Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any affiliated characters. I just happened to come up with the plot for this ship. All credit to J.K for her amazing universe that she allows us to play in.

All mistakes are mine. Sorry.
Alpha Credit to the amazing Duchesse of the Deprived who had to re read all my re writes of this chapter which I have agonized over for two weeks. I blame narcotics from my broken rib for making me so neurotic, but either way she put up with me and for that I am eternially grateful.

Warning: Rated M. Cursing, sexual innuendos, lemons and fluff ahead. Basically what you would expect from a romance novel nowadays.

Music is my Muse:
Song for this chapter: Look What You Made Me Do; Taylor Swift
Lyric of choice: But I got smarter, I got harder, in the nick of time.

(Not my favourite TSwift song but it did cause my muse to come up with this chapter where Hermione and Ginny take no prisoners.)

Love of a Mate

Chapter 22
Lionesses to the Rescue

The elves seemed to be frozen in horror as Hermione counted down the last ten seconds in her head. When none of them spoke, she nodded at Kreacher.

"They don't have to live, by law they have attempted to kill a wizard by helping their master, so they are condemned to die anyway. Plus, Theo Jr is in charge of the Nott family, so they have also hurt their true master. Get what you can out of them," her tone was cold, and her eyes had no pity.

The elves were standing between her and her mate, and she could feel that he was in mortal danger now, Hermione wasn't exactly sure how she knew, but she was frantic to find him. He was dying, she knew it.

Kreacher nodded his face full of hate. "Elves who follow the Dark Lord and his followers do not get pity from Kreacher."

Before Kreacher did anything, an elf started crying and yelling. "He is in his rooms; young master is in his rooms!"

Hermione looked at the elf carefully before floating the elf away from Kreacher and making sure she could look the elf in the eyes. "If you are lying to us, I will make sure you are hidden in Malfoy Manor and tortured for years, is that clear?"

Ginny hissed out a breath and then said. "Or Grimmauld Place with Kreacher. Now, where is Theo's room?"

Ginny left to find the wizard with the directions from the elf while Hermione put the elf to sleep as the other two trembled as Kreacher circled them, dragging it out, telling them what he was going to do to them.

Hermione turned her attention to making sure that Theo Nott Sr would remember nothing of what he had learned about her mate and his Veela heritage. She was careful with her spell and then threw off random spells around the room so that there was no trace of the memory charm left when Auror's finally showed up.

OoOOoOoO

Ginny came down a few minutes later with a very weak Theo Jr who looked around in a daze. "He's been drugging me," he glared at the elves. "They helped him, what is he doing to them?" He asked watching Kreacher whispering to the elves who looked terrified.

Hermione's voice was hard, with an edge of distaste but her face held no emotion. "Telling them how he is going to torture them, the one asleep told us where you were. The other two refuse to tell us where in the dungeons Draco is being tortured."

Theo wiped a hand down his face. "I feel sick, whatever he did to me, it has halted my magic."

Ginny gasped. "That is a crime punishable by the kiss!"

Theo nodded. "It's some potion; I don't know if it will wear off or not. He bloody made me a squib, and they helped!" Theo yelled at the elves looking at them in disgust.

Hermione felt her eyes tear up and then she turned to the other two elves. "Where is Draco?"

One of the elves started speaking, and Theo stared at them with contempt. She saw he was taking off his shirt and socks.

"I know which part of the dungeon he is talking about, without lifting the wards it will take about an hour to get there."

Hermione felt her heart drop to her stomach. "He doesn't have that long Theo!"

He gave her a long look but said nothing. Instead, he walked towards the elves with the pieces of clothing.

"You are going to free them?" "Yes, and then put them on trial for what they helped my father do to me."

Hermione took a deep breath. "It's a crime punishable by death."

Theo gave Hermione a disgruntled look. "They helped make me a squib and probably would have kept me that way. I don't care if they die, Hermione."

She nodded but waved off Kreacher. "Do you think the elf is telling the truth about where Draco is? I need to get to him quickly. Can one of them take me there?"

Theo grunted and pulled at his hair after handing the shirt to the now revived elf who had told them where to find Theo. "Fuck, extensive, and I can't apparate you there and either can they because of how the wards are set up. No one outside of our family can apparate into the dungeons or out of them unless the wards are removed."

"How attached are you to your father?" Ginny asked her tone hard.

Theo looked up at this and gave a broken laugh. "He should be dead, don't the Auror's have permission to kill him on sight?"

Ginny nodded and looked at Hermione. "Harry," was all she said.

