Hermione could feel Harry's will pressing on her like a leash as she remained focused on the laser bright gaze of Mikhail Morozov. She kept her eyes away from the cute fluffy paws that wiggled in the air in front of Morozov or else she wouldn't be able to stop from trying to shove Harry out of the way. It had maybe been a bit conceited of her to think that she would handle the impulses and aggressiveness more easily than Harry, who had always had a temper.

She wanted to jump forward and snatch Elara away from Morozov, but Harry wanted her behind him and it took quite a bit of Hermione's willpower not to give in to that directive. Hermione had always been sensitive to Harry's moods. Keeping up with Harry had been hard as a kid — even more so as an adult. So Hermione considered herself something of an expert on Harry Potter. What he wanted, what he was trying to hide— most especially what he was feeling. Hermione could read Harry with a glance.

This feeling of his will pressing down on her though? The closest parallel Hermione could draw was the control of the imperious. Seemingly annoyed at her not giving in, Harry's fingers dug harshly into her forearm as he yanked her behind him forcefully.

Hermione would have to address this later with Harry, she understood a lot better now what exactly he felt with the wolf inside him but she wasn't putting up with this kind of bollocks behavior. Hermione had researched werewolf behaviors and symptoms for almost a decade — it had been one of her main priorities when she had worked at the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Alpha wolves in her research were typically extremely protective of their wives and others under their care. Harry had always had a thing for saving people and keeping people he cared about safe. He was probably going to be completely unmanageable now. Shit.

Just because Hermione had willingly accepted Harry's bite knowing she was going to become a werewolf didn't mean she was agreeing to him being her boss. She wasn't going to leave Harry alone on his journey and she wasn't going to meekly follow in his footsteps either, she was going to be standing right beside him like she always had since they were kids.

The other inside her felt frenzied, her whole body trembled with the need to jump past Harry regardless of his commands and attack the man holding the cub. That baby was hers.

Protect. The instinct whispered to her, and she could feel the intensity burning through her veins.

"Oh bloody hell, who touched Harry now, Hermione—oh." Ron arrived last seeing the standoff, but no one turned around to look at him. Ron wasn't a threat to her and Harry so their wolves weren't bothered by his presence behind them. While the wolves on the other side had judged Ron as less of a threat than Hermione and Harry and ignored his presence behind them.

The leader's gaze didn't waver from Harry's. "I have this proposal for you, Harry Potter. You will listen, yes?" He shook his hand a little and the cub whimpered, her paws clawing the air.

"Hermione," Harry said in a low warning tone, as Hermione pushed with more force against his hold, angry at how Elara was being treated. Mikhail Morozov didn't realize that Harry would just kill him. Hermione would lock in Morozov a bug jar for months. Really what was more compassionate? And now that Harry had amped Hermione's aggression up with his bite, who knows what fun punishments she might dream up?

Too bad Harry couldn't risk an all-out brawl even though he was fairly confident they could take them. The wolves in front of him except for Mikhail were significantly weaker than him– weaker than Hermione. But Harry couldn't risk the cub might be injured if a fight broke out and he didn't want Hermione touched either and there was no way he could keep her from engaging if a fight started.

"Yes," Harry said louder.

"I give you this." Morozov shook the cub again. "I not to harm your mate." The man grinned at them, his mouth filled with too many sharp teeth for a human. "And you kneel before me."

"I'm really glad you got bit by a werewolf, Harry, I don't think getting bit by a spider would have worked out as well for you as it did for Peter Parker," Ron said in a loud whisper.

"Ron–" Hermione growled fuming not looking away from Morozov when a spell shot from behind her and Harry straight towards Elara.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron's spell snatched the cub with a loud yelp from the man's grasp. A tuft of fur remained between Morozov's fingers as the wolf cub was jerked into the air in a big curving arc.

Morozov roared leaping into the air trying to catch the cub and slammed into Harry who had jumped forward to block him. By unspoken command, the werewolves behind Morozov split, half going after the cub still mid-arc towards Ron's outstretched arms, while the others joined in the attack on Harry, claws and fists thudding.

