CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Summary: Sent to Volterra in order to negotiate terms of an alliance to end the war, Hermione's life is turned upside down as she is brought into the world of the Volturi, better known as the Vampire Kings. There she is made a part of a new kind of family and a most trusted member of the guard, whether she likes it or not, and surprisingly, she does. Rated M for language, violence and sexual content.

Disclaimer: I do not own canon events and characters, they belong to J.K Rowling and Stepenie Myers. I am not making a profit from writing and posting this fanfic. As for the descriptions of appearances for the Twilight characters, all my research is based on the books and not the movies, but I may have changed a few things regarding Alec's height and age.

Page count: 6

Saturday 2nd May 1998

They landed with sharp cracks and they took in the sight of the small cottage that sat before them but it looked to have been magically altered.

She released their hands and darted forward quicker than they thought a human capable of moving and she barged through the door that had been kicked off its hinges. Inside was a mess, furniture overturned and glass littering the carpeted floors.

"ANDY!" Hermione yelled.

"Upstairs," Alec answered, his eyes looking up at the ceiling.

Hermione ran up the stairs with them following behind her and she barged into the first room on the left. It had been made up as Teddy's nursery for when he visited in the future. The blue walls were marked with bloody handprints, as was the white furniture, including the chest of drawers and the crib.

"Andy," she gasped, running to the crib and dropping to her knees, pulling Andromeda's head to rest against her thighs.

Andromeda slowly opened her eyes and Hermione surveyed her injuries. Her clothing was torn and blood covered her, as did large gashes. She looked to have been mauled. Only her face was spared.

"Greyback has Teddy," she gasped out. Fear and fury spiked within Hermione as tears fell down her face. "I did what I could but he was stronger. Find him, get him back and protect him. He said Nymphadora and Remus were dead?" Hermione nodded, sobs beginning to rack her. "Raise Teddy, raise him as your own."

"I can't," she shook her head.

"He needs you. You're all he has."

"I can't," she protested.

"You are now his legal guardian, should anything happen to my daughter and son-in-law or to me, you are to be granted full custody, it's magically binding. I know you love him and you'll be a wonderful mother. If my daughter can't raise my Grandson, I am happy in knowing you will be the one doing so. Teach him, Hermione. Teach him of compassion and kindness. Teach him of the wonders of the world and protect him like I know you can. Love him like I know you do."

"No, Andy, you're his Grandmother, you're going to be fine, we're going to patch you up and you can raise him."

She smiled sadly, blood coating her white teeth. "I'm not going to make it, Dear, but I don't fear death, I'll be with my husband, my daughter and my son-in-law and we'll all be watching over you, watching you do a wonderful job of raising Teddy."

"I don't know what I'm doing," Hermione replied in alarm.

"No mother does, it's all trial and error but I know you'll do remarkably."

"Andy, we can save you, please, hold on," she begged, lifting her eyes to Demetri and Alec who were looking at her sadly and they shook their heads.

"Her heart rate has slowed, she's got minutes, if that."

Hermione sobbed harder and she held Andromeda's hand until her eyes closed for the final time.

"She's gone," Alec whispered.

Hermione's cries continued for a few moments, tears falling and mixing with the blood on Andromeda's face and her body shaking uncontrollably until something in her seemed to snap and before they knew it, she'd gently laid Andromeda on the ground, covered her with a blanket and rose to her feet, wiping her eyes with the backs of her blood-coated hands, smudging blood across her face.

"Can you find Greyback?" She asked Demetri, her voice no longer thick with tears but strong.

"Yes, I didn't cross paths with him but I did his Beta."

"You can track your target through coming into contact with someone, who's been in contact with them?"

"Sometimes, in this case, yes. What are you going to do when I find him?"

"The bastard killed Remus, Tonks and Andromeda, and he's kidnapped my Godson, I'm going to kill him," she said, her eyes darkening and her voice lowering.

"Would you like some help?" Alec offered, not even bothering to pretend that he was disgusted by her words like the others would've been. They didn't condone killing in any form, she knew.

"That would be lovely; he won't be expecting you, only me. He's done this as revenge against Remus but he also knows how much I loved the Lupins, and he knows that I'll come straight to him now that he's got Teddy, it's a trap."

"He's a dead man," Demetri snarled, but not quiet enough as she heard him.

"Yes, he is," she agreed darkly.

