AN: Welcome back everyone. I have been working on my other story more lately but have not given up on this one at all and after a few reviews urging me to pick it back up, I have decided to return. I also love the ideas I have in store for this story and am excited to take you all on the adventure I have planned. I have decided to begin responding to a few of my reviews each chapter but I love and appreciate each one.

FB-FistFighterPhoenix: Haha hell yes dragons! I have some big plans for them later on in the story.

Serenity: Thank you. There are too few fleurmione stories out there which is sad because it's such an incredible pairing.

1004180: Thank you so much this really meant a lot to me. I will not abandon this story so get ready to see that potential grow and take shape.

As always, please read and review / follow the story if you enjoy.

It was dark outside as Hermione slipped across the grounds towards the Beauxbatons carriage under Harry's invisibility cloak. She startled as she felt strong arms wrap around her from behind and was about to retaliate with a barrage of defensive spells when she realized the familiar scent enveloping her.

"Fleur what the hell?"

Fleur simply smiled like a child who got caught stealing cookies and slipped underneath the cloak to join her mate. Hermione rolled her eyes as Fleur pressed a gentle kiss to her temple in apology.

"You are my mate, ma belle, I will always be able to sense you no matter the magic hiding you from my sight."

The girls began to walk deep into the Forbidden Forest, wands carefully raised in case they encountered a particularly unpleasant creature. The walk went without a hitch however and they soon found themselves looking upon the encampment where the dragons were being held. There were four massive cages side by side guarded by a few dragon keepers, who, Hermione noticed with angry distaste, had multiple magical weapons on them in order to keep the dragons in line.

Hermione slowly slipped out of the cloak and began casting numerous spells on herself to mimic the effect of the cloak, adding protective wards and spells to prevent detection to both herself and Fleur who was still underneath the cloak. Despite being younger in body, both Hermione and Fleur knew that Hermione was far more experienced with magic and as such was the better choice for being the one out of the cloak's protection.

The girls split up quickly and Fleur began to work on putting the guards to sleep as Hermione worked to take down the enchantments guarding the dragons. A familiar green head glinted in the glow of the flames at the camp and large eyes watched the pair as they silently took down both the guards and the cages magical barriers.

A pair of bright red eyes tracked the girls every movement before coming to rest on the invisible form of Fleur as she stood in front of his cage. It was disconcerting to have ruby eyes boring into her, knowing that she was invisible in more ways than one thanks to the cloak and Hermione's magic. But, Fleur carefully unlocked the cage and stared into deep red as the massive black dragon shifted its weight and began to move forward.

Soon, all four dragons stood in a circle around the girls, unfolding their wings and moving their limbs quite like a human stretching after waking up from a long nap. They knew they only had a little time before the keepers woke up or the guards not near the cages realized what had happened, so they needed to act fast.

Using the same spell from the first task, Fleur opened her mind to the dragons around her. She could sense the different personalities as they all regarded her curiously. There was a definite sense of mistrust and wariness floating around though no one could really blame them for that.

"You came" Ayllon's voice rumbled. Fleur figured that was the first step to gaining their trust and so she smiled even though they could not see it.

"As I said I would" Fleur projected to the group. "My mate and I have found a spot for you to live in peace and freedom. Once we arrive we will set up wards to prevent anyone but us from coming. If a witch or wizard wishes to find you, they must make a highly treacherous trek up the side of the mountain without magic. We will put dampeners in place in various spots so that magic will be canceled out for a certain distance. It should protect you, but we will continue to look for ways to improve. We can apparate there now or fly with you that choice is completely yours."

As she finished speaking, Hermione carefully walked over and placed her palm flat against the rough scales of the first dragon, projecting a magical map to the location so that the dragon knew where it was going. She did this for each of the dragons but was surprised when she felt the scales of the black dragon heat up on contact. Its red eyes simply stared at her, and after a moment Hermione felt a gentle probe in her mind.

Due to years of training in legilimency and occlumency, Hermione immediately slammed her mental walls into place with a frown. The dragon before her let out a noise quite akin to a snort before blinking.

"You are good child. I can see why he chose you." The voice that slipped through Hermione's mind was deep and somehow enchanting. Hermione nearly laughed to herself as she realized that such a voice would make the absolute best storyteller. Her shock was evident however as she blinked rapidly in surprise and stared at the ancient being with knowing red eyes.

