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Spiral Tangent: 'Floral Influence' - Luna provokes a last hurrah for H&H on the Express, using a Dionysus Poppy
Placement: June 1994; end of Chapter 33 'Railroaded'
What you need to know: Holly Evans attends Hogwarts in place of Harry Potter. Hermione and she bonded over the Troll incident and other adventures. Holly is known to be much like her namesake- prickly and poisonous, but with Hermione she acts more normal. They had been in a sexual relationship during the past winter, but Hermione has proclaimed that Holly used magic to bend her mind then and that she is exclusively heterosexual now. They have renewed their close friendship, though neither of them considers the topic fully resolved.

*

So here we are. Hermione and I are sitting on the Hogwarts Express. Having checked up on most of our friends over the last hour, we settle in with a book apiece and begin reading, but I'm not thinking about 'Essentials of Enchantment' as much as how I feel about the witch on the opposite bench.

Hermione Granger. I fell in love with her when she told me that she didn't want me to die, right before I faced the Riddle-possessed Professor Quirrel. I figured out I was in love with her a few hours before facing the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. She gave me her first initiated kiss when I was recovering from tackling a Dementor. She told me she loved me right after I used Crucio to restart her heart. And when I discovered that I was Harry Potter... she ran away, right into the arms of some manipulator that hit her with a charm to make her think women loving women was a repulsive heresy.
I do love her, but I'm beginning to believe that my interest in her isn't healthy for either of us.
Still, there's something about her. Her delicate face, the curve of her lips, the tender perfection of her skin, the sound of her moans...
Hang on. Did she just moan?

"Hermione, are you reading 'Hogwarts, A History' again?"

Hermione tilts up her head from the text in her lap, twisting her neck around in a squinting stretch reminiscent of her half-Kneazle familiar, Crookshanks. She then sets aside the book and slowly stands to stretch her arms towards the ceiling of the rocking train car.

"My, it is warm in here."

Hermione reaches around her waist and pulls her knit jumper over her head, leaving her standing in a white blouse, long grey skirt and white stockings. She had already kicked off her mules when we first started reading, just as I had doffed my boots. I find my eyes drawn to the exposed flesh at her neck and collar, amused slightly by the floating briar patch that her hair has become by being extracted through the neck of the sweater. My nose is filled with the scent of flowers.

"That's a nice scent, Hermione."

Hermione looks at me quizzically but with a smirk on her face.

"Funny, I was thinking you had finally decided to wear perfume in an unusual dip into ladylike behavior."

I set aside my own book and look up into Hermione's eyes, but my snarky response dies on my lips. Hermione is staring down at me with a look of lust filling her eyes. I can almost feel her gaze as it travels across my lips and down my neck, expanding to regard the shape of my bosom, my narrow waist and wide hips, finally zeroing in at the juncture between the legs of my black jeans.

"Uhh, Hermione? What's on your mind?"

Hermione's unconsciously grabbing folds of her skirt, causing the hem to draw upwards.

"I like this. Me standing over you. And you looking nervous! It's rare that I feel... strong when I'm around you."

Hermione's gaze hasn't left my body, though it shifts slowly as she's speaking. My nervousness is rising, and I can feel the pressure of a Vow I took recently, trying to warn me off of several responses to this situation. It doesn't help that the nervousness is making me breathe harder; each time I take in another lungful of air, I can feel myself salivating. And not just in my mouth.

"I always suspected your copy of that book had a hidden erotica section. Hermione, you seem to be acting a bit peculiar."

Hermione's hands have pulled up her skirt enough that she shifts the fabric to her left hand, lifting her right leg to step onto the bench right next to me, her right hand sliding down the outside of her thigh, then curling in to draw little designs up the inside of her stockings as her hand slowly moves towards her crotch.
This is pissing me off. I jump up into Hermione's face but she keeps her leg propped up on the bench.

"If this is some sort of test of my convictions, Hermione..."

"Holly, I want you to touch me."

"This isn't funny in the least."

"No, I mean it. Touch me."

