His Boy
Chapter Forty-Three: Fun
Harry placed a yellow rubber duck on the very top center to the two layer cake he and Remus had just decorated together. Remus had made it yesterday and let it sit overnight in the fridge to cool before they had gotten it out this morning to frost it before the baby shower that would start at round eleven. Harry was quite looking forward to the party because he was going to get to meet some of his mummy's other old school friends and see some of his friends. Hermione wasn't going to make it yet again and Harry was beginning to wonder if he would ever see her. At the moment though, he was busy licking the left over icing off of a spoon.
"Mmm. Blueberry." Harry beamed, glad for the delicious snack of frosting so early in the day. It wasn't usual that he got to eat sweet things so close to breakfast unless syrup was involved. "How's it coming?" Sirius inquired as he came in from the dining room.
"Good!" Harry laughed, running to hug his leg in excitement.
"Awesome! Wanna help me set up the dining room, mate?"
"Yes!" Harry nodded and skipped past Sirius into the dining room where his godfather had been hanging up decorations. Harry burst out laughing, pointing at the chandelier. "Paddy, why are there nappies hanging from the light?"
"Those are special surprise nappies. There's secret surprises in them. Whoever wins a game gets to pick one and keep the prize they find."
"Oooooh! What's the prizes, Paddy?" Harry asked curiously, eyeing the diapers with even more interest now. They seemed even more exciting than they had a few moments ago now that he knew they had things in them. Things were always more fun with prizes in them.
"What are. And if I told you, then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it." Sirius grinned and swooped Harry up from behind, spinning so that his legs flew through the air. Harry let out a yelp of surprise and then glee as he was spun about and then set down on next to the hutch cabinet that held all of their good dishes, extra silverware, tablecloths, and other random assorted items. "Want to help me with the tablecloth?"
"Ooooo." Harry nodded. They very rarely used a table cloth on any of the tables, so whenever they did use one, he knew it was for a really special occasion. Today was pretty special. After all, they were having a party to celebrate his sister. He had been very good so far about not spilling the beans about the baby being a girl to Padfoot. Moony already knew of course, having been told by Lexie as soon as she knew so that he could help her fix up the nursery properly. "What games are we gonna play?"
"Well, we'll have some kid games for you and your friends and some grown up games for the adults. You get to pin the nappie on the baby and a race along the backyard path with a stroller, pacifier horseshoes, blanket races. It'll be a lot of fun." Sirius smiled as he pulled a tablecloth from hutch and handed it to Harry.
Harry smiled and climbed up onto a chair and dropped the table cloth down on the table and began unfolding it. Once it was just a pile of mushed cloth he lifted one edge up and tossed it. It floated upwards and then gently floated downwards, landing neatly on the table without a single wrinkle. Harry laughed.
"Good job mate!" Sirius beamed, ruffling his hair. He always enjoyed seeing the random bouts of accidental magic that expelled from his godson. Whether it be the sudden upwards swoop of his swing going higher than it should have from a dead stop, bubbles floating out of his ears, or table clothes righting themselves, Harry enjoyed it too.
Decorating finished, Harry and Sirius went to help Remus finish making the food for the party and then there was nothing left but to wait for their guests to arrive.
At eleven the doorbell started ringing. Harry ran to get it, excited to see if it was one of his friends. Lexie had relocated from the bed upstairs to the couch where she leaned against a cushion, hands on her stomach protectively.
"Harry!" Luna squealed brightly, hugging him as the door was opened to reveal her and her mummy. Harry laughed, jumping up and down with her in their excitement.
"Luna! Luna!" Harry beamed. It had been a while since he had properly played with Luna, though they had sent letters back and forth quite a bit. They usually were able to get together about once a week over at the Burrow with the Weasley kids where they spent most of their time playing in the garden.
"Where's your baby?" Luna asked curiously, her eyes glancing around the hallway as though waiting for a baby to pop out from somewhere.
"In Lexie's tummy growing." Harry laughed, as though it were the simplest thing in the world. They skipped, holding hands, into the living room where Luna raced over to inquire about how babies got inside tummies and Harry ran to answer the doorbell again, Sirius getting there first.
Harry hugged Sirius's leg, peering shyly up at the couple of ladies who had rung. There was a very nice looking woman a bit older than Sirius standing there, her auburn hair flowing tidily down her back. Standing beside her with a girl of about eleven who was bouncing from one foot to the other anxiously.
