A/N: Hooray a new chapter…though I have to admit that I have that nagging feeling something is off with it. So if you could tell me what you think might be off I'd be thankful so that I'm able to either rewrite parts or correct anything in the next chapter.

And really? Feeding Quirrell to the Cerberus? He would only get indigestion from it…poor Cerb….

Harry will also develop a unique trait soon…one that…ahhh SPOILERS!

Chapter 22: My Little Unicorn

The next days and weeks went by, and Sam slowly but surely got over the fact that his brother was in hell. When Harry one day commented that in the worst case he would go down to hell himself to get him back and that he would do it without hesitation – though Loki made it clear that he won't let him go alone – Sam finally understood that there was no need to worry. He would get his brother back one way or another.

Loki then joked that they could make a school excursion to hell but was quickly hexed by Sam for that idea, children definitely did NOT belong in hell. However, when Loki suggested that he should imagine the expressions of the demons when suddenly a horde of children walked past them commenting on what they saw he had to admit that the thought was quite amusing, but nevertheless he would never go through with it and take children to hell.

"And here to your left, you see the equipment of eternal torment belonging to Alistair, the chief torturer of hell, being put to work by him and his apprentice Dean Winchester. If you would follow me please, our next stop is the pits of hell," Harry commented in his best tour guide voice before breaking out laughing. Luckily no one had been around them, except their friends whom they had let in on the secret, because otherwise people definitely would have questioned their sanity.

What was unfortunate though, was that one evening McGonagall busted Harry, Loki and Sam while trying to sneak into the third-floor corridor to play with the Cerberus. Their punishment was to accompany Hagrid the next day into the forbidden forest because something was hurting and killing unicorns much to the three children's ire. Especially Loki, he was angered about that because according to him there was nothing purer and more innocent than a unicorn, and even hurting one was a sin in his opinion.

So the next evening the three of them together with Hagrid went into the dark forest trying to find the injured unicorn. To Loki's dismay they split up, and Loki went with Hagrid while Sam and Harry went together with Hagrid's dog Fang though Sam had to swear to Loki that he would protect Harry no matter what. Luckily in preparation for their trip into the forest, Sam had taken his new enchanted weapons with him while Harry also carried his knives, not wanting to rely only on magic alone.

Walking through the forest Sam and Harry soon found some of the blood the unicorn had lost due to its wound, and so they followed the trail. Soon though Harry suddenly took a sharp breath and clutched his hand over the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Sam worried that something might be wrong instantly drew his pistol, looking around trying to find out what was going on.

"What's wrong," he asked Harry as soon as he made sure that nothing was lurking between the trees and waiting to attack them.

"My scar…it's hurting…I don't know why…" Harry ground out between clenched teeth.

"Come on, perhaps it'll stop when we get away from here," Sam pointed out.

They slowly went onwards, but Sam noticed that the pain in Harry's scar only seemed to intensify, that was until they reached a small clearing where they saw the unicorn lying on the ground and a shadow lurking over its neck obviously drinking the unicorn's blood. Harry screamed when the shadow rose its head and looked at them. Sam instinctively took aim with his pistol and shot a round straight at the shadow with anti-demon ammunition, but to his dismay, it just went straight through the spectre or whatever it was that they were facing. Hoping that this time it would work, he switched to iron ammunition layered in salt. It didn't have the intended effect in dissipating the thing, but at least it fled with a high pitched shriek.

Once he was sure that the threat was gone Sam instantly turned around to Harry who was on the ground from the pain now. However, Harry quickly recovered from it sitting up.

"Go look after the unicorn I'm okay," he told Sam who didn't move though. "Go! I don't need you right now, but the unicorn certainly does."

With one last concerned look towards Harry, Sam hurried over to the unicorn kneeling beside it and trying to assess what was necessary to help it. To his relief, the unicorn was still alive but only just, and if he didn't do anything soon it surely would die, but the problem was that he had no idea what he should do. So, for now, he merely put pressure on the still bleeding wound. That was when Harry finally also came over, having fully recovered from whatever made his scar hurt.

"I don't know what to do," Sam said with a slight panic in his voice.

