She was still, unable to move, unable to blink, barely able to breathe. Even without the immobulus charm holding her hostage, Hermione was not sure if she would have been able to react through the fear.

Greyback switched the light in her kitchen on with the hand not training his wand at her, and illuminated where stood at the end of her entryway hall.

He was as horrifying as Hermione remembered him to be – tall and bulky, taking up most of the hallway with his width. The hair growing from his head was dirty and matted, and the hair she could see on his arms was more like fur. He grinned at her, and his fanged teeth were yellowed and blackened with decay. She could smell him from where he was, sweat and blood and filth.

He had clearly leaned more into his animalistic side while on the run. She could barely recognize a trace of humanity in his features.

Her stomach rolled and panic clawed its way up her throat. How had he entered England? How had he gotten through the wards on her home? Was he alone? What was he going to do to her?

As if reading her thoughts, Greyback chuckled and spoke. "I'm not going to kill you," he said, taking a step down the hallway towards her. "Not yet, anyways. Not before I've had a bit of fun. Said my piece."

He took another step, carelessly shoving Draco's limp form aside with his massive, dirty feet. He stopped for a moment and looked back at the wizard. "Your father sends his regards."

Greyback's toenails, sharp and claw-like, scraped on her carpeting as he walked. The panic Hermione was feeling furthered the closer he got. She felt trapped, like prey. He was stalking towards her like a predator.

"I thought I'd have to wait forever for you to get in here. I've been here for hours, waiting for you to come home. That was a sickeningly sweet display in the hallway, sounded like."

Hermione started to try to struggle, but couldn't move. Greyback continued to move forward, scraping his hand down the wall.

"You should know it's not just me," he murmured. "You and your friends have been keeping an eye on me, but it's not just me. There's more of us. There's many of us."

He was so close now, merely inches from her, and Hermione could see the saliva and tartar on his teeth when he bared them to her, and she could smell is his foul and rotten breath. She whimpered, the only sound she was capable of making with how tightly his charm bound her.

"You'll pay for what you've done," he growled, voice low and harsh. "You, Ronald Weasley, and Harry Potter. Mudbloods. Blood traitors." He looked back pointedly at Draco. "They'll be a reckoning. The Dark Lord's followers are not so easily discouraged by his death."

He moved forward quickly, pressing his forehead to hers and gnashing his teeth in her face. She whimpered again and fought against the charm to pull back from him, unable to move. Her entire body was in fight or flight but unable to help her. Her head was spinning, trying to come up with options, a plan, anything.

Greyback laughed in her face, spittle hitting her cheeks and nose as he did. "Not so brave without Potter and Weasley, are you? Can't run now, can you?"

He bared his filthy teeth again, and Hermione prepared herself for the pain she knew she would feel.

From behind Greyback there was a cacophony of what sounded like crashing dishware from the kitchen, and in his surprise Greyback turned around just as Crookshanks launched himself towards the werewolf with a terrifying yowl, a sound that Hermione had never heard her cat make before.

Crookshanks landed claws-out on Greyback's torso and used those claws to climb rapidly up the man's tattered shirt to his face, where he latched into the fleshy parts of Greyback's cheeks and began to scratch ferociously.

Greyback reeled backwards, howling in surprise and pain as Crookshanks sank his small but sharp teeth into the man's nose, front paws raking down his face and back claws pushing up on the man's chest to give him better access to the eyes.

As soon as Crookshanks got a claw in Greyback's eye, the wolf lost his concentration and the immobulus charm broke. Hermione's knees hit the floor and she crawled forward between Greyback's legs, fingers scrabbling across the floor for her wand. She curled her hand around her wand and threw herself forward over Draco's prone form, knees on either side of his waist and the hand that was not holding her wand shoved under his head to lock his limp body to hers.

She pointed her wand at Crookshanks and screamed, "Accio!"

Crookshanks, who now had both claws very firmly into Greyback's eye sockets and was not expecting to be jerked backwards, did not relinquish his grip on Greyback as he flew towards his owner. Greyback screamed in pain as Crookshanks was dragged back, hands flying up to cover his bleeding face.

As soon as Crookshanks reached her, Hermione shoved her wand between her teeth, gripped the cat by his scruff, and focused all of her terrified energy on Apparating out of her flat.

With tremendous effort, Hermione, Draco, and Crookshanks vanished from her floor with a resounding crack.


Draco came back to reality slowly, with his head pounding from a blinding headache. He could hear muffled talking – no, shouting – and was dimly aware of several people moving frantically around him.

"Get him off the floor, Merlin! Hermione, are you hurt?" A man's voice.

Someone grabbed Draco by the armpits and heaved him up. He groaned and his eyelids fluttered open briefly, but the light was too bright and trying to see was too much. He was deposited onto a much softer surface and had his eyelid peeled open.

