Happy New Year all!
I want to start out by thanking my best friend/Beta Starkiss666
Also, I want to thank you all for your reviews it really keeps me going
I hope you all have a marvelous 2020
Recognizable characters and happenings belong to the original authors
Two weeks had passed since they had told the pack the truth about them, Hermione had been in constant contact with Sam and Leah since then. Leah had been regularly coming to the house to meet with Remus and herself and Hermione couldn't be happier at the way their relationship had been progressing. She had been ignoring calls from Kae since the date, she knew he'd give up sooner or later and they could just move on with their lives.
She was lounging on the couch when the floo suddenly sprang to life, she nearly fell off her perch scrambling for her wand before she remembered only a select few had access to their house. She kept her wand held loosely in her hand, just in case it was someone who wasn't welcome but had figured a way around the floo block. She let out a sigh of relief when a tall figure stepped through, his short white blonde hair giving away exactly who he was, she was shocked when a second figure came through, his now short black hair was a stark contrast to how he'd worn it while teaching.
She gave them each a smile before dragging Draco into a hug that he returned with enthusiasm, something that had taken her months to get him used to. Neither of the men standing before her today were very good with friendly physical contact or emotions but she was slowly wearing them down. Draco had come around to the casual touching she did a lot quicker than Severus had, their relationship was more on paper than in person. She had constantly written to him with questions about certain potions and their effects on different creatures, or even just when she read something in her 'Potions Monthly' that she wanted to discuss. After sitting back down and motioning for them to do the same she felt a ball of dread settle in her gut, they would only have come together if it was bad news.
Draco was the first to speak, "Well Herms," she shot him a cutting glare at the horrid nickname he used every time he had something to tell her, "I got the results of my testing back about a week or so ago, I had to call in Uncle Sev because the results were not at all what I was expecting. In fact, I'd never even heard of the potion I'd found traces of."
Her eyes had blown wide, so she had been potioned, but, Kae was a muggle...wasn't he? Taking her silence as an invitation to continue Severus picked up where Draco had left off.
"The potion you had ingested is a very rare and very old one. It's not widely known or used because of the expensive nature of the ingredients but also because of the way it must be delivered."
Hermione was racking her brain trying to think of the rare potions she had studied on her own time, snapping back to attention as he continued.
"The potion is called Ad Imperium, also known as The Wise Man's Draught, it was generally used by men who were in arranged marriages with, shall we say, less than willing partners. The potion is used to inhibit your mind, it clouds your judgement and makes you susceptible to the wills of others. The other reason it fell out of style is because it must be ingested willingly as your magical core will reject the potion if it is forced on a wix, but it must also be given by the one who is wanting to control the other. One mode of doing this is to put it in someone's drink or food and then fed to the person one's wishing to control, something they would ingest without a second thought. What I'm trying to figure out is why the effects haven't lasted the way they should, this is a one-time potion that after being given keeps the victim under it's control until the counter agent is given, but seeing as no one but us know you took it, the potion should still be working in you."
Hermione slumped back into the couch, she'd taken a potion, unknowingly, but also completely willingly. She thought back through the date, her mind was still a bit foggy of everything that had happened but, hadn't he insisted on feeding her the sorbet? Now that she thinks about it, he didn't even have any dessert! He just fed her! With a groan she let her head fall into her hands, noticing the way they were both watching her. Just as she opened her mouth to tell them what she remembered the front door flew open, showing Sirius, Remus, Teddy and Leah. Teddy's skin was a russet brown and his hair was black, but his eyes were the same sea foam green as his fathers, he was being carried in Leah's arms and was chattering wildly to her and she smiled indulgently at him.
Sirius and Remus both froze their eyes darting between Severus, Draco and herself. She sighed, they may be on better terms now but there was still a layer of distrust between the Marauders and the Slytherins in the room. Rolling her eyes she turned to Leah, smiling when Teddy's hair turned to her dark curls.
"Leah, this is Draco Malfoy a friend of mine and a brilliant potioneer." The blonde had gone from shifting uncomfortably to standing rigid with his hands clasped behind his back, looking the epitome of the pureblood prince he was raised as. Hermione took Teddy and gave him a kiss before handing him off to his father, she watched amused as Draco brushed the knuckles on Leah's hand, causing Remus to growl lowly behind her.
"The other man is Severus Snape, one of the world's finest potion masters they are here to discuss an incident that happened a few weeks ago and I'm afraid I'm not really ready to discuss the entire thing with everyone here. Do you mind taking Teddy and going up to his room to play?"
