Damien didn't care for this one little bit. The way that HENCHWOMAN beside Borr was staring at the kids. He made it a point to step in her line of sight, his wrists twitching. He so wanted to unholster both wands at the forearms. He wanted to hex the lot of them and take those chidlren to safety.

Eyeing Alysson he snapped his head a bit, motioning for her to stand strong beside him. Perhaps they could block the children from view... or something.

Patroclus had been fuming over Prometheus' funny little joke at the Security, however after what he had just been forced to witness, he was acutally very thankful for the hold up.

Finding a seat amongst the other students the Lion Prefect turned to those that had sung, "I must say you all did the school very proud" he said, trying to control his smiled, "I am just sorry I missed out on signing with you........OK so that's a lie, but I totally would have if I had of been let through the front gate!"

Stupid Prometheus had saved him from singing for the Fatman, but he was still a total git!

Returning to the student seating area really wasn't as much of a relief as he thought it would be. It was safer, that was for sure. Safe enough that he felt it was alright to let go of Lexi and Kurumi's hands, that the support around the table was enough to connect to. But at the same time, something felt frayed, broken almost and it had him staring at the cloth of the table, simply standing behind his chair in a dead silent daze. Brow knitted and hand clutched in a fist, he was the furthest thing from relaxed and not even remotely close to enjoying the party any longer.

How....

When they came up to the seating area Lexi immediately kicked her LouBoutin heels off with great force, sending them across the area and under another table.

She plopped into a seat and crossed her arms across her chest like the angry, stubborn child that she was at the moment. Tears were welling in her eyes, she was so ANGRY. Let out a cry of frustration she uncrossed her arms and simply lay her arms on the table and her head on top of them.

If anyone so much as TOUCHED her she was going to come up hexing. She had never in her LIFE been so embarrassed and angry. NEVER.

Arya had only just listened to the speech the to-large-to-be-capable-of-ANYTHING man had given, completely distracted from the dais by her distraction as he came back to the table disoriented. Whatever looks she'd planed on giving him disappeared from her mind as she looked at him with a bit of a worried expression.

Reaching up she slid her hand over his, giving him a small smile. What had happened up there to make him so....anxious? He was happier before, not as much as she'd liked him to be, but still happy. "You sang well." She took his hand and gently tugged it, trying to get him sit.

It took a few tugs before he was able to come out of his thoughts enough to turn his attentions away from the inner workings of his mind. Then and only then did he notice two specific things. First, the concerned look he was receiving from Arya who seemed to be trying to get him to sit. The second, was Lexi and her anger.

Lafay had warned him to use his head before acting by his heart, but his head was completely turned off at the moment. So there wasn't any thought, only pure emotion as he gave Arya's hand a small squeeze and kissed the back of it. "Give me...two seconds." His voice came quiet, barely present. An indication he would be right back, that he would sit as soon as he was done what he needed to do.

Letting her hand slip out of his, he moved the few seats over to Lexi, cautiously putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a slight squeeze. "Lexi...."

Kurumi walked back to the table in a sort of daze and almost tightened her grip on Sabel's when he tried to let go. "Oh...s-s-sorry," she said looking up at him and noticing the look of complete concern. Nothing made much sense to her, not right now, she had been more stressed out about trying to remember her manners.

Having walked back to the table with the students who had been forced to perform like trained monkeys just so that the pompous pig could exert his power, Charles looked down at the students, first looking carefully at his daughter, then at the blonde who should receive a gold star for telling the pig off, then to the young man who seemed to be in just as much shock as he was that all this was happening.

Noticing Kurumi letting go of the boy's hand, he guided her to a seat and returned his attention to the boy.

"You alright there, son?" he asked in a low voice. "You don't have to worry, I am not with that lot." He nodded his head towards where they had just been. "I hope he chokes on one of those cookies..."

As soon as Lexi felt the hand on her shoulder she reacted. Instincts kicking in she brought her elbow back as hard as she could before she heard Sabel's voice.

