"You've been with Potter the last few weeks?"

"It wasn't like that."

Of course, Hermione would not have been with Potter in the way his tone implied, but that may as well have been the case as far as his wolf was concerned. It hurt that she hid from him. That it was Potter she felt safest with just brought back all his old resentment towards the Chosen One.

...

Hermione cupped Draco's chin and raised it to look into his eyes, smoky grey eyes that usually did a good job of concealing their owner's emotions. Now though, there was no mistaking the hurt in them; hurt she had caused him by letting her insecurities keep them apart. "I'm sorry," she said and looked away. "I was scared. I-I thought you would reject me..."

...because of what Fenrir did. She tried to tell him but failed.

After spending the first few hours kissing and caressing till each was convinced their mate was truly back with them, the couple got dressed to resist the urge to mate. However they did not return to the pack, opting instead to sit and talk, despite the late hour. They took turns filling in the blanks about things that had taken place since she left Bleidd, with Hermione telling Draco about everything except for what was done to her while she was a prisoner of Fenrir.

When she gathered the courage to look at Draco again, his eyes were bright.

"How can someone so smart, fail to grasp something so simple," he muttered under his breath. "Do I need to write you a love ballad to make you understand I'm in love with you, Hermione? This isn't some passing fancy a wizard may indulge in and neither is it about what your womb has to offer me. My wolf, my human... all of me wants all of you."

Hearing the truth spoken so plainly, robbed the brightest witch of all speech. All she could do was nod while teardrops began to fill her eyes and roll down her cheek.

"Why are you crying, love?"

She pressed her lips together, shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. The tears continued to flow.

Sensing her inner turmoil, Draco pulled her into his arms again and hugged her while she wept.

Hermione struggled to hold back the tears. This wasn't the time to fall apart, there were other more important things to discuss and do. She would deal with her emotions later, when there wasn't the threat of an imminent attack looming over their heads. However she felt so safe with Draco—a feeling of almost being at home—that she could hold it in no more.

She tried to show some restraint by crying silently, hands tightly clenched at her sides. But soon her face was buried in Draco's chest, her hands fisting his robes, as she heaved and let out everything she had kept bottled inside of her. Her sobs resembled the pained grunts of a wounded animal as she let go of her anger, her pain and her fears. Hermione cried, clutching at Draco, who remained her anchor in the stormy sea of her emotions.

...

Draco held Hermione firmly, silently comforting her by stroking her hair and her back while her tears soaked through the shirt of his robes. Not a gentle or patient man by nature, he would be whatever his mate needed him to be; he was just so grateful Hermione wasn't shutting him out like Ginny was doing to her loved ones. His heart hurt to see his mate like this, but there was nothing to do, except embrace Hermione and wait for her to conquer her inner demons.

Bill Weasley was hiding a secret, carrying it around in his pocket since the attack on Malfoy Potions. Unknown to the rest of the members of the Order Bill had risked their entire mission at the factory by deviating from their plan that day.

As a curse-breaker, his skills were only needed at the point of entry. Once inside the factory, while the rest of the team went about the task of setting up the bombs, he was supposed to blend in with the workers. Instead, Bill went snooping around the factory and through dumb luck happened to not only avoid being caught, but also found what he wanted.

Veritaserum and ingredients essential for brewing it were highly regulated, thus out of the Order's reach. They had adapted, coming up with more creative ways to get to the truth like using the water from the Thief's Fall, but some situations just called for the truth potion.

Someone in the Order, someone they trusted, was responsible for his little sister being captured by the Death Eaters. Their investigation had narrowed the suspects down to a list of six people and absent a proficient legilimens or any Veritaserum, the culprit remained unknown and unpunished.

Bill did not know if Malfoy Potions brewed Veritaserum, let alone where it might be stored inside the factory. Deeply unsettled after hearing about some of the terrible things his sister had lived through, he had acted in an uncharacteristically reckless manner, determined to find out who had betrayed Ginny.

In the midst of all the excitement that followed the attack on Malfoy Potions, Bill never got the opportunity to tell anyone that he now possessed a vial of Veritaserum, and after what happened with his mother and Amycus, he reconsidered his original plan for revenge. It would be better to conduct his investigation in secret and based on what he found out, decide what to do next.

There was only one other person who knew Bill's secret, Luna Lovegood. Like most things involving Luna, it was a mystery how she came to figure it out. During one of her visits, Luna stared down at his pocket through those weird glasses she sometimes wore and said, "There are some nargles circling your pocket, Bill. If you're not watchful they'll steal whatever it is you're hiding in there."

Howsoever it was that she really came to discover his secret, Luna could be trusted. Besides, he would need someone like her to execute his plan. He had shown her the vial of Veritaserum and told her what he wanted her to do with it.

Luna was known to ignore the Order's security directives related to meeting outside of planned missions; she visited with different members of the Order whenever the mood struck her. With all her quirks, no one would question Luna's motives for randomly dropping in for a cup of tea and asking some questions about the night Ginny and Hermione were captured.