Hermione watched as Leah looked between them all as if trying to figure out what was going on before reaching to take Teddy from Remus and moving up the stairs. Pausing to look back once more before disappearing. Hermione waited a few more moments to hear the bedroom door shut before placing a silencing charm and a perimeter alert up so they could continue this conversation in private.
"So, when I was on the date with Kae, we had dessert. I didn't think much of it at the time but he fed me my dessert and didn't have any for himself."
Severus sighed and nodded, "This would explain how the potion got in your system to begin with but it doesn't explain why it's worked it's way out without the counter agent."
Draco had his eyebrows pulled together and was watching the way Remus was looking at the stairs longingly, it hadn't escaped his notice that his former professor looked years younger than he had the last time he'd seen him, he knew that the werewolf curse caused pre-mature aging and he couldn't seem to figure out why Lupin looked 10 years younger. There was little written about werewolves that one could take as truth, the few that had been written by werewolves had been either destroyed by the ministry or taken by the packs. His attention was brought back to the rest of the group when Severus started mumbling under his breath, something he did only when he was comfortable enough to allow people to hear his innermost thoughts.
He watched as Remus caught Hermione's eye and she nodded as he gave her a smile and bolted up the stairs, taking his chance he caught her attention.
"So, Hermione, on a different note than your little issue, what the hell happened to Lupin? He looks ten years younger!"
Hermione laughed, "He found his mate, you probably didn't notice but when he met Tonks he'd aged severely until he finally accepted their bond, after her death his werewolf gene started aging him again, well, once he met Leah and they finally got the chance to acknowledge their double bond his aging reversed a bit making him less sickly and younger looking."
Draco's ears perked, "Double bond? What do you mean by that?"
Hermione winced a bit and looked over at Sirius, she'd been putting her foot in her mouth too much lately, she needed to hang around Severus more and get back to schooling her features and having her filter switched on. She sighed when he nodded, telling her it was okay to tell Draco everything.
"Remus and Leah have a unique situation, they not only share the werewolf mate bond but Leah is a shapeshifter, and the shapeshifters have a bond not unlike the werewolves but they call them 'imprints', they are essentially soul mates but the wolves aren't compelled to be with them in a relationship way, they can be a big brother, or best friend, or really anything their imprint needs. They will protect them with their lives and do anything within their power to keep them happy."
Draco stared at her, his mind whirling he snapped his head up to look at Severus, the former professor seemed to have come to the same conclusion as him. He looked Hermione over head to toe, as if he could hopefully see the bonds he was looking for.
"Herms," he paused when she shot him a glare, "Hermione, is there any possible way, that one of the wolves could have imprinted on you?"
Hermione laughed a full belly laugh, "I'm sure I'd know if someone imprinted on me don't you think?"
Right then the proximity alarms went off and Leah and Remus came down the stairs, Remus was the first to speak.
"What are you laughing about Mina?"
Hermione shot him a grin, "Draco just asked me if there was any way one of the wolves imprinted on me, I laughed because I'm sure I'd know if someone had."
Remus laughed along with Sirius and Hermione but Leah shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. She pulled her hand from Remus's and gave him a peck on the cheek, she loved the way his eyes flashed when she did that. "I need to get going, I have patrols with Seth in a bit, mind if I swing by after?"
Remus looked at her as if assessing if she was okay before nodding and returning the peck, and watching her leave, he didn't miss Draco slipping out after her, he felt his wolf come to the surface and try as he might he couldn't push him back down. He knew, logically, that Draco wasn't a threat to his mate or his relationship with her, but seeing someone younger, better looking and much wealthier, basically an all-around better man than he, going after her when she left triggered him. He had just spun on the spot and was headed towards the door when an arm wrapped across his chest and he was hauled back towards the living room.
"Oh no you don't Moony, Draco isn't a threat and you know it. He probably just wants to talk to Leah, leave them be, Leah can handle herself and I doubt a girl like her would be interested in a poncey prick like him."
Remus knew that Sirius actually liked Draco, but hearing that come from him helped him reign Moony back in. He was right after all, there's no way someone like Leah would want someone like Draco, he was much too high maintenance for someone like her who preferred to be outside, she didn't care if she got dirty or sweaty or anything like that. With a resigned sigh he sat down on the couch with Sirius and listened to Severus drone on about the potion Hermione had been given.
