The beast moved rapidly, strong, fibrous muscles rippling under the pure white, glossy skin. The animal snorted, shaking his head, his pearly mane flying and slithering to the wind like a hazy mist. Black hooves stomped on the ground, tearing it and leaving the circular mark of his horseshoes on the pale sand. The hind legs tensed suddenly, impulsing the body upwards. The equine flew, leaving the red and white bars behind, to land again with the grace only his pure blood could grant him.
The animal then stopped, his rider having commanded it, reins left loose to allow him stretching his neck. The rider raised her eyes and looked around, she was the last one in the competition, and would be the first to know the results. The voice boomed through the field, tearing the silence like a flashing storm.
"And, with no faults, and a record time of one minute and three seconds, the winner of the competition is Hermione with Starbreeze!" the voice proclaimed seriously.
The rider felt numb, a grin began to appear in her lips. Suddenly her horse was surrounded by people, familiar faces that vanished in the fog of her mind. Joyful, happy, exultant smiles and yells that raised their hands to congratulate her triumph.
"Hermione you did it! YOU WON!" bellowed the yells of these people in a chorus.
"I… I won…" whispered the girl, the reality sinking into her mind.
"I DID IT!" Hermione joined her chorus of howls, throwing the black helmet to the sky and pulling on the horse's reins to make him stand on hands.
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The girl stumbled lightly, closing her eyes and placing a hand over her temple. She had felt a slight shot of pain course through her head, and a feeble sensation of dizziness stroke her. The grass rippled like oceanic waves, lifting her up and down with gentle, paused movements, making her sway back and forth into her mind. As soon as this sensation had arrived, it had vanished, sinking into the back of her mind. Hermione might had been consternated about the event, but she was already late for class and decided to think about it later.
The girl was mounting on the backs of a large, black stallion. Apparently the animal was gentle and easy to ride for beginners, yet had spirits. The professor, Madame Alazan, smiled at the numerous seventh year students who where seated on the calm and tranquil equines.
"Welcome class, I presume you all are eager to begin riding pegasus and griffins, right?" the woman began in a loud, clear voice.
Several students smiled, and various grinned mischievously, including a very excited Seasmus Finnigan.
"Well, let me tell you that this is not easy. To ride a griffin, or a dragon, first you must be capable of maintaining yourself on the back of a horse!" the professor explained seriously, "Once we have managed it, we can start riding thestrals, pegasus and hippogriffs." The woman finished.
"How hard can ridding a stupid horse be?" Draco Malfoy smirked evilly, his thin hands gripping the reins of a small, restless andalusian called Hugo.
Hermione shot a disapproving glare at the boy standing behind her, only to receive one nasty grin that spoke trouble.
"Let me tell you, Mr Malfoy, that it takes years to master horse riding." The woman shot at the Slytherin very severely.
Malfoy glared at the woman, hence he felt strangely small and puny in comparison to the professor. Normally teachers were bound to treat him properly, and only in several occasions had they been strict towards him, like when he was turned to a ferret.
"Let's begin then! Hold the reins short, press at the sides of your horse and lets start at a slow pace!" Madame Alazan said firmly and severely, focusing on the class.
The horses began walking, calm, paused, yet graceful as they knew how to. Hermione was not feeling half as excited as when she first mounted her horse, keeping a firm grip on the reins, she entertained herself by pulling from one side and from the other, her heels hitting the sides of the horse at the rhythm of his pace. Left hand, left kick, right hand, right kick.
"Impressive Hermione!" commented a voice in the distance.
The girl looked up to see the looks of admiration received by the professor.
"What?" she inquired timidly, not being used to such focus without having done anything.
"Look at your horse, he is situated correctly, head down, pace steady and perfect! Have you ridden before?" Madame Alazan inquired gazing at the woman with marvellous impression.
"I don't think so!" Hermione stuttered lightly, shrugging her shoulders.
