She led the anxious little blond girl to a group of shivering First Years, smiled at Hagrid and went to find a place in a carriage.

David pointed the way as he climbed into one of the carriage, and Ruthie scurried over to the group of other first years. She was grinned infectiously, and looked like she might burst with excitement.

"Hey Tish!" called Sarah from the window of the carriage. "Your little sister is named Nimue isn't she? How we gonna know who you're talking about or will you just call Gryffindor Nimue 'Lizzy' like Marvo does and drive her bonkers?" She grinned,

"If you want you can travel with us. No hoity-toity Gryffindors in this carriage, promise." She winked at Raphael - his future House still remained a mystery of course.

Morticia laughed. "Well, my sister is Ninny so Nimue will stay Nimue, there'll be no problem there... Thanks for the invitation."

She climbed into the carriage. "I don't want to sit with Niki and Nathan exchanging smoochies all the time, you know?" She growled lowly and stared at Glueclaws. "What, are you coming in or what?"

The cat glared at her and jumped into the carriage. "Anyway, Sarah, how have you been? Nice holidays?" She smiled at Raphael. "Hi. You're the one my cat is so fond of, right?"

Niki, who was standing nearby, frowned at hearing her own name, but was wisely silent. Morticia, while usually a wonderfully nice person, was not someone whose bad temper was enjoyable. Instead, she pulled her cloak a little tighter and set off to look for an empty (or partially so) carriage.

"Smoochies." said Sarah pulling a slight face. "Risking life and limb and the wrath of Arcadia Fudge. Living life on the edge, huh?"

Sarah gazed at Gluey with a slightly wary eye as the cat had hissed at her earlier. "Holidays were cool. I hung out with my pal Molly and watched lots of muggle telly. Practised flying a lot as well so I am all ready for the Quidditch trials this year. You know Slytherin House may well be regret I didn't get my place there after all."

She said this with a wink. The subject of her House placement was much less of an issue these days. "Did you have a good holiday? Parents not too parental were they? Did you get to go to Ambassador type parties and dress up?"

Morticia frowned. "You know, they make me sick! This constant 'you're so pretty' and 'you're so clever'-stuff, it's highly annoying! Not even to mention Arcadia who'll hunt them down the whole year. But that's not my business, is it? Huff!"

Sarah trusted the boys wouldn't mind too much 'girl talk'. After all she and Tish never usually had that much time to chat being in different Houses. "Yeah unless Magnus the Magnet sweeps Arcadia off her feet and distracts her totally for the year." she said with a smile.

"Magnus the Magnet!" Morticia laughed. "Well, let's hope Arcadia indeed finds another victim to focus her evil thoughts on."

Tish picked up Glueclaws and began to pet him absent-mindedly. The cat rolled his eyes. "My holiday? Well, Niki was there for a visit, so go figure... I don't think she was really visiting ME, anyway. And my mom is pregnant with twins and my dad wasn't there. So - yeah, great holidays!"

She grimaced. "I visited Branwen, though, that was fun." She blushed slightly. "Edryd was there..."

"Edryd huh? He's graduated now from Durmstrang hasn't he - does that mean he's back in Wales? You guys writing to each other or isn't it that serious?" asked Sarah.

Glueclaws finally managed to get away from her and jumped onto Raphael's lap where he immediately began to purr. Morticia ignored her cat's activity and went on with her conversation with Sarah.

"As for Edryd.... well, I'm going to write to him. I hope he writes back. But he'll probably forget about me soon, now he's graduated and all that, he'll have enough to do - too much to write stupid little girls..."

She sighed and looked outside, frowning as she saw Nathan looking around, seemingly to find space in one of the carriages. "But then he's entirely different from OTHER boys so maybe he's a gentleman after all."

"Tish.... you are not stupid and not a little girl." said Sarah. "You are an intelligent, powerful young woman plus a Slytherin prefect and a brilliant Quidditch player to boot. I mean come on. He'd be mad not to write."

She looked out of the window as well noting Nathan. "Don't let Nathan get between you and Niki - I mean the two of you are close friends and that's so important."

