Fleur huffed and stick her nose up at me as if that would hide the blush that began to spread across her cheeks when our eyes met. It wasn't that nothing had changed since our moment of shared intimacy, just that Fleur was still firmly in denial and trying desperately to act like it hadn't happened at all.
At least she'd started to let her sister out of the carriage. As evidenced by the fact that said sister was currently shooting me a sultry little grin from her spot beside Fleur. I returned the smile and my eyes continued to roam the Great Hall until they landed on the true source of my concern at the moment.
Heather and Hermione were eating alone at the end of the Gryffindor table. They'd been doing so basically every meal since Heather's name came out of the Goblet of Fire. I occasionally saw Ginny or Neville try to join them but those attempts were sparse and usually stymied by the rest of their House.
It seemed that Heather's little outburst at the Halloween Selection hadn't had the effect I'd intended. I wanted to make it clear to the rest of the school that Heather didn't want to be in the tournament. But people still thought she cheated her way into this thing and that her anger had merely been an act on her part. I should have directed Heather to make an oath or something.
That belief resulted in resentment directed at Heather, especially from Hufflepuff — the House of the tournament's Hogwarts champion. The rumors I'd heard about me personally tutoring her probably didn't help either. From what some of the female students said, you would've believed our coaching sessions were events rife with debauchery and taboo romance. They weren't… mostly…
Other than a brief announcement that he didn't believe Heather had been entered of her own free will, Dumbledore and the rest of the staff had taken a hands-off approach to Heather's situation. They didn't really have a choice otherwise. They could punish bullying if they saw it but they couldn't do anything about the systemic shunning from the rest of the school. And as always, politics stood in the way of Dumbledore taking any action that might actually change something.
Thankfully, Heather seemed mostly indifferent to the school's treatment of her. Even the 'Potter Stinks' badges that the young Malfoy had whipped up — which I had to admit were a cunning bit of charmwork — only got a brief chuckle and then indifference from Heather. There were still some who defended her, after all. They were just few and far between compared to the rest of the school.
Outside of the shunning, Heather's training was proceeding apace. Heather was the kind of student that learned best through action instead of reading/lecturing. Heather and I usually performed the new spells I was teaching them and then Hermione could explain the theory to Heather in a way she could understand afterward.
I already knew Heather was a quick hand with her wand but I quickly discovered that she was so much more than that. She had this intuitive understanding of magic that meant she was quickly able to perform spells she'd never heard of before. She could not only coast by on her instincts but excel off of them.
Those magical instincts did not extend to the theoretical side of magic. She was almost a savant in that regard. She could puzzle her way through how to cast a spell with ease but ask her to explain why that spell did what it did and she would be hopelessly out of her depth.
Hermione was Heather's opposite when it came to magic. She had a much, much easier time with theory but struggled when it came to putting that theory into practice. She made up for that deficiency with sheer grit, determination, and hard work. Even though she didn't know it, Hermione was already a student of the Grind.
If Heather was all raw instinct, Hermione was painstaking preparation. In that way and a few others, Hermione perfectly complimented Heather. We quickly put together a training regime that worked well for Heather with that bit of information.
That wasn't to say there weren't incidents though…
IIIII
"Keep up, old man!" Heather's laughter echoed through the mind-bending arena that Room of Requirement had created for our dueling purposes.
It was a course of mirrors that resembled one that you would find at a Muggle circus or fair. We'd gotten our serious training done for the day and I figured this would be a fun way to unwind. At the same time, it trained Awareness, Focus, and Tactics for both me and Heather.
< +1 to Focus, +2 to Tactics, and +2 to Awareness >
< Focus 41+1=42/100, Tactics 30+2=32/100, Awareness 33+2=35/100 >
The Room could create anything we imagined. Mirrors formed false corridors and dead ends that reflected back on themselves. Space seemed to twist and turn, forming scenes straight out of a lucid dream or nightmare.
The name of the game within this kaleidoscopic wonderland was a twisted, magical version of Tag. I'd given Heather a bit of a headstart. My job was to catch her and hers was to evade capture by any means necessary. And there was a twist. See, mirrors — even mundane ones — reflected spells…
I ducked as a stunner bounced around an unseen corner off a transparent surface. One of the many spells I'd taught Heather during our three weeks of training together and one of her favorites by far. It was followed by more laughter from wherever Heather was hiding ahead of me.
