He preferred for the moment to stay slightly in the background.

"I'm surprised I didn't meet you the week or two I was here," Oriana said. "You must be very good at keeping a low profile. I thought I had met almost everyone."

She laughed. "I wonder where Arcadia is? She said she needed to talk to me. I wonder what's so important...? I don't like being involved with that girl. She's not right. Got something on her mind she has! Something evil..."

Her mind went back to the phial of potion that was in her pocket since last term.

Marvo smiles. " Well, yes, I was rather... busy at the end of last term. I do hope things are quieter this one"

However his face grew darker at the mention of Arcadia. "You should be very careful of her. I've not been able to prove anything yet, but, well... keep away from her."

"That's what everyone keeps telling me. She said I have to be her friend...I don't know why, but that's what she said."

She really wished she could tell Marvo what was happening with the potion, but she was couldn't. She didn't even know what the potion was. And besides, she was scared.

Dreadfully scared.

"Friend?" Why would she ask... how odd" Marvo smiled at Oriana. He could see she was scared. "Well, if she try's anything, you just let me know. Okay?"

"Yea," she said quietly. "Sure...I'll let you know." Her eyes fell to the floor. She was ashamed of herself for not telling.

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

Nathaniel nodded glumly as vast amounts of people started gravitating to their table, and more attention than he was happy with was suddenly being paid to him.

"The letter said Ravenclaw, to be confirmed by the 'hat'." he said to Kat Black and shrugged and suddenly looked down at the kitten on his lap. The cat was sitting there purring, so why could he feel it scrabbling about on his shoulder....

One hand lifted to gently investigate, and came away holding ... a squirrel, which promptly bit him.

"AAARGH." Nathaniel said, with some feeling, and dropped the creature on the table where it looked up at him and chattered merrily. "Whose squirrel is that that just bit me?!"

Sarah noted that Breana had brought the chattering Tyris back with her to England and that she had 'introduced' himself to Nathaniel.

'Mine,' Breana piped up, having followed Sarah after a soft thank you for the butterbeer. Once she reached the rest, she reached over the table and grabbed the squirrel roughly. The squirrel resisted as much as she could, but Breana had quite a good grip on her.

In the end, the squirrel reluctantly settled on Breana's shoulder and stared angrily at the boy. 'I'm afraid she's not the best social creature in the world...she seems to think everyone is out to get her if she doesn't bite first...sorry about that...are you hurt?'

The number of people round the table suddenly doubled, and Nathaniel's face automatically folded back into its characteristic sullen look. He wasn't being sullen, not at that particular moment, but he had worn that face in self-defence for so many years that it had become ingrained into his features.

Nathaniel was not comfortable with attention. Attention to him was all too closely allied with bullying, cold words, hard words, shouting, and the difficult sensation of knowing that he wasn't wanted, not truly. He settled back in his seat, very slightly, and one hand dropped to a pocket automatically. No... not here.. that would make things worse. His hand moved instead to the kitten, petting it gently, absentmindedly, and tried to keep up with the conversation.

To the girl who owned the squirrel he managed a quick smile. "No, it was more surprise than hurt, don't worry."

***********

In Diagon Alley Nathan Lagrand was standing with Hagrain.

"Oh, of course I'm coming, I rather like people to buy me drinks," Nathan said with a grin. "But I'm warning you, it's rather crowded in there - I bet half of the school is drinking butterbeer... but don't let them frighten you." He winked, and they entered the pub.

When Hagrain had bought them each a drink, Nathan looked around, smiled at some people and then turned back to the boy.

"So, are you nervous? I think I would be. You know, I went to Beauxbatons first and only transferred to Hogwarts last year, so I don't really know what it's like to be Sorted - never even seen it, I must admit. But my baby sister Morticia was Sorted properly and all, she said it was exciting but fun." He sipped at his drink. "I'm sure you'll be okay."

Hagrain smiled a thanks and sipped at the butterbeer, his eyes bulging at the taste. He forced it down however, with barely a wince to show his dislike for the stuff.

