Dragonkin

Eleven

Hermoine was embarrassed to admit she didn’t really give the next three dominants a fair chance. She was tired and frankly still somewhat discouraged at the low number of dominants she (and her Draken honestly) were interested in. It was a bit self defeating, but she was at the point that she really didn’t care. 
The scent hit her first. Sunshine and pot roast with a hint of gunpowder. It was, to  say the least, an unusual combination. But she knew that scent. It was the Burrow. It was home. She knew before she even looked who was walking through the door. Both she and her Draken were thrilled as she spun with a bright smile as Fred and George walked in with matching bright grins and no scales.
“Mia!” they cried and she jumped up as if she was going to run for a hug only to be stopped by a bright ruby wing in her path.
“I’m sorry ‘Moine. You can’t,” Harry said with real regret in his eyes.
She couldn’t stop the distressed noise in her throat or the sadness that swamped her. Even when she was trying to stop them experimenting on first years she had been friendly with the twins. They were brilliant. Their lack of academic achievement had nothing to do with a lack of intelligence. They were just as sharp as she was, but they focused on what they needed for their inventing and very little else in the way of academics interested them. They took the mickey out of her for believing everything she read in books but they were some of the few people that could carry their end of a conversation with her.
And they gave the best hugs.
“We’re sorry--,” Fred began.
“Mia, love. --”
“We didn’t think--”
“About the mate bond,” George finished.
They looked like they were as sad as she was. 
“Sit, you two.” Einarr commanded as he transfigured a chair from a book. They dropped into their seats with smirks.
“I must say, Mia, that you two couldn’t have given us a better birthday present,” Fred smirked. 
She looked at them blankly for a moment.
“You turned yourself into a Draken and got Mum out of the house for the whole week!” George crowed with a naughtly little boy look on his face. “Brilliant!”
She and Harry broke out into laughter.
“You’re terrible!” Hermione chuckled as she smiled at them. “Why are you both here at the same time?”
“They’re identical twins,” Nikau answered. “They are two parts of the same whole. Identical twins almost always share in the magical world and Draken twins always do.”
“Would you have only wanted one of us?” George asked her, looking uncomfortable as Fred shifted in his seat.
Hermoine started at him aghast at the mere suggestion. “No! You’re not the same person, but one without the other just isn’t right.” 
The twins grinned back in perfect, beautiful unison.
“And before I forget, Harry, give her a kiss on the cheek. We’d do it, but since we aren’t even allowed a hug,” Fred’s eyes glittered in mild annoyance, “I doubt you’d allow us to kiss her either.”
A flash of movement from Harry and a moment later Hermoine was glaring at her brother.
“And why am I passing on kisses?” Harry said, sounding bored, but only if you didn’t look too closely at the mischief in his eyes.
“That’s from Charlie.” Fred grinned at Hermione. 
“Charlie?” Hermoine echoed before giving her tea a suspicious glance and setting it aside.
“He was very grateful you sent away those with human families. Although he swore us to secrecy before he left,” Gearge agreed. “He’s planning on telling mum tonight.”
“FAMILY?!” Hermione squawked. “He has a family?”
The twins nodded gravely, their eyes glittering with their accustomed mischief as Fred answered her, “With a girl he met at the reserve”
“Molly will kill him,” She hissed out a whisper at them.
“Apparently they just found out about the baby this week. They were married at the Romanian Ministry last month. Not that he told anybody. He’s taking her home to mum tonight,” George shrugged.
“Oh,” Hermoine frowned at Harry and opened her mouth but Einarr cut off her worries before she could voice them
“You should tell her before she goes home about listing her as your family, that way the boy may live to see his child,” he advised.
“You listed mum?” Fred asked with wide eyes. He exchanged a look with George. “She’ll be beside herself.”
Then they shook off all thoughts of their mum, and turned on the charm. They were flirting with her as outrageously as Harry had flirted with Sam.
Hermoine had noticed that the twins had never lacked for female attention in school and now she knew why. Getting a full frontal assault from the handsome redheads was shocking.  Not only were they handsome, they were charming and flirtatious. 
