A Gift For evening12: Lesbian Sex: A Guide, (Hermione/Padma)
Author: kiertorata
Recipient: evening12
Title: Lesbian Sex: A Guide
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Padma Patil
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1260
Summary: Padma likes to be prepared.
Author's Notes: Dear evening12, it was so hard to choose from your pairings and prompts, since I loved them all! I'm pretty sure I interpreted "girls bonding over books" in a completely different way than you intended, but I hope you like this story! :3 Also, my headcanon for Padma is turning more and more socially awkward. Happy holidays and thanks for the mods for organizing this!
Padma stood at the corner of a busy street and let the bustle of people and the holiday decorations in the shop windows fill her senses. Normally she preferred much quieter settings, but the novelty of the situation still appealed to her. Half a year after the battle of Hogwarts, her parents were hesitantly starting to allow their daughters to leave the house alone again.
She was excited to visit Accio Books, her favourite bookshop on this side of wizarding London. It was not quite as flashy as Flourish and Blotts, but it was cosier and catered better towards niche audiences. Situated far from Diagon Alley, it had also suffered very little damage because of the war.
She had gotten Hermione a book for Christmas by owl post already, but it wasn’t a bad idea to do another round to see if there was anything else she might get her. Padma knew she was probably overdoing it, but it was her first relationship and it was their first Christmas, and she wanted to do it properly even though they had to spend the holidays apart. She still couldn’t quite believe Hermione had chosen her as her girlfriend.
She entered the shop, and the bells at the door gave a little tingle at her entry. The wonderful smell of books and paper filled her nose, and she couldn’t stop a smile from spreading onto her face. It had been a while, but the shop was exactly as it had been before. She glanced fondly at the school book section that she no longer had to visit, and spent a good half hour at the Arithmancy section browsing the new releases.
There was a section she had determinedly avoided for years of acquainting the shop. Visiting it would have required her to have a discussion with herself that she hadn’t been ready to have. Not to mention, visiting it would have always been accompanied by the fear of Parvati somehow straying away from the Divination section and asking questions she hadn’t been ready to answer.
The war had put a lot of things into perspective. The fear of her parents abandoning her for her sexuality had seemed pretty implausible after the effort they put into keeping her safe. And while her father still found the idea of a good, stable marriage with a rich man attractive, he wasn’t too upset that Padma was dating Hermione Granger, war hero extraordinaire and top of their class.
With an awkward stride and a quick glance over her shoulder, Padma stepped past the cookbooks and the self-help section into the section called ‘LGBTQ’.
Padma tried to avoid contact with the shop assistant’s eye as she slid the book onto the counter as inconspicuously as she could. She pinned her eye determinedly to the Christmas cards and Season’s Greetings.
‘In Merlin’s name, Padma. You’ve fought in a war and you feel anxious about buying a book?’ she said to herself.
She blushed as the assistant turned the book around and thought she couldn’t be more mortified when her lips curled just slightly into a knowing smile. Not even the time Michael Corner had spelled the title of her Charms essay into ‘booger’ after she had turned it in to Flitwick had been this mortifying, although it came a close second.
She threw a quick glance behind her, where a queue of Christmas shoppers stood in various states of impatience. Padma tried to block their view by stepping closer to the counter, but she was sure the lady in the pine green cloak and Christmas bauble earrings had peeked anyway.
‘Would you like gift-wrapping with this?” the shop assistant asked.
“No thanks,” Padma said quickly, and drawing from a source of bravery she hadn’t realized she possessed, she said, “Just a bag, thank you.”
She left the shop conscious of the weight of her new purchase in her bag. She would spend the rest of the afternoon getting over the trauma of her clumsy interaction with the shop assistant, but it was worth it. She couldn’t wait to start reading the book.
Padma absently plaited her hair as she flipped through her Arithmancy text book. Her thoughts kept returning to Hermione. They had spent the evening catching up, and a good while of it snogging in a secluded corner of the Eighth Year Common Room, and the thought of it brought a smile to Padma’s face.
She was cosy in her four-poster bed, wearing a jumper and the lovely, lace-patterned socks that Hermione had knit for her as a present. Parvati and Sue were still off somewhere, and it was nice and quiet in the dorm. She was just about to start revising her notes for tomorrow’s classes when she heard a soft knock on the door.
“Hey,” Hermione said, smiling from the doorway. “I just wanted to see you before going to bed.”
