AN: I'm shocked and excited to announce that this story has been nominated at the Granger Enchanted Survivors Awards in the "I'm Up to No Good" Best WIP Category. I'm so touched, thank you! If you're so inclined to vote for my little story, please see my profile for voting instructions. Thank you, again!
Chapter Fourteen
As soon as Lavender Brown stepped out of the Floo, Malfoy quickly ushered her into the vacant Headmaster's quarters. And soon after, they were running.
It took Lavender three seconds to understand why.
A group had made their way into the abandoned castle. And from their raucous laughter and gloating, it couldn't have been anyone from the Order. And that left Voldermort's Death Eaters.
After Hermione stepped out of the Floo, Malfoy roughly grabbed her arm and took off.
Lavender was miffed at his blatant ignoring of her safety, as if she wanted to be left behind with Death Eaters. But seeing how Hermione was pregnant with his blood and the only non-magical creature between them, she understood his possessive need to keep her safe. However, the twinge of jealously was brief, yet sharp.
Hermione, to her credit, was alarmed but quietly followed Malfoy's lead, though she sharply pulled her hand from his as soon as they were off.
Floo powder clung to the remnants of Hermione's grief on her cheeks, but there was no time to clear the dirt-stained tears. Not now.
So, the trio ran through the ruins of the castle that used to be her home. Fortunately for them the contingent of Death Eaters was small and overconfident that they were alone. Malfoy easily led them out of the castle as they arrograntly celebrated their victory, thought it was months after the fact.
Fortunately for Lavender and Malfoy, their werewolf senses gave them unnatural quickness and stealth, though Malfoy purposefully held back for Hermione. The witch was cunning, but she was not as quick.
Lavender grew frustrated every time they had to stop and hide because Hermione could not keep up. During the intervening time while they waited for the pathway to clear, Lavender found herself recalling a much happier time in the now-quiet and decimated halls.
But Malfoy signaled that they were about to move again. Reveries would have to wait for another time. Soon, they found their way outside, down the rolling hillside and into foreboding darkness of the Forbidden Forest.
As soon as they crossed the forest's barrier, a stark change came over Malfoy and Hermione. As Lavender observed the pregnant witch walking beside with Malfoy, she wondered what the unlikely duo had endured before they showed up at Shell Cottage. The space, though small between them, was thick with tension.
Hermione held her wand out at her side, as if she were thinking about using it, as she walked in step with Malfoy. But she tapped frustrated beats against her leg instead.
Malfoy, was either oblivious to the witch's anger (highly unlikely for a werewolf), or was unconcerned that Hermione would actually harm him (probably more likely).
Lavender observed much about the pair from behind.
They were fascinating to watch.
By time twilight started to the paint the forest orange and ruby red, they came upon a large clearing. Down in the center of the clearing were a throng of people. Here Hermione sharply parted ways with Malfoy, content to finally leave his side. She must have been quite confident about where she was headed, but she was intercepted by a young girl with a long plait down her back.
The girl threw her chin back towards Malfoy, but Hermione refused to turn around and look at the blond Alpha, who had immediately been surrounded by his pack upon their arrival. Hermione did not want to face the man who had killed her friend, but Lavender keenly watched the Alpha, who every few seconds, turned to watch the lone witch among them.
Lavender raised a brow, surprised that the girl eventually relented and let Hermione pass. The curly-head witch disappeared into the throng.
Then the girl who let Hermione pass was suddenly next to her. Lavender marveled at the girl's ability to move so quickly undetected. Or perhaps, Lavender's senses weren't sharp as she thought.
"Who are you?" The girl stood no taller than Lavender's shoulders, but squared off with her, hands on hips. Lavender had to suppress a chuckle at the spitting image of Hermione circa fourth-year on her S.P.E.W. campaign.
The girl smelled of the forest, Lavender slowly recognized. Frustratingly, her own werewolf instincts were dull. She didn't recall much else from their third-year lesson on the species.
Lavender looked to Malfoy, unsure what to do next. But the blond was busy talking to the group that had surrounded them upon their entry. "I'm with Malfoy," Lavender began uneasily.
The girl's sharp brown eyes narrowed, as the beginnings of a growl started to emerge.
"Alpha belongs to another," the girl announced with a cold finality.