"Apparently not good enough" Hermione muttered through their newfound connection. "How am I hearing you? I'm just a human."

"The veela are not the only ones capable of talking to a dragon. It just comes easier to them."

"Did you really know Merlin?"

"Many centuries ago, yes. He was a lot like you. Eager to learn, courageous to a fault, wise beyond his years, and loyal even to those he barely knew."

Hermione blushed and shuffled her feet. "Well I just don't believe in the entrapment, abuse, or taking advantage of creatures or humans."

The dragon blinked at her slowly before turning towards Fleur who stood deep in conversation with Ayllon and the other two dragons. The massive black dragon extended his wings so that one reached out to Fleur and one to Hermione and he stared at them expectantly.

"You want us to climb on?" Hermione asked incredulously. She looked apprehensive and slightly terrified, something that Fleur noticed almost immediately.

"Come on mon amour. I will hold you the entire time, you have nothing to fear. Rasei will not let us fall."

Rasei blinked once more and Hermione climbed onto his back to sit in a nook between his scales that quite resembled a seat. She was muttering to herself the entire time and Fleur stifled a giggle upon hearing the curses coming from her mate's mouth. Rasei and the other dragons too seemed entertained by the small brunette who huffed once she was settled. Fleur slipped in behind her and wrapped her arms around her mate's waist, pulling her close.

"I did not know you were afraid of heights ma cherie" Fleur whispered into Hermione's neck, causing the younger girl to shudder. Hermione simply made a grumbly noise which quickly turned into a squeak as Rasei stood to his full height and stretched out his wings.

All at once, the four dragons beat their massive wings against the air and took off, soaring far above the camp. Through her connection to them, Fleur could feel the happiness and reluctant hope filling the dragons as they flew toward the clouds above. Soon, Hogwarts became a subtle glow beneath them and cities began passing underneath. Hermione had her eyes squeezed shut and her grip on Rasei would have been slicing her palms were it not for the incredible softness of black scales that were simultaneously almost impenetrable. Fleur laughed in delight as they drifted amongst the clouds, looking down at the world below in wonder.

It was a couple hours later when the dragons landed heavily in what appeared to be a massive valley between mountains covered in snow. Hermione and Fleur slid off the dragon's back and landed in snow that was nearly chest deep. With a yelp Hermione cast a warming charm on both her and her disgruntled looking mate, as well as a charm to ensure that they would not sink into the snow.

"There is great natural magic here. Even the air tastes of it." Rasei rumbled, his voice projecting into both Fleur and Hermione's minds.

The girls nodded, not able to feel the natural magic as strongly as Rasei but feeling a certain thrum beneath them that resonated oddly to their very core. They began to cast the necessary spells on the area, Hermione explaining each as they put them into place.

"First we will do the magic dampening spells along the mountain. This will take an extreme amount of energy, so we may need to rest after putting them into place." Hermione and Fleur began murmuring the enchantments, eyes widening as the extremely complex and difficult spell flowed out of them with relative ease.

"What the" Fleur exclaimed, her French accent slipping through slightly stronger than usual.

"How odd" mused Hermione aloud, her forehead crinkling. "It seems as if the earth's natural magic is so concentrated here that performing spells is much easier here than anywhere I've ever been. We should be needing at least a break after performing that spell but instead I feel as if I never cast a spell at all."

"Magic has existed far before humans. Definitely far before humans learned to better channel it with a silly stick. The earth has a natural magic, with centers in which magic is more concentrated such as this, connected through invisible lines that cross and span the entire globe." Rasei's ruby eyes swept over the girls and toward the ground beneath them, his massive claws gently digging into the snow. He internally smiled upon seeing the absolute wonder take over both of the girls' faces, Hermione's mind already reeling with research, questions, and applications of such knowledge.

It was an hour later when the girls finally finished putting up the wards, anti-apparation blocks, magic dampeners, and various other spells to ensure the safety and beneficial nature of the dragons' new home. Hermione even made sure to point out areas in which local animals grazed where the dragons would not be seen as they hunted. She also assured Rasei and the other dragons that she would look into ways to either keep animals close by and reproducing fast enough for a stable food source or look into ways to make plants taste like and have the same dietary benefits as meat.