Padma put her notes aside as Hermione climbed into her bed. She kissed her gently, and Padma felt a bit of her melt at the contact.
“Ooh, what’s this?” Hermione said, appearing to notice a particular title among the pile of books in Padma’s bed. She grabbed the book before Padma had time to react.
“No! That’s... You weren’t supposed to see that!” Padma said.
“Lesbian Sex: A Guide,” Hermione read. “Wow, this looks very useful.” She turned over the cover and started leafing through the pages.
Padma buried her face in her pillow and decided she would never face Hermione again. It wasn’t a very sound strategy, considering that Hermione was still in her bed and her knee was pressed against Padma’s thigh, but she didn’t care.
“Oh, nice. It even has an entire chapter on consent,” Hermione said excitedly.
She could practically see the way Hermione’s brows were furrowed like every time she was engrossed in a book, her unruly curls falling onto her forehead. Normally this was how Padma loved to see Hermione, but now all she could do was hide.
She decided to risk a peak, but as she lifted the corner of the pillow off her face, Hermione looked up from the book and met her eye.
“Padma, what’s wrong?” she said, placing the book in her lap.
“I wanted to be prepared,” Padma mumbled into her pillow. She could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks.
Hermione brought her hand close to Padma on the duvet, knowing Padma didn’t like to be touched when she felt self-conscious. Recognizing their sign, Padma took her hand. She felt a little better with Hermione’s warm hand squeezing hers.
“I just feel so inexperienced, I guess,” Padma said, still hugging the pillow with one hand. “I really want you to feel good whenever we do have...sex.”
She knew she probably sounded ridiculous, but Hermione’s encouraging smile was enough to dispel some of her embarrassment. She dropped the pillow.
“Aww, honey. I’m sure whatever we do will feel good,” Hermione said.
“But Ron-” Padma started.
“Ron and I had sex once,” Hermione said. “It’s not like I know much more than you do.”
“Yeah,” Padma said, starting to feel calmer.
“And he has different bits,” Hermione added with a snort.
Padma let out a little giggle at this. She leaned closer against her girlfriend and Hermione wrapped an arm around her.
“We’ll figure it out together, okay?” Hermione said. “I can’t wait to explore it with you.”
Padma could finally feel a smile starting to play on her face.
“Now let’s have a look at that book together, shall we?” Hermione said.
Recipient: evening12
Title: Lesbian Sex: A Guide
Pairing: Hermione Granger/Padma Patil
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1260
Summary: Padma likes to be prepared.
Author's Notes: Dear evening12, it was so hard to choose from your pairings and prompts, since I loved them all! I'm pretty sure I interpreted "girls bonding over books" in a completely different way than you intended, but I hope you like this story! :3 Also, my headcanon for Padma is turning more and more socially awkward. Happy holidays and thanks for the mods for organizing this!
Padma stood at the corner of a busy street and let the bustle of people and the holiday decorations in the shop windows fill her senses. Normally she preferred much quieter settings, but the novelty of the situation still appealed to her. Half a year after the battle of Hogwarts, her parents were hesitantly starting to allow their daughters to leave the house alone again.
She was excited to visit Accio Books, her favourite bookshop on this side of wizarding London. It was not quite as flashy as Flourish and Blotts, but it was cosier and catered better towards niche audiences. Situated far from Diagon Alley, it had also suffered very little damage because of the war.
She had gotten Hermione a book for Christmas by owl post already, but it wasn’t a bad idea to do another round to see if there was anything else she might get her. Padma knew she was probably overdoing it, but it was her first relationship and it was their first Christmas, and she wanted to do it properly even though they had to spend the holidays apart. She still couldn’t quite believe Hermione had chosen her as her girlfriend.
She entered the shop, and the bells at the door gave a little tingle at her entry. The wonderful smell of books and paper filled her nose, and she couldn’t stop a smile from spreading onto her face. It had been a while, but the shop was exactly as it had been before. She glanced fondly at the school book section that she no longer had to visit, and spent a good half hour at the Arithmancy section browsing the new releases.
There was a section she had determinedly avoided for years of acquainting the shop. Visiting it would have required her to have a discussion with herself that she hadn’t been ready to have. Not to mention, visiting it would have always been accompanied by the fear of Parvati somehow straying away from the Divination section and asking questions she hadn’t been ready to answer.
The war had put a lot of things into perspective. The fear of her parents abandoning her for her sexuality had seemed pretty implausible after the effort they put into keeping her safe. And while her father still found the idea of a good, stable marriage with a rich man attractive, he wasn’t too upset that Padma was dating Hermione Granger, war hero extraordinaire and top of their class.