"You'll have to do better than that~" Heather taunted. "The fact that you haven't caught me yet really 'reflects' poorly on your skills, Coach~"
The puns were worse than the taunting. According to Hermione, they were a recent development of Heather's personality. Something that only really showed up toward the end of last year and over the summer. She seemed to know more about the actual reason behind them but I didn't press.
An explosive charm hit a hastily-erected shield and exploded. That'd teach me to get distracted by puns. Thankfully, the mirrors the Room conjured were enchanted to prevent destruction. It would kind of defeat the purpose of the game if I could just blast my way through the mirrored maze.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement and fired. A Body-Bind Curse bounced off a mirror and continued to do so until it disappeared into the maze. Heather's fox-like grin stared back at me from the mirror I'd cursed.
"Need your eyes checked, Atlas?" Heather teased.
I scoffed, "Like you're one to talk."
"At least I'm not the one cursing mirrored ghosts~"
"No," I shot back. "You're just the one scared and hiding from her own reflection."
"Whatever do you mean?" Heather's tone was sweet and innocent. "I'm right here, aren't I?"
"Are you?" I genuinely didn't know anymore. This maze was messing with my head more than I thought it would.
Just to be sure, I sent a stunner at Heather's potentially mirrored form. It just bounced right back at me and forced me to duck again. Heather's voice was suddenly behind and above me.
"Like that one? I figured out how to throw my voice with magic!"
"This maze has multiple levels?!" I asked incredulously.
"So it seems," Heather giggled. "It's like a circus in here."
"How do I even get up there?"
"I don't know~ Maybe you should just give up and 'see yourself' out."
"When I catch you, I'm going to wash those damn puns out of your mouth," I grumbled.
"Eh, don't be so 'glass'-hearted. You'll 'look back' on this and laugh. Time tends to 'magnify' the humor of a situation. 'Prism'."
"That last one wasn't even a pun!" I shouted, giving chase as Heather's giggled head ducked back out of sight.
IIIII
"This is ridiculous!" I heard Hermione hiss from behind the partition the Room of Requirement had put up.
"Hey, you're the one that asked for this," I could almost hear the shrug in Heather's response.
"Not this! All I asked for was a comfy outfit to study and research in! This…! This belongs in one of those Naughty Witch magazines Lavender and Parvati keep under their beds!"
I was trying my best to ignore their whispered conversation. Hermione was supposed to be changing and I wanted to give them at least a semblance of privacy. But all that was between us was a thin opaque changing screen and they weren't making it easy by not keeping their voices down.
Hell, I didn't even understand why Hermione felt the need to change clothes. We were just going to be putting the finishing touches on the Runic tattoos. It hardly needed to be an event.
"No, it's perfect!" Heather said. "It's just like in our 'research material'! He won't be able to keep his hands off of you!"
I… was going to pretend I didn't hear that. As much as I liked Hermione, this really wasn't the time for flirting. The Grind took precedent as always, second only to keeping Heather alive. Hopefully, we could finish the tattoos before Hermione decided to make her move. I had a feeling this research session wouldn't be as innocent and uneventful as I wanted it to be though…
There was a bit of shuffling behind the changing screen. Eventually, Heather stepped out with a wicked grin on her face and Hermione soon followed. I tried my best to not react. I really did. But Hermione's choice of outfit was too striking to not stare even a little bit.
Her robes had been discarded. That alone wasn't that unusual. Robes weren't the most comfortable clothing to be studying in. But the uniform she usually wore beneath her robes had been changed dramatically. It was still recognizable as a Hogwarts uniform but if Professor McGonagall saw it, she would have had an aneurysm.
The typical white top had been shortened and tightened and was tied off just above Hermione's navel, exposing some of her smooth tummy. Her skirt was now short enough to scandalize, showing hints of what lay beneath every time she moved. A pair of striped, thigh-high socks covered her legs, ending at mid-thigh and hugging Hermione's lush thighs. At least the coloring was still right. Red and gold for Gryffindor dominated her outfit's color palette, from her striped socks to her tie.
"D-Does it look okay?" Hermione asked nervously. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Heather giving her an eager thumbs-up.
I swallowed. When had my mouth gotten so dry? "Uh, yeah. You look great. Must be, uh, comfy?"
Her face flushed, "Surprisingly so…"
"Good…" I trailed off, unsure of what to say and still subtlely admiring Hermione's skimpily clad, bottom-heavy figure. "We should get started. I want to finish this up today so we can apply the tattoos tomorrow. We'll only have a few days before the First Task to get used to using them."
The change of subject seemed to bring Hermione back into her element somewhat, "Right. I've finished the Rune matrixes for the tattoos but I want both you and Heather to go over my work again. After that, we just have to figure out how to actually apply the tattoos."