Draco had rushed out after the Leah girl and caught up to her just as she was reaching the gate in the fence that lead out into the woods.
"So, Leah, care to tell me who it is that imprinted on Hermione?"
He almost laughed at the way she froze, she turned her head towards him and he took a step back at the fire that lit her eyes.
"I have no clue what you're talking about, and even if I did, why would I tell someone I've only just met. Don't you think I'd inform my own imprint or even Hermione if I knew something."
Draco raised a brow at her and gave her a calculating sweep, "I'm sure you would if you knew something, unless you've been told not to by a certain alpha in your pack?"
He knew he'd struck gold when her eyes widened and her tan skin turned ashy, her mouth opened and closed as she was trying to formulate a reply.
"I, don't know what you're talking about and my alpha has nothing to do with this conversation. I need to leave now, it was nice meeting you."
Draco didn't get a chance to stop her before she shifted, she gave him a look once more and took off over the fence and into the woods. He shook his head and vanished the ripped clothing that was littering the grass before turning to head back inside, he needed to talk to Uncle Sev about his thoughts.
Leah took off towards the shop, she had to get to Sam before one of the loud mouth boys sees what had happened. She skidded to a stop just inside the open shop doors and padded to the little bathroom where they all kept a change of clothes, it was barely big enough for her to enter in wolf form but it was better than nothing as she didn't like to be nude in front of the boys, no matter how comfortable they were with it. Shifting back she quickly dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a tank top, she didn't bother with socks or shoes before making her way to Sam's office. She found him leaning back in the chair staring at his phone with a stupid little smile on his face.
Leah rolled her eyes, he must have been texting Hermione, or just re-reading their messages, the man was completely hopeless. She shut the door loudly behind her causing Sam to jump, she lifted a single eyebrow as she stared at him while he fumbled to put the phone away and tried not to blush. Plopping down in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk she stared at him waiting for him to speak first.
Sam scoffed, "Oh shut up Leah, it's not like you're any better when it comes to Remus."
This made Leah smirk, one of her favorite pastimes was to get under Sam's skin and bug the crap outta him. She sniffed at him before replying.
"I didn't even say anything Samuel, you're just jumpy. Anyway, I came here from Hermione's to talk to you about something. There were a couple new men at the house today."
She rolled her eyes at the growl he let out and waited for him to finish before continuing, "the younger one, a friend of hers she introduced as Draco, asked me about imprinting and if anyone of us had imprinted on her."
She watched his reaction and wasn't surprised when he froze, "You need to tell her that you imprinted on her Sam, something happened to her, I don't know what, but Draco seems to think the imprinting is very important to what happened."
"You know I planned on telling her at some point, I just want her to like me for me, not like me because she feels that she has to."
Leah rolled her eyes, "And as I've told you time and time again, Hermione isn't the type to like someone just because she thinks she has to. Call her up, ask her on a date, and tell her. If you don't Sam, well...I will."
That got a reaction out of him, he flew up out of his chair sending it slamming into the wall behind him, "You'll do no such thing Leah, you and the rest of the pack are forbidden to talk to her about that."
Leah felt the way the Alpha's command swept over her, but for the first time since she started shifting, she didn't feel its icy grip on her heart. Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch, what was happening to her?
Hermione was ecstatic, another two weeks and school would start, she'd already set up her room, something the principle tried to discourage but she ignored him. She couldn't wait to watch the way Edward and his family interacted with the humans, though, having met Edward more than once she could say she felt the tiniest bit of regret at treating them like a science project. They were humanoids after all, they still felt all the feelings that living breathing humans did, but that wasn't enough to make her stop wanting to study them. They were unique, yes there was the Denali coven that were also "vegetarians" but they didn't live in a well populated area and their leader wasn't a damn doctor!
Shaking her head, she wandered downstairs to get something to eat, the boys were gone to who knows where, having taken Teddy with them, she had the house to herself. She wandered downstairs and turned on a music channel, settling on a rock station she switched it to come out of the sound system and turned it up. Dancing around the kitchen she decided to make waffles, she got the batter started and summoned the waffle iron from the top shelf. She plugged it in and waited for it to warm before pouring the batter in, she pranced to the fridge and pulled out a carton of strawberries and begin chopping them up.
She dug out a jar of strawberry preserves and a jar of smooth peanut butter, she didn't like syrup on her waffles, oh no. That made them far too soggy, a good layer of peanut butter and preserves with some fresh fruit was the way to go. Summoning her teaching satchel, she quickly ran through the list of things she needed to get done before the school year started. She was lost in the planning of her syllabus when the iron dinged making her jump in place. Letting out a laugh at herself she quickly plated up her food and went back to planning.