With an awkward stride and a quick glance over her shoulder, Padma stepped past the cookbooks and the self-help section into the section called ‘LGBTQ’.
Padma tried to avoid contact with the shop assistant’s eye as she slid the book onto the counter as inconspicuously as she could. She pinned her eye determinedly to the Christmas cards and Season’s Greetings.
‘In Merlin’s name, Padma. You’ve fought in a war and you feel anxious about buying a book?’ she said to herself.
She blushed as the assistant turned the book around and thought she couldn’t be more mortified when her lips curled just slightly into a knowing smile. Not even the time Michael Corner had spelled the title of her Charms essay into ‘booger’ after she had turned it in to Flitwick had been this mortifying, although it came a close second.
She threw a quick glance behind her, where a queue of Christmas shoppers stood in various states of impatience. Padma tried to block their view by stepping closer to the counter, but she was sure the lady in the pine green cloak and Christmas bauble earrings had peeked anyway.
‘Would you like gift-wrapping with this?” the shop assistant asked.
“No thanks,” Padma said quickly, and drawing from a source of bravery she hadn’t realized she possessed, she said, “Just a bag, thank you.”
She left the shop conscious of the weight of her new purchase in her bag. She would spend the rest of the afternoon getting over the trauma of her clumsy interaction with the shop assistant, but it was worth it. She couldn’t wait to start reading the book.
Padma absently plaited her hair as she flipped through her Arithmancy text book. Her thoughts kept returning to Hermione. They had spent the evening catching up, and a good while of it snogging in a secluded corner of the Eighth Year Common Room, and the thought of it brought a smile to Padma’s face.
She was cosy in her four-poster bed, wearing a jumper and the lovely, lace-patterned socks that Hermione had knit for her as a present. Parvati and Sue were still off somewhere, and it was nice and quiet in the dorm. She was just about to start revising her notes for tomorrow’s classes when she heard a soft knock on the door.
“Hey,” Hermione said, smiling from the doorway. “I just wanted to see you before going to bed.”
Padma put her notes aside as Hermione climbed into her bed. She kissed her gently, and Padma felt a bit of her melt at the contact.
“Ooh, what’s this?” Hermione said, appearing to notice a particular title among the pile of books in Padma’s bed. She grabbed the book before Padma had time to react.
“No! That’s... You weren’t supposed to see that!” Padma said.
“Lesbian Sex: A Guide,” Hermione read. “Wow, this looks very useful.” She turned over the cover and started leafing through the pages.
Padma buried her face in her pillow and decided she would never face Hermione again. It wasn’t a very sound strategy, considering that Hermione was still in her bed and her knee was pressed against Padma’s thigh, but she didn’t care.
“Oh, nice. It even has an entire chapter on consent,” Hermione said excitedly.
She could practically see the way Hermione’s brows were furrowed like every time she was engrossed in a book, her unruly curls falling onto her forehead. Normally this was how Padma loved to see Hermione, but now all she could do was hide.
She decided to risk a peak, but as she lifted the corner of the pillow off her face, Hermione looked up from the book and met her eye.
“Padma, what’s wrong?” she said, placing the book in her lap.
“I wanted to be prepared,” Padma mumbled into her pillow. She could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks.
Hermione brought her hand close to Padma on the duvet, knowing Padma didn’t like to be touched when she felt self-conscious. Recognizing their sign, Padma took her hand. She felt a little better with Hermione’s warm hand squeezing hers.
“I just feel so inexperienced, I guess,” Padma said, still hugging the pillow with one hand. “I really want you to feel good whenever we do have...sex.”
She knew she probably sounded ridiculous, but Hermione’s encouraging smile was enough to dispel some of her embarrassment. She dropped the pillow.
“Aww, honey. I’m sure whatever we do will feel good,” Hermione said.
“But Ron-” Padma started.
“Ron and I had sex once,” Hermione said. “It’s not like I know much more than you do.”
“Yeah,” Padma said, starting to feel calmer.
“And he has different bits,” Hermione added with a snort.
Padma let out a little giggle at this. She leaned closer against her girlfriend and Hermione wrapped an arm around her.
“We’ll figure it out together, okay?” Hermione said. “I can’t wait to explore it with you.”
Padma could finally feel a smile starting to play on her face.
“Now let’s have a look at that book together, shall we?” Hermione said.