Author's Notes: Many notes, sorry. First, this is my OTP, so I apologize for going over the word count. I hope that's all right. Second, this version of Ernie Macmillan (being a shepherd, his family having a sheep/Demiguise farm, living at Loch Cibeirdraoid in the Highlands of Scotland (including the name Loch Cibeirdraoid) is the version appearing inthanfiction 's Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness. Other than the characterization of Ernie, this is an AU to DAYD and Bittersweet. Other than that, it fits into HP-verse canon. Thank you tothanfiction for the speedy beta. Third, the title Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel Fine is from the Seals & Crofts' song Summer Breeze (1971) and belongs to them. And finally, this was written for therarepair_shorts Wishlish Summer 2009 Challenge for the request of Ernie/Susan, summer breeze forroses_at_sunset .
Additional note for daydverse: This is also for the AU Challenge.

Ernie awoke lazily, the late June breeze floating gently through the open window and across his bare skin. It left a cooling trail along the flush remaining from the night. He rolled over and looked at the woman sleeping beside him in his bed. He brushed her long locks back from her face and leaned over to kiss her cheek. Then her eye. And her forehead. She stirred and he smiled, leaving a trail of kisses along her neck and over one breast.

"Mmm," she breathed out contentedly. "What time is it?"

"Early," his words vibrated on her skin. He could see the gooseflesh raised, not knowing if it was his breath or the continuing breeze causing it. He watched her in the early morning light, thinking how fortunate it was for him that Susan Bones was the one assigned to his family's farm for the Ministry internship rather than Zacharias Smith. He smiled and was almost caught off guard when her arms went tightly around his neck, pulling him down for their lips to meet. So glad that it was her, he thought, pressing his body against hers and moving his lips to her neck.

*****

Six weeks before last night was a typical day in the Highlands. Spring was wet. Spring was muddy. When he saw Susan standing on his doorstep deep in conversation with his mother, he thought she had come from the nearby village. There was a young dark haired girl who sold jams and preserves in the market on Sundays, but would occasionally come up to the hill farms selling her wares. She was a pretty thing, and Ernie would watch her walk away until she would disappear over the hillock to the McAvoy's farm. On this bright Sunday morning, he was covered head to toe in mud.

The squelch of his boots announced his arrival, and his mother's frown was enough to tell him that he looked much worse than he thought he did. He took off his hat as he drew closer and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Now that he was beside the two women, he recognized Susan immediately from Hogwarts. They had lived in the same House, but were never terribly close despite their common friendship with Hannah Abbott.

He returned her smile, but there was something in her eyes that he couldn't quite place until she stepped right up to him, careful to avoid his mud-stained self. She reached up, using her thumb to smudge some dirt across his brow, apparently the only clean spot on his body. "You missed a spot," she said, resisting the unmistakable urge to laugh. He looked at his dirty hands and was tempted to sully the creamy skin of her neck--which was the color of a porcelain doll--but resisted, grinning.

"I should probably clean up."

His mother nodded. "You really should, Ernie. Be quick about it. You'll need to show Susan 'round. I'd expect that you remember her from school."

"Aye, Mam. I remember her." He turned to Susan briefly. "How's Wayne?" He saw the scowl flash across Susan's face, and wondered if he picked the wrong boyfriend's name out of his memory. He smiled. "Not Wayne?"

"Not anymore. Not since we've left Hogwarts." He shouldn't have been too surprised – that was three years ago.

"Mam said I was showing you around. Are you looking to buy an animal? Or the wool?"

"I'm working in the Regulation of Magical Creatures department at the Ministry. Since your farm does so well on the yearly inspections, I'll be doing my internship here to start; to see how a bang-up operation does. Ernie--" She paused after saying his name, and when he turned to face her, he saw that she was staring at him and he realized that he'd begun to strip his clothes off. He held his shirt in one hand with the other unfastening his trousers.

"Sorry. All the hands are men. I'm not used to bein' modest."

She laughed. "It's fine. I should get used to it, I suppose, with all the men here. I'll just have to blend into the background."

"You can try. What were you saying?"

"Oh. Your accent. It seems different. More…Scots."

"It probably is. I forget when I'm here and I go back to my natural voice." He averted his eyes, obviously embarrassed that she'd noticed the burr he had always tried to dampen while at school.

She shrugged. "I like it. It suits you." She left him alone now to finish stripping and to take his shower to remove today's mud and make room for tomorrow's.

****

This was the second walk in two days that had taken Ernie and Susan to the outskirts of his family's land. He stood overlooking the hills that were green with the life of spring and coming summer. The birds sang and the butterflies fluttered, thistles waving. The warm breeze played across them, teasing Ernie with the gentle lift of Susan's skirt, revealing the milky skin that no one ever saw. Her hair blew in her face, and he reached out his hand to pull it over her shoulder, the long strands tangling in his fingers. She looked up at him with a wide smile. For that moment, time stopped. The sun disappeared and Susan's face lit up, a beacon. In her time at the Loch, her face had taken on a healthy rosy glow from her days in the sun. It suited her. Her hair flew into her face, and he brushed it over her shoulder again, leaning down to kiss her.

