Nimue woke early as usual though she had stayed up talking with Achel for some time as well as having long goodbyes with her Father who had promised to look out for Marvo for everyone's sake.

He promised to send regular owls. He also had said some things about the rules he expected her to follow now that it was known whom she was related to. Also, that Marcus would be remaining at the Castle. He was to help with some duties there and so would not be transforming quite so often into his hawk form.

"Remember Nimue he is not your pet! Treat him with the respect of his station and follow his instructions as regards your safety, else I bring you back to London."

"Yes father" had been her response.

Emrys Hawkwood had enjoyed catching up with a number of old friends at the award ceremony but his duties in London called. He did leave with Nimue a lovely portrait of his late sister, Gwendydd whom Nimue favoured in both looks and inner talents. She hung this above her bedstead so that it looked down on her at night.

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

Elia Concinni is a Gryffindor third year. She's been at Hogwarts for the past three years, but has always been somewhat reclusive. She's shy of people, possibly because she's lived in a Muggle orphanage for the past eleven years. Elia isn't stunningly pretty, but she's attractive. Her skin is the colour of milk chocolate, and her hair is so dark it looks black, in loose curls down her back. Her New Year's resolution was to try to make some friends, and get to know people, instead of being buried in books all the time, and she really is trying.

***********

Randal couldn't sleep. He never could in strange places. He knew that it was against rules to be up in the night, but where did night stop and morning begin. Well it was very early in his opinion. So he wandered along the corridors and outside into the fresh air. He had to use an alhomomora charm to open the door, but that was no problem.

He stood surveying the view and took a deep breath. How long would he have to wait for break fast? He was starving. But none the less he was wasting time. He found a log to sit on and pulled out a book. This one was called the details of advanced transfiguration.

"Good morning," says a calm voice behind Randal. Turning, he sees a girl he hadn't met before. Sitting down on the log a foot or so from him, Elia smiles. "What are you reading?" she inquires.

"Oh, hello. You are up early! I'm just getting in some light reading." He shows the newcomer the book. Its title is plain to see in silver writing on a dark blue cover. "Details of advanced transfiguration." He chuckles.

"I guess it isn't light reading for everyone though. I don't remember seeing you yesterday, what is your name?" His yellow eyes are sparkling with interest.

"My name is Elia. I wasn't there yesterday. I don't tend to like people." She looked more closely at the book. "You like transfiguration? I've looked around in the library a great deal, but I haven't seen that before." She smiles, and reaches into her bag. "This is my current book," she confided, proffering a thick tome entitled 'A Brief History of Magical Developments in Southeastern Asia Between 300 and 1800 A.D.' She smiled softly. "It might not be very interesting to some people... I like it, though."

"Nice to meet you, Elia. My name is Randal. And I know what you mean about people. I wanted to stay in the library and read, but my twin sister nagged me. It wasn't too bad though, I hid in a corner and watcher her make a fool of herself again."

"Yes, I like transfiguration. I'm quite good at it too." He bent and picked a blade of grass from the ground and used his wand to spin a purple smoke around it. When the smoke had gone there was a tiny purple flower. He handed it to Elia. "Here."

"So you like history? I believe they have a ghost teaching it here. I have to say it is not one of my strong points though."

Elia smiled sweetly and accepted the flower. "History is probably one of my favourite subjects, but Prof. Binns is a very boring teacher," she confided. "He makes the most interesting things sound dull. I rather enjoy reading Muggle histories." She looks more closely at Randal. "You're new, Randal, aren't you? I don't recognise your name."

"Yes, I only just arrived yesterday, or was it the day before? I can't quite remember. Well, new this term anyway. I moved here from a small school in Switzerland. Dad decided that being the Minister for magic that his children ought to go to the school in his home country. I think he felt he was betraying Hogwarts or something."

"What time do they start serving breakfast round here? I'm starving! What house are you in by the way?"

Elia glanced up at the sun. "Muggle electronics- like watches- don't work so well here. It still looks quite early. Breakfast shouldn't be for an hour or so. I'll show you the kitchens, if you're really hungry. The house elves will be happy to get something...?" She smiled. "I'm in Gryffindor, though I'm not sure why..."

Ayumi groggily rubbed sleepers from her eyes as she wandered down the stairs, bag and wand in tote. Upon entering the main hall, she was greeted by a fabulous array of hustle and bustle, seeming far more cheery than it had ever been. Students were everywhere, meandering and chattering among themselves, and she quickly found the Gryffindor table. Still only half awake, she unconsciously called out "Ohayoou~!" to some of the other students she had met over the past few days, without even catching her mistake of speaking Japanese.

