*****One Month later*****

Hermione arrived an hour before moonrise, as early as she could get away from work. She hoped she could take his mind away from it for a while.

Draco jumped up when she entered, knocking Marigold to the ground. The kneazle was not pleased. Draco grabbed the blanket before it went past mid-torso level, and he quickly sat back down on the couch.

"Hey," she said in awkward greeting. Was he wearing any- no, she didn't want to know that. Draco was covered up to his armpits now. She could see the bite on his forearm clearly. Marigold settled back into his lap, hardly acknowledging Hermione's presence, which was her typical response to the witch. Hermione liked Marigold regardless, perhaps she took it as a challenge.

"Hey," Draco answered.

Hermione sat and took his hand, "Have you eaten?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "Didn't want you to have to watch that. There's other food in the kitchen though," he offered.

"I- will just be a minute," Hermione excused herself, stepping into the kitchen. It was still early, but better now than later. She hastily made a cheese sandwich, because it was quick, and she knew Draco wouldn't want it right now.

Hermione settled a foot away from Draco on the couch. "How's the Menagerie?" she asked before starting to eat.

Draco smiled, it was a question he always enjoyed. He had started working at the Magical Menagerie almost two weeks ago now, inspired by telling the little muggle boy that he trained animals, and then from getting Marigold. He didn't need the money, but Hermione knew he enjoyed the work.

"The cats didn't like me today; they could probably feel it. But they didn't mind before, so I'm sure they'll settle. They're not smart like Marigold, are they, girl?" he cooed, scratching the kneazle who purred loudly. The other animals either didn't know or didn't care. I bathed a dozen Puffskins, and their fur does not react well to drying spells. There's a raven I'd love to bring home, but I don't know how Dragon would feel about that," Draco said, craning his neck around to his eagle owl, high on his favoured perch.

"He might enjoy the company if he liked the Owlery," Hermione pointed out.

"Maybe," Draco said. "I was glad when an unpleasant old man didn't buy her today," Draco said, rubbing his fingers. He was probably thinking about how they would be claws soon. "And your work?" he asked.

"Not as much fun when you don't stop by, though I probably get more done," she conceded. Draco hadn't been by her office since his own employment had started, though his work hours were more sporadic than hers. It was excellent that the place had progressive hiring practices and understand that Draco couldn't work the day after a full moon. Hermione was impressed that he'd made it through that morning, and hoped he hadn't been just sitting on his couch since then. At least he had Marigold.

"Well, I don't want to stop you from saving the world," Draco said.

"Is it alright if I tell Harry and Ginny about us?" Hermione asked, shocking the man in front of her. "Ginny already knows I'm seeing someone, and she knows that I wasn't until after I broke up with Ron. I just feel like it's been long enough, and I want them to know," Hermione laid out.

Draco smiled, "If you'll still have me after you see this, you can tell anyone whatever you want," Draco said.

Hermione grabbed his hand, "I'm not going to be scared away," she assured him. "Besides, I've seen a werewolf transformation before, and you're far less likely to bite me," she reasoned. She hadn't gotten around to that story yet.

"What? When?" Draco asked, apprehensively.

"Our third year, Professor Lupin, and he hadn't taken his last dose of Wolfsbane," she said. "The same night that we rescued Sirius," she added, because she had told that one, though apparently not in full.

"That was an exciting night then, for a werewolf encounter to not be the most memorable part," Draco said, eyebrow raised. "Unless you previously excluded that information intentionally?" he asked.

"The dementors were the worst part by far. And after that was worrying that I was ruining time and reality itself. Even though in the end we didn't, I still didn't want anything to do with that time turner after that. I would have thought that Professor Snape would have shared more of that story, though I suppose he didn't get what he hoped from it in the end, with Sirius walking free. Fudge had promised him an Order of Merlin for the capture," Hermione said, looking around the room. It was strange to put herself in those thoughts, of Sirius Black or Severus Snape, two brave, flawed men who hated each other and both died for their cause in front of her.

Draco nodded, his throat visibly tense. Hermione squeezed his hand harder. "What's in that little bag of ours today?" he asked, of the beaded bag that she still carried.

Some of what she always kept in there, a few changes of clothes, and enough non-perishable food to last a week. But he already knew that. Was it paranoia if similar precautions had saved her before? "The usual, and some books I'm reading or have meant to read," she said.

"Read something to me?" he asked, looking at the high window by Dragon, though the moon wouldn't be visible there for hours, if at all that night. All the other curtains were pulled.

