bring someone along. He'd been hinting that he'd met someone interesting. Funny how things change as time moved on. She had gotten over her initial dislike of Morag after the Ravenclaw had gone out of her way to befriend Luna, a friendship that had only grown over the years. And after breakfast, Luna would be off to St. Mungo's.
Re-emerging from the loo wrapped in a long, fluffy towel, she found Luna dressed in Healer's lime green robes. Hermione had always refused to wear them, but, she thought, they suited Luna perfectly. They went very well with her necklace of Muggle bottlecaps.
"Nervous?" she asked.
Luna shook her head. "Are you?" Today would be the first time Hermione had visited St. Mungo's since setting up her private practice in Diagon Alley last year.
Hermione laughed. "No, just excited for you." She pressed a kiss against Luna's cheek.
"I've a dozen new techniques I'm going to show Madam Pomfrey," Luna said.
"On your first day as a Healer?"
"Oh yes! Crystals, for example! Excellent after asp and ashwinder attacks! You just lay them over the patient's eyes and wounds, and..."
Hermione listened to Luna with a private smile as she dressed and they set off to meet their friends. She wondered just how perplexed the other Healers would be with her partner. It was difficult to put into words just what life with Luna was like. Odd? Yes. Frustrating? Sometimes. Absolutely harebrained? Nearly always, to be sure. But Hermione knew that all of that only added to making life interesting, and she wanted no life other than the one she'd built with Luna.
The End
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Hermione/Luna
Word Count: 12,008 total (5989 this part)
Summary: Hermione begins treatment of a patient who is scarred in more ways than one and finds herself thrown completely off balance
Author's Notes: Written for stephanometra in the sexy_brilliance fic exchange. Thanks to thescarletwoman and cocohufflepuffs for betaing!
Hermione sat down on the bed two weeks after the tea party. Today her goal was to coax Luna onto the bed, which she was still ignoring in favour of sleeping on the floor.
"I had a dream about you," Luna said vaguely by way of greeting.
Hermione smiled down at her silvery head. She'd stopped wearing the green onions days ago. "Did you?"
Luna nodded, shifting closer to Hermione and, in an unprecedented move, leaned her cheek against Hermione's knee. Hermione froze, shocked. She'd slowly been getting Luna used to kind human touch, holding her hand or her arm as she helped her shuffle around the room to get her walking again. But Luna had never reached out to her like this, especially not in so affectionate a way. Tremulously, Hermione touched her hair, stroking lightly. Luna sighed and relaxed against her.
"I was dreaming that we were quite young."
"At Hogwarts?" Hermione breathed, using the name of the school for the first time since Luna had first been brought here.
Luna shook her head. "Before that. I was showing you my garden. Lovely pansies and bubotubers and daffodils. There should have been sunflowers, but there weren't any. We were going to plant some, and then have another tea party. I woke up before we could, though."
"I like sunflowers," Hermione said, running her fingers through Luna's long hair.
"Me too. I like anything to do with the sun."
Was it still too soon to ask about the little cell she'd lived in where no sunshine had penetrated? Perhaps she should, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. It would only upset the girl, and Hermione thought she'd had more than enough pain for one lifetime. They lapsed into silence for most of the rest of that morning, sharing the sunlight together, Luna's cheek never leaving Hermione's knee.
"You're very pretty," Luna said as Hermione stirred reluctantly, knowing she really did have to go see her other patients today.
Hermione flushed, taken aback by the abrupt words. "What?"
"Pretty. You are, that is." Luna sat up and smiled at her dreamily. "I like your hair. Did you know that it doesn't stay in your bun? I like that. It doesn’t stay where it's told it has to."
"Thank you, you're very pretty too," Hermione said, unsure how else to respond. Luna beamed at her, and Hermione smiled at her and slipped out of the room. It was true enough, she supposed. With her pale skin and eyes, Luna possessed a strangely ethereal quality that did indeed make her rather pretty.
When Hermione wrote her report that night, she didn't mention how comfortable the moment had been, though Hawkins confronted her a week later, after she'd had the corridors cleared of people.
