Chapter 7

Harry was waiting at the end of the long drive, just before it split in three between the drive to Dartmoor Manor, the stables and the forest.

Well, waiting wasn't really what he was doing. It was a sunny day and he was lying down in the grass, bare chested and humming to himself. He even used his shirt as a pillow behind his head. Harry was the most carefree person she had ever met in her life. She knew instinctively that he would always take responsibility if it was thrust upon him but it never had.

She stopped the car, opened the window and poked her head out with a grin. "I don't take hitchhikers."

He jumped up, already grinning. "Course you do 'Mione. Otherwise, how would I get back to stables?" He said it with such perfect confidence that she was still laughing as he got in.

He pulled the pink letter from the seat. "What the hell is this thing?" His entire face was screwed up in revulsion.

She was still grinning. "A letter." She let it hang silently in the air, almost threatening him with the fact that it might be for him without saying a word.

His eyes grew wide and he gulped. "Please tell me that it is not for me."

She grinned broadly, a grin only matched by the Cheshire Cat. "It could be." She paused. And then waited some more before saying, "But it isn't."

Harry let out a massive gust of air. "Thank fuck for the small things. Who is this thing for?"

She gave him as look, as if to say 'don't you know that already?'.

He grinned. "Of course, one of Draco's endless fans." He peered closer at the envelope. "Ahh, Ginny."

"She fancies herself a duchess according to Fred and George." It felt a bit disloyal to tell Harry about it but then again, with this letter Ginny certainly wasn't hiding her ambitions.

Harry laughed heartily as they neared the stables. "Draco will loathe this." And then his grin turned positively evil. "Let's send it off to him as soon as possible." He jumped out of the car before Hermione had even parked and walked swiftly to a young man who was grooming a pony meticulously outside.

Hermione's eyes were caught by the pony. She was chestnut filly with perfect proportions, well groomed and well fed. The stables themselves were absolutely massive, shaped in a large L. Hermione couldn't imagine a better place to fulfil her own ambitions of learning the sport of kings.

She had missed Harry's exchange with the groom entirely and only refocused when the groom shot off at a run towards the main house with a grin on his face as well.

Everyone would laugh at the letter. Hermione felt a twinge of something rather uncomfortable for Ginny but Hermione had done her duty and delivered the letter as Ginny had asked of her.

Well, everyone would laugh, except Draco Malfoy presumably. She could only hope that he wouldn't become enraged enough about whatever Ginny had written to toss them both out.

All thoughts of the letter disappeared as Harry took her into the stables and began introducing her to the ponies of Dartmoor. They took their time and by the ninth pony, she was wondering where her own ponies were.

She looked around with a frown, not recognizing any of them in the stalls. Of course, Harry knew what she was thinking. He had a knack for it. "Yours are in another barn altogether. We keep them separate during the first two weeks due to possible illnesses, however morbid that sounds. But it works."

She nodded. "I'm just wondering how they are and if the trip down was alright for them."

Harry grinned again. He had that sort of disposition. "I already told you, they're all right as rain 'Mione. All of them are comfortably placed in stalls with water, hay, mash, vitamins and everything else they could possibly need. But I'll take you to them now. And perhaps we should consider going to the Dowager House, where you'll stay. You probably want to unpack and all."

Hermione shook her head. "The ponies are more important for now Harry."

Harry led the way and they passed a stall where a large jittery black stallion was moving restlessly about. She stepped closer, she just couldn't help herself. "Who is this beauty?"

Harry didn't grin, nor smile or even made a lewd comment. That was highly unusual for him. "That is Bolt. Short for Lightning Bolt. He's wicked fast but wicked in temperament as well. We haven't had anyone on him yet and he arrived more than a week ago. He bucks everyone off before they can even get on. But that's not the worst of it. He won't eat either, which means he'll wither away if we can't figure out what's wrong."

She took a step closer. He had the same as every other pony in the stables to eat but it was untouched. She took another step, bringing her right up to the stall gate. He seemed to almost have some sort of magical aura and she unconsciously leaned closer to him. He puffed out a sigh, if ponies that size even had that capability.

