"I don't have to worry about it?" Light Arrow asked angrily and looked daggers at the doctor.

"Severus is my patient in this case, Light Arrow. Speak with him about what is bothering him and it will help with my therapy with him as well, but the medications Severus get's for his alcohol problem will stay between him and me. You take care about his self-inflicted wounds," Doc Martens said sternly, in a tone that made clear that all argument was useless.

"Anything else I have to watch for?" Light Arrow asked, more calmly now. He knew that Doc Martens was right - the alcohol problem was something Severus had to handle with Doc Martens. Severus never was very strongly addicted to alcohol, yet he had handled the problem last time very well with Doc Martens alone. They had arranged meetings for talking about his problems in general, but never spoke about the alcohol directly. This was nothing Severus brought over him by will like the cutting. The cutting Severus inflicted on himself, so it had to be an open topic in the family. Light Arrow trusted the doctor, and he accepted the rule. He would help Severus with his alcohol problem by talking with him in the meetings, and that was enough to soothe his urge to help him.

Ten minutes later, Severus and Light Arrow were sitting in the truck on their way back to the camp.

~*~

Draco's steps become bigger and bigger the closer they came to the paddock and Unega. Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Crying Horse laid a hand on Harry's shoulder while his other hand was holding Rose's.

"Oh, come on, cheer up, Harry," Crying Horse said cheerfully. "You will like Tohiadedi when you get to know him better. Just think about how much fun it will be to go riding with Draco and Severus."

"If I ever will be able to go riding. I don't think the horse likes me one bit, thus he won't let me take care of him. Black Hawk says I first have to prove that I can take care of the horse before I will be allowed to try riding," Harry said sullenly.

Draco meanwhile had reached the paddock fence and called for Unega. The white horse lifted his head and looked over to him. "Come here, Unega!" Draco called.

Slowly, the horse came over to the gate on which Draco had climbed.

Harry was amazed at the sight of the smile on Draco's face and how relaxed he looked when the white horse gently bumped his head against Darco's chest nuzzling his shirt.

"Hey, don't eat my shirt," Draco said playfully and rubbed the horse's forehead.

Crying Horse whistled and Tohiadedi trotted over to them. "Hey, my boy," Crying Horse said and pet the head of the Appaloosa.

Harry, meanwhile, kept his distance. He wished he could be as friendly with Tohiadedi as Draco was with Unega, but Harry had the feeling that the horse didn't like him.

"What are you waiting for? Come over," Crying Horse called to Harry and waved with one of the halter in his hands.

Reluctantly Harry went over to Crying Horse and Tohiadedi. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Draco watching him curiously.

"Try to put the halter on his head." Crying Horse handed Harry the halter after showing him how he should put the halter onto Tohiadedi's head.

Reluctantly Harry took the halter and tried to pull it over the nose of the horse. Tohiadedi didn't seem to like the idea and threw his head back and up, out of Harry's reach. The horse pawed the ground with his hoof and snorted disapprovingly.

Harry almost threw the halter out of anger into the sand, but tried to hold his temper in. He was angry and, if he was honest, hurt that the horse didn't seem to like him. "What have I done to you, eh?" Harry asked the horse angrily.

Tohiadedi again pawed the ground with his hoof and threw his head upwards.

"Like I said, he doesn't like me. I will never manage to do anything with him," Harry said, frustrated, and pushed the halter back into Crying Horse's hand. Without waiting for a reaction, Harry climbed between the slats in the gate and stormed away. He didn't know where he was going; he just wanted to be away from the horse and all the people who wanted things from him he wasn't able to do.

Eventually, he ended up behind one of the large stables and sat down on the dusty ground. I hate it here. Angrily he kicked the ground with his boot and whirled dust up. I`m just wasting my time.

After he had sat there for around fifteen minutes, someone sat down beside him.

"Problems?" Black Hawk asked while stretching his legs out.

"This whole camp is my problem," Harry said angrily.

"How dramatic," Black Hawk said sarcastically.

