You're Being Hugged, Harry

by David Silver

30 - Alicorn Care Tips

Harry hovered over the papers towards Hagrid. "Sent from mom, for you."

"Fer me?" He took the papers and quickly scanned over them. "Huh... Right thoughtful of her. You should bring her by as soon as I get a chance to review this properly, say in a fortnight?"

Harry nodded at his sizable teacher. "Sounds great." He glanced away and back. "New topic of sorts, sir, but you are the expert with magical creatures."

"Ah do my best, little Harry." He ruffled Harry right on his head, horn between his fingers. The worst part was that he knew how to give quality pets. "How can I help?"

"Professor Snape was bit by a three-headed dog, you see, and--"

Hagrid hissed with concern. "Fluffy..."

Harry perked. "Fluffy?"

Hagrid tensed, realizing he'd said a bit too much, perhaps. "They're mine, you see, guarding what needs guarding..." Hagrid held up a hand. "Ye be keepin' that right to yerself. What they're guarding only Albus Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel even know what, not me, so I sure won't be sayin'."

"I wouldn't pry." At least, not directly from the gentle giant. "I'll bring Flurry around."

Hagrid relaxed as the conversation shifted to something far more comfortable. "You pay attention, Harry. A lot of what works on her will work on you just as well, minus any bit about the wings. Y'ain't got those."

"Right, 'course." Even if he could fly, his own way. "Thank you, Sir. She'll be right excited about it, sure of that."

"Off wit' ya." He waved Harry off with a chuckle, back to his own duties.

---

Harry told the others, Hermione and Ron, what he had learned from Hagrid. "The dog's a guard dog."

Hermione rolled her eyes at that. "That much was obvious. But you got two names to help figure out what, and I'm wondering why Snape was sniffing around it, whatever it was. Can't be good..."

Ron chuckled at that. "But he got what was comin', bein' nipped an' all. Well, goin' up to the headmaster and proddin' him 'bout it sure feels unlikely."

"I wouldn't recommend it..." Hermione tapped with a moment of thought. "I'll dig into it. You tell your sister the good news?"

"Just about to." Harry ascended the steps with the good word of alicorn pampering.

It was with the same happy smile that Flurry Heart descended when it was time. She strode into the classroom, wings folded. "Hi. Hello." She greeted the students as she walked past them, taking her place on the small platform and sinking to her haunches. "My turn!"

Hagrid gestured to the joyful princess. "This is an alicorn, a subspecies of pony, which I rightful know y'all know 'least one of." The eyes of the classroom turned a moment to Harry, the pony among them. "Their most notable trait is their wing and horn. Ponies divide themselves up first by those. Those who have wings, pegasi. Those who have horns, unicorns. Those who ain't got either, earth ponies. Those who got both, alicorn." He took casual hold of her horn, firm, but not rough.

"Like Harry, their horns are sensitive. Never pull or damage them. This should make sense without much thought. It's their wand, and if someone went an' messed up yer wand, you'd be right put out, ah 'magine. So be kind to them." He released Flurry's horn, undamaged for the experience. "While we're on the topic, magic. A pony ain't a wizard, not by human measurin', but they are intensely magical creatures."

A hand rose, and Hagrid pointed to the student. "Sir. Are they all as magic?"

Flurry ruffled her wings. "This doesn't feel like pampering..."

"Patience." He gently pat her on the back. "We're gettin' to it. This is a place of learnin'. Now, They all got magic, but some of it's powerful subtle. The ones with horns--" He waved over hers. "--tend to be the most obvious, and the ones with magic closest to what we'd say is magic. Since we're on that, let's begin with horn care."

Flurry sat up, mood restored as the topic shifted.

"As I said, their horns are sensitive." He pulled out a new vial. "This ain't the same we used on the tsuki. Unicorns have a more active relationship with their horns, so you'll want to use polish that lets them breath. Muggle polish won't do. I'll get the recipe to you." But it was applied the same way one might a human, painted on with long strokes along the horn.

Flurry began to change colors softly, and Hagrid's attention only made it more intense.. "Another thing. The hair of ponies? It can change color." He ruffled her darkened cheek. "Which lets them blush, an' it means 'xactly the same thing it would in a human. Sorry, dear. I'm not bein' too rough, am I?"

"No..." She drew out a mirror to peek at the work being done on her horn. "A little... There..." She did not know what was being put on, but she could help it be put on evenly. Her blush faded, a little smile replacing it as she relaxed bit by bit. "What does that... do? I like the shine."

"Well, the shine is a minor part of it." He put the cap back on the nail polish of sorts. "It protects, from scratches and scrapes, and still lets 'em breathe, which your horn needs. You don't want that, now do ya? No scratches, plenty of shine."

Flurry nodded just enough to avoid poking Hagrid with that horn. "Exactly. What's next?"

"A fine point to bring up." He set a hand on her mane, half-holding her still with it. "Ponies are less accidentally physically dangerous than tsuki. This bonny lass won't hug you to death for makin' the wrong signal. But she has four stout hooves and a right sharp horn. Don't mistake less prone to accidental maulin' fer a lack of ability to make you regret yer mistakes."

Harry tapped his hooves together. They weren't that imposing, were they? He hadn't thwapped anyone good with them before. That would be rude, at best...

"When dealin' with a pony of any kind, you can ask what they want. They'll tell it to you straight. But... Just like a person, they don't always know what they need. It's up to us to provide it, even if they don't know it."

Another hand raised. "Don't most people know what they need? Don't have to go reminding me to eat, sir."

