Wolfblood

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Page count: 12

Later that evening found Derek arriving home from completing his errands not long after Hermione and Teddy, and dinner had been prepared. After the four residents of the cottage sat down and ate together as a family, Teddy had all but begged Derek to go rabbit hunting with him and much to Hermione's amusement, he hadn't even tried to tell the little boy 'no' despite her knowing Derek was tired. She had yet to see him refuse the blue-haired boy anything.

Teddy and Derek didn't return until it started to get dark were he convinced Teddy that it was bedtime and he was in bed ten minutes later. Andromeda called it a day, too, so Hermione and Derek decided to follow their example and go to bed, but just as Hermione had gotten herself comfortable and Derek climbed in beside her, there was a knock on the bedroom door and it was pushed open to reveal Teddy.

"What's wrong, Teddy Bear?" Hermione asked the sleepy looking child.

"Uncle Derek hasn't read me a story," he told her with a frown.

She and Derek shared an amused look, it was their nightly routine as of nearly two weeks ago and now Teddy refused to sleep if Derek didn't read him a bedtime story first. Derek threw the covers off himself and climbed out of bed.

"Come on then, Pup, but you're going straight to sleep when we're done, it's already past your bed time," He said, putting his hands on Teddy's shoulders and pushing him out of the room and back to his own bedroom.

Hermione only had to wait ten minutes until Derek returned, shutting the door behind him and climbing into bed, pulling her against him and wrapping his arm around her.

"He fell asleep a few pages in and Magic's asleep on the end of his bed," he said. Hermione chuckled and shook her head lightly. "Why does he call me 'Uncle Derek?'" He asked. "And he calls you 'Aunt' too, instead of just saying your name."

"It's his way of showing us how important we are to him," she explained. "With everyone else he'll just call them by their name, but by putting 'Uncle' or 'Aunt' in front of our names, it's him telling us that he sees us as family, pack. He doesn't do it with any of the Weasleys despite the fact he likes the majority of them. He refuses to do so with Ginny or Ron, and she hates it," she said, sounding smug and he chuckled at her. "So, Teddy calling you 'Uncle Derek' is him saying you're his family, his pack and he loves you."

Derek made a humming sound as he turned his head to place a kiss against her forehead. "I think we should enrol Teddy in school." He felt Hermione's unease in the way her body tensed. "Hermione, I understand that he's different and it'd be a risk to have him in public and with hundreds of witnesses to his shifting or magic, or that something might happen and he'd say something he's not supposed to, but I think we should take that risk. It's all well and good that he spends his time outdoors in the woods and with us, but he's with us twenty-four-seven. He needs to be around children his own age. He needs some independence and to make friends. He's a smart kid and he knows that he can't shift or talk about magic so I think we should trust him with this responsibility. I know that he'll go off to magic school when he turns eleven, but I think this could be good for him. He might even really like it."

"Derek, it's a big risk. He's already displaying signs of magic, you saw him accidentally levitate the coffee table and set fire to one of the couch cushions. His emotions are tied into his outbursts much like mine are, only he doesn't have a wand to help conduct the flow of magic in his body, which makes him volatile and prone to outbursts."

"I know that, but maybe he's lonely. Having friends his own age will allow him to develop relationships and it may even help to prepare him for when he goes off to school. I know everything will be different, but at least he'll understand the routine of school and he'll have a better understanding of how to form relationships. I know you don't want to let him out of your sight and that's your mothering-wolf instincts kicking in, but I really think this will do him some good and it'll give him a distraction."