Lavender's eyes widened in alarm. "No, I don't mean like that. Geez. No, I mean Malfoy invited me to come back with him. I knew him in school and -"
The girl coolly interrupted, though the narrow of her eyes did not lessen, "You know Hermione, then?"
Lavender rolled her eyes. "We were roommates for six years. I'd say I knew her well enough."
The girl continued looking at Lavender as if discerning the truth behind her statement. Hair rose on the back of her neck from the scrutiny. Just who the hell was this girl?
The girl nodded. "Sari," she said by way of an introduction after a few moments. "I take it you are new kin. Have you shifted yet?"
Lavender frowned at the unfamiliar term, but nodded. "Yes," she clipped, though she did not specify the that it had only been four times. Twice in captivity, and twice at Shell Cottage.
Either way, Sari sensed that it had not been much. "If Alpha has invited you to our pack, then I will show you around. Welcome…" she trailed off.
"Lavender," was all she would give for now. She wasn't exactly sure of this place, and no matter Malfoy's offer, there was no guarantee she would stay.
Sari nodded. "Welcome, Lavender to the pack."
The girl, Sari, had to be no more than sixteen or seventeen, but spoke with an authority Lavender could never imagine at that age. Sari confidently led Lavender further into the throng of Malfoy's werewolves.
As she moved through them, they all stared at her clothing as if it were foreign to them. Lavender gathered from the varying states of undress that they were not used to much clothing. But it was October in Scotland, and though Lavender constantly ran hot, she was too vain to not dress in the finery she was accustomed to before her attack. She clung to what little humanity she could.
Sari was finishing a description of another sub-group called something or the other (like Lavender would retain all of this information anyway) before stopping before a single tent.
"Alpha will be by shortly. You may be kin, but the pack does not know you yet. Until then, you stay here." Sari indicated to the small, white tent. It looked small enough for a child.
Lavender frowned as she stooped beneath the entrance, eager to leave the eyes that trailed her every move. Inside, she found Hermione Granger, of course, magically extending the tent. Lavender scowled, but couldn't help but admire her handiwork. Hermione had already set up a mini-cauldron over a fireplace, a small reading table with two chairs, and was working on what looked to be an entryway to a private sleeping area.
"Roommates again, I see?" Lavender called as she magically enlarged her trunk and items from a travelling bag. She set the items on the rug before her.
Hermione turned mid-wave of her wand to glance over her shoulder. "Oh, I thought Sari would've placed you somewhere else. I'll, umm, get to work on your room next," Hermione replied, focusing back on her wandwork.
Lavender huffed as she peered over the cauldron to the purple potion that bubbled inside. "Huh. I thought you'd be with Malfoy?"
The frostiness was clear from across the room. "Malfoy wanted me to return back to the pack. I did. I said nothing about staying with him," Hermione bristled.
Lavender shook her head, and tsk-ed the witch. "For being such a bookworm, you know precious little about werewolves, and even less about men."
Hermione turned, the stress of the morning's events, their hasty retreat from Shell Cottage, the brush with the Death Eater at Hogwarts, caught up with her. Her curls crackled with anger. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked acidly.
Lavender shrugged, unwilling to get into it now. It had been a long day and she wanted nothing more than to sink into a pillow. "Nothing, Hermione. Never mind."
The curly-headed witch frowned severely. Lavender could see her visibly swallowing the retort she had been ready to return. The two witches remained in a heated stare, but wearily Lavender relented first. She may have been a monster, but she wasn't immune to emotion either.
"I'm sorry about Ron," she offered, running a hand through blonde tresses. The words would never be enough, but it was all she had. For all his faults, he did not deserve to die like that.
The words halted any impending fight. Hermione's shoulders sagged as a glassy sheen covered tired eyes. "Me, too." With that, she turned and silently began on a second sleeping area.
Lavender quietly watched the witch work.
True to Sari's word, Malfoy stopped by later that night. Hermione was out, courtesy of a dreamless sleep potion, leaving Lavender wide awake in her cot as she tried and failed to identify the forest sounds caught by her sensitive hearing.
The jostling of the tent flap had her sitting up in bed as Malfoy appeared in the entry way.
But rather coming by to speak with her, Lavender watched as Malfoy stood as a sentry before Hermione's side of the tent.
Lavender explained to his bare back as she approached, "She knocked herself out about an hour ago."
Malfoy did not turn to face her. He watched the witch sleep a few moments before replying, "I'm leaving on pack business in the morning." His voice was low, and careful not to disturb.
