So Long Sweet Summer

Chapter Eight

The Getaway

Draco needed to get away from the manor. This whole summer had been the complete opposite of what he expected. He needed some solitude to collect his thoughts. He got a bag packed with food by one of the house-elves - not Tutici - and made his way towards the family stables.

He thumped through the place, wrinkling his nose at the smell of hay and manure. It always took awhile for him to get use to it. To Draco's annoyance, it seemed that all the stable help had been dismissed for the summer and the elves were accompanying his parents on their trip. Grabbing a lead chain off of the rack, Draco headed out to the pasture to fetch his horse.

Gingerly, he opened the gate and stepped into the field. Draco couldn't remember when the last time he had had to fetch his own horse was. The herd had settled themselves at the very end of the field, near the road into town. There were twelve horses in all; three were his, three his mother's, and six belonged to his father.

Draco spied his black gelding, Charlie, grazing near the spruce tree in the right corner of the field. Draco began to pick his way across the field, carefully maneuvering around the piles of manure that dotted the ground. As he got closer, Draco noticed a figure sitting on the fence beside Charlie - a very familiar figure. 'For Merlin's sake,' thought Draco. He just couldn't seem to get away from Hermione. How did she manage always to pop up wherever he tried to go?

He let out a low whistle as he approached Charlie so that the horse wouldn't be frightened. Hermione looked up in shock as she heard Draco. He slid his hand across the back of the horse, up and over the withers. Draco was lucky - sometimes Charlie didn't want to go for a ride. Grasping the horse's halter, Draco clipped the lead on.

"Do you know how to ride, Granger?" he asked, addressing her for the first time.

She regarded him thoughtfully, shielding her eyes from the bright sun with one hand. She jumped down from the fence, and came up to lightly stroke Charlie's cheek.

"I'm amazed you're out doing such menial tasks, Malfoy," she commented. "Don't you have hired help to do these sort of things?"

"Normally," Draco responded with a grimace.

"So you're going for a ride, then?"

"No, Granger," Draco replied in annoyance. "I'm fetching Charlie here for our date. I figured a spot of tea and a rousing game of Wizard's Chess would be nice."

Hermione wrinkled her nose at him. "No need to be snarky," she said, running her hands through the horse's mane.

"Is there something in particular you want, Granger?" Draco asked in exasperation. "Would you like to go for a ride?"

Hermione beamed up at him. "I thought you'd never ask," she answered cheekily.

Draco saw that his other horse, Casper, had wandered over towards them. Tugging Charlie behind him, he went over toward the grey horse and grabbed its halter. Holding the horses on either side of him, Draco began to walk back up towards the stables.

"Are you coming?" he called over his shoulder to Hermione who hadn't begun to move. She gave a small nod before following him.

Draco refused to talk to her during the hike back up to the stable. He was too busy chastising himself for inviting her along. This ride was suppose to get him away from her, allow him to sort out his thoughts. Having Hermione come along pretty much ruined all of those plans.

Reaching the stables, Draco clipped each horse to a set of crossties. He looked behind him and saw that Hermione was hesitating at the door to the barn, unwilling to come in.

"Are you just going to lurk, or will you be useful for once and help?" Draco remarked, walking over to where she stood.

"Aren't they a bit dangerous?" Hermione asked, trepidation sneaking into her voice. "I mean," she said, becoming a bit more confident, "I don't know if I can trust you're horses, Malfoy. They're probably trained not to obey Muggleborns."

"Don't be an idiot, Granger," Draco said in annoyance. "The only thing these horses will react to is if they can sense your fear. If they can tell you're afraid and don't know what you're doing, they will take advantage of that."

Draco walked back into the stables and to the tack room. Hermione still wasn't following him.

"Come on,' he yelled to her. "I've never used the spells that the servants normally use, so we have to do this the hard way. Two sets of hands are better than one."

Finally, Hermione decided to come inside. She skirted the horses at a far distance, carefully staying away from their hind ends, in fear of getting kicked. She entered the tack room and Draco immediately shoved a large leather saddle into her arms. He noted that she buckled under the weight of it, obviously not comfortable with the foreign object.

"That's Charlie's saddle, go put it on him," Draco instructed. "Oh," he said, remembering something. "You'll need this."

With that, he tossed the girth at Hermione. She just barely caught it without dropping the saddle on the ground. He watched in amusement as she staggered out of the room, girth placed awkwardly over her shoulder.

Draco was just getting the equipment for Casper as well as the two bridles, when he heard a commotion out in the corridor where Hermione and the horses were. Grabbing the rest of the equipment that he needed, Draco made his way out to where she was.

