A/N: There was some timeline misunderstanding. In universe, they've only had one week of classes, it's currently around September 8th, and Hermione's birthday isn't for a couple weeks still. The canon timeline does not line up with real life.

The Ritual will be in 102, and Hermione's birthday in 106.

Monday seemed to drag by. Hermione mastered her Transfiguration on the first try, and she spent the rest of the class trying to teach Greg and Vince the difference between a wand flick and a wand jab. Not for the first time, she wondered at their dexterity – their hands didn't seem dexterous enough to adequately perform the complex movements needed for Transfiguration.

At least they'd have a chance at Defense, if they ever got a half-decent teacher. Dueling spells seemed to need very little in the way of wand movements. They all seemed to be jabs or dramatic swishes, which these two could do just fine.

History dragged by, with Professor Binns prattling on about the plague and witch hunts. Hermione ignored him, instead slowly wading her way through The Songe of the Beastes, a guide and glossary to Middle English open next to her. So far, she'd only made it through half the introduction (a whopping two pages), but she was intrigued. The respect and excitement the author held about the natural world was interesting – and unusual to see in the wizarding world, Hermione admitted. Most wizards didn't seem to pay much attention to natural the world beyond what use they could get out of it. It was intriguing to read words from a wizard who loved nature so much.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was the last class of the day, shared with the Gryffindors and taught by Lockhart. It was her least favorite class of them all. Ever since the disaster with the pixies, Lockhart had taken to dramatically acting out scenes from his books, often calling on volunteers to help him. He frequently called on Harry, despite Harry's embarrassment and utter desire to just be left alone. Today, Lockhart had moved onto Year with the Yeti, detailing his adventures in the mountains of Tibet.

"-what you need to really be careful of there is the snow. It's not like the snow here, oh no! The snow in the mountains is- ah, yes, a question?"

Hermione turned to see one of the Gryffindor girls raising her hand.

"Professor Lockhart?" the girl said, blushing. She ran her hand along her long black braid. "I was just wondering – I've been to Tibet, and the authorities made sure we stayed well away from the yeti. They said they would attack and eat anything they meet."

"Yes, very true," Lockhart said, nodding. "Yeti are dangerous, Dark creatures! Very probably related to trolls, though no one has ever gotten close enough to study one-"

"Wait, they're related to trolls?" Hermione found herself interrupting despite herself, curious. Lockhart's eyes turned to her.

"How do you know that?" she asked. "I know your book says you spent the year protecting the village from yeti attacks, but how does that help you know they're related to trolls?"

"Well, they fear fire," Lockhart told her, with a winning grin. "Very similar to trolls. A skilled witch or wizard equipped with a fire spell can repel a yeti – as I did, when they attacked the village-"

"But it fears fire?" Hermione clarified. "It's not hurt by it?"

"It's fire, Granger," one of the other Gryffindor girls snapped. She tossed her blonde hair haughtily. "Of course it's hurt by it."

"Then why hasn't a yeti ever been studied?" Hermione challenged. "If they're harmed by fire, surely one would have been killed and examined by now, the same as trolls. But they've only ever run away from fire, correct? Despite some presumably catching on fire?"

Her eyes met Lockhart's, and he shrugged amicably.

"They run," he said. "I've never seen a well-cast fire spell not work at chasing a yeti away, but I'll say I've never seen a yeti on fire, either!"

He chuckled to himself, giving them all a roguish wink, and Hermione had to suppress her nausea.

"Bet he's never seen a yeti, period," Blaise hissed.

Hermione nodded.

"But how is it not hurt by fire?" she wanted to know, whispering. "Afraid of fire, sure – but trolls burn when they're on fire. As most things do. How do yeti get hit with fire but not burn?"

Blaise shrugged.

"Can't take Care of Magical Creatures until next year," he told her. "We'll find out then, I suppose."

Hermione was still wondering about it later at dinner, when Luna came over.

"It just doesn't make sense," Hermione said, stabbing her dinner with her fork moodily. "How can an animal be immune to fire?"

Luna tilted her head, her wide eyes looking at Hermione curiously.

"Dragons are immune to fire," she commented.

"Yes, but that makes sense," Hermione snapped. "Dragons have fire magic inside of them. They breathe fire. Yetis don't breathe fire."

Luna shrugged.

"Maybe they do," she said. "Daddy says that yeti are really rare and hard to study. Maybe they only breathe fire in private for their families."

A domestic scene of giant, 15 foot tall shaggy white sasquatch played out in Hermione's mind, the tallest yeti in an apron gifting a carefully-cooked pie to its yeti children sitting domestically at the kitchen table, and she snorted.

"It's possible, but not probable," she said. "If they could breathe fire, they'd know not to be afraid of it."

Luna blinked up at her. "Maybe they don't know it's the same."

Hermione sighed, letting the topic drop.

It was when she was going to bed that night, as she was practicing levitating her bed, the air elemental inside of her dancing around as she exhausted her power, that the answer slammed into her.

The fire magic of a yeti wouldn't manifest as fire, like it did with a dragon. It would manifest as heat.

The fire magic would keep the yeti warm.

It seemed so obvious in retrospect. Of course they would have fire magic of some sort inside of them. They had to keep warm, high in the mountains of the Himalayas. Nothing else could live as high up as the yeti did – because nothing else could stand against the freezing temperatures that the yeti endured.

Hermione let her bed settle back onto the ground, her mind racing.

"Dragons have fire magic," she murmured to herself. "I always presumed that they had some sort of magic fire-producing organ in their throats. But if yeti have fire magic too… what does that mean?"

Hermione very clearly remembered the night of New Year's Eve, standing with her professor atop a cliff, the feeling of being overpowered by an air elemental until she finally won out, subduing it and making it a part of her.

If she could do that with air, maybe the yeti did it with fire, somehow. Or they were born with it inside of them, like dragons were.

But if the yeti had a fire elemental inside of them, giving them immunity to fire, allowing them to not be burned…

What would happen if Hermione tried with a fire elemental, too?