A/N: And thus begins the sequel to Trophy Wife. You probably won't understand this story unless you read the other one first. Enjoy!

Hermione woke up the day after Rhys's trial feeling refreshed, and almost…happy. She enjoyed a nice, long shower, after which she went to the kitchen for breakfast. The summer day was warm and sunny, so she opened the window to let the air flow through her house. As she breathed in the scent of the windflower patch that grew outside her house, she heard a strange sound on the wind. Listening closely, she thought she heard a weird sound, almost like…screaming.

Hermione rushed outside. The sound, whatever it was, was coming from the direction of Malfoy Manor. She shuddered. It took only moments for her Gryffindor loyalty and bravery to kick in; if someone was hurt, then she wasn't going to stand idly by and let something happen that she could possibly prevent. Plus, a small part of her heart hoped that she might find Draco there. She ran swiftly towards the colossal mansion, taking great care not to accidentally put her foot in a gopher hole—there were many of these in the rolling fields.

When she finally approached the mansion, she began to hear a loud thudding mixed with the plaintive cries, but these weren't coming from the house—they were coming from behind it. Hermione walked quietly past the front of Malfoy Manor, glancing inside as she did so. It looked like looters had stripped the inside of everything valuable. Her heart sank. Draco wouldn't be here.

Her wand held aloft, Hermione warily approached the building behind Malfoy Manor. The large, black painted stable was the source of the noise. The thudding was coming from inside, as was the sound that had brought her here. No longer did it sound like screaming, but more of an inhuman wailing. She threw open the doors of the stable, her eyes flicking from side to side.

"Oh my God," she said in horror.

There were four horse stalls in the stable: two on either side. The sounds were coming from the only occupied stall. Darkness, Draco's gelding, was plunging and rearing in his confinement. His hooves repeatedly struck the wooden gate that barred his stall, which had almost given way. The cries were coming from the horse, whose body was streaked with sweat. Foam dripped from Darkness's mouth.

Hermione realized that he hadn't been fed or given water for days. It had been six days since Draco had left, and even if the water trough in the stall had been full then, it still would have run out within a few days. "Aguamenti!" she cried, sending a stream of water into Darkness's dry trough.

The horse immediately stuck his muzzle in the water and began to drink swiftly. Hermione next went to the corner of the stable, where the grain barrel stood. While Darkness gulped water, Hermione filled up his food container with grain and filled up his hay rack with hay. Darkness slowly calmed down. She opened the gate to his stall tentatively and went inside, wary of his powerful hooves. His coat was matted and dirty from neglect. Noticing a brush on the wall, Hermione began brushing Darkness's side. The gelding paused in the middle of eating a mouthful of grain to nicker gently in pleasure.

While Darkness ate, Hermione continued brushing his body until his coat was shiny and clean. She cast a quick spell to heal him from any damage he might have incurred from being dehydrated. She left the contented horse for a moment to check out the rest of the stable. The servants of the household must have left when their employers were no longer there to pay them, Hermione realized. She couldn't believe that not one of them had stayed to make sure Darkness would be taken care of.

Stacked inside two of the other three stalls were bales of hay and barrels of grain, so at least Hermione would be able to keep feeding Darkness. There was nothing else in the barn, and she had the sneaking suspicion that it, too, had been looted. The only reason that Darkness hadn't been stolen too was probably that, deprived of food and water, he was too wild to let anyone near him. As she walked back towards Darkness, she noticed that there was a golden glow coming from the last stall, one that she had thought was empty. She pushed open the gate to see the body of a very young horse lying still on the ground on its side. Its color was abnormal for a horse—a beautiful, pure golden color.

"Oh no," Hermione gasped, thinking that it was dead.

At the sound her voice, the small creature let out a pitiful neigh and struggled to raise its head. Now that Hermione looked closer, she realized that the thin sides of the animal were rising and falling slightly with breaths. She filled up the empty water trough, but it soon became evident that the little horse was too weak to stand up and drink.

As she entered the stall, she felt a whooshing of magic around her. Whipping out her wand, she shouted a charm to discover what it was. The response was that it was a Purity of Heart ward that had been placed on the cave so that no one evil could enter it. This baby horse had been well-protected, it seemed.

She poured a little water into her hand and held her hand to its muzzle. A pale tongue touched the water in her hand and then began lapping it up faster and faster. Hermione kept pouring more and more water in her hands, and the golden horse continued to drink it. When the small belly was round with water, she stopped giving it more.

As she stroked its soft forehead reassuringly, she felt something hard under her finger. Looking closely, she realized that it was the tiny stump of a unicorn horn. The baby horse was really a unicorn foal! And a male, by the looks of it. The unicorn stumbled to his feet unsteadily, nuzzling at her hand for food. Hermione brought some of it the grain to him, but the unicorn ignored it.

"What do you eat?" murmured Hermione questioningly.

The golden foal nickered and nudged her hand. Its belly growled hungrily.

Hermione left the stall and desperately searched the stable again. Finally, she thought to look inside the fridge. Inside of it were bottles of a silvery-white liquid, labeled "Unicorn Milk." It looked like milk, but it had a silvery cast to it. She pulled out one of the bottles and brought it back to the unicorn.

When he saw the familiar bottle, the unicorn reared excitedly, making soft sounds of delight.

