Written for the Write all the Ships Challenge (HermioneLuna)

I

It was the strangest, most unnatural being she had ever come across. It completely fascinated her with its long, shaggy fur, the three horns on its head and the odd colour it turned when it was afraid. She wasn't even sure that colour had a name.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Hermione turned from the odd creature and to the smiling face of Luna Lovegood. Of course Luna would find the creature beautiful when even she, Hermione Granger, fighter for magical creature rights, was struggling to find something beautiful about it.

"It's… different," she said, trying not to offend her friend. "What did you say it was called again?"

"It doesn't have one yet," Luna answered pleasantly. "What would you like it to be called?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "M-me?"

Luna nodded, unfazed.

"I…oh… I… I'm not sure, Luna."

Luna frowned, studying the creature for a moment. "Hm, it kind of looks like a cross between a rhinoceros and a unicorn," she said.

"A unoceros." Hermione had meant it as humourless joke, but Luna beamed.

"That's a very fitting name!" she exclaimed, and as if it were settled, she pulled out a notebook and a quill, scribbling down some notes. "My father will be pleased to have finally named this. It's been bugging him ever since he found it two years ago."

Hermione blinked, unsure what to say. When Luna had come to her a month earlier, claiming that there was a creature in trouble, she had expected to be taken to somewhere such as the Malfoys who were mistreating house-elves again. What she hadn't expected was to be dragged away from her job, across to the other side of the world, to a forest so dense that humans could barely navigate, only to discover an animal that wasn't even attractive enough to make it to the Muggle fairytales.

Only Luna could think this was worth it.

"Oh, so we're going back now?" was all Hermione could think to say after the two of them stood there in silence for a good minute.

"Oh, no," Luna said simply, looking over the notebook. "No, there is still plenty to do before we go back. We can't just go back to the Ministry claiming we have discovered a new creature we named the unoceros. They have funny rules about that."

"Rules?"

Luna looked plainly to Hermione. "Yes. You would know about them, wouldn't you? That's why I asked you to come. You could convince them to process the findings faster, couldn't you? You've seen it now, so you know it's real. They'll believe you."

Hermione shook her head, not sure she was believing what she was hearing. Over her past days here she had gone through many reasons as to why Luna had asked her to go with her. Many had been obscure reasons that she regretted thinking of almost as soon as the idea had crossed her mind; but being there as a Ministry of Magic official to convince them why this creature should be recorded as an official magical being had not crossed her mind in the slightest. It seemed too simple for Luna.

"Oh, so you won't do it?" Luna seemed disappointed.

"Excuse me?"

"You shook your head."

"Oh… no, no, nothing about that, Luna. I…." Hermione studied the smiling face of her friend and couldn't help but smile in return. It had been many months since she had seen Luna and oddly, despite everything, missed the young woman's company. "I'd love to help you," she said after a moment.

Luna beamed. "Oh, I knew you would!" she said. "I knew you were the right person to ask. You'd understand."

Hermione thought understanding might have been a bit of a stretch, but Luna was probably right when she said she was the right person. The majority of Ministry members had little time or patience for people like the Lovegoods.

"So," she began, "what else have you discovered about this… about this unoceros?"

This is the first chapter of what I have decided is going to be a three-shot fic. Oddly, my first instinct was 'HermioneLuna... why?' but then I got an idea and am writing more than one chapter... oh well.

Please leave a review if you read this. I would love to hear from you!