"What are you doing?" he demanded. At her quelling look, he added, "...ma'am."
"I'm going to take Miss Lovegood for a walk," she said sharply. "She's not left her room yet and I don't want anyone around to frighten her."
"You've never done anything like this before."
"I've never had anyone like her before," Hermione countered. "She needs special care."
"And that's the reason she hasn't begun to talk about her trauma, I suppose?"
Hermione slammed the flat of her hand against the wall, startling them both. Her palm stung. "Just what are you hinting at, Hawkins? Out with it!"
"You're too emotionally invested in this one and you're no longer unbiased," he snapped back. "I know she was your friend-"
"Is my friend," Hermione said waspishly.
"And that's my point exactly," Hawkins said, exasperated. "You're too protective of her and it's impeding her progress. What are you, an occupational therapist? You're supposed to be helping her mind recover, not just her muscles! "
"Out!" Hermione shouted.
"You're ignoring your other patients, and for what?"
"Out of my ward this instant!"
"Fine!" He stormed off, leaving her completely alone and furious.
She fetched Luna immediately, still quivering with anger. The nerve of that incompetent boy! He didn't understand the situation. How dare he insinuate that she didn't know what she was doing?
"You're angry," Luna observed, reaching out to touch Hermione's cheek. "You're skin is all warm and red. Do you have Fwooper Flu?"
Hermione blinked, totally flustered by the light, reassuring touch. Luna smiled gently, for all the world as though she were the sane one comforting a distraught patient. In spite of herself, Hermione leaned into her fingers, reaching up to touch Luna's knuckles.
"No, just a minor professional disagreement." At last propriety got the better of her and she guided Luna's hand from her cheek, though Luna didn't let go of Hermione's fingers, interlacing them and smiling dreamily at her.
"Are you ready to go for a walk?" Hermione asked, already calmer. The fact that just being with Luna could have that effect was somewhat worrying all on its own.
"Mm-hmmm."
"Are you sure you're ready for this? If you're frightened, we can put it off a bit."
Luna laughed. "Silly Hermione! Why would I be afraid while you're here with me?"
Hermione squeezed her hand and they slipped out the door. "Right. I'm here with you."
Luna's gait had improved considerably, and though she was still a bit stiff from the muscle regenerative charms, she was as strong as any normal person. And damn Hawkins to hell and back, that meant that he was right. She should have started working with Luna before now to begin to flesh out her experiences in the cell. She knew her Freud. The only way for Luna to move on was to accept what had happened, to ingest it, as it were, or she could never move on.
Maybe Hermione didn't want her to move on. That thought scared the hell out of her. What was going on with her? She'd never acted like this before. Never been anything but professional toward one of her patients. Why was she doing this? Clearing it from her mind, she asked, "How are you doing?"
Luna smiled absently. "I like being out."
Hermione's heart sank. Had she been keeping the girl locked up when she should have been helping her forward? Was she just as bad as the Death Eaters who had kept her hidden away for a year? "I'm very glad to hear it. You went through a bad time when you couldn't go out at all."
Luna froze. "It was very dark," she said at last, not moving.
They stood together in the corridor, sunlight filtering through the large windows. "I know," Hermione said, resolve strengthening. She wouldn't keep putting this off for her own mysterious reasons any longer. "I heard a little bit about it. I'd like to hear about it from you, though."
Luna shook her head. "I think it's time to walk."
Hermione slipped an arm around her waist to give her comfort. "Whenever you're ready," she said.
"I like having you here." Luna began to shuffle forward again, and Hermione bit her lip.
"Oh?"
"It's like having a friend come to visit every day."
"I am you friend, Luna."
The girl shook her silver hair. "You're paid to talk to me. Don't think I don't know that. No one else comes. No one, even when they're supposed to come for-"
She cut herself off abruptly and didn't say a word for the rest of the walk, instead leaning on Hermione and keeping her face turned into the sunshine.
As soon as Hermione finished off work that night, she Floo'd straight to Harry's without announcing herself. "Are you completely without tact?"
