Alternative Medicine
Ch 8: Unsuppressed Urges
By canoncansodoff
Author Notes:
Disclaimer: Not my characters, no money being made, etc., etc.
Madhura Patil woke a little more than two hours before the next day's sunrise. There was no alarm clock to turn off, or charm to cancel, as she had long become accustomed to rising at such an early hour. Her husband, on the other hand, still needed some encouragement.
"Wake up Devak, it is time to start the day!"
"Fifteen more minutes, sri bharya?" the elderly wizard asked, as he covered his head with his pillow.
"Don't you try to sri bharya me," replied the Healer. "It is your turn to harvest the lotus blossom petals, and you know full well that they must be picked before dawn."
Padma and Parvati's great uncle said something unintelligible into his pillow. His wife replied with a swat of her hand and a wave of her wand that banished the blankets to the dirty clothes bin.
"Alright, alright, I'm up," the wizard replied, as he stood and shuffled off to the loo.
His wife did a quick check on her patients...they were all resting, although Harry Potter's sleep was troubled, and light. Desiring to complete her morning exercise before tending to his needs, Padma and Parvati's Auntie returned to her second level living quarters and stripped down to her slip.
Healer Patil stepped into a yoga pose with a smile on her face...she could sense that the feminine sides of the love quadrangle that she was nurturing had strengthened quite significantly overnight. And the link between Hermione's and Harry's chakras? That was almost blinding in its strength. It was the link between her nieces and their shared male soul-mate that still gave her cause for concern. It was all a matter of timing...of keeping his lingham a respectable distance from their yonis, while love was given time to match the magnitude of their lust.
So how much longer a leash should the girls be given that day? How much more of a blind eye should she give to their kissing, and touching, and revealing?
The Healer pondered that specific question as she shifted from one yoga position to the next. She had allowed the four unmarried teenagers to travel well past any traditional bounds of propriety whilst under her roof. Yet it was far less than they could have done whilst attending the British boarding school unchaperoned, and had they grown up and been schooled in India they would have already been married. That Hermione's parents were Muggles, that Harry had no surviving parents, and that bonds between witches were involved complicated these issues all the more.
The detection of a quiet moan from the young wizard's downstairs room cut both these musings and her exercise routine short. The Twins' Auntie shook her head with disappointment, for there would be no time to meditate on these issues before she was needed by his bedside. She did a quick wash-up, dressed, and quickly made her way upstairs to the girls' room.
Madhura smiled at the sight that greeted her...bodies and limbs were so intertwined within the shared bed that they almost blended into a single, six-armed naked goddess.
"Girls?" she called out softly.
Hermione's eyes immediately flashed open and she sat up from the middle of the pile, earning moans of protest from those whose hands were pulled along for the ride. Paying no heed to the compromising position in which they'd been found, she rubbed her eyes and breathlessly asked, "Is something wrong with Harry?"
The elderly witch smiled and shook her head in an indeterminate figure-eight motion. "He is about to wake from a troubled dream. I am going to him now, but thought that you might want to soon follow."
"Oh, thanks...just be a minute," Hermione replied, as she pulled back the netting and crawled over Parvati's protesting form. Half-way towards her wardrobe, Hermione froze, realizing that she was just as naked as the two she'd left behind in bed. Casting a furtive glance back towards the Twins, she then turned to the older witch and said, "It's not what you..."
The Healer nodded, and waved Hermione's concerns away. "It was a warm night, and is common for those who have survived traumatic experiences to suffer from bad dreams...that you three were consoling each other as friends and siblings is the easiest explanation, is it not?"
Hermione arched an eyebrow, then let out a small snort as she nodded her head.
"Yes, that would be the easiest way of explaining things," she replied slyly.
"I'll see you downstairs, then," the older witch replied.
Once she left the room, Padma and Parvati both rose up from their feigned sleep.
"Do you think that Auntie really believes that story, Hermione?" Parvati asked, as she stretched out her arms.
The bushy-haired witch smiled and shook her head as she walked back and sat on the side of the bed.
