Vox Corpis [Harmione]

Chapter 21

Early morning greeted the Richardson farm house with hints of gilded purple and gray. Dew hung heavy in the air and clung in crystal droplets to the grass. Hermione Granger stepped out the front door and took in a deep breath. A smile touched her lips. Behind her, his feet dragging and his mouth gaping in a yawn, followed Harry. He rubbed at his eye underneath his glasses then ruffled a hand through his hair. Kimmy, in dog form, trotted out after them and took off, no doubt to survey the property and stake out any possible danger.

Harry came to a stop beside Hermione and grumbled, "Why'd we have to get up so early for this, again?"

Hermione turned to look at him and frowned. Not in disapproval, but disappointment. "For this," she pointed toward the meadowland that surrounded the house. Empty pastures with unnecessary fences marked where once the land had been home to several horses. Now they were empty plots of pasture with knee-high, sweet-smelling green grass. In one direction was the road, sparsely traveled at this hour, and in the other the pastureland rolled out into a tree-line, the edges of a miniature forest. The early morning fog blanketed the ground, cast a mist that left the trees not so far away in shades of gray and added hazy miles so that they seemed impossibly far away.

Harry didn't see what was so impressive about it, kind of pretty but not early-rising-worthy pretty, but when he glanced over at Hermione he accepted the only truth that mattered… it was impressive to Hermione. She was gazing out at the mist-laden grounds with a faint smile on her face. When she realized Harry was watching her she blushed. "When my mum and dad told me I was a witch, before I'd started at Hogwarts, I read about magic. I wanted to learn about myself, the part of me my parents couldn't teach me. In muggle literature, magic's almost entirely confined to Merlin and the age of courts and knights. I…" Hermione blushed even more fiercely, "I sort of romanticized it, I suppose. Before I knew what magic and wizards today are like, I used to imagine living in Merlin's era, and when I came to Gram's I'd get up really early and take Tiggy and head toward the woods, and I pretended I was heading through the mist to Avalon." Hermione turned her head aside to hide her embarrassment. "It's stupid, I know."

"No," Harry said, and his voice was surprisingly gentle even to his own ears. She looked warily at him, her face down-turned and eyes lifted to watch him. Harry felt sleep vanish and leave in its wake that damnable stomach flutter. He swallowed. "It's not stupid." Harry glanced up again at the foggy earth and realized that it was pretty. And behind those trees… well, from here it seemed there was no limit to the secrets they might hold. Maybe Merlin would be there. He glanced back at Hermione and smiled. "Thank you for showing me."

Hermione smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Come on, we'll get Tiggy and I'll show you the cove."

Harry eagerly followed Hermione.

She led them to a small barn with a fenced pen. At their approach a horse stuck its head out from around the building and pricked its ears forward curiously.

"Tig, Tig, Tiggy," Hermione called and started to climb the fence.

The horse snorted then came out from behind the barn and walked toward the girl. Harry came to a stop at the fence and hung back, content to watch. The chestnut horse's only marking was a stripe down its face. Harry had far more experience with hippogriffs, and for a moment a horse's head on an equine body seemed abnormal.

Hermione and the horse reached one another and Hermione patted the animal's head and kissed it on the nose. She turned as she tangled her fingers in the animal's mane. "This is Antigone. She was my grandfather's calm, Gram always said. Tiggy was the most laid back, sweetest horse Gramp ever had. He used her a lot to keep higher strung horses calm. She had a sedating influence."