Hooves and Horns

Harry groaned and leaned forward, his head thudding against the door to the Ravenclaw common room. He had just come from potions where he had just saved his partner from another poisoning. The day's assignment was to brew a concoction that acted as a preventative measure against poisons and infections. The effect should keep certain ailments from afflicting the drinker and lessen others.

The potion that Leonard and Harry brewed had been perfect. Harry oversaw all the prep and brewing, he also stopped the other boy from a few catastrophic mistakes. In the end, Snape even gave him a smile lasting more than half a second when examining their results. After drinking the potion, and chasing it with the poison vial they were given, Harry was fine. Leonard was not.

First, Harry's partner dropped to his knees and grabbed his stomach as it made a gurgling noise like someone was trying to drown an angry lion. When he stood back up, Leonard's skin began to turn green and peel off, leaving an orange layer underneath. He didn't appear to be in any pain but Harry took no chances, wrestling the boy to the ground, and forcing a bezoar down his throat as he struggled against it like giving medication to an unwilling pet.

After Professor Snape examined Leonard, it was determined the cause was a piece of gum with magical properties that was stuck in his teeth. What followed was a lecture on the importance of dental hygiene.

Harry had gone years without a toothbrush on the island, just rubbing his teeth with a cloth and rinsing his mouth in the mornings with water. He had continued this pattern since returning and had only brushed his teeth when they felt dirty. Something about the different diet he had now made them feel dirty much more often than when he was on the island. Other students brought up a teeth-cleaning spell that Harry and nearly all the muggleborn students did not know, though Professor Snape added on the importance of flossing and told them they should all expect a roll of floss at their beds when they got back to their dorms.

On top of everything, Harry got detention as he needed to use a bezoar along with Leonard. Harry shrugged at the pronouncement since detention with Severus turned into a learning experience for one reason or another. Even with his skin still colored and peeling off, Leonard seemed fine and resigned to his detention later.

So Harry ended up at the Ravenclaw common room to see if his sister's prophetic statement about the unicorn name would pan out. Though now the knocker was giving him a riddle he couldn't figure out.

"What has a neck but no head?" the eagle knocker repeated as Harry rubbed his head where it had hit it on the door.

It was probably something simple, but the answer didn't come to mind.

"Can't I just rescue some other students and you can let me in?" Harry asked the knocker, getting no response.

"Do you have a quest I can go on?" he asked the knocker. No response.

"I can tell you what has a head but no neck," he pushed.

After a moment, the knocker spoke, "What does have a head but no neck?"

Harry looked strangely at the usually silent and passive knocker, before replying, "A snake."

There was a brief pause before the knocker replied, "I guess so."

The door opened.

Weird… Harry thought as he wandered into the tall reading room. He always had to look up when walking into the magnificent blue-and-bronze-themed room. Five stories tall with a beautiful stained glass window running up the far wall, books and art lining every other part of the walls. Not knowing where to start, he just walked around. Up on one of the higher levels around the common area. He walked by the project room with the lever that switched which room was behind the door. Penny had one room dedicated to her projects along with a few other names that Harry didn't recognize. There was also the room that was the same as last year, marked - 'Boggart' and it made him wonder what his would be. He had plenty of demons from his past that could haunt him, but he didn't dare open the door without the proper training he would get soon from Remus Lupin.

As he leaned over the railing to the lower levels, an argument caught his attention between two students near a couch.

"That's my copy!" the one standing pointed to the book that the one sitting was holding. "This one is yours!" he continued while holding up an identical-looking book.

"How do you even know?" the girl sitting replied. "They look the same to me."

"The last page," the standing boy replied smugly and waited for her to flip the pages to the back. Harry couldn't see clearly, but there was something written in pen on the last page. The girl read it and looked shocked.

"You got a dedication from the author? How?!" she demanded.

"I've just got connections that you don't," he said plainly and dropped the book he was holding on the couch and took his book from her, then walked away.

While he didn't really care about their situation, the book gave him an idea, and a really good idea too. Finding a table, he pulled out two pieces of paper and two pens. He figured one would require a more dignified letter with the calligraphy skills he had learned last year from Lockhart. The second less so, but he should still use good penmanship.

