Return of the Unicorns, Chapter 10
Note: While most of this story has been told from the perspective of Cedric/Hope, the last chapter was told from the perspective of Amos Diggory. And this one will be told from the perspective of Sirius Black. What does Sirius Black have to do with this story, you ask? Well, read on and see, for there is method to my madness!
Ever since he'd taken up residence in his family's old home at 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black felt restless. He was trapped in the home he'd literally run away from at the age of 16… only to end up trapped in it again some 20 years later. And this time, he couldn't run away if he wanted to help the Order of the Phoenix in any capacity.
Being a fugitive from the law sucked.
In the initial war against the Dark Lord, Sirius had been an Auror and had worked alongside James to fight Death Eaters. He wanted to do something to fight the Death Eaters again, but he couldn't show his face in public.
So, Sirius compromised by running away from Grimmauld Place in short spurts of time, taking his animagus form (a huge black dog) while he did so.
Because he wanted to keep some sort of eye on the wizarding community, he would wander discreetly around places like Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, which was how he came across a young woman with bright gray eyes.
Or rather, she came across him.
"Hello!" she said, eagerly but politely. It was only when she reached down a hand for him to sniff that he realized she was speaking to him.
He gave her hand an obliging little sniff – she did smell quite nice – and looked up at her quizzically.
"You're a very cute dog. Can I scratch your ears?"
Most wizards didn't keep dogs as pets, so it was odd to find a witch who was a dog person. Feeling a bit curious as to why she was so eager to pet him, he let her scratch his ears.
Ooh, that's nice, thought Sirius as she scratched just the right spot. Quite lovely, this.
All too soon, the human removed her hand. Excuse you! More scratches, please! He leaned into her to let her know that the job of petting him was far from done.
"All right, all right," she said obligingly and continued petting his ears, moving down further to also stroke his back.
Embarrassingly enough, this was when his dog brain really took over and without thinking about it, he rolled over to let her pet his belly.
Oh, yeah. Yeeeeaaaaahhhhh. Right there. That's the ticket. This was better than getting a professional massage. Had Sirius even ever had a massage? No. Human Sirius would've found this most undignified, but dog-Sirius was absolutely loving it.
"Do you have an owner?" she asked him.
Sirius decided to risk a bit of human communication with her by shaking his head.
"Huh. Well, I guess you can come with me," she mused aloud. "Would you like that, good boy?" she asked him.
Feeling that another human gesture wouldn't be too big of a risk, dog-Sirius nodded his head. Sure, it was a bit reckless of him to agree to go with a stranger, but he was a crafty dog and also an accomplished wizard – he could always escape if he needed to.
"By the way," said the young woman as she continued to pet Sirius, "I'm Hope."
Since the young woman's face was close to his, he leaned up gave her a wet doggy-kiss on the cheek.
She laughed at his silliness. "Good boy! You can come with me."
The next day, she took him for a walk around the streets of Muggle London. He walked beside her with no leash, because of course he didn't need one.
"You must be a really intelligent dog," she observed.
"Woof," he said in agreement.
"Do you have a name?"
Sirius nodded, even though he wasn't sure how to actually go about telling her his name. He could try and write his name on the ground using his paw, but that would seem too human – and besides, he couldn't spell out the name "Sirius" to this witch without worry of arousing her suspicion. If Hope was to name him Sirius, she'd have to arrive at the conclusion herself – and then she could act like his name was just a big coincidence.
And then Sirius saw the answer: an ad for an astronomy exhibit on a nearby bus stop. Sirius ran over to it and pointed to the dog star, Sirius, in one of the constellations shown on the ad.
"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed the girl as she was where his nose was deliberately pointed. "You're pointing to the constellation Canis Major! That's what I'll name you – Canis Major! Major for short. Good boy, Major! Thank you for showing me your name!"
Sirius momentarily considered trying to correct her on the matter of his name, but then again, Major wasn't a bad name, and it was probably a better idea to use a fake name, to be inconspicuous.
Over the next few days, Sirius stayed with Hope.
She was, he observed, a truly kind person. He found out that she worked for the Ministry of Magic as a statistician in their Bureau of Statistics (though she did most of her work from home, because that way, she could run statistical tests very quickly on her muggle computer). She seemed to have friends who were studying in London, and she often spent time with them. It was odd, though, that her friends were mostly Muggles while she was a witch.
She was also quite athletic – she'd go out running every morning (often bringing him along) and would sometimes run off to play hockey with her friends. She was good at it, too.