Hermione's imploring tone coupled with her sinuous proximity is testing the limits of my self control, which seems unusually low at the moment. I raise my hands to grasp her under the arms and force her back, but I seize up just an inch from touching her because Hermione has thrust her chest forward.

"H-hermione, this is not w-what we agreed."

"I love your fire and passion. I am moved by your conviction, but I want you to TOUCH ME."

Lust and anger battle in my psyche, and I push Hermione across the train car in a compromise gesture.

"And I want to touch you but I have taken a Vow not to push our relationship that way and you're not playing fair if this is just a test to prove your righteousness or..."

Hermione fairly explodes with frustration in her voice. "Damnit Holly! You've been having sex with that... that... bloody Transformer for months and I couldn't even arrange for Seamus to touch my breasts! I need you!"

"Okay, I'm sorry the Weasley twins were more loyal to me than you, but I know you're going to hate me for this later if we do anything!"

Hermione pulls out her wand presenting it pointed upwards, a look of fierce determination mixed with smouldering desire in her eyes. "BY my LIFE, I vow I will not hold Holly accountable for what happens in the next hour so long as it involves me getting a screaming orgasm! So mote it be!"

Luna pipes up from the corner in a childlike sing-songy voice "So mote it be!"

The swirling magic around Hermione's wand slams into her chest, my chest and Luna's head. Wait, Luna? Damnit, she's stalking me again!

"Hey! You can't do that! Can she do that?"

Hermione drops her wand and holds her arms out in invitation and all I can see now is the sunlight beaming through the windows, illuminating the love of my life like she were an angel coming to remove all the pain of reality and embrace me in warmth and safety. Her voice seems to echo from a distance, one I no longer care to pay much attention to.

"Can who do what? Oh bother all! Would you like to do the honors or should I strip for you?"

Obviously Hermione is Not Noticing... something. Paranoia is piqued; I need to seal the room.

"Hold that thought."

I stand up nearly into Hermione's arms but hold my hand on Hermione's breastbone to keep her from embracing me. I pull out my wand, preparing to cast wards and deterrents around the cabin but Hermione steps forward and draws my face to hers, initiating a searing kiss. Her tongue stabs between my lips and I respond in kind, trying to express the full passion of my feelings for her with the fierce and forceful massaging of my lips against hers, my tongue sliding against hers in a loving caress. After a moment, I break the kiss with a gasp and a heartfelt smile, tears forming at the edges of my vision.

"Are you really sure, Hermione?"

"I've missed you. I want you. Please kiss me!"

I lean up once more to crash my lips against hers, deepening the kiss immediately and with passion. We break the kiss again after a minute, both breathing heavily. "Welcome back, lover. Let's just cover our bases, first."

I spin around the room, weaving an ornate series of spells with barely a mumble until I've come full circle to face an astonished Hermione once more. I toss the wand to the bench and then wrap my hands around her waist, pulling her blouse out from her skirt. Hermione is glancing around the room, noting the targets of my wandwork.

"How...how did you string... all those spells... together...?"

"Simple. One movement ends and flows into the next" and I kiss her collar.

"...and the next..." My hand caresses her breast through the fabric of her blouse.

"...and the next..." Turning my hand inwards, I pull apart the blouse, popping buttons across the carriage car.

"...and the next..." Gripping Hermione by the waist again I lift her up and set her kneeling on the carriage bench.

"...and the next!" As Hermione's head swoons in dizzy delight, I pull down her bra and lick all around Hermione's areola before locking my lips onto the nipple and draw it into my mouth, sucking forcefully.

Hermione gasps and cries out, "Oh GOD that's wonderful!"

While my mouth starts sending her into squirming fits of gasping joy, I move my hands around Hermione's arse and unzip the skirt, pulling it down to her knees in a deft movement. Hermione moans in complaint as I detach from my suckling to encourage her to step out of the skirt.

"Shouldn't you also be undressing?"

