A unicorn story

by Dweo

“A thought that still haunts me,” said Lupin heavily. “And there were near misses, many of them.” The meeting of two soul mates on the night of the full moon.

"That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf what if you'd given the others the slip and bitten somebody?"

"A thought that still haunts me," said Lupin heavily. "And there were near misses, many of them."

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 18, Moony Wormtail Padfoot and prongs   

A/N This is about the meeting between a girl and a werewolf. //…\\ Are telepathic conversations.

Disclaimer, None of the characters or concepts associated with J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels belong to me, everything else does.

A unicorn story.

A summer day 1967

It was a beautiful Saturday and it was time for Rubius Hagrid's weekly inspection of the Forbidden Forest. As Keeper of Grounds and Keys at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry it was his duty to make sure the creatures inside the Forest were save. He would visit the Centaurs, the Unicorns and perhaps even the Thestrals, all these creatures could sense if something was wrong in the Forest. Miranda knew he would be going in to the Forest and she hoped she could go with him. She decided to go to Hagrid's hut under the pretence of wanting to see his new puppy. She was certain he would let her come with him, if she was there. All she had to do was get permission from her mother.

"Mum, can I go and visit Hagrid?" Minerva McGonagall looked up from her book. She wore her brown hair in a bun and was currently dressed in simple bottle green robes. She was a teacher at Hogwarts, the youngest and one of the strictest in the school. But most of the students liked her, she was fair, a good teacher and had a great sense of humour.

"Why do you want to go to Hagrid, Mandy?" Professor McGonagall asked while she put the book away. Mandy was Miranda's nickname; everybody called her that, except Professor Dumbledore. Miranda liked her nickname, but she liked the way Professor Dumbledore treated her even more. He treated her like a student, even though she was only seven years old and had to wait another four years before she would be a real student at Hogwarts. She was raised at Hogwarts by her mother since birth, her father died before she was born. Miranda knew the castle as good or better as most seventh year students. She was rather tall for her age, had two funny pony tales on the side of her head and her face always looked like she was planning something. Almost all students liked her; Miranda was already a prankster and loved to plant dungbombs and fireworks at unexpected places. But at the moment she had another mission on her mind.

"I want to see Lady," she replied trying to sound innocently, with her seven years she already knew how to manipulate adults.

"What is Lady?" her mother asked looking worried, Professor McGonagall knew Hagrid's love for dangerous animals with fluffy names and an animal with the name Lady had to be a dragon at least.

"His new puppy," Miranda said smiling. Professor McGonagall thought about it but after a few moments, she nodded.

"You can go, but don't go wandering off alone. You can go to Hagrid and stay with Hagrid." Her mother said sternly, "if I catch you on the Quidditch field one more time, you are literally grounded until Christmas." Her mother had caught her flying with the Gryffindor Quidditch team last year, since then she wasn't allowed near the Quidditch pitch without her mother. Apparently, her mother found it too dangerous and her too young. Miranda loved flying and she loved playing Quidditch, even if she was too young.

"Ok mum, I will stay with Hagrid," Miranda said smiling while she picked up her cloak. After a long walk, she reached Hagrid's hut, hoping he was still there. She was in luck; Hagrid was in his hut getting ready to leave.

"Mandy, what can I do fer yeh," he asked, he was putting his crossbow on his back.

"I wanted to see Lady," she said happily while Lady almost knocked her of her feet. Hagrid had found Lady last week; they figured she was about three months old. She was a wolfhound and was already almost as big as Miranda. 

"I was plannin' ter take her in ter the Forest," Hagrid replied.

"Can I come with you?" she asked him, she knew he would give in; he could not refuse her anything.

"Wha' did yer mum say, Mandy?" Hagrid looked at her.

"I had to stay with you," she said, trying to sound innocent again.

"Ok yeh can come," Hagrid said smiling while he opened the door. Lady ran out and started to run rounds around them. The three of them went in to the Forest, they were an odd group. A small girl accompanied by a man three times her size and a very enthusiastic dog. After a twenty-minute walk they reached an open spot between the threes. A beautiful creature stood waiting there; it had the body and legs of a palomino horse and the upperbody of a boy with white blond hair.

