August 1982

Hermione cradled the sleeping toddler in her arms, the tips of her fingers brushing strands of his unruly black hair away from the lightning bolt shaped scar etched into his forehead by dark magic.

They had been too late to save James and Lily, and while Voldemort was temporarily vanquished, giving the Order time to hunt down the remainder of his Horcruxes, Hermione knew he might return one day. Peter Pettigrew had managed to escape, the sniveling little rat that he was, but she'd managed to save Sirius Black from Azkaban, much to her mate's dismay.

"Do you have any idea what that little wretch put me through in school, Hermione? He deserves to rot on that god-forsaken island." Severus paced their quarters, eyes still red-rimmed with his grief over the death of his childhood best friend.

Hermione shifted the infant in her arms, placing the bottle to his lips and smiling softly as he began to drink. "I'm well aware of what transpired, Severus."

"Then you, of all people, should know—"

"Alpha."

Her voice was quiet, pleading and as the word fell from her lips and he stilled, a discontented growl rumbling from his chest. "Do not use my designation against me, mate."

"I need you to listen to me," she said, her brown eyes finding the dark abyss of his own and holding his gaze. It was only when she saw her mate incline his head did she continue. "Harry needs to grow up around people who love him. Dumbledore wants to place him with Petunia and Vernon Dursley out of some misguided sense of familial magic. Tell me, Severus, who will give him the love and memories of his parents that he needs to thrive?"

"Black and Lupin," he said, though the words were said through gritted teeth, as if he hated admitting a werewolf and an over-confident rake were the best choices to raise Lily's child. She knew he still held some manner of affection for her, even if they had been estranged for several years and the protectiveness he showed to her child made Hermione's pulse flutter. She knew he would love their own unconditionally and with an intensity she could only hope to rival.

"Exactly. I know his fate if he goes with the Dursleys, and it's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy." Hermione closed her eyes, willing the images of the cupboard under the stairs where Harry had spent the better part of his childhood to leave her mind. "And we will be there every step of the way to make certain he turns out well rounded. Remus might be the more level-headed of the pair of them, but he's still a Marauder and prone to a fair amount of mischief."

Severus paled at her declaration and she suspected it was because it meant more time around Moony and Padfoot, something he vehemently detested, though she understood his reasoning completely. Their first confrontation following Lily and James' death had been anything but civil. Wands were drawn before pleasantries were exchanged, despite the fact that Hermione was holding the sole heir to the Potter name in her arms. She recognized the Alpha in Remus and instinctively bared her mating bite to him as she stood at Severus' side.

Remus drew back, settling a hand on Sirius' shoulder as Hermione did the same to Severus, until the former rivals stood down and lowered their wands. Hermione and Remus quietly conversed while Sirius and Severus glared at each other from opposite sides of the room. It was agreed that Severus and Hermione would care for Harry while Grimmauld Place was renovated in order to turn it into a suitable home.

He'd been with them for several weeks now and Hermione was reluctant to let him go. She loved him as if he were her own, and in some small way, he was. In another lifetime, he was her best friend. In this life, he was hers to protect.

"Hermione…" Severus pleaded, crossing the room to kneel at her side.

She placed the nearly empty bottle on the side table and lifted Harry to her shoulder, patting him on the back. "He was my best friend, Severus. The least I can do is make sure he is well cared for, and while I could never replace Lily, he is going to need a mother's influence being raised by Sirius and Remus."

Severus' hand drifted over her thigh to settle on her not-yet-rounded stomach, where he knew his own daughter was growing safely beneath his mate's heart. "He'll grow up with her then, I suppose."

"We'll have him every moon."

Hermione smiled at the moonlight streaming through the small window as she stood from the chair she'd rocked both children to sleep in many times over. Pulling back the blanket, Hermione settled Harry into the small bed beneath the window and tucked him in before checking on Aurelia in the crib next to him.

Her daughter slept soundly, tiny thumb in her mouth as her chest rose and fell with the deep breaths of sleep. She brushed her fingers through the mop of dark curls on the top of Aurelia's head before quietly leaving the room, leaving the children to their dreams.