"And for my next trick..." I tap my foot and my layers of modest muggle-wear switch out for Lily's tie-dyed hippie dress. I step back, cross my arms around my hips and draw the shift up and over my head, leaving me naked but for my glasses and some jewelry. Hermione gasps and then looks down at herself. She quickly wrestles the misaligned bra off her body, dumping her blouse to the floor and slipping off her knickers in a quick knee-bend. Standing before me is my lover, wearing only some white thigh-high stockings and an expression of unrestrained lust that I haven't seen from her since we were playing with ice cream at her parent's house over the hols. She steps forward tentatively, raising her hands to draw my spectacles from my face and carefully placing them on the bench behind her. Hermione stands once more, facing me with a look I cannot decipher. For a moment, we stare at each other and we both intone the same mumbled, rhetorical question.

"What am I doing?"

We both inhale a deep breath and instead of stepping backward as it seemed we were about to do, we lurch towards each other, kissing desperately and lustfully. My hands begin to wander around Hermione's body, massaging here, pinching there, until her passionate gasps make kissing difficult. She gives me a brief incredulous look.

"Where did you (gasp) learn that (gasp)? And why (gasp) did you wait... OH GOD."

With a pinch of her navel coupled with a nibble just below her right nipple, Hermione convulses in an orgasm, her legs folding beneath her to fall into me. Her legs immediately wrap around my right thigh, rubbing a hot and wet trail of pleasure along my leg muscles. I grab hold and ease her down to sit on the bench, but she slips forward to continue rubbing her soaked vulva against my hip bone, gasping and yelping through successive rushes of ecstasy. I engage her lips in passionate kisses as her ardour slows somewhat, and Hermione quickly eases into a rhythm. Her eyes pop open after another orgasm and she pulls me up to standing while rising to sit primly at the edge of the bench.

I look down into Hermione's eyes and can see she's a little lost at the moment. Her gaze shifts to my breasts, noting the scars that trail across the soft flesh in horizontal stripes of paler, thinner skin. Hermione tentatively reaches her tongue outward to lick my right nipple, causing it to curl into a hard nub. My gasp induces Hermione to snap her gaze up into my eyes once more.

"It doesn't hurt, Hermione. In fact, you could send me over if you do that a few more times (GASP)"

Hermione's second lick is more certain than the first, but seeing my reaction actually makes Hermione lean back and gulp for a second. Looking like a girl who had lost a dare, she plunges her mouth around my breast, licking and pulling on it with force and focused effort. Her arms grip my back, holding me in place as the insistent nuzzling sends shocks of pleasure across my chest and through my body. I tilt back my head and seethe, my neck rolling back and around in my rising pleasure. The building sensations stop suddenly and I tip my head down in time to see Hermione shift her attack to my left breast, the sudden renewal of forceful sensation sending me over the top with a yell. "Oh, GOD. HermIONEEEEEEE!!!!"

Before I can come down from the heights of O, however, Hermione shifts her grip, moving one hand against the dripping juncture between my legs and rubbing her knuckles along my slit. My arms wrap around her head and I quiver uncontrollably, resting my cheek against the top of her skull as her soft and delicate fingers rub between my labia and swirl around my clit. My orgasm continues in heart-pounding intensity and Hermione moves her fingers back along my nether lips, slipping two upwards into my snatch. My breath comes in a staccato hyper-vent, my existing orgasm seeming to dwindle in favour of the burning fiery passion growing within my belly. Hermione's fingers curl inward, pulling against the rough flesh behind my pelvic bone, just beyond the clutching muscles of my core, and I am there.

"YAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

What seems like seconds after my ecstatic bellow, I find myself holding Hermione's core to my face, her legs around my shoulders. My extended tongue shoots into and out of her vagina causing her to scream while clutching the ceiling.

I black out again and come to reality once more with four fingers ramming into her hole from behind while she rocks back into the motion in her position on all fours, gripping the bench for stability.

