Harry!
Harry's eyes snapped open at the sound of Ron's yell and he met Hermione's gaze as she lay next to him on her bed. Elara was cuddled between them belly up her paws occasionally batting the air in her sleep.
"Did you hear Ron?" Hermione whispered, her brow wrinkled.
Harry sat up as panicked pounding came from the direction of the door of Hermione's flat. "Yeah."
Elara woke up with a start at the pounding and immediately tried to jump on Harry as he stood up. Hermione reached for her cuddling the small brown wolf against her chest. "It's alright baby. You're safe."
Harry reached over to rub a comforting hand over Elara's little head before straightening and heading towards the door. Hermione carried Elara down the hall to the bathroom, confident that whatever was at the door, Harry was going to handle it. What Hermione couldn't handle was vanishing more pee and poo from her flat. She set Elara down on the puppy pad they had purchased yesterday along with the toys.
"For right now this is where your pee and poo goes," Hermione said pointing at the pad that took up half her tiny bathroom. Elara wagged her little tail and ran in circles on the puppy pad. Watching her, Hermione tried not to think about what was going to happen if they couldn't fix things. Elara was just a baby now, what would her life be like if she grew up stuck as a wolf?
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As Harry approached the door his nostrils flared as he scented something unusual. What the fuck was that? His wolf perked up, and a rush of excited adrenaline flooded his system.
Pack.
What?
Harry flung open the door to a distraught Lavender holding a leash to a very large red wolf with familiar panicked blue eyes.
"Oh bloody hell," Harry muttered softly staring down at his best friend and too late remembering the first words Ron said when he apparated into Hermione's flat yesterday.
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!
"I don't know what happened. We went home and everything was normal, and then something weird woke me up, almost like he was yelling but it was only in my head and then I looked over and he was like this!" The panicked words tumbled over themselves as Lavender stared down at her husband with wide eyes. "Do you think it's some type of dark curse?"
Before Harry could respond to the question there was an excited yip that proceeded Elara and Hermione entering the living room. Elara tumbled over herself as she rushed to the red wolf and started nipping and jumping at him exuberantly. Ron's wolf mouth drooped and he gave Harry a doleful look.
"Oh that's...not good," Hermione muttered under her breath before heading to the kitchen.
Harry silently agreed and stood to the side motioning them to come in so he could shut the door, "Come in. Let's get settled and talk inside."
Hermione efficient as always was already stepping towards them holding a service tray with tea in her hands as she went to the sofa. "I think we could all use a cup." She murmured handing out cups and placing one near the table's edge for Ron.
Ron looked at it consideringly then laid down in a huff, not moving when Elara climbed on top of him to start chewing on his ear.
Lavender poured herself a cup and then held it cradled in both hands, a fine tremble making little ripples in the tea. Harry shot Hermione a speaking glance remembering her jealousy yesterday before reaching out and placing his hand comfortingly on Lavender. "It's going to be alright. I promise. I'm going to take care of it."
"You are?"
"We both are," Hermione answered Lavender firmly, tamping down the inappropriate jealousy she could feel from her other half. In her wolf's opinion, Ron was fine, therefore Ron's mate needed to get away from her Harry. "Harry maybe we could, um, go over step by step what happened that night I came to the cottage? You transformed back during the full moon that night."
Harry shifted uncomfortably on the sofa looking toward Hermione sheepishly. "I uh really only remember uh..." He waved his hand in the air. "Not pertinent things. To transforming that is."
Hermione stared at his sheepish expression for a moment before she realized what Harry was saying. He only remembered the sex! Right. Men were men, even if they happened to be the overpowered werewolf chosen ones. She cleared her throat. "Well maybe if I walk you through it?"
Harry gave her a blank look.
Ron gave a disgruntled whine from under the table and the message practically didn't need translation as a plea to get their shit together. Hermione sucked in a resolute breath. "Okay. Here's what we'll do. Let's regroup at Grimmauld, there's more room than anyone else's flat for right now so we can all be together to figure this out. Lavender do you mind staying with us for a few days?"
"I need to go pick up some things from our flat, but it's fine. Ron already told his brothers he wouldn't be in for a while because he was helping you for a couple of weeks."
"Would you mind letting my house elf, Kreacher run those errands? I'd prefer us all to remain together until this is handled." Harry inquired.
