After three days, Hermione woke up to find that her rut had passed, and now they could get back to work. They still needed to figure out how to deal with the latest abductions and apologize to the boys for her behavior when they were at the manor. Hermione looked over at a peacefully sleeping Narcissa. She slipped out of bed without waking her, silently cast to transfigure a chair into a massage table. Wordlessly, she accio'd supplies to make a rejuvenating massage oil. She cast a wingardium leviosa on Narcissa, placed her on the table, and started to massage the aches and sore muscles of the still-sleeping omega.
Halfway through the massage, Narcissa woke up to the feeling of a serious knot being worked out by skilled hands. She moaned softly at the exquisite feeling of deft fingers pressing out the knot in her shoulder. "Mmm, that feels spectacular," she said as she turned her head to the side to look at the alpha.
"I'm glad that you like it. I wanted to heal some of the aches and pains from the last few days. How do you feel?"
"Like I'm floating on a cloud, thank you."
"Good, I'm glad you're awake because I'm going to flip you soon so that I can work the front of you. Also, I wanted to cast some gentle healing charms as well as the contraception spell on your more sensitive areas so that you wouldn't be in pain while adhering to your wish of no babies."
"Alright, darling. I appreciate you remembering and adhering to my stance on that."
After Hermione finished working the one tight spot, she had the blonde flip so that she was lying supine on the table. She put more of the special concoction onto her hands, placed her warm hands high on her hip, and then stroked down her leg to the ankle. She pressed her thumbs into the muscle that attached to the side of the shin up to the knee, slid her hands along the sides, then pressed her palms into her quads, working out the knots that resided there in a slow pace with medium pressure. Hermione continued this process along one leg a few times then swapped over to the other leg and repeated the process.
"Not that I will ever complain about being woken up this way, but what brought this particular form of aftercare on?" Narcissa asked as she groaned when Hermione worked out a particularly tight muscle.
"Well, you were still asleep, so I thought that this would be great for aftercare while you continued to sleep. I'm glad that I took those classes on massage techniques in my travels," Hermione offered in explanation as she softly smiled down at Narcissa.
"I see. That answers my next question. Alright then, darling, do what you feel is best. I'll just lay here and enjoy myself as you pamper me once more."
Hermione chuckled softly as she continued to work up Narcissa's body, casting the healing and contraception spells on Narcissa's vagina in the process. She worked up one of her arms, her neck, and finished with her other arm. As she leaned her head over Narcissa, she kissed her upside down, causing the blonde to giggle into the kiss at the cheesiness of it.
The alpha casted a quick scourgify on her hands and forearms to rid herself of the excess oil while Narcissa sat up from the table and stretched, wrapping her legs around Hermione's torso and pulling the alpha against her naked body. She proceeded to wrap her arms around the brunette's neck, and kissed her sweet, doting partner. Releasing Hermione, she stood up from the table. "Do you wish for me to do anything for you in terms of aftercare as well, my love?"
"Taking care of you is a form of aftercare for me, Cissa."
"That is not what I asked and you know it."
"I wouldn't mind breakfast with a lot of meat products in it, if you don't mind," The alpha asked with a sheepish grin as she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.
"Since you took such good care of me, I am more than happy to provide nourishment for you," the blonde said as she walked off to the closet and got dressed for the day. Hermione cast a few spells to clean up the room before sending off a patronus to Harry and Ron, asking if they would be willing to come over once more a little later in the day to go over everything that had happened.
The couple finished eating when the boys apparated outside the wards and were let in with a flourish from Narcissa's casting. Hermione met them in the sitting room where the boys sat on a couch while she sat in an armchair opposite them. "I would like to start by saying that I'm sorry for how I acted the other day. There was no reason for it."
"It's alright, Mione, we sort of get it. Narcissa started to tell us that you had gotten control of the quill that was causing the alphas to go crazy. Which, by the way, hasn't been resolved, but hasn't gotten worse. We did arrest Rita though, so there's some good news in all of that," Ron said with a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, we don't hold it against you. It couldn't have been easy to mentally keep that thing in control from taking over your mind. We had to deal with horcruxes while on the run so I figure it was something like that, right?" Harry asked with a lopsided grin.
