After the full moon

Baby werewolves. The full moon passes. Scabior gets a scolding and restriction. The love birds have their first argument.

After Scabior, Fen and Mary left, they sat around the table, talking, putting off as long as they could, putting up the cages Grace, Teddy Lupin and Alex would need to sleep in while at least two of them transformed tonight. Hermione held Alex close, if she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine him to be her and Scabior's child. Alex had grown considerably since leaving the hospital. There, he was ignored, fed only as often as necessary and basically treated as if he wasn't even there. Under the loving attention of Fen and Mary, he was now smiling a big gummy grin at her, blue eyes sparkling. Fen had told them werewolf children tended to grow faster than human children. Considering he was barely a month old and already trying to stand up, she tended to believe that. Running her fingers through the little fluff of baby soft hair, she wondered if he really would transform like Grace and Teddy. Looking down as he grabbed her hand and nuzzled it, she was starting to have doubts about that.

Suddenly the little boy looked up at her, bared his teeth and growled! His eyes had taken on an amber glow, the same way she'd seen in Scabior and Grace. That small growl was the only warning she had before he snapped at her hand. She was able to evade him, barely.

"Harry, he's going to transform! He tried to bite me!" she had him held against her and he was squirming and snarling at her. They took the children upstairs, got the cages set up and lined with blankets. By this time, Teddy and Grace were also growling and snarling. They got them into the cages and watched as they transformed.

Without knowing that the transformation was supposed to be painful, they transformed almost seamlessly. Two small pups romped around playfully. The third pup was smaller, no bigger than a newborn. He was struggling to gain his feet. The other pups came to watch him, yipping encouragement at the youngest pup. He finally got his feet under him and wobbled over to meet them through the bars of the cages. Harry pointed his wand and levitated the cages into a straight line, then he and Hermione raised one bar each and connected the three cages into one long area for the pups to play in. The three, after investigating each other, began racing around yipping in excitement. They didn't want to leave the pups by themselves. Since Harry, Ron, Hermione and Parvati had to work the next day, Ginny, Andromeda and Annemarie sat up with them. Ginny thought they might, in wolf from, not be old enough to be weaned yet. She went downstairs and prepared three bottles of formula. As she came back into the room, the pups were setting up a commotion that would wake up any neighborhood. She handed a bottle each to the older witches and offered a bottle to the youngest pup. After snarling at her, the milk scent hit his nose and he latched eagerly onto the bottle. After getting their tummies full, they romped and tumbled over each other, pulling on ears and chasing tails. Finally, they settled down and went to sleep.

Ginny had taken the camera to document what each child's wolf looked like. Due to his metamorph talent, inherited from Tonks, Teddy had a slight bluish tinge to his fur, Grace was a pretty little wolf with reddish fur, Alex was a tiny dark brown wolf with red ears. She knew Hermione would be especially interested to see the picture of Alex. Annemarie had told them seeing Alex was just like having Scabior back as an infant. So this picture would show her what Scabior, himself, looked like as a wolf.

The baby wolves woke up three more times during the night, howling until they were fed, then tumbling about and play fighting until they went back to sleep. As the sun rose Friday morning, each child slowly transformed back to their human state. They woke up wide eyed and ready to run. They were let out of the cage and clothed, one by one. Much to the surprise of the witches, little Alex sat up on his own and shakily pushed to his feet. With Teddy on one side and Grace on the other, the child laughed delightedly as he took a few wobbly steps, the older pups hanging on and balancing him.

Hermione came into the room, for once, up early and already dressed for work. She looked at the pictures of the babies. As Ginny had thought, she was most interested in the picture of Alex. Then she turned and watched the little boy's shaky progress moving around the room. She knelt in front of him and held out her arms. He tumbled into them as he snuggled against her. He obviously shared some characteristics with his older cousin as he pushed higher and buried his little face in her hair.

She laughed softly and carried him carefully downstairs. Harry looked up and blinked. She looked so natural, holding the boy. He'd seen the possessive look on Scabior's face the day she held Alex at the Leaky Cauldron. He wondered how long it would take Scabior to ask her to marry him. It was obvious to them all that the couple were meant to be together. He knew they would probably want their own place but maybe he could talk them into buying fairly close to Grimmauld Place and the Leaky Cauldron. That way, they'd still be close to both him and Tom.

