Just then Achel 'stumbles' into the Common Room.

He looks terrible. His robes are torn and ripped, scratches on his face and arms, and green goo smeared over his face, arms and robes. And some blood too.

He makes it to a chair and falls onto it. 'Th... They escaped! Can't...Can't find Sprout.... Surrounded.... So tired...' With that he falls to the floor

"Achel! You're making no sense. Who escaped, and what was surrounded? I guess Sprout will be asleep like everyone else. Or did you give her the potion too."

Kat turns to the others around her. "Does anyone know healing and reviving spells. He looks terrible. Marvo didn't you revive Yvette?"

Without a word Nimue rushed to Achel's side. She brought from her pocket the potion she had liberated from Snape's office and administered it to him.

"Will he be all right? What is that you've given him?" asked Kat.

After the potion had worked, Nimue responded to Kat: "It's some of the same stuff that Snape used Marvo earlier at the Ball when he was hit by the curse. It didn't revive Marvo but then I think he was too deeply in shock. I can't remember all that clearly at present, getting jumbled. Anyway, it was on his desk, the same bottle - I recognised it. So I grabbed it just in case needed. Sort of hoped it would last a little longer though.

As Nimue turned back to Achel it did appear the potion was working.

Niki stifles a scream. "Who is that? What's going on?"

Achel shudders and his eyes flick wide open. "What... Nimue! You’re here" He looks around. "You’re all here! It worked! Thank Goodness!" He stands and sits back on the chair.

'Where to begin... As you know I have been working with Professor Sprout in Greenhouse Six. Well I guess it's okay to tell now. You see the Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest have been getting weaker, some of them being effected by some sort of strange 'sleeping sickness'... They of course refused any assistance, but Hagrid pleaded with Dumbledore to do something. So Professor Sprout was able to get hold of some very rare and dangerous plants from the Amazon, That's where I come in, you see I was on a field trip there and was asked to help bring them back... I have a 'way' with plants.’

He pauses for a moment to get his breath. The potion was obviously working very well as he was talking very fast.

'The Plants 'Tri-Feddius Tirranus' are well... sort of sentient, and quite nasty. They can move around, by three large roots they pull from the ground, and have this, big stinger that they can whip out and hit you with. But the stingers have no poison in them now that’s what was needed for the Potion you see. The Poison, but they can still give a nasty scratch! The Poison sacs are the main part of the Potion that was needed. Well, there wasn't a lot of it in each plant, so we had to breed more, and Professor Sprout and I have been SO busy trying to keep them calm and extract the poison. I'm not 100% sure if they are all without poison come to think of it...'

Again he stops to breathe.

'Anyway, after Morticia's vision and all the other things that had been going on, well, I thought... well, what if it wasn't an illness after all... what if it was some sort of SPELL, or even a side effect of a spell... So I did some reading and sort of worked out a potion of my own… But I had no idea if it would be any good. Or when it would be needed, and I could only make a small amount. So I sneaked it into the food or drink of everyone I could, but I couldn't get to the teachers with it. And then Snape caught me and destroyed what I had left. I can't make anymore because well... Oh YES! Because THEY HAVE ESCAPED! Whatever has happened has really made the plants go wild! I've been up all night trying to calm them, but there is just too many! And they have broken out of the greenhouse and seem to be drawn to the school. I think it's the noise, or the magic they are after, they cannot see you see, they 'see by hearing'... I was just able to get away. And came here... I'm so glad it worked. Sorry I didn't tell you... Sorry to hear about you and Marvo Nimue...'

He finally stops taking and is breathing very heavily. The he takes a deep breath.

'Oh, and by the way. I didn't take any of the potions. I didn't have a chance, so if I fall asleep, well, I guess I won't be waking up... And I don't know how long it will last either. So I suggest you don't fall asleep either.'

He looks at everyone. His eyes wide. 'So, what do we do now?'

Nimue was so happy to see the potion had worked on Achel. She listened patiently while he explained to the others. Of course, she knew quite a bit of it already but some parts were new, especially the bit about the plants having escaped.

