Brand New Feeling

Chapter Five.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Hermione sat up in the saddle, her weight of her heels pressing down in the metal stirrups. Flame's copper coat shone in the late afternoon sun as she circled him around the arena, his legs crashing against the sand. As her outside leg slipped behind the girth, she squeezed her heels and requested a canter. He threw a large buck, his back legs leaving the ground and he let out a rogue squeal.

"Ssh, steady there Flame," murmured Hermione, managing to stay upright and on his back despite the jolt he had given her. When this didn't seem to unnerve her, Flame repeated his motion and bucked a second time, his back legs lifting off the ground much higher than the first. She managed to sit to the buck with ease and squeezed his sides once more in encouragement. He struck out into a canter, despite his small protest and snorted, his nostrils flaring. "Easy buddy,"

Flame had a lot more power than she had initially thought. His canter was strong, stronger than she was expecting and she had to steady herself to prevent him from unseating her. They circled the arena at a canter three times before she turned the chestnut gelding down the centre line towards the small cross jump that she and Draco had set up earlier. Sitting deep in the saddle, Hermione drew in a breath as Flame's strides swallowed up the ground before the jump. Counting down in her head as they neared the obstacle to make sure they were riding on the correct stride, Flame kicked off his back legs and soared through the air. Hermione kept her eyes settled between Flame's twitching ears as they lifted upwards, her body folding over ever so slightly, allowing Flame to have flexibility and so that she was not heavy on his back. When they landed on the other side, she rode him forwards in a straight line, giving him a pat on his thick neck.

"Good boy, Flame!"

"See, I told you he would go well," Pansy shouted from the sidelines, her back leaning against the fence between Theo's legs. "He behaves for you,"

"He behaves because he knows I'm not scared of him and he gets bored with the protests." Hermione called back.

She rode Flame around the top of the arena, scanning the jumps that were currently standing and deciding on a route to take. The other four jumps in the arena were far bigger than the cross that they had erected. The continued down the longest stretch of the arena before she turned him on the corner. She had set up a double jump, one jump which directed to a second jump only a few strides after the first. She clicked her tongue and Flame reacted, his ears spinning backwards to listen to her. Turning him towards the jump, Hermione allowed him his freedom, not holding the reins too tightly and she began to count the strides down in her head.

Four.. Three... Two... One.

With a small and soft kick with her heels, she and Flame flew over the jump, landing on the other side with ease. She immediately sat deep once more, sitting up straight in the saddle while she lined him up for the second jump, which was only three strides from the first.

Once more, Flame rose from the ground, using his strong hind legs as his power. Hermione kept her weight in her heels and leant slightly forwards towards his neck, her position perfect. Her reins were down each side of his neck, making sure that he had the ability to move. When they landed, she gave him a large pat once again and slowed him to a walk shortly after the jump. Walking him around the outside of the arena, she allowed her legs to slip out of the stirrups, both the metal and her boots dangling by Flame's stomach. She stopped in front of Pansy, Theo and Draco, smiling at her brunette best friend.

"You need to do this with him, show him that you trust him and that you're not scared of him. He's perfectly good at what he does, you just need to power through his attitude."

"I can't-"

"Yes, you can. You're Pansy Parkinson and you're a bad ass. You can do this," Pansy laughed at Hermione's words, watching as the brunette slid off her horse, her boots landing on the ground with a thud. "Are you going to get back on and show me how it's done?"

"Like I need to show you how it's done-"

"Pans," Hermione titled her head to the side and raised an eyebrow expectantly. "He bucked a couple of times, you can handle this,"

"You'll be with me the whole way through?"

"I'll be right there with you," said Hermione with a smile, unclipping Pansy's riding hat from her head and holding it out in front of her. "Trust me,"

"I do," Pansy replied with a nod, taking the hat back and pulling it onto her own head.

Draco turned himself around at that, jumping down off the fence. He began to walk back towards the barn, his feet carrying him before he could really think about where he was headed. The blond ran a hand through his slightly messy hair, trying not to think back to Hermione on that horse. He would be lying if he said he didn't care enough to watch her ride. Truthfully, she looked magnificent on the back of a horse and he knew his eyes had been glued to her while she was jumping Flame. She looked utterly free and Theo had been right, she was fearless. Taking his bottom lip between his teeth, he entered the barn and shook his head, desperate to get rid of those thoughts of her. Sure, he admired her and her bravery. It took guts to do what she did, even he could admit that. That was all it was. He was sure that was all it was.

"Hey!" Draco looked up to see Hermione standing in the doorway of the tack room, her tiny hands pressed against the door frame. He had found a sofa in there and had been sitting on it for the last half an hour, waiting for Hermione and Pansy to finish up in the arena. "I've been looking all over for you,"

"Sorry, I was just talking a break from the sun." said Draco softly, his tone of voice not at all convincing. She seemed to see through his obvious lie, her lips curling into a smirk.

