"Sarah... you look package-less," he said quietly. "Are we distracting you from your vital shopping? I've got all mine, so ... uh.. if you need a hand just... you know.. um... shout."

Sarah had allowed herself to get somewhat distracted by the arrival of Oriana and she was grateful for Nathaniel's reminder of her bookless state.

"Crumbs - I'll end up being the only student without textbooks if I don't watch it - though I wish I was practised enough to do the reduction spell like Alpha."

She looked at his pile of books, "Eleven subjects!" she groaned thinking how many books that meant finding on the shelf, "Right well if you don't mind, I'd love some help."

Nathaniel shrugged. "You choose, I'll carry. Unless you want to part with half your list."

He shut up then, letting his hair swing a little into his face again. He didn't give much of damn what the others thought of his offer to help her; it wasn't offered out of social 'crawling'; just a genuine wish to help her in return for... for not laughing in his face when he told her he was a Muggle.

"Deeply appreciated. If you could carry while I select." said Sarah.

Mahou, too, loved the sound of Herbology. She smiled at Nathaniel, holding out her hand in a simple handshake gesture. "Ye seem like a very nice person, Nathaniel Greenleigh," she said with a friendly smile.

Nathaniel stared at her hand for a moment. Everyone seemed so friendly.... where was the catch....? He caught himself staring and gave Mahou an apologetic grin before shaking her hand with a firm grip.

"Wha' be th' subject ye be lookin' forward ta? We hafta take Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology. I think tha's it.. An' I be especially lookin' forward ta Potions an' Herbology! If ye listen, ye can hear th' plants talkin'. They always ha'e lots ta say." She shifted her bags in her arms.

"Potions sounds like chemistry, and chemistry is something I like... used to like." he corrected himself. "Herbology... if it's growing stuff, then I'm pretty sure I'll like that. Defence against the Dark Arts sounds rather worrying from an uneducated point of view."

"Defence Against the Dark Arts sounds interestin' ta me," Mahou admitted, "though I am no' really lookin' forward ta Transfiguration. I was nae terrible good at it." She scrunched up her face and pulls out her 10-inch willow wand with unicorn tail hair. "This be th' wand I made at Cerrydwin's," she explained. "It took me a while ta make it. It works well, really, but Trans was nae me best."

He nudged the parcel of books at his feet with one booted foot. "I have a lot of learning to catch up on. I don't know what I'll have any talent at yet, if anything."

"Oh pish," Mahou said with a smile, "ye'll be grand at everythin' ye try, Nathaniel!" She giggled, squeezing her bags of purchases. "An' I bet ye'll almost match me in potions." She nudged him jokingly in the arm with a finger.

"Thanks for the encouragement." he managed a small smile. "You made your own wand... that's ... yeah... impressive."

He looked at it thoughtfully, uncertain of wizarding etiquette. Was it polite to ask to see other people's wands, or was it an intensely private part of a witch or wizards life...?

"Ceridwyn was the goddess with the cauldron, right, they put dead people in and got Cauldronborn out?" He made an odd face. "Unless Muggle mythology is different to what really is, of course."

Sarah had moved off slightly to one side consulting her list as Mahou started speaking with Nathaniel. She noted Oriana's was looking to engage Piotr in conversation or whatever. Good luck!

Happily Flourish and Blotts did tend to cater for the returning Hogwarts students in terms of displaying textbooks prominently in a close by section. This made Sarah's task much easier. She thought she might wait to see the schedule before deciding on all her options and get those books in Hogsmeade. She enjoyed her daily alone time, and it was a vital requirement in her case.

So she popped back and forth between the shelves and Mahou and Nathaniel giving him the books to hold as she selected them.

At this point Sarah had popped over with a book and caught Nathaniel's question about the Goddess Ceridwen.

"The Cauldron of Rebirth?" said Sarah adding the book to her small pile. "A symbol of regeneration associated with the Great Goddess of the Celtic peoples. Though The Dagda - the good god of the Tuatha De Dannan - also had a cauldron of plenty." she smiled. "With so many centuries of interpretation and reinterpretation by poets and bards as well as scholars of magical as well as non-magical persuasion it all gets *so* very complicated after a while so there isn't really a really.