His vision was blurry, but he recognized a flash of red hair before the thumb prying his lid open disappeared.

"He's fine, he's coming around." A woman's voice, talking over the sounds of a frantic explanation in the background.

"Fenrir Greyback was in my flat, he stunned Draco, Crookshanks distracted him." Another woman, and he recognized her voice immediately. Hermione Granger. His Hermione.

"Granger?" he croaked, trying to open his eyes and sit up. No one paid any attention to him, unable to hear his pathetic attempts to speak over the rapid conversation happening.

"Greyback?!" the man's voice responded. "You're certain?"

"Yes, I am certain!" Hermione shouted back, voice shrill. "We need to dispatch Aurors immediately. Ginny, you need to contact Ronald and get him here. We're targets, we are all going to be targeted, their home isn't as secure as here. He said the three of us, and blood traitors will be targeted."

Blood traitors? He was a blood traitor, technically speaking. His mother was, too. His mother. Fear, cold and horrible, rushed through his veins.

"Granger," Malfoy tried again, a little louder. He forced himself to keep his eyes open, though the room he was trying to get his bearings of was still blurry. He blinked rapidly and it started to come into focus. It was Harry Potter's living room. He was at 12 Grimmauld Place again. The man he heard was Harry Potter. The person who had lifted him was Ginny. That made sense.

"Tell me exactly what Greyback said you," Harry pressed.

"He said there's many of them," Hermione stammered, and Draco could tell she was struggling through how flustered and panicked she was. "That they know we've been watching them, that there would be a reckoning. That Voldemort's followers were not 'easily discouraged.'"

"Expecto Patronum." A silvery stag was suddenly in the center of the living room, and Harry spoke to it.

"Fenrir Greyback was at Hermione Granger's flat, she is unharmed. Dispatch Aurors immediately. Threats to the safety of myself, Hermione, and Ron Weasley have been made. We will all be here. Dispatch protection detail."

The stag bounded through the wall, leaving behind silvery threads. Draco could hear Ginny talking, too, to her own Patronus, telling it to get her brother. It followed Potter's Patronus outside.

"Was there anything else?" Harry demanded. "Anything they have planned? Any other names?"

"Malfoy!" Hermione cried out. "He said that Draco's father sends his regards."

At that, Draco forced himself to sit up, nausea roiling in his stomach. He recognized it immediately as the aftermath of being hit with a particularly nasty stunner spell combined with the secondary rush of terror he felt. He tipped to the side and vomited fantastically all over the carpet.

Hermione exclaimed in shock and pushed past Harry to get to him.

"Are you alright?" she demanded, cupping both sides of his face. "Say something!"

"I need to get to my mother," he coughed, gently pushing one of Hermione's hands away to wipe his mouth. He tried to stand but the room spun horribly and he fell back onto the couch. "The Manor is secure but I need to make sure she's safe. My father – they've been in contact with my father – and they said blood traitors, she's not safe. Blaise, too."

Harry summoned another Patronus when he realized what Draco was asking for, and sent another message out to dispatch a team of Aurors to Malfoy Manor and to the Zabinis.

Ginny appeared then, wand drawn, and cast a diagnostics spell on him. "Nothing is broken, there's no damage to his head," she murmured, looking to Hermione. "He's alright, just getting over a stunner."

Hermione exhaled and dropped to her knees on the floor in front of him, head falling into her hands. "Gods," she breathed. "Oh Gin, your carpet." She cast a quick scourgify and Draco watched as she pulled herself to her feet, face falling blank. Draco recognized it as her problem-solving mode.

"Harry," she said. "We need to move on this, quickly. If Greyback is in England again, it's likely that Dolohov is too. They'll be trying to organize, judging what he told me. We need to figure out how they breached the wards on my flat. We need to contact the remaining Order members and verify their safety."

"I'm with you," Harry answered, already starting towards the door. "I'm going to use the Floo upstairs and make a few calls. We'll need to send a team to Azkaban."

"I'll go," Draco said, trying to stand up again. Hermione forced him down.

"You will not," she snarled. "You're not going to Azkaban, you're not leaving this bloody sofa."

The Floo in the room roared to life and Ron Weasley and Cho Chang, dressed in their pajamas and clearly barely awake, stumbled through. Despite still being half asleep, Ron snapped into immediate consciousness when he saw Hermione.

"You're alright, thank Merlin," he said, yanking her to her feet and into a tight hug. Hermione hugged him back before pulling away and moving to the small desk in the corner of the room. She threw the drawers open and dug around until she found parchment and a quill, and immediately started writing. Draco was certain she was writing down every detail of the experience.

