ALOHOMORA | CEDRIC DIGGORY

22〝twenty-two〞

IN A MAGISTERIAL TROT, THEY entered the paddock—a whole blessing of them. Ellis' face split into a grin.

"Unicorns," announced Professor Kettleburn, though quite unnecessarily.

These beautiful creatures could be recognized from a mile, and even by Muggles.

Following their leader, they stopped at the opposite corner from Blake the thestral, who had polished off most of his lunch and was now retreating into the forest, and considerably far away from the abraxans and granians. Ellis counted seven in total: two with gold coats, three slightly bigger with silver, and the two largest ones had fur as white as teeth in toothpaste commercials. Only these two, and one of the silver ones, bore the iconic horns on their heads, albeit the silver's short and neither as shiny nor as honed.

"I was saving this for the spring so you're getting a sneak peek, Mr. Diggory. But stay back now," Kettleburn insisted, "they prefer a witch's touch, especially the adults."

Ellis was given a sack and allowed to go forth. She strewn its contents—carrots, white radishes, and celery stalks—on the snow-covered grass that now looked a dirty grey in the unicorns' presence. As she backed away, the alpha unicorn approached, sniffing at the line of vegetables. When it began to nibble them off, the rest followed suit.

"Generally, they get enough by grazing," said Kettleburn. "All of them"—he indicated the winged horses too—"do actually, but occasionally they need other nourishment or snacks to keep up their spirits. But these two"—he gestured to the white unicorn who had drawn up the rear in their entrance earlier, and the horned silver one by its side, both of whom Ellis had just observed were not eating like the others—"are currently a little under the weather, so they need some extra care.

"I'd get Poppy or one of the female teachers to help me—Merlin knows Pomona can handle animals as well as she does plants, and Minerva, aye, she's not just good at turning them into teapots!—but since you're here, I thought I'll let you have a go," he told Ellis.

"What should I do, sir?" she asked.

"Acidity of fruits help to stimulate the appetites of unicorns who are ill," Kettleburn began to expound, "but as they can only ingest moderate amounts, grapes are ideal to control appropriate intake. Adults can have more, usually a bunch; for the young, it's limited to around ten to fifteen berries, and they get red ones; those are less sour. After which, they should be given something preferably sweet and nutritious to restore their energy. In this case, we have sliced cantaloupe for the kid, and watermelon (softer, and easier on the older jaw) for Mummy."

Soon enough, the indisposed white unicorn (who was called Allister, would be fifteen on New Year's, and mother to all silver foals) was serenely tonguing green grapes off Ellis' palm.

"Oho! You're a natural, lassie!" exclaimed Kettleburn and Ellis beamed. "Allie's never taken so quickly to strangers before; she must really like you..."

"Well, I really like you too," Ellis whispered in Allister's ear, stroking her smooth mane.

"Mr. Diggory, you can help me with Elliot over here."

Ellis' hand dropped abruptly from Allister's mouth. The latter gave a loud snort and pawed reprovingly at the ground, trampling the remaining of the fallen bunch.

"All right there, lassie?"

Conjuring—with much difficulty—a smile, Ellis nodded, for she didn't trust herself to speak at the moment. Kettleburn didn't see through her lie and handed her a fresh vine of grapes. On the contrary, Cedric seemed to have scented something awry. His brows furrowed the same way they had earlier when he thought she was hallucinating, and his eyes looked to be asking if she was okay. But both features faded as he listened to Kettleburn's instructions on how to handle the young unicorn.

Although Ellis continued feeding Allister, she did so rather distractedly—she kept casting glances at the silver foal Cedric was tending to.

"I thought they're supposed to be really hard to catch," said Cedric admiringly. "How did you get them?"

"Aye," sighed Kettleburn. "This family used to live in the Forbidden Forest. But there was an accident last year—one of them was killed..."

As she stared raptly at the horned foal, who sometimes stared back and gave her the bittersweet feeling of reuniting with a long lost friend, Ellis began losing track of the professor's words. There was something about a mother of the gold twins and magic rain containing Sleeping Draught...

"How old is he?" she piped up, tilting her chin at the horned foal as though that was more convenient than saying its name.

"Elliot's four and a half," replied Kettleburn, and it was enough to send Ellis into another bout of trance.

She was remembering, with too much clarity, what she had done four and a half years ago... She struggled not to think about that, but instead gazed fixedly at the horned foal... The more she did, the stronger her sense of reunion became... Was she imagining it?

"...but note that their hooves stay gold all the way to adulthood," she heard Kettleburn say at one point.

When they had finished feeding the sick unicorns, Ellis still didn't know how she did it—given the emotional wreck she was.

Finally, Kettleburn noticed.

"Aye, no wonder you lot look peaky," he said, a watch face clasped in his claw hand. "Better hurry to the Great Hall if you still want lunch."

Reassuring them that he and Hagrid were quite capable to clean up on their own, that he was thankful for their service, and that they were welcome to visit again anytime they fancied, Kettleburn shooed them from the premises.

The Slytherin didn't need telling twice—she climbed the ladder up the case with such urgency as though her life depended on it. Once outside, she was off like an arrow from a bow, but not nearly because she was hungry (it was impossible for her to feel that right now).

Cedric called after her several times since he had clambered out of the case but she ignored him. If anything, she sprinted still faster. But he was taller, had longer legs, and if only there was more than one corridor she could have chosen from she might have been able to give him a slip. Alas, there wasn't, and he was quickly hot on her heels.

In a flash he had overtaken her, blocking her path. Ellis wheeled around, ready to head at full tilt in the other direction regardless of where it went, but Cedric seized her wrist. It was a firm, yet gentle sort of grip. She tried to wrestle herself free but her attempt was feeble. She was feeling suddenly spent; it seemed like a miracle she hadn't collapsed on the spot. Cedric pounced at his window of opportunity.

"Look, I know you're upset," he said. "If it's something I did or something I said, I'm sorry. I didn't..."

If she could round on him without giving herself away she would have done so already.

How in the name of Merlin's pants could he think everything was about him? Could anyone be anymore arrogant?

But tears were streaking down her cheeks hot and fast, and it was taking every single one of her cells not to make a sound. With a spur of unknown daring, Ellis made renewed efforts to disentangle herself, but failed yet again. In one last desperate stab she whimpered, "Let me go..." but her plea was likely drowned out by the drawl of a cold, monotonous voice.

Professor Snape came towering over them.

"What is going on?" he demanded.

It was the truth that both of them were equally alarmed by his arrival. They froze mid-scuffle a few feet from the Great Hall.

Glancing from where Cedric was holding Ellis to her damp, gleaming face, Snape glared murderously at the Hufflepuff—he relinquished at once. Without another look at Snape, who was silently imploring her to speak up against her wrongdoer, Ellis blundered past him, the Entrance Hall all but a blur as she fled from the scene.

AN: Anyone read The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? I'm starting a Coriolanus Snow story soon! 😻