"Yeah, pretty close, but it also kickstarted my rut so that had something to do with why I acted irrationally," Hermione said as Narcissa joined them and took a seat on the arm of the chair that Hermione occupied. The alpha instinctually rubbed soft circles on her back. The boys told the couple of all the places that the Pied Piper of Chaos had hit and they weren't sure as to where it was going to hit next or how to deal with it either.
"Harry, your idea from before I went crazy wasn't a bad one. The only problem we have is that—even with a way to cancel out the noise for you two and whatever help the Ministry can provide—we have no way of casting any spells to take this creature down," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"That is true. Plus, I was thinking that we could add two-way radios in addition to the headphones so that we could communicate between each other in case we need to split up," Harry suggested.
"I agree. We should have a non-magickal way of communication because let's be honest, we split up quite a lot during field work. Not to mention that we'll probably need to bring in Draco sooner rather than later into all of this. Narcissa and I shared the same thought that we might need him. Also, I think Luna would be helpful with this kinda stuff as well. She always seems to have a knack for finding obscure information on everything," Hermione said aloud, making a mental list of what needed to be done.
"Why Luna? Isn't she traveling with her father looking for obscure creatures somewhere?" Ron asked.
"She's been working as an unspeakable like myself, and she always comes through in a pinch when we've worked together on missions. Her methods may seem a little odd, but they've saved us on more than one occasion. Trust me," Hermione said as she rubbed her face tiredly.
"I'll contact Draco, my darling, while you call upon Ms. Lovegood," Narcissa informed Hermione as she stood up from her perch and headed off to send an owl to her son.
Hermione sent a patronus to Luna. Soon enough, the fireplace roared with green flames as Luna bounded out of it as if she had skipped into it.
"Hello all. It is good to see everyone once again. Hermi, you seem happier since the last time we went on a mission. Less wrackspurts around your head, seems being with Madame Black agrees with you, then? Ron, congratulations on being a soon-to-be father. Harry, do let Ginny know that I'll be rooting for her in the next victory. I do hope that Draco will be able to join us on our next adventure," Luna airily remarked.
The two men in the room looked at her in shock while Hermione stood up, walked over to the tiny beta, and hugged her lightly.
"Good to see you too, Lu. Thanks for coming over to help with this. You know how these things go. The Ministry finds out about these things after they are already done, right?" Hermione chuckled softly at her joke to which Luna giggled. Hermione sat back down in her chair while Luna joined the boys on the couch.
"I know that I shouldn't be surprised by what Luna says anymore, but how do you know the things that you do? Plus, how were you able to just waltz right through the floo network here? We don't even have access," Ron asked as he scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"I'm good with statistics. Oh, that's even easier to answer. I used Hermione's floo at work to come through," Luna explained in her airy lilt with a shrug.
Before the boys could comment further, Narcissa joined them, perching herself on Hermione's lap, to which the alpha wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling her completely against her chest.
The five occupants began to discuss possible strategies as to how to deal with this new menace. Luna had brought what information she could gather on the subject matter from the Ministry, which wasn't much, though it was more to go on than they had previously. Some time later, Narcissa received an owl informing them that Draco was unavailable to join them for two days, but would be there as soon as he could free himself from the current case he was working on.
After finding out that there wasn't much they could do in regard to this new threat in terms of magical tactics, Harry left to find some noise canceling headphones and two way radios for everyone. Ron had come up with some fairly sound tactical plans as to how they were going to try and fight this creature. Since it was still possible to cause physical damage, they would try to stop it that way.
"Hey, Lu, do you still have your bow? We might need an eye in the sky kind of tactic for this one," Hermione asked.
"Of course. I've been practicing with it in my off time, so now I believe I'm fairly proficient with it," Luna rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Good. I think the rest of us should try to find other means to cause physical damage as well. Does anyone besides myself and Luna know how to use weapons?" Hermione asked, looking from the boys to Narcissa. The boys shook their heads while Narcissa thought about it for a moment.
"I have some experience in fencing, but nothing that I'm exceptional at."
"That's better than nothing in this case. Ron, Harry, I'll see about outfitting you guys with blunt objects so as long as you can swing a weapon and hit the mark, it should help," Hermione told the boys who nodded in understanding.
Suddenly, Shacklebolt's lynx patronus bounded up to Harry and announced that the monster was attacking Diagon Alley and they needed all available hands. The current team sprang into action quickly, everyone put on the headphones, Narcissa put on the necklace of invincibility, and Hermione put on the ring of knowledge as well as grabbing Merlin's staff.