"And you wanted to see her before you left? How endearing." Lavender watched as Malfoy dropped into a squatting position beside the sleeping witch. Even in her sleep, Hermione seemed to know he was there. Agitated, Hermione rolled over, an arm falling lifelessly to her side.
Malfoy gently lifted the arm, the one scarred by a cursed blade, and tucked it onto her chest. He traced the jagged letters on her scar. "You've met Sari?"
Lavender nodded, though Malfoy could not see it. "Yes," she replied instead.
"Good. She'll set you up with the task most suited to your position." Malfoy pushed up to a standing position, this time meeting her eyes. "Everyone has a role, Brown. I'd expect you to find yours and quickly," he let the end of his sentence hang with warning, the air tinged with his inherent power.
Lavender swallowed against Malfoy's pull. Damn the bastard. He had to know what kind of effect he had on females. Snarling, Lavender threw her head towards the sleeping witch. "And what's her role? What does she bring to the pack?"
She had witnessed first-hand the distress and disarray Hermione caused at Shell Cottage. Lavender did not have to be proficient in the ways of a werewolf to know that a non-werewolf hardly fit in with a semi-feral pack. Lavender estimated there was a reason Malfoy wanted her squirreled away with him and not here, among his kin. She could read the worry he tried and failed to hide.
But just like that, the fleeting glimpse of fear, was gone. In its place was a dark glint, full of promise. "Something worth killing for," he said with deadly seriousness.
Maybe the dark warning would have deterred others, but Lavender pushed on never much afraid of others growing up. And now a monster herself, she was even less afraid of others. "The full moon's coming up. Will you be back?" she found herself asking. It was the first time she would be shifting with someone she knew. Hermione couldn't be there, but Malfoy would.
The thought brought excitement.
Malfoy nodded, his gaze still on the sleeping witch. "I will."
Lavender slept little over the coming days, but the lead-up the full moon was like that. Something itched beneath her bones. At times, she could feel it slinking across her back, or beneath her gut, as it crept ever closer to the surface in anticipation of being released.
It was intoxicating and damning at the same time. She was as nauseous as she was excited, nervous as she was eager. Remarkably there were nearly two hundred or so others who felt the same way.
No one looked at her strange when she would suddenly lose control of her temper. The pack's healer, Clara, offered her a potion to combat the shakes and minor tremors that seemed to take ahold of her limbs at odd times of the day.
Sari explained that the first full moons were always the hardest. Apparently, the shifts got easier to manage as one learned to accept their wolf. That was easy for the sassy sixteen-year-old to say, Lavender thought with a sneer as she quickly downed the potion Clara had given to her. It was two days before the full moon, and the symptoms were becoming more apparent.
Lavender groaned at the bitter taste that oozed down the back of her throat. "Ugh!" she complained.
Someone chuckled behind her back. "Isn't that the potion for the younglings?" Arrogance laced with humor had her spinning about in contempt. However, she was not prepared.
A man, a few years older than her, smirked down at her.
Lavender hastily wiped the remaining potion from her lips as she drunk in light green eyes and tussled brown hair. Faded scars lined prominent cheekbones and dipped onto his upper chest. A wolfish grin completed the roguish picture that had her womb clenching anticipation. She cursed the werewolf blood coursing through her veins.
"They said Malfoy had brought back a youngling, but I didn't know it was a pretty youngling. What's your name, dove?" the roguish werewolf gave her a thorough once-over that spiked her blood temperature even more.
Lavender bit her lip in anticipation as she gave the man a quick once-over. "My name's Lavender."
"Pretty name for a pretty flower," the man smirked as he moved forward to grab her limp wrist. He placed a sweet kiss to the underside, no doubt catching the frantic strumming of her heart.
Lavender felt the side of her mouth rise on its own accord, as she finally came across a reason to stay with Malfoy's pack. "And yours?" she breathed.
He rubbed a sensual thumb across her wrist. "Greyson. Welcome to the pack, Lavender."
an: Lavender will have a part to play as we move forward, so I thought it an appropriate time to introduce her POV. And it's always fun to view Dramione from an outsider's POV.
I like to respond personally to every review, but I have been extremely busy as of late. I apologize for not doing so. But thank you all so much for the wodnerful support - it truly means alot. Til next time! ~L