Beta Love: fluffpanda

Chapter 5: Not a Horse

"Hermione?" Severus called to her.

Hermione stood staring out over the forest and Hogwarts, watching the birds fly around the parapets. Her tail flicked back and forth as her ears flicked back and forth. Her hands flung to her face, wiping away her tears as Severus approached. She sniffed, squaring her jaw as he walked up.

Whickering softly, he pressed his flank to hers. "Hermione," he repeated.

"I'm such a fool," Hermione said, stifling a sniff.

Severus put his arm around her human waist and pulled her to him, and Hermione broke apart at the seams, tearfully sobbing into his robes.

"It's so stupid," Hermione sniffled. "It shouldn't have affected me like that. He's not some bigot judging me—"

"You didn't expect him to react to negatively to the possibility of being a centaur, did you?" Severus asked.

Hermione shook her head, holding back tears. "Until then, it hasn't felt wrong. Awkward, maybe, but not wrong. When I'm with another centaur it feels right… not unnatural. Not a fre—"

Severus cut her off by pulling her against him abruptly, his hand bracing her hair as he pushed her head under his chin. "Enough. You are not. I see you, and I cannot help but see beauty, patience, and brilliance." He tapped her head with his index finger. "Not just your mind, Hermione. You shine like a beacon, and most of us cannot help but be drawn to it."

Hermione, who managed to trickle her tears down Severus' ever present and modest frock coat, snuggled against him. She managed to surreptitiously slide her arms under it, bypassing his five thousand some buttons with surprising skill.

Severus stiffened, shocked. He froze in place, his arms locked in place as if afraid to move or, perhaps, afraid that if he did move he wouldn't stop. "Her—"

"Please, Severus," Hermione whispered. "Let me in."

Severus shuddered, his arms wrapping around her torso and pulling her against his partially exposed chest. "You're already in," he replied, stroking her hair as he pressed his nose into her hair. "The tendrils of your unruly mane have woven themselves around my heart."

Her hands, warm and running down the length of his human and equine spine. The moon flowers behind their ears unfurled, nickering to each other. Small pollen horses danced around them as Severus enfolded her completely,

"What am I going to tell my parents?" Hermione murmured into his chest.

"Bad accident with a gene splicer?" Severus asked.

"Even if there was such a thing, Severus," Hermione choked a laugh as she clutched his mane, "I don't think they'd believe that."

"I don't know," Severus quipped. "I think seeing your… very...attractive dorsal stripe might change their mind." He nuzzled her cheek and rubbed against her ear.

"Sever—" Hermione started.

His lips covered hers. He pulled away agonisingly slow, staring into her half veiled eyes. "Is this what you want? What you really want?"

"I want this," Hermione said adamantly, "and I want you out of this unnaturally heavy buttoned doublet before I rip it off with my teeth."

Severus swallowed hard, staring into her face with half fear and half anticipation. His hand slowly moved across his buttons, and one by one they released with his well-practised movements.

Hermione gasped as her hands moved across his alabaster skin. "Smooth and perfect," she whispered.

"Perfectly scarred, more like," Severus said, capturing her hands in his. "You do not need to sugar coat the truth, Hermione. I've seen myself well enough in a mirror."

"No, Severus," Hermione replied. He placed his hands on his upper chest and neck. "No scars." She traced his neckline with her fingers.

Severus' hands moved across his chest frantically as though he was checking to see he still had his body parts, his face twisted in confusion. "I don't understand." He tore off his layers, his robes falling to the ground as he turned on his heels. "My back, Hermione. There should be a spiderweb of scars."

Hermione's hands were warm across his back.

"There's nothing, Severus," Hermione answered. "You skin is perfect. There isn't one scar, only the shimmer of the moonflowers and leaves."

Severus stared into her face with disbelief. "How is this… Hermione, do you have any scars? Something you know you have? Something you'd miss if it wasn't there?"

Hermione looked confused, but she nodded. She pulled down the edge of her halter top down. "A curse hit me here. It never healed quite right."

Severus gently pulled the cloth down and peered at her skin. "It's perfect, Hermione. No scar.