September 1984

If there was anything Severus hated more than teaching first year potions, it was grading first year potions essays. His mate's heat was days away and he'd yet to cope with the fact that his daughter would be staying at Grimmauld Place with the pair of canines whom his mate seemed to trust implicitly. Truth be told, he was nearly cordial with Remus, though he and Sirius came to blows more often than not over some slight. Hermione usually threw up a shield charm between them quickly enough to stop any permanent damage, much to Severus' dismay. His focus was lacking as the words on the page of Irene Hencock's essay blurring together, visions of his mate in heat filling his mind.

She'd already yelled at him twice when he'd inadvertently moved one of the pillows on their bed out of formation, no matter that she'd moved the damn thing four times already. Her cheeks were flushed and he happily let her scold him since it meant when she was done, he was able to capture her lips in a searing kiss and thoroughly embed their scent in the yet-to-be-completed nest she had erected on their bed in anticipation of the days to come.

She was warm and slick when his hands curled around her hips and he sheathed his cock within her, tight walls gripping him in the delicious way he'd come to crave since her appearance in his lab three years prior. It was something he would never tire of, the way she moaned his name as she tumbled over the edge of bliss, his knot locking them together in sleepy contentment.

He was drawn from his thoughts when the door to his office opened and a flushed Hermione entered, her eyes already dark with the beginnings of her heat. A line of sweat dripped down her throat and over her exposed mating bite as she whimpered, "Alpha… Severus. It-it…" The words seemed to stick in her throat and her hands sank into her hair, pulling the riotous curls from the haphazard bun on the top of her head and sending them tumbling over her shoulders.

The first year essays lay forgotten on his desk as he shoved his chair back and enveloped his mate in his arms, the warmth radiating off of her body and through his teaching robes making his fingers itch to remove them.

"It's early," he said, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her scent.

Mine.

She melted into him, cheek nuzzling against the collar of his robes as her arms wrapped around his lithe frame. "Where's Aurelia?" he asked, forcing his mind to clear from the haze threatening to over-take him.

"Minerva—"

One word was all it took to ensure him that his daughter was in safe hands and his lips crashed against Hermione's, stealing the breath from her lungs in a searing kiss. He warded his office, the spells falling from his lips between frenzied kisses as he backed his mate towards his desk, the backs of her thighs colliding with the ancient wood. His hands braced her back as he lowered her soft body back onto his desk, the haphazard stack of first year essays rustling beneath her as he kissed a hot line over her sternum, lifting the soft fabric of her tee-shirt to settle his lips against her stomach.

Another pregnancy wasn't guaranteed but the Alpha prowling inside of him, knowing his mate was at her most fertile time, itched to watch her swell once more with his child. Finding out she had become pregnant after her first heat had been a shock to both of them and while Severus never expected to become a father, especially not at such a young age, the knowledge of the life they had created filled a void within he hadn't known existed until then.

Aurelia was his pride and joy, the one child he didn't mind teaching despite her young age, and though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, Lily's son had grown on him as well. He was affectionately (and somewhat begrudgingly) known as Uncle Severus to the little boy, but he allowed it since it annoyed Black and Lupin to no end and according to his mate, he was no longer allowed to hex them after inadvertently setting the kitchen at Grimmauld Place on fire.

He'd been aiming for Sirius, not the bloody range.

"Severus, please… It hurts." Her fingers threaded through his hair and she arched her back, urging him down to where the slick pooling from her core had already dampened her cotton shorts.

He breathed in the unmistakable scent of her, his fingers threading beneath the elastic waistband covering her hips. His lips trailed over her sweat-slicked skin as he lowered the fabric down her legs, his voice a reverent whisper, "I'll take care of you, Hermione. Always."