"That's a good look for you, 'Mione." He told her. Ron chuckled as she turned red, holding the baby closer. Parvati circled around to coo at the boy, who grinned happily at her.

"I bet you can't wait until tonight. Scabior will be coming here, won't he?" she asked. Hermione nodded.

"Yes, he'll be sore and I told him we could stay in and watch movies here. He's never seen a movie. He was very interested in them. Especially after I told him about the Lion King reenactment he, Ron and the others put on. That's the first one he wants to watch." She laughed as Ron's ears turned slightly red. "Also, I'm putting him on parole."

"What? Why?" Harry asked, mildly concerned. He had a feeling that it concerned the knife incident.

"I'm going to start confiscating his belt while he's here. That way I can be sure he won't be throwing anymore knives anytime soon." She said firmly.

"He won't like being unarmed, Hermione. You realize that, right? Besides, that was while we, me and him, were little. You're going to punish him for something he did while not fully in control of himself?" Ron cocked a brow at her. "He didn't hit me, you know. The book was what actually knocked me out."

"I know that, Ron. I don't want to take his weapon away but it'll only be a little while. Just while he's here in the house. It's not like I'm taking it away from him entirely. He just has to surrender the belt temporarily. I don't want him trying to fight you again and, this time, really meaning it if he decides to do any more knife throwing." Hermione explained her reasoning.

Both boys looked doubtful. They weren't looking forward to sharing a house with a weaponless Scabior, he was liable to be more dangerous that way. At least, with his belt on, you knew where his weapons were! Harry remembered something else. "He's definitely not going to like being weaponless this weekend, Hermione. Please tell me it's ONLY the knives you're taking. He will still have his wand, right?"

"Of course, he'll still have his wand. It wasn't a wand he threw at Ron, Harry! He won't be completely defenseless, you know! I'm not THAT cruel!" Hermione tut-tutted Harry.

"Good. When will he be here, this evening? I have something to discuss with both of you." Harry looked so serious that Hermione sobered down. "This is about his dad, isn't it?"

Harry didn't answer but his looking away from her gave him away. "He should be here around the same time we get off work." At the thought of Scabior's father, Hermione felt her heart clench in fear. The man had come entirely too close to causing her to kill Scabior. Even now, she could still feel the fear of seeing that spell flash out of her wand and connect with Scabior, the horror of watching him drop like a stone! Had he not been a werewolf, she would have lost him before she had had the chance to even know more about him! Her arms involuntarily tightened around Alex, causing him to whimper as he scented the sudden fear coming from her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, laying her cheek on top of his fuzzy hair, remembering how close he'd come to being thrown to the muggle world because his grandfather was an unfeeling arse!

Harry's face tightened in pain at the fear on her face. 'Gods, he hadn't wanted to tell her anything. He'd tried his best all week long to get the slick bastard's trial set up immediately. The damn tosser either had more connections than he'd thought or he had that many people in fear of him.' He went to put his arms around her, holding her and Alex as tightly as he dared. "Don't worry, 'Mione, everything will be ok, I promise. Let's just go onto work and we'll talk about it when we get in. Scabior will be here by then, he needs to hear this, too."

Ginny came in and took Alex as Hermione stood up. Breathing deeply to calm her nerves, she nodded and grabbed her lunch. She was unable to keep from thinking about things all day. By the time they all got home that evening, she was a nervous wreck. Now she was also realizing why Harry and Ron had been antsy about her taking Scabior's knives. They gathered in the kitchen to wait, knowing Fen and Mary would be with him to collect Alex and Grace.

At six, the Floo opened up and Scabior came through, followed by Fen and Mary. Annemarie held Grace and Hermione was cuddling Alex again. She motioned Fen and Mary to stand back as she knelt and sat Alex down. He looked up at her adoringly and then stood, hanging onto her smock top. He turned and wobbled a couple of steps toward Fen and Mary. Mary had her hands clapped over her mouth in delight. Fenrir was smiling, holding his hands out to the little boy. Alex latched onto them, just as he lost his balance and plopped down on his bottom. Fen laughed and scooped him up. "Oh, I almost forgot. You did the right thing, bringing an extra cage. Alex did transform last night! Ginny had pictures of him, Grace and Teddy to show what all three of their wolves look like! They're so adorable, they didn't even seem to be in that much pain from transforming, either!" she told Fen, who looked happy to hear the pup wouldn't have been in any danger, after all.

