Im not own any of the characters.
I apologize beforehand, english is not my first lenguage, so sorry if there some mistakes.

This chapter has been updated thanks to Alora Blench, who help me with some writing corrections.

FIRE HEART

CHAPTER 1

HOT.

That's all she felt.

Everything was extremely hot and the idea of jumping into the Black Lake was starting to get very tempting. Hermione had lost count of how many times she had cast a cooling spell on her four-poster bed. Her body felt like it was slowly melting, or as if she was taking a hot bath… on a bloody volcano. Another wave of pain crossed her back and it felt as if her body was just too tight for her right now. She searched her nightstand drawer for one of the painkiller potion vials she always took when her month cycle comes, even if this was not one of those times, and drank it without a second thought. Casting another cooling spell, she fell back into her pillow.

It was 3:00 am on a Wednesday, two weeks after the whole Sirius-Buckbeak-Lupin-Time turner-Dementor's affair. The 'Golden Trio' had gone back to Hogwarts' normal routine, (as normal as a school for witchcraft and wizarding could ever be) even if it was only three weeks until their third year ended (that ended in three days). Or that was what Hermione was thinking until the bloody aches started two days ago. At the beginning she thought it was her normal menstrual pains, or all the year stress affecting her body, but as the days passed she started to think otherwise.

First were her bones. Hermione felt as if for some magical (no pun intended) reason her body was too tight for her now. As if someone put her on one of those old medieval torture beds that strain the poor victim until they ripped. Then came the headaches, her senses were at 210% of their capacity. Everything was bright, too noisy or too smelly, as if she could perceive every fucking detail of everything and that just exasperated her more.

The Great Hall has become her personal hell for the past few days and not just because of the noise. For some reason she was hungry ALL THE BLOODY TIME, even when she started to double her portions, almost surpassing Ron, she was still hungry. But on the other side, eating was just another nightmare, because her teeth started to ache every time she was near food, especially her newest favorite: meat. And even if she tried to avoid the Great Hall until it was less crowded, it felt like the smell of the food hunted her to the other side of the castle.

Hermione refused to go to Madam Pomfrey because she feared her stress theory was true and they'll think she couldn't manage the Time-turner anymore and confiscate it. So, she brewed some painkiller potions in secret. The school term was nearly finished, so when she got home and relax all her aches would get better.

'But this is getting ridiculous.' Was all she thought that night when she woke up with her body on fire. And an hour later she didn't think it's because of a hot June night anymore. Realizing that she could not go back to sleep that night, she changed her sweaty night robes, took the Daily Prophet from Tuesday and went through the Fat Lady's portrait.

'This fever is definitely affecting me if I'm going to do this of my own volition'. Hermione thought while she was sneaking through the dark hallways of the seventh floor. When she got in front of Temeritus Shanks' portrait her breath was heavy from her body's heat.

"Temeritus, Sir, I need to go to the library, please.'' She said, waking up the redhead man. "I brought you the fee" she continued, showing him the newspaper.

"What you need to do is go straight to the medical wing, girl, you look like death" The portrait answered.

"Please Temerirus, that's why I need to go to the library. I need to know what's happening to me." She begged him, the pains could come back in an hour and she didn't want to be caught in that state. Temerius grimaced but let her pass.

Hermione was losing hope. Nothing, zero, not a clue of what her symptoms meant. Maybe she'll have to go to Madam Pomfrey… or keep it a secret until the end of the year and relax on her vacation… 'But Harry and Ron won't stay oblivious of this any longer and Ginny's starting to suspect something is wrong… Keep using the potions?... no, I can't keep that up for much longer, I'm running low on ingredients to make the potion… Come on Hermione! You're supposed to be smart, solve this!... Maybe if I take the ingredients from the potion classroom? But for that I need Harry's cloak and he is going to ask questions if I ask to borrow it… And Snape isn't stupid, he is going to notice if something's missing from his stock…'

Her heavy and almost painful breathing was the only noise in the deserted library. Her clothes were now sticking to her body due to her sweat as she slowly closed the One Thousand and One Magical Diseases and How to Treat Them (the fifth book she's consulted), when the sound of someone clearing their throat made Hermione jump from her seat. And, as if she summoned him with her thoughts, Severus Snape was standing behind her.

