Annick glided noiselessly through the air, watching the ground below her carefully. At the moment, her mind was mostly focused on one thing only - finding something to kill and carry away. Now she had to be even more careful than before, seeing she just left the reservation border.

She flew over a hill and saw a flock of sheep right before her nose. There was no human around, guarding them, and they seemed to have wandered too far from their usual grazing grounds. No domestic herd ever ventured this close to the reservation - they knew what would happen to them if they did.

Annick shrugged in her mind and chose two sheep that grazed a little bit further from the rest of the flock. A quick attack, a single hit with sharp claws and she was on her way back to the reservation, couple of broken-necked sheep clutched in her front paws.

It took her half an hour of fast flying to reach her destination this time.

A valley opened before her swirling green eyes, complete with a waterfall and stony cliff adorned with a hole. It was at that very place that they watched the Antipodean hybrid guarding and warming her eggs a few days ago. Annick knew females didn't hunt for food until the cubs hatched and she was already well aware that this dragon didn't have a mate, because she watched her during her holiday as well. She must have been with the eggs then and dragon pairs tended to stay together all the time from copulation to hatching. After the hatching, the males would leave and the mother would forego her feeding until the cubs were old enough to either go with her, or hide well and wait for her return. If she had a mate, he would feed her while she tended to the eggs, and so she would be strong enough to make it through the forced fast. A bearing dragoness without a mate was rare, though not unheard of. Unfortunately, the females rarely survived so long without food, and the dragonlings died soon after their mother, unprotected and unable to fend for themselves. She was not about to leave a three-species hybrid to die if she could help it - and that she could.

This was the third time she hunted for her. When the female saw her now, she only gave a short and mildly warning screech. She never ventured too far from the cave and Annick didn't try to persuade her otherwise. She landed some fifty meters away, as she always did. Then she slowly approached her with sheep in her claws, and even the overprotective dragon hybrid couldn't possibly mistake her clumsy sheep-in-paw walking for danger. She stopped some twenty-five meters away from her. The Antipodean wouldn't like it if another female came too close to her eggs, and Annick definitely didn't care to see the consequences.

The dragon started eating when she returned to her landing place, as usual.

For once, Annick didn't wait until the dragon was sated to see if she was up to any social time. She had an hour to return to the settlement before Charlie's guests were due and with the Anti-apparition wards on the reservation borders she had to fly directly. Technically, she could apparate to some place close to the border, cross the border on feet and apparate to the settlement afterwards. However, that would mean scaring the animal (and some plant) life with the accompanying noise in more than one kilometre radius of both apparition places. It was strongly encouraged to only use apparition in the reservation in life-threatening situations, to avoid causing unnecessary stress to the inhabitants. Some of the species were threatened enough that any undue stress could result in further thinning or their count.

When she crossed the border, she still had fifteen minutes left. It was only a five minute fly to the settlement, and the only reason she couldn't see the buildings now was because of the hills. She slowed down a bit.

She flew close to the ground, happily circling the hills in the least straightforward way possible to extend her return time. When she finally left the shade of the last hill, she was just shy of a mile away from the settlement.

She could see a number of people outside the buildings, playing quidditch. They noticed her presence mere five seconds after she appeared within sight, and in another ten seconds they went on with the game, having recognized her.

In the mean time, she slowed down even more and looked around the whole provisional pitch with interest. They conjured real goal posts. She happily approached the middle goal post of the team nearest to her. It took her twenty seconds of persistent wing-waving and balancing, but finally she was perched safely and could fold her batty wings back. Keeper of her goal post watched her out of the corner of his eye, only checking the opposing team from time to time - as if thinking her a direr threat. Annick's eyes whirled blue when she noticed that. That was exactly how things were supposed to be.

She kept that line of thought until a stray bludger hit her. The irritating nuisance introduced itself head first into her shoulder, and it hurt, although admittedly much less than it would had she been in human form. She growled a couple dragon-language profanities under her snout and spread her wings again.