She changed the subject tactfully; "Think your little sister will be sorted to Slytherin? Is it a House your family has usually been sorted to?"

"Well, we'll see." Morticia gave a loooong sigh and then forced a smile. "I just wish Nat would go for Arcadia, you know? I mean, I'm free to hate her. But Niki! I'm just -worried. Nat can be... difficult, you know?"

She sighed. "As for Ninny - I bet she'll be a Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw maybe. But never a Slytherin, although Nathan won't like it, of course..."

********

Piotr was one of the last to disembark, slouching dismally along the platform, his well cut robes accentuating his long, lean figure. He overheard various comments about 'Sorting' and reminded himself that whatever house he was assigned to didn't matter. He wasn't a team player. He was in this for himself, not to gain house points.

He stood, a little lost and overwhelmed, but refusing to acknowledge it, at the end of the platform, staring across the sea of heads. He pulled his robes tighter around him defensively and, given that it was dark enough, removed his sunglasses. His odd violet eyes seemed to almost glow in the semi-darkness.

He stood. And waited further instruction.

Niki caught a glimpse of Piotr, remembering him vaguely from his visit, and fought her way up to him. He looked quite lost. "We take the carriages now," she said helpfully. "Well, not the first years, they go across the lake... Ooh, don't envy them, do you? It's cold." She began to lead the way towards the line of horseless carriages.

"Cold?" he said, following the other girl, a faint smile flickering across his gaunt features. "Niet. Russia. Now THERE'S cold for you." He pocketed his sunglasses and let his hands fall to his side, his back rigid and his posture awkward-looking. Then he remembered that his parents weren't around to criticise, and he reverted to his customary slouch.

"Tell me," he said to Niki in his soft, heavily-Birmingham accented voice. "Just what exactly ARE the four different houses at Hogwarts? Not that I care or anything," he added hastily, for fear that she might think he was interested. "I just want to know."

"Cold for someone from the sub-tropics," Niki said with a slightly forced laugh. She still missed what she considered 'home', even the thought of it, and her family, could still make tears well up in her eyes. So best not to think of it.

She began to lead the way towards the carriages. "The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. I'm in Slytherin... Umm... Gryffindors are supposed to be brave and noble, but it sometimes seems like pigheadedness... Hufflepuffs are supposed to be very loyal, and hard workers, although it seems like all they do is gossip. Ravenclaws are the smart ones--not that there aren't smart people in other houses, too, and Slytherins are ambitious... Lots of 'em aren't very nice people, either."

She shrugged. "It's really what is most important to you. I was almost in Hufflepuff, only in Slytherin because... Well, I'm in Slytherin," she finished lamely.

********

Branwen had managed to sleep soundly through the journey; the excitement of the last few days of freedom had obviously proved too much for her despite her best efforts to keep her eyes open.

She and Hal had collected their small belongings and now looked for a carriage. "You going with the Slytherins?" She asked, pulling her thick cloak around her to stop the shivering after her extended nap.

Hal looked slightly panic-stricken but sighed resignedly and nodded. "I suppose I had better, yes, make an effort. Right?"

Branwen smiled, "Yes, you never know you might make some proper in- House friends this term. You weren't really here long enough before the holidays, were you?" She told him, scanning the platform for some sign of Randal...there was none.

"Come on then." She said, gently leading him toward the carriages, "get yourself in there and mingle" she laughed as she opened a door. She left him to clamber aboard and wandered off to find a Ravenclaw carriage, pulling the cloak tighter and yawning.

Jacob had spilled out of the train with the rest of them. He found an unoccupied spot near the building, wearing his too-short robes and loosely grasping his tattered suitcase. It was cold out, and his glasses had instantly fogged up so he could barely see.

He stumbled towards the carriages, taking off his glasses in the attempt of wiping them off (which only impaired his vision more, for without them he was almost blind) and nearly fell over. He put them back on, and for a moment he could see where he was. Then they fogged up again.

He sighed and let himself be tugged along with the throng of students making their way to the carriages and thus to the school.