"Pale skin can't handle it?" she laughed and he rolled his eyes at her.

"Not exactly," he responded and she flopped down beside him, one leg crossing over the other.

"Thanks for you help today,"

"It's my job-"

Hermione shook her head. "No, it wasn't. Moving jumps wings is not part of your job description, so thank you for your help."

Draco's eyes met hers for a brief moment before he tore his gaze away, staring at the expensive looking saddles that lined the walls. "No problem."

"Come on," said Hermione. "I'll help you bring the horses in."

He felt the sofa shift as she stood up, turning her head to look at him expectantly. He sucked in a breath before dragging himself to his feet, following her out of the room. As they passed through the barn aisle, they had grabbed three head-collars and lead-ropes to bring in some of the horses. Hermione took one of the head-collars from him and they headed out towards the paddocks. They had grabbed Freya, Callie and Aspen first, Hermione grimacing when they neared the paddock. Freya had clearly rolled after her ride that afternoon and was now covered with dust and dirt.

"I'll need to give you a brush before I turn in for the night," laughed the brunette as she quickly put her head-collar on. She glanced over at Draco who was fastening Aspen's head-collar, realising he had already secured Callie's. "Do you want me to take one of them with Freya?"

"No thanks," replied Draco with a grin. "I've got them both."

Hermione briefly titled her head to the side, looking him up and down, her stare almost of an impressed nature. He simply smirked, his gaze drifting to the ground. The truth of the matter was, several days of walking back and forth ten times to bring in ten different horses was tiring and it took a very long time. The decision to take two horses inside at once was simply a no-brainer. After making sure that Freya, Callie and Aspen were safely in their stables, they returned to the paddock for the next three. Dragon, a large black thoroughbred was paddock mates with two large bay horses. The first was named Fox and he belonged to Theo. Draco had learned after speaking with both Hermione and Theo that a bay horse was basically a brown horse with black points on it's body. Fox was very well suited for Theo. He was bold, strong and maybe even a little brash. His other field partner was a smaller bay mare, Ivy. He had never met her owner but the little lady was very sweet and she was always happy to see Draco when he slid open the barn door on a morning. Hermione had already reached Fox and Ivy which meant he was left to grab Dragon. The huge black gelding eyed him with disdain and most definitely wasn't his biggest fan. Draco didn't even know horses could hold grudges, but this one sure did. Everyday that he had handled this horse, he had made it very clear that he was not impressed by Draco. When he attempted to slip the head-collar over his nose, Dragon let out a loud snort, spraying Draco directly in the face. He could hear Hermione sniggering behind him and he let out a sigh.

"Having some trouble?" smirked Hermione.

"He does this everyday," seethed Draco through gritted teeth. He swiped at his wet face with the back of his jacket sleeve and raised the head-collar up once more, trying to get Dragon under control.

"Guess he really does hate you," laughed the brunette, watching his struggle with a grin.

"He probably does,"

"Don't be dramatic-"

"No, I'm serious," snapped Draco, letting the head-collar fall down by his side. He turned away from the large black thoroughbred and locked eyes with Hermione. "He does this every day so you take him this time!"

He walked forwards and snatched Ivy out of her hands, dropping the spare leadrope into her waiting hands. She raised an eyebrow at him, trying to hold in a laugh.

"Wow Malfoy, so stroppy. Are you pmsing?"

Draco's scowl grew as he ignored her, walking away with Ivy in his hands, the big bay mare walking behind him obediently. The brunette stared after him and she let out a chuckle to herself, shaking her head back and forth in disbelief.

"Such a drama queen," said Hermione to herself, her smile widening as she moved towards Dragon to slip the head-collar over his nose. "It's alright Dragon, you just ignore him. I'd react the same way if he'd almost ran me over,"

The large black horse snorted once more and she let out a laugh, reaching up to fasten the buckle by his temple. She gave his head a scratch and began to move both horses through the gate.

"Come on boys," said Hermione with a smile as they walked towards the barn. "Let's get you both inside,"

"Don't say a fucking word," snarled Draco as he spotted Hermione walk through the main barn door with a horse in each hand. Dragon and Fox were both behaving impeccably for her as he expected and his eyes dropped to the ground, trying not to look at her.

The sound of a short laugh made him glance up, his grey eyes locking with hers. She raised a challenging eyebrow at him, a small smirk tugging at her lips.

