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Post by Astoria Greengrass on Jan 3, 2012 20:55:50 GMT -5
Astoria's memories of Malfoy Manor were slim to none. She couldn't remember whether the Malfoys had ever had any big social events that she had had to attend with the rest of her family. So, naturally, she couldn't help looking at everything with the awe that came to one seeing the splendor for the first time. She'd grown up in a large manor. High quality was not foreign to her. But the Malfoys had a style all their own that seemed to radiate clean power.
She followed Draco as he led the way through the tall gates and high hedges, breathing in the air around her. There was something slightly imposing about the Manor's windows. Almost like they were eyes watching her rather than panes of crystal. All the same, the elegance drew her in. It was magnificent and eerie in a way that she liked: Ornate, mysterious, and beautiful.
Her family had been skeptical and suspicious at first. Until Draco showed up on their threshold to take her with him. Astoria hoped that her father hadn't been too rigid during his private talk with Draco that she had not been allowed to hear. Mr. Greengrass loved his daughters, despite his initially distant manners. He was a good father and a protective one. Astoria had inherited the last trait from him. She remembered watching her mother invite Draco in to sit down with a smile that was so similar to Daphne's, and a talkative glow to match. She could only hope that they hadn't embarrassed her too much by talking about how awkward she was as child.
When the door was opened, Astoria stepped through, shifting her bag on her shoulder. Draco's parents were away and her own had actually consented to giving her the ample time to be with him. Perhaps miracles were possible... Her eyes widened as she took in the majestic view of the halls stretching before her, walls lined with fine portraits and gilded furniture everywhere. It was like the best kind of painting. But this was one that she could walk into.
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Post by DRACO MALFOY on Jan 6, 2012 20:59:57 GMT -5
Draco led the way to the Manor slowly. He glanced up at it as they got closer. The house was large. Stunning really with the many windows and the large front porch. The plants and acres of land just added to its beauty. Draco mounted the step to the house and the doors opened almost on their own. It was a house elf of course but they knew to stand behind the door in case any Muggles...filthy creatures...were watching. Draco stepped aside letting Astoria go first and then followed and the door closed behind them.
"May I take your bag?" The elf said now in a slightly high pitched voice to Astoria. It held out a small hand. Draco waited and once the niceties were out of the way, he placed a arm around Astoria's slim waist. "We have all weekend to ourselves." Draco told her. "Is there anything special you would like to do?"
Draco was aware that Astoria had never really had a chance to see the manor as a simple guest. He led her forward now intending to give her a tour if she wanted one. He started along the highly polished wooden hallway floor. The House elf had left. The house was gorgeous.
It was full off antique furniture and richly colored carpets. Large windows let in ample sunlight. They passed by the large curving staircase and continued on. Draco loved having her her.It was not something he would admit, but Draco thought of this a kind of playing house. He grinned a little to himself.
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Post by Astoria Greengrass on Jan 8, 2012 18:30:32 GMT -5
Astoria gratefully handed her bag to the house elf with a smile of thanks. It felt good to get the weight off. The smile widened a bit when Draco put his arm around her, but she soon became distracted by the overwhelming sights in front of her. The place had a clearly refined air to it. There was a perfume that seemed to envelop it all, however, that suggested some vitality hidden beneath the ice-and-stone facade. It was a palace, certainly. But one where its inhabitants had lives.
"This place is brilliant."
She needed better adjectives. Allowing herself to be led along, Astoria thought of Daphne playing the piano in a place like this, or maybe herself sketching out in the gardens when the sun was going down. The images just seemed to fit. What did it look like at night...? Did the halls glow like they did now or would they grow dark and block out every little sound?
Astoria slipped her own arm around Draco. She would have plenty of time to find out. The pride that she could read on his face made her laugh inside. Her eyes had a shine in them as she took in more and more of the manor. It seemed to keep stretching out just when she thought it would end. Another thing she liked.
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Post by DRACO MALFOY on Jan 8, 2012 23:08:18 GMT -5
Draco stepped a little closer to her when Astoria's arm embraced him. She did not answer his question though. So Draco was still at square one. They continued through the house finally coming to the kitchen. There were three house elves here. They had been busing themselves making dinner. When Draco and Astoria entered., the elves hurried over bowing slightly. Three voices began asking if they were hungry or thirsty or needed anything at all. Draco wanted nothing at the moment and shook his head. He did not know about Astoria however.
