The Loneliest Girl - Ch. 3
The Horse Whisper and Friend Or Foe
On Sunday while most of the school was enjoying the mild weather in October two lone figures made their way towards Hogsmead. Once there they took a portkey in the shape of a staff to Diagon Alley to buy supplies. As Heinali moved along the stores she tugged on Severus' hand buying books, potion supplies, robes, an eagle owl, and other things until all they had left was to get a wand at Ollivanders using money from a Hogwarts account. Severus gently guided Heinali into the store and a bell rang somewhere, Mr. Ollivander came out and grinned.
"Ah, Severus Snape. I remember you and your wand well..."
"Yes, well lets get onto business. Heinali here needs a wand."
"Alright, let me take a few measurements stick out your wand arm. What's your last name dear?"
"Her last name is Snape. Yes she is my daughter, by adoption." Severus narrowed his eyes and glared at the wand maker.
Mr. Ollivander measured her left hand from finger tip to elbow, her height, and various other things before heading off pulling wands out for her to try. Each wand that she went through felt wrong somehow, one wand even refused to get near her and kept shooting around the store and into its box. Just as both men were going to give up on the girl one last wand remained. 12 inches, ash, dragon heartstring .
According to Ollivander it was 'a great wand for charms, transfiguration, and defense against dark arts'. As Heinali waved the wand a giant horse appeared with hoofs the size of dinner plates and a mane falling over his eyes.
" Lightning! You were my familiar, oh how I miss you so!" the girl sobbed as the horse reared pawing the air.
Severus quickly paid for the wand and ushered her out before grabbing a portkey back to Hogsmead. As they entered the Three Broomsticks Snape headed towards a table near the back, far away from prying eyes. After a quick drink of butterbeer for both they headed back to Hogwarts on brooms they had stored in a barn. After dropping off the supplies in the castle and returning their brooms Severus broke the silence.
"I want to show you something dear to Hogwarts and my heart for only a few know about it."
He lead her to a clearing past the quidditch pitch and as they approached sounds of snorting and stamping were coming from a building and Heinali's heart skipped a beat.
"Welcome child to the Hogwarts Stables. It houses my own personal stallion, Tabr, and mare, Prancer."
At this Heinali almost busted out laughing, one horse named from a book and the other named after a character in an American muggle myth.
She grinned, "Can I see them?"
"Later, your here to pick out your Christmas present from Professor Dumbledore. Any horse you want that isn't owned."
"Any horse I want is mine? My present in OCTOBER?"
Severus shrugged, "Don't ask me why he's giving it to you now. And yes, any horse trained or untrained."
Heinali grinned evilly and took off running up and down the aisles peering into the stalls as she went before coming to the indoor arena. Inside the arena three stable hands were trying to catch a pure black as night Andalusian stallion, but they were only succeeding in scaring and almost hurting the horse. She could see the whites of its eyes had turned a red color.
"Excuse me, I think he's scared." Heinali stated, "Can I watch him for a bit, you can take a quick break."
The men nodded at the proposal and exited from the ring after warning her that he was wild. Heinali smiled and rested her head on the fence looking at the stallion. After almost an hour the stallion had calmed down considerably. She jumped the fence and spoke softly to the stallion while offering grain that the men had left behind, "Don't worry, they don't know what it feels like to be trapped in a cage and want out."
"Yah, those three have been chasing me for the past five hours."
"You talk! Oh my gosh, you SPOKE to ME!!!"
"Yep, but you're the one who started speaking equine to me first young one."
Severus walked in and stared at the two of them, "You and Him are talking!?"
"So who's he?" the horse snorted.
"My father and I guess he's ok, I only got him yesterday. Yes Professor Snape and he is a nice stallion."
"Can you ask him his name and where he came from?" Snape sneered.
"Tell him I can understand English." the horse arched his neck, "My name is Aries, after the human god. My heard was caught in Germany and I was sent to live here." Aries tossed his mane as Heinali repeated him and spoke again when she was done. "Will you take care of me, I don't trust those stable boys. Some men killed my mother when they rounded us up, it was horrible. Also you seem like a nice and kind person. I can tell that about humans."
Heinali smiled and spoke in English for the benefit of both parties, "Professor Snape you said any horse. I choose this one. Well actually, he chose me."
Severus nodded and went to open the gate, "Take him to his stall then, I'll lead the way."
Aries lowered himself to the ground and Heinali slid on him before following Severus to put him up in a stall.
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Snape was talking to the stable manager about Aries. As the teenager emerged onto the grounds from the stable she smiled seeing people on the quidditch pitch. She always loved being free but she was never good at flying thats why she quit taking it as soon as she could and took up horses. Deciding to give in she headed towards the pitch and climbed the steps toward an empty row of bleachers and wrapped her cloak around herself as she sat down.
Unknown to Heinali she was being watched from the air. As Oliver Wood flew around the pitch he kept his eyes on her resulting in some near collisions. He sighed and decided it would be safer on the ground and landed gently. My gods, she IS beautiful! Her hair is so soft I bet. The way she moves sends shivers down my spine. Damn, Wood keep your mind on the upcoming game, can't be having a girl ruin it let alone a Slytherin. He shuddered and called the practice to an end and walked into the locker room to take a nice long cold shower.
As the rest of the team came down Heinali took the chance of being alone to grab a broom and practice her flying. She didn't want to fall off one if she was going to fit in, no one at Hogwarts fell off brooms. But alas as a couple of people came out of the locker rooms she became distracted and feel four feet to the ground with a small thump and blushed at her stupidity. Two of the male team members, Oliver and Bryan, rushed over to her side and both grinned when they saw who it was.
Heinali moaned at the looks on their faces, Why them? Why two of my Gryffindor admires rushing to me after I fall like a dope! Arrgh! Thankfully her frustration didn't show and the two gentlemen helped her up and as soon as she stood she fell again. Her knee had given out due to the fact that she had previously injured it in an equestrian class when a school horse slammed her into a fence, shattering her knee cap which didn't healed correctly. She closed her eyes to try to block out the pain and when she opened them again she was staring into the most beautiful pair of brown eyes she had ever seen.
"H...hi again," Oliver managed to stammer out looking into her hunter green eyes.
"I know you don't I?" She suddenly became acutely aware of his arms around her waist holding her tightly, hopefully to keep her from falling again.
"Yah, I kinda was the one who picked you up at the Quidditch game."
"It's funny how we keep meeting at times like this. Um, I think I can make it back up to the school now."
Oliver blushed and let go of his grip and walked slowly beside her. He told himself, I'm just doing this incase she falls again, I don't like her. He grinned weakly, yah that was it he didn't like her at all, he was only an acquaintance.
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*****Thanks to my lovely beta reader, hugs to all who reviewed my muses are happy now!*****
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone or anything you recognize, just the plot. I don't even own the names Heinali and Ghanima. Although I do own a few articles of Snape's and Wood's clothes. *giggles and smirks at the half bare men*