Harry looked up from his Quidditch magazine, frowning at Hermione. "Says the woman barging through my fireplace without so much as a 'hi, are you decent'?"
"You're not decent," she snapped. "A decent person would have gone to visit a friend and comrade in arms by now."
"What are you-"
"Luna is all alone and you've never once tried to visit her!"
Harry stared at his ranting friend. "Hermione, calm down. I didn't think she could have visitors."
"Bull," she said, trying to stop her voice from going shrill and failing spectacularly. "Are you telling me that if you thought I was dead and then found out a year later that I was alive and I'd been through the hell that she's been through, you'd wait 'til you were told I could have visitors?"
Harry shifted uncomfortably. "No, but that's different."
"How on earth is it different?"
"Because you're my friend."
"And she isn't?" Hermione was fighting back prickly tears. Why was she so emotional? "She fought by your side all through the war! Ever since the Department of Mysteries, fifth year. She was with us when we left school in seventh year, and she was with us for the four years we kept on fighting after that!"
"Yeah, but-"
"Harry James Potter!" she shrilled. "No buts. You will collect your friend Ronald, if you can pry him apart from his girlfriend for an hour or two, and you will go visit her!"
She turned on her heel, leaving Harry speechless behind her.
Clearly she'd frightened some sense into him, though, for two days later, as she approached Luna's room, she could hear a low murmur of voices, punctuated upon occasion by Luna's exuberant giggle. It was a good sound, one she didn't hear enough. Hermione shoved the door open to find Ron, Morag MacDougall, and Harry chatting with Luna, the whole group watched over by Hawkins. The mediwizard still hadn't forgiven her for their argument earlier that week, and he only nodded without a smile in greeting.
Luna was deep in conversation with Morag and it occurred to Hermione that the pretty Ravenclaw had been in Luna's year and house at Hogwarts. They would have shared a dormitory and gone to classes together. Hermione felt something cold and unpleasant settling in her stomach at that thought, and she tried to push it way, focusing instead on how pleased she was that Luna had visitors. Friends. She was going to slip out again and leave them to it when Luna saw her and squealed.
"Hermione, everyone's come to say hello!"
Hermione smiled and moved into the room, started when Luna reached out, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her onto the bed next to her. Luna laced their fingers together as she often did these days, though Hermione didn't usually blush like this. Harry winked at her, and she smiled her thanks back at him.
"We're just talking about Hogwarts," Luna said happily, and Hermione inhaled sharply. They really hadn't covered that territory yet. Was Luna really talking so easily about it with everyone?
"We're telling her that no one ever commentated on Quidditch games like she did," Ron said with a grin.
"I'm going to try to find your Gryffindor Lion Hat, Luna," Morag said. "Or one like it. It was really quite inventive."
Luna chattered happily about Care of Magical Creatures and Thestrals, lunch in the Great Hall, and Hermione's house elf cause. She talked about classes with Snape and how the Hogwarts Express had made her seasick and the time she'd captured a winged kneazle in her room. All the while she held Hermione's hand, thumb stroking her knuckles lightly as she talked.
After an hour or so, Hermione, Harry, and Ron left Morag to keep Luna company and wandered down the hall toward Hermione's office.
"Thanks," she said, hugging them both fiercely. "It means a lot to her and it just broke my heart when she said she didn't have any friends to come and see her. I'm sorry if I came down hard before, Harry."
"He said he thought you were my mum at first," Ron teased.
"You're doing really well with her," Harry said. "She seems almost normal." Ron made a scoffing sound, and Harry added, "Well, as normal as Luna ever was, anyway."
Hermione couldn't help a laugh at that. "Did you find anything more out about her prison?"
"Matter of fact, I'd been meaning to owl you. Turns out the gaol housed some pretty high profile prisoners, personal guests of high-ranking Death Eaters."
"Amos Diggory, Elie Proudfoot, Dedalus Diggle, Hestia Jones, Lana Meadows, and Arnold Peasegood," Ron listed.
