Unofficial Portkey Archive

Hey guys, back with another long chapter. I'm anxious to get you guys caught up and since I'll be out tonight at a concert and will be busy babysitting tomorrow night, I thought I'd make this update extra long. Thanks again guys for your support, I know I'm repeating myself, but it really does mean a lot to you. And I'm so glad most of you like the relationship between Macey and Ron. I'm glad ya'll are sticking through it, because trust me...once H/Hr start, it's gonna be guuuuuud. I'm dragging out H/Hr right now, because I don't want to rush them. They are too special to rush! Thanks again guys!

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Chapter 11

"I'm so excited we're getting to go to your ranch," Hermione said with a smile as she looked out the window, watching the country life pass her by. She had her eyes trained on a baby colt trotting across a pasture and giggled when it stumbled and almost fell.

"I'm glad we got to go, too," Macey said who was sitting in the drivers seat. "It'll be nice to get away and keep my mind off.....things."

Ron who was sitting in the passenger side reached over and patted her leg for comfort. Ever since that night, when Ron crawled in bed with Macey, their relationship became stronger. However, they still fought like cats and dogs.

The four of them had piled into Macey's dad's car, with Sugar in the very back, and were headed down to the family ranch. They were only staying overnight and her parents would be coming down the following day. After the ranch, the plan was to head back to London to visit family and friends, then maybe heading somewhere else for their long vacation.

Harry was in the back seat with Hermione and was fast asleep while his head rested heavily on Hermione's shoulders. Hermione just continued to watch the scenery travel by her, barely noticing that her shoulder was going numb.

Ron shifted in his seat and let out a sigh. "How much longer? I'm dying here."

"You are such a baby, Ron, you would never have survived as a Muggle," Macey said as she fiddled with the radio. "We're about a half an hour away."

"Why did you want to travel by car anyway?" Ron asked annoyingly. "I mean...what's the point of traveling by car, when we could be there in one millisecond."

Macey shrugged as she smiled softly. "I miss road trips."

"What?"

She looked over at him. "I miss the road trips I use to take."

Ron looked at her like she was mad. "You mean you LIKE being in a car for over an hour?"

"I like traveling with my friends, listening to music and talking.....so yeah, I do."

"I like it, too!" Hermione said from the back a little too loudly because Harry's head jerked off her shoulder.

"Are we there?" he asked groggily as he rubbed his neck.

"Not yet," Macey said. "Almost." She then suddenly lifted the collar of her shirt and pulled it over her nose.

Ron looked at her weird. "What are you....ugh, what is that smell!" He quickly copied Macey and yanked his shirt over his nose, while Hermione and Harry did the same, gagging in the back.

"Skunk," Macey's voice muffled from under her shirt. "Very common around here. It's worse when they get run over."

"Ugh, that's foul!" Ron winced. "I've never smelled anything so revolting."

"So what's at your ranch, Mace?" Harry asked as he hesitantly put his shirt down and was relieved that the smell had gone away.

"We've got horses and cows, we'll definitely go riding when we get there."

"Riding?" Ron asked hesitantly.

"Yeah...like horseback riding."

"Oh, I don't know about that."

She laughed. "Ron, you can ride a broomstick hundreds of feet in the air, I think you could handle riding a horse."

"I've ridden once before," Hermione said. "When I was little my Dad took me and I loved it. It's been awhile though, I was nine the last time I was on a horse."

"I've never been on one, but I'm up for it," Harry said, putting his two cents in.

"It'll be fun, it's a good way to see the property. Later tonight we can make drinks and cookout in the backyard. Maybe watch a late movie or something. It's just a place to go to chill, really."

"Good, that's what I need right now," Harry said as he let out a breath. "Your family and friends are wonderful....but exhausting. That friend Justin of yours kept making me drink the other night at The Barley House."

"You guys were trashed," Macey laughed when she remembered the other night. It was her first time out since the incident at the Loon and her friends were great. They made her laugh, bought her drinks all night and made her realize that as long as she had her friends, she was okay.

"I'll say." Harry nudged Hermione. "Did I tell you that Justin told me you were hot?"

Hermione choked on her water she was drinking from the waterbottle "No," she sputtered. "Forgot to mention that one."

