A/N: Many thanks to brownlark42 for beta'ing this story!

If you liked this (or hated it) let me know about it in a review!

Thanks to everyone who has left a review! It means so much to me. And thank you for reading!

Enjoy!

Chapter 8

June 2007

Thorfinn was extraordinarily exhausted. His berserker rage had been exceptionally fierce yesterday, and he was still recovering from it mentally and physically. Part of the issue was the tension he was feeling in regards to Weasley. The months he had spent with Freya had been some of the best of his adult life. And he knew that soon, too soon, it was all going to come to an end.

He just hoped it wasn't going to be right away. He wanted a few more weeks with the dragon, even though he knew how selfish that was. He hoped that Freya, or whoever she really was, was as kind as the dragon he'd known over the last several months. He tried not thinking about Freya's true form, because having slept curled up between her legs, nestled into her belly, he didn't want to put a human face on the dragon.

Thank Merlin for lightening charms, Thorfinn thought as he cleared the last little rise to the ledge before the cave. He dropped the bear he had been holding over his shoulders. It thumped heavily onto the ground as the charm left it at the same time. His pack followed it and he rolled his shoulders in relief. Even lightened, bears were heavy.

The two people in the cave turned around and Thorfinn was really grateful for how hard he had raged yesterday, because if he hadn't, he was sure he would have flown into a rage right then. Both Weasley and McGonagall were right there in front of him, staring at him with wide eyes. Anger licked at his nerve endings.

"The fuck, Weasley?" he growled as he stalked closer. Rage simmered under his skin and he knew how good it would feel to lean into it. To allow it to engulf him. It was a near thing, but he clawed the rage back as quickly as he could. He didn't like surprises. Never had, and he had a feeling it had to do with being a berserker.

Weasley and McGonagall backed up as he stalked towards them. He could smell their fear and it only served to ratchet up the anger.

"Calm down, mate," Weasley said, his wand held aloft. Thorfinn growled. He and Weasley were hardly mates.

Thorfinn narrowed his eyes at him. "I told you to bloody warn me!" He clenched his fists, the rage he had tenuously under control threatening to overwhelm him again.

"Mr Rowle!" McGonagall shouted in her best teacher voice, and honestly, that helped more than Thorfinn wanted to admit. He took a few deep breaths, still trying to maintain control, when Freya shuffled forward faster than he had ever seen her move.

Weasley and McGonagall scuttled to the side to get out of the way of the dragon as she wrapped herself around Thorfinn. He placed his hands on her hide and felt the last of the rage drain away, soothing relief filling its place. He leaned into her belly as she flopped over onto her side. She was large enough that he couldn't see over her, but he knew that Weasley and McGonagall were still there. He ignored them for the time being. Right now, he was enjoying the peace that Freya brought to him.

He had never been this close to a berserker rage in her presence before and he couldn't believe how easily she took the rage from him. It was amazing the way he felt so much better just by touching her. He pulled his hands from her hide and felt the rage begin to lick at him again. Freya made a noise in her throat and he quickly leaned into her again as her tail wrapped around him, holding him close to her. The calm came over him once more and he closed his eyes as he pressed his face against her.

After several minutes of leaning against the dragon, a light hit his eyes and he realized that someone had cast a spell at Freya.

"Hey!" he shouted when suddenly Freya disappeared and a very naked Hermione Granger took her place. Her eyes were wide with surprise, and her hair cascaded in messy brown curls down her shoulders. She would have fallen onto the hard cave floor if Thorfinn hadn't caught her around the elbows and steadied her.

Thorfinn was speechless. The dragon, Freya, was really Hermione Granger. Hadn't she disappeared? Well, yes, of course she had disappeared. He looked over her head to see Charlie's jaw hanging and McGonagall looking faint as she leaned against the cave wall.

"Oh, thank Merlin," Hermione said quietly. She wrapped her hands around Thorfinn's forearms, using him to steady herself and he snapped his gaze back down to her.

She smiled up at him and stepped away. He let her go, still unable to say anything. What was there to say? He'd just been cuddling with Hermione Granger of all people. Hermione Granger was an Animagus. A dragon Animagus.

She took a step and promptly fell to the floor. "Fuck," she muttered and Thorfinn quickly bent down and helped her back up. He pulled his cloak off and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thanks," she said, smiling brilliantly up at him. He was pretty sure his heart stuttered.

"Your muscles are going to be weak. You've been using them very differently for the past seven years," McGonagall finally said. "Miss Granger," she whispered as if staring at a ghost. "Everyone thought you were dead."

"Dead? Really?" Hermione asked. She leaned into Thorfinn and that same sense of calm that Freya gave him rolled over him from her as well. He pulled her close, looping an arm around her waist and quietly telling his body to behave when it realized a barely clothed witch was pressed against it.

"Yes, dead," McGonagall said, having recovered somewhat. She leaned heavily on her cane as she strode forward. "What on earth possessed you to attempt to become an Animagi on your own?"

Hermione frowned, leaning more into Thorfinn's side. "How do you know I did it on my own?"

McGonagall raised one eyebrow and glared at the shorter witch.

"Oh, alright," Hermione admitted, her face reddening. "I was an overconfident child who had just been through a war. Making good decisions wasn't really what I was looking for."