***********

Breana at first was slightly insulted at what Sarah had said about her, but then shook her head and dismissed the thought. She just had to stop thinking everyone was out to get her, just because her home life wasn't the best.

Instead, she gave a chuckle, which surprised even herself, and then said, 'I've learnt a lot during the summer. Mr. White did the tutoring he promised so I think I've caught up. That's the problem. I think I've caught up.'

Breana made a slight face, but then chuckled again, but the good mood didn't last.

The squirrel made a remark about what she had just said, which made Breana roughly hiss something at it, and then look slightly dismayed, as if Tyris had brought up something she would have rather not think about.

********

"Yes, Drake was there quite a time..." Morticia and Niki left the ladies' room. "But he was as difficult to talk to as always, I don't think there is anyone but Nat who manages to talk about serious things with him. He's very... closed." She smiled. "Can't blame him, can you? But I'm glad he'll be at school. I bet you're happy to get back to Hogwarts, aren't you? Considering... all those... things that happened...?"

"I'm very glad to be back," Niki agreed. "It's the only place I can do...I mean, be with my friends. I saw you and Nathan over the summer, but that was all...and I got lonely in Greece."

They had emerged into the main room of the pub, and Niki elbowed Tish. "Look! Drake is actually talking to someone!"

Morticia stared at Drake standing in front of the crowded tables and grinned. "My oh my, signs and wonders everywhere, Drake is talking..."

She giggled, but quickly became serious again. "Niki, I'm sorry I didn't write more often than I did. It was so busy what with Ninny preparing for school and Mom pregnant and Papa away all the time because of something top-secret going on in the Ministry. Then there was Nat and Drake doing nonsense and Belle writing to Nat and Mom finding the letter and Papa coming home to be angry," she breathed. "It was just such a heap of confusing mess that I'm glad to go back to Hogwarts although I'm scared as anything because of things like Dark wizards killing off people," she swallowed, "or enchanting my cat so it can speak..."

She finally stopped. "Sorry. I get that sometimes. I'll be quiet now."

Niki nodded. "It's okay, Tish, it really is. My grandmother is horrible, but I survived. I've even learned some Greek, which will be useful if I have to stay there next summer--and I really hope that I don't!--but I am *so* happy to be coming back to Hogwarts, and now I'm wondering if I'm *sane*... And I don't want anything bad to happen either." She sighed. "But I can't imagine a year worse than this one...so..."

She looked around. "Is that Nathan over there?"

"I'm glad to go back to Hogwarts, my family is driving me crazy." Morticia grinned. "And yes, that seems to be Nat... wonder who the other boy is. Looks like a first year, doesn't he?" She frowned. "Think we should see what they're doing? I don't want Nat to get in trouble for spoiling innocent youths..."

Niki smiled. "I think you and I are thoroughly corrupted...shall we go and prevent any more innocent children from following in our footsteps? He does look like a first year, you're right..."

"Sure, let's go," Morticia replied with a grin, "before that poor boy gets the wrong impression of Slytherins before he even gets to the school."

**********

As Raphael was standing close to them Drake decided to offer him some help. He smiled at Raphael in a friendly way that was highly untypical for him. "M-maybe I can help you," he said then, "I think w-we've got a lot in common s-since my p-parents are normal people a-as well."

He grabbed one of the few remaining chairs and squeezed in to sit down at the table. "A-also I'll be assisting t-to teach M-muggle studies this year, M-muggles b-being people that can't do magic. If I can b-be of any help, l-let me know."

Raphael turned to look at Drake, with a sudden twisting movement. For a second, as Drake's eyes met Raphael's, all the assistant teacher could see was fire. Burning red fire in Raphael's eyes, fury that seemed as real as any sword, as hot as any fireball, and made his deep emerald eyes look blood-red.

"Normal people?" snarled Raphael under his breath, and then without continuing, spun around and went around the table to where Nathaniel and Sarah were sitting, away from Drake.