Now though, it was time to head back to Hogwarts before the school woke and realized that a certain bookworm and champion were missing. As the sun peaked out from over the horizon Hermione and Fleur gave their goodbyes for the time being and disapparated back to the edge of Hogwarts' grounds.

When they officially woke for the day, both girls were unsurprised to hear murmurings of the missing dragons. There were wild rumors flying about the young populace, everything from a dragon rebellion to rogue muggles stumbling upon the dragons, accidentally freeing them, and then being eaten. Hermione rolled her eyes at her classmates' theories before heading to the Great Hall. She knew that the blocks she had put in place on both her and Fleur's minds would hold up to even the best of leglimens so she was confident that no one would find out where the dragons had gone. She had also enacted a modified tongue-tying jinx on them both so that if it were not of their own free will, neither girl would be able to locate or disclose the dragons' location.

Once she entered the Great Hall Hermione sought the cerulean blue of Fleur's eyes, giving her a small, reassuring smile before sitting down with her group at the Gryffindor table. Once seated all eyes turned to her expectantly, Harry being the first to speak.

"'Mione, you never mentioned the dragons going missing. Was it Voldemort?" Harry whispered.

"I bloody well hope not. That sadistic bastard doesn't need dragons on his side that's for damn sure." Ginny declared, crossing her arms in front of her with a frown.

Hermione silently cast her normal protection charms around them, so they could speak in private, before saying, "that's because it didn't happen in my original timeline. It was I who freed them."

"What?" Ron yelled, his eyes wide and mouth agape. "Why the bloody hell would you do that 'Mione?"

"Think about it Ron, you all saw the connection that Fleur had with her dragon during her trial. You also all know that the dragons are nearly extinct and being held in captivity and constantly mistreated. I wanted to save them, so Fleur and I snuck there last night and moved them to a secure location. Plus, if they decide to help in any way, dragons would make a formidable ally in the upcoming war. It is of the upmost importance that you reveal this information to no one and if you are all willing I would like to place a few protective charms and jinxes on each of you, like the ones I placed on Fleur and I, to prevent this information from being taken from any of us."

"There's more to the dragons than size and brute strength" Ron mused aloud, his face thoughtful. "An aerial advantage, anti-magical shielding from the scales, and you mentioned before that those scary pieces of You-Know-Who's soul could be destroyed by fiendefyre. Dragon's fire is a more concentrated, controlled version of that according to Charlie. I'm sure that it could be used to destroy those things as well."

Hermione simply beamed at Ron and leaned over the table to wrap him in an awkward, tight hug. She ruffled his hair a bit as the boy turned red in color.

"You're absolutely right Ron. We will need your strategist abilities more than ever now that we have the dragons. I would like to talk to you about many things with regards to them including whether the location we have them at now is sufficient, food sources, and of course practical and perhaps battle application if they are willing." Hermione sucked in air at the end of her rant and the group laughed.

"Even if you aren't exactly our Hermione, you sure act like her. I guess some things never change huh?" Ginny laughed, playfully shouldering Hermione who smiled bashfully.

It was then that Dumbledore's voice rang out over the students and the Great Hall became quiet as each student turned in their seat to listen to him.

"Now, I know that each of you has heard about the dragons used in the first task. There is no danger for students however and the ministry is investigating. We must now turn toward the second task. Champions have with them the clue needed to successfully prepare for the second task. Once the feast is over, students shall return to their classes as normal and wait for the second task which shall take place in exactly 3 months from the day of the first task. As such, classes will continue as normal as the champions prepare." Dumbledore's voice rang with power and authority, his age seeping through as he spoke in the form of an elderly man's waver.

The resounding cacophony of student chatter and movement began almost immediately after Dumbledore finished his speech and food appeared before them. For their part, the golden trio and Ginny simply spent their feast joking around like, at least to Hermione, they used to in the good 'ole days.

"Oi, what class do you have first today?" Ron asked the group. Each member pulled out their schedule from their bags and looked them over.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts with Moody" Harry responded. Hermione nodded to indicate the same and Ron clapped his hands together.