"What?" she gasped, her fingers going to the area she knew the scar was—the place her fingers would trace the lump to remind herself of how close she came to death. Remembering something, she pulled the leather gauntlet from around her arm. She stared at her arm where Bellatrix had so "kindly" carved Mudblood into her flesh with her cursed knife.

"It's gone…" she hiccupped. "The Mudblood scar is gone."

Severus examined her skin. Entwined around her arm, just like where his Dark Mark once lay, was the delicate shimmer of silver-green leaves and the pale silver-white moonflower. The flower phased in and out as they touched the area of skin and then phased out completely.

Hermione wrapped her arms around Severus and snuggled into his body. Suddenly she pulled back, her eyes wide. "Severus! I don't think the healing elixir is something we will be able to make in a cauldron." She held him by the hands and tugged him. "It's in our blood, Severus! I think the cure is in our blood. It's in us!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Severus lifted the two vials of blood they had Poppy's help extracting from both he and Hermione. Crimson mixed with silver and green as it sloshed in the vials.

"Not to sound oblivious, Firenze, but what colour is your blood… normally?" Hermione asked.

Firenze swished his tail as he stood nearby. "I cannot speak for everyone, but my blood is quite red, sister. I would say like yours, but that is apparently not the case."

Hermione and Severus stared at the samples with almost identical frowns. Silver and green swirls mixed with red without mixing, giving off a strange marbleized appearance.

Firenze eyed the blood with reverence. "The blood of Chiron, my old friends. It has truly blessed you. I recommend caution. What flows in your veins was not meant to be shared by those not meant to be of the herd. Who knows what could happen—"

Hermione stared into the vials and clasped them in her hands. "I think I will give these vials to Magorian after I isolated the healing properties, if it can even be separated from the blood. It will be up to him what he wishes done with it, and it is probably best if he is the one who speaks with Neville about what he wants done with it… or not done with it. I promised Neville we would examine the plant pollen and sap, but a cure based on centaur blood—"

Firenze shook his mane. "You are wise to consult Magorian, Hermione. When it comes to the health and safety of the herd, he will appreciate your choice to tell him first and yield to him such decisions. He cares about your safety too, you and Severus. You are one of us, now, and it is his duty to protect all of us. Have you spoken to Neville since his… blunder?"

Severus curled his lip, and Hermione shook her mane.

"He avoids me like a plague," Hermione said with a soft sigh. " Honestly, I have no idea what to say to him. It feels… I feel my being around just makes it even more awkward."

" Hermione," Firenze said, putting his hand on her withers gently. "I know it can't be easy to take everything in stride, not that have you haven't done admirably, but I am here for you if you need an ear or the comfort of touch. I know the foals cling to you like creeper vines—"

Hermione nickered softly, rubbing Firenze at the base of his mane. "Thank you, Firenze. Truly. Some of the instincts are so strong… I have a better understanding as to how lonely you felt teaching here with no herd to touch you, comfort you."

Firenze flicked his ears. "Dumbledore meant well, and I knew the centaur could not remain stagnant forever. I did what I had to. Now, even Magorian and Bane realise what I did was for, but I cannot tell you how much of a relief it is to have the herd to goto again. To have them here, Hermione, under the roof of Hogwarts. Can you imagine what would happen if the foals were forced to face an education in such a human place without herd to stabilise their instinct? It is hard enough as an adult after decades of maturity."

"Did he know?" Severus asked, his voice strangely cold.

Firenze stomped a hoof. "No, brother. I do not think humans can ever understand the drive. Dumbledore was a man of much knowledge, but even he could not have known that."

Severus clenched his fist and let out a sigh. "He was a master of getting what he wanted. Even his own death."

Hermione stared into the vials of their blood. "I don't think even he could have known this or planned for it." She stared at the swirling mixture that seemed to defy what she knew of as blood. Blood did not swirl with multiple colours. Blood carried oxygen and nutrients to cells and then carried away waste. Blood was red. Yet, as she stared at the blood, she knew all the rules she had accepted since she was a child had changed. She and Severus were proof of that, but was the world ready to know such things were possible? Where there things best left unknown to the human world?

