CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: BAITING THE BIG BAD WOLF
Later that very week found the lot of them gathered at Malfoy Manor for a meeting over Harry's plan.
"Okay so Hermione you will be placed somewhere public- maybe in Diagon alley, and we'll stick a rookie Auror on you so Greyback doesn't suspect a trap but also isn't so intimidated that he doesn't initiate contact."
"Good call," Hermione nodded. "He wouldn't believe I'd just be out alone after all week in hiding."
"We wait for him to show. I suspect he won't hesitate to take out your Auror guard then and there, but the rest of the team will all be cloaked and hidden nearby."
"I don't like it," Draco muttered. "What if he manages to catch a hold of her and apparates her elsewhere? The situation would no longer be in our control."
"I can put anti-apparation wards in the most immediate vicinity," Theo suggested.
"Wouldn't he sense that?" Katie asked him curiously, leaning towards him from her seat.
Hermione noticed the ease with which Theo and Katie navigated themselves around each other, suspecting their assignment helped them work past their history.
"Not until it was too late," Theo said. "He would likely approach on foot from a safe distance, and walk into the anti-apparation zone. By then, he wouldn't know until he actually tries and fails to apparate out of there."
"He could still drag her out of the wards and then apparate," Draco pointed out.
"Excuse me," Hermione cried semi-indignantly. "I can hold a fight of my own, you know. I can buy myself enough time in the warded zone for you all to get to me."
"We know," Harry placated. "We just need to find the right companion for you to be meeting with."
Draco crossed his arms, grumbling under his breath like a child who didn't get his way. Realizing this himself soon enough, he started pacing, trying to think of how better to help their team along.
"Ginny's clearly out- she just had a baby," Draco pointed out.
"We could try a coworker you trust?" Harry suggested.
Hermione shook her head after consideration. "I don't want to pull anyone else into this."
"We can't have you meeting another Auror... that would be too obvious..." Draco mumbled.
"Well it's obvious isn't it?" Katie interrupted their musings. "It should be me."
Hermione looked to her friend regretfully. "No, Katie. I can't keep pulling you into this. You're barely just healed from the last time!"
Theo watched Katie stoically but didn't interrupt, but Draco and Harry were intrigued.
"But I am healed now," she insisted. "Besides, I'm already in this. Greyback clearly sees me as a viable target to get to you, regardless of whether I'm near you or not. This is the best way to not get anyone new involved, you know it."
Hermione sighed. "It's just... it's too much."
"It is too much," Katie agreed, trying to catch Hermione's gaze meaningfully. "But it's not your fault- things just turned out that way."
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked again.
Katie nodded resolutely. "If this is meant to capture him anyway, then yes. Hopefully this will be the last time either of us have to deal with it."
~o~o~o~
The very next day the two girls were seated at an outdoor table at Fortescue's ice cream parlor, trying their hardest to appear casual and at ease. Hermione glanced inside to see their designated Auror standing alertly just inside the windows.
"How long do you think it'll be?" Katie asked lowly.
"Not long," Hermione deduced. "Greyback could probably track us all to the Manor, he just didn't know how to get in. Only a matter of time before he finds us here."
"I'm glad it'll all be over soon."
"I'm sorry you were pulled into all of this," Hermione apologized again.
"No, it's not your fault. Besides, I suppose this brought light to a lot of things that needed sorting out."
"Like you and Theo?" Hermione asked, a smirk tugging at her lips.
"Or you and Draco." Katie threw right back.
Hermione chuckled. "I suppose you're not entirely wrong."
"I'm glad you two were able to figure things out," Katie told her. "If anyone can keep you on your toes it'll be Malfoy."
"What about you and Theo?"
"What about us?"
"You seemed a lot more comfortable around him," Hermione raised an eyebrow curiously.
Katie nodded pensively. "I suppose I'm finally learning to treat him like an acquaintance with mutual friends instead of this big bad death eater from my past."
"Well..." Hermione said with a mischievous smile. "I wouldn't discard the big and bad, but he's definitely no death eater."
Katie broke into surprised laughter after a moment of shock.
"Seriously, is there nothing going on?" Hermione asked curiously.
"No," Katie admitted. "I suspect he's giving me the space to call the shots. It's only been a couple of weeks."
"I mean look at me and Draco. We spent years avoiding each other, and then five more months after he got bitten. In the end it only really took a few weeks for everything to come out."
"I suppose," Katie admitted reluctantly.
As she looked towards Hermione, her gaze found a spot over her shoulder in surprise.
"Cormac," she said in surprise.
"Katie," Cormac sighed, heading over to their table. "Thank goodness I found you."
"Cormac," Hermione asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh Hermione, good to see you," he greeted distractedly.
