If this should end in fire

then we should all burn together

watch the flames climb high into the night

Now I see fire

blood in the breeze

And I hope that you remember me.

-I See Fire, Celtic Woman

Chapter 17: If This Should End In Fire, I Hope That You Remember Me.

November 1994-Malfoy Manor

Lucius Malfoy sat in his study, looking over the latest edition of the Daily Prophet; an article written by Rita Skeeter graced the front page along with a photo of the four Triwizard Champions. Taking a sip from his glass, the ice clinking loudly in the silence of his study as he sipped at the amber alcohol. Skeeter always had a habit of embellishing and outright fabricating her stories, but they were always a good read when one was not the one involved in the topic.

Setting the paper aside, he picked up his latest letter from Draco; something that was sure to have more accurate information on his current interest. Breaking the seal, he unrolled the parchment, revealing his son's familiar scrawl.

Dear Father,

How are you and Mother doing? I am well, tell Mother she doesn't need to worry about me and the Ferret incident. Professor Snape put me right and Madam Pomfrey gave me a clean bill of health, you know how ill it makes her when she worries.

I'm sorry for not writing sooner, things have been a bit crazy here. I'm sure you have already heard the latest news on Granger becoming one of the Champions — that is so unfair! Rumors around the school say that she somehow got pulled into some plot and ended up messing up some Dark wizard's plans. She was attacked and sent to the Hospital Wing the same night. Apparently Professor Moody was actually not him, at all! Do you know anything about this?

The Trio are as annoying as ever, and Granger is still being annoyingly hard to read. I mean I met her on the train and she was completely infuriating; picking fun at your attack with her friends. She even wanted me to ask you how your nose was! Then, the next I see her she's saving me from permanent humiliation at the hands of Moody and her friends. I simply can't figure out what her game is.

Sincerely Your Son,

Draco

P.S. Could you send me some more of those Manic Marbles, mine keep disappearing from my pockets. I think my robe eats them.

Lucius rolled up the letter and set it aside, leaning back in his plush chair to sip at his drink leisurely. The Granger girl was proving quite the interesting little Muggle-born; she seemed to have a habit of tormenting his son one minute only to help him out a scrape the next, truly a curious anomaly. Setting his glass aside, he steepled his hands; index fingers tapping together as he thought. He was beginning to get the feeling the girl was hiding quite a bit; the fact that she had incapacitated his wand hand with merely a touch at the World Cup had made him suspicious. With this letter he was sure she was up to something; the paper had not gone into detail about his attack, and apart from his wife and healer no one had seen the extent of the injuries he had sustained. Apart from his attacker, that is. If she had been the one to attack him, then it was also as likely she was the one who freed the Muggles and attacked Fredrics.

To have that kind of skill at 15 made her dangerous, but for now he would wait and watch. She seemed to have a desire to keep his son out of trouble, which made her a valuable asset, and should her usefulness end he would deal with her and this time he wouldn't be caught off guard, he thought with a smirk pulling at his lips.

'Hermione Granger, 15 years old, Muggle-born by birth, top of her year at Hogwarts and Fourth Triwizard Champion. We are expecting to see a lot from this bright young witch, who unlike many of her peers managed to enter and be chosen for the Tournament despite the age restrictions that were in place. When asked why she joined the Tournament, Hermione replied with no lack of confidence, a superior air about her as she gazed disinterestedly out the window, "The other students are so insufferably boring with their simple little minds. I just wanted to challenge myself, after all, for someone with my intellect and skill these tasks are going to be a cinch." '

"This woman really is a horrible writer, there wasn't even a window. We were in a broom cupboard, for Merlin's sake," Hermione exclaimed, rolling a marble back and forth between her hands on the table, as she read aloud to her gathered friends. The marble made a wild turn and made a break for it, but Hermione's hand caught it before it could escape, and she returned it to the pouch with the rest and tucked it in her pocket.

"I don't know, Hermione, you can be a bit of a know-it-all at times, you know?" Ron said right before Hermione whacked him in the head with the rolled up newspaper. "Right, right, sounds nothing like you." Ron corrected, shielding his head. Hermione glared at him before continuing on reading.

'The word is, according to Colin Creevey, a close friend of Hermione's. Hermione is rarely seen without the infamous Harry Potter close at her side. Is it love, or is she only looking to get in on the Boy-Who-Lived's spotlight?'