"Oh she believes that it is the most convenient explanation," she replied, placing a hand on Parvati's bared hip. "But I am certain that she also knows that it isn't the correct explanation."
Parvati's eyes lit up as she leaned forward and pulled Hermione towards her. "Well, if she isn't going to fuss about it," she said demurely.
Hermione shook her head, and held her hands out to brace against some breast-on-breast contact.
"That sounds good," she admitted, as she watched the witch beneath her lick her lips, "But, I'm feeling rather guilty right now about Harry having slept all alone."
Parvati grinned as she reached up and tweaked a dangling nipple. "Plan on remedying that by hopping into his bed like this?"
Hermione giggled as she lightly batted away the offending fingers. "Might not be able to wear that much more, unless you plan on helping me wrap my sari."
Padma rolled over and added her two knuts to the conversation. "I don't think that Harry would mind," she quipped, as she dragged her fingernails down the full length of Hermione's back.
"Neither would your Uncle, though," Hermione replied, as she turned and planted a kiss on Padma's cheek. Hermione then grabbed Padma's arm and pulled her onto her feet.
"Come, my love," she cooed, dragging the Ravenclaw towards the wardrobe. "It's your turn to lend me something to wear."
Padma smiled. "You know that my choli will be just as tight across your chest as Parvati's was yesterday."
Hermione nodded. "I'm counting on it."
"Why bother?" Parvati asked, as she rose from bed and walked towards her own wardrobe. "It's early enough for the Muggle patients to still be sleeping."
Padma looked back towards her sister, then turned to Hermione and reasoned, "It might be a good way to test limits."
"Whose limits?" Hermione asked. "Auntie's or Harry's?"
Padma snorted, and then replied, "Yes."
oo00OO00oo
The hand placed on Harry Potter's shoulder was older, but no less comforting, than any of the six that he might have wished had woken him.
"Relax, child...it was just a bad dream," the elderly witch said softly.
Harry turned his head towards the sound of the voice and immediately relaxed.
"Good morning, Healer Patil," he replied, as he tried to blink the sleep away.
"Good morning, Harry," the elderly witch replied. "Here, allow me," she added, as she dipped a cloth into a small bowl of rose water and wiped his eyes.
"Thank you, Healer Patil," said Harry.
"How long will it be before I can convince you to call me Auntie?" she asked, as she expanded her ministrations to Harry's face.
The-Boy-Who-Won wanted to say "Not soon enough for your nieces," but didn't want to raise the topic, so he acquiesced.
"What time is it, Auntie?" asked Harry.
"Just before five-thirty," she replied.
"I hope that you didn't get up early just for me," Harry stated.
"Not that I wouldn't have," the witch admitted, "but I always rise before the sun does."
"Why so early?" Harry asked.
"It is the freshest time of the day," the witch replied. "The air is crisp and clear, and full of sattva...it is the best time to listen to what our bodies are telling us."
Harry chuckled. "And it's easier to hear what's being said without all of the traffic and autorickshaw horns?"
The healer smiled as she helped Harry sit up in bed.
"Oh, Merlin," Harry muttered, as his cheeks flushed red.
"What, child?" the Healer asked. She then followed her patient's line of sight towards sheets that had become sticky overnight.
Clearly not all of her patient's dreams had been troubling.
"Please, Harry, there is no need to be embarrassed by your body's natural functions," she stated. Offering him a glass of water, she added, "And on that point, drink this...it will help you eliminate waste."
Harry looked at the fluid suspiciously.
"Is that a liquid laxative then?"
The healer smiled and shook her head. "Just warm salt water...although the goal is the same. Ayurveda teaches us that it is best to purge your body's waste products as early in the day as possible, lest they build up and turn toxic."
Harry frowned just a touch, but didn't refuse when the lip of the glass was placed to his lips.
"Might want to get a bed pan in place then," he admitted.
The Healer nodded, and followed his suggestion after banishing his sticky sheets to the laundry.
As an immediate use wasn't made, she left the magical nappie in place and covered Harry with a summoned clean sheet. The Healer then pulled out a toothbrush and tongue scraper from her bag and started in on her patient's oral hygiene.
