Fatherhood was different than Draco imagined. For one, being a father was a lot harder than he ever thought it would be. The first week after Wilbur and Martin were born, with Hermione asleep most of the time thanks to the revitalising potions she was fed, it fell to Draco- with occasional help from the pack's females- to take care of the pups. There were moments during that first week where the pups were fed, clean and peacefully asleep beside their mother, and Draco would look at his new family, his eyes moist, thinking he had to be the luckiest man alive. At other moments he'd feel like crying from sheer frustration and helplessness when despite all his attempts to get them to settle down his sons would continue to cry till they were both red in the face.

Then there was the constant worry. He had not anticipated this aspect of becoming a parent. When the pups weren't around he was constantly worried about their safety. Sometimes Draco would be lying asleep in bed when he'd wake up in a state of panic worried something had happened to his pups or they needed something but he wasn't around to help them. When they were in front of him he worried about failing them. Since he became a werewolf Draco had found himself to be the most self-assured he'd ever been in his life. But fatherhood had turned him to the same vulnerable teen he was during his Hogwarts years who frequently thought that somewhere he'd fallen short of expectations. Back then, as a Pureblood Malfoy heir his father had expected him to prove his superiority over the Halfbloods and Mudbloods. Yet, no matter how hard he applied himself, he continued to be bested by Potter at quidditch and Hermione in academics, throughout their time at school together. After six days of next to no sleep and constant feelings of inadequacy Draco had a little meltdown where he simply sat there crying worried that he would fail his sons like he had his father.

Looking lovingly down at her son as he fed from her breast, Hermione didn't notice the door open and Draco enter to watch, transfixed what a mother's love truly was. While he himself was handling parenthood by fluctuating between moments of joy, laughter, panic and secretly shed tears, Hermione had taken to it brilliantly, like she did all things apparently. She was ever calm and patient and, by the gods, she was so beautiful, he thought, watching her cuddle both their sons in her arms and attempting to sing a lullaby even if she couldn't hold a tune. The idea of her someday leaving him, leaving them, broke his heart a little, but, it was a reality he needed to embrace.

Seeing Hermione and the pups together, Draco understood the significance of a family. Members of his pack were a great help, of course. There was always someone available to watch the twins- he suspected some even traded favours for an opportunity to mind Wilbur and Martin. Children were a type of novelty for the werewolves, none of them having sired any since they were turned and very few having children from before, there were barely any who had experience with child-rearing. However, what the pack members lacked in experience they made up for with sheer enthusiasm. Their actions confirming Draco was correct to believe the pack would take good care of his pups.

Regardless of how much better the pack was to him, since becoming a father, Draco's thoughts still drifted to his former family. He was certain Lucius would've been informed about the arrival of the twins, so he was surprised, and also a little disappointed, that his mother had yet to come see him or even send him an owl; word of his children's birth would surely have reached her by now. Already proud of Wilbur and Martin, Draco was eager to show them off to his mother, especially since she often spoke of how much she looked forward to becoming a grandmother some day. He didn't have the same expectations of Lucius. With all his prejudices, no matter how miraculous their birth, for Lucius the twins would be nothing more than half-breeds.

Draco stretched out on the bed so the twins lay between him and Hermione. He looked at Wilbur, all bundled up still, and Martin, with one hand sticking out of the swaddling cloth, and smiled at the picture they made side by side. He stroked Wilbur's round chin and Martin chubby hand, and sighed with contentment. He could not imagine either of his sons ever doing anything so grave that would make him abandon them the way Lucius had abandoned him. As exhausting as caring for the twins could be, he would willingly die first before he let anyone bring harm to them.

Like so many times before, these stray thoughts involving his father led to comparisons with the other man who had sired him.

How different would life have been if his sire was someone as cruel as Fenrir or uncaring as Lucius? However burdensome the alpha's commands, Draco didn't feel them half as strongly as those who were also unfortunate enough to have Greyback as their sire. How lucky then for him that his sire was Oskar, one of the oldest members of the pack, an Elder and a former alpha. Draco had learnt much about werewolves and their ways because of Oskar, who like a father watched over him and helped him transition into the man he was today.

