-II-

"You are part of this camp, part of this family. We all attend at a sweat lodge ceremony or nobody will attend. I let you run away too long. It's time to work on your own problems."

Red Horse looked back at Black Hawk seeking help, and he finally dared to look up.

"He is right, Red Horse. The kids like you when they finally get the chance to get to know you. Aiden is really fond of you, and he loved the wrestling training. Harry is similar to him. You will like him. He is a good boy, and he won't break when you touch him," Black Hawk said soothingly. He had no idea how this might work with Draco, and so Black Hawk kept his mouth shut about that. He feared Draco would wet himself if Red Horse would attempted to wrestle with him. Sometime the old man had crazy ideas.

Red Horse looked as if he would start to cry any minute. He didn't know what he could say to convince his family that he wasn't the right man for the task. When Rose placed her hands on his shoulders to sit him back down into his chair, he didn't protest. "I can't do this," he said miserably while Rose's magic was fighting its way through his big body.

"Of course you can do it," Rose said softly and kissed him on his head. "You are a wonderful man. Harry and Draco will be glad to get to know you better. Please try it, Red Horse. I will be with you in the forest. Everything will be okay."

Red Horse sighed in resignation and let his head hang. His shoulders relaxed, and finally Rose could reach all the stress knots and calm her brother completely.

-II-

"Can you teach me wrestling?" Harry asked casually while he looked for a good branch to cut off for the sweat lodge.

Red Horse stopped shocked. "Did Light Arrow already speak with you?"

"Light Arrow? Oh, no, the doc mentioned it." Harry was puzzled about Red Horse's shocked reaction and that he thought Light Arrow had spoken with him about the wrestling. Something was odd. Why did Red Horse looked scared?

"Oh. Yes, I... I think I can teach you, but later. Now we have to-" Red Horse stopped abruptly because he saw Draco trying to cut a branch violently. "Stop!" he shouted and grabbed for Draco's hand.

Draco was shocked and fell backwards in an attempt to escape Red Horse. Fearfully he looked with big eyes at the bulgy man that now looked as shocked as Draco himself.

Red Horse stepped backwards in shock even so Draco had already crawled several feet away from him. "It's my fault. I'm sorry!" He looked around in panic, and when his eyes fell on Rose, who now came over to them, he said, "I told you so! I can't do this! Make him stop. I don't want him to look at me like this. Please make him stop."

"Calm down, Red Horse. It was all just a misunderstanding," Rose said calmingly.

Draco was confused. This bulgy and scary man was scared because he had reacted fearfully to him. Now Red Horse didn't look scary at all. Draco felt pity for him and slowly calmed down.

Harry looked fascinated at the scene in front of him. Black Hawk was right. Red Horse was like a big bull calf that had no clue how to use it's muscles and couldn't hurt a fly. What must have happen to him that he is behaving like this? Harry thought. It seems not only Severus still had problems after his stay here. They have a place to come to for getting help. No matter how long they need to heal, Harry thought, remembering Light Arrow's words. Eventually Harry realized that those people would never look down at them for having difficulties or being weak. They know exactly what we feel. That's why Black Hawk and Severus can understand us so well. Even Red Horse can understand us, he knows how we feel. They all have gone through the same process and still have some drawbacks from time to time. They are like us, they only have more experience to fight their demons.

"Come on, Red Horse. Just explain why you wanted to grab for his hand," Rose said calmly and put her hand on Red Horse's arm.

Harry meanwhile helped Draco up, who now didn't look fearfully at all. Draco just looked in awe at the man a few feet away from him. Suddenly he couldn't remember why he could ever be afraid of him. At the moment Red Horse looked like a small boy, and he mumbled all the time apologizes in Draco's direction. "It's okay. I overreacted, Red Horse."

Red Horse looked speechless at Draco for a few seconds. The boy didn't look scared any longer. "I... I just feared you would cut yourself. The branch would have snapped back and into your face and you could have cut yourself by accident."

"Oh, I didn't realize," Draco answered softly.

"Why don't you show Draco how to do it correctly. Come on, he has calmed down." Rose gently pulled Red Horse in Draco's direction.

Reluctantly Red Horse followed Rose's lead until he stood directly in front of Draco. The boy didn't flinch away and didn't look fearfully at him as if he thought he would hit him any moment. Red Horse hated that so many people were scared of him, as if he was his father. His muscles didn't came from training, they were just there by gene and all the physical hard work at the farm. Red Horses father had beaten him very badly over several years. He hadn't even sent him to a school, and he had no contact to other children. He always was just with his mother and his father, who hid him from the rest of the world. His mother was a weak woman, and she died when Red Horse was five on a overdose of drugs. From then on it was only his alcohol addicted, violent father he had to live with. They never spoke much, and Red Horse always lived in fear to get a beating for whatever he did; he never could do something right for his father.

