The room had fallen into dereliction from no longer being used. Cobwebs created a thick layer across the ceiling about a quarter of the way down. The air smelled of mould and ash. The carpet was faded and in places had large back pools of rotted and mouldy fabric. Hermione's blood ran cold and she barely stifled the keen that threatened to escape as the room threw her into memories. The only thing that pulled her back was the fear in the eyes of three men, on their knees wands at their throats held by three of the most feared people Hermione had ever know. Greyback held Neville's hair tightly extending it back slightly so she could see the trickle of blood coming from the indention of the wand. Thorfinn Rowle held Theo in a similar way but there was no blood. The only different one was Blaise, due to his closely cut hair he was being held under the chin by Rodolphus Lestrange. Hissing lowly, Lucius stepped forward starting to raise his wand, but Hermione noticed the wands of the Death Eaters dig in deeper and heard a small whimper of pain and watched as a drop of blood rolled down Theo's neck. She held out her hand to still Lucius so she could stop any more pain coming to her soon to be husbands.
"I meant what I said, anything you want, I can make it happen. Anything just let them go," she pleaded, her voice almost breaking in the middle. Her arms had made their way to her back and she started to cast a silent emergency Patronus to go and get help. With Lucius beside her, they effectively blocked the glowing figure from the crazed intruders and she hoped it found Harry in time.
"You're what we want Mudblood. You can make it all go away for us by adding us to your harem…"
"No one would pursue us with you as our wife…"
"We wouldn't go to Azkaban, we wouldn't get charged, and we'd be free." In order they spoke, clearly, they'd been planning this for a long while. While they had decided on the benefits they obviously hadn't paid much attention to how the ritual worked, but that could work in her favour.
"I can let you in as part of my husbands, but you can't hurt my other ones, the spell won't work if they are in danger. And I can assure you that your wands at their throats constitute danger." She had her hands in front of her now in a slightly surrendering gesture to placate the three unstable criminals. She just made out the faint muffled sound of running footsteps. They were close. She just had to keep them talking so they didn't notice the approach. "If you let them go we can do the spell now if you'd like. We can do it as soon as you let them go." She took a few more steps closer as she was saying this, they'd loosened their hold and moved their wands but had not quite relinquished complete control of their captives. Just as she made it within five feet and the three men had fully dropped Hermione's partners, the doors behind her burst fully open and her remaining husbands sprang into action. She dropped as soon as the door began to move, she crawled her way over to Blaise, Theo, and Neville as the spells erupted overhead. She pulled her wand and cast a shield over the four of them. She felt curses bounce off from both directions and prayed she could keep it up long enough. Though deranged and unhealthy the Death Eaters put up a fight that took the husbands five minutes to end. Still, in her protective bubble, she huddled with her husbands, whispering words that calmed and soothed them.
When the fighting was done Hermione released the shield and stood. As she did she was suddenly wrapped in the arms of Severus Snape. The bone-crushing hug left her sucking in deep breaths but when he held her face between his hands and stared into her eyes she forgot how to breathe at all. His obsidian iris' held a wealth of concern, care, and thankfulness. Her own hands came up to wrap around his wrists and she pressed her face firmly into his palm.
"I'm fine Severus, I'm not hurt just a bit rattled. It's ok you saved me," she cooed quietly to settle him. After she'd said it he seemed to relax and as he did he brought her face closer to his and pressed his lips to hers. They were warm and soft and Hermione sighed against him pushing closer to feel more. Instinctively, Severus moved one hand to the back of her head to hold her and the other settled on her waist. His thumb stroked her ribcage earning him a small moan. He pulled back to observe her. Hermione's eyes were still closed and a small smile sat on her lips. Her eyes opened in time to catch his own smile which turned hers into a grin.