"No, that's fine," Lavender answered a little uncertainly.
Harry ended up apparating with Ron while Hermione took Elara to the front of Grimmauld. Lavender came on her own.
Kreacher's eyes practically popped out when he saw Harry bringing in two wolves. His lip curled and his ears drooped even further as he hunched down wringing his hands together. "Filthy dogses, the master brings home to punish Kreacher. Did Kreacher know Master wanted to keep stupid intruders for pointless questions? No poor Kreacher could not know..."
Harry gave a groan rubbing the side of his temple while Kreacher continued his low level of muttering complaints. "Kreacher may you please assist Mrs. Weasley with getting things from her flat? She needs to remain here for her safety and you are the only one I trust with this errand."
Kreacher's brows had lowered in irritation before Harry's ending sentence and then his countenance cleared slightly. "Of course master trusts Kreacher, Kreacher does everything for the master and the Noble House of Black."
Harry walked away from Kreacher approaching Lavender and went to the kitchen without a word to get a drink. "Fucking house elf is a pain in my fucking arse and that's why Sirius gave this house to me and he's probably laughing his arse off in his shiny new house with no crazy house elves..." Harry peered into his fridge contemplating how early was too early for a drink. Laughter made him straighten and look toward the door where Hermione leaned against the frame with a smile on her face.
"I think you're picking up Kreacher's muttering habits." Hermione teased.
Harry pointed at her. "Shut your mouth. You're supposed to be on my side."
"Always."
Harry sighed, shut the door to the fridge, and leaned against the table. His eyes went to the side of her neck where he could barely see his mark peeking out.
Mate.
His wolf's rumble was pleased, satisfaction flowing through Harry. Biting Hermione had definitely managed to temper some of the more overwhelming emotions, marking her had calmed his wolf. Harry walked to her, curving one hand around her waist while the other cupped her head.
"Always." He repeated back to her, his lips brushing hers. He wanted her again and he had so many things to take care of first. It was enough to drive a bloke to drinking. Promising himself time with her later he pressed his lips more firmly against hers, licking against her tongue.
Just as Harry was on the verge of convincing himself he could sneak Hermione upstairs for a quick shag a high-pitched yip made him pull back and look towards the floor. Elara bounded over to him, resting her paws on his calf, her tongue lolling out of her mouth.
"And what does the prettiest little witch want to eat?" Harry murmured picking her up to cradle her in his arms before going back to the fridge.
A smile curved Hermione's lips as she watched Harry talk to Elara as he looked for something for the baby to eat. His hair was a mess and he looked like he needed a bit more sleep but he still projected this aura of control and power as he held the small wolf. Her own wolf was sensitive to the emotions of Harry, feeling his confidence and it calmed her own fears about helping Elara and now Ron.
They'd face much worse odds than this before and won, and they'd win again. Especially since now they weren't teenagers with no support. Hermione's eyes trailed along Harry's biceps as he carried Elara. Nope. Definitely not teenagers anymore.
Harry's eyes darted to hers as if he sensed the direction of her thoughts before looking back to the food he was making Elara and his gaze was a jolt to her stomach. She shook her head briefly, trying to focus. They needed a plan. They needed to figure this all out and deal with Morozov.
Kill.
The low growl of her wolf made Hermione pause. She wasn't as comfortable just deciding to kill someone, but she could feel the pressure of the animal instincts inside her. As intense as her feelings were for Harry, they were just as intense in the need to defend him and the small wolf cub she was coming to regard as her own.
Her work hadn't been as steeped in violence as Harry's in the Auror office. But now it seemed almost inevitable, the action they needed to take to keep everyone safe. The will of the wolf was hard to ignore, and if Morozov wanted to be the leader – there was just no way he'd leave Harry alone. Not with the way Harry's magic felt to her, must feel to others too considering what Harry had told her and how Lavender and Elara reacted to him.
A nudge against her leg made her glance down and she saw Ron leaning against her leg, his snout angled upward to look at her. His head cocked inquiringly.
How do we protect him this time?
