Hermione woke up, with a bad pain in her eye. She closed it immediately and pretended to be asleep again. She knew Draco would be mad for her sleeping late, but her brain was telling her that she shouldn't be up yet. She opened her eyes a little, to see a room she never saw before. She opened her eyes fully this time, to see Rose right beside her. She wasn't sleeping either, by the way Rose was moving very little to try to get comfortable.

"Rose?" Hermione whispered quietly, only that her daughter could hear. Rose moved a little to Hermione's side, to notice that she wasn't just hearing things and that her mother was up.

"It's almost ten… in the evening." Rose muttered, disappointed. Hermione knew that Rose always woke up before dawn, or at least she liked to. She never slept a minute after nine in the morning. It was then Hermione remembered what happened before.

"Rose! Rose!" she exclaimed, "We're Aetalis!"

Rose's eyes opened. She had forgotten that it happened as well. She suddenly stood up, but Hermione quickly told her to lie back down on the bed. Rose frowned; she didn't like lying in bed more than she had to.

"I'm excited as much are you are, sweetie," Hermione told her, "But I could only imagine Draco when we wake up…he'd probably want to make us do so many things."

That didn't help Rose's frown any better. Hermione knew that Rose wouldn't mind whatever Draco wanted her to do, she had all the energy plus more for whatever the missions he could put her on. Hermione heard footsteps, but no one was in the room. She guessed super hearing came when she turned into an Aetalis, and she knew it was Draco's steps. "Rose, close your eyes," Hermione mumbled, it was so quiet that Hermione herself could hardly hear herself say it. She knew Rose could hear it, though. She also heard the footsteps. She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

Seconds later, Draco came into the room, with Scorpius. Hermione wanted to see Draco, now that she felt like a new person. Her headache was burning, was this also something that happened when someone turned into an Aetalis? She twitched a little. She felt Draco sit down on her bed and grabbed her hands. He took it to his lips and kissed it. "You okay?" he asked. He knew she was awake and she sighed. It was impossible to fool the man.

"Fine," she said, "I have a huge headache," she opened her eyes and saw the gorgeous man next to her. He still looked the same, which Hermione smiled in relief. She was scared that everyone would look different once she woke up. He still looked like the same man she saw before she passed out. She turned to her side and saw Scorpius talking to Rose as well. She ignored the kids and went back into looking back at Draco. "I'll live through it."

"Great to hear," he said. "You had a nice sleep?"

"Don't really remember anything, but I guess," she shrugged. She wanted to get up and move around, but she knew she couldn't until Draco got off of the bed. She didn't mind, she liked seeing him again.

It was suddenly silence in the whole room, until the two young Aetalis ran out the door, laughing. "Scorpius!" and "Rose!" was both said in unison as Hermione and Draco ran after them both downstairs. Usually, Hermione would have slowed down a little bit since the house and staircase was huge, but she still had breath left when she finally stopped when she saw both of the kids near the door.

"If you guys weren't paying attention to just each other, you'd hear the door knocking." Scorpius said and Rose giggled as Hermione blushed a little bit. Draco didn't find any of this funny, as a serious look went upon his face. Hermione was curious and a bit worried on what was outside that door. Another knock.

"Who is it?" Hermione asked as she grabbed Draco's arm. It was stiff, like the rest of his body. She tightened the grip a little bit which made him jump back into reality. She got scared for a second, but got back her breath. "Draco?

"Go in the next room with Rose," Draco whispered into his mate's ear. "I'll explain later."

Without any questions, Hermione walked away quickly, and gestured Rose to come with her. She waved to both of the boys and left.

"Is it who I think it is?" Scorpius asked. Draco shrugged and was about to answer the door.

"We won't know till we answer it," Draco said and opened the door with a surprise look on his face. There were four people outside of that door, consisting of two girls and two guys, all looking at him.

"Told you we shouldn't have come," one of the men said. He had to be in his late 20's by the way his voice sounded. His hair barely made it to his eye, just touching the eyebrows. He looked tired, like he just had to walk miles just to come here, which in the look in his eyes were disappointment. He stood about an inch taller than Draco, which freaked him out the most – he wouldn't tell the man that, though. Just standing there, he looked a little on the weird side.

"Oh shush!" The girl said in a rush. She was the total opposite of him; she was very jumpy and happy. Her hair just reached her ears; it matched perfectly with the shape of her delicate face. She was a platinum blonde; the color that it was hard to believe it was her natural hair color. Her ocean blue eyes could fool any men; she was a pretty girl. "We don't know anything yet!"

The other two stayed quiet for a moment, letting the two argue it out. Draco guessed it was normal how they fought a lot, he could see why. He too would get annoyed if he had to always deal with the girl's optimistic behavior. "Well?" the man said to her, impatiently, "Go talk to him."