"Really, what a load of rubbish," she said, catching Harry's eye. "You don't think I'm trying to steal your light, Harry, do you?"

"Steal it, you can have it if it's all the same," Harry said laughing.

"What about me being in love with you, tell me, Harry, do you think I'm trying to seduce you?" she said, lowering her voice to a purr and batting her lashes at him. Ron choked on his pumpkin juice and Harry began sputtering; Hermione could only laugh, the two were so innocent and easy to tease.

"I'm joking, Harry, relax," she said, patting Ron on the back till he stopped coughing.

"I... ah good, because I like you, Hermione, really, it's just—" Harry said, flailing his hands in an attempt to articulate where his voice could not.

"I know, Harry, the feeling is mutual. Besides, don't think I've missed your googoo eyes for Chang," she said, gesturing at the Asian girl at the Ravenclaw table and causing Harry to blush madly.

"Don't ever bloody do that again, it's downright freaky," Ron said, gasping, as he got his coughing under control. Hermione could only roll her eyes and share a glance with Ginny who could only shake her head at her idiot brother.

The three gave a friendly wave at Lupin and Black who were seated at the teachers table. Dumbledore had convinced Lupin to come back another year after Moody was sent to St. Mungo's. The Werewolf was happy to agree and eager to help Hermione in anyway he could with the coming tasks. Black had asked to come along, not wanting to be left behind, and Dumbledore agreed to hire him part time to fill in when Remus was unavailable; so he usually helped out during their practical lessons, as the pair could demonstrate the proper casting and shielding of spells simultaneously and stuck around for at least one meal a day before returning to his home.

Snape's seat, Hermione noted, was vacant as it was every time Sirius came for a meal, and she wondered why he was avoiding interaction with Black. She knew they did not like each other, but in the past Snape had still put aside their differences to make the potions to get Sirius back into good health. She decided to ask Remus about it later, as he was less likely to give her a one sided story.

Hermione had brushed off their offers of help at first, reasoning that Harry was going to need someone to keep an eye on him while she was preparing for the task. Without her around to keep him out of trouble who knew what trouble he would attract. Finally, she conceded that if she came across something she couldn't handle she would come to them for help.

Harry was more than happy to spend his free time visiting the Defence professors, as Hagrid's Hut had become quite dangerous with his Blast-Ended Skrewts around; that is when the Half-Giant wasn't off trying to court the lovely Madame Maxime.

"What do you think the First Task is going to be?"

"They said something to test our bravery and courage in facing the unknown, so we are not supposed to know till we face the task," she said, shrugging, she didn't know much about what the tasks entailed, but that that first involved a dragon, the second had something to do with the Lake and the third a maze. To think she was going to have to face a real fire breathing dragon was daunting, only a fool would find facing such a creature would be simple no matter the preparations.

She had checked out a number of books to see what they could offer to help her. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with the dragon; was she just supposed to survive in an arena with it for a time, subdue it, take something from it. So she decided to look for something versatile. The books mainly stated the sizes and coloring of the different species and that it would take a number of wizards and a lot of Stunners to render it manageable. Stunners might work to buy her time, but really, she was going to have to find a better way of dealing with it.

Snape was in a fowl mood in the week following the drawing of the Champions; not only had he not managed to realize there was a Death Eater sitting at his very table for a month, but the said Death Eater had managed to slip out of the school before they could catch him.

Then had been the visit from Nemo, he had not expected him to be able to slip into the school so easily and without detection. The fact that he had escaped without even drawing his wand was another matter that irked the Potions Master greatly. He had thought he had been keeping his skills in top form, but apparently he had grown rusty in this time of semi-peace. That would have to be rectified immediately.

To add more onto his growing temper not only had Dumbledore hired the Werewolf back, but Black as well. To think most mornings he would have to share his table with the man who had tried to kill him and the instrument that had been meant to do the deed. Most days found him dining in his private rooms when Black was present for a meal, under the excuse of the amount of work he had to get through and the extra brewing that needed to be done to replenish the Hospital Wing.

It was not even two months in and the year wasn't looking too promising.

"Oh, this is not going to end well," Hermione muttered, as the flames erupting from the cages were close to singeing the hair off her arms and eyebrows.