"Is everything all right?" Katie asked him tentatively. He seemed a bit frazzled.
"I really need to talk to you Katie," Cormac said urgently, holding his hand out to her.
She stared at his hand, looking to Hermione who watched them in confusion.
"Now is not a great time, Cormac. I thought we were going to meet for lunch or something soon? How about I owl you?"
"It can't-" Cormac exclaimed frustratedly before cutting himself off and running his hand through his hair. "It's important, Katie-bell. Please? Just five minutes?"
"I have to stay nearby though," Katie said cautiously. "Only five minutes."
"Five minutes," he promised.
When she grasped his hand, he gently escorted her out of her seat and towards the edge of the seating area. He spoke to her in hushed tones, his stature appearing nervous and hesitant. Hermione frowned. Cormac was never nervous, not even after his growth into the man he'd become. He was always very confident and steady.
When the two kept walking slowly as they talked, Hermione eyes widened.
Katie was about to go beyond the anti-apparation wards.
"Katie," Hermione gasped, rushing after them. Hermione caught them just as they stepped beyond the boundaries, clasping onto Katie's arm.
"Hermione!" Katie turned in concerned surprise.
"How did you say you'd found us?" she asked Cormac, studying him scrutinizingly.
His face twisted in a winced expression. His hand tightened on Katie's wrist before he apparated away, pulling both girls with him.
~o~o~o~
"What the fuck-" Draco yelled just as the three disappeared.
"How did he know exactly where to lead them?" Theo asked in alarm.
"Fucking bastard," Draco cursed. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted him."
"Calm down," Harry barked authoritatively. "We need to find them."
"Why did he lead Katie away?" Theo asked lowly. "If Greyback's after Hermione, why lure Katie?"
"Because he knew Hermione would follow Katie," Harry bit out. "It would be a lot more suspicious if he tried to get Hermione to move so he didn't."
"How do we find them?" Theo asked.
"Portkey." Draco carefully unwrapped a folded napkin to reveal a simple pin inside. "It's linked to a necklace Hermione's wearing."
"Does she know it's a tracker?" Harry asked with wide eyes.
"Of course, Potter. I asked her to wear it for the mission," Draco sneered.
"No need to get snippy," Harry mumbled. Draco only ever got nasty or mean when under extreme pressure. In those times it was hard to tell the difference between him and the spoiled brat from Hogwarts.
"On three." Draco commanded, holding the pin out between the three of them.
"One." Harry breathed.
"Two..." Theo stretched his hand over the pin like the others.
"Three."
~o~o~o~
Hermione and Katie landed roughly on a cold stone floor, the wind knocked out of them. Hermione looked for Cormac indignantly. He too was sitting on the floor, not far from them, staring at the two in horrified shock.
"Cormac," Hermione said cautiously.
"I- I'm so sorry," he stammered, his hands shaking violently. "Y-you have to get out of here. Both of you, now-"
With a bright flash, Cormac hit the floor, knocked thoroughly unconscious.
"He's served his purpose," Greyback mused. "Don't need him spoiling all the fun, now do we?"
Hermione refrained from cringing at the hair curling smile Greyback sported. Katie stirred from beside her, scrambling up beside Hermione when she was able to take in their surroundings.
"You Imperiused him," Hermione surmised calmly, discreetly grasping onto her wand.
"Not called the brightest witch of her age for nothing," he nodded. "But that won't help you now. There's anti-apparation wards all over this place. If anything, I would encourage you to flee, maybe you'll manage to escape the wards before I run you down," he growled with a snap of his teeth.
"Make it more fun for you?" Hermione sneered. "I don't think so."
Greyback seemed to be lulled momentarily into their verbal exchange, precisely why he never saw it coming when Hermione blasted him, a bright white light blinding them all for a second. She knew she'd only have a few strategic chances with her wand and magic since Greyback seemed strangely impervious to them, and given the circumstances, she didn't even hesitate before blasting him with a sectumsempra- the very spell Hermione had reprimanded her best mate so much for using.
In the brief moment Greyback was knocked back, Hermione took her chance.
"Katie, we don't have much time. Get to Cormac, try to revive him, and be ready to apparate him out and defend yourselves."
"You heard him, there's wards up."
"Not for long, the Aurors are coming."
"How-"
"Trust me."
Katie nodded briefly before using her wand to levitate a still unconscious Cormac towards the corner of the room, behind Hermione. She stood in front of her friends protectively, watching with trepidation as an agitated Greyback shook himself off, rising to his feet once more.
The spell that once brought Draco to the brink of death within seconds had left merely a deep gash on Greyback. While he was still bleeding profusely, he still seemed alive and kicking.