When he was done with both letters he closed them up just as his owl, Hermes, swooped in to deliver the letters. On the first one, he pulled out the business card that Brandt had given him for the publisher of the Harry Potter children's books and copied the name - The Melting Plot onto the paper. On the second paper, he put the names - Lysander and Celia Granger, then placed both letters in Hermes pouch and let him depart.

Satisfied with his plan, Harry spun his calligraphy pen him his fingers, and pulled out Lockhart's book to read the next chapter. Lyra had read the last one on her own first, so he didn't feel bad about letting her read this one by himself as well. The title of the new chapter appeared as he turned to the new chapter.

Lust and Recklessness

I spoke previously about Veela and their method of feeding. The ignorant among the masses will often compare Veela to their extinct counterpart, the Succubus. Succubi resembled beautiful women who were perfect in every way with occasional imperfections like horns, spikes on the neck, unnaturally colored eyes, or even occasionally wings. There is no record of why these deformities happened or if they served any particular purpose as they lived over a thousand years ago before they were hunted to extinction. Even more powerful than Veela, Succubi gave off an intoxicating allure that would draw in their marks and were drawn to people who had great bonds of loyalty, though their method of feeding was different.

Instead of merely severing their existing bonds, a Succubi would feed regularly on a victim through sexual intercourse and then use magic to make them both weaker and addicted to the experience. Only the strongest-willed could resist returning to the Succubi who broke them for more. This would continue until the wizard died. It was rumored that death would be an even greater method of feeding, though no evidence exists that they fed on souls like a dementor might.

Even though Succubi numbered very few, they did enough damage to magical communities around them that wizards organized with muggle lords, who were unaffected by their allure, to hunt them to extinction. Over the centuries following, and even today, there are occasional reports of a Succubus appearing here and there in different parts of the world. There is a special team of ICW hunters consisting of witches and muggles that get dispatched for such reports to exterminate any potential threat. However, not since before the establishment of the ICW has there been any actual threat from a real succubus. The team continues to be trained over the generations to be ready in case any survived the purge so long ago.

Another extinct feeder is the Siren. Often confused with Harpies or Mermaids, Sirens do not have multiple forms, and only exist as beautiful women having the ability to only have daughters. Many people have heard of Sirens through Greek mythology or the story of The Odyssey. They would sing to sailors traversing treacherous waters who would steer their ships closer and die in wrecks after getting too close to turbulent waters.

Through extensive research, I believe that Sirens' method of feeding is not based on devouring sailors or anything else that was mentioned in previous tales. I believe their siren songs feed on the cautious mind of even the most disciplined individual, making them pursue reckless paths before them. While a Siren will feed bits and pieces of caution just making their victims risk their lives, their main course comes with their death while connected to a feeding Siren. The tales of sirens feeding on sailors in already dangerous regions were probably just a convenient way for them to prey on large groups with a guaranteed feast when they all died beneath the waves or sunk in their wrecked vessels.

There was a similar purge of the sirens done exclusively by muggles around 900 AD. Wizards never viewed them as a threat as their feeding habits primarily threatened muggles. Sirens are unique among magical creatures that feed on emotions as they also can affect and feed on muggles. Since they did not pursue wizards to feed, they were left alone by the magical communities of the world. As a result, there is no provision by the ICW to hunt them if any reports are made of their existence and the magical world just trusts that the muggles exterminated them all in their purge.

Through various research and information I have gathered myself, I discovered that Sirens do not feed exclusively on muggles. While the mental energies of the muggles will provide a Siren with what they need to survive, the energy of a wizard is much more potent and addictive to them. Furthermore, a wizard who has spent too much time around these creatures will hear their song in their mind at regular intervals driving them to pursue increasingly reckless paths of action over and over until they finally die. Even if the Siren feeding on them dies on their own, the wizard's mind will stay permanently altered and will continue to seek out things that might kill them until one finally finishes the job the Siren started.

From the records I have put together, a wizard who encounters a Siren will often hear the sound of bells, songbirds, church choirs, or the laughter of a child as they hear the magic in their songs. Such women should be avoided at all costs. Momentary exposure to them might have caused wizards to do something stupid or reckless, long-term exposure will almost certainly result in their death.

