Insanius Llamaster turned yet another corner, in his attempt to find someone, anyone, who was awake. He was mumbling to himself quite a bit, holding his wand out and at the ready. He kept looking over his shoulder and everywhere else in quick motions as if his head was on a swivel.

"Where are they, I can't stand all this dark, nobody to deride me business. This place is getting really weird, even for here. Next thing I know I'll turn a corner and see one of those ruddy old blast ended skrewts. Oh well, the hospital wing isn't that far away, maybe one of the patients will be awake."

As he turned a corner three things happened. One, he saw a girl walking alongside a floating man. He couldn't see they're faces, so he didn't know who they were. Two, a very large spider picked him up in it's two front legs. Three, Insanius's wand clattered to the ground, which resulted in Insanius screaming at the top of his lungs.

"HELP ME!" The spider clamped a further leg over his mouth, which left Insanius with only his mumblings. "Oh, ruddy black spider thingie, ruddy wand on the floor, I sure wish the girl and the floating guy would turn around and do something to this thing before I get eaten. Gotta admire my luck, I finally find someone awake only to become the next meal for a spider before they even see me."

*********

Nimue has made her way back to Hogwarts without any trouble. She hopes there won't be too many questions, but she is more worried about her Marcus at the moment.

She guides his body to one of the Prefects Bathrooms (which she knows how to get to from Marvo blabbing about it!) and rests him in the bath. She looks down at his body, a little unsure about the next bit.

She takes a deep breath and says to herself 'Well... It's for his own good' And undresses him (down to underclothes only of course) Then she studies the taps and finds the one with pure warm water and lets it slowly fill while she picks some minerals and herbs from her bag.

While the water is filling she also dresses his wounds, reminding herself again to thank Kat for her quick action. She dose not know what she would have done if Marcus had died, she cared for him so much.

When the bath is full she sprinkles a mixture of oils, minerals and herbs into the water and says a spell. The water glows slightly but Marcus does not stir. She looks down at him, tears still in her eyes and thinks for a moment how she would like to just fall asleep herself, next to him to wake up in a hundred years with all her problems long forgotten. But she shakes her head. 'No. That would not be fair' she said sternly to herself. And turns to leave.

She stops to write a Note in case he wakes up or... or they don't come back. Then she stops as if coming to a decision and kneels by the bath and kisses Marcus on the lips. He does not stir and she stands and smiles

'Well... it might have worked, It works for sleeping beauty' she says and walks out of the bathroom to return to the others.

***********

Insanius had watched in anguish as the girl and man turned the corner at the end of the corridor.

"Guess she's ruddy well as deaf as my wand is, this really sucks, but at least old spidy is taking his time eatin me, I guess he rather likes to play with his food," Insanius was being tossed back and forth through the air. It dropped him once, and he came tantalisingly close to the floor next to his wand before it scooped him up once again. "If he had a few less hands, I'd have either smashed my head on the floor, or gotten my wand back, what is the deal with this thing anyway, there are plenty of better tasting things laying around hogwarts than me, guess he has no sense of fine dining."

Just then an owl flew up to Insanius and landed matter-of-factly on his shoulder. "What are you doing here chaos? You could get yourself killed, can't you see there's a ruddy spider thing attached to me?" Chaos tapped him on the shoulder with his wand. "Oh that, now I get it, thanks for the wand." Insanius reached over and took it from Chaos's beak. "Accio battering ram, accio really big torch type thing, accio family size can of bugspray, accio my brothers old gag-gift copy of The Monster book of Monsters."

That did it, the book that bites back came soaring into the room and clamped itself firmly onto one of the spider’s legs. The spider let go for a second, but it knew the trick, and stroked the book's cover. The spider caught Insanius yet again, only millimetres from the floor.

"Especially nice day to die don't you thing chaos?"

What Insanius's wand heard while aimed at the spider was...well somewhat different. The spider flew backwards and crashed into a wall, Insanius was thrown into the air. His robes caught on one of the torch brackets against the wall, and he was stuck hanging in the air. "What the...? You’d almost think someone disarmed the spider, and I was the weapon, oh well, now I have an entirely different problem don't I, accio monster book of monsters." the book snapped shut, and flew up to Insanius, and clamped itself firmly on his robes, which gave way, and the floor came rushing up to meet him. His shoulder won the race to the ground, but his head came in a close second.