"Great we all have class together. At least 'Mione is there to help us with book stuff." Ron shot Hermione a goofy smile and she threw a croissant at him which he happily caught out of the air and began to eat with a content sigh.

As the students filtered into class, Hermione was pleasantly surprised to notice a familiar blonde entering as well. It was when Mad Eye Moody's glass eye swirled around the room, catching what appeared to be every misbehaving student as class began, that Hermione had to refrain from fidgeting under its wary gaze.

"My name is Alastor Moody, ex-auror and your new defense against the dark arts professor. I am here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story. Goodbye. The end. Any questions?" Mad Eye looked around the room with pursed lips, weight resting on the cane beside him. "No? Then we begin. When it comes to the dark arts I believe in a hands-on approach. But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

Hermione raised her hand and Moody nodded at her. "There are 3, sir. The cruciatus curse, the imperious curse, and the killing curse."

"Correct. And they are so named because?"

"Because they are unforgivable, sir. Any one of them will get you a sentence in Azkaban."

"Yes. Now, the ministry says that you are too young to see what these curses do. I say different" Mad Eye declared with a growl. "You need to know what you are up against, you need to be prepared!"

There were murmurs of surprise and discomfort from around the room as Mad Eye spoke again. "So, which curse shall we see first?"

Ron jumped in his seat with a yelp as Mad Eye yelled out his name. Shakily rising to his feet upon being asked to stand, Ron answered Mad Eye's question with the only unforgiveable he was told about as a child, the imperious curse.

"Ah yes your father would know all about that curse" Mad Eye mused gruffly, "gave the ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why…" Mad Eye's voice hung about as he turned to his desk where a collection of bugs crawled about in jars. Reaching in, Mad Eye removed a rather large spider, using the engorgio spell to enlarge the spider until it was nearly as big as his hand.

Pointing his wand at the spider, Mad Eye cast "imperio." The spider now danced and moved however he wished for it to move, jumping from screaming student to screaming student as Mad Eye cackled with a distinct air of madness. Hermione sat rigidly as everyone around her panicked, having already lived through this exact class before, yet unable to escape the glimpses of her demons created by the war that seeing the unforgivable cast was causing to surface.

As the class began to laugh, Moody laughed harder with them. Suddenly his laughter changed and he caused the spider to launch across the room into the glass pane of the window overlooking the grounds.

"Talented, isn't she? What should I have her do next? Jump out the window? Drown herself?" Mad Eye flicked his wand so that the spider was now dangling above a bucket of water, her panicked noises and movements causing the entire class to flinch. Mad Eye then moved the spider back to her glass container, canceling the hold of the imperious curse once she was secure.

"Another, another" he growled out, his real eye locking onto the prone, scared form of Neville. Neville rose shakily to his feet, his eyes flitting only briefly to the man before him as he mentioned the curse that had robbed his entire family of their existence and happy ending. The cruciatus curse.

"The torture curse, yes. Come, come." Mad Eye waved Neville from his desk to the front of the room where he trained his wand on the same spider as before and cast the unforgivable. The screams of the spider could be heard in every corner of the room and everyone's blood ran cold upon hearing it. Neville averted his eyes, squeezing them shut.

Hermione flinched, her breathing becoming more rapid, her fingers tracing the nonexistent lines of a scar yet to be made on her forearm. Fleur looked at Hermione with concern, her thrall more anxious and frightened than it had ever been before, sensing the demons and the fear running through the younger girl's mind. Fleur watched as Hermione's fingers traced some unknown pattern on her left forearm, an action that seemed to bring her a great deal of pain, even though there was nothing actually there.

"Stop it!" Hermione yelled out. Mad Eye looked to her before shifting his attention to the young man who trembled with his eyes shut in front of him. He looked almost apologetic as he transitioned to standing before Hermione, the exhausted spider now placed directly in front of her.

"Perhaps you could give us the final curse Miss Granger?"

Hermione shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes despite herself. Harry and the rest of the class looked on in horror as Mad Eye trained his wand on the spider and yelled out the final curse, green light shooting out from the tip and encompassing the now immobile spider.

"The killing curse. Only one person has ever survived it and they are sitting in this very room." Mad Eye limped over to Harry, his glass eye eerily focused on the scar covered by Harry's hair. "Class dismissed."

