Chapter 3

March 22nd, 1998

He slammed his hand against the side of his cottage, a scream tearing from his lips and pain searing through his hand. Why did you leave? We should have claimed her. He has no right to touch her. He growled in frustration. For the first time in decades he felt like he was out of control.

"Alpha?" a young man said hesitantly.

"What?" he growled back.

"I just…well, well heard you scream and just, wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine, Oliver."

"But, you don't…"

"I said I'm fine!" he snapped, the young boy closed his mouth quickly, clearly understanding to shut up. With a quick nod he turned and left.

Go back! We can stop this. You must stop this. She is ours! Shut up, I'm not going anywhere. All that matters is pack, and she is not pack.

She could be.

*Break*

March 23rd, 1998

She stretched her arms above her head, a light pull to her lips as she thought about last night. While there were a few awkward moments and fumbling, she was content and had enjoyed with her first time. She wondered if she was being fair to Ron, but as they'd laid in the grass together after he'd told her thank you and promised to try harder to enjoy their moments over the coming days.

"Just about ready to get out of that bed, Hermione? Mum's had breakfast on the table for ten minutes already and you know how the boys are! If we want any we'd better get down there."

Hermione laughed as she swung her legs out of bed and reached for her jeans. She quickly tossed her hair into a bun and pulled a jumper on. Ready for the day, the two girls headed downstairs for breakfast with the rest of the Weasley's. As they came down the stairs, chatting about where they were going to go in Muggle London, Hermione caught Ron whip his head around at the sound of her voice. She gave her a smile and his face broke out into a huge grin. He jumped up, pulling the chair out next to him, "got a spot right here for you, 'Mione and I saved you the last bit of jam since I know you like it with your toast".

"Thanks Ron." She responded with a smile, looking over at Ginny who looked back at her with a slightly raised eyebrow. She knew she'd definitely get questioned about that later, but she wasn't really sure what she'd say. She reached under the table and gave Ron's knee a squeeze to reassure him that she appreciated his thoughtfulness.

"Has anyone seen Harry yet this morning?" Hermione asked. Ron just shook his head, his mouth full of a bite of food before he swallowed and could respond.

"He got up early, said he was going to grab a snack and just go fly for a bit. I'm going to head out there after I finish eating and see if he wants to practice."

"We're going to have to talk to him. I know he needs time but the fact is, I don't have it. We need to figure out how you all are going to finish what we started and I don't think he's going to like what I have to say about it."

"We don't need to talk about that 'Mione. Why don't we just spend the next few weeks here, enjoying…" he swallowed, his throat feeling dry and voice thick with emotion as he finished, "just enjoying the time we all have left together."

"Because there's still a war raging around us. Ginny is set to return to Hogwarts tomorrow, honestly I can't even believe McGonagall got her out of the building for the weekend."

"They think I'm in the hospital wing; she transfigured one of those training dummies and is telling everyone I've got dragon pox so they don't get too close. Mum doesn't want me going back, but I told her I'm going whether she like sit or not. Too many of the little ones are depending on us to keep them safe."

"Ron, I need to know what happened after I got caught. I can't remember anything over the last week that I've been gone and my memories of the day we got split up are all broken up from the concussion Poppy said I had."

He took a breath before jumping into it. He went over how they'd all gotten separated when the snatchers had found them. He explained that Harry managed to take out the snatcher that was following him, then he summoned his broom and back tracked to see if he could find them both. Ron was dueling the snatcher and the death eater that had been with them when Harry found him. He'd knocked the snatcher out but the death eater caught Ron with a severing charm to the leg. Harry had still been on his broom and just grabbed him, taking off into the woods. They thought maybe the death eater got confused because it all happened so quickly, that he had only cast a few spells buy Harry had dodged the close one and the others didn't even get close to them. Harry got them outside of the anti-apparition ward and apparated them straight to the burrow.

