DISCLAIMER ~ Blah blah blah. You can translate that can't you?
THANKS TO ~ Klee, Draco is the man, Bulma Greenleaf and Lux-soap.
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Chapter Seven ~ The King and Queen
The dungeons reeked of boredom and misery, the walls dripped and shone in the cold light. The various ghosts of Slytherin drifted hither and thither, creating the perfect finishing touch to the eerie atmosphere. Draco and Hermione scurried along, their cloaks drawn close to keep out the chill. They walked shoulder to shoulder, literally, and did not speak, for the gloomy aura seemed to suck out any want for conversation.
At last the odd pair reached their place of destination, and Draco extended his pale arm, rapped his knuckles on the large door, then stood back beside Hermione, both waiting for the response.
'Come in,' came the jaded voice of Severus Snape.
Hermione pushed open the door and stepped into the dungeon, with Draco on her heels.
'Ah, Mr Malfoy,' called the potions master in his dawdling and baleful tone. 'So good to see you up and about again.' He turned to Hermione. 'Not so good to see *you* again.'
Hermione dropped her eyes to the floor, a slight flush in her cheeks.
'I suppose you are both here for your detentions.'
The professor left his place at the stately desk in the shadowy corner of the room and slinked towards Draco and Hermione.
'For the rest of your detentions,' he began, 'you will report to me here every night until. . . next Thursday, which will be -' an evil grin spread across his wan face '- New Year's Day. I shall have to organise something special for you two.'
He grinned again.
'Follow me.'
He swept out of the dungeon and led the two students through Hogwarts and out onto the grounds. Draco kept swivelling his head about, as though he was looking for someone. Hermione knew what he was looking for. Professor Snape also seemed to notice and held his silence. The tall bat-like man began to stride towards the forest, and for a second Hermione thought he was going to take them in there, but she was wrong. He followed the perimeter all the way round until it swung out of the sight of the castle. All that could be seen now were the peaks of the loftiest towers. Draco saw the wink of a telescope in the tallest window of the astronomy tower.
Ahead of the small group were a few small hills, though they were big enough to hide whatever could be standing on the other side. They climbed one of these hills. As they crested the brow Hermione let out a small gasp. Within the dell of the hills were scores upon scores of winged horses. Some were dazzling white, others less so, and some were dappled grey. All of them were grazing. Professor Snape sneered at the awed expressions of the boy and girl.
'This is the school's private flock of Granians. There are very docile, so they will not harm you. However you may notice that they are all particularly muddy, as they have just returned from a mass Disillusionment Charming at the Ministry of Magic. Mr Lovegood, who was the only School Governor who could be bothered enough to escort them to and from the Ministry, reported that the flock decided to stop off and have a rest in a swamp somewhere. Since they only returned in the early hours of this morning no one has groomed them, and then I decided that you two might like to the grooming. Muggle style.'
Snape smiled nastily.
'There are one hundred and eighty-two Granians. Here are the things you will need.'
Draco and Hermione followed Snape's hand with their eyes as he reached into his pocket to fetch his wand, gave it a small flick and two boxes full of the grooming kit appeared. He smiled his nasty smile once more and then strode off.
'I can groom about four horses in one morning without getting bored,' said Draco. 'But one hundred and eighty-two!'
He picked up one of the boxes and stepped down the gentle slope of the hill towards a very big, white stallion. He looked up as he saw the blonde boy heading his way. He blinked and turned back to his grazing. Hermione picked up the other box and followed Draco. When she had reached Draco and the horse she rested the box on the ground and looked up at the Slytherin.
'What do I do now? I've never done this before.'
'They're *really* muddy,' Draco muttered. 'We'll never be able to get this mud off just with the dandy brush. . .'
'The what?'
'The dandy brush. It's a coarse brush used to remove dried mud but these guys are caked in the stuff. We need water to get rid of this mud.'
His eyes grew wide and an odd expression overcame his face.
'I've just had an idea.'
Hermione rolled her eyes. She was getting impatient.
'And what's that then?'