Ayumi sat herself down at one end of the table, and sort of stared for a while at the new *British* array of breakfast. 'Ugh.....' she thought to herself, noting all the succulent, rich foods....'How could they possibly eat like this in the mornings?' She sighed, and pulled out a small rice bowl and a set of chopsticks from her bag. Muttering a few words while waving the utensils over the bowl produced a mound of steamy white rice, with a simple small red pickled plum on top. Ayumi smiled at this small remembrance of her native land, and happily chimed, "Itadakimasu!" to herself.

As she was eating, an immense flock of owls flew in over the hall, each as different as could be. A small gray one hovered over Ayumi, and dropped a large parcel right in from of her. However, before she even had time to question who could possibly send *her* a package, Ayumi's fox, Shinjiku had appeared out of no where and fell upon the box like a ravenous wolf. "Aaa~ah! Shinjiku!! C-chotto matte! Dame!" she cried, trying to pry him off the package. He whirled around and shoved her hand off of him.

"Why don't YOU hold on a second!" he wailed. "In case you haven't even looked, this package is for ME!" Ayumi was taken aback, but when she looked, she found he was indeed right. Shinjiku hopped onto the floor, and transformed himself into his human form. Before Ayumi could even question him he was off, dashing for the first private place he could find to open his new gift. Ayumi drearily went back to her breakfast. "What does he *possibly* need that badly?" She shook her head, wondering why the heck he was acting so strange this morning......

Dylan hadn't been sitting too far away, and had watched the whole affair with something of a grin. There was no owl to bring him anything that morning, either. "Does he always act like tha'?" Dylan asked Ayumi.

Ayumi smiled at Dylan. "Heh, yeah, he's a bit *overzealous* with everything." She shrugged and continued. "The package was probably just some sort of book or whatnot. Heh, he's really into reading up on transfiguration. That's a foxes speciality, where I come from!" Ayumi cheerily laughed.

"Say, speaking of which, I think I have a transfiguration class to get to!" She suddenly stood up, reaching for her bag. "Don't want to be late to my first day of school!" Ayumi turned to go, but stopped short when she realised she hadn't a clue as to where she needed to be in the castle.

Turning back to Dylan, she blushed. "Aeh-heh.....you wouldn't happen to know *your* way around this place, would you? Or even better, do you have transfiguration first? I could just tag along with you.... That is, if you don't mind!"

Ayumi smiled shyly and pulled the chair out next to Dylan, setting her bag down next to her.

He swallowed a spoonful of oatmeal, then shook his head. "I don't mind. I know this place all right." He finished off his last swig of tea, then looked at her. "Ye're Gryffindor, right? Third year? We'll be in th' same classes if you are."

Ayumi beamed. "Tha's swell! Oh, by the way...we haven't been properly introduced!." She stuck out her hand and continued, "I'm Ayumi Yuki. My parents are ambassadors to the Ministry of Magic from Japan, so I just got transferred to Hogwarts. That fox you saw before is Shinjiku-chan, but I can't exactly say he's my pet...." With that she bowed low respectfully and said, "Dozou-yoshiku!"

Dylan looked rather confused for a minute, then smiled a little. "Dylan Rhydderch. A pleasure. I've ne'er met anyone from Japan b'fore." He shook her hand gently, realising how large and coarse his own hands were compared to hers.

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

Sitting at the Slytherin table, Niki looks very tired. She has dark circles under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept well. When the owls swoop in the window, three owls stop in front of her. One carries a newspaper, the Daily Prophet. The second carries an envelope, and the third drops a newspaper clipping on her plate, then soars back out of the hall.

Picking up the newspaper clipping, which had narrowly missed falling onto a piece of toast smothered in jam and butter, Niki stares at it in consternation. Her face angry, she balls it up and sticks it in her pocket. Glancing at the Daily Prophet, she lets out a muffled squeak of alarm or surprise. She turns in her seat, looking for someone, and leans over to show Morticia the front page of the Daily Prophet. There is an article by Rita Skeeter. The headline reads: Dumbledore Denies Rumours that Hogwarts Student Used Unforgivable Curse.

Nimue enters and heads for the Gryffindor table. As she passes the Slytherin table she stops and says: "Good morning Niki, Morticia. I guess we are back to sitting apart?"

Niki smiles back, but she looks strained. She hands Nimue the newspaper, and shrugs. "Damn that Rita Skeeter," she mutters, her hands stealing to the pocket where she had stuffed the newspaper clipping.

Egreen walks in and sits by himself at the far end of the Slytherin table. Achel gets up from the Hufflepuff table and walks over to him. They exchange a few short words. Achel nods.