"Go!" Hermione screamed at Ron as he caught the cub, and he nodded before disapparating with a loud crack. Then she turned and flung herself into the brawl, reaching for Harry, the portkey ring twisted outward. Claws scraped her side, and a fist clipped her shoulder.

Harry's angry roar was cut short as the portkey yanked them to Hermione's flat. They stumbled as the portkey spit them out, and Harry twisted taking the brunt of the fall as they crashed through her coffee table in the middle of her living room.

"Fucking cunts!' Harry cursed, immediately sitting up and straightening Hermione on his lap so he could inspect her, growling at the rapidly healing marks. "You shouldn't have—"

"You shouldn't have–" Hermione countered cutting Harry off at a louder volume.

A loud crack cut them both off and they looked over to see a bleeding distinctly pee-smelling Ron, holding out a wolf cub with an irate face. "Thanks for telling me we'd regroup here instead of at Grimmauld. Kreacher likes to pretend he doesn't know me when you're not at home, Harry. And this thing bit me and—and peed on me!"

Hermione jumped up," Oh poor baby!"

"Oh well thank—" Ron cut off as Hermione snatched the wolf cub out of his hands. He made a face before he started casting cleaning and simple healing spells on himself. "Thanks for saving the day, Ron. Oh, it's no problem you know, just what a friend does—"

"Ron?" Harry asked as Hermione wandered off to the bathroom to clean the cub.

"What!"

"Thanks for saving the day."

"Oh well, you know no biggie." Ron sucked in a deep breath. "I'm awesome every day, y'know?"

Harry laughed.

Ron shook his head, glancing back towards where Hermione still hadn't come back from the bathroom. "So why exactly did we all go crazy for a little wolf cub?"

Harry got to his feet with a smooth jump and ran his hand through his hair. "It's actually a kid."

"A kid?" Ron gave him a baffled look, clearly wondering if all his gears were working.

"Yeah. Remember the witch we were trying to find? Elara? Hermione had a dream that she was stuck as a werewolf, and now that she's here with me—I can um—tell, she's one of mine."

Ron looked even more dumbfounded. "What do you mean one of yours? You have a fucking wolf kid and you didn't tell me? What day, what witch —"

"Merlin, you wanker—"

"Really! Could either of you curse more with a baby listening!" Hermione admonished coming back into the room with a clean and clearly happier baby wolf cub.

"Do wolves even understand English?" Ron asked.

"I understand English when I'm transformed."

Ron made a dismissive waving motion in Harry's direction. "You don't count, you're always the weird one."

Hermione frowned thinking, "In all my research, indications were that although they retrained memories of what happened there was no verbal processing."

"See?"

"Regardless, I don't like it and you won't do it in her hearing," Hermione said firmly, her hand petting the little cub who watched them lazily from her perch on Hermione's arm.

"Ugh." Ron groused while Harry had to make himself ignore how much he liked Hermione's bossy tone.

Harry shook his head, trying to bring himself back on track. Hermione's bossiness pushed all his buttons. "Yeah okay. Okay, so the priority is getting Elara back into her human form. So then how do we get her to be a little girl? And then we deal with that nutter werewolf group. "

"Maybe we should take a nap," Hermione suggested.

"What?" asked a bewildered Ron.

Harry had a thoughtful expression. "And see if we make contact?"

Hermione shrugged. "They owe us some straight answers and I don't really want to risk trying the wrong thing and hurting her– she's so small."

"Neither of them told me anything more than Elara's name, maybe you should try first and I'll watch her–then I'll try and you watch her."

"I kind of feel like we should prioritize those nutters in the forest more?" Ron said, looking at his best mates discussing who planned to take a nap first.

Hermione walked up to Harry handing him the baby but staying close to keep her hand on Elara's fur. Her voice was low as she spoke to Ron not looking at him. "Don't worry. I'm going to rip apart that man who shook her like a dog in front of me. As soon as I make sure she's not stuck like this."

