I slowly woke up and sat on the side of my bed. Sebastian and I had stayed up extremely late last night after dinner. We just talked about our plans, memories from school, whatever popped into our heads. He told me about stories from before I came to Hogwarts and I told him stories from my muggle school. I got up and changed from my nightgown into my work pants and shirt. I walked over to the table and grabbed my gloves and headed out the door. The sun was just starting to make it's first appearance of the morning. I started to scoop the puffskein's and niffler's breakfast for the morning when I heard some rustling from my garden. I looked around the corner and.
"Oh, Sebastian! Good morning."
"Hello, good morning."
"What are you doing?"
"Just cutting a pumpkin off the vine for the diricawl's. I'm gonna make those birds like me."
"You brought them a pumpkin the other day, trust me, they already like you."
"Fine. I'm just going to work on being more confident when giving them their breakfast."
"Alright, well good luck. I'm going to start feeding the others. Oh if the delivery man from Brood and Peck shows up, the payment is on the little table just inside my house. You'll have to sign for it and pay him."
"It's already been two weeks since he's been here?"
"Yes. We are pretty okay on feed, but the ferrets are getting low and if the hippogriffs don't get at least one a day they will start getting snippy with us."
"Alright, well I will keep a look out for him."
"I also have some supplies for him to take to Olivanders, so come find me."
"I can do that as well." I nodded and walked off with the pales of feed.
"Good morning nifflers. You know mama, I think your children will be ready to be released soon." She came up to me and rubbed her head in my hand. "We both know I can't release you." When I found this niffler she was caught in a trap by her back foot. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do for it and she lost it. I felt sorry for her, but I don't release beasts unless I know for sure they have the best chance for survival out in the wild. I left the pen and fed the puffskeins.
"(Y/n)! Sorry I didn't catch you yesterday morning."
"Oh, good morning Percival. Do you want the supplies now?"
"Yes please, that would be wonderful. I'm taking the day off to restock."
"Alright, let's go over to my house, I have them there." I walked over to my house, but first placed the pales next to the few bags of feed left.
"Good morning Sebastian, How are you today?"
"Good morning Percival. I just fed the diricawls without getting bit for the first time."
"Ah, so a wonderful day it is!" Percival had this deep belly laugh that was so recognizable for his character and made everyone else laugh as well. I grabbed the box for him and handed it to him. He opened it and looked inside, taking note of the inventory. "Puffskein hair, feathers, graphorn horns, and thestral hair. Seems like it's all here." He closed the box and looked at me.
"I'll have some more from the mooncalves and hippogriffs next week."
"This sounds perfect, don't push the beats. I'll make sure to get you the money for what I sell and what I use in potions."
"Thank you Percival. Enjoy the rest of your day."
"You two as well." We watched him walk away and then I turned to Sebastian.
"Good job with the diricawl's. You didn't get bit this time I here."
"You're boyfriend is a brave soul. What can I say, I'm invincible." He raised both his arms up and flexed them while smiling down at me."
"Alright, then go walk into the hippogriff pen with the ferrets." He dropped his arms and then looked to the hippogriffs who were running around and biting at each other.
"Oh, I wouldn't take that from you, that's your favorite job."
"Scared?"
"Pfft, I'm not scared of some silly hippogriffs." He grabbed the ferrets and tried to confidently walk over to the pen. The three hippogriffs ran over to him as he was just entering through the gate. "Ah, you mangy rats. I know. Give me a minute!" He quickly threw the ferrets into the pen and the three hippogriffs scattered. He walked back over to me and gave me a look. He held up his thumb and I could see a small bead of blood pooling at his cut. "One of them bit me."
"Well it seems like you conquered one beast today, now you have another one to conquer."
"How do you do all this and not get injured."
"I do, I just don't complain about it." I wrapped my arms around his waist while keeping his eye contact. He smiled at me and kissed my forehead.
"Delivery! Brood and Peck!"
"Thank you Marcus! Will you go get the payment Sebastian while I sign and start unloading?" I released his waist from my arms and he went into my house. I signed the form and he took the parchment and put it under his seat.
"I was supposed to ask if you had Olivanders order?"
"Yes I do." Sebastian walked up to us and handed the payment to Marcus.
"Is this the Olivander order?"
"Yes, thank you Sebastian. You can give that to Marcus as well." Marcus looked inside the box and then closed it.
"I will make sure that the unicorn hair get's to him. And here is his payment for that." I took the small bag from Marcus and placed it in my pocket. We unloaded the cart and then waved goodbye to him as his thestral left.
"So what else is there to do?"
