"Pleased to meet you Nathaniel Greenleigh." said the blond, blue eyed Sarah, "I am Sarah Taverner also a Fourth Year Ravenclaw; this is Alpha Rich, a Fifth Year Slytherin and Mahou Amberstone of Gryffindor who is new and a Fourth Year also."

She immediately turned her attention to his questions; "Well alchemy was the foundation of what became chemistry around the 17th century in Europe. Potions class which is a required subject is something like muggle chemistry - you mix things together to make something else. As for muggle studies - many witches and wizards don't interact much with the non-magical community and so it is a way of coming to understand the relationship between the two worlds - muggles - or non-wizarding folk and magical folk to promote more understanding and tolerance."

She looked at him, "I take it you are rather new to this if you've never heard of muggles before?"

Nathaniel laughed a bitter laugh. "Oh, I forgot to say. I AM a Muggle. Or should I say, I should be a Muggle. I'm not entirely certain... no, let me rephrase that... I have Utterly NO idea what I'm supposed to be doing here. Apart from, obviously, buying books."

The kitten sat at his feet and looked smug. Nathaniel fought off the urge to kick it.

"Oh," Mahou interjected, "I be only half witch." She muttered VERY softly, "Sorta.."

"Half-muggle?" said Sarah bright as a button as usual. "Don't worry Mahou there are lots and lots of kids who have one parent who is a muggle. I mean it's nothing to be ashamed of. I know there are a few fanatical types that go on and on about 'pure blood' but human is human and it's just silly to think otherwise. It's just different cultures - muggle and wizarding - that's all."

She hoped this helped to put both Mahou and Nathaniel more at ease.

*********

Sarah was quite fascinated by what Nathaniel had said. "You think there is some mistake? Still you seem to be adapting pretty well in the circumstances so maybe down deep you might be muggle born but there is a part of you that kind of 'gets this'."

She smiled, "There certainly are quite a few of us who are very comfortable in the muggle world. Like me for example and can be guides to getting used to what must seem like an alternative universe. Do you like books?"

"Adapting?" Nathaniel shook his head and snorted a laugh. "Sarah, right now I'm on automatic pilot. My feet are walking, my mouth is talking, but my sense of reality is on extended vacation. It's either be here or at home... not that I have one of those anymore."

His long fingers adjusted their hold on the books. "Books are... books. I like them. They're a faithful companion and don't ever tell you what they think of you. Or bite." He glowered briefly at the kitten at his feet, which tried to look innocent.

He looked up at her. "A Guide? Jeez, could I ever do with one of those. I've gotten this far on sheer not-thinking-about-it, but I'm damned if I know what to do once we get to the school. It's going to take very little time at all for them to realise the mistake, but .. ." he shrugged. "Like I said, there's not really much choice for me now."

"Well automatic pilot or not I think you are doing excellently! Don't worry Kat Black who is the Ravenclaw Prefect in the Fourth Year is *brilliant*."

She gazed about, "I think she went with Nimue pet shopping, so I can't introduce you at the moment. We already had a girl last year that hadn't known she was a witch until she was about 14. . She was catching up with the stuff slowly as soon as we were able to convince her magic worked which was in transfiguration class! She kept thinking it was like stage magicians until *really* amazing things happened. She was from Ireland too."

She smiled at Mahou as she said this last bit. Then she looked quite concerned as what Nathaniel had said about his home had registered.

"What has happened to your home then? I mean if it's not too hard to talk about." Sarah's natural curiosity about people often came to the fore at a point like this.

Nathaniel looked at the books in his arms, at the cat at his feet, the floor, the shelving, anywhere in fact rather than at Sarah.

"I heard my parents talking." he said quietly. "Either I stay at Hogwarts or I go to a boarding school that would make Her Majesty's Prison Brixton look like a pleasure cruise. They want as little contact with me as possible, from several weeks ago until seven days past the end of eternity. The word 'freak' was mentioned."

He shrugged and strode off towards the counter to pay for the books, his hunched shoulders indicating that he wasn't really up to talking about it more just yet. The kitten trailed after him quickly, and sat down practically on his boot until Nathaniel noticed it.

The handful of fluff was scooped up and deposited perfunctorily in an inside pocket of his long indigo robe; but gently. Nathaniel had never mistreated a cat in his life - despite their hatred and constant abuse of him - and he wasn't about to start now.

"Wow, that's harsh." said Sarah turning to look at the others as Nathaniel strode off to pay for his books.

**************

Piotr, who had been idly browsing a dark and dusty corner of Flourish & Blott's, suddenly looked up, his nostrils flaring slightly. He had heard, with his disconcertingly acute hearing, two separate things at the same time.

