The Sacrifices We Make

2018 Granger Enchanted Awards Winner - Best H.B.I.C Hero!Hermione, Best Wartime!Hermione, and Best Smut

2017 Granger Enchanted Awards Finalist - Best WIP

Warnings: Werewolf!Draco, Voldemort!Wins, Dark/Mature Themes, Werewolf Sex, Pregnancy Kink, Lemons, Angst, AU

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and the Wizarding World; JK Rowling does. This is just entertainment.

Chapter One

Hermione Granger's plan started as a whisper in the dark recesses of her mind after meeting with desperate Order members. Their numbers had dwindled to a resolute handful during the Battle of Hogwarts when Harry fell. But rather than surrender in defeat, Hermione and the rest of the Order retreated and regrouped, determined to find the best recourse now that Harry had been lost. In safe houses during the height of summer, they planned and strategized. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Minerva McGonagall led the Order following Remus' death. But most of the younger fighters looked to her and Ron, the last connection they had to Harry for guidance.

Over rationed meals, the Order discussed how Draco Malfoy - who had been infected with Lycanthropy as punishment for his failure to kill Dumbledore two years ago - had gone feral and overthrown Fenrir Greyback in a fight for dominance. They spoke how he was now the Alpha in Greyback's place, and had some two hundred or so werewolves at his command.

Both Light and Dark had noted the werewolves' absence at the Battle of Hogwarts. Voldemort thought it betrayal. Hermione saw it as proof that the Malfoy heir did not support Voldemort's claims on world domination. After the battle, Hermione gambled that Malfoy wanted the madman dead as much as she did, albeit for different reasons: she, for the voiceless that would come behind her and for vengeance for Harry; he, for revenge for soiling his pureblood lineage.

So while the fractured Order argued on the best course of actions, she quietly left one August night, her beaded bag packed with books on werewolf lore and fertility potions. She grabbed her wand and with a determined scowl Apparated away to the Forbidden Forest, the last known location of Greyback's, or now Malfoy's, pack.

It was three days to the full moon as she landed on the ruined grounds of Hogwarts. Trying not to glance at the eerily quiet ruins of the castle behind her, Hermione quickly made her way past what used to be Hagrid's Hut towards the marked edge of the Forbidden Forest. Her skin shivered as she quickly recapped her plan in her mind. This could go woefully bad for her, or it could be the catalyst that turned the war back toward their side.

With shaking hands, she pulled the bottle of green potion out of bag, unstoppered the cork, and upended it before she could blink. Sugary sweet liquid ran down the back of her throat; it was enough to make her gag. Tossing the empty vial back into her satchel, she moved towards the forest's barrier, her wand ever at the ready.

She barely made it past the forest's edge before she was surprised by two humans, though they held an alert sharpness in their eyes Lupin often sported.

"I-I want to be taken to your Alpha," she bravely sought an audience with the boy she had not seen since the end of her sixth year. She had heard stories of what happened to witches and wizards who went feral. Unabashedly, a flash of Greyback appeared in her mind. She prayed that the wolf had not completely taken over the human side. But this close to the full moon, she could not be sure.

The two who stopped her shared an intimate glance as Hermione realized they must've been a mated pair. The woman approached Hermione, and though Hermione faltered, she ultimately lowered her wand. The woman gestured for her to follow.

They walked until Hermione was sure she couldn't find her way back if she escaped. Trees and other growth grew leagues and leagues above her. It seemed as if the forest possessed a natural barrier that prevented time from altering the precious growth.

Soon she came to a valley deep within the forest. Dozens stopped what they were doing as she walked behind her two escorts. Slowly, she was lead through a throng of people, dressed in a varying state of undress. Those who had fully embraced the wolf within stood stark naked, and Hermione did her best to avert her eyes as the crowd moved closer to the lone human among them.

She prayed they weren't gathered for an evening meal. Then a voice broke through the din.

"Well, well, well. Look what the wolf dragged in," Malfoy chuckled at his poor joke as he lounged upon a crudely erected mound covered in pelts of fur. Pale blond hair now brushed broad shoulders which had filled out with muscle.

Moonlight made him a dangerous animal, and he oozed authority. He was an unassuming, spoilt brat no more. Before her stood a man, marked in scars earned it battle. She was drawn to a particularly long scar that went from the underside of his jaw, over his right eye, up to his hairline.

Her heart stuttered as the potion began to work its magic. She could only imagine the rapid changes that were occurring within.

"Never thought I'd see the day that Potter's Mudblood would come groveling to us," Malfoy spoke from his throne of furs.

Hermione kept her voice even. It would do no good to show fear now. "You know that the Order lost the battle then." She wagered he knew what had occurred that fateful night three months ago, just steps from the boundaries of his home.

Malfoy peered at her. "I know that Potter is dead."

Hermione swallowed back hurt, but reminded herself that she was doing this for him, and for Ron, and Ginny and the rest of her friends, too. Resolved, she replied, "I've come to negotiate on behalf of the Order." Her voice was clear.

He looked at his fingers as his lips snarled in remembrance. "The Dark Lord came begging to Fenrir too. The weak man within him caved. And now he's dead. Why should I cave to you and the Order?" he sneered. "I can just give you to my pack. You smell delectable."