"Still an unhealthy coating," the Healer tsked-tsked, as she scraped his tongue clean. "Although it is to be expected, given what passes for food in England."
Harry's protests couldn't be verbalized, as the Healer had his tongue in her hand. And so it was left for his bowels to voice their opinion with a passing that was announced by a trumpeting blast from underneath the sheets.
The magical nappie did nothing to mute the embarrassing sounds.
"Erm, sorry about that," Harry said, once his tongue regained its freedom.
"What did I say earlier?" the Healer asked. "You must not apologize for your body's natural functions."
Harry nodded as the witch banished the bedpan and transfigured the sheet into a dhoti that covered his midsection. He then asked, "So I'm supposed to feel good about blasting in front of you?"
The witch shook her head. "No more than you should feel good about breathing," she replied. "It is 'vega'."
"Vega?" asked Harry. "That makes sense...that potato curry we had for dinner last night was a little spicier than I'm used to."
Healer Patil laughed. "It is pronounced vee-gaa, and is not an shortened form for vegetable, Harry," she replied. "Vega are the body's urges...the natural acceptance of what our bodies need, and the purging of what it does not need. It is essential for your good health not to suppress these urges, as they present opportunity to initiate the disease process."
Harry arched an eyebrow. "So here in India, it's allowable to pass gas in polite company?"
The Healer smiled and gave him an ambiguous shake of the head. "While ayurveda does not recommend either the forceful creation or the suppression of urges, neither does it necessarily trump social conventions. So no, Harry, ayurveda is not an excuse for public flatulence."
"But I just..."
"Did what you would have done in private, had you not been injured?" Healer Patil asked. "Just as you would bathe in private, or accommodate your other urges in private?"
Harry arched both eyebrows in response. "Dare I ask what other types of Veggies..."
"Vega."
"Sorry....what other types of urges shouldn't be suppressed, then?"
"There are twelve types," the healer replied. Counting on her fingers, she added, "Hunger, thirst, belching, sneezing, coughing, vomiting, gas in the abdomen, urine, feces, semen, tears and dypsnea after exertion."
There was one item within this listing that caught Harry's ear more than the others, but he wasn't big on the idea of discussion the suppression of semen release with Padma and Parvati's aunt. Thinking it might be possible to learn through tangential questioning, he asked, "What's dypsnea?"
"A shortness of breath," the healer replied.
"So, if I exercised...and my body needed more oxygen, but I suppressed the urge to breathe more rapidly, bad things would happen?"
"Yes."
"Well that seems rather straight forward," Harry stated. "Bad things would happen if I suppressed the urge to drink if I were thirsty...and coughing is the body's way of dislodging unwanted things in the throat, right?"
Healer Patil nodded.
"So...it's not healthy to keep urine, or...erm...semen...from being released?"
The Healer arched an eyebrow. "My husband should be back within the hour, if it would be easier to ask him these questions?"
Harry stared at Padma and Parvati's Auntie for a few moments before he shook his head and chuckled to himself.
"Unless the discussion makes you uncomfortable, Ma'am...."
"It's Auntie, Harry," the witch corrected. "And that need not be a concern for you...I am a professional, you know."
Harry nodded. "Madame Pomfrey said as much when she realized that I'd never been given 'The Talk' by an adult."
"Indeed?"
"Yes, I was mortified...until, of course, I realized that she only had my best interests in mind....more so when I realized what a disaster it would have been had I relied upon the Twins' tutelage."
Healer Patil caught her breath at the comment. "Am I to understand that my nieces instructed you on sexual issues whilst at school?"
Harry's eyes narrowed, until he understood what was asked and let out a hearty laugh.
"No, no, Auntie...it was the Weasley twins. Older brothers of my mate Ron."
"Well, that's a relief," the witch said with a smile.
Harry didn't bother to inform the Healer that her nieces hadn't held back on that kind of tutelage over the past few days. The Healer didn't bother to inform Harry that she was well aware of that fact.
"So, then...you had questions regarding certain...urges that you have recently experienced?" she asked.
Harry blushed just a bit. "Thought that was obvious from the bed linens."