December 1987

Christmas was one of Hermione's favorite times of the year and she was slowly whittling away Severus' resolve when it came to enjoying the Yuletide entertainments. When she had Hagrid drag a tree to their quarters, Severus shrank the magnificent fir so it would fit in a small pot on the desk despite her pouting. When he was teaching class, Hermione un-shrunk the tree and set it up to the right of the hearth. She coated the tree in heavy wards after she finished decorating it with the help of the Hogwarts house elves who happily supplied popcorn garlands and coloured baubles.

Severus had been less than pleased but she quickly showed him the merits of ensuring that at least some of the Yuletide spirit was alive and well in their quarters when he walked in to find her lying naked on a transfigured bearskin rug beneath the twinkling lights she'd charmed onto the tree.

He'd been much more agreeable after he'd taken his fill of her.

Aurelia delighted in helping her mother decorate for Christmas and every year, and the pair of them seemed to bring a bit more holiday spirit into the set of rooms they shared at Hogwarts. The door to Aurelia's rooms had a holly wreath on the door and fairy lights in Yuletide colors twinkled above her perfectly-made bed, though her favorite part of the Yuletide season was helping her mother decorate the tree. The bottom of the tree was littered with brightly coloured baubles and the top decorated more sparsely, evident of how far Aurelia was able to reach. It was a sight of imperfection that only endeared Severus to his daughter more. His wife, on the other hand, insisted on doing too many things the muggle way and he thoroughly scolded Hermione when he caught her standing on a chair to place the star atop of the tree instead of properly levitating it, terrified that she might fall and injure both herself and their unborn son.

Still, the one thing she hadn't managed to sway Severus towards was spending part of the holidays with Sirius, Remus, and Harry. He attended, begrudgingly, at her request and sat in the corner of the library at Grimmauld place nursing a tumbler of Sirius' best firewhisky and thoroughly ignoring the festivities until Hermione drug him from the room with threats of making him sleep in Aurelia's room to "keep the monsters away".

"Will it just be us again this year?" Hermione asked, levitating the plates to the large table in the dining room that she and Remus had decorated earlier in the day. The sounds of Aurelia and Harry playing with their toys could be heard in the other room and while she knew Severus had his nose buried in a book, he was still watching the children through a litany of monitoring spells he'd perfected over the past few years.

"No, I've invited Andromeda," Sirius said, finishing the wrapping on Remus' Christmas present. "She's bringing her husband and her little girl. Ran into them a few days ago in the Alley and thought it might be nice to reconcile with at least some of the family."

"That's lovely, Sirius."

"And it'll make Walburga roll over her grave, the nasty cow."

Hermione snorted a laugh. "Has Remus met them yet?"

Sirius shook his head, sending the final present to settle under the tree in the living room, watching as it zig-zagged around the two children who were chasing each other and a floating quaffle through the air. "No, not yet. But I think Moony will like them."

Hermione bit her bottom lip, not daring to say anything. She wasn't disappointed when the werewolf came face to face with his barely fourteen year old mate who managed to break a vase and put a hole in the wall before she even made it out of the foyer. The look that came over Remus' face at the sight of the young clumsy witch fell somewhere between awe and terror.

"This here is my good friend Remus."

Nymphadora stuck out her hand, her hair changing from a mousy brown to a bright pink at the sight of the older man, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. "It's nice to meet you, sir."

Remus nearly groaned, his voice hitching, "Re-Remus will do just fine, Nymphadora."

Her little nose wrinkled and Severus leaned over to Hermione ignoring Aurelia who was tugging at the leg of his trousers. "Is that… who I think it is?"

"Yep."

She doubted anyone could tell, but the corners of Severus' mouth were quirked up the slightest semblance of a grin as they watched Remus awkwardly side-step the little witch who already seemed infatuated with him for the remainder of the evening.

September 1, 1991

Standing on the platform was a relief to Hermione. While Aurelia wasn't quite old enough to attend Hogwarts just yet and Cyprian was barely three, it would be Harry's first year and with the destruction of the final horcrux last year at the hand of Narcissa Malfoy, for the first time since she'd been thrust into the past, Hermione felt like she could breathe.

