Wandering in the Dark [Mustachio]

Returning to Hogwarts had been much more relaxed than Morgana had expected. Apart from being disturbed by the Anthony-kid, there hadn't been much of a disturbance to Morgana yet. And she immensely appreciated this. She was currently inside the Slytherin common room, having no chance at going to bed. The clock wasn't all that much, only 11:30 pm. But she knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep right now.

So she decided to leave the common room and the castle all together. Detention meant nought to her. Neither did point deductions. So she honestly didn't care if she got caught by someone. She was soon wandering down the hallways, keeping her ears open; just because she didn't care if she was caught, didn't mean she was going to be reckless and get caught.

Leaving the castle at night was much easier than one would suspect. Perhaps because professors walked both on the outside and the inside of the castle, and therefore the doors weren't locked. She walked along the shadows of the greenhouses before reaching the solitude of the forest. The forest, despite evil and malicious things wandering through it, had never brought any sense of dread to Morgana. Now was not an exception.

The Wailing Woods were one of her favorite places to go, and though this forest was not as wonderful as that one, it was the closest thing here. She could always have left the grounds completely and apparated, but she had a feeling that it would not be tolerated at all and that expulsion might just be a consequence. And Morgana might be reckless, but she wasn't stupid.

Her feet made no sound as she walked through the forest, avoiding the dry twigs and rustling leaves. She had been walking for a long time when she heard the soft stomps on the forest floor. She stopped to listen more closely and wondered what it was. A large animal, but elegant. Hooves said horse. But in the forbidden forest? She let a breath of solemnity escape her mouth. A unicorn.

Mustachio spent his days alone, all by himself. He was perfectly happy with that, as who would possibly be so awesome as to make a good acquaintance for him? He was a lone wolf. Well, unicorn. The point was, he had no friends or others to spend time with, but that was fine because he often enjoyed sprinting through the forest as fast as he could, the breeze hitting him in the face, avoiding scary dodgy animals who undoubtedly haunted the forest, occasionally peeking out into the Hogwarts grounds at night, when there were no students. It was these little adventures that made him love his life.

On this particular evening, at the very end of summer, he was wandering through the forest, like usual. His steps were dainty yet still made noise among the piles of leaves all over the ground which he made no effort to avoid. So what if something heard him? Chase him they might but he would always be faster and he had found many hiding places all throughout the forest, slim spaces only a unicorn could fit into, and dark places behind trees. He had grown to be more daring and less careful, because he had more faith in his own ability. How fast and smart he was in comparison to some of the slow, beefy moron animals.

When he came to a small clearing that he didn’t quite recognise, he hid himself behind a tree to stare at it and make sense of the world. But then he saw a flash of dark fur which he couldn’t connect to one of the beasts here. Mustachio leaped towards another tree to get a better view of the unfamiliar animal. Then he saw it. Or… her. It was a human, a she-human. She didn’t look old, but she wasn’t a child human either, like the children he had met before.

Why was she here? Astounded, he continued to stare with confusion in his look. Humans didn’t come into this forest. Not young humans. On occasion, he had caught sight of old humans, like that evil murderer professor and then the newer, friendly animal-lover professor. But no woman like this had ventured so deep into the forest before. Unicorns preferred female human people  over the males, so that explained why the fear he felt wasn’t too prominent and he didn’t run far into the forest straight away. Instead, he moved again, so that he could see her properly.

Morgana tilted her head a bit to the side as she saw the shape of the unicorn behind one of the trees. It didn't look as though it was hiding from her, and Morgana was glad about that. In no way would she ever be stupid enough to hurt a unicorn. She took a tentative step forwards, so she could see it better. So beautiful. She stood completely still for a while, just taking in the innocence and beauty. Sometimes, Morgana was completely caught off guard when it came to the wonderful things in this world.

She remembered the charms lesson with Oliver suggesting they could use unicorns. She now fully comprehended why he would suggest the creature. Sure, she'd seen a unicorn before, but seeing them in broad daylight and mostly only foals was nothing compared to the mysterious shine they gave off in the darkness. The unicorn was like a complete contrast to the moody dark of the forest. It showed the absolute truth of how good the unicorn was in comparison to darkness.

Morgana took another step towards it as a ghost of a smile seemed to take a place on her lips. She felt calmer than she had in a long time, and lighter. Was this really the impact a unicorn had on a person, or was it just an illusion that had been made due to people always talking about unicorns as purely good creatures? Morgana found that she'd rather believe the first one, as her eyes landed on the flowing mane that almost took a blueish shine due to the moonlight. Its horn also shone in the light of the moon, making it look like a pure crystal. And the tail was quite mesmerizing as well. Just by looking at the tail, you could easily understand the magic it held and why it was so much used as cores in wands.

