A/N: I've also gone through this chapter and changed any errors. I'm finding it very hard to keep the tenses though so I'm sorry if there are still a load of mistakes :(
Ginny's second horse riding lesson was just as exhilarating as the first.
When she entered the office, Antonia sat at the desk. She looked up and smiled at Ginny.
"Today you're going to be riding Pants" she told her, without laughing. Ginny couldn't stop herself from laughing. She exited the office in search of Draco. She knew she wasn't allowed in the barn by herself but she could just make out Draco's shadow. He was stood by one of the horses. He waved and beckoned her in.
"Could you hold Charlie's feet still while I undo his hobbles?" Ginny nodded and knelt down to hold the big horses left foot.
"What are hobbles?" She asked. Draco knelt down beside her and pointed to the material that loosely tied Charlie's feet together.
"They stop him from kicking the door, watch" Ginny watched as Draco removed the hobbles from around Charlie's feet. As soon as the horse had the freedom to move, he banged his foot against the door of his stall. The noise was very loud and Ginny had to cover her ears.
"I see what you mean" Ginny said as Draco began backed Charlie out of the stall.
"Yeah, and I'm riding him today at 12:00" Draco grumbled.
"I'm riding at 12:00 too" she said and smiled at him. He grinned back and they exchanged a hi-5.
"Oh, by the way, Antonia said I'm riding Pants. Could you get him out of the stall please." She said in a shy tone. Draco gave her the thumbs up and grinned at her.
At 12:00 Draco came out of the barn, looking sweaty and tired, but still as good looking as ever. Draco looked really small compared to the two horses he dragged along. On the left was Charlie, a massive bay horse and on the right was a milky chocolate pony. Ginny waited by the fence where all the people waiting to mount up, usually waited. Antonia came to hold Charlie while Draco came to help Ginny mount up Pants. Draco pulled down the stirrups on both sides and gave her a leg up. Before going back to Charlie though, he stopped to pick off some mud of Pants' coat. Pants decided it would be fun to go to the loo whilst Draco did that
A big pile of horse manure landed inches away from Draco.
"Aww, your all messy Pants!" he scolded the horse. Ginny burst out laughing for the second time in less than half an hour. Antonia led them up to the smaller ring and they got straight on with the lesson. It seemed the focus of the lesson was Drill Work. Ginny didn't really know what Drill work was, but Antonia made sure to explain it to her before they started.
Ginny and Pants halted at the E marker where as Draco and Charlie halted at the B marker, opposite them. They both walked on at exactly the same time. The trick was to keep up with each other. When Draco reached his corner at K he came slightly off the track, so that he passed Ginny. He gave her a hi-5 when they met in the middle. They did a few trotting exercises and instead of passing left shoulder to left shoulder, they both stayed on the track and turned slightly before the A marker so they both trotted down the centerline from A to C.
Draco and Ginny trotted along beside each other until they got to A, where they parted again. Draco looped around so that he was behind Ginny. When she had turned her head to see where he was, Draco smirked at her and blew her a kiss, she blew one back and giggled.
They halted at the M marker and let the horses have a long rein so they could stretch. Ginny turned Pants around so he faced Charlie. Draco and Ginny stared at each other in silence. Draco raised his hand and crossed his middle finger over his index and put his ring finger down.
"What does that mean?" Ginny asked him. He grinned
"Sign language for I love you" Ginny saw a faint rosy tint on Draco's cheeks. She giggled again and repeated the sign.
Ginny and Draco walked again and had another go at left shoulder to left shoulder. Once they were sure they had it perfect so that they met in the middle at the same time, they rested. Ginny and Draco dismounted Pants and Charlie and led them back into the barn.
"Here let me show you how to tie them up" he offered her. In Pant's stall there was a metal ring. In the metal ring was the rope that tied Pants to the metal ring. On the end of the rope was the head collar. Draco unclipped the head collar and reached to Pants without having to pull him closer and showed Ginny how to put it on. Ginny had just done up the clasp when Draco moved Pants forward and clipped him back to the metal ring and rope.
"Right there we are" he sighed. "Pants loves to escape all the time, hint the chewed metal ring" he said and pointed to the metal ring, which had clear evidence of tooth markings on it. Ginny moved forward and patted the horse.
"Noooooo" she said in a sarcastic but not unkind tone.
"My pants is never naughty, are you pants!" she cooed as if she were talking to a baby. Ginny stroked the soft fur underneath the mane.
"Can I see some of the other horses please?" she asked. Draco nodded and led her round the back of the barn to see some of the privately owned horses.
"This is Marie" Draco pointed to a huge bay horse with a white face.
"Do you want to help me wash her tail?" She nodded enthusiastically.
"Right, go into the stall and you should see a chewed rope." Ginny went into the stool, stepping around Marie.
"Yeah now what?" She asked once she had found the rope.
"Unclip it from the hook and clip it onto Marie's head collar."
"Done!" Ginny called out in a happy tone.
"Good now push Marie out of the stall." Ginny pushed Marie backwards into the courtyard where Draco had got some shampoo, a bucket of water, and some conditioner.
"Grab her tail and dunk it into the bucket." Ginny grabbed a handful of tail and dunked it into the water.
"Any bits you can't get to we can use the hose." Ginny nodded and kept on dunking Marie's tail out of the bucket until it was all wet.
"Pass me the shampoo please" she requested. Draco passed her the shampoo and squirted some of the liquid into both their hands. They massaged Marie's tail together, some of the shampoo squeezed through their fingers and dripping down Marie's legs. Some horses don't like the feeling of water dripping down their neck and Marie was one of those horses. She kicked out with her hind legs and hit Draco in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He stumbled back with a gasp. Ginny came running over worried.
"Are you alright?" She asked as she worried her teeth between her lips. He nodded and stood back up shakily.
"Happens all the time" He smiled weakly. Ginny sighed in relief.
"Draco, can I ask you something?" She asked, her voice betraying her nervousness.
"Yeah sure, ask away." He said and smiled.
"Why did you listen to your father all those years ago?" His face fell and his smile vanished.
"My father is very persuasive and he was just basically repeating what everyone else was saying" he shrugged. Ginny could tell the topic was a touchy one, but she kept on.
"Oh yeah remember there was a rumor about that" Ginny mused to herself.
"Really, what was everyone saying?" he asked, interested now.
"Oh nothing much, that you were too easily led and stuff, but I didn't believe it for a second!" She added hastily. Draco nodded and sighed. Marie's tail was almost done.
"I s'pose, I'll see ya next week?" he asked. Ginny nodded and gave him a quick peck on the lips.
"Maybe even sooner than that, if you're lucky" She winked at him, before she skipped back to her Mum's car.