"See, I'm perfectly fine." She reached back up to pop a kiss on his chin before turning to the rest of her husbands. A few looked shocked, a couple were looking away, and Lucius looked like he might catch fire any moment from the heat in his eyes. It caused a blush to fall from her cheeks down her neck as she noticed the same look in the rest of her soon to be husband's eyes. She cleared her throat so it wouldn't break when she spoke next. "Yes, I am ok, yes I know you all now are concerned for me but I am now more concerned for you. I will always have one of you with me at the very least, but you are all running about unprotected. They got into the manor for crying out loud. It's unheard of, not only that but they got the jump of three exceptional wizards. How does that even happen?" by the end of her little tirade Hermione had gotten sufficiently angry at her wizard's lack of protection. How could they be left vulnerable when she was so closely guarded? As she swam in her mind with her thoughts she was moved from Severus' arms to be coddled in the joint grip of Fred and George. Together they peppered her hair and cheeks with kisses and eventually, she calmed down giving them a sheepish smile.
"We can tell you what happened if it would help…" Theo said scratching the back of his neck. Hermione looked at him and saw the blood. Remembering that they were hurt she struggled out of the Weasley twin's grip and flew over to Theo and pulled him to her in a similar way that Severus had done to her. The only difference being that she was in full healer mode. Theo stood still as she checked him over and healed the small cut on his neck. She finished with a small kiss to the now clear spot and moved swiftly over to Neville. Neville's was deeper than Theo's and had a bruise starting to form in a large circle around it. Tears sprung to her eyes as Neville flinched when she lightly touched the spot. She carefully healed the area, Accioing some bruise paste from her bag and applying it gently. The bruise healed before her eyes. Once she was met with pristine skin she also leaned up to kiss the mark, but rather than just a glancing peck she stayed and focused softly lapping at the spot for a moment until she felt Neville's hand tightly grip her hips. She pulled away and looked up at his face, smiling and growing warm at the fire that lit his eyes. Making a happy noise she snuggled back into his chest and grunted until his arms came around her. She gave a little wiggle before pulling away. Finally, she went over to Blaise to make sure that he was ok. She murmured softly in his ear and was stroking one hand over his hair and down the back of his neck before going back up. Once she had ascertained that her wizards caught in the beginning were fine she prompted Theo to continue. His explanation broke the silence that had fallen over the group as they watched Hermione care for her Wizards.
"As some of you know there have been developments in the security at Malfoy Manor. The latest being the magical detection maps. They are a version of 'homo revelio' that stays in the room after it is enchanted to an object. It can pick up the energy of a living creature and that creature is listed on a board outside the room. The only problem is it only lists the room as being occupied by however many presences there are. While we've been experimenting with adding a magical signature recognition section we haven't quite got that far. So when Neville, Blaise and I came in here we could only see that there were three people. We honestly thought it might have been Harry, Remus, and Sirius or the Weasleys. When we went in we saw no one, then we were ambushed. It was nearly an hour before you came back Hermione," he finished quietly. Clearly, the event had caused him great fear and Hermione's heart broke. No one should have to go through that, she out of everyone would know. While this was turning over in her head she interrupted the conversations that had broken out at the end of Theo's retelling. Taking his hand while still stroking Blaise's head she thought about the creature signature dilemma.
"Through my work with magical creatures I've seen that many of them can read magical signatures and assign the different one's identities. It's one of the reasons I'm able to approach the unicorns of both the Forest of Dean and the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. They remember who I am based off my magic. I know House Elves have that particular ability too," she said drawing the attention of all the men. Suddenly her stomach grumbled and with all the attention on her everyone noticed and laughed.
"I think we should get you diner love," Harry said kindly but Hermione paused.
"I was thinking that I could have dinner with Ginny tonight if she wanted. And since it's still early we could move enough stuff for me to stay at my new house… tonight… maybe…please," a quite chatter met her request and they moved as one group to get together enough stuff to be able to have all the wizards and their guests stay the night at the new place. As they started the arrangements immediately. Hermione spoke up again, "I don't mean to put you all out, I know it's tough moving and we've been through an ordeal tonight so I don't want anyone to stress about this…" a hand closed over her mouth cutting her off.
"Hermione I don't think that you're only having one husband with you tonight, especially after what happened. I also don't think that those who won't be sharing your bed will be happy with being in a different building to you. We also aren't going out our way, we're literally shrinking and carrying. I believe that we would all feel better being in the same place as you and if that means we move some stuff and stay at the new house to make you happy we will," Neville said removing his hand and clasping her fingers in his.
