Hermione Granger and the Snatcher's Baby

The attack

What do a grief stricken Snatcher, a baby and Harry Potter have in common? Read on to find out! Enjoy!

They struck in the middle of the night. With no warning, the village went from a blissfully quiet night to a terror-filled nightmare. Harley Dean Scabior's wife jumped up and ran to the nursery for her screaming newborn. "H.D! H.D! What's going on?" she cried.

"An attack! Wizards! Go to your mother's house! I'll come get you when it's safe! Go!" he yelled. She ran out the back door as Scabior ran out the front door. Dashing towards their boundaries, he was joined by Alex McKeon and Max Greyback. "How did they get through our wards?!" he snapped.

"Those wards can only be brought down by Greyback or someone bitten by him!" Alex snarled, already firing curses towards the three people he could see. Scabior could see them firing curses in every direction. Bombarda's flattened the walls of the closest homes. Incendieo's setting fire to the homes not flattened.

Just as they were close enough to realize it was a witch and two wizards, the three Disapparated and reappeared at different places inside the village. The wolves reversed their dash and returned to the village. The women were screaming in agony as the witch threw slicing spells at them and their children. The wizards were flattening and firing up the remaining houses. Alex, seeing them perilously close to the Alpha, Beta and Gamma houses, unleashed a wave of Fiendfyre on them. He was rewarded with a keening cry from one of the wizards! The other wizard and the witch linked arms with the wounded wizard and disappeared into the night.

No sooner had they gone than a bound and bloody Greyback dropped to the ground in front of them. They ran to him and got him unbound. They were horrified by the sheer amount of cuts and abrasions all over his chest. "Dad! Dad!" Max yelled, panicking. Greyback's eyes fluttered open, then he suddenly gasped and sat up.

"Boys! Oh, gods, no! No!" he shot to his feet, staggering until he caught his balance. He stared wildly around at the destruction of his village. "Damn it! Damn them! I'll kill them! I'll kill them all!" he roared angrily. And the fucking Ministry wondered why he fucking HATED wizards!

"H.D! Get over here! Hurry, darling!" Mary, Fen's mate, yelled urgently at him. Scabior felt a sudden jolt of fear, no, no, please, gods NO! He raced over, seeing her holding Moira, covered in blood. He didn't see the baby anywhere. 'Oh, gods, where was his son?!'

"Moira! Moira, baby, what-? Gods, what do you need me to do? Please, baby, please don't leave me! Please, you can't die!" he cried, holding her to him. Behind him, Mary had picked up the little newborn. Moira had seen the slicing curse coming and thrown herself over her baby to protect him.

"Harley, sweetie, please, I love you. Please take care of our baby. Don't," she coughed up blood. "Please don't give up. I want, I," she grasped his hair to make him look at her. "I want you to marry again! Grieve me, yes, but I want you to marry again. I don't want our child growing up without a mother. You might find love again or you might not but, please, marry again, for our son. Promise me!"

Tears were streaming down his face. "I promise, darling, I promise. He'll have another mother, I promise!" he dropped his head down onto the top of her head. Her eyes fluttered shut as she stopped breathing. They all wood there, stunned by her death.

Mary threw back her head and howled in anguish. Greyback joined her, his heart breaking. Moira had been his only daughter. He'd been proud as punch the day she and Scabior married. He'd been even prouder the day she gave birth to his first grandchild. Scabior let out an anguished howl as he clutched Moira to him. Alex and Max, fighting back tears, joined in. Soon every surviving member of the village had joined in, howling mournfully for the loss of their Beta female.

The next morning, Mary and her remaining daughters in law, Victoria and Jasmin, carefully prepared Moira's body for her funeral pyre. They had decided on a traditional Norse funeral, sending her body out on a floating pyre. As the boat floated to the center of the lake, they fired flaming arrows and set the pyre aflame. As the flames shot high into the sky, Scabior stared sightlessly in front of him, holding his baby boy close to his heart. He kissed his little boy's forehead. "I'll find the ones who killed Mummy and I'll kill them! I promise you that, my son, Mummy's death WILL be avenged!" he vowed softly but firmly to the baby. Behind him, Greyback, Alex and Max exchanged worried glances.