~000~000~000

"Give me my Godson, Greyback, or I'll flay you alive like I did your fellow idiots!" Hermione called, her wand in hand as her eyes surveyed the darkened woods Demetri had tracked Greyback to, and in less than an hour, too.

"Ah, Bitch, there you are, I was wondering how long it would take you to get here. I was expecting you to be a little while longer, but then again, I can't blame you for your timing, this little cub is rather tasty-looking," he stepped out from behind a large tree.

Hermione was disgusted by him, he was as horrifying as the last time she'd seen him. He was a large hulking figure, standing at six-foot-six with bulging muscles. His long black hair had a grey streak and was mattered and dirty beyond belief. He reeked of blood, dirt and sweat and his clothes were as dirty as the rest of him.

He ran a blood-coated and dirty yellow nail down the soft cheek of the bundle in his arms.

"Don't touch him!" She snarled, aiming her wand in his direction.

He smirked at her. "You won't harm me, not when I have the little runt nearby," he said confidently.

She gritted her teeth but kept her wand pointed at him.

"Give me my Godson so I can kill you."

He laughed at her. "You're a Mudblood, you can't kill me."

"I've killed seven of your packmates!" She snapped and his eyes hardened, he ran his nail down Teddy's cheek again. "I swear to Merlin himself, if you harm him I'll make sure there's nothing of you left to find," she vowed.

"Submit to me and I'll let the child go."

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll submit to you."

She lowered her wand and dropped it to the ground. His eyes widened a fraction having not expected it to be so easy, but a cruel smile soon curved at his mouth as he beckoned her forward. She took a step and lowered her head in submission, dropping to the ground on her knees.

"Now let Teddy go."

"Okay," he shrugged casually, dropping Teddy from his arms and he fell to the ground.

"NOOO!" She cried out in horror but in the blink of an eye, Greyback was slammed into a tree, taking the entire length of it down with him and Demetri was kneeling beside her with a crying but perfectly safe bundle in his arms.

She cried in relief and she took Teddy from him, cradling him to her chest and wrapping the blood-covered blanket around him snugly to protect him from the chill of the spring evening.

"It's okay, it's okay," she cooed softly. "I've got you, I've got you."

His cries quieted down as she bounced him in her arms softly. His eyes opened, grass green and as beautiful as ever. She felt her heart break that Teddy would never be raised by his mother and father, that he wouldn't get the chance to remember them or his Grandmother and she knew that despite her fears, she would be anything Teddy needed her to be.

She would love him. She would protect him. She would teach him how to survive in an ever-changing world. It occurred to her that her agreement with the Volturi had only included Crookshanks, well, they were in for a surprise when she returned with Teddy but she was confident that Alec and Demetri wouldn't allow any harm to come to her or her Godson.

She was vaguely aware of Greyback snarling out death threats and insults before he went quiet and she knew that Alec was using his gift on him. Now that Teddy was safe, Greyback had to be dealt with before they could leave. She rose to her feet and slowly crossed over to Alec who was hidden by the trees and Demetri followed her curiously.

"What are you going to do to him?" Alec asked.

"I've changed my mind; I'm not going to kill him."

"No?" He sounded disappointed.

"No, after what he did to me, I'm going to return the favour, after all, I believe everyone should be treated equally," she spoke with an icy tone to her voice.

Demetri and Alec shared a proud smirk.

"Do you want me to take him?" Demetri offered softly. She seemed hesitant and he could understand why given all she'd suffered in the last few hours alone. "He'll be in your line of sight, it's just so your hands are free."

She looked down at Teddy and he looked up at her, wriggling in her hold and she reluctantly passed him over to Demetri. It was clear he had no idea how to hold a baby and she supposed he didn't have a reason to learn. She showed him how best to hold Teddy to support his head and weight evenly and the newborn gave a sleepy yawn before turning his head into Demetri's chest and falling asleep.

She smiled at the sight and Demetri seemed surprised Teddy had felt comfortable enough to fall asleep in his arms; something so innocent and pure, willingly relaxing into him and trusting him to keep him safe. Him, a predator.

"Silencio," she mumbled, as she placed a kiss to the slumbering baby's forehead, not wishing to disturb him from his sleep or to have him witness what she was about to do, no matter how young he was.

With one final glance to her Godson, she turned her attention to Greyback, closing the distance between them and she silently summoned her wand, catching it in her outstretched hand.

"Please don't tell anyone about what I'm about to do," she said quietly.

