Harry, Remus and Sirius grumbled, anger simmering under the surface. They sat strapped to their chairs, black ties taut.
Harry's cheek was bright red. His hair stuck out every which way and his fury was tangible yet silent, thanks to Hermione's spell work. Sirius was also unruly, but the blood was solely on his hands. His bruised fingers flexed in captivity and his dark blue eyes followed Hermione's pacing form.
Surprisingly enough, it was Remus who looked the worst of the three. Remus' face was covered in scratches and he had a black eye. His hands were not as bloody as Sirius', but there was a shard of glass stuck in his right palm. His eyes were golden and locked on the furious witch ahead of them.
"Hermione!" Remus shouted, slamming the front door behind him and his loud footsteps thundered through the house. He looked into the sitting room and dining room on his way to the kitchen, stopping when he found Hermione standing in the center of the room with Draco stable by the fridge.
Remus watched Hermione for a moment, breathing heavily. Hermione's arms held herself around the middle. Her gaze was sealed to the floor and her face was pale. He strode closer to her, reaching his hand out to touch her arm but hesitating when he discovered the shimmer Draco had seen earlier in the day.
Hermione's sad eyes rose to meet Remus' and he fought to stay in control. He felt Moony surface in response to the wariness and exhaustion that seeped from Hermione's every pore. His eyes converted to golden in a flash and he found himself pulling her into his arms, burying his nose into the soft skin where her shoulder met her neck.
Hermione hung limply in his arms; her face clear of emotion while Remus' low growls filled the air. She permitted him this comfort, understanding that the knowledge that one of his pack mates was wounded must be driving him mad.
She was content to let him verify her health for a few moments, but she found her frustration mounting as he possessively held her. She tried to pull back from his arms, but Moony snarled and wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her close.
Hermione huffed and pushed hard against his chest, but he would not move. Exasperated by this scuffle, Draco stepped forward to pull Remus away but Hermione held up her hand.
"Moony." She growled, her head forced to the side as Moony rubbed his cheek against her neck and ensured her safety. "Moony, I'm fine." She quietly tried to soothe him, but a loud bang behind them rattled him again and caused his grip to tighten.
"Hermione!" Hermione's head fell back and she let out a long groan. Moony nuzzled in deeper at this shift and she found her face flushing when his stubble grazed a sensitive spot by her ear.
Hermione still hung in the tall man's arms when Harry and Sirius stormed into the room; the men rushed to surround her and confirm her health. The room became loud and stifling at once, with shouts and growls filling Hermione's head and overwhelming her. She once again tried to pull away from Remus, but he kept a firm grip and she felt overloaded and maddened.
"How could you not tell us, Hermione? You know we would have stood by you!" Harry shouted, desperate to meet Hermione's eyes and understand how he had failed his sister. Harry continued to shout unintelligibly as Sirius' voice rose to overtake his own.
Sirius paced behind Harry, his bloody hands wringing. "I don't understand why you took him to the Ministry, Harry. We should have just beaten that motherfucker bloody. Well, bloodier." He marched closer to Hermione, Harry and Remus to try and touch Hermione. "Are you alright, kitten?" His hand rose to stroke Hermione's cheek and he growled when she flinched away. His eyes darkened further and he resumed pacing, envisaging his hands around a certain ginger's throat.
Hermione's mind became further scattered with the multitude of protective touches and noise and she decided she had had enough. She pulled her wand from her side and brought it up to freeze the three men in place.
They all shouted in surprise at her sudden movement, their mouths dropped open in protest but she silenced them. She levitated them into the sitting room and sat them down on three chairs, black ties expelling from her wandtip to bind them in place.
She sat down on the couch across from them; Draco leaned against the parlor wall. Hermione watched the men across from her; saw their frustration and pain while they watched their girl gather herself. She decided that she wanted to be open and honest with them, but she also knew that she was not one to be controlled.
"Yes, I left Ron because he was abusive." Sirius, Remus and Harry watched her cautiously. "Not that it's anyone's business, but I had planned on keeping it to myself." She glared at Draco who met her eyes firmly and unrepentantly.
"I am only going to say this once, and it is solely because I understand how angry you must all be that I am explaining myself and my actions. Understand?" She quirked her head at the men and they nodded slowly. Sirius and Remus' eyes held a canine ferocity that was only comparable to Harry's dark emerald fury.
Hermione took a deep breath before continuing. She had never verbalized this, but she knew that it would be impossible to live with her friends and family if she kept this from them any longer.
She allowed her gaze to drop to her hands and ran her fingers over her wrists.
"It happened slowly, like all of these things do." She tucked a hair behind her ear. Draco watched her fingers shake minutely.