Which is probably why I am going to stick with Muggle Studies again this year instead of charting the stormy seas of Myth, Folklore and Magic!" she said brightly.

Mahou knew she had started to sweat a little on her brow. How could they know that she might be..? No.. They couldn't know. The Tuatha were an ancient race of Faery-like folk.. Very tall and strong. Mahou was a descendant of those, as were all elves of Ireland. She could only hope they wouldn't guess....

Pulling her hat down lower over her ears, she smiled. "Cerrydwin be th' main goddess in me own beliefs," Mahou explained. "But Airmed be th' goddess I chose ta worship as me own. She be th' Goddess of Herblore and Herbcraft. An' even though he be Greek. Pan interests me also. I thought he was a good companion fer Airmed as she be very strict, while Pan be th' silly goat-man he be." She smiled, her auburn hair catching some light from the windows. "There be a monument in Cerrydwin's. It's th' cauldron tha' Cerrydwin stirs fer us all. O' course, I ken tha' no' everyone believes in her, so I willna go on abou' tha'."

She shifted her weight as Blackfoot sniffed the Siamese cat. "But once every ten years, th' cauldron be stirred, an' gifts come out fer those who were most loyal ta Cerrydwin an' her goddesses an' gods. It's supposed ta be stirred Samhain eve this year. I hope I can go back.. th' Headmistress over there said I ha'e permission."

"It sounds complicated." Sarah smiled not quite understanding Mahou's enthusiasm. "Though are you saying that you'd miss a Hogwarts' Halloween to go back to Ireland for this memorial Cauldron stirring? I mean the ghosts put on a show for the students and there is a splendid feast and other treats. I was hoping we might do some music. Your pipes and my voice and Branwen who is also in Ravenclaw is also musical." She looked very hopeful.

Mahou appeared VERY surprised.. she didn't think anyone would miss her, considering she hadn't been there long. "Donnae worry, lass," Mahou said with a smile, "th' stirrin' be in th' mornin'. I was actually wonderin' if ye an' Nathaniel, and prob'ly Nimue, would like ta come? I be sure tha' Master Dumbledore would give ye permission." She, too, looked very hopeful.

"You mean skip classes?!" said Sarah with a grin as she had already worked out that Halloween fell mid-week this year. "I don't know about Dumbledore though I guess we could try to sell him on the whole cross-culture angle. Would Nathaniel be allowed if it's an all girl school?"

Sarah would not miss a party for a 'ceremony' of any kind but classes were a different matter.

"Male visitors are allowed," Mahou told them, smiling, "jus' no' able ta attend th' school." She thought for a moment. "I suppose tha' we could ask Master Dumbledore t'night..."

"Hhuummmm?" said Sarah, "He'll have a lot on with all the new students, and there is quite a few weeks until the end of October so there is plenty of time."

*********

Piotr had, indeed, been very quiet. This was partly because his was the sort of personality that preferred to absorb than to contribute. People let things slip in normal conversation that he could store up and potentially use against them at a later date.

He was, truth to tell, bored with the constant discussion about school. He had hated his tutor, he hated learning - he hated the whole necessity of education. All he wanted to do was his own thing. The fact that he had no idea just what that 'thing' was was neither here nor there.

He'd retreated into the shadows a little as a particularly bold sunbeam had burst through the dusty windows of Flourish & Blotts and now stood, half-masked by the dancing shadows that played across his pale face and made him look particularly mysterious.

"I must return to the Leaky Cauldron," he announced eventually, the faint tone of boredom evident in his voice. "Ladies - and...Nathaniel...if you would excuse me?"

He gave the assorted group a slightly mocking bow and, putting his package of books under his arm, left the shop, his head bowed, his eyes almost narrowed to slits behind the dark glasses.

The Leaky Cauldron afforded some protection from the unpleasantness of the day, anyway.