And she also loved her family. She would call her parents on the phone once every day, at least to check in for a few minutes. As a dog, Sirius had very good ears that allowed him to hear both sides of the phone conversations with her parents, who apparently lived back in Vermont. She told them pretty much everything, including about the magical world. He envied her. He'd always been jealous of his friends James and Remus, who had wonderful relationships with their loving and supportive parents. He, on the other hand, had to run away from a family of Pureblood fanatics and Death Eaters when he was 16.
Another thing Sirius noticed about Hope was that she had major issues with headaches and anxiety and nightmares. She'd panic at the weirdest things and experience migraines at the most random of things. It was that way from the day he came home with her. It was, objectively, not his problem, but he still worried about her.
After all, she seemed quite nice; he didn't want her to suffer.
Sirius really noticed the extent of Hope's anxiety one day when she visited the Ministry – just a quick visit to drop off some of her reports in person and also pick up a book on unicorns – Sirius watched as Lucius Malfoy stared Hope down, and then Hope fell into a panic attack.
When he saw that Amos Diggory was taking care of Hope (Sirius didn't know the man but could presume that he would keep Hope safe for a bit), he trotted after Lucius, wondering if there was something the other wizard had done.
But if Lucius Malfoy had inflicted some panic-inducing magic on Hope, he didn't reveal what it was in the couple of hours during which Sirius followed him.
When Lucius apparated home, Sirius went to go find Hope, who was fortunately still comatose on the couch in Amos's office. He wondered: if Lucius hadn't cast a spell to send Hope spiraling into panic (which was the most likely option; the man's hand hadn't been anywhere near his wand), then what about him had induced such a violent reaction in her?
Was this just a random occurrence, or was there more to it? He wanted, for some reason, to solve the mystery of her panic attacks, but he wasn't getting close.
Although, to be fair, neither was she. She'd talk to him sometimes, about how she missed her family, about how hard it was to hide her magic from her muggle friends, about how she hated going inside the Ministry of Magic, and about how she couldn't make sense of her nightmares.
Was it normal for someone to confide in their pet this way?
In every other way, Hope was a wonderful dog owner: she fed Sirius tasty meals, took him out for lots of walks and playtime in the park, and even occasionally let Sirius lick the peanut butter out of the jar, which he happily did even when it glued his mouth shut. So, Sirius figured that it didn't matter if she cared to unload on him every now and then.
In fact, he figured he could be quite good for her anxiety. Whenever she got anxious, he'd come over to her and lean on her and give her a friendly lick. Time spent with dogs – or cats or other cute and fuzzy animals, for that matter – always calmed her down.
She called the process "fuzz therapy".
But where did the anxiety and the nightmares and the headaches even COME from?! That was the ever-present question.
On the day of Hope's panic attack at the Ministry, fuzz therapy was not enough to calm her down. She took a few Muggle pain medications for her headache and chased them with a shot of Whiskey, laying down shortly thereafter.
But neither the pills nor the liquor could stop her from dreaming. She woke up sweating and panting not many 20 minutes later.
Sirius went over to her and nudged at her shin as if to ask, "What's wrong?"
"Oh, Major," she told him, sobbing, "I just had the absolute worst nightmare!"
Sirius nuzzled her and gave her a comforting lick on the cheek while she cried. Eventually, she fell back and stared at the ceiling with blank eyes.
He gave her a little whimper to ask, "What's up?"
"In my dream, there was this graveyard. I fell over sideways and couldn't do anything. I just had to watch while You-Know-Who emerged from a big black cauldron and summoned his Death Eaters. He tried to kill Harry Potter."
She paused for a while.
"I guess I dreamed that because Lucius Malfoy reminded me of the dream. In it, when I was paralyzed on the ground, he kicked me in the face."
Sirius cozied up to her and nuzzled her with his snout.
"Major, boy… you always understand me. It's like you're an animagus or something."
Sirius considered this for a moment. Maybe it was time to transform, when…
Ding! Dong! The doorbell rang. Hope got up and ran to answer it, and she opened the door to two tall figures, a dark-haired and dark-skinned man and his blonde girlfriend.
"Oh my gosh! Ryan! Laura! I didn't realize you were visiting!" Hope gave them both enthusiastic hugs to say hello.
"Uh, didn't we tell you we'd be stopping by a week ago?"
"Oh, I'm sorry! I must've forgotten! Things have been a bit hectic around here, haha."
"No worries," replied Ryan, giving Hope's shoulder an affectionate squeeze.
"Anyway, we're here to deliver something important that showed up at your parents' doorstep two days ago…" Laura intoned mysteriously.
"What is it?"
Laura whipped out a big white envelope and thrust it in Hope's direction. Hands nervously shaking, Hope opened the envelope.