*******

Raphael had nodded politely to Morticia, with the reminder of Glueclaws, and smiled at the cat and made himself available as a seat for the cat. But after that, everything seemed to fade except for the rushing sight of pouring rain outside the carriage, beating a tattoo of pain across the windows. Leaning against the window with his cheek, ice shooting into it from the cold, Raphael thought to himself. He thought of everything that had happened. He thought of everything that would be happening to him tonight.

Would he step into a great hall, all the other students looking at him curiously, until the hat was presented to him? And then, when the hat was on his head, would it simply laugh at him? Why was he here? Why had events led him here when he was so obviously not meant to be here - he was so obviously a replacement for someone else.

Was being a replacement enough? And who had he replaced? Why was everything so wrong?

Slipping his hand into his pocket, Raphael retrieved a slip of paper that had been thrust into his hand as he had slipped away, before all that fuss with... what was her name... Shinrei? He unfolded it. On it was an untidy scrawl, a hand that was unused to capitol letters, but... he read it anyway, touching each of the words as if they might tell him why.

"Thirty somethings lined up on a desk
A flowers babe of heady mead
Pogo leap to space for single rash
His face looking at me contemptuously.
Jabberwocky is needed this instant now
Speaking foreign tongues and coughing
Phlegm and sick too much to swallow
To gargle not to spit I count uncourteous."

They made no sense to him. Words... on paper... trying to say something... words coming across so garbled and incomprehensible. Was that how he was viewed? Was he suddenly speaking a foreign language? Raphael wondered who truly spoke his friend's language. He'd been so angry with him on the train - so wanting to talk to Sarah and Nathaniel about it - so unable to.

It was all tied up in the same thing: Raphael being in this carriage, being on the way to this school. Raphael knew it was wrong, but he was acting as if it wasn't. He was acting as if his coming to this school was right, was the thing that was ordained, but it wasn't, was it? Raphael was a replacement. Raphael was a fake. Raphael, whatever he did, would never be able to speak both the language of truth that was in the poem, and the language of Hogwarts.

Looking up at Nathaniel, Raphael thought that perhaps he'd speak to him. Nathaniel would look at him - not understand - neither would the others in the carriage - then he could leave. The words wouldn't come out right... Raphael knew it. So he spoke. "Stop thinking, old man. Stop thinking and start talking. Start talking to me," Raphael ordered Nathaniel, quietly, as not to disturb Sarah and Morticia.

********

As the Hogwarts Express had rolled to a stop Winifred hadn’t noticed how much time had passed. "It looks like we're here already. That went awfully fast," Winifred said. "I suppose we should gather our things and head to the carriages."

She stuck her books back into her trunk and, with a wave of her wand, shrunk everything down to an easy carrying size.

As she stepped off the train, the chill of the evening air blew against her face and she pulled her cloak tight around her. She scanned the crowd and the familiar faces reminded her of how much she loved Hogwarts. She spied an empty carriage and climbed in.

As soon as Magnus stepped off the train, sleep having consumed him for a few hours, unexpectedly. He was late off the train, far too late, he told himself. He'd wanted to be able to pick and choose the carriage he was going in, but that wouldn't happen. He'd had to spend the last five minutes, when everyone else was leaping into carriages together, locked in the express bathroom, dealing with the mess that his hair was in after leaning against the train window while sleeping.

"Damn it," he muttered hoarsely in the cold when he realised that it was practically deserted of his year. He noted the carriages left, quickly peeking through the door, and chose the third one, guessing that it was 50:50 that it was a girl inside, being that there was only one person in the carriage...

He greeted the person within with a "hello," before slamming the door behind him to keep out the wind and water, neither of which were good for him. Then, putting on his Best Smile (patent pending) he turned to see Winifred sitting alone in the carriage.

Winifred was startled by the sudden appearance of a stranger in her carriage. "Oh! Hello," she said, slightly flustered. The boy looked to be her age and he was strikingly handsome. She couldn't help but blush. "I don't believe we've met. My name's Winifred Fanel, pleased to meet you," she said, sticking out her hand in an effort to appear confident.