She couldn't believe she was going to do it herself, but she needed to. She needed to punish him. Something inside of her wouldn't allow her to forgive him. Something inside her of her needed this to happen, and it was pushing harder and harder to the point of it being unbearable.

"Why?"

She lifted her gaze, seeing that both vampires were watching her intensely.

"Because it's illegal and if anyone were to discover what I've done, I would be given a one way ticket to Azkaban, where soul-sucking creatures wander around sucking the happiness from your life and your very soul. But aside from that, they would never forgive me. They don't agree with killing but they don't understand that sometimes it's necessary. Not everything is black and white, there's grey, too. They're never going to look at me the same way again after they witnessed my Fire Magic killing thirty of Voldemort's followers."

She looked away from them and down at Greyback. Anger and disgust and hatred filled her.

For Remus. For Tonks. For Andromeda. For Teddy. For Bill. For Lavender. For everyone he had ever hurt.

She nodded at Alec and he released Greyback from his gift, and before he could fully regain his senses, she struck.

"Crucio!"

~000~000~000~

Alec watched in awe, as she essentially mimicked his sister's ability to cause unimaginable pain without the need for physical action. All it required was a single word and the Alpha werewolf was writhing on the ground, sounds of agony being torn from him no matter how hard he bit his lip or tongue, he could both see and smell the blood within his mouth and dripping down his chin, but that seemed to be the only injury caused.

He noticed that as her face grew darker and colder and her anger and anguish intensified, the louder the werewolf's screams and snarls seemed to be.

And he found that the darker side of him, the side that he didn't often show, liked this darker side of Hermione. He never in a thousand years would have guessed that beneath the kind and compassionate person she was, there was a darker side that would kill and torture her enemies. For her friends, for her family, for vengeance.

There was something oddly beautiful about the murderous expression on her face, her dark eyes and pale skin. The way the neon yellow beam of light trained on the werewolf reflected onto her face, her eyes glowing in the light.

He turned his head to see that Demetri was surprised by her actions but by no means was he disappointed or disgusted with her. He was proud. He was awed. And Alec knew Demetri's thoughts had taken the same turn his own had.

He stood there, cradling the bundle in his arms as he slept soundly. He hadn't yet thought about what it would mean for the newborn child to be at Volterra but he would speak with Demetri the first chance he was presented.

He wasn't sure how long the screams had been going but they suddenly stopped, the werewolf curled in on himself on the ground. The anger was slowly beginning to fade from Hermione's face and her eyes returned to the chocolate brown orbs he had come to seek out.

She looked exhausted, she looked defeated, she looked heartbroken. He wished he could take away her pain, he wished he could make her forget. He wished he could make everything better, but he couldn't. Remus Lupin may have been a werewolf and his natural enemy but he could see how much Hermione had loved him and how much he had meant to her. She was heartbroken and her Godson had not only lost his mother and father but his Grandmother, too. And he knew that Hermione would protect the child with her life.

She lowered her wand arm, looking down at the broken Alpha werewolf on the ground who was muttering incoherently. She turned away from him and walked over to Demetri, he didn't speak, just placed the sleeping child into her arms as tears fell silently down her face.

"He's all yours, he won't fight back," she spoke so quietly, if they did not have sensitive hearing they wouldn't have heard her at all.

"Why not?" Alec asked, sounding a little disappointed.

She didn't look at him as she spoke, her attention on the face of her Godson.

"He's no longer able to; his mind is shattered and broken."

She'd tortured him to insanity?

Alec and Demetri had made detailed plans for all of those that had hurt their mate, they had made Bellatrix Lestrange suffer and they'd ensured that she knew that touching Hermione had been the biggest mistake of her life. Alec had come across Rabastan and he took him to Demetri where they repeated the process, and Demetri had found Rodolphus and they'd taken him to the remains of his brother and wife before he suffered his fate.

Their plans for Greyback were horrific, even by their standards, but it seemed that Hermione had gotten her own revenge on Greyback and it was a magnificent sight to have witnessed. All that was left was to officially dispose of him, and although some of their fun had been taken from them, they were proud of Hermione, and so, they gave the broken Alpha a quick death and they burned his remains until it was only ash.

Hermione silently held out her hand, of which Alec took a hold of, and Demetri, knowing that she wasn't going to release the sleeping child, wrapped an arm around her shoulders before she spun on her heel, taking them away from the woods where she had both tortured and condoned killing.