There had been multiple lessons throughout human history of what happened when a valuable resource was found and subsequently farmed, hoarded, and warred over. One only had to look as far as the Galapagos tortoise, the passenger pigeon, and the West African Black Rhinoceros to see how human interests could destroy a species. The rhino's horn was only thought to be a "medicine" and it had been pursued to death. The Galapagos tortoise was nearly obliterated by sailors who wanted food and had no concern for the tortoise. The infamous Passenger Pigeon was both hunted while it's habitat was destroyed for agriculture. If someone were to find out the horse moonflower had healing properties and could only be found around centaur, how long would it take swarms of people to go tromping through forests looking for either centaurs who were around the flower or simply the flower itself? If her and Severus' blood turned out to be a miraculous cure, how long would it take some misguided person to come knocking either to hope for their blood or, what might even be worse, think all centaur blood had special properties and go hunting them like stock animals?

Even if Neville was given a potential cure for his parents, the Healers would hardly just let him come in and dose his parents with some experimental or new medication. They would want to know where it came from. They would want to analyze it. And, if it worked, they would want more of it.

Firenze, Hermione realised, was right. It wasn't a decision for just she or Severus. Anything that could possibly endanger the herd was bigger than her and, sadly, bigger than Neville's parents. Neville's parents were two people, who while not all there in the head, were alive and not dying of some dire condition where a cure was the only thing keeping them from death. Exposing the centaur to untold publicity could have horrible repercussions. Exposing Neville's parents to an unknown compound could also end badly.

What if the "cure" turned Neville's parents into centaurs? If Neville acted so violently opposed to having it happen to himself, what would happen if his parents suddenly came back to him as centaur? Who would they test any cure on?

"Pardon me, but can I test this on you? It might have a few unique side effects."

That would go over well.

Hermione closed her eyes, unsure what to do with the chain of thoughts going through her head. Magorian and Firenze seemed to think the flowers had a kind of inert sentience of their own. They "chose" to give Hermione and Severus the " gift." If that was true… the only ones that would transform was who the flowers judged worthy. If, and it was a big if, Neville's parents work up as centaur, trying to explain to them it was a "gift" probably wasn't going to go over with them as it did Hermione and Severus. They had years of working with the centaur under their belt to buffer the shock.

" Welcome back to sanity, Mr and Mrs Longbottom. Oh, um, there might be some new life considerations you have to deal with."

Hermione shook her head. That might be enough to drive them right back into St Mungo's.

" What are you thinking, Hermione?" Severus asked, touching her on the shoulder.

Hermione looked grim. "I think we need to be very careful where we step regarding any curative properties of our blood, Severus."

Severus managed to look more sombre than usual. "I was Slytherin and a spy long before this, Hermione. Being careful is, sadly, second nature."

"Have any nice 'careful' ways to introduce my parents to the fact their daughter now had four legs?" Hermione asked.

Severus grunted. "Have you decided how you are even going to get to your parents' place without causing the second coming of Greek mythology to the retirement community?"

Hermione shook her head. "I thought I could Apparate into the garden," she mused. "But lately, they've been having over guests for coffee and dinner more often, and with my luck, they would be when I did. They are so much more social now that they have retired. It's good because… well I'm glad they are branching out and being social instead of it being to the office, sleep, to the office, sleep. Mum had a bad case of empty nest syndrome as she called it. She's much better now she found Clara. They go on massive shopping trips together and splurge at this barbecue place called… Meat."

Firenze looked at her oddly. "Meat?"

Hermione laughed. "It's a thing."

Firenze tilted his head. "Perhaps we should go hunting before you leave to see your parents, Hermione. Bane wishes to help you both to learn to use a bow like a proper centaur, and you could take a haunch of venison to your parents as an… icebreaker. It would qualify as… meat."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Hi, mum, dad, I brought you some meat? Pay no attention to the hooves, no really, pay it no mind?"

Firenze shrugged. "Might at least get you through the door, as the human's say. Can't say I know how to handle what comes after."

Hermione blew a strand of her errant hair out of her face. "I've been dodging visits by doing phone calls for weeks now, but eventually, they are going to want a real visit. It's not like me to be away for so long."

"As much as I believe you capable to handling your affairs, Hermione, it troubles me that you'd be going to visit them alone," Firenze said with a stomp. His ears flicked nervously. "It is… unnerving to me to know you are out there without an escort. Even our patrols in the forest go out in pairs if not a larger group."