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

Nathaniel nodded a farewell to Piotr. He would have waved vaguely but his hands were full with Sarah's books.

He stepped briefly over to Sarah so that she could add the three books she'd just pulled off a shelf to the growing pile in his arms without having to walk all the way back to them; and then stepped back to listen to Mahou's answer. She seemed nervous about something as she spoke.

Nathaniel nodded as she finished speaking. "Sounds like Myth and Folklore might be a good option for me to take up then, for I had an interest in it in the Muggle world." He managed another smile, which had previously been a rare thing but was now looking like it was going to rapidly become a habit.

"Mahou, don't look so worried. Fair enough, you're half witch and you've been going to a different school; but at least you've got a head start on me who's all Muggle and has all of this stuff to catch up on. Whatever else happens at Hogwarts, you can rest assured that you know far far more than I do."

********

Piotr hadn't even noticed her and that made Oriana a little upset. After she found and bought all of her books, she walked back over to Nathaniel and Sarah. She magically lifted the books with her wand so that they hovered behind her and followed her.

"Okay," she said, "I'm off to the Leaky Cauldron to buy myself a butterbeer. Maybe I'll see you all later?"

The floating books caught Nathaniel by surprise and he stared at them for a moment with his mouth open before he caught himself and stopped it.

"Later, Oriana." He freed a few fingers from books to give her a half wave.

"Leaky Cauldron eh?" said Sarah with a wink. "I guess all roads lead to the Leaky C this morning." It hadn't escaped her attention that this was exactly where Piotr had said he was heading.

"I have every confidence that both of you will do just fine." Sarah said to Mahou and Nathaniel placing her last book on the pile that Nathaniel was holding for her and extracting a small pouch of money to pay for them.

"Nathaniel, I think you are wise to take an option that links to something you were interested in before you stepped from the world you knew into this one. I mean it isn't all that much difference. There are food and shops and trains and banks and things but there are also goblins, unicorns and other stuff. All those beings and creatures that the muggles would prefer to think never could have been can be with us.

"There isn't electricity though - that might take some getting used to. Not so much like stepping back in time than stepping to one side."

"I feel a bit like I'm walking into a Jim Hensen movie... Labyrinth, maybe." A small shrug as he carefully deposited the armful of books on the counter, careful not to disturb the sleeping kitty in one pocket and instead getting the wand in his other pocket shoved into his ribs again.

"Folklore and Myth sounds familiar. Potions and Alchemy remind me already of chemistry, which is ok, the same with Herbology. I'll make do as best I can in the subjects that don't need magic, because I'm worried about how badly I'm going to do in the ones that do."

He fell silent as she paid for her books and they were wrapped, and he twined his fingers into the strap provided, carrying the books for her automatically and pausing to pick up his own luggage/baggage in the other hand.

"I miss my music already." he said suddenly, and looked away, embarrassed.

Mahou smiled a little at the response from Nathaniel, her strange, lime-green eyes glittering. "If ye need any help a'tall, Nathaniel," she began, "ye need just ask. I will be more than happy ta assist someone in anythin' tha' they need help in." She gestured to the crest of Cerrydwin over her heart. "Tha' be th' main rule they teach ye in Cerrydwin's: always help those who need it."

She took a few books from the boy, about 2 or so, and held them in one arm, her own bags in the other. "There nae be any need fer ye ta carry all these on yer own, lad," she said with a grin.

Sarah had been flattered that Nathaniel seemed to want to carry her books but she couldn't let Mahou carry them. She wasn't a spoilt rich kid like Arcadia.

Nathaniel tried to keep up with the conversation and parcels as both seemed to go from Sarah to Mahou and back again.

"It's OK. I'm stronger than I look." she smiled taking her books from Nathaniel, "right do you have any other shopping to do? We can see who is at the Leaky Cauldron and stop for a butterbeer or dump these things there and go off for a wander. Whatever you like really."

"Uh... yeah... sure." He rearranged the distribution of the packages. "Um.. I've got everything except a ... broomstick? Am I supposed to have one of those?"