"And Luna was put there personally by Voldemort," Harry finished.
Hermione blinked. "That would mean he'd placed the feeding and waste removal charms on her himself," she said, working it through.
"And when he amplified all of his spells at the end, that was one of them," Harry agreed. "So it renewed itself and kept her alive when all of the others died."
"Blimey," Ron said. "Poor Luna. Why would he have wanted her there?"
They retraced their steps back to Luna's room, and after saying goodbye to the happy patient, Harry, Ron, and Morag left. Hermione slipped in and sat on the edge of Luna's bed. The girl immediately laid down next to her, her head in Hermione's lap and a soft sigh of contentment on her lips. Hawkins shot Hermione a look that she couldn't decipher and withdrew.
Hermione stroked Luna's hair comfortingly. It was so soft, and Luna was so trusting. So different than anyone else she knew. She didn't care that Hermione was famous, or had famous friends. She was just Luna. "Did you enjoy your visit?"
Luna nodded. "I like them, even if they all look at me like I'm crazy."
"You're not crazy," Hermione said, sharper than she'd meant.
"No, but they always thought I was." Luna cupped Hermione's knee and squeezed. "You did too."
"Not anymore."
"Maybe a little."
Luna had such a frightening way of cutting straight to the heart of the matter. "Luna, you're surprisingly not crazy. After everything that's happened."
The girl stiffened and didn't say anything. Hermione pressed on, knowing that she'd been putting this off and she couldn't any longer. "The year spent in that place. Do you want to talk about what you remember?"
"I remember everything. Hermione," Luna said, sitting up abruptly and nearly smacking her head into Hermione's chin. "You're smart- you could have been in Ravenclaw with me. You know charms and things. Can't you just put a spell on me and make me forget all of it."
Hermione shook her head. "I'm so sorry, Luna. I could but it wouldn't help. Your body would remember the trauma, even if your mind didn't. It would make it all the more difficult for you."
Luna threw her arms around Hermione's neck, looking down pleadingly into her eyes. "Make me forget, then. Please, Hermione. I know you can help me."
She was so close and it would be the easiest thing in the world to brush her lips against Luna's, just to give her comfort. Hermione was startled by the thought and instead she said, "I can help you, but in order to do that, we have to talk a bit about what happened."
"I can't." She buried her face in the crook of Hermione's neck and clung to her.
Tears threatened to overtake Hermione as she held the girl close, kissing the top of her head to comfort her. She rubbed her back and rocked her gently. "It's all right, Luna. I promise it's all right. You never, never have to go back there again. We don't have to talk about this today, all right?"
"You were supposed to come for me," Luna sobbed.
Hermione froze. "I beg your pardon?"
"That's what he told me. It's why he put me there- I was bait. I was there so that you and Harry and Ron would come after me and he could catch you. But you never did."
"Oh god," Hermione whispered, clinging to the other girl. "They told us you were dead. We didn't know. Luna, I'm so, so sorry. We didn't know."
Luna nodded but didn't let go, and Hermione held her until she fell asleep. Both of their faces were stained with tears. Hermione tucked her in, taking small comfort at least that she was using her bed now instead of sleeping on the floor, and retreated, shaken.
She sat in her office for hours, attacking the pile of paperwork that she'd been ignoring all week, trying not to think about Luna's revelation. God, she'd been in there as bait. Hermione couldn't even remember now who had told her that Luna was dead. She hadn't inquired any further about it. Why the hell hadn't she taken it upon herself to discover the truth?
Because she hadn't felt then how she felt now. She couldn't stop thinking of Luna. About the way she felt in Hermione's arms and the way she looked up at Hermione, full of trust. About the fact that she didn't hold any of her other patients like that.
Oh god.
Hermione dropped her face into her hands, her cheeks flushed as she contemplated and analyzed it all. She had never thought about kissing a patient before. She had never thought about kissing a woman at all, for that matter. Well, she'd had those confusing dreams about Nymphadora Tonks when she was seventeen, but she imagined that was simply stress and working closely with the other woman. Now...