As with most of my previous chapters, I have mentioned that there are certain extremes in people that various creatures will seek out or avoid completely. I would assume in the case of a Succubus that the most lustful and hedonistic person would be a perfect mate for them. In the case of a Siren, a reckless and irresponsible person would be one that they would either avoid or feed on long term without detrimental effect to the negligent person.

Harry had figured out back when Brandt and Tonks had given them the dating lecture that most children didn't have their knowledge or carefree mind when it came to discussing sex, mating, nudity, and other adult themes. This book clearly wasn't written for children. He hadn't seen it being read by any other students at the school and it wasn't in the library to check out. He was a bit curious as to what Lockhart meant constantly by these creatures resembling beautiful women.

The women that most people considered beautiful just meant that they were in good shape. He wasn't sure what would make one in good shape more beautiful than another. He didn't think that Madeline the Veela from the mercenary group was better looking than Nestor's girlfriend or any of the Harpies women. The women on the Harpies were certainly the most physically strong women he had met and Madeline could turn into that bird creature and throw fire which was certainly amazing. Though he hadn't met a girl or woman he would consider himself attracted to yet.

As he pondered this, he remembered that he had initially come here to figure out what to name the young unicorn in the forest and nothing had come to mind yet. His sister and somehow Hermione had both come to the same conclusion of what he would choose without him knowing himself. Somehow they thought he would come to his revelation here so he drilled down on how that would happen.

He started to wander around the room, looking for something that might trigger the idea for the name of a unicorn. He didn't think that Hannah's stuffed toy, Roffle, would make a good name for this one. It was a great name for her toy but it didn't fit for a flesh and blood creature. There weren't any ornaments of horses or unicorns around the common room either. Everything was related to eagles or other birds of prey, so that wasn't where he would get his inspiration.

A hair on his neck rose and he realized that Penny in her wolf form was trying to sneak up on him again. He ignored the predator following him as he continued searching for a naming muse. Other students looked quickly in his direction and then away, trying (and failing) to not alert Harry as to their prefect's hunt of The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Finally, Harry heard the smallest scuff on the floor as Penny leaped forward to try and pounce on him. Quick as he could, he lept sideways and watched the confused wolf fly by him. He grabbed her by the scruff of her neck as she sailed by and pinned her to the floor as she landed. There was a loud series of gasps and applause from the onlookers before Harry released her and she shifted back to her human form.

"How did you do that?" she asked with exasperation as she rubbed her neck where the wolf's scruff would be.

"Well the most obvious was everyone looking at you," Harry told her as he gestured to the other students. Some looked a bit sheepish and away from them as he spoke. "However, I also felt you sneaking up on me, and heard the scuff of your nails on the floor before you jumped."

Penny looked at her fingernails, which were a bit long, then shifted back into her wolf form and made pawing motions on the floor, scratching it slightly before shifting back.

"I guess it's off to Hufflepuff to get a manicure," she sighed. "I will get you one day."

"I doubt it," Harry told her as she walked away.

Two first-year students scattered as he approached the nook near Hermione's private shelf and began to look through the titles. That is where he did most of his reading and if he was going to find his answer, that is where it would be. He scanned the fantasy books and tried to remember if any of the Redwall books had any mention of horses or mounts of any kind. They certainly didn't have unicorns as it would be quite strange for a book about talking warrior animals to also have magical fantasy creatures too. So he moved on to the next set and immediately slapped himself on the forehead.

Sitting in front of him was The Lord of the Rings. He still hadn't completely read through Return of the King, but he had read The Two Towers three times, so the name of Gandalf's horse, Shadowfax immediately popped into his mind. Of course, that is what his sister and Hermione envisioned his choice would be. Of course, the name for the Lord of all Horses would be a fitting name for a unicorn. However, it didn't feel completely right. He wasn't sure if the feeling was because he didn't want to admit Lyra had been right or if there was some other reason. Thinking back, Talos the centaur had said that Unicorns were lords of all horses and that they kept shadows from falling on the land, so Shadowfax should be a good name. However, something still bugged him about the name.