Hermione's screams of ecstasy arouse my conscious mind once more, as I begin feeling my own powerful orgasm. Our legs are intertwined such that our pussies are mashed into a nether kiss, my grip on her folded thigh allowing me the leverage to rub our clits together while Hermione pulls on her breasts. I triple-time my rubbing in response to her erotic calls of my name. The last scream dies in her throat as she slips into unconsciousness. My own orgasm subsides and I disentangle myself from around my lover's legs, and then lift her gently onto the bench and fold her arms into her body. I cover her with her cloak and kiss her on the lips before standing somewhat drunkenly.

I'm feeling randy, heartbroken and hateful. Because what just happened had nothing to do with love on Hermione's part; it was sex. Pure wanton fucking, no emotional value construed or inferred. My nerves are on fire and I want more, even if only to douse my anger.

That's when I suddenly notice once again that Luna Lovegood is sitting in the corner of the far bench, though now she appears quite flushed and happy. Luna beams a smile at me as she withdraws her hands from within her robes. With a gesture the ashwood wand jumps into my hand and I quickly bind Luna in ropes with a silent Incarcerous.

"Luna, what the Hell are you up to? What did you do to us?"

Luna squirms slightly in her ropes on the bench, shifting position until she is able to look straight at me. She smiles again. "You are... exquisite. Even your scars are pretty. Like ribbons and bows."

I look down at my naked body for a moment before snapping my attention back to Luna. I can touch myself later, maybe sooner, maybe...

"Luna, I'll ask again, what just happened?"

"I think you had sex with Hermione while I watched. I'm not sure any more. It was so long ago."

I either missed something or Luna was absent on an astral trip between one of my blinks. My anger begins to abate. It's hard for me to be angry with someone so... reality-challenged. "Are you... alright? No wait, that's a silly question. You seem different than before. More spacey, less spastic."

"I have been receiving my full recommended daily allowance of gumdrops. Do you eat gumdrops?"

Gumdrops? Luna asked Poppy for gumdrops. I think this is a codeword. Never mind; it's a distraction.

"Luna, why do I feel turned on and why did Hermione forego her chastity again?"

Luna's smile is actually quite fetching. She acts like a girl unconcerned with the horrors of the world. Impervious to darkness.

"I love the smell of flowers. Maybe you're turned on because you want to kiss me. I would want to kiss me, if I were you."

The word 'kiss' is rolling around my head like a happy pinball. Yes, kissing Luna would be an excellent next step towards... stop that!

"Luna, I'm struggling not to hurt you."

"I like that you always call me Luna. It's like having friends would feel, I think. Holly, I am sorry for how I spoke to you last time. I'm also sorry that Hermione wasn't loving you anymore, so I tried to fix that for you. Before, I thought it would make you unhappy and seek solace with me, but instead you killed a boy. I really didn't think that would happen, even if it made me happy that you did it. Marcus Flint was very quickly becoming tiresome."

Okay, my head just split into four directions. West is feeling sympathy for Luna as a reject. South wants to embrace and cuddle Luna, maybe more if we unwrap the ropes first. East is right pissed off because I think Luna screwed with my relationship with Hermione. North has noted that one could take the 'tiresome' comment as evidence that Luna was also assaulted by the rapist before I killed him. God, I'm getting confused. And tired. I lurch forward to sit on the bench next to Luna, keeping the ashwood wand at the ready but quickly losing concern about my safety.

"God, I can barely think. Luna, did you make Hermione stop loving me? Is that why you did this?"
Luna's eyes start to water.

"You're going to hate me soon. I may never be kissed by a girl. Yes, I made Hermione distrust you, but she seems to have shaken that off. Why wouldn't she want to have sex with you, if she were no longer held back? I would if I were her. I had to fix the problem. Now perhaps her thinking will clear up. Her brain doesn't work right, you know."

Pot, meet kettle. Yet somehow, I think this is justice in Luna-logic. I'm beginning to understand her. It's bloody frightening.

"You did all this just to get a kiss?"

"Yes, please! I need to kiss you."

Context shift. Requesting clarification.

"You need to?"

"I... want to, because you're so close and naked and warm, but I need to because I have a message from Fate."

I am naked. I am warm. Luna is close. Luna wants me. I want...

"What's the message?"

"Kiss me."