"He was always quick to anger, but over the years he became increasingly possessive and aggressive. He would grow jealous rapidly, get upset when I stayed late at work and was unsatisfied that I decided to foster a career instead of starting a family with him. He was paranoid that something was going on between me and most of the men in my life, including all four of you." Her eyes flashed briefly to all four men in the room.
"So I began withdrawing from him, unsettled by his random episodes of animosity and aggression. He didn't start with a slap or anything that violent, it was mostly just passive aggressive comments about my career or frigidity." Her stare dropped at that, but she could tell that Sirius and Remus' anger rose at the thought that Ron would verbally abuse Hermione about such sensitive subjects.
"He slowly started pushing me around a bit when I came home late or didn't pay him enough attention, but I mostly ignored it. It developed gradually, and I found my focus on my career all-encompassing. I loved him enough to let him win the smaller battles. Over the past four years, I let him win most of the battles we fought and then all of a sudden I woke up and realized that I wasn't me anymore. I wasn't Hermione Granger, know-it-all extraordinaire." She smiled sadly and looked over at Draco who met her eyes warily.
"So I got ready to leave and I came home early to start packing my things. I came home to find a naked Lavender Brown on my couch and I didn't even bat an eye." Harry's face fell and he opened his mouth to comfort her, but he was still silenced. Hermione shook her head at him and smiled dejectedly.
"It's alright, Harry. I think somewhere deep down I always knew about them. It wasn't a surprise and it didn't affect my decision. I ignored Ron when he got up and tried to explain himself to me and I went into the bathroom to gather my things while he got Lavender out of the apartment. He cornered me in the bathroom and begged me to understand, but I was just so done at that point." Hermione took a breath and continued on, sure to not meet any of the men's eyes.
"We fought and he pushed me into the sink and slapped me." The tension grew to an unfeasibly new level and the silence was thick. Hermione sat in stillness for a few moments to gather her thoughts.
"It simply reinforced my convictions. I moved out of his grasp and got what I could and left for Harry's. Simple as that." She nodded to herself and stood up slowly to release the men from their confines.
Harry, Remus and Sirius stood. Remus' eyes were no longer gold, but a deep blue. Sirius and Harry's eyes were considerably lighter and they all watched the witch with a sense of calm respect.
Harry stepped closer to Hermione and opened his arms.
She met his eyes and her composure broke. She shook her head and sniffed quietly, stepped into his arms and buried her head in his shoulder. He brought up a hand to run through her long hair and soothed her with small noises of comfort.
"I'm so sorry, 'Mione. I can't imagine what that felt like." He murmured to her, pulling her closer. "I'm sorry that we didn't see it: that we didn't protect you." His grip tightened; he clenched his jaw and fought to rein in his anger.
She grumbled into his chest and he pulled back to see her tired face.
"What did you say, 'Mione?" He asked, concerned.
"I don't need to be protected, you dumb prick." She grumbled and Harry chuckled quietly before tucking her back into his embrace. He nodded and held her close, soothing her frayed nerves.
Over the next few days, the men in Grimmauld Place kept Hermione close. Despite her fervent protests, she understood that she lived with three very protective men and that surviving a violent and bloody war caused instincts to be closer to the surface.
She submitted to their touches and gestures, deeply touched by their concern. Remus and Sirius were the most obvious, leaving a slice of her favorite chocolate cake in the library each night and making sure her tea was made just to her liking. Remus found a copy of a book she had been trying to procure for months at no success and Sirius funded the purchase.
Each night, the three of them found themselves in the library close to the witch. Sirius and Remus kept her between them on the couch, with Hermione's back leaned against Sirius' chest and her feet in Remus' lap.
They had discovered this position a few weeks earlier when she had first moved in, but the two men insisted on it after discovering Ron's abuse. Hermione fought them at first, but even she could not deny the tranquility she received from their strong presence and she quite enjoyed reading with Sirius' chin on her shoulder, his head tucked into her curls as he alternated between reading with her and drifting off to sleep. She herself fought sleep often, due to Remus' calming yet possessive stroking of her legs and feet, occasionally giggling when Remus grazed a sensitive spot.
Draco typically rested in the armchair across from the three, quietly reading from books that he learned defensive charms from. He would find himself distracted often, watching Hermione breathe gently between the two Marauders who had claimed her for their own. Sirius would often play with her curls and Draco found himself mesmerized by the dark locks.
Although he would never reveal his inner thoughts, he held these moments above all others in his mind. The calmness he drew from these nights of tranquil friendship was not replicable or replaceable by any means. He kept an air of indifference and nonchalance, but he looked forward to these quiet nights with his roommates when he was off on raids with Sirius, and he could not wait to get home to be with his new family.
He looked up from his book when he hadn't heard anything for a few minutes.
