Chapter 2: Mr. Stoog.

1 ½ years before…when it all started,

One afternoon as she was walking back to her office and noticed a few work colleagues talking animatedly about Dragons.

"I can' believe you're still on that Terence", said the young blonde.

"How can you not believe it Lynn? You still think it's a myth?"

"Yes!" She hissed through clenched teeth, "You don't believe him, do you Mark?"

"Hey, don't bring me into this. If I say no and some one finds 'em then I'll look like an idiot won't I?"

"Well that's it isn't it, no one is looking for them cause they don't exist", Lynn put her hands on her hips and glared at the ex Death Eater.

Hermione slowed down and timidly walked up to Mark and quietly asked what they were arguing about, this time.

"Terence is trying to convince Lynn that the Greenland Ice Dragons are real, again." He replied with a roll of his eyes.

The bushy haired girl eyed Mark with a look that clearly said she didn't understand what he was talking about, "Ice Dragons? There is no such thing."

"That's it, there is NO way I can convince you Gryffindor's of anything!" with that Terence threw his arms up in the air dramatically.

"Is that supposed to be an insult? Are you still on that Slytherin, Gryffindor CRAP!" screeched Lynn.

By this stage Mark had tactfully dragged Hermione out of the way and had made it halfway down the hall before they heard the first hex being cast.

"What the hell was that?"

Mark snapped his head back to Hermione holding his ribs while trying to catch his breath, "Oh Lynn probably didn't get any last night and was forced to use Stoog" he sniggered.

Hermione just looked inquisitively at the dark haired man.

"Oh you see last week I over heard Lynn telling a friend about how she decided to call her vibrator 'Stoog", cause she likes group activities so to speak." He said while wiggling his eyebrows.

To say Hermione was enjoying the conversation was a gross overstatement. He had turned from talking about some sort of dragon, which she really wanted to know about, to another person's sex life, which she really wanted nothing to do with as hers was lacking. Ok maybe not so much lacking as non existent.

Mark had been speaking as if he was speaking about the weather or his new shirt, which just served to unnerve her even more. And he had somehow confused Hermione's disgusted look for mystification, therefore encouraging him to further the conversation.

"You know, Stoog?" His only reply was a black look from the brunette opposite him. "No, you don't know? Gees don't you follow Quidditch?"

"No", was her only answer as if he should already be aware of that simple fact.

"Right ok, well Stooging is when two or more Chasers enter the scoring area", Mark said with a knowing smile

"Omg, I cannot believe you just said that", Hermione immediately turned around and power walked back to her office before she was forced to listen to anymore.

"HEY, I DIDN'T COME UP WITH IT. THE VIBRATOR'S HERS NOT MINE!"

Ron and Harry had just made their way down the hall after escaping death another time at the hands of a murderous blonde, who seemed a little pissed at some guy. Naturally they would have attempted to stop her, they were after all Auror's. But if she felt the need to kill off a Slytherin then they certainly wouldn't stop her, even though the guy had been two years above him and they never really got to know him.

And to see Hermione running off with her hands on her ears with a guy yelling about his vibrator, well they felt like they had made their way back to the Weasley home. All they needed now was for Fred and George to be trying to get a family member to try a new product they want to put in their shop.

Knock, knock.

"Hermione?"

Harry stepping into the large office and started looking for Hermione through the many stacks of paper. Ron was making his way across the room when she started to descend the ladder on the wall on books

"Harry!" She quickly made her way towards Harry and enveloped him into a hug that was one worthy of Hagrid.

Harry rubbed his ribs and started to distract her from mentally murdering Ron. "Hey sweetie thought we would come and invite you to our place this weekend."

"Yes that would be lovely"

Ron noticed the book she had placed on her desk before she attacked Harry, he seriously believed they should have just gotten Hermione to hug Voldemort. She would have saved them a lot of time to kill the smarmy bastard. "Hay Mione' what are you reading, 'Dragon Breeds and Their Origins'?"

"I wanted to research Ice dragons" she said icily.

Ron just looked at her like she was a chicken, and tossed the book back on the desk. Harry had zoned out and was looking at the many titles on the books she had in her vast collection.

"Ice Dragon's? Why the hell would you research them, they don't even exist. Ask Charlie, he'll tell ya' only people like Luna think there real"

"So you're saying you know everything, are you?"