In many ways Oskar was not too different from Lucius Malfoy- both were regal men whose actions were governed by a set of principles they valued. They both demanded excellence from those they called family, neither gave him any quarter. Their differences shone through in how they tackled Draco's successes and failures. Where his father rewarded him with nods of approval, Oskar did not shy away from physical expressions like hugs and thumps to the back to show the pride he felt over Draco's accomplishments. When he failed, instead of the disappointment he saw reflected in his father's eyes or the humiliation he received at his hands, Oskar encouraged him to do better by helping him overcome his weaknesses to achieve success next time.

Oskar expected him to mate with Hermione as a means to protect her but she could have no real future here. So long as Fenrir ran the pack and the Dark Lord ran the world outside, Hermione would not be safe. Though it hurt him to think about it, it was clear to him in the long term her best shot was at Potter's side. And if Potter was still anything like he was in his school days, he was most likely struggling without his brainy friend at his side.

"You're his sire, did you sense he'd be the one?" asked Cora biting the head off the chocolate frog in her hand. She never particular cared for Honeydukes' treats otherwise, but in times of stress there was something deeply satisfying about decapitating the confections. This was not, however, a practice she indulged in front of anyone except her former alpha.

Oskar shook his head in response. "I sensed his magic was strong, if conflicted somehow, but I never thought he'd be the one... As much as I have faith in the legends, I never imagined I'd be alive to see any of these things come to pass."

Cora sighed and pushed away the pile of headless frogs. Seeing them made her feel sick, which was ironic considering the kind of experiments she had impassively witnessed the Death Eaters perform on their kind.

"I never believed in any of it," she said, and seeing the way Oskar's brows rose at the statement quickly added, "I mean, I believed it was an interpretation of events that may have transpired, but I never thought the legends were literally true. I believe the moon influences us but I never believed it was really Luna guiding us."

"If I'm hearing you correctly, Cora, it sounds like you're admitting to have never really believed in magic," said Oskar looking very amused.

"I know what it sounds like. Of course I believe in magic, but for me Lycanthropy was always nothing more than an interesting disease. Now, with the birth of the pups and the fulfilment of the promise, I find myself looking at it all differently. Do you have any idea what it means to question your existence at my age?"

Oskar patiently listened to Cora till she was done, then he smiled at her. "You may not be my child, but you never really let go of your bond with me as your alpha. I know the burden you carry, Cora. I know how you've had to stand by and see strangers harm weres because you believed ultimately it would help our people-"

Cora closed her eyes and recalled that wretched feeling of doing nothing. While pack-bonds weren't as strong as the alpha or mate bonds, they were rather hard to ignore from two feet away, which was often the distance she was required to maintain during those torture sessions that passed off as fertility experiments by the Dark Lord and his underlings on the werewolves.

"-I also know how overwhelmed you feel realising there are greater forces at play here."

"What am I supposed to do? I don't know what role I'm meant to play. I've only ever done what I believed to be best, not what the fates may desire of me. I..."

Oskar stood up and slowly made his way to Cora; he may be more nimble in his wolf form, but he felt every one of the years he'd lived in his human one. He placed a reassuring hand on Cora shoulders and felt her lean in. As pack creatures they were physically beings and gestures like pats and hugs went a long way with their kind. He offered her a hand signalling she stand and then embraced her like he would've any upset child. Cora quietly cried against his chest as she tried to ease the guilt she carried for her own complicity. It should've been Fenrir comforting her, as her current alpha the bond would be great enough that even a kind word would serve to soothe his pack members. Unfortunately, Fenrir was terrible as an alpha.

There were times of course when it benefited them that Fenrir was such an apathetic leader. Fenrir didn't wish for Draco to be powerful as a werewolf and so he ordered those he believed to be the weakest members of his pack to attack the Malfoy heir. Fortunately for Draco, Greyback's lack of knowledge when it came to the individual histories of the members of his pack meant he had allowed an Elder to be the one to sire Draco. If not for such an oversight on Fenrir's part, Draco would've been sired by someone weak and then who knows if he could've succeeded in impregnating someone as powerful as Hermione. Helpless though she may appear since her arrival at Bleidd, the one time he laid his hands on her Oskar sensed a great and powerful beast lying asleep within her. It was safe to say the Muggleborn witch's ancestry wasn't quite strictly limited to Muggles as she believed it to be.

