A/N: Just a few more chapters to go! I hope you all are enjoying this read 😊 I've just finished (literally, less than two minutes ago), a Dramione fic and I'm really hoping to be able to finish editing and start posting that as soon as I finish up this one! So, hopefully that's something to look forward to. Enjoy your week!

The next couple months were mostly filled with bliss. However, there was one exception. We had received notice that an increase in dragon parts such as scales, toe nails, blood and saliva were being noticed in Knockturn Alley. The logical place one would think to get them is from our reserve since it is closest, but we hadn't noticed any break ins or injuries to our residents.

Charlie and I were assisting and keeping an eye out for anything unusual, but so far we were coming up with nothing. On top of that, for the last several days I had been feeling absolutely awful. Really run down, decreased appetite and a lot of trouble focusing.

We were sitting in bed discussing increased security measures when I suddenly felt a wave of nausea and my hand when to my mouth. The feeling passed after a moment, but it left me feeling even worse than before.

"That's it 'Mione, let's go see Draco."

I tried to wave him off. "No Charlie. I'm fine. He'll probably just tell me it's stress."

Just as he was trying to insist I go get checked out, alarm bells began to sound. We were both on our feet in seconds. I swayed for a second then the fuzziness settled and I ran off behind Charlie.

The alarms we had in place were part of the protection wards for the reserve itself. The fact that they were going off told us someone had penetrated the wards. Charlie was shouting orders, getting everyone organized as we all raced towards the enclosures to protect the dragons.

We both noticed that Brie was missing, but there was no time to dwell on that information as we grabbed some brooms and prepared to meet whatever was going on. The southernmost point of the reserve was where the alarm had come from. That was Kayda's enclosure and I saw the look of horror cross Charlie's face as he saw her bleeding on the ground.

We had landed inside the enclosure to regroup and strategize. In a whisper he said, "Jasper, I want you to lead a team around the perimeter. Kayda trusts Hermione and I the most, we will go check on her and see if there is any immediate aid we can give her while you resecure the wards."

No one needed to be told much of what to do, we had trained extensively for this exact type of situation. Charlie and I would check on Kayda, make sure she is ok and see if there is anything we can do for her. The rest of the team would look for the poachers that must have slipped under our wards and try to apprehend them.

We approached cautiously. A wounded dragon, friend or not, is something to take seriously.

She was laying there in a pool of her own blood with several chunks of scales missing. She looked directly at us and sighed as if she knew help was here. Charlie and I did what we could to patch up the affected areas and we were able to stop the bleeding. She would need to be seen by Luna immediately, but we needed to make sure the rest of the reserve was protected before we attempted to move her or we left the animals vulnerable to another attack.

It had taken us less than five minutes from the alarm sounding for us to arrive at the enclosure so it was likely whoever had done this was still inside.

Charlie and I were doing our best to stop the bleeding while also watching our backs. It only took an instant, but Charlie looked up and noticed Brie standing on the other side of Kayda.

"Brie! There's been an intruder! Go meet up with Jasper. Standard emergency plans have been activated."

She stood there and twirled her wand menacingly. "I don't think that's going to happen." She eyed the ground where we stood. "This isn't how I had planned this. I'm not sure which idiot tripped the alarm, but I have deliveries to make. Now I'm going to need the two of you to back away. You're standing in a very valuable supply of Dragon's blood."

"Brie, you've got to be joking. What happened to you?" Charlie asked, horrified.

She simply laughed and raised her wand, pointing it directly at me. "I said, move."

Charlie's actions were lightning quick. Before the words were fully out of Brie's mouth, he dived in front of me and took the brunt of the curse she had thrown, falling to the ground and hitting his head on a large boulder.

I didn't have time to check on him or to take notice of the churning in my stomach. I simply reacted and threw spell after spell at Brie to try and subdue her. It wasn't an easy task being we were essentially dueling on an injured dragon with a downed person at our feet.

Well, good thing I had lots of practice with danger and non-ideal situations. I gave the fight everything I had, but Brie had trained with us and knew some of what to expect. We danced around the enclosure shouting spell after spell, dodging this way and that.

She was good, that was for sure, but one thing she couldn't have planned for was how I would react to her hurting the man I love. Remembering Charlie injured at my feet gave me a renewed burst of energy to end this match.

"Flipendo Maxima!" I shouted with all my might and a burst of light emerged from my wand. Brie was thrown back, losing her wand in the process. Before she could recover, I shot her with the full body bind curse as well as incarcerous to bind her limbs. There would be no way for her to escape her binding and so, keeping an eye out in case she wasn't alone, I went to check on Charlie.

He was breathing, but very shallow and I knew he needed medical attention right away. Just then, Jasper came flying overhead with two others from the team.

"We've captured two, based on our brief conversation, I think there is just one more."

I pointed to Brie and I saw the look of betrayal cross Jasper's face.

"Get her out of here, NOW. I'm going to get Charlie to the medical bay."

Jasper did as he was told and I levitated Charlie behind my broom as fast as I could to get help.

"Draco!" He was already on alert. The alarm would have woken him as well to be ready in case we needed it. And boy did we need it. Charlie was still out cold and my clothes were drenched in his blood.

"What happened?" Draco helped me get him onto a bed and quickly began to run diagnostics.

"He was hit with a spell, I don't think it was anything serious, but when he fell his head hit a boulder."

Draco simply nodded as he continued his diagnostic spells while cleaning him up and closing the wound. If I wasn't so worried about Charlie, I would have been in awe of the quick and talented work Draco Malfoy was performing in front of me.

Finally, Draco broke the silence. "Ok. He's not out of the woods by any stretch, but he's stable for now." He turned his attention from Charlie to me, clearly about to ask something. When he took in my appearance however, the color drained from his face.

"Hermione, why don't you come lay down?" His voice was soft, as if approaching a wounded animal.

"What? No! I'm going to stay here with Charlie." I had his hand in mine and refused to let go.

Draco approached me. "Hermione, I don't want to worry you. I thought it was Charlie's at first, but I see now I was wrong. You have a bit of a gash on your stomach I think we better have a look at."

"What?" I looked down to see a puddle was forming at my feet. I looked back up at Draco. "Oh." Was all I managed before my legs gave out from beneath me.