The goal post she had been perched on vibrated violently when she took of and the keeper tensed, watching her with a wary eye. She toyed with the idea of proving his fears right, but in the end she just flew off to the Home like every well-trained and obedient dragon should. Charlie's family was due in mere minutes and she didn't wish to be seen in dragon form. It may not be a secret, but it didn't have to become public information either.

When she entered the Commons living room, she immediately saw her smiley friend Charlie in a group with Alejandro, Nate and Simon. They seemed to be compiling some sort of a list. Elwin sat at the table near the window with Matt, going through a batch of new pictures. Based on the horrible mess all around their table, they were either almost finished, or just started.

"Annick!"

Hearing Charlie's high-pitched, elated squeal, she turned to him. She knew that tone of voice well enough to know she should be wary. Usually it meant that he had something planned that she wouldn't like.

"Should I run for it now, or will later suffice?" she asked dryly.

Nate grinned at her. Charlie went from his happy-go-lucky grin to genuine confusion.

"What? You needn't run at all, what are you on about, Annick?"

She just waved her hand and approached their table with caution. "What d'you want me for?"

"I came up with a way to improve the thermometer, Annick. We can get the temperature of your flame without having you melting it down first. I hope so, at least," said Alejandro.

"Yep, and now we're making a list of all the things we want to get done with your clawed self, so we can get it done at the same time. You disappear on us so frequently that you're not here when we think of it."

"And how do you propose we get the work done with your family here and about, Charlie?"

Charlie looked at her with surprise.

"Well, we could, couldn't we? It's not a secret you're a dragon, is it?"

Annick shrugged.

"Not really, but there's no need to advertise it," she remarked easily. If too many people knew, Death Eaters might find out as well. She would rather keep as many advantages as she could, thank you very much. Not that Charlie knew any of that.

"Well then... maybe we can do it when they're somewhere off in the area. Or after they leave," Charlie frowned. "Or we could just ask them not to tell anyone, they're pretty much trained in that."

"We'll see," Annick closed the matter for the moment and leaned over the table. "What exactly do you want to study on me now? One would think you already have everything you could ever come up with."

"No chance in hell. We made it up to here, look," Alejandro pushed the list towards her.

"And I'd like to catch every colour your eyes can acquire. That'll be a dead help when dealing with the Opaleyes," added Simon, and Annick laughed.

"You already have a photo-album worth of my dragon pics, Simon."

"Nowhere near. Is that an offer?" Simon asked.

Before she could react to that, they heard some noise from outside, followed by yelling of one of the tamers who played quidditch.

"Charlie! Your family's here!"

Charlie brightened immediately and jumped up from the table.

"Great! I wonder how many of them are here this time. Besides mum that is. Come on guys, I wanna introduce you. Some of you haven't seen my family yet at all!"

He started towards the door, others following closely behind along with Elwin.

"I'll be right there," called Annick. "Just taking a look at the list."

They disappeared out the door.

"Wonder when they'll start dissecting me," she murmured quietly to herself.

Suddenly there was a prickling feeling in the back of her neck, and she tensed. As if...

She turned around sharply, her hand flying to her wand pocket. Her other hand, the one holding the list, clutched the paper so hard it tore.

There was someone else in the room with her. Someone, who's eyes were fastened straight at her and who very obviously didn't leave when the others did. Someone, who started walking towards her, now that she noticed him.

Matt.

Annick stood on the spot and stared back at him. She had no idea what was going on, he didn't look for opportunities to be in her company anymore. Or she his. Her hand didn't leave the handle of her wand, but she didn't grip it. She knew Matt, at least she thought she did. She shouldn't need to defend herself against him. Not with her wand.

He strode up to her and casually pried the list from her death grip, holding her eyes still. He only averted them when he raised the paper to his face, looking at it with an expression that gave nothing away. He also gave absolutely no indication of being interested in what the list said.

Annick threw a quick glance at the door. She didn't want to be alone with Matt. She didn't know why, but he seemed to have found a way of getting under her skin effortlessly. She's never met a person who could hurt her like he did. Well, she had, but they were Death Eaters, not supposedly safe people. And even better, she couldn't blame nor resent him for hurting her, because she knew she brought it upon herself. By being secretive, and not as immune to him as to the others.