"I don't know about you Neville or Blaise but I really want to spend the night with Hermione. If that's ok with everyone else?" Theo asked. Everyone agreed without argument, due to the ordeal the three had undertaken and the moving began in earnest. Beds of all shapes and sizes were moved, tables, chairs and lamps followed. Lucius went to the kitchens to sort out food and the House Elves. Severus went to the potions lab to grab what would be needed in case of an emergency. Marcus and Draco sent a letter to Ginny inviting her to dinner and offering that one of them would come and pick the trio up because they had a new place, also that they were most welcome to stay the night. Greg and Harry were again talking quietly while they worked about Hermione's nightmares and planned another meeting with the husbands to let them know about it when it was their turn to be with Hermione while she slept. Blaise, Neville, and Theo stayed close to Hermione, who was basically told not to lift a finger. The Weasleys had gone ahead with Remus and Sirius to make sure everything was ready for when the rest arrived. It was now 6 and everyone was ready to go. Hermione had suggested pizza for dinner and Harry offered to go and collect it while the others got settled. Ginny had replied saying she'd love to join them for the night and just to send a few people to Apparate them over whenever they were ready.
It was 7 by the time everyone had settled in, the furniture was put to rights, food filled the kitchen and the house elves scuttled happily around setting out drinks and plates for everyone. Truth be told they were worried when the new Missy had told them that they would only be needing plates and wouldn't be eating at a table. But they put their anxiety aside to please their new Missy.
Ginny had gravitated towards Hermione during dinner and the two sat together, heads bent a small way away from the men. They were enjoying their hushed conversation.
"I wish we could have seen it from the audience, Herms, even from the side it looked incredible. One moment you were alone then next you had this swarm of men behind you it was quite bizarre. It was silent until you fainted of course. But you didn't even hit the ground Hermione, Draco had you in his arms before you even got halfway down. That's when it erupted. It was practically a riot, extra Aurors had to be summoned, and those in the audience had to do crowd control. Then you had a line of nearly half the men present trying to refute your husbands' claims to you and saying it should be them. Kingsley dismissed them saying that "if they knew how the spell worked and she was supposed to have different or additional partners then they would already be with her". Draco just had this look of panic on his face with you limp in his arms. Shortly after that you were surrounded by your husbands and Kings got George and Charlie to take you back to the room we were in earlier, but you'd know that" Ginny finished then took a bite of her supreme pizza slice. Hermione was quietly chewing on her own slice. It was nice to get a recollection of what happened, she hadn't heard it from any of her husbands and the moment with Molly hadn't been the most enlightening of conversations.
"Tell me about yours, I heard from your mum that it was nearly as riotous as mine," Hermione said taking another bite and waiting for the redhead to finish her mouthful. Ginny started her reply with a snort.
"Hardly. I mean Cormac and his father tried to cheat and sneak up the back of the stage while my ritual was going on but a whole bunch of people noticed them and they were escorted out. It's been quiet for me and the boys. We've always known each other, hell I even dated Dean, but it's been nice to get to know them better in other ways." A blush had spread across Ginny's cheeks and both the girls giggled even as Hermione admitted she hadn't done more than kiss any of them.
"I think that since I know them well, or at least know of all of them and have had a decent amount to do with most of them I can ease into it, build up personal relationships, learn their individual styles and personalities at my own pace… well as much as I can with all the time limits that are on things. Plus, all the charms help your feelings along to some extent, and I do care for all of them, tonight showed me that more than anything else has. It's been nice though, I think it's going to be a slow burn." This had the girls laughing again and Hermione turning nearly the colour of Ginny's hair.
"Alright you two, I think that's enough girl time, giggling is never a good sign," Sirius said coming over and scooping Hermione up bridal style. Spluttering, Hermione wriggled and protested.
"Put me down Sirius, I'm not a child I can walk." Though when it became clear he wasn't letting her go she crossed her arms and pouted.
"Don't be like that sweetness. I just want to be near you and hold you for a bit, since I know you'll be spending the night with your three little prisoners," he whispered that in her ear, his breath causing goose bumps to erupt. Shivering slightly, she relented and slipped her arm behind his neck and used the other to get a grasp on his shirt front holding her in place. He sat down on a couch in between Remus and Severus. Ginny had also been placed in between her husbands on another couch. She felt Severus' hands massaging her shoulders and neck and Remus got to work on her feet and ankles. She sighed happily and Sirius traced patterns on her thigh with one hand and held her waist with the other to secure her to his lap. Her hand around his neck fiddled with the hair that brushed his collar and a happy rumble sounded through his chest, the vibrations putting a smile to her lips.