"Not strictly necessary." said Sarah. "The school has quite a few of its own brooms which can be used by any student. Not everyone likes flying so it's a good idea to try it out before spending money. If you find you like flying then you can arrange to buy a broom of your own from the local wizarding village. We have time if you want to go into the Quidditch supply shop just down the street."

"If I find I like flying..." he repeated dully. "If I find I like flying..... Pinch me, Sarah, for I'm sure I'm dreaming. What's butterbeer? and Quidd... Quiddley?"

The kitten stirred in his pocket. "And does the school also supply litter trays and cat food and vets?"

Mahou smiled big, her ears threatening to pop out of her hat. "I LOVE Quidditch!" she cried, almost dropping her stuff. "I have a Firebolt, too! My parents got it for me for my birthday. They have always supported my obsession with Quidditch." She grinned, turning to Nathaniel.

"Quidditch is a game played on broomsticks, high in the air!" she began. "There are 2 Beaters, 1 Keeper, 3 Chasers, and 1 Seeker. The Beaters beat the Bludgers, which are 2 big black balls the whiz at all the other players trying to knock them off their broomsticks. The Beaters send the Bludgers at the opposing team, trying to knock them down, while trying to keep the Bludgers from hitting our own team."

She paused for a breath. "The Chasers use the Quaffle, which is a red ball, to try to score points in big hoops on either end of the field. Each score is worth 10 points."

She paused again. "The Keeper is sorta like a goalie in American soccer, trying to keep the Chasers from scoring. And the Seeker, which is what I DESPERATELY want to be, tries to catch a walnut-sized gold ball with little white wings, called a Snitch, to end the game. The snitch is worth 150 points, so whoever catches it is usually the winner. The game ends when the snitch is caught."

She smiled. "And it's oh-so fun to play! Ireland has a branch o' Quidditch, an' I was on me own House team."

She pulled out a worn book from inside her robes, holding it out to Nathaniel. "This is a book called Quidditch Through the Ages, and it's th' best book in the world! Ye should read it."

Nathaniel listened in silence as Mahou expounded exuberantly on the technicalities of this very dangerous-sounding game of Quidditch. She ended by pulling out a worn book from inside her robes, holding it out to Nathaniel.

"Uh... yeah... sure." He juggled packages with long dextrous fingers and found room for Quidditch through the Ages.

"It sounds...." he paused. "I'll be honest, Mahou. With the concept of flying previously limited to Puff the Magic Dragon and reruns of the X Men, it sounds.... incomprehensible. I think that I'm actually going to have to witness a game before I'll truly understand. But thank you for the loan of the book."

Sarah had smiled as Mahou had enthusiastically explained what Quidditch was. She was getting the impression that Mahou had a very exuberant personality.

"That's Quidditch in a nutshell Nathaniel! And yes we do fly on broomsticks just like in the stories - males as well as females. We have to be careful where we fly because muggles can't be allowed to see us. We are allowed to fly at school and aside from House teams we can also play more casual games of Quidditch as part of sports afternoon."

A wry smile. "I imagine my time will be taken up with learning to fly in the first place." he said softly, barely believing the words that were coming out of his mouth.

The weeks between the arrival of the letter from Hogwarts and today had been bad ones for Nathaniel, and had involved a great deal of soul searching. And when he was brutally honest with himself, he had never noticed anything special or different about himself. Nothing that warranted a foundation of belief in his own abilities at magic.

She addressed his other questions, "Hagrid the teacher for Care of Magical Creatures looks after any animals if they feel poorly and yes the cat food and litter trays are dealt with by the House Elves, plus the pets can roam about as they wish while we are in classes. As for butterbeer, there is only one way to explain it and that is to have some!"

Sarah was finding that she liked Nathaniel very much and was very glad he'd been sorted to Ravenclaw.

Nathaniel nodded in a vague manner and moved the wand again absently as it tried to poke a hole between two of his ribs again, and pushed the door open, holding it open politely for the girls. He didn't comment on the words 'house elves'.

He was rather certain he was going to find out. "Lead on, then." he said brightly.