She wasn't attracted to Luna, was she? She couldn't be. It would be the height of unprofessional. She wouldn't be able to treat her properly because her emotions would interfere and...
Wasn't that exactly what Hawkins had accused her of?
She closed her eyes, visualizing that moment in Luna's room, the soft curve of Luna's lips and the feel of her silvery hair running through Hermione's fingers. What would have happened had she offered the comforting kiss she'd considered briefly? In her mind, she saw herself leaning forward to brush their lips together, and in that moment as warmth flooded through her, she knew. Oh god, she knew. She wanted her. And Luna would be horrified. Here she was, turning to Hermione for comfort after Hermione had abandoned her. And now Hermione wanted to exploit her! She wanted to take that trust and turn it into something ugly. She had to end it. She just didn't know how.
~*~
She brooded all weekend long, plagued by mental images of Luna smiling at her as they talked, chastising herself for not being able to keep things professional. This had never happened before! Why now? She tortured herself with insecurity and self-loathing until she couldn't take it any longer. On Sunday night, she Apparated to work, needing to put a stop to it once and for all. Damn Hawkins for being right. She was going to transfer Luna's case to him immediately. It was only fair. It was the only way to get Luna the help she needed, the help that Hermione had deprived her of because of her own stupid desire to protect her. Desire… god, she didn't want to think about that at all. She Floo'd to St. Mungo's and drew up the paperwork straight away so that she couldn't back out of it.
She marched down the hall as soon as Luna was officially no longer her patient. When she opened Luna's door, she saw moonlight caressing the girl's face. Luna was sitting up in bed, watching the night sky. What time was it? It had to be close to midnight.
"Hermione," she said dreamily, standing up and turning around. Moonbeams made a halo around her moon-coloured hair, and she smiled softly. "You don't usually come here today. I hoped I would see you, though."
Hermione couldn't look at her, but she couldn't look away, either. Luna was strange in feature and demeanour. She was damaged physically and emotionally. She had never played with a full exploding snap deck, and she certainly wasn't doing so now. And god, Hermione wanted her so much. She bit her lip, furious with herself.
"I've transferred you into Hawkins' care." There, she'd said it and now she could leave.
Luna's clear eyes widened. "What? Why would you do that?"
She didn't know how to answer that question. If she told the truth, Luna would be repulsed. Hermione was a girl, and someone who was supposed to be taking care of Luna, not taking advantage of her. "He needs to cut his teeth so he can start looking after patients himself. And you're doing well, so you're a good place for him to start taking over."
Luna shook her head. "That doesn't make sense. I need you. You said you'd help me get better."
She wrapped her arms around herself and said, "A conflict of interest has arisen, all right?"
Clear eyes searched her face, Luna's expression of surprised hurt lancing straight through Hermione's heart. "Is it... is it because I'm your friend?"
Hermione nodded vigorously. "Yes. That's it exactly. It's not right for me to continue to treat you."
"But you told me you helped Seamus Finnegan and Percy Weasley. Weren't they your friends too?"
"Not like this," Hermione said, her breath catching. She shouldn't say anymore.
"Tell me why. Please. Why are you leaving me? You promised me you wouldn't leave me!"
Hermione gasped back a sob as tears overtook her suddenly and viciously. "Luna, please, please don't force this. I can't... you have no idea..."
A rustle, movement, and before Hermione's brain could process what was going on, she hit the wall, her wrists pinned on either side of her head. Luna's eyes were bright. "Tell me," the girl said, using her body to keep Hermione's in place. Hermione whimpered softly at the press of hips and breasts against her own.
"You don't know what you do to me," she breathed.
"No more than you do to me," Luna whispered, brushing her lips against Hermione's. Both women shivered. "Please don't leave me."