“You don’t have to flirt with me like this, you know. I know you were never interested,” Hermoine finally blurted out a few minutes later. And then wanted to swallow the words as soon as they were out of her mouth.
Harry almost fell out of his chair he laughed so hard at Fred and George’s blushing faces. “Are you kidding me?” He gasped between gales of laughter. “Half the time they would provoke you just to get you to pay attention to them. They were worse than Ron about it!”
“But then why...” She asked blankly.
“You were human, Mia,” George said gently. “And we knew we took after the side with Drakens. No Drakens on the Weasley side, It comes from the Prewetts. Us and Charlie take after the Prewett side. Once he inherited, well, we knew to keep it light, yeah?”
“You’re not the type not to be serious in a relationship, and we couldn’t be serious with a human. Not at this point when we aren't strong enough to stay away,” Fred continued. “And you’re part of our family, you and Harry both. You were too close to risk anything. It would have hurt more than us when you ended it.”
“I don’t think you should have assumed I would have ended it,” Hermoine protested. She’d always admired the twins who were always so carelessly themselves and had secretly had a crush on them when she realized how intelligent they were.
“Mia, sweetheart, you have a jealous streak a mile wide,” George grinned. 
“Dead sexy it is,” Fred nodded, “but you would not have been able to handle being at home waiting on us to come back from one of these. Hoping we’d be released or at least able to prevent ourselves from presenting.” 
“We couldn’t do that to any girl, much less someone so close with the entire family.” George shrugged. “We never had a serious relationship for just that reason. Why start something that’s only going to lead to pain? And you,--”
“--you’d’ve torn us up good on your way out,” Fred finished.
Hermoine bit her lip for a moment. “I was always a bit disappointed you never flirted with me the way you did the other girls at school.”
  She couldn't decide if their matching grins reminded her more of Cheshire cats or sharks, but she couldn’t deny the shiver of pleasure at their attention. She also couldn't hide her Draken’s obvious interest in them. 
“What do your Drakens look like?” she asked, shaking off the hormone induced haze after a moment. 
Einarr and Nikau chuckled. “You’re in for it now, girl.”
Slowly, slowly, with matching wicked, seductive grins Fred and George stood and began unbuttoning their shirts. In perfect synchronization.
Hermoine’s mouth suddenly went dry, her eyes grew wide, and she squeaked in shock as they slipped the shirts off their shoulders. Their shoulders and chests were toned and defined. 
Thank you, quidditch, she thought.
The transformation, like their little strip show, was smooth and casually graceful. Hermoine’s wings quivered and she couldn't have stopped the purr if she had tried. She hadn’t tried. They looked as though they were made of flame. The crimson began at the top of their wings and slowly bled into a beautiful rich orange-gold. 
“Breathe, ‘Moine,” Harry reminded her. 
She nodded absently. 
“I think that's enough,” Einarr said. “You should leave, boys.”
“Yes, sir,” Fred said as they nodded, not taking their eyes off Hermione. 
“Will we see you later, Mia, Love?” George asked.
“Of course,” Hermoine purred. Then she blinked and looked at Harry in confusion. “Did I just...”
“Yes, love,” Fred gave a grin.
“You just...” George purred back.
“Out, the pair of you,” Nikau commanded. As he hustled them out, he muttered under his breath, “Or we may never get the room aired out.”
 “I’m tellin’ you, “ Stephan’s voice floated through the door as the twins left, “quidditch players.”
Hermoine huffed and pouted before she looked at Harry she conceded with a sigh, “He might have a point.”
 
*~*~*~*~*~*
 
Fifteen minutes later they were in a different room all together and Hermoine was bright crimson. They joined Max, who had waited for Nikau, and Isay, who had returned from his nap in order to accompany Harry and Hermoine to dinner.
“I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to use that room again,” Nikau muttered as he dropped a kiss to Max’s head and picked up Jaime from his mate’s lap, cuddling the infant close. 
“What? Why not?” Max questioned his mate.
“I thought I was going to suffocate from all the pheromones,” Nikau answered giving his mate a heated look. “Gave me all sorts of ideas...”
“Really?” Max squeaked. Nikaus’s answering smile was pure sin. 
