"I was fine at breakfast," she confirmed. "I was walking back to my room, but suddenly felt ... odd. Sort of like I'd just woken up from a nap even though I hadn't been asleep. My chest started to ... tingle? I'm not sure that's the right word, but when I looked down, everything appeared swollen and wrong, and I thought I was hallucinating."
Lucifer ran his wand along the door, dispelling the wards. It creaked on its hinges, and he flicked a spell at the walls to light the lamps.
With the wave of his hand, he gestured for her to go ahead of him.
"Take a seat on the stool by the worktop. Remove your robes and that awful jumper. We need to examine the affected area."
"We most certainly do not!" she sputtered. "I think you've seen quite enough."
Lucifer gave her his sternest frown. "Very well then, you need to examine the affected area. We're never going to determine the solution if we don't investigate the effects."
Hermione squinted up at him from beneath her lashes, as if she might be able to detect some dishonesty if she simply peered at him fiercely enough. "You're to keep your eyes to yourself, Lucifer Morningstar. I mean it."
Lucifer nodded curtly and turned his back to give her some privacy.
Staring at the glass jars that lined the room, he tried not to listen as she removed her outer layers.
She was absolutely right, he had seen more than enough of her new avatar.
The image of her testing the tensile strength of that jumper might be burned into his brain until the end of time.
Dear, he might never sleep again.
"What exactly am I supposed to be looking for?" she asked gruffly.
"What are you wearing under there?"
"Don't look!"
"If I was looking, I wouldn't need to ask."
"Why do you need to know?"
Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can you see your breasts right now, or are you wearing some kind of shirt?"
"I'm wearing a t-shirt."
"Take it off. You need to be able to see your skin."
"Well, that's going to be difficult."
"Why?"
"I'm stuck."
"What do you mean you're stuck?"
"I mean," she said pointedly, "this shirt isn't budging. I sort of grew into it."
Lucifer bit his cheek to keep from snorting. "Just use your wand. Cut it off."
"No! I stole it from your section. It's a collector's item."
"Oh, for fuck's sake," he muttered. "Enlarge it, then. We'll shrink it back later."
"I already tried that. I think it has an anti-alteration enchantment on it. I'm guessing it was some kind of licensing security measure."
"Fuck, I would never bought those kind of clothes again. I believe we are at an impasse."
"I think I'm starting to have a panic attack," she whispered. "I really need to get out of this thing. I swear it's getting tighter." It sounded as if she was struggling with the material.
"Calm down," he commanded. "It's not getting tighter. You're just feeling trapped. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly." He didn't hear her exhaling.
Just grunting. "I said stop fighting it. Are you listening to me?"
"No!"
"Granger, if you don't calm down and start acting rationally, I'm going to have to subdue you. Is that what you want?"
"Not to be rude, but if you even try to 'subdue' me, you won't be walking out of this room on your own two feet."
His lip twitched with a hint of amusement—she certainly was fearless, a credit to her house. "I'm turning around, Gra-Hermione. You have been warned."
Lucifer turned and found himself staring down the tip of her wand.
"Hold it right there," Hermione commanded, her voice low. "I'm not playing around."
Nodding, Lucifer loosened his grip on his wand and held his hands to either side in surrender. "Take it. I wasn't planning to use it on you."
She snatched the wand from his hand and quickly stepped back, her own wand still trained on his face.
"What is your plan?" she asked.
"To get you out of that shirt so you can calm down."
"And how do you intend to do that?"
He debated his choice of words. "As gently as possible?"
"And the subduing?"
"Just a joke," he assured her. "A bad one, apparently. My sincerest apologies."
Her breathing began to pick up, her enormous chest rising and falling with each shaky inhalation. "I don't like to be restrained, Lucifer. I'm dead serious. If you try to restrict my movement in any way, I will retaliate. Violently."
Uriel's balls. She looked terrified, her eyes round and unblinking, her face pale.
Clearly the stress of the situation had brought up a new version of her into the outside world.
"You have my word," he assured her.
After a second of consideration, she lowered her wand, her arm limp.
Her eyes shone with unshed tears, and he could see she was just barely holding herself together.
She wiped at her face and then seemed to remember why they were there, because she spun around and wrapped her arms around herself, hunched over in a protective embrace. "Don't look at me."
Lucifer nodded. Of course he had to look at her, but he understood what she meant. "It's all right. We don't need to make this any more painful than need be."
"How'm I going to get out of this shirt?"
Lucifer sighed. "If you're determined to keep it intact, then I think our only option is to—" he grimaced with distaste, already not liking this Hermione—"work together."
Glancing over her shoulder, she frowned, her brow pinched. "Meaning what exactly?"
"Well …" He leaned left and right to study her shape, squinting at her back as he worked it out in his head. "I think if I pull up while you move in the opposite direction, we might be able to shift it."
"So … you're going to … strip me?"
"I think we'll both sleep better if you don't call it that."
She turned away again and did an antsy little dance, plainly eager to be freed from the stranglehold of her clothing—but less eager to be undressed by him, she hadn't seen much of the outside.
xxxxxx
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