Truthfully, she missed the castle, but the moment his part in the war was done, Severus handed his resignation into Albus and firmly told the older wizard he would not reconsider even if Albus plied him with the rarest of potions ingredients, a dozen house elves at his disposal, the entire contents of Gringotts, and unlimited tenure. With a twinkle in his eye, Albus had sent Severus and Hermione off with a small party and an overly-large display of fireworks.

Severus and Hermione purchased a tidy storefront in Diagon Alley, opening a shop which sold a combination of common and rare potion ingredients, a handful of proprietary potions, draughts, and salves, and for the right price, access to a Master Creationist who enjoyed breaking spells down into their components and crafting new ones. Hermione had already filed the patent for a spell that allowed parents to determine the designation of their children by the time they turned three in order to better educate and prepare them for life as an Alpha, Beta, or Omega. They'd made a tiny sum from that crafted spell, let alone from the suppressant potion Severus had created with significantly fewer side effects for Omegas.

It was the potion which allowed her to be on the Platform to see Harry over to Hogwarts for the first time since her heat was due to arrive within the next twelve hours. Aurelia and Cyprian would go with Sirius and Remus which might serve as a good distraction since Harry wouldn't be under their roof for the first time in years, save for nights when there was a full moon. Marlene would mind the shop, and Severus and Hermione would seclude themselves in a small cottage on the coast for the three days her heat was due to last.

Cyprian snuggled against Hermione's shoulder, his little arms wrapped around her neck as he yawned. Aurelia stood next to her father, her hand tucked into his as her overnight trunk levitated behind them, a pout permanently etched onto her lips.

Hermione's eyes scanned the platform and with a sigh of relief, she caught sight of the Weasleys and their children. There was no young Hermione Granger roaming the platform that Hermione could tell, but it wouldn't do to have two of her running around and having to explain to Harry and the rest of the children about her trip to the past.

She hoped their time at Hogwarts wouldn't be fraught with dangers as hers had been and that they might be allowed to grow up in a world away from war and danger.

The platform began to fill with more families seeing their children off to Hogwarts and soon her own was surrounded by others. Narcissa took Cyprian out of her arms the moment she and Lucius arrived on the platform with Draco and his younger sister. It amused Hermione to no end when Draco ran off to find Harry, the two of them thick as thieves. Aurelia darted away from her father to help a young Neville Longbottom catch his runaway toad, beaming proudly when she wrangled the little thing and helped him place it into its crate.

The chaos that surrounded them was short-lived and before Hermione knew it, she was brushing Harry's fringe out of his eyes and dropping a kiss to his forehead. His arms wrapped tightly around her waist and she wished him well. He did the same to Severus who managed a fond pat to Harry's back before he said his good-byes to his godfather and uncle, the latter having noticeable trouble keeping his eyes off of his barely-of-age mate who'd come to see off her cousin with her mother and father.

Hermione made certain her own daughter hadn't somehow snuck on the train before tucking herself into Severus' side as the eleven year olds began to board the train.

"I'm not certain it will ever get easier," Narcissa said, one of her hands idly rubbing a soundly- sleeping Cyprian's back as she watched Draco board the train, Harry right behind him.

"No, I don't expect it will," Hermione agreed, casting a quick charm to stop Cassiopeia from tripping as she ran circles around Lucius who looked far to exasperated and not at all certain of how to reprimand his youngest for her behavior.

She felt the press of Severus' hand at the nape of her neck, soothing the ache she'd been ignoring for the past several hours. "We'd better get going. We're cutting it close as it is."

With a nod, Hermione said her farewells to the Malfoys, Sirius, and Remus before kissing her own children and reminding them to mind their manners. Severus did the same, twirling Aurelia around in his arms and passing her some sort of sweet Hermione knew was likely to keep her up all hours—just another way for her husband to irritate Sirius since she refused to allow him to even nudge his wand in the other man's direction after the great kitchen fire of 1987.

It may not have been the life she expected to live, but as she took Severus' hand in her own and allowed the unmistakable scent of him to surround her and fill her senses as they watched the train pull out of the station, Hermione couldn't have been happier.