Jack screamed in terror "Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeees" he kept running, his arms waved around as he fell over his own feet, it felt like slow motion "Nooooooooooooooooooooo" he cried out, his head hit the floor first, his arms, torso and legs followed after him, he just laid on the floor, he'd given up, he was going to get hurt, his life flashed before his eyes, he almost fell asleep because it was so boring...

Ross walked up to the now fallen Jack "That was a nasty fall" he said "Are you feeling alright". Then holding his hand out to the boy he continued "So how we gonna earn these points back?"

Jack rolled onto his back to look at Ross "You... want to help me?" he asked while eyeing Ross's hand "I..." he touched his face and winced, it was a burn... carpet burn... or wooden floor burn, whatever the floor was like, Jack didn't really care about that right now "No, I'm not feeling alright, I need my wand" he cried as he realised he was unarmed "Wand, wand, wand, wand, wand" he repeated.

Raiden rounded the corner into the corridor and stopped dead. He'd heard someone yelling a bit, but hadn't thought about it, really... but someone was disarming Jack Mosier, who swung at him and then turned to run... and fell on his face. Merlin's pants...

"Uhm... you're not doing anything bad to him are you?" Raiden asked softly, stepping up next to the boy who was standing over Jack. "Jack? Are you okay?"

He knelt down next to him, eyes warily on the other boy who was there, then flicked his gaze back to the first year Hufflepuff. He was freaking about not having his wand... Raiden looked at the unknown assailant.

"Do you have his wand? If you do, you should give it back."

Ross looked at him and said "I know you didnt mean it and i want them points back just as much as you so wat do you say we work together?". "Your wand is over at the other side of the corridor" Ross said.

Standing up straight Ross noticed someone walk over 'Thats just what i need, a slytherin' he thought to himself

"Nah im not doing anything to him" Ross said "and i only disarmed him as he was pointing his wand at me.

"His wand is over there somewere" Ross said pointing to a group of Hufflepuffs that were standing talking about a bannd or somthing.

Jack turned to Raiden "I'm sorry about hexing you, I want to go home" he sobbed "I am scared" he admitted before sobbing into Raidens robes

"WAAAAAAND" Jack scrambled to his feet while trying to hide the tail. The tail!! He had to get rid of it! He half dragged himself over to his wand "Come here!" he called for his wand before he gave up "Wand" he sobbed.

Raiden looked up a the Hufflepuff and tilted his head to the side as he stared. It certainly looked like he was doing something... he looked back down at Jack as the boy started crying and bit his bottom lip.

"Uhm... could you get his wand for him?" Raiden asked quietly, patting one hand gently on Jack's head as he gave up crawling for his wand. "It's okay, Jack. I forgive you for hexing me. But you can't go home... you have to stay here and learn magic. If you don't, you won't be able to do magic..."

He wasn't sure what was going on. Jack was crying, and he wasn't quite sure if that Hufflepuff that had disarmed Jack had been picking on him or not... He could've been lying. Gently taking Jack's shoulders and pulling him into a sitting position, Raiden looked into the younger boy's face and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket.

"Here... Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself much when you fell down? What's going on?"

Ross ran over to the end of the corridor and picked up Jacks wand, As soon as he got back he handed it to him and said "Why dont we go ask some teachers if they need any help with anything??"

Jack looked at Raiden "That's the whole idea, stay away from magic, stop others from using it against me too" Jack nodded as Raiden pulled him into a sitting position "I hurt my face" Jack told him before a tear started to roll down his face again

Jack hugged his wand "Thanks" he held his wand tightly and shook his head "No, I just... lost... five thousand points" Jack admitted as he laid down again, it was safe, he was only going to get trampled down here, unless some maniac came and started to curse him.

Raiden was utterly confused. Why would Jack want to stay away from magic? Magic was good... you could use it to protect yourself if others came after you and stuff, like he seemed to be thinki-

Wait. Wait. Five Thousand points? WHAT?

"Is... is that even possible?" Raiden asked softly, looking at Jack's face. He said he'd hurt it when he fell, and that was far more important right now that losing 5,000 points... "Jack, do you want to go see the nurse? Or do you think you'll be alright?"

He patted the younger boy on the head as another tear appeared on his cheek. Poor guy... He was really upset over this. Raiden bit his lip and tried not to let himself slip into an unhappy expression.

"No, no, Jack, come on, sit up," Raiden urged as the boy laid back down. He took the boy's arm and pulled him back up. "Come on, it's no big deal. Points are points... are they really gonna matter when you're older anyway?"