He had not really been thinking about food when he had brought her in here. Actually he wanted to show her the back of the house. He stepped out the back door and into the back yard. When Astoria had joined him, Draco spoke. "There is plenty to do here.:" He told her softly.
The grass sloped down here and at the bottom of the slope was a pool which was magically kept warm. There was a picnic area past the cabana and it was complete with a fire pit in the ground though they never used it anymore. They had when Draco was younger but his father had very little time for things like that anymore. Half a mile away was the edge of the forest and too the left the single floor long barn. "Are you tired?" Draco asked now. "Do you want to rest or something?" It was not often that he had a guest here. He was not sure how to do this.
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Post by Astoria Greengrass on Jan 9, 2012 21:03:43 GMT -5
Astoria smiled at his slight awkwardness at hosting. There certainly was a million things to do here. Part of her wondered what they had ever done around the fire pit. Somehow, the mental image of the Malfoys making s'mores didn't seem possible. Definitely amusing, nonetheless.
Her eyes caught as they moved over the barn. Her head tilted thoughtfully. One couldn't walk across their yard without seeing that the family owned exotic animals, but the concept of them being the outdoor type was also a bit hard to fathom. What other kinds of creatures did they own? She thought of the stables that her own family possessed and of how she and her sister used to ride horses together when they had truces. With all of the money the Malfoys had, the possibilities were endless. Horses? Thestrals? Giant peacocks? One never knew for sure.
The water sparkled down below, nearby and natural. But they could always swim later. Her curiosity outweighed her inclination. Better to do the things that they could only do in daylight now and save others for nighttime. Astoria gestured to the barn and turned her eyes upward to look at Draco with a quizzical expression. "What do you keep in there?"
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Post by DRACO MALFOY on Jan 12, 2012 18:49:16 GMT -5
"What do you keep in there?" Astoria asked him and Draco looked at her. What did she think he kept in there? It was perfectly obvious at least to him that it was a horse barn. "They're horses." Draco finally told her. If she was interested in the barn, he could show her that first. Draco took his arm from around her waist and took her hand instead. Draco started off over the grass.
The grass was freshly cut and the air was full of the scent of grass, flowers, and chlorine from the pool. The combination was pleasant. At least to him. They were scents that Draco associated with home. Even with his mothers coddling and his father strict ways, Draco had always been happy to be home. The sun was setting now as they reached the barn. The shadows were long and mixed with slivers of golden light.
Draco opened the barn door by hand liking the way the wood creaked. As the door opened, the horses could be heard. They had had their night feeding and now with people entering the barn, expected treats. Draco was actually quite fond of horses. He had motioned for Astoria to enter first. Moving into the saddle room, Draco took a handful of sugar cubes and then gave half to Astoria.
He began moving along horse by horse and offered each a cube. The animals took the sugar happily. Draco hesitated at the stall to his own horse. A black Friesian Gelding. It was a good horse and a little hard to handle sometimes but Draco loved him. His fathers white Lipizzaner was next. A sleek and and muscular stallion. Both horses were beautiful. Draco moved along the the cobblestone aisle and softly petting each animal.
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Post by Astoria Greengrass on Jan 15, 2012 22:11:54 GMT -5
Astoria entered quietly so as not to rouse the animals too much, taking the sugar with a polite word of thanks. At first she could only watch as Draco approached the horses. Her eyes moved over them with a warm luminosity. The smell of the barn and stable stalls was familiar in a way that reminded her of home. Daphne would have loved the horses.
The horses! Astoria had seen plenty in her lifetime, but almost nothing compared to these beauties. They were muscular underneath their shining hair and had a grace that only horses could. She could almost picture them trotting, or galloping across the grass with raw power. Still, with all of this, it was the dark eyes of the horses that fixated her. They had character in them. They drew her nearer.
Approaching slowly and deliberately, Astoria walked toward the creatures after Draco. Once she was close enough she held her palm up for the horses to smell and receive their small white sugar morsel. A smile lit her face as their velvety noses tickled her skin and after a moment they let her stroke them. The white horse had a regal air, its ears pricking up to examine her in an almost administrative way. The black one was attractively dark and seemed to have a bit of fire in it. Almost challenging her. Probably Draco's then. She could see how they could bond well. She couldn't hide her affection at this point. "They're gorgeous," she whispered.