The first - the voice of what was undoubtedly another new student, who he glanced across at and assessed quickly. Tall, faintly bemused expression - obvious Muggle heritage - hence the dumb questions.

The second - a familiar voice passing outside. The voice of the little Japanese girl who had smelled so deliciously of blood when he'd visited Hogwarts at the end of the last term.

His tongue ran over his lips briefly, but he checked himself and, instead, decided to focus his efforts on the lesser of two evils. He straightened himself up from his customary slouch and marched across to where the small gathering of students were.

"Hello," he said, in his broadly-accented voice, adjusting his dark glasses and straightening the collar of his coat. And that was it. Just 'hello'. Not much of a talker, Piotr.

Occasionally, his head would turn slightly as though his attention was elsewhere, which was, in fact, the case.

Sarah's eyes lit up with the arrival of Piotr. "Well, hello yourself, Mr. Rachinov." said Sarah. "So very nice to see you again." She paused waiting for some acknowledgement before introducing the pale boy to the others.

********

With Piotr remaining silent, and with Nathaniel off in the queue paying for his books, Sarah turned to ask Mahou a question that had occurred to her before. "So what kind of rituals did you design at Cerridywn's?"

Blackfoot stepped closer to the cat, lifting her head and her ears. She grinned, her tongue lolling joyfully out of her mouth.

"Rituals?" the half-elf girl asked. "Lots o' kinds! Rituals fer th' full moon, new moon, waxing moon, waning moon, Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, Yule, Ostara, Litha, and Mabon. Samhain be your Hallowe'en, an' me own new year." She smiled. "There be rituals fer all kinds o' things.. like th' God an' Goddess tha' I chose ta work wi' in Cerrydwin's."

"Oh? Was Cerridwyn's a religious school then?" asked Sarah, "Hogwarts is completely ...oh what's the word." she screwed up her face trying to access the memory, "oh yeah secular. If students have religious beliefs and observances then I think provision is made for them to fit that into their schedule. Not really sure as never had cause to ask."

"Aye, it be very religious," Mahou confirmed. She smiled. "Do ye think tha' I could get outta classes fer religious reasons?" She chuckled.

"Well, I expect not," said Sarah with a grin. "I am sure that it has been tried many times."

Sarah grinned, "I guess that's why we don't do ritual design then. Underage magic is allowed in Ireland? Cool. Maybe witches weren't as persecuted there. I mean it's to prevent accidental betrayal to the muggles isn't it?" she glanced at Nathaniel saying to him. "No offence but there were sound reasons for separating away from the non-magical world."

"Nah," Mahou said, waving her hand. "There be witches, wizards, elves," she rattled, "me Da is---" She caught herself. That was too close. "A..er.. native from Ireland. Ma met him there." She squirmed a bit.

Sarah smiled at Mahou's mention of elves. "Oh is that like House Elves or are they different? I know Nimue told me something about that being just a convenient term that they are actually...." she couldn't remember. Her brain was a blank.

"I guess there are plenty of leprechauns as well. I know it gets very complicated as to what non-human species 'counts' as a magical creature and what counts as a magical being. I know that some magical beings prefer to 'opt out' of these human definitions anyway. They consider humans well...."

She shut up at this point on the subject and addressed Mahou's other earlier question about Snape and the Heads of Houses.

"Snape is head of Slytherin House and he is just mean even to members of his own House. I don't think he likes students at all really and probably teaches for the same reason that Filch is caretaker - to make our lives miserable."

"Gryffindor has Professor McGonagall as its Head of House. She is Scottish and quite strict and correct but not in a mean way. Ravenclaw has Professor Flitwick who teaches Charms. Very old and tiny with a squeaky voice but he's very kind. Hufflepuff has Professor Sprout who is charge of Herbology. Again she is quite nice. Rather 'plant mad' so when she's not teaching she is usually doing things in the other greenhouses. Like raising giant South American walking plants - but they are all gone now."

She winked at Alpha.

Alpha smiled at the wink. She remembered it well.

***********

The bundle of books under his arm, Nathaniel returned to the group. "Uh, Sarah... do you mind if I tag along with you for a bit? I've run out of imagination as to what happens next... you know, if I'm getting in your way just tell me where we're supposed to meet later, ok?" He let his hair slide a little into his face. He'd been here before too... the New Boy needing information and being a general hindrance on a social level.

When he came back and asked about tagging along, her face lit up. "That would be fine. I mean we'll probably all gather in the Leaky Cauldron and travel en masse to Kings Cross station at about 10:30. They'll probably have ordered a fleet of taxis or something useful. Maybe a coach even though its' only a short distance. I mean you can take the Underground. The Piccadilly Line from Leicester Square or Covent Garden goes straight to Kings Cross but with it being a Saturday they'll be packed to the brim with shoppers."

