Competition/Challenge Block
Written for/Stacked with: The Houses Competition (Year 8); Monthly Challenges for All (Year 4)
THC: Slytherin - Astronomy; Standard ([Time of Day] Sunrise; [Animal] Cow)
MC4A: Fa Bingo (4B - Fence); Settings Bingo (5D - Quiet); Ship Bingo (3E - Nicknames); Ship War (Earth Tones - Fa Micro 2 [Hat]; Fa Med 2 [Goat]; Fa Med 1 [Admiring the View; Getting Together]; Fa Big [Spoon/Fork]; Sp Big [Glass/Cup]); Garden (Chores [Hugging]; Bed Types [Small Town/Village]; Flowers [Indigo]; Tools [Boots]; Companions [Livestock]; Blood & Water [Mother & Son]; Mixed Bag [Family]; Such a Kidder [Kitchen]; Blossoms [Sky Blue]; Meteorology [Misty/Foggy]; Lawn Sculptures [Hate]; Duties [Cooking]); Fireworks (Summer Fun; All About Family; Be Merry); Hunt (Fa Settings [Dining Room]); Chimera [Cerulean; Hugging]); ICs (Short Jog (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon; Greatest Gift (Y); Neurodivergent x2 (Yx2); Rian-Russo Inversion x2 (Yx2); Ethnic & Present x2 (Yx2); Ship Sails (Y); Hold the Mayo x2 (Yx2); Lunar Era (Y); Hufflepuff MC; Gryffindor MC; Magical MC x3 (Yx1); Green Acres; Old Shoes (Y); Human Companion; Go Fluff Yourself (Y); Colors Galore (Y); Adult Activities (Y); BCs ([Primaay] NC (Lyre Liar); ToS (Spinning Plates); BAON (Teat Juice); FPC (Not a Lamp; Ladylike; White Dress); [Secondary] AV (Vid Tangent); Shower (Delicious Lie; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade;); Fence (Machismo; Fizzy Lemonade); [Tertiary] O3 (Orator; Olivine); T3 (Tether); [Generic] Mea (Bisect); TY (Enfant); Demo 1 (Morrigan's Tentacles; Sweetest Burn); Demo 2 (Some Beach; Lost Llama; Sailor Take Warning) Submissions (LL; NC; SIN; ToS; BAON; FPC; MLG; AV; ER; Shower; Fence; Star; O3; T3; Mea; TY)
Word Count: 1,770
Beta: Ash K; Dhrish; Hope
Author's Note: Have a drama free fic about Earth Tones, an extremely underrated ship pairing that a good friend of mine has been carrying on this website for a good while now. I am here to help row the boat for a while. :) I hope you like it! Enjoy.
Dedication: starspangledpumpkin
Summer Never Sleeps
It hardly occurred to Cedric that it was the first day of summer since he naturally woke up early even at school. There was no such thing as sleeping in as far as he was concerned. Living on a farm tended to do that to people after all.
The alarm went off at four in the morning, long before the sun was ready to come up. Cedric promptly turned off the alarm, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and got dressed in a pair of jeans and flannel shirt. He then carefully crept down the rickety stairs of his family's farmhouse to get the day going. Not bothering to tame his tousled golden-brown hair, he pulled on his work boots and headed for the barn.
Cedric always liked the early twilight hour when the moments where the structures were still a sharp contrast against the waning indigo-like darkness of dawn. The air was crisp and damp with morning dew clinging to it, and it smelled like lucerne hay, clean laundry, and fresh soil.
Today was an exciting day for Cedric. His mother had plans to expand their livestock, and they were going to head to the next town over to pick up a pair of dairy cows that had just calved that spring and were ready to add to their herd of sheep and goats. But before that could be done, Cedric focused on preparing the chicken feed, as well as grain for the horses, before making his way to the chicken coop to open the doors for the hens. He whistled a random tune as he worked, filling the feed containers and tossing out the old water to refill with a watering can.
By the time he made his way back to the barn to get his horse, Daisy, brushed and saddled to get the sheep and goats out to pasture, the sky above had changed several shades of blue already. Right now, it rested on a pleasant cerulean, the beginning signs of light started to streak over the horizon and over the hills in the distance. The birds nestled in the trees and on the fields continued to sing their morning songs as they dug around for their breakfast. Cedric slipped into the barn to get the two horses out to the nearby pasture for the morning.
"G'morning, Rose Gold," he greeted the strawberry roan who welcomed him with a winnie. "Ready to get some exercise?"
He gave the show horse a gentle pat on the neck before securing the grain bag around her and clipping a lead to her harness. Cedric did the same with his mother's show horse, Blue Twilight, a blue-grey Appaloosa. After getting both horses hitched to a post by the pasture so they could munch on their breakfast, he finally went and greeted his horse, Buttercup Daisy, a palomino. She winnied at him before snorting, as if acting offended she was last on his list.
Cedric gave her soft muzzle several pats before kissing the bridge of her nose. "Hey, girl. I've missed you, too. Ready to get the herd out to graze for the day?"
She nudged his shoulder, nibbling at the strap of her feed bag and nodded. He patted her neck and gave her nose another kiss before securing the bag around her face and leading her to the grooming and saddling area.
"We're going to be picking out a pair of cows today. Isn't that exciting?" Cedric continued speaking to Daisy while he brushed her down. "I'm glad Mum finally decided to add dairy cows to our roster. I think it will really give us the leg up we need to expand our sales growth to keep this place thriving."