'We need to find the leader of the flock, take him to the lake, which means the rest will follow, and that way we can wash them down.'
Hermione was not quite as well versed on the subject of equine mammals so she just nodded and scanned the large flock.
'Could it be this one?' she suggested, looking at the Granian standing right next to them.
'Nah,' replied Draco. 'He's too young.'
Draco cast his eyes carefully over the rest of the winged horses. He spotted another large stallion; even larger and whiter than the one they were standing by, and fixed his eyes on him. He noted how it kept looking up every now and then, glancing at the flock and then bending his neck to eat again.
'That's the one,' he said, pointing to it, and he lifted his box and headed away. Hermione followed with her own box in her arms.
When they reached the leader they set their things down and crept cautiously up to him. He really didn't seem to be bothered about the two humans coming towards him. He ripped up some more grass and chewed it. Eventually they reached him and he just had to look at them. Humans were so odd. The male pulled something out of a box.
Oh no! he thought. It's a bloody head collar! Here we go again. . .
Draco slipped the black head collar over the silvery white head of the leader and tightened the straps. The boy smiled as his pale eyes trailed over the Granian stallion. He just couldn't understand why the others were blind to the beauty of horses. It's was all in the way they moved so gracefully, the way their powerful muscles contracted and retracted under the skin as they worked, the sight of the pattern in which their legs fell as they ran. They were beautiful and that's all there was to be said.
'Draco?'
'Hm?'
'Are you going to take it to the lake or what?'
'Yeah. Yeah, I'm going now. I just have to do this. . .'
Draco gazed into the watery black eyes of the horse, reaching within. It backed up but Draco had him on a lead, and stepped forward as the horse stepped back. After a couple of minutes of this the naturally passive creature realised it wasn't going to get rid of it's antagonist and fell still. Again Draco stared deep into it's eyes again, then turned right away. The Granian looked up, wondering why the human's attention had suddenly waned, and he reached out with his nose and nudged the boy's shoulder. Draco grinned.
'Success!' he cried as he turned back to stroke the horse. Hermione looked confused.
'Will he come to the lake with us now?'
Draco glanced over at the Gryffindor, her springy hair fluttering in the breeze. Her oak-brown eyes burnt strongly into his own sky-blue eyes.
'Yes,' he replied breathlessly.
With one deft move he leapt up onto the horse's back and gripped the flowing mane. Hermione stared, apparently impressed. Draco reached his hand out, offering to help her mount. She took the offer then faltered, pulled her wand out, skilfully shrunk the boxes with a spell Draco had not heard before, put them in her pocket and then she took the boy's hand. His skin was smooth and warm as his fingers wrapped around her hand. She felt and electric rush through her entire body as he pulled her up. She sat astride him from behind. Draco went to pull his hand away but Hermione held on.
'Your hands are really small!' she exclaimed in amused wonder as she gazed at them.
'So? I like having small hands.'
'And your fingers are really short!'
'Hey!' he growled, turning to see Hermione's face. 'No dissing of the dinky digits. Okay?'
Hermione snorted.
'Whatever.'
At last they released one another from their grips. Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's waist. A solid bolt of bliss struck him, sending him a- tingling and shivering all over. Trying to shake it off, he nudged the Granian's sides with his heels. It set away at a leisurely canter, not even bothering to fly to wherever they may be going.
Hermione used to ride horses long before she came to Hogwarts, and had been in a fairly advanced class, so of course she had cantered and galloped and jumped all that before, but it was such a long time ago. She was glad to have someone to hold onto. They came to the top of the hill and stopped. The rest of the flock had halted in their grazing, and all eyes were on their herder. Draco was satisfied and gave the horse a sharp kick and it spread it's mighty wings and leapt onto the air.
Startled by the sudden movement Hermione grasped harder onto Draco, who smiled faintly with pleasure. The leader of the Granians swooped ever higher into the atmosphere, and below came the rhythmical whooshing beat of many grey and white wings as the vast flock trailed their ruler, willing to go where he goes, to do as he does and be beside him in the face of what jeopardy that may oppose them.
