Chapter 37
A/N: Thank you so much to my wonderful beta AlaskanAppaloosa! You're my hero!
To the reviewer who asked if Hermione and her mates would be outed as drackens just for being poly. In my head cannon, the wizarding world is totally open to poly relationships. I kind of assume that in a world like this, drackens and other magical creatures and their supporters would have put in the cultural work long ago to make poly a totally normal thing, even if muggle borns don't understand it. But. You gave me a great idea for a plot point later, so thank you!
The group hug was abruptly ended when Sirius and Harry joined in, with the former jumping onto Severus' back with a mocking blubbering "Oh I love you so much!" It was only through Hermione's quick intervention that Sirius kept his arms. It would have helped her case if her boys could stop laughing, but the look on Severus' face had just been too much for them to contain themselves.
Once ruffled feathers were settled, the tour continued. On the main living floor, there were several large empty rooms that Lucius explained were left so specifically for Hermione, which she appreciated. One for sure would become her muggle room, but she wasn't sure what she would do with the others.
Apparently most of the formal sitting rooms had been remodeled out and the space they had occupied now contained the 'big room' as Hermione had started to think of it. Behind the scenes she was thrilled to find that the army of house elves who kept the manor running were both well cared for and paid. They had regular days off, and enjoyed their work very much.
When the elves noticed her arrival, the head elf, a very stern-looking female elf named Bippy, approached.
"Missy Hermy. The elves of Malfoy Manor are to be asking that you not gives us clothes. We are to be liking our jobs here at the Manor. We takes days off and gets paid, and have many lovely things that we keeps in our rooms. We don't need your ugly knitted hats." At this Harry and Sirius burst into hysteric laughter, while Hermione flushed bright red.
"Thank you, Bippy. I promise I won't release you. Can I ask how you knew to ask me not to give you clothes?"
Bippy grinned a toothy grin, her hands settling onto her apron. "Winky and Dobby warns us, Miss. Miss will also be allowing the elves to do their jobs, please. We like to helps you and will be very sad if the Miss does not allow us."
"Oh! Yes of course you may continue in your jobs if you want to. May I ask a favor? I suspect that sometime in the next few days I will be moving into the Manor with my mates. When the elves get a chance, could they please introduce themselves to me and let me know what they do? I would very much like to get to know you all."
The elves all turned to one another, sharing deep looks before Bippy nodded solemnly. "We will do this for the Miss. Now leave my kitchen, we are busy."
Lucius hurried them all out, whispering that he wouldn't mess with Bippy if the Dark Lord himself had asked. Apparently the small elf ran the Manor with an iron fist. Sirius snickered at the look of fear in Lucius' eyes, to which the blonde man simply responded, "You wait and see. One day you'll set a foot wrong around her and she'll snap you back into place faster than you can blink. That elf is a drill sergeant in a pink uniform."
"Do the different colors of uniforms denote anything?" Hermione asked, as she had noticed the kitchen was filled with a variety of colors and patterns.
"Not that I'm aware of. When we did our negotiation this last year for salary, the elves conceded to wearing uniforms instead of towels as part of the initial bargain. When they requested no more than three mandatory days off a month when I wanted them to take a minimum of seven, I said they had to use the same pattern for the uniform, but each elf could pick their own fabric, and they could have four days minimum. As far as I'm aware, not a single one wears a pattern another is wearing, and only Bippy wears that awful shade of hot pink."
Hermione grinned at her new mate, "That's amazing. What a strange negotiation, having to force them to take days off. I'm sure it was a great deal of fun for you."
"I heard of nothing else for weeks." Severus piped in, "Bippy is a devil of a negotiator, and more than once Lucius had to leave the negotiation table out of sheer frustration."
Hermione's respect for the small elf went up with every passing sentence. "I can't wait to get to know her better."
Severus struggled to control his snickers at the horrified look at Lucius' face when it occurred to him what he had wrought. "That's right. I was wondering how long it would take you to get it. They're gonna team up on you. You're never making another decision again in your life. That elf already runs over half your life. With Hermione in hand? You're screwed, 'Luccy'."
"Awe, it's ok Luccy." Sirius nudged himself into the conversation, quite literally butting his way in between Hermione and Severus. "You're only going to be a little bit whipped."
"Better whipped than single and alone forever." Lucius snapped back, sneering down at Black, whose hand went up to his own heart.
"You wound me!" With this Sirius dramatically fell on the floor dead to Hermione's eye roll.
"Get up. Do you boys mind heading back to Grimmauld? We'll be there in a bit, and will for sure make it back for supper, but I think the mates and I need to have a talk." Both her boys and Charlie perked up at this, nodding.
"Anything in particular you want for dinner?" Sirius asked as Lucius called an elf to help the boys get back to the main hall.
"I want something Asian. That pho place has been on the corner for awhile, we should try there. Ask the mates what they want if we order." It turned out that Severus had tried Vietnamese food before and knew what he wanted, but the other two just gave vague descriptions of what they liked in the hopes that the boys would be responsible with their choices.
An elf named Bonny came to take her boys back to the floo to get home, curtsying in her green floral dress to Hermione in greeting, which Hermione returned respectfully.