"Of course," Hermione agreed, hoping she had something that wasn't too boring. She selected a text on merfolk which had some narrative portions, she had been told. Merfolk were among the most intelligent members of the Beast classification, put there first because of their inability to be understood above water, and later because they no longer sought out Being classification at all. And Hermione couldn't blame them. And, it wasn't like 'Being' status had helped many groups. Hermione still hoped to do more for house elves, though some of her weakest suggestions had gained traction after their involvement in the Battle at Hogwarts. She had found merfolk fascinating and somewhat terrifying after her unconscious visit into the lake. She had only seen them just after the task, and hoped she could arrange future meetings.

Hermione read aloud for more than half an hour, immersed in the text, when she noticed Draco fingering a pocket watch.

"Am I as boring as Binns?" she asked, hopefully humorously.

"No, you're great. Have your wand out, just in case. You don't have to stay after," Draco said, closing his eyes. It was soon, Hermione knew.

"Can- may I?" Hermione asked, retrieving her wand. She hadn't wanted to have it earlier, thinking it rude.

Draco gave a little, pained smile, "Yeah."

Hermione heard the first whimper, "Muffliato," she cast. "Don't hold back if it helps," Hermione said as he screamed. Marigold backed away but didn't leave the couch, and Hermione wouldn't either. The blanket dropped to his waist, but it wouldn't matter soon anyway, as he sprouted fur everywhere. Hermione watched his face closest, nose and mouth changing painfully into snout, ears morphing drastically as well. His cry turned into a howl. It wasn't at all like an Animagus or even less permanent cross-species transfiguration, which Hermione had not enjoyed her seventh year. She would always be reminded of waking up in the water being held seemingly by a shark before Victor righted himself.

Draco made a beautiful wolf, light grey, almost white, and huge. Hermione could list the most prominent physical differences between transformed werewolves and traditional wolves- shorter snouts, more human-like eyes, less full tails. And she should not have to face the less favourable behavioral characteristics. Marigold gave him a lick, which he returned, but stared at Hermione.

"You're very handsome," Hermione said, wondering if he could understand everything. There was precious little documentation of the phenomenon. Really, this was an amazing opportunity that werewolves found very private, even those who regularly took Wolfsbane.

His long tongue fell out of his mouth in a happy panting. Wolves could taste things in the air like snakes, she knew. Hermione had wondered if reading up on werewolves beyond what she already had for her employment was being a good… girlfriend, or just being nosy.

His eyes were almost the same, but larger. "I have a probably rude urge to pet you," Hermione commented nervously.

Draco closed his mouth and lowered his head towards her. He had been sitting on the couch, but when he stood facing her, he took up so much more space. Eyes flicked close, and it was easier to pet him. He was a bit like Fang, wasn't he? Hermione hadn't been around canines often.

She had asked to spend the night at his house, and he'd said yes- or maybe he hadn't said yes to the whole night, just a while after the change. And now he was a wolf and she was rubbing his ears. What was she supposed to do?

Draco seemed to decide that for her when he bumped the book in her lap with his snout twice.

"You want me to keep reading?" she asked.

Draco sat back and panted again. He hadn't had his open mouth when he was closer to her, which was careful of him. Though close was all relative when she was sharing a couch with a transformed werewolf and a kneazle. Marigold stalked around the frame of the couch and settled delicately on the tall back of it, a space that seemed narrow for her. It appeared that Marigold was content to listen as well.

Hermione read for hours until her throat hurt, and Draco didn't seem to tire of it.

"I- I'm just going to get some water," she said, standing and walking for the kitchen. "Do you need some?" she asked, but Draco was already drinking from a large bowl placed next to Marigold's. "Of course, you had to think of these things long before now. I- don't know how long I'm welcome," she said awkwardly.

Draco looked at her with those huge eyes and jerked his head towards the sitting room. Hermione followed, but he didn't stop there, but trotted towards the area of the flat that Hermione hadn't ventured into before. He jerked his head once at the loo, but continued onto his bedroom. Marigold leapt down from the couch and trotted after them.

Hermione peaked inside the room. Draco was standing on his bed, yanked down the cover on one side before turning, staring at her, and settling himself on the opposite side. Okay… It was a large bed for one person, but he probably grew up with a lot of things like that. To some extent, she did as well. Hogwarts beds had felt suffocating. She could stay, if that was what he wanted. She ducked into the loo first because she needed it, not because she was afraid.