"Yeah, fantastic. Make fun of me. I don't care." Again, Harry kicked the ground. His jeans were already covered in dust, and his face was dirty, too.

"Doesn't look as if you don't care, Harry," Black Hawk said calmly. "What's wrong? And I mean what really angered you this time, not your overall feeling about everything here."

"He doesn't like me. I don't want to do all this," Harry said sullenly.

"I will just ignore the last part; so, who doesn't like you?" Black Hawk took his hat off and waved the dusty air away.

"The horse, of course," Harry said and looked angrily at the older man. Seeing Black Hawk relaxed and not a bit like the other adults - who always wanted to show him that he was still a kid and couldn't decide for himself - lifted his mood. It seemed that Black Hawk really just wanted to make conversations, not give him a tongue lashing.

"Tohiadedi? No, he is just suspicious. Like you. He will get better once he knows the people who want to touch and care for him. You need to earn his trust. Just be patient."

"Why do I have to take care of him? I'm not good with horses."

"I'm sure you would like to go riding with Severus and Draco, wouldn't you? It's nice to leave the camp for a few hours on a riding trip. We have a river half an hour away from here; the water is clear and not too cold for swimming in.

"Most of the kids like to have their own horse. They are good listeners when you have something to tell them that you can't, or don't want to, tell someone. Many people say it is soothing to brush the coat and mane of a horse. So, I think there are many reasons for you to at least try to become friends with your horse. Light Arrow never was wrong matching a horse to a kid."

Harry meanwhile had picked up a twig and broke it several times, throwing the pieces in front of his boots. "Maybe it would be great to go riding, but as long as the horse doesn't want me, I can't do anything," he said, before crushing the bits of twig into the ground with his boot.

"Tohiadedi just reacts to your behaviour towards him. You are angry and uncertain, and that makes him nervous. You need to approach him openly, and you must try to concentrate on him and not your problems or bad feelings. Maybe the time you spend with your horse can be a time where you forget about all your frustration. For me, it has always worked. I was glad that everyone left me alone while I was with my horse. No stupid questions, no arguments, no odd looks - just Shallow Water and me."

Harry curiously looked at Black Hawk. The man was leaning, relaxed, against the stable, one leg outstretched and the other slightly bent. Black Hawk wasn't looking at Harry; he was looking in the distance, which made Harry relax as well. He took his Stetson and spun it in his hands. "What if he never lets me touch him?" Harry asked, worried.

"That won't happen. Like I said, Light Arrow has a feeling for horses, and when he says Tohiadedi is good for you, then he is. He has never been wrong. So, want to give it another try?" Black Hawk asked and looked at Harry for the first time.

Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on, I will help you, and I promise Tohiadedi will accept you," Black Hawk assured Harry.

Reluctantly Harry straightened up and brushed the dust from his jeans.

Black Hawk laughed. "That's useless, Harry. Here you will always be covered in dust. You look like one of us now."

Without another word, both went to the paddock. Melissa was standing with her horse, Maude, under one of the cottonwood trees. She shyly looked over when she realized it was Black Hawk and Harry. Seeing Harry look back at her, she hid behind Maude's head, looking as if she was whispering something into the ear of the mare.

Draco looked up. He was brushing Unega's coat and now looked curiously over to Harry.

Crying Horse jumped from the gate and came over to Harry and Black Hawk. "I will go then. The ladies are waiting for me." He patted Black Hawk's shoulder. "You can be glad that he didn't force you going to collect berries with the women for the next few times. I'm quite surprised he let you off the hook so easily."

Black Hawk brushed the hand from his shoulder. "It seems he was a bit occupied by Severus. Not that I object."

"Yeah, seems he is in some kind of trouble. Only one day here and already under Light Arrow's personal supervision," Crying Horse said. Seeing Harry's curious expression, he quickly said, "Whatever, I need to go find the girls. Melissa will stay with you. So, be a good boy, Black Hawk."

Black Hawk looked grumpily at Crying Horse. "You have no clue what you are talking about. You never have been at the receiving end of one of Light Arrow's personal supervisions."