Fire was pouring through his thoughts, and it was like it had got in front of his eyes; all he could think about were flames. Feeling himself float, the burning of his eyes detaching him from thought and reality...

For a second in the chaos of the Leaky Cauldron Raphael seemed to stop, swaying suddenly, his eyes going out of focus. He blinked twice, gulped a little, and then seemed to catch his breath, letting his hand rest on the back of the chairs. Looking up, and away from the party, through the red haze he saw a pair of questioning icy blue eyes, entering the Cauldron again through the door, sliding into a set of shadows. He was okay, he was fine, he told himself, as the haze cleared and he got his balance back.

He sat down suddenly, shook his head a little more, and then grabbed a butterbeer and downed it. Grinning at Nathaniel, who he was sitting next to, he gave both him and Sarah Taverner a flash of deep emerald eyes, and told them both with a grin that he prayed that they had a supply of butterbeer at Hogwarts.

Grinning at Sarah, Raphael asked: "What houses are there at the school? And what's the difference between them? Or is that a state secret?" he asked, the incident with Drake slipping from his mind.

Nathaniel had caught the tail end of Drake's words to Raphael, "If I can b-be of any help, l-let me know."

Nathaniel bit his lip a little and said nothing. A minute later Raphael came wandering over, an odd expression on his face, and plumped down next to Nathaniel and began to talk to Sarah. A long explanation of the houses was forthcoming and Nathaniel welcomed the chance to sit further back in his seat, into the shadow a little more.

At Raphael's reaction, Drake threw him an unreadable glance and then stood up. "E-excuse me," he nodded at Nimue and hinted at a smile, "I've s-some things to take c-care of. See you all a-at school..."

He moved away from the huddle and stood alone, feeling uncomfortable. So much for his attempt to be sociable. He should have known better, he just wasn't fit for that kind of thing!

**********

The two girls walked over to Nathan and Hagrain drinking their butterbeer. Hagrain turned to see two older girls stepping into view.

"Hello," Morticia said, smiling at Hagrain, "I hope my brother isn't bothering you. If he is, just ignore him, it's his hobby to be a nuisance."

"Thank you indeed," Nathan replied, smiling warmly at her and then at Niki. The two girls sat down.

"Hello, Niki. Uhm - this is Hagrain, he's a first-year and a bit lost, so I decided to show him around a bit. Hagrain, the black-haired beauty with the mouth of a hag there is my little sister Morticia, and the smaller, but even more impressive beauty with the mouth of an angel is Nicola Pheidippides, her friend, though I don't know why..."

Niki turned pink, but smiled. "I suppose Tisha says the same thing about Drake. Hello, Hagrain...I hope you don't mind us butting in." He looked nervous--little wonder, he was being mobbed by upperclassmen--and like he wanted to bolt. Niki was familiar with that.

Hagrain shook hands with both of them, smiling at them a little shyly." Nice to meet you." He mumbled.

"Are you excited about going to school?" Morticia asked friendly, feeling a bit sorry for Hagrain who looked so shy and confused. "Our little sister is starting this year as well, Nat and I are betting into which house she'll be Sorted... I said Gryffindor but he is insisting on Slytherin." She shrugged.

"Anyway, do you know how to get to the train and all?" Morticia asked.

"Nope, he doesn't," her brother interrupted, "I was just thinking whether we couldn't take him to the station in the Ministry car..."

"I'm impressed, Nathan," Morticia replied, frowning slightly, "caring about others, now what will we see next, toads growing wings? Sorry, Hagrain," she smiled at him, "siblings' fight. But Nat's suggestion sounds good, if you'd like that, that is. Niki, how are you getting to the Express?"

"I was going to get a ride with Nimue, but now that I've found you, I'll just flutter my eyelashes and you'll give me a ride...right?" Niki was slightly embarrassed to admit it, but in her rush to get back to England, she had totally forgotten about getting from Diagon Alley to King's Cross.

"Of COURSE you'll come with us!" Morticia exclaimed. "It'll be fun, I love riding in those ministry cars... and they're big enough for you and Hagrain to come with us."

