19 – Attack of the Blue Unicorn

Snape believed that unicorns were supposed to be cute, fluffy creatures, surrounded by children who had flowers in their hair and were perhaps holding hands, singing songs about rainbows and peace. He firmly believed that unicorns were NOT supposed to look like ferocious, horned bear-demons that escaped from a dementor's nightmare. This one was charging down the path, high above Willow Gorge, fearless in spite of the steep cliff to its side. It appeared to be interested in only one thing: attacking them.

The unicorn lowered its head, positioning its horn for spearing.

"LOOKOUT!" shouted Snape. He grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her into Boggarts Cave, the horn narrowly missing her side. The unicorn's momentum forced it to move well past them, and it came to a scraping stop as it hooves slid against the dirt.

"Fast! In here." He led Lily a few meters into the cave and they pressed themselves against the mural, trying to blend in amongst the peasants and druids.

"Slughorn was right about the unicorns," whispered Lily.

Outside the cave, it was flinging dirt behind itself like a bull eyeing a red cape.

"No he wasn't," said Snape, practically hissing. "That thing is anything but a unicorn!"

"Maybe you should have taken his warning about the Forbidden Forest seriously, especially the blue unicorns."

"Well, he didn't say they were really disguised as—"

The blue unicorn stepped into the opening of the cave. Its red eyes cut through the darkness and narrowed in on them immediately. Lily gave a small shriek.

"SHHHH! It might not see us," said Snape.

"I see where you are perfectly."

Snape looked at Lily as if she'd gone mad. She returned the gesture. Then they both looked to the end of the cave—the unicorn had just spoken to them.

"Your location is in perfect alignment with my vision," it said.

"Who are—what? What do you want?" Snape wasn't sure what to ask this speaking creature. This was the first time he'd ever spoken to a unicorn. He grabbed his wand and could feel his legs trembling. "Why aren't you attacking us in here?"

"You are no longer a threat to utopia."

Both he and Lily looked at each other confused. "What do you mean, utopia?" asked Snape.

"Grindelwald said people like you would come." It moved a few paces forward into the cave's darkness, its body immediately radiating a blue halo that lit the tunnel like a torch. The unicorn did indeed have a rumored blue coat, but it was uneven with contrasting shades and textures, much like a summer sky at dusk.

It walked with long powerful steps that kicked up dirt from the floor, each step flexing various muscles through its sinewy frame. When it was close enough that they could see its face, both gasped. The fur was so thin there that its skin was showing through, wrinkled like an old piece of paper. The unicorn had the face of a hundred-year-old bear. "You must stay away," it warned. "Grindelwald doesn't want people like you to disturb utopia."

"Well, my friend," said Snape wryly, " you must not have heard the news, but Dumbledore defeated—"

"Traitor!" The unicorn stood up on its hind legs, easily towering over Snape, double his height. "Grindelwald especially forbids Dumbledore to come near his city."

He and Lily exchanged another look of confusion. "Mr. Unicorn, sir. What do you mean by city?" Lily asked the question, and it turned to her, seeming to recognize for the first time that there were two people in the cave. It looked at Lily for a long awhile.

"So much can be learned from the eyes," it said. "You are not like him." It nodded in Snape's direction.

Snape lost his cool. "This is a load of witch's brew. Why can't you answer any of our questions? You're like a robot."

"You must not interfere with Grindelwald as he builds utopia for his kind." The unicorn turned away from Lily and again focused on Snape. "I warn you. If you go near the doppelganger trees or his city on the other side of the gorge, you will be attacked." It turned around and began walking away from them. On its hind side, there was a strange marking burned into its skin: a triangle with a circle inside it, and a line splitting both shapes equally into two. Moments later, the blue unicorn had left the cave.

"This is ridiculous," said Snape. "First it's going to attack us, then it tells us that Grindelwald was building a city outside of Willow Gorge."

Lily stepped back from the cave wall and looked at a picture of a druid holding a black box. "For his kind. Grindelwald was a dark lord, Sev. He's like this druid in the mural, wanting to control everyone around him. He was building a city for his kind, for purebloods, probably so they could control—"

"And you really believe that? Slughorn said these blue unicorns were protecting the doppelganger root, and it's almost like Grindelwald created them on accident. He never mentioned a city." Snape began walking towards the end of the tunnel and noticed that Lily wasn't following. "Come on. What are you waiting for?"

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean? I'm going to get the doppelganger root."

Lily shook her head. "The unicorn said it would attack you if you went near it."

"Yes, that's why I have a plan."

"What plan?"

"You'll see." He turned and began walking again with a confident stride, but he was really muttering wizard swears under his breath, for he hadn't the faintest clue how to avoid the blue unicorns. "Think. Think," he said to himself quietly. He listened for Lily's footsteps and could hear that she was following him.

Outside of Boggarts Cave on the precipice, Snape looked down on Willow Gorge and tried to quickly summon his master plan to avoid getting speared. The willow branches continued to swirl in the air from the charging unicorns, and he looked for patterns to see if they were running across the land at will, or if there were established pathways. But as far as he could tell, they were streaking through the gorge as random as the wind.

"Why are there so many over there?" Lily stepped beside him and pointed to the northwestern corner.

Across the thousands of willow trees, Snape looked at the opposite mountain enclosing the gorge—the mountain that was supposedly hiding Grindelwald's lost city. At its base, a blue pack was circling, what appeared to be, a glass tree.

"That's it. That has to be a doppelganger tree." His eyes immediately scanned for other glass trees, and there were several spots where other unicorns hovered. At one of the glass trees near their end, he noticed a cardinal land on it—the bird appeared to be sitting on an invisible hand in the air— and a unicorn immediately charged towards it, shooting neighboring willow branches into the air, scaring the cardinal back into flight.

"So what's this plan of yours?" asked Lily.

If Snape hadn't turned to answer her, he might've seen the cloaked figure flying on a broom over the northwestern mountain edge toward Grindelwald's supposed lost city.