...

It was a bit too late to stop the motion of her arm. She had brought it back with such force she was sure it would connect if he wasn't quick enough to move. She blurted out a favorite word of her brother's and kept her head down, grimacing as she recoiled her arm.

Really, given Lexi's mood, he should have known. Whether it was the stupid Gryffindor in him or simply the lack of logical thought, he didn't even consider the possibility of how Lexi could be when she was so upset. He was just turning his head to give the man that had escorted them to the table a nod and tight lipped smile when the elbow he didn't even see coming made a nice dent in his stomach and drove all the air out of his lungs.

A cough and sputter left him as he doubled over the girl, one hand gripping the back of the chair to keep himself upright, the other still on her shoulder. It took him a good moment to get his senses back, and in that time he dropped his forehead onto the top of Lexi's, taking in a slow breath when his lungs finally decided it was a good time to expand again. And whether it was the stupid Gryffindor in him or the heart that was aching for all of them, he wrapped on arm around her shoulders and gave her a warm hug from that position. "Should...I come back...later?"

She gave him a small smile, though it was obvious she was worried about him, and nodded her head as she watched him check on Lexi. Her eyes caught sight of a younger griffie girl and some man she was with. Really, what had them all so upset? She frowned lightly, replaying everything she'd heard that Borr dude say, trying to remember what she heard that would cause them all to be so frown-y face, when she saw Lexi hit Sabel.

That only caused her frown to deepen, and her eyes to narrow at the violent girl. REALLY?? He was only trying to be a friend and she jabs him in the gut. And even after that he was giving her hugs. Arya glared in their direction, hand reaching into her bag and pulling out the Bott beans. Then she turned her back towards everyone at the table and irefully started eating the beans. Real food would be good right about now. Hmm.

Great. She elbowed the only person that was trying to see if she was okay. Great GREAT GREAT. Peeking over her arm a little bit she tried to see if any of the adults had noticed her self defense methods used to incapacitate a student...

Crikey.

FLAIL. Sabel was then SMOOSHING her! What a BRUTE. She slid a ways down in her seat as he FLOPPED over on top of her and headbutted her as well.

...

Okay it wasn't THAT bad but she was a bit smooshed. Without lifting her forehead off of the table she slipped one of her arms over Sabel's and whispered, "Sorry for knockin the wind of you... You can stay. For a moment... I just want to go back to the castle."

Nothing to see here, guys. NOTHING.

Alicia walked over to the seating specifically for Hogwarts student, and gave them all a quick happy smile. "I just wanted to congratulate you all for being so brave as to sing at at not even a moments notice." She smiled, knowing full well that Lord Borr could be a little bit of a tough critic. She smiled, waved, and then said a quick "well I best be off to the ministry seating - if you need any help I'm Alicia Devereaux - I'm currently working for the Department of International Cooperation" she smiled turned, and went on her merry way.

Another slow breath escaped him, partly in relief that she hadn't jabbed him again. Thankfully, the hit had been more out of surprise than well...other factors. He could forgive her easily for that.

Giving her shoulders a small squeeze, he drew back slowly. "No worries. I kinda snuck up on you." He managed somewhat of a small smile for the Gryffie as he gave her shoulder another, what he hoped was reassuring squeeze. "We'll be going back soon I'm sure." Providing Bloated Borr didn't need them for any further entertainment value. "Why don't you come and sit with Arya and ....."

The words tailed off from his lips as a head turn had his eyes blinking in surprise at Arya. She was ... turned away from everyone. This, did not look good. Had she seen...? Ohh she probably had. A wince stole across his expression as well as worry. Glancing down at Lexi, he tilted his head over to the seats by Arya, struggling to maintain a calm tone. "Join us?"

Lexi slumped her shoulders a bit more than they were already and momentarily thought about simply sliding out of her seat and into the floor, crawling under the table, and hiding until someone found her and forced her out. Much like she used to when it was time to go to Grandmum's house. She found a place and hid, praying to Merlin they wouldn't find her.