Kayla appeared on the first floor just in time to hear Jack's comment. She had just been past the hourglasses and had wondered why Hufflepuff had gone from second place to last in the matter of a couple of hours. She had in fact been on her way to see the headmaster in the hopes that there had been a mistake. But noooooooo of Jack Mosier had been the cause and she should not have been surprised.

Leaning against the wall and folding her arms across her chest and counting ten before speaking because she was likely to throttle him. "Well you are just on a roll aren't you Jack and what pray tell did you do this time?" she asked rather calmly. Surprising how well counting to ten actually worked, how long she was going to remain this calm was anyone's guess.

"i know but if we work together we can get those points back" Ross said as he pulled Jack into a proper standing position.

"Kayla just leave him" Ross said as he put his hand in his pocket "He has been through enough and anyway we are going to try and earn as many back as we can"

Jack nodded sadly "Yes, it's why he is so annoyed" Jack indicated Ross "I don't wanna go to the nurse, no" Jack muttered scaredly, there would be lots of puffs there, and the nurse had the power to hurt him. Jack pulled his arm free and laid down again "If I even live to get older" he muttered sadly

Jack screamed again as he heard Kayla's voice "Nooooooo" he clung to Raiden's robes and pulled out his wand in case he needed it "Leave me alone" he cried, this was too much for him, the tears started to fall again

Jack's legs gave out as Ross pulled him up "I..." he stared at Kayla, his face was white as a sheet "OK THIS IS ENOUGH" he shouted "I don't give a damn whether you freak out, go on take a shot, hit me" he told them, closing his eyes he screwed up his face waiting for the pain to come, he didn't see his tail poke out under his robes as he sat, just waiting.

Raiden sighed and made to pull Jack up again, when he heard a familiar voice. Jack immediately freaked out and clung to his robes again. Raiden looked toward the voice and smiled. Kayla Winters! He waved at her, completely nonplussed as to why Jack would be so afraid of her. She was nice! He patted the top of Jack's head again, hoping that it was at least a little comforting... but then the other boy pulled Jack up, and Jack was yelling about people hitting him...

"Jack!" Raiden yelped, jumping up and grabbing onto him. "Nobody's gonna hurt you, Jack. Okay?" He looked around at the people that were nearby. "Why would they hurt you? Losing points isn't the end of the world, Jack... it's okay. It happens... How did it happen?"

And, very carefully, he put a hand on Jack's arm and made sure that his wand wasn't going to start shooting off and hitting people with spells accidentally.

Ross stood infront of jack and grabbed a hold of his wand but keeping it in his pocket just incase Kayla decided to cast a spell.

Kayla held up her hands, "I haven't touched him. It was a simple question and all I want is a simple answer" she moved forward closer to the boys and she eyed Ross as she passed him. "What are you, his bodyguard or something?"

She rolled her eyes at Jack as she stood before him, he screamed like a girl. Kayla stood and waited for Jack to answer her question and knew it would have something to do with picking on some other student.

Kayla took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He was actually giving her permission to have a go and by Merlin it was really rather tempting. "And what would hitting you do...besides making me feel good" she said quietly. "It's not going to get the points back is it? So Jack, do you have a solution to this rather unfortunate mishap of yours?" And who said she couldn't be nice?

And speaking of nice there was little Raiden, Kayla really liked the second year Slytherin. She gave him a wave back and a small wink. Maybe they could talk later and she could see how he was doing. It had been the feast last term when she had seen him last.

Jack shook his head "It is, for her" he glared at Kayla "Hufflepuff is the most competitive house, and five thousand is a lot" Jack told him, then he felt some pressure on his wand hand "No, leave it" he warned Raiden

Jack growled as Ross grabbed his wand, his hand swung and smacked Ross in the back of the legs "Put it away! NOW" he growled, ignoring Kayla

Jack stared at Kayla "Go on, you know you want to" he waited to see if she did it "I don't know what to do, Professor Lupa was all over that Ravenclaw" Jack shuddered and buried his face in Raiden's robes, the memory was disturbing, spin the bottle, and... Jack kept his mouth closed and just cried into Raiden's robes

"Jack. Leave Raiden alone....I'm sure you can stand on your own two feet," Vanessa spoke quietly, the first time she had spoken since Ross had come to the scene. She offered a friendly smile in Kayla's direction, knowing it must be hard for the prefect to have seen their house lose so many points. "And Don't hit people....It's not ermm..Nice?"

Raiden gave the younger boy a hug and held onto him as he went on crying. The poor kid... he knew that some people got really crazy over points, but really... Jack seemed to think that people were going to kill him for it. House points were nice, sure, but... were they really that important?