***********

Branwen was absorbed. She had quickly bought all the books she strictly needed, anything she required for her as yet undecided options would have to be bought in Hogsmeade. No, she had wandered over to the section that her Grandmother's books were stocked in and was flicking through something steamy by a rival of Mwynen's....it was......educational.

*********

In Diagon Alley, Nimue, Kat and Marvo had exited the Owl Emporium, "Sorry Marvo but the look on your face was priceless. I'm sure that a butterbeer would go down perfectly about now." Said Nimue.

They exited the shop and were just in time to see Jon Sinclair and Shinrei Hikari arm-in-arm heading for Quidditch Quality Supplies across the street.

"Good grief," Nimue said with a smile, "Looks like Shinrei did settle in during the summer."

Kat giggled at Marvo's response too. "So are you buying them then?" She linked her arm through his as they headed for the Leaky Cauldron. "After all you suggested it..."

She looked up innocently at Marvo, and turned to wink at Nimue.

She glanced over to where Nimue had pointed out Shinrei and Jon. "I never thought Jon would ever get anywhere with any female... do you suppose there is anything going on?"

Nimue gave her warm smile. Dragging Marvo off to the robe shop even as a tease would have been fun though a happy Marvo willing to buy them butterbeers for his narrow escape was much more fun.

Regarding the Shinrei/Jon alliance, Nimue shrugged.

"I know what you mean. He's just not the type to get dreamy over is he? Still Shinrei did spend the summer with his sister so they might have gotten close then or something as they are both Quidditch mad."

"Of course I'll buy. Anything to keep away from the dreaded Robe shop!" Marvo Smiled. "I never thought Jon had time for girls. Too bust polishing his 'Best Boy' Badge."

Although Marvo said this with a smile, the slightest hint of jealousy was present.

**********

For the umpteenth time that day, Raphael glanced down at the note that his uncle had left him, and muttered swearwords under his breath that he knew he shouldn't have known. He'd got lost in this strange place twice, stumbling onto old men in tables in shadows, men who looked him up and down and muttered under their breath. If he'd watched more television, and hadn't lived on an isolated farmstead all his life, Raphael might have muttered to himself something else, but instead, the curse was: "damned poachers."

Another kid had offered him a sweet, and it had tasted of bean sprouts, oddly, and caused the teenager to cough madly for five minutes. And then, there was the bizarre list of items his uncle had left for him. He looked at the next one: 'A Wand' it said in scrawled handwriting. His uncle had sent him, with only these bizarre instructions, to get on a train to go and "see the world." Raphael would have spit in anger except it'd have got him a cuff around the ear at home, and cuffs around the ear stuck. And hurt, he sighed to himself.

At least he wasn't alone. Standing in the light on the truly wonderful (the sarcastic tone was very loud in his head, he admitted) and strange street he had been sent to with little to no knowledge of why, Raphael looked all on his own. For some reason he didn't seem to care. Muttering under his breath occasionally got him strange looks, Raphael realised, but it was true: he didn't care. Maybe once he got out of London on 'this train' he was meant to catch he'd find some quiet to talk properly. Or maybe not.

He walked into the correct shop (a hastily scrawled map of his uncles needing translation yet again from an odd-looking passer-by), only stopping for a second to raise an eyebrow at the sign: "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC." To himself, Raphael wondered if that was true. Had Ollivanders truly been making fine wands since 382? Now, the fact that Ollivanders probably made bent and gnarly wands in 382BC sounded about right, he thought to himself, but...

Fifteen minutes later, when he was finally shown in and the frankly creepy man called Ollivander (he had looked down on the fact that Raphael, rather one of his older customers, truly didn't know a thing about anything) they had started into the wands. A small pile was getting higher and higher next to the pair, who stood in the dusty shop apparently on their own. As Mr Ollivander went to the shelves for yet another esoteric wand (7 inch Pearwood, catgut innard - apparently tended towards those bordering on Squib tendencies - whatever that meant) Raphael rolled his eyes in exasperation at a set of icy blue eyes only he could see in the corner. They rolled back.