Hermione shook her head. "No, he hates to have to do that with Death Eaters."

Ginny sighed and narrowed her eyes at the man unconscious on the floor. "We need a spell that won't trigger the wards here, so no unforgivables."

Hermione was catching up fast. "We kill him, and the wards fall until Theo can reset them."

Ginny nodded. "Exactly, and then we can use a Malfoy elf to get to Draco."

Theo was glaring at his father before he walked over and spat on him. "He always had heart problems." He offered with a grim nod. "A simple spell that speeds up his heart should do the trick and who would even bother thinking the golden girl of Gryffindor would know or exploit his black heart?"

Hermione looked at Theo who held her gaze and then nodded. "I will do it." She looked over at her best friend who held her gaze before she nodded. It had to be done, and neither girl wanted Harry to have to do it. "Ginny, can you get Narcissa to send a Malfoy elf over?"

Kreacher spoke up. "I will gets one. I took the memories of the Black Heir from the elves minds Mistress Malfoy."

Ginny smiled at Kreacher. "Good thinking, Kreacher." He bowed and left to get a Malfoy elf.

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment and then took a deep breath.

"We need to hurry, Hermione. The Auror's will be on the way, and we could spend days searching the dungeons if what the elves tell us is not true," Ginny said her tone calm but stressed.

"Weeks, actually," Theo said with a frown. "I would do it, but I have no magic," his tone was full of anger and pain.

Hermione nodded and pointed her wand at the man. "A heart attack, I actually already hit him with a spell that made his heart race so fast he passed out, I probably did irreparable damage knowing what you told us now," She said softly.

Theo nodded and sank down on the floor his head in his hands. Ginny went over to comfort him giving Hermione a firm nod. Hermione got the message; Ginny was thanking her for not making Harry have to kill the wizard. Hermione knew she had killed in the war, but this was, she couldn't classify it. Knowing that she had no choice if she wanted to save her mate, Hermione closed her eyes, steadied her shaking hand, and whispered the spell.

The man twitched for a few seconds and then went still. Theo Nott Senior was dead, and Hermione felt the wards he had set up slip away.

Ginny sighed in relief. "The wards are down."

Kreacher popped in with a Malfoy elf seconds later, and Ginny waved her off. "I will explain everything to Harry, thank you, Hermione. You didn't have to do that."

Hermione wiped at a tear and nodded. "Right, I will process all this after I find Draco. There is a man down there with him. I might have to-" she didn't finish the statement.

Theo looked up at her. "You've changed, Granger."

She shrugged. "War does that to you. And right now they have my husband and are killing him. This is war."

Theo nodded. "Whoever is down there with him is trespassing, if I could reset the wards, he would die anyway. Just, be careful and get Drake, all right?"

Hermione nodded and took the hand of the Malfoy elf who looked just as angry as Kreacher.

"Can you sense Draco?" Hermione asked.

The elf nodded. "Master is fading; he needs help."

Hermione felt her heart skip a beat and her will strengthen inside of her. "Take me to him. Feel free to use any magic you wish to help us protect Draco."

The elfs' eyes went wide, and then the small creature nodded happily. "I will miss. You help Master Draco; I take care of bad wizard."

OoOooOOoooOooO

Seconds later they were in a dank dungeon, and Hermione rushed forward seeing Draco chained to the wall with his wrist open and bleeding into a cauldron.

The wizard, whoever he was, didn't even realise they were there at first. The little elf had him disarmed, bound, and gagged in seconds. Hermione didn't even spare him a second look after assuring herself he was dealt with and not a threat.

She closed Dracos' wrist and grabbed his face looking him over. "Can you apparate him back to the Manor?"

The elf nodded. "I's will take him right to the healer," the elf said.

Hermione was crying now. "I have to get this wizard upstairs and deal with the Auror's. Please bring me an update once the healer sees him?"

The elf gave her a kind look and wrapping its small arms around Draco, who slumped when Hermione severed the chains, elf and man were gone with a loud pop.

Hermione turned to the wizard behind her. "Now, who the hell are you, and how did you know about my mate?"

The wizard's eyes were wide, and he was shaking his head, but unable to speak. Hermione walked over and pointed her wand at him un silencing him.

"It will take them a long time to find us, and oops, I forgot in my grief that I could apparate since the wards are down. That means, you bastard, Nott Sr. is dead. How did you know about my mate?"

She emphasised the word mate, the laws regarding Veela mates were old and absolute. A mate fighting for the life of the other was immune to most wizarding laws.

"I- I was just offered payment. Nott, he told me about him being a Veela, he found out from the elder Malfoy. I didn't realise it was the Nott Sr!"