Far beneath was the sight of a shining spot on the ground, like a huge stain of molten silver upon the land. It shimmered majestically in the midday sun, looking up at the castle, known to the magical folk as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Numerous students dotted the grounds, some basking in the winter rays, a few just milling about here and there, the others throwing snowballs at each other. Every face turned to the heavens as the Granians soared overhead, a mystifying sight that most would never dare to dream of. Near two hundred horses upon the wing, diving through the air, it was bound to shock some people.
Professor Dumbledore stood at the lapping edges of the lake, watching as the unusually warm sun of winter melted the very last dregs of ice upon the surface. He heard a distant braying, and turned his bearded face aloft. His eyes widened as the privet Hogwarts flock of Granians dived down and skimmed the far end of the lake, coming his way head on. They flew forever closer to the surface at a rapid speed, yet they only ever disturbed the water with their flapping wings. Dumbledore smiled as he saw the two students atop the brawny leader.
At last the horses of ashy hues lighted the water, the glowing spray of landing spewing up either side of each creature. The spectacle was truly mystical and priceless, a type of magic beyond the hands of witches and wizards. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy rode upon the handsome leader named Brelarnian like a king and queen. And that they did look with the sun falling on their flowing hair and all about, upon the dazzling mane of Brelarnian, radiating away in bright and regal gold, making them appear to glow.
Dumbledore smiled wider and the sparkle of the drops of water splashing up caught his eye and made them twinkle even more than they already did. The laughter of the boy and girl cut clearly over the sound of the water and with one more serene smile Dumbledore turned away and cut through the crowd of students who had gathered behind him, all gawping at the euphoric happenings on the water. Draco's mirth rang out louder than it had ever done during his entire existence. Perhaps this week of detentions was not going to be as bad as he had first anticipated.
AN ~ Wow, chapter 7. Hope you like it. There will be no more chapters until 1st of September coz that's when I get back from my holiday. So review quick coz I wanna read them before I go! Chapter 8 up ASAP.
THANKS TO ~ Klee, Draco is the man, Bulma Greenleaf and Lux-soap.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Chapter Seven ~ The King and Queen
The dungeons reeked of boredom and misery, the walls dripped and shone in the cold light. The various ghosts of Slytherin drifted hither and thither, creating the perfect finishing touch to the eerie atmosphere. Draco and Hermione scurried along, their cloaks drawn close to keep out the chill. They walked shoulder to shoulder, literally, and did not speak, for the gloomy aura seemed to suck out any want for conversation.
At last the odd pair reached their place of destination, and Draco extended his pale arm, rapped his knuckles on the large door, then stood back beside Hermione, both waiting for the response.
'Come in,' came the jaded voice of Severus Snape.
Hermione pushed open the door and stepped into the dungeon, with Draco on her heels.
'Ah, Mr Malfoy,' called the potions master in his dawdling and baleful tone. 'So good to see you up and about again.' He turned to Hermione. 'Not so good to see *you* again.'
Hermione dropped her eyes to the floor, a slight flush in her cheeks.
'I suppose you are both here for your detentions.'
The professor left his place at the stately desk in the shadowy corner of the room and slinked towards Draco and Hermione.
'For the rest of your detentions,' he began, 'you will report to me here every night until. . . next Thursday, which will be -' an evil grin spread across his wan face '- New Year's Day. I shall have to organise something special for you two.'
He grinned again.
'Follow me.'
He swept out of the dungeon and led the two students through Hogwarts and out onto the grounds. Draco kept swivelling his head about, as though he was looking for someone. Hermione knew what he was looking for. Professor Snape also seemed to notice and held his silence. The tall bat-like man began to stride towards the forest, and for a second Hermione thought he was going to take them in there, but she was wrong. He followed the perimeter all the way round until it swung out of the sight of the castle. All that could be seen now were the peaks of the loftiest towers. Draco saw the wink of a telescope in the tallest window of the astronomy tower.