Cora had calmed down by now, so Oskar stepped away from her. She was furiously rubbing at her eyes and face to hide evidence of her meltdown. Out of respect for her privacy Oskar looked away and out the window instead, his eyes settling on the fated pair resting under a tree with their sons sprawled on their chests. This serene picture which represented the future of his people soothed his old wolf knowing he had played a role in making something so incredible possible.

Having noticed the direction of Oskar's gaze Cora moved closer to take a look at what had caught his attention.

"Fenrir is a fool, but he isn't that great a fool either; it's hard to see them together and fail to see the bond developing there. He'll soon figure out what's going on between the two of them and put a stop to it."

"He needs to be around long enough for that," responded Oskar and then turned away from the idyllic scene, "Besides, he takes no interest in the habits of pack members to pay such attention to them."

"I'd say that's true of others, but different when it comes to Draco. The alpha was already envious of the status the pup previously held as the Malfoy heir, which only became worse when Draco ended up being the only creature to show any kind of success with any version of the Fero potion till date... I know Fenrir has secretly participated in some of the tests. I don't have access to any of the specifics but I'm certain we would've heard if he had fathered any children... I saw how he reacted to news of Hermione's pregnancy, which is why I never told him she was carrying twins... Soon as he notices Draco's elevated status in the pack over the birth of the twins he'll do something to either, ruin Draco's standing or raise himself higher."

Oskar responded with a raise of his brow.

"Yes, I know how ridiculous it sounds to suggest an alpha would envy the status of someone in his pack, but this is Fenrir we're talking about. Apart from brute force, what else does the man possess that qualifies him as an alpha?"

Even as a pup Oskar would not have questioned why Luna would choose to bless so dark a creature, as Fenrir Greyback, with such powers as she did. Oskar himself was sired by an Elder who taught him everything he knew about their kind, but even before that he was raised to believe it was not one's place to question who the fates chose to use as their instruments. Despite his faults, or even because of them, Fenrir had without a doubt played a part in the existence of the young family outside.

"Do not dismiss your current alpha so easily," said Oskar quietly. "He may not be the sharpest knife, but he singlehandedly waged, and won the Pack Wars. Something one doesn't achieve by brute force alone."

When the wizard known as the Dark Lord commanded Fenrir to build him an army, the alpha went on a murderous rampage biting and turning people willy-nilly. However, lacking any real leadership skills, instead of a pack Fenrir had ended up with a bunch of rogue werewolves. Upon realising his mistake Fenrir went for the second best way to make a large and powerful pack- by taking over existing werewolf packs. Thus began the Pack Wars of Great Britain, wherein Greyback systematically killed the alphas of all the smaller packs scattered throughout Great Britain till he had consolidated them into one large pack that called the grounds of Bleidd Castle its home. Such was their reign in the region that no one even recalled what the place was called before they had renamed it as Bleidd, the local name for 'wolf', Castle.

"He is not my alpha," Cora spoke through gritted teeth. "That monster took my mate from me. He took my alpha from me. I only accepted his alpha bond because I didn't want to end up an outcast."

Sadly this was true of far too many members of their pack, thought Oskar. The various groups leftover from the packs destroyed by Greyback only accepted Fenrir as their alpha and thus bonded with him because the alternative- ending up an outcast- was far worse to contemplate. And yet, while the pack may not have benefitted from his leadership style, older members swore that the insane wolf living inside Fenrir had quietened a great deal due to the stability offered by the new pack.

"You could still end up one, should the alpha hear you speak in this manner. You should be more careful," he patiently told her.

"I am always careful around others. It isn't me you ought to worry about right now. Fenrir will notice the respect Draco gets from the pack for having sired two children and then he will want that for himself; coveting is Fenrir's way. And with Hermione being the only witch to fall pregnant after mating with a wolf..."

Cora didn't need to complete that statement; he shared her fears as well, but he was also hopeful that Draco and Hermione were fully bonded before they needed to worry about Fenrir.

