DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER!

The Girl Amongst The Wolves

Chapter 36

"Hermione?" Lauren got up and knocked on the bathroom door. "Hermione, are you okay? You've been in there a while…" She didn't get an answer. Starting to panic, she spoke firmly. "Hermione, I'm opening the door." She turned the handle and pushed on the wood, peeking into the room. Hermione sat on the edge of the bathtub, staring at whatever was in her hands. "Hermione?" Stepping closer, she saw that it was a familiar plastic stick. "Oh…Hermione…Are you pregnant?"

Hermione turned to her, tears in her eyes. Opening her mouth, she said…

"Yes." It was spoken in barely a whisper, though Lauren heard it as clear as a bell. "I'm pregnant." She stood up. "I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant!" The two girls embraced each other tightly, laughing and crying at the same time.

"Oh my God!" She took the test from her friend's hands, staring at the two lines which formed a plus sign. "How far along?"

"I don't know…" She smiled again. "Oh, I don't know, my head's clouded!"

Lauren clicked her fingers. "That's why Fenrir's been 'excited'!"

"What?"

"I don't know how it works, but sometimes a male Were can subconsciously pick up…I don't know, vibes from his Mate. He's been so excited because his Were is proud at the idea that you might be pregnant! It's an ego thing."

"So Fenrir's been horny because his Were thinks I'm pregnant?"

"Yes."

"But I am pregnant."

They both nodded and smiled again, hugging each other. "Look, Fenrir is out right now so I think you should visit the Shaman." A Shaman is a Pack's Healer. Depending on the size of the Pack, there can be several Shamans. Because Fenrir's Pack only had forty-one – soon to be forty-two! – there was only need for one Shaman. "She'll be able to tell you how far along you are."

Bouncing with excitement, the two women hurried to the Pack's medical rooms. Opening the door, they looked inside. Sitting at her desk, the Shaman looked up. She was an elderly woman, whose face was covered with age lines. But she smiled gently at the two of them. "Good afternoon, ladies. Alpha Hermione." She nodded respectfully.

"Shaman." They both replied with a similar nod.

"How can I help you?" She asked as she stood up and walked around to them. Hermione glowed with excitement. But before she could speak, the Shaman smiled again. "You believe you may be with cub."

Hermione balked at her and nodded. "Yes…How do you know?"

"You're glowing." She smiled. "Come, lie down here and I'll examine you." Hermione settled herself on the soft examining bed and leant back. The Shaman, to Hermione's surprise, withdrew a wand and approached her. "Lift your shirt, please." Hermione complied. Gently touching the tip of the wand to the soft flesh of her stomach, the Shaman murmured a spell. Above her stomach, a strange mist began to form. It was very odd, almost like a 3D sonogram. But wait…That's exactly what it was! The Shaman moved her wand slowly over Hermione's stomach, making the mist shift and change shape and colour. After a minute or so of searching, the Shaman smiled. "Yes, here it is! You may not be able to see it, dear, but it is there. You may be able to make out a head just about there…" She pointed at a portion of the smoke, but Hermione couldn't see it.

"I'll have to take your word for it." She laughed with a smile. "Can you tell how far I am along?"

"Yes, dear, I'd say about…Five weeks, give or take a few days."

"Five weeks?" Hermione thought back on her mental calendar. "Five weeks…" She looked up at Lauren. "Lauren, five weeks."

Lauren caught on. "Oh Merlin!"

"What is it, dear?"

"I had my first Heat five weeks ago."

"You did?" Hermione nodded. "Well then, I can tell you right now, dear, you're having a boy."

!"!

Hermione's head spun with all the details of her newfound pregnancy. A boy, too! Fenrir's first son, who would be sure to be Alpha after his father. The Shaman had explained how, for some reason and no one knew why but, every child conceived on any Heat throughout a Female's life would always, without exception, be male. There were no theories why, no bizarre explanations, only the experience of hundreds of years. Lauren had smiled and joked on the possibility that Hermione's son and Marta might end up being Mates one day. Hermione didn't know if it would be possible but it was a fun thought.

She walked back to her rooms, unable to keep the smile from her face. Oh, she couldn't wait to tell Fenrir that he was going to be a father! How she'd waited to be able to tell him that she was finally pregnant, that she would give him a cub. She didn't need to look in longing at Marta or the other cubs, because she had one on the way. And in about six months, she'd have that tiny bundle in her arms that she'd been craving for a while now. At the same time, she vowed not to let it disrupt her studies too much. She still had her future to think of.

She entered their rooms, calling out to Fenrir. She heard shuffling in the bathroom, a small thud and a loud cuss. Had he found the pregnancy test that she'd thrown into the bin, although she'd hidden it beneath tissues. She called out again and then he entered the bedroom…Not looking too happy.

"Fenrir? Are you okay?" He grumbled under his breath, storming about the room. And pulled out his bag from the drawer, unrolled it and opened it. "Fenrir?"

He sighed and took a deep breath. "The Dark Lord wants me to go to America."

That was news to Hermione. "Why?"

"Canada, specifically. His spy in the Ministry's Department of Control and Regulation of Creatures has reported more than three thousand Weres living in the forests."

Hermione paled. "Three thousand?"

"That would win the Battle before it even started."

"So are you going?"

He paused stuffing his bag full of shirts and jeans. "Hermione, I'm already packing, of course I'm going."

"But you are going for…For us, aren't you? Not for Him?"

He regarded her closely. "Hermione…How can you even doubt that?"

"I just mean-"

"He told me to go, yes, but that doesn't mean I'm going for Him, for His cause." He continued packing, grabbing handfuls of underwear and socks.

"But what if they say no?"

He laughed humourlessly. "Hermione, what would you have done if any of those European Packs had said no? Just because they're Canadian doesn't automatically mean they'll say no."

Trying to ignore the sting of his words, she changed the subject. "How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know. I need to find all of the Packs and they may need some convincing."

"Is anyone going with you?"

He laughed again. "Of course. He may not like creatures but He knows how much of an asset I am. His dislike for my being a Werewolf won't let Him see me killed offhand."

Hermione looked away in hurt by how he hadn't included her as an 'asset' to Voldemort. Where was the Fenrir who had been praising her only a week ago for managing to earn the support of more than two thousand Weres all across Europe? "Who's going with you?"

"Does that matter?"

"I want to know who is going with my Mate to a country on the other side of the world." She snapped.

He laughed again. "Don't worry, there won't be any females with us."

Her eyes darkened to a shade of amber, her wolf out and angry. "I wasn't worried about that, I was merely asking!" He didn't reply, just packed two pairs of heavy boots. "When do you leave?"

"As soon as I've finished packing."

"But…If you're going to Canada, I'd hoped-"

"You'd hoped for a quick bit of rough and tumble?" He growled. That growl would normally have turned her legs to jelly but now it only infuriated her.

"Actually I'd hoped to talk to you about something."

"Well it'll have to wait, I need to leave." He snapped as he zipped up the bag.

Too angry to tell him, she simply glared. "Fine then, leave."

He slung the bag over his shoulder and walked up to her. "Try not to get into too much trouble." That was usually said in a teasing and affectionate way. But now…Hermione snarled, her lip curling up to bare her canines. He laughed, patted her cheek and walked through the Floo without a word goodbye.

Hermione stared after him as the flames died down. 'What just happened?'