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Post by DRACO MALFOY on Jan 28, 2012 23:13:59 GMT -5
Draco turned at her words and a soft smile played on his face as he watched her enjoying the animals. With his back now turned to the black horse, the animal quickly became annoyed and shoved Draco forward a few steps with a slight nudge. He blushed lightly and then smiled. Draco watched as she moved. He racked his brain trying to think of something to say but Draco was at a loss. Finally he told her lamely "You like horses."
He knew how stupid he sounded but shrugged. He could go for a ride. "He moved into the tack room and gathered two saddles. One for each arm. He would of course ride his own horse and he knew that Lucius had been away for a bit of time and his horse was shut up in its stall. What Lucius did not know would not hurt him.
Draco did not know if she knew much about horses but he rested the saddles over the corresponding stall doors and then went back for a groom kit and the bridles. He would get his own horse ready and then do hers. "We can go for a ride." He told her now. "I can show you the land and you can decide what you want to do." He continued talking just trying to fill the silence as he opened the stall door and leaving it open, he took a curry comb and began grooming his horse.
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Post by Astoria Greengrass on Feb 5, 2012 17:58:04 GMT -5
Astoria laughed gently as Draco got nudged forward, blushed, and then grappled to find something to say. It still amused her when he came to a loss for words. Not something too common with a man who had been trained to like to hear himself talk. "Yes, I do like horses." A smirk of her own slipped onto her face. Astoria couldn't resist being a bit playful around him. They knew one another well enough now to where they could make jibes and innuendos and sarcastic teases in a healthy supply. "I take it that you do as well. Then again, you've had lots of experience in the saddle, haven't you?"
She gave him a smug look. He couldn't deny that one. When he proposed the notion of taking a ride to see the rest of the land, her smirk softened the tiniest bit. "A ride sounds lovely."
Watching as he groomed the horses, Astoria observed the process with a sense of irony. How often had she stood in the stables of her own home, watching Daphne do the exact same thing? Perhaps blonde hair and pure blood automatically equaled an affinity with horses. Truthfully, Astoria thought that the two of them just loved the freedom that riding gave them. One learned to savor every ounce of freedom attained when being brought up in stricter household.
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Post by DRACO MALFOY on Feb 11, 2012 17:56:45 GMT -5
"I take it that you do as well. Then again, you've had lots of experience in the saddle, haven't you?" Astoria told him and Draco looked back at her with a grin. "I would say that I have had a lot of experience being a saddle." He joked back. "And you riding it so far." He gave a cheeky grin now. When she agreed to taking a ride, Draco nodded and then turned back to the horse. He finished tacking up his horse and then moved across the aisle to Lucius' horse and did the same.
Once everything was ready, Draco led the white horse out into the aisle and then swung the reins over the horses head. The horse stood till as Draco moved to its side and then cupped his hands in front of him ready to give her a leg up. The horse stood nearly eighteen hands and towered over her. Once She was up in the saddle, Draco mounted his own horse in its stall and then rode it out to meet her. Again, he did not know if she was experienced with horses. Draco glanced at her now. "Do you know what your doing?" He asked her. His fathers horse was well trained but any horse could potentially be dangerous.
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Post by Astoria Greengrass on Feb 22, 2012 21:39:58 GMT -5
Astoria held the horse's reigns steady in her hands until Draco rode out to her side. She couldn't help but feel a bit giddy at how high up she was. Lucius Malfoy's horse was much larger than any of the horses that she'd ever ridden at home and the fact that she might not be in complete control perturbed her a bit. No matter. Best let it warm up to her and then the rest would all fall into place.
Her head turned to Draco when he questioned her and she nodded. "I believe so. I've ridden a lot, although I don't know what kind of temper your father's horse has." Astoria's mouth quirked into a wry smile as she glanced down at the glossy creature's mane, and then at Draco's platinum hair. "Sometimes it's the gorgeous ones that you've got to watch."
He could take that however he wished.
Motioning gracefully with her hand in a mock movement, Astoria winked at Draco. "After you, kind Sir."