An hour passed as she ate and finished her list, she moved on to cleaning the house, something that she enjoyed doing by hand but the boys never left much of a mess since they could clean everything with a wave of a hand. Finishing that she went down stairs and started a load of laundry before transfiguring her clothes into something work out worthy. Pressing her hand to the workout room door to let it sense her magical signature she heard the click before it swung open and allowed her entrance.
Going through her memorized warm up before she turned on the fighting mannequin, she thought over the last time she'd done hand to hand training. It was something that had come in handy when her and the boys were on the run, it hadn't saved them from being captured or saved her from being tortured but it had definitely saved her from a worse fate. She shook her head and wrapped her hands, once they were tightly done, she flicked her wrist and a life-sized mannequin came stalking forward, it bowed to her before lunging.
Two hours later she was laying on the padded floor drenched in sweat and panting, she hadn't worked out that hard in months. Her arm was thrown over her face blocking out the light, with a groan she sat up and untied her hands. She flexed her fingers and tossed the wraps in a wash pile by the door, she'd get to them later, opening the door she headed up stairs to take a shower to wash away the grime, then a bath to relax.
Before heading up to her bathroom she stopped by the fridge and pulled out a bottle of her favorite peach wine and summoned a glass from the cupboard. With a sigh she cast a cooling charm on the bottle and glass to keep it cold and hurried up the stairs to shower. Once she was clean, she shut the water off and filled up the tub, adding in some honey and milk scented bubble bath and a generous dose of muscle relaxer potion. Piling her clean still wet hair on top of her head and holding it in place with her wand she slathered on a face mask and quickly sunk into the bubbles exhaling with pleasure. She summoned a book from her room and flipped it open to the page she'd marked, she'd never admit to anyone that she absolutely loved these trashy romance novels, when she had a minute alone, she read them as quickly as possible. Settling back into the bubbles and letting her head rest on the pillow attached to the tub she read, sipping her chilled wine now and again.
Before she knew it, the bottle was empty and the book was finished, she groaned as she looked at the large clock on the wall. It'd been a little over an hour since she got in and she looked like a prune, washing the face mask off she stood out of the tub, pulling her wand from her hair and drying herself before walking into the closet, she quickly found a pair of black yoga pants the clung to her bum and a strappy white tank top, not bothering with undergarments since the boys wouldn't be home for hours, if not until tomorrow, she pulled them on and summoned a bottle of nail polish before pulling her long curls up into a high pony away from her face.
Walking back into the bathroom she vanished the empty bottle and grabbed the glass before heading downstairs. She had just poured herself another glass from a new bottle when the perimeter alarms rang out, taking a sip Hermione looked out the window. She choked on the sip when she saw it was Sam making his way up her drive in his beat-up truck.
'Fuck, fuck, fuck I don't have time to get changed, shit.' she thought as she sat the polish on the coffee table with her wine.
Running to the mirror she cast a spell that covered the dark circles and added some definition to her eyes, nothing insane but she didn't look like a dead woman walking at least. Digging in the purse hanging by the door she found some tinted chapstick and swiped it on, letting the watermelon scent calm her a bit. Pointing her wand at herself she uttered the dreaded spell that held everything up and in place, shivering at the weird feeling. A second passed before she heard the slamming of a car door and the crunch of heavy footsteps on the gravel.
Closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths she tried to calm herself, she shouldn't be this nervous about seeing him, they'd been texting nonstop and she was fine when they delivered the dining room table and chairs, her eyes snapped open, that's it. This is the first time since meeting that they'll be in each other's company, alone and she hadn't been alone with a man that wasn't family since the whole Kae incident. Knowing what was setting her on edge helped, and she knew, instinctively, that Sam wouldn't hurt her.
She still jumped when the doorbell rang, she glanced at the door before giving herself a once over in the mirror, taking a deep breath she pulled the door open and glanced at Sam. She felt a smile form on her face that wasn't forced as she greeted him and invited him inside. Somewhere in the back of her mind she thought she should be afraid to have him in her house alone, he stood almost a foot and a half taller than her, he outweighed her by easily 7 stone, but she wasn't, not in the slightest, if anything having him here made her feel much more comfortable.