"Hey Firenze, how are yeh?" Hagrid asked while smiling to the very young looking centaur.

"Good day Hagrid," Firenze replied. "And who is this lovely young lady?"

"My name is Miranda Guinevere McGonagall," Miranda said proudly. She was impressed by the centaur and silently afraid of him, even though he was still small for a centaur.  

"Please to meet you Miranda," Firenze said smiling.  

"Firenze is everythin' goin' alrigh'? No problems with the wolfs?" Hagrid asked looking at the centaur.

"They won't like it when I talk with you Hagrid you know that." Firenze said softly looking worried. Miranda wondered why Firenze looked so worried.

"I don' get why yeh can' simply help me. I mean if the wolfs are runnin' wild yer kind will have problems too." Hagrid sounded angry. "All yeh have ter say if the wolfs are calm or not." Miranda felt a pang of fear, the stories she knew about wild wolfs were scary. Most wolfs in Great Britain are semi-wild, they were mostly hidden from the Muggles and live on small animals. However, sometimes they turn wild and they will start to attack Muggles and wizards.

"I heard a wild wolf is running around," Firenze said still softly. "I can't tell you anymore, you know that. I don't want to get any trouble."

"Thank yeh Firenze, I will keep it ter myself." Hagrid said while he turned around.

"Goodbye," Miranda said polity to Firenze, "it was a pleasure to meet you."

"I am also honoured to meet you, I think we will meet again." Firenze said while he galloped away. Hagrid looked to Miranda.

"Perhaps, we should turn back. I'm not sure if it is wise fer yeh ter be here, if there are wolfs runnin' wild." Hagrid said looking worried.

"Don't worry Hagrid, I'm not scared," Miranda said, but her voice quivered a little. Hagrid put his hand on top of her shoulder.

"Don' worry, we'll go now. I don' wan' Lady here when a wild wolf is walkin' 'round" Hagrid said, making Miranda feel a little better. She knew he was worried about her. At the same time, he also knew it how to make her feel save, without treating her like a small child. They walked in silence back to the school grounds, after five minutes a unicorn appeared. It was a beautiful white animal and it slowly walked towards Hagrid. Miranda looked in awe at the stallion, the animal turned to her. She looked in his eyes and she felt humble. The animal was so powerful but also pure, her heart made a jump when he walked away. She wanted it to stay, she wanted to stroke it the rest of the afternoon. To her surprise the stallion waited for them on the edge of the Forest, its head turned to them as if he was waiting for them.

"It wants us ter follow him," Hagrid mumbled softly, while he walked to the stallion. The animal walked away again, Hagrid and Miranda followed him. They walked steadily in to the Forest, until they reached another clearing in the trees. This one was a little different, instead of a centaur several beautiful unicorns were standing in a corner. There were a few young golden foals, several silver unicorns and about five mares. They all stood around something, they looked up at Miranda and Hagrid and stepped aside. On the ground lay a young foal, beautifully gold. Hagrid walked immediately to the unicorn, Miranda followed still a little impressed.

"What happened ter yeh?" Hagrid talked to the foal, "yeh have wounded yer leg didn' yeh." Hagrid talked as if he was speaking to a small child that had scrapped his knee. Miranda felt a nudge in her side and looked up to the stallion, apparently he wanted her to help Hagrid. She sat down on her knee and looked at the wound. It did not look very serious, but it was bleeding silver blood.

"Don' touch the blood, Mandy. It is dangerous." Hagrid said holding her hand back. "I wan' yeh ter calm it, while I look how much damage is done." Miranda looked the foal in his eyes. Somehow, she knew he was a male. She stroked his manes while Hagrid carefully touched the leg.

"I have ter take him up ter the castle," Hagrid stood up and talked to the stallion "the wound isn' serious bu' if I don' take care of it, he could loose his leg." The stallion bowed his head and almost looked like he nodded. "Good, yeh can come with us if yeh wan'." Miranda looked up, but kept stroking the foal.

