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Holding out for a hero, for anyone to come and save her, she held her breath, her fingers turning white from gripping the edge of the ledge and all she could think about was how she'd ended up here, how if she fell, if she died, she was going to come back and haunt Ron until his dying breath!

It had been his idea to go visit the dragon sanctuary, see Charlie. Hermione hadn't disagreed with the idea, but he'd insisted on going during monsoon season, said that was the best time. She'd argued with that, telling him all they'd see was a lot of rain and torrential downpours and they'd be stuck inside for most of it, not seeing the dragons. Ron had laughed, said she didn't know what she was talking about.

Apparently he also forgot to tell Charlie that they were coming, forgot to mention to Hermione that the Canons were playing in Romania that week, and then he apparated leaving her with a very confused Charlie to go watch them play. At first, things hadn't been bad, despite the rain. Charlie had shown her some new dragonettes, shown her some of the new potions they'd created to help prevent scale rot and other maladies that affected the dragons.

There was talk about a dry day, one with no rain, and Charlie offered to show her a nest that he'd found in the mountain. Of course she'd agreed almost immediately, the idea of seeing an undisturbed nest was something that was almost once in a lifetime for a normal witch or wizard.

The hike up had been fine. The sky had remained overcast, but it didn't start raining, not until they were headed back down, even then it was barely more than a drizzle. That didn't stop the mudslide. Charlie heard it before Hermione realized what was happening, grabbed her and apparated. That's when everything had gone wrong.

They'd landed on the edge of a cliff instead of at the sanctuary, instead of somewhere safe. Charlie was down there, at the bottom of the cliff and Hermione was clinging to the stone praying someone would come and save her. Really it was all Ron's fault! He picked this season to visit, although all he'd visited was the stadium!

A roaring sound filled Hermione's ears, startled, she almost let go of her death grip on the stony outcropping. The noise grew louder until she realized it wasn't a roaring sound, no it was the sound of the air being displaced by a very large and annoyed looking bronze colored dragon, one that was now circling beneath her.

"Let go, I've got you!" Charlie's voice yelled. Hermione didn't think she could have held on much longer if she'd tried. Her fingers released their grip sending her spiraling down. Her descent slowed and she gently landed on the back of the dragon Charlie was riding.

"How? I saw you fall!"

"Luck mostly. Aurio here happened to be in his cave, smelled me, came out to investigate. He's one of the sanctuary's failures honestly. Can't fully integrate back into dragon society, imprinted on me when he hatched... completely by accident."

"I'll have to hear that story sometime," Hermione laughed as Aurio flew them back to the sanctuary, landing in front of Charlie's cabin.

"Um, I know you're here with Ron, but..."

"Oh, Ron and I are done!" Hermione exclaimed, not even a bit sad at those words. Ron had planned this whole thing just to see a Quidditch match, one Hermione would have happily told him to go see, but it was the fact he'd lied about it, lied about why they were here. She'd almost died today!

"In that case, would you be interested in hearing the story of Aurio over dinner tonight?" Charlie asked. Hermione nodded, flashing him a smile.

"Absolutely, let me get cleaned up and I'll meet you at the mess tent at six?"

"Sounds perfect," Charlie said, returning the smile with ease.