Hermione turned off the lights in the flat as she went back. Imagine Draco Malfoy with an electric bill.

"This is okay, right? Bark once for yes and twice for no?"

Draco jerked his head towards the other side of the bed and barked once into a howl. Marigold came to rest next to him. She did like to cuddle in the night, he had said.

Hermione flipped the switch and wondered how much Draco could still see- if he could see her biting her lip and wiggling out of her shoes- of course, he could hear that bit.

Would he be able to sleep? Could she sleep? Was it mature or childish that she was glad that it was dark and she didn't have to worry about where she looked on him anymore? It had always bothered her with Sirius as well. Of course, when Draco had run in front of her, she couldn't help but… clearly identify him as a male wolf. Had his human-looking eyes seen her blush?

Hermione woke to dog cries. Sunlight leaked through the blocked windows, not enough to see very well, but enough to know it was morning. Hermione threw her half of the blanket over the shaking wolf, because that was not how she wanted to see her boyfriend naked for the first time.

Whining turned to human heavy breaths.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. Much better than usual, actually," he said. "I hope you will be alright going to work," he said.

"I'm fine. I told my supervisor I might be late today though, and I haven't taken a single vacation day yet," Hermione shrugged.

"Just stay until I fall asleep?" he asked, his voice tired. Many werewolves documented having trouble sleeping through the night in their wolf form.

"Of course," Hermione promised. Then she would find her shoes and sneak out- and go to her house to change so that she wouldn't be in the same robes as the day before, not that anyone was likely to notice.

"Thank you, for staying," Draco whispered. "Thank you for helping me to feel like a human with a problem instead of a beast trying to pretend for most of the month."

"Thank you for letting me stay," Hermione managed. She could do better. "And not just because it's a fascinating, understudied process."

Draco gave a small laugh before they lapsed into silence.

*****Three years, seven months later*****

How the hell did Molly have so many kids? Did they get easier after the first time, or the fifth? She knew everything wasn't going to go back exactly how it had been before but… whoever said this would be a painless procedure needed to have their healing license revoked.

"She's beautiful," Draco breathed, bringing their little girl close.

The newborn was red and skinny, and screaming loudly enough that Hermione didn't notice that Draco was crying at first. "She's going to look like you," Draco added, rubbing a hand over the tiny girl's half centimeter of brown hair. Hermione couldn't tell if it would be curly or straight at this point, but she hoped straight for the girl's sake.

Hermione whimpered as something else hurt in their healing. There were two healers still working on her lower half, and Hermione no longer gave a damn about modesty.

"You're amazing, Hermione," Draco praised. "Ready to hold your daughter?" he asked.

"I'm afraid," Hermione whispered.

"I'm terrified," Draco agreed. "But so happy. Thank you for making me a father. Without you, I'd hardly even be a man," Draco said, tears in his eyes. Of course, she could only halfway see him, because she was crying too.

"You don't want to see how it goes before thanking me?" Hermione half-joked.

"It will be amazing," Draco promised.

*****Six years, one month later*****

"Mummy! Do I have to go to Aunt Ginny's house? Jamie is worse than Scorpius, and Albus cries all the time, and she's going to have another one. They need a bigger house! Just make Scorpius and Horatio go, and I'll stay. I've been good before," Rose promised.

"And what makes you think Aunt Ginny's having another baby?" Hermione asked.

"Because she was throwing up two months ago, and crying at my birthday, and she wears big clothes again and ate extra cake on Sunday," Rose explained rather thoroughly. "I just hope somebody has a girl this time."

"DADDY DOGGY DAY!" Scorpius screamed, running down the hallway. The four-year-old's blond hair was starting to darken more than his fathers, and it hung in loose curls that Hermione thought she really should cut again.

"DOGGY DAY!" came two-year-old Horatio's echo as he followed.

"See what I deal with!" the exasperated six-year-old cried. "And what if my new baby sister comes when daddy's a wolf?" she asked.

"Your sister or brother is not due for another seven weeks," Hermione reminded her. They hadn't wanted to find out the gender this time. Hermione thought of it as her last pregnancy, but she had thought the same about each of the others. And it was getting easier.

"Daddy, can I have a wolfy ride tonight?" Scorpius asked, now in his father's arms.

"We'll see, Pup. Hermione, I don't want to force them to associate with the Potter children," Draco smiled. It was the last bit left of their old rivalry, taking pleasure that Rose didn't care for either of the Potter boys, though their boys loved them, and the ideas of six-year-olds can change over the years.

