Return of the Unicorns, Chapter 15
Note: This chapter will be told from the perspective of Order of the Phoenix Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Another Note: I don't have much experience writing action scenes, so I would welcome any feedback on how this chapter could be improved!
If there was one thing that Kingsley Shacklebolt hated, it was being kept in the dark by his subordinates.
Technically, he supposed, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin weren't his subordinates, but they were both members of the Order of the Phoenix, and they'd just up and left – Sirius for a few weeks and Remus only for one week – but it was a lot. At least Remus had left a note explaining his absence, even though Sirius hadn't bothered to write one.
The note read:
Kingsley,
I will be gone for a week or two on an exploratory expedition that could be extremely beneficial to the Order. I have arranged to have other people fill in for my watch shifts near Malfoy Manor, so that there will be no disruption in our operations while I am gone. I look forward to telling you about the fruits of the expedition when Sirius and I return from Hawaii.
-Remus
Easily the most useless note Kingsley had ever read in all his life.
But being an Auror had its advantages, and one of those was being able to figure out exactly when Remus Lupin had left the UK – it was on a Muggle flight a week ago – and when he was due to return. Which is why he was standing outside the Heathrow customs area, impatient to see Remus's face and to hear what he hoped would turn out to be the world's best, most understandable explanation.
But regardless of how the Marauders explained their absence, he was going to: Wring. Their. Necks.
Soon enough, Kingsley spied Remus and the large black dog that was Sirius exiting customs. Remus looked tanned and relaxed from Hawaii – which was odd, considering that he and Sirius had supposedly been there on Order business, and everyone knew Order business was always stressful.
Odder still, the two of them were accompanied by a tall, beautiful woman with dark hair and bright gray eyes. She was smiling and talking to Remus like the two of them were old friends, as she gave Sirius a nice pat on the head. Who was she? Had Remus and Sirius gone to Hawaii to collect her? And if so, why?
So, he went to go interrogate the stranger… and a few minutes later, he could barely comprehend that he was in the company of a reincarnated unicorn when said reincarnated unicorn was apparating him to Northern Scotland.
Kingsley had wondered how Hope was going to locate the giants, or her herd of unicorns, but he needn't have worried. Hope apparated them right to a forest clearing full of soft grass and ferns that was surrounded by tall, majestic autumn trees, whose branches spread out and crisscrossed above them like the ceiling of a Gothic cathedral, forming infinite winding tunnels that stretched out to every side. How would you even navigate your way through all this?
What could he say, Kingsley was more of a city person.
But the surroundings didn't take his notice for long because a unicorn stood on the other side of that clearing. It looked just like the picture Kingsley had first seen in the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Extraordinary.
"Marcello!" Hope shouted to the unicorn.
The unicorn neighed in response and while Kingsley didn't understand it, Hope apparently did.
Hope turned to face him. "We've gotta run now, Kingsley. The giants are already upon us. In a minute, I'm going to transform, and then you and Remus can ride on my back, okay? Sirius, turn into a dog so you can keep up. Marcello, I know a sorcery that can scare off the giants, so come with me now!"
Before he could even register Hope's orders – or the simple fact that she was giving him directions, Hope was transforming into a large unicorn with soft white fur, a gleaming mane and tail, a pointy horn, and her same gray eyes. The next second, Remus was mounting the unicorn and dragging Kingsley up behind him.
In fact, Kingsley was so shocked that he was only loosely holding onto Remus. The sudden motion of Hope starting to run prompted him to grab the other man's waist tighter as they lurched forward.
Kingsley hadn't ridden a horse in all his life, so he had no idea how to stay on, besides clinging for dear life. It was lucky for him that unicorn Hope had a smooth canter, even when running at break-neck speed. It was also lucky the forest was sparse around them because the very tall Kingsley wouldn't have had time to duck under any low branches in time.
Hope and the other unicorn – apparently called Marcello – were hurriedly neighing at one another, which must've passed for conversation among unicorns.
And then, as they forged ahead, Kingsley heard a mighty STOMP!
The stomping continued until they were face-to-face with a foot. A foot that'd just stomped on the tree right in front of them, flattening the tree. An enormous foot that was several yards long, with mangy yellowing toenails, and caked in dirt and mud. They were standing right before a giant.
Now, as an Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt was used to knowing what to do. He'd been trained to cope with nearly any situation and even though Aurors' job was to fight dark wizards, they were also trained to fight dark creatures. But Kingsley could honestly say that in this moment that he had no control over the situation whatsoever.
"I'm conjuring lava!" unicorn Hope shouted. "Be prepared to cast water to the sides of it so that we can contain the lava!"
"You got it!" shouted Remus. Kingsley silently resolved to do the same.