Hermione held the bottle up to him and he immediately locked his teeth on the nipple of the bottle, sucking eagerly. The foal drained the bottle in a matter of minutes before slumping back down on the ground contentedly. Hermione kneeled beside him, stroking his soft coat. "You're beautiful," she said wonderingly. Now that she looked closer, she noticed subtle differences between him and a normal horse. Besides the obvious body color, his muzzle was slimmer and more delicate than those of horses, as were his legs. His eyes were a deep blue color, and looked very intelligent.

Where did the Malfoys get a unicorn foal? she wondered curiously. Foals were very difficult to separate from their mothers, and even the mothers were extremely difficult to catch. Full-grown unicorns protected their young with all their strength, as foals were not born very often and were greatly valued in the community. Unicorn foals also had strange powers that had never been fully discovered. No wonder such a powerful Purity of Heart ward had been placed on its stall: he would be an enormous prize for anyone to steal. A unicorn foal, even if not used for arcane purposes, would be worth well over half a million Galleons. Used for black magic, its potential was endless. As the foal drifted off to sleep, Hermione returned to Darkness.

"You've been locked up in here for days," she said sympathetically. Darkness's ears stood up when he saw her again, and he snorted excitedly. "Maybe you'd like to go outside and run?"

Darkness still wore his bridle, so Hermione led him out of the stall. The door of the barn opposite of the one she had used to come in led to the fenced in pasture where she could let him out.

"I have a better idea," she said softly, an idea coming to mind.

Darkness had no saddle on, and though the saddle was hanging from a hook on the wall, Hermione didn't have the faintest idea of how to put it on. "Oh, how hard can it really be to ride bareback?" she asked herself. "The American Indians did it!"

Leading Darkness to the mounting block in the corner wasn't easy, for the gelding was prancing about, eager to get out of the stable. Finally, though, she managed to get to the chunk of wood and stood on it awkwardly. Even standing on the mounting block, Darkness was huge. Hoping for the best, she swung a leg over Darkness's side, grabbed his mane, and hoisted herself onto his broad back.

"Okay, I'm good," she muttered, using her knees to grip his sides tightly.

Darkness walked towards the door on his own and left the stable, breaking into a trot when he had cleared the door.

Hermione held onto his mane for dear life, realizing that she hadn't taken the time to attach his reins to the bridle. Her hair streamed out behind her in the wind. Without warning, Darkness charged into a gallop, his hooves pounding rhythmically on the lush green grass.

"Whoa!" she tried to scream, but her voice was lost in the wind whipping by. Even as she gasped, fearing that she would fall off, part of her body reveled in the feeling.

Darkness's powerful body surged up and down rhythmically beneath her as he galloped swiftly over the fields. Hermione pulled on his mane, trying to get him to slow down, but Darkness didn't seem to even notice. He galloped wildly away from the stable. Within minutes, he was approaching the mountains that were just a few miles behind Malfoy Mansion.

Hermione's arms grew weak, and she feared that she would soon fall off. She tried to call "Whoa" again, but her voice was lost in the wind.

Finally, she realized that there was a rope that attached to Darkness's bridle. She pulled back on it, hard, and the effect was immediate. Darkness halted instantly, and Hermione went flying off his back and over his head. She hit the ground full force. If it hadn't been soft, thick grass that she landed on, she would have done some serious damage. As it was, it felt like she had bruised every inch of her body.

Hermione groaned and got to her feet, wincing. Darkness cropped grass calmly several yards away. She walked gingerly over to him.

"I think that next time," she said hoarsely, still quite winded, "I'll make sure I have the reins attached."

Darkness looked up and snorted.

"Are you laughing at me?" she asked him incredulously. Then she realized what she had just done. "I'm talking to a horse," said Hermione to herself disbelievingly. A strange feeling bubbled up in her throat and erupted into sound. She was laughing! She hadn't laughed in days…not since the last time she had been with Draco. Smiling broadly, she grabbed a handful of Darkness's black mane and hoisted herself up onto his back. "All right," she said, experimentally squeezing Darkness's sides with her knees.

This time, seeming tired out after his gallop, Darkness trotted amiably back towards the stable. Hermione was able to relax and enjoy the ride. Riding bareback wasn't as easy as she'd thought it would be. Darkness's back was broad, and she felt that if she didn't sit perfectly balanced, she'd fall off.

"I'll get better at this," she said, stroking Darkness's warm neck. "After all, I guess I'll just take care of you now—since Draco's gone." She sighed, thinking. "I wish he'd come back," she murmured.

They eventually reached the stable, and Hermione left Darkness to graze in the pasture. While Darkness happily munched on an apple from the bin in the stable, she went back to check on the sleeping foal. He looked fine now, if still a little emaciated. She checked to make sure that the Purity of Heart ward was still in place, and then added several more of her own. After she had thoroughly warded the foal's stall, the stable, and the pasture where Darkness grazed on the grass contentedly, she apparated back to her house.

The wards she had placed on her house made it impossible for anyone to apparate inside, even her, so she ended up on the front porch.

"Hermione!" said a surprised voice. Ron stood right beside her, his hand poised to knock on her front door.

"What do you want?" she asked, unlocking the door. The anger that she would normally use towards him was absent from her voice, as she had had an amazing day so far.

"I just want to talk," he insisted, putting his foot in the door so that she couldn't shut it on him.

"What could you possibly have to say that I would want to hear?" she snapped, pushing his foot away.

"I think I'm in love with you!" he burst out.

Hermione slammed the door.