Unicorns Lions and Tigers and... Unicorns? Errand

There is an offer for students to spend time with one magical creature. Students will be experiencing the creatures firsthand and getting to pet, brush, and feed the creatures firsthand. Students will get hands-on experience with magical creatures outside of the classroom... ... or something like this was written in the errand of Professor Blumenthal.

When Sara heard about the errand, she first had to think for a few days about joining it. Because, first of all, there will be REAL magical creatures right in front of her!! She likes animals, sure, but magical creatures??? They seem a liiiitle bit scary, don't they? And Sara is usually no adventurer, so why would she join this errand? Well, she promised herself, after New Year's, on the "Polar Plunge" exactly on the 7th of January that she will get out of her comfort zone this year, among other goals. So she might join the errand. And she may as well learn something new, right?

When she finally decided to go for it, she had to choose which magical being she would devote herself to. There were Unicorns, Augureys and Jackalopes to choose from. Sara thought Augureys were kind of boring because on the errand information, it was written that they are "quite sad and shy", so she didn't think it'll be much fun from seeing them. Maybe it would be a safe choice, but a boring one, at last. Then Jackalopes... For some time she thought it would be nice to go and see them, but then again why would she go and see bunnies with antelope's antlers on their heads? Although they may be sweet and probably not dangerous, they seemed quite boring to Sara, too. so, after some thinking, she made her final choice. Unicorns! She chose them because they seemed the most magnificent. Their pure white manes and bodies, horns atop their heads, and the golden hooves!!! They mesmerized Sara so much! They seemed like they came from fairytales that Sara's mother used to read to her when she was little...

...

So the day has finally come! It's needless to say Sara was excited to see the magnificent Unicorns! She got ready and put on one of her favourite outfits: an orange-brown patterned jumper and her cute orange trousers! And her black boots. She was feeling good in it! She took her wand and some springtime jacket that was hanging on the chair in the dormitories. She got out and she had a lot to see!

The Unicorns were roaming free outside, on the grass. There were two larger ones and one foal next to them. And the little foal was oh-so-golden!

Sara arrived just in time, when professor started to talk. She stood beside the creatures with outstretched arms. She welcomed all the students and explained what they can do while they were enjoying Unicorns' presence.

"...There are buckets of hay for you to feed them; if they aren't hungry, don't make them eat. I have provided some brushes to brush their manes and tails, and you may pet their fur. Watch out for the hind legs, as they can kick if irritated." the professor said.

Sara shook with discomfort when she heard about kicking. Well, we're not going behind these babies then! she thought to herself.

Next, the professor told the students the names of the Unicorns: The tallest name was Twilight. The second tallest Montgomery and the foal's name was Starlet. Scarlet was just too cute!
After that short speech, students were free to interact with the beautiful creatures Unicorns were.

And now when she saw them up close, Sara thought Unicorns are even better than she could ever imagine! They really had stunning white fur and white hair with startling gold hooves. They were these elegant-looking creatures with sharp and pointy horns. Sara was in awe. They might hurt her, but hopefully, as soon as she was nice to them, they'll be nice to her, too. With that thouht in mind, she decided to touch them.

"There we go..." she said and approached the second tallest one, Montgomery. She was standing in front of the animal. "Hey there, buddy..." she held out her shaky hand towards animal's head. Montgomery was breathing loudly through his nose and that kinda freaked Sara out. Come on, he's just breathing, he's not gonna eat you! she thought to herself to encourage herself. "Okay, here we go..." she put her head on the creature's head and tried to pet it. Montgomery was a bit hesitant and moved his head away. Sara had to think of another way to get his attention and affection. She remembered that the professor said that they can feed them hay. "Maybe you're just hungry, Montgomery, huh?" She took a little bit of hay from the bucket and tried to give it to the animal. "There you go!" she said nicely to the horse. He was probably hungry because he ate the hay from Sara's hand and let himself be petted. "Hehe, there you go, buddy... At last we're gonna be friends!" she said and continued to pet the beautiful and wonderful Unicorn. "Okay buddy, now I'm gonna see the little one, byee!" she said as she petted Montgomery for the last time.

Sara then walked to the little Unicorn named Starlet. She was so much smaller than the other two and didn't have a horn, just a hint there will be one when she will be older. She was pure gold in colour. She was just so adorable that Sara had to pet her too!

"Hey there, you little star" she said in a gentle voice. Sara stretched her hand, which was not shaking anymore and petted the little Unicorn. "Yeahh, there you go" Sara smiled tenderly as she was petting Starlet. "You're a sweet little Unicorn, aren't you?" she petted her a little more and enjoyed her presence.

After that, Sara decided she wanted to sit on the grass and enjoy just watching the Unicorns and admire their beauty...

It was such a great day for coming out of the shell for Sara!

word count: 1018 | OUTFIT | color_code: #1360bd

Feburary 12th, 2023

It was a little past the start of breakfast when Finley passed the bulletin board on the way to the great hall. She stopped, noticing a new paper and merely reading the title made her quite excited. The chance to meet unicorns was not something she had expected to get while at a magical school, but it was not something that she would pass up. She had grown up around animals and had always found interacting with them to be a pleasant way to spend her time. So it was decided, she would go see the unicorns that afternoon.

Being on time was not one of her strong suits. Finley had a tendency to get lost in a book or really anything that she found to be even remotely interesting. There had been many occasions where her parents had found her up at concerning hours of the night playing a new video game or studying a book. It shouldn't have been a surprise to her that she had been working on her assignments for longer than she had intended but looking up to find that the time was only five minutes away from noon still shocked her. As quickly as she was able to, she cleaned up her schoolwork and took off towards the Care of Magical Creatures classroom.

Finley made it in what she would consider to be record time; specifically being proud of her navigation. Having never been out to the classroom hadn't helped her, not that she was expected to know where she was going. Even still, she reached to area in enough time to catch the tail end of the professor explaining what they were to be doing. A grabbed bucket later and she was cautiously approaching the unicorns. The largest of the three, Twilight as she had been called, caught her attention and Finley placed the bucket down in front of her. A smile crossed her face as the animal leaned down to eat; this had to be the coolest thing that she would ever do in her life.

A few minutes passed with Twilight eating before Finley gained the courage to approach the foal and attempt to pet it. She offered Starlet the back of her hand and kept her gaze low to the ground to avoid causing the foal stress. Twilight raised her head, curious at what was happening with the foal but quickly relaxed and went back to eating. Feeling a little better at not being seen as a threat to the unicorn, Finley gently rubbed three fingers over the foal's head. The foal seemed to enjoy it and tried to solicit more pets by turning to offer her neck. She carefully ran her hand down Starlet's neck, enjoying the fluffiness of the coat. The golden color shone and sparkled in the bright noon sun. All of the unicorns were beautiful, though if she was asked her favorite Finley would have said Starlet.

Not wanting to leave Montgomery out, Finley approached him. He too was gorgeous; his bright white coat practically shimmering. After a few pets, she took to brushing out his mane and tail. Like the horses she had worked with at home, the tangles in his mane and tail took a while to brush out, but it was an activity she quite enjoyed. Finley offered him some hay once she was done which he happily took. A little petting later, and one o'clock rolled around forcing her to reluctantly leave the unicorns. After returning the buckets and brush to where she had found them at the beginning Finley headed back up to her dorm to return to her homework that now seemed quite boring. She couldn't wait until she was in third year and would be able to take Care of Magical Creatures.