Being told one was to face a dragon and the only real life reference one has is a baby seen back in first year, is not nearly enough warning for someone before they come face to face with a fully grown, very fiery and very angry dragon. They were huge and they were ferocious. Their handlers tried to calm them all the while they rattled their cages and burned anything within range.

"Dragons, that's the First Task?" Sirius asked, paling as the two professors and three students met up in Remus's private rooms for a much needed calming tea after the sight they had just seen.

Hermione held her cup to her mouth, but did not drink, as her eyes became unfocused as she mentally went through everything she knew about the four species that had been brought, her fingers drumming on her cup as she ticked off advantages and attributes each had.

"Hermione, you okay?"

"Hmm," she mumbled, blinking and looking at the group around her, four concerned pairs of eyes stared back. "Yes, I was just thinking."

"How are you supposed to fight a dragon, Charlie said it took four fully trained wizards just to cage the smallest one," Ron raved, pacing the room, his tea set aside for the moment.

"Ron, your pacing isn't helping matters," Remus said, coaxing the teen to a seat.

"What are the options?" Harry asked, taking a biscuit from the forgotten plate.

"Stinging hexes mostly, but they have to be precise and the only vulnerable portion of them are the eyes and inside of the mouth." Remus said, frowning and rubbing his chin in thought.

"Here's an idea, Charlie said they are really territorial, especially the brooding females. So we just find something big and threatening and let them fight each other," Ron suggested.

"Where are we going to find something big enough to fight a dragon, honestly, mate, that's the worst idea ever. What if they both think Hermione is more interesting, then she will have two big crazy creatures to deal with."

"What about Fluffy, maybe Hagrid would let us borrow him?" Ron suggested in an attempt to save his idea.

"And do what, put him to sleep with a harp and watch the dragon eat him?" Suddenly Hermione sat straight up, her eyes shining with an idea. Setting her tea down, she headed for the door, but not before wrapping Ron in a hug and kissing him on the head.

"Brilliant, you're brilliant, Ronald!" she said excitedly.

"Wait, what was brilliant?" Sirius called out the door.

"What do you fight fire with?" she hollered back, and at receiving no reply continued, "Fire!" The group shared a look of confusion.

"What is she going to do, light the dragon on fire?" a red-faced Ron asked. Harry could only shrug in reply.

After her epiphany Hermione began secluding herself in the Room of Requirement, and despite Sirius and Remus's prying and Harry and Ron's pestering, when they managed to corner her in class, she did not reveal more of her plan to handle her dragon.

She did however take the time to inform Cedric of the task, as Karkaroff and Maxime had gone to see the dragons as well and were sure to have told their Champions. No one, not even competition, deserved to walk into a dragon fight without some foreknowledge. Cedric seemed accepting of the offer of information even though they were competing against each other.

Soon enough the day of the task came, and Hermione and her friends had headed down to the arena together before they were forced to part ways, as they headed to the stands and she to the Champions tent.

"Hey, Granger," came the snarky voice of Draco, as he sauntered over to her.

"Why, Malfoy, surely you haven't come to wish me luck?" she questioned mockingly, as Draco approached.

"My father and I have a bet going on, I don't think you'll last 10 minutes in there. My father, though, he has high hopes, he thinks you'll last 20," he said, pointing a thumb up at one of the prime seats, where his father was seated.

"20, is that all?" she said, placing a hand over her heart in hurt. "Well, here I was thinking I would have to drag the task out or risk the audience finding it boring."

"See you later, Mudblood," he scoffed out, heading back to the stands.

"Hope, you got good seats, Wonder Ferret." she called back before ducking into the tent.

Soon enough Bagman and Crouch showed up for the drawing of the dragons to determine the order and which dragon they would be facing. Fleur Delacour had the Welsh Green, Viktor Krum the Chinese Fireball and Cedric Diggory the Swedish Short-Snout. This left Hermione to go last with the most vicious dragon of all, the Hungarian Horntail.

As confident as she had been this morning for her friends, she would have to be a fool to not be more than a little frightened at the prospect of facing an angry fire breathing beast. She sat on her cot cross-legged, as she calmed herself by emptying her mind, her little Horntail crawling about her lap.

Rita Skeeter had slipped into the tent once and stirred up the inhabitants with her Quick-Quotes Quill and flashing camera, but was soon escorted out. Throughout this Hermione remained undisturbed on her cot, eyes closed. One by one the Champions were called out at the sound of the cannon until she was the last who had yet to retrieve her egg.