Draco felt the cushion next to him depress and glanced over as Granger's cat jumped up beside him, settling in comfortably against his thigh. He hesitantly rested a hand on its squished little head, scratching behind one scraggly ear. He had heard Hermione say that the cat had gone after Greyback, and in Draco's book that meant it had earned ear scritches.

Crookshanks looked up at him quizzically and purred, and only then did Draco notice what was hanging out of the cat's happy mouth.

He screamed, leaping to his feet. "Bloody hell!"

"What?" Hermione asked, whipping around. Then she saw her cat and shrieked, taking a jump back from him. "Crooks!"

Hanging from Crookshanks' mouth by stringy bits of flesh was the eye of Fenrir Greyback.


Things moved very quickly. Within the hour, Aurors had searched, collected evidence from, and cleared Hermione's flat. A team of specialized wizards had also been sent to strengthen the wards there, at Grimmauld Place, and at Malfoy Manor.

Another team of Aurors met them at Grimmauld Place and extensively interviewed Hermione, despite her written statement. Before they left, they also collected Greyback's eyeball from Crookshanks. The cat was not too happy to relinquish his well-won prize, but gave in in the end.

By the time they were done and moving on to talking to Harry and Ginny, Hermione collapsed next to Draco on the sofa and leaned heavily against his shoulder with her eyes closed. Draco put an arm around her and leaned them both back against the plush cushions. Crookshanks appeared from his hiding spot behind the sofa and curled up contentedly in Hermione's lap.

Despite the fact that there were at least ten Aurors rushing around the house in addition to Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Cho, they felt alone in their bubble on the sofa.

At some point towards dawn, they both dozed off, Draco laid back in the corner of the sofa, Hermione across his chest, and Crookshanks smooshed comfortably between them.

As they slept, teams of Aurors searched London and beyond in a ripple from Hermione's flat. They followed traces of dark magic and logical escape paths. They interviewed wizards and Muggles as they canvassed the streets, looking for sightings of the Greyback. No one had witnessed a thing.

Draco woke with a numb arm a few hours later, and only because Ginny was peeling back his eyelids again. He jerked his head back reflexively and blinked up at the redhead, clearly offended.

"Just making sure you didn't have any head trauma," she whispered. "Routine check."

Grimmauld Place was silent now, the Aurors having left an hour ago to aid in the search. Hermione inhaled deeply and shifted on him, and Draco glared daggers at Ginny. "Don't wake her up."

"She's not the one that took a stunning spell to the chest and hit the floor with nothing stopping her," Ginny responded. Draco scowled.

"I'm fine."

"I'm sure you are." She winked at him, and her tone was annoyingly placating, like she was reassuring a toddler. Draco scowled again.

"Is it safe to leave?" he asked. "I'd like to check on my mother, and take Granger with me."

"I'll ask the Auror on watch," Ginny responded, and frowned. "She's safest here, isn't she?"

"The Manor is a fortress. It's completely fortified, even more now that your lot has meddled with it."

"And if she doesn't want to go to the Manor?" Ginny challenged, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

Draco frowned, looking down at the top of Hermione's head where it was still laying on her chest. He hadn't considered that. "Then she stays here."

Ginny nodded and slipped out of the room and out the front door, where Draco just barely caught sight of a wizard he didn't recognize standing guard there. He tried to overhear Ginny's conversation, interested in any additional information about what had happened while they slept, but he could not make anything out.

"I'll go to the Manor."

Draco jerked, surprised by Granger's sudden speaking.

"I thought you were asleep," he hissed. Crookshanks looked up at him crankily, now also awake with his owner.

"I was," Hermione confirmed. "Until you two started arguing about me." She carefully sat up and rubbed her hands across her eyes, blinking sleep from them. Draco thought she looked rather stunning like this, half awake and her hair a mess. For a moment, he forgot that he had been attacked by a Death Eater werewolf only a few hours before.

"You can share Pansy's wing. There are multiple bedrooms on that side, each has its own bathroom. Plenty of room for this thing, too." He poked Crookshank's nose gently. Crookshanks scowled at him and dug his nails into the thin fabric of Draco's shirt in retaliation. Malfoy winced.

"No, that's fine," Hermione muttered, using her wand as a stick to tie her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head. "I'll stay on your side."

Draco blinked. "What?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, hands still fiddling with her hair. "Do you not want me there?"

"No," Draco reassured quickly, brain still reeling. "No, of course I do. I thought you'd be more comfortable with your own space."

The patronizing stare Hermione gave him was hilarious. "If you'd recall, before we were attacked you were following me into my flat. Personal space is clearly not a concern at this point."

Draco blushed and scratched the back of his neck. "Yes, right. Of course."

"Besides," Hermione continued, stretching and yawning. "If I want space, I'm sure I can find it. Bloody massive house…"