Snape lead them through the least used corridors in the castle until they came to the kitchens. He opened the door with a password, and led them into a different room than what the students entered when they tickled the pear. Draco had sent for Ginny and her guards on the way back to the castle and they joined them as they stepped through the door. This room was smaller, cozy for a few, but crowded for a lot. Dobby popped in and eyed the guests.

"Sir needs something?" He questioned, bowing his head.

"Meat, raw," Snape ordered, "Also a rag and a bowl of warm water."

"Dobby gets it, Sir." Dobby cast a strange look at Alex and popped away.

Alex grimaced and set the foal on its feet. It stood for a half-second, then collapsed to its side in exhaustion. Alex eyed it warily and checked its sex. 'A colt? Great I have a Thestral stallion on my hands.'

She ran her hand through her hair, grimacing when she felt the dried blood in it. She glanced at her clothes, and wrinkled her nose at them. She was still in her outfit from last night, and blood was soaking into her skin. She needed a shower in the worst way.

As she was thinking the colt had staggered to his feet and wobbled unsteadily. He made that eerie keening again and stepped hesitantly in her direction. He got in about two steps before his knees buckled and he hit the ground again. Alex hissed and went over to him. "Easy baby. You're going to hurt yourself."

The colt sighed when she reached him, his wings sagging. Dobby popped back in and put the bowl of meat by her hand, and the bowl of water by Snape's.

"Anything else master?" he asked politely.

"Tea please Dobby, and perhaps some pasties. Thank you." Snape went over to one of the chairs surrounding a table pushed up against the wall. "Now you will explain while Alex feeds the thing."

Alex glanced at him, "It's a colt sir. Not a thing."

"Fine, the colt then. Draco! Leave Miss Weasley to her own devices for a moment and explain your actions." Snape glared at him from across the room.

Draco kissed Ginny again before crossing to talk to his Head. The girl knelt near Alex, staring at her as she cut chunks of meat down small enough to feed to the foal. The meat was still bloody and it made her ill to watch the process, but she continued to stare until Pansy tapped her on the shoulder.

"Come on Ginny, we've been dismissed." She sighed and helped the other girl up, bracing her when she swayed. "We can go use the Prefect's bathroom to wash up, and then get to bed. We have classes in the morning."

The three girls left, exhaustion evident in every step they took. Damien watched them for a minute before excusing himself as well, helping the girls out. He pinned Alex with a hard glare as he left, his anger an almost palpable thing.

She ignored him and continued to feed the colt until his belly bulged and he refused to take anymore. He blew out his breath and let his head fall limply to lie in her lap. Blaise stepped forward with the water bowl and rag.

He looked at her as he lifted her arm, "May I?"

She blushed shyly and nodded, stroking the soft scales on the colt's face. Blaise dipped the rag and brought it dripping to wipe the blood tenderly from her arm. He cleaned both her arms and had his hands on her face by the time Snape finished with Draco. They both stood and made their way over.

"Thank you Blaise." Alex whispered, her eyes sagging wearily. It was only a little after eight, but she was exhausted.

"You're welcome, Mon Ange." Blaise said, leaning in to kiss her forehead.

Snape cleared his throat loudly and Blaise jerked back. "My congratulations Alex. Or should I address you as Envolé?"

"Alex is fine monsieur." She replied demurely, her clean-ish hands rubbing circles into the colt's neck.

"Very well. I suppose you need to talk to the headmaster about this." He waved a narrow hand at the colt, "Before classes. The Password is "jelly bean" and Blaise will escort you to the office."

He bid them all a good night and left the room. Draco nodded at them and hurried off, no doubt to look for Ginny. Blaise stood and looked down at her, his dark head bowed. He helped her wake up the colt, and then helped get him on his feet. Extending her his hand he pulled her to her feet, waiting while she got her balance back.

Alex thanked him and watched as the colt followed her with his white eyes. She took a few steps towards the door and he followed wearily. She smiled and indicated for Blaise to lead them out. She followed slowly, making sure that the colt was following.

-.-

It took them fifteen minutes to walk to the Headmaster's office, due to Alex's exhaustion and the colt's staggering progress.

Suddenly she stopped, the colt bumping her with his nose. "Blaise. You aren't going to let me go anywhere alone ever again are you?"

He chuckled ahead of her, his stride unwavering. He came to the gargoyle moments later, Alex and the colt joining him in a few minutes. He murmured the password to the stone gargoyle and it leapt aside. The colt shied and blew at it, losing his footing and going down in a heap. Alex giggled at him and waited while he righted himself. He seemed to look around (it's hard to tell exactly, since his kind lacked pupils) to see if anybody caught his fall, then bumped Alex with his nose.

She stroked him between the ears and walked out onto the spiral stair. He followed, Blaise walking behind in case he fell.

"What do you think of the name Eirian?" She suddenly asked, pausing as she reached the door.

"King of the Otherworld?" Blaise asked amusedly. "I think it fits him."

"Good. Eirian it is." And with that she pushed open the door and led the way into Dumbledore's office.