"It will be all right. Hagrid's going to take care of you, don't worry," she said softly to him. All of the sudden the atmosphere change, Miranda looked up and noticed that all the unicorns looked around alarmed. Then it happened. Out of nowhere a silver flash went passed her and attacked the stallion. The stallion fought with the help of Hagrid and Lady. Finally, the wolf let go, but instead of fleeing, the wolf turned around and sprang towards the foal with the injured leg. Before Miranda knew what she did, she threw her self between the wolf and foal. The wolf attacked her with al his might, he bit her in her shoulder and she felt his claws scratch her chest and legs. Then the biting stopped and the last thing she saw, before she lost consciousness, was Hagrid throwing away the wolf.

Hagrid bowed down to pick Miranda up, she was bleeding badly and he knew she was dying. Her breathing was getting shallower by the second. Then, to his surprise, the stallion put his nose against her chest.

"Yeh wan' ter help," he asked desperately and before he could react the stallion let several silver blood drops fall in her mouth.

"What are yer doin'? Yeh are cursin' her," he said. Unicorn blood could sustain a life of somebody who was dying, but the life would be cursed from that day on.

//When the blood is giving willingly, it bounds the receiver to our family.\\ To Hagrid's surprise he could hear somebody talking in his mind. He knew there were stories of unicorns communicating telepathically with wizards and witches, but he had never met anybody who could.

"Yeh are talkin' ter me?" he asked awed, while he picked up Miranda.

//You have been accepted in our family a long time ago, Hagrid Keeper of the Forest. We never had a reason to speak to you before, but this little foal you brought with you showed bravery beyond any thing I have seen before. She is worthy of our blood.\\ the voice said again. //But you have to get her to your own kind to save her.\\      

Hagrid nodded and began to ran to the castle, he reached the hospital wing after a amazingly short time and put her down on a bed, while the nurse bend over her.

"Get Minerva down here, now," Madam Pomfrey told Hagrid, who walked to the door immediately. He didn't have to go far, right outside the door were the headmaster and Minerva McGonagall

"What happened? Where is she?" was all Miranda's mother could say, before she collapsed on a chair.

"Poppy is treatin' her," Hagrid said while tears ran down his face "she was attacked by a wolf."

"A wolf, but she just wanted to see Lady," Professor McGonagall said choking on her tears. "Where would she have met a wolf?"

"We were lookin' after a injured unicorn when he attacked. He attacked one of the stallions firs' and then wen' fer the foal, Mandy threw her self in front o' it.'

"Hagrid you are saying the wolf had tasted unicorn blood." Professor Dumbledore asked urgently.

"Yeah, it was a Carrier-wolf" Hagrid said, his words were met with a snick from Professor McGonagall. Professor Dumbledore left to see Madam Pomfrey. After ten minutes he returned, with Madam Pomfrey on his heels, his face was grave.

"She will live Minerva, you can see her in a moment. But I have bad new, she has been bitten by the Carrier-wolf." Professor Dumbledore said very grave.

"But that means she is a werewolf."

***

A full moon 1975

"Have you seen that crazy cousin of mine or any of his friends?" Daniella Potter sat on the windowsill in the Gryffindor common room. It was her favourite place, especially on the night of the full moon. She looked at her best friend, who was busy writing her potions essay.

"No, I haven't seen any of them tonight," Miranda replied she looked up, "why?" Then she felt a pull, it took her a few seconds to realise what it meant.

"I have to go to the hospital wing," she said urgently. And before Daniella could react, her best friend ran away. She shrugged her shoulders; she was used to the strange behaviour of her friend and looked out of the window to the rising moon. It was going to be a beautiful full moon tonight.

***

Miranda ran down stairs, away from the hospital wing and straight to the Forbidden Forest. She kept on running, until she reached a clearing in the trees. The scene that met her eyes filled her with horror. On the ground lay a unicorn, it was still a young one, its silver fur shined in the light of the full moon. She ran to it and dropped down on her knees.