Scabior had watched the little boy's efforts expressionlessly but Hermione could still detect his jealousy at seeing Fen interact with the child. She stood and grabbed his hands, pulling him over to the table. She pushed him into a chair and said, "We need to talk." Scabior was suddenly watching her warily. Fen and Mary stood against the wall after Harry motioned them to stay.

"You threw a knife at Ron." She stated simply.

Scabior was unable to tell if she was angry at him or telling him what he'd done. He honestly couldn't remember anything he'd done as a three year old. "Ok? Um," he leaned around her and peered at Ron. "Sorry for that. Not sure why I did it but sorry, won't happen again." He looked back at her, figuring she'd wanted him to apologize to the ginger. She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "I WAS going to request that you surrender your belt while we were here but I've since been told that it might not be such a good idea. Therefore, I won't ask for the belt BUT the next time you fight Ron and throw a knife at him, I WILL confiscate that belt. At the present time, there's a good reason why I can't confiscate it right now. Harry, your turn." She stepped back. At the first mention of his beloved holster belt, Scabior's eyes had narrowed and stayed that through her whole statement.

Harry stepped forward. "First of all, Scabior, let me just say I'm glad you apologized straightaway for throwing the knife. And promising it wouldn't happen again. Second, I actually hadn't planned on taking your belt myself. Now, I just want you to know, I've been trying all week long to get your father's trial jumpstarted. Unfortunately, he has more pull than we thought."

"The Ministry did still have him in custody but as of today, he was released, with a tracking monitor, to house arrest with all the henchmen that were charged alongside him." He paused as Scabior cursed a blue streak. "Yeah, my feelings exactly. Therefore, we had discussed some security measures last week, Fen and I. Some of your brothers will be coming to the Leaky Cauldron Sunday night to help you protect Tom during the week and keep him safe while you're here on the weekends." Harry glanced at Fen to confirm that as Fenrir nodded.

"I will be placing Aurors at every entrance on every floor of St. Mungo's to protect Hermione and Parvati while they work. This house is under a Fidelius charm and can only be connected to the Cauldron and other places at mine and Hermione's discretion. Your father's owl, obviously, can find its inhabitants but it can't directly lead anyone here. For that, they would need to grab either Hermione or myself and force us to lead them here. This is why I want your mother here and you here on the weekends."

"If I have to, we will set up a mini Riot for you and Hermione to dance at. But from today, you and Hermione are both under strict protective measures until we get rid of the threat of your father. Before you object to this, remember Fen is working with me on keeping you safe."

Scabior slumped into the chair as he chewed his lower lip. He shocked them all as he unfastened his holster belt, stood and handed it to Hermione. She took it and held it against her. "You aren't mad at me?" she peered at him hopefully.

He pulled her close. "No, beautiful, I'm not mad. Not at you anyway. The old bastard is another story! He's not going to take any of this laying down, you know that, Potter? He's going to keep trying to kill my mum and he'll be sure to try again with me, I'm sure. As long as my mum is safe, I'm not worried about myself. I dare the old bastard to come after me. I'll shred his arse quicker than he can say my name!" he gathered his mother into his arms alongside Hermione. Just holding the both of them made him breathe easier. He couldn't stand the thought of losing his mother again and just the thought of losing Hermione was enough to make him want to run out, find the old bastard and shred his arse right then and there. The only reason he didn't was because that would send HIM to Azkaban, away from his mother and his little beauty.

"Now that we have that settled. Fen, would you and Mary care to join us for supper? We can talk about some more security measures and you can see the pictures Hermione mentioned. Also we can show you memories of while Scabior was three, you definitely need to see those!" Harry's face was suddenly alight with mischief. Ron's face was blood red as he ducked it, snorting with laughter. Scabior was regarding them with a confused frown, especially as Hermione and his mother started giggling as well. At seeing that, Fen decided he most definitely needed to see those memories! As Mary let Grace back on her feet to go play with Teddy until supper, she joined the rest of the girls in preparing it. Harry and Ron led Fen and Scabior to the living room where there was a pensieve set up.

Harry first tipped in the memory of the first day, in the downstairs bathroom. Fenrir fell up laughing as he watched the little boys 'decorate' the bathroom to cheer 'Mione up. Then they tipped Annemarie's memory into the bowl. Scabior hid his face as he watched himself with the knickers.