"Yeah, he said that if he didn't have a girlfriend, he would have been getting you drunk instead of me."

Hermione's jaw dropped and Macey just laughed saying, "That's Justin for you."

"What did you say?" Hermione asked shocked.

He shrugged. "I agreed."

"You agreed?"

He looked at her. "Well, yeah....you are hot Hermione....you realize that don't you?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not."

Ron turned around in his seat to look back at her. "You know, for someone who graduated at the top of the class at school, you can be very naive."

"Excuse me?"

"Harry's right, Hermione...geesh, you've been hot since our fourth year."

"Fourth?" Harry repeated. "No, she's always been hot...well, I guess describing an eleven year old as 'hot' isn't really right....but you were pretty freaking adorable at eleven."

Hermione blushed as she looked out the window. "You guys are crazy."

Harry shook his head. "She'll never get it."

"It's a lost cause," Ron said turning back around in his seat. "Macey, do you know that you're hot?"

Macey let out a laugh. "Hun, of course I'm hot. I'm sexy as hell!"

They all laughed. "Good," Ron said with a smile. "Least one of you has a clue."

"I guess we're still going to have to work on, Hermy over here," Harry said as she gave her a playful wink.

She scowled. "You know I hate that nickname and I will forever hate Hagrid for making it up."

"Oooh, she's especially sexy when she's angry."

Hermione replied by slugging him on the arm which only made him laugh harder.

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Ron, who was dressed and ready for a day of riding, opened the screen door of the front of the ranch house. Sugar slid by him and trotted down the stone steps and he watched her frolic out towards the grassy meadow ahead. He turned back into the house, wondering where everyone was. "Harry? Hermione? Are you almost ready?"

"Almost!" Hermione yelled from the direction of the bedrooms. "Macey's already out there!"

"I'll be out in a sec!" Harry yelled out a second later.

"Okay, see ya out there!" he yelled before he walked out, letting the screen door slam behind him as he walked down the steps. Sugar came up to greet him happily as she playfully jumped up on him. "Woah, down Sugar," he chuckled before patting the side of her stomach. "Where's Mace huh?"

He heard a horse neigh and he looked over to the right where the horse corral was and saw Macey standing in the middle of it. He walked over and took notice to three horses tied securely to the fence with halters on, but one horse was still in the corral. It was a big horse, almost sort of a reddish color and stood facing Macey while she had her hands on her hips looking very impatient. She then firmly pointed to the horse and then snapped her fingers before forcefully pointing down at her feet. He watched in amazement as the horse bent his head down in defeat and slowly walked towards her.

"I know, I know," Macey said as she put the halter on him. "It's just awful.....you are so unloved." The horse then playfully nudged her in her chest with her nose. "Well...then stop being a baby and I won't treat you like one."

Ron looked at her in amusement. It was as if she was having a conversation with the horse. "Hey," he said as he leaned his arms over the fence and propped one foot up on bottom wire.

She looked over and smiled. "Hey Ron...I was just telling Fatty here to stop being a baby." The horse then nipped at her shirt. "Well you are.....he doesn't like it when I call him that. His real name is Cowboy."

"And he understands you?" he asked with a laugh.

"As a matter of fact he does," she said and then patted his neck before leading him to the gate. "It's a gift I have...a rare gift. I can communicate with animals."

"Really?" he asked intrigued as he walked over to the gate to meet her on the other side. "All animals?"

"Well, only warm-blooded animals," she told him as she led Cowboy over to a small wooden building called the tack room, which all the horses supplies and equipment were held. "This big fella here is quite the jokester. He thought it would be funny to steal my hat and frolic around with it while I chased him." She sighed as she looked at Cowboy with annoyance. "I finally pulled out my good old wand and got my hat back."

Ron eyed the horse studying it carefully and noticed that his nickname did him justice. His stomach was extremely wide that he almost looked like a pot bellied pig. He was red all over, except down at his hooves, which were white, almost looking like he sported white socks. He then looked at his two front feet and laughed. "Is he pigeon toed?"