"I took care of that," I said. "I found a spell that tattoos from the caster's imagination. That way we won't be stuck with bad-looking tattoos. So long as we have a clear image of the design in our mind, the magic will do all of the work."
"Oh?" Hermione perked up with interest. "How does it work?"
I smiled, always happy to see that Hermione's passion for magic rivaled my own, "It's actually a spell meant for transcribing text. There were other artistic spells but I thought this one would be extra effective since we have to work Runes into our design. I made a few minor modifications and it should fit our purposes now."
"Yeah, yeah," Heather interrupted before I could get carried away with the minutia of the spell I'd found. "Let's get to the good stuff already! C'mon, Hermione, break out the matrixes!"
Hermione rolled her eyes fondly but did as her best friend asked. She produced a piece of parchment and laid it on a table that we all gathered around. The surface of the parchment was a study of Runes in densely packed ink. It wouldn't have looked out of place for an OWL, Hell, a NEWTs student!
"This is good work, Hermione," I praised as my eyes roamed the parchment-ed Rune matrix she'd developed.
"Thank you, Atlas," Hermione's smile lit up the room as she practically lived off the praise.
Surprisingly, Heather was the first of us to catch a mistake, "That one there… It doesn't feel right."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked for clarification. "See, it fits here as 'Luck of the Sun'. I thought invoking the Sun would add more potency to the Luck Rune."
"You're right but not completely," I corrected. "Heather's onto something. You used Dagaz for Sun but you want the Sowulo Rune. That way you invoke the actual concept and power of the Sun instead of just the 'light' of Day with Dagaz."
"Oh…" Hermione blushed. "Oh, I see… Any other mistakes?"
"Walk us through your work and we'll see. Hearing it directly from your mouth will give us a better idea of what you're trying to do," I suggested.
"Of course!" Hermione excitedly began to ramble about her work. "First of all, I layered the whole matrix with a number of protection Runes. Algiz for literal protection and defense. Eihwaz for the strength and stability of the matrix's protection. Ehwaz for various environmental protections. Etc.
"I used Eldar Futhark for these Runes because of the simplicity the language offers. I found that Hieroglyphics and Kanji are more varied languages — able to invoke a wider variety of effects — but Eldar Futhark is the most robust. For that reason and because it's the language I'm most familiar with, I ended up only using it for the matrix. Everything else is built on top of the protection Runes."
"A sound decision," I nodded. "When in doubt, go with what you know. And since defense is the matrix's primary purpose, going with something safe and sturdy makes perfect sense to me."
Beaming a smile at me and shifting slightly in her seat with a steadily reddening face, Hermione continued, "Y-Yes, thank you… After the protection Runes, I figured I would try to create something that brings good fortune or at least keeps the bad away. As you saw, though, that was one of the aspects of the matrix I was the least confident with. There are simply too many variables to ensure it works perfectly."
Heather snorted, "If it works at all, it'll be a Merlin godsend. You already know my luck, Hermione. Anything would be an improvement."
"Honestly, Heather, it's not that bad," Hermione said, rolling her eyes lightly at her best friend.
Heather just shot her a flat stare and Hermione quailed as if her mind was bringing up every incident of Heather's bad luck she personally witnessed. "Ah… uh, well, hopefully, it'll work."
Chuckling slightly, I motioned for her to continue and Hermione did, "Then we come to the Runes that power the whole matrix. At first, I was just going to power it off of our magical cores. But then, I thought better of it and included some backups. Look! I'm actually quite proud of my solution there!"
"Uruz for Power and… Jera? For Harvest?" I mused, turning the string of Runes over in my mind. "Oh my… Yes, that's quite clever. It should 'Harvest' magic from the surroundings. Typically, sequences like this one use Nauthiz for Need. But that only collects as much magic as the sequence uses. With Jera, you could potentially use the 'Harvest' to refill your magical core as well as power the Rune matrix."
Hermione was practically vibrating in her seat now and I could have sworn I heard tiny, whimpering moans leak out from between her lips, "Ah~… Y-Yes! Precisely!"
She took a moment to seemingly calm her praise-induced excitement, "… A-Anyway! Now, we get to the fun stuff!"
"Oh, joy," Heather deadpanned, not bothering to hide her grin at the same time.
"Hush, you," Hermione shot back. "Do you want to be able to shoot lightning out of your fingers or not?"
