When the next knock came at the door, Hermione answered it with the mug of tea in her hand and handed it to Mandy. "What brings you here?"

"As if you don't know." The short wolf walked into the room and growled at her precocious pup, who offered a small whimper but went back to playing with Minerva, not at all chastised. "Heard that the two of you had an eventful lunch."

Hermione gave her own growl and led Mandy over to the sofa. "Dimitri..."

"Fancies you." Said Mandy, making Minerva frown from across the room.

"So Minerva said, but he just hates me."

"No, he only hated you when you were an arrogant, opinionated nineteen year old fresh from school, when you strode back in stinking of humans, telling everyone that you were a lesbian, defying tradition, refused to comply with a betrothal, destroying his hopes of a submissive, younger wife, political connections, and more children."

Hermione put her head in her hand, "I come off really badly when you phrase it like that."

"You were a pain in the arse but you grew up quickly. Dimitri would have realised early on that you wouldn't work, the two of you are far too different and have completely opposite views on almost everything. It doesn't stop him from being attracted to you now, you've grown into a desirable woman."

The younger woman raised an eyebrow, drank her own tea, and exchanged a look with her witch. Mandy continued, "You've been fairly discrete with your… erm… relationships over the years since." Minerva's eyes flashed with annoyance at the wolf's words, not liking the idea. "But Minerva is the first woman that you have ever really brought home, your desire to mate with her means that his dynastic aspirations are permanently over - at least with you. She's human to boot, which is something that Dimitri greatly fears and distrusts."

Hermione sighed, "So I should talk to him rather than kick his arse?"

"I'm not sure you could, even if you tried. Not without magic anyway."

"Mmmmmm." Mumbled Hermione.

"You aren't fighting him!" Said Minerva with a hint of a growl in her voice, something that surprised Mandy. "I'm not normally the type to tell a partner what they can and cannot do, but in this case I'll make an exception… I don't want blood shed on my behalf, especially not yours." The witch briefly lifted her fingers to the mark on her neck, knowing that Hermione would see the gesture for what it was.

"She's right, Hermione."

"I know. My instincts on the other hand..."

Mandy reached out with a smile and touched the young wolf's chin, turning her head and surveying the mark that Minerva had left on her sister-in-law. "Well at least it seems that things between the two of you are progressing nicely."

Both women flushed a little at this, Mandy smirked, then became serious and addressed Hermione again, leaving the witch to answer Evelyn's babble. "Do you want me to go with you when you talk to him?"

"Or me?" Added Minerva, midway through a conversation about whether or not dinosaurs had hair that you could braid like horses.

Hermione ran a hand through her hair, "I'll just go myself. I may hate the guy and every opinion that he has but if my actions contributed to this mess, I have to try and fix it."

About an hour later Hermione strolled through the outskirts of the castle, where the large towers gave way to smaller individual dwellings carved from the rock themselves. She headed for one in particular, hunched into the light jacket she had tossed on over her shirt and jeans. Snow had been falling most of the afternoon, true to her prediction, and it turned the castle into a winter wonderland. As she approached the dwelling the door opened and a teenager stepped out, surprised when he saw her, "Hermione."

"Hey Ewan. Good day at school?"

"Bit weird really, everyone is talking about your new girlfriend."

The witch laughed, "She's certainly got some changes planned."

"Do you think I could stay for another year? If she's there and you're there, I could learn a lot. I want to protect the border, like you do and like Dad does but I don't know hardly anything and it sucks."

She squeezed the giant teenager's shoulder, "Hopefully we can work something out. I'll let her know that you're interested and I'd certainly be happy to have you on the team either way."

"Thanks Hermione."

"Were you going out?"

"Yeah, I'm going to Jorge's, he wants to brainstorm how to glue you to the desk."

"Pretty soon, I'm going to actually be one of your teachers. The joking around will have to stop."

"Aw, come on. It's the funniest thing that ever happens at school."

