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Unicorn Prince

Chapter 2: The Freak with the Horn

Harry Potter stared at his reflection in the mirror in dismay. This could not be happening! No, he was still dreaming; hallucinating…he was drunk!

Yes, that was it. He was drunk. Anything was preferable to believing this was real.

Unfortunately, Harry didn't feel drunk, and alcohol wasn't allowed on campus. The ministry had gone as far as casting special wards over the school to alert the teachers should a student try to sneak some in.

Fred and George had complained often and complained loud about the unfairness of it.

Harry hadn't really cared, until now.

Well, if he wasn't drunk, maybe someone had cursed him. Probably Malfoy, but Harry hadn't run into Malfoy since they arrived at school close to a week ago, so that couldn't be it.

Harry pulled at his hair in frustration. What was he going to do? He couldn't let people see him like this! He drew enough attention to himself as it was, he didn't need any help in that department.

Yet the strange horn remained firmly planted in the center of his forehead, smack where his scar used to be. Strangely enough the addition of the horn seemed to have pushed his scar downward till it stopped halfway down Harry's nose. It was a strange sight considering the scar no longer even resembled a scar. It somehow seemed to have fused with his horn taking on it's coloring before fading into a shimmery silver at the end.

The horn itself wasn't very big, only about two inches tall and an inch or so thick at the base. It was the blackest of ebony with a web of ruby veins spiraling to a dangerously sharp point. Also starting at the base of the horn was a collection of strange silvery markings. Small spots that gathered around the horn and spread over his eyebrows thinly, moving down his eyes to outline his cheeks and the curve of his neck, disappearing into his hair at his nape.

Around Harry's eyes were strange black markings, making his eyes appear wider then normal and rather exotic. His ears were no longer round like a humans, but softly pointed. The tip was covered in the same silvery spots as his face and neck.

Curiously Harry reached up a hand to run over his strange new ears, marveling at the silky feeling of the spots compared to the softness of his flesh. He also noticed the backs of his hands were covered in the strange new spots as well, delicately traveling over his wrists to end about midway up his forearms.

He eyed his hands for a moment, his fingers absently tracing his ear, before he jerked back to the present.

What was he doing? This was no time to be admiring his new look in the mirror! He had to find some way to hide all this before his roommates woke up.

Maybe he could get back in bed before anyone else got up. He could remain there until he could figure out what to do.

That decided, Harry opened the door a crack, and peered cautiously into the hall.

It was empty, good. With one last check, he was out the door and making a bee-line for his dorm.

As he reached for the handle, his world came crashing down around his ears as the door swung open under his fingertips, revealing a still drowsy Seamus Finnigan.

Harry froze like a deer caught in headlights, emerald eyes wide in surprised horror. But Seamus just brushed passed him without a second look, muttering a sleepy, "Mornin' 'Arry."

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth; Harry hurried to his bed, and dived in while spelling the drapes closed.

That had been a close one. Seamus was probably too tired to take notice of Harry's strange new features. Well, whatever the reason, Harry was grateful and not about to complain.

It wasn't long before he could hear the other boys begin to stir and set about their morning routines.

About half an hour later Harry could hear someone moving next to the bed. Whoever it was, Harry suspected it was Ron, tried to move the crimson curtains only to find them resisting.

"What the…" Ron's voice swore softly from the other side of the curtain. "Harry? Why're your curtains locked? Breakfast's almost over and you'll be late for class if you don't hurry up."

"I-" Harry's voice cracked in nervousness and he took a second to clear his throat, "I don't feel too great Ron." He told his friend, "I don't think I'm coming to class."

"If you're sick, maybe you should go see madam Pomfrey." Ron's concerned voice suggested.

Harry swore internally; stupid magic. He forgot the nurse could fix just about anything with a spell or potion. 'Too bad she wouldn't be able to fix this.' Harry thought to himself bitterly, fingering his new horn absently.

"I really don't want to bother her so early. I'm sure I'll be fine if I just get a bit of rest." Harry answered, silently pleading with Ron not to push it. "Why don't you go ahead without me, before you miss breakfast altogether.

"Well, if your sure…" Ron trailed off uncertainly.

There was a brief pause before Harry could hear his friend's footsteps retreating towards the door.

Once Harry was alone he fell back onto his bed with a heavy sigh, his hands fisting in his inky black hair in frustration. "Just what am I supposed to do now?" He asked the empty room in despair.

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Two hours passed while Harry laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling and practically drowning in self pity.

His uncle had always said Harry was a freak, he'd just never known just how right he was.

At first Harry had felt he was a freak for having magical powers, but being surrounded by so many other people with those same odd traits, those feelings had vanished completely.

Now they were back at full force. Now he wasn't even human. That wouldn't have been so bad if he was a werewolf or vampire or something cool like that. But no, he had to turn into a bloody unicorn.

Not only that, but if he remembered correctly the girl last night had said he was the only male unicorn to ever walk the earth.

Now how was that for messed up?

Harry sighed and banged his head backwards on the head board. Well, he couldn't stay here all day. His room mates would be back later, and Ron would expect him to feel better. Hermione would also be waiting to lecture him about missing class and the importance of completing his homework.

He already knew he couldn't face them like this, so he had to find some way, a spell or potion, something, that would-if not get rid of his new features completely-then at least hide them.

The only way to do that would be to get to the library and study. The boy inward groaned as he slipped out of bed.

Before leaving the dormitories, Harry opened his trunk and pulled out a silvery, liquid-like object. He draped the cloak around himself, lifted the hood-and vanished.