"This has to be a mistake," she muttered. "Are you pranking me?"
"Never. You actually, legitimately got into Harvard Law School!" Laura squealed. Then, she and Ryan enclosed Hope in a great big hug and Ryan even picked her up aand spun around with her.
"Besides!" Ryan added when he set Hope down, "Why would we prank you? Today is Halloween, not April Fool's! So what do you say we go out to dinner to celebrate? Then, we can dress you up like Elle Woods for your Halloween costume and go to a fancy nightclub!"
"Sounds good to me!" Hope laughed nervously.
Sirius sighed and curled up on the carpet as Ryan and Laura rushed into the townhouse without even taking notice of him. He'd been on the verge of turning into his human self and telling Hope his story, but at least for tonight, that would have to wait.
A couple of days later, Ryan and Laura left the townhouse. It was obvious that they loved Hope, but Sirius also noted how she seemed to be relieved of their presence.
"Sorry about the chaos, Major," she said as she scratched his ears. "I know that Laura and Ryan are pretty loud and boisterous. I should've warned you that they were coming, but I did actually forget."
While he'd had his doubts about showing his real self to Hope on Halloween, Sirius had now had 2 days to contemplate that choice and he knew that he could trust her. So, he transformed into his human self, a tall and handsome man with long dark hair. He had eyebags and some premature wrinkles from his time in Azkaban – but thanks to his time with Hope, he was feeling much better these days. "It's okay, I really didn't mind," he told her.
As Sirius expected, Hope gasped deeply. Her gray eyes roved from his head to his toes and all around his person. Finally, she looked into his eyes, seeming to delve into the depths of his soul with his very stare.
"I don't know how I know this," she said, "But I know that your name is Sirius Black, and I also know that you didn't actually commit the crime they put you in Azkaban for. You're innocent, you've never killed anyone in your life, and what's more, you're a good person."
Sirius didn't know how to respond to any of this, so he simply nodded.
"By the way, you were also a really good dog. Can we be friends?" ventured Hope.
"Friends," replied Sirius, as he stepped forward to hug her.
Over the next day, Hope and Sirius swapped stories. Sirius told Hope stories about the Marauders, about Harry Potter, and about how escaped Azkaban after he'd been wrongfully imprisoned there. Hope told Sirius about her life as a Muggle in Vermont and also about her unicorn powers, as well as her memories from her past life as a unicorn.
"Did you learn about me and about Lucius Malfoy from your past life as a unicorn?" Sirius asked.
"I actually didn't," replied Hope. "I have these weird other memories. They might be from another life, but I don't know what it was. Does that make sense?"
"If unicorns can reincarnate, then maybe you had a past life in addition to the one you had as a unicorn. Do you want me to help you figure it out?"
"I feel like that's the only way forward," replied Hope. "All these headaches, all these anxiety attacks… they bring me memories of things I can do, or knowledge I must've had in some former life. As I go exposing myself to new things, new memories keep coming to me."
"Do you know where your unicorn herd lived?"
"I think they lived in Scotland? I remember seeing this huge castle and this cute little village called Hogsmeade from the forest…"
"What say I take you to Hogsmeade and we find your herd from there?" asked Sirius.
"I say yes."
The next day, Sirius side-along apparated Hope to a side street in Hogsmeade and then turned into his dog form, so that no one would see his face. The two of them ran into the nearby forest together and once the trees obscured them from view, Hope turned into a unicorn: a tall, pearly-white male unicorn with fur that shone like snow. Sirius wondered why Hope was female as a human but male as a unicorn, but he figured that wasn't an important question as he followed her into the forest.
"I have good feeling about this place," the unicorn murmured, before trotting forward determinedly.
Sirius nodded and trotted along next to the unicorn. "Do you have a different name as a unicorn?" he asked.
"Rocinante."
"Pleasure to meet you, Rocinante," replied Sirius.
They trotted along for quite a while. It was early November, so it wasn't snowing quite yet, although the air was cool and crisp. The dried leaves of fall crunched under their feet as Sirius and Rocinante trotted along through the forests beside Hogsmeade amid the elegant dark-limbed structures of the barren trees. The sun shone brightly in the blue sky above them. All in all, it was an idyllic sort of day.
After about an hour, they'd gotten to the edge of the Forbidden Forest – which Sirius could tell because he glimpsed Hagrid's Cabin through the trees. Another unicorn – a bit shorter in stature than Rocinante but no less majestic – approached them.
"Rocinante?!" the other unicorn blurted.
Rocinante nodded. "It's me, Marcello."
"He's my younger cousin," Rocinante added for Sirius' benefit.