Macey came out of the tack room with a brush and chuckled as she started to brush him. "Yes...but he's very sensitive about it and so I try not to mention it." Cowboy let out a soft whinny. "No, boy, he isn't talking about your hooves." Macey gave Ron a wink and then handed him the brush. "Why don't you take over, while I work on Ladybug."

"Ladybug?"

"The Bay mare over there," she said pointing to the petite brown horse still tied up at the fence but was looking over at them. "That's Cowboy's woman...isn't she boy?" Cowboy vigorously bobbed his head up and down.

Ladybug lifted her head and let out a loud whinny. Macey laughed. "That's right, Buggy, you tell him."

Ron looked uneasily at the brush. "Um...I dunno..."

"It's okay, he won't hurt you, just brush along his neck and over his back. Make sure you get all the dust off."

"Oh, all right," he said as he took her place and hesitantly began to stroke his neck with the brush.

"There, you're doing fine," Macey said as she kept brushing Ladybug.

Moments later, Harry and Hermione came out from the house, both dressed in jeans and a shirt. "Hey guys, need any help?"

"Yeah, find a brush in that tack room and pick a horse," Macey said as she bent down and lifted one of Ladybugs hooves

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"Picking her hooves...getting all...the junk out....and stuff," she said in between breaths as she dug the pick into the hooves as dirt and rocks fell out onto the ground.

"What's this guys name?" Harry asked as he went up to another Bay horse, but this one had a white strip running down his face.

"That's Ranger, he's a real sweetheart. He thinks he's a dog, I've tried to tell him that he's not, but he won't listen."

Harry blinked.

"I can speak to animals...warm blooded."

"Wow," Hermione said as she went up to the fourth horse, who was also a Sorrel like Cowboy, but he also had a white strip running down his nose. "That's a rare gift, I've read about them. Mostly American witches have the power."

"Yeah...that's Captain, Hermione. He's pretty much the leader of the gang....kind of bossy towards the other horses...but loves humans."

"I'm done with Cowboy over here," Ron said.

"Great....I'll start saddling him. You guys can just hang out while I saddle them, I might ask for your help at some point, it's been awhile since I rode."

"Um...Macey?" Hermione asked uneasily as Ranger started to nudge and nip at her shoulder and neck. She giggled when he breathed on her neck. "What is he doing?"

Mace sighed. "He's flirting.....Ranger, for crying out loud, can you stick to your own species."

Ranger let out what sounded like a snicker before he affectionately rubbed his face up and down Hermione's front. Hermione let out a laugh as she put her arms around him. "Oh you are so sweet."

Harry grinned. "Ranger...man, you need to give me pointers."

"Don't encourage him," Macey grunted as she heaved saddle on Cowboy's back. "He loves women."

"My kind of horse!" Harry chuckled as he patted his neck.

It took Macey about twenty minutes to get all four horses saddled and ready and she was now figuring out which one should ride which horse. "Hermione, you should probably ride Ladybug, she doesn't care for the male species all that much."

She laughed as she walked up to Ladybug. "Okay....hey girl."

"Ladybug, you be good." Macey paused and gave Hermione a smile. "She said she'll show ya a good time. Go on, up ya go."

Hermione grabbed the horn of the saddle and climbed up on her back and Macey handed her the reins. "Harry, you hop on Ranger and I'll take Captain. Ron, since you and Cowboy bonded, you can ride him."

"Bonded?" Ron then stumbled when Cowboy nudged him hard with his nose. "Hey!"

"Don't worry, he likes you," she laughed as she mounted Captain. "He thinks it's cool that you have the same hair color as he."

Ron looked at Cowboy warily. "You do huh? Well...in that case do me a favor and try not to buck me off."

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The ride went rather well and to Macey's relief, no one got bucked off. She showed them the entire land, walking the horses down the gravel path down to the bottoms. They trotted through the horse trails that her parents had made up the steep hill back to flat land on top of the bluff. Wildlife was everywhere and thanks to Macey none of the animals were afraid of them.

"When I first realized I had the gift," she had explained to them as the four walked the horses back to the barn. "I told some deer that they would always be safe on our land. See, Mom doesn't allow hunting here at the ranch, at least when she's here. Sometimes, my brothers come up without my parents, but I warned them about my brothers." She laughed. "My brothers were not happy with me. They haven't killed anything yet in years."