He read through the passages of the book that mentioned great horses trying to figure out why he didn't like the name that his sister and friend seemed to think was fitting and that he would choose it outright, though the reason refused to surface. Knowing he would need to try something else, he left the room and headed back to the Scamander common room.

He found Lyra leading a group of first-year students through some climbing exercises in the trees. Whispers and Silvy seemed to be climbing with them but their skills were too innate, animalistic, and effortless to be of any use for the other children to model themselves after. Not wanting to interrupt what they were doing, he went to get a mango to eat and found Colin by the tree already eating one, looking a little disturbed.

Harry pulled his wand and swished it toward the tree with a whisper of, Diffindoo!" The small arc of red light severed the stem of the mango and it dropped into his hand.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"My brother got pulled out of school," he told Harry. "Some kid was bullying him, took some of his stuff, and got him into a fight."

"He didn't fight back?" Harry asked in a confused voice.

"He did," Colin replied grimly. "Punched the boy right in the face. Though somehow it blinded him. The doctors can't figure out how or why. Now the bully's parents want the police involved."

Harry thought about it, "It's probably magic. Muggles won't know how to fix that."

"You're right!" Colin brightened. "I'll go see if the Scamanders can talk to someone. My parents don't have an owl or anything."

Just as Colin began to run off, Harry stopped him.

"Just remember. Your brother shouldn't be punished for using magic or defending himself. Make sure your parents know that."

Colin took a moment to see how serious Harry was before taking a big gulp and nodding. Then he took off.

When he looked back at the trees, Lyra was swinging through the branches with Whispers as the first-year students lay on the ground, exhausted from all the work. She waved to him and he mouthed the word "Shadowfax" to her.

She grinned and leaped from the branches, rolling as she hit the ground to absorb the impact, then came over.

"See! I was right!" she declared.

"It was obvious when I got to Hermione's shelf. Though it still doesn't seem right."

She started him down indignantly for several seconds before taking a breath, "Well at least you aren't changing it because of me."

"Well, I think I'm on the right track at least. What would my wise sister suggest I do next?"

As she thought, Harry carved a slice of his mango with a cutting spell and tossed it to her. She ate it quickly and put on a serious, thinking face to come up with an answer.

After two more slices of mango, she replied, "All of the Hidden we named took time and they either chose it from things we taught them or it was based on something they did. What do you know about your unicorn?"

Harry was a bit stunned, "Nothing really. I'll try to go out tonight and spend time with them."

"Do you want me to come?" she asked.

After a moment, Harry shook his head no.

"No one else either," he replied. "I don't want to be responsible for anyone who can't defend themselves."

Lyra walked away, "Be back before dawn."

There was no "or else" needed. She was more concerned with his lack of sleep than anything else.

After sunset, Harry prepared himself. There was a little bit of light rain, so he dressed warmly. He carried his wand on his right wrist and a knife on the left. In his pouch, he brought food, water, his staff, spear, and broom. As an extra precaution, he pulled his father's invisibility cloak out as it could let him sneak by anything that could detect his invisibility, like the gargoyle in the dungeon.

As the common room was right next to the exit to the castle, it was moments before he was out on the grounds. Little bits of mist came through the hood of the cloak and kissed his face. It was refreshing to be outside at night in this kind of weather. When he was halfway to the forest, he dropped the hood on the cloak and let the water hit his hair.

Running his fingers through the damp locks, the hair still refused to lie flat. Smirking to himself, he jogged the rest of the way to the forest, then stashed the invisibility cloak into his bag and let his eyes adjust.

Seeing in the dark always felt like his eyes were breathing in light. As he drew in more light to see, Harry took an involuntary deep breath and looked at his surroundings. He was just inside the treeline, so there was nothing unusual. He pulled his staff from his bag and walked on the path toward the clearing where he would normally meet the unicorns.

Moving silently, he walked past a ring of mushrooms, three pixies dozing in the middle of it. From the studies in herbology, he knew that these mushrooms were Belltops and would make a ringing noise when predators were near. The pixies used them as an alarm system to keep them safe. Harry didn't intend any harm, so the magical fungi stayed silent.

