Chapter I: Dawning

A/N: Hi guys, so I've been working on this for a while, I posted a sneak peak in DEE a while ago and it has just taken forever to get it finished. Before I start there are a few things I would like to state because I believe in giving credit where credit is due. Thorfinn's characterization and the nickname "Princess" are all due to Canimal as is the idea that Thorfinn was a seventh year when Hermione was a First year, along with that legendary scene in the library that sparked his obsession with Hermione in this fic. Antonin's extreme hatred of Alecto Carrow was inspired by Freya Ishtar as well as Canimal and Freya being my goddesses of inspiration in general. None of the aspects that are similar to anyone else are used in an attempt to steal or copy the story and I do hope I have credited everyone, and if I have missed something please just let me know Also this is unbetaed so all mistakes are my own.

Disclaimer: All of Harry Potter is property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers Studios. I do not claim to own them I merely play with them in my little sandbox.

Antonin had known that he was an Alpha for as long as he could remember. When he was young he had first heard the call, his eyes went wild and he was told that this is part of what had made him so terrifying, it certainly made him a better Death Eater.

Like him, Thorfinn Rowle was also an Alpha, though certainly more beastial in Antonin's opinion. And though he tended not to get along with other Alphas, there was something about Thorfinn that he found highly amusing. It may have been his resemblance to a Viking or the way it took relatively nothing to make him lose his temper.

There were several Betas they knew in the circle as well. Lucius Malfoy himself was a closet Beta, known to few. The Lestrange brothers were as well. It honestly explained why Bellatrix had pushed around Rodolphos so much in their marriage. However, there was a particularly nasty Beta they knew by the name of MacNair. Antonin was positive that he hated that man. It took some kind of psychopath to kill a pretty Omega's Alpha and rut and mate her just to to abandon the poor thing, thereby killing her. Antonin hated individuals that abused Omegas. They were rare nowadays, it was seen as a deficiency in modern culture. And if they didn't find their Alpha, their heats could kill them. An Omega in heat needed sex from their Alphas often, it was when they were the most fertile. This was the time in which most children, or pups as they were called, were conceived. This put them closer to their beastial nature which was the reason for the pack-like terms in use.

"Yo Dolohov!"

"So eloquent as always, Rowle." The Russian wizard drawled as he chuckled.

"I'm not the one that is zoning out during our deployment orders, comrade." Thorfinn smirked as he saw irritation for the nickname flash across the older wizard's features.

"I did not, and I told you to stop calling me that." Antonin growled. Thorfinn had taken to calling him comrade about a year ago, he was sure only to annoy him, and he'd yet to convince Rowle to stop.

"So what's our assignment then, comrade?" Thorfinn's smirk grew gleeful.

"Just tell me, Rowle." Antonin growled after a particularly hard eye roll.

"That's all I wanted." By this point Thorfinn had a shit eating grin on his face. "We are to accompany the Snatchers; they've apparently located a particularly feisty Omega."

"Indeed." Was all Antonin spoke as he raised a single eyebrow. Fiesty was his favorite flavor in an Omega and a small part of him wondered if she would be the one, in the back of his mind where he had still not given up on such things.

By the time they had arrived in the forest, one that seemed to be entirely full of bramble bushes. Antonin heard a branch snap to the right and nodded to Thorfinn who took off in that direction. Suddenly Antonin's hand shot out to wrap around a thin forearm.

"No! How?! That spell was perfect!" The voice answered and it wasn't one that he was ever likely to forget.

"It takes more than that to fool me, malyutka." Antonin felt like there was electricity racing up and down his arm where he touched her. "Invisibility spells are no mere undertaking, though I'd expect no less from Hermione Granger."

"Dolohov…" She hissed his name as the color drained from her face.

"Now she remembers." He chuckled as he noticed Thorfinn finally approaching. He lightly pushed her to him, if only to quell the stinging in his arm.

"Hey there princess." Thorfinn practically purred at the capture of his mild obsession, before his face paled. "No, Dolohov, I don't believe in this; you know that."