When he finished, she threw her arms around him and said: "Don't worry Achel, I'm sure we'll manage to find a way out of it...." She then realised she wasn't sure she was talking about the spell or the arranged marriage. She wondered if he realised that.

Anyway, she hugged him again, so glad that he was here at least for the time being.

"So," Niki says, "there are poisonous plants, although they have no poison at the moment, wandering around the grounds?" She raises her eyebrows. "And we still don't know who, or what, caused the sleeping spell, and why."

"It may be presumed that though we don't know the identity of the man in the woods, his allegiances are fairly clear as to why I would expect the destruction of Hogwarts might figure in there somewhere?"

Egreen paused. "As for the plants, they could still prove a problem poison or not. I think Achel did say they weren't sure if any still had poison. I for one am not going to assume they haven't and end up as plant food!"

Yvette thought for a moment about the books. "Let's make some assumptions. Dark could mean evil, and Light could mean good. Therefore the Truth would be good, and Illusion would be...evil. A balance, like fifty fifty?" A flurry of french followed this, ending with some words most french speakers would be astonished by.

Egreen coughed with this colourful language - he wasn't used to it: "I'm not comfortable with using those words. It seems more to do with balance between opposite forces that can sometimes slip out of balance."

Egreen seemed somewhat shocked to hear himself say this but then he had been spending a lot of time searching out classical texts in the library and the concept of light and dark forces in tension was pretty much standard fare.

"Like the yin and the yang?" Niki asks. "That's light and dark, masculine and feminine, sun and moon, and so on and so forth, but it's always in balance. Do you mean that something is throwing it out of balance one way or the other?"

She glances over at Yvette. "Vous utilisez des mots grossiers," she says sternly in French, then grins.

"Tres bien, Niki." Yvette says dryly. "Tu as percu." She blushes slightly. "Pardon moi...I didn't mean to. It's habit for when my Mom's not around. You know...breaking out of the mould."

Egreen nodded, this girl knew her stuff! "Indeed. Every now and then someone comes along who wants to control it all. Like Grindelwald, Voldemort and many others I'm sure." he ponders thinking that this girl didn't look like she needed a history lesson.

"Things get bad. Other forces rise and bring things back to harmony. Republics fall, evil empires rise, then fall, then new republics which go wrong.... So the eternal questions remain, the choices we make in the scheme of things."

Surprisingly Marvo nods his head in agreement with Egreen. "Yes. As long as there is a Dumbledore, there will always be a Voldemort."

Like Egreen, Marvo didn't seem to have any of the usual problems mentioning the name of 'you know who'

"Ok. So we are not sure why this guy is putting the school to sleep although it may be to undermine some force of good here. But we do know where he is. Soooo if we could think of a way to stop him we could go surprise him. After all we are the only ones here. Only to defeat him we'd need to know something about him." Kat paused for effect.

"Marvo, you always know things you shouldn't. Do you know anything about him that might help us form a plan?"

For a moment Marvo looks shock. "Me? Know things I shouldn't what..."

But he stops and turns away. 'There is a Dark Wizard in the Forest by the name of Quetzalcoatl. He was a big follower of Voldemort. He escaped capture because he was in South America.'

He paused. 'But the one who took Kat... That wasn't him. As for why... I don't know. But I bet it has something to do with the books. You said he asked you about them? Maybe he needs them, or... Maybe he doesn't want anyone ELSE to have them. One of the first rules is to make sure the enemy doesn't have the means to destroy you'

Marvo falls silent.

Morticia gives a small giggle. "Nice name! Wasn't Quezalcoat or whatever a God of the Mayas or Aztecs or so?"

Kat walked over to Marvo and kissed his cheek whispering "thank-you" as she did so.

She turned back to the others. "Ok," she said. "Let's look at the books then. Here is mine." She took out Embracing the truth and put it on the table. Then looked at Yvette, Egreen and Achel to see if they would produce the other 3.

Yvette chuckled, then her face became grim. She put 'Embracing the Illusion' next to the other book, shuddering as she let go.

Marvo (of course) blushes.

As Kat takes out her book he asks, "May I rea... have a look at it?"