Hermione gulped nervously, shuffling her feet. She could only hope the cavalry would find them soon, or Greyback might overtake them in his last fit of rage.
"You'll pay for that, you bitch," he cursed gruffly, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"You'll have to get through us," Katie replied.
Hermione almost smiled in relief as she felt Katie and Cormac come up to stand beside her, their wands readied. She shouldn't have underestimated Katie- of course she'd know how to remove an imperius properly, she was an emergency healer during the war.
"He'll never have the chance," a hard voice bit out.
Everyone looked to the corner of the room in surprise as Draco emerged from the shadows, Harry and Theo flanking him on either end.
Finally, this was all going to be over.
To all their surprise, Greyback broke into pleased laughter.
"Took you long enough, Malfoy. Seems like things are slipping over at the Auror department," he taunted.
Draco watched him like a hawk, merely titling his head in question.
"Well it would hardly be any fun taking out the golden girl if her mate wasn't there to watch every excruciating detail." He smirked.
Despite having six wands trained on him, Greyback seemed completely at ease.
"This year has been one surprise after another," Greyback laughed dryly. "First I find out the heir to the Malfoy line was bitten by one of my pack. Just when I thought I hit the jackpot, turns out his mate is the one and only golden girl."
Greyback turned his gaze on Hermione.
"You've had it coming since you escaped the manor during the war," Greyback spit. "You were promised to me. If only Bellatrix hadn't fucked it all up."
"I am surprised though," Greyback admitted curiously. "Your wolf should've led you straight to your mate a lot sooner."
Hermione's eyes connected with Draco's in stifled surprise. He thought Malfoy was a full werewolf.
Greyback picked up on their surprise, laughing once again, coming to the wrong conclusion.
"So you haven't even managed to mate her yet, pup? It's a pity for you, you'll never again get the chance to do it."
In a blur of movement, Greyback lunged for Hermione. Cormac stepped between them only to be knocked against the nearest wall by the raging werewolf. Katie, with her wand steady, attempted to stun him. The flash of bright red merely pulled a grunt from him before he twisted her wrist at an unnatural angle, causing her to shriek unwillingly.
Draco, Harry, and Theo surrounded them almost immediately, but not soon enough. Greyback had caught a hold of Hermione and send her wand clattering away, his hand with a firm grip on her jugular as he stood behind her, using her as a shield from the Aurors.
"Uh uh uh," Greyback warned gleefully. "Humans are so... gentle, wouldn't want my hand slipping, now would we?"
"Let her go." Draco bit out.
"No, I don't think I will," he sneered.
"We have you surrounded, Greyback," Harry said calmly. "The wards are still up and there are Aurors surrounding the whole property. You have nowhere to run."
"See, all the more reason to have my fun."
Greyback sniffed along the column of Hermione's neck, laughing at Draco cruelly.
"You haven't mated her, you haven't even marked her," he scoffed at the young Malfoy. "Looks like the pup doesn't know how mates work. Perhaps I should show him. She'd like a proper werewolf mate now, wouldn't she?"
Hermione froze in horror as she felt Greyback grow impossibly larger behind her. It was when she felt the brush of his canines against her neck that she confirmed he'd transformed into that wretched half phased version of himself.
"Get. Off. Her."
Malfoy's voice was barely recognizable from, his eyes glowing silver as he eyed Greyback dangerously.
Greyback stopped his movements in surprise.
His hands slackened on her throat for a brief moment.
"It's not a full moon- how are you-"
In his moment of confusion, Hermione took her chance. She summoned all her magic, channeling her anger until she could feel herself ready to burst from it, and she shoved her palms against the hand on her throat and his thigh bordering her small frame.
Greyback yelled out in pain, jerking back from her.
Draco was there in a heartbeat, deftly maneuvering Hermione away from him and behind the protective barrier of him, Harry, and Theo.
Greyback clutched his hand protectively, the skin on it charred as if he'd been burned.
When the others moved to step closer, Draco held them off.
"He's mine."
"Malfoy," Harry warned carefully.
"He's. Mine."
While he may not be a full werewolf, Draco Malfoy was one hell of a wizard. Taking out his wand with a flourish, he sneered at Greyback cruelly.
"Almost everything you just said is wrong."
With a flick of his wrist, Greyback's knees buckled with a sickening crack.
"Hermione is my mate, and nothing you could do would ever change that."
Another flick opened a deep gash on Greyback's chest until he was spewing out his own blood, coughing it out as he tried to breathe.
"Despite your pathetic attempt to pull me down to your level, I am not, nor will I ever be connected with your pack," Draco growled, his voice laced with the presence of his wolf.