"Yes, show me," Draco said when the man didn't react and just looked unsure at him.

"Okay," Red Horse said and finally got a grip on himself again. "Let's go over there!" Red Horse pointed at a branch close by. "Look, you shouldn't put too much pressure on the branch and then you should cut it like that." He showed Draco the correct way to cut it, and Harry watched over Draco's shoulder as well.

/

Rose smiled at the three and retreated back to the pick-up. I have no clue how Dad always knows what is the right move at the right time.

"The entrance must be in the East, and the fireplace has to be six steps away from the sweat lodge. It represents the sun, that gives energy to the earth, which is represented by the sweat lodge," Black Hawk explained while he marked the position of the entrance for the boys.

"Black Hawk has marked the places were you should make the holes for the hazelnut branches," Severus explained and pressed a dowel and a big hammer in Harry's hand.

With Black Hawk's, Severus' and Red Horse's help the sweat lodge was finished in the late afternoon. The skeleton now was covered with several think blankets. It must be pitch Black in it now. "Come over, boys, I will explain the ceremony to you now." Black Hawk waved them over to the gate to sit in the shadow of a big tree. Even Red Horse and Severus sat down to listen to Black Hawk. "There will be four times we go into the sweat lodge and between them we go outside to cool us down with the water from the barrels. Your first sweat lodge is a bit informal. If you want to speak, you are allowed to. The goal is to be as silent as possible and concentrate on several things. The first time we are in there is meant for gratitude. You should think about what you are thankful in your life and which people you feel grateful to. The second time is for wishes. You should think about what you wish for. The third time you need to think about giving away something. You should think about what you will leave behind you. Try to burn it with the herbs we will burn above the hot stones. Let go of whatever you need to let go to go on in your life. The forth and last time we go into the sweat lodge is for visions. You don't have to push yourself. There is no need to have a vision in your first sweat lodge. Some never get one. Just try to relax and open your mind and soul."

Harry and Draco stared at Black Hawk. Not formal? How the heck shall I remember all this stuff? "I will never be able to remember this all!" Harry said, flabbergasted.

"Me neither," Draco said shyly.

"I tried to memories it like this. When you first go into the hut your thought are everywhere but yourself. Therefore you think about others. Whom you would thank and what you are thankful about at all. The second time you are much calmer already, and so you can start to think about yourself. What you wish for. How your life should go on. The third time you think about what you need to leave behind you to gain what you wished for in the second round of the sweat lodge, and in the last one you just relax. It helped me to remember about what I have to think about," Severus explained.

"Light Arrow has lately started to write the round topics in the sand close to the barrels. So if you can't remember because you are too excited you can look at them. I'm sure Light Arrow will write them down again," Black Hawk said and grinned at Red Horse.

Red Horse couldn't suppress a grin himself. It was a private joke between them and Crying Horse that they said the old man need it to remember it himself. They just hoped Light Arrow would never find out about it or they had to move the dung heap to the next farm and not just to the other side of the farm. Not to mention that the next farm was around 30 miles away.

Draco fidget nervously. "Ehm... can I go? I need to use the loo."

"Sure," Black Hawk said. "He is nervous," he stated to Severus when Draco was gone.

"Yes, I'm a bit worried about whether he will make it," Severus said in thoughts while watching Draco run to the main house.

"Maybe I should look for him," Harry said and stood up. Light Arrow had said he was allowed to be on his own over the day, and Black Hawk just has to watch him between supper and breakfast. At the daytime you never were alone and so there was no real need for a personal bodyguard.

"Don't get infected with his nervousness, Harry. There is nothing to be afraid of," Severus said before he waved him to go after Draco.

Nothing to get nervous about. Phew, that's easy to say for someone who has done it several times before, Harry thought nervously while he went after Draco.

"How was your talk with Light Arrow?" Red Horse asked and looked from Severus to Black Hawk.

"Like always," Black Hawk said. "Awkward."

Severus played around with a branch and drew patterns in the sand. "At least I didn't have to scream at you or get wrestled down by you."

