Chapter 2
Anticipation
The unicorns returned almost every day of that summer. At first it was just the foal; always waiting it the same place. Then Luna met the mother, a magnificent snow white creature that stood taller than the biggest horses she had ever seen.
She went down to visit them first thing every morning, sneaking out of bed as the first rays of sunshine peaked through her window. They grew accustomed to her, and she to them. Sometimes she would bring along a book and read out loud to them. Or sometimes she would just sit on a stump by the forest's edge, watching them. She didn't mind the long periods of silence. She almost felt as if they were talking to her anyway.
Because she knew that they – mother unicorn, baby unicorn, and her – shared a secret. Nobody else, not even Luna's own mother, cared enough to come down here. Nobody else knew about the unicorns. The little clearing by the forest's edge was her private little space, a place where she could sit in silent company and think and imagine, sharing her fantasies with only these two fantastic beasts.
As the summer wore on, her visits became less frequent, dropping to twice a week, then once a week. But still, the unicorns were their every time she arrived, either basking in the clearing or running through the surrounding woods. Luna knew their routines so thoroughly by now that she could almost sense them approaching.
Soon it was August, and the time came for Luna and Ginny's birthday party. They had been born less than a month apart, and so the Weasleys had traditionally held a huge birthday bash for both of them, inviting all the wizarding families in the area. (The Lovegoods had once tried hosting it, but the sheer number of esoteric magical items cluttering up their home had made that a disaster.)
The date was tentatively set for the last week of August, splitting the difference between their birthdays.
Luna made one last trip to the unicorns, the day before the party. They were waiting as usual, standing around in the clearing.
She walked up to the foal and petted its back. "I'm going to be six tomorrow," Luna said. "Well, not really, my real birthday's in September, but everybody's going to think I'm six. The party's tomorrow."
She looked over at the mother unicorn, who was now looking on curiously, and then spoke again to the foal. "Do you have birthday parties? Do you even know how old you are?"
She giggled a bit, but the mother interrupted her with a loud whinny. It scratched the ground gently with one of its golden hoofs, marking off five circles in the dirt, and then drawing an arrow across field.
Luna didn't understand. "What's the arrow for?" she asked.
The mother unicorn just raised its head to the sun.
Still a bit befuddled, Luna turned back to the baby. "Well, you know how old you are. That's the important thing."
She patted its flank again. The foal seemed taller than it had been when she first met it; now she had to reach to pet its back.
The sun was beginning to crawl up overhead, and the shadows of the forest began to cover the clearing. "I should go now. Mum will be making breakfast soon," Luna mused to herself. She walked out across the field. The grass was already heating up from the warmth of the sunlight, the long, hot summer day beginning in earnest.
Tomorrow, she'd be crossing this field again, but for another visit.
Tomorrow, she'd be a year older, at least in the eyes of the village.