Hermione bit back a sob, her emotions in turmoil, her body responding to Luna's almost against her will. It wasn't right. She shouldn't have let herself fall like this, should have noticed the signs and stopped it before it really started. But Luna was taller, and thanks to the muscle regenerative charms, stronger than Hermione was, and she held her against the wall with ease. God, Luna's body was so warm, her lips so incredibly soft... she didn't mean to lean into another kiss but there it was, contact that was deliberate and needy. A touch of Luna's tongue that caused Hermione to melt against her, parting her lips for the most heady kiss she'd ever-
"Luna, we can't," she gasped, eyes wide.
"We can," the other girl whispered. She leaned forward, expression serious, moonlit eyes dancing, and Hermione couldn't help the way her stomach clenched at the frisson of deep awareness running through her body. Their eyes locked. Hermione couldn't look away. Slowly Luna pressed her lips against Hermione's again, deliberately and infused with pure joy. And desire. Oh god, desire. They stood that way, unmoving, watching each other as the kiss lingered between them. Sweet and sensuous. Luna's grip on Hermione's wrists slackened a bit, and Hermione knew that she could put an end to this madness, push herself away and never see Luna again. That thought made her heart ache in protest. She didn't want to do the right thing- the correct thing- in this situation. What she wanted was the girl in her arms. Or rather, the girl who should be in her arms. And so Hermione freed herself.
"Luna," she murmured, twisting her hands to slip out of Luna's grip. She wove their fingers together and kissed Luna again, the first kiss Hermione had actually initiated between them. Luna moaned dreamily as their mouths met and moved against each other, as tongues touched each other tentatively at first and then with growing delight. Their hands were clasped tightly between them and they rocked gently from side to side, lost in the sensation of lips and tongues and so much built up emotion. Hermione couldn't remember the last kiss she'd shared like this. Luna's tongue teased hers, light and confident, warm lips moving against hers, fingers squeezing fingers. Luna's skin was cool with moonlight and warm with want. How could this ever be a bad thing? Hermione let go of Luna's hands and wrapped her arms around the other girl's neck, a cascade of silver hair tickling her skin.
"I can't do this and be your counsellor," Hermione whispered, stilling for a moment. Luna stroked her cheek.
"You have such soft skin. You're so pretty," she sighed. "I can live with that silly boy counselling me if it means I don't have to let you go."
"Don't let me go," Hermione whispered, and it was all the consent either of them needed. Luna hooked an arm around Hermione's waist and led her back to the moon-soaked bed. Together they pushed it against the wall, making Luna's little hideaway on the floor disappear.
Hermione touched the other girl's chin and said softly, "I've never... with another girl. I don't know how."
"Do you want me?"
She took a shuddering breath. "So much."
Luna smiled enigmatically, running her fingertips up and down Hermione's arm.
"We don't have to go any farther than you want," Hermione persisted. She would not take advantage of this situation.
Luna's smile widened. "Let me show you," she said, pulling Hermione onto the bed. The girls knelt before each other. "Let me show you how much I feel, all right?"
"All right," Hermione whispered. She cast a Silencio charm around them. With a gentle push on her shoulder, Luna guided Hermione backward until she was stretched out before Luna, suddenly not the one in charge. If she ever had been tonight. Luna traced her cheekbones with the very tips of her fingers, almost not touching Hermione at all.
Another touch, thumb pad grazing Hermione's bottom lip, and Luna whispered, "You help me every day. Let me help you."
Hermione tried to sit up. "This can't be about gratitu-"
Luna silenced her with that thumb. "This is about everything."
Whimpering, Hermione kissed her thumb and drew it into her mouth, feeling incredibly bold, warm and aching. Luna's eyes unfocused for a moment before she bent forward, replacing the digit with her mouth. What had, only a few minutes before, seemed foreign was now completely natural, and Hermione craved more. She reached for that beautiful silvery hair, but Luna stopped her.
"No," the other girl whispered, catching Hermione's hands again and pressing them back against the mattress. "Let me. I want to show you."
