Fans of Harry Potter Femmeslash

Apprenticing at the apothecary meant a double load – Millicent found herself studying to achieve the acquired skills and working hard in the store to gain her master’s approval.  After the day’s work was completed, Millicent usually returned to the Three Broomsticks, where she had a room.  A quick meal and a brief break, and Millicent would return to the apothecary to study into the night.  It was satisfying, if exhausting, and Millicent was grateful to have received the position.  Too many of her former Housemates found employment impossible – regardless of their activities and allegiances, those of Slytherin House were regarded with suspicion and outright hatred.  Losing their former wealth and all their possessions to Ministry reparations, the children of Death Eaters found it particularly difficult, despite Kingsley Shacklebolt’s repeated press releases stating that most Slytherins were innocent of any crimes.  Millicent was grateful that Professor Snape and his partner Lupin had been willing to recommend her so highly.  Without their support, Millicent was sure she would have been forced either to seek employment among the Muggles, or work in a brothel like Pansy.  Not that she would do as well as Pansy, she thought wryly. 

Entering the noisy inn, Millicent waved a greeting to Rosmerta.  Looking uncharacteristically flustered, Rosmerta sketched a quick wave, without her customary smile.  Even tired and stressed, the inn-keeper was gorgeous, Millicent thought.  That warm, sexy smile – with dimples; the bright, sparkling eyes; those sweet, sleek curves.  Those tits, thought Millicent, her mouth growing dry.  Heavy and firm, creamy-skinned, about to burst out of that tight bodice.

But even her familiar and on-going obsession with the inn-keeper’s charms could not distract Millicent’s instincts telling her something was amiss in the inn tonight.  She decided she ought to delay going to her room upstairs, thinking it might be better to stay down here and help Rosmerta – there was definitely a dangerous feel to the night.

As she gathered a tray from behind the bar, Rosmerta smiled at her, still looking harried. 

“Tough night, Rosmerta?”

“Thanks, love – yeah, busy night, although there are fewer regulars than usual.  I think the noise and crowd got to them; there are probably a few extra drinkers at Aberforth’s tonight.”

Moving among the crowd, Millicent sensed hostility.  “Death eater scum!” she heard some-one whisper, and “Voldemort’s bitch!” from some-one else, but as she turned to see who spoke, every-one was carefully looking away from her.  Stamping down her hot temper, stifling the urge to curse or punch some-one, Millicent surreptitiously checked that her wand was ready to be drawn.

She was moving back to the bar when she heard an outraged shriek.  Adrenaline pumping her into instant attack-mode, Millicent spun round to see one of the men from the heckler’s table trying to pin struggling Rosmerta down on the tabletop and lift her skirts.  Close enough to hit, not hex, Millicent kicked out hard, her foot catching the man in the side of the knee.  Hearing the satisfying sound of the joint popping and the man’s shriek of pain, Millicent followed through with a blow to the back of his head, immediately turning to face the other attackers as her victim fell to the ground.  In one smooth motion she whipped out her wand, stunning first one and then another of the men drawing out their wands to attack her.  Too many of them, she thought desperately.

Millicent hadn’t accounted for Rosmerta herself, or calculated the affect of the inn-keeper’s popularity.  As soon as her attacker released her, Rosmerta had pulled out her own wand and brandished it to hold the attacker’s companions at bay.  A significant proportion of the inn’s patrons were rising from their seats, wands ready, making their unconditional support of Rosmerta apparent.

The next few minutes passed in a blur for Millicent: while she and several other locals held the trouble-makers captive, Rosmerta was speaking to some-one at the Ministry, and others were tending the injured and setting the room’s furniture to rights.  Aurors began to apparate in, and the room began to get crowded.  A familiar-looking auror pulled Millicent aside, saying “Right, Bulstrode, let’s find a quiet spot she you can tell what happened here.

 They sat down together in an out-of-the-way corner, and the auror said “Alright there, Bulstrode?  My name is Tonks, and I need to get a few details from you.”

Nodding at the auror, Millicent said “I’d just come home - I have a room upstairs – and I noticed that the crowd seemed different tonight.  It seemed, I don’t know, edgy or tense or something, so instead of going straight upstairs as I usually do when I’ve had a busy day at work, I thought I’d stay down here for a bit, make sure everything was alright.”

“Where do you work, then?” asked the auror, in a friendly way.

“The Hogsmeade Apothecary.  I’m Master Richarde’s apprentice.”

Tonks nodded encouragingly, “Right, so you came in from work, thought it seemed a bit tense.  Then what happened?”