"Andromeda!" Sirius laughed, reaching out to hug his cousin with a bright smile. "And holy crap, is this Nymphadora? I haven't seen you since you were about six!"
"I'm eleven now and don't call me Nymphadora!" The girl rolled her eyes, looking quite stern about this. Harry wondered why someone wouldn't want to be called by their own name, but then, if he had had a name as long as Nymphadora's he thought maybe he wouldn't want to be called by it either. "Call me Tonks, everyone at school does."
"Or Dora, but that's her father." Andromeda laughed, shaking her head. "Be nice to our cousin, dear, it's been a long time since we've seen him. It is lovely to see you, Sirius. I'm sorry I haven't been by sooner."
"That's alright, I'm just glad you could come today." Sirius smiled. "You and Tonks. Shouldn't you be at school?"
"Nope." Tonks smiled brightly now, looking a bit smug. "Mum wrote to say I should come home for the weekend for Auntie Lexie's baby shower, since Auntie Lexie is my favorite. Oh, but I guess she'd be kind of my cousin more now?"
"Sort of, but she's not really your aunt, so it's alright." Andromeda smiled and they entered the house, Harry deciding he rather liked this Tonks girl. She was big like Bill and Charlie, but seemed plenty fun.
"Not quite cousins yet, dear. I'm not getting married for a while." Lexie called from the living room. "Now come give me a hug, I'm not allowed up."
Tonks left to head for the living room and Sirius bent down to detach Harry from his leg, scooping him up. "Harry, this is my cousin, Andromeda. 'dromeda, this is Harry."
"Hi." Harry grinned, feeling safe in Sirius's arms. He had gotten much better at meeting new people, but he sometimes still needed a little safe haven when doing so. Sirius's arms were his favorite. "I'm five." He stated boldly and rather cheekily.
"Not quite yet you aren't," Sirius laughed and set Harry down on the ground. "You won't be five for another two months."
"Paddy…" Harry whispered conspiratorially in his little kid whisper that wasn't much of a whisper. "I'm trying to be bigger."
"I know, but you're perfect being you." Sirius responded, kissing Harry's cheeks.
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Harry." Andromeda smiled and Sirius gave Harry a little push in the direction of the living room. Harry chased after Tonks and ran into Luna as he turned the corner into the living room. She was standing with her face to the ceiling, looking up at the wall of colorings Harry had made, some of them hers as well. She fell backwards and Harry blinked, toppling down on her and laughing when he realized what had happened. Luna burst out into giggled and the two of them pushed themselves back up.
"Harry, lookit all them pictures." Luna stated excitedly, pointing to the entirely covered wall. Harry beamed proudly.
"My Paddy and my Moony and my Mama-Lexie put all our pictures up there that we wanna keep." Harry explained, pointing to one in particular. "I made that one yesterday and it came out real good, so Paddy took one of the old pictures off and put it in our picture album so we had room for the new one. Wanna see?"
"Yeah!" Luna clapped her hands together and Harry wandered over to the bookshelf on one side of the fireplace. He pulled out a thick album and set it down on the floor. He and Luna sat down and opened it, admiring each of Harry's older pictures which had been placed gently and securely into the album which wasn't quite full yet. Harry was proud of his pictures mainly because Padfoot was always proud of them, so they kept the really special important ones and recycled the not so good ones. "Wow, thatsa lotta pictures."
"Yeah." Harry beamed and they looked through the album a little bit more before Ronnie came running over, having just arrived.
Once all of their guests had gotten there, they ate the cake and started to play the games, which Harry thought was the best part. He was getting better at playing games in general, his hand eye coordination having improved over the past school year.
"Faster Ronnie, faster!"
"I'm trying!" Ronnie laughed as he and Harry moved their legs the best they could. Sirius had tied their legs together so they had to act as a team during a race. Harry wasn't quite sure why they were running a race this way, but it sure was silly! They were racing against Ginny and Luna, Tonks and Fred, George and Percy, and Sirius and Remus.
Ginny and Luna had fumbled over themselves three times within the same two feet, unable to properly figure out how to walk tied to one another. Harry and Ron were struggling as well. They knew they could do it somehow, but getting the pace right was quite a bit more difficult than it looked.
"What if we say try words?" Ronnie suggested after a few minutes of struggling. "In for the in legs, and out for the other ones?"