Once they wandered into the living room, she offered him a glass of wine, pouring him a glass she sat on the chair next to the couch he was perched on. She was sipping her wine and watching him as he fidgeted and sat as stiffly as possible. He took his first sip of the wine and she couldn't stop the giggle that rose at the look on his face when he realized it was sparkling. She'd been able to resist chuckling at him when she handed him the carved crystal wine glass, his eyes had gotten huge and he gripped it so delicately like it would shatter if he held it any tighter.
Snickering she took another sip of her wine before letting him out of his misery, "As much as I enjoy the company Sam, may I ask what brought on the sudden urge to come here?"
He hadn't mentioned anything about coming over in the numerous texts they'd shared, but she couldn't say she wasn't happy to see him. She watched as he sat his glass down, very gingerly, on the coffee table and he turned his body to face hers. She could see the tell-tale signs of a blush starting in his ears and watched as he closed his eyes briefly as if he was steeling himself for what he was going to say.
"I'd like to take you out, on a date, would you be willing to go?"
Hermione bit her lip, her mind flashing back to her last date, shaking her head she looked Sam over. From the blackest of black hair on his head, down to the warm chocolate eyes that stared at her with hope, fear and something else she couldn't put her finger on. Over the curve of his sheepish grin and down to where his hands were plucking nervously at the buttons on his shirt. She smiled a bit and looked back at his face.
"Sure Sam, I'd love to go on a date with you."
Kae was almost there, another 5 minutes according to his GPS. He couldn't believe his sister was forcing him to go to the wretched cunt's house. She'd been fielding all his attempts to contact her, something he couldn't figure out. His sister had said the potion would put Hermione under his complete control, whatever he wanted her to do she would. Well it did, for a bit, he couldn't figure out how the bitch had snapped out of the control. She'd said it was impossible and that he must have mucked up the dosage or delivery somehow, but he knew he hadn't. He'd reviewed the instructions meticulously to make sure he made no mistake; he couldn't let his sister take away the fortune their mother had manage to secure him before dropping him off at a boarding school in America and never coming back.
He punched his steering wheel ignoring the beep the horn made. God, his sister was wreaking havoc on his life, when she'd first contacted him to help her and her 'friend' out with a little problem he didn't think anything of it. He didn't want to know the details then but looking back he'd been stupid not to ask. Of course, he knew who Hermione Granger-Black was, anyone with any ties to the magical community did.
He hadn't asked how his sister knew she was coming here, or how she knew that she'd be buying a car, he'd wondered briefly if she had a spy but that was way above his sister's brain power. She wasn't the brightest girl after all, they'd both gotten their mothers looks, thank god for her as she was able to land a perfectly wealthy husband to never have to lift a finger in work every again and for him so he could be as much of a player as he wanted, unfortunately for her she'd been stuck with their fathers nose until she had it fixed after the war. He'd gotten a good helping of his father's business savvy brain and his mother's street smarts, something that helped him turn his small fortune into a much, much larger one. If only he'd gotten the magical gene from them too, then maybe he wouldn't have been discarded like yesterday's newspaper when he was only 8.
Finally, he pulled up to a large gated driveway, ahead he could see the house, damn, that house was huge and beautiful. He could feel the pulse of the muggle repelling wards, he was lucky enough to have just enough of a magical core to be able to sense strong bouts of magic, the muggles would call it a 6th sense, it was just enough that the wards wouldn't make him forget why he was there. He stopped just outside the gate and noticed a key pad and a speaker box. It wasn't unlike the ones he'd seen before; you could enter the code to open the gate, or press the call button to have someone in the house open it for you. Glancing up again he noticed a beat-up black truck sitting in front of the garage, he frowned and watched for a bit before the door opened. Hermione came out followed by a man who towered over her, he grit his teeth in frustration as he watched her beckon the man down before pressing a kiss to his cheek. The little whore was already fucking someone else; she should have been crawling back to him begging to be back in his bed, but no, here she was kissing on some blue-collar trash.
Backing his car up and pulling it off into some trees off the road so the man wouldn't notice it he parked and crept out. Hiding behind the pillar next to the gate he watched as the truck came down the road and the gates opened, he waited for the very last second before he dove in between the closing gates. He stood up and dusted himself off, 'disgusting' he thought as he looked at the dirt now coating his patent leather shoes. Patting the holster under his suit jacket he made sure the gun he'd brought was still secure, with a feral grin he started his trek up to the house, he's promised his sister he was going to get Hermione to her one way or another.