My Favorite Character and Magical Animal

Really, how can anyone choose one absolute favorite Harry Potter character? My friend Daye would chose Snape hands down. She teaches literature at a Michigan university, and one of her classes is actually about Harry Potter. She's written scholarly papers on the appeal of Snape's character. And don['t get me wrong, Snape is a very complex and well written character. But somehow I'm drawn to the bad boy openly on Harry's side: Sirius Black.

Unicorns have been sadly over-done. They tend to look almost cartoon-ish. Anyone who has read Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books knows that unicorns are not sweet cartoons.