As everyone rushed to escape the DADA classroom, Hermione felt a soft hand on her arm and looked up to see Fleur standing beside her with a concerned expression on her face. The blonde's eyes gently took in the rigidity of Hermione's body, the anger, the fear, and the pain all evident in Hermione's face and the emotions Fleur could feel rolling off her in waves. She looked to the arm Hermione had been touching, expecting to see the glimmer of a spell hiding something or perhaps a small scar at least but there was nothing.

Hermione stood, gathering her things and looping her arm through Fleur's as she let herself be led out of the classroom. The two girls quickly found themselves in an empty classroom where Fleur carefully locked the door and warded the room. She wrapped her arms around Hermione in an embrace that the smaller girl seemed to melt into, feeling her body begin to shake and tears begin to soak into the front of her robes where Hermione's face was pressed.

"Ma belle" Fleur whispered, holding Hermione tighter against her. It was a few minutes before the brunette pulled back, wiping her red eyes and tear stained cheeks and looking at the woman she would grow to love.

"It was this year when everything began for me. That the demons began to haunt and to chase. Before, it was mostly Ron and I helping Harry. But now, this year, this is when it began to change. Voldemort returns and" Hermione took a shaky breath "I saw too much too soon in life. From being in a war, being tortured…" Hermione trailed off, her fingers absentmindedly going to her arm once again.

"What happened ma chérie?"

Hermione glanced down to her arm, stilling her fingers that she hadn't even noticed had gone there, and laughed bitterly.

"I have fought, I have killed, I have been on the run, I have been captured and tortured for hours on end for information I did not have. I have seen those I love die. The war took so much from me, not just physically but mentally as well. I cannot forget the faces of the dead, cannot forget the fear I felt when Harry, Ron, and I were on the run for an entire year. I cannot forget the feeling of her on top of me, the way that she laughed as she cast the cruciatus curse on me over and over again, the way she bruised and bit me, the way she carved the word 'mudblood' into my skin while laughing. The way that scar would forever be with me because it was done by a cursed blade that no amount of healing or time, no curse breaker I could find could fix. Every time I would hear that word or get scared from then on, the wound would break as if the word had just been carved. No amount of time could heal me, both physically and mentally." Hermione ended with tears streaming down her cheeks, her brown eyes full of pain and suffering that did not belong in such a young, yet untainted body.

Fleur brought Hermione's arm to her lips, leaving a gentle kiss on the tender skin. It pained her to know the suffering her mate had had to endure, especially since she was not there to protect her back then. In fact, the veela do not mate until both are above the age of 16 so that there is a certain level of maturity. Hermione now was only 15 in body, explaining why Fleur did not feel the mate bond with her the first time around until they truly met again so many years later. During this timeline however, the younger girl before her was a mix of both a much older version of herself and this young body, creating enough maturity that the veela within her must have been able to recognize her mate much sooner.

"Who hurt you zis way?" Fleur's French accent slipped out a little more as her blue eyes flashed dangerously. The veela within her demanded retribution for her mate's pain, demanded that she make the sadistic woman pay.

"Bellatrix Lestrange" Hermione sighed, a certain dip to her voice as she spoke the name aloud.

"I will kill her. She will not lay a hand on you. Je vous promets ceci." Hermione gave Fleur a small smile, her heart doing a slight flutter at the French flowing so beautifully from Fleur's lips.

"We are going to do far more than kill one person, Fleur. We are going to stop all of the bad things that never needed to happen from happening at all. There will be deaths yes, but only those that were already planned from the very beginning. Soon we must start collecting the horcruxes as quietly as possible. Voldemort is not even back yet, so now is the perfect time. He never expected us to get ahold of nor discover them in the first timeline, so there is no way that he will expect us to know and have most of them before he even returns."

Fleur nodded and laid a gentle kiss to Hermione's temple. Hermione smiled and wrapped the taller French girl in a tight hug, a sign of silent thanks and love. The two girls left the empty classroom fairly quickly, knowing that they must go to the rest of the days classes to keep up appearances at the very least. That, and Hermione, no matter how old she was in soul, could never purposefully miss or ignore a lecture even if she already knew all the information being taught.