Hermione had fallen asleep against Sirius, her head tilted back against his shoulder. Sirius' hands were curled around her and rested on her stomach, his chest rising and falling slowly with their breaths. Sirius appeared years younger when he had the witch in his arms, the tension absent from his firm form.
Remus was also asleep, his head resting on Hermione's stomach, close to Sirius' hands. Hermione's book had long since fallen to the side and her fingers were tangled in Remus' ashy blonde hair. Remus seemed younger as well, the darkness fading from his expressions when Sirius and Hermione were close by.
Draco smiled to himself and resumed reading.
A few days later, Hermione walked quietly into the kitchen. Her dark hair was in a messy ponytail and her sleep clothes consisted of a large Gryffindor Quidditch jersey she had found upstairs when cleaning. It was large on her, dropping to her upper thighs and her shoulder was visible from the wide neck.
She typically got up a few hours before the rest of the men in the house, so she didn't expect to run into anyone. Especially because they had all gone out last night and gotten home incredibly late. She had remembered to brew a hangover potion the week before, so she spooned a small amount into three mugs and sent them upstairs to each of their rooms with a flick of her wand.
Being Sunday morning, she decided to make everyone's favorite breakfast: pancakes and eggs. She put a kettle on the stove to make her morning tea and smirked when she noticed the slightly different color of the herbs in the box. She laughed at Remus' attempts to trick her and took herbs from her own secret box she kept under the sink.
"Sweet fucking Merlin."
Hermione shot up from her bent position and turned just in time to be picked up and dropped on the counter behind her. She yelped in surprise when she found herself pinned with a tall man between her legs and a large hand on her hip, holding her determinedly.
"What the hell, Sirius? What are you doing?" She cried, taken aback by his aggressiveness. She was used to him being in her personal space, but this was completely foreign to her.
Sirius looked down at her darkly, his pupils vast with lust and his teeth dug into his lip before he pulled her closer and ground into her center. Hermione's head fell back with a small feminine moan, only realizing now the effects of her months of abstinence. Sirius' hands traced up her bare legs, rejoicing in the softness of her thighs.
He brought his hands up to the hem of the jersey she wore and he brought his mouth to her ear and allowed his stubble to graze her neck.
"That's my jersey."
He groaned deeply into her ear as he felt her unconsciously undulate against him. Hermione's face flushed and she allowed herself to fold into his broad body. He smirked against her neck when he felt her heat up in response.
He allowed himself a few more moments of bliss before pulling back and grinning. He felt incredible satisfaction in the dark rose flush painting Hermione's cheeks and her lust glazed eyes.
He stepped back, set her down on the ground and kissed the top of her head. He grabbed his plate of food from the counter and sat at the table. Hermione stood against the counter and went to question Sirius, but he nodded to the door just in time for Remus and Draco to sleepily trudge inside.
Hermione smiled and gave Draco and Remus their plates and the four of them ate breakfast together. Remus and Draco looked questioningly at Sirius when they noticed Hermione's blush, but he just grinned mischievously. Hermione avoided eye contact through their breakfast, but when she snuck a peak at him, he was ready and waiting. He gave her a naughty wink and thanked her for breakfast.
It seemed undeniable that her roommates where on a mission to make her lose her mind. After her encounter with Sirius a few days ago, her libido had rapidly resurfaced and she found herself aching for a man between her legs.
Her tenaciously sexy housemates fostered this ache. She didn't know whether or not they secretly conspired to drive her mad, but it was working. She ran into Remus outside of the shower in just a towel, she saw Draco doing pull ups using his doorframe shirtless, and Sirius kept walking around sans a shirt every morning. She didn't know when the three men had become such studs, but she knew that if she stayed in the house any longer, she was going to jump one of them.
So she planned a date.
Sirius, Draco and Remus passed around a bottle of firewhiskey while playing cards at the kitchen table. The air was thick with smoke from their cigars.
Occasionally they heard a crash followed by cursing in Hermione's bedroom above them, but they ignored the frustrated woman. She had been getting ready for her date for about an hour and they could hear her nerves in her pacing.
It made sense for her to be nervous; she hadn't been on a date in six years. Before that, she was concerned with more emergent pursuits. Namely, keeping Harry Potter alive and defeating Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters. Somehow, she doubted that dueling skills and physical combat would help her in obtaining a boyfriend.
Draco, Remus and Sirius looked up when they heard Hermione's heels click against the old floors as she entered the kitchen. Their fingers tightened on their cigars and they took in the vision that was their roommate.
"Do I look alright?" Hermione asked, tossing her honey brown hair over her shoulder. She straightened out her dark grey dress and slipped into her tall black heels. "Boys?" She tilted her head, her cinnamon eyes lined with black kohl liner and her lashes full and dark.
Remus jumped, his eyes flashing back to blue from gold. "You look great, love. Who's this chap of yours?" He subtly nudged Sirius and Draco, snapping them out of their respective dazes.