"Yeah!" Harry nodded in agreement. "In!" He and Ronnie moved the legs they had tied together. And then they moved their loose legs. "In! Out! In! Out!"
Using their voices to help let the other know which leg they were moving made Harry and Ronnie very happy as they finally managed to run without tripping over themselves. They dashed passed Percy and George who couldn't agree on how to move and then over came Remus and Sirius who had stumbled into one of Harry's plastic sand buckets, his foot caught.
Harry and Ronnie got to the tree and turned around, heading back to the patio where the finish line was. Tonks and Fred were well ahead of them and they tried to run as fast as their tied together four and five year old legs could carry them. It was with a great deal of laughter that they got to the patio and tripped, landing in a heap right after coming in second.
"Wow! Wonderful job boys! Now that's what teamwork is all about." Mrs. Weasley beamed as she helped them untie their legs. "You figured out the problem and worked together to come up with a solution to reach your goal."
"That's cause we're best mates, right Ronnie?" Harry asked, beaming so proudly of their having done a good job. Even though they hadn't beaten Tonks and Fred, they had still finished the race, which Sirius had always said was most important.
"Right." Ronnie nodded in agreement and tackled Harry down on the grass. They rolled around like a pair of puppies for a moment, just laughing and wrestling with one another until it was time for the next game.
The baby shower went off without a hitch, everyone having a good time and wishing Sirius and Lexie the best of luck with their baby.
…...
"Where're we going, Paddy?" Harry asked curiously as Sirius helped him do up the last button on his raincoat. It was Sunday, the day after the baby shower and Sirius had announced he and Harry were going on a trip that morning. He wanted to spend a bit of time with just him and Harry before the baby came so he could continue to reinforce the idea of Harry always being his little boy even if there was another kid in the picture.
"Well, that's a surprise, mate." Sirius grinned, ruffling Harry's hair and plopping the red rain hat down on his kid's head. Harry smiled, liking surprises but also wishing he knew where they were going. But if it was with Sirius, he was sure it would be plenty of fun. He hadn't gotten to spend a day with just him and his Paddy in a good bit, so this was quite exciting.
Sirius pulled on his own rain coat, hat, and boots and he and Harry left the house. They wandered through the rainstorm that was flowing down upon their part of the world, down the muddy lane. It wasn't really windy and the rain wasn't very hard, so it wasn't bothersome to walk through. Harry laughed, jumping in a muddy puddle and then another, excited just to be walking in the rain instead of having to stay inside.
When they got to the end of the lane, instead of turning left towards town, they turned right and continued down along the dirt road instead of the paved one. Curious, Harry looking around. He had never been down this way before, though it didn't look very different from the lane he lived on. There were rolling hills on either side, stretching farther and farther until they hit the horizon. He had asked, once, what the hills were and Sirius had simply said the open land was called a moor. There weren't any trees really, just lots of grass. Harry liked it. It was so different from Privet Drive where all the houses were the same. Of course, there were trees closer to the Burrow where the moor changed to forest somehow or other. Harry liked the forest too. He and Ronnie had plans to start building a good fort on there in the future. Luna and her family lived right out on the open moor, the only trees near their house being the ones in their garden.
As they continued on their way, Harry spotted a fence. It was very basic, just wooden poles and wire strung from one to the other in two rows.
"Look, Paddy! A fence."
"That it is, Harry." Sirius laughed. "Look how far it travels. When we reach the end, we'll be at our destination."
"Wow, that's a long way." Harry remarked, though he was too excited to be tired. He was looking forward to seeing what his Paddy had planned as a surprise for him. They walked for three-quarters of an hour, Harry keeping occupied by pointing out anything new and jumping in puddles. The rain let up, though the sky was still covered in a blanket of light grey clouds and the two men watched as the sun peeked through, making the puddles in the road shimmer. Harry laughed, renewed with excitement just from the sun and he dashed along, jumping in each and every puddle he saw. Sirius smiled. They could have easily apparated, but it was much more fun to watch Harry enjoy himself.
"Harry, watch this one!" Sirius called, pointing to one particularly large puddle. He gave a leap and landed straight in the middle, sending up a really big splash. Harry laughed and clapped his hands, racing over and jumping into the puddle next to Sirius, sending up another pretty big splash.