She reached down and patted his rough red fur, both of them looking towards where Harry was still focused on Elara. He had made her some porridge and was carefully holding spoons for her to lick while he cooed to her about eating neatly. It wasn't necessarily a logical emotion, the drive she had to protect Harry. Harry was and always had been more in tune with his instincts and magic than her. She may be able to run rings around anyone concerning magical theory, magical history, and obscure spells but Harry had a sensitivity to practical magic that Hermione had never been able to match.
It was part of what made them a good team, they complimented each other. So despite Harry's expertise and raw magical power, Hermione still wanted to protect him. Just as she had tried to all the while growing up.
Just as Ron had when his temper or jealousy as a kid hadn't interfered. It had been rough going, but they had survived because they had remained true to each other – and they'd do the same now. Ron gave a quiet wuff as if in agreement.
"Did you set up the puppy pads?" Harry asked finally looking at them in the doorway of the kitchen.
Rwawrwarwar.
Ron's whining noises made Hermione grin as she nodded. "Maybe Ron could show Elara where they are? Being stuck as a wolf is no reason to be a lazy git. They're in the upstairs bathroom."
Ron gave a low growl, nibbling at her trouser leg making Hermione laugh. Harry set Elara down on the floor and pointed to Ron. "Go with Ron, he's going to show you where the bathroom is."
Elara made one of her squeaky baby noises as she ran toward the droopy red wolf. Ron's tail dragged dolefully as he walked out with the puppy trotting after him.
Harry stayed seated cocking his head towards an empty seat in invitation. "Are you hungry? I can feed you porridge too."
Hermione shook her head as she settled into the seat near him. "No, I want to get to work, I'm not hungry."
Harry gave her a considering look before nodding in agreement. "I think while we still have daylight we should explore more of the area around Kenmure. We were distracted and wherever they are hiding out has to be close. We can apparate over and check out New Galloway, it's not too big an area to do a walkabout. Maybe even a flyover disillusioned and see what we spot."
"That makes sense. Hopefully, we find something there, if not I'll try walking you through everything that happened that first night or we could even look into getting a pensieve to try to knock out the memory of how you transformed back into a human during the full moon."
Despite himself the idea of using a pensieve to watch Hermione's memories of the night he marked her as his mate, was really fucking distracting. His wolf pushed an image of a pregnant Hermione at him and Harry froze.
Hermione was telling Harry her plan for looking up the main businesses to talk to shopkeepers and see if they noticed anything suspicious when she realized he was staring at her with gleaming green eyes and didn't seem to be processing anything she said. Annoyed she raised her hand to wave her hand in front of his face but he caught her wrist before she could and brought it closer to his mouth.
His eyes didn't leave hers as he pressed his lips to her wrist for several fraught moments, feeling her heart speed up. "Sorry," Harry murmured. "I was distracted for a second there."
"By what?"
Harry rubbed a hand over his mouth shaking his head and mumbling. "Nothing. Uh. So focus on the big shops. That makes sense. If that doesn't work out we come back here and uh..." He licked his lips. "The pensieve."
Hermione gave Harry a narrow-eyed stare. "Fine, let's tell Ron and Lavender then let's go to Galloway."
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Asking low-key questions to muggles was harder than one might think. Hermione stared at the elderly woman with grey hair pulled back tightly in a braid. "So you haven't noticed any um any large dogs or maybe even wolves in the area—"
The woman rolled her eyes. "Dearie, there haven't been wild wolves in Scotland since before my gran was born."
"I know that—"
"Then why are you asking me then?"
A growl emerged as Hermione's fingers dug into the counter and the woman's eyebrows rose. She looked over at Harry who was trying to be invisible watching Hermione's trainwreck of a questioning - really they kind of needed Ron for this shit. Neither he nor Hermione were really the type despite being raised as muggles, they both leaned towards interrogation rather than conversational questioning which Ron excelled at.
The woman gave a harrumph. "Maybe he's only a looker then, ey? You look a bit wound up, dear."
Did this old woman just insult him?
Bite? His wolf suggested tentatively.
Hermione ground her teeth grabbing onto Harry's arm. "He's not just a looker! He's a doer! He's a great doer in fact!" She said as she dragged Harry out of the shop.
"He better get to work on ya then!" The older lady snarked back as the door closed behind them.
Aggravated Hermione Hermione stood outside on the pavement, her nose wrinkled as street smells assaulted her. That old lady had been so annoying! And she absolutely hated the fact that she had a phenomenal sense of smell now.