The wizard looked up at her as she entered, then his eyes widened slightly when Eirian came curiously into the room. Blaise closed the door behind him and tolerated the nudge Eirian decided to bestow on him. "Good evening Headmaster."

"Good evening Blaise, Miss Alex." Dumbledore peered at her over his spectacles. "How have you come to possess a Thestral colt?"

"I birthed them Sir. His twin sister was taken with the herd, but he's too small to live in the wild. I couldn't leave him! And if you don't mind me saying sir, why is the school herd in such a bad shape? Does no one feed them?" Alex's tone implied foolishness on his part.

"Ah, so you found our herd have you? And how did you get them to answer your call?"

"I answered theirs sir. The mare was singing last night and I heard her on the way to my dorm. I couldn't ignore her sir, I was the only one who could hear her." Alex was beside herself with the worry that she would be dismissed from the school, and Eirian! What would happen to him?

"I know you feel their pull Alex, you and your twin. I suppose you'll want to keep him with you then?" Dumbledore turned around behind him and dug around in a drawer. "Then you'll need to have these."

He placed a woven silk halter in her hands. "This was used to capture our first stallion, and he wore it until his death. The rest of his line were trained from birth as will young….have you named him yet?"

"Eirian." Alex watched as the colt nudged Fawkes.

The Phoenix hissed at the colt, who tried to mimic the sound. The three humans laughed at the indignant way Fawkes ruffled his feathers. Alex fingered the halter, "What will it do to him?"

"Nothing more than an ordinary halter would an ordinary horse. If he becomes violent however, I have this," He showed her a solid silver collar that would fit around an adults throat, "Mahar had a slight temper."

"Mahar? Was that the stallion's name?" Blaise asked, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"No, no, Mahar was a mare that was attracted by Rhys. She was a hellion, and we feared she would kill the other mares who came to join the herd. So after several weeks of tracking that demon through the forest we caught her and snapped the calming collar on her. Her temperament could not be changed, but at least she could no longer hurt the other mares." Dumbledore's eyes unfocused as he remembered the days long ago, when he was young enough to still go haring off across the forest after a rouge mare.

His musing was broken by Eirian, who had nudged a silver trophy from its shelf with a loud clatter. He spooked and ran to Alex, thrusting his nose against her. She laughed and apologized to Dumbledore. She slipped the halter on over his ears and watched as it shrunk to fit his head.

Dumbledore watched with amusement as the colt rubbed his head against anything he could find in an attempt to get the aggravating halter off of his head. "There is a stable under the Ravenclaw tower in which we keep the trained thestrals and other such creatures. It is not known or accessible to students, but I think we can make an acceptation in this case. Speak with Hagrid tomorrow after classes and he can show you where to put him. I understand that they grow quickly?"

"Yes sir. He should reach adult size in just under ten months. If I could keep him close for the first month the bond will cement and I will feel better about putting him in the stable. With your permission of course."

"Of course Miss Deloche. Remember that he is now your responsibility and if he becomes a disturbance he will have to be moved to the stable immediately."

"Thank you sir, if I may be excused?" Alex bowed her head at him and walked out of his office.

-.-

Pansy, Damien, Draco, and Ginny all sat around the fireplace in the Slytherin common room, chatting about Alex's new 'son'.

"So Damien, who did you see die?" Draco asked calmly, raising a hand to brush a strand of hair off Ginny's forehead.

Damien's eyes went unfocused and his voice was dead when he answered, "Our house in France was stormed by that faction of Voldemort's death eaters, we were eight years old. They killed everyone but our father, who was out, and our Mother's sister. Alex was in the stables when it happened, she heard the screaming and came running up to the kitchen. I was eating dinner at the time and our Uncle Regis staggered into the kitchen with blood streaming everywhere.

Go into the woods, take Alessander with you, they mustn't get him. That's why they're here, for that creature -cough- Go!

"He died as we were staring at him in dumb shock. Finally I came to my senses and dragged Alex back out to the stable. We took Alessander out of his stall and opened the doors for the rest of them. Alex rode him into the forest, while I ran in a different direction."

Damien stopped and buried his face in his hands, "I should have followed them, I knew they wanted that unicorn. They caught up with her, and in order to save him she had to kill him. Something in her died at that moment and they nearly killed her for doing it. Luckily the French version of the aurors showed up before too much damage had been done to her and scared them off. I was found later in a huge tree stump, scared shitless but alive. She had nightmares for years and probably still does. The rest of our herd was rounded up by the aurors and taken into protective custody, except for our Thestral mare and her twin. Voldemort has no need of them, so they weren't at risk. We brought them with us to England and paid a family in the country to look after them while we are in school. We didn't know that the school had their own herd."

"Yeah, Hagrid trained them to pull the carriages. Some of them will even permit riders, but you have to be respectful and bring food with you." Pansy responded, holding back tears at the story. She reached a tentative hand out and laid it gently on Damien's knee. He smiled at her and placed one of his much larger hands on hers.

"It happened so long ago Pans; it has no power over me now." Damien smiled at his friends, pleased that they were willing to be sympathetic.

"Voldemort has much to answer for Damien, and not just in Britain." Draco responded, gripping Ginny's hand tightly.