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Title: In the Stables

Contributors: pb_prince, wings_of_charm

Edited by: Carla Lute

Posted: 2006-01-17 to 20

Game Date: September 7^th

Disclaimer: No one at Levicorpus owns Harry Potter, the world or its characters. We just like to play in J.K. Rowling’s world.

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Blaise went to the stable to meet Promise at the appointed time.

Promise had just finished putting Eclipse's grain into the bin it belonged in and was pitching in the last of the hay when Charm flitted up to her and informed her that Blaise was on his way. She smiled and picked some hay out of Charm's fur as the cat did the same to her hair.

By the time Blaise arrived Promise was sitting calmly on a bale of hay waiting for him. Charm flitted over to greet him happily.

"Hello, Blaise, lovely evening," Promise said with a smirk as if she hadn't been expecting him

"'lo" Blaise said, flicking his eyes about the stable. He had not been in here before. "You said, you knew something about dealing with dragons?"

Promise smiled brightly, "I do. Lemongrass. It's that simple. Dragons will not come near lemongrass...well it repels pretty much all reptiles, especially serpents. I actually took the liberty of..." She trailed off and looked around for her saddlebags. She found them then dug through them for a moment then pulled out a smaller bag, out of which she pulled a large woven 'lei' like ring made of, presumably, lemongrass.

"..Making you this." She tossed the lemongrass 'necklace' to Blaise. "Put it around your neck in dragon country to keep them away. Also, Put these sprigs," she pulled out a ziplock baggie full of lemongrass and gave it to him, "in the brush end of your broom at random. Just shove them in there among the broom sprigs."

She pulled out a small bunch of lemongrass that was braided and tied with a black ribbon. "Lastly, burn this. Dragons are big animals. I don't know how much lemongrass is needed to repel them. Better to have too much than not enough, right?"

Promise loooked thoughtful. "Really that's all you should need, or so my brother told me."

Suddenly she looked slightly concerned, "Hey, and if you actually run into some real trouble I want you to summon Charm. She can emit a sound that repels predators, and she's just useful to have around in a pinch. We really don't want you to get hurt. To call her flick your wand three times, say 'Advoco' then say Charm's name while visualizing her in your mind. Then you blow across the top of your wand. Like this.."

She flicked her wand three times saying "Advoco" then blew across the tip of her wand as she'd indicated. A very soft sound that resembled birdsong fluttered off of her lips.

Charm, who had found her way over to Blaise for greetings and pets fluttered her wings and nodded vigorously.

"Charm won't actually hear that sound, but she'll know where to go. It's how my parents call her to get a letter to me...she can actually sing like that to if she wants to, but she's to cranky usually."

Eclipse stamped impatiently from her stall, and Promise got up to feed her a 'horse cookie' as she called them. "I really don't think I can offer any more help for you for the race though. I'm not really a broom person myself. I mean if you need help sneaking away to GET to the race I might be able to help out...if you don't get permission, that is. Other than that I'm not sure what I can do...I guess you can try me though. I'm willing to help…partly because I'm bored but mostly because Charm likes you so much...and I suppose I don't hate you either."

"It's nice not to be hated," Blaise said indifferently. He was not sure what to make of all the help Promise was offering him. "Advoco?"

Promise returned to her previous spot near Blaise and nodded. "Yes, Advoco. It's a spell my father came up with a long time ago to call Charm for mail purposes but it can actually work for calling anyone, but I've never used it for anyone but Charm."

Promise hesitated before she spoke up again, "Just out of curiosity, how are you planning on doing this? The race. If you can't get permission how are you going to handle the situation?"

Blaise tucked the lemongrass away in his pockets and walked towards the winged horse to get a better look. "I'll just leave if have to. They're not allowed to stop us leaving permanently. Or I could find a way to get kicked out I suppose." But Draco said he had an idea...

Eclipse looked as if she were about to step back when Promise stood and put a calming hand on her neck. "It's ok, little sister. He's a good guy, he won't hurt you." She said quietly to the horse causing her to calm down.

"You can pet her if you'd like. She won't hurt you now. She doesn't like guys very much, but if you reassure her she won't mind you. Hell, Charm liked you, maybe she will too. Charm is a very good judge of character."

When Blaise mentioned leaving school she frowned and looked a little concerned, "Well I hope we can avoid that. We'd miss you, Charm and I. I don't really talk to a lot of people here."

Blaise spared Promise a short glance when she called him a "good guy". He placed his hand on the bridge of the horse's nose, gingerly stroking the space between her eyes and mouth and keeping half and eye on her teeth.

"It's only the first week," he said dismissively. "Do you think she'd mind if I touched her wings?"

Promise shrugged at the first week of school comment and stroked Eclipse's neck. When he asked if Eclipse would allow him to touch her wings, she smiled and nodded.

"Yeah it won't be a problem at all, go right ahead. We can even give you a ride if you want."

Blaise considered that, but he was already taking a risk by being out after curfew. "Maybe another time," he said. He climbed into the stall, set down lightly, and went to touch Eclipse's wing where it met the shoulder, following the direction of the hair with his fingers.

Eclipse stretched out her neck happily. Her mouth working ever so slightly as she contemplated her glee.

Promise laughed a little, "Oh, pah. Like they'd ever find out. And I could tell them I needed some strong man-arms to help me haul hay." She smiled and shook her head, "But I suppose it can wait."

Promise slid into the stall as well then used a rung of the gait to launch herself onto the huge horse's back. When she landed Eclipse raised one of her wings to steady Promise, and Promise lay on her stomach on Eclipse's back looking down at Blaise cheerfully.

"I do not haul hay," Blaise said as Promise got on the horse's back.

Promise slid another horse treat out of her pocket and handed it to Blaise. "Here, give her that. She might forget that you're a guy, or at least be friendly with you when I'm not around. She likes food almost as much as fatty over there," she said, indicating Charm.

Blaise took the treat and gave it to the horse. He felt suddenly bored with it. "I'm going back in," he said wiping his hand on his robes.

Promise sat up on Eclipse's back. "Alright, have a good night," She said then clicked her tongue. Eclipse backed up a few steps then ran forward and bounded over the stall gate, which was relatively short.

They thundered off, and in a flurry of feathers rose into the air for their evening exercise.

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