Harry looked at the unicorn and made a decision. "I want to try something, but I don't know whether it will work," he said holding his hands over Sam's.

He closed his eyes and started to concentrate wishing with all his might to heal the creature while reaching out for his magic. It took a moment, but then he felt his magic flowing into his arms and hands and from there to the wound on the unicorn's neck. Harry could feel every torn muscle and every severed vein. Concentrating he started to mend the damage done to the poor creature as he healed it slowly going layer by layer to ensure it was done correctly. The entire thing took him a few minutes and a lot of power, but in the end, he succeeded before collapsing from the strain.

"It's done," he said his breathing laboured.

Right at that moment, Loki burst through the underbrush having been attracted by the shots, a fearful look on his face which instantly faded into a relieved one when he saw that neither Harry nor Sam were hurt, though it became quickly worried when he saw how exhausted Harry was.

"What happened?" he asked once he knelt next to Harry supporting him by leaning him against his side.

"We found a trail of unicorn blood and followed it, but when we reached this clearing, Harry suddenly went down from pain in the scar on his forehead. When I searched for the origin of it, I saw a shadow leaning over this unicorn's neck and drinking its blood. Thinking that it must be the reason for Harry's pain I shot it first with anti-demon ammunition and when that didn't work I switched to salt covered iron. That seemed to work since the thing fled. Harry then urged me to help the unicorn saying that he was okay," Sam explained while stroking the still weak unicorn to keep it calm. "I did as he said but didn't know how to help it when Harry came over. He said that he wanted to try something and I only could feel how the muscles mended beneath my hand where I put pressure on the wound to keep it from bleeding out. It seems that Harry healed it but as you can see it took a lot from him."

"Oh Harry, why haven't you waited for me? Healing someone…not to mention a unicorn without any knowledge of healing…you nearly depleted your magical core," Loki sighed while holding out his hand over the unicorn to see whether it needed further healing or not but while it seemed to be weak because of the blood loss it would be fine so he pushed a bit magic into it to speed up the process of blood formation.

"I didn't know whether or not you would get here in time and I couldn't let it die…it's so beautiful…I couldn't…," Harry mumbled having a hard time not falling asleep.

Loki sighed. "Sleep Harry, and don't worry I'll get you back to the castle," he told the boy rubbing his back soothingly.

The unicorn in the meantime having recovered enough, slowly stood up before it turned to Harry and touched him with its horn. Harry briefly glowed golden before it vanished again.

"Thank you," Loki told it with a smile upon which the unicorn bowed its head before it turned around and vanished between the trees.

"What was that?" Sam asked confused.

"Unicorns have strong healing magic, and it healed Harry a bit it as thanks for him healing it to help him recover," Loki snickered while standing up and picking up Harry. "We should go and find Hagrid."

As if by command said half-giant came through the trees followed by Fang who seemingly ran to him at some point, wearing an anxious expression. When he saw that everyone was alright, he sighed in relief.

"You can't just run 'way like that," he scolded Loki when he saw Sam's hands covered in unicorn blood and even Harry had some stains of it on his clothes not to mention that said boy was deep asleep. "What happened?"

"We found the unicorn severely injured and Harry went to heal it while I prevented it from bleeding out hence the blood," Sam told him the short version leaving out their encounter with the shade.

"It took a lot out of him but he will be okay after a good night of sleep and a few days of not casting too much magic," Loki explained. "The unicorn is also recovering and just left."

"Madame Pomfrey will have to check him thou'," Hagrid told them with what was supposed to be a stern glare but only came over as a concerned look.

With that Hagrid turned around and led them out of the forest and back to the castle where he walked them straight to the infirmary where Madame Pomfrey instantly started to bustle around them assessing what happened and who was in need of treatment. In the end, she only gave all three a Pepper-Up potion to prevent them from catching a cold thanks to running around in the forbidden forest almost all evening, and Harry was to take it lightly for the next few days so that his core could replenish adequately. Other than that, they were all free to leave, and they gladly went back to their common room and their beds Loki again carrying Harry who still was asleep.

Loki didn't leave the entire night, making sure that both Harry and Sam were alright and got the sleep they certainly needed. But he swore that he would make sure that whatever they encountered in the forest would never get near them again. Little did he know that the reason for the hurt unicorn soon would reveal itself to him.

