After a half hour Harry, Ron and Hermione walked downstairs and into the kitchen. The Owls sat on the large beam in the kitchen hooting happily as the three entered the room. Hedwig and Pig were sitting right next to the other owls, enjoying the fact they were free and could see everything around them. All seven cats, plus Crookshanks, were crowded around a bowl happily eating. Bandit and Fly had their own bowls while the puppies shared one. The three made their way to the table and sat down. Kaylee walked to the table with a plate of pancakes and bacon in one hand, and a pitcher of milk in the other.
"I hope you like pancakes. If you're wondering, it's normal to have this many pets in the kitchen and I think your pets are fitting in just nice." Kaylee said setting everything down on the table. They helped themselves to food while a small tawny owl landed on her shoulder.
"And what are names of the owls and cats?" Hermione said, while Harry and Ron happily ate.
"Hoot, Ag, and this is Mouse." Kaylee said as the owl flew back to the beam with the others.
"Ag?" Hermione asked wondering why on earth you would name a owl Ag.
"Short for Agamemnon. My sister named him," she paused"before she died." Kaylee said as she leaned against one of the counters.
"I'm so sorry." Hermione said turning away from Kaylee. She realized it must be a pretty hard topic to talk about.
"She was killed by Voldemort when she was visiting my parents. My parents were good friends of Dumbledore; unfortunately they all were killed the same night. I was in school for healer trainer at the time. So when Dumbledore came to me asking me to hide you three from him, I told him I was glad to." Kaylee said looking at the cat that just jumped up next to her.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry about your family."
"It's okay. Anyway this is Flee, he's the smallest of all my cats. Then there is Gizmo, Radar, Scooper, Duchess, Fig, and Mr. Twinkle. My sister named most of them. Well I'm heading out to barn. You can join me afterward if you would like." She walked out the door and Bandit followed in her wake.
"That dog goes everywhere with her doesn't he?" Ron said watching Kaylee disappear into the barn.
"Well I would think so." Hermione said looking at him like he was stupid. "She's lost her family, I can see why the dogs follows her. They are very smart animals, and the type of dogs she has are one of the smartest, or so I've read."
"All you do is read, Hermione." Ron spat back at her. Hermione opened her mouth to continueher fight with Ron, but with a glare from Harry, she shut her mouth and went back to eating.
Once they had all finished and cleaned up the plates and table they all headed into the barn. Kaylee had just finished cleaning out all of the stalls and was laying new hay down for them. The horses were tied to the outside of their stalls watching them all enter.
"So Kaylee, what are we going to be doing today?" Harry said as he walked over to the black stallion and stroked its neck.
"Well you can do anything you like, I don't have to herd till tomorrow. I do that once a week. So anything you want." She said as she spread the hay in Magyk's stall.
"Could you teach me to ride?" Hermione said looking at the horses in front of her.
"Sure, anyone else?" Harry and Ron nodded their heads. "Okay over there are the saddles, bridles, and blanks. The names are above the things. Pick a horse and bring the stuff back over here." She finished the stalls and went over to get Argo's things with the rest of them. Hermione decided to ride Magyk, Ron got to Autumn's stuff first so Harry was left with Firebolt.
Kaylee taught them all how to saddle and put a bridle on the horse. Ron had acked why she didn't just use magic to do so, but Kaylee simply told him that using magic for something this simple was pointless. Ron rolled his eyes. He didnt think it was easy. Once they had all done so, she told them to climb into the saddle.
"But I don't know what I'm doing." Ron said looking at her like she insane. She told them that right now the horses would show them what to do. Once she got them all onto the horses she untied them and turned them so they were facing the door out of the barn. Then she herself got onto Argo and walked out of the barn. The other horses followed behind her.
"Bandit, get the gate." She said and Bandit took off toward the fence that was the horses' pasture. He pushed a button, with his paw, which opened the gate. They walked into the pasture and stopped.
They spent about two hours leaning and going over the basics. They were eventually walking around the pasture on their own.
"Do you think you guys want to go on a trail ride?" Kaylee said looking at them. They nodded their heads and followed her out of the pasture and onto the forest trails. Bandit and Fly both came with them on the trail. They had spent about fifteen minutes on the trail just walking through the forest.
"I can see why you live here. It's so nice." Hermione yelled up to her.
"I'm away from people. I like it that way." Kaylee said.
They kept walking a while longer until they heard a noise that was not familiar to Kaylee. She stopped walking and listened. Bandit began to growl at the path in front of them. There was a creature in front of them that didn't look too happy. Kaylee turned to look at Fly.
"Fly, take them home, run through the forest, forget the path. Get the horses in the barn and hit the button, then get into the house." She turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Fly will take you back follow her. You'll have to run. If you jump hold on tight. When you get back to barn jump off and run into the house. Lock the door. Fly will deal with the horses. Go!" she told them.
Fly turned around and ran through the forest off the trail. Autumn, Magyk, and Firebolt followed her closely. Harry, Ron, and Hermione hung on to the horses for dear life. They jumped logs, swerved around trees, and headed straight back to the cabin. Once they were just outside the barn they got down off the horses while Fly herded and bark at them to get them into the barn. Once they were in she went in and grabbed her pups. They came out after her. She hit and button and doors closed tight.
They all headed inside the house. Once inside Harry locked the back door while Ron locked the front. Fly opened the door to the basement and chased all the cats, owls and Harry, Ron and Hermione, along with her pups into the basement. There they sat and waited for Kaylee to return.
Back in the forest Kaylee, Argo, and Bandit sat facing the creature. It moved toward them slowly. Kaylee finally saw what it was. It was wolf the size of a horse. It came closer toward Kaylee. She watched it, with her wand out, as it slowly moved closer. The animals gave a great loud howl and headed towards her. Bandit ran forward and jumped on at it. There were the sounds of barks, growls, cries, and then a thud as Bandit hit a tree and fell to the ground.
Kaylee set a jinx toward the animal and it backed away some. She sent a stunning spell at it. It froze the wolf just long enough for her to jump off of Argo and pick Bandit up. She threw Bandit over Argo's back in front of the saddle, climbed up and turned around. She headed straight for the barn. The wolf followed her. Kaylee held onto Bandit as tightly as she could as they raced through the woods. Every time they jumped and turned she was afraid that she would lose her hold on Bandit.
Kaylee opened the barn with her wand and they ran inside. Once inside she locked the doors again. The wolf tore at the doors to get inside. After so long it finally gave up and howling ran back into the woods.
Kaylee set Bandit on a pile of hay as she undid all the saddles and bridles and put the horses back in their stalls. Once she made sure the wolf was gone, she picked up Bandit and headed toward the house. After unlocking the door and then relocking it, she set Bandit down on a couch in the living room.
Fly opened the door to the basement and came up followed by all the animals and Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Fly went over to Kaylee as she made Bandit comfortable. Bandit was knocked out and badly cut, but she could heal the cuts she just had to wait for Bandit to wake up.
The three came into the living the room and saw Kaylee leaning over Bandit.
"Oh my, what happened?" Hermione asked.
"We were attacked and Bandit tried to stop it. It was to big for him and was knocked out."
"What was 'it'?" asked Harry.
"A wolf, but it was the size of Argo." Kaylee said turning to them. Fly jumped on the couch next to Bandit.
"A wolf the size of a horse? Bloody hell!" Ron yelled. "Do you have them often?"
"No, we don't have wolves around here, that's why I don't know where it came from." Kaylee said.
"I bet I do." Harry said. The other three looked at him.