She could feel Harry's amusement as he stood there silently behind her and she bit back an irritated rant and instead drew in a calming breath of stinky air. There was an annoyingly potent smell of lilacs somewhere close as if someone had taken a bath in them.
"Look, it doesn't make sense for us to stick together. Considering their past actions have always been away from crowds or at night, I'd say the chance of them attacking right now is pretty low. So it should be safe for us to split up and question some shops independently so we get done faster." Harry broke in when he saw that Hermione looked a second away from exploding.
Harry twisted his hand in hers, giving her hand a squeeze and trying to project calmness down the bond he felt with her. Hermione took a deep breath, her expression relaxing a bit. "Fine." She muttered finally, her thumb rubbing along his palm.
Harry stayed close to her a moment longer, and she gave into the impulse of closing the distance between them so she could get her face closer to his chest. He smelled so divine, much better than that lingering scent of lilacs. Taking a deep breath she stepped away from him and looked at her mobile for the time.
"Okay let's meet back here in about thirty?"
"Sounds good." Harry waited for her to start first, down the opposite direction, and watched her duck into another shop before walking in the opposite direction.
Nearly thirty minutes later Hermione walked out of her second shop with a frustrated sigh. Really how covert could a bunch of evil werewolves be? All of them walking around with all their stupid wolf impulses. Hermione ignored the affronted sniff from her wolf at the thought.
That irritating scent of lilacs drifted to her though before she had even taken a few steps. She needed to find Harry and get the hell upwind of this scent or she was going to break out in hives. She looked down the street for Harry and spotted him almost immediately.
Harry stood on the sidewalk facing her, he stood out easily from the crowd, he was broad-shouldered and taller than most. His bright green eyes met hers for a moment and the rest of the world seemed to disappear from around her.
Mate.
She shivered, her skin prickling as she remembered last night, the way he had —
Hermione's pleasurable musings came to an abrupt halt when she noticed the female in front of Harry.
Too close. That bitch was the source of that irritating lilac smell too.
She was way too close to what belonged to Hermione. How fucking dare she!? Her incisors lengthened and her eyes narrowed.
Harry watched as Hermione went from giving him a heavy-lidded intimate look to homicidal anger in about two seconds. "Er, excuse me, ma'am..." He tried to step around a lady who had waylaid him to cut off Hermione.
"Oh, but I have so much more information to give you, maybe we could meet for dinner?" The woman said in a simpering high-pitched voice not realizing his mate's claws were just about to reach her.
Harry shoved the lady aside and snatched up Hermione. He spun her around so that she faced his front hiding the incisors and wicked-looking claws she had sprouted from the muggle woman. Hermione growled and struggled trying to get out of his arms, and his muscles flexed to keep her in place. Shit, Hermione was much, much stronger than she used to be and she was really fucking angry.
"What is wrong with her? Do I need to call the police?" The woman asked finally distracted from flirting with him.
"Uh, no, she's just uh really hungry," Harry grunted when she elbowed him sharply and decided to end the scene before he had to obliviate the woman.
He threw Hermione over his shoulder and gave a low muttered, "Woah, Hermione." When she grabbed his ass with her sharpened nails and seemed to be muttering threats interspersed with saying 'mine.' Luckily her incisors made it sound so garbled Harry didn't think the woman realized Hermione had told her she would gut her like a fish.
When she came back to her senses Harry would have to compliment her, she really had quite an inventive mind. Not surprising considering how smart she was but still.
"Are you sure you don't want the police?" The woman persisted in asking again and Hermione chomped on him in retaliation.
"Ow!" Merlin, she bit his ass! "No! We're leaving! Goodbye!"
Harry knew he was making a scene but didn't quite know what else to do with Hermione completely insensible with jealousy over his shoulder. He backed away quickly from the concerned muggle and jogged for the nearest alley. As soon as he lowered Hermione he found himself backed against the brick wall of the alley, her claws pressed threateningly against his chest.
"Mine." She growled into his face.
Hermione's eyes glittered, her face red from hanging upside down on his shoulder, her shirt had popped some buttons and he could see his mark on her shoulder. Bloody hell she was so freaking sexy.
"Yours," Harry muttered to her pulling her close and disapparating them both.