"Thank you, Bonny." Lucius said as she and the boys disapparated to the main hall. He took a deep steadying breath before turning to Hermione. "Is there something in particular you would like to discuss?"
Hermione suddenly found herself under the intense scrutiny of all three of her mates. Instead of shrinking under it she scowled back. "Yes I did, there's no reason to get so intense about it. I'm not mad, and I'm not upset, chill out." Immediately the tension was broken, with a good bit of chuckling making its way from Severus and Charlie.
"I was thinking about living arrangements. I don't think it would be wise for us to spend significant time apart." A rumbling growl of assent was her only response from her mates, "But I also don't think that Harry and Sirius would appreciate us all descending on Grimmauld. So. Is the Manor ready for us to move into tonight? Do we think we could make that happen in such a short time frame?"
For a short moment Lucius seemed completely overwhelmed before his body slammed into Hermione, crushing her into a deep kiss. "Thank you." He whispered against her lips before pulling away and composing himself again. It took Hermione a good moment more to contain the flood of endorphins. "The Manor is ready, and I'm certain the elves would be happy to help us move you in if the six of us can't do it ourselves."
Hermione's eyes sought out Charlie and Severus, silently inquiring about their opinions on this. "Less time spent with the Mutt is always my preference." Was Severus' answer, while Charlie simply responded that he was happy wherever she was happy. This settled it in Hermione's mind.
"Ok. Then let's go home and eat, and then we will get moving."
If Hermione was honest with herself, she wasn't sure what happened next. One minute they were all turning for the door, the next Severus was pushing her behind him as Lucius and Charlie burst into their dracken forms, attacking each other, snarls filling the room. She tried to push through Severus to break it up, but his arms might as well have been iron bars for all the good it did her.
"Severus! You can't let them! Make it stop!"
Severus sighed deeply watching the two tumble around, breaking walls, and more than once a piece of furniture. "No, Hermione. This has been coming all day. What's shocking is that it hasn't happened previously. They need to establish who is the top dominant. If you try to get between them like a dunderhead, you will be injured."
The books Hermione had read about drackens had mentioned that the mates would battle for hierarchical spots, but she hadn't expected the sheer brutality before her. Claws and teeth were flying, and blood soaked the floor under their feet. "How long will this last?" She whispered, terror flooding her system.
"As long as it takes for one of them to concede." Severus responded, his eyes locked on the fighting pair.
"And why aren't you in that mess?" Hermione's eyebrows raised at the slight flush that came to Severus' cheeks at this.
"My place in the hierarchy is already established."
Hermione was puzzled for a moment before it finally clicked. "You bottom Lucius, don't you? When you two are together, you submit to him. So you're at the bottom of the heirarchy." Severus' stiff nod confirmed her thoughts, but just as suddenly as it began, the fight was over. Lucius had Charlie on the floor, his knee pinning the smaller male down to the ground, his hand wrapped around Charlie's neck, claws threatening to slice through his jugular.
"I concede." Charlie ground out, his dracken settling into second place in the hierarchy. Severus finally released Hermione, who ran forward to both her other mates, helping Charlie up and berating them both.
"Of all the stupid things to do! All over the nice floors as well! That wall will never be the same. You couldn't just talk it out?" Before she could heal them at all with her wand, Lucius ripped his own wrist open and offered Charlie the blood that freely flowed, which was gratefully accepted. Within moments, the cuts and bruises started to heal themselves, after which Charlie returned the favour. Hermione refused to clean until she had thoroughly checked both of her mates for injury, and given both long kisses. "Please don't do that again. It was terrifying." The words were whispered against Lucius' lips, but she didn't get the response she was expecting.
"I can't promise that, Hermione." To her shocked look, Lucius gently continued, her eyes holding her own. "We are not human, and you cannot judge us by human standards. Drackens are physical beings. We will fight, we will grapple. As head dominant, I may have to punish other dominants for things done within the marriage that caused harm to you or our children. I cannot and will not promise that that will not happen again."
All he got in response was a stiff nod. With a frustrated growl Hermione started to clean, her wand flicking to clean the floors, while Severus and Charlie repaired the walls and furniture. As Hermione moved around the destruction, she considered Lucius' words. Until now, her interactions with her mates, while certainly intense, had been almost human. Sometimes it was easy to forget that their lives were dictated by a set of instincts that were in many ways, foreign to her. This was amplified by the fact that her mates had grown up in the wizarding and dracken worlds, and had cultural norms from both to pull from as well. By the time the big room was back to looking like it had when they walked in, Hermione had gotten her thought spiral under control.
Her mates had kept a respectful difference while she processed, and so one by one she checked in with them, starting with Lucius, and ending with Charlie. Lucius in particular had been very tense while they cleaned, but a kiss and a 'It's ok, we'll figure this out together' went a long way to stilling his spirit. Charlie spent a couple extra minutes stroking her back the way he knew she liked, which banished the last bit of tension from her frame. They shared a smile before Hermione stepped away, much more composed. "Ok. Let's go back to Grimmauld and tell the boys I'm moving here tonight."