Hermiones' eyes narrowed as she considered him and then said very carefully. "The memory of why you wanted his blood will be removed. You will go on trial for kidnapping him, torturing him, and almost killing him. I will make sure you spend the rest of your life in Azkaban."

The man didn't fight her but rather shook his head his eyes shocked. "You are truly mated?"

Hermione gave him a sneer worthy of her husband from their school years. "Yes, we are."

Quickly she removed the memories of him knowing that Draco was a Veela and not wanting to touch the man she called for Kreacher, who surprisingly showed up.

"I don't want to touch this filth, can you take him up to where Theo is?"

Kreacher nodded and yanked the man cruelly and left leaving Hermione to clear her wand again of the memory charm and apparate back to the parlour where she found Harry and five Auror's waiting.

OoOooOoO

"What the fuck, Hermione?" Harry said angrily storming over to her. "You couldn't wait for us? What if you had been hurt? What if he had hurt Ginny? You are not an Auror, Hermione."

Hermione shook her head. "I still haven't gotten word that I got to him on time. They were killing him, Harry. No, I could not wait. Besides, Ginny and I have bested every Auror you have, so do you honestly think we couldn't take care of ourselves?"

Ginny snorted at this with her arms crossed twirling her wand. "Aren't a few still in hospital, Harry?" She asked sweetly her eyes flashing fire. Ginny did not play the damsel in distress.

Harry went pale realising he probably didn't want to press the issue of them going off on their own without backup and gave a tight nod. "Theo Jr caught us up; he says he thinks he has been out for about a year."

Hermione nodded and pulled Harry aside. "Theo had access to prisoners in Azkaban. If Nott Sr went there-"

Harrys' face went red with rage. "Fuck!" He turned around and started updating Auror's to check out how often the fake Theo had visited Azkaban and who he had seen.

In Pig Latin Hermione told Ginny that it had been the elder Malfoy who had sold out his son.

Ginny flinched. "Narcissa will kill him," Ginny whispered.

Hermione grunted. "I will kill him."

Ginny rushed over and hugged her friend. "No, I know you had to get to Draco, but you are not a murderer, Hermione."

Hermione sank down as the afternoon hit her. "I killed him, Ginny!"

Ginny nodded. "He would have been killed anyway, and Harry as the senior Auror would have had to do it. He is too dangerous to try and take in custody; he was proficient at wandless magic, that's why the kill order was put out on him."

Hermione nodded still feeling sick and let Ginny hold her, wishing she was with her mate.

"Has Draco woken up?" Ginny asked as they watched the witches and wizards converge on the house.

Hermione shook her head and then turned to Theo. "Theo, Narcissa is your godmother, right?"

Theo nodded looking very pale and thin. "Yeah."

Hermione turned to Harry interrupting him. "Harry, I am going to take Theo to Narcissa, she is his godmother, and he needs to see healers, can you come find us at Malfoy Manor?"

He paused considering her for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Take Ginny with you, please."

Ginny rolled her eyes but walked forward to help hold Theo up, and the girls apparated away from the chaos around them.

OoOOoOOoOoO

They landed in the library, and an elf showed up immediately frowning at them. "Is mistress hurt?"

Hermione realised she was crying and shook her head. "Theo is in need of a healer. He was given a potion that took away his magic; we need to get him to the healer as soon as possible, can you take us to wherever Draco is?"

The elf nodded, and with a pop, they landed in a plush room where the elf promptly snapped her fingers and made a second bed appear. Ginny and Hermione had to help Theo over to it while the elf rushed over and started getting him clean and into a clean robe of some kind.

Narcissa looked up. "Merlin, what did he do to Theodore?"

Hermione wiped at her damn eyes that kept leaking tears. "Some potion that made him a squib," she said in disgust.

Ginny filled in the rest. "Chained to his bed in his own filth, I cleaned him up as best I could. I don't think they let him eat or drink much either."

The healer looked up at this and waved at his bag. "Lady Malfoy, the blue potion and the purple right away for him."

Narcissa looked furious as she grabbed the potions and rushed over to her godson. Theo seemed to have used up all his energy; he was sleeping, although fitfully.

"He has a fever and some organ failure," Narcissa said running her wand over the wizard. "What potion could they have given him to block his magic?"

The healer sighed heavily. "A banned one, thankfully though, once it is out of his system, his magic will come back, it will just take time. I am more concerned with how long he was chained to his bed without proper nutrition or hydration."