"Paddy look a cow! Another cow! And another!" Harry shouted all of a sudden, jumping up and down in pure excitement, pointing to the fence where there were suddenly about fifteen cows milling around eating grass.
"Yes, Harry." Sirius laughed, bending down and swooping Harry up into the air from behind and onto his shoulders without warning. Harry yelped in surprise and grabbed hold around Padfoot's head to keep his balance. He held on with one arm and pointing with the other after he had adjusted his butt properly so he wouldn't go falling so easy. "I see them."
"Moooo! Moooo!" Harry laughed, waving to the cows as they walked. The cows looked up from their eating for no more than a moment before returning to it. They were obviously nonplussed to the little boy mooing at them. "I never saw a real cow before, Paddy. They're so big!" Harry beamed, tilting his head to look down at Padfoot who tilted his had back a bit, smiling up at him.
"Yes they are. You just wait til you see the surprise. If you think the cows are cool, you are going to love this."
Sirius carried Harry the rest of the way, though it wasn't very far at all now.
"Paddy! I see a house." Harry announced a few minutes later. "And a big red barn! And a little chicken house! And and…" Harry's eyes went wide as he leaned forward on Sirius's head. "Paddy, do those horsies have wings?"
"They sure do, Prongslet." Sirius laughed. They continued walking and when they reached the front gate of the house, a man was waiting for him. He was dressed in jeans and an old shirt, a hat on his head to keep the sun off. He wore a bright smile and waved as though he had been expecting them.
"Welcome, welcome!"
"Hello Henry! It's such a lovely day." Sirius smiled, lifting Harry down from his shoulders as the man opened the gate for them. "Thanks for having us."
"No problem. I just love company."
"Harry, this is Mr. Wilkinson, he owns the farm with all the cows and chickens and horses." Sirius explained. "He was a friend of your grandparents, so I figured we'd come and visit and see all the animals. Your dad and I used to come here quite a bit during our summer breaks."
"Oh!" Harry beamed, looking excited now. His eyes went from one thing to another. He could see regular farm animals, like the chickens, and the cows, and some pigs, but there were also the horses with wings, a pen full of fluffy custard colored furballs, another pen with little black creatures, and a rather strange looking bird sat upon the porch railing. "There's lots of fun animals here."
"Sure are." Sirius smiled, watching as Harry took it all in.
"Come on, I'll introduce you to some of them." Mr. Wilkinson smiled, offering Harry his hand. After a few moments of deliberation and an encouraging nod from Sirius, Harry took it. If Sirius said it was okay, then it was okay. He was learning more and more how to trust people. And Mr. Wilkinson seemed very nice with his grey hair and beard. Sort of like Santa, only not because he ran a farm instead of making toys.
Harry was taken over to the pen with the custard colored fluff balls first. Mr. Wilkinson opened it and took one out. It was about the size of a large grapefruit. "These are puffskeins. This ones just a baby, but it'll get bigger until it's about the size of a Quaffle. They're very gentle."
"Wow." Harry eyed the purring creature curiously. It blinked big blue eyes up at him and it's pink tongue snaked out from somewhere under it's fur. It shot up into his nose, making him jump back with shock, his green eyes wide. "Ah!"
"Oops, sorry bout that. He's just hungry, that's all. For some reason they like to eat boogers." Mr. Wilkinson laughed, offering the puffskein to Harry now. Harry took it and held it in his arms. It purred and closed it's eyes, wriggling and snuggling up against his chest happily. "Looks like she likes you."
Harry smiled, patting the puffskein. She was very soft, like milkweed fluff. "I like her too. I've got an owl at home. She's called Hedwig and she's white."
"A snowy owl then, huh? Is she a good owl?" Mr. Wilkinson smiled as they put the puffskein back in the pen with her family.
"Mhm. She's good. She carries mail." Harry nodded proudly, glad to have someone to talk properly about his owl with. He just adored Hedwig. She was one of his very best friends, sleeping in the cage that hung from his bedroom ceiling, the door of it always open.
"Well, that's wonderful. It's always good to have a proper mail owl around." Mr. Wilkinson nodded and pointed to the pen with the black creatures. "Those as nifflers. Cuddly little fellows. Have to be very careful though, as they love anything shiny. They love to dig and burrow under the ground for things. That's why their pen is so large and half of it's beneath the ground, connected to my basement so I can hide things in the dirt for them to find."