Niki recoils slightly at the name of Voldemort, but doesn't comment.

Niki grins. "French profanity is much more fun in England than in Morocco. Most people speak French in Morocco," she explains.

"But," Niki points out, "as long as there is a Voldemort," she cringes a little at the name, "there will be a Dumbledore. One can't exist without the other, at least for long."

"Not true" piped up Nimue on this remark. "There are those such as Dumbledore who do hold the Light and those who hold the Dark not in opposition but compliment.

It is just that when someone such as Voldemort seeks to destroy the balance for their own advantage then extraordinary measures have to be taken." Then she shut up.

Niki looks around the room suddenly. "Where is Hadrian?" In the confusion surrounding Achel's entrance, her brother seems to have disappeared. "Anyway," she continues, "I don't know what the man who took Kat did, but unless he injured her or something, couldn't we assume that he might be on our side, that is, against Quetzalcoatl?"

"I don't think we can assume that anyone is on our side. After all if he wanted our co-operation, I don't think kidnap and dementors in his team are the ways to get it."

Kat turned to Marvo. "Yes you can look at it, but I think we need to look at all three together."

Niki stares at Kathryn. "Dementors? There are Dementors... here?" She glances out the window with obvious fear.

"I know there are at least two in that forest. They attached Snape, but he got away, and when I was hiding in Scully just before my body was rescued we saw them come into the clearing infront of the hut. It was them that distracted the stranger in the forest so that we could rescue me." Kat didn't know if this would make any sense to Niki, but she hoped it would.

Madison thought for a moment, trying to understand. "So, roughly put, without goodness, there is no evil...and without evil, there is no goodness...They must coexist in a certain balance. Am I close?"

Niki nods. "Exactly. After all, what do you have to compare evil against if there is no good, and vice versa? There has to be light to see the dark by."

Niki glances out the window again. "Forget what I said," she says with a tight smile. "Anyone with Dementors isn't to be trusted... No matter what." The observers are led to wonder why she is of this opinion.

"I've got my book in my bag. The one I got at Hogsmeade. Do you think it could help?" asks Andy. "I mean we need all the help we can get. Maybe we could find something useful. Let me get it out."

Marvo turns sharply on Andy. "NO ANDREW! That book is NOTHING to do with this!"

Niki stares at Marvo, wondering what this book is. After all, if he is so busy looking at the others' books, why does he have a book that he won't let anyone see?

"Again these books are not about 'good' or 'evil' they are about light/dark - truth/illusion." Said Egreen

Marvo takes the books from Kat with a smile. He turns his back and you hear the sound of him quickly flipping though the pages. He turns back and hands it back to Kat.

"Egreen? Can I see yours now? And yours Achel."

Achel, his eyes still wide, looks over to Egreen who nods. 'Begrudgingly' Achel takes the book from inside his robe and hands it to Marvo.

Marvo takes the book from Achel (without smiling, and once more turns. After a moment Marvo turns back and hands Achel back the book, and looks to Egreen.

Although Egreen was rather caught up in a number of philosophical discussions about the nature of the elements in the books when Marvo asked the question Egreen took his book and handed it to Marvo.

"Here."

Niki watches, quietly, wondering why everyone is so willing to depend on Marvo for the solution to their problem.

Winifred lurked in the background of the action in the common room. She was scanning her memory for any information that may help in the events at hand. She recalled the shop in Knockturn Alley where Egreen had purchased his book, but wasn't sure if that could help in any way. She desperately wanted to help do something, but she felt entirely worthless... Trying not to make a sound, she slipped out of the common room.

"Are these books really going to help us with our immediate problem?" Niki asks, not challengingly, but questioningly. "There's a Dark wizard in the forest, as well as a mysterious cloaked stranger, and," she shudders involuntarily, "Dementors. Everyone is asleep... Even the owls, I would guess. My brother has disappeared." She sits down on a chair with a thump. "So, what do these books have to do with all this? I understand that they may be important... Relevant to Josslin Relumes?"

Marvo asks for a moment to consider. He sits at the table and closes his eyes. When he opens them again he looks confused.