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She walked through the pub and headed down the street,
looking around at all the strange shops. She passed Florean Flortesque's Ice
Cream Shoppe, Flourish and Blotts, Quality Quidditch Supplies, and
Ollivander's Wands. She stooped in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies,
faintly remembering she had heard that name somewhere. She shook her
head and walked on, stopping outside of the huge white marble building at
the end of the street. Her jaw dropped. It was huge! And most of all, a small,
greenish-gray creature with pointy ears and a pointy nose and wearing what
looked like a bellhop uniform was seated outside of the doors! "Goblin...." she
murmured. Then she shook her head, uncertain how she had recognized the
strange creature. She turned back, heading for the Ice Cream Shoppe, where
she could sit at an outdoor table and read in peace. She sat down at an empty
table, then took out her book and leaned back into her chair. She opened to
the first page, to continue reading, but stopped and looked down at the cover,
once again wondering if she had imagined the pleading look the unicorn had
given her. Now, however, the unicorn had lay down next to the pool, her
mane spread over the ground, her tail and legs tucked in, and her horn
resting over the surface of the water. An owl sat on a branch overhead, and a
large, full moon rose slowly over the mountains on the horizon. She frowned,
did a double take, then opened the book again. She began to read the timeless
tale of the last unicorn in the world's journey to find and save her people from
the clutches of a madman king swirled around her thoughts until she had no
sense of time or space, and she herself was the wandering unicorn. Finally,
near chapter 13, she stopped and sighed deeply. She marked the page and
looked around. The streets were nearly empty, and the sun was going down.
She quickly closed the book, stood, and hurried back towards the Leaky
Cauldron.