After that memorable excursion into the forbidden forest lessons went on, as usual, the only thing that stood out was that Quirrell one day suddenly disappeared never to be seen again. When Harry questioned Loki about that, knowing that he must have something to do with it because of what the professor had done to him during his first Quidditch match, the pagan only said that Snape and he took care of a problem.

What disturbed not only him but also Snape though, was the fact that when they dealt with the idiot, they also found something else, namely that fool Riddle possessing the professor which was also the answer to the question who or what had injured the unicorn and drunk its blood. That had been the shade of said idiot in a bid for him to stay alive.

Snape though asked Loki why he hadn't sensed the possession the pagan looked even more shocked because he hadn't been able to detect the second entity and he had no bloody idea why. That bore a massive problem because he could not guarantee that he would be able to protect Harry adequately from that soul-splitting bastard, despite this piece now being safely stored within a pendant Loki had conjured and now wore around his neck, the problem was that there were more pieces of the man's soul out there.

Later he would inconspicuously ask Harry whether he had seen something abnormal in Quirrell's aura knowing that he could see them, but Harry only replied that Quirrell had quite a bit of black in it, but he had thought that it was a black like Snape had in his aura, a hidden darker side. Unfortunately, that didn't help his dilemma about not being able to sense or locate the soul-pieces in the slightest.

The same evening however as soon as Harry and Sam were sleeping he went to a meeting with Crowley, wanting to know whether or not the demon knew how it was possible that no one could sense the soul-shards. Unfortunately, even Crowley had no idea why they couldn't detect them, which Hell was quite peeved over because otherwise Hell would have long since dragged the man down to where he belonged, but he brought up a good point with the pagan.

What if one of the soul pieces decided to possess Harry? The very next day Loki asked Harry whether he was okay with a tattoo that would prevent possession of any kind, even demons and the like.

Harry quickly agreed to that, going by the motto "safety first,". While he knew that Loki would always protect him, he would do everything he could to be able to defend himself if only so that something like what happened in the forest or like what the Dursleys did to him would never happen again. Or in case that Loki couldn't be there in time. He wouldn't make the mistake of becoming reliant on the pagan that only cried for problems.

So not even a minute later Harry had a beautiful new tattoo on his left shoulder blade in the form of a kitsune with Enochian glyphs invisible to the naked eye woven into it that protected him. Harry decided on that design because the kitsune not only stood for the nature of a trickster but also for being protective of those they trusted, and being vindictive towards those who crossed them.

The problem with this, or better yet with what happened once the tattoo unfolded its entire power shocked everyone to the core. As soon as the glyphs settled Harry suddenly started to scream in agony while pitch black smoke poured out from the scar on his forehead screeching extremely loud.

Loki, however, was quick to come out of his shock-induced stupor and quickly captured the soul-piece that had evidently resided in Harry. Once it was also safely stored within the pendant, he instantly made sure that Harry was alright and not hurt in any way. To his relief Harry was only a bit tired after that ordeal but all in all unharmed. Infuriated by this it just reinforced the pagan's desire to find a way of locating those blasted soul-pieces.

Sam hearing and seeing that was quick to ask Loki whether he could make him his own tattoo. In the end, he had a picture of a three-headed dog on his chest over his heart, having taken a liking in the Cerberus here at school. Even the twins and Neville wanted such a tattoo, not wanting to run the risk that anything or anyone could possess them too. Not much later the twins both had the Ying-Yang symbol on their left and right hands respectively as it was a symbol that stood for them as twins. Neville though decided on a rose vine growing up his left arm before blossoming on his shoulder.

Everyone was happy with their tattoo until the twins received a howler two days later from their mother shouting through the entire great hall demanding to know where they got the tattoos from and telling them how disappointed she was. Apparently, it was either Percy, who was quick to deny having anything to do with it after seeing their gaze, or the more likely candidate, Ron, who told their mother that they had new tattoos. Loki was utterly unimpressed by it and took even the smallest opportunity to prank the boy with pranks that were a bit more vicious. Luckily for the boy, he didn't end up in one of the female dorms again, and that Loki had to stop after three days only because the idiot had gone whining to McGonagall about it after having been dumped in the Black Lake.