"No, that would be you", Ron retorted.

"WHAT?" At this point the brunette was completely enraged. She brought herself up to her full height and prepared to dish out everything on the young Auror. As his girlfriend, the infamous Lavender, saying that she had the makings of an old maid. And her supposed best friend didn't even defend her and had let his girlfriend say a few more hurtful things before he started to snog her.

"Well I'm surprised you don't know about their myth already, you spend every day here accept Sundays. And what do you do then, go home and read some more. You're20 years old and you have never had a boyfriend since me" then as if something had just struck him "You're not still strung up on me or anything are you?"

"Oh get off your fucking high horse and grow a brain WEASLE, I can assure you that your clumsy hands and sloppy kisses are still vivid enough for me to remember, I DON'T need a refreshment"

Ron had gone Weasley red and fisted his hands by his sides, "You know what, I'm glad you're not dating anyone. As I would sincerely feel sorry for the poor sod that would have to deal with your daily abuse about how high and might you are!"

"Right because you are such an intellect, why don't you just go back to your lovely piece of ass, right sorry I mean girlfriend. By the way how long before you dump her or maybe you would prefer to let her walk in on you while you're with another girl. As you're bed at home is much bigger than the one at Hogwarts, she won't have to walk all the way to you bed to pull back the curtains like I did."

"Like I said then, I'm sorry"

"Like that will erase the memory, and just because I studied a lot doesn't mean I know everything Ronald. I didn't grow up in a wizardry family so there are many things I don't know!"

"Well I'm telling you that there're not real and you won't be able to fined the bloody things"

"Who say's I can't, if I want to then so be it for me!"

"You're just a useless little Mudblood who wants recognition from everyone, its PATHETIC" spitting the last word loudly.

Harry had been expecting a brawl of sorts between his best friends since Lavender had insulted Hermione, as Ron had blatantly ignored her enraged state through the rest of the night. But he was so stunned at what he heard Ron say that he was glued on the spot, incapable of saying a thing.

Hermione didn't say anything, the air in the room had suddenly become very cold. The red head instantly turning white with the realization of what he had just said and was visibly gaping, looking more like a fish out of water than anything else.

"Harry something has suddenly come up, I'm afraid I may not be able to make it this weekend." she said all of this whilst looking directly at Ron. She gave him a look that was neither upset, angry, nor disappointed. She looked at him as if he was anyone else, someone she didn't know, someone she passed by on the street.

"Omg, Hermione…I…I…oh fuck…Hermione?" Ron couldn't say what he wanted to say, he stepped closer to her, but she just stepped away and walked over to her desk and sat down behind it.

The Unspeakable laughed lightly, and smiled with her head on her hand. "Weasel did you just call me 'Hermione', Ferret boy isn't aloud to call me that so why would you be allowed to?"

"Ron I think you should go out side", said Harry with a pleading look.

"Yeah Weasel you'd better get back to you girlfriend, woops sorry I mean piece of ass." Ron cringed every time she said 'Weasel', it hurt to hear her call him that. But what he said to her was probably the worst thing he could say to her, because that was her weak link. She was constantly afraid of how she was viewed as a witch by everyone else, all because she was a muggle-born.

"Hermione…"

"what did I just say Weasel, call me that again and you'll regret it"

"God please, Mione talk to me don't act like this. Please you don't know how sorry I am I…." all of a sudden he couldn't talk.

Harry had seen the amused look in her eye's when Ron started talking again, almost like she was hoping for him to call her by her given name. She flicked her hand at him and uttered a word he couldn't hear, and the result was Ron not being able to utter a word.

Ron looked at Hermione with a shocked expression, he couldn't believe she made him a mute. God he hoped this wouldn't last long, how in Merlin was he supposed to tell Tonks this, as she was the current head of the Auror Department…oh wait he won't be able to 'tell' her.

"Ah, um…Hermione…" Harry squinted his eyes shut, anticipating what ever she was about to do to him. When nothing happened he opened one eye then the other, she just looked at him waiting to hear what he was going to say. "Um, right….how long will, um…Ron be like that. Do you have a counter curse?"

"No" she said matter-of-factly.

Ron's eyes went wide with that information.

"Well, it'll wear off yeah?"

"It will…yes." She almost looked disappointed.

"So…what a few hours. Maybe a day or two?"