"Kayla, you wouldn't hurt him, right? He's just a firstie, he doesn't know any better. I'm sure he didn't mean to hex me, or lose those points, or any of the other stuff he did!" he said unhappily. And now Vannie Corbette was here! Raiden smiled at her. She wouldn't hurt Jack Mosier, she was Vannie Corbette! She was too nice to hurt him! "It's okay Vannie Corbette... he's really upset. He thinks people are gonna hurt him cos he lost points..."

He looked down at Jack again. He still wasn't sure how the boy had lost 5,000 points...

"Jack, calm down... exactly how did you lose these points?" he asked again. "Don't worry, nobody's gonna hit you. I won't let them, I promise."

Professor Lupa... all over a Ravenclaw... he let that one go, his 13 year-old mind not quite equipped to think about that yet.

"Oh you don't know just how much I want to" Kayla replied with a smile. "But I unlike you Jack Mosier, can keep my temper under control and will not resort to anything that's going to lead to a detention or loss of points" she held up her hands to show him that she wasn't even armed. "You do realise don't you, how many Hufflepuff's are going to be furious with you. Maybe it's about time you think about the effects your actions have on others. All their hard work gone to waste because you can't keep yourself together." She glanced at Vanessa and gave her a smile before looking back at Jack, "And stop your whining will you, it's very disconcerting to watch."

Kayla now turned and gave Vanessa her full attention. "Thanks for the support, life is going to be rather difficult around here at the moment" she nodded her head towards Jack, "He might as well be walking around with a target on his back."

Turning her attention now to Raiden, her expression softened, how did the kid do that? Kayla looked at that cute, worried face and she gave him a reassuring smile. "Of course I am not going to hurt him Raiden." I want to very much but I won't she added silently. And then the rest of what Raiden had said sunk in and her temper flared instantly. "HE. DID. WHAT? He hexed you? Why? Oh don't bother answering that, I know why because he is a mean and spiteful child."

Kayla turned back to Jack, "What have you got to say for yourself? And you have..."she looked at her watch..."exactly thirty seconds to tell me."

Ross staired angrily at Jack "I am trying to stick up for you here". "I think i should go since you are quite happy here" Ross continued angrily.

Jack let go of Raiden and resorted to laying on the floor, Miss pretty wasn't so nice anymore

Jack shook his head sadly "Well, I was at Lupa's office, I got called there for hexing... you... and then a knock came at the door, she cast spells on me and shoved me in a closet, then... that Ravenclaw came in, and Lupa was all 'lets play spin the bottle and snog' I couldn't do anything, all I could do was listen" Jack told Raiden, his voice was shaking "Then, when I got out of the closet, cause the Ravenclaw legged it, Lupa just took off five thousand points" Jack trembled

Jack nodded "I do, go on, do it, I won't hold it against you" 'in a couple of years' he added silently "I do, I didn't do anything wrong to HER. She got
annoyed and took the points, it was almost childlike!" Jack told her "Why is it always me?" he asked "No-one else, just me!" he groaned as she said he was a walking target

"I know, but this is between me and her, I don't want you getting in trouble" Jack told him "I want you to be a normal huffie who can go to the common room" Jack told him sadly

Jack swallowed "He was just asking for it" he spluttered out quickly

"Some people might," Vanessa commented, folding her arms as she looked at Raiden. Anyway, even is he was really upset he shouldn't be clinging onto other people. What if he fell over? He'd take Raiden down with him. Vanessa was very glad that Jack wasn't clinging onto her. She didn't really want to have a close up view with the floor.
As Jack let go Vanessa smiled at Raiden, that did make her feel better, now Raiden wouldn't end up on the floor. "Ermm Jack...The floor?"

But then she caught on to what Raiden had said to Kayla. Jack had hexed him! "He hexed you Raiden?" Vanessa asked, feeling a little concerned. Why had anyone wanted to hex Raiden? He was cutee


"Yeah," Vanessa nodded in agreement, that poor child, but to be honest he had brought it on himself. He had been trouble since the start of school. "Just as long as we don't lose anymore points." She commented sadly, now that would be horrible.

Ross walked away angrily as he took his hand out of hid pocket.

Oh no! Oh no oh no, Kayla and Vannie Corbette didn't look very happy, and... it was his fault that Jack had lost 5,000 points?! He stared at the boy as he let go and slid down to the floor again. Oh Merlin, he'd lost Hufflepuff 5,000 points?!

"Oh... oh Merlin..." he said softly. "I.. didn't..." He looked at Kayla and Vannie Corbette. "Don't get upset! He hexed me, yeah, but it wasn't... well, I did get detention for it, but it wasn't really anyth-"

Wait, he'd asked for it? What?

"Too...confusing..." Raiden muttered, putting a hand over his eyes. "What's going on?!"