Luna's odd sense of fashion and dreamy manner of speech made people underestimate her, making it that much easier for the observant witch to effectively carry out her interrogations. She had already questioned and cleared two of Bill's suspects, which led to an unexpected problem.

Because of the heavy security around Veritaserum, Bill had managed to only swipe one vial, a miracle in itself, not realising at the time that it only contained enough potion to be used on three people at most.

Luna had agreed to help Bill but they could not concur on whom to question. As a compromise, they decided Luna would first question two suspects picked by Bill while the third choice would be hers. Bill had only accepted because he was certain the culprit was one of the people he suspected. After being proven wrong about his first two picks, Bill did not wish to waste the remainder of the precious potion on Luna's pick—someone who wasn't even on the list of six names the Order had shortlisted!

Since Luna would not see reason, Bill had a decision to make; let Luna do as she saw fit or question Padma Patil himself. He did not want to believe that the soft-spoken Padma could be capable of something so cruel but she looked like the most likely candidate of the suspects left.

Padma's sister, Parvati had been one of the early casualties of the war when the Order first went into hiding. The Death Eaters had launched a surprise attack on one of the Order safe houses. Ginny—and everyone else quick enough to portkey to safety—had survived while her roommate at the time, Parvati, had perished in the attack. For a short while, Padma, in her grief, had blamed Ginny for abandoning her sister.

Things between the two witches became further complicated when Ron began to date Padma; Ginny had misguidedly hoped for Ron and Hermione to get back together someday. How convenient that both, Ginny and Hermione, the two hurdles to her relationship with Ron were both gotten rid of in the same night!

It was a stretch to think Padma had set the trap for Ginny... but not as much as thinking it was Cho Chang, as Luna was suggesting. Cho and Harry were known to hook up sometimes, nothing noteworthy there. Quite a few of the younger single members of the Order had similar arrangements, using sex to deal with their despair over the endless war they were engaged in.

Cho, an introvert to start with, became a complete loner after her parents were killed. She was dedicated to the Order and excelled at intelligence-gathering as well as mission planning, but possessed terrible interpersonal skills. In all the years, Bill had not known her to date or engage in any serious relationship. It was incomprehensible that the aloof Cho could harbour feelings for Harry intense enough to make her go to such extreme lengths to rid herself of her romantic rival.

If romantic rivalry were the criteria, they may as well question every wizard Ginny had dated and dumped during the times she and Harry would be on a break. It was ridiculous to think either Cho or Padma could be the traitor—though it was a little worrisome that the two were friends...

What if Luna was correct and Cho did set up Padma?

Bill shook his head. No, this was nothing more than the product of Luna's overactive imagination, just like the wrackspurts and whatnots she went on about. He'd be a fool to squander what little Veritaserum there was to test one of Luna's silly theories.

Hermione stretched out her limbs, feeling much better after her nap. Crying had been cathartic, but also exhausting. At Draco's suggestion, she had slept while he kept watch. She awoke an hour later feeling more rested than she had in a long while.

She yawned and flashed Draco a lazy smile that belied her excitement, "Can't wait for morning to see the boys again." But she would wait; she remembered how difficult it could be to get the twins to fall back asleep when their sleep was disrupted.

"You'll have to wait a little longer than that," said Draco solemnly.

"Why? I'm pretty sure I saw the pack's campsite not far from here."

"They're not with the pack."

Hermione sat up straight, alarmed. Draco put her at ease by telling her the measures he had taken to keep their sons safe.

...

"The twins are safer where they are right now, considering we could be attacked any minute by Fenrir and the Death Eaters," Draco told Hermione. "Let's first dispense with the trouble coming our way."

"They know your exact location?"

"They do now."

"What do you mean?"

Draco hesitated, worried about upsetting her again when her mood had finally perked up. He gave her a more indirect response, "Werewolves can track the pups they sire... up to a particular range, of course."

Hermione understood.

"Fenrir will have no trouble finding me once he's anywhere near the Mountains of the Moon, will he?"

"There are many weres in the pack who were sired by Fenrir," Draco was quick to reassure her. The last thing he needed was for her to run away because she believed it would be safer for their pups and their pack.

"Oskar thinks Fenrir may still not be able to track us. He's always been hopeless when it comes to maintaining the bonds and he's turned so many people over the years, there's a good chance he'll get confused and lost if he tries to follow any of those bonds now." Draco tried to sound dismissive of the threat posed.

But Hermione wasn't fooled. It would be dangerous for their sons to be near anyone who was sired by Fenrir if he could easily track any of them once he arrived in Uganda.

"Who's watching Wilbur and Martin?"

Draco hesitated once again; it was hard to explain just who Mipsy was and why he could be trusted with the care of their sons. It was even harder for Hermione to accept that the elf who had played the role of her prison guard was the one now tasked with protecting her sons.

...

One question led to another until Hermione had a clearer picture of what Draco's life had been like after she left.

Hermione had already noticed the mottled scar tissue on Draco's back; it looked far worse than the scar crisscrossing the front of his torso and that one was the result of the deadly Sectumsempra curse. As Draco answered her questions, Hermione began to comprehend what Harry and Gunnolf had tried to impress upon her. Draco had never abandoned her. He could not sense her distress because he had been fighting for his life.