Lexi shook her head slowly and pouted where no one could see her. She squeezed Sabel back and said softly, "No, get back to her. I am fine here. Really. Go on, off with you." The last thing she needed was someone else's girlfriend angry with her for NO REASON AT ALL.

Blinking down at her, Sabel found himself at an inability to move right away. It felt like he was stuck in thick, heavy mud. The last thing he wanted to do was simply up and leave Lexi, especially when she was in such a state. And the other last thing he wanted to do was leave Arya alone as she was. For the first time in his life, he wanted to split himself in half so he wouldn't have to chose between them.

Swallowing back a lump in his throat, he watched Lexi for a long moment, fiddling with the fabric of her sleeve. It took a long minute before he leaned down again and gave her a tight, warm hug. "I'm here." I'm not abandoning you. "Talk to me if you need to." Please know I'm not abandoning you. "Please."

He gave her another squeeze before slowly parting from her, offering another weak smile. With a small sigh, he let his arms slip from her and a hand move to rub his ribs, before he forced himself to turn and move back to Arya. Why did it seem like he was choosing between them? He didn't want to.

Stopping beside Arya's chair, he glanced down at the beans in her hands, watching her pick through them before pointing at a rather funny colored one. "I wouldn't eat that one. Think it's vomit or some such nasty flavor."

Sighs. "Really I am fine, Sabel. Off with you," she said again. She didn't mean it one little bit though. She was not okay. She was emarrassed. With herself as much as with Borr's nonsense reaction to her words. Being a Gryffindor really had it's pitfalls sometimes.

She half hugged him back and slid her arm back into place, covering her face from view and letting a little tear slide down. So angry. So upset. She wanted to leave. NOW.

Her shoes... were around here somewhere... Peeking in between her arms as she pulled them apart slightly she spotted the underside of the shoe protruding from under the edge of a nearby table, obscured mostly by a table linen. Hmmmm.

Quickly getting out of her seat she bent down to get the shoe and ended up sliding riiiiiight under the linen blocking her entire self from view now. Totally looking for the other shoe... totally.

If she hadn't been in heels and a dress, she would have pulled her legs into the chair with her. But she was, and so all she could do was cross her ankles and angrily pick through the beans from her gift bag, which all had the letter 'B' printed on them. Odd.

Even though she knew that Sabel said he would return before leaving to check on Lexi, she was still a bit shocked that he was back so soon. That didn't mean she still wasn't upset with him, just a bit surprised by his presence. Her eyes flicked up at him briefly before she popped said bean into her mouth. It WAS nasty, but she was upset with him at the moment, and eating that bean seemed the logical thing to so. She rummaged through her beans to pick a bean that would rid her of the horrible taste in her mouth.

The frown that laced itself onto his expression was deep and pained. It was definitely not the reaction he had been expecting of Arya. Not in the least. "Alright then."

Another hard swallow had him as he fiddled with the bandage on his arm a little. "We'll talk...later." Because really, he wasn't in the mood for getting criticized just for trying to be a friend to someone. He knew it wasn't Arya's style to do so, he knew there was probably something deeper to her anger, but he really couldn't be bothered to think on it at the moment. In his heart, not in his head.

So, without another word he moved away from the student table and towards the buffet. Not that he was hungry, he just didn't care to be at that point at that time.

Her eyes flicked up at his departing figure as he walked towards the buffet, deeply hurt that he was walking away. But she was also still upset with him for reasons she was SURE he knew; this wasn't the first time they'd disagreed over this. So the young girl didn't go chasing after Sabel, as much as a part of her ached for her to do so. She stayed glued to her seat, eyes back on the beans that she was currently using as a distraction.

The way Damien was not glaring up at the people on the stage - especially that crazy redhead - made Alysson frown in slight worry. He wasn't going to do anything stupid, was he? Of course they had to protect the students but if the only thing the crazy people did was force them to sing...well, let's just say she had expected far worse. Besides, there was still the Headmaster.

