(picture uploaded from google, imagine the foal as pink with wings).
In this chapter we get a brief description of the Silva family home and the introduction of ashwinders which are described in JK Rowling's book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them". This fit in very well with my idea of a fire destroying the forest and therefore the family having to move to the Açores. I also describe a thestramule which was a beast made up for a contest at the Magic Quill, an ongoing fan fiction at 'mugglenet'.
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Julia Silva took a huge whiff of the medronho* in her glass, blinking a bit in protest at the strong alcoholic stink, and smiled as she located the new born thestramule (TMQ #78). The foal was standing by its mother, Ursula the unicorn, flexing its tiny pink wings and looking around with interest. The silver, carrot-shaped mark between its eyes wiggled north continuously as it moved its head. Like all new born horse-like creatures it appeared to be all legs with a tiny body on top except that it was pink instead of the usual horse colors. Finally it stopped its investigation of its surroundings and bent down to have some milk.
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"Since you were born right before dawn, I think I'll call you estrela**" thought Julia to herself as the image faded from Julia's eyes as the effect of the alcohol dissapated. Julia approached Ursula quietly with some grass for her to eat.
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"Congratulations, Ursie, you have a beautiful pink thestramule! How are you feeling, girl?" Julia whispered as she held out the grass. Ursula was even more beautiful than usual, she was glowing with motherhood. Julia gave her a gentle pat, then backed away.
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Julia rushed to the clearing where the house elves were already brewing as it was potion day. They were tending the cauldrons arranged in a circle.
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"Dona Ju, Dona Ju! I has here the mandrake leaves!" puffed the house elf known as Gigi hidden underneath what looked like a large walking bush.
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"Good, Gigi, put them over there by Lili who's making the restorative potion," replied Julia with a smile as she pointed out the way to a steaming cauldron. Julia walked around the perimeter checking on all the cauldrons. Besides the restorative draught there were all sorts of potions: calming draughts, the draught of peace, sleeping potions, wake up potions and Julia's personal favorite--pepper-up potion. Next to this cauldron was a small mountain of different colored peppers waiting to enter the cauldron.
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"That is looking very good, Mimi," Julia remarked as she looked down onto the elf's smiling happy face.
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"Have you seen Trina?" inquired Julia.
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"She is at the house in the kitchen, Dona Ju," answered Mimi.
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So, Julia left the house elves to the potions and went up to the large house and into the kitchen. There was indeed Trina, the eldest house elf of them all. She had a nose like a parrot's beak and big brown eyes the size of tennis balls, being so old her skin was very wrinkled under her spanking clean tea towel emblazoned with a tree and the words--Magical Forest of the Algarve.
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"Trina, the baby thestramule has just been born and I'm afraid it's true that a body can only see it if they are at least a little drunk. Did you get any volunteers to babysit?" Julia asked.
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"Yes, Dona Ju, I is asking all the elves and many want to do this, but I is choosing Bica. He is liking his butter beer too much, Dona Ju, so now he can be doing something useful and watch over the new-born and its mother." Julia followed Trina's gaze to a corner of the kitchen where there was Bica the house elf sitting surrounded by bottles of butter beer looking half drunk. "Hic! I is ready!" he managed to utter clutching a bottle in his small hand.
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Half leading and half carrying Bica, Julia proceeded with him to where the unicorn was with her baby.
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"Oh, Dona Ju, it's so pretty and pink! I is to be the best babysitter of all! Hic!" He staggered over to them and fell into a sitting position weaving back and forth.
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"It's a good thing I have a lot of house elves here, the unicorns seem to like them better than humans", thought Julia to herself.
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She turned around to get back to the circle of cauldrons when the sun started to rise and the clearing and the forest were all bathed in pastel colored light. She stopped to admire the lovely sight. All of a sudden there were two pops, her house elves Mojo and Jojo appeared out of nowhere.
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They were yelling, "Sr. Nardo is coming with Marisa! She be hurt! She need help!", as they jumped up and down pulling on their ears in distress.
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At the same time as she tried to calm them down she was trying to think about what could possibly be wrong with the dragon for it to have to come to the house. The noise had gotten all the elves away from the cauldrons to see what was going on, even Trina and the other elves that had been in the house came out to find out what was happening.
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Then Julia looked up and she saw something she had never seen before: her husband flying on his broom with Marisa in a stretcher underneath and they were almost on top of her!
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"Make way!" Bernardo shouted and everyone scattered leaving a clear spot for them to land. Bernardo gently landed so as not to hurt Marisa and Julia approached.
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"What happened, Bernardo?" she asked.
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"Shark attack, her paw is almost severed," Bernardo replied.
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Julia bent down to get a closer look at the paw and it really was a mess. There was even a shark's tooth stuck in the dragon's flesh. Julia attempted to extract the tooth and there was an almighty roar and a fire breath hotter than the sun itself and the dragon was running around in pain breathing fire all over the place. Marisa managed to knock over all the cauldrons, set the house on fire and all the trees within reach of her fire breath were up in flames. She then plopped down and cradled her injured paw with the other.
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The fire was out of control, and then they saw something that made their blood run cold: ashwinders were forming out of the overturned cauldrons and making their way to the trees that hadn't been burned yet. Quickly, every house elf, Bernardo and Julia both with their wands out ran after the ashwinders to get to their eggs before they had a chance to ignite. They used a freezing charm on the eggs so they wouldn't ignite; the house elves used their own brand of magic to freeze them. They managed to freeze two hundred eggs before they were finished and the fire had gone out. Looking around at the devastation Bernardo and Julia and all their elves were heart broken but very glad to be alive at the same time.
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"I think we should call our children here so we can figure out what to do next", murmered Bernardo.
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*medronho--Portuguese alcoholic beverage
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**estrela--star
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