//What happened Malano?\\ she asked worried, while she looked at the wound.

// I wounded my self on a branch. I cannot see how bad it is Persian,\\ the unicorn replied. Persian was the name the unicorns had given her; she was named after her cat, which was a beautiful Persian.

//I will take a look,\\ Miranda had become very good at talking telepathically with the unicorns. And Professor Devino, the Divination teacher, insisted she had a mundane aura, if she only knew. There was a scratch on the side of the unicorn; it looked worse than it was, she could heal it easily. She put her wand at the wound, while she talked with Malano.

// It is not bad Malano, I can heal it if you keep still,\\ she wondered why the unicorn was alone, normally they stayed close to the herd.

//Where are the others?\\ a feeling of guilt swept over her. It took her some time to realise it was Malano who felt guilty.

//I walked off alone, that is how I was injured, \\ Miranda felt the fear come of the unicorn. // I was not allowed to walk off alone, they will be furious. \\

//And with good reason,\\ Miranda replied smiling. //What would you have done if I had not appeared? \\

// Go to the Keeper of the Forest, \\ the unicorn almost sounded bashful. Miranda laughed aloud.

//You're a little rascal do you know that.\\

// I have learned from the best,\\ Malano replied and he neighed rather loudly. Then she saw Malano's ears move, he looked alarmed.

// LEAVE, some thing is coming,\\ Malano panicked and tried to stand, but they were too late. A sliver brown creature walked to them, curious and unsure. Apparently, the werewolf had not decided if she was prey or not. Miranda heard a bark from the edge of the Forest; behind the werewolf were two creatures, a stag and what looked like a Grim. Miranda felt fear rise, she never believed the stories about Grims, but standing eye to eye with a werewolf and seeing a Grim could not be good. She raised her wand, she knew she would probably loose against the werewolf, but she would do as much damage as possible. Miranda took another look at the stag and realised something was wrong, why would a stag run with a werewolf. Then she noticed the rat sitting in the antlers of the stag and she realised these were not ordinary animals. Her attention was drawn to the werewolf again; the creature was still walking towards her. Her instinct told her to stay still, any unsuspected move and he would pounce her and she would not survive. She looked straight in the werewolf's eyes; they were silver like the full moon above them. They looked so familiar, she felt like drowning in them and slowly she felt the fear disappear from her, she was lost inside those eyes. She knew those eyes and with a jolt, she realised whose eyes they looked like.

Remus.

All she could think was, this is Remus, everything will be ok.

//The Keeper is coming, \\ Malano waked her up from her thoughts; at the same time the wolf looked away towards some trees a little further. Hagrid stood ready with his crossbow. The three animals had disappeared and the wolf turned around and walked away slowly. Hagrid did not lower his bow until the wolf had left with one last look. Hagrid immediately ran to Miranda

"Are you ok?" She heard and felt at the same time. Miranda tried to stand up, but her legs gave away immediately and she noticed for the first time how drained she felt.

"I'm ok, just a little tired," she replied before she lost her consciousness.

***

Miranda woke up feeling disorientated, something was not right; this did not feel like her own bed. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around, to her surprise she was in the hospital wing. All she could remember was that she had a dream about eyes, wolves, stags and Grims. It had been a pleasant dream, even though her feeling said it were dangerous eyes. Then it came back to her, she had seen Remus Lupin in werewolf form and he had not attacked her. Why had he not attack her, she wondered. She realised that she was in big trouble, she had to explain what she was doing in the Forbidden Forest. Not only to her mother, but also to the marauders, because she was certain that those animals had to be James, Sirius and Peter. Although she could not imagine how they had been able to become Animagus. She turned around and she put her head in the pillow as she groaned.

"You're awake, good." She recognized the voice immediately and her mother did not sound happy. Slowly Miranda turned around and looked at her mother.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady." It had been a long time ago that her mother had been this angry.

"Yes, mum," she said softly while she sat up, but she found that sitting up was not as easy as it normally was. Her body felt like she had played a long, dirty Quidditch-match against Slytherin. Her muscles ached and she felt exhausted.