Hermione wrapped her arms around herself and looked at her mate, who was pale and laying on the bed. The Healer was watching him carefully before he looked up and glared at Ginny.

"Young lady you need to leave-"

Narcissa cut him off. "She knows, Raul, as does Harry Potter." She looked up from Theo her face pale. "Who else knows now?"

Hermione felt anger move through her. "Your husband, who sold out his son to Theo Sr. who was posing as Theo Jr."

Narcissa fell onto the bed her hand going to her heart. "He would never betray this to someone!"

Ginny sighed. "Harry will look into the records and interview Lucius himself; we can see if he was put under the Imperious or something."

Narcissa nodded but didn't regain her colour. "What happened to Nott Sr.?"

Hermione swallowed. "He had a heart attack," she said quietly.

Narcissa met her eyes and understanding passed between them. "Tragic," Narcissa said her tone cold.

The healer snorted. "Your Dragon is already improving; I have him in a dreamless sleep so that he doesn't upset himself and regenerates all the blood he lost."

"Can't you just give him a potion for that?" Ginny asked frowning.

The healer shook his head standing up. "Yes, however, he still needs to rest, and he lost most of his blood. If you hadn't found him when you did-"

Narcissa gave a small sob. "They must have thought he was a full Veela," she whispered horrified.

Hermione nodded. "I think they did, yes. They had a set up to bleed him for weeks down there."

Narcissa gave an angry moan and moved so the healer could look over Theo.

Once the man had declared he had done all that he could, for now, he left, and the girls all took up chairs. Ginny sitting with Theo, and Narcissa and Hermione sitting with Draco. Harry showed up to give them an update and get their statements and then said he was heading over to speak with Lucius Malfoy to find out why Nott Sr. had visited him and then targeted his son. Hermione and Ginny had offered their wands for Harry to check but he had just shrugged.

"No one will care, Hermione. He attacked you, the elves told you the rest, they have already been dealt with for their crimes, Theo saw to that."

Hermione shivered but nodded. "Right." She said dully.

Narcissa had been stoic and just nodded, Hermione knew she had much to say on the issue of her husband, but wouldn't address the issue in front of Harry and Ginny.

OooOOoOOOoO

Much later, when it was just Hermione and Narcissa left, all that had happened that afternoon became too much for Hermione, and she started sobbing over Draco's sleeping body.

"I was terrified," Hermione said through her tears "I was going to let Kreacher torture elves, and I killed a man. I erased memories-" she trailed off feeling her stomach flip. "I am a monster."

Narcissa grabbed her hand. "You are his mate, Hermione. That means that you will do anything within your power to save him if he is in mortal peril. I am amazed the second wizard is still alive." She forced Hermione to look up at her. "You were magnificent, and kept your head, and did what you had to do to save your mate. Some Veela mates can go berserk if their mate is in peril, it's why he has you watched so carefully."

Hermione nodded still sobbing. "I guess I understand now when he said that if I was taken he wasn't sure he could survive."

Narcissa sighed grabbing her sons' hand. "The body count would be higher than this afternoon, that I can guarantee."

Hermione laughed and then shook her head at how awful this all was. "Do I have to worry about this the rest of our lives? What I will do next if he is in peril?"

Narcissa gave a sad nod. "Yes, that is part of being a mate, the insane drive to protect one another."

Hermione shivered and dropped her head onto Dracos' chest. "This is terrifying. I didn't recognise myself; it was like I was back at the battle of Hogwarts again."

Narcissa made a small gasping sound and rubbed her back slowly. "You did what you had to do to protect your mate, Hermione. And it needs to be said, Nott Sr. was dangerous and the world is not going to miss him."

Hermione nodded and then sighed climbing into the bed to cuddle up to Draco linking her hand with his and closing her eyes. She didn't care that her mother-in-law was there to watch her, she had to cuddle with her mate, feel his heartbeat, hear his breathing. She was starting to go into shock.

"Here, take some dreamless sleep," Narcissa said handing her the potion. "I will watch over you all."

Hermione didn't argue, and a moment later her head fell onto Dracos' chest as she sunk into a blissful deep sleep.

Author Notes:

I have been agonising over this chapter for weeks. But, Hermione is not an angel, her mate was in mortal peril... This is what my muse thinks she would do in those circumstances.

If Draco is in danger, she isn't above torture, death, and mayhem. Draco would do the same if the situation were reversed. However, I think Narcissa is right, and the second wizard would be dead if Draco had been leading the rescue party.

Don't forget you can find me on social media under: CrystalJeanRed ( I use Instagram the most) and my facebook page is under: CJRed

Cheers,
CJean