Yah, that was what Fate wanted to say. 'Kiss Luna.' Because she's a poor dear with a childlike optimism and deep slate eyes and porcelain skin that is begging for my lips... I start to squirm on the bench, panting in excitement. I won't look into her eyes.

"Just tell me the message, Luna."

"No, I mean I don't know what the message is, I can only give it to you in a kiss."

Well, why didn't you say so? The word 'kiss' is now echoing throughout my brain and sending nerve tremors to my favorite locations. Everything in my body believes that kissing Luna is inevitable and desirable.

Fuck it.

As our lips connect, I feel a change, a spark of energy crackling across our lips. Every touch of Luna's tongue to my mouth is like electricity and goosebumps rush across my every nerve. Luna moans into my mouth, struggling against her bonds to rub her legs together. I refuse to hold or caress her. My world is this kiss. Lips and tongues dance in a whirl of sensation and we both begin to gasp and moan, the vibrations of our throaty imprecations sending further sparks down the channels of tactile input. Like feedback, the noise level reaches a painful crescendo, ending in breathless ecstasy for both of us. After sharing a few moments of calming breaths exhaled into each other's mouth, Luna dives forward to re-engage the kiss, sending me into a dream state.

Visions of physical and/or emotional stress flood my mind's eye, almost too fast to parse or recognise.

One. I cannot see but I feel much pain, particularly in my joints and nethers. I am kneeling on grass, naked, cold and frightened down to my toes. I hear myself say "I love you all." Green light explodes behind my eyelids and I feel a painful burning sensation shower down upon me like molten metal splashed across my face and body.

Two. I am once more kneeling on the ground, weeping while holding the bloody mess of an unrecognisable girl's body in my arms. I note the Head Girl pin tacked at the lapel of the victim's Hogwarts robes. I look up to see a more adult Luna approaching me, pointing her wand away and towards the ground. We are in Diagon Alley, surrounded by fearful witches and wizards who I do not recognise nor care for at the present time. Luna says, 'For the sake of all, you must do nothing.' Rage screams across my mind.

Three. I am standing over Albus Dumbledore, who is beaten and strapped into a chair, laughing maniacally. I raise a wand I don't recognise, point it at Albus Dumbledore's laughing form and release all my hate into the words Avada Kedavra!

Four. I am running fearfully through a predominantly Oriental area of a murky nighttime cityscape, though one crowded with strange technological features. Whole sides of buildings light up with telly displays and holographic concubines call out enticingly to passersby. Intensely bright light shines down on me from above and I freeze as electrical current rides across my nerves more painfully than even Quirrel's Crucio.

Five. I feel myself swinging forward and see that I'm about to land in the mouth of an immense dragon taking a deep inhaling breath. Raw fear causes me to freeze up.

Six. I see myself in a mirror naked, but I'm noting a few differences. My arm is tattooed from the shoulder down to the quilltip finger. On the opposite breast, my areola seems slightly misshapen, looking more like the result of a lipstick kiss made of purple venous tissue. I continue standing there, looking at myself somewhat grimly when slender arms reach around from behind me to cup my unmarked breast and massage the bare flesh of my mons. I see my reflection beginning to close her eyes in pleasure and my sight dims. I hear a girl's voice that I don't recognise. The girl from behind me says "Hermione was a fool." Sudden rage grips me and I swing my elbow to crack the head of whomever was behind me.

Seven. I turn to see myself walking past a large mirror-polished panel, but I am wearing a black cloak and an ornately carved white mask. The sudden fear comes from thinking that I had just been discovered.


I finally wake up to reality sprawled on the floor of the carriage, covered by my own cloak. No one else remains in the cabin, though Hermione's trunk is still lodged into the luggage rack above the far bench. I turn to see a strange flower under the bench next to me, and switch back to everyday clothing so that the Goggles can help me focus. I retrieve the flower and sit up, sensing the train slowing as it approaches the station in London. Gathering all my things, I resolve to hold back any decisions for a bit. What I need is time to think... and information. There's Neville, out on the platform! Maybe he can shed some light on this flower.

*