"Obviously," McGonagall said. "You should have come to me, Miss Granger. I would have helped you."

"Professor," Hermione said, taking a step forward. Thorfinn was reluctant to let her go and was almost glad when she tugged him along with her. "You're absolutely right. I should have. But you were busy with Hogwarts, and I wanted something for myself. For so long I was Harry's best friend and for once, I wanted to be me. To be Hermione Granger, Animagus. When I meditated on my form and found out I was a dragon…"

She trailed off, her eyes bright.

"Have there been any dragon Animagi?" Weasley asked, stepping forward.

Hermione shook her head. "I checked the British Ministry and there weren't any recorded during the last three centuries." Thorfinn could hear the pride in her voice.

"As I stated in my letter, Mr Weasley, I have never heard of a dragon Animagus. The power alone… it's no wonder you couldn't manage to transform back," McGonagall said, shaking her head.

Hermione looked chagrined. "I would be honored if you helped me," she told McGonagal. "I'd love to master the form, but right now, I'd rather like to get out of this cave."

Thorfinn stiffened. He was glad for Hermione and he didn't want to look too deeply into his feelings. She had only transformed back moments before, but he was a little afraid that he might be half in love with her. Not that it mattered. He was still a fugitive of the law. There was no way he could go anywhere from here except Azkaban.

His eyes met Weasley's over her head as she and McGonagall spoke. He shifted her forward and Weasley wrapped an arm around her shoulder, steadying her. Thorfinn took a breath, relishing the calmness she instilled in him one last time before he stepped away.

"Hey," Hermione said, breaking off from her conversation with McGonagall. Thorfinn had already turned his back.

He flicked his wand at the bear. If Freya wasn't going to eat it, he had better keep it for himself. In moments it was seasoned and dried out as jerky. He dug through his pack and began wrapping up the meat while banishing the rest of the bear. Placing everything back into the pack, he shouldered it and headed out the cave mouth.

"Mr Rowle!" McGonagall said sternly from behind him, but he ignored her.

"Hey! Thorfinn!" Hermione shouted. That one was harder to ignore, but he did it anyway. It didn't matter how easily she could comfort and calm him. She was Hermione-freaking-Granger, back from the dead. She was already famous and would be more so after this stunt. There was no future there. Thorfinn was on the run. He'd likely always be on the run. And even if he was half in love with her, there was no way she felt anything even close to that for him. Because she was Hermione-freaking-Granger.

He couldn't forget the history between them. He was a former Death Eater, however coerced. He had fought against her in a war. She had Obliviated him. There was no way she would be interested in anything from him.

He was almost a quarter-mile from the cave when they caught up with him.

"Godric, mate, you're fast," Weasley puffed from right behind him.

The anger rose in Thorfinn's blood again and he whirled around to see Weasley with Hermione riding piggyback. At one look from his former dragon, all of the anger leached from his bones.

"Was there something you needed?" he asked tightly.

"Put me down, Charlie," Hermione said. Weasley swung her down and Hermione tripped up to him. Thorfinn had to catch her before she crumbled to the ground again.

"Damned legs," she muttered before looking up at him.

He had his hands on her waist, steadying her, and grit his teeth. Any moment now and he was sure she was going to say something terrible and scathing. That could be the only reason they went after him.

"Thorfinn Rowle," Hermione said, laying a palm on his cheek. He leaned into her hand wanting to nuzzle it but held back. The tranquility she exuded swept over him. It was heady and something he knew he could get used to if he allowed it. But that wasn't for him. She wasn't for him.

"Hermione Granger," he replied, raising one eyebrow at her.

She grinned up at him. "Who would have thought that we'd end up here?"

"In the middle of bloody nowhere in Romania?" he asked with a small smile. He couldn't help but respond to that bright grin she kept sending his way.

"That and with you being the person who saved my life," her smile softened and she leaned her body further into his.

His eyes fluttered closed for a moment, willing his body not to react to hers. "McGonagall and Weasley saved your life, not me." He shook his head and opened his eyes.

"Charlie and Professor McGonagall helped, but it was you who listened to me. I had almost given up hope before you came along." She bit her lip and Thorfinn couldn't keep his eyes from the way her teeth pulled at the plumpness there. He had the overwhelming urge to kiss her, but held himself back.

"Maybe," he said finally, dragging his eyes up to meet her warm, brown ones.

"Definitely," she replied. "And since you saved my life, I now owe you a debt." She said it so seriously. He wanted to deny her, but hope unfurled in his chest and he found himself holding his breath instead.

"Charlie explained as we followed you down. A berserker? Unregistered," she tsked. "Your parents were either insane or didn't like you very much."

He chuckled. "A bit of both, probably."

Her smile brightened and he felt a lightness in his chest.

"Come back to the reserve with us," Weasley said. "Nobody there will care and we'll get McGonagall to work on the Ministry. Hermione needs to be reinstated as a living witch, too. That will give us all time to readjust and stabilize a bit. You know, outside of a dragon cave in the wilderness."

He met Weasley's gaze over Hermione's head. He was about to refuse. Why would a Weasley help him anyway? But Hermione pulled his face down to meet her gaze again. He realized he loved the feeling of her hand on his beard stubble.

"Come with us, Thorfinn, please," she said plainly, looking right into his eyes. His breath hitched and he nodded before he could change his mind.