Hermione smiled knowingly and said nothing.

Hermione spent the next few days researching anything she could find on Ice Dragons, it seemed they were indeed mythical. They had supposedly lived centuries before in Greenland and disappeared long ago, though for the last few hundred years many muggles had filed reports on sightings of a large white and silver animal.

As far as she could tell, no legitimate studies had been done on the elusive creatures. 80 of the magical population believed them to be the creation of an overactive mind, whilst a small amount of those adamantly believed them to exist today.

The Fascination of Magical Beasts & Where to Find Them
by Newt Scamander

Chapter 32, Ice Dragons.

Whilst many breeds of dragons exist today, there have been many theories that there are a handful of Pure-bred dragons yet to be discovered, ancient dragons that perhaps were among the first to exist.

We have been able to, to an extent, train the known 10 breeds of Pure-bred Dragons. (1)

Antipodean Opaleye
Chinese Fireball
Common Welsh Green
Hebridean Black
Hungarian Horntail
Norwegian Ridgeback
Peruvian Vipertooth
Romanian Longhorn
Swedish Short-Snout
Ukrainian Ironbelly

Many tales have been told when it comes to how dragons came to exist, some consider the creatures to have been the result of a hex gone wrong on a Occamy (1). Where as many experts in the field of Dragon Taming and Research say that the fire breathing giants were here well before us, and will most likely be here well after we are gone.

On occasion the dragons may produce rare hybrids by interbreeding with another type of dragon. Many breeders have tried to create a dragon that resembles that of the legendary Ice Dragon, and so far none has succeeded.


In today's society it is believed that Ice Dragons are fictional, just a simple bed time story. And yet little or no field work has been done to support this theory of their inexistence.

It is said that The Ice Dragons can reach a weight of seven and a half tones, one and a half tons more than that of the Ukrainian Ironbelly. With smoky grey eyes, and white and silver scales they can blend into their natural background in Greenland easily. They breathe fire the colour of an almost 'clear blue' and have the ability to become invisible. They breed in small groups of no more than seven, with an alpha female and male, which is curious considering the Chinese Fireball, also know as a Liondragon, is the only another dragon that will tolerate another one of its kind. Sometimes sharing its land with one or two other's but never living in small groups.


Living up to 200 or 300 years they are probably one of the most beautiful dragons that could ever walk this earth.

But as mentioned above, this is purely superstition. A tale, perhaps created from old pirates while away at sea, but then again so many superstitions and myths are created from some grain of truth. So perhaps most of us have never seen these white knights because they do not want to be found?

(1): For a description of the creatures mentioned in this chapter please refer to 'Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them).

With a thud Hermione closed the book, there was nothing, absolutely nothing. Never in her life had she not been able to find the information looked for in a book. It was almost unnatural, she had spent four days since Harry and Ron's visit pouring over books that had anything to do with Dragons. She now knew the twelve uses of dragon's blood back to front, literally.

So that left Hermione with one choice, if what she wanted to learn wasn't in a book then she would have to start asking some question's of the right people.

After lunch Hermione submitted a form to Mr. Bickerer, the head of her department, to research Ice Dragons officially. He had laughed and asked if she was feeling well, mind you he hardly look worried about her health. He told her not too kindly that she shouldn't waste his and her time, and that she didn't have jurisdiction anyway, that it fell under the department for the Regulation & Control of Magical Creatures. The young woman stormed out of his office and slammed the door to hers as soon as she reached it.

She couldn't stand it, everyone so far in her department had found it at least mildly amusing that she had taken a fancy toward the rumored Dragons.
And she constantly had to battle internally to not explode and scream with pure rage from all the defiant stares she got from the Pure-blood families, willing her to fail. And then there were those who constantly told her how logical she was, how basically 'good' she was. How she applied her self to her work and all that was left was for her to settle down and make a family.

It infuriated her to no end to listen to it all, she couldn't deicide which she loathed the most, those who openly despised her for her blood and intelligence (Who wouldn't hesitate to drop her off the highest bridge, she thought with a sneer). Or perhaps those who patronized her, telling her to give up on silly little dreams and behave. And it was with this thought that she made her decision, all her life she lived by rules, hers and everyone else's. 'I'm going to find them she thought, I'll be the first to prove they are real…let those prissy pure bred bitches choke on that'.