Severus nodded in agreement, though he seemed just as baffled by his immediate reaction as he was the strange drive to ensure Hermione wasn't alone for longer than necessary. He had confessed he found it strange just how comforting it was to have both Hermione and Firenze near. He allowed the other centaur stallion much more leeway to his personal space that his human self would have balked and retreated from.

Minerva had already authorised the changing of living quarters for the three of them, partially due to the fact she didn't want either Hermione or Severus trying to kill themselves trying to squeeze their bulk into the small human-sized stairwell going down to the dungeons and partially because she knew that centaurs, newly created or not, found comfort in each other. All she had to do was watch how the centaur younglings choose to cling to Hermione, Severus, or Firenze whenever possible. It wasn't codependency in a human sense of the term. It was that sense of herd belonging—as instinctual and natural as the air they breathed.

Hogwarts seemed to agree with Minerva, because no sooner had the ink dried and the wax seal cooled on the Board approval than Hogwart's created a new set of chambers for them. Each of them had separate quarters stemming off a large communal room. One set of doors went out to a shared courtyard that allowed for view of the stars, and other sets of doors let out into the areas they needed: Severus' office near the DADA classroom, Hermione's near the Potions classroom, Firenze's teaching courtyard for Divination, and a door that always seemed to lead to wherever they needed to go.

Hogwarts seemed to think everything was as it should be, and Hermione had secretly wondered if their chambers had become the Come-and-Go Room 2.0. No one had figured out what happened to the magic of the Come-and-Go Room after it had been devoured by Fiendfyre. Most people assumed it was destroyed, and others believed that it had served it's purpose and hid itself away. After the war, Hermione knew better than to think that Hogwarts didn't have its own quirks and personality. Help really did come to those in Hogwarts if the situation was right. What constituted right, however, was up to Hogwarts.

The advantage to Hogwarts "looking out for them" was that it gave a safe place for the foals to visit without breaching their "private chambers," and there were many nights the foals would come to do their homework and be with "their herd." Eventually, they would file out and return to their dormitories, but the positive effect on morale had been easy to see. Most of the Professors said the enthusiasm level of the younglings had increased ten-fold since Hermione and Severus' incident, and all of them arrived in class without the undercurrent of distress that had plagued them on previous occasions. They became more outgoing being social with others thanks to having a stable place to gather themselves as a herd, and Minerva agreed that some adjustment in protocol had be discussed to provide security for the centaur students.

The goblin students, however, didn't seem to have and social qualms the required special handling. Short of some minor staring and curiosity due to the newness of their being there, most of the children surprised the professors and staff by being far more accepting of the changes in Hogwarts than the once prevalent blood-related wars that had been the standard climate of Hogwarts for far more years than they cared to count. They made friends easily, showing far less bias than their adult parents. The climate was changing for the better, and thanks to Hermione teaching a cultural sensitivity class for the students and staff, misunderstandings were far less common. Goblins, for example, showed respect with a baring of teeth in what most humans considered a snarl of hostility. They scowled when paying attention, and they grimaced when concentrating. Thankfully, a smile was still a smile, and it was the common ground that broke the ice.

Hermione smiled slightly. "My problems seem so minor compared to how much we've accomplished," she mused.

"Somehow, I think waking up a centaur is hardly minor," Severus grunted.

"I call it a vast improvement in aesthetic," Firenze commented, his tail swishing.

"You are hardly unbiased, Firenze," Severus answered.

The palomino centaur grinned at him. "Who am I to question the will of Chiron?" he asked with a shrug.

"Incorrigible," Hermione answered with a sniff.

Firenze grinned at them both.

Hermione had placed the vials of blood on the table and had them mixed with a few compounds to serve to separate the compounds. She used a separate Pasteur pipette to suck up the different layers of fluid. Severus worked to analyse each of the different fluids, his face transformed into the typical almost-scowl of concentration he was prone to. Despite his teaching DADA, he hadn't forgotten the skills that had been his life for decades, and it was during times he worked side by side with Hermione that a sort of peace settled on his shoulders.

After about an hour of simmering and separating, they had a few vials of different coloured fluids. Hermione flicked a vial between her fingers and stared at it. Silvery white liquid shone within. Severus took a dropper out and dripped a solution into each vial. Every vial they had separated turned a brilliant gold, and both Hermione and Severus simultaneously facepalmed.