When Greyback went back to Malfoy Manor, he carefully avoided looking at THEM! 'Let the fuckers THINK they'd gotten away scot free! Soon enough, it would be over for them. If they killed Scabior, they still had him, Alex and Max to worry about. One way or another, they would die for killing his daughter and destroying his village!' he took a knee to the maniac who wanted to rule the world.

"Greyback! I'm so pleased to see you back. Have you been recruiting, as we discussed?" the Dark Lord hissed.

"Yes, my lord. I have fifty new recruits for you. Muggleborns may not be good for much but they make excellent werewolves." Greyback politely replied.

"Ah, yes! Excellent work, my friend, excellent! Keep it up and you shall be greatly rewarded when I rule the Wizarding world!" the Dark Lord moved on to his next connection, leaving Greyback to mingle or leave. He promptly left, never staying any longer than necessary, for fear he'd give in to his own rage. He never let the boys accompany him to these meetings. He knew Scabior's temper would flare, he'd try to kill THEM and the other two would jump in to back him up. Knowing where THEY were was driving Scabior bonkers that Fenrir wouldn't just let him kill them already!

Fenrir strode back into camp. Alex and Max were playing cards outside of Scabior's tent. He could hear him inside, talking to the boy. "Shhh, c'mon, go to sleep, little man." The baby finally settled down and Scabior gave strict instructions to the female captive watching his boy, that night. He came out and they left camp. They had a Muggleborn couple to hunt down. Within a few hours, the Muggle borns was apprehended and they were heading back to camp. Suddenly, "What's that?" Scabior stopped dead in his tracks, his hand held up. Fenrir waited. "What's that smell?" he had an arrested look on his face as he backtracked a short distance. He sniffed deeply, staring ahead of him. He could swear there was a girl right in front of him, wearing strawberry scented perfume. But his eyes didn't lie, there was nobody in front of him. He walked away, never realizing that behind a ward stood a trembling, terrified Hermione Granger.

Three months later

Scabior had no idea who any of the Trio were but they better hope they stayed in hiding! Old Snake face wanted them bad, especially the Potter boy. The Weasley boy was just wanted for torture fodder and the Mudblood was of no use to him. He actually told Greyback he was more than welcome to either bite and or kill the Mudblood, whichever notion hit him first. Greyback had overheard the Malfoys complaining about the little bint, derisively calling her the nickname she was apparently famous for, 'the brightest witch of her age'. He figured, with a nickname like that, he might very well have to keep a sharp eye out for her. She might very well be worth biting! Of course, she could never replace Moira but he was finally ready to have a daughter again. 'Who better to fill that role than 'the brightest witch of her age?'

They were walking along the edge of the river when Scabior ran up the bank to a tree. They followed him and found him staring at a pink scarf. He unwound it and held it to his face, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. "Same scent." He whispered, almost to himself. He wrapped the pink scarf around his own neck. They all three realized something, at the same time. It was the first time since the death of his wife that Scabior's interest had been caught by anything to do with a female! They slowly smiled at each other, 'maybe the boy was finally beginning to come back to them.' None of them said a single word as he walked away wearing the scarf of an unknown female. They just hoped, now, they'd be able to locate the owner of the scarf!

Five months later

The Trio popped back into the woods, ironically in the same place where Hermione had left her favorite scarf for Ron. She vaguely noticed it was gone. Harry was answering Ron and she turned away to go set up the tent. They had just barely managed to escape from the Death Eaters at the Lovegood house. She hoped they didn't hurt Mr. Lovegood. They had waited until the Death Eaters saw them before they disappeared so they wouldn't be able to accuse him of lying about their presence. Hermione was looking down as she headed toward the tree.

A set of strange boots came into view. She looked up and gasped. He was as handsome in the daylight as he'd been that night! He raised his right hand and pushed the end of a very familiar pink scarf against his nose. Then he spoke. "Hello beautiful." Ron had frozen at the sight of Snatchers, including the notorious Fenrir Greyback, in front of him. Harry looked both ways at them and then locked eyes with Hermione. As one, they spun around and ran, Ron on their heels.

He stood still for a moment, perhaps giving them a head start and a fighting chance. Then she heard him yell loudly, as if he wanted them to hear. "Well, don't just hang about! Snatch 'em!"