"I thought we had cleared everything, Sev," Red Horse said worriedly. He really had hoped after Light Arrow scream therapy and the wrestling the things were clear between him and his little brother. It had hurt Red Horse a lot to see Severus so drawn back and in pain. After Severus was forced to scream all what had angered him about Red Horse at him, they had been able to speak normally and in the end they shared a brotherly hug. Severus had never before said that he was annoyed by Red Horses big brother attitude, and in the end it was clear that he inwardly liked that Red Horse had an eye on him and had stopped him so vehemently to hurt himself. It had been hard for Severus to admit that. The part were Severus had to scream at Light Arrow was even more aggressive, and Severus had fought for a long time before he give in and revealed his true feelings. Red Horse was very relieved when Severus finally sank exhausted in Light Arrow's arms and cried all the pain out of himself. On their way back to the camp Severus was already more light heartily and they eventually could speak normally with each other. His little brother accepted his patronizing behavior. They had cleared that Red Horse was still the big brother and would always have an eye on Severus.

"We have, but that doesn't mean that I like what you two did yesterday, okay."

"But it helped," Red Horse said sternly.

"Yes," Severus admitted. "But Black Hawk isn't a big brother, he is just like me."

"I never want to be something else, stupid," Black Hawk said and bobbed Severus' shoulder playfully. Immediately the mood lifted.

"Think you can start a fight?" Severus said teasingly and flung himself on Black Hawk to wrestle him down.

Black Hawk laughed when Severus was above him pinning him to the ground. "You are way to skinny to challenge me. You should have taken some lessons from our older brother before you attacked me." With that he unbalanced Severus with one move of his hip and quickly the position was changed. "What now, Night Rain? Want to give up?"

Severus growled. "Never!" With all his power he tried to unbalance Black Hawk and eventually was successful. Soon both were wrestling in the sand for dominance. Only when a fountain of cold water hit them, they let go of each other.

"I called three time for you to stop. That what you get for not listening. You can be lucky that the kids aren't around. Otherwise I would punish you two to work in my garden tomorrow. Rough play and wrestling outside the wrestling training isn't allowed. That counts for you two as well, boys," White Cloud lectured them with her hands on her hips. "Red Horse, Light Arrow needs you in the stable. You two should get a shower!" She looked at Severus and Black Hawk sternly.

Quickly the two men, that felt more like two children being caught with their hands in the cookie jar, stood up and went in the direction of the main house.

"That's all your fault," Black Hawk said and bobbed Severus on his shoulder.

"Mine? You was the one bobbing me," Severus protested and bobbed Black Hawk as well.

Before both could start a fight again, they were gripped each by an ear, and White Cloud lead them back to the main house.

"Ouch, White Cloud, please let go," Black Hawk whined.

Severus had enough dignity left to not plead. He knew it was useless. So he just tried to lean down further to the smaller woman, so the pain wasn't so bad on his ear.

"You two have just earned yourself a whole afternoon in my garden tomorrow," White Cloud stated before they went into the house.

/

"Are you okay, Draco?" Harry asked through the bathroom door.

"Sure," Draco said when he came out. He didn't look as if everything was fine.

"You look worried." Harry stated and followed Draco in his room.

"I am. Aren't you?" Draco asked.

Harry didn't answer for a while and just stared at Draco. Finally he sighed. "Yes, I am."

Draco threw himself on his bed and hugged his snake.

"You got one, too?" Harry grinned.

Draco looked puzzled, but then realized that Harry spoke about his plushy. "Yes," Draco said, smiling happily. "It's great. Here try it. Maybe you even understand his hissing."

Harry sat down on the bed and inspected the snake closer. "No, I don't think it is really Parsel Tongue, but I also don't know if I still can speak it. Now that Voldemort is dead, the Horcrux in me is gone. Maybe I'm not able to speak with snakes any more."

"We should try," Draco exclaimed, excited, and sat up. He was glad that they had find a topic to forget the sweat lodge for a while. "I'm sure there are snakes around. We could ask one of the adults if they would go to look for a snake with us."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. It's still time until supper. Maybe Black Hawk has time to look for one with us." Harry was glad as well that the bad mood had changed. It was a long time since Draco and he had planned an adventure.

When they stepped out in the hall, Severus and Black Hawk went for the bathroom, pushing each other roughly to reach it first. An angry voice from downstairs made them stop in track. "That's the whole day in my garden now, and if you don't stop I will make a week out of it!" White Cloud's voice rang from the kitchen.

"I take the shower, you can have the bathtub," Severus said.

"Fine to me," Black Hawk replied and they both vanished in the bathroom.

"That much about asking Black Hawk to show us a snake," Harry said sadly.

"We could try Red Horse. He is even better with animals," Draco stated and was surprised about this as much as Harry.

"So it would be okay with you if we went with Red Horse alone?" Harry asked, confused.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I think he is okay. I like him."

Harry grinned. "Me, too. Come on, lets try to find him."