" What is it, Hermione? Firenze asked.

Severus used his hand to brush his hair back from his face. "Everything about our blood is a healing element."

Firenze's eyes widened. "Oh."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Harry and Ginny brought Rose and a few of her friends over to the Burrow for a cookout with the Weasley clan for a cookout, and Harry smiled as the children all surrounded Hermione. They took advantage of the more casual atmosphere to ask Hermione for permission to touch her equine body.

Hermione had not come alone, however, and Severus and Firenze were in attendance, watching the children closely as they played together. A young foal was tucked between Hermione's legs the entire time, feeling safe around her herd but unsure how to deal with being social outside of Hogwarts. She had been invited by Rose, and had accepted, but the strain of being in a unknown place surrounded in humans she didn't know had spooked the young filly.

The three older centaur had explained that foals were as confident as they felt safe, and for the young, safety was often measured in the steadiness of their herd. Harry smiled as eventually Rose worked her magic on the young foal, who was named Briarfoot, and lured the young foal to be social with the other girls.

Sarah, Mary, and Rose took turns giggling and oogling at Briarfoot, combing her mane and tail with a soft brush they had pulled out a small woven basket Harry had the sneaky suspicion that they had stolen out from under Molly Weasley's sewing stash. Briarfoot nickered as they braided her mane and tail, filling her long hair with shiny ribbons and shimmering magical streamers thanks to Weasley Wizarding Wheezes.

The girls giggled together, and they stood amazed as the young foal built a cooking fire in a matter of minutes, proudly stoking it into a grand blaze as it created cooking coals underneath.

"How did you do that?" Rose asked. "You didn't even use magic!"

Briarfoot gave her an odd look. "Why would I use magic to make a cooking fire?"

Mary looked excited. "Could you show us how?"

Briarfoot look at Hermione, Severus, and Firenze for approval, and Firenze nodded silently. The young filly smiled and gathered small bits of kindling and tinder as well as a few logs before teaching the group how to make a frame for the fire.

As the children worked on making fires, Harry and Ron worked on cooking the food. Firenze had built a spit and had a large haunch of venison cooking over the coals with startling efficiency. Harry had to admire it as much as he savoured the smell of the cooking meat. Ron was drooling in anticipation, even as he was cooking the other foods Molly had sent out with Hugo.

Ron's youngest son, still too young to go to Hogwart's, kept running back and forth from the house. He tackled his dad from the back, laughed, and scampered back to the Burrow, and the sound of Molly Weasley screeching at him to come back the house made Harry and Ron exchange knowing glances.

Ginny and Lavender were huddled in with Molly, preparing other food for the cookout, and it seemed that Hugo was still so well attached to Lavender that he preferred to run back to her than hang out with his sister and her friends.

"I don't think she knows we're up here, brother," Firenze said with a knowing smile as he turned the spit. "Otherwise Lavender would be up making excuses to oogle over your assets."

Severus flushed, snorting, and Harry felt strangely awkward seeing such playful banter with his old, once hated, Potions professor. Even more unnerving, perhaps, was the attentive presence the two male centaur had with Hermione. It wasn't a creepy sort of attentiveness, but it made the awkwardness Harry, Hermione,and Ron had experienced camping in the Forest of Dean seem like a children worried about cooties.

Harry flushed as Hermione went down to the ground, somewhat awkwardly folding her legs to let her bulk down to the ground by the fire. The moment she did so, Briarfoot whickered and trotted up to her, bonking her head against Hermione's and then settling against her side between her legs with a soft sigh.

The filly's sides were slightly muddy where she had assisted in pulling the other girls out of the marsh reeds. The wetland around the Burrow had covered each of the children with dark brown muck.

"Your mother and nana are going to have a Kneazle," Ron said to Rose as she and her friends settled around the fire. Rose shimmied her rear close to Briarfoot and Hermione, using any excuse to be closer to the centaur. Whether a testament to her bravery or her obliviousness to Snape's reputation, she didn't even flinch when Severus slowly settled in beside Hermione, and Firenze lay down next to him.

Rose giggled."It's just mud, dad," she huffed. "Uncle George said there was hardly a day when they didn't come back covered in mud back in the day."

