Thanks ever so much to Nickie Carc who supplied me with the stories after StarryEyedLove's demented cousin deleted her account! She. Is. Brilliant.
In front of you stood one of the most beautiful creatures you had ever seen in your life. No other magical beast could rival it in sheer magnificence and enchantment. It was a pure, brilliant white not marred by a single stain. Its long shimmering, silver mane fell elegantly over its long and slender neck and its tail of the same color swished in the gentle breeze. The creature's eyes were like two shining sapphires, entrancing and marvelous.
"It is so beautiful" you whispered drawing closer to the unicorn that had just emerged from the forest. You ran your fingers softly over it muzzle and down its long, slender neck, its white hair was as smooth as the finest silk. Noticing that Draco had disappeared from your side you looked around to see he had backed up a few steps looking rather nervous; you always thought he looked adorable when he was nervous.
"Draco Malfoy... are you scared of a sweet, little unicorn?" you chuckled teasingly back to him.
"I'm not scared" he declared indignantly, "I just- erm- I was just never really very good with animals" he explained backing up a little further.
"Oh come here you baby" you laughed taking his hand and pulling him over to the miraculous beast. You lifted his hand and placed it gently on the unicorn's neck, you guided his hand across it with yours on top. You could feel his body trembling slightly beside you. "It is okay" you whispered sweetly in his ear, "I think she likes you" you laughed referring to the unicorn.
He smiled back at you, "You think?" he asked becoming a little more comfortable.
"I sure do" you answered. The unicorn neighed gleefully and nuzzled you affectionately on the neck before trotting off back into the forest, most likely to find some shelter from the snow that had suddenly began to fall harder.
"So you like unicorns?" Draco asked as the two of you made your way back to the school.
"I love unicorns!" you exclaimed, "They are just so- so elegant and beautiful..." you trailed off dreamily. You had always had a strange fascination with the magical creatures, they were so innocent and vulnerable yet there was something almost intimidating about them. And within the delicate creatures was the magic to keep one alive even on the edge of death, but only along with a dark and terrible curse that seemed out of place with something so pure...
"You don't strike me as the unicorn type; you do have that weird love for thestrals" Draco laughed.
"Ah yes! Thestrals! Also extremely beautiful creatures; they are like dark unicorns in my opinion" you responded. Draco didn't reply, he just smiled and shook his head slightly at you.
"ANNA! DRACO! WAIT UP!" a clearly panicked voice shouted after you as you walked toward the Great Hall to pick up some lunch. You both stopped and spun around instantly to see a petrified and pale looking Professor McGonagall sprinting toward you. Her graying hair, which was normally tied back in a tight bun, was flying behind her and tears were pouring from her dark blue eyes.
"What's wrong Professor?" you croaked becoming nervous all of a sudden. What could have happened to make McGonagall lose her cool like this? She was always so calm and put together; she never seemed to let anything get to her.
"Later" she said shortly, "Go to my office now! Use the floo powder and travel to Twelve Grimmauld Place; you will be safe there. Do not delay! I have other business to attend to, now go!" she demanded throwing both you and Draco completely off guard. "GO!" she yelled again glaring at you threateningly. You both jumped slightly and quickly obeyed her demands and took off in a sprint down the hall.
"What the hell do you think is going on?" Draco gasped leaning against the wall in exhaustion as you both entered McGonagall's office.
"I have no idea" you replied, "But I know it cannot be good, McGonagall never looses her cool like that. We'd better get going" you added nervously taking a pinch of floo power into your hand and stepping towards the flames of the roaring fireplace. You walked inside and threw the floo powder down, "TWELVE GRIMMAULD PLACE!" you shouted clearly and a strange sensation flooded over you. You were spinning around very quickly and a queasy feeling entered your stomach just as you were thrown roughly onto a hard, wooden floor. You hadn't even looked up yet when you felt Draco's body land right on top of yours with a rather loud crash.
"Oh Merlin! Anna I am so sorry!" Draco exclaimed jumping off you and helping you up.
"That's okay Draco" you chuckled brushing yourself off a little, luckily you hadn't gotten too hurt. You finally looked around at your surroundings; you were in a small, dark kitchen with a single rectangular table in the center lined with dining ware. There was no one to be found however. "Hello! HELLO! Is anyone here?" you called out and suddenly an earsplitting, shrieking noise echoed throughout the house.
