Cock and Bull 29
Banner by herumtreiber
Title: Cock and Bull 29
Author: enchanted_jae
Characters: Harry/Draco
Rating: PG
Warning(s): None
Word count: 645
Disclaimer: Characters are the property of JK Rowling, et al. This fic/drabble was written for fun, not for profit.
Written for: Birthday gift for felaine, who asked for Cock and Bull
Summary: Draco comes up with a brilliant idea.
"Harry, I've been thinking."
Harry's shoulders tried to climb toward his ears, but he restricted himself to a minor twitch. He knew that phrase and that particular wheedling tone in Draco's voice would lead to more odd animals on his farm. It was how he'd ended up with exotic chickens and a miniature donkey. In this case, he'd be fortunate if all they ended up with was another hen or two, although Harry thought he'd succeeded in distracting Draco from his latest Chicken Quest.
Harry met Draco's earnest expression and squelched a sigh. "Dare I ask?"
Draco straightened in his chair at the kitchen table. "I was thinking, if Bert Funkhauser pastures a few of his Highland cattle here, along with a bull, we could put Ivy with them and then you can keep her."
Harry's lips parted in surprise. "That's...brilliant, actually," he said. He'd been sad at the thought of selling Ivy, but he couldn't keep her when his Jersey bull was her father. "I'm glad I thought of it."
Draco's jaw dropped. "Git," he growled, throwing a crumpled serviette at Harry's head.
Harry laughed and batted it aside. "It truly is an excellent idea," he said. "We'd have to think about whether we should leave Ivy with the Highland cattle all the time, or just when she's in estrus."
"What's estrus?"
"When she's in heat and ready to breed," Harry explained. "If we kept her with the dairy cattle part of the time, we'd have to monitor her carefully. However, if we kept her with Bert's cattle, she'd be the only one getting separated from her calf and milked by hand."
"But either way, it is doable, yeah?" pressed Draco. He'd successfully lobbied Harry into keeping Oakley, the calf the two of them had pulled not long after Draco arrived to begin his community payback. At least keeping Ivy would make economic sense. Harry did have a plan for Oakley, however, and there was no time like the present to bring it up.
He rose from the table and gathered his dishes. "It's doable," he confirmed, glancing at Draco over his shoulder.
Draco brought his own dishes to the sink. "Are you washing or drying?"
"I'll wash," said Harry. "I have an idea for Oakley."
"You're not going to get rid of him, are you?" Draco asked, eyes wide with alarm. "We helped him be born!"
Harry grinned as he ran water in the sink. "No, I wasn't going to sell him. However, he needs a purpose in life other than eating, romping, and having a poo everywhere he goes."
"What sort of purpose?" Draco asked as Harry handed him a washed plate.
"I want you to work with him, get him halter trained, and show him at the festival next Spring."
"Me?!" Draco gasped, his towel going lax in his hands.
"He's your calf," said Harry. "He's practically your son."
"I don't know the first thing about halter training a calf," Draco said as he resumed drying.
"I'm planning to enlist Heidi's help," Harry told him. "If she doesn't have time to teach you the basics, I reckon she knows someone who can." He fixed Draco with a stern stare. "Are you willing to do it?"
"Yeah," Draco replied, giving a half-shrug. "It might be fun."
Harry refrained from mentioning that Draco might get kicked, stepped on, knocked down, or simply out-stubborned by Oakley.
"What if we don't win a prize?" asked Draco, setting aside a dry saucer.
"That's not the point," said Harry. "The purpose of this exercise is for Oakley to do something productive with his life, which will be representing his farm in the show ring."
"Representing Potter Acres?" Draco teased.
Harry jostled him with his shoulder, but he didn't bother to correct Draco. Maybe some day he'd tell Draco what the name of the farm really was.
Cock and Bull 30