Hermione swallowed her fear and pushed forward courageously, "But you won't. Not after you hear what I have to offer." Compartmentalize, compartmentalize, compartmentalize, she bade to her moral center. This was war. War was nasty business and sometimes, victory demanded steep concessions.

Malfoy cocked his head at her, amused. "What could you offer me? Your wet cunt?" He inhaled deeply through his nose and fashioned her with a nasty leer.

Malfoy was not incorrect in his assumption. The fertility potion was potent and she felt a pressing need to rub her knees together to subdue to budding tension in her lower abdomen. Growls behind her told her the other wolves had caught her arousal as well. She hesitated a step closer to Malfoy.

"What you'd not likely find among your kin," she responded as she gazed directly into his silver-grey eyes.

Slowly, he stood from his self-made throne and stalked towards her. He was intrigued, and though she was afraid, she grew confident in her knowledge of werewolf biology.

Malfoy gave a half-smirk. "And what is that?" He walked around her as if she were a tasty snack. She could feel the heat of him close to her back.

"Progeny. Heirs. Children," she replied as she remained facing forward. Hermione wasn't sure how much Malfoy remembered from their Defense lessons in third year. Werewolves could not reproduce with one another. It was why Greyback attacked children to enlarge his numbers. He could not sire heirs upon another werewolf. Pregnant werewolves would lose the pregnancy with the accompaniment of the first full moon. Pregnancy couldn't be achieved by rape, neither.

Tonks had told her before her untimely death, that a pair had to be fully suited to the other, and willing, to create a sustainable pregnancy. And even then, it wasn't always assured. So, unless Malfoy knew of a willing witch who was suited to having themselves ravaged by a werewolf, he was doomed to die without an heir.

It was something she gambled that he would stake his life and his pack on. The Order was going to try to allure Malfoy and his pack with clemency and werewolf rights. Hermione knew better. "Unless Pansy Parkinson or Daphne Greengrass are willing..." she trailed off, purposely recalling his pureblood female friends. But she knew as well as he that they would never see him as anything but a tainted monster now. They were rapidly becoming embedded in Voldemort's new world order.

But Hermione saw him as a tool, and this, well… this was a means to an end. Compartmentalize, compartmentalize, compartmentalize, she repeated the mantra to herself.

Tracking the part-wolf, part-man's movements, she watched as his eyes, full of silver and heat dilate as he neared. "You're ovulating," he accused, the beginnings of a growl followed the end of his assessment.

Feeling she had him cornered, she sweetened the deal, "I've taken a potion, yes. I've maximized the chances of a successful conception, possibly of multiples." She saw his eyes narrow in greed, lust, and something else she couldn't place. "But the window will only last for a few hours. You have a decision to make."

"You'll willingly hand over the pups once their born?" He sounded as if he didn't believe her.

She nodded and breathed, "If you and your pack swear to fight for the Order, to come to our aid when we need you. Until Voldemort is defeated," she clarified. Without a hint of emotion, she agreed, "Yes."

"You'll remain here the duration of the pregnancy," he ordered quickly.

Hermione looked around at the growing crowd of werewolves that had neared her, most likely enraptured by their conversation. "I'm needed with the Order," she countered back strongly. "I can't stay here for nine months."

Malfoy paused. "They don't know you're here, do they?"

She shook her head. "No one knows I'm here."

"Foolish witch. You were always a reckless thing, weren't you?"

She brushed off the barb as the potion made her blood run hot. Her breathing grew labored as she quickly approached the point of no return. She would literally jump his bones, anyone's bones, to be rid of this deep ache within, but she wanted to cement this now. Struggling, she pressed, "Do we have an accord? Once I Apparate from here, my offer goes with it." She held her wand, though not aimed at him, lest she accidently trigger his pack to attack on behalf of their Alpha.

He openly laughed at her. "The magic of the Forest is too strong for you to leave. My pack'll ravage you first."

"But you won't let them," she guessed as sweat began to bead at her temple. Because he looked too intrigued, and had spent too much time smelling her person as he stalked around her. He was tempted heavily by the alluring offer. He would have ordered her killed by now if he weren't.

Malfoy stepped away, his hands opening and closing in fists as he warred to remain in his human mindset. But the approaching full moon and fertile scent made him weak – she had bet on it. "You'll stay until the pregnancy is ensured viable. It's the best my wolf will allow," his voice was rough and low.

She shivered at the demand, rankled by the potion-induced haze that was rapidly decreasing her rationality.

She nodded, her head heavy with lust. "And you swear to fight for the Order?" Her breath caught as her womb spasmed. Her vision tunneled to the werewolf who held the life of her friends in his hand. The corners of her world grew fuzzy. "To help us defeat Voldemort."

Malfoy was their pack's Alpha and knew of pack dynamics by now. Being Alpha required him to bring new life into the pack and what better way to show his dominance than to rut and impregnate a female. She groaned as a gush of fluid made her knickers dampen with the thought.

Malfoy's eyes darkened as they swept the length of her at the tortured groan. "Deal."

She had one moment to underestimate the magnitude of what she had gotten herself into as he stalked towards her, and she to him, their lips meeting in a fierce clash.

an: So this was originally a one-shot, but I've since expanded it. I hope you like it so far. This story will contain mature themes. You've been warned...