Hope doubled back, away from the giant's foot before the monster could take another step, and then lava was emerging from beneath her feet as she galloped along. Then, as Hope galloped away from the lava she'd created, it rose in a giant sheet, red and hot and menacing – as tall as the giant that was now approaching them.
The giant approached them, clenched its might hand into a fist, and made to punch a hole through the massive sheet of lava…
"RRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" With a mighty yell, the creature pulled its hand back from the sheet of hot lava, realizing too late that it was harmful.
Unicorn Hope seemed to be concentrating quite hard, as the sheet of lava loomed closer and closer to the giant until it had no choice but to flee the other way.
The unicorn maintained the sheet of lava in the air for a few moments before allowing it to collapse into a strangely rippled sheet of igneous rock on the ground.
For a second, it seemed like everything might be fine – the giant was gone. But amid the chaos of conjuring water and watching Hope scare away the first giant, Kingsley didn't notice the earthquake-inducing footfalls headed their way.
Many more giants were ganging up behind the first one – even as it ran away. Their work was far from done.
Unicorn Hope ran along, conjuring a massive line of lava behind her as she advanced. Giants' screams echoed through the air as they stepped on the thick line of lava, wondering what on Earth had caused them such burning pain.
Within a couple of minutes, she seemed to reach the end of the horde of giants, so she turned around so fast that Remus had to hold onto her neck for dear life and Kingsley had to hold onto Remus for dear life. But through a miracle of physics – or perhaps, magic, or perhaps Hope's smooth canter – the two wizards stayed on Hope's back.
Looking at the giants, lots of them were curiously eyeing the line of lava, so Hope made it grow as she ran back along it – this time, making it grow wider AND taller as she ran along it. In fact, the line of lava grew so tall that any giant daring to advance beyond it would get burned feet and have to double back.
It was truly a mighty sight, Hope the unicorn running along conjuring lava upon the ground, stopping the horde of giants dead in its tracks.
While Remus conjured a river to one side, Sirius conjured a river to the other side, so that the lava could be contained. But honestly, the lava itself didn't need to be contained because it dried up outside the margin where Hope made it be hot. The rivers, it seemed, were just to make sure the surrounding forest didn't catch fire. So, Kingsley filled in both the rivers where they were lacking.
Unicorn Hope ran back and forth and back and forth over what felt like hours amid the surge of adrenaline, but probably was only actually minutes.
Finally, the giants retreated, and the unicorn slowed, finally turning back into a human.
Kingsley managed to dismount in time, but he spun around on the ground, feeling queasy.
The young woman's gentle arms caught him before he could fall upon the forest floor. "Kingsley Shacklebolt! Are you all right?"
"Seasick," he muttered.
"No worries," said the young woman, as she waved her wand to cast some sort of anti-motion-sickness spell over him. When at last, he recovered himself, Kingsley took her hand and looked her once more in her bright gray eyes.
"I think we scared them off… a little… for now…" she panted.
"Well… done, well done!" panted Kingsley. "Your plan was a brilliant one, after all!"
"My plan was still a harebrained one when I conceived of it, and I was lucky that it worked out, given the circumstances," sighed Hope. "I should've taken the time to learn more about the situation, given the situation."
"Nonsense," protested Remus.
"You were absolutely brilliant," protested the now-human Sirius.
"Hope… you defeated a formidable enemy. What say we share information – you with the Order of the Phoenix – from now on, so that you can be fully informed when you go into battle?" Kingsley asked.
"I say yes," panted Hope.
"Good," panted Kingsley, who was now smiling. It was good to have a unicorn on his side, even if he couldn't have predicted that she'd be there.
"Wait, where's Hagrid?" gasped Sirius.
"Crap!" swore Hope. "We have to find him! Remus, Kingsley, get on my back! Sirius, can you run with us? Good. Let's go find him!"
Before they knew it, Hope had transformed back into her unicorn shape and Remus was helping Kingsley up behind him so that they could ride her, once more, into forbidden territory.
"How are we even going to find Hagrid?!" bellowed Remus as Hope and Sirius galloped along.
"I know his scent! Follow me!" shouted Hope.
"I'll follow you!" yelled dog-Sirius.
They cantered along through endless forest for Merlin-knew-how-long. Unicorn-Hope had a very smooth gallop, but Kingsley nonetheless found himself getting queasy again. He supposed he'd better blame it on nerves. Hagrid had been Gamekeeper when Kingsley himself was at Hogwarts, and he simply didn't want the man to die.
Hours seemed to pass in which Unicorn-Hope galloped through the forest, slowing down occasionally to pick up Hagrid's scent, but speeding up again immediately afterwards.