He was gorgeous. All rigid muscle and unharnessed strength. She peered at him with a slight smile and brought up a hand for him to smell. He exhaled heavily and stepped slowly forward to nuzzle her hand. She stepped closer as well and he lowered his head to her shoulder. She began scratching him behind his ears and caressing his long strong neck.

She just stood there with him, the pony with the ridiculous name, and relaxed for a long time. Her entire being was focused on him and she couldn't see or hear anything but him. He seemed to calm down slightly. His restlessness calmed slightly too. They just stood there together and relaxed, enjoying the calm they brought to the other.

They had been standing there for ages but suddenly, his head jerked and moved to nuzzle the pocket of her vest with a playful gust of air.

She grinned, delighted with the progress he was making. "Are you looking for these?" Out from her pocket came a piece of apple. He gobbled it up and she took out three more. They disappeared just as quickly. "You just need a bit of a cuddle, don't you Bolt?"

The pony whickered contentedly. She wondered briefly if she should try to get Bolt to eat. So she did. She pulled back a bit and looked him straight in the eyes. "Bolt, you must eat." He nudged her with a small whine. She held her ground. "Eat Bolt, or you'll fade away."

Bolt puffed out another of those sighs and turned rather unwillingly to the hay. He sniffed experimentally and then began chewing away as if he'd never eaten hay before.

Hermione, pleased with herself, turned around to face Harry behind her with a beaming smile.

Only Harry wasn't alone any longer.

A tall, beautiful man with tousled hair and otherwise impeccable appearance stood beside him. He and Harry were both looking at her with identically gobsmacked expressions.

And no one spoke.

Both men just stood there watching her with obvious disbelief for such a long time that she became rather annoyed.

None of them moved when she waved her hands. Or even when she said loudly, "Hello!" They just stood there, gaping at her as if she'd just waltzed to the moon as opposed to getting a sulky stallion to eat something.

She rolled her eyes, turned away and walked towards her own ponies. She wasn't in a hurry as such but from the look of disbelief she'd seen from both men, they couldn't comprehend how she, a woman, could achieve in moments what they hadn't been able to in a week.

Men!, she scoffed internally.

Just as she rounded the corner of the barn she looked surrepticiously back at them. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy stood there, shoulder to shoulder and they couldn't have been more different, yet more alike.

Where Harry was dark and buoyant, Draco was fair and brooding. Yet both men had that lean strength from exercising ponies every day. They both had strong arms, a wide chest and narrow hips. And they were both sun kissed, from having spent so much time outside in the saddle. Only Draco was slightly taller than Harry was but that was the biggest difference.

And the fact that Harry was still only half dressed. His shirt was slung over his shoulder and he had some indeterminable dirt on his white pants. Draco, by contrast of course, was wearing an impeccably pristine outfit. A green t-shirt with the standard white polo pants and black riding boots.

But Draco's face was leaner than Harry's. It was strange seeing them side by side like that. And still, she hadn't officially met Draco.

When she was finally out of their sight, she slowed down slightly and allowed herself take in just how she was reacting to Draco Malfoy being so close. It couldn't be normal that her heart was racing a mile a minute.

And she definitely shouldn't be shivering at the sound of purposeful footsteps coming up behind her. She knew the way Harry walked and that was not Harry.

"Granger."

Gosh. Even the timbre his voice made her shiver all over. This was getting ridiculous. She had decided to stop this nonsense. But she couldn't seem stop it even if it was definitely the best plan.

However, she couldn't keep walking either. She sucked in a deep breath and stopped abruptly as she turned around to face him. To finally meet him for real.

Only to have the breath knocked out of her completely.

He'd been walking so fast that he collided with her. All hard lean muscles and surprisingly speedy reflexes. He caught her just before she tumbled to the ground in an ungraceful heap.

She was afraid to look up but she did it anyway. Cowardice did not run in her family.

One corner of his mouth was turned up in a half-smile and though it looked a little foreign to him, it suited him eminently well.