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

"Sure...I could use a drink..." Madison smiled back, happy to see him. "So have you gotten all your supplies yet? Looking forward to school?" She paused and turned to the new girl. "Oh, what's your name? Have you been sorted yet?"

Hal blushed slightly, still not quite sure what was going on between Maddy and him. He turned to the bar and ordered Butterbeers for the girls, and as Amy was lost in her own world he cleared his throat and looked back at Madison.

"You look well...been anywhere nice in the holidays?" He was embarrassed, they hadn't communicated during the break and he wondered what she had been doing with herself. he had been stuck at home helping in the family shop, the monotony broken only with the occasional visit to the Evans family home under the guise of much needed revision.

Madison blushed. She had wanted to visit him or something over break, but had gone to her uncle's instead...

"Yeah...Yvette and I went to California to visit my uncle. We learned to surf and everything....It was good to go back for awhile," she said with a smile. "We had a great time..." She had also been wondering what he had been doing over break, but she didn't she should say that... "What about you? Do anything fun over the summer?"

Hal took a swig of his drink and coughed slightly.

"Helping Dad...not much...." He looked embarrassed again, Madison had obviously had an exciting time and he....he had been serving crotchety old witches with peculiar ingredients for who knows what kind of recipes. They generally smelled....very badly and told him how much he'd grown since they saw him last, and wasn't he the spit of his Father.....He never imagined he'd be quite so glad to face the prospect of studying.

"Surfing eh? Sounds interesting..."

**********

Mahou, deciding that she couldn't take anymore of this packed place, suddenly gathered her purchases and her fox, and stood. Her hat lay almost askew on her head as she gently shoved past the people near her, uttering a pardon and excuse me here and there.

Raphael's question about the time had reminded Nimue that time was advancing slowly but surely to the stage for their departure to Kings Cross and the Hogwarts Express.

With Mahou leaving, Nimue leant over to Kat. "I think I shall go and collect my owl now and then go and see if the cars have arrived."

She glanced over to where Morticia and Niki stood talking. "I would guess that Monsieur Lagrand will have arranged a Ministry car for the Lagrands. As it's a weekend I've asked Daddy to send an extra car or two that should allow us to ferry some extra people to the station and Tom, the landlord has also asked for some London cabs. Too bad we can't tie little Hogwarts flags to the their aerials and have a procession." she said with a grin.

**********

Sarah was happy to answer Raphael's question about the Houses.

"Not a secret at all. The Houses were each founded by the Four Founders of Hogwarts, who came together over a thousand years ago to create the school. They each valued different qualities in the young witches and wizards they trained and the Houses reflect that.

Helga Hufflepuff who founded Hufflepuff House whose emblem is the badger, valued those students who were both patience and capable of hard work. Usually the students there are quite gentle and if we are honest a little less than robust. They tend to panic if a ghost says 'boo' to them.

Then there was Rowena Ravenclaw, who founded Ravenclaw House whose emblem is the Eagle. She valued in her students intelligence, wit and a love of learning. So loads of really smart kids in Ravenclaw."

She took a pause for a drink, "Then there was Godfric Gryffindor, they say he was a warrior wizard and the symbol of that House is the Lion. He valued those students who were brave at heart, daring, and noble, into chivalry, honour that sort of thing.

Finally, there was Salazar Slytherin and the symbol of Slytherin House is the Serpent. Ole Salazar valued power and those students who likewise were ambitious, resourceful, cunning with a certain disregard for rules. Those willing basically to be achieve greatness by any means.

The other thing about Slytherin is that he objected to Hogwarts accepting any student who wasn't of 'pure blood' - so a wee bit of a fanatic on that score. He and Gryffindor fell out over it - as you might imagine Gryffindor was more liberally minded. In theory Slytherin now accepts those of mixed backgrounds but there are still those in Slytherin who are prejudiced even if there are very nice Slytherins as well."

She smiled at the two boys, "Of course, that was a thousand years ago and quite a few students will be something of a mixture of those qualities but the Sorting Hat kind of weeds out where you'd do best in tune with your essential nature."