"What happened?" Miranda asked while she lay down again, panting rather hard.

"That is exactly what I want to ask you," Her mother looked at her, but no longer angry but rather worried.

"Minerva, let her rest until she is a little stronger." Miranda recognized the new voice as being that of Madam Pomfrey. She walked to Miranda and looked at her.

"You should not move too much, you have suffered exhaustion both mental and physical. Here drink this." Miranda looked disgusted at the potion the nurse gave her. She drank it very fast; it tasted like a combination of bitter coffee and Quidditch robes after a weeklong match. The potion worked almost immediately, she felt the strength return in her arms and legs and she could sit up.

"Good, all you need is some rest. So I want you to stay at least until tomorrow." Madam Pomfrey turned around and opened the curtains she had put around the bed. Miranda looked who else there were in the hospital wing and was not surprised to see Remus lying in the next bed. He looked peaceful, like he was just resting after a long day of classes. On her other side was somebody that surprised her.

"James? What are you doing here?" she asked surprised, James looked very white and a little bit worried.

"I fell down a stair and broke my leg," he said not looking at her. She suspected that he wondered if she had realised what they had done. He was probably scared that she would tell her mother what had happened last night.

"Yes, you kept me up all night. Four students outside the common room after curfew I hope you realise you have a lot explaining to do." Her mother sounded angry again.

"Yes, I would like to know how you managed to survive an encounter with a werewolf, Miranda." Miranda looked at the door there stood the headmaster, he looked rather gravely at her.

"I think he recognized my blood, Professor. She said while looking at James, he was listing eagerly.

"Ah yes, your blood," Professor Dumbledore nodded, "but what were you doing out there in the first place, you of all students must know how dangerous the Forest is. Especially on the night of the full moon." Miranda looked at the old teacher and smiled.

"Malano had injured himself again, so I helped him," Miranda replied. Professor Dumbledore looked at her, his eyes twinkled and he smiled.

"Why didn't the other unicorns help him, or did he leave the herd again." Miranda smiled at these words. Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid were the only two other people at Hogwarts who the unicorns trusted and Professor Dumbledore knew of her special bond with Malano. Malano was the foal she had saved eight years ago. He and Miranda loved to explore the Forbidden Forest together and Malano called her if he or the herd had any problems.

"He was alone and could not see if the injury was serious. It was a nasty cut, so I healed him. And then the werewolf showed up, unsure if he should attack me. I looked in his eyes and he recognized what I was. He left when Hagrid appeared, after that I don't remember anything." James looked at Miranda curious, he knew she had left out a big part and probably wondered why.

"Ah I see, although you did break one of the most important rules of this school, you did it with a good reason. And I think you have been punished enough. There for I won't give you detention. I will take ten points from Gryffindor though and I ask of you that the next time you to go to Hagrid when you want to go in to the Forest," Professor Dumbledore smiled to her. "You, on the other hand need to be disciplined," Professor Dumbledore turned around to James with these words.

"I will take care of that, Professor," her mother said with a smile that promised no good. "There were three of them and I will think of a good punishment." Miranda could not help but feel sorry for the boys, they would probably be scrubbing the floors for the next week.

"I leave it to you then." Professor Dumbledore walked to the door, "and Mr. Potter I expect you to keep what you heard a secret, it is Miranda's story to tell." James nodded, "I will keep this to my self, Professor."

"Good, Minerva would you come with me, I want to talk to you." Her mother stood up and looked at Miranda sternly, "you stay here and listen to Madam Pomfrey. If I hear you have misbehaved yourself, you will get detention." She left them in silence, James looked at Miranda with curiosity. She did not feel like explaining yet, she first wanted to sort her feelings out, before she talked to anybody.

"I will explain later James. I first need to organise my thoughts," she said when James opened his mouth. He closed it again and nodded, lost in his own thoughts.