He couldn't very well have an accidental run-in with anyone; his secret would be around school before he could say 'obliviate'.

No, for now, he'd go invisible.

'Well, first thing's first,' Harry thought as he entered the library under Madam Pince's nose. 'I wont know what will work if I know absolutely nothing about Unicorns.'

It was a reasonable like of thought; one Hermione could have been proud of.

So, Harry headed first for the magical creature section with an internal cringe. No one should have to be forced to think of themselves as nothing better then an animal, it wasn't very good for one's self-esteem. 'This must be what Professor Lupin goes through.' Harry thought as he skimmed over titles.

Harry pulled three reliable looking books off the shelves, tucked them under his arm, and made his way to the charms section. There he pulled off a book about the different types of concealing charms and glamour's.

Next he headed for the potions portion of the library and added another two books to his steadily growing pile.

Last he picked up a transfiguration book; then returned to the dorm to read.

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Three hours later found one frustrated, cranky, and not to mention hungry, unicorn boy glaring at the books and parchment that had temporarily taken over his bed.

Not one of the books he'd gotten on magical creatures mentioned the Unicorn Maidens. Sure there was lots about normal unicorns, and he'd discovered the silver spots coating his body was a mark of rank.

Apparently in normal unicorn herds there are about twenty to thirty individuals in the group, only three or four of them were even male. Rank in the herd was determined by how many spots the unicorn had on his body, and only male's had them.

This had only caused to irritate him and he'd set those books aside, not even bothering to read more then a couple paragraphs out of them. He wasn't a normal unicorn after all, so most of that probably didn't even apply to him.

If he wanted to know more about what he was, he'd decided, he'd have to talk to the Maidens; and he really wasn't in the mood to chat with them any time soon. He'd see what he could get out of Hermione first.

So, irritated at that first dead end, Harry had turned to the charms book. Surely he'd find something there?

It wasn't to be though.

At first, he'd tried to simply disillusion everything. It hadn't worked, sadly. The spell simply slid down his body after sitting for two minutes.

It was a strange sensation indeed, causing the hairs on Harry's arms and the back of his neck to raise and the flesh around the base of his horn to prickle dully.

Harry decided he didn't like that feeling at all, and didn't want to dwell on it for too long either.

So, Harry tried another slightly more powerful spell.

This one stuck for a total of one minute before slithering down his body, again causing goose bumps and the dull prickle around his horn.

This carried on for a few minutes before harry gave up, disturbed not only with the multiple failures, but also by the strange feelings continually being evoked.

Had this transformation somehow messed with his magic? If so, what was he going to do about his classes? Not that his classes would matter much if he couldn't find a way to hide what had happened to him.

Another disturbing thought crept into his brain about this time. What was going to happen to him when everyone found out? He'd probably be shipped off to some exotic magical zoo or preserve or something.

This wasn't a pleasant thought, but it had Harry returning to his books with renewed determination. There was no way he was joining some magical freak show!

Harry searched through the charms book for a little longer, noting a few spells, but unwilling to actually try them just yet. A few were a little more advanced then he was, but for the most part, his hesitance stemmed from his reluctance to feel that again.

The next subject Harry pursued was potions, but it soon became clear that that was not an option.

It wasn't that he doubted his ability to make them as a few were particularly simple; it was the amount of time it would take to brew them.

The shortest length of time was a high level cream that, if Harry was even capable of completing on his own, would take up to five hours to complete. And that was if he didn't get caught sneaking ingredients from Snape in the middle of class; as he was pretty sure he didn't have 'Collapsing Horam Shells', and he had no clue what a 'Cormedad' even was.

Simply put, Harry didn't have five hours; he'd be lucky if he still had an hour and a half.

So, he'd abandoned those books as well, turning to his last field with desperation. It had to be in here somewhere. There had to be something!

Forty-five minutes later harry admitted defeat; closing the last book and settling back in his bed to once more bask in his self pity.

This was terrible. His life had just taken an unnerving nose dive, and Harry had no control over the broom.

Ron wasn't going to want to be friends anymore, and Hermione would likely want to run all sorts of tests before dissecting him. Dumbledore would be disappointed in him of course, and Remus would want nothing to do with him since he wasn't even a normal magical creature. Male Unicorns Maidens weren't even supposed to exist, the name itself said as much; you just can't be a 'male-maiden'…it doesn't work.

He was unnatural, a true freak.

The sounds of footsteps on the stairs brought him back to himself. Harry put his head in his hands and groaned loudly as the first boy entered the room, "what am I gonna do?" he wondered frantically, starting to panic.

Harry didn't have much time to dwell on that question as Ron was already next to the bed asking questions, "Harry wake up, classes are over."

Harry groaned loudly, not at all looking forward to what was to come as he could see no way around it.

Ron must have taken Harry's groan to mean he wasn't wanting to wake up yet, as his next words were, "Come on mate, you must be feeling better by now. Besides, 'Mione's right ticked you skipped out on classes. Say's you should've gone anyway."

Harry couldn't agree less, 'Let's see her wake up with a bloody horn in the middle of her face and see if she still wants to go to class.' He thought harshly before rethinking that, 'Then again, this is Hermione we're talking about. She probably wouldn't even let that keep her from her beloved classes.'

"Come on Harry. Dinners starting soon and I doubt you've eaten all day." Wow, Ron knew him rather well. Harry really hadn't eaten anything and he was ravenous by now.

Harry's stomach rumbling angrily decided it for him. Steeling himself, Harry reached for the curtains.

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