She should leave. Since that night, everytime she saw him she felt a shadow of the hurt he caused her. It was much too similar to what she'd felt once before, and she had no wish to remember that. Why couldn't he keep on avoiding her? It worked so well for both of them. She could still pretend she had some semblance of life when he wasn't there.

She was about to move when he put the paper down on the table and found her eyes once again. She gritted her teeth.

To hell with pride or whatever it was, let him think whatever he wanted, but she was not staying with him any longer, not alone, not so close.

She moved quickly to push past him to the door, but his fingers curled around her arm before she completed the first step.

She stopped dead in her tracks and her whole body tensed horribly. Her already taut senses went into instant overdrive with that simple touch, and suddenly, she was no longer in a room with Matt. She was somewhere else, somewhere much darker and much more dangerous.

Too close. No touching. Dangerous. No touching. Get away now.

He let go of her arm when he felt her immobile form start trembling, but he moved around her to cut her off the door.

"Calm down, Annick. I won't hurt you."

His calm tone worked its way past the heavy fog in her brain. Her mind slowly cleared, and returned to the room, but she snorted derisively when she processed what was said.

"That would be a first," she hissed quietly. "Leave me alone."

"I need to talk to you. Now," he looked into her eyes resolutely. The green-blue orbs narrowed.

"We don't need to talk about anything. You've already made up you mind. Charlie's family's here. Lay off, and never touch me again."

She moved past him to the door. He didn't try to stop her this time, but he opened his mouth without turning:

"My decision was premature, though based on what I knew, it was not unreasonable. I didn't know all the facts, though, and you decided not to tell me anything that night."

She stopped walking. "I do not need to explain myself to you. Nothing changed. Nothing needs to. There is no danger."

He turned to look at her. "Yes, there's no danger. I know that now. And yes, you don't have to tell me anything. Elwin already did."

Annick turned and stared at him intensely. Elwin wouldn't do that. He knew something bad happened between her and Matt. He would not betray her trust like that. But Matt seemed awfully confident when he said it. But she knew Elwin for a long time.

"He wouldn't do that."

"I admit I kind of ran him into a corner unintentionally, and I had to swear a privacy oath in return, but that doesn't change the fact that he did tell me."

"Elwin wouldn't do that," Annick stalked to him and curled her hands into fists. "He knows something happened between us, he wouldn't betray me like that."

"That's exactly why he did it. He knew something happened, and he didn't want you to suffer because I didn't get all the facts I needed, Ann-I-C-K."

Annick practically spasmed with fury. She couldn't believe Elwin did that.

"That was not his secret to tell," she growled furiously. Matt snorted, but observed her carefully. She was extremely angry, looked to be step away from loosing control, and that filled him with a slightly foreboding feeling. His feelings usually proved right, and right now he felt it would be a bad idea indeed to make her loose control of her anger.

"You're the one to talk. You didn't do very well with that secret yourself, spilling it to those four from Hogwarts."

She glared at him. "That's something else entirely."

"Is it? How could you be sure they would keep that secret safe? You didn't know them," Matt countered.

"Snape was a spy for our side, and he and those two women were Dumbledore's employees. He would make sure they would be quiet," Annick hissed at him.

"Even if he could do that, how would you know you could trust Dumbledore? Sure, he's the leader of the light and all, but he himself could be overheard mentioning it and unintentionally setting the Death Eaters after you."

"He won't do that!"

"How do you know? You don't know the man!"

"Elwin wouldn't trust him if he was untrustworthy!" she barked at him furiously.

"If you trust Elwin's opinion so much, why don't you trust his decision to tell me?" he flung right back in her face.

For a second it seemed Annick would snap something back at him, but then she faltered. That last bit managed to throw her off slightly. She relaxed a little, and frowned in momentary confusion. Matt stared at her, barely daring to hope the danger had passed.

"Do you trust Elwin enough to take his opinion on who to trust?" he asked her, his voice much calmer than he felt.

