A/N- Well, here's the next chapter! We add a new character to the mix here!

Chapter 5- Black Omens

As soon as the sun began to rise on the new day, Jade escaped from her fellow Slytherins--Draco giving her a leering look as she did--to join with Mini, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The four had been heading out of the Great Hall.

"Where are all of you heading?" Jade asked.

Harry opened his mouth, probably about to tell her to mind her own business, but Mini cut in.

"We're going down to see Hagrid. Want to come?" she asked.

Jade nodded and they exited out of the castle onto the slopping lawns.

0000

Kimmi Gray exited the castle, pulling her long, blonde-brown hair back as she did so. Glancing up before she descended the outside stairs onto the grounds, she caught sight of a semi-unusual group. Four of her fellow Gryffindors--Mini Summers, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger--seemed to have the same destination as she did, Hagrid's hut. However, one other was in their group. A Slytherin by the name of Jade Snape.

Well, you never see that, Kimmi thought, smiling as she picked up the pace to catch up with the group. She wanted to investigate that Slytherin's reasons for being with a bunch of Gryffindors.

"Mini! Hey! What's going on?" she called as she neared the group.

They stopped and turned to face her. Mini smiled once Kimmi was with them.

"Hey! So, you finally got your nose out of that book, huh? Welcome back to the real world," Mini said.

Kimmi laughed as she hugged the girl, who was also in her sixth year of Hogwarts. Mini pulled away and looked up at her, seeing as how Kimmi was a towering six feet tall.

"Yeah, that book got boring. So, where are all of you headed? To Hagrid's?" she asked, pausing to allow them to nod their heads. "Me too. He told me he saw a new unicorn. I came here to see if I can find it."

"We're not allowed in the forest, remember?" Hermione interjected.

Kimmi raised an eyebrow in Hermione's direction. "Aren't you the one that ALWAYS follows the rules?"

With the tiniest of huffs, Hermione nodded. Kimmi playfully hit her shoulder.

"Ha! Most rules are made to be broken," Kimmi said, causing Hermione to scowl.

"You're in Gryffindor? I haven't seen you before," Harry said.

Mini stood on tip toes to put her arm around Kimmi's shoulder.

"The reason for that is because she practically lives in the library. She's like the next level of Hermione," she said.

Both Kimmi and Hermione glared at her. Jade smirked.

"So, this is the Kimmi you were talking about, but I've never seen?" Jade asked.

The group turned in the direction of Hagrid's hut and continued walking at a slow pace. Kimmi laughed.

"You make it sound like I'm a ghost or something," she said. Then, seeing as they were all on their way, she shrugged and added, "Well, since we're all on our way to Hagrid's, no sense to arrive separately. Let's go together."

"I thought that that was what we were doing," Hermione said, glancing up and down the line of them.

Kimmi opened her mouth, a glare forming in her eye, when Jade decided to beat her.

"A new unicorn, huh?" she asked.

Kimmi looked away from Hermione and turned her attention to Jade.

"That's right."

"Anything special about it?" Mini asked.

Kimmi smiled knowingly. "You mean besides the fact that it's a black unicorn?"

The girls gasped while the boys looked unimpressed.

"A black unicorn? They're supposed to be really rare. What you're talking about is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Hermione said, causing the boys to change their looks to match the others.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Kimmi said. Changing the subject, she added to Jade, "So, I heard you got in trouble with Snape last night."

"So?" Jade asked.

Kimmi smiled, winked, and said, "So, what's a Slytherin like you doing with a bunch of Gryffindor's like us?"

The rest of the Gryffindor's erupted into laughter. Jade sneered.

"You're my friends. Not my father's. I can't choose my own friends, can't I?" Jade said, becoming slightly flustered.

Kimmi put up her hands in defense, smiling. Ron looked around her to add, "Sure, if you don't mind a detention every night."

They had arrived at Hagrid's door. Harry took the lead and knocked. Loud footsteps were heard inside, and soon Hagrid's massive figure appeared in the open doorway.

"What're doin' 'ere?" he asked, beaming at everyone.

Jade crossed her arms and answered, "Well, apparently, we're here to see that unicorn."

"Oh, yeah! That's a bit of a treat there. She's out back, grazin'. Come an' see," Hagrid said, pointing to the back of his hut.

Kimmi nearly knocked Hermione and Mini over as she bounded to the back. She came to a halt just around the corner and gave a strangled squeal of delight.

"She's adorable!" she declared, walking forward.

The group came behind around the house just as Kimmi had settled down with the unicorn and was calling it over to her. The unicorn came slowly, but eventually bowed its head for Kimmi to scratch behind its ears.

"However did you get her to graze here, Hagrid?" Kimmi asked, now petting the animal's neck.