"How are you even here?! Why were you not reborn among us? What happened?" asked Marcello.
"Can you take me to the herd? I'll tell you all at once."
"What's with the dog?" asked Marcello suspiciously.
"He's a friend, we like him," Rocinante reassured his cousin. But by the skeptical look Marcello shot Sirius, the latter could tell that the former wasn't quite buying it. Still, Marcello trotted along to lead them to the rest of the herd.
"What's going on with the rest of the herd? You seem tense – is anything wrong?" Rocinante asked.
"Ha!" scoffed Marcello. "It's easier to say what isn't going wrong. Tell me, how much do you remember?"
"I remember my own death – it was at the hands of Professor Quirrell of Hogwarts, who had The Dark Lord growing out of the back of his head. The Dark Lord was trying to use my blood to sustain himself, and I guess it worked, but I've since heard that Professor Quirrell is no more. Oh, and I know that my mate Celeste died before she could give birth to our foal."
"Your fathers are also no more," Marcello said of the two male unicorns that'd parented Rocinante.
"What happened?"
"Giants. They've been going south, past their allowed territory. They're everywhere. They're even smashing Muggle villages."
"Is there anything we can do?" asked Rocinante. "Surely there's a way to keep them out of Muggle towns."
"Cousin, we're struggling hard enough to defend our own territory as it is," groaned Marcello.
And that was that.
Sirius and Rocinante met the herd about another few hours later in a large forest clearing. Not even on his expeditions with the Marauders under the full moon had Sirius seen this place.
There were a number of other unicorns there, just living their lives. Some were grazing, some were laying down or snuggling or talking to each other, some were playfully chasing each other around, and some were supervising the foals while they played.
At the entrance of Marcello with Rocinante, however, most of them stopped what they were doing and looked up.
A female trotted forward, waving her shiny mane and tail in a stuck-up, I'm so glorious and I know it kind of way.
"Antonina," said Rocinante, bowing his head. "It is me, Rocinante. I reincarnated and I'm eager to be reunited with you."
"Why were you not born among us?!" demanded Antonina.
"I was not born among you, Antonina, because I came back human," Rocinante replied. And to bring clarity to the point, Rocinante turned into the human, Hope.
Shouting broke out among the unicorns. "Why would you do this?!" demanded Antonina. "Do you not know the risks?! Humans are dangerous! Do you not remember the tale of Xerxes?"
"Of course, I remember," snorted Rocinante. "But I know that Xerxes, the h0orrible human that sought to attain immortality by slaughtering thousands of our kind and bathing daily in their blood, is no more. He's been gone for 1500 years, for crying out loud!"
"Well, the next Xerxes has emerged, and I believe he calls himself Lord Voldemort. Tell me, Rocinante, why would you turn human and risk exposing yourself to him?"
"He's attacking everyone," said Rocinante. "And besides, I was born as an American. If I wished to avoid this Voldemort, I could just go back to the US and attend Harvard Law School and forget the Magical World in England ever existed. But I'm here because I don't want to forget. I'm here because I want to help you in any way I can. Maybe we can even get humans on our side!"
"What a foolish proposition," scoffed Antonina. "Humans are idiots and if you are one of them, Rocinante, then so are you!"
"Can you at least let me help you fight against the intrusion of the giants?"
"There is no helping us there. You don't know anything that we don't already know. We may be doomed."
"What about when Bucephalus made the ground melt under his feet and used lava to drive away his enemies? Can anyone among us make the very ground melt under their feet?" asked Rocinante.
"That is a long-forgotten skill," sighed Antonina.
"Then I guess I'll have to go re-learn it," said Rocinante with a shrug. Then, Rocinante nodded to Sirius and the two trotted off into the trees together before they trotted off on their way.
When they were out of sight, Rocinante turned back into Hope, Sirius turned back into his human self, and Hope apparated the both of them back to her family's town house in London.
"What are you going to do?" asked Sirius.
"It isn't obvious?"
Sirius cocked his head with curiosity, indicating that it was not obvious where Hope would learn to melt the ground.
"Haven't you heard of lava hexes? I've read about them, but they're illegal in England. Their use is only legal anywhere there's a volcano. So, I'm going to go to a volcanic island and get someone to teach me lava hexes and then I'm going to learn to do them as a unicorn. Then, I'll use my abilities to scare off the giants. By the way, do you want to come? I hear that Hawaii has some highly talented wizards that might teach us the art of conjuring and controlling lava, so I was thinking we could go there."
"THAT. IS. BRILLIANT," declared Sirius. "Can I bring a friend along on our expedition?"
"Do we trust this friend?"
"YES."
Hope shrugged. "Okay, then."