His mere proximity scrambled her brain but strangely, she was lucid enough that she felt inexplicably grateful that Draco had Harry around. It seemed like a good paring to put them in close quarters. Draco seemed like the sort of person who needed to laugh.

He put her to rights and took a step back. He was still much too close for her heart to stop its frantic beating but at least they weren't touching anymore.

"Are you alright?" He sounded barely concerned with her plight but he might be trying to suppress a smile. Perhaps he was even smirking but it didn't seem malicious. She gave him a quick perusal, he seemed kind of stiff in the way he held himself which, she had to admit, was more often than not the norm when it came to Brits in general.

She nodded. "I'm fine, thank you for not knocking me over."

He nodded once in a perfunctory way. "It's the least I could do." He looked around as if looking for something to say. The silence grew slowly and the only noise came from far away. Hermione felt rather awkward. Then suddenly he burst out as if he just remembered what he had followed her to say. "My apologies for not receiving you properly. I am Lord Draco Malfoy. Welcome to Dartmoor miss Granger."

He bowed elegantly and she watched him with wide eyes. He, or surely someone like him, was the reason the old court bow seemed so masculine, despite the flourishes men sometimes added. Her brother looked absurd every time he tried anything but an ordinary bow, but this man made a proper bow into an art form.

He was looking at her expectantly, as if she was meant to do something. Did he really want her to curtsy to him? She wanted to snort. That would not be happening.

Instead, she smiled stiffly and replied, "Thank you for the invitation. I am looking forward to begin tomorrow."

His head cocked slowly to the side with a distinct sarcastic tilt and he regarded her silently for a moment before answering. "Thank you. Though you seem to be only one of two looking forward to it."

She cringed, she hadn't meant to but it was clear that he took Ginny's absence like a slight to him. And in truth, it was. Hermione thought it abominably rude that Ginny hadn't just packed what she had and come with her. Ginny's absence was wasting his time and a scented letter could never make up for that, no matter the contents.

She watched him avidly, taking in everything he was before her. And what he was, was every inch a future duke. It was evident in his bearing, in the way he spoke and the way he was able to cut Ginny subtly while still accepting a compliment. Many participants of the Season had that same ability. He stood ramrod straight before her with both hands behind his back and she thought it odd. A man such as he ought to feel at home in his own stables, which he probably was, he was just too British to relax.

She didn't really know what she had imagined, but this wasn't it. She had daydreamed, sure and this was not the way she had imagined that he would greet her.

Hermione plastered on, what was sure to be a fake smile. She didn't know what else to do, so she turned the conversation to other things. Safer things. "Your stables are magnificent my Lord, I have not seen their likeness anywhere."

At this, he nodded with that half-smile hovering around his lips again. "Thank you, I am rather proud of them myself. And please call me Draco while you are here. We will spend many hours training and we cannot observe formalities when sweating profusely." There was a glint in his eyes as he smirked. He looked almost… Cheerful? Or maybe proud of his jest?

She couldn't help it, she grinned back at him. "And please call me Hermione, I much prefer informality whenever possible." She just remembered that he had called her by her last name, so she hastened to add, "Or Granger of course. You can call me whatever you want."

She gulped, realising just how foolish she sounded, but he inclined his head in the affirmative with more grace and calm than she had ever seen anyone possess.

The silence between them stretched and she wondered what else to say. He seemed contemplative and distant, though his eyes never left her face. He was just opening his mouth again when, "Draco!" Of course, it was Harry who brought them out of their strange bubble. He'd shouted from the stables around the corner.

Draco turned and marched to the large connecting doors between the two stables, that calm he possessed had dissipated the moment Harry's voice pierced the silence around then, "What, oh what could you possibly want Harry?" He sounded infuriated at the interruption, which was absurd. They certainly hadn't been deep in conversation when Harry bellowed and most of the time he'd seemed as if he wanted to be everywhere but here with her.

Harry was saying something, but it was drowned out by a loud whirring from a machine of some kind. Hermione didn't just want to stand there like an idiot so she shouted as loudly as she could, "I'll just go check on my ponies then!" just as the noise stopped. Of bloody course.