As he got closer to the clearing, he noticed other small bits of life. A bowtruckle scurried across a tree here and a fairy sparkled briefly in the darkness there. Even though he didn't feel the presence of anything watching him, Harry kept a tight grip on his staff and his other hand free to draw a knife or wand depending on what might come by.

Harry scrunched up his face when he arrived at the clearing. It was empty. Thinking back, it was always empty when he arrived on the previous trips. The thestrals and the forest troll had come from the area of the forest further to the north, while the unicorns came from deeper to the west. He was pretty sure the acromantula next lay to the north and east of where he was now. Making up his mind, he set off back into the thick trees to the west.

The ground was soft, so most tracks had been lost to the rain, though after another twenty minutes, he spotted hoof prints that had yet to be washed away. He couldn't tell if they were from a unicorn or a young centaur. Thinking back though, Harry realized he had never seen a young centaur. All were adults that he had met, so it was more likely this was a unicorn.

After another half hour in the dark forest, he saw a flicker of fire between the trees and approached with caution. As the light grew, he saw a campfire with numerous centaurs lying around it. He recognized many from their presence at the feedings, but there were many others as well. None that could be called old or young were present, all of them simply looked the same age. Further from his position were unicorns, together under several small shelters made of lumber lashed together with rope. He didn't know that they both equines lived together.

So far, they had not yet noticed him. Not wanting to startle the large beings armed with large weapons, he picked up a stick and broke it in half, coughing at the same time. Quick as lightning, he had half a dozen bows aimed at him and several other weapons pointed in his direction as they galloped closer. Agestra and Talos were not among them.

None of them spoke as Harry stood still, hands raised with the broken stick held in both. After nearly a minute of silence, Harry spoke up.

"I was hoping to see the unicorns. I am having trouble coming up with a name."

Slowly the weapons went down. A male centaur with a solid brown coat and a bow nearest to him gestured for him to advance.

"We did not foresee your coming. It is hard to see the darkness among the stars," he told Harry.

Harry shrugged and replied, "I've never looked to the sky to see the darkness, were you only looking to see the stars?"

There was a series of murmurs from the others as if he had just given them the wisdom of a sage.

"This is true, we did not search for darkness," the first one spoke while twisting the hair of the short beard on his chin. "Though darkness is not something any should seek out."

Harry had no idea how to reply to that, so he just asked to see the unicorns and was led to where they lay together. They stood up at his approach and started sniffing at him, eager for food and attention.

As he fed them bits from his pouch, he asked, "Do you know all their names?"

None of the others replied, so Harry asked, "Where are Agestra and Talos?"

Another of the herd replied, "They left shortly before your arrival to drive off Castor and Pollux. They were not welcome tonight."

Harry had no idea what to make of the answer, so he responded, "But they will be back?"

The centaurs didn't respond one way or another, so he just went back to feeding the unicorns. He paid special attention to the youngest who now only had golden color in his tail hairs, with pure white able to be seen at the roots. As he stroked the mane of the unicorn, he tried to ask questions about choices for a name to see if he could elicit a response.

All of his questions came back empty, which wasn't surprising as he was talking to a horse. Though Harry hoped and thought it would at least perk up when hearing something interesting. It was a magic horse after all. Maybe he had just spent too much time around the Hidden who could understand and communicate with him.

When all his food was gone, he decided to see if the centaurs would be able to help. For the most part, they ignored him. Two of them did speak, but they were cryptic and seemed to complain about the two that had been spoken of before, Castor and Pollux.

Harry stopped speaking to them and just observed what they were doing. None of them slept, they seemed to alternate between staring at the stars, caring for the fire, maintaining their weapons, and drawing strange symbols into the earth and then erasing them. Some of it reminded him of when he first met the Hidden, but he would need a lot more time to figure out the significance of their actions.

It felt like he had been there for over an hour before the sound of hooves alerted him to the return of other centaurs. Agestra and Talos led a group of three others of their kind who settled into the rest of the herd as the two more talkative approached Harry.

"Are Castor and Pollux gone?" Harry asked in an attempt to gather more information.

Talos responded with a snarl, "They have come only when the moon is full and the moon is empty. For them to visit now was unexpected." He looked toward Agestra, and added, "I never permitted such encroachment."