"What in bloody hell is that?" Draco asked as you clung to him in a mixture of fear and shock. You buried your heard into his chest trying desperately to block out the terrible sound. Then you heard another noise; the sound of many voices drawing closer to the kitchen.
The screeching finally came to a stop as the door swung open to reveal a rather frantic looking Harry holding his wand out in front of him. His glasses were askew on his face, his hair was untidier than usual, and he was sweating rather profusely.
"Oh it's just you two..." he sighed when he saw you standing there.
"Yeah nice to see you too Potter" you said sarcastically at his less than cheerful greeting.
"Oh Merlin... I'm sorry! It's good to see you again Anna, how are you feeling?" he asked kindly pulling you into a warm, welcoming hug.
"Better" you replied with a smile, "But what the hell is going on? McGonagall just came and told us to come here as quickly as possible. Something was obviously wrong, she looked panicked and who was screaming?" you inquired.
"Sirius' mum, she put a permanent sticking potion on her damn portrait" Harry muttered to your second question.
"And we have no idea..." Ron mumbled in answer to your first as he walked into the room, "Hey Anna, Draco" he greeted shortly plopping down into a chair, running his fingers through his long red hair.
"Yeah, they aren't telling us anything" Blaise said angrily as he walked in with Hermione, Luna, and Ron's little sister Ginny behind him. He walked over and hugged you tightly as did the rest of them; Hermione and Luna also hugged Draco a little to his surprise.
You all took a seat at the kitchen table, "What do you mean they aren't telling you anything?" Draco asked.
"Something happened, we know that much, because panicky Order members have been popping in and out of here all bloody day. But no one sticks around long enough to tell us what that something is and Mum, Fred, George, and Dad have been gone since this morning" Ron answered.
"They never even told us that they were leaving! We just woke up to find bloody Professor Snape pacing at the bottom of the stairs!" Ginny exclaimed.
"Not something you want to see first thing in the morning..." Luna mumbled.
"I wonder if someone else got hurt" you whispered nervously clutching Draco's hand in yours so tightly that you were beginning to cut of his circulation. But he didn't mind; he was squeezing back just as tightly fearing the very same as you. You could tell from the looks on everyone's faces that they were all worrying about the same thing.
Suddenly with a loud crack Remus Lupin appeared in the kitchen. His face was ghostly pale, the bags under his eyes looked worse than ever, and his slightly graying auburn hair was all over the place. "Anna, Draco?" he asked quickly looking around the table before spotting you. "Okay good" he said shortly walking over to the fireplace and taking a pinch of floo power from the pot on the mantle.
"Where are you going?" Harry questioned before he could get away.
"Hogwarts" he answered curtly.
"Oh no you don't!" Hermione said grabbing him by the sleeve, so he could not get away so easily. "What is going on? We are going bloody mental here!" she exclaimed.
"Something bad happened, that is all I can say for now. We are doing our best to fix it and catch those responsible, but if you don't let me go now Miss Granger the entire wizarding world may be thrown into utter chaos, I just came here to check that Miss Darcy and Mr. Malfoy were here and safe. Someone will explain everything to you later, but for now you must be patient" he said sternly. Hermione immediately let go of his sleeve and he disappeared into the flames.
"Well that was real reassuring..." you muttered sarcastically burying your heard into Draco's chest again. He wrapped his arms around you tightly and rubbed your back comfortingly.
"Shh- it is going to be okay" he whispered to the top of your head before kissing you softly on the forehead.
"How do you know that? For all we know- for all we know someone could have died!" Hermione snapped at Draco's words. You looked up to see her caramel brown eyes glossed over with tears; tears of sadness and frustration. Ron stood up and pulled her into a tight hug; he whispered words of comfort in her ear trying his best to calm her down. Luna had rested her head on Harry's shoulder and was staring off blankly into fireplace, while Harry ran his fingers nervously through his hair. Blaise had gotten up and began to pace back and forth in front of the table for lack of something better to do and Ginny just sat there with her head in her hands trembling a little.
Then you all your heads snapped up to look toward the door, as it swung open with a slight bang. Mrs. Weasley walked inside looking very disheveled and nervous; she took a deep breath as she looked at the seven of you gathered in the kitchen. She took the empty seat at the head of the table and opened her mouth to speak...