"I know you're hoping they bond soon, but..." Cora trailed off and went to sit at the desk again with the heap of abandoned headless frogs sitting on top of it. One at a time she ripped open the few unopened packets left and tore off the heads of the rest of the frogs too, feeling just a little less frustrated with each chocolate frog head she tore apart and spat out. She resumed speaking only once she was done with every last one of them. "She is far too stubborn and focused on the war outside to understand what is happening under her nose. It doesn't help that the only friend she has here hates the Malfoys far too much to see the difference between Draco and his father, let alone point it out to Hermione."

"It should be different now with the children here."

"I've spent some time with her; she is loyal only to Harry Potter and the cause to defeat the Dark Lord. The pregnancy weakened both her and her magic, but once she's recovered I don't expect her to stick around long enough to bond with the pup."

"You believe she'll escape?"

"I believe she'll make a foolish attempt at it which will earn her a punishment from either Fenrir or the Dark Lord himself. There's nothing Draco will be able to do to protect her then. Our only hope is for Gunnolf to become alpha-"

At this point Oskar abruptly cut her off. "You know I agree with your assessment that Gunnolf would serve the pack far better as alpha, but Fenrir would never willingly abdicate and Gunnolf wouldn't stand a chance against the alpha in a fight. Besides, defeating Fenrir would hardly be the end of it. The pack is large right now, larger than any pack ought to be, and we do not know where each one's loyalties lie. Lastly, we cannot know how the Dark one and his followers will react to Fenrir's defeat. With threats both from the inside and out, one misstep on our part could result in a slaughter." He paused long enough to make sure Cora understood what was at stake.

Neither of them said the words but they both shared the same thought: We need allies.

Fenrir was suspicious, the thought had half of Draco panicking over the prospect of getting into the alpha's crosshairs while the other half remained calm in the knowledge he could deal with him if necessary. Draco was certain Fenrir must have an inkling of the bond forming between him and Hermione, and it wasn't just because the alpha commanded him to fuck an omega yet again during the full moon- no that was just Greyback acting like a petty arsehole because he was jealous of Draco's popularity in the pack. Draco thought something was off because he was suddenly being assigned tasks that kept him busy and away from Hermione all the time. Since the pups mostly lived with him and the pack, Draco could freely see them any time he liked, but was unable to spend a tenth of the time with Hermione and the pups, together, as he would've liked.

With a month passed under Fenrir's watchful presence, another full moon and the prospect of yet another moon mate who wasn't going to be Hermione, Draco felt sick. He was able to skip the festivities for the last full moon since Fenrir was called away at the last moment giving him no time to plan the moon mates. Draco had taken advantage by letting his wolf spend time with his pups. Though unafraid herself, Hermione was initially fearful on behalf of the children, but she ended up surprised by how careful his wolf was with the infants. However, this full moon, with Fenrir around, things were going to be very different, realised Draco, recalling his conversation with the head beta just a few hours ago.

"What the hell, Gunnolf!"

"I know... I get it Draco. I'll try to talk him-"

"It makes me sick. I could barely handle being with the omegas before Hermione and the pups. And now, the very thought of knotting with someone else-"

"Makes you sick to the stomach, quite literally. Yes, I noticed."

"So there's no way it skipped the alpha's attention, still he torments me with these commands. I need to be with Hermione. How is she supposed to manage the boys by herself for one whole night? You know what a handful they can be, and if we're all out, engaging in the festivities, who'll be there to help her?"

"What about that friend of hers? Cora said she's been doing a lot better since getting her own separate quarters."

"Ginny Weasley? Hermione avoids being alone with her when the twins are around."

"She still talking about hurting the pups?"

Draco shook his head. "Hermione's just playing it safe, thank goodness! I don't need one more thing to worry about right now. Now what's going on with my schedule, all these silly chores he has me running...? Is he deliberately trying to keep me away from the main Castle?"

"Looks like it. If you mate with Hermione Granger, she'll be of no use to the other wolves in the pack."

"It's not the pack's interest in Hermione that concerns me."

"What do you mean?"

"You know Fenrir's been sniffing around Hermione.

"What're you talking about?"

"He keeps 'running into her' when she leaves her room. He's been uncharacteristically pleasant; went so far as to say he hoped she liked the room he had her moved to after the delivery."

"Ha! Must've looked like a fool trying to take credit for that. We're lucky Cora's really good at lying to Fenrir or he would've had our hides for moving her when we did."

