The Devil's Horse

"Why the hell are you here?" I asked Sean.

Sean was the residential animal freak at Hope. He was three quarters veela. The only reason why he was at Hope is because he was an excellent horse rider and could spot problems with animals in a second. The problem at the moment is why he was at Hogwarts.

"Diablo is a true devil's horse," he started "and he's been crazy ever since we gave your violin back. I'm serious he nearly bit David's Star when he left. He led me here. One minute we're doing an endurance trail the next minute I was transported here. I sent a message back to Hope they're coming here."

I nodded Diablo was one hell of a horse but I had no idea why he had such a strong connection to my violin.

"Do you remember where he was born?" Sean questioned.

"On the South side of France, right on the same farm I was born on?"

He nodded and we watched as the flames turned green. I was finally reunited with my family. I was hugged so tightly that I felt my ribs hurt. Jazz took no time in fixing my hair.

"Two weeks and you look like a rat, no," she demanded.

I laughed, "How did you guy take a whole day off?"

"Easy we rearranged the whole schedule," said Stella.

I rolled my eyes it was not as easy as she made it out to be.

"So what's the plan," asked Bree, the dancer of our home.

"We do it as night and Isabell will be bait," answered Sean.

"Why me?" I asked.

I nodded; I could see the logic in that. It also means that they were staying the whole day here. I led them to an empty classroom. It truly felt like Hope now. The studious ones were sitting on the floor reading. Most of the guys and Stella were doing workouts.

Bree was busy on a portable barre. I was playing Für Elise something I hadn't played for a long time. Bree left her work and out of her backpack came a massive book of music.

"Can you play this?" she asked as she gave the book to me.

"What's this?" I asked.

"She's doing her first big solo. It's driving her crazy 'cause she plays the girl who doesn't get the guy," explained Stella.

I winced this was too close to reality for Bree. She had had horrible relationships in the past. It was no secret. She was a sweet girl who got messed up with the wrong guys.

I nodded and sat down at the piano and played. It was a whole new sort of piece, so different from the classical ballets I usually played for her. I watched her as I played. We all did; she was beautiful, her red hair flying behind her shaping her body wonderfully.

"Stop!" said Stella, "You're meant to be a seductive bad girl not a sweet girl."

At that, Bree broke down and cried; all the unsaid things passed through salty water. Lee, our martial arts specialist, firmly took the crowd of Hogwarts boys who were watching out of the door. I had no idea how they got there. Stella gave me a nod and I knew what to do.

I played a little tune on my violin. It was fast and lively. Stella pulled Bree up to her feet. She pretended she was at a photo shoot and pouted to the imaginary camera. I kept playing everyone did something, just to remind us all who we are and why we worked for things.

When it was Bree's turn, I changed the music into the one she was meant to be practicing. She pulled it off, not perfectly, but close. She stopped being the people pleaser and started being the rebel. We watched her as she changed. The transition was wonderful. When the music ended she breathed hard and smiled at us.

The day went by slowly. I, at the moment, was play doll to Jazz. She refused for me to practice a minute more. Saying she couldn't stand a moment more of Bach and whoever else I was playing. I watched silently not even daring to protest.

The dress Jazz was working on was a pale blue and three other colours I could not name. It was short but in had a million different layers. It wasn't finished yet. I know because I could feel millions of pins poking through. I stood dead still as Jazz sewed and sewed. I could barely see the stitches.

At the end of it all, she carefully pulled the pins out. I carefully slipped out of the dress and looked at it. She smiled like she knew it was going to be a master piece.

It was now time for me to take my position as the bait. I played a calming lullaby. Out of the forest came out a stallion. Lucia nodded it was confirmed this was defiantly Diablo. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see anymore than what I had to.

I opened them again to see Sean struggling to put a bridle on. The moment it was on properly, the bridle turned blue and, in a flash, the portkey had transported them back to Hope.

"New record," said Lucia.

"You actually counted how long it was going to take," said Bree.

"Well I was bored."

We all rolled our eyes in disbelief; only Lucia would think things like that at times like these.

"So I guess it's time to go back," announced Stella.

"No. Not while she's still there," said Lee.

"Who came to visit?" I asked.

"Grandma," said Carter in disgust.

Grandma was Luca's mother. She drove everyone up the wall. We didn't hate anyone, except her. She and Rhonda were always on the warpath. When Rhonda prepared meals for us it was through her dietary plans for us, but Grandma always insisted on cooking the food filled with all sorts of junk, as Rhonda called it.

That wasn't even the worst part she made us dress like she did when she was a child. That meant plenty of lace on our clothes. She put us to bed at half past eight. No television or computer only reading, and not even our modern stuff, she made us read Shakespeare from a battered hard cover book aloud. We all had to do it from Krystal our youngest to Grange our oldest.

I was filled with sadness as I said bye. I really wanted to go back home. Not for the first time, I felt homesick. At least, come Christmas, I'll be home listening to my debut album.

A/N: Big thank you to my beta c7a7t7 who is as always amazing. Iiznothinspecial for alerting and Cyan-n-Magenta for reviewing.