The cannon sounded for a fourth time, and Hermione unfolded herself from her cot and walked to the entrance, a quick stretch to loosen her limbs and she was walking out into the arena. She was greeted with the cheers of the crowd, off to one side she could hear Fred and George calling for bets on her and her friends calling her name.

The Horntail suddenly let out a deafening roar as it whipped its tail at her; Hermione rolled out of the way and behind a rock right before a jet of flame engulfed the area she had been standing in a moment before. The crowd was in a frenzy, as the dragon curled itself protectively over her nest.

Closing her eyes Hermione took a deep breath, exhaling slowly she felt herself slip into a familiar calm as adrenaline coursed through her system. Tightening her grip on her wand she stood and ran from cover, ducking another stream of flames. Running at one of the large ridged rocks lining the arena she fired a Stinging Hex at the Horntail, hitting her in the eye, causing the beast to throw its head back, screeching, as it pawed at its face.

In the stands she could hear her friends cheering her on, as the dragon lost track of her. Taking the brief opportunity, she sent two Blasting hexes at the base of one of the large rock spears, causing a large chunk of the rock to break off and fall to the floor.

"Engorgio!" she yelled, striking the rock, as she dodged under the spiked tail that was swung at her; the spell struck the rock and it doubled in size, now nearly half as large as the dragon she was fighting. "Engorgio!" she cast again, hitting the same rock again, and it grew even more. Crouching down behind the enlarged rock, another burst of flame struck it, melting it in places. As the flames died Hermione stepped out of her hiding, a smile pulling at her lips.

"Lets see how you deal with someone your own size, girl. Draconifors!" she shouted, slashing her wand at the enlarged rock. A fiery red light hit it, and the crowd gave a collective gasp.

"Well, I am glad to see someone has taken my lessons and put them to good use," McGonagall said breathlessly, as Ms. Granger executed the perfect example of the Draconifors Spell she taught her students in their third year.

There beside Hermione was a large metallic colored dragon with dark eyes. The Ukrainian Ironbelly roared out a challenge to the still larger Horntail before it settled back into a more docile pose, as it waited for instruction. A silver trail of magic connected the transfigured dragon to Hermione's wand wrist. The Horntail hissed threateningly, as she coiled herself over her nest, tail lashing agitatedly, sending bits of rock flying wherever it struck.

"Impetus!" Hermione ordered and flicked her wand toward the Horntail, the Ironbelly roared, his wings unfurling to their full length, as he shot a blast of flames at the she-dragon, the wind from his wings blowing her curls loose from their braid, as he took to the air. The flames glanced on the Horntail's scaly hide, as she threw herself into the air after him, only to be brought up short by the collar restraining her to the arena floor; with a mighty jerk the chain snapped, and the crowd began screaming.

The two reptiles collided in a fury of fire and talon, as their claws slashed and jaws snapped, as they tried to get the upper hand of the other. Hermione climbed up on one of the rock spires to get a better view, as the two broke apart and began circling the sky above the arena. Her Ironbelly would not be able to travel, the bond of magic tethering them together was already stretched thin, if he went much further the spell would falter and he would return to useless stone.

The two slammed together again with a resounding metallic screech as armored scales grated against each other. The she-dragon hissed and attempted to lock her jaws onto his neck, the Ironbelly shot a jet of flames, hitting his opponent in the face, but doing little damage. He was after all only a transfigured dragon, an imitation of the real thing. The Ironbelly let out what could only be called a cross between a scream and a howl as the Horntail struck back with her own fire; blinding one of his eyes as his scales melted under the heat much like the rock had before. The Horntail was relentless, as she began tearing chunks of scales and flesh from his back with her powerful jaws, while her talons raked down his wings, as he thrashed and bucked in the air trying to free himself.

The pair came crashing back down on the arena floor; the Horntail flapped her wings, landing back on the plateau where her nest was, hissing, as the dust began to clear. The Ironbelly pulled himself to his feet, his wings were a mangled mess, and an attempt to fly only sent him crashing to the ground. The Horntail advanced on him, the Ironbelly snarled, as he turned to face her with his good eye, as she slammed her tail into his side, sending him crashing into the arena wall. A taloned claw pinned him to the ground by his neck, as she snapped her head back like a serpent ready to strike, mouth open, as her inner fire built up for a final attack.