Hermione turned her eyes meeting Ron's briefly and he took a step back as she went down the hall to her bedroom shutting her door quietly.

"Hermione has always been a bit scary but with wolf headlights, she's a bit more creepy," Ron said in an awed voice staring after her.

Harry laughed. "I know she's hot right?"

"Ugh don't talk about Hermione like that to me —she's like my sister now."

"You dated your sister then?"

"I adopted her and that was before adoption so it doesn't count. Besides I'm married and my wife is quite obsessed with me."

"Yeah Won Won," Harry said dropping the subject as Ron rolled his eyes. Besides Harry did not want to get into the Lavender discussion yet– possibly ever if he could avoid it. The little wolf wiggled in his arms and Harry took that as his cue to put her down. Elara immediately disappeared under the sofa, her snout to the floor.

"What if she poops under there," Ron asked.

"Vanishing and wind spell?"

"Well if she's a little girl maybe she wants some toys."

"I hardly think she's going to be able to play with a dinosaur or doll."

Harry and Ron both watched as Elara emerged from the sofa with a thin white sock, shaking it with a happy little yelp.

"Well, how old is she anyway?" Ron asked. Elara pinned the sock with her little paw while pulling on it with her baby teeth. "Maybe like baby teether toys?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "You go get some toys."

"Alright I need to stop by my house anyway, I told Lavender I'd be home much earlier."

"Don't take forever."

｡+ﾟ ﾟ+｡ ｡+ﾟ ﾟ+｡ ｡+ﾟ ﾟ+｡ ｡+ﾟ ﾟ+｡

Harry sat on the sofa of Hermione's living room, watching the little wolf chew on his trainer not moving. Elara seemed quite happy chewing on his shoe, there was a pleasant hum he felt from her as her little teeth flashed.

"Harry!"

Both Harry and the cub jumped at the sound of Hermione's yell.

"Why are you letting her chew on your trainers? Who knows what kind of germs those have!"

"But look at how sad she is now!" He protested pointing at the cub that Hermione held protectively next to her chest.

Hermione shook her finger at him. "No, no, no chewing on shoes!"

"I think she's teething."

"I'll get her a teether then!"

"She rips apart the ones for babies–we tried that first. I've already sent Ron out for additional supplies."

"What supplies?" Hermione asked as the cub wiggled in her arms trying to get down and making little whining noises.

They both turned as Hermione's flat door opened and Ron stepped in with a distinctive orange bag with a puppy face on it. He reached into the bag and brought out a large brightly colored teddy bear that he squeezed and squeaks emitted from it. "They had all these toys there, Harry. I told them I wanted ones for a girl, but they looked at me weird."

"You sent him to a pet store!" She looked at Harry with an angry glint in her eye. "We're trying to change her back human! Not get her puppy toys!"

Harry snatched the bear from Ron's hand before coming closer to Hermione and holding out the bear for Elara to sniff. Elara gave a small yip before clamping onto and shaking the bear making it squeak.

"Hermione," Harry said in a wheedling voice. "Can't you tell how happy it makes her?"

Hermione looked down at the baby wolf who was making happy growls at her squeaky little teddy bear. "Fine." She said grumpily.

"Any luck with the dreams?"

"No of course not because that would be too easy," Hermione answered annoyed.

A knock sounded and Ron looked at them. "Oh I told Lavender about the baby wolf and she wanted to come to see it— I figured you guys wouldn't mind?"

Harry looked a bit uncomfortable but Hermione responded," Sure."

While Ron went to let his wife in, Hermione sat on the sofa letting the cub play with the teddy bear on the floor in front of her. Harry settled next to her, his arm draping over the sofa's back. Lavender entered a bit cautiously, giving a tentative smile to them as she stopped in front of them on the other side of the recently repaired coffee table while Ron went and retrieved a chair from Hermione's dining room area in her tiny flat. "Hello."

"Look Lavlav, isn't it so cute? I rescued it." Ron said as he approached them carrying two chairs.