"Wow!" Harry grinned, impressed with the nifflers. They seemed like really neat animals. Once he had pet a niffler, they continued to walk around the farm. Harry saw the pigs, which turned out to be quite funny, rolling in the mud, and then they went into the pasture with the cows so he could pet one.
"These are dairy cows, right Henry?" Sirius asked curiously as he stroked the side of a particularly large cow who mooed and looked back at him curiously.
"Yes and I make butter and cheese from the milk." Mr. Wilkinson nodded. "Have you ever had milk straight from the cow, Harry? I know Sirius has, and your father did as well when he was alive."
"No, can I?" Harry asked, eyeing the cow excitedly. He knew milk came from cows and that it squirted from their udders, but he had never seen a cow actually get milked before outside of Muggle picture books having spent most of his life in suburbia.
"Sure!" Mr. Wilkinson smiled and pulled a tip cup from his belt where it was hanging. He reached under the cow and gently squeezed a teat. Harry's eyes went wide as he watched the milk stream into the cup. "Wanna try?"
"Yes!" Harry nodded and he allowed Mr. Wilkinson to show him how to hold the teat and pull on it gently without hurting the cow. More milk streamed into the cup and they kept at it until it was about a fourth of the way full.
"Well, go on and try it then. Straight from the cow. It doesn't get any fresher than that."
Harry eyed the cup and then raised it to his mouth, taking a big sip of the milk. He laughed, his upper lip white as he pulled the cup away. "It's warm! And good!"
Mr. Wilkinson smiled as Harry offered the cup to Sirius who took a sip and then gave it back to him.
"It is good, Harry. Mmm." Sirius smiled, glad Harry was having a good time. It was good for kids his age to get out and do things like this. It was the time of their life when the little things, like cows and milk were considered to be the coolest things ever and that make it all the more special. "We'll have to show the baby how to milk a cow too, when he or she comes, right Harry?"
"Yes!" Harry laughed, knowing not to say that the baby was a she. He was very good at remembering that. He was sure his baby sister would like the cows as much as he did.
"Well, we've still got the horses to see. Would you like to go for a ride?"
"On a horse!?" Harry's whole being bounced with excitement now. Ride on a horse? He'd never done anything like that before! The most he had ever done was right on Sirius's back when he was being a doggy, but that didn't count because he could do that any old time. But a horse? A horse was big!
They left the cows and made their way over to the horse paddock where the wings horses were standing, basking in the warmth of the sun and flicking off flies from their backs with their tails. Mr. Wilkinson climbed over the fence into the paddock. He walked right over to a grey dappled mare and stroked her on the nose. She whinnied, pressing her nose into his hand, her lips moving as though looking for a treat. "This here is Sarah. She's as gentle as they come, isn't that right sweetheart?"
Sarah whinnied again, pawing at the ground and nuzzling at Mr. Wilkinson again before Harry caught her eye and she lowered her head to where he was standing at the fence still. She stepped forward, her chest on the fence and bent her head down at the little boy, eyeing him curiously before nibbling gently and playfully at his red hat. She lifted it from his head and Harry laughed, watching as she tossed her head a bit, as though she were laughing as well.
"Loves kids, Sarah does." Mr. Wilkinson smiled. He grabbed a bridle from where it sat hanging on one of the fence posts and took the hat from Sarah. She allowed him to put the bridle on her with ease, not bucking her head against it like some of the other horses might have. Not that they didn't like their bridles, they just were finicky in general. But not Sarah, never Sarah.
Mr. Wilkinson led the wings horse out of the paddock, making sure to close the gate behind her. Sirius picked up Harry, lifting him onto the bare back of the horse before climbing up himself. Mr. Wilkinson handed him the reins with a smile. "I trust you remember what you're doing?"
"Of course." Sirius nodded. "It's been a while but some things never leave you."
Mr. Wilkinson nodded with a smile. "Aye. That's so. Go ahead and have a trot about the yard while I get Carvahall ready."
Sirius nodded and then leaned forward, taking one of Harry's hands and lifting it to Sarah's black mane. "Harry, you can hold on here as tight as you like. I've got you, but just to be safe."