"you feel it too then, curious." Antonin said, she was reacting to their presences differently, and she was Omega, he could smell it. She must have presented after the Department of Mysteries, it would explain why she was alone. "She's Omega, you can smell it."

"She feels a bonfire and the smell of fall on the wind. Like the time just before winter when everything is a bit too cold and you can feel winter approaching on the wind. That brilliant zinging feeling of long walks at night and chill at your cheeks."

"I have to disagree, Rowle. I think she feels like an evening by the fire in your favorite chair, like fire whiskey warm in your belly and the appeal of a night in." Antonin placed his hand on her as she was in thorfinn's grip and listened to the small submissive moan that came from the back of her throat.

"Alphas…" There was a look of revulsion that passed over her face as she realized her words. It appeared that even Hermione could not fight her biology.

"What do we do?" The words first came from Rowle's mouth, though Dolohov could deny they were on his mind.

"The Dark Lord is a proud Alpha, same as you or I, but he possesses a vindictive streak." He began. "however I believe I know a way we will be able to both keep her out of harm's way and for ourselves."

"Standing right here you know, you don't need to speak of me as if I'm not."

"Shut up, Granger!" Thorfinn growled primal-like and somehow she knew not to test him this time. "Do tell, comrade." Though she had to fight a giggle at the imposing Russian's eye roll.

"We present her to the Dark Lord as our Omega, display her acknowledgement of our Alpha status, and until he finds a reason to kill us we should be fine."

"I'm somehow not feeling reassured, Dolohov."

"relax, my Viking-like compatriot, I know what I'm doing. Trust your elders and whatnot." Antonin merely chuckled at the withering glare Thorfinn shot his way.

"This is really the only way?" He asked, they both knew what happened to unclaimed female Omegas. Hell they had partaken in those scrupulous. And though they did not regret their past, Hermione was theirs and they wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"It is." Dolohov nodded. "This is to help you. You understand that don't you, pretty little Omega?" He couldn't stop himself from placing his hand on her cheek and he watched as she nuzzled into his touch.

Hermione intellectually knew she should not be reacting this way. Both of these men had tried to kill her. But there was something different, there was an undercurrent to his tone that was assertive and made her pause. The both of them forced her biology to react to them. Thorfinn was different, he was far more primal and it called to the Omega in her. She had been alone for so long, Harry and Ron had left after she presented while on the hunt for the Horcruxes. They had a problem with Ron, being the Beta that he was, not being able to control himself. Hermione had been terrified but somehow Harry managed to pull Ron off of her. Harry was an Alpha, but not her Alpha, and it was equally hard for him to be around her so ultimately he had made the decision to leave. She felt a hand drop onto her shoulder and she jumped.

"Whoa there, Granger!" Rowle spoke, he had merely been trying to get her attention, not startle her. It made him wonder just how long his little Omega had been alone. She merely stared at him. "It's time to go."

"I don't want to go see your fucking Dark Lord!" there was a little of the temper that he remembered from the Gryffindor that he knew. "Your hot when you swear Princess." He said as he listened to his Russian counter-part chuckle quietly. "Unless you want to be repeatedly raped and tortured by all manner of Death Eaters, including ones who would gladly mark you and watch you die, then I don't think you have much of a choice."

For his part Antonin said nothing, he knew the situation and solution were not ideal. He could feel displeasure and tension rolling off of her in waves, along with an under tone of anxiety. Hermione's head dropped as she realized that the Viking's words had the unfortunate ring of truth. There was one worse alternative that he was happy Rowle had kept his mouth shut about. There was a very real possibility that due to her and her friends' Undesirable status that Voldemort would keep her for himself and that wasn't a fate he wished upon anyone, well except for those bitches Alecto Carrow and Bellatrix Lestrange.

From that point she didn't struggle anymore. It wasn't even because of her biology anymore. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten anything substantial other than mushrooms. Besides she didn't really see a point in fighting. They weren't trying to harm her, not right now at least, and she just was trying to get this over with.

"Take me to your leader." Hermione chuckled.

"What so funny?" Antonin asked curiously.

"Sorry muggle reference." She was amused by the confused look on the Russian's face. The two of them grabbed her arm and apparated away.