Raphael looked at his butterbeer, and thought for a moment, about what she'd said. How did she put it? The sorting hat would sort him according to his true nature? How would the hat sort him? Delve into his mind, seeing more of him then he dared let himself see? What was his true nature?

In frustration, and anger at the thoughts that he knew he had no control over, Raphael stood suddenly, knocking a half-full mug of butterbeer over both Nathaniel and Sarah. Instantly he felt his face go into full wince mode. "Gods... I'm so sorry..." he said, his embarrassment obvious in his voice.

Reflex - and the fact he was sitting so far back in his seat he was almost wearing a hole in the wall behind him - saved Nathaniel from getting more than mildly splashed when the butterbeer went over.

Leaning on the table and grabbing a tissue from a pocket to offer Sarah, who'd received almost the full whack of the butterbeer, Raphael's hand slipped in what was on the table and he fell awkwardly.

His head hit the table full whack, and he slipped onto the ground, a mass of groans.

It had been a shock for Sarah to have a quantity of butterbeer splash into her lap but one of those things that happened in crowded pubs. She said 'Ooops' and started to get up to excuse herself to get cleaned up when Raphael fell and hit his head on the table and then slipped to the floor groaning.

With a frantic look towards Kat, who was an experienced healer in such matters, Sarah got up and went to kneel by Raphael making sure that he hadn't knocked himself unconscious. Doing what she could in the meantime while Kat extracted herself from her side of the table and made her way round to them. She also kept others from crowding round Raphael out of curiosity.

Nathaniel was on his feet almost instantly, his natural impulse to withdraw from the situation over ruled by the possibility that Raphael might be hurt. The boy with the odd mood swings might not be a friend yet, but he certainly wasn't an enemy.

Scooping the kitten up and thrusting it into Sarah's hands out of the way, Nathaniel moved quickly to roll Raphael carefully into the recovery position. The fact that he was technically a wizard-in-training completely fled his mind, and all thoughts of Muggles and non Muggles.... first aid trained instincts moving in.

"Raphael?" he asked with concern in his voice. "Can you tell me where we are? Can you see alright, any dots in your vision?"

Nathaniel obviously knew what he was about and therefore Sarah took the kitten and waited to see how Raphael was.

***********

Kat jumped up as soon as she heard the thump. She rushed over to where Sarah was holding people back and smiled gratefully at her as she rushed past to examine Raphael.

She glanced up to see Nathaniel also coming to Raphael's aid. But did not say anything. She motioned to Sarah to move the tables back from around Raphael. Then she placed one hand on his head and the other on his chest closed her eyes and appeared to mutter something.

Nathaniel would probably have no idea what she was doing, although the students who knew her well were aware of her healing skill. She had been trained in muggle first aid as well as wizard first aid, and still found the muggle methods far too crude.

The excitement of Raphael's fall and Kat and Nathaniel rushing to assist him had occurred as Nimue had been talking with Kat about arrangements for students getting to Kings Cross.

She had stood up as Kat needed to get by her and remained standing waiting to see what would happen next.

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

"Dots," came a mutter from Raphael, groaning slightly as he moved, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red that indicated to Kathryn a severe case of embarrassment. His eyes slid open to see the rather concerned faces of both Kathryn and Nathaniel, staring down on him like he'd managed to do a double somersault.

Oh... wait a sec... Raphael couldn't help but ask himself: had he done a double somersault? His mind wandering for just a second, Raphael looked at the ceiling of the Leaky Cauldron, and started counting the cracks. One... two... three... it was a brilliant ceiling, he mused to himself. Totally top notch. Reminded him of the kitchen ceiling in his parent's house. Or was he dreaming? Had he been dreaming about a life that was different?