Dumbledore and a WIB enter the dining hall. They come up to Achel and Egreen. The seem to be speaking to Egreen, gently and kindly, but Egreen does not look very happy. He nods, sighs, and has a long look around the hall - stopping to smile at Morticia. His eyes seem damp - but no - not Egreen - his is a Gedward!. With Dumbledore at one side and the WIB at the other he leaves the hall.

Achel heads back to the Hufflepuff table without explaining anything.

When the WIB enters, Niki watches nervously, but doesn't say anything.

Having witnessed this just the day after Marvo had been taken away, Nimue had to say something.

She went up to Achel at the Hufflepuff table and said: "Achel, what's going on? That looked serious."

Achel and Nimue engage in a whispered conversation.

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

Randal and Elia had been talking for some time …. Then realised that breakfast had started:

Randal stood up. "Shall we go and find some breakfast. I guess it should be in full swing by now."

He led the way to the great hall where people had already started breakfast. "Well, I guess you go that way, and I head to the Slytherin table over there. It has been nice talking to you."

Randal pushed his blond hair out of his eyes and smiled at Elia.

Elia smiled back, and, instead of walking away, she seems to merely fade into the background in the manner of the Cheshire Cat, until only her smile remains.

Randal is a little surprised by the girl's disappearance. 'Maybe it is a trick she uses to defract the light as though she wasn't there' he thought to himself.

He wanders over to the Slytherin table and looks for his sister. Seeing she is already seated near Niki and Morticia, he sits on the other side of the two looking at the newspaper. He also watches as a student he has not been introduced to is led away from the hall. 'Interesting,' he thought.

He helps himself to some breakfast. Shadow flies in with a copy of the daily prophet for him and a black envelope that he quickly puts in a pocket. He picked up his own copy of the daily prophet and read the headline. He made no comment and merely observed the chatter.

"Who was that you were talking to?" Niki inquires. She glances back at her newspaper. "The next time I see Rita Skeeter, I'm going to tell her what I think of her articles... and it won't be complimentary."

Kat wandered into breakfast. She sat at the table and ate some toast. She looked really tired and her eyes were a little red. She was obviously nope coping very well yet. She waited to see if there were any other Ravenclaws coming to breakfast.

Niki walks over to Kat and lays a gentle hand on her arm. "I just got a letter from Papa," she murmurs. "He said Marvo is all right. He'll be back, Kat." Hoping that Kat doesn't understand Arabic, she adds a muttered, "Inshallah."

Kat smiled at Niki. "Thanks." She said. "But that doesn't stop me worrying about him. In someways I think it would have been better we had left him when he was dead. At least that way I wouldn't worry about him like this and he wouldn't be going through whatever he is going through."

Niki's face pales. "There were mitigating circumstances, they won't hurt him... Besides, Kat, even if they do, which they won't... Once, when I was little, six, I think, I was talking with my mother. She told me that when you die, it's like sleep, but there are no dreams. You just... disappear. She said that no matter how much pain and sadness there is, it's better to live than to die. My mother knew, Kat, she really did. You don't need to worry."

"Thanks. I know you are right. Otherwise I wouldn't have fought so hard to keep him alive." She smiled. It was a slightly hollow smile, but you won't cheer her up anymore than that.

Niki smiles back, and returns to her table.

Arcadia arrives late for Breakfast, Pantalaimon walks at her side and sits next to her as she takes a place at the Slytherin table, as far away from Randal as she can. She looks around at the food.

"Gosh! So much food for Breakfast! No wonder so many of the girls here are F...."

She looks down the table and decides it prudent not to continue. She picks up a small slice of toast and very lightly butters it. " So. What's the goss? Anything going on?"

Just then a WIB comes up to Kat 'Miss Black? We would like a word with you. Follow me.' He places his hand on her shoulder as if to point out that this was not a request.

Kat looked up. Without saying a word she got up and followed. She had no idea what was coming, but if Marvo could hold up then she could too.

Niki gasps, and stares at the WIB. She turns back to Arcadia, and snaps, "First of all, I haven't noticed any fat people, and second of all, three students so far have been taken away. Is that enough gossip for you?"

She pulls a quill and a scrap of parchment from her pocket, scribbles a few lines on the latter with the former, and hands it to one of the owls. "Take this directly to Papa, Deacon," she says, and it flies off. She stares around the room, and whispers, as if to herself, "They can't let this happen!"

Arcadia stops half way through a mouthful of Toast "Mf Mnffer Sff... I never said fat! I..." She stops and looks at the WIB and Kat

"Wow ya, Three students so far? Wow. Maybe they want to keep this all a big secret and their going to take everyone involved away and.. And who knows what to them! Gosh! I'm glad I wasn't involved. I'd be really worried now! Especially if I had anything to hide! Their BOUND to find out all your secrets!"

As Niki had come back to the table Randal noticed the WIBs taking another student away. "So what is this about? Is this to do with the boy who was taken away? And who was that they just took?"