Despite that little hiccup life went on, and soon at the end of February the second Quidditch match for Gryffindor that season came together with the worst weather possible. Sam was quite excited to watch his first match, but Harry quickly got him off it by stating that it wouldn't be worth coming out to the pitch in that weather. It was Harry's discussion with Wood that finally convinced Sam that if he wanted to watch a Quidditch match, he should wait until summer when the game against Ravenclaw was due with the hopefully better weather.

"Oliver…all you need on the pitch today is you and me. Do you really want the entire team to risk catching a cold only because you force them out there for the not even five minutes it will take me to catch the Snitch? I doubt that even one team will be able to score a goal before that happens," he exclaimed for the nth time.

"Hey, what about a bet? You do as Harry says and if he shouldn't deliver on what he says and catches the snitch within five minutes…" Loki exclaimed, tired of the discussion looking at Harry who nodded. "He pays…I don't know…ten galleons to each member of Gryffindor."

Harry considered what the pagan just said before he nodded. "Yep should be doable, but should I deliver the snitch within five minutes every one of you pays me one galleon, and hey, to up the ante a bit should I manage to catch the snitch within two minutes it goes up to five Galleons," he replied with a smirk.

All the Gryffindors who were so sure that it would be impossible for him to catch the snitch within five, not to mention two minutes, agreed to his conditions. To their utter surprise Harry, Oliver, and those very few who decided to watch the match returned after only twenty minutes followed by a soaking wet black dog who also chose to watch his godson play. The result? 150:10 because Oliver had missed one toss.

"Mr Potter this is absolutely impossible. How were you able to catch the snitch in 1 minute and 49 seconds? This is the quickest catch in the history of Quidditch in Hogwarts, and at that in such weather," McGonagall who before the match was shocked speechless by the fact that only Harry and Oliver showed up, now rambled.

"Professor, do you really think that I like flying in such weather? I just wanted to be back in the common room as soon as possible, so I caught the Snitch as quickly as possible," Harry retorted. "Besides that, nowhere in the rules is it stated that the entire team has to be on the pitch. You wanted me as the seeker of Gryffindor so please don't complain about my methods now."

McGonagall looked heavenwards before she shook her head and went back down the corridor muttering under her breath about impossible brats, which made Harry snicker and think about Snape. She was just glad that it hadn't been the game against Slytherin, because then she would have never heard the end of it from Severus, he would constantly be complaining that Harry was a cheater.

Harry though, once he entered the common room turned towards Loki who looked at him expectantly.

"And?" he asked after Harry just grinned at him.

"One minute and forty-nine seconds…I think I'm rich," he laughed before he walked up the stairs to their dorm to get out of his wet clothes and under a hot shower leaving behind an entire house stunned to silence.

Only Sam who had no idea what was so special about Quidditch after all went after him, followed closely by the big black dog who trotted after him.

"Let me guess that Snitch thing you had to catch has a magical aura that against that weather was like a beacon light guiding you," he said once he closed the door to their dorm behind him.

"Yep," Harry replied popping the p while starting to undress. "Was as bright as a lit candle in the dark, and it only took me so long to catch that damned Snitch because of the wind…it's really hard to manoeuvre when you have to fight against crosswinds."

"Don't let the other teams hear that. They probably would throw you from the team because they think it cheating," Sirius who had turned back into a human snickered before sitting down on Harry's bed watching him. "It was one hell of a prank though, I'm proud of you."

"It was McGonagall who wanted me on the team. As I already told her, she shouldn't complain about my methods then, and besides that, I gained the ability to see auras because of Loki's teachings so blame him," Harry muttered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm freezing and in dire need of a hot shower."

Both males watched Harry vanish into the bathroom, waiting a few minutes before they heard the water running.

In the meantime, a commotion had broken out in the common room. No one could believe that they just lost their bet with Harry, bar those who hadn't taken up the gamble in the first place such as Neville or the twins who knew that Harry would deliver, or those who were not into betting. The loudest to complain however was Ron.