Thank Merlin for Parkinson and Nott; Hermione was grateful for everything they had done to save Draco. However, when it came to Narcissa Malfoy, her feelings were a little complicated. She did not wish to disregard Narcissa's role in saving Draco's life or the help she had provided the Order in the past few weeks, but it was also hard to forget Narcissa's callousness towards Ginny, Neville, and Merlin knows how many others. Draco clearly cared about his mother a great deal. For his sake, Hermione was happy they were on talking terms again, but personally she far from thrilled about it.

Draco was going to reach out to his Pureblood connections, his mother in particular, about providing statements and memories for Hermione to submit to the ICW. Hermione believed Narcissa would have been perfectly fine with what Voldemort and the Death Eaters were doing if it had not negatively affected her own family; she was not a true friend of the Order. Nevertheless, if Narcissa testified before the ICW, they would all be indebted to her. With her social standing, Narcissa Malfoy's testimony would carry more weight than all the evidence Hermione had gathered so far.

Draco returned to the camp with Hermione in the early hours before dawn so they could rest before the upcoming battle. Around noon, his ring grew warm.

Change in plans—L summoned by DL—Mysterious mission in Bulgaria—L not happy.

Draco had contacted Narcissa the previous evening requesting for an update on Lucius and Fenrir's whereabouts. Narcissa had replied to inform him that Lucius had not been heard from since he left for Bleidd one day prior, and now it seemed that Lucius was headed to Bulgaria. Did that mean they weren't coming after him anymore?

When asked, Narcissa replied that she did not know if the Dark Lord's mission in Bulgaria included Fenrir. It was unknown if Fenrir would still proceed with the attack, but with Lucius gone, it seemed unlikely. Narcissa sent one last message, and this one caused concern.

Call TN—He's tried to call you–Several times—No response.

Whenever Theo firecalled, Mipsy would promptly come to the camp to inform him so he could return to answer Theo's call. If Theo had tried to reach him several times, it was strange that Mipsy had not shown up even once.

"Finally came back, I see," said Cora, seeing Hermione at the entrance of her tent first thing in the morning.

"Took me some time, but I found my way back home," said Hermione, strutting in with more confidence than she had ever shown before.

Hermione's response both surprised and pleased her. "Hope you have no plans to take off before completing the mate-bond this time."

"I have no plans to take off, at all," replied Hermione and sat down uninvited beside her.

"You've changed," noted Cora. It wasn't just that Hermione was a werewolf now. The old Hermione had abandoned her pups and mate to return to Harry Potter and the Order, but according to members of her pack, this Hermione had left the Order to return to them. She truly was one of them now.

"What do you need from me, my alpha?" asked Cora.

Hermione's jaw appeared to come loose at her sincere show of deference. Hermione took a moment to compose herself and then explained about the task she had been given by the ICW.

Cora agreed to provide her statement, reluctantly. She did not like the idea of involving outsiders in pack affairs, but the Death Eaters were too big a threat for the pack to deal with on their own. They could use all the allies they could get.

While the rest of the pack prepared for Fenrir's attack, Cora spent the rest of her morning with Hermione, trying to explain what she knew of the experiments conducted at Bleidd. There was a great deal of secrecy around the creation of the original potion, but she knew that the Dark Lord had used blood magic to alter the original Fero potion. Draco was among the group of werewolves who were given the altered version of the Fero. Cora suspected Hermione was also given the same when she was first brought to Bleidd.

Cora observed that Hermione struggled to grasp the intricacies of experiments, and understandably so. The young alpha not only lacked Healer training, even her basic magical education had been cut short due to the war. However, Hermione possessed a sharp and inquisitive mind. Cora offered to loan Hermione her collection of Healer reference books so she could work at her own pace to find the answers she sought.

Draco spent his morning checking on the new additions to the pack, making sure everyone was settling in okay. After he heard from his mother, he shared with his betas the news that the Death Eaters weren't coming but they still needed to watch for Fenrir and anyone from his pack. He then went to Cora's tent to see Hermione.

"Something strange is going on," he said to Hermione after he was done telling her about the change in Lucius' plans. "I need to go check on my elf. Do you want to come with me, or stay here and watch over the pack?"

Hermione chewed on her lower lip. "If I went with you now, I could be leading Fenrir straight to them, right?"

Yes, there was that risk but he also knew how much she wanted to see Wilbur and Martin. Draco kept quiet.

Head lowered, eyes cast down and shoulders hunched, Hermione shook her head. He could imagine how despondent he would have felt to have come this far and still not be able to see their sons.

"For all we know, Fenrir could be on his way to Bulgaria with Lucius right now," he tried to reassure her. "Let's wait a day, if there isn't any attack we can bring the boys and move the whole pack to Uagadou—take up your friends on their offer of sanctuary," he suggested. He had given the matter some thought and it seemed like the best option. "Just one more day, and then we can be together as a family," he smiled optimistically at her before disapparating.