Once their ride was over, they helped Macey unsaddle the horses and then to cool them off, rinsed them off with the water hose. Unfortunately, thanks to Ron that ended up being a water fight between the four of them. They were all soaked by the time they were done and called a truce. "I call first shower!" Hermione yelled as she started sprinting towards the house.

"Not if I can help it!" Harry yelled as he started after her.

Hermione flew inside the house into the small hallway veering left to the den, with Harry close on her heels. She shrieked when Harry grabbed her arm and tried to pull her back, but she was aggressive and pushed him away before running through the den to the master bedroom.

Harry caught up with her just in time for her to slam the bathroom door in his face. "Dammit! Hermione, you better not use all the hot water!"

"Oh pipe down!" she said through the door.

Harry scowled when he heard her turn the water on. He was dying for a shower. His brows then rose when he remembered another shower at the back of the house. He quickly ran back out to the den, through the hallway and to the kitchen where Macey was.

"Too late, Ron's in the other one," she said casually as she was fishing through the refrigerator.

"Damn," he mumbled.

She laughed. "Don't worry, you want to wait for the other shower anyway. The shower Ron's using has a really low shower head. I can just bed that Ron is having to squat really low to get his head under there."

Harry chuckled. "Well, in that case I'll wait. What ja doing?"

"I'm making me a glass of wine, then I'm going to start making my dip."

Harry smacked his lips. "Oh goodie. I'll take some wine, too, and I'll help while I wait."

Macey pulled out two glasses of white wine and then poured both their glasses. "While I cook the ground sausage you can up the block of cheese in there."

Harry took a sip of his wine and set it aside. "You got it," he said and then to the cheese which was sitting on a cutting board. "How do you want me to cut it?"

"Just in little cubes," she said as she put the skillet on the stove.

Harry picked up the knife and started slicing away. "Your ranch is great, Mace. Thanks for taking us down here."

"It's my pleasure, I'm glad you guys are here. You're a natural on the horse, Harry."

He chuckled and shrugged. "I figured that if I could ride a skinny broom in the air I can ride a horse. Although, horses are probably harder. You can predict what the brooms going to do, but never a horse." He gathered a handful of cubed cheese and put it in the bowl. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine," she said a little too unconvincingly. "I mean, it will take awhile to get over it, but I'm glad I'm not alone." She pushed the sizzling beef back and forth with her spatula. "But no worries, because I'm fine."

Harry could tell that she was still not fine and still hurting over what her so called boyfriend had done to her. How anyone could hurt such a great girl was beyond him. He just hoped that Ron finally woke up and realized how much he liked Macey and things would be all right with the world. "I'm done cutting the cheese...er...okay, that didn't sound right."

Macey giggled.

"What I meant was, I'm done slicing the cheese in little cubes."

"Great, thanks. Just leave it aside for now."

"What can I do now?"

"Not a thing, making the dip is pretty easy." She picked up her wine with her free hand and took a sip. "Why don't you go relax in the den while you wait for Hermione, see what's on TV or something."

"Okay...only if you're sure there's nothing else I can do."

"Nope, everything's good."

"All right." He picked up his glass of wine and nuzzled her head playfully before he walked out of the kitchen and back to the den. He did a quick drying spell on his clothes before he took a seat in the leather lazy boy snuggled in the corner of the room and then turned on the television to surf.

It wasn't long before he heard the bathroom door open and then Hermione poked her head out. "Showers free."

"Thank Merlin," he sighed as he got up from the lazy boy and went in the bedroom. "Hot water still there?"

Hermione rolled her eyes as she brushed her wet hair while wearing nothing but a towel on. "Yes, hot water is all there, calm down."

He kissed her cheek and gave her a sexy wink. "Thanks babe."

Hermione tried to look annoyed but when he closed the door she couldn't help but shiver whenever he touched her. What was exactly going on? This was Harry for crying out loud, she shouldn't be aware of him so much. The last time she felt like this she was in the bath naked as a jay bird and now she was in just a towel. It was just her feeling vulnerable and awkward....that's all. That had to be it.