“I’m sorry,” Hermoine fretted, yet again.
“Nonsense, girl,” Einarr said. “It's expected.”
“I’m hardly going to complain,” Max reassured her absently as he eyed his mate as if he was the last piece of chocolate on the buffet before he turned and wheedled like a born gossip. “So who all got invited back for round two?” 
“You make it sound like a prize fight,” Hermoine moaned in frustration.
“Round two! FIGHT!” came Tomas’s disembodied voice from outside the door. It was chased by uproarious laughter. Hermoine gaped at the door. She expected this sort of thing from Stephan by this point, but Tomas surprised her.
“They’re kinda right,” Max shrugged. “So...who did make the cut? Viktor, obviously.”
“Kosta,” rumbled Einarr.
“Really?!” Max hissed in excitement. “He hasn’t presented himself in years. Who else?”
“The Quidditch players!” Stephan offered sticking his head in the door and ducking back out before Hermoine could hex him.
“He’s right,” Harry laughed at her. “Adrian and the twins are quidditch players.”
“Alonso isn’t” she protested.
“And he’s your least favorite of the bunch.”
“Meh,” Hemoine made a face. “I don’t do well at first blush either.”
“Not the way I hear it,” Max smirked. Seeing her confused look he continued, “I heard you have all the boys buzzing at that school of yours. Ollie told me that he was sorry he didn't try it on one good time.”
“Ollie? The only Oliver I know is Oliver Wood.”
“Yep. He’s my something-or-other cousin so-many-times removed on my mum’s side. Very nice bloke. We met at a family gathering and were the only ones both out of diapers and under 30. We managed to dodge the matchmaking attempts together. We keep in touch. Bit much with the quidditch at times, though.”
“You never had him as a captain,” Harry scoffed. “He was once accused of trying to drown himself in the shower after a loss.”
“Was he really!?”
“The twins said that as I recall,” Hermoine nodded, “While we were in the hospital wing with you. Far too many of your matches ended there.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose! And that time wasn’t my fault! There shouldn’t have been dementors on the field.”
“OOoooH, I heard about that. They were hunting Sirius Black. I heard he...oh.”
Max broke off looking at the two Potters. They had suddenly become cold and removed from the room.
“My godfather was not a murderer. He never betrayed my parents.” Harry’s voice was like ice.
“Harry,” Hermoine said in a soothing voice shooting Nikau a worried glance as he growled lowly at the young man, “Max didn’t say he was, just that the dementors were there looking for him.”
“Perhaps, moi deti, you could set the record straight for an old man,” Isay said diplomatically earning him a grateful smile from Hermione. “Most of us only know what is printed in the Daily Prophet. I wouldn’t like to rely on them for accuracy.”
“Peter Pettigrew,” Harry sneered the name, “betrayed my parents to Voldemort. Then he murdered those muggles, faked his death, and lived as a rat for 12 years while Sirius was imprisoned in the Death Eater wing of Azkaban without a trial for crimes he didn’t commit.”
“I see.” the old man nodded. “No one will believe you, will they?”
“They had to when Sirius died at the ministry. Cleared his name quietly, even though they had smeared his name loudly and publicly,” Harry glared at the floor as though it were the ministry official that had ‘explained’ the reasoning. The man had not escaped unhexed. 
“Think, my boy, of the changes you can make in his name, and stop sparking against the furniture.”
“Sorry, grandfather.”
“Think nothing of it. It’s an emotional subject at an emotional time.”
“Now what?” Hermione sighed. It had been a long, long day for her and she wanted to soak in a bath, put on some comfy pajamas and curl up with her mates and ---Wah???? 
“Now, you take me to meet your wolf and give Molly the good news. Then we will eat, you will rest and we will return tomorrow and see if your Draken will pick your first mate.”
“Yes, sir.”
And off they went.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Max turned to Einarr and Nikau. “Who's willing to bet she picks the twins first?”
“It will be Viktor first,” Einarr proclaimed.
“That would be your pick,” Max answered back. “But is that what you think or wishful thinking? What's your pick, love?”
“I refuse to get involved with your bets. I always end up on the sofa.”
“You love me anyway.”
“I do.”