The Healer smiled. "Has the production of excess semen caused any pain or discomfort in your testes, Harry?"
"Erm....yes, it was rather painful yesterday."
"Are you suffering any pain currently, then?"
Harry bit his lower lip. "Well, not after ..."
"I see," the Healer replied, as her brown eyes sparkled. "The body has ways of dealing with this specific urge while you sleep. But as for daytime pain...do you have any concerns regarding the methods that were employed yesterday to accommodate these urges?"
Harry snorted. "No...they were brilliant."
"And the person providing that care?"
"Are you kidding? Hermione was bloody bril...." Harry stopped in mid-sentence when he realized what he was saying. He blushed, and tried a more tactful response.
"No concerns there, either, Auntie," he said sheepishly.
The elderly witch smiled, and once again placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "I will admit that it is not a treatment routinely provided in this hospital. Most of the patients facing these symptoms are capable of...shall we call it self-medication? "
Harry considered this response, then closed his eyes and sighed. "I feel so bloody useless...can't feed myself, or clean myself...and even have to ask for that kind of help."
"It was my understanding that...that kind of help...was freely offered?" the Healer asked.
Harry's eyebrows traveled towards his hairline. "Were you...were you consulted about that help?"
"No, no...not at all," the Healer replied quickly.
"Oh," Harry replied. "So it was your spidey-sense kicking in, like it does any time Padma or Parvati's hands start to stray?"
"Spidey-sense?" the Healer asked. "I am not familiar with that term."
Harry chuckled. "Neither was Poppy when I accused her of the same thing."
When the elderly witch gave Harry a confused look, he explained.
"Over the years, I've probably spent more time in the Hogwarts Infirmary then anyone else save the Nurse. Didn't take long for me to realize that she had an amazing ability to know exactly when her presence was required in the ward...whether it was to provide aid, or to prevent me from sneaking out before she was ready to release me. It was like she had an extra pair of eyes glued to the ward's walls."
"Really?"
"Yes, really," Harry replied. "And you, Healer Patil, seem to have that same kind of extrasensory ability."
The elderly witch looked down at Harry and smiled. "Well you've found us out, Harry. Any decent Healer will develop the ability to keep a magical eye on their charges."
"Literally?" Harry asked, afraid to know the answer.
"Not in a voyeuristic sense, if that is what you are concerned about," the Healer offered.
"Oh, so it's not like you can see what Hermione and the twins are up to in their room?"
"Would you like to know, Harry?" the witch asked teasingly.
The patient blushed again. "Erm, I was speaking hypothetically."
The Healer smiled, and patted Harry's arm. "Perhaps it would be best if you asked them yourself."
"Ask us what, Auntie?" Hermione asked, as the twin sisters and she entered Harry's room.
"Ah....speak of the devis, here they are," replied the Healer.
"Good morning, Harry," Hermione said warmly, as she walked bedside and leaned forward to offer a tender kiss. His lips almost failed to make contact, as his eyes were drawn to her attire.
"Erm...good morning," he stammered. Harry then angled his lips towards her ear and whispered, "What happened to your undershirt?"
Hermione smiled, and whispered back, "Is that a complaint?"
Harry snorted, and shook his head. As he leaned back into his pillow, his eyes darted reflexively towards the doorway, were Padma and Parvati were showing similar amounts of skin.
They stepped forward and offered slightly more chaste morning kisses before joining Hermione as she sat on the side of his bed.
"Expecting a particularly warm day, ladies?" Healer Patil asked.
"Oh, Auntie," Padma said with a sly smile. She leaned forward to lightly grab the Healer's hand, intentionally providing Harry with a full view of her right breast and added, "All of the Muggles are still sleeping, and once you said that Harry was suffering we rushed to be by his side, not thinking that we should waste time putting on our cholis."
"I see," the Healer said with a nod. "So now that your patient is feeling better, you may return to your room and dress properly before the Muggle patients wake up."
"Aww...Auntie!" Parvati whined.
"I'll hear none if it, you two," the elderly witch replied. "And since you are so concerned with my patients, you will help me attend to their eliminative needs once you return from your room."