Draco turned, agonizingly slowly, to gaze at her as if she'd grown three heads.

She was mortified.

And she was blushing profusely. The heat in her face made her feel as if she had three heads.

She ground her teeth. Right.

There was no need to embarrass herself any further. Mortification had no lower point in her opinion. She closed her eyes and turned on her heel before marching away towards her ponies who had all begun whickering softly for her attention.

Draco stood there and watched her go. And what a way to go.

She was wearing riding gear that must have been custom made because they fit her every curve to perfection. Her clothes were simple and functional and still, her very presence made his entire body snap to attention around her.

He was so tightly wound that when Harry had interrupted them, he was ready to throttle him. Which he hadn't done but he'd very much wanted to.

She had handled Bolt impressively. The petite woman had looked absolutely dwarfed by the large stallion and it hadn't fazed her at all. Even now, Bolt was contentedly munching away in his stall and accepting the odd apple from Harry. Draco had every confidence that he would accept Harry as a rider tomorrow. All thanks to Hermione Granger.

And then she was rather funny. Without meaning to of course, but still.

Clearly, she was humiliated that her friend hadn't joined her today. All in all, his first impression on meeting Hermione Granger was exceedingly positive. She was very different from anyone he knew, except probably Harry.

And he was very happy with his overall restraint.

He was certain that he had conducted himself well. He'd made her feel welcome, yet he felt a small tremor of unease. He hadn't exactly showed off his eloquence in any way but he had been nervous, no matter what he tried to tell himself.

There was something indefinable about her. It made him want to listen to anything and everything she had to say, even if she hadn't said much. It was just as exciting as it was terrifying.

Hermione sat outside the stables later, enjoying the afternoon sun when Harry joined her. He put his arm around her as he had so many times during their intertwined lives. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed deeply.

She hadn't seen where she would stay and she'd only had a glimpse of the main house but she was content here. Even in spite of that strange first greeting with Draco, which she pushed to the back of her mind. Surely it would all sort itself out.

She imagined that very contentment was why Harry had never returned to Sirius' house. Harry loved his job and he loved working for a living. Sirius had offered him money and lots of it. An estate nearby and even a title if he could wrangle it with the king. Harry had rejected it all for a chance to work with horseflesh every single day and not have a care in the world. He was very happy with his life as it was. It was obvious.

"Are you hungry 'Mione? There will be food at your house." He didn't move and neither did she.

She shrugged. "Yeah, I could eat. Where is my place anyway?"

He got up and pulled her with him. The Dowager House is behind the lake, opposite the Manor. But close to the pool house." He winked. "You know, where I live." He leered in a much-exaggerated way and she laughed. She just couldn't help herself around Harry.

She stood and pulled him with her. "Alright then, show the way."

He made a show of huffing loudly and getting up, as if he hadn't just suggested that very thing just moments earlier. He grinned and they walked laughing to her car.

They arrived only a few minutes later at a rather large and quite spectacular mansion located close to the lake. Clearly it was an old building but she didn't know much about architecture to be certain, it could easily be more than two hundred years old. It was two stories tall and twice as wide. It had a large entryway complete with a portico large enough for a car to drive through and judging by the gravel path underneath, that was the precise intention.

It had an almost romantic feel with the red bricks and white elaborate details. The door was white too with an overlarge brass knocker in the shape of a lion and the house was topped off with beautiful decorations of purple and blue flowers in pots all around the house and beneath every window.

She couldn't speak, it was too perfect.

Harry waited patiently, letting her take it all in. When she finally moved, he said, "Just wait, you should see the back porch and the terrace. The views of the lake from there are remarkable.

She just nodded and got slowly out of the car. She swallowed. "Am I really supposed to live here?"

"While you're here, yeah. You and Ginny. And the best part is that my place is just behind those trees." She turned around, away from the most gorgeous house she had ever seen, to look at the treeline Harry was pointing to. He winked. "I have a pool, you know."