Moving up closer to him, Alysson put a hand on his arm for a moment, for once not really understanding what he was trying to do. And the fact that he had reached for both of his wands wasn't very soothing. "What..." She stopped midsentences though, as the students were led back to the seating area by...somebody.

Who WAS that?!

With a quick 'be right back, don't do anything stupid' sort of glance for Damien, Alysson walked right up to the man who had guided the students back. "Who are you?!" She addressed, perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary. This WAS very stressful right now, though.

He had led the students back though, or at least some of them...especially the one Borr had called security upon. Yeah, right, what did he expect them to do?! Talking of whom. Where WAS the girl?! Alysson had been a little too busy worrying about Damien and trying to figure out who this adult-person was to make sure everybody had made it back safely.

Charles, who had shifted his gaze from the young boy to his daughter, came out of his protective trance when he heard a voice like a bell speak to him. Well, perhaps more like one of those bells in Notre Dame. He really was going to get a headache from all this. He probably should have refused this undercover business considering his own daughter was directly involved - although, he had not seen that coming. He had expected Kurumi to stay under the radar like she always had.

Turning his fatherly gaze away from the girl, he looked at the woman who had addressed him. "My name is Winston Lionheart, from the American Ministry," he said handing her his badge to hopefully put her at a bit more ease. He temporarily glared at at Lord Borr and his little minions. "You do not need to fear, I am just as concerned about these students as you are."

He looked over and saw Kaishu was in the area, so he nodded his head for his friend to get the heck out of there.

Damien was not comfortable with ANY of this. He had a bad feeling about these changes... these people... the whole damn event. Alysson's hand on his arm made him twitch slightly and then he relaxed a bit. "I am not comfortable... there is something more here... I think," he told her quietly.

He stood, still staring at the dais, until he heard Alysson screech at someone. Spinning around he raised an eyebrow and glared at the man. "Let me see your Ministry credentials. Now," he demanded of the man in a stern voice.


Lexi was still underneath the table, listening to the adults shouting. She cried silently and sat crosslegged her shoes set softly in her lap. She had unholstered her wand and had begun to silently conjure butterflies as she softly cried. How could she have not kept her tongue?

Apparently the Education department had just been judged by the school's performance and had failed. What did one expect when it wasn't planned and basically happened under fear of the reprocussions of what would happen if it didn't happen. It just seemed so unfair that ministry workers had to loose their jobs or be relocated because of the stupid man and his followers.

Slowly but surely the students and Headmaster Tate returned to the seating area and Simon was glad to see they were relatively unharmed. At least physically seeing as he had seen Lexi's face when the horrible man had called security on her for saying something that he couldn't hear. His attention momentarily turned to Kurumi as she returned with an unknown man in tow...someone Alysson and the other security man werent quite sure of.

While they both stepped in to take care of things, Simon looked around once more, frowning as he noticed Lexi wasnt around anymore. Had she gone down for food? Had something happened or she walked off? He was about to call her name when he noticed an odd things occuring. Odd in the form of butterflies suddenly appearing and looking to be coming from beneath a table and the boy slowly walked closer and leaned down on his knees.

"Lexi..." he asked pulling up the edge of the table cloth and spotting the crying girl. "Aww Lex..." he added crawling under the makeshift tent.

Lexi sniffled and lowered her wand as Simon came under the table. She grabbed up the side of linen and wiped her nose. Then scrubbing her face with her wand free hand she sighed loudly.

"Hey," she said lamely. Then her little face fell again and she cried silently once more. "He called security on me..." she said through little sobs. "I am SO embarrassed," she admitted.

"Hi," Simon echoed her quiet greeting, the boy moving closer to her as she started crying once more. He hated that the incident had so effected her when he knew Lexi was better then Lord Borr and all his gaseous personality.

"Thats because he's a pompous prat who loves to show he has people willing to jump at his beck and call," he said trying to assure her. His arm tentatively moving around her to show some other form of support then his words that didn't seem enough.