Hermione shrugged, changing the subject, "Is your dad here?"

"Yeah, he's…" The word 'grumpy' died on the boy's lips but he still mouthed it.

"Here." Boomed a loud voice from behind the hulking teenager, cutting him off.

"Thanks." She said to Ewan, who wandered off towards his friend's quarters, and then she turned to Dimitri, "Can we talk?"

"Talk?!" The word was practically spat at her.

Hermione shoved her hands in her trouser pockets and leaned against the wall, "I'm sorry." The simple statement took the wind out of the man's sails and he stopped whatever tirade was about to come out of his mouth abruptly. "I've behaved poorly, we both have and I'd like to apologise for my part in it."

"You just want me not to harass that woman."

"I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want that, but it's not why I'm here."

The shirtless man offered only a growl at her words. "Fine, come in."

Hermione had known this wolf since childhood, knew him as a friend of her father's and vividly recalled his lonesome howl when Dimitri lost his mate giving birth to Ewan but she had never before been in his house. She sat on the sofa and looked around curiously.

"You wanted to talk, so speak."

"Mandy told me some home truths about my actions, about how I broke our betrothal and I guess I hadn't realised until now that I upset you or how badly I behaved. I was angry at my father's refusal to acknowledge my sexuality and it was wrong to take it out on you."

Dimitri scratched his beard. "You hate me."

"You and I are almost completely opposite in every way; you loathe humans and I don't, you want to expand and solidify our borders by force - I want them to be invisible, yet still effective. And yes, I would rather Obliviate trespassers than kill them. You are an opinionated ass, so yes, you are easy to hate. But when it comes down to it, when I have to recommend a team to mop up a tricky situation, or if I were going into battle with a wolf protecting my flank - it's you I'd pick."

"You're just as opinionated as me. Look at the other day."

Hermione sighed, "Dimitri, you've been mated, you know what it's like."

"So why are you here talking? If I were in your position I would be tearing your throat out now."

"Truthfully, I considered it but you made no attempt to actually hurt Minerva. You could have forced my hand into a confrontation this afternoon but you chose not to."

"She's a human, they're all weak. She makes you vulnerable. I wanted you to see her for what she is and call off this nonsense. It's not too late to change your mind."

Hermione bit down the surge of anger that rushed through her. "Did she look weak? Or sound fragile? Back there in the market?"

"No."

"She's anything but weak. Ask Andrew or anyone who was on my team that day, they didn't like my decision much more than you do but they understand it. And everyone who has met her understands it too. She has so much to offer us and I…"

"You what?"

"I care about her a great deal. She's so smart and she wants to save lives just as much as I do, not just human lives either. You've been to the outside world Dimitri, you know what kind of weapons and technology Muggles possess. Missing hikers, mysterious deaths and faked bear attacks won't work forever to keep our borders secret - not anymore. Minerva wants to assist with that and she's going to help with the school. Look at Ewan, he's happy about his education for the first time I can remember and even asking for more - that certainly isn't my doing."

Dimitri sighed and dropped his considerable bulk into an armchair. "So what, you want me to play nice with your human? She'll betray you, us, as soon as she gets a chance to run. A witch can't be contained like a normal human."

"I know better than to ask that. I just… Stop trying to force us apart. In time she'll either earn your respect and trust or she won't."

"And if I don't? You aren't mated yet, remember?"

Hermione fiddled with the hem of her jacket, her new understanding of his motivations tempering her words, "I won't give her up or relinquish my claim on her. So there is only one way that could end."

"I could challenge you!"

Angry chocolate eyes looked up, "You could."

"There's no way that you could beat me in a fair fight."

"Probably not, but what would it get you? I'd be dead and I don't believe that is what you want." She didn't mention the part where, as a result, Minerva would also be dead or have to find a new mate pretty quickly.

"You wouldn't submit?"