They held each other's gazes for a beat and then Hermione said, steady and trusting, if a bit huskier than usual, "Autonectum." Her wand fell from her grip as the sheets twisted around her wrists, binding her to the bed. Luna froze, holding her gaze, and then bent forward, cradling Hermione's jaw as she descended like a succubus made of pure moonlight. Their lips met and Hermione knew she was lost. She belonged to those penetrating eyes and exploring fingers. Her mouth opened, and Luna sighed as their tongues found each other again, Luna's tongue chasing Hermione's, dancing with it. With each new plunge of Luna's tongue, her fingers found some new plane of skin to explore, skating down the column of Hermione's throat, rubbing small circles against her pulse points, back up to tangle in her hair.
"More," Hermione gasped, barely recognizing her own voice, so thick with need.
"Yes," Luna agreed, hand venturing downward for the first time to touch Hermione's leg, urging her thighs apart. Hermione did so gladly, moaning as Luna settled between them and leaned up to plant kisses along Hermione's collarbones. She unbuttoned Hermione's robes without looking, too intent on mapping Hermione's neck with kisses and bites. Hermione could feel each teasing touch as she unfastened the robes, sitting back at last to watch the black fabric melt away from Hermione's body like shadows before moonlight. Luna did the same for Hermione's blouse, parting the garment to reveal her torso.
"You're curvy," Luna giggled, and Hermione's blush deepened.
"I-"
"It's good that you're curvy." Luna cupped Hermione's breasts, clad in a simple white cotton bra, and Hermione gasped. It had been so long since anyone had touched her this way. And she'd never craved it like this before. Luna reached toward the window and plucked a black feather from the cabbage still resting on the window sill. Smiling mysteriously at Hermione, she brushed its soft tip against Hermione's lips, her neck. Lingering, playing, until Luna's mouth descended, suckling at Hermione's nipple through the fabric of her bra as the feather tickled and stroked her neck.
Hermione writhed against the bed, the stimulation too much and not enough all at once. "Luna," she begged, not sure what she was asking for. "Please."
Luna arched upward again to kiss her once, twice, continuing her tactile exploration of Hermione's body as she did. "Relax," she whispered against Hermione's lips, and slithered downward, kissing random bits of skin as she went. She settled between Hermione's legs, propped up on one elbow.
"What are you-" Hermione gasped at the first brush of careful, light fingers between her legs. She hadn't had a chance to think through the logistics of being with another woman in the sense of- oh! Moist, warm… Luna's mouth was against Hermione's clit, kissing and sucking through her knickers. She'd never felt anything like it before.
"Luna," she whispered, pulling against her restraints.
"Sshhh," Luna said, the word a soft hiss against Hermione's knickers. She drew the feather along Hermione's inner thigh, kissing the skin that was goosebumping in its wake. Hermione shivered as the light caresses and kisses travelled along each leg. And without further warning, Luna hooked her index finger around the thin strip of fabric of Hermione's knickers and pulled it to the side. Cool air touched Hermione's cunt seconds before Luna's tongue did, and Hermione nearly screamed at the contrasting sensations. She did cry out as Luna's tongue traced the contours of this most intimate part of Hermione's body, long, slow strokes that sent shockwaves of pleasure singing along her nerves. Luna tasted her thoroughly, humming her approval before the first teasing tickle of tongue against clit. Hermione damned near arched off the bed, her hands twisting helplessly in her cloth bonds. Luna's luminous eyes peered upward along the length of Hermione's body, watching each moan, each toss of Hermione's head, each time she bit her lip. Whoever would have thought a tongue could be so versatile, Hermione wondered as Luna drew tight circles around her clit, pausing to flick it directly and suck it into her mouth. Never in her limited sexual experience had she been treated like this, paid such attention to and driven mad by pleasure not quite intense enough to send her over the edge.
"Oh please," Hermione moaned, writhing with ecstasy. "Please, I-"
Luna paused for just a moment, everything hanging in the air as if hit with a stunning spell while she slipped a finger into her mouth. Hermione watched it disappear between Luna's lips, watched her cheeks hollow as she sucked it. Luna's skin was pink too, her eyes bright with arousal as the finger that had been inside her mouth reappeared and touched Hermione's cunt, sliding into her body instead.