"You can stay for one hour," Hermione relented. "But then you must go to bed right away for Aunt Ginny, okay? And don't tell her that you think she's having another baby," Hermione warned. Ginny was pregnant again, but she hadn't even told all the family yet. Though she had better hurry, it seemed.

"But my bedtime isn't until almost two hours after moonrise tonight," Rose complained. Teaching her to tell time had probably been their mistake, but Rose loved learning everything she could.

"Cooksank!" Horatio squealed, hurrying after the orange streak of feline before Draco scooped the little boy up in his other arm. Poor, old cat. Draco hadn't worked regularly at the Magical Menagerie in years, but they had accumulated between them a kneazle, half-kneazle, one mostly kneazle kitten whose birth a year ago had surprised them all, two owls, a raven, two puffskeins, and a very shy, grumpy toad.

"Thank you, Love," Draco said, surprising her with bending down for a kiss on the lips, even while holding their two boys. They really needed to send the children away on a night when her husband wasn't going to be a wolf.

"For what?" Hermione asked. "You made dinner and cleaned when you should be resting," Hermione pointed out.

"For making this incredible life seem normal, but so much better," he smiled.

"Oh oh! Can Cousin Teddy come over? I forgot I was supposed to ask," Rose declared.

Draco handed Horatio over to Hermione and checked his watch. He never did anything to stop the smaller scars accumulating on his forearms from various animals, mostly young owls these days. Hermione rather thought he liked them because they made his first scar blend in a bit. If anything, he'd gotten more handsome with age and years of happiness. "I'll floo Andromeda," he said before kissing Hermione again, hand running across her neck.

No one had wished to deny a visit from the boy who should have had a werewolf father there himself. When they boy had first asked, Andromeda had allowed it eventually. And the child would be going to Hogwarts soon, and was good with the younger children. None of them would see the transformation itself except for Hermione, just in case, and there was a dog muzzle involved when any children stayed, but they made it work. And more importantly, the children would be out of the house when Draco spent the next day in bed. And by the next evening, Draco would be slowly up and about, but they would mostly stay in bed and enjoy each other's company

*****Eleven years, four months later*****

Hermione wiped her eyes, "My heart just rides away on that train each year, and now my youngest baby… And Rose's last trip, my little Head Girl."

Strong arms folded around her, "Well, you know your potion won't be effective in another week, and you don't have to take another one," Draco hinted.

"Oh, don't even joke about it," Hermione warned. "I'm far too old."

"Not at all. You're a witch. Witches twenty years older than we are can conceive without any help from healers."

Hermione ignored that entirely, "And the sorting tonight, so traumatic on them really. I've tried to convince Minerva to consider another system."

"Shhh, Cassie will be fine. She'll be a good little Slytherin, completing our multicoloured set. And they'll respect her or she'll make them soon enough. She'll run the whole school without anyone realizing it until she wants them to, and she's got an older sister and two older brothers to support her who won't give a damn what her house is," Draco described in her ear.

"I know," Hermione said.

"We'll have Teddy over for dinner," Draco suggested, "And then he will go home to his nice little flat, and we will continue having a lovely evening doing whatever you want," Draco promised.

"I did love our time together before children," Hermione said. "Have you invited Teddy yet?" she asked.

"No, not yet," Draco said, and she could feel his smile. They were nearly alone on the platform, the train long out of sight.

"Then I think tomorrow will be soon enough to see him, don't you?" Hermione settled on. After all, they saw the boy nearly weekly.

"Thank you," Draco said, turning her suddenly in his arms and kissing her.

"What for?" Hermione whispered a minute later. "Your thanks might be presumptuous. You don't even know what I've planned for tonight. You might just be rubbing my feet and telling me how amazing I am," Hermione taunted. He made her feel young.

"I will do so gladly," Draco emphasized. "Thank you for loving me, for giving me everything."

"I've never given you any more than you've given me," Hermione answered.

"Well, I suppose I must agree, because my wife is never wrong," Draco conceded easily.

A/N: Thank you for your support! So, I went chronologically, but also loosely thematically, including a "thank you" in each section, as opposed to an apology last chapter. I'm leaving this marked as complete, because I don't necessarily foresee anymore… but I also didn't plan on writing more last time, and I was inspired by reviews. So, please follow and review, and check out my other stuff!