Next they viewed Ron's memory of taking them through the Floo. He covered his laughter at the women's panic over losing the boys. Scabior frowned and growled as he was blamed for Ron taking them through the Floo in the first place. He smiled proudly as Molly seemed to take a liking to him, especially after hearing how Hermione could be riled up over him before they ever met again!

Then they were all able to see what had caused what Harry was coming to call, 'the knife incident'. They watched as Ron mocked Scabior's long hair, watching the three year old get angrier the longer he was teased. Suddenly the knife came out and was thrown. They were all impressed at the uncanny accuracy he had even at three years of age! Then he threw the book, knocked Ron out and that was the end of the memory. Then the next memory was Hermione barely catching him in time to keep him from cutting off the red braid! The belt was confiscated, apologies were made and the boys separated for a while.

The next memory had evidently been taken from Scabior. He was in Hermione's room, having just woken up and climbed to the floor. They all began chuckling as the drawers were pulled out and emptied, the makeup investigated and painted with and the powders used last of all. Fen was especially amused by the knickers he was wearing. Scabior groaned, knowing Fen wouldn't let him live THAT down for a while! They laughed like crazy at seeing him using her bras as swinging vines. Then he went to her bathroom. From the time he ripped open the first tampon until they came in to find him 'bathing' Crookshanks, all four of them were laughing so hard they were practically rolling on the floor! Fen watched as he and Ron wore themselves out at the Muggle playground and conspired on the best way to de gnome a garden. He was just as amused watching the Lion King reenactment as Hermione had been. He recognized the puppy dog eyes that Scabior was using to get his belt back from Harry, Scabior having quickly learned that was one of the fastest ways to get something he wanted. Then he watched Scabior freaking out over the loss of his long hair. He clapped the boy on the shoulder and pulled him close, still chuckling madly.

As they came up out of the memories, Scabior looked at Ron with a serious frown. Ron gulped, wondering if he needed to be ready to duck or run away. Instead, Scabior surprised him. "You still owe me a lesson in de gnoming a garden, you know!" he grinned. He and Harry would have to take Scabior to the Burrow one day soon and he and Scabior could de gnome the garden for his mother. "As soon as me and Harry get some extra wards put up, you and I will go de gnome the garden for my mother, yeah?" he and Scabior shook on it.

They all went into the kitchen. Supper, that evening, was a very boisterous affair, with everyone laughing and joking around. Fen told Harry that he'd had seven cubs to volunteer to help their little brother, instead of the original five. There were several more thinking of joining them after they made sure their mates would be looked after while they were gone. The additional number was reassuring to Harry because he knew there would be at least a time or two that Hermione would insist they stay at the Cauldron to give Tom equal weekend time with Scabior.

After supper, Fen and Mary took Alex and Grace home. Hermione led Scabior to the drawing room to show him the telly and get him settled in. She went to the kitchen and brought back some snacks for them. They conjured a blanket and snuggled together to watch the movie.

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Parvati were all in the kitchen, having a last cup of tea before they retired for the night. They could hear a soft conversation from the drawing room and figured Hermione and Scabior would, more than likely, fall asleep watching the movie. It wouldn't be the first time Hermione had fallen asleep in there. Gradually, however, they realized the voices were getting louder and turning into a full blown argument!

Scabior was enthralled by the movie, the first one he'd ever seen. He had to admit, Muggles had found their own way to create their own brand of magic. He was even more amazed when Hermione told him of movie theaters when these movies were shown in a much larger size than the telly they were currently watching. They made plans to go and watch a movie, after everything was resolved with his dad.

"So, we know how my parents are. How are your parents, beautiful?" he murmured softly.

"They're good, I guess, I haven't actually seen them in a while." She didn't want to think about them right now.

"Potter said there was some trouble with them. What kind of trouble?" he shifted around, pulling her closer.

"They didn't like it that I put a Memory charm on them. They called it a betrayal that I chose Harry over them. They wouldn't have been able to protect themselves and Harry NEEDED me! So I chose to protect them in the only way I could see, at that time. Then I chose to go with Harry and protect HIM as well. They chose not to understand why I did what I did." Hermione could feel tears starting to try and well up.

"How long, now, has it been since the last time you saw them?" he turned her in his lap. Looking into her eyes, he could see she was about to start crying.