"Luna!" Hermione gasped. "Oh, Luna, that's-" And Luna's mouth returned to Hermione's clit, her tongue flicking against it double time to the slow, smooth in-and-out strokes of her index finger.
Hermione came with a scream, her toes curling and her vision winking out in an explosion of moonlight, pleasure, and lips, warmed and moistened from her own body, kissing her with so much love.
Epilogue
Hermione loved mornings like this, when she woke up a few minutes earlier than her alarm was charmed to sound, the gentle patter of rain against the window reinforcing how warm and comfortable she was curled up in bed. Rain would be good for the garden behind the little house, filled with lovely pansies and bubotubers and daffodils. And lots of sunflowers. She was warm from sleep and from the woman still half-sleeping in her arms. Luna was shifting and moaning softly and Hermione sighed with deep contentment, taking in the delicious sounds and the soft raspberry scent of Luna's silver hair. Her hand moved wickedly between Luna's bare legs, just the way she knew her partner liked it. So different than those first fumbling touches over 4 years ago, after Luna had unbound her from the bed in St. Mungo's and Hermione had insisted on returning the favour for her mind-shattering climax. She'd come a long way since then. How far they'd both progressed.
Hermione kissed Luna's scar-crossed neck and nipped at her earlobe as she laid a finger on either side of Luna's clit and stroked rhythmically. Luna rocked into the touch. Breathily, she moaned, "Hermione." And then, more fully awake, "Oh, Hermione!"
"Morning, Moonlight," Hermione said, her own voice still raspy with sleep. She knew ever bit of scarred skin on Luna's body now. Loved every bit of it.
Luna giggled at the nickname, turning her head to steal a quick kiss. "Close," she gasped against Hermione's mouth, and Hermione sped up, squeezing Luna's clit on every other stroke.
"Oh- Oh!" Luna's whole body tightened and quivered before she melted back against Hermione in wordless release. Hermione's hand stilled and withdrew, and Luna turned in her arms for a long good-morning kiss.
"Big day," Hermione said as they disentangled themselves from the sheets and each other.
Luna smiled dreamily at her. "I'm going to start a pot of tea. Do you want honey in yours today or relish?"
"Honey," Hermione laughed.
"Sweetheart," Luna giggled and raced down the corridor to their kitchen.
Still laughing, Hermione stepped into the loo and started the shower. She couldn't believe how far they'd come together. Whoever would have thought that after finishing her rehabilitation under Hawkins' watchful eye, Luna would turn around and go back to school to become a Healer in her own right? Hermione smiled as she immersed herself in the hot spray and steam. They were going to meet their friends for a good-luck breakfast at Ron and Morag's place, and she wondered if Harry would bring someone along. He'd been hinting that he'd met someone interesting. Funny how things change as time moved on. She had gotten over her initial dislike of Morag after the Ravenclaw had gone out of her way to befriend Luna, a friendship that had only grown over the years. And after breakfast, Luna would be off to St. Mungo's.
Re-emerging from the loo wrapped in a long, fluffy towel, she found Luna dressed in Healer's lime green robes. Hermione had always refused to wear them, but, she thought, they suited Luna perfectly. They went very well with her necklace of Muggle bottlecaps.
"Nervous?" she asked.
Luna shook her head. "Are you?" Today would be the first time Hermione had visited St. Mungo's since setting up her private practice in Diagon Alley last year.
Hermione laughed. "No, just excited for you." She pressed a kiss against Luna's cheek.
"I've a dozen new techniques I'm going to show Madam Pomfrey," Luna said.
"On your first day as a Healer?"
"Oh yes! Crystals, for example! Excellent after asp and ashwinder attacks! You just lay them over the patient's eyes and wounds, and..."
Hermione listened to Luna with a private smile as she dressed and they set off to meet their friends. She wondered just how perplexed the other Healers would be with her partner. It was difficult to put into words just what life with Luna was like. Odd? Yes. Frustrating? Sometimes. Absolutely harebrained? Nearly always, to be sure. But Hermione knew that all of that only added to making life interesting, and she wanted no life other than the one she'd built with Luna.
The End