She made a sweeping move of her head which tossed her golden locks away from her bare chest in an attempt to show the medallion that signified her role as chief.

"They are not here for evil, though they broke their arrangement and will not be permitted to return until the solstice." She turned to look at Harry, "What brings you, Friend Potter, to visit us?"

He gestured to the unicorns, "I can't decide on a name, and he can't tell me if I've picked the right one."

"You have named others before?" she asked him curiously.

Harry nodded, "My family. Whispers and the other Hidden. Some of them picked for themselves, others I gave names to myself. They could tell me if they didn't approve."

"A rightly chosen name is not rejected," Talos said firmly. "You have not experienced this before."

None of the Hidden had rejected their names. How Talos knew this was anyone's guess. So Harry changed tactics.

"Can you tell me other names of the unicorns?" he asked, hoping for inspiration.

One of the female centaurs that had remained silent since he arrived was introduced as Deònaidh, one of the elders, though she looked no different in age than any of the others. She led Harry through the herd, telling names of some along with accolades for others. One had gored six trolls, another had somehow given life to a grove of trees, and quite a few were honored as having given tail hairs to worthy souls for wand crafting. Most had names that Harry recognized as being Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Gaelic, or English. Many did not have names and Agestra explained that they did not always have a new protector that coincided with the birth of a foal.

They eventually came to Hagrid's unicorn, Gaston. Hagrid had come to the aid of the herd when dark wizards tried to kidnap them from the forest. It was surprising to hear that the large man had slain nine wizards that night and wounded several others. Gaston was no bigger than the others, as Harry just assumed that Hagrid's unicorn would also somehow reflect his size.

In the end, he was no closer to his decision and the only name he had was Shadowfax. So he asked Agestra her opinion of the name.

She frowned, "The name has darkness in it."

Harry explained, "It is the name of a horse from a book. He was a lord of horses, could run as fast as the wind, and understood human speech. One with a silver coat that would shine during the day and be invisible at night."

The golden blonde centaur raised an eyebrow and gestured to the unicorns who were so white they nearly glowed. There was no way for them to be invisible or unnoticed even on the darkest night.

"Your thoughts are pure, and you wish for a worthy name. A name will come to you in time. Friend Hagrid spoke his name within moments of receiving this honor. His name was accepted and his unicorn lives on to this day." She laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You do not need to worry."

He bit his lip in thought but was stopped from any new ideas by his unicorn leaning against him and scratching at his staff with their horn. Harry relaxed and reached into his pouch to pull out his broom. The other unicorns saw his action and stood up to join him, hoping for some jousting time.

Returning to the large clearing, Harry mounted his broom as his unicorn took a spot at the far side. Even at that distance, he could have sworn he saw the creature smile before beginning its charge. Harry met it at full speed and the Lampong antler and unicorn horn met with a loud ringing and a shower of white sparks. As more unicorns took their turns, many split off from the group to play the game with each other.

Harry made sure to stop and watch when the unicorn he would name met another in a charge. Despite his smaller stature, the young unicorn was never knocked down. It was a clear loser in just over half of its play fights, yet it never was knocked over as many others were.

The centaurs watched with indecipherable expressions on their faces. However, when he looked at Agestra, she looked sad. While the others stood tall and resolute, as if they were just observing the scurrying of ants, her legs were tensed as if she were getting ready to run. Harry realized quickly that she wanted to join him and the Unicorns in their game.

After his next joust, Harry swung his broom around and flew in a large arc over to her. He deliberately knocked the antler on his staff into the tip of her spear, issuing a challenge. She gave a quick look to the other centaurs, but a few shook their heads. Harry looped back around and landed before her.

"You can take a turn if you want," he told her.

She shook her head. "I have no horn of my own." Something about that statement had a great deal of longing in it. "It would not be right to do."

With that, she galloped away, and into the forest back to where they had been camped before.

The interaction seemed to take all the enthusiasm out of Harry's game, so he said good night to each of the unicorns and then a simple wave to the other centaurs before returning to the castle. Once he was out of the Permissible Forest, he put his father's invisibility cloak back on and snuck back into the castle.