Miranda remembered the eyes, she knew they were Remus's eyes; she had dreamed about them. There was a link between them, a link that went further than her blood or his lycanthropy. She had always felt there was something missing, ever since she had been bitten by that wolf. Now that feeling was gone, like she had found the answer to a nagging question. It had felt like she had given him energy, energy he used to find his human side under the wolf. She could feel the moon again, it had been several years since she had been influence by the moon, but now she could feel it again. She needed to talk to Remus urgently. But she also needed to talk to the rest of the marauders, talk about the fact that they had become Animagi. She had started this year with training to become an Animagus. But did not expect to be able to change for another year and she had her mother helping her. They had done it without help and without teachers noticing. She was sure about that, her mother had not let her start it until she was fifteen and she would have stopped the boys if she had known.

"Miss McGonagall, would you like something to eat?' Miranda was roughly woken out of her thoughts.

"Sorry Madam Pomfrey, what did you say?" She asked while she looked to the nurse.

"I have some breakfast for you, Mandy" Madam Pomfrey looked worried at her. "How do you feel? I hope you don't have nightmares about wolves again," she said. Miranda smiled at her, "no I didn't have a nightmare, I was just lost in my thoughts."

"You know you can always come to me if you have nightmares, perhaps I can help."

"Thank you, I will keep it in mind, Madam Pomfrey." Miranda liked Madam Pomfrey very much, even though she was a little overbearing sometimes. The nurse had taken care of Miranda in her most difficult times. She had pulled Miranda through after she had been bitten and was hunted by nightmares.

The nurse left to look at James's leg and Remus, who was waking up. A knock sounded on the door, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew looked inside the hospital wing.

"We wondered if we could see the patients," Sirius asked softly. Miranda noted they had not brought the girls with them.

"Mr Potter and miss McGonagall are ready for visitors and Mr Lupin almost. So come on in, but you can't stay too long." The boy sat down eagerly between James and Miranda.

"How are you guys doing?" Sirius asked looking at them. "Daniella wanted to come, but she is currently enjoying a nice Arithmancy lesson." Miranda realised it was Friday today and she should be in Arithmancy now, just like Remus. The other boys had chosen Muggle Studies instead, Sirius mainly to anger his family, James and Peter because they found it fascinating. Immediately after Madam Pomfrey left, Sirius opened his mouth again, "you have some explaining to do Mandy." His tone was strange, torn between anger and curiosity.

"What were you thinking, walking out there straight in the claws of a werewolf?"

"I can ask you the same question. What were you doing there, while he," at this word she pointed to Remus, who blanched, "is supposed to be locked up in the Shrieking Shack. And how come you have become Animagi without anybody knowing, tell me that." All four of them looked shocked and scared. Remus had moved away from her, something that hurt her terrible, she wanted him closer.

"I'm sorry," Miranda apologised.

"You're right." Sounded softly beside her, Remus looked sad. "I assume you told your mother what happened. Don't worry, I will leave as soon as Pomfrey lets me go." Miranda looked strangely at Remus, she felt sorry for him. It was not his fault, but he should learn to trust his friends, especially her.

"Do not talk rubbish, Remus" she said rather forcefully, "I don't want you to go home."

"No, she didn't tell the teachers about you, us," James said, "I heard her." Remus and Sirius looked at her surprised, while Peter simply looked blank.

"You have to explain what happened out there, because I don't understand," Sirius said, Remus looked at Miranda questioning. She nodded to him, he wanted to say something about it.

"Moony recognized Mandy as congener, as an equal, or perhaps even his master." Remus said.

"How can he recognize her as an equal, he normally just wants to eat humans," Sirius said rather bluntly, Miranda flinched while Remus laughed.

'Mandy isn't human, or at least not in the eyes of Moony and I think most magical creatures." Remus continued. "I'm I right?" He said while he looked at Miranda. Miranda nodded, Remus smiled at her encouragingly.

"Moony recognized her both as a unicorn, as well as a wolf." Sirius and Peter looked surprised while James was contemplating something.

"So that is what happened when you were seven?" James said softly, "I know aunt Amber told us that you were ill and would not stay with us that summer. You were bitten by a wolf, weren't you?" She heard two gasps, from both Sirius and Peter.