The Diggory farm was one of the main sources for local products in their area. They provided eggs, goat milk and cheese, and wool regularly, but things had taken a bit of a downhill turn when a small new market opened up and took some customers away. It was impossible to beat the cheaper prices, he supposed. Cow's milk, however, had been in demand lately, so they were hoping that starting production in that niche would help them out in the long run.
Finally getting the saddle cinched up, Cedric grabbed the hat from the hook, removed Daisy's grain bag, and mounted her. "Time to get the day going."
Daisy snorted as she leisurely walked to the pens where the sheep and goats were housed. "Oh, did I mention Hermione is going to be coming with us? She has been dying to see you."
Cedric leaned down to open the gate, making sure Daisy's hindquarters were clear from the oncoming mini stampede of animals now pushing through the opening. He only lightly shook his head at the sight as the livestock flooded out. Once they were all cleared, he closed the gate and proceeded to coax them out to the fields where the morning sun now peeked its head out over the hill.
His face lit up when he saw Hermione sitting in the kitchen talking to his mum when he came in through the mudroom. He kicked his boots off, put his hat on the hook, and gently readjusted the basket in hand full of fresh eggs ready to be packaged and delivered. He sat the basket down on the table, still beaming.
"Mimi!" Cedric said, going right up to her and giving her a hug. "You made it!"
Hermione laughed at his overreacting behavior. "Gee, you act like we didn't sit on the train together just yesterday, farm boy," she teased, nudging her elbow at his ribs after he released her.
He smiled brightly at her, kissing the top of her head and giving her another light squeeze with one arm around her. His tanned skin contrasted nicely against her brown toned arms.
"So? I love seeing you, that's all."
"Alright, you two lovebirds. Come have some breakfast. I'd like to be on the road by nine-fifteen," Mum said, placing a pan of fresh scrambled eggs next to the bacon and toast.
Cedric blushed slightly at her comment but went to wash up at the sink. "Are you excited to see our new additions to the farm?"
Hermione sat back in the chair she had claimed prior and grabbed some toast. "Of course! Have you thought of names?"
"We tend to let the animal choose the name," Mum said, taking a seat across from Hermione. "But we are open to suggestions."
Cedric took the seat beside Hermione and quickly tucked into some breakfast. He and Hermione had been best friends since before school, and they had decided just the day before to take that next big step in their relationship. Everyone had already thought they were dating anyway because of how close they were and how they already acted around each other. They hadn't told anyone yet, but hearing his mum say something about them was a little jarring.
The three finished their breakfasts and his mum had the leftovers spring into containers to be stored and had the empty plates flying to the sink where they were charmed to self-wash before heading for the truck. They already had the trailer hitched and ready to go, so they all piled into the single cab with Hermione in the middle.
"Gosh, you two need to stop growing or we won't be able to all fit in here next year!" Mum said with a laugh, putting the shifter in gear while Hermione adjusted her legs to keep from interfering with it. Cedric discreetly rested his arm behind her as they headed out.
It didn't take long to get there, and they filled up the time with idle chatter about school and electives. They followed the directions of the farmhands after inquiring about where to park for pickup and soon were parked and being led to one of the paddocks peppered around the space. The morning sun was already hanging proudly in the sky, announcing itself with a blaze of sweltering heat.
"Here they are!" the farmhand announced, waving his hand in front of him to present the cows.
Cedric peered in between the planks while Hermione stood on the first one to look over the fence. They were currently nursing their calves while grazing on some fresh hay.
"They're so cute!" Hermione squeaked, leaning her thigh into Cedric's shoulder. "Do you get to keep the calves, too?"
"Only until they're ready to wean," Cedric explained, "then they'll come back here. We already have them scheduled for their next uh…"
"One night stand?" Hermione asked, smirking down at him when he felt his face start to prickle from heat.
It wasn't coming from the morning sun.
"Yeah… that." Cedric rubbed the back of his neck then, holding out his hand when one of the cows turned to investigate the new arrivals.
Why was he suddenly acting so weird about reproduction talk? He lived on a farm and helped birth lambs and kids, for crying out loud.
"You know they are not actually called cows until they've calved," Hermione rattled out. "They are called heifers up until then."
"Oh yeah?" Cedric said, entertaining her random bout of knowledge. "Can you tell which calf is a heifer?"
Not thinking twice, Hermione climbed off the fence and crouched low to the ground, tilting her head in random angles to try and look at the calves. She stood up and climbed back onto the fence, pointing at the calf closest to her.
"That's a heifer, and her friend is a bull," Hermione said proudly, looking at Cedric.
He smiled at her warmly. "That's brilliant."
Cedric tore his attention back to the cows. One had approached him then, and he reached his hand out to give her a pat on the neck.
"Hey, you," he said, observing her and looking over the splotches of black and white. "You look like a Sally Anne. What do you think, Mimi?"
"So classic," she said, moving to stand beside him. "Are they sisters? You could name the other Mary Anne."
"Don't tease," he said, smiling at her. "And yeah, they are half-sisters."
"I'm not," she said, looking back at the pair of cows who were now nudging their noses between the planks. "I think they're cute names. Just like you two being adorably precious, huh?"
Cedric continued to watch Hermione as she cooed at the cows and gently patted their noses and necks. Even the calves got curious and tried to stick their heads between the planks to see what their mums were doing.
"Yeah, so very precious."