Ron ruffled his daughter's hair. "Miscreant, this one," he said with a sigh. "Oi, Rose, shouldn't you be down helping your mother?"

"No," Rose protested. "I have friends over tonight. Mum never makes me help when I have guests over."

Ron and Harry exchanged glances.

"Don't look at me, mate," Harry said. "James, Sirius, Albus, and Lily are all spending the weekend with Scorpius in the Swiss Alps… skiing."

Ron's expression darkened with the mention of the Malfoy family.

"Give it a rest, mate," Harry sighed. "They get along just fine."

Ron reddened a little, but he ended with a sigh. "I know, I know, it's just… Malfoy, Harry."

"You shouldn't just a book by its spine," Rose said.

"Shouldn't that be cover, Rose?" Harry asked.

"No," Rose said, scrunching up her face. "If someone sees the spine is tattered and damaged, they could think it comes from an abusive home, but that's not always true. Sometimes a well loved book can still have a tattered spine. Maybe the book was bought from some person who didn't care for it. Maybe the new owners love it very much!"

Harry blinked at Rose and then stared at Ron, who shrugged.

Hermione smiled in the firelight, making no comment. She leaned into Severus' body, and the ebony centaur whickered softly, pressing his face into her hair as his arm wrapped around her withers and scritched the base of her mane.

"'mione, help me out, will ya?" Ron moaned. "It's 'judge a book by its cover,' right?"

Hermione's eyes were half closed as she enjoyed Severus' touch. "Hrm? Well, yes, that is the usual phrase."

"See!" Ron said. "I'm not a total idiot!"

Severus shot him a look that roughly translated to "you're still an idiot."

Rose made a pouting face that made it look like she was going to cry at any moment.

"That doesn't mean you reasoning was flawed, Rose," Hermione said with a soft whicker, and Rose immediately perked up. "May I lean on you too, Auntie Hermione?"

Hermione arched a brow. "I suppose."

"We're going to both need a shower thanks to the foals," Severus sighed into her ear, relapsing into the centaur way of calling all the young "foals."

Hermione smiled at him. "I want one."

Severus went still. "A shower or foals."

"Yes," Hermione said with a warm grin.

Severus swallowed hard. He turned his face to look into the fire, refusing to look her in the face lest he see something there that unravelled him completely. As she leaned into him, however, he relaxed, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the feel of her near and the small bit of peace of mixed company.

"The meat is done," Firenze announced, regaining his feet. "Help me carry this, my brother?" he asked Severus.

"Of course," Severus replied, hoisting himself off the ground and holding out his hand to help heave Hermione up onto all four legs.

Severus grabbed the other end of the spit, and he and Firenze walked the spitted haunch of venison towards the Burrow.

The children moaned at being moved, but Briarfoot got up quickly. She pulled the canvas bucket over and dumped water on the embers and then kicked dirt over the damp coals. She danced over the site with her feet, stomping it flat and replaced the grass plug over the indentation they had dug the fire pit out of the ground.

"I can't even tell we had a fire there!" Rose said excitedly. "That's amazing."

Briarfoot shrugged, looking somewhat baffled. As the other children ran down the hill back towards the Burrow, she tucked herself between Hermione's legs, nickering for comfort.

Hermione smiled at her, rubbing her withers. "You ok, Briarfoot?"

The filly nickered and rubbed up against her happily, clingy, but happy.

Hermione began the walk down the hill, smiling to herself as the young filly darted between her legs and then pressing up against her body as she walked. She'd touch her back for reassurance, dart off to chase something, then dart back to touch Hermione like a base of operations.

Hermione caught up with Firenze and Severus, who were holding the venison spit between them. They eyed the Burrow's very human-sized door with arched eyebrows.

"Ron and I will get that, sorry," Harry said, taking one end. "Come on Ron!" Harry waved his wand, expanding the door of the Burrow to accommodate the centaurs' bodies. The two wizards lugged the spit in as they carried the other cooked goods from the fire.

Giggling children can running from around the house, covered in even more mud than before.

Severus rolled his eyes as he pulled out his wand and cleaned the caked mud off their fur and hooves as to not trek it into the house. Both of them knew the explosion that would be Molly Weasley if she had muddy footprints leading across her treasured rugs.