"Well, the unicorn has decided it wants grass more than feed, same with the thestrals, so they are good. The graphorn and kneazles both prefer eating in the evening, so we don't need to worry about them until after we eat dinner."
"So, we have the morning and afternoon off?"
"I guess you could-" An owl swooped over our heads and a letter floated down in my hands.
"Who's that from?"
"It's from Professor Howin?" I opened it and read it out loud for Sebastian to hear.
'Dear (Y/n),
I hope you are doing well for your first month as a fully fledged Wizard. I unfortunately need to call upon you and Sebastian's help as I cannot currently leave the grounds of Hogwarts and am not skilled enough with poachers to even complete the task ahead.
A black unicorn has been spotted in the Forbidden Forest. It is being tracked. Please arrive there as soon as you possibly can.
Your friend,
Professor Howin.
"A black unicorn? I've never even heard about one before."
"They happen about once every one hundred years, they are extremely rare. Unicorns are pure in nature, and that's no different for a black unicorn. They blend in with the night and can only be seen during the day."
"So why do you sound scared?"
"The hair from a black unicorn is rumored to become the strongest core for dark magic. Wands made from them produce powerful dark magic that not even a phoenix feather core could."
"But that can't be. Dark magic is difficult to use with a wand that is unicorn hair."
"That's what makes this type of unicorn different."
"We need to get it then, bring it here."
"Look at the sky, they hide extremely well on cloudy days as well. It has to be a cloudless day when the sun is at it's peak if we, or the poachers even have a sliver of a chance at finding it."
"So we head out as soon as we can on a sunny day. Which will probably take awhile. We only get ten days of sun a year."
"That's a little of an understatement, but you are right. Sunny days are few and far apart." I fold the letter and put it in my pocket. "We will take the graphorn with us. If we get in a pinch, that will be our way out. He can even help us fight if we need it."
"What if they just take it out with the killing curse?"
"That won't kill him. Graphorns work differently with dark magic. They have this shield or something like a shield that protects them from dark magic like the unforgivables. It's one of the things that no researcher can agree on why."
"That's actually amazing."
"And that is why we bring him."
"So we do have the morning and afternoon off. Would you like to spend the day together? I need a break from my writing."
"I think that would be lovely Sebastian. Let me write a letter to Olivander and send it off before we start. Just to warn him about what is going on. He would like to know, as he could be in danger."
I head into my home and write the letter to Olivander. Being that his whole lineage is wand makers, I'm positive that he will know the significance of a black unicorn and the danger it possess if it where to be in the wrong hands. I hand the letter off to my owl and it flies off towards Hogsmeade immediately.
"So, what would you like to do Sebastian?"
"Well, I'm not sure. Even though we live next to each other, I feel like we don't spend alot of time together that isn't working."
"You have been pretty busy with your writing and I with the beasts. How is your writing going, did you choose a subject?"
"I have actually. I'll wait to share that with you for right now, and it is going very well. I believe I am making great progress on it."
"Well, I will be happy to read it once you are done." He takes my hand and leads me to my couch. We sit down and I look at him.
"Where is your necklace?"
"It's right h-" I place my hand on my collarbone, but my familiar chain that I had been wearing for over six months is missing. "I could tell you where it probably went, but I think you could guess."
"Nifflers." I shook my head.
"I'll get it back from them tonight when I get them in for bed. Let them think they won for now."
"They have been stealing from me a lot."
"I kind of told them to steal from you and leave Rose and Percival alone."
"What, why?"
"I figured you would be easier to apologize to then them..." He shook his head and placed his hand on his forehead.
"Woman, you give me a headache sometimes."
"Yes, but I am your headache." I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him, laying my head on his chest. His arm rested gently on my side and we just stayed like that.
"What do you want for dinner tonight?"
"Are you going to cook for me again?"
"Are you?"
"Not when my boyfriend is a chef, are joking?" I felt his chest quiver as he tried to hold back a laugh.
"Come here." He placed his free hand under my chin and lifted it. He leaned down and kissed me and it quickly turned more intense than any other time we shared like this. I placed my hand on his chest His hand released my chin and it moved into my hair, tangling his hand into the loose strands. I raise my body and sit on his lap, never disconnecting our lips. His hand was still tangled in my hair and the other moved to my lower back. Both of my arms wrapped around his neck and the intensity continued to grow.
He placed both his hands on my shoulders and backed me away from him a little. He stared into my eyes with contradicting emotions.
"If you keep going like this, I won't stop. We should take it slower love." I wiped my bottom lip and nodded my head. "Trust me, there is nothing more that I want to do than this, but it's not the time yet."
"I love you." It had just slipped out. We hadn't said it yet. He smiled at me and kissed me quickly.
"I love you too."