"No, not with Minerva at stake!" Hermione turned her face, letting him see the almost but not quite mating mark that she wore on her neck. "The bond is remarkable, even incomplete as it is. I would die to protect her. You of all people know that." The reminder of his long buried mate was below the belt and she knew it, but she needed him to understand.

"God I hate you." The older wolf grumbled with exasperation, then said, "Fine, I'll leave her alone but I will be watching."

Minerva had meanwhile had an interesting afternoon chatting with Mandy. She had found herself led to a small coffee shop tucked away behind the medical centre. The reason it was well hidden became quickly apparent, to one side of the room was an area filled with brightly coloured foam shapes behind a glass screen that did little to muffle the sound of children playing. Evelyn had rushed off to play without a backwards glance at her new favourite relative.

"This place has mediocre coffee, worse tea and the food is pretty basic. However, you can abandon your pups with the understanding that they receive haphazard supervision."

Minerva laughed at Mandy's assessment. Preferring the concept of poorly made coffee, she ordered one at the counter, paying for their drinks with some of the change she had from buying wine earlier in the day. They took a seat at the back of the room, away from the other parents.

"Your children are adorable."

Mandy smiled, "Yeah they're ok but they have their moments. Have you thought about kids of your own? You're very good with them."

Minerva bit her lip and thought about her answer for a moment. She needed another wolf to talk to; obviously Luisa was willing to discuss this with her, but seemingly her animagus nature put her experience closer to that of a wolf than a human. "Before today the answer would have been no. My child bearing days are long behind me and I'd given up imagining that I would ever have a child."

"What happened today?"

"There was that incident in the market. Then later at the hot spring, I was insanely jealous and needed to… She exposed her throat and I…". Minerva stopped, not really sure what to call what she had done.

"You marked her? Minerva, that's all normal behaviour."

"Not for a witch."

Mandy shrugged, "Don't forget that all humans originally had a common ancestor. Your people have the same instincts buried somewhere beneath that veneer of civilisation. Besides, mating pheromones affect everyone differently. Hermione would have needed that contact just as much as you did."

"I've never felt for anyone what I feel for her. Everything else just seems to fade away."

"I'm like that with Blake. We've been together for twelve years and when he walks into a room, I still get a flutter."

Minerva smiled and then continued trying to verbalise what she was feeling, "Then this afternoon I came out of the bathroom. Hermione was on the floor playing with Evelyn sitting on her lap and in that moment I could imagine exactly what she'd look like holding my child… our child and it was overwhelming. In that instant and even now, I want that more than anything. It's almost a need more than a want." She paused, taking a deep breath. "Does that make any sense?"

"Yes, of course it does." Mandy took Minerva's hands in hers and squeezed tightly. "Hermione would make a great parent and the part of you that's like us, knows that. The idea of having a child and continuing your line is an incredibly powerful draw. You'll probably start wanting to look at bigger quarters and nesting instincts will kick in soon."

Minerva laughed, blinking back relieved tears that had threatened to escape. "Hermione's right, you are 'pretty awesome'."

Mandy laughed, "Don't tell her that I said so but she's normally right."

"You're very close."

"Well, you met Paul. He wasn't the best parent. Once Blake and I were together, we took care of Hermione whenever she was home from school. She was too old for our relationship to become maternal but we remain tightly knit, even more than most wolf social groups. It'll be great, your children can play with these two." Mandy rubbed her stomach tenderly.

"Two?"

"There is a much higher chance of multiple births among our kind than in humans."

Minerva's eyes widened. To go from having no family, only a few days ago - to now having an extended family-in-law, a fiancee and the prospect of multiple children - it was more than a little overwhelming. But those pheromones must have been screwing with her head because she really didn't mind, in fact it felt like it was meant to be.

Authors Note: Oh no! Just realised that chapter 13 never updated. So you lucky people get 2 chapters today. Thanks once more to Libby for the beta. Next chapter is 70% done