"You're missing the point here. I think Fenrir is trying to woo Hermione."

Even a fool could deduce that it wasn't the Fero potion but Hermione who was special and with Greyback being childless it was safe to figure out his intentions for her. Draco reminded himself he didn't feel threatened that Greyback, an alpha, was interested in his witch. So what if he couldn't offer her the protection Greyback could as leader of the pack? So what if he didn't have anything to offer her other than himself? Hermione wouldn't care for those things. The fly in the ointment, thought Draco, was that he wasn't really sure where he stood with Hermione anymore.

After the birth of Martin and Wilbur, she changed. Without the pregnancy taxing her system she was sharper and more like someone who held the title of being the brightest witch of her age. Physically, motherhood had been rather kind to Hermione, filling her out so she wasn't quite all skin and bones she was in the months before she gave birth. He could only imagine how good it would feel to grab her hips now, but he refused to act on it. Without the raging hormones of her pregnancy, she was no longer walking around aroused, so, unlike before, he no longer had an excuse to grab her without explicit invitation. He couldn't assume she wanted to resume physical relations with him just because it was what he wanted. Merlin, she already wanted to escape, he didn't need to give her one more reason to do so.

Hermione was enjoying sitting under the shade of the tree with the twins in a bassinet beside her. She didn't notice Fenrir creep up to her and stand there watching her till he snapped his fingers making her head jerk up in attention. Such was the magic of the alpha that even though Wilbur and Martin were still infants they sensed their leader and opened their sleep heavy lids to stare at Fenrir. Without bothering to ask, Fenrir picked Martin, who appeared to be more awake than his brother, and held him in his arms for a few moments.

"Hello, little pup," he cooed. "I missed you." Hermione watched nervously as Fenrir held her son. Based on the last few surprise visits she received from Greyback, Hermione didn't consider him a threat to her safety, if anything he made her uneasy due to how friendly he was acting ever since she gave birth. Hermione was nervous right now because, though Greyback outwardly doted on them, she suspected he actually resented her sons.

Martin cooed and flailed his arms about as if he meant to grab a hold on Fenrir's face as he rubbed his face in the alpha's neck.

"Aw, li'l pup. I wish I was your da... Maybe someday I could be, huh? Depends on your mother, I'd say." Fenrir said, laughing at Martin's obvious fascination. Being pack, the pups appeared to be aware of their connection to the alpha.

During the course of their last few encounters, Hermione discovered Greyback had an odd sense of humour. However, she could not shake off the feeling he was far more serious about the things he said as a joke than he let on. Hermione nervously looked around hoping Draco would arrive and help ease the awkwardness of the situation.

"Expecting the Malfoy pup, are you?" Fenrir's quiet question was barely audible. "Thought you were clever, but you're like every other dumb bitch, aren't you? The Fero potion makes my wolves go in a rut- they'll fuck any wet hole put before them. Malfoy's done with you, moved on he has," Greyback taunted. "And while he's fucking and breeding other bitches, you're sat here like a fool thinking you were special in some way," he declared with a menacing sneer. Greyback abruptly walked away, leaving Hermione to wonder if there was any truth to his statement.

Hermione stood staring out the window watching the water of the lake outside with longing. The weather was getting warmer and while she wasn't particularly hot, she thought it may feel nice to just be outside.

She was startled by the sound of someone clearing their throat immediately behind her. She knew who it was from how close he stood behind her. She'd only have to lean back a little and she could be nestled against his chest. Since the birth of the twins she couldn't tell if he'd lost interest in her physically or if it was something else but for some reason no matter how close he was there was always just that little bit of distance between them. And frankly she was growing tired of it.

"Fenrir's out today, so I'm free to do as I please."

His next words made her think he may have been watching her a while before he approached.

"Oskar's minding the boys. I thought it may be nice for us to go for a swim."

"That's nice," she said. Hermione turned around and wrapped her arms around his waist, adding, "I've missed you." The tension eased out of his shoulders and his eyes fluttered shut.

"Me too," Draco whispered into her neck as he nuzzled her.