Seeing Hermione toppled over on the floor, saddle fallen on top of her, had Draco doubled over in laughter. Chuckling at Hermione's glare - her response to his laughter - Draco propped the saddle on his left arm against his hip and reached down to pull the other saddle off of Hermione. She scrambled to her feet, dusting off herself as she avoided looking Draco in the eye.

"The saddle's heavier than I thought," she mumbled as a blush blossomed on her cheeks.

"You're completely useless, you know that, Granger?" he remarked.

Hermione puffed up in anger. "Just because I've never saddled a horse, Malfoy-"

"So you never read about it in a book, then?" he interrupted.

"I don't learn everything from books," she spat, planting her hands on her hips.

"Of course not," he replied sarcastically.

"I don't!" she reiterated.

Draco just rolled his eyes and shook his head. He handed the saddle back to Hermione and moved past her to where Casper was tied up. Effortlessly he hoisted the saddle up onto the horse's back. Depositing the two bridles that he still held on hooks off to the side, Draco quickly fastened the saddle in place.

Hermione was still standing with then other saddle in her arms beside Charlie. Sneering at her, Draco pulled it out of her grasp and saddled up his horse.

"I don't suppose you know how to bridle a horse either?" Draco asked, anticipating a negative answer. She shook her head. "Well, while I do this, you can go grab two helmets from the change rooms," he instructed waving his hand towards the room. "Mine is clearly marked, but you'll have to use one of the servant's." Hermione gave him a dirty look at that, but nevertheless went off to get the helmets. "Grab us each a crop, too," he called after her.Hermione turned around, eyes wide in shock. "I am NOT going to hit an animal with one of those things, Draco Malfoy! That is simply inhumane!""Suit yourself," Draco said, not really concerned. "But you'd better still fetch me one. It's your own problem if you want to ride without."Hermione disappeared from sight and Draco made quick work of Casper's bridle. He waited impatiently for her to return, his foot tapping on the ground. Finally she turned the corner, his helmet and crop in hand - and his mother's helmet on her head.

"I said a servant's helmet, Granger," he restated. "My mother would not be pleased with you soiling her property."

Hermione gave him a dirty look. "It's the only one that fits, Malfoy," she replied through gritted teeth.

Taking Casper's reins from him, she shoved Draco's things at him. He fastened the helmet, and pulled on his riding gloves that had been tucked into his pocket. Draco bridled up Charlie and proceeded to lead the two of them out of the stables. Standing in the yard in front, Draco quickly mounted his horse and turned towards Hermione. She was still standing on the ground, looking up at him.

"I don't think I'm tall enough to do this, Malfoy," she admitted.

"Are you going to at least try before giving up?" he asked.

"But -" she began, before stopping herself.

Hermione placed her left foot in the stirrup and tried to pull herself up. For a second, Draco thought she might actually make it, before she lost her grip and fell on her arse.

"For Merlin's sake," Draco grumbled as he began to slide out of his saddle.

"No!" Hermione cried. "I can do this on my own," she declared, her stubbornness coming back.

Draco shrugged and continued to watch her struggle. It took Hermione a good five tries before she finally made it atop the horse. When she was seated on Casper, Hermione looked over and gave Draco a triumphant look.

"Don't look so full of yourself," Draco said, not impressed. "Real equestrians can do that on the first try."

Hermione gave him a look of disdain. "And I suppose you're a real equestrian, then?"

"I never said that," Draco replied. "But I have been riding since I was able to walk."

"Ah, the life of a spoiled, rich prat," Hermione said. "I suppose they had you out playing polo at a young age too?"

"Polo?"

Hermione shook her head. "Sorry, Muggle thing."

Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Muggle's play the strangest sports."

"I think they're ingenious and entertaining," Hermione said in defense.

"I think they're trivial and petty."

Hermione pursed her lips in annoyance. "Then what's Quidditch?"

Draco opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off as Charlie whinnied loudly and pawed the ground. "Let's just get going, Granger," he said instead.

Hermione sent him a look that plainly said I won. Ignoring her, he gave his horse a slight kick and led them out of the yard.

Everything seemed to be going fine; Draco leading her through the hillside to a particular picnic spot he had come to when he was younger. That was, until he heard Hermione's frustrated cries from behind him.

"Malfoy!" she called out. "He won't seem to go!"

Draco circled back to find that Casper had hauled her over to the side of the path and was happily munching on the grass. Hermione seemed to be trying as hard as she could to pull his head away, but Casper was having none of it.

Draco came beside her. "This," he remarked, "is why you need to carry a riding crop." He proceeded to smack Casper's arse.