“One of that lot, from the table where those troublemakers were sitting, called out some insults as I passed.  I was annoyed, but just kept walking – I was going behind the bar to grab a tray and start gathering up empty glasses – when I heard Rosmerta cry out.  That man, that bastard I knocked out, was trying to pin Rosmerta down on the table – he was dragging her robes up – I reckon the bastard was going to rape her!  Anyway, I was close, so I dislocated his kneecap and knocked him out, and stunned two of the other blokes who were going to help him.  Then Rosmerta drew her wand, and a bunch of locals stood up to help, and that’s all, really.”

“Right, you said you were insulted by someone – what did they say?”

“The usual.  Death Eater scum, something like that.”

“But you were never a Death Eater… Does this happen often?” asked Tonks, looking surprisingly concerned.

“Only when I go out,” replied Millicent, smiling bitterly. Then she added, “No, I shouldn’t say that.  They’re accustomed to me here, in Hogsmeade, now.  In Diagon Alley, yeah, it happens a lot.”  She shrugged, “You get used to it.”

“You shouldn’t have to get used to it,” replied Tonks.  “Perhaps I’ll have a word to Kingsley.”

“I’m sure he knows,” said Millicent drily, thinking of Pansy.

Tonks frowned and tersely said, “Yes.”

Ah hah! thought Millicent.  Then, I don’t thinks she’s Shacklebolt’s type somehow – nothing but grief there.

Still frowning, Tonks continued with her questions.  “So, you were going to the bar and you heard Rosmerta yell out?  Where were you and where was Rosmerta?”

Millicent pointed to their positions, and the auror took notes.  Tonks continued, “So you heard Rosmerta call out.  Then what happened?”

Millicent explained as Tonks took notes.  “How did you disable him like that,” Tonks asked, looking almost admiring.

“Dislocated his knee-cap.”  In response to Tonks’s raised eyebrows, she continued, “Kicking him at an angle, from the side, puts too much pressure on the joint – something’s got to give.”

“Right.  Then what?”

“Then I knocked him out, and stunned two others who were pulling out their wands.  By then Rosmerta had pulled her own wand out, and the locals were coming to help.”

“Alright then, Bulstrode, that will do for now.  We’ll probably get back to you, ask a few more questions, but it all sounds quite straightforward really.  Some rotten bastard tries to assault Rosmerta and he and his mates end up facing a one-woman army.  You should join the aurors!  I sure could use a partner like you.”

Millicent stared at Tonks in surprise – the auror looked perfectly serious.  Wryly, Millicent said “Thanks for saying that, Tonks, but I don’t think the Ministry would think I was suitable auror-material.  Besides I like potion-making.”

Returning to the main room of the inn, Tonks and Millicent felt they had walked into a scene of chaos.  The aurors were settling everyone down, but clearly the bunch of hecklers had been making a fuss about being arrested.  “She caused all the trouble,” one of the men Millicent had stunned yelled out, pointing directly at Millicent, “Her - the Death Eater bitch, that security troll.”

Millicent had her wand raised and pointed at the man before she had time to think about it.  Tonks gently touched her arm and said, “Here, let me sort this one.” 

In a daze, Millicent watched Tonks saunter over to whisper something in the man’s ear, something he clearly did not like the sound of, causing him to pale significantly.  The other aurors glared at the man with fierce and hostile expressions. 

And Rosmerta actually had her wand out and was slowly putting it away, as though she had been about to hex him herself. 

Noticing that Millicent had observed her actions, she smiled at her, and quickly winked.  “I’ll take you over a security troll any day, Millicent,” the inn-keeper teased.  “Ten times more effective, and a thousand times smarter and more attractive.”  Screwing her nose up a little, and smiling that sexy, dimpled smile, Rosmerta added, “Besides they stink!  And I’d miss your sexy eyes if you weren’t around.”

Sexy eyes?  Mouth dry, Millicent just stared at Rosmerta.  What was that? she thought.   Is Rosmerta flirting with me?

Rosmerta laughed, and placed her hand gently on Millicent’s shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’m not about to try sneaking into your room one night.  For one thing, I’d regret it as soon as the first hex hit me.  And for another, well, I’m grateful for what you did tonight.  But most importantly, I’m not one to push some-one into bed, no matter how sexy their dark eyes are.  So relax, you’re safe with me, love,” she laughed, patting her shoulder.

Without giving herself time to think about her actions, Millicent gently grabbed the withdrawing hand.  “What if I didn’t want to be safe with you?  What if I did want you coming into my room?”

Rosmerta’s eyes darkened and her lips parted slightly.  “You serious, love?” she asked.  “Because if you are, then as soon as this riff-raff and the people they’re arresting are gone, I’m going to knock on your door tonight.”

“No need,” replied Millicent, her heart pounding and her breath quickening at the thought. “I’ll leave the door open for you.”

~*~