Sure, she had been on the backs of a hippogriff, and had flown on thestrals, but neither counted, she only had to grip tightly on the animals for she didn't control either. Draco Malfoy stared at the girl with envy, envy that had ignited to hatred, for he had always hated her, and had always wanted her talent and her brains as well. The professor commanded a light trot, and the line began trotting calmly around the fenced field. Draco smirked to himself, and pressed his horse forward until he was behind Hermione's horse. Taking out his wand, the boy conjured a spark of fire at the horse's hooves.
The black beast, by the name of Jaranero, emitted a loud neigh, going on hands. Hermione maintained the perpendicular line with the ground, releasing the pressure on the reins to avoid throwing the animal backwards. Right after, the horse landed on his hands again, and began galloping across the fenced area, kicking with fear. The youth began pulling on the outer rein to keep him calm, while she maintained her back behind, and her balance steady. The fence was closer, the horse was nervous and was heading straight to it.
"Hermione! Pull and release, pull and release!" yelled the professor in an attempt to make the horse stop.
That didn't work, something had scared the horse further of his comprehension, and in the worry for his life was not included the rider's life. The animal was heading straight to the fence, Hermione pulled on the reins only slightly to release right after. Once the horse was a step away from the fence, the girl pressed on the animal's sides strongly, with courage. The animal sprang over the fence, leaping a good one metre and a half, clean over it. Hermione threw her body forward, and sat straight again once the horse had landed on the grass outside the fenced area. The animal kept his gallop, but this time, Hermione pulled on the left rein strongly, until the horse was completely curved, and made him gallop in a circle until the animal relaxed again.
"Good horse, good horse…!" the sweaty girl patted the animal's neck once the strong beast had stopped.
"Impressive… are you sure this was your first time on a horse?" Madame Alazan inquired very surprised.
The rest of the glass were very silent, all staring with admiration at the girl who had just ridden a horse with the mastery of a champion. All of them except Draco Malfoy, whose pale face was boiling red with frustration and anger. Hermione gazed at them, the realization of what had just happened dawned on her. She felt faint, her body felt numb all of a sudden, the reins were released and her body and mind were absorbed into the darkness.
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Hermione's eyes opened and gazed around. Her vision was blurry, artificial brightness was falling upon her eyes, making her squint. The beeping sound of a machine reached her ears, constant, intervals of two seconds between each acute sound. It reminded Hermione to the sound of a heartbeat. Inhaling sound was heard as well, exaggerated, as if amplified a great deal. She tried to move, but discovered that she was unable to stir a single muscle. It was almost as if all strength had left her all of a sudden. The girl tried to gasp, to speak, but none of those options could work. She was starting to get nervous, worried, memories of her previous miracle on a horse flashing through her mind. Maybe the collision had been greater than she imagined, and she had broken her back, or something. That thought put her far more nervous than she was already.
A loud gasp escaped her mouth, and her body sprang into a sitting position like a trigger. The girl was sweaty, her breathing laboured, and her heart was beating so rapidly that the beeping sound she had heard before would not be able to register it. Hermione looked around, it was almost night, the torches had been lit already, and the sound of people going towards the Great Hall to dine reached her ears. It was the Hogwarts infirmary.
"Ah, Miss Granger, awake already?" Madame Pomfrey approached the woman from the small chamber at the other side.
"Yes, what happened?" inquired the girl, realizing now that the previous anguish had been nothing but a nightmare.
"You fell off that darned horse, I always said those beasts were dangerous, having horses at Hogwarts, some ideas they have!" the nurse began cursing, more to herself than to the girl.
"Oh, well, I feel a lot better now, I think I should go back to my room to start my homework!" Hermione pointed out standing up and straightening her wrinkled clothes.
"Oh, no, no! You have been away since yesterday morning! You must rest now!" Madame Pomfrey commanded, pointing at the bed and trying to push Hermione down.