Why had he slipped on the kitchen floor, he asked himself angrily? He must have banged his head - the nightmare he'd had, it'd had been too much. Though things had been bad in the nightmare, although in the nightmare, he was important, he was the skilled one - it'd taken so much to change things. But now, it was okay: he was in his kitchen, his mother could come running any second, and it'd be all fine. Raphael decided to himself: he wouldn't curse the candlelight anymore, not after the nightmare: he'd warm his hands around it. Maybe tonight he'd sneak into the kitchen and watch his father and his sister talking.

But... where was the bookshelf in his parent's kitchen? And who was this girl standing over him? Raphael's memories started to fade, slowly slipping from him, dew dripping off and branch before the morning sun. He brushed a tear from his right eye that he couldn't remember shedding, and where he really was - the Leaky Cauldron, about to get on a train to his new life - flooded. Damn. He'd fallen over, hadn't he? He'd done a stunt and hit his head. "Marks out of ten?" he asked, a slight grin slipping over his face.

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

Suddenly Kat was there, placing her hands on Raphael and muttering.

Nathaniel suddenly remembered exactly where he was and who he was with, and a dark blush of embarrassment crept up into his cheeks as he backed off and gave Kat the room she needed.

"Excuse me, back off, coming through, pardon me." He muttered, letting his long hair fall into his face as he made his way through the busy pub to the door. His assorted baggage and shopping were in a heap inside the door of the Leaky Cauldron, same as several other peoples, and he left them there for now. He just needed... to get away from the people. He felt as though everyone must be staring at the stupid Muggle wearing wizarding robes for no reason at all, and couldn't bring himself to look back. He forgot utterly about the kitten.

Outside in the bright sunshine, away from the non-existent staring faces, he leant back against the wall and closed his eyes. One hand dropped to his pocket automatically again and again he forced himself to take his hand away empty. Hadn't he made enough of an idiot of himself already and not even at the damned school yet....

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

Sarah watched Nathaniel leave unsure whether to follow or not. The little kitten wriggled in Sarah's hands impatiently.

"OK, little kitty." said Sarah stroking it and letting it cling to her. She looked about - there were enough other students making sure that Kat wasn't crowded.

Holding the kitten close, Sarah slipped outside and into the alley where Nathaniel was leaning against the wall.

"Hey" she said stroking the kitten, which had started to wriggle again on seeing Nathaniel. "You forgot someone. Have you given him or her a name yet?"

Nathaniel opened his eyes and looked down at the cat, and took him from her hands and held him gently by the scruff of the neck in front of his face.

The kitten stopped struggling and curled himself up into a ball and tried to look demure and innocent.

"You scratch her - ever - and I'll feed you one small piece at a time to Mahou's fox... do you understand me?" Nathaniel said quietly to him.

The kitten opened his green eyes fully and gave a little mewl, and Nathaniel swung him up into the crook of his arm, where he promptly sprouted claws and climbed up to his shoulder.

"Oh, I don't worry about things like scratches. Part of a cat's nature and all." Sarah said with a grin reaching up and giving the kitten a bit of a stroke. "Kat's cats - Mulder and Scully are pretty cool. They'll be good company for him. Maybe they'll even tell Kat his name for you."

"Uh... he's a .. yeah... he." Nathaniel turned eyes as green as the cats towards Sarah. "A name... no, just 'cat'.... he knows his own name, and won't be bothered answering to any I give him, if I'm any judge of cats."

The kitten just looked smug, perched on his shoulder.

Nathaniel shrugged a one shouldered shrug so as not to disturb the kitten too much - and thusly avoiding the needle-sharp claws that the kitten seemed to like digging in him so much.

"Cats nature be damned.... if it lays a claw on you without good reason, there'll be hell to pay. I'm sure he'll get round to letting me know his name when he's ready." he murmured, still half not believing what was happening to him.

Sarah tactfully didn't mention the incident in the pub, which had led him outside but focused instead on the prospect of leaving.

An awkward silence for a moment or so, and Nathaniel patted his pockets absently and came up with a pocketwatch. The movement was so instinctive it was clear that he didn't normally wear a wristwatch, that and the fact that the light tan on his hands and arms didn't show any distinctive pale swathe where a wristwatch had been.