"They went back for you, but they couldn't find you anywhere. Remus he…well he tried to use the wolf to track you but he said he couldn't over top of…"

"He couldn't smell be over the other wolfs scent, yeah that makes sense."

"What happened, Hermione." Ron asked, everyone else at the table sat, obviously hoping to understand how she had gotten away but not out of the anti-apparition wards.

"I kept running, but one of the snatchers stayed just behind me and I couldn't risk apparating. I tripped and he was on me, so we dueled but he caught my shoulder with some sort of hex. I was bleeding everywhere. Then t his man comes out of no where, another snatcher I guess and he casts another anti-apparition ward…this one felt so much stronger than the first one. My memory is really fuzzy around this, but the men kept arguing. The one who had been chasing me wanted to come with to take me to Malfoy Manor for a prize, but the other one was arguing that he'd just go and bring the money later. He was really adamant, maybe he wanted it all for himself…but then he rushed forward and snapped the other mans neck."

"Blimey." Ron breathed out, his focus still honed in on Hermione's words.

"What happened next, Hermione?" Remus asked.

"I'm not really sure. The other man just stood there, pacing…I thought about running but I knew I wouldn't get away and he seemed good with a wand so I just, stood there. He came up to me, cornered me up against a tree…I thought he was going to hurt me but he just kept sniffing me. Then we heard yelling, I think it was the other snatchers. The man, he growled, told me to stay completely silent and not to move. He turned towards the sounds the other men were making and took a step forward. I tried to take me chance and ran. I heard him cast the killing curse, I thought it was for me but I didn't see it and I just kept running. A few minutes later he caught me again but the sun was setting and he, he started shifting. He told me to run to the river and I took off." She stopped talking and trailed off, silence encompassing the room.

"And then?" Ginny finally asked.

"Everything is fuzzy. I just remember running as fast as I could. Then I think he pounced on me, made me slam my head into something, which is where Poppy said my concussion was from. I remember him lunging towards me and screaming when he bit me, but I don't remember anything else. I don't even remember it hurting."

"Hermione, when you say he was sniffing you…was he rubbing his face along your collar bone?"

Hermione blushed at the question; it had been such a surreal moment when it was happening. She knew she should have been more scared than she was in the moment, but she hadn't been.

"Um, well yes but he didn't do anything."

"Interesting."

"What is?"

"Just a theory, I'll have to see if I can find an old text I read years ago."

"What's the theory?" she asked, curious to why that would matter.

"We can talk about it later Hermione, maybe if I can find the text I'll bring it and review it with you."

"I'd still love to know, even if the theory isn't right. I'm writing a journal of this whole process, maybe to contribute to any future research someone does."

"Hermione…I'm not really sure you want me to bring it up right now.

"Come now, Remus. It's not that big of a deal."

"Alright…Well that behavior is typically behavior that a werewolf would have if he found his…well his mate."

"Wait…so you think that I'm this man's mate?"

"I mean it's just a theory. It certainly would fill in the blank as to how you managed to get away from him alive and he even brought you back here. It's not as if Greyback is known for his compassion."

"I'm sorry, what?" Hermione said blankly as Ron shouted "What?" at the same time.

Remus rubbed his hand down his face with groan. "This is why I said we could discuss it after I had a chance to look it up."

"But, I don't remember Greyback being there." Hermione said confused.

"What do you mean, Hermione? He was right there when they apparated in. Greyback was one of the snatchers." Ron said, starring at her obviously confused.

"I…I don't remember him but now that you say that I can't remember the werewolf as a man at all. It's as if his face is there but I can't focus on it at all."

"He must have done a targeted obliviation on you, so you wouldn't remember it was him that turned you."

"But…but why would he do that?"

"I'm not sure, Hermione. He is probably feeling some very overwhelming emotions right now."

Ron snorted, "I don't think that maniac feels anything."

"I despise him but if he does actually believe that Hermione is his mate, then he also recognizes that he just killed the only person he could ever feel whole with."

*End Chapter*