Chapter 10

A/N: Thank you to AlaskanAppaloosa, my fantastic beta who makes all this possible!

I don't own Harry Potter, JK Rowling and all her peeps do. I'm just playing with her toys!

I'm going to address some of the reviews here. I just can't PM everyone, there are so many! Thank you all for your amazing reviews! I LOVE reading every one. It makes my entire day.

Bibbity88 - Bahahahaha, I do love how you neatly excised Draco from the running though.

Susieone 1 - But I don't think I like her taking Lucius without Draco. There's just something about that trio!

LOL Thanks. Later in the fic you'll learn why it was necessary.

MandoraKat - that was too short! it needs more Neville asap! haha. hope you write more soon.

My chapters are usually between 1500-2600 words, and I update every two days or so. This seems to work well for my beta and I. So there will always be an update soon!

Hermione wished that after the Malfoys, things would start looking up. But they really didn't. More and more she resorted to dismissing men early, until she got to 'P'. At that point, Hermione threw up her hands and said "Stop. Just. Stop. Just... Bring in Neville."

The man in question seemed quite confused to be brought back in. "Hermione, are things ok?" Neville seemed concerned more than anything else.

What no one was expecting was for Hermione to duck around the security team and touch her hand to Neville's shoulder. "You. I choose you. I'm done with this. I want comfortable and safe. I want you."

She wasn't sure what she was expecting... but it certainly wasn't... nothing. There was no spark. No feeling of belonging. Both Hermione and Neville turned in confusion to the security team. Bart met their gazes and said aloud, "Is something wrong?"

Both Hermione and Neville glanced at one another before turning back to Bart. "There's nothing." Said Neville. "No need to protect her. No bond. My dracken is... ignoring her. Sure. She's there, and I love her... but... nothing. Certainly no mating bond."

"I feel the same." Whispered Hermione, while Bart turned sharply to speak with the others from the security team.

"Stay here please. Invite in no other suitors." The instructions came from Armand, as Bart was already going through the private floo. The next fifteen minutes were tense, with no one quite understanding what was happening. Hermione had retreated to Harry's comforting arms, confused and hurt. Was she defective? Why did Neville's dracken not want her?

When the floo flared again, Hermione started, having been buried quite deep in her own self-doubt. Through the fire place came Sarah, Clara, and the grumpy man again. Both Harry and Sirius became noticeably more tense upon seeing the man come through. "Who spit in his bean curd?" Sirius stage-whispered to the duo, which brought on near-silent giggles from them both.

Sarah was the first to approach Hermione. "Hello, love! It seems we're having some troubles here, hmm? There are only a few very specific circumstances where a mating bond wouldn't start between two unattached adult drackens. One is very easy to test for, the others... not so much. So we're going to try the easy-to-test-for one first, ok?" Hermione nodded fearfully, her hands tensing on Harry's arms.

"What do we have to do?" This came from Neville, who had been equally tense during the waiting period.

"Oh it's quite simple really. Just a potion for each of you, and then a spell! Gerard here," At this, Sarah motioned to the grumpy man, "Is our resident potions maker, and he has brought the required doses."

"Thank you, Sir." Both Hermione and Neville whispered as Gerard handed them small bottles filled with a iridescent blue potion.

"Drink them back completely, and then we will cast the spell." Gerard seemed somehow upset at giving them his treasures, but Hermione resolved in her mind to ignore him, as it seemed nothing made this man happy. She examined the potion for a moment, looking for a hint of what it was before sighing and swallowing it. They probably aren't trying to kill me. They need submissives alive in order to grow their race... There were no immediate effects that Hermione could discern, which was comforting at least. Neville seemed to be less skeptical of the potion, swallowing it down without even a glance into the bottle.

A few heartbeats later, Gerard raised his wand. "Familia Revelio." Hermione gasped as both her and Neville glowed a bright white for a moment, before the light faded, leaving a solid blue line running between them. "Interesting." Gerard noted before turning to Clara. "You'd best get Augusta. She's going to want to know."