He stumbled to his feet, only to trip over his torn robes and fall back down. He got up much more slowly and more carefully this time. "Where'd chaos go? Oh well, guess I'm alone again unless you count that unconscious spider thing over there by the wall, unconscious spider over there by the wall?" He suddenly remembered there was someplace he needed to be. The place he needed to be was anywhere but here.

He forgot his ideas of going to the hospital, and decided that outside, with its soft ground, and open air was a much better choice.

Once outside the castle and near the forest, he pointed his wand at his throat and said "sonorous." "Hello? Is anyone awake out there, its Insanius, Hello?"

Within the Forbidden Forrest

Kat had watched Nimue walk away with Marcus and hoped that he would recover. She looked around her at the rest of the troops and yet again, waited for Marvo to suggest how they should proceed.

As she was waiting she thought she heard something. It seemed to get louder. "Did anyone else hear that? Sounded like someone shouting 'Hello'" She looked to see if anyone else had noticed.

Winifred hopped out of the tree she had scrambled into when the dog appeared. "I heard someone shouting as well. I thought it was just my imagination," she says in answer to Kat's question. "You don't suppose we should try to see who or what it is?"

"I heard it too," Niki says. "What should we do? We can't very well go back in there. There may be all sorts of things."

"I don't know. It's dangerous for us to go and see, but it could also be dangerous for them to come and find us. There are no creatures in this forest awake that I could 'borrow' to see who it is. Anyone know any spells for looking to see what is going on?" Kat had thought about sending a note, but it could be anyone...

After a quick consultation with Winifred and Niki, Kat sent a spell projecting an image of herself towards the sound.

**********

"Oh well, so much for that idea, guess I'm still out of the loop, lost, alone as usual" Insanius, who had forgotten to undo the sonorous spell was now mumbling at the top of his lungs. Even if he had noticed, it wouldn't have mattered, he had forgotten the spell that undid it. "Maybe me and that girl with the floating guy are the only humans awake around here anyway, someone oughta do something about this mess, but then again, that someone is probably sleeping right now."

A girl from Ravenclaw in Insanius’s year walked out of the forest with her hands clamped firmly over her ears. "Hello, turn down the volume please.

"Your name's Kat right? Volume? What volume, oh I get it, the sonorous thing, what's the counterspell again?"

"You are making a lot of noise," she told Insanius. "I've projected myself here, so you can follow me. Come on, and turn that spell off. Keep your wand out though there are all sorts of things in this forest."

She led the way to the group by the clearing, passing the shrivelled Centaur on the way. Somehow, probably more by luck than judgement, they managed to successfully arrive back at the clearing without incident.

The image of Kat walked back into her real body and disappeared.

"Très cool," Niki says, impressed by the spell. Turning to the newcomer, she waves shyly, then turns her attention back to the path ahead of them. "Where do we go next?"

Marvo, seeing the newcomer frowns. It’s bad enough he mumbles to himself, having to watch out for fiends, but now all these strangers. He shrugs 'always have to do the best we can'

Meanwhile.... Nimue leaves the bathroom and seems to think she has forgotten something. Something about a noise? No, she shakes her head, just her imagination.

She walks out of the Castle just in time to see someone she does not know walking into the forest with what looks like a 'ghost' of Kat!

Nimue is surprised she isn't shocked by this, I mean, she thinks, If that's Kat's Ghost that would mean she is dead! But for some reason Nimue KNOWS Kat is okay, and starts to follow.

Lee spotted Nimue arriving shortly after the newcomer. "Okay, Nimue's back...we should all get going. I'm Lee by the way, and this is Madison," he introduced, as Madison gave a distracted little wave. "You'll be safer if you stay with us...I think. Not meaning to be rude, but explaining everything again is getting a bit tiring...we've got a little problem to fix that has to do with sleeping castles, Voldemort supporters, Dementors and rabid animals attacking us. And we've got to get on before something else happens, so..."

"If everyone's okay, I think we should continue on," Madison finished.

Marvo looks the newcomer up and down and smiles. 'Glad to see your here, I think.... We will have to work out how come you haven't been effected by the Spell. But that can wait. Let’s get going and please... Lets stick together. (He gives Kat a stern look)

They continue to walk deeper into the forest, the green mist seems stranger here as though they were wading knee deep in a sea of pea soup.

They pass another clearing, but nothing happens. By this time they are all starting to feel a little bit tired, and hungry, having missed breakfast, but struggle on.

Soon they arrive at a fork in the path that they have been following. Marvo looks to Kat and Nimue for directions.