"Because you're right about one thing. I'm not a proper werewolf. I wasn't even bitten on a full moon. So you see, you will never have anything to hold over my head."
With that final revelation, another flick of Malfoy's wand snapped Greyback's spine back at an uncomfortable angle.
"Malfoy I think that's enough," Harry said in concern.
He wasn't even phased by his partner's words.
"Mate..." Theo tried sternly.
"Draco, stop." Hermione yelled.
Malfoy finally dropped his arm, breathing heavily.
"You're better than this," she whispered.
Draco staggered back a few steps, looking at Greyback as though a haze had been lifted. He stared at the Death Eater's broken form and down at his own wand in horror, shuffling back uncertainly. Harry rushed forward immediately, securing Greyback and calling for their reinforcements.
"He- he threatened you," Draco said helplessly, looking at Hermione. "I- I didn't even realize what I was doing."
"I know," Hermione soothed, holding his face in her small hands. "I know the wolf was in control, it's okay. We got him, that's what's important."
"No it's not okay," he shook his head. "He could've ripped your throat out, and I couldn't do anything to protect you."
"Hey," Hermione warned sternly. "Trust me to protect myself, we're a team you and me."
"And you did," Draco chuckled reluctantly. "That was brilliant by the way."
"I have my moments," Hermione smiled.
When Draco hesitated minutely, Hermione sighed knowingly.
"What is it? Something's still bothering you."
"Well," he began uncomfortably. "Do you really wish you had a proper werewolf mate? With the marking and all that?" He asked hesitantly.
Hermione released a deep breath of relief. "Honestly? Not at all, the idea scares me a bit to be honest. Seems too much about ownership. You're my partner, not my keeper."
Draco chuckled in relief. "Why am I not even surprised?"
"I'm so excited to go back to my own home," Hermione said as Aurors escorted Greyback away.
"Uh... 'Mione?" Harry winced. "Your home is completely trashed from when Greyback got into it the first time."
"No," she groaned.
"You can always stay with me," Draco suggested lightly.
"I've told you, I can't stand that huge manor-"
"I don't live there," he reminded her. "I've got a nice town house in London, right in the thick of it."
Hermione quirked an eyebrow curiously.
"How long are we talking? Until I get my flat together, or something a bit more permanent?"
"Honestly? I'll take as long as you're willing to give me." He told her earnestly.
~o~o~o~
When Katie was thrown aside by Greyback, she could do nothing but watch in frozen pain until they finally captured him. As soon as Harry had him bound, Theo turned, scanning the room until his eyes fell upon her.
He walked over to her briskly, kneeling in front of her. He gingerly picked up her broken wrist, now an array of purples and greens. She winced, trying not to exclaim again.
Theo looked at her knowingly, his green eyes studying her with a quiet sigh.
"You're always putting yourself in harm's way," he chided quietly.
"I'll be fine," Katie insisted. "Nothing a simple potion won't fix."
"You shouldn't be in danger to begin with!" He exclaimed.
Katie paused, surprised by his raised voice.
"You didn't have to be here tonight, yet you volunteered." He pointed out more calmly.
"You know as well as I do, I was the only real option to accompany Hermione."
Theo shook his head in bemusement. "Perhaps, but you still didn't have to risk yourself like that."
Katie shrugged. "I couldn't just stand aside in safety and watch her do it alone."
Theo nodded. "Just like you couldn't leave all those families to fend for themselves during the war."
Katie looked at him for a moment, feeling unarmed by the way he watched her carefully.
"It's what anyone would've done."
"No it's not." Theo argued. "But you make that choice. Every time."
Katie shrugged again, averting her eyes. "It doesn't really feel like a choice to me. Anyway, I should get to the hospital."
Katie stood up, cradling her wrist carefully.
"Let me take you," Theo insisted.
"I'll be fine," Katie argued.
"You know it's alright to let someone else watch out for you for a change," Theo told her, holding out his hand to her.
She eyed it cautiously. "But why...?"
"Because I want to," Theo said a matter-of-factly.
She pondered for a moment before slowly slipping her hand into his. His fingers closed around it in a warm and secure grip as he gave her a small smile.
She'd be lying to herself if she said she wasn't intrigued by him.
FIN.
~o~o~o~
A/N:
What can I say? I suck at endings? I've been sitting on this chapter for maybe a week now and I don't think it's getting any better. I don't think this was my strongest chapter, but I think there's enough closure. Let me know your thoughts! I'm just happy to wrap this story up.
If you liked this story, be sure to check out my next one!
Check out my new Dramione fic "The Darkness Within." It's a darker, rated M war fic. Draco defects, Harry lives, but the final battle is postponed. The prologue is posted, so make sure to add it to your reading lists (:
~ Mischief Managed