They were going all out but the months of little to no food was quickly taking its toll. They knew they had to keep running, though. They had to escape from the Snatchers, if at all possible! They were too close to their goal to lose it all now! Soon enough, the Snatchers began throwing curses at them. Hermione began blasting apart every tree she passed, in an attempt to slow down her pursuers, not knowing that Scabior was the main one behind her, closing in fast.

Ron went down with a yelp and, bad as she felt, she wasn't going to try to help him. Not when it was Harry who needed her more. Ron would just have to fend for himself again. He'd escaped the Snatchers before, he could do it again. Harry was the heart and soul of their mission. Without him, the whole war was lost.

She could see him, running a parallel route to her own. She almost stopped when the Snatcher pursuing him dropped down on him but sped up once she saw him pop back up and keep going. She had drawn slightly ahead of him when she looked and realized there was another whole line of Snatchers running towards them. She knew there was no way to outrun or out fight them. She'd just have to use whatever means necessary to protect Harry, even if it meant hurting him in the process. She swung around, aimed her wend at the boy who lived and hit him with a powerful Stinging jinx! Then she ran over, just in time to grab his glasses and cram them in her bag, before she was grabbed and dragged away from him.

"Leave her alone!" yelled Ron before taking a boot to the gut.

"Leave him!" she cried. "Get off me!" Alex had a boot on Ron's back, holding him down. Greyback had hold of Harry's messy hair. But they were both looking at the little spitfire Max was having trouble keeping a grip on.

"Your boyfriend will get much worse than that," an amused voice drawled, "if he doesn't learn to behave himself." With that statement, the young Snatcher who first spoke to her jumped off the bank. Walking past Harry and Greyback, he looked down and jumped back, startled. "What happened to you, ugly?" they both looked at him. He smirked at Greyback, "No, not you." Greyback shook his head and almost laughed. He didn't even glance at Ron. "Check them!"

He walked straight to Hermione and grabbed a handful of her hair. He took a deep whiff and closed his eyes, clenching his fist. 'Gods! It was HER! He'd finally found her! The girl who matched the scarf and the long ago scent from the woods!' "And you, sweetheart, what do they call you?"

"Penelope Clearwater, half-blood." She lied, hoping her face wasn't blood red. She'd practiced saying it for months, just in case of this. They all had false names to give. She just hoped they remembered them. They were much more skilled at lying than she was.

"Their names aren't showing up, Scabior, and hers is already crossed off. Unless she's snuck away from Hogwarts again." Greyback growled. He met Hermione's eyes and winked at her playfully, surprising her. That's when she knew he, at least, wasn't fooled by the false names. They were well and truly caught.

She sagged in the arms of her captor before looking back at Scabior. "Hermione Granger. Please let them go. Please!" he looked at her, surprised she wasn't begging for herself. Greyback walked over and spoke very low in his ear. She thought she heard "Sebastian" but she wasn't sure. She wondered who 'Sebastian' was.

It didn't take long to find out. He grabbed her and Disapparated on the spot. When they popped back into sight, they were in the center of his camp. Greyback had brought Harry. Max and Alex both had Ron, who was raging at Scabior for disappearing with Hermione. "If you want him to live longer than the next five minutes, luv, you better get him to shut that trap. I'm not too fond of wizards and he's getting all over my last nerve." Scabior whispered in her ear.

Quick as a flash, she turned around, slapped Ron across the face and yelled. "Shut it! Now! He's going to kill you if you don't!" Ron looked completely shocked. Alex and Max were amused as was Greyback and Scabior. Harry couldn't help it, he flat out busted out laughing. She didn't slap or punch people very often so it always caught everyone off guard when she did.

Scarier tugged her arm and led her over to the second biggest tent in camp. As Alpha, the biggest tent was Greyback's. As co-Gammas, Alex and Max shared the third biggest tent. He paused as Harry and Ron were securely fastened down with the rest of the captives. Then with Greyback, Alex and Max behind him, he shoved her gently into the tent.

Scared to death of what she thought was about to happen, Hermione was pleasantly surprised when she got her first look at the inside of his tent. It was a huge front room with two curtained doors near the back. It looked like a very comfortable drawing room. Scabior and the others stood there silently, allowing her time to look around.

