Pony Power

Franki had snuck out during dinner to head down to the Care of Magical Creatures paddock and try and locate the ponies Thorburn had brought in. Franki could not get enough of the little creatures- she was sure she was going to end up begging Draco to buy her a few over the summer. The problem of where they could put them would be solved sure enough, she supposed. They had found a manor home Lucius had used as a vacation home. Franki supposed that would be her new home soon enough.

Franki had finally reached the paddock and could see the figures of the grazing ponies, the sun setting over the trees and giving them a majesty she thought they deserved. She stepped up, her feet stepping onto the first rung of the wooden paddock, leaning over it as her hands gripped the top slat. She breathed in the air, at ease. Suddenly, she heard a twig snap and she wheeled around, sure that she would be berated for being too near the creatures.

Oh how he'd missed being able to come to the paddock just for fun. At home it was all boring for him, even if he had plenty of things to keep him busy. Jayden wasn't the type of person to be interested in something for very long unless he actually liked that thing. The only things that really interested Jayden were animals. He loved being in their company, and much preferred it to the company of humans. It was always much easier to be surrounded by animals, even though they could hurt you, than it was to be surrounded by humans.

As he reached the paddock, Jayden noticed that someone was already there, and she was a girl too. The boy winced slightly at the sight of her and he sighed softly. He moved behind a tree close to the paddock and watched her from there; she didn't seem like she was going anything bad. He stepped forward slightly and stepped on a twig that broke and he glanced up to see the girl start to turn around. He immediately threw himself back behind the tree with his back to the trunk and he sighed.

Franki looked around, her voice caught in her throat. She was already a laughingstock among her peers. The Slytherins all seemed to think Care of Magical Creatures was a weak subject, and to care about it anymore than earn the grades mummy and daddy expected was foolish. If she were caught by any of her housemates, her fall to shame would become worse very quickly.

She looked around, her breath hot and loud in the resuming silence. She finally decided she was alone and returned to her perch on the fence. She looked towards one of the ponies and held out a hand, clucking her tongue. "C'mere, lovely. Over here." A pony looked her way and trotted towards her, bumping it's nose against her hand. The little palomino drew closer and she ran her hands over his neck. "Good boy. Good little guy."

Jayden peeked out from behind the tree and looked at the person who was there. As he looked at her, he realized that he knew her. Not that he spoke to her much, but he still knew who she was. She was the youngest out of the Malfoy kids if he remembered right. That was pretty much all he knew though. He blinked a couple of times before he moved away from the tree and started walking over to her.

He didn't think any of the Malfoys really liked CoMC but he was wrong apparently. Franki seemed to like them well enough. He smiled slightly and walked up to the paddock, feeling leaves crunch under his feet softly. "Good to know that someone besides me likes taking Care of Magical Creatures because they like animals, instead of just because they need a good grade and they think it would be easy.

Franki cursed herself for not bringing any sort of treats out for the ponies- carrots, apples, oats. She'd bet Merlin's left pocket that if she asked, the house elves could have given her a bag of sugar cubes to spoil on the muggle creatures. Franki would have to deal with her lack of foresight. Besides, the little palomino didn't seem to mind having nothing beyond human attention.

She heard the crumbling of leaves and she turned around, wheeling around with a start, causing the palomino to nicker distressingly and skitter away. A boy approached her, one of the only other student to really pay attention in their Care of Magical Creatures class. She smiled and said, "Yeah. Yeah, some people are just thick I guess." She relaxed and held out a hand to him. "I'm Franki Malfoy."