She tasted sweet, still of the strawberries that they'd found on the other hill, and as he wrapped his arms around her tiny waist, he had to catch his breath. He lifted her up, she wrapped her legs around him, and he held her against him as they kissed. He slid one hand under her skirt, slowly moving up her leg when they heard the cry.

He stopped, still holding her in his arms and he listened. He slowly let Susan down until she was steady on her feet, and turned in the direction of another cry. "It's a lamb. That should make it a bit easier. At least we'll be able to see it. If it were Demiguise, it'd be invisible."

Susan nodded her head, but remained silent. They both stopped every few steps to listen for a new cry. The last one sounded as though the animal was in agony and Susan grabbed Ernie's hand, holding it tightly. He smiled down at her and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. The sky was darkening. It would be very dark soon and they would need to take out their wands in order to see where they were going. It would be hours before the moon was high enough to use its light.

The lamb cried again, and Ernie tugged on Susan's hand and they went off again. She stumbled over fallen rocks and Ernie took his wand out now in case more of these large stones fell their way. Finally, he saw the animal nearly the same color as the rock that had pinned him down. Before he could speak or give Susan directions, she pulled away from him and sat on her knees, pulling as much of the large animal onto her lap as she was able to.

"Be careful," Ernie warned. "They bite. Especially when they're hurt or scared."

"Oh, you poor thing," she said to the lamb, ignoring Ernie's warnings. She was looking into the face of the lamb, speaking to it in a soothing voice. "It's going to be all right. We'll help you get out of this mess, little one."

Ernie stood still and watched Susan's bowed head, her long fingers stroking the lamb's ears, raking through the curly wool on its neck. She was whispering into its ear, and it was crying softly now. Ernie's eyes met hers and she smiled a gentle smile and he realized that he was supposed to be moving the rock instead of watching her comfort the animal.

It was a large rock, but Ernie was confident he could move it with only a little effort. He ran a kind hand across the lamb's back and then squatted and placed his arms around as much of the rock that he could manage, shifting it without any difficulty.

As soon as the rock budged, the lamb jumped up and ran away, startling Susan. She let out a yelp and tumbled over. Ernie kneeled beside her and took her face in his hands. The darkness had overtaken them when they weren't paying attention and when Ernie touched her cheek, he felt her shudder. His own breaths deepened as he looked at her in the shadows. He brushed her hair back that the breeze continued to insist on blowing into her face and he held her gaze. He kissed her again. And again. He lay down next to her in the cool grass, their skin warming with the other's touches.

*****

Ernie had been up early doing chores. He watched Susan through the open kitchen window as she helped his mother prepare breakfast for the men. She had really fit right in, settling into her six weeks of farm life. He couldn't believe that there were only three days left and then she was off to someone else's farm. Wales, he thought. They hadn't talked about it. Not about her leaving. Not about what they would do. Not about where they would go from here. Would this end now that she was going to her second internship? When that one was over, she would be given an office in the Ministry basement and they might see each other twice a year, possibly three times if she were to inspect the Macmillan's animals.

He hadn't realized how deep in thought he was. He was staring into the window, an unusually cool breeze at his back when he realized that she was staring back at him. When their eyes met, hers lowered, not quite feigning a shyness that she'd grown out of since they'd begun sleeping together so many weeks ago. She bent over the table to place his plate on the other side from where she was standing and he smiled, knowing that she had done that intentionally.

He passed his mother as he entered the kitchen, and sat in his seat right away. His mother had used her wand to carry the breakfast out to the farm hands and also to his father out there with the other men. Susan sat next to Ernie and they ate together in the stillness, the only sound the clattering of forks on their plates.

He finally broke the silence. "When do you leave?"

"Three days. I go to the Jones'. Do you remember Megan Jones? She was in our class and House. Her family has a very small goat farm in the north of Wales, and I'll be spending three weeks there before heading back to London."

"That's nice." They both knew that he didn't mean it, but what else could he say? He looked down at what was left of his eggs, pushing them around with his fork. "Susan." He said it quietly. She took his hand. His was so much larger than hers, and he didn't notice her lean over until she was kissing him.

"It won't be so bad," she said between kisses. "I'll owl you."

"It's not the same."

This kiss was much deeper, and when his parents came in, they broke apart with a gasp. Ernie licked his lips and Susan took her seat once more, finishing off her coffee and soon disappearing up the stairs to begin packing. It would take nearly the entire three days she had left to pack up everything and either send it on to the Jones' or back home to Portsmouth.

Once he finished his breakfast, he began up the stairs, but turned back, slipping past his mother to look at the large calendar on the back of the pantry door. He studied it for a moment, and spoke to himself in a low voice. "Three weeks isn't that long." When he saw the Demiguise Farmers' Guild meeting scheduled for the end of July in London, he thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to get together with Susan when she completed her second internship.

He couldn't wait to tell her the good news, and took the stairs two at a time.