Hermione chuckled to herself as she patted Harry on his thigh. "We'll see you later then."
"There is no need for you to leave, Hermione," the Healer said with a smile. "Harry needs another hour or two of rest, as well as the kind of post-traumatic therapy that you benefited from last night."
Hermione's eyes went wide at the unspoken message that she thought was being conveyed.
"That's a big job, Auntie," Parvati offered. "Don't you think that Hermione might need our help?"
The Healer snorted and shook her head. "Tell me Parvati...did you have any bad dreams once Hermione invited you into her bed last night?"
When the black-haired witch's eyes darted towards Hermione's she couldn't stop a giggle from escaping her lips.
"No, Auntie," Parvati admitted.
Harry choked on a bit of spittle in response. Hermione immediately turned towards him and rubbed his back.
"The girls will come around with breakfast in a couple of hours," the Healer told her, as she pushed her nieces out the door.
Hermione nodded absently, her mind still puzzling out the Healer's intent. Noticing the bulge that was growing in Harry's loose shorts, she asked, "Is there any fresh linen or blankets, Auntie?"
The older witch smiled and shook her head. As she left the room she called back over her shoulder, "Did you know that there is close to five meters of fabric in your sari, dear?"
The Healer's melodic laughter and Padma's and Parvati's whining drifted in from the hallway until Hermione used her wand to shut and silence the door.
"So....." Harry said a bit nervously.
"Yes...so," Hermione replied brightly, as she slipped her sari shawl off of her shoulder. "Let's see if I have to widen this out to make a proper blanket.”
Harry stared for a moment at the full breasts that Hermione had exposed, then lifted his eyes up to her face. Feeling guilty about his staring, he said, "You don't have to do that."
"Now Harry, Auntie suggested it, and she is a Healer, you know," Hermione replied with a grin. Throwing the unfolded length of fabric over Harry's body, she coyly asked, "Is that warm enough, Harry, or do you need another layer?"
The-Boy-Who-Won was about to reply that he was getting rather hot, but reconsidered as Hermione reached for the hem of her skirt. After checking that the door was still closed, he replied, "Well, if you don't mind?"
"Of course not," Hermione replied with a wink, as she unwrapped the skirt pulled the loose fabric away from her hips.
Harry choked on some more spittle when he realized that she hadn't taken time to put a slip on underneath her skirt either.
"Are you okay?" asked a now-naked Hermione, as she patted Harry's back.
Having been caught speechless by Hermione's actions (and the fact that they weren't being stopped by third parties), it was all Harry could do to nod affirmatively. Once Hermione converted her skirt fabric into a second blanket, she spread it out, sat on top of it by Harry's side, and asked, "How's that?"
"Erm, brilliant," he stammered, finding it impossible to keep his eyes away from Hermione's bared bits.
"Oh," she replied, with a bit of disappointment in her voice. "Because if you were still cold....well, I've obviously run out of blanket material, but...there's always shared body heat, right?"
Harry arched an eyebrow. "Erm, right...now that I think about it, I am still a bit cold...as long as you don't mind?"
"Of course not," Hermione replied, flashing a dazzlingly-white smile. In no time at all she was under the covers and stretched out on top of Harry.
"Better?" she asked, as she nuzzled against his neck.
"The best," he replied, relishing the feeling of Hermione's bare chest pressed against his own. "But it can't be all that comfortable for you, though, with the..."
"With that big bump in my bedding?" Hermione asked brightly. "I don't mind at all."
Harry groaned as his girlfriend punctuated her response by grinding her crotch against his tent pole.
"Keep that up and you'll have a big wet bump to deal with."
"You make it sound as if that would be a bad thing," Hermione replied with a giggle. "Besides, I'd hardly be in a position to complain, given that I'm making that bump wet all on my own."
Harry moaned once more, and turned his head so that he could nibble on Hermione's ear, and whisper into it.
"So, Hermione," he asked. "What's this therapy program for Parvati that Healer Patil was talking about?"
Hermione smiled and raised herself onto her elbows, one on either side of Harry's shoulders. As her breasts dangled and swayed a few inches away from his lips, she huskily replied. "Well, it was...a rather comprehensive treatment."