"That's because I'm the good guy of this camp, my brother." Laughing, Crying Horse left Harry and Black Hawk to look for the women.

"Everything okay over there?" Black Hawk asked Draco, who quickly nodded and started to brush Unega's coat again.

"Good, then let's start with you and Tohiadedi." Black Hawk gave Harry a brush and took a second one himself. "Just look at me and try to copy my movements." Black Hawk moved towards the horse, which he had caught and tied to the fence, allowed the horses to sniff the brush, and then began to groom his coat at a smooth, steady pace.

Harry reluctantly started to brush the chestnut coat of his horse. When he realized that Tohiadedi relaxed under his ministration, he started to enjoy it himself. Harry didn't even notice when Black Hawk stopped, checked on Melissa, and took his place on the gate.

After a while, Black Hawk asked Draco if he would like to clean Unega's hooves. Draco overcome his fear and nodded. After Draco managed it alone, Black Hawk went over to Harry and showed him the same movements.

Unfortunately for Harry, things didn't go as well as they had for Draco, and when he tried to lift Tohiadedi's hoof to clean it, the horse didn't move an inch. "Oh, come on, Tohi, lift your leg."

Tohiadedi just ignored him and looked lazily into the distance.

"Yeah, fantastic. First you pretend to accept me, and now you make a fool of me again." The horse snorted as if he was laughing at him. Harry pulled and yanked at Tohiadedi's foot to no effect. The horse stubbornly kept all his hooves on the ground. Desperately, Harry looked over to Black Hawk for help.

The man just shook his head. "Remember what I told you. Concentrate on him and not on your own problems. You are blocking, so he is blocking, too. Relax and just concentrate on Tohiadedi."

Harry sighed, frustrated. "I am concentrating on him," he muttered. Again he yanked at the hoof. "Come on, boy, lift it," Harry instructed, annoyed with the situation. Until now, he had enjoyed the whole "horse thing" as he called it, but now he felt like a freak again. Enviously, he looked over to Draco, who had already managed to clean the third hoof on his horse.

Why can't my horse be like Unega. It's not fair, Harry thought angrily. Tohiadedi snorted and stepped away from him as if he had read his mind.

"Sorry, boy. It wasn't meant like that," Harry said, before he realized what he has said, and blushed. Quickly, he looked over to Black Hawk if he had heard him. The man was sitting on the gate and looking nervously around. Then he reached into his shirt and pulled a small box out. Quickly, he opened it and took out a cigarette. With a matchstick, he lit it and looked around again.

Puzzled, Harry looked at the man. It seems more things than I previously considered are not allowed here, Harry thought, amused. Concentrating back on the task, Harry looked at Tohiadedi. As if the horse felt his gaze, he turned one of his ears in Harry's direction. Slowly, Harry went over to the head of the horse. He leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Come on, don't let me look stupid. He won't let us go before I have managed to clean your hooves. So, please lift your hoof or we will stay here all day. No nice mares, no grass, no fun - just standing here with me in the sun. Not much fun, don't you think?"

Tohiadedi nickered and turned his head in Harry's direction. He gently touched Harry head because he was too surprised to pull it back. "Does that mean I should start?" When the horse snorted, Harry took it as a sign to start. He let his hand roam from the horse's neck, across his left shoulder, and down the front of his leg before gently wrapping his hand around the pastern, just above the hoof. This time he didn't pull at it and just let his hand gently rest on the angle while with his thumb he made a circle around it. It felt natural. His own body was slightly touching the horse's side and he could feel the slow vibration of the horse when he relaxed and clenched his muscles. To Harry great surprise, and relief, Tohiadedi relaxed and Harry could lift the hoof.

A bit awkwardly at first, Harry started to clean the hoof, but Tohiadedi didn't seem to be annoyed by it. He cleaned out the other hooves as well, and when he looked up, he saw that Draco was leading Unega around the paddock.

"Well done, Harry." Black Hawk patted Harry's shoulder. "Want to join Draco with your horse?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically. Finally he would have time to speak with Draco.