"Honestly, I rest better in my room!" Hermione said rather dryly, not wanting to cope with a discussion with the nurse.
In reality Hermione felt perfect, except for some nasty pain at the back of her head, where she must have hit it upon colliding with the ground. She was eager, however, to escape the nursery, a place she had never liked much, perhaps because of the drastic cases in which she had ended up here, like being turned to stone. Also, there was the inconvenient that she had to find someone that could pass her the notes and the homework they had been doing in class.
"As you wish, girl!" the nurse glanced at her rather severely, "but don't you come to me crying after!" she pointed out, turning around to vanish into the small room that was her office.
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Hermione entered the Great Hall. She spotted Harry sitting alone, a smug look in his face as he took bites off his steak with a dispassionate, bored appearance. Ron was nowhere to be seen. The girl made her way towards the table, feeling quiet hungry. People kept talking, not noticing her at all, except the few of which were with her in riding class. Those people glanced at her with respect, or started whispering with the companion. Draco Malfoy was simply very angry at her skills.
"Oh, hi Herm! You feeling ok?" Harry inquired staring at her with a broad smile.
"Hi Harry, where is Ron?" the girl inquired looking around interestedly.
"Sick! Said he wasn't feeling too well, and that he'd lay down to sleep!" Harry pointed out shrugging, "Looks like he is a little better however, hasn't vomited since yesterday morning!" the boy finished taking one large chunk of steak.
"I can see why he doesn't want to go to the infirmary. That nurse gets quiet annoying sometimes!" Hermione smiled lightly, taking a steak that had magically appeared in a large, silver dish before her.
"You can't deny it was one nasty fall. That horse is pretty tall, and you just lost conscience all of a sudden!" Harry pointed out with a muffled voice, broken by his full cheeks.
"How do you know?" the woman inquired curiously, yet lacking importance to her commentary.
"Seasmus told me." The boy stated, taking a fried potato with his fork and placing it into his mouth hungrily.
"It was really scary, I don't know how I didn't fall off earlier. I wonder what happened to the horse to scare him so much?" Hermione stated distractedly, placing a small piece of steak into her mouth and chewing it.
"Let me guess!" Harry stated grimly, glaring sideways at a sneering Draco Malfoy, who was miming Hermione's fall.
"Malfoy? I wonder why it doesn't surprise me!" Hermione said sarcastically, and smiled disgustingly at Malfoy's parody theatre.
"Oh, by the way…" Harry approached Hermione's face, and motioned at her to come closer across the table.
"What?" whispered the girl, her attention full on Harry.
"I've got the Kelpie scale! Got it last night, with some ingredients we didn't have. I think everything is ready!" Harry whispered excitedly, his lips splitting into a hearted smile.
"Perfect! Saturday night, we'll go to the Room of Requirement." Hermione pointed out with a smile, hushing her voice and looking around carefully.
Harry nodded in agreement.
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It was very late, a couple of hours past midnight. The crescent moon's rays filtrated through the small window, illuminating the room with a hazy, eyrie glow. A shadow was pacing back and forth through the beds, observing with anxiety at the sleeping figures. A light snoring came from one of the beds, one stronger growl floated from the bed of another student. The shadow kept walking, evading the silvery light, restless, nervous. The figure had that feeling of pressure in his stomach one gets when something is about to happen. That made it more nervous. More steps, the wooden tiles creaked under the large feet.
"Who is there?" a sleepy voice came from the bed next to the wall.
To Be Continued…
AN: Ok, here comes another chapter. I hope you are enjoying this. I'm sorry it had little Ron in it, but I just didn't think making it longer would help. Anyways thank you to all of my reviewers. I love trailers, my favourite part in the cinema is watching them, that's where I got the idea from. I began creating trailers of my fics when I drive (I'm a pizza delivery girl) and this fic concretely came to being thanks to that trailer I imagined. Keep reading, and I hope you like the rest of it just as much.