"I'm telling you that boy is dark! He probably used some kind of dark spell to catch the Snitch that fast!" he exclaimed quite loudly. "There's no other way!"

"Ronald Weasley! Only because you don't know what he did, it doesn't automatically mean that he is dark," came the retort from the probably most unlikely source, Hermione.

Though everyone who knew that the girl spent quite some time around the group of friends wasn't all that surprised. Actually, the girl had changed quite a lot since that incident at Halloween. Gone was the girl who took everything she read in a book or heard from someone in a position of authority at face value. Now there was a girl who still wanted to learn everything and be the best in class, but she didn't lecture everyone around her anymore and also lost her bossy know-it-all attitude. It was Sam and Neville, especially, who had helped her in that regard, stopping her before she could get into a recitation of something she read somewhere.

"Ah, and you would know that you buck-toothed know-it-all?" Ron snapped back. "I wonder how anyone can stand to be near you. You run around and show everyone how much better you are, but you know what…you're just an insufferable Mudblood."

Had he said that at the beginning of the school year Hermione probably would have run up to her dorm crying but not now. Now she merely stared at the redhead raising an eyebrow, not even deeming him worthy of a reply knowing that she had friends in Sam and Neville, and even the twins, Loki, and Harry.

Who deemed him worthy of a reply, however, were three other persons currently standing with Hermione. Namely Fred, George and Loki who all looked livid upon hearing that insult.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley," Fred said.

"This was certainly your," George continued before both spoke unison.

"Last mistake!"

"What do you want to do, eh? I tell you what…nothing or you'll be expelled," Ron shouted. "Standing up for that…" he said but didn't get any further because Loki interrupted him by sealing his mouth shut.

"You'll listen closely now…I'm fed up with your attitude, you insult good people who never did anything except maybe cracking open a book which would surely do you some good too. Should you not change your attitude soon believe me you'll get to see a side of me you certainly do NOT want to see," Loki growled stepping towards the redhead until he was mere inches away from him.

"Do you really want to be expelled?" Ron questioned him. "Because you will be as soon as McGonagall learns about this."

"Oh, believe me, I won't be expelled but you on the other hand…" now Loki smirked tapping the boy on his forehead. "I hope you like your punishment."

With that Loki turned around and walked over to the sitting area in front of the fire before he sat down closely followed by Hermione and the twins.

"What did you do to him?" Hermione questioned once the rest of the students had dissipated and they could be reasonably sure that no one would listen in.

Loki snickered lowly. "Not going to tell," he replied. "But you'll see soon."

True to his words the next few days became highly interesting when concerning the stupid redhead. Not only did he seemingly sleep very poorly during the night, having nightmares, but he was also obviously forced to speak what he thought, and truthfully at that. To say that he got into trouble more often than not because of it would be a massive understatement. Just for his comment on Snape alone; which was highly inappropriate to say within the hearing range of not only the Professor himself but also quite a few first-year students, he got two weeks' worth of detention, and that didn't even factor in the detentions he got from the other teachers.

When cornered by Snape, Loki confessed that he placed a spell on Weasley that forced him to honestly say what he thought, which apparently was even fouler than the pagan had expected, after he profoundly insulted Hermione. However, instead of giving him problems as Loki thought Snape congratulated him for this fascinating approach on punishing a student; even if he could have done without the comment.

Even with the students, Ron was quickly losing what remaining respect he had. Harry especially became increasingly irritated and angry with the boy when he continued to target both Hermione and the twins. One memorable day Harry's patience with the idiot snapped, and he forced him to wear some outfit that would probably have fitted a Japanese Lolita fashion shop more than Hogwarts by transfiguring his robes. To Ron's horror, there seemed to be quite a few fangirls of that particular fashion who hunted him for the entire day. Harry found it hilarious how the girls cooed over the idiot's forced cuteness…nobody liked him, but everybody found him cute.

Despite that…inconvenience, life went on. Lessons continued with DADA getting a new teacher after Quirrell's surprise vanishing act, and peace reigned in Hogwarts…well, until Loki got bored…extremely bored….

A/N: One thing you never ever want…if you value your sanity…if you value your continued existence…there is one thing you never ever under any circumstance want…a bored as hell Loki. 'til next chapter!