hunting unicorns

[metamorphmaga]

As spring approaches and the snow begins to melt, Jenny and Emma take to spending their free afternoons outside, practicing flying or doing homework on the lawn or just generally enjoying the sunshine. Their spot of choice is not, as such things go, all that far from the forest, and for Jenny it becomes something of a game: see if you can spot a unicorn. She never does, but she never gives up hope. Someday.

After about a month of this, Emma decides to leave the lawn early- she's finished her letter to her parents, and wants to drop it at the Owlery- so Jenny is left to her own devices. Bored, she examines the forest. It's only supposed to be unsafe at night, right? It won't hurt to go wander around a little in search of unicorns. She won't go very far.

And if she's lucky- unicorns.

---

Half an hour later, Jenny is deeply regretting her idea. She is completely lost, and the forest has gotten much darker and gloomier. She would go back, if she had any idea where to go. She's taken to making little piles of rocks, to attempt to mark her way; unfortunately, so far all this has told her is that she is definitely going in a circle.

The next time she re-encounters a pile, she branches out to the left instead. She's pretty sure she came from that direction, so maybe-




Cold.

Jenny is friends with Miranda. Miranda has been compulsively researching Dementors all year; she knows what it means, this cold, the screaming terror. But it's so much worse than anything ever, ever said it would be. She's frozen to the spot, unable to move, brain screaming in terror.

And then the Dementor appears. Slowly but visibly, it approaches her. Is it bigger than the books said they should be? She thinks it is. It's already looming and it's not even close.

Frantically, crazy with fear, Jenny does the only thing she can think of- she shifts away her mouth.

The Dementor stops, seeming to hover in place. Jenny stays frozen in place. The Dementor doesn't seem to be planning to Kiss her... but it's not moving, either, and she's still stuck.

Oh, God. Now what?

Comments

[parental_guidance]

"Thanks, you too."

The next morning, Emma arrive in the dining hall somewhat impatient and upset. She tried to stop by the infirmary first thing, but Madam Pomfrey was most insistent that Jenny needed her rest, so, it can wait. She heads for the Ravenclaw table in search of Miranda and Karen instead.

[pleating]

Here are them!

[parental_guidance]

"Hey. No news on Jenny, Pomfrey wouldn't let me in," she sighs. "Any luck with the testing?"

[chanuphis]

"I can do a person Patronus with either wand but it's only huge with the chimaera wand, and Karen can't do a Patronus at all," says Miranda.

[parental_guidance]

"Huh. I wonder what it being huge means then?" She grins. "Other than making sure we can't forget it's there. It's practically a giant beacon!"

[pleating]

"The regular size one is pretty shiny, too," says Karen. "I'm going to keep trying doing it, but if Miranda's wand is special I don't think I'm gonna be able to see if it's special for me too until I can do one with my regular wand."

[parental_guidance]

"I haven't managed one either but I've only tried a couple of times. I can try again, I guess." She swallows. "I don't know if this whole thing will- help, or hurt, though."

[chanuphis]

"If what whole thing will help or hurt what?"

[parental_guidance]

"The, the, meeting an actual real life Dementor. Cause I mean- now I really want a Patronus, but wanting one because I'm scared isn't likely to help."

[chanuphis]

"I was scared when I cast mine," says Miranda encouragingly.

[parental_guidance]

That gets a tentative smile. "I'll try, I will."

[chanuphis]

"I had tried it before I saw the Dementor and I didn't get anything. I think it might have been important for me to see it. But I don't think that can be usual because plenty of people learn to cast them without having Dementors around, if you needed Dementors to learn to cast Patronuses it would be less common I think."

[parental_guidance]

Shudder shudder shudder. "I just bet not," she says fervently. "Besides, they all used to be at Azkaban anyway." This slightly wistfully. At least when they were at Azkaban, you knew where they were.

[chanuphis]

"Well, if there was some kind of Patronus workshop where you'd go sit near Azkaban and cast Patronuses at it - but I'm pretty sure there wasn't, so my thing has to be out of the ordinary somehow."

[parental_guidance]

Emma giggles. "Ummmmmm. Yesssssss?"

[pleating]

"Unusual in more ways besides you destroyed an entire giant Dementor," says Karen.

It seems like it might take her a while to be over that.

[parental_guidance]

"Which by the way I am so extremely very thankful for. Sooo, um. Thanks again. For the life...saving... thing? That." She has yet to come up with an acceptable form of thank you (she would ask her parents for advice, but- she can't tell them, she's not allowed, ugh), but she's working on it. All things considered, she would like it to be rather impressive. Life saved, and all that.

[chanuphis]

"You're welcome, but you don't have to be, like - that especially grateful? I was in danger too."

[parental_guidance]

"Wellllll, yes. But we were all in danger, you were still the one who actually saved us? I mean, I don't think Harry Potter is any less of a hero for killing You Know Who just because he was also in danger..."

[chanuphis]

"Okay, but don't put yourself out about it? You can be impressed when I've got them all."

[parental_guidance]

"I guess," Emma says with a faint smile, "but I might just be grateful anyway. So um. So there!...or something."

[pleating]

Karen giggles.

"And I'm impressed already! Take that!"

[chanuphis]

"All right, all right."

[parental_guidance]

"...I kinda want to tell the Prophet to call you the Protector of Hogwarts now, but I bet that's already actually something's name," Emma sighs.

[chanuphis]

"If it is I can't think of it off the top of my head," muses Miranda.