She put her hand out in front of Draco, he just eyed her strangely. She ignored the rejection and took in another smile. "Hello! My name is Lucy. I'm an Aetalis!"

"Lucy!" the other girl in the group interrupted, she looked in her early 20's this time. "You don't just tell random people who you are! You don't know him," she mumbled in a language only an Aetalis would understand.

"I understood that," Draco spat at her; he already didn't like the whole group. He liked the quiet one who kept his mouth shut, he probably knew better than to talk to someone who is more worthy than he was.

She scoffed and turned her attention back to Lucy who began to talk again. "Shh Annabel. I have a good feeling about him; he is a very nice man after all."

"I beg to differ," Annabel said as Lucy put her fingers to her lips to tell Annabel to be quiet. The black hair girl rolled her eyes and let Lucy talk again.

"Is it true?" Lucy asked curiosity in her eyes, as well as the others. "You created a female Aetalis?"

Draco wasn't surprised to be hearing this, he knew since the call from his father that others will know about the new Aetalis. He was just shocked that four of them were here at his door, wanting to know if it was true or just a rumor.

Draco's eyes narrowed at the group. He had a bad feeling about something. "You're with Adalhard, aren't you? You're his little slaves, coming to kill?"

Annabel's breathing got faster and louder. She looked like she was ready to kill Draco right there and then. Draco chuckled when he saw her so mad, he wouldn't mind a nice Aetalis fight right now. The quiet one took a hold of her shoulder and kissed her cheek. "He didn't mean it like that, love; he is only protecting his mate,"

So they were mates, wonderful. She looked at him and her breathing became soft again. Annabel found her mate's hand and had them entwined with hers as she let Lucy speak once more. "No, no! I am sorry you thought that!" she exclaimed, "Please mind Annabel, she is a little sensitive about Adalhard. We only come to know the truth."

The look in her eyes was all truth. Draco sighed, he knew he couldn't lie, they were all Aetalis, they would know. "Yes, I found my mate in her human form and changed her, as well as her daughter."

Lucy gasped, along with the others. "Two! I can't get the thought in my head! The rumors were right!" Lucy said, in total shock. The blonde girl looked at the other three, they were talking, they must've been very educated Aetalis, and they knew how to whisper to one another without letting another Aetalis hear.

It was several minutes before Lucy's face was looking at Draco again. She was still smiling. "If you don't mind, may we please see the new Aetalis? We are no harm."

"We decided to help you," the man who argued with Lucy before told him, trying to make it easier for Draco. "I know you're a little uncomfortable about it, I would be to if it were my mate,"

At least the man knows where I'm coming from. Draco thought, he only saw the Aetalis Hermione for only a few minutes, now her and her daughter were some show to others? "Come in, but I say if you dare make my mate or her daughter feel unsafe, I will kill all of you." Draco said, clearly. Lucy only nodded and gestured the rest of them to come inside to see Scorpius.

"Hello, young one," Lucy greeted Scorpius and he smiled. Scorpius didn't really know what to think of them, but the blonde one seemed really nice. "I am Lucy, and you?"

"I am Scorpius," he stated, trying not to stutter. It made him very nervous talking to another Aetalis. "Nice to meet you,"

"You as well," Lucy smiled and turned to Draco once more. "I am terribly sorry! I forgot to ask you your name!"

"Draco Malfoy," he said, he was very proud of his son for taking this very calm. He could tell he was shaking inside of his skin, but he knew this was something serious. Draco didn't really understand what was going to happen.

"Well Draco, can I see your mate and her daughter please?" Lucy asked.

He nodded. Hermione, come here.

Whoa! Wait, can you hear me right now?

He sighed, chuckling in his mind a little. Yes, but take the surprise in for another time. This is important, come here with Rose, we have Aetalis company. Bring the Malfoy in you out.

Hermione walked in the room perfectly, having the Malfoy strut a little bit. She knew that when he said it was important that she had to act as cool as possible, not showing even a bit of fear to any of them, but when Hermione saw the group, she couldn't help but shake for even a less a second. They were beautiful and how they stood there in the living room, with a perfect posture intimidated her a little bit. Rose came right beside her, again, with little emotion on her face.

The four examined both of them for several moments. "Beautiful kid, looks just like you!" Lucy complimented, both Rose and Hermione said thank you but nothing more. Lucy looked at Draco, "Where is her human father? Does he know of this?"

"No, he ran away," Draco replied.

"I see," Lucy turned to Annabel, "Do you want to take this one?"

Annabel looked at the daughter. "With honor," she said, sounding totally different then the attitude she had before. Draco came a little closer to Rose, just in case anything was about to happen. He wasn't going to get someone get away with hurting her.

