While you wait for your turn with the Headmaster, take a seat in one of the comfy couches scattered on either side of the gargoyles. If you're bored, he has thoughtfully provided you with several magazines about exceedingly boring Muggle subjects for your perusal.

Arriving at the seating room, Sabel couldn't help but stop and take in the scene. It was empty. Completely empty. The first time he had been here, had been with Kellen, his support as he faced the Headmaster for losing points at the opening feast last year. Then, there had been the crowd of students when Huxely was attacking. Now, there was nothing. It felt strange, like a dead, silent weight hanging over; or perhaps those were his own, meandering thoughts.

Wandering over to where the maganizes were, Sabel picked up the Fisherman's edition and smiled as he flipped through it. The Headmaster really needed an updated version; he had to agree with Kellen on that one. Putting the maganize back down almost tenderly, he shoved his hands in his pockets and rested back against the arm of the couch. He wondered if Tate would have the time to talk with him, or if he would answer the questions at all. It was worth a shot.

Jake had wandered up to the Headmaster's area in the Hogwarty place without really thinking. He soon found himself in the seating area along with the boy he'd spoken to at the feast with Demitri and Donovan.

That was a kind of tetchy subject, and not one he wanted to get into conversation about so close to the Headmaster's quarters.

Standing stiffly, Jake kept his hands in his pockets and his back straight as he stared straight at the gargoyle, waiting for Tate. He... kind of realised he did need to talk about last term.

Kind of.

At first, with the movement from the corner of his eyes, Sabel thought Headmaster Tate had appeared. But turning halfway and looking, he realized it was Jake. The boy looked downright stiff, and well, uncomfortable. Vaugely, he wondered if it had anything to do with the discussion that occurred at the feast. He had never really talked to the boy before then, and he had to face it, it hadn't been the best way to go about introductions.

Although he couldn't agree with Jake, Dovovan and Demitri about the Forbidden Forest and breaking rules and all that jazz, he didn't see the need or reason to be further pressing about it or rude to the other boy.

"You...are looking well." Sabel tried, with a small smile. He remembered how badly the boy had been beaten up at the end of the semester. "I'm relieved." That was the blatant, honest truth. It was good to see healing within the students that had been part of the battle, good to see them on their feet and pushing forward. He was suddenly reminded of Alexa, and a sharp pain ran through him briefly, reflecting on his face.

With a shake of his head he changed the subject. "How was your summer?"

Justin wandered into the seating area and waited for the Headmaster to call him. He had no idea how he was going to ask about moving back up to fifth year but it was worth a try. He sat there and waited quietly and read a magazine. Boring Muggle stuff.

Rhea needed to speak to the professor and to her it was super important, to him though it may not be anymore important than a piece of something stuck at the bottom of his shoe, but she had to give it a shot and hope that he didn't shoot her down once she opened her mouth. She sighed. She had never spoken to the man before and he wasn't very friendly looking either, he especially didn't look friendly this term. Oh well, it was all or nothing.

She plopped down in one of the seats placed there for waiting and picked up a magazine. Ah yes, muggle football. It was just about the only thing she understood quite well about the muggle world. She skimmed through quickly hoping to find her favourite team.

He had been moving a little off to the side of the gargolyes so as not to get in anyone's way when he heard a familiar voice. Blinking, Sabel swivelled his head around to see a grinning and rather excited Kellen. Obviously, he had not been to the potions class, or heard of it, though even if he had, there was little that phased Mr. Stern. Well, besides moose calls that was. Which, was rather tempting to give and he probably would have, if the situation had been different.

But then, he didn't want to put down Kellen's spirits, and so brought a grin up to his face and gave the other boy a small wave and then dropped his hand into the offering of food. "Would love to help you with your homework." His hand paused halfway to his mouth, his head tilting at the other boy with a grin. "Your job wouldn't happen to be eating all of these on your ownsome would it?" He knew how much Kellen detested sweets.

Arya had followed Sabel off towards the seating area, leaving his side to take a seat and flip through a old soccer magazine. She didn't realize that she was tired until she layed out on the couch, guess being set on fire will do that to a person. Now all she could think about was getting this over with so that she could go back to her common room and catch some sleep before her next class.

Her eyes flickered from the magazine to a familiar face when she hears Kellen's cheerful voice. It was nice to see that someone was in a good mood, and even brought a small smile to her face...if only for a minute. "Hey Kellen, what kinda help?" She eyed the cupcakes curiously. Apparently she was hungry too.

"Ugh, no, it wouldn't," Kellen wrinkled his nose. Sure, he'd eaten Vindictus' cupcakes with something comparable to a frenzy, but he blamed that on the victory celebration and now that he was back to normal he didn't want any more for a week at least, "On the contrary: I have to ma... er... let other people have them."

Kellen wiggled the tray at Arya, "Eat these? As many as you like, but maybe leave one for Tate." Arya looked a little... peaky? Was that the word? Not all was right in AryaLand, that was for sure. "Why are you two here?"

Sabel's eyes flicked down to the cupcake and he eyed it warily. "You have to do what now with these? Don't tell me its some One Ring of Power journey to the pits of Mordor thing." Because those always turned up with casualties.

His attention was snagged from the food in his hand briefly at Kellen's question, his eyes going over to Arya. It was her call whether she wished to explain the ordeal or not.

Sitting up, she tossed the magazine back on the table and exchanged it for one of Kellen's cupcakes. She remembered the class, a fun one, she had given one of hers to the HoM professor.

Sabel's LoTR reference had put the small smile back on her face, but it was quickly whiped away at Kellen's question. Averting her eyes from the two boys to the cupcakes, she considered his question before deciding to tell him a bit of what had happened. He would find out soon enough. "The new potions professor....set me and two Slytherin girls on fire."