"Draconifors! Draconifors impetus!" Hermione called, casting the spell on two smaller rocks that had broken off in the fight. These new dragons were barely bigger than the Winged Horses of Beauxbatons, but were still as effective, as the brown scaled Norwegian Ridgeback shot forward and latched its claws into the Horntail's hind leg, while the copper-colored Peruvian Vipertooth attached itself to the tender underside of her neck. The Horntail howled in fury and pain as the Vipertooth clawed its way up her neck to bite a chunk out of her eye ridge before being thrown off backwards. It reattached itself to the back of her long neck, claws digging in for leverage. The Horntail craned her head back, furiously snapping at the small creatures attached to her, it wasn't much, but it was enough for the Ironbelly to slam his head into her exposed neck, throwing her back and got his feet back under him.

The two smaller dragons scattered before reattaching themselves to the Horntail's back, clawing and biting where they could, as the Horntail spun and snapped, as she tried to rid herself of the pests, her tail and wings flailing about her, just as the Ironbelly threw himself at her, his jaws locking on the back of her head, and slammed her into the wall of the arena. Her head still in his grip he spun them around and slammed her into a large rock formation. The rock broke apart under the impact and buried the Horntail in the rubble. Releasing her, the Ironbelly drew back, snarling, as he watched for movement, the two smaller dragons circling the air above the rubble. The Horntail shifted and stirred under the rock, but did not get up.

The Ironbelly limped its way back to coil its body around the rock, Hermione was now kneeling on, sweat coating her face and her breaths coming out in shallow pants. The spell tying her to the dragons was draining on her magic, as she held onto the spell. It was the drawback of using the spell in this manner and why it wasn't usually used when fighting dragons. The amount of magic required to subdue a full dragon was so much that she was finding it hard to even stand while they were fighting, as she was funneling her magic into her spells, one wrong move on the Horntail's part and she didn't think she would have had the energy to dodge. Wiping her face with the back of her hand she stood slowly, as to not broadcast how much her legs were shaking. The Ironbelly beside her roared his victory to the sky, as the two smaller dragons flew around them.

"Mora!" she said to the Vipertooth, the dragon gave a trill before settling itself on the rock beside her. Glancing at the Ironbelly, she flicked her wand at him, breaking the link of magic binding her to the dragon, and the battle worn beast crumbled away back into the now broken stone it had once been. The Ridgeback met the same fate before she turned to the last of her transfigured beasts. Feeling her strength return, as she was not being drained by multiple spells, Hermione straightened herself before glancing at the remaining dragon beside her.

"Aucupo!" she ordered, flicking her wand to the Horntail's nest. The Vipertooth snorted and flew off to the nest, landing, it began nudging the Golden Egg resting there around, before picking it up in its claws and flying it back to Hermione. She caught it, as the Egg was dropped into her waiting hands, and with a flick of her wand the dragon fell to the arena floor, stone once again.

A silence greeted her as the crowd looked on, many of them open mouthed before erupting into a cheering mass, as Hermione held the Egg up in triumph. They were still cheering, as she slipped off the rock and made her way out of the arena and back to the Champion's tent.

Author's Note: So I finished this and you guys have been so awesome with your reviews that I decided to post this instead of waiting till later in the week. You all are brilliant! Apologies for any Latin mistakes I am not a fluent in it and used a site called 'wordhippo' to come up with the words I was looking for. The Draconifors spell is an actual third year spell that you see preformed in the game but it was also used in the books to make the model dragons the Champions drew and the dragon that roasts chestnuts outside the Twins's joke shop in Diagon Alley. The rule of the spell is that it is used to change an object into a dragon of the same size as the object used. So in theory you use a bigger object you get a bigger dragon and in came the enlarging charm learned in fourth year. And that folks is how a fourth year can make a life size dragon, just what every fourteen year old needs to know.

Attack-impetus

stay/stop/halt-mora

seek/take/hunt after-aucupo

Next Chapter 18: Let The Dark Waltz Begin-Hermione gets a persistent suitor, The Ball and some more Horcrux hunting. Oh and Snape catches Hermione under the weather-quite literally!

Edited-08/08/18

German Translation by the wonderful and patient Alea Thoron.