Firenze bowed his head to look in the slightly enlarged door. "I'm not sure we will fit in the hallway, even if we fit through the door," he said with raised brows.

The children trampled their way into the door, tracking in mud and weeds, and even though they took off their shoes at the door, they continued to track their way across the clean wooden floors and carpets.

"Come on, Briar!" Rose called

Briarfoot took a tentative step forward, her smaller stature fitting through the door much more easily. She looked back at Hermione, Firenze, and Severus with a nervous whicker.

Molly appeared at the end of the hallway, radiating fury. She stared at the muddy prints that were being tracked across her floor. "Rose Weasley! What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing!" she screeched. "What did you do to that door?"

Molly whipped out her wand and fixed her front door, shrinking it down to normal, causing Briarfoot to squeal in surprise as it closed around her rump. The young filly darted back out the door with all haste, half in surprise from the shrinking door and half in terror of the witch that was Molly Weasley.

"What do you think you're doing, tracking mud into this house like some filthy animal?" Molly screeched. Her body was shaking as she cleaned most of the caked mud off the children with her wand. "March up those stairs and take a shower. I will not have you traipsing around this house like an animal in a barn to doesn't know any better than to stand in their own waste! Move!"

"But—!" Rose started to protest.

"GET MOVING!" Molly ordered. She cast an idle glance out the door to see horse legs outside the door.

"Rose Weasley, if you let the neighbour's horses out of the paddock and rode them here, I will tan your hide—!"

"Nana, no!" Rose protested. "Those aren't horses! Its—"

"Oh, I suppose they just look like horses and the hooves are illusionary? I will deal with you later, Rose. Wash up and get ready for dinner! Make sure your friends clean up too!"

"But Na—" Rose cried, her voice turning into sobs.

Rose's and her friend's cries were cut off by a sharp crack of Disapparation.

"Nonononono!" Rose wailed, running down the hall and out the door. "Auntie Hermione! Professors! NO!"

By this time, Ron and Lavender were running up to see what all the fuss was about, and Harry was rushing up behind him with a confused look on his face.

"What happened?" Harry asked, still carrying a casserole dish. "Where's Hermione and—"

Rose bawled, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her other friends were whimpered in the corner of the hallway, unsure what to do.

Ron rushed out into the reeds. "Hermione?"

Harry frowned. "I don't understand, they were right behind us. Hermione! Professor Snape? Firenze!" he called. He looked down to the hoofprints around the front porch where the tracks let off a little ways and then disappeared completely into thin air.

"Don't be worrying about the neighbor's horses, Harry," Molly said angrily as she marched up behind them. "I've warned Rose about that time and time again. "I'll find them after dinner and take them back to our neighbor's farm."

"Horses?" Harry said slowly as realisation dawned. "Oh, no, tell me you didn't call them horses!"

"Of course I called them horses. That's what they are!" Molly said. "What you want me to call them? Beasts?"

"No, no that would have been worse!" Ron said, catching what was going on.

"What is going on here?" Molly yelled, frustrated.

"There, there, now," Lavender was comforting Rose, trying to get her to stop crying so hard that she was hiccuping.

"I hate you!" Rose said spitefully as tears rolled down her cheeks. She grabbed her friend's wrists in her hands and dragged them up the stairs towards the bathrooms.

"What the hell is going on here?" Molly seethed.

"Mum," Ron said. "Remember how I said Hermione, Lavender, and I had a bit of a misunderstanding when Rose told us much preferred Hermione as a centaur?"

"What about that silly claptrap from the Daily Prophet?" Molly grunted. "We all know that paper is rubbish!"

Ron flushed. "It wasn't claptrap, mum. She and… Snape were both transformed into centaur trying to help Neville with curing his parents."

Harry could almost see the gears turning in Molly Weasley's head.

"I saw… horse legs outside the door. There were horses outside the house!" she muttered to herself. Suddenly, the magnitude of what she had blurted to the kids settled in. "No! I didn't mean… I didn't realise…" Molly wrung her hands together.

Molly sat on the porch seat, rocking herself. "Merlin, what have I done?"

Molly put her head in her hands and groaned.

-o-o-o-o-o-

A/N: Oh dear. Might be worse than what Neville said to Hermione