Hermione unclipped the lead-rope, allowing Dragon to slip into his stable. She closed the door carefully behind him, waiting for him to turn around so that she could remove the head-collar from his head. "I didn't say anything,"

"That's a first," muttered Draco, a sour expression on his face. Ivy was safely in her stable now and slid the lock open on Fox's stable door, tugging it open. "Normally you don't fucking shut up,"

Hermione rolled her eyes and lead Fox into his stable, slipping the halter off and giving his a big scratch on the neck.

"Oh, for god sake, Draco," snapped the brunette. "You really ought to lighten up,"

With that, she flounced towards him, sliding out of the stable door and allowing Draco to lock the bolt.

"Come on, we still have three horses to get."

"Three?"

"Yes," said Hermione, pointing down the barn aisle. Draco looked behind him to see Flame was staring back at them, his head over his stable door. Pansy and Hermione must have just brought him inside once they had finished their riding session.

"Well then," replied Draco, holding his hand out in front of them, motioning for her to move. "After you."

Draco brought a hand up to cover his mouth and hide a yawn. It was far too early if he was being honest and even though almost a week and a half had passed since he had arrived, he was still getting used to the horrifically early mornings. He was walking down the barn aisle, slipping feed buckets inside for the horses to eat. He had just reached the last stable, Ivy staring at him expectantly over the stable door, her being the last one down the line. He chuckled as she nodded her head up and down in excitement as he neared her, letting out a small whinny when she spotted her feed bucket. He gripped the bolt between his fingers and tugged, placing the bucket down inside the door. The bay mare immediately stuffed her nose into the purple bucket, munching down on her breakfast. As he closed the door, he frowned and stopped moving. Turning his head, he listening closely and could distinctly hear the sound of car tyres rolling up the driveway. He knew it was too early to be any of Primrose Hill's liveries and Hermione was in the tack room, cleaning off some of the saddles and bridles she would be using today. He had left her in there when she began to take apart one of the bridles, sitting on the floor cross legged with bits of leather circled around her. Wandering out of the main barn door, he could see a black cab pulled up on the other side of the driveway.

"Draco?" Draco turned to see Hermione wandering up the barn aisle towards him. "I could have sworn I just heard a car."

"There's a taxi outside." said Draco, leaning against the large sliding barn door.

Hermione quickly moved through the building until she was level with him.

"A taxi? At this time in the morning? Who could possibly-" Hermione froze as the door to the taxi swung open and a woman stepped out, lugging a large bag with her. A huge smile broke out onto Hermione's face and she took off running, completely confusing Draco.

"Tonks!" yelled Hermione and the pair crashed together in a hug, both woman laughing like school girls. Draco's mouth dropped at the sight of his cousin, almost not believing it was her as she looked so different. The last time he had saw her she was a teenager with bright purple, obviously dyed hair. Now, she looked completely grown up with wavy light brown hair that was cut to rest on her shoulders, her natural hair colour. The colour she got from her mother before Andromeda had dyed her hair darker.

"Hermione! Oh it's so nice to be home!" said Tonks, giving Hermione once last squeeze before the pair separated.

"How was Santorini?" asked Hermione. "Did Remus treat you like a princess the whole trip?"

Tonks sighed softly, a dreamy smile spreading on her face. "It was so beautiful and yes, he was a perfect gentleman, until he wasn't if you know what I mean," She threw in a cheeky wink for good measure, in case Hermione hadn't gotten her hint. Hermione laughed and helped Tonks drag her suitcase out of the taxi. She closed the door while Tonks paid the driver and they both turned around, arms linked with one another.

"Come on, I want to see Callie, Aspen and Dragon,"

"But it's only quarter to seven in the morning! Don't you want to rest up or go and see your mum?"

"I'll go inside in a minute," said Tonks with a grin. "I just want a horsey cuddle first."

They stopped just outside the barn when they noticed Draco still standing there, his back against the door.

"Oh my god," Her eyes widened, shocked to see her younger cousin standing in front of her. "Draco?"

"Dora," said Draco with a polite nod.

"What on earth are you doing here?"

"Nymphadora!" All three turned to see Andromeda rushing towards them. "You're home!"

Andromeda practically skidded to a stop in front of them, quickly pulling Tonks into a bone-crushing hug.

"Mum, I can't breathe-" gasped Tonks, crushed under her mother's tight grip.

"Oh, sorry!" said Andromeda with a laugh as she released her hold. "I've just missed you so much. Where's Remus?"

"He had to be at the school by eight so the taxi dropped him off at home." Remus worked as a secondary school English teacher close to the city of Chester.

"Wow, straight back to school after an early morning flight. That must be tough for him."

"He managed to get a couple hours sleep on the plane," said Tonks. "Now come on, I want to hear all about what's been going on since I've been gone and I want to know why you-" she pointed over at Draco with a smile. "-have suddenly moved up here from London."

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