Heather mimed zipping her lips shut with a grin and Hermione elaborated, "That one was actually Atlas' idea. It took a bit of doing but I think I got it to work. It should allow us to generate lightning bolts as attacks. I even implemented a strange sort of shield/cloak with electricity. That one's obviously useless for physical attacks but I have a hunch it might disrupt magic in some way, given how magic and electricity don't typically play well together."
"Does the shield generate electromagnetic fields?" I asked.
"What?"
"You know, magnets and stuff?" I said. "It would make the lightning shield able to affect things with mass, so long as they're magnetic. If configured strongly enough, I could see repelling magnetic force being better than a physical shield."
"I… didn't think of that," Hermione ducked her head in shame.
I shrugged, "No matter. It can be a project for the future. We don't have the time to focus on it right now."
"Yes… for the future," Hermione shook her head, tucking that information away for later. "Other than the lightning effects, I included Runes for agility and strength and even managed temporary flight by aping the Runes placed on broomsticks. I couldn't get other Runic languages to work together. There's too much history and unique symbolism there for it to be feasible. "
"Wonderful work, Hermione," I said, clapping my hands together proudly. "You've truly outdone yourself, surpassing even my already high expectations."
There was no mistaking Hermione's reaction for a trick of the mind this time. She outright moaned, her eyelids fluttering and her whole body trembling for a moment. A suspicious scent crept into my nose as well.
"T-Thank… ~Oh~… you, Professor~" Hermione panted.
Yeah… Best to just pretend that didn't happen. That I didn't just give Hermione an orgasm through praise alone… It was definitely something to keep in mind for the future though. The possibilities… Brightest Witch of Her Generation, more like Lewdest Witch.
"Now, uh," I cleared my throat, just now realizing I was in grave danger of tenting my pants. "Now we just need to choose our preferred tattoo designs."
IIIII
"And why did you two have to be half-naked for this?" I asked.
"'Cause I want my tattoo on my back and Hermione wants hers on her outer thigh," Heather answered as if nothing was wrong with this situation.
"Okay. Better question. Why do I have to be half-naked for this as well?"
Heather giggled and Hermione just goggled at my exposed chest with flushed cheeks, "Because we've decided to do your tattoo on your chest and you've been out-voted. Also, a bit of eye candy is always appreciated."
I sighed. Nothing to do but accept this. It wasn't like this was a real difficulty. No, if anything, I felt extraordinarily lucky. I got to witness a topless Heather Potter using her hands as a bra for her remarkably full breasts and a bottomless Hermione Granger, clad in only a small thong, covering the front of her crotch sheepishly.
"Fine… Who's first?"
"Oh! Me!" Heather went to raise her hand before quickly remembering that both of them were currently occupied. "Ehehe, oops."
I closed my eyes and counted to five, trying to smother my semi-erection before it could get even harder, "Just hurry up and get on the table. Please. Face down."
"You got it, Coach!" I heard Heather agree and then some movement as she did as I said.
I only opened my eyes when I was sure Heather was lying face down on the massage table the Room of Requirement had provided for our tattooing purposes. Hermione had taken a seat on one side of the table, unfortunately hiding her wonderfully bare thickness from view. Heather lay across the massage table, her proportionally large boobs filling convenient dips in the table to ensure her comfort. She turned her face to me and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively when she caught me staring.
I took a seat opposite Hermione on Heather's other side, "Right, everyone ready? This shouldn't hurt but tell me if something feels off, okay? Hermione? Pay close attention here. I'll do the tattoos for you and Heather and then you two will work together to do mine."
"Yes, Professor," Hermione nodded.
"You sure you remember the design, Coach?" Heather asked, biting her lip with uncharacteristic nerves.
"I'm sure," I reassured her. "I've still got the reference attempt you did. I won't give you a bad tattoo. I'll do your father's memory justice. I promise."
Heather took a slightly shaky breath, "Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's get crackin'!"
I chuckled, "I'll take that as permission to touch you."
"Yeah, yeah, you've got it. Get on with this already."
Despite Heather's dismissive attitude, she still jumped slightly when my fingers grazed her back. Then she bit down on a loud moan as I produced my wand and started the tattooing process.
I instantly stopped and asked, "What's wrong? Did that hurt?"
Heather's denial came a bit too quickly, "Nothing! It's nothing! I definitely can't feel your magic tickling my core and making me wet or anything!!"
"Oh… kay… If you say so. I'm about to start again," I warned her.