"In most cases, yes," she answered, but scowled at him.

"Then why don't you agree with his decision to tell me?" he continued interrogating her.

"You hurt me," she snipped at him. "I don't tend to trust people who hurt me."

"All I knew about you was that you presented yourself as a carefree and happy person with no malicious thoughts, except for the slightly more pronounced mischievous side. Then I found out you swore the Blood feud to somebody and it was still active, which meant you were basically boiling with negative emotions from inside out. Not to mention the Blood feud magic is an old magic, violent and very unstable. Anyone could interfere with it unknowingly, setting it off. And yet you didn't warn anybody in here about the feud so we could ensure we wouldn't unknowingly interfere with it, and you let others see none of those dark emotions that are necessary to keeping the feud magic active. I could only guess if the feud was justified on your side, and who it was directed at. You didn't tell me anything when I confronted you, anything could set it off. So you will forgive me, but for all I knew it could be unjustly directed at somebody from here, and you were just bidding your time. This is my home Annick, these people are my friends, basically family. I was not about to lull myself into complacency when people I like could be in danger of this magnitude."

Annick stared at him as if she never saw him before.

"If the object of my Blood feud was here, I would have killed him before he blinked twice, Matt. And I am painfully aware of the nature of Blood feud oaths, I made sure it would not be set off unknowingly," she pronounced the whole sentence slowly and clearly, seemingly thinking his brain needed some help processing it.

"And I was supposed to know any of it how, exactly?" he asked her dryly.

They stared at each other some more, the signs of anger and fighting seeping out of them with each passing second. Finally Annick averted her gaze and moved her weight to another foot. Suddenly she seemed almost afraid to meet his eyes.

"I... thought it was clear. I didn't think... I wouldn't come here if there was any real danger," she whispered.

"I couldn't know that. You're not here for long and you keep a mask, I couldn't get to know you so soon. Do you think my reaction was uncalled for, with the information I had?"

Annick shook her head. "No, it was... rather spot on. Blood feuds being volatile as they are."

"Yet I should have collected more information before basically giving you an ultimatum. I was concerned for my friends here, I didn't really think about what effect it could have if my concerns were unfounded. I'm sorry for that."

She nodded. "And I'm sorry for not explaining why there was no danger when you confronted me. You caught me at a wrong time, I only go off to be alone in the middle of night after really bad nightmares. They occur sometimes. I couldn't bear to talk about it, it was enough some of it was so fresh in my mind after that dream."

He nodded, and frowned at her in concern. "Understandable. Sorry."

They were quiet for a while, just standing there, Annick avoiding his look, Matt staring at her expectantly.

"So, what happens now?" she asked hesitantly. Matt shrugged, and outstretched his right hand towards her.

"Hello, I'm Matt Rovens. I've been working here as dragon tamer for the last ten years. Charlie Weasley's my best friend, closely followed by Nate Stuart."

She smiled and shook his hand.

"Hi, I'm Anna Kinnon, but call me Annick. I came to work here when Elwin assured me there were no Death Eaters or Death Eater sympathizers around. I'm hoping to be able to be who I want to be here, and live my life on my own terms, away from... shadows of my past."

"I'm sure we can make it work, somehow," Matt nodded at her, and offered her a supportive smile.

"MATT, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?" Charlie bellowed from outside. Matt raised his eyebrows.

"Come meet Charlie's family?"

"I guess we'd better," she grinned.

"ANNICK! GUYS, GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE!"

AN: So this is a second round of editing for this chapter, meaning I can go off thinking about and writing the next chapter (after a loooong time that this story sat still). I replaced this edited chapter on 26th September 2015, just so you know how recent the activity on this story is.

Up until now, all the chapters (save the first I guess) were edited by Blue Leah before I decided to edit them again. My thanks to her.

This chapter was probably the only one that underwent a more substantial reworking, mainly in the last part, as the "make up" conversation with Annick I found rather wanting.

Don't be afraid of leaving me your thoughts on this story, I like feedback (as mostly everyone here) :)