Hermione slid her earrings in and smiled at them. "He's a friend of a friend from the Ministry. I think he works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but he's in administration, not an Auror like you two." She nodded to Draco and Sirius.
A knock rang from the front door and she went to get it. Her date stood outside in a nice suit and he handed her a small bouquet of flowers. Her roommates peaked around the corner to catch a glimpse and he appeared to be absolutely ordinary.
"Hey, he's here so we're going to go! Have a great night, guys!" She smiled and waved, happy to be led out by the tall blonde man at the door.
Draco, Remus and Sirius looked at each other and a smug smirk curled across Sirius' face. They returned to the table and resumed their game, talking contentedly and waiting for Hermione to return home. They were certain that she would arrive unsatisfied and alone.
Sure enough, two hours later, Hermione stumbled back into the house. Alone.
She stormed into the room and tossed off her cardigan, kicked her shoes off with a clatter and threw herself down at the table. She stole Remus' cigar and took a deep drag, then grabbed the bottle of whiskey from Sirius and took an equally long drink from it. The men around the table watched her silently, not objecting to her confiscation of their items.
Draco smirked and dealt her a hand.
It became another tradition of theirs, every few nights. They boys would settle in for poker and put four glasses on the table and leave an extra unlit cigar for their fourth roommate. Hermione would scold them for assuming that her date was going to go terribly, and they would pretend to be offended.
Each night, Hermione would return an hour or two later, kick off her shoes and light her cigar. The boys would ask her about her date and she would rant about her strange experiences with various strange men. One man wanted her to take off her shoes; another asked her for her measurements; another tried to slip her something. Each date ended with Hermione storming off and joining her three tempting roommates in poker games.
Tonight, she was wearing a dark purple number and her date had asked her if she would ever consider an open relationship. They hadn't even ordered their appetizers. Hermione found him inexcusably repulsive and she fled.
"The bloke really asked if you'd be willing to let him fuck other birds?" Sirius asked, before taking a drag from his cigar and grabbing a card from the deck. "That's bold." He laughed and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Yes. I don't know what the hell Ginny was thinking when she set us up." She grumbled.
Draco smirked at her. "I think she was thinking that you're getting pretty desperate after all of these failed dates." He met her heated glare easily. "Maybe there's a reason that all of these dates end up with you running away."
"And what would that be, Malfoy?" She glared, willing him not to insult her as she had definitely had enough this week.
"Perhaps you're not interested in men?" He laughed, winking at Sirius and Remus and savoring Hermione's aggravated flush. Remus frowned at him and hoped that Draco would leave the matter there, but he knew better than to expect Draco to not goad Hermione.
"Are you serious? That's definitely not the problem." She groused, drinking from her tumbler. Her head was pleasantly buzzing after her glass of wine at dinner and her two glasses of whiskey at the house.
"Are you certain? You've never really seemed passionate with the men in your life. Perhaps you're looking for a more feminine option?" Sirius laughed good-naturedly and winked at her. He knew it was definitely not true but he had no qualms about ruffling her feathers a bit.
"I can be passionate!" Hermione argued, her face flushing and her brow furrowing. Draco and Sirius laughed lightly and Remus just smiled at her across the table.
"I'm sure you can, love." Remus tried to be diplomatic, glaring at Sirius and Draco for further irritating Hermione. "You guys should leave her alone." Sirius and Draco smiled mischievously and turned to Hermione. They took the hint and backed off, nodding their submission and leaving Hermione alone.
Unfortunately, Hermione's slightly inebriated state caused her to miss this exchange. She stood up suddenly, startling her roommates before throwing back her whiskey and she walked over to stand in front of Remus.
"Hermione, wha-" Remus was incredibly confused as he stared up at Hermione's pink cheeks. He cut off abruptly when Hermione straddled him in his chair and Draco and Sirius went still.
The three men gaped at her, her dress rode up and her pale thighs were visible to Sirius and Draco beside her. Remus' eyes, however, were locked on Hermione's uncertain ones. Remus' hands stayed on the table and he felt time freeze when Hermione's lips descended to his neck and she licked a long strip of his skin.
His head fell back against the chair and he led out a loud groan, his hands flew to her hips to pull her down onto him and thrust against her. She let her hips gyrate naturally and Draco and Sirius' eyes were sealed to her curvy bottom. Remus hardened quickly when he smelt her arousal and he felt her heat against him. Hermione let out a quiet whimper at the feeling of Remus' large member rubbing against her under her dress, and she suddenly snapped out of her trance.
She pulled back from Remus and licked her lips. Remus' eyes were wide and his mouth was still open from shock. She swallowed thickly and got up, fleeing the room before they could question her actions.
The three men sat in their uncomfortably tight jeans and shocked silence.