********

Luis Verga felt the Hogwarts Express pull to a stop. He heard compartment doors sliding open, people's voices rising in excitement, hundreds of feet running about. It was the start of a new school year. How he missed the feeling.

Now it was oddly numbed, but he nonetheless peered out the window and saw the Hogsmeade station and the horseless carriages. This was his sanctuary.

He had mulled over Mahou's story. If only the girl knew how he could relate to it, given his own background and what transpired in the past three years in which he had been unheard from.

"Mahou," he said to the girl who was seated across him, "be careful around the school, okay? There's always a cruel side to people--it's a cruel world, when you think about it."

"I think it would be best if we don't talk much in the presence of people from our respective houses. Gryffindor and Slytherin people are known not to mix since way back when. Exceptions are not taken kindly."

He gathered his things into his duffel, put on his Hogwarts robes, and muttered a sealing spell on his bag so that none could open it but him. Before leaving the compartment, he gave Mahou an encouraging smile.

"I'll teach you this spell when we get the chance." Luis pulled out his wand and pointed it at Mahou's hat. In theory, the hat could only be removed by the wearer: "Mitratus."

"See you around, Mahou," he said with a wink. He joined the queue of people disembarking from the train. Once outside, he looked around for his fellow Slytherins.

Mahou stood as Luis did, smiling at him before he left. "I'll be careful, Luis," she told him, "An' I hope tha' we can still chat sometimes. e'en if it be in secret." She curtsied fancifully and dipped her head, appearing a princess in a royal court and her robes a beautiful velvet gown. "I hope this year be great f'r ye, Luis.. thank ye." She reached over and took his hand, squeezing it gently.

After he had left, Mahou peeled off her Cerridwyn's robes and pulled on her Hogwarts ones; the fit was amazing. She twirled, smiling at the fit of the robes, hoping that Luis would be able to teach her that spell. She pulled on her hat again and picked up her bag, following the rest of the folks out to the school. Hoping she'd find a band of Gryffindors...

********

Drake stepped off the train and looked around uncomfortably. He saw Nathan chatting with some other Slytherins. Somewhere else, Niki was talking to a stranger. Great. So everybody was busy socialising already. Time for him to go back into the hole he usually lived in. He sneaked around between the students and hoped there'd be an empty carriage for him to take refuge in.

As he walked around the rows of carriages that were being boarded by students, Luis looked left and right for Slytherins that had been in his original batch.

/They should be in their seventh and final year by now/, he thought enviously. He was stuck back with the Fourth Years--the "kids." He was sure that people were sniggering behind his back. A while back, after descending the train, he had been subject to the sneers and disdainful chuckles of upper-class Gryffindors--most likely Sinclair's gang.

Given the chance, he could very well blast the lot of them back to the medieval times. He had developed a pretty good Reductor Spell himself.

At the thought of Reductor Spells, his thoughts reverted to the inevitable. Not /her/ again. He scowled and tried to find something to kick--unsuccessfully.

He spotted an awkward-looking brown-haired boy about his age limping through the rows of carriages a short distance away. The boy was not dressed in Hogwarts uniform.

Luis approached him. "New to Hogwarts? I'm Luis Verga. Fourth Year Slytherin. If you're looking for a carriage, then we both have the same problem."

"Oh, h-hello," Drake answered, blushing slightly. He hated being talked at if he didn't know who was talking to him. "Uhm - n-no, I'm not exactly new h-here, not a-as a student, that is..." He looked very embarrassed and insecure. "I'll b-be assistant teacher f-f-for Muggle Studies. H-how about you? Are y-you new here?"

Drake at last spotted a still empty carriage and silently cursed the other boy for talking to him so that he couldn't just sneak away and hide in the carriage, but things being as they were, he forced himself to be polite. After all, Nathan had begged him to stop being sociophobic. "L-looks like there's a f-free carriage," he volunteered, biting his lip. "We'd b-better grab the o-opportunity."