"Fenrir said you were going to be busy for a while. He said you'd be too busy fu-fucking other bitches and breeding them." She didn't ask for any of this, yet she couldn't help the hurt she felt at the idea of Draco being with anyone else the way he was with her.

Draco sighed. "He's ordered me to impregnate the pack's females. We're given potions to induce heat; I'm expected to knot with whoever I'm paired with." He kissed her shoulder. Just holding her like this soothed his entire being. "My wolf hates it, I want you." He gently tipped her chin upwards so he could look into her eyes. "You can feel it, right?"

She nodded.

"I didn't realise it at the time- that first time we were together... I was just acting on instinct when I initiated the mate bond."

She remembered; some part of her had known even back then there was no going back from this when he'd claimed her as both man and beast.

"Fenrir must know it though, and he's deliberately keeping me away from you. He knows I can only sire children with you, but he's still making me fuck others to torment me."

"I think Greyback wants me as his mate."

She wasn't surprised when Draco's hold on her tightened and his whole body tensed. She was expecting him to react poorly when he discovered Fenrir's intentions, but he needed to know what was going on.

"The kind of questions he asks and the way he talks about you, I think he's threatened by you. It clearly bothers him that you have children when he doesn't, even though he's an alpha." Hermione spoke slowly and in a low voice. "More than once he's mentioned how powerful and fertile I've proven to be, also, how lucky any witch would be to mate with an alpha."

While Hermione was talking about Fenrir, Draco began to growl and the colour of his eyes changed from their usual grey to the amber shade his eyes took on when he transformed- odd, since Draco had told her pack members could not transform unless there was a full moon; his nostrils flared and his hands flexed and relaxed their hold on her hips as he tried to rein in his temper. This wouldn't do. She needed him calm and in control of his senses so they could get ahead of the potential problem.

Hermione took his face between the palms of her hand and looked him in the eyes. "I don't want him," she said, pulling his face closer to her and angled her head so their lips were nearly touching. "I want you," she said breathily.

His eyes changed back to their usual colour, though more of a stormy grey right then. He sniffed at her; curled his fingers around her wrists and pulled her hands away from his face. Eyes narrowed at her, he asked, "Have you been given any potion today?"

He could probably smell her arousal and, considering what happened in the past, was suspicious it was potion-induced. She shook her head.

"He's waiting for the full moon. Wouldn't make sense to put me in heat and leave me around so many unmated werewolves." Cora was the one to help Hermione arrive at that conclusion by pointing out Fenrir's interest in Hermione as a mate and that a full moon was needed to seal a mate bond.

"So, you'd pick me, a new wolf, a beta, over an alpha?"

Instead of answering she pressed herself against him and gave his lips a teasing swipe with her tongue. She found the sound he made to be rather satisfying.

"Granger," he whined stepping away from her. "You smell way too delicious for me to be satisfied with just some snogging. Even without your heat, your scent makes me want to crawl out of my skin and meld myself to you. It makes me want to fuck you senseless and stay knotted with you till your belly is heavy with my children again."

He needed her to understand just exactly what it meant to be with him; it wasn't going to be like any sweet romance she might've imagined happening with Weasley.

She gulped, understanding what he meant. But, what choice did she really have here? He was her best hope of surviving this place and if that wasn't a good enough reason there was also the fact that she was in love with him.

"Come," he said pulling her along after him, "let's go for a swim now. You can tell me your decision later."

They waded through the shallow depths of the cool water, splashing about and just frolicking. Draco couldn't remember the last time he felt so light-hearted. Hermione's normally wild hair hung in limp curls plastered to her skin, the ends covering her breasts though he'd catch teasing glimpses of the rosy tips of her nipples when she moved. Merlin, he couldn't get enough of her. He grabbed her by the waist, ignoring her shrieks of laughter, tossed her over his shoulders and walked out of the water.

"Put me down, you brute," she said, but any attempt at sounding stern was ruined by the giggle that followed.

He spanked her hard on her bottom, continuing to walk on.

"Quiet, witch or I'll toss you into the water."

"You wouldn't dare," she said.

"And why might that be?"

"You'd never risk hurting me."

She said it so casually and without thought as if he'd never had a part in her personal pain and humiliation. He swallowed the lump in his throat, his heart heavy with the weight of the faith she had in him and fear he may not live up to it.