Enjoying the peace and quiet chatter that was going on around her Hermione started to drift off. She suddenly jolted back away remembering what she had set up earlier for everyone's entertainment.
Hermione had set up a TV that she had brought with her from her old place. Un-packing this had reminded her that she needed to do something with her old house now that she had the new place. At the time she'd put the thought to the side and made sure her wards were still in place to keep her electronics safe and attached her DVD player to it. having done this when she got here she could now freely operate it from her seat. She levitated four DVDs in front of her gathering.
"I think that with all the drama of today we would be very happy to just sit, relax and watch other people be heroic. Now we get to pick what we watch, but that also means we have come to a consensus on what we want to put on. I have four movies here. I'll give you the titles then we vote, highest wins. Title number one: Insidious. Title number two: Texas chainsaw massacre. Title three: San Andreas and title four: Mad Max, Fury Road. Ok now those for one," she counted three hands. "Number two," this time there were four hands. "Three," another three votes "and four," the remaining nine hands went up. "Ok, Mad Max it is." She used her wand to levitate all the bits together and then worked the remotes to start the movie.
About halfway through the film, Hermione was jostled slightly into a sitting position. She turned her head questioningly to Sirius but before she could say anything she was cut off in a swift kiss. Taken aback she didn't react to the kiss until his tongue ghosted against hers. That caused her to act on reflex and stroke her own against his. While she had not been prepared for the kiss she was even less prepared for the three pairs of hand to efficiently manoeuvre her to be straddling Sirius' lap. One set held fast pulling her into Sirius' chest so she assumed they were Sirius'. The second set which she was sure belonged to Remus traversed the length of her leg and moved over her backside lightly only to repeat the motion squeezing slightly on the return, then continuing. The other hands -most assuredly Severus' -tickled her ribs. All at once the hand spread and his thumb brushed the underside of her breast. She shivered, the motion causing Sirius to buck gently. The moment of contact drawing a low moan from Hermione which was swallowed by the involved kiss. Pulling back to breathe she rested her head on his shoulder as the other two sets of hand s continued. The only difference being that Sirius' now rested on her hip and was ever so carefully pushing downwards to increase the friction. He growled and that made Hermione shiver again, holding in a loud moan. She sat up fully. None of the hands left her person but they stilled.
"As much as I am enjoying this, we can't really continue with everyone here watching a movie," she whispered to her three touchy feely husbands. However, the reply didn't come from any of them.
"Considering we all wish to be in their place I can't think of a single reason for you to actually stop unless you want to. Ginny and her partners departed just after the movie started and we were all enjoying the little display of affection you were giving us," Lucius said from a few chairs over.
If they could have seen her they would notice the scarlet colour she had turned. But they couldn't because she's reburied her face in Sirius' neck to hide from the embarrassment of being caught. Harry came to the rescue as always.
"Ok guys I think we've caused enough blood to go to her face if we aren't careful it'll start leaking out her ears," he said from close by. Hermione nodded ardently without looking up, causing the three near her to laugh.
"Well then sweetness, I guess I'd better pass you over to your sleeping buddies for tonight. You have a big day tomorrow." She was sat up turned and passed off into the waiting arms of Neville.
"Honestly, I can walk, I'm positive you've all seen me performing the activity. I can even run if it's required," was her belated come back. She bid everyone good night and was taken to one of the rooms that had a large bed in it. Theo and Blaise closed the doors behind them. Since she was already in her PJs, she was placed on the bed and her robe taken. The three men then shuck their layers of clothes down to their tighty whities, or in their case, tighty blue, yellow and purples. Retaining her blush Hermione wiggled back and got comfy in the middle of the bed. Theo was on her left and Blaise on her right, Neville did what Greg had don't the night before and situated himself so he was between her legs and his head rested on her stomach. Despite their almost nakedness, Hermione felt safe and comforted and started to rift off to sleep while snuggling into the warm skin of Blaise and enjoying the feel of Theo at her back. It wasn't long before they all succumbed to sleep.