Sarah was proud of her knowledge of the London underground acquired only the evening before as this was her first time in the city.

She smiled at Piotr who was remaining very quiet. "I take it you've shaken off the parental units for the duration?"

"Sarah, you can set Miss Eezy down, she won't run away and she will not put up a fight with the fox or the kitten." Alpha smiled reassuringly.

Sarah did as asked and set Miss Eezy down on the floor stroking her as she did so.

"Mahou, if you don't manage to get all your books here, you can always go to Hogsmeade or order books in Hogsmeade by owl, so don't worry."

"Nathaniel..?, you can get your kitten out of your robes and Miss Eezy, my cat will take her under her "wings", so to speak." She grinned.

Nathaniel listened to Sarah talk about the Underground and made a face. He hated the Underground system, even when it worked properly which was rare, and would rather have taken a bus than the tube.

He listened quietly as Sarah and Mahou spoke, liking the sound of Herbology. Growing things was ... pleasant. Like the books, the plants never told you what they thought of you, which humans were distressingly fond of doing. Pity it hadn't been on the list of options that Sarah had listed out earlier, unless he'd missed it.

Then another girl spoke up, they hadn't been introduced but he thought her name was Alpha or something like that.

"Um... yeah..." His left hand patted the pocket and found a snoozing kitty there. "Oh.. it's sleeping. Better leave it be.. .it's had a busy day so far. But.. yeah.. Thanks for the offer."

"I think I got all my books for now" Alpha said, bent down, picked up a big pile and stumbled to the counter. "Lucky that I know some magic!" She said behind her pile of book, she could hardly see where the counter was.

After paying she came back, her pile of books reduced to a small package that went down in her rucksack. "I'm ready" She proclaimed. .Miss Eezy, her cat sniffed at the fox.

She suddenly realised when Alpha said that she was ready to go now that she still hadn't bought her books or decided on her options!

With a sheepish smile she said, "I still have to choose my books if you all want to go on. I can catch up. Alpha what do you suggest after this? Dumping things back at the Leaky C and going off for a wander and maybe ice creams or butterbeers?"

"I would suggest that you buy your books, " Alpha grinned, "then we can go and find Nathaniel a wand, or do you have one already? As that's always an event on its own, we should go for icecream, are you all ok with that?"

Nathaniel nodded. "I have a wand." he confirmed softly.

She looked at Mahou, Nathaniel, Sarah and Piotr. "Piotr, I did not hear a sound from you, will you come and join us or are you too much into the books?"

Piotr didn't answer and Alpha didn't pursue the matter.

************

Three figures make their way into Diagon Alley, all of them busily chewing sweets and two of them avidly chattering and laughing in French. One of them is a tall blond boy about 16 or 17 years of age (extremely handsome), another is a not so tall but pretty girl about 14 with shoulder-length black hair and the last one is an extremely nervous little girl of 11 with blonde pigtails and freckles. She walks between the older two and seems to wish herself far, far away from them...

Morticia and Nathan spot some of their friends and rush towards them, and their little sister is happy to be left alone and rushes off to buy herself some ice-cream.

Niki caught sight of Morticia and almost darted off before remembering Dylan. "I need to run and say hi--I'll see you later, on the train?" and with that, she was off.

Although she had spent a few weeks with the Lagrands over the summer, she hadn't seen either of them for some time, and was eager to say hello again.

Morticia beamed at her. "Hey, how are you doing? We thought we'd see whether any of you guys are here today, we did our shopping last week already, though..."

Before she could continue, Nathan came along, having surprisingly fast separated from his 6th year friends. "Hi, Niki!" He smiled down at her.

"So, everything okay with you? I hope so. I had to endure my little sister's nervosity during the holidays..." he mocked the voice of a 11-year-old scared girl. "'But what if they hate me, and what if they put me into a house I don't wanna be in, and what if I'm not good enough, and what if I get homesick...'"

Morticia punched his ribs. "Shut up or leave!" she hissed. "Ninny's scared, no wonder considering she'll be in the same school as her brother!"

Nathan stuck his tongue out and then grinned at Niki. "So, any special plans for the new year?"

"Trying to keep my marks up so my grandmother doesn't pull me out of school," Niki said, frowning. "But I *do* want to try for the Quidditch team. I've been practising all summer! And how's Edryd, Tish?"