********

"I can imagine that Nathan would be difficult. I mean he seems nice but a bit unpredictable. Then I guess that is a Slytherin trait. No offence." Said Sarah to Tish.

"He and Arcadia do seem more suited but then sometimes boys like the chase and Arcadia is so obviously keen on him maybe he finds her cloying? Someone should advise her to play harder to get."

Sarah then noted that Piotr Rachinov was walking with Niki. She gave a little huff. "Well maybe your problems are over." she said indicating the two and feeling slightly annoyed that Piotr, who was so forthcoming in June hadn't had two words to say to her that morning, but was now talking with Niki. Maybe that was his modus operandi.

Morticia looked at Piotr. "Unpredictable, huh?" She grinned. "Anyway, I think Nathan finds Arcadia to be too - easy. You know? He likes modest girls..."

Branwen popped her head up at the window and grinned at the occupants. "Got room for a little one? Promise I've left my luggage for the House Elves to sort out" she winked. A ride to the Castle with Tish and Sarah could be fun.

"Sure!" Morticia said hastily. "Come on in! How is your brother? Did he get my letter?" She blushed deeply. "Is he going to play Quidditch in the professional area now?"

********

Piotr, despite Sarah's huffiness, was in fact only half-listening to what Niki was saying. "Right," he said, absently. "Slytherin. Right."

He could feel the beginnings of a headache, indicating that it was time to take his dose of potion. He smiled obliquely at Niki and moved away with a murmured farewell, slipping the vial out from under his robes and staring morosely at the emerald-green liquid within.

Closing his eyes against the bitterness of the taste, he downed it in one. When he opened his eyes again, his vision was slightly blurred, a normal side-effect, but one which always momentarily worried him. One day, the blurriness might not go away, and he'd have to see the world...with his other senses, the ones that he was trying so hard to repress.

The sensation passed, however, and when his vision cleared, his eyes lingered on Sarah and the girl with whom she was speaking for a few moments. He treated her to one of his slow smiles, then turned back to follow Niki towards the carriage.

*He knows I'm different.* thought Sarah with a sudden certainty. *Impossible* she countered in her mind. Still there was something about Piotr. Most people didn't look beneath the surface but Piotr was a true outsider.

"Hey Branwen." said Sarah brightly - waiting to introduce Bran to Nathaniel and Raphael. Branwen of course would charm the two boys totally ending any glimmer of interest they might have for her. Sarah assumed this would be so with an air of inevitability.

Raphael stared out the window, looking at the retreating back of Piotr. There was something about him. When he smiled, Raphael spun around and looked at Sarah - who he was obviously smiling at - and the look in her eyes...

He hardly noticed when another girl arrived. "Branwen...? Hey. Raphael," he said, his eyes still flickering over her and into the mist where the dark man had disappeared. He even offered his hand without looking at her in the eyes...

Branwen shook his hand and grinned at Sarah, saying with a wink "Pleased to meet you, Raphael? Nervous?"

She settled herself into a gap next to Morticia and sighed. "I haven't a clue, I'm afraid, Tish. I know that he'll write to you even if he didn't so I wouldn't worry. Professional Quidditch on the other hand, all rather depends on my Parents. He didn't do as well as he should at Durmstrang what with spending way too much time on playing and practising, and I think they were a bit disappointed. I'm sure they'll give in but he's going to have to work on them a bit, had lots of offers though."

She grinned at Sarah. "You look so relaxed, good holiday I take it." She glanced briefly at the other boy and smiled, they both looked so uncomfortable.

The last thing that could be said of Sarah was that she was a victim. At heart she was far too practical to get caught up in whatever game Piotr was playing with her.

Piotr's smile had disturbed her because it was too knowing. Yes, he had made an impression on her before the summer but that was then and this was now. Things had changed.

She was also somewhat uncomfortable that Raphael had obviously noticed something. If he'd been a girl she could have explained what was up. But he wasn't he was one of those mysterious creatures - a boy. "Hey" she said in a conspirical whisper catching his eye once Branwen had started talking to Morticia. "Do you think Nathaniel has gone to sleep?"