He just barely registered Hermione's scream as Casper took off at a canter. Hermione had been thrown forward in the saddle and was desperately clinging to the horse's neck. Draco sighed and shook his head.

"Lean back, Granger!" Draco bellowed after her, but she didn't seem to obey him. "GRANGER!" Draco yelled again. "I'm not coming to save you! Lean back and PULL!"

It was a couple seconds more before she seemed to register was Draco was saying. Leaning back, she put her weight back onto the saddle and pulled on the reins with all her might. Slowly, Casper slowed down and broke from the canter to a trot and then to a walk.

When Draco caught up to them, Granger was bent double in the saddle, panting for breath. She looked up as she heard them approach. Draco was taken aback to see tear tracks on her cheeks.

"No need to cry, Granger," he said. "Just a bit of excitement for your dreary life."

"You could have come after me!" she cried, another tear falling down her cheek.

"Why in the world would I do that?" Draco asked, surprised.

Hermione sniffed. "Sorry, I must have forgotten, bravery isn't a Slytherin trait," she replied nastily.

"And I suppose common sense isn't something Gryffindors possess," Draco retorted. "We race these horses, Granger. If I chased after you they would have thought it was just another competition."

"You still could have done something!" she accused.

"Like what? I don't know what you were expecting me to have done, Granger," Draco said, baffled at her reaction to what had happened. "I told you how to stop him, and when you finally took my advice, Casper stopped."

Hermione huffed, but Draco could tell she knew he was right. "Let's just keep going," Hermione said. "And no more using the crop!"

----

About thirty minutes later, they reached the picnic spot. It was a point on the summit of one of the hills surrounding the Malfoy Manor. Below them, the grounds of the Manor, the lake, and the surrounding towns, stretched out towards the horizon. Draco tied the horses up at an old hitching post his father had placed there years ago.

Plopping himself underneath one of the trees dotting the hillside, Draco opened his rucksack and pulled out the food he had gotten packed for himself. It wasn't until he took a bite into his roast beef sandwich, that he remember that Hermione was there too and probably hungry.

With a sigh, Draco handed over the other half of the sandwich to her. "You're lucky my house-elves packed too much, Granger."

He looked over at her, and was surprised to see that she was examining the sandwich in amusement. "What?" he asked around a mouthful of roast beef.

"Your house-elves cut the crust off for you, Malfoy?" Hermione giggled. "That's so cute!"

"I don't have to feed you," Draco threatened.

"Look, Malfoy," Hermione said, finished her sandwich. "I need to talk to you about something."

"What is it now?" Draco asked. "You already threatened me over the Krum debacle, remember?"

"It's not that," Hermione admitted, looking down at her hands, blushing slightly.

"Well what is it then?" Draco asked, getting aggravated.

Hermione moved closer to him, so that he could feel her pressed right up against his side. Her hand began tracing patterns across his thigh. She looked up at him and Draco could have sworn she batted her eyelashes!

"Granger..." Draco warned, not quite sure what she was up to.

She took a deep breath. "I just wanted to tell you that I've really appreciated how you've been acting this summer." She inched close, her face only inches from his. "You've been so uncharacteristically kind and really helped me out. Thank you."

Draco was frozen in shock, wondering what Granger was trying to do. She was so close he could smell the garlic on her breath from their lunch. Softly, Hermione pressed her lips against Draco's. He didn't move; Draco was as stiff as a board, completely confused as to what was going on.

Suddenly, Hermione pushed herself away from him. "I can't do this!" she cried.

"Granger, I don't know what you're trying to pull..." Draco started.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy. I don't know why I agreed to go through with this," Hermione said, burying her head in her hands.

"Agreed to what?" Draco asked. "For Merlin's sake, Granger, what are you talking about!"

"It's all just a scheme!" Hermione wailed. "When Ron and Harry heard that I would be vacationing here near your home, they came up with this idea. I was suppose to try and seduce you, make you trust me, learn anything you might know about V-V-Voldemort!"

"Granger-" Draco began.

"It's all a lie!" she exclaimed, cutting him off. "I wasn't unwanted at the Burrow and they would have come to my race, except they had certain... duties to fulfill," she explained cryptically.

"Granger-" Draco tried again.

"I'm so sorry, Malfoy," Hermione said. "But I just can't do it, even to someone I use to hate. It just isn't fair."

With that, Hermione jumped to her feet and ran towards the horses. She made quick work of untying Casper, and this time it only took her two tries to get on the horse's back.

"Granger, wait!" Draco yelled as she kicked the horse into a trot.

Hermione turned just before she went around a bend in the road. Giving Draco an apologetic look, she continued to flee.