"Don't you think it's a little early to be here Ms. Granger? If I'm not mistaken the library does not open until 6 am." He said looking at his watch. "But it's 4:32 am now. Is there a reason why you are here Ms. Granger?"

Hermione opened her mouth to make any coherent excuse when a wave of pain, ten times worse than all the others, went through her body; the painkiller potion must have worn off. She bit her bottom lip hard as to not let a scream escape her mouth in front of Snape. A little blood dripped from where she bit down, her head started spinning, and she lost her balance on the chair. She waited for the impact on the hard floor, but it never came; Snape caught her before she hurt herself.

Hermione wasn't sure what happened in the next few minutes. She was in and out of consciousness and she barely noticed how easily professor Snape picked her up and charged her through the hallways. Because of her clouded mind, Hermione wasn't sure what room they went into. She was sure it wasn't the infirmary and because of all the strong smells thought that maybe it was the potion classroom.

Snape didn't stop until they entered another smaller room and he put her on a comfy armchair. He started searching for something in a trunk, murmuring something like "How I didn't notice it before?" and just a few seconds later he gave Hermione two vials.

"Drink it" He ordered.

In her current state she didn't think too much on the weirdness of the situation and took the potions with shaky hands. A few seconds later the pain stopped along with the abnormal heat she had all night; her breathing became normal and her vision wasn't dark anymore.

When she finally calmed down Snape spoke "How many days since the aches and the extreme heat started?" Her eyes went wide. How the bloody hell did he know that? Did he know what was happening to her?

"Answer Granger!" he said this time a little harder.

"T-the aches s-started two days ago, S-Sir" she answered not too sure of what was happening. Why was Snape suddenly concerned about her? Didn't he supposedly hate her?

"And the heat?"

"T-tonight, Sir."

"Anybody know about this? Did you notify anybody about your state?"

"No" 'ok, what the fuck is happening? Why is Snape concerned about my health? How does he know my symptoms? And why the bloody hell did he bring me straight to the dungeons, specifically his office and not to Madam Pomfrey?!'

After her answer Snape let out a relieved sigh and seemed to relax a little.

"Tell me, Ms. Granger, do you know what is happening to you?"

Hermione bit her lower lip again, she didn't like not knowing something. "N-no, that's why I went to the library." she finally said.

Snape raised one eyebrow at this "Didn't your parents tell you?... Or maybe… are you adopted Ms. Granger?"

Her eyes went wide and she jumped from the armchair as if it had burned her, "HOW THE BLOODY FUCK DID YOU KNOW THAT?!" There was no way he could know, her parents had only told her last Christmas break and she hadn't told anyone, she didn't have to. Nothing was going to change the fact that they were her parents, because they are the ones who raised her and love her, aren't they?

"Please calm down Hermione. If your muggle parents, are actually not your biological parents, that explains some things. So please, sit down and let me explain." The use of her first-name and the almost sweet tone he used was so-not-Snape that Hermione was two seconds away from taking out her wand.

Seeing her reaction Severus spoke again "Granger sit down right now or I'm going to take one hundred points in addition to the 30 I'm taking from you for being in the library at night."

A little reluctantly, but calmer after he went back to his normal demeanor, she sat back on the armchair. "Have you ever heard of Drakarys?" He asked, but she just shook her head.

"Okay, you are one, which means you are not human or not totally human, you are a type of magical creature." He suddenly said.

"WHAT?!"

"Now Severus, you have zero finesse breaking news to people." Said a voice behind Hermione, Albus Dumbledore was standing at the office door.

"That's why I called you, Headmaster."

"Yes, the paintings notified me."

"Headmaster, what is happening?! Why is professor Snape saying I'm not human? What is a Drakarys? What…" Hermione starred rambling until Dumbledore raised his hand to make her stop.