For some reason she wasn't quite sure of herself, she hadn't shared *everything* that had happened this summer with Morticia or Nathan. It didn't seem quite right... Tish didn't know about a lot of things, and Nathan knew...well, it was almost too much. Uncomfortably much, anyway. Although the same could be said for her.

"Edryd, uh..." Morticia blushes. "I guess he's fine, yes, I'm sure he is." Nathan rolls his eyes. "Okay, ladies, keep on your girl's talk and I'll have a look around SOMEWHERE else..." He smiles and strolls away.

Morticia frowns. "Knockturn Alley, I suppose, Papa wouldn't like that. Anyway, Niki, Quidditch? Would be great, I hope I'll stay on the team although Mom told me to drop it and to study more..." She sneers. "As if!"

"Well, you do have a reputation to uphold as a Prefect... I'd really like to play Keeper, although a Chaser would be all right too. I'm not so good at teamwork..."

She smiled sadly. "And I'm going to have loads to work on anyway, so I think it's all right."

"As long as I can stay Beater to live out my aggressions..." Morticia grinned. "And you'll do fine, I know you're good. As for my reputation, I don't care as long as I can play and don't flunk everything. How about heading for a drink or so, by the way? I bet the others are already killing off the butterbeers..."

Niki nodded happily. "We don't get Butterbeer in Greece...just add that to...ooh! I forgot to tell you!"

Another figure limps into Diagon Alley, obviously emerging from Knockturn Alley - Drake Brixton, last year a visitor at Slytherin and a good friend of Nat Lagrand. He had nod as Nathan who is heading to where he comes from and then has a look around.

**************

A while earlier Oriana had entered Diagon Alley. She has grown a little bit taller since the end of last term so she is now 5'6". She has blackish brown hair that slightly passes her shoulders and green eyes.

As soon as she entered Diagon Alley she saw Morticia and Niki talking to a rather handsome guy whom she hadn't met before. She walked over to them.

"Hi Niki. Hi Tish," she said. "Wish I could stay and chat, but I still have books to buy and the train should be leaving soon. I'll talk to you later." She smiled.

Brushing the hair away from her eyes, Oriana entered Flourish and Blotts. She saw two familiar faces, Sarah and Alpha, talking with a few unfamiliar faces including the boy she had flirted with that night in the Great Hall .

"Hi Sarah," said Oriana. She hoped Sarah would introduce her to the new students.

"Hi ya Oriana." said Sarah. She knew that Oriana knew Alpha Rich as they were in the same House. "We've just been talking about options and things and wondering where to go until its time to leave for the station."

She realised she was expected to do the introduction thing, "Right this is Mahou Amberstone, from Ireland, whom you might have seen at Hogwarts. She's a Gryffindor Fourth Year and this." she turned to Nathaniel, "is Nathaniel Greenleigh who is joining us in Ravenclaw as a Fourth Year and that.." she indicated Piotr who was off to one side looking very cool and collected, " is Piotr Rachinov, who hasn't favoured us with his House allocation. Everyone this is Oriana Nort, Fourth Year Slytherin transfer student from Durmstrang."

She flashed Piotr a little smile and then turned back to Oriana. "Hey, I heard Arcadia Fudge was looking for you a few minutes ago. Said something about wanting to do girlfriend stuff like shopping. I am sure I saw her come here in a few minutes ago."

Sarah looked about as if trying to spot Arcadia for Oriana.

Oriana smiled at all of them, especially Piotr. "Welcome to Hogwarts. I hope you will all like it there."

When Sarah mentioned Arcadia, Oriana stopped smiling. "Oh really?" she asked. "I'll have to catch up with her later." Oriana felt around her pocket to see that the phial that contained the potion was still in tact. Where was Magnus anyway?

Sarah was a little disappointed that Oriana hadn't fallen for the Arcadia ruse. Maybe she and Arcadia were pals after all. "So, did you have a good summer Oriana?"

"I had a great summer. How about you?" Oriana asked. She looked over at Nathaniel. *Easy on the eyes!* she thought to herself.

Mahou looked at the girl. So far, her idea of Slytherins was being shot down. She had always thought of them as evil and things like that. But she was glad that her idea was being killed off by the friendly girl. "I be a transfer student from Cerrydwin's," she told the ex-Durmstrang girl. "Ha'e ye e'er heard o' it?"

"Yes, I have heard of Cerrydwins. It is a very good school. I actually have some relatives who attend there," she said sweetly.

Oriana noted how Nathaniel was a little uninterested in her. But he seemed like a nice guy so hopefully they would be friends.

"If you'll excuse me," she said, "I have some books to buy."

She walked to a bookshelf that was relatively close to Piotr, and looked through some of the different books she would need for school. Hopefully he would notice her and introduce himself.