Ahead of the small group were a few small hills, though they were big enough to hide whatever could be standing on the other side. They climbed one of these hills. As they crested the brow Hermione let out a small gasp. Within the dell of the hills were scores upon scores of winged horses. Some were dazzling white, others less so, and some were dappled grey. All of them were grazing. Professor Snape sneered at the awed expressions of the boy and girl.
'This is the school's private flock of Granians. There are very docile, so they will not harm you. However you may notice that they are all particularly muddy, as they have just returned from a mass Disillusionment Charming at the Ministry of Magic. Mr Lovegood, who was the only School Governor who could be bothered enough to escort them to and from the Ministry, reported that the flock decided to stop off and have a rest in a swamp somewhere. Since they only returned in the early hours of this morning no one has groomed them, and then I decided that you two might like to the grooming. Muggle style.'
Snape smiled nastily.
'There are one hundred and eighty-two Granians. Here are the things you will need.'
Draco and Hermione followed Snape's hand with their eyes as he reached into his pocket to fetch his wand, gave it a small flick and two boxes full of the grooming kit appeared. He smiled his nasty smile once more and then strode off.
'I can groom about four horses in one morning without getting bored,' said Draco. 'But one hundred and eighty-two!'
He picked up one of the boxes and stepped down the gentle slope of the hill towards a very big, white stallion. He looked up as he saw the blonde boy heading his way. He blinked and turned back to his grazing. Hermione picked up the other box and followed Draco. When she had reached Draco and the horse she rested the box on the ground and looked up at the Slytherin.
'What do I do now? I've never done this before.'
'They're *really* muddy,' Draco muttered. 'We'll never be able to get this mud off just with the dandy brush. . .'
'The what?'
'The dandy brush. It's a coarse brush used to remove dried mud but these guys are caked in the stuff. We need water to get rid of this mud.'
His eyes grew wide and an odd expression overcame his face.
'I've just had an idea.'
Hermione rolled her eyes. She was getting impatient.
'And what's that then?'
'We need to find the leader of the flock, take him to the lake, which means the rest will follow, and that way we can wash them down.'
Hermione was not quite as well versed on the subject of equine mammals so she just nodded and scanned the large flock.
'Could it be this one?' she suggested, looking at the Granian standing right next to them.
'Nah,' replied Draco. 'He's too young.'
Draco cast his eyes carefully over the rest of the winged horses. He spotted another large stallion; even larger and whiter than the one they were standing by, and fixed his eyes on him. He noted how it kept looking up every now and then, glancing at the flock and then bending his neck to eat again.
'That's the one,' he said, pointing to it, and he lifted his box and headed away. Hermione followed with her own box in her arms.
When they reached the leader they set their things down and crept cautiously up to him. He really didn't seem to be bothered about the two humans coming towards him. He ripped up some more grass and chewed it. Eventually they reached him and he just had to look at them. Humans were so odd. The male pulled something out of a box.
Oh no! he thought. It's a bloody head collar! Here we go again. . .
Draco slipped the black head collar over the silvery white head of the leader and tightened the straps. The boy smiled as his pale eyes trailed over the Granian stallion. He just couldn't understand why the others were blind to the beauty of horses. It's was all in the way they moved so gracefully, the way their powerful muscles contracted and retracted under the skin as they worked, the sight of the pattern in which their legs fell as they ran. They were beautiful and that's all there was to be said.
'Draco?'
'Hm?'
'Are you going to take it to the lake or what?'
'Yeah. Yeah, I'm going now. I just have to do this. . .'
Draco gazed into the watery black eyes of the horse, reaching within. It backed up but Draco had him on a lead, and stepped forward as the horse stepped back. After a couple of minutes of this the naturally passive creature realised it wasn't going to get rid of it's antagonist and fell still. Again Draco stared deep into it's eyes again, then turned right away. The Granian looked up, wondering why the human's attention had suddenly waned, and he reached out with his nose and nudged the boy's shoulder. Draco grinned.
'Success!' he cried as he turned back to stroke the horse. Hermione looked confused.