As her eyes wandered around, they caught on what looked like a crib. Her breath caught in her throat. She cautiously stepped away from him. When he didn't try to stop her, she went to the crib looking thing and discovered that it was, in fact, a crib. There was a little boy asleep in there. He looked about eight or nine months old. Hermione looked at him with delight. She reached in and smoothed a lock of red hair away from his eyes. She looked around at them, realizing Scabior had that same red lock in his own hair. Hearing a little grizzling sound, she turned back to the baby. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. I woke you up, didn't l?"

Greyback was impressed by her. Most witches, when shoved towards a tent, had screamed and fought, even knowing they were going to lose the fight. Thinking the same fate had awaited her, she'd still gone calmly with them. Now she was already cooing over his grandson. "Scabior has a deal for you, missy."

"May I pick him up?" Hermione asked. Scabior nodded. She reached down to the little boy, who was already holding his arms up to her, in that universal baby way meaning 'up!'

"Hey, baby." She cuddled him against her and walked back to the Snatchers. "Ok, you mentioned a deal?"

"You want me to let Potter and Weasley go, right?" Scabior asked her bluntly. She nodded quickly.

"Ok. I'll let them go, IF you stay. Take care of my boy while I'm snatching. Do that and I'll let them go." He told her.

"Before I agree or not, can I ask for a couple of things, nothing major." She hastened to reassure him, seeing that he was about to refuse. He motioned for her to go on.

"I want my wand back. There are little things I can do to entertain him but I can't do it wandlessly." She waited. He looked at Max who passed her wand back to her.

"I want to tell Harry goodbye and explain to him that I'm staying by my own choice. If I don't tell him, he'll forget what he's supposed to be doing and trail around after you, trying to get me back. I don't think you want him bombarding your wards day and night. He will, trust me!" Scabior's brows shot up but he nodded.

"The thing we're doing, he's going to need to communicate with me. I need you to let him owl me whenever he needs to. I promise you, give me those last two things and I will gladly stay here and take care of your little boy." She vowed. Scabior narrowed his eyes at her. He tapped his fingers on his belt.

"His name is Sebastian. He's eight and a half months old. He's a natural born werewolf, like his mum. He transforms, same as the rest of us. If you're not interested in becoming a werewolf, I'd suggest you don't let him nip you." Hermione's eyes widened and she looked down at the baby. He smiled at her, reaching for her hair with both hands. 'Like father, like son.' Remembering that Scabior had also grabbed her hair first thing!

"C'mon. We're about to cut Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb loose. Just curious, why are you only worried about telling Potter goodbye and not the ginger?" he asked curiously.

"The 'ginger' ran out on me and Harry months ago, then waltzed back in last night, expecting a hero's welcome. Right now, he could eat shit and die, for all I care!" Hermione snapped, before soothing Sebastian who must have thought she was fussing at him. In less than a minute, he was all smiles again. All the wolves, at that moment, was biting their lips in amusement, trying to hold their laughter in.

They exited the tent and walked over to Harry and Ron. Harry, after taking one look at her face then the baby, didn't even need her to tell him she was staying, he already knew. "Can I still write to you? I can't do this without your advice, you know that, right?"

"Yes, you can owl me whenever you need to. Harry. Listen to me. I don't care WHAT Dumbledore told you or WHY he wouldn't let you tell anyone else but please listen to me! Go. To. The. Order. We need them, Harry, especially now! You can owl me anytime you find a clue, we'll go over it with a fine tooth comb and then someone from the Order will help you and Ron. All right? Promise me, Harry, promise me right now or I WILL NOT let them send you out of here!"

"Hermione! Hermione. I promise, all right? I promise, as soon as Ron and I cross these wards, we'll go straight to the order and tell them everything. I'll also tell them why you stayed behind AND," looking at the Snatcher, "I'll make sure they know it's your own choice and to not come after you. Ok?" he spread his arms. She ducked into them holding him with one arm and the baby with the other.

"By the way, what's my new nephew's name?" Harry teased her gently.

"Harry Potter!" she swatted him playfully, then, "His name is Sebastian."

He laughed softly at her. Then he and Ron walked over and prepared to exit the camp. He turned back one last time and waved. She waved back, hugging the baby.