Raising her arms in the slightest, Morgana tried to tell the unicorn that she came in -for lack of a better word- peace. She wouldn't harm it. But she was very curious about what it would feel like under her cold hand. Summer might still be in the wind, but it definitely wasn't warm anymore during the nighttime. She stretched out her hand, wondering if it would come closer to her, or if it would shy away.

This lady human was staring at him. His eyes, open wide and filled with fear, gave him the rabbit-in-headlights sort of look. Mustachio stared back and took in her appearance. Dark hair and curious, shining eyes. Pretty… at least, for a human. Naturally, he had been raised with the opinion that humans were ugly. It was true, but there were slightly less ugly ones, like this girl, who stood out among all the humans he had caught glimpses of in the past. These looks had the ability to lure him into a false sense of security, like one of those Greek mermaids he had heard tales of, but he honestly believed that she didn’t want to hurt him like others in her species had before.

So, because he was sort of stupid, he took a few hesitant steps forward. For a moment, he stopped in his tracks, halfway to the girl. Once again, he stared solemnly at her. Was she going to hurt him? Should he run away now, run far, far away from here? Or should he have some of that unicorn courage that his mother would be proud to see in him and go anyway? He decided on the latter, for bravery was an attractive trait and it was about time he showed some. It was time he lived a little.

Mustachio stood a few inches away from the lady so that he could make a quick escape if necessary. By this point, though, he was doubting that he would ever need to escape. Then he stopped, standing in all his glory, silvery mane glowing in the moonlight. He really was a handsome, attractive unicorns. Most unicorns didn’t have a scratch on his supreme attractiveness and wonderful, kind, friendly nature. He stopped thinking about how amazing he was and looked back at the human girl. Now came the time. Was she going to be nice, or was she going to kill him and drink his blood?

As the unicorn drew in closer, Morgana felt she had succeeded. She had indeed shown a pure and gentle creature that she wouldn't hurt him. That had to mean she wasn't the type that shone of evil. Or maybe the unicorn wasn't of the brightest kind, like she had originally believed. Then again, she couldn't really say whether or not the unicorn was intelligent or not. A normal human would probably be smarter. Therefore, her own intelligence would be incomparable to his.

Standing only a few inches away, the moonlight caught the silver hair and gave the unicorn a magical shine that spoke of wordless beauty. Morgana appreciated beauty; she saw it far too seldom. She never saw it in humans. Not even in her father. She loved him, but even with his genius and what people deemed good looks, she didn't think of humans as beautiful. They were mostly a pain in the ass. She didn't look for subtle beauty, she found it unnecessary. It was the obvious beauty of creatures like the unicorn that truly baffled her.

To her own surprise, Morgana felt the corners of her mouth twitching a slight bit. Smiling wasn't very unusual of Morgana, not when she was home, but she didn't feel happy around people that wasn't Mordred. She once again reminded herself that this wasn't a person as her outstretched arm closed the distance between the unicorn's muzzle and herself. Her cold palm instantly warmed against the warm and soft pelt as her hand went up the nasal bone and to the cheek. He was spectacular.

Even though Morgana didn't know all that much about horses, she could see the glimmer of a stoic and somewhat fearful emotion in the unicorn's eyes. Probably because they might be more intelligent than regular horses. They had more pride in them, it seemed at least. So, not wanting to pose a threat in the slightest, Morgana let the twitch in her lips win and she gave a very soft, solemn smile. "You're beautiful," she whispered and put her other hand on his neck.

She hadn't felt so at ease in a long, long time. Staring into those dark eyes gave her a sense of serenity and peace that she had longed for. She wondered if the unicorn knew the impact he would have on humans. Or if he was too scared to figure it out. She felt a strong sense of repulsion towards humans who would hurt such a creature for the benefit of themselves. She didn't know how long she stood there, just petting him, before a noise made her snap out of her reverie. She looked around, as if she remembered where she was.

The darkness hadn't thickened or brightened. It was still well into the night. She sighed. "I should probably be getting back," she said with a sigh. She didn't want to. When she went back, people would only be getting on her nerves again, as if they had nothing better to do. She looked back to the unicorn. "I wonder if anyone gave you a name," she muttered. It wouldn't surprise her; he didn't seem very shy. "Even so, I think I might just call you Moonlight," Morgana said softly, figuring it fit.

By now, she had said more words to the unicorn than to anyone this entire week. Even counting classes. She looked through the trees. It was a long walk back to the castle. She looked to the unicorn. She wasn't hoping for him to let her onto his back, but she figured he might want to walk with her. So, feeling like a complete weirdo, she started walking, and then stopped looking back at him and beckoning him to follow her, continuing to do this and hoping he'd follow without thinking he was being set up into some trap.