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Post by DRACO MALFOY on Feb 29, 2012 19:34:58 GMT -5
When Astoria mentioned Lucius'' horse's temper, Draco laughed. "His temper is much like his owners." Draco replied now. "Sometimes it's the gorgeous ones that you've got to watch." Astoria added. Draco sneered at her and then smiled. "Always." There were outside before long and the horses clearly were enjoying the fresh air. They tossed their heads and Draco pulled forward wanting to run.
Draco could understand it yearn for freedom and with a wink back at Astoria he gave it to him. The horse was off like a shot. Draco had grown up around horses and had no problem staying in the saddle. The horse was fast and sleek and Draco leaned forward along the animals neck. The rushing air slid over him lifting his blond hair and the horse was free to move faster.
He let it run for a few minutes and the brought the horse around in a big arch and then slowed the animal as they came upon Astoria again. This horse could be a race horse but Draco had no interest in that. He came around behind Astoria and then back up beside her.
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Post by Astoria Greengrass on Mar 3, 2012 13:48:10 GMT -5
Astoria watched as Draco galloped off. Her head fell back and she laughed. It was great to see the sheer moment of absolute carelessness and freedom in both Draco and the horse's eyes. She saw the two of them blurring almost together, black and white blonde in sharp contrast. From across the distance, Astoria could see the sun shining and making Draco's pale eyes light up. She felt herself smiling genuinely. Why was it that he looked so damn attractive when he was free like this? Astoria thought that she knew.
Turning to him as he came back beside her, Astoria nodded. "I bet that he's been waiting all day for that." Her brown eyes were warm now. The horse beneath her that belonged to Draco's father had loosened up enough to let her stroke its mane, and Astoria did so gently. After a bit of coddling, though, the horse stamped its hoof impatiently and Astoria followed it's urge forward.
If there was ever a test, this was it. The gigantic horse reared up on its hind legs, almost suspended in the air. Astoria felt weightless and a look of fierce joy came over her face. She held on. This horse wouldn't throw her, but he could make her feel strong and like she was flying. When at last it settled back down to the ground, Astoria was laughing happily again. "You're quite the show off, aren't you?" she said affectionately to the beast.
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Post by DRACO MALFOY on Mar 16, 2012 22:36:44 GMT -5
"I bet that he's been waiting all day for that." Astoria told him and Draco laughed. "I don't doubt it." He agreed. They had moved only a few feet forward when his fathers horse made its own statement. When it reared up, Draco's eyes widened and he felt his heart size. He had the sudden image of her falling from the horse.
Draco's own horse shied away but Draco wanted to go closer in case she fell and then he could try to catch her. He watched s the horse went up but when it came back down, he was shocked to see the smile on Astoria's face and hear her laughter. After a moment, he smiled as well.
"You're quite the show off, aren't you?" She asked the horse. It was dangerous to let Astoria take this horse out. Draco toyed with the idea for returning to the barn and getting another horse for her. However, she seemed happy with it. He only hoped she would be safe.
Draco decided to stay close by just in case. He led the way now across the grass. Draco was heading for the forest. He liked riding between the trees. Draco liked the way the sunlight filtered through the branches and the wind danced through the leaves.
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Post by Astoria Greengrass on Mar 23, 2012 21:03:10 GMT -5
Astoria followed Draco as he led their path into the forest. Something in her felt a bit of affection rising at his protective response to her horse's action, but she didn't want him to worry. She could take care of herself despite her size. Still, it was nice to see that he cared enough to want to keep her safe. At least that feeling for each other was the same.
She kept her horse at a steady pace behind him, watching the peace come over his face as the woods enveloped them like only nature could. Astoria breathed in the scent of the leaves and warm dirt, feeling the sunlight dance across her back. A light breeze made the foliage whisper. A pair of birds chased one another through the treetops before landing on an overhanging branch before them. Astoria thought of Daphne, who could sing so that the songbirds who heard would go silent to listen. She peered at the two birds with a curious expression and the hint of a warm smile.
Astoria whistled a soft, clear tune that rose in a melody through the forest. She watched as the birds tilted their plumed heads to the side, dark jewel eyes considering her. Then the birds lifted their heads and repeated her melody back to her in a chorus of birdsong.
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