"Yes, I was bitten by a Carrier-wolf," she said softly. At these words, Remus looked up.

"That is impossible," he said, "you're not a werewolf."

"No, I'm not. but you your self said you see the wolf in me. The wolf is a part of me but he is weak because of my bond with unicorns." Miranda replied. 

"What is a Carrier-wolf?" Peter asked softly almost afraid to ask.

"Peter you should really read sometimes, this is part of the O.W.L.'s," Sirius said weary.

"There are three ways of getting lycontropy. One is by birth, but it is illegal for lycanthropes to have children in Great Britain. The second one is if a werewolf bites you, this is the most common form of transfer." Remus explained it to Peter as if he was explaining a simple homework assignment. "The last method of transfer is if you are bitten by a Carrier-wolf. These are ordinary wolfs, who have drank unicorn blood. They them self don't have lycanthropy, as they can't change into human form. But their victims often are humans. They say this is where the first werewolves have originated from." Remus story was met with silence, until Peter talked again, "if that is the case and Mandy was bitten by a Carrier-wolf, why isn't she a werewolf?"

"That is the question of the day," Sirius nodded his head. They all looked at Miranda, who felt very uncomfortable under their gazes.

"I will tell the whole story," she said, "under one condition; nobody outside this room is to know about it. And if you tell, I will tell about your Animagus ability." Miranda explained how she was bitten and how the unicorn gave his blood to keep her alive.

"That still doesn't explain how it is possible that you are not a werewolf." James spoke, staring intently at her.

"I had been drawn to the moon since the bite, I knew without looking on the calendar that the moon was full. I showed every sign of being a werewolf. So, the first full moon after I was bitten, they locked me up in a room to change. But noting happened, I didn't change. Although I did howl at the moon, as far as little girl can howl of course."

"You howled?" Remus asked surprised, "but you didn't change."

"No, I was still human. The next day we had a long talk and Professor Dumbledore explained to me that my werewolf bite was counteracted by the unicorn blood. There however, had been a short of time for the lycanthropy to go through my veins and I still felt the effects, even though I was no werewolf. As I grew the urges to howl at the moon disappeared and I became a normal girl." Her words were met with snorts from both James and Sirius.

"You? a normal girl? I don't think so," Sirius said smiling. Miranda tried to smack his head, but he was too quick and ducked.

"Hey, be nice to me. I'm ill, you know." She replied, trying to sound hurt, but failing miserably.   

"You are far from normal, Mandy" Remus said smiling to her, but something in his eyes told her they needed to talk in private.

"Yeah, you can talk to unicorns, you can walk into the Forbidden Forest with out getting a scratch." Peter added in awe. At these words, Madam Pomfrey returned.

"Are you still here? I want you to leave," she said to Peter and Sirius, "my patients need rest." Miranda lay down again feeling drained. Telling her story had taken a lot out of her and she was happy with the interruption. Sirius and Peter waved at them from the door and left.

"Mr Potter, I will take another look at your leg, but I think you will be able to leave before dinner." Madam Pomfrey started to move James's leg and all of the sudden Miranda wondered how he had really broken his leg. After Madam Pomfrey had left, she noticed that Remus had drifted of in to sleep again while James looked at her.

"Peter was right, you are special." He said in a tone that a proud brother would use for his little sister. She smiled at him.

"I have told my story, but what happened to you?" She whispered to make sure that the nurse would not hear them.

"You scared us so much that we noticed Hagrid to late and we had to run. I tripped when I jumped a ditch; I fell and broke my leg. While Sirius escorted Remus back to the Shrieking Shack, I went back to the castle slowly. I came as far as the entrance hall before I collapsed. Peter and Sirius found me and helped me back up the stairs, but we were caught by your mother." James smiled at her.

"I was wondering, what are your animal forms?" she asked, yawning behind her hand.