The landscape turned from enchanted forest, to sparse forest, to rocky cliffs as Unicorn-Hope sprinted along, dog-Sirius still at her side, Remus and Kingsley still atop her back.
Finally, the notorious, bushy-bearded half-giant who worked for Hogwarts came into view. Unicorn Hope dashed toward him as a giant – Gorgomath – lunged toward him.
Lava tracked along the surface that Hope had conjured, but Hope wasn't sure if that would deter the giant from hurting Hagrid.
"Remus, Kingsley, get off! Sirius, stand back!" They all did as they were told so that Hope could rush forward unencumbered.
She didn't have time to ponder the fact that she somehow knew who Hagrid was or that she very much didn't want him to die. All that happened was a surge of adrenaline compelled her to jump as high in the air as she possibly could manage – and when she landed right in front of Hagrid, she was inhabiting her human form.
"What the-" shouted Hagrid, shocked to see Hope. He was trying to attack Gorgomath, but his hexes could only incapacitate the creature so much.
Hope didn't grab for her wand, but instead raised her hands in menacing claw-like motions, screaming "GO AWAY!" at the top of her lungs.
Lightning shot forth from her fingers, striking the giant in the face.
"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH! RAAAAAAGH!" Gorgomath screamed as he stumbled back several steps.
Hope clenched her hands into fists, stopping the lightning bolts.
The giant got up, madder than ever, and lunged toward Hagrid one more time.
"I SAID GO AWAY!" Hope screamed at the top of her lungs. The sound pierced the surrounding forest as if Hope's voice was being magically magnified.
At the same time, her fingers reached out again, casting even more lightning directly into the giant's face.
This time, when Hope ended the lightning strike, Gorgomath turned the opposite direction and stomped away at top speed.
The Richter-Scale stomping of Gorgomath's feet resounded over the rocky landscape for a couple of minutes until he was at last out of view and out of earshot.
Hope turned around. "Are you okay, Hagrid?"
"Who're you? And how d' you know my last name?" asked a confused Hagrid.
Remus, Sirius, and Kingsley ran up to Hagrid. "She's with us," Kingsley explained. "We know she's a reincarnated unicorn, but we're still in the process of figuring out who she is. We've… pretty much concluded that she wants to help us, though."
"How did ye get here so fast?" asked Hagrid.
"We… apparated with Hope less than 2 hours ago?" answered Remus.
"Tha's impossible! Yeh can't apparate into the giants' forest
"Well maybe humans can't, but… unicorns can?" Sirius suggested.
"Must be," grumbled Hagrid.
"Listen," Hagrid continued. "I've got a brother. He's a giant named Grawp and he's waiting fer me. If yer unicorn friend, what's-er-name can apparate all of yeh up here, can she apparate all of us back to Hogwarts?"
"Absolutely," said Hope. "Just take us to Grawp and I'll get us all back to Hogwarts. That's where you want to go."
"Yeh an't apparate to Hogwarts!"
"I can apparate near it," explained Hope. "I don't know why."
"Maybe the non-apparition zone there doesn't work on her, either," suggested Remus.
"Perhaps it doesn't work on reincarnated unicorns, in general," added Kingsley.
"Well, what's yer name?" asked Hagrid.
"Hi, Hagrid. I'm Hope."
"And how d' yeh know my name?"
"I know lots of things without knowing where I learned them. I'm still trying to figure out where I acquired all this odd wayward knowledge. You know, it's funny that my last name is Marshall because my initials are H.M. – like the famous memory patient. But instead of being unable to form new memories, I have a whole bunch of extra memories and I don't know where they came from!"
"Huh," sighed Hagrid. "Well, thank you for saving my life, Hope." He extended a vast hand for her to shake, and she happily shook it.
"I'm glad you're still alive, Hagrid," she replied.
Hagrid took them on a quick walk through the forest that led them to a giant sitting in the middle of a clearing. At the sight of Hope, Kingsley, and Remus, it started bawling frantically, but Hagrid reassured it. "It's all right, Grawp," he said – and after several repetitions, Grawp was able to calm down enough for Hope to touch both him and Hagrid and apparate the three of them to the edge of the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts.
Once they'd apparated to the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts, Grawp was even more upset from the apparating process, but Hagrid urged Hope to go get Kingsley, Remus, and Sirius because her presence wouldn't be particularly useful at calming down the young giant.
So, Hope went back and apparated Kingsley, Remus, and Sirius to the Forbidden Forest, right near Hagrid, who was still calming his upset brother.
"Are you okay?" asked Hope.
"Yes, we're all right," replied Kingsley.
"Good," said Hope. Then, she fainted from exhaustion. Kingsley caught her before she hit the forest floor.