Niki looks distractedly at Randal. "Marvo, the boy they took last night, he saved our lives. Then... that was Egreen, and the girl is Kat. She's a Ravenclaw. I'm not sure why... but I want to know. In fact... I think I'll go and ask."

Squaring her shoulders, she approached one of the WIB. "Excuse me," she said politely, "but may I ask a question?" Without waiting for an answer, she continues. "Why are you taking all these people for, ah, 'questioning?' Are you going to question all of the people who were involved?" She stares up into the man's face challengingly.

The Wizard in Black looks down at Niki, shuffles his feet and looks back straight ahead. totally ignoring her.

Niki stamps her foot, accidentally bringing it down on the foot of the WIB. She waves her hands in front of his face. "Excuse me, but answer my question?"

The WiB doesn't even flinch when his foot is stamped on and continues to stare forward.

When Niki stops waving her hand he 'very slowly' looks down at her and in a very calm, deep, whisper of a voice says : " Go away little girl. This is not your business"

Both his eyes glow deep red for a second and Niki feels a shudder go down her spine

When the Wizard in Black called her little girl, Niki looks like she's about to explode. Niki glares at the WIB. Suddenly, she disappears into a huge cloud of smoke, and when she reappears, she is almost eight feet tall, and very angry. "COWER BEFORE THE AWESOME PRESCENSE OF SUPER-NIKI!" she roars. The WIB cowers, hiding under a table. "TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE PEOPLE YOU TAKE AWAY!" Super-Niki commands.

"I can't!" the WIB says, and suddenly he flinches. "Yes, yes, I will, Super-Niki... We take them to a special place, and then we... We tickle them until they tell us all their secrets! We would have used Veritaserum, but the Ministry is too cheap to buy it..."

"All right," says Super-Niki, and disappears back into a cloud of smoke. When she reappears, she is de-superified, back to regular little Niki. She looks around the Great Hall, a mystified expression on her face. "What's everyone staring at?" she asks.

Of course this was just a fantasy and in reality Niki backed away, and returns to her table with a shrug. "Oh, well... It was worth a try."

Andy looks up from the Gryffindor table to see Kat being escorted from the room. He sighs. 'What's going on? First Marvo, then Egreen, and now Kat? This isn't happening' he thinks to himself. He was greeted by his owl, Skieth, who landed right in from of him with a letter. He opened it, read it, and put it in his robe pocket.

He started to think about Marvo. He needed to stop thinking about him or he would get even more upset. He decided to eat something. So he was about to pick up a piece of bacon, but that made him think of Marvo. Marvo's everywhere!

Nimue returns from the Hufflepuff table and sits next to Andy.

"I'm can't stop thinking about him either." she says intuitively guessing why Andy is staring at the bacon. "I expect all of us are going to be interviewed by the WIBs - that's what they do. The Ministry call it debriefing."

Andy turns to Nimue. "Yeah," he said. "I feel really bad for Kat. I try to keep a positive viewpoint, but it's just..."

He looked down. He didn't know what to say. "So how are you doing?" asked Andy. "You must be very upset too. We all are."

"Well, yes I am upset but I understand how serious the situation was and why the Ministry needs to talk to us."

She paused and addressed the other matter: "I miss Marvo very much and hope to hear from him in a while. I don't think he'll be placed in prison. What he did was necessary in the circumstances."

Madison hurried into the Hall and plopped down into an empty seat, panting. "Sorry, I overslept," she apologised. "So...what's been going on?"

Yvette looks up with an evil grin, then walk down at her plate. "Not much!" She looks very pleased with herself.

"Come on." said Nimue to Yvette smiling at her, "I saw you earlier this morning in the common room with the same little smile on your face. You are up to something. Are you going to tell or will we need to tickle the truth out of you? "

She magiced a feather duster and looked as though she was willing to carry out this threat.

Yvette grinned in delight. "I won't tell!" She giggled to herself. "Wait and see!"

"Have it your way, Yvette" replied Nimue and banished the feather duster with a smile of her own.

This kind of fooling around was helping her take her mind off of things - specifically the situation Marvo was in and now Kat.

Niki, passing by to get some cocoa, grins. "Tickling? How awful. Tu devriez leur dire ce qu'elles veulent savoir, Yvette!"

Yvette grinned and shovelled some eggs into her mouth, way too happy for this early in the morning. She talked with her mouthful, in a cheerful air, "My way or the highway!" She laughs at this, apparently not realising how dumb the joke is.

Nimue actually feels quite upset now. "You know Yvette - maybe you can feel happy but I've lost my two best friends and if by this you mean that I have to put with whatever you are up to now - after almost killing yourself with that book - you can forget it."