Annabel went closer to Hermione's daughter and looked down at her. "Hi. My names Annabel, yours?"

"Rose," she said, a little afraid of the girl right next to her. Her hair was at her stomach, straight as a pin. She was so close that she saw some freckles on her face. She was a pretty girl, but very scary at the same time.

"Cute name! My middle name is Rose," Annabel said and smiled. Draco was about to die of surprise. He did not expect anything like that from the girl who acted like he was trash. Hopefully Rose saw the disguise. Rose only smiled. "Let's talk for a little bit," Annabel suggested.

Draco clenched his fists. He didn't want this random Aetalis to just take his now daughter into a different room where he couldn't have a full view of her. Rose looked at her for a moment and cocked her eyebrows. "What if you try to hurt me? I don't know you."

Annabel smiled. "I understand if you feel like that, I felt that way once to when I was your age. The girl Lucy over there took me from a very bad place and saved me. I didn't trust her for months, and I hated on everyone. Gradually, I learned that you should give everyone a little trust to begin with, and see if they're worth to give it all too."

Rose seemed really interested in the story Annabel was talking about. "Fine," Rose finally said.

"Let's see who can get to the couch first," Annabel mumbled as Rose mischievously smiled as they both ran as fast as lightning to the next room. They all heard the both of them laugh a little bit until it faded. Hermione looked worried.

"She's not going to hurt her, is she?" she asked.

"No, Annabel is a very nice woman; she's just giving me time to talk to you. I think she might actually like your daughter, though." Lucy said and smiled. "She doesn't really like a lot of people,"

"I noticed," Draco muttered.

They all took a seat in the living room as Annabel's mate and the other guy was sitting right beside Lucy. Hermione and Draco took the couch right across from them, Draco holding her protectively. He still didn't have a good feeling about this.

"Let me introduce everyone. You know that I am Lucy, and the guy on my left is Stephen," the man who argued with Lucy earlier gave the other two Aetalis a quick wave as Lucy went on, "And on my right is Lenny,"

"Hello," Hermione said, since she knew Draco wouldn't say a word until he figured out why the strangers were here for.

"Very nice mate you have, Draco," Lucy said and smiled.

"I know," was Draco replied. "You know the truth. Why are you here?"

"I hate giving bad news, it's really a bummer. But the bad brings the happiness in life, so let's see if we can end this quickly," Lucy sighed. "Adalhard is very mad at this, as you know. Surely he was mad when he heard another female Aetalis was in the race, but when he heard there were two from the same man… he was out of control."

"What, did he start killing whoever came his way?" Draco asked, "How was he out of control? How would you know, if you're not one of his slaves?"

"Well, we did a very bad thing many, many years ago," Lucy started. "We saw a beat up girl, around your daughter's age, out in the street. Stephen and I took her in and called her ours. About a year after, she finally told us she was one of Adalhard's slaves, but she was one of the lucky ones and ran away when no one was looking. I still don't understand how she got out, the castle there has every place secured, but she was a very lucky girl. Adalhard figured out, but he was too late. By then, Stephen already stopped her tracks and thoughts from Adalhard's mind so he couldn't find where she was to capture and kill her. Her name is Annabel, and that's why she got mad at you earlier today, Draco," before Draco could say anything, Lucy went on. "Every one of Adalhard's slaves has some rare Aetalis charm in them, we still can't figure out how to take it out. So even if he can't see where she's going, Annabel can feel where he is, or how he is feeling. She told us that…" Lucy paused for a second, "he was going after you and kill your mate and her daughter. We didn't think it was true, but now we're here to help you fight him. We want peace within our race and destroy him."

Draco took a swift glance at Hermione. She was truly afraid, even if she was hiding it. He was a little worried himself, he knew once Adalhard made his decision; he'll stick with it until someone was dead. In that case, it was his family. "Of course you know, this means he'll be over very soon. I don't know when, Annabel never told me yet. But when she does that that feeling that he's here, we will let you know immediately."

"Then I guess we wait," was Draco's only reply.

"We fight now?" Hermione asked, she wasn't ready for a fight. She knew she was powerful but not powerful enough to beat the greatest. Her eyes were full of worry for herself, Rose and Draco.

"Not yet," Draco assured her, "He'll come by to know it's true. He is smart enough to know he can't fight here."

"He is right," Lucy said to make sure Hermione shouldn't be afraid to die the first time he sees her. "He'll check first, and attack later in the future. It'll give us some time to help you stay alive."

Hermione didn't know what to say. It was like a smack in the face; she didn't expect when she fell in love with Draco Malfoy that it would have torturous obstacles like this.

We have so much on our hands, Draco.

I know, I know. There's not much we can do bu-

But wait, I know.

Review.
What Do you think will happen?