TIMELINE: Post-Hogwarts
PAIRING: Dramione
AU: Werewolf Draco
PROMPT: None
Family Matters
First Shift
Hermione was very nervously gnawing on her knuckles as she paced through the narrow pathway of the containment facility that had become all too familiar to her over the past two years.
She couldn't do this, it was too much. She could hear the werewolves shifting behind the walls that opened to let them into their cells. She looked over to the warden that had jurisdiction over this section of werewolves. It was the same one it had been when she'd first stormed in after discovering her then-boyfriend was a werewolf. "Please, let me back there! We both know if something were to happen it would have by now."
The warden sighed in exasperation and shook his head, not even bothering to look up at the distressed witch. "Safety rules prohibit it, Missus Malfoy. Your husband may not attack, but some other werewolf might. He'll be out in five minutes, maybe sooner, you know how this works."
Yes, she did know how it worked, and that was the problem. Werewolf's were given ten minutes after the moon rose to shift. Most shifted much more quickly than this, but the less they had shifted, the longer it took. A werewolf could enter his cage at any time after he or she had shifted, but after the allotted ten minutes their guards would force them out.
"You can't do this to me, this is the first month–" Hermione had stopped talking mid-sentence and turned sharply to the right as movement caught her vision. Rushing over to the cage her husband had always had to himself, the young witch knelt down and chewed on her lip as she examined the scene before her.
The pure white Draco Malfoy stood tall as ever, even in his werewolf form, as he walked towards his anxious wife on four paws. Hermione knew Draco—as well as any werewolf—hated walking on all four paws, but Merlin did he make it look regal. Wolf or man, Draco Malfoy was blue-blooded to the core.
However, Hermione was not focused on her husband's stance as he slowly moved forward, but instead upon the small bundles in his jaws. As Draco sat in front of her and carefully set his packages down, she carefully reached through the bars and stroked the downy fur of two pups. "Their first shift . . . they're so precious."
Draco smiled to show his canines as he watched Hermione run her fingers over their children's backs. They had been so distressed when they started to shift, and Draco—having already finished shifting by the time they has started fussing horribly—had been unable to placate them as he normally did with his voice missing. It had also taken him quite some time to realize they had already become accustomed to his scent since they were born, just after the full moon last month. In the end, all it had taken was laying his neck over them, so that their backs gently pressed against his throat.
"Scorpius and Orion Malfoy. The first werewolves to be born into the Malfoy Legacy." Hermione sighed, a warm smile perched upon her lips as she continued to pet her sons. She could feel their backs slowly rising and falling as they slept, and she only wished she could hold them like she did every other night. "My boys."
At this comment, Draco snorted in indignation, causing his wife to rolls her eyes and gently smack his muzzle. "You're my big bad wolf and you know it." She said with a firm nod. As Draco leaned forward, she did as well, giggling as she received a lick to the very tip of her nose. "I love you, Draco."
Draco sat up proudly with the wolfish equivalent of a cocky smirk. 'Of course you love me,' he seemed to say.
"Prat." Hermione laughed, shaking her head.
News had quickly spread of the Malfoy twins, though when everyone heard that it was two boys, they assumed them to be identical, when in fact they were fraternal. It relieved the very nervous parents, especially now that they had shifted. Scorpius was sure to look just like his father, even now his snowy coat matched Draco's to a fault. Orion however, sported a rich brown coat that was only a shade or two lighter than Hermione's hair. She only hoped he hadn't inherited the dreaded bushiness of her hair as well.
Hermione looked up and smiled gently as Draco stood to his paws once more. Draco had always been paranoid here, now more than ever. As he gathered his son's up in his jaws once more, he retreated to the very back of the cage and laid against the wall. Scorpius and Orion were set down between their father's paws as Draco rhythmically dragged his tongue over their backs in long, soothing strokes.
Hermione could not help but smile as she watched her husband show his gentle side. Though she did release a chuckle as he stretched out his neck to keep the boys warm and hide them from the guards he distrusted.
"I really should thank you."
The sudden voice startled Hermione. Her visible jump had caused a growl to rumble in Draco's chest towards the speaker until Hermione shot him a glare to silence him. "And why is that?" She asked, looking up to the warden beside her.
"You calmed Mister Malfoy down, after you found out. He used to be a pain in the ass–" Hermione had cleared her throat, offended he had cursed however minorly in front of her albeit sleeping children, "–and then you started coming with him. We haven't had to sedate him in over a year."
Hermione smiled and looked over to Draco again. Though his eyes were closed, and his breathing slow and even, she knew he was far from asleep. "He just needed someone he could trust, is all."
"Well, none the less, we're all glad you came when you did. Even when you were gone the last full moon, all he did was pace his cage. You've really tamed the beast."
"No," Hermione denied, shaking her head lightly. "I just gave him something to play nice for. He'll always be my beast."