"Sure... sure..." He folded his considerable arms. "But I bet half of you aren't eatin' exactly what your body would like you to put in there." A few students looked a bit sheepish at that. "What you want isn't always what you need. As for you." He turned entirely to Flurry. "From what I read, your cutie mark--" He showed what he was talking about. "--is a bit dull. This'll help." He pulled out a vegetable, asparagus, to be specific. "Even muggles are gettin' the idea that it's the little things that count."

Flurry turned up her nose. "Ew... I hate those!"

"What we need, and what we want." A clearer demonstration of the difference, Hagrid couldn't have asked for. "Now open up. Be good and I'll give you an extra special treat afterwards."

Flurry gave him a hard look, huffing with displeasure, but he stayed right there, waiting for her. It was a contest of wills. "Now, with most animals, magic or not, staring them in the eyes can be taken as a reason to get bit. Ponies are more like people, so sometimes you end up eye to eye, and if you aren't sayin' fightin' words, probably ain't a fight."

"Says you..." But she didn't bite, at least she didn't bite him. She bit one spear of the veggie and slurped it up, grinding it to a swallowable paste as quickly as she could. "There, I ate one. Happy?"

"One more." He separated one spear from the rest to offer to her directly. "One more an' I'll ease off."

She let out a weary sigh, but she gave up, eating the second as rapidly as she could and giving a yuck at the experience. "There, gone... I was told I'm here to be treated nicely..."

"And you are." He cupped her round equine cheeks, rubbing with his fingers. "You're a good pony, eating that. Let's go over a universal pony care tip." He grabbed a new tool. "This is a curry brush. It don't require no fancy one fer an alicorn, princess or not, or any other creature that's got medium to short hair, which she does. Now, bein' a princess an' all, she may prefer a fancier one, but this is the one I got."

Flurry watched the brush silently, at least until Hagrid pressed against her and the rubbing began, working it in slow motions from her head towards her back in firm circles. "Oh... Oh..." She half-closed her eyes, leaning against the brush and angling herself to get the spots she wanted worked on. "Oh... I like that... It's rougher than the usual brush... but not bad..." The little noises she was making implied it was a step beyond not being bad.

Hagrid went over all the hair care tips, even how to handle a pony, or technically any horse's tail. Even if it made her color brightly. But she was happy to have it done, once it was over. "This next part, I'll be getting your brother."

Flurry perked. "Huh? It's not his turn."

"He's a student. He'll be the one giving the care." Hagrid waved Harry up. "Show us your farrier skills, will ya?"

"Oh, yes, sir." Harry brought out the tools that had been given to him. "So..." He awkwardly led that step of the lessons, showing the class how to examine and care for a hoof. "One important thing. On a horse--" Still a creature he had only encountered a few times. "Their hoof is mostly not-feeling. On a pony? We can feel the whole thing." He tapped Flurry gently. "Which means if you're bad at this, you'll hurt us. You don't want to make Flurry sad, do you?"

Flurry looked far more alarmed than sad. "Does that mean you know what you're doing?"

"It'll be fine." He worked slowly and carefully. "I practiced on myself. One advantage of being a pony. I already got my mistakes out of the way..." The class winced sympathetically, imagining Harry casually hurting himself in the lessons he gave himself. "So I won't hurt you, promise. Just to be clear, back home, ponies have ponies that are experts at this. You'd go to a barber to get your own hair done, most of you, right?"

Flurry giggled, but kept her hindhoof still for Harry. "Does that make you a farrier?"

"An amateur one, sure... Figure I'm an amateur a lot of things right now." But he got her hooves cleaned and groomed properly. "There you go. How do you feel?"

Flurry tested her weight on each hoof and nodded as she turned back to the class. "Better. You're not awful, bro. I'll be bothering you next time it gets uneven."

Hagrid gently shooed Harry back to his seat. "Unlike some animals, a pony will understand what you're doing, for better or worse. But there's a part of Miss Heart here I haven't touched. Wing care. We went over this with griffons, and it's just as true for alicorns and pegasi. Happy wings, happy animal. Fortunately, ponies have very similar wings to griffons, so we can use some of those tricks."

So it was time to show how to preen and care for a pony's feathers, from the wings on downwards. "Jus' like a griffon, takin' poor care of these will make it harder for your friend to take flight. Unlike a griffon, a pony will complain when you get it wrong, and some colorful insults may be included. You'll wish they just squawked if yer bad at it."

Flurry flared the wing not being held. "I wouldn't do that!"

"Yes she would." Harry snickered as he made proper notes. He had no wings to practice that part on.

Author's Note:

Flurry Pampering Day! Best day, right? The plot lurks, stalking us...

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

I wonder just how much experience Spike has in wing care?

[badninja]

I don’t know but if I were Flurry I would not be happy with how this went, Harry should know most of not all of this.

[harts fire]

Harry the farrier i like it.
i know how as i was taught by a really good farrier, but one of the things he always told me is this is a good thing to know to do your horses feet but don't do it for a living.
or should i say he told me quote son i have worked over 60 years with my head lower then my ass and gotten broken bones pissed on shit on sat on bitten kicked and generally beaten up.

to this day i still drive the 2 hours to his grave put a beer on top and a number 6 shew on it to hold it down.
funny thing is all of the shews are still there.
he had no family and vary few he would have called a friend.
i miss you Walt

[howard035]

I love this chapter!

[tsaukpaetra]

Funny how Flurry assumed it would be like a spa treatment. No, girl, it's a lesson! Business to match up the pleasure!