Whether Hagrid was trying to make up for the Blast-Ended Skrewts, or because there were now only two Skrewts left, or because he was trying to prove he could do anything that Professor Grubbly-Plank could, Aurora didn't know, but he had been continuing her lessons on unicorns ever since he'd returned to work. It turned out that Hagrid knew quite as much about unicorns as he did about monsters, though it was clear that he found their lack of poisonous fangs disappointing.
Today he had managed to capture two unicorn foals. Unlike full-grown unicorns, they were pure gold.
"Easier ter spot than the adults." Hagrid told the class. "They turn silver when they're abou' two years old, an' they grow horns at aroun' four. Don' go pure white 'til they're full-grown, round about seven. They're a bit more trusting when they're babies....don' mind boys so much...c'mon, move in a bit, yeh can pat 'em if yeh want...give 'em a few o' these sugar lumps...."
Nova Highland and Pansy Parkinson squealed at the sight of the tiny unicorns. They pushed Elizabeth and Aurora aside, and into the mud just so they could have the unicorns all to themselves. Elizabeth looked around to see if Hagrid was busy, he was talking to Harry, and proceeded to tackle Nova onto the ground. She moved on top of a now screaming Nova, with a handful of dirt in her hand...and before anyone realised what she was doing, she had thrown the mud down Nova's throat.
Aurora and Victoria were laughing, Pansy was screaming, Nova choking, Parvati and Lavender giggling and Hermione was telling a grinning Elizabeth of. Dean, Seamus and Ron just high-fived her and even Neville couldn't hide a smile.
~~~~
It was the evening before the second task. Aurora was not surprised when Hermione told her Harry had not yet figured out a way to breath underwater, and was now beginning to panic.
So she put her pride and anger aside and spent the entire evening in the library with Harry, Hermione and Ron, tearing feverishly through page after page of spells.
"I don't reckon it can be done." Said Ron's voice flatly from the other side of the table. "There's nothing, Nothing. Closest was that thing to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the lake."
"There must be something." Hermione muttered, moving a candle closer to her. Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Old and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms with her nose about an inch from the page. "They'd never have set a task that was undoable."
"They have." said Ron. "Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow, right, stick your head in, yell at the merpeople to give back whatever they've nicked and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do, mate."
"There's a way of doing it!" Hermione said crossly. "There just has to be!"
"Oh, this is no use." Aurora said, snapping Weird Wizarding Dilemmas shut. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"
"I wouldn't mind." Said Fred Weasley's voice. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"
Aurora looked up. Fred, George and Jace had just emerged from behind some bookshelves.
"What're you doing here?" Aurora groaned as Jace sat down and immediately threw an arm around her, squishing her to him.
"Looking for you." He said, popping some sort of sweet in his mouth. "McGonagall wants you, Ari. And Ron and Hermione too."
"Why?" Asked Hermione, looking surprised.
"Dunno...she was looking a bit grim, though." Said George.
YOU ARE READING
The competing champions
FanfictionPower was shifting. Magic soared through the air. Anger turned into a storm. It was coming. When asked about their fourth year, a few decades later, Elizabeth described it as the year where she found out how great falling in love with the player fe...