"Comprehensive, you say?" Harry asked. "And there weren't any...interruptions while his treatment was administered?"
"Not by Healer Patil," Hermione admitted.
"But by somebody else?"
"Erm, well...Padma was rather insistent on getting equal amounts of...treatment."
"Oh," Harry said softly. "And...not that you have to tell me, but....did they give you some treatment in return?"
Hermione's eyes dilated as she nodded her head and blushed. "Multiple times."
"But they didn't treat each other....or did they?"
Hermione snorted, and shook her head.
"Well, you must have been one busy witch, then," Harry said with a smile. "And now you're here...do you think that Healer Patil would interrupt us if we did some...treatment?"
With a shrug of her shoulders, Hermione replied, "She didn't pay much mind during the sponge bath, did she?"
Harry shook his head.
"So what do you want to do, boyfriend?" Hermione asked shyly.
Harry's eyes darted down towards Hermione's breasts. Expecting him to lift up his head and to catch one in his lips, she was instead disappointed when he let his head drop back onto the pillow and sighed.
"I want to wrap my arms around you and squeeze you tight," he admitted.
Hermione immediately fell back down onto his chest and pressed her cheek against his.
"Oh, Harry...you've got to give this alternative medicine some time...it's only been a few days..."
"Yeah, I know," he replied. "It's just that...I'm so jealous of Padma and Parvati...that they have the use of their hands...that they can rub you, and caress you, and fondle you..."
"Hush, now," Hermione ordered. "Even without the use of your hands, you've got something that they'll never have...at least not without polyjuice."
"What's that?"
Hermione responded by grinding her crotch against his.
Harry groaned. "Hermione...."
"What do you want me to do, Harry?" she asked breathlessly, as her mound traced figure-eights against the thin fabric that was covering his erection.
"I want...I want to give you the same kind of pleasure that you've given me," he replied.
Hermione's breath caught in her throat. "Oh, Harry...but what if..."
"What if what?"
"It's just that...well, sometimes I squirt when I get excited."
"Really?" asked Harry. "You mean that you soak the sheets when you come?"
Hermione flushed red with embarrassment and leaned down so that she could bury her head in his shoulder.
"I can't help it," she muttered. "I try not to make things so messy, but when I go over the top, it's like I can't hold it in, and..."
"Ssshhh," Harry replied. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about."
"But it's not normal!"
"Now, Hermione," Harry replied. "I have it on good authority that it's the suppression of that type of urge that's abnormal."
"Whose authority?" Hermione asked.
"Healer Patil's," he replied with a smile. "If it's unhealthy for men to suppress the release of excess semen, then surely the same can be said for your situation, right?"
Hermione raised her head and looked at him cross-eyed.
"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"
"No, I'm saying what was said to me so that you can make yourself feel better with a good rub."
Hermione bit her lower lip as she considered Harry's comments.
"So this really is some type of therapy?" she asked.
"If you don't believe me, ask Healer Patil about 'vega' and the evils of suppressing urges," Harry replied. When Hermione's eyes drifted towards the door, he added, "Ask her later this morning, I mean."
Hermione snorted and leaned forward to give her boyfriend a kiss.
"Well, as long as its considered medicinal," she rationalized, as her pelvis ground down hard.
oo00OO00oo
Five minutes and four drying charms later (him, her, his dhoti and the bedding), Hermione plopped down onto Harry's chest, pulled the ersatz blankets up, and asked, "So now what, loverboy?"
"So maybe...maybe right now...we could sleep, and...I don't know....do some therapeutic cuddling?"
Hermione let out a small squeal as she nodded and kissed Harry's cheek.
"That sounds perfect," she admitted. "And once we're both rested, and you need another sponge bath..."
"Merlin, Hermione," Harry said with a hiss. "So would that be addressing your urges, or mine?"
"Yes," Hermione replied with a happy yawn.
Harry nodded, and listened contentedly as his girlfriend's breathing evened out. If Healer Patil was going to allow Hermione to provide “therapy” to not only himself, but Padma and Parvati, then she was going to need all of the rest that she could get.