"Okay, but won't it hurt Sarah if I pull her hair?" Harry asked worriedly, looking down at the horse's neck. He had never been up so high before! The ground seemed very far away from where he sat upon the top Sarah's shoulders in front Sirius. His legs dangled, comfortably resting just above where the wings began and the beginning Sarah's neck between his legs. His back pressed against Sirius to help keep him safe, his godfather's arms on either side of him, holding the reins.. Sirius's own knees fell right upon the strong thick joint at the front of Sarah's wings, cradled there. Sarah didn't seem to mind this at all.
"Nope. Won't hurt her at all. You can pull on her mane as much as you like and she won't feel it." Sirius explained, smiling and taking off his hat. He tucked it into his pocket and then gently pressed his knees against Sarah's sides. On a normal horse one would use their calves, but Sarah was a Pegasus, so he had to use his knees.
Sarah knew exactly what to do, being the intelligent creature that she was. She began walking, picking up the pace to a slow trot when Sirius gave her another gentle squeeze. Sirius's hands only had to make the lightest of movements with Sarah to show her which direction they wanted to go. She was very well trained and the magical blood in her body made her smarter than the average horse, just like Hedwig was smarter than the average owl.
Harry gasped, his eyes wide as they moved. He had never ridden a horse before, but it felt much different than riding his toy broomstick, that was for sure! Sarah's movements were graceful. He could feel each of her legs moving beneath him, the hoof hitting the packed dirt of the yard with ease as Sirius had her go about.
They stopped when Mr. Wilkinson joined them, riding atop an impossibly large black stallion. Together, they rode away from the house and yard, heading out into the cow field and then beyond, out onto the rolling moor. Here the sun shone brightly catching the bit of purple heather.
"Ready Harry?" Sirius asked as Sarah began to trot.
"Yeah!" Harry nodded, not sure what Sirius was talking about, but knowing whatever it was, he was excited for it. He let out a yelp as Sarah picked up more speed, both her and Carvahall breaking into a full gallop upon one of the flatter bits of land. Without warning, Harry felt the wings just behind him spread and then…. Then Sarah kicked off as Sirius raised the reins. Harry felt himself slide a little bit backwards into Sirius, but held on very tightly to Sarah's main, the wind whipping at his face now as they went upwards at a slight angle before straightening out when they had reached to be about fifty feet off of the ground.
Harry gasped, looking around and down at the moor below as Sarah's wings flapped every now and then, mostly gliding gracefully through the air. His four year old heart was soaring, beating with exhilaration at this most wonderful feeling of something new. He was a bit fearful, but knew he was safe with Sirius. And he sure did prefer his toy broom over the slight rocking motion of the horse, but it was still quite wonderful to be up here, flying through the sky like this.
"How you doing, Prongslet?" Sirius laughed, having felt his godson tense up a bit while they were going upwards.
"Good." Harry blinked, turning his head to look up at Sirius and grinning. "Sarah is a good flier."
"That she is."
They flew over the moor for a long while, soaking up the sun and enjoying the freshness of the air. It was a beautiful day, not quite summer yet, but definitely close.
When it was time to head back to the farm, the horses circled over the yard and then landed gently, as gracefully as possible. Sirius slid down off of Sarah's back and then reached up to help Harry down. Harry wobbled slightly, his legs a bit off from having been on the horse for so long. But he was smiling, happy to have had such a great day with his Paddy.
Mr. Wilkinson came over carrying an apple. "Here, want to give this treat to Sarah? They're her favorite."
"Okay!" Harry laughed and took the apple, holding it out to Sarah before Sirius showed him quickly how to hold his hand out flat so she didn't accidentally nip his fingers. Harry smiled, giggling as Sarah chomped half the apple and then went back for more, drool and apple juice making his little hand all sticky as she ate from his palm, licking it when there wasn't any apple left for her to chomp.
After feeding some of the other horses apples and helping put Sarah back in the paddock, Sirius and Harry said thank you to Mr. Wilkinson and started on their way home, walking hand in hand and jumping in puddles as they went along. Harry chattered about their visit and Sirius was happy just to listen, enjoying the sound of his little boy's sweet voice so full of life and joy.
Hey guys! I am so so very sorry about such a long wait on an update for this particular story! I got a particularly nasty message about the last chapter from someone that wasn't just good honest criticism (which I appreciate), so it put me off for a bit. But finally, here it is! I hope you enjoy it and don't think it's crap. I'm particularly fond of the horse part. As always, I love hearing from you and what you think, whether it be good or critical (so long as you don't swear at me), so if you've got the time, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on it!
Much love always,
S.Q.O.