"Now, now Ms. Granger, all your questions will be answered. First of all, a Drakarys is a powerful magical creature, but almost extinct these days." The old wizard explained.

"The magical world thinks the last of us died during the last wizarding war or that our blood is too diluted by other types of creatures to even consider it." Continued the black-haired man.

"Us?" Hermione asked.

"Oh yes, Severus here is a Drakarys too." The eyes of the headmaster twinkled a little behind his half-moon spectacles.

"I'm more a half-blood wizard then Drakarys, just an eighth, but I still have some of the characteristics of one. That's how I knew you were in the library." Corrected Snape.

"How? And why now and not before?"

"Because your Drakarys' blood awoke. My theory is that your Drakarys' blood was less than 10%, but your magical core is big and powerful enough that it awoke that magical part of you when your body reached the awakening age of 15. That's why I didn't perceive the Drakarys smell on you until now."

"Okay, but I'm still 14." Every answer they gave just brought five more questions to her.

"Actually Ms. Granger, for the same reason you didn't want to go to the medical wing in the first place, your body is older." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

'Obviously he would know, he always knows.' She thought.

"The time-turner."

"Precisely." He smiled.

"Ok, so, let me get this straight. I'm 15 years old and an awaken Drakarys, which is an almost extinct raze of magical creature that professor Snape and I are part of, right?" She squeezed the bridge of her nose.

"Luckily you have your priorities right." Snape said looking amuse and Hermione could swear he even looked happy about the situation.

Hermione had to put in a herculean effort to not glare. "So, what type of creature are Drakarys exactly and why are they almost extinct? And how are you so sure I'm one?" If Dumbledore was here, this couldn't be a joke, right?

"They are a hybrid type of magical creature, like Veelas or werewolves." Explained the oldest wizard which made the potion master roll his eyes at the mention of Lupin's type. "In this case you are part human and part dragon."

"Dragon?" Her eyes went wide again.

"Indeed and, unfortunately, that is one of the reasons why we have practically disappeared. We are natural warriors and more powerful in our true form. We also have a special connection with the dragons that allow us to create a bond with them and control them. It's for this reason and our other abilities that we have been hunted for centuries nearly becoming a myth.

People were scared of something as powerful as dragons with the intelligence of a human. So, our specie started to hide in the muggle world and in time our creature blood almost disappeared in the mix, just a few remained by the time the Wizarding War started. But they were slaughtered by the Dark Lord when they refused to join his cause." Hermione could detect the sorrow in Snape's words even behind his iron mask. "For years I thought I was the only one remaining, but it seems that your parents could save you from the Dark Lord by taking you to a muggle orphanage."

The room went silent for some minutes as the young witch absorbed all this new information "How are you so sure I am a Drakarys?" she asked again.

"Your essence." Snape answered as he got up from his desk and searched for something in his potions stock while talking. "Since I am just an eighth of a Drakarys, I just acquired some of the Drakarys' abilities when my awaking age came, the improve senses amongst them. Every creature has a specific essence and now that your Drakarys' blood awoke I could perceive that essence in you. But if you want to know how much of that blood you have we can do a test." He showed her two identical vials with a white liquid in them. "You just need a drop of blood"

Hermione just nodded and extended her hand. She knew the potion, depending on the colors it turned into when it mixed with your blood, it could tell you what type and how much of that type of blood you have in you.

Snape went first and his potion took on 3 colors, each with a different sized layer. The biggest one was celeste, that meant he was at least 60% magical human; then another smaller layer, 30% or less, was blood red, that was his muggle part. And then there was the 10% that turned black.

"The black part is my Drakarys blood. Now you." He extended the knife he had used.

Hermione made a little cut with the knife across her thumb and let the blood drop into the vial. In a few seconds the white liquid changed to a dark black with a few celeste pieces. "Why aren't my layers defined?" she asked, in the potion book it never said this could happen.

"It's because you are going to become a full Drakarys when your awakening process finished." He stated.