"What time does the train leave?" he asked, desperate that Sarah not mention his appalling show of Muggleness in the Leaky Cauldron. "London traffic gets rough about lunchtime..."

"The train leaves at eleven sharp and I overheard Nimue - that's the girl with the long dark hair that came in with Raphael and Kat - say something about cars and taxis being arranged to take us.

So I dare say that we'll all get bundled into one or the other. The station is very close anyway and the drivers probably know a few short cuts no matter how bad the traffic."

This was very true. Even if some of the vehicles were not official Ministry of Magic cars, London cabbies had the 'knowledge' - that is, they knew a thousand little side streets, that could effectively take you from A to Z avoiding any snarls in record time.

Nathaniel nodded. "Fair enough.... um... yeah... . you know... thanks for your help. Not everybody .. you know..." another one shouldered shrug "... has so much time to spend on new and ignorant people. Thanks."

"That's OK Nathaniel." Sarah said feeling slightly embarrassed, "Kat and the other Ravenclaws were really nice to me when I was plonked on them mid-term last autumn. We have a really friendly House and I do hope that you'll be confirmed there by the Hat."

Amazingly for the first time in almost a year, Sarah wasn't pining for Slytherin House.

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

Andy exited Flourish and Blott's and entered the Leaky Cauldron. He saw Marvo sitting with one of the many new girls and Kat hunched over one of the many new boys. Andy had at lot of catching up to do.

Looking concerned, Andy walked over to where Kat was and asked, "Hi Kat. Is everything alright? What happened?"

He smiled at the boy who was lying on the ground.

Pushing himself up, Raphael looked around at the crowds that were looking at him. "It's okay," he said, "I might be a fallen god but," he said, and then spying just who was looking after him after Kathryn, he leapt up, "gods recover quick," he said.

And then proceeded to sway and almost topple again, with black spots hitting his eyes, grasping Sarah Taverner on the shoulder to stay upright. "Urgh," he mumbled, before peeling one of his eyes open. "Fine, really," he said, with the severe headache the least of his concerns.

Nimue was pleased to see that Raphael was OK. A knock on the head like that could be quite serious but she had confidence in Kat's abilities as a healer. She also had noticed Nathaniel leaving - she'd half thought about following him herself but she hadn't really spoken to him before this and he might consider it a bit odd if she had.

Sarah however had gone after Nathaniel taking his kitten with her. Nimue had stepped into Sarah's vacated place near to Kat.

She was a bit surprised when Raphael got up so fast. Less surprised when despite his flippant words about fallen gods recovering quickly he almost fell over again and had to grab hold of her shoulder to steady himself.

She thought that he wasn't quite aware whose shoulder he was grabbing but then a head injury can easily disorient someone like that.

"You're probably going to have a sore head for a few hours." she said kindly smiling at Raphael. "Sit down for a minute or two. I think it will be best if you come in one of the cars with Kathryn or myself when we leave for the station."

***********

Kat had felt a slight confusion in his head for a minute, caused by the hit he had taken. Other than that there appeared to be no lasting damage.

When Raphael jumped up she knew that he would make himself dizzy. She pulled up a chair and gently pushed him into it. "Will you just sit still for a few minutes." She almost sounded a little cross at him for trying to rush off.

"You have knocked your head and may feel a little dizzy, so just sit there and don't get up until I tell you that you can."

She noticed that Nathaniel had disappeared. For a minute she had thought that the new boy might be able to help her and was a little surprised to find he had gone. She made a mental note to talk to him later.

"Now would you like me to get rid of that headache for you? Or do you enjoy the suffering?" she asked Raphael.

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

Marvo had continued to speak with Oriana taking the conversation away from the subject of Arcadia for a while.

Just then he heard a commotion at the other table.

"What is going on there?"

He watched Kat helping a boy he did not recognise, but decided to stay where he was, He know if Kat wanted him there she would let him know. He'd already been told off enough times for 'butting in' on her Prefect duties.

But he did kind of hope she would ask him over and introduce him to the new people.