"I thought I told you not to follow me." Alex had turned to see what made the unicorn so restless, only to see Luna hiding amongst the trees.
"The macklebugs were quite adamant." She replied simply.
"Don't move." Alex said. Luna nodded and Alex slowly stepped backwards. She reached Luna's side. "Okay, now, walk behind me. Step where I step."
"What's going on?"
"You'll see." Alex led her forward, stopping in front of the unicorn she stood in front of earlier. "Okay, now step to my side." Luna did as told, and Alexandra reached for her hand. She pulled it up, holding it a few centimetres away from the horse. He sniffed at Luna's hand. A neigh behind him made him move out of the way.
"She's foaling." Luna realised.
"Yeah, but I think something's wrong." Alex knelt down beside the unicorn. She recognised her as the one she'd saved the year before. She reached out and softly caressed the horse. She brought out her wand and begun to trace runes on the horse unwittingly. Her movements were almost mechanical as soft silver glow shone where her wand made contact and the mare's muscles slowly relaxed. Alex continued for the next twenty minutes until the foal had been delivered.
"Is she going to be okay?" Luna asked and she snapped out of her haze before nodding.
"Yes, but- I don't think the foal is. It was a call of distress. We're lucky she..." Alex paused and checked. "... um, he is alive."
"Are you going to name him?"
"Kichiro." Alex said. "He can be called Kichiro. It means lucky son in Japanese."
"Because he's lucky to be alive?"
"Yeah." Alex smiled. She pushed off her robes and, after casting a cleansing spell on both mother and foal, draped it over Kichiro. "He's cold. I think he's premature. He needs constant monitoring."
"Well, we could take turns." Luna said, putting her own robes on top of Alex's to keep him warm.
"You might get lost."
"I remember the way." Luna said.
The two of them spent a few more hours with the unicorns, with Alex tracing runes on or around both mother and foal. The baby horse was still a little ill as Alex cast heating charms.
"We should make a schedule, and be here often." Alex said. "We can't leave him in the cold like this."
"I can come during my free period before lunch tomorrow."
"And I can come during lunch and in the evening. Though I will have to miss the quidditch match." She mused.
"I can come during the evening. You should go to the match."
"It's okay. Cedric'll understand."
"I don't mind. Really. You can come after the match." Luna said. "You should be there for your friend."
"Okay. I'm going to stay here until breakfast though." She said. "Speaking of, he should be feeding by now."
"I don't think he can." Luna peered at him. "He's surrounded by pityfers."
"Pityfers?"
"They're bothersome creatures. They suck away all your energy leaving you with the bare minimum required to live." Alex looked at her dubiously.
"Well, we still need to make him feed." Alex said. An image flashed into her mind and she looked panicked for a second. "We're going to have to milk her."
"Have you ever done this before?" Luna asked and she shook her head.
"I've never really been around horses before and I've only seen a unicorn twice before today. Once last year and once a few weeks ago."