She grinned. "I know, you've told me so several times."

He got her bag and suitcase out of the trunk. "Come on, let's get you settled in. I wonder if Hobson left you any food."

She blinked. "Hobson?"

He rolled his eyes. "Right, forgot to tell you. Hobson is the family butler, which means he's the one you go to if you need anything. I'm sure he's already assigned one of the ladies maids to help you and Ginny and of course they will come by to clean every day."

She frowned. "Every day? Is that really necessary? I'm not that messy Harry. And I can clean up after myself."

He shrugged, indifferent. "They come by the pool house every day too. It's kinda nice."

She groaned internally. She had been looking so much forward to not being in the limelight of servants for once in her life. She felt wrong about them cleaning up her breadcrumbs when she could perfectly manage that task herself. She sighed. At least they probably got a decent wage. Based on how immaculate the ancient building looked from the outside, she was certain that the workers at Dartmoor took pride in their work.

They went inside and she marvelled at the sheer size of the place. She had expected something small. Like just a room. Perhaps a flat. Not this. Not a building that she would happily call her own if she could.

The attention to detail was incredible. The plaster work on the ceilings and walls were tasteful and intricate and the furniture was modern, yet not out of place in the old building. The kitchen was fantastic in and of itself with marble countertops in swirling black, white and silver and the copper pots and pans hanging on hooks from a wooden grid over the kitchen island.

It was perfect.

Harry however, went straight to the double fridge and she couldn't help it, she glared at him. He grinned right back. "What? I'm hungry alright? I've been at work for four hours at least, so it must be lunch somewhere."

She rolled her eyes but didn't comment on his appetite. "Wait, is the fridge fully stocked?"

His head popped out with the stem of a cauliflower disappearing into his mouth and a couple of loud crunches before he answered. "'Course it is! There's a folder somewhere-" He trailed off, looking around the kitchen before spotting it. "-over there where you can order anything basically. It's like a really fancy free hotel. Only your parents have already paid for everything in advance." He grinned and popped another piece of cauliflower into his mouth.

She rolled her eyes again in another blatant show of general un-ladylikeness and turned towards the staircase in the middle of the house. Harry kept up easily and chatted on and on about the foods he preferred most but she wasn't listening. She couldn't, she was too smitten with their new temporary home.

There were four rooms to choose from, all with large en suite bathrooms and walk-in closets and all in vastly different styles.

The first was green, almost too green. She blinked when she entered. It was rather beautifully decorated with a cream carpet to balance out all of the different shades of green on the walls, the curtains and the hangings on the mahogany four poster bed. It offered views of the stables and the sunrise of course. It could be a good choice.

The second was placed towards the north side of the house with mainly yellow décor. It offered views of the trees and the entrance to the house along with glimpses of the rolling fields beyond the treeline. She found it quite cosy but she wanted to see what the other rooms had to offer first. Perhaps she wanted a bit more light.

The third was placed in the eastern end of the house and the décor was too red, almost burgundy. There were golden accents on the walls and there was some relief in an almost golden carpet but it didn't help much. The sun was burning in through the windows as was only natural since this room was facing south. It had a view of the lake where the Manor itself could be glimpsed across the vast lake. But the room itself was just too much. She just couldn't.

The fourth room was blue. A beautiful breezy sky blue with light fabrics used in the curtains and around the mahogany four-poster bed. The carpet was a simple off-white and even the furniture seemed both light and sturdy at the same time. This room faced west and with the gorgeous views of rollings hills and trees beyond. And, she would be able to see the sundown from here. She spun around, taking it all in. This was definitely her room.

She peered into the bathroom and grinned, this room was the only one with a spa installed. All the other rooms had bathtubs. The walk-in was much too large for her needs but it was still a nice luxury she hadn't expected.

Harry plopped ungracefully down on the settee. "Nice choice 'Mione. This is definitely the best room."

She squealed. Loudly. Which was very unlike her but she just couldn't help herself.

She was finally here.

So finally they met. Please let me know what you think!

HBSJ