ĭuring the 1988–1989 school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Silvanus Kettleburn taught fifth-year students in Care of Magical Creatures class how to handle unicorns. Merula Snyde's mother owned a unicorn for a short period. Īt some point before or during the 1986–1987 school year, Jacob's sibling met a unicorn at the Magical Creatures Reserve, and would often bond with and feed it. Some time after its foundation in the First millennium A.D., two unicorns were used as the symbol for Hogsmeade village. It was pawing the ground nervously with its golden hooves, and throwing back its horned head." - Description of a majestic Unicorn in a 1995 Care of Magical Creatures lesson " The Unicorn was so brightly white that it made the snow all around look grey. The unicorn's single straight horn was used, in the Study of Ancient Runes, to symbolise the number one as a runic number symbol. The blood of a unicorn could be used to keep a person who was near death alive, thus granting the drinker immortality, but " you will have but a half-life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips." Unicorn horn was often used as a common potion ingredient, in potions such as the Antidote to Common Poisons, Draught of Peace and Wiggenweld Potion. The tail hair could also be used as binding in bandages due to its incredible strength. The Wandmaker Garrick Ollivander made wands with unicorn hair cores. However, they did not make the most powerful of wands and were prone to melancholy if mishandled, although the wand wood could compensate this. Unicorn hair in general was used for the cores of wands to wandmaking they produce the most consistent magic, least subject to fluctuations and blockages, most difficult to turn to the Dark Arts and the most faithful of wands. Various parts of the Unicorn - the horn and tail hair in particular - were used in potions. UsesĪ Medieval tapestry depicting wizards slaying a unicorn, and collecting its blood Drinking their blood to preserve one’s life was considered a heinous and immoral crime. Unicorns were considered pure and sacred creatures. During the detention in the Forbidden Forest in 1992, Harry asked if a werewolf could be killing the unicorns and Rubeus Hagrid replied that they were not fast enough to catch Unicorns. Unicorns were capable of moving faster than werewolves. Not aggressive without cause, but should be treated with great respect.
Wandmakers such as the Ollivander family also plucked hairs from the tails of the creatures to use in wands as cores. They were also fast enough to outrun werewolves with absurd ease.
Unicorns are also so fleet of the hoof that they can rarely be caught by humans. Unicorns preferred a woman's touch, but the young ones were more trusting and do not mind men as much. Unicorns inhabited the forests of Europe, including the Forbidden Forest by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was not mentioned how long a Unicorn can live for. Their hooves were golden (remaining so from their gold stage, the first two years of their life), and their blood was silver-blue and shone under the moonlight. They were fully grown at about seven years old, at which at this age they turned a shade of pure white that was so bright that it made freshly fallen snow looked grey in comparison. At around four years old, their horn grew in. They remained so until they were about two years old, at which time they turned silver in colour. Unicorn foals were born pure gold in colour.