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

[chanuphis]

"It's mine," says Miranda. "I'll show you whatever you want to see but it's my wand, not a 'concern'."

[marrinikari]

"Given recent events, I should like to verify that it is not dangerous," McGonagall says mildly, if sternly. "You have proven yourself capable of feats with that wand that should be well beyond a first year. If the wand is in some way unstable, or powered by Dark Magic... these things are best discovered early." She softens slightly. "If it proves to simply be an unusual wand, that is a very different matter, of course."

[chanuphis]

"If you are even considering that you might take my wand away I would like my mum to be involved in the conversation." Since listening to Miranda herself is probably out of the question. "Casting a Patronus at all is supposed to be too advanced for a first year and I can do it with my normal wand too, it just gets me a smaller one."

[marrinikari]

"I have no intention of taking your wand away unless I can prove it is a danger to yourself or others. Is that acceptable?"

[chanuphis]

"Prove it to who?"

[marrinikari]

McGonagall adjusts her glasses with a sigh. "If we disagree you are welcome to involve your mother. But as you have said, it's your wand, Miss Swan. You will need to be present and involved at least sometimes. I will not be... be..." she is somewhat at a loss for words here, "absconding with your wand to perform Nameless Tests without your input."

[chanuphis]

"Okay. Well, what Professor Flitwick saw was a feather going up really fast and sticking into the ceiling when I tried the Levitation Charm on it. When I try other things it does what I'm trying to do, just really - thoroughly. My Patronus in particular is about three times as tall when I cast it with the chimaera wand - the pawnshop person said it had chimaera hair in - than how tall it is when I cast with my other one."

[marrinikari]

"Well then. I shall ask Professor Reed to set up a time with you for tests." She reaches for one of the papers littering her desk. "Is that all?"

[chanuphis]

"Unless you want to see the Patronus or something, yes, Professor."

[marrinikari]

"I will not object if you'd like to show me, Swan, but it can certainly wait for the Auror."

[chanuphis]

If Professor McGonagall isn't in a hurry Miranda isn't either. She shrugs and gets up.

[parental_guidance]

Once Emma was far enough from the Headmistress' office that she didn't get the You Must Be In Trouble vibe, she parked herself in an empty corner of the hallway to await Miranda. She doesn't want to just- leave her friend behind, after all. She's slightly concerned when Miranda takes a while to appear, but it hasn't been that long. Probably everything's okay. Right?

She looks over at Karen, who's waiting with her. "Um. She's not in trouble or anything, right...? Wasn't she behind us?"

[pleating]

"Maybe the Professor wants to see the spell," suggests Karen.

[parental_guidance]

"I guess..." This is reasonable enough to keep Emma in place, though she does twitch occasionally. Miranda's not in trouble, right, what if she got in trouble for saving Emma, that would not be okay. "She should be along soon then..."

[chanuphis]

And presently, here she is, wands crossed in her hair. "Were you waiting for me?"

[parental_guidance]

"Yeah... you weren't in trouble or anything, right?" Emma asks anxiously. "We didn't know what happened."

[chanuphis]

"I'm not in trouble. She wanted to talk about my wand. I'm going to do some tests with Professor Reed sometime," says Miranda.

[parental_guidance]

"More Patronus tests?"

[chanuphis]

"Tests on the wand in general, I think. For a bit I was scared she wanted to take it away, but it seems like she's not going to do it unless it's really bad and she can convince my mum, and my mum listens to me."

[parental_guidance]

"Really bad like how?"

[chanuphis]

"Like the explanation for it is 'Dark magic' and not 'chimaera hair', I guess."

[parental_guidance]

Emma blinks. "That didn't even occur to me. I guess it's good that they're checking...? It's, um, we don't actually know it's chimaera hair really."

[chanuphis]

"I don't think a really Dark wand could do a Patronus at all, let alone a special Dementor-busting one," opines Miranda. "Anyway, let's get dinner and tell Alli and then go see if they'll let us visit Jenny."

[parental_guidance]

"Ooh, yeah, we can tell her now," Emma agrees, brightening. To dinner it is.

[witch_please]

Alli is awaiting them at the entrance, not particularly patiently. "What. What. You've all been missing all day, and Jenny's in the infirmary, and I had to be told by an older Slytherin who thought I did it and it's all part of my," air quotes, "'evil plan for hanging out with you guys.' And... and..." she throws her hands in the air in angry exasperation. "What is going onnnnn?"