"It's been almost five months. I went and returned their memories shortly after the war. I even gave them the option of coming home or staying there, if they wanted to. They chose to come home and they acted like they understood why I did it. But then they saw my arm, the scar, from Bellatrix. I had to explain how bad things had gotten in our world and that's when they told me I had betrayed them for choosing Harry over them. I stormed out and I haven't been back since then." A few tears escaped.

"So, does this mean I don't have to worry about meeting any in-laws besides Harry and the Weasley family?" he gently teased.

She whipped around to glare at him. "Why? You don't want to meet my parents?! Afraid they'll torn me against you?! Try to make me dump you?!"

He leaned away from her. "Just what brought that on? Did I say I didn't want to meet them?! You don't want to talk about them, you don't want to think about them but you're angry because you think I DON'T want to meet them?!"

"I'm allowed to NOT want to talk about them or not think about them. They're my parents! I don't criticize YOU over your parents, do I?!" she was building up a full head of steam.

"We aren't talking about my parents, they're already squared away! We were talking about YOUR parents! Maybe I actually WANT to meet them! Maybe you're too ashamed of ME, of WHAT I AM to want to introduce me to them! Is that it?! You're ashamed of me?!" he growled angrily.

"What if I am?! What about you? Couldn't tell your father a simple NO, could you?! Had to threaten him with wanting a mudblood wife before he'd leave you alone, didn't you?! Were you even serious about marrying me or was that some big fantasy to piss your dad off?!" she screamed at him.

"I was serious but I don't think you were! Can't have a Snatcher in the family, can you, nor a Death Eater! Do you know how many girls would KILL to be in your shoes right now?! Even with me being a werewolf?! I could go out and get ANYONE, right now!" he snarled at her, his eyes glowing bright amber!

"Good! Why don't you just throw yourself back out there, right now! See if I care! GO! GET OUT! NOW!" she threw the remote at him and ran out of the room, crying. Harry and the others rushed out of the kitchen in time to see him run of the drawing room. He sprinted to the front door and grabbed the door handle. "Scabior!"

"Open this door, Potter. Before I blast it open! I'm leaving!" he grabbed his wand in time to hear, "Accio, Scabior's wand!" he whipped around to glare at them with amber eyes and bared teeth. "Give me back my WAND, Potter! NOW! You heard her, I know you had to, she wasn't trying to hide it! She wants me gone! Now, let me out of here!"

At that moment, the curtain covering the portrait of Mrs. Black whipped back and she began screaming, adding her unwanted two cents to the scene. "Traitor! Blood traitor! Werewolf, cursed beast, get out of my home!"

Scabior hissed, actually HISSED, angrily as he looked up at the old lady. "You keep your old gob shut, you moldy old biddy, or I'll shred you seven ways to hell and back!" the portrait was so gob smacked that she had nothing else to say.

"Scabior, listen, please! You're mad and so is Hermione. Just come back, sit down, you can't leave." At the angry look sent his way, Harry improvised an excuse. "Your belt! She still has your belt, remember? And, and your bag! It's still in her room, you're going to leave both of them here?"

Scabior thumped his hand against the door angrily but turned and followed them back to the kitchen. He slumped into a chair and held his head in his hands, his elbows on the table. "She hates me, Potter! I should have known this wouldn't work out. It didn't work out a year ago, why didn't I see that it wouldn't be any better this time?!"

"You can't give up, Scabior, not this fast! She just, talking about her parents really upsets her, we should have warned you about that. This whole argument could have been avoided. Listen. Ginny and Parvati have gone up to talk to her. If they can't get her calmed down, they'll bring your stuff down and I'll open the Floo directly to the Leaky Cauldron. You don't need to be outside protective wards. We're warded and so is the Cauldron. Okay? Let's just wait and see if they can work any magic before you leave." Harry could see his words were calming Scabior down. He just hoped Ginny and Parvati were having the same luck with Hermione!

Ginny walked into the kitchen, just then. She was holding his belt and bag. "Hermione already had these sitting in the hall by the time we got up there. She won't open the door or answer us. Scabior, don't give up on her. We'll keep trying but you might want to go back to the Cauldron tonight. Hopefully, we'll catch her tonight or tomorrow and sit her down, okay? Just don't give up on her yet."

Harry huffed as he stared at Ginny. She shrugged silently back. There was nothing they could do except try to encourage the couple not to lose hope. They'd have to work the argument out on their own. He returned Scabior's wand and opened the Floo connection to the Leaky Cauldron. Scabior fattened his belt took his bag and walked through.