"Tricky, eh," muttered Mr Ollivander under his breath. "You are a 'mature student', yes? I didn't sell you your last wand. What was it, exactly?"

His last wand... Raphael started reaching down into his pocket, wondering if Ollivander meant this... feeling for the oaken twig with his sisters' hair entwined around it and in it, an object he'd kept secret from his uncle and the wand-man both...

One of the boxes, on one of the high shelves in the corner of the room, was jarred. A single wand was knocked off the shelf and flew into the air. Raphael moved to catch it, without thinking, and was already going too fast to halt when he saw another figure moving towards him, already leaping. Mr. Ollivander was standing behind him, looking curiously into the dusty

air...

Raphael felt a crack as his head hit anothers', and he could have sworn there was a flash of light. When he next looked up, thankfully the room was once again only populated by him and Mr Ollivander. An exclamation died on Raphael's lips, replaced by one on Mr Ollivanders.

"That seemed to work," commented Ollivander, picking up the errant wand from the floor. "It responded instantly, enough to throw you backwards, actually. Quite surprising. Laurel. 12 inches. Odd centre - foreign import - angel's heart-string, apparently." He quickly wrapped up the wand, and handed it to Raphael. Those odd coins exchanged hands, and Raphael was soon escorted from the shop, much too tall and much too ignorant to have about.

His head ached, but until he was far from the shop, Raphael suppressed a frown and a disapproving word to his invisible companion. That had been far too close. Even when with his uncle during the last six months, he hadn't had a call that close.

Outside, standing in a shadow so his whispering to nothing wouldn't be noticed, Raphael looked at the wand in his hand. It drooped. Raphael sighed. A note that was senseless and fairly inaccurate, an uncle who wouldn't tell him where exactly where he was gearing up to go, and now a wand that had all the droop of a seventy-year-old man. "What a day, Zephyr," he muttered, apparently to the thin air next to him.

The 'thin air' nodded in agreement, but then it threw one of it's (thankfully invisible) juggling balls at a passer-by, getting Raphael a dirty look, being that 'he was the only one present', thought Raphael to himself.

Being a tall and immediately noticeable teenager was rather annoying, especially when accompanied by a winged and rather unnoticeable nutter. He rolled his eyes at the robed figure, watching as he rubbed his 'juggled' head and stared at him indignantly, and reached into his pocket for the note, once again, and then noted a new and interesting development.

He was lost again, wasn't he?

**********

Kat propelled Marvo towards the Leaky Cauldron. Most of the shoppers would be heading here before catching the train if every other year was anything to go by.

As she looked around Diagon alley however she noticed that there seemed to be a few new faces. As they walked towards their goal she noticed one boy stood apparently on his own frowning over a piece of paper.

Kat looked up at Marvo and smiled. "I believe as a prefect I should really be helping to sort out some of the newer school members. You coming?"

She looked over her shoulder at Nimue to see if she was going to take the hint and go help some of the newer people too.

Nimue totally agreed with Kat's sentiment about prefects' roles. She'd been watching for Mahou Amberstone but hadn't seen her about. She watched as Kat had joined the tall, lost looking boy and then turned to Marvo.

"Marvo, do you want to pop into the Cauldron and see if there are any new faces in there looking lost? I'll see if Kat needs me and then maybe drift back up the street." She looked at her watch. "We should still have time for a butterbeer before the car comes for us."

Marvo looked around. "Of course. I don't want to keep you ladies away from your duties"

He thought for a moment. "Yes. I'll head for the Cauldron. And get the drinks in. If any newbies are there I'll let them know you're on your way."

He kissed Kat and bowed to Nimue then went on his way to the Leaky Cauldron.

With that Kat headed over to where Raphael was standing. "Hi! You look a little lost and confused. Can I help at all? I'm Kathryn, by the way."

Nimue also went over to stand by Kat remaining silent. She wasn't sure if she'd be needed, but as she was quite new to this prefect business considered that she was on a learning curve. She did keep an eye out though in case there was anyone else in a similar predicament.