Clara was already headed to the floo. Hermione and Neville were quite confused, "What does this mean?" Hermione demanded of Bart, who turned smiling eyes to her.

"Wait one moment darlin'. You'll want to see this all play out, I swear it."

Several tense moments later, Augusta Longbottom stepped from the floo, and as soon as she did, bright yellow lines passed from her to both Neville and Hermione. At this point, Hermiones brain was starting to put things together, and she spoke into the silent room. "He's my brother. That's why I can't make a bond with him. He's my... brother, and Mrs. Longbottom. She's my grandmother."

The shocked silence hung in the room for a moment before Neville's suddenly hard and startlingly angry voice cut through the silence. "Explain yourself."

Augusta flinched at her grandson's words, but her eyes hadn't left Hermione. "I'm so sorry. You have to understand. I thought... I thought you were dead."

Neville growled and stalked over to his grandmother. "Explain. Yourself. Now." His eyes flashed a dangerous black, but he kept his clawed hands away from the woman. He tore his pants in more than one place in his effort to keep himself under control.

For the first time since she entered the room, Augusta met her grandsons gaze. "You were born a twin. You and your sister Naomi were the light of your parent's lives. Alice and Frank were so proud of you, their little drackens. You were only fourteen months when they came." Augustas eyes went distant as she relived that night. "The Death Eaters broke down the door, and Frank yelled for Alice and I to take you and run. We had a plan, you see. We had had a plan for quite some time. I would take you. Alice would take Naomi. We would run to the safe house in the back of the yard, where we would floo to Hogwarts. Your mother was right behind me with Naomi, I swear she was... but when I arrived at Hogwarts... Alice and Naomi didn't follow. I don't know what happened. The baby was never recovered. I assumed..." Here she took a deep shaking breath, clearly disturbed. "I assumed that Bellatrix had taken the child. She was known for her... predilection towards extremely dark arts. I assumed Naomi had been slaughtered in a dark ritual." Augusta turned fearful eyes towards Hermione this time, raising her hands to implore her. "I'm not dracken, you see. I had no way to know if you were alive. I had no... recourse. My son and his wife, were gone. Lost in their minds protecting their family. I was alone with Neville, and you.. you were gone."

Hermione just stared. So many feelings overwhelmed her. Joy, sadness, regret, wonder, anger, fear... Neville was struggling in his own right, but he had more questions. "Why didn't you tell me?" He whispered angrily, his glowering eyes boring into his grandmother's.

"Tell you what? That you had a twin, but she was gone, sacrificed to a dark ritual? No. It was better you didn't know. Better you grew up missing only two people rather than three. Better you not spend your life fruitlessly searching for someone we knew was gone."

At this Neville snarled and grabbed his grandmother by the shoulders, lightly shaking her. "Not. Gone. Grandmother. Missing. There is a big difference between gone and missing. How could you?" With a snarl he threw his hands in the air, clearly wishing he could throw his grandmother with them. "Leave. Don't come back until I can control myself, or I won't be at fault for any harm that comes to you."

Augusta scrambled to leave, throwing a wistful glance back at Hermione. "When you're ready..." Hermione nodded and motioned her to leave. The floo flared purple and her attention turned fully to her newly-found brother.

Making her way over to him slowly, she made herself as small as possible in her dracken form. Currently Neville was panting and clearly struggling with controlling himself.

"What can I do to help?" Hermione whispered, concern flowing thick in her voice.

"Forgive me." Was Neville's response, and Hermione smiled a sad smile.

"I forgave you a long time ago. I'm just glad I found you. I missed you." Neville choked on a sob and tackled his sister into a hug that she returned wholeheartedly.

The mood was broken though when Sirius piped up. "What the hell! How on Merlin's green earth did Frank have another child and I didn't know! God damn it Frank, of all the secrets to keep!"