'Will he come to the lake with us now?'
Draco glanced over at the Gryffindor, her springy hair fluttering in the breeze. Her oak-brown eyes burnt strongly into his own sky-blue eyes.
'Yes,' he replied breathlessly.
With one deft move he leapt up onto the horse's back and gripped the flowing mane. Hermione stared, apparently impressed. Draco reached his hand out, offering to help her mount. She took the offer then faltered, pulled her wand out, skilfully shrunk the boxes with a spell Draco had not heard before, put them in her pocket and then she took the boy's hand. His skin was smooth and warm as his fingers wrapped around her hand. She felt and electric rush through her entire body as he pulled her up. She sat astride him from behind. Draco went to pull his hand away but Hermione held on.
'Your hands are really small!' she exclaimed in amused wonder as she gazed at them.
'So? I like having small hands.'
'And your fingers are really short!'
'Hey!' he growled, turning to see Hermione's face. 'No dissing of the dinky digits. Okay?'
Hermione snorted.
'Whatever.'
At last they released one another from their grips. Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco's waist. A solid bolt of bliss struck him, sending him a- tingling and shivering all over. Trying to shake it off, he nudged the Granian's sides with his heels. It set away at a leisurely canter, not even bothering to fly to wherever they may be going.
Hermione used to ride horses long before she came to Hogwarts, and had been in a fairly advanced class, so of course she had cantered and galloped and jumped all that before, but it was such a long time ago. She was glad to have someone to hold onto. They came to the top of the hill and stopped. The rest of the flock had halted in their grazing, and all eyes were on their herder. Draco was satisfied and gave the horse a sharp kick and it spread it's mighty wings and leapt onto the air.
Startled by the sudden movement Hermione grasped harder onto Draco, who smiled faintly with pleasure. The leader of the Granians swooped ever higher into the atmosphere, and below came the rhythmical whooshing beat of many grey and white wings as the vast flock trailed their ruler, willing to go where he goes, to do as he does and be beside him in the face of what jeopardy that may oppose them.
Far beneath was the sight of a shining spot on the ground, like a huge stain of molten silver upon the land. It shimmered majestically in the midday sun, looking up at the castle, known to the magical folk as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Numerous students dotted the grounds, some basking in the winter rays, a few just milling about here and there, the others throwing snowballs at each other. Every face turned to the heavens as the Granians soared overhead, a mystifying sight that most would never dare to dream of. Near two hundred horses upon the wing, diving through the air, it was bound to shock some people.
Professor Dumbledore stood at the lapping edges of the lake, watching as the unusually warm sun of winter melted the very last dregs of ice upon the surface. He heard a distant braying, and turned his bearded face aloft. His eyes widened as the privet Hogwarts flock of Granians dived down and skimmed the far end of the lake, coming his way head on. They flew forever closer to the surface at a rapid speed, yet they only ever disturbed the water with their flapping wings. Dumbledore smiled as he saw the two students atop the brawny leader.
At last the horses of ashy hues lighted the water, the glowing spray of landing spewing up either side of each creature. The spectacle was truly mystical and priceless, a type of magic beyond the hands of witches and wizards. Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy rode upon the handsome leader named Brelarnian like a king and queen. And that they did look with the sun falling on their flowing hair and all about, upon the dazzling mane of Brelarnian, radiating away in bright and regal gold, making them appear to glow.
Dumbledore smiled wider and the sparkle of the drops of water splashing up caught his eye and made them twinkle even more than they already did. The laughter of the boy and girl cut clearly over the sound of the water and with one more serene smile Dumbledore turned away and cut through the crowd of students who had gathered behind him, all gawping at the euphoric happenings on the water. Draco's mirth rang out louder than it had ever done during his entire existence. Perhaps this week of detentions was not going to be as bad as he had first anticipated.
AN ~ Wow, chapter 7. Hope you like it. There will be no more chapters until 1st of September coz that's when I get back from my holiday. So review quick coz I wanna read them before I go! Chapter 8 up ASAP.