Catching Her Heart Pt. 2

Chapter 69

After lunch, Hermione followed Hickory and went on a tour of the rest of the first floor, ending in his study. It was a large room with books along all the walls, a desk in the corner opposite two over stuffed chairs that sat before a fire place, and there was a double sided bookshelf dividing the room on one side, so that when you looked at the wall from the desk, you saw a squared W shape.

"See that there?" he asked, pointing to where there was a space in the doubled sided shelf between two books.

"The space?" Hermione asked.

"Aye girl," Hickory said. "That's the one. That be where Oliver got the Alchemical duodecimo that he gave you."

Hermione swallowed. "Please, sir," she said. "I - I have it with me... it's in my trunk. You can have it back if you want it."

"Naw, lass," Hickory said, shaking his head. "I just wanted you to see where it goes when it's time to return it."

Hermione looked at him strangely at that. "I - I have it now, I've already finished reading it. I don't mind returning to you now."

"Its all right," Hickory said. "You hang onto it for a while. You'll know when its time to return it."

"Dad," Oliver called, entering the study. "Would you leave her be, please?"

"Now why should I do that?" Hickory asked.

"Because she might not get your sense of humor," Oliver said in exasperation.

"And just who said I was kidding?" Hickory asked.

"Hickory!" Juniper called. "Are you done yet?"

Oliver arched a brow, a smirk forming on his lips. "You know, I think mum's wanting to take her out to the barn."

"Probably right," Hickory muttered. "Off with ya now then," he said and made a shooing motion with his hands and winked at Hermione as she grinned and followed Oliver off to find Juniper.

"Now this, is one of my true loves," Juniper said, leading Hermione to a separate corral that attached to the mare barn. Part of the corral was shaded with large English Oak trees, but Hermione could tell that there was something in the corral. Juniper whistled as they approached and the most beautiful horse Hermione had ever seen trotted into the sunlight. "This is Quicksilver," Juniper said as the striking horse came up to her and she held out her hand to pet it. "She's a Golden Akhal Teke." Hermione was awestruck by the beauty of the mare before her, and she wondered if its breed was related to the unicorn, recalling how its coat shone so, even in the darkness of the Forbidden Forest.

"She's beautiful," Hermione said.

"Aye," Hickory said coming up to the corral next to them. "That she is, like a shiny new Sickle."

Hermione had to agree with his assessment as the sun played on her coat, giving it a metallic sheen.

"We have twenty horses here," Juniper said. "Three stallions, the rest, except for this one here, are brood mares."

"Why not this one?" Hermione asked curiously.

"That's because she's still a filly," Juniper said.

"That means that she's still too young," Oliver said. "She's only a three year old this year."

"Horses don't breed until they are at least four years old," Hickory said.

"Is- is that why there are three barns?" Hermione said, having noticed two more she didn't see from the road when they walked down."

"Yes," Juniper said. "That's exactly why. The larger barn is for the stallions, they fight if they're kept too close. Then the next smallest is for the the foal barn, it has room in the stalls for the foals and the mares together, and the smaller barn is for the mares. Quicksilver is out here because her stall in the foal barn needs to be cleaned."