As I started again, in earnest this time, Heather's reaction was much more muted. Or maybe 'tightly controlled' would be a better descriptor. Her muscles were tense and her breathing was shallow. Little whines, giggles, and other distracting noises escaped her occasionally as I worked. Thankfully, the tattooing spell wasn't as involved as the Muggle tattooing process and I didn't need Heather to cooperate all too much.
My wand traced along the skin of her back, directed by my hands. Ink steadily appeared everywhere my wand went, setting into Heather's skin permanently. My free hand smoothed the ink after it settled in a completely unnecessary motion. The featherlight touch of my hand on her sensitive back did seem to bring out certain reactions from Heather though.
A Cervidae (deer) face came into being, centered on the small of Heather's back. A noble stag, a memory, was given life once more on Heather's skin. The stag's antlers stretched up Heather's shoulder blades. And in every little line of the design, the tattooing spell filled in minuscule, almost-invisible Runes. A Rune matrix of Hermione's creation took shape within Heather's tattoo.
When it was done, I couldn't resist running my fingers along each line I just tattooed. If it was a Muggle tattoo, I wouldn't have dared do something so thoughtless. Thankfully, Heather's new magical tattoo was completely healed. Her skin hadn't even been broken once.
"How is it?" Heather nervously asked Hermione.
"Amazing…" Hermione whispered in awe, her fingers joining mine on Heather's back.
Heather tried and failed to hide a shudder of sensation, "Wicked… Your turn!"
"Wha-! Ah! Heather!" Hermione barely had time to react.
Heather sprung off the massage table and collected her best friend into her arms. I caught the briefest glimpse of feminine perfection before Heather's chest was unfortunately hidden by her wrestling with Hermione. Hermione was deposited onto the massage table, laying on her side with that magnificent ass pointed my way. I didn't see what must have been a vicious glare from Hermione but I saw the way Heather wiggled her eyebrows and grinned in response.
To head off any arguments, I did something bold and laid a warm hand on Hermione's exposed hip. She squeaked and startled, seemingly just realizing how much of her I could see. She looked at me over her shoulder like a deer in headlights.
I just smiled calmly, "Ready?"
"Meep!…" Red-faced, Hermione cleared her throat. "A-Ahem… Yes, I'm ready for you to begin, Professor Atlas."
"Alright," I continued smiling to soothe Hermione's anxiety. "The book-birds scene, right?"
Hermione nodded, swallowing her words. I directed her to lie back. Her arm came up to cover her eyes and try to hide her blush. My attention turned downward, settling on the wide expanse of flesh that would be my canvas.
The skin of Hermione's leg was unblemished and perfect. She was certainly gifted down here as well. Wide hips, thick thighs, and bountiful cheeks gave me plenty to work with. My hand absently stroked her leg and up her hip, feeling the way it gave and yielded to my touch perfectly. Hermione made a little noise into her arm and I realized I was getting distracted.
My wand came up to hover over Hermione's skin and I repeated the incantation for the tattoo spell. The process began again and like Heather, Hermione almost instantly moaned. I did my best to ignore it and the way I was touching very close to Hermione's most sensitive areas.
I maneuvered her leg as I worked and soon enough, another tattoo began to take shape. As expected from Hermione, the base of her tattoo was a book. It lay open on the side of her hip. Beneath it, the book morphed into birds that flew down her thigh a little ways.
Once it was done, I gave Hermione a little swat on the rear and got her to move. She gasped and rubbed her thighs together, refusing to meet my eyes as she vacated the table. Then it was my turn. The design I'd gone with was of Shadow if she was a creature of shadow (she basically was). The girls decided it would go best over my heart.
They began, treating me to the same unnecessary touches I gave them. The feeling of their magic on my skin made me feel tingly all over and sent blood rushing downstairs. Heather even decided to straddle one of my arms to get better access to my chest. In doing so, she forgot about the arm covering her chest. Hermione, never one to be left out, followed her example.
By the time my tattoo was finished, I was in almost desperate need of release. I swallowed that desire as best I could but didn't bother to cover myself. The sight of me with a blatant bulge reminded Heather of her own naked state and she quickly covered up. I didn't mind. The sight of her chest had already been burned into my mind.
< +3 to Runes >
< Runes 45+3=48/100 >
< New Item: Runic Tattoo >
< A Tattoo-Based Rune Matrix That Grants Protection and Special Abilities to the User, +5 to Agility, +10 to Melee, and +10 to Wandless Magic >
"Alright," I said. "Now, we just need to learn how to use these things. We've got two days. Let's get training, girls."
Heather gave me a wicked grin as lightning crackled between her fingers, "Way ahead of you…"