"Has Nathaniel gone to sleep?" repeated Raphael, back to Sarah in the same whisper. "I don't think so... I think..." he mumbled, slipping off, looking at Nathaniel. But not thinking about him. Thinking about Sarah, instead, Raphael didn't know what to say. He wanted to say to her - to ask her - to say about how - or to - he wanted to be able to tell her about -

If he couldn't work out what he wanted to say himself, Raphael told himself angrily, then how on earth was he meant to tell her?!

"...I think maybe he's gone a little... er... paralytic... with worry," he ended, lamely. Truth was, he didn't know about Nathaniel. All he knew was that suddenly worry about Hogwarts was secondary to... "Sarah," he said suddenly, drawing her attention back to him.

He looked her in the eyes for a second. Glancing down to see Glueclaws on his lap, using the cat as an excuse to think for another second - to pray for an idea for a better question for Sarah! - Raphael scratched the cat behind the ears for a second, a dead voice in his mind having already noted down the huge lake. Fish. He'd fish for Gluey... though he'd probably have to make the fishing rod... "Was that guy your boyfriend or something?" he asked Sarah in a harsh whisper about the dark man that had smiled at her, and instantly regretted having asked.

Sarah had smiled at the idea that Nathaniel had lapsed into some sort of paralysis caused by worry. She was totally unprepared for Raphael's question about Piotr and she blushed with embarrassment. "Boyfriend? ... no, not at all. I don't have one - a boyfriend, I mean. That was Piotr - he's Russian, another new student who visited before the summer and I showed him around a little. We're not even friends."

She prayed that Branwen wouldn't say anything embarrassing on the subject. She could be very forthright at times.

Raphael cringed in embarrassment. "Oh... sorry... I didn't mean... er... sorry, Sarah," he said in a low voice, "I don't know..." he finished, with an angry tut aimed at himself and his inability to speak except in the worst moments.

But yet... Sarah... she didn't have a... "So, people, what's the castle like?" he asked, loudly, trying to move her attention away, away from the subject totally. He didn't realise just how badly his cheeks and ears had flushed red.

There were people coming. People going. People talking. Nathaniel was aware that Raphael had spoken to him, but he was suddenly cast into an odd half dreaming, half-awake state as he slouched in his seat in the carriage.

A thousand seconds might have passed, or only two. He couldn't tell. Each one of them was so frangible, so delicate, so easily shattered that he just kept on breathing and sitting still; one hand thrust into his pocket and the fingertips resting, unknowingly, on one of the glass globes he had juggled in the train.

It was like closing your eyes in the bright sun and feeling the imprint of shadows being burned into your mind's eye, and then opening your eyes and learning colour all over again. It was like an extra sense that had unfurled its wings like a waking butterfly crawls from the chrysalis and spreads its newly made wings to dry in the kiss of the light.

Thoughts were like colours, swirling in front of his eyes in a rainbow, a myriad shattered prisms of light refracting and splitting and merging and whirling. Voices were like tastes. He could taste the worry in Raphael's voice when he spoke to Nathaniel, the underlying fear bitter in Nathaniel's mouth. He could taste metallic rust in Piotr's voice. Branwen left a dry taste in his mouth. Too many others close by, too many words, too many conversations happening for him to separate out more than those. The rain outside was like a bright light in his mind, each splatter of rain a chorus of harmonies.

Then the kitten stirred in his palm, nudging insistently at his fingers with a damp black nose and mewling. As if to say 'enough for now'.

Nathaniel took a deep breath, almost like a swimmer emerging from a long dive, and opened his half-lidded green eyes fully. His hand emerged from his pocket and ran through his long black hair, pushing it out of his face.

"I'm not asleep, kid." he said to Raphael, already half forgetting his odd dream. "Only half asleep and half thinking." He glanced to the newcomers and nodded. "Hi, I'm Nathaniel."

Then he looked briefly at Sarah and smiled a little, and then waited to hear what the castle was indeed like.