"Sabel, stop quoting that book at me. I haven't read it yet." Well, no, he'd got to the part with that Tom guy who talked to trees but had to set it down after. "Our homework is to give our cupcakes to people. Now please eat it? See? Arya's eating her... Arya's ea... Arya's..." Kellen stopped, blinked, and looked at her with complete confusion, "I'm sorry, did you say on fire? As in burn-fire?"

"As on fire as a Balrog." Blinking he shook his head and returned his tone more serious. "The teacher's a little nuts. She put three prefects in detention. We're here to try and talk to the Headmaster about it. If not...well...there's only one way to defeat a Balrog." And no, he didn't mean Gandalf; though perhaps his flame of Anor would be useful...though he seemed to recall something about fire fighting fire...

Arya wasn't eating her cupcake, and she wasn't looking at either Sabel nor Kellen. She didn't need to look at them to know what there reactions were. She was picking at the wraper of her cupcake, trying to keep her composure and doing a fine job of it, even if her expression was somber. "She needed someone to test the unctions on...." She sighed at Sabel's comment, knowing fully what he meant. "He's the Headmaster, he will handle it. It's his job." And he cares about us. He had proven that last term.

"Okay, Sabel? If you want me to take this seriously, and it is serious, stop referencing that book." He frowned at Arya's description and shook his head, "That shouldn't matter. Did she tell you what she was going to do before she did it? Because if not... she had no right to do it. And you're right about Tate. He'll fix it." Actually, the extent of Kellen's interactions with the Headmaster had been to drop Sabel off at the beginning of last term when the Gryffindor boy lost points. But he'd heard good things.

Then he thought of something else, "Which prefects got detention?"

A small frown crossed Sabel's expression, but he nodded in understanding and agreeance. It wasn't the time or the place; something he was still working on learning. "I know it is. I'm sorry."

Turning his cupcake slowly, he turned his expression to the icing. "Raiden...Cela and..." He couldn't remember the last one, the name wasn't as familiar. His eyes went back to Arya; she knew the details better than he did.

The cupcake in her hands continued to hold Arya's eyes as they spoke because looking up while talking about this unfortunate event would bring tears and she didn't want that. "No, she just....set on on fire. Mine and another girl's arm and Destiny's leg. She put it out in the end, but still..."

Arya's apetite was shot, but she continued to play with the cupcake as a distraction. "Yours, " She stated simply. "And Raiden. They tried to stop the fire, Cela tried to stop the professor, but she must of put a shield around us cause no one could get to us."

"RAIDEN?!" And Cela and the other Ravenclaw prefect... Miles? Was it? He didn't know him that well... but RAIDEN?! "What... what is wrong with this professor?" It had to be the professor. Who put prefects like Raiden and Cela in detention for trying to help their classmates?

"Okay." Kellen set the tray of cupcakes down on a side table, and the wrapped magazine beside it, "Okay, the Headmaster is clearly going to do something about this. You can't just set students on fire." Just like you couldn't just drag students into the lake? No, that was last year. It had been dealt with. But this... "Are you hurt at all?"

Sabel couldn't help but smile a little at Kellen. Despite the boy's generally stoic and generally upbeat nature, he was as much a Prefect as any of those currently wearing a badge.

His eyes went back to Arya, softening in concern and geniune sympathy. The anger would come later, when the issue was addressed with those responsible, or those that managed those that were responsible. Tate couldn't let this slide. It was too much.

Her hand flinched when Kellen shouted Raiden's name, but besides that she remained seemingly unfazed by his reaction. Yes, our Raiden and Cela (and other prefect who's name we don't know) who wouldn't hurt a fly let alone a professor, then again flies don't set students aflame.

"I don't have a scar...." If that's what he was refering to, cause she was still shaken by the event. Placing the cupcake down, her eyes flickered over to said arm and if possible her face fell more. Her parents were going to flip when they heard about this.

"Well, good, but I meant..." Kellen didn't know what he meant. He was still trying to come to grips with the fact that a teacher had set students on fire without letting them know beforehand. It seemed downright irresponsible, not to mention insane.

Sabel didn't like that look on Arya's face. Not on anyone's face. Moving over to her, he set his cupcake aside and wrapped his arms back around her. This wasn't fair to her, or to the other students, or the prefects. Hopefully, Tate had drilled that into Miss. Potion's head.

Arya leaned against Sabel when he embraced her, wraping one of her arms around him and closing her eyes. She didn't know how to repond to Kellen, unsure of what he meant. So she just leaned against Sabel and rested her eyes for a looong moment before saying anything. "It did hurt.....she told everyone that it didn't hurt us, just burned the skin, but it did hurt." It did.

Kellen sat on one of the other couches, not good with the comforting thing and glad that Sabel was. "Well you would know. I still don't think it's right that she didn't tell you. I mean, yes, setting students on fire is ridiculous, but... well, this is Hogwarts. Sometimes a vivid demonstration is best. The students should know what they're in for though."

He sighed, "I'm not trying to excuse her. I'm just trying to figure out what she could have been thinking. That's all. Because if she's going to be here the rest of the year... know your foe, right?"

"Rational thought process or not," Sabel growled quietly, "she was wrong. Never, should any teacher do that to a student."

He wasn't mad with Kellen, he understood the boy had a more open perspective when it came to such things, but he couldn't not be mad at the Professor. Especially now hearing that it had hurt Arya. His arms tightened around her a little, rubbing her back in what he hoped was a soothing gesture. Really, there was only so much a hug could do.