"It's not an it—" Hermione started before cutting off abruptly as she noticed that Harry and Lavender were having some sort of weird staring contest. The first time she had seen Harry after he had gotten bit flashed into her mind. There had been a weird behavior then too- and afterward in her apartment, before he went a bit too feral Harry had told her he felt like he had some sort of bond with Lavender.

The animal inside Hermione stirred, urging her to show Lavender who Harry belonged to, and that Hermione was in charge.

Alpha.

A low growl emerged from her throat and at the same time, Harry made a strange oomph noise. Lavender dropped her gaze, freezing in place.

"Oh bloody hell, I'm going to need more therapy after this." Ron dropped the chairs he was carrying over with a thud, his hand slapping over his eyes. "Didn't you tell me I couldn't curse in front of it? Why are you doing that!"

The thud of the chairs hitting the floor made Hermione look glance over after Lavender lowered her gaze, and she noticed that somehow she had shoved her hand between Harry's legs to grab at his—

"Oh fuck." Hermione whispered feeling as if she was about to die of embarrassment.

Harry tried to shift and she shifted with him, unable to make herself let go. "Er. Hermione…" Harry looked at her and her face was cherry red, distress coming off her in waves. "We'll be right back." Snatching Hermione up, he ignored the small growl she made as her hand was dislodged and carefully stepped over the baby cub who thankfully hadn't taken her attention off the squeaky teddy Ron had purchased for her.

"Oh, my god. Oh my god." Hermione muttered her face pressed into his neck.

When the door shut to her room and he let her slide down his body to land on her own two feet she immediately dashed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. "Hermione." He said approaching the door.

Small muffled sounds emerged, and Harry realized she was crying. "Hermione, don't cry. It's okay. It's not that bad, come out here and let me hug you."

"It is that bad! I can't believe I did that! And I didn't even want to stop! Oh my god, the baby was right there and I didn't even think! I didn't even think!" Her voice was choked, trying to contain her tears, but Harry understood her perfectly.

"Hermione the first thing I did after meeting you was accidentally rub myself on you, I understand what you're going through — it's going to be okay."

"No, it's not! I can't believe I did that– you know Ron is never going to let me live that down!"

"I'll go obliviate them."

"You'll obliviate Ron?"

"I think he wouldn't mind forgetting."

There was a pause while she sniffled quietly and then the door opened, and Hermione looked up into Harry's affectionately compassionate expression. "But you'll still remember."

Harry leaned forward, his cheek brushing hers, breathing her deep. "I love you, Hermione." He pulled back and his hands came up to cup her cheeks wiping away trails of tears. "I love you and I am never ever going to forget you grabbing my dick in front of Lavender and Ron."

Harry mentioning Lavender's name sparked that feeling again and Hermione's lip curled. "She was staring at you, and you're mine!" Then Hermione blinked and wailed. "I'm not even sorry. I'd do it again Harry!"

"Shhh, love, shhh," Harry whispered leaning close again, brushing his mouth on the curve of her neck where he had bitten her on the full moon. The mark that claimed her as his mate. "Do you want to mark me, Hermione?"

Hermione's hands came up, grasping his forearms, the tips of her nails seeming to sharpen as she clutched him. "No." The word was mumbled, the lie plain to Harry's wolf.

Harry pressed his lips harder against his mark, his tongue coming out to lick against the healed wound. "I like seeing my mark on you, knowing everyone who sees it knows your taken. Knows you're mine." His voice was a guttural rumble.

"We need to go back– the baby– Ron– and – and them are out there." Hermione stuttered as she felt the sharp drag of Harry's teeth on her shoulder.

Harry's mouth moved upwards, his breath hot on her ear making her shiver. "You know what else this mark means?" His hands slid down her body, pulling at her shirt.

Hermione tried to speak but only a moan emerged as his hands caressed her, she could feel his hard cock pressing against her through their clothes. Maybe they could take a five-minute break—

"It means I'm yours too, Hermione."

Her arms slid up and around his neck as she stood on her tiptoes pushing her mouth against his aggressively.

Mine.