Convincing the unicorns wasn't terribly hard. Still, Alex had a churn in her stomach from the idea of using them.
The first class who had Care of magical creatures was the fourth year Gryffindor-Slytherin mix. Alex was dreading it the most. She came out of the forest, sitting atop Mars, with Freya and Milo at her sides. Too late, she realised what sort of entrance she'd be making. The class was stunned into silence as she sat riding a unicorn with two other horses on either side of her.
"Weasley?" Draco was the first to talk. Deciding to just ignore the tension and act like there was nothing weird with what she was doing, she smiled.
"Hi, Draco. Meet Freya, Milo and Mars." She said, coming to a stop and got off the unicorn. She saw Hermione's smirk. She wasn't standing near the boys. Alex walked over to her, and let Professor Grubbly Plank take over the class.
"No Kichiro?"
"No way. He's staying far away." She said.
"There's a lot more than three unicorns in the herd. There's around twenty, right?"
"Venus stayed with Kichiro. Scar won't leave Mari behind and we're not bringing Mari out here. And the others don't really have that attachment with me."
"I actually think you believe that." Hermione said.
"Shh." Alex said in reply and Hermione grinned, listening to Grubbly Plank tell only the girls to step forward. Alex and Hermione walked forward first and all the girls began crowding the unicorns. Mars skittered nervously and Alex stepped in. "One at a time, you're freaking them out!" The girls took a step back and Alex settled them down. "Pansy." She chose and the Slytherin stepped forward. Alex guided her to Freya, but kept a distance between the girl and the horse. "This is Freya. Let her approach you." Soon enough Freya took a step towards Pansy and they were acquainted. "Hermione, you got Mars?"
"Yeah." Hermione stepped forward and approached him delicately. He knew her already so there was no need for her to wait to let him get comfortable. Still, she was careful.
"Tracey." Alex called and the Slytherin stepped forward. "Okay, Milo's a bit of a prankster so if he snorts at you, he's just trying to scare you off. Show him you can take a joke."
"How can you tell them apart?" A question came from the crowd. "They look exactly the same."
"Not exactly. But there's a lot of ways in which I know who's who. Demeanours, body language, the eyes. Mars is a very wary unicorn. He's very much the strong protector type, looks after the family and sometimes the rest of the herd. It's not always easy to get close to him. Freya is soft and kind. She's the oldest, I think. She's the grandmother of Mars's son. Milo is playful and easily excitable. He's usually running around the meadow." She moved back to Pansy and called to a Gryffindor. "Alright, Fay, switch with Pansy. Be careful and let her approach you."
Grubbly Plank decided that all students taking Care should get to have first hand experience with the unicorns, all the way up to seventh years. So Alex was excused for almost all of her classes that week. She switched it up sometimes, bringing Venus along instead of Mars sometimes.
Mari's labour happened the end of that week. After Alex's last care class, which happened to also be the last class of her day, she walked the unicorns back to their home.
She was more prepared this time. She'd practiced transfiguring what she might need, looked up the process of a horse foaling, brought blankets so she wouldn't have to rely on the heating charms. She was determined Mari and her foal be fine. Really there wasn't much Alex could or should do. She was strictly there for observation and making sure to step in in case anything went wrong.
The first stage of labour took an hour. Alex watched from a distance as Mari moved around in clear discomfort. Any time Alex stood to comfort her, Mari got a little nervous so Alex gave her space. After her water broke, Alex kept a closer eye. It took twenty minutes for the foal to be born, and another ten minutes for the foal to attempt to stand. Nothing seemed to go wrong but Alex didn't dare leave the clearing. She stayed next to Kichiro, softly petting him as the foal stood and found his mother and begun nursing.
Cedric eventually came out with two plates of dinner.
"She give birth?" He asked and Alex nodded. He handed her a plate and she began eating.
"Thanks."
"So, do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?"
"I don't want to interrupt their bonding. I'll check a little later." She said. "Right now, they need to be together."
"Everything okay though?" Alex nodded.
"So far so good. I put runes around them earlier so I'll be alerted if she's in distress."
"You're going to have unicorns on your farm, aren't you?" She cracked a smile.
"Our farm, remember?"
"Our farm, of course."
"And there'll be dragons too."
"Goes without saying." He agreed.
"And any magical creatures that might need help or shelter."
"I suspected."
"Any animals you want?"
"I don't have any preferences."
"Okay, but I'm going to try get Taylor the crocodile with us." Cedric laughed.
"I look forward to meeting Taylor one day." He tried to keep his face straight.
"We're just going to have to wait for Taylor to be comfortable enough to surface."
أنت تقرأ
Alexandra Weasley: Book 4
قصص الهواةAlex was beginning to realise that she was never going to have just a normal year at Hogwarts. With the line between friend and foe beginning to blur, it's becoming harder to know who she can trust and who she can't. Will she figure it out?