"Yur really good with the beast, ain't ye? I 'ad a 'eck of a time gettin' this one to stay 'ere," Hagrid said, sitting on the back steps.

"I can't believe it. I've only read about them and seen illustrations," Hermione said, slowly walking towards the unicorn.

Just when she had cleared half of the distance, a raven suddenly swooped out of a nearby tree. It clipped the baby unicorn's snout with its wing, spooking the poor thing. It reared, its eyes rolling, and kicked Kimmi in the chest with its golden hooves. Kimmi rolled away from it.

"Kimmi!" the group shouted as the unicorn ran back into the safety of the forest, trampling Hagrid's garden as it went.

"Kimmi? Kimmi, are you okay?" Harry asked, reaching Kimmi first. "She's not moving! We ought to get her to the hospital wing!"

Hagrid reached Kimmi next and scooped her up into his arms.

"Will she be okay?" Mini asked.

"Madam Pomfrey will fix 'er up all right. Oh, I shouldn'ta let 'er near that little unicorn. I shoulda known that the slightest thing woulda spooked it," Hagrid said, turning toward the castle.

"You think," Kimmi groaned suddenly, "that one little kick from a unicorn, a baby no less, could put me down for the count? Not likely. It just hurts a little. You can put me down, Hagrid. I can walk. I'm not a baby."

Not waiting for Hagrid to comply, Kimmi leapt from his arms and landing on her feet, fixing her robes.

"You've been kicked by a unicorn before?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. I live on a ranch where my parents raise winged horses, unicorns, and other things," Kimmi replied.

"You should still get checked out," Hagrid said. "C'mon."

Kimmi grumbled as the group dragged her up into the castle.

0000

Kimmi groaned and grumbled as she lay on the hospital bed Madam Pomfrey had confined her to with instructions not to move until the Mediwitch had had the time to check her out. Mini, Harry, Jade, Ron, and Hermione stood around her. Hagrid had had to leave to deal with his garden.

"What do you think it was that spooked the unicorn? That raven?" Hermione asked.

"Could've been anything. Hagrid said that the slightest thing would've spooked it," Mini said.

"But that's not true. Unicorns are pretty fearless, no matter the age," Jade replied, shaking her head.

"She's right," Kimmi said, looking up at her friends. "Actually, I thought that I had heard something from within the forest before it reared."

"My scar didn't hurt," Harry said, absentmindedly rubbing it on his forehead. "So that's always good news."

Everyone nodded in agreement with the Boy-Who-Lived. Smiling almost apologetically, Mini turned to Kimmi.

"Listen, I hope that you feel better--" she began, but Kimmi cut in.

"I do feel better! Why isn't anyone listening to me?"

"Well, then," Mini said, shrugging and turning toward the door. "I hope you get out of here soon. Right now, though, I've got to go. The mail's due to arrive soon, and I'm expecting something from Buffy. Bye!"

Mini scurried from the room. Jade raised an eyebrow in her direction, while Hermione and Harry shook their heads.

"Wonder what Buffy's sending her?" Ron mused aloud.

"Don't be so nosey, Ron," Hermione scolded.

"Probably some news from the Hellmouth," Jade mumbled.

"What?" Kimmi asked.

"Nothing," Jade said quickly.

Soon after this, Madam Pomfrey entered and shooed the group from the room. Kimmi yelled for them to wait for her outside. Pomfrey gave her a quick look over, and then she declared her "all right." Kimmi hopped immediately from the bed, sighing.

"I could have told you that I was all right," she said, rushing from the room.

Meeting back up with the group, she made the suggestion that they meet Mini in the Great Hall.

"After all, I wonder if I have any mail from home," Kimmi said as she group headed off in that direction.

Halfway there, they collided with Mini. Literally. Mini, without looking, ran smack into Kimmi, who was also not looking. Kimmi, in turn, was pushed back and accidentally stepped on Jade's toe. Somehow, the Golden Trio had escaped from being injured.

"Ouch!" Mini said, but she recovered quickly. Waving a rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet under their noses, she added, "You won't believe what's in here!"

"Well," Jade growled, "are you going to flog us with it or tell us?"

Mini blew a quick raspberry in the direction of her cousin. The, she unrolled the paper and moved so all of them could read over her shoulder.

"It's here on the front page. The Malfoy house had a break-in last night!" Mini proclaimed, pointing at the headline, "Influential Family Suffers Vandalism."

Jade snatched the paper from her. She scanned through it quickly, then nodded knowingly.

"Well, well, well. Isn't this interesting?" Jade said, sneering.

"Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on before I grow old?" Kimmi said, looking in desperation between the two cousins.

End Notes: So, what did you think? Please review!