Later that evening, after much arguing, bribery, and blackmail, she had convinced her head of department to approval her application to research Ice Dragons officially through the Ministry, transferring out of his department and into the DTR, Dragon Taming and Research.

Harry had dragged Ron to the Ministry asking if they could have the services of the top or leading Unspeakable to find a counter curse for Ron's situation.

"I would offer ya' Miss Granger but she's on a new assignment and I'm afraid it's a bit more important." Replied Mr. Bickerer.

Ron attempted to attack the man, but Harry quickly grabbed him by around his stomach.

The man looked at Ron enquiringly, deciding if he should be worried that the kid wanted to maul him.

"Plus I don't even know if she'll be coming back, so I will have to go refer ya' to my secretary to find the right one for the job." said the round middle aged man whilst shrugging.

"What do you mean you don't know if she'll be coming back? Where has she gone to?" Harry was genuinely confused as Hermione hadn't contacted them in the five days since she hexed Ron.

"I told ya' she's on a new assignment, and your friend will have to wait until she's done. Mind you that could be some time, and he'll probably be back to normal and talking again by then. So if ya' just go back to my secretary she'll set ya' up with the right person."

Harry pushed Ron out of the man offices. "No sir, that's ok. I'm sure we'll find a solution to this problem on our own. Thank you for your time."

Harry and Ron ran to Hermione's office to be greeted by an empty office save for a desk, chair, fireplace, and a couch. The walls that were once covered with books were now empty, it was as if she had never been there.

Hermione had decided to go and see the one person who seemed to know everything, Albus Dumbledore

And as like any other 'chat' you have with the wizard, you leave thinking, nay, knowing thathe knows more than he lets on.

By the time she had made it back home that evening she flopped on her bed with just enough energy to take her shoes, belt, jeans and top off. She was some what aware that her robe was some where in the living room, Crookshanks will most likely use it as a blanket which will mean she'll have a fur coat it the morning.

Crawling under the covers she mused about what she had gained today. Albus had given her the names of four people who would eagerly agree to help her in anyway, along with the name and whereabouts of a good fiend in Greenland.

With a whispered 'Nox' the light in her room turned off and left her bathed in the darkness she had grown to accept as inevitable for these past years, along with the nightmares that plagued her every night.

Two weeks later found Hermione's apartment exactly like her office. Harry with the rest of the Weasley family were beside themselves, they had no clue as to where she was. After many enquiries, the Ministry finally relented a little and said that she had and left a week ago and had transferred to a new department and they were not at liberty to discuss it.

Mrs. Weasley had even visited Dumbledore to ask if he knew anything.

"Please Albus you must know something, I'm terribly worried about the child. You know I consider her one of my own. I know she's a young woman now, but I must know of her whereabouts. I need to know if she is well."

The Headmaster had a twinkle in his eye, and offered some tea to the woman opposite him. "I can assure you Molly, Hermione is very well. She has come and seen me and I will inform you if she comes to harm"

"COMES TO HARM, have you gone barmy. What is she doing, where is she, my god is she in danger?" by this point Molly had become a nervous wreck. Her son couldn't talk, Arthur had brought home an 'electric drill' and started to do home improvement the muggle way. And her eldest daughter had gone missing.

Albus chuckled to himself, he knew all about Ron's current condition. Not to mention he was the one who had talked to Arthur about muggle tools and had given him a magazine about them. But it wouldn't do to tell her that little bit of information, after all what would a Headmaster be without a head.

"Molly dear, calm down. As I said Hermione is well, she is doing some research that one of your sons would find very fascinating actually. And if she is successful then she will make quite a difference in the wizardry world. I have given her my blessings and plan to stay in contact with her while she's so far away. If she were putting her self in far too much danger then I would have advised her against it."

Molly sat silently whilst processing everything he had said to her, trying to figure out what it is her Hermione was doing.

"Now tell me how Ginny is doing at Chudley Cannons, last I saw she was making a fantastic Seeker."

Albus had effectively distracted Molly about her musings to talk about one of her top most favorite things, her children.

Author's Note's:

I used JKR's Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, and Quidditch Through The Ages as references.
Lynn isn't an actual character, nor is she important…just my silly creation.

Chapter 3 half done and should be up soon. Thanks again to Janine for being my beta forthe first two chapters...many hugs and kisses xoxoxoxox!