James smiled, "I'm a Stag, Sirius is a dog and Peter a rat." James said, "I will tell you how we did it in private, I think there are to many eavesdroppers," he pointed to Madam Pomfrey, who walked towards them again. Miranda nodded, but felt the sleep come over her and before she could reply, she dozed off.

***

Miranda woke up early the next morning, after a night filled with dreams about eyes again. Both James and Remus had been discharged the night before, she was the only one who remained. Madam Pomfrey ushered her rather quickly out of the hospital wing. So, Miranda was currently on her way to the common room. There were no classes today as it was Saturday; therefore she expected most of her friends to be in the common room.

"Raido," she said to the Fat Lady, they were using pet names as passwords this year. And Raido was Daniella's eagle owl. To her surprise none of her friends were in the common room, first she walked to her dormitory, only to find it empty. She quickly walked to the boy's dormitory. To her surprise, only Remus was laying face down on his bed. This was unusual, they normally moved in a pack, the four of them.

"Are you alone?" Miranda asked shyly, she was nervous, all of the sudden not sure what she should say.

"Yes, I was thinking," Remus replied not looking at her.

"About what?" she asked while she sat down on James's bed, taking of her shoes.

"You, me, what happened two nights ago,' he slowly turned around and looked her straight in her eyes. Miranda felt her heart skip a beat, but before she could react, he looked away again.     

"How long have you known?" he asked softly, Miranda sat back and crossed her legs under her.

"I have known since I first met you," she replied, "but I realised what it meant after the third full moon or so."

Remus turned around in surprise, "you knew it before the others knew?"

"Well I had a bit of a head start," Miranda replied with a smile. "The teachers had the habit of forgetting that there was a student on the ground."

"What do you mean?" Remus also sat up, looking intently at her.

"The summer before you came, they all of the sudden made a tunnel on the middle of the ground. Only to put a Whomping Willow on top. I was very surprised by that. When I asked about it, mum made me promise not to go looking at it, she explained that it was a security measure. I tried to get close by but I didn't know how to get the willow to stop and almost lost my head. So I decided it was to dangerous to get inside the tunnel." Remus threw a chocolate frog at her, while eating one him self.

"Please continue."

"The second clue that you were different, was when I met you for the first time. I wanted to fight you, I didn't like another wolf in my territory, I never realised what the feeling was. I became aware of the moon again, I totally panicked, I was scarred that I was becoming a werewolf. But my mum said it could be the change of rhythm. I later realised you woke up the wolf. The third clue was your sorting."

"My sorting?" Remus looked incredulous at her.

"Yeah, most of the other students were still figuring out how Sirius got sorted in to Gryffindor. They didn't notice that most teachers were very interested in your sorting and even more surprised that you were sorted into Gryffindor. Mum and Professor Meadowes talked urgently, as if they had not expected this and thought you would have been a Slytherin."      

"I knew I would be a Slytherin, but I had hoped to be a Ravenclaw," Remus smiled at these words. "That is the strange thing, the hat never mentioned Slytherin. He hesitated briefly on Ravenclaw, because that was what he saw in my head, but decided on Gryffindor."

"That was the idea I got too," Miranda said. "These were the main reasons for me to expect you to be different; after you began to make excuses around the full moon I made the link."

"You never told anybody about it," Remus looked at her, "and you were not afraid."

"If I was afraid of you, I had to be afraid of myself. There was more wolf in me than I ever realised." They sat in silence both lost in thoughts, Miranda was wondering how she could tell him the next part. She decided that she needed to be closer to him. 

"Move over," she said while she sat down beside him. "We still need to talk about what happened two nights ago." 

"Do you believe in soul mates?" Miranda looked up at him, Remus continued. "Two people who are meant to be together." Miranda nodded, letting Remus talk.

"My wolf found his mate, his soul mate, two nights ago," Remus was busy examining his fingernails when he said these words. Miranda felt sad about these words they were not what she had hoped for and had expected.

"Only your wolf?" she asked softly, "because I found mine too and meeting him once a month is not enough for me." She put both her hands on his face and looked at him, he looked back at her.

"I found mine a long time ago," he replied and slowly kissed her.

Fin