September first ended with a hazy pink and yellow, strawberries and bananas mood. He was going to marry the love of his life Max Something Last Name, he had seven wonderful years at Hogwarts to look forward to WITH Max and he'd been sorted into HUFFLEPUFF the house of his dreams. Ronan Emery Wallace went to bed assured, content - snuggled with his love - the happiest any eleven year old could possibly be.

At roughly two am, the potion wore off. Ronan's eyes remained closed, for he was a champion of deep sleep.

At seven am, the time to get up to not be late for their first class ever, Ronan stirred. And immediately he felt that three things were very very wrong: 1. this was NOT his room. 2. His head and his stomach were KILLING him. 3. Perhaps most importantly, he was face to face with...................... a stranger.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING-" Ronan LEAPED from his bed, hair disheveled and breath smelling of dead rat, horrified at this INTRUDER IN HIS BED and IN PAIN and groggy as he tried to... remember. WHAT'S HAPPENING WHERE IS HE WHO IS THAT WHY IS THE FLOOR SO COLD WHY IS EVERYTHING YELLOW WHERE IS MUM???????????

Thankfully, Matthew had already woken up before Ronan, was that his name? Before the younger boy woke up and woke up LOUDLY. Matthew looked up from the book he was reading, sitting criss cross applesauce style on top of his neatly made bed, robes on and ready for the day ahead. "Do you have an inside voice?" Matthew asked. It seemed the only way this kid knew how to talk was just incredibly loud.

"You going to be okay?" Matthew finally asked him. Matthew looked him up and down, just making sure the kid wasn't hurt. Seemed he wasn't physically hurt but still seemed something was off about the kid. Was it the potion from the feast? Surely it was a potion that had all sorts of students acting...lovely. Maybe he just needed some food. Food solved everything according to his Yaya.

Derf had already been up and down to the lake and back on his routine morning jog by the time 7 am rolled around. Therefore the seventh year was heading back towards the seventh year dorms to grab his things and take a quick shower before he needed to grab a bite from the Great Hall and then make a mad dash to his first lesson. Or, well, that WAS the plan until he heard screaming coming from the first year dorms.

Holy flaming salamanders. Could things wait at LEAST 24 hours at this school before swooping in and trying to kill someone?!

Still in his U-17 Wales tracksuit, Derf took off down the hallway and threw open the door . Much to his relief, there were no hags or dementors or portal monsters or polyjuiced someones unpolyjuicing right in the middle of the dorm or anything. Just...Ronan waking up from what he imagined was a bad dream.

And, er, well, he did notice that his fellow first year was in bed too....maybe they had both gotten homesick last night and just needed a hug? Derf could related to that.

Glancing over at Matthew, pausing briefly to try and make out just what book he was reading before giving up, he patted his pockets to see if he had any chocolate frogs on him. He did, though it may be a bit half melted from body heat. "Oi, Ronan. You're okay, mate," he said cautiously while taking a step or two towards the first year. "Just a bad dream. You want some chocolate to help take the edge off?"

Oh thank Scamander no one was dying. Yet.

Sleep.

The only true refuge for a boy so caught up in the quagmire of self-image and general fear. He was cuddled up, warm and tightly coiled around... something equally warm... Maxie was inbetween. Not quite awake and not quite asleep and very comfortably so despite a wriggling thing in the back of his mind just begging. and pleading for attention. He subconsciously swatted it away, while burrowing his face deeper into the chest of....

the image of a great big cuddly rat flickered into his mind's eye.

Rats were funny things. Misunderstood things, too. He knew that feeling, poor rat. Poor big cuddly rat, he just wanted somewhere comfy to sleep. "You're safe... " He mumbled, the words muffled and lost against the sturdy frame he clung to.

And then someone screamed- and kept screaming- and The Rat- No, No, not rat -HuMAN. Maxie scrambled, his bloodshot eyes wide and terrified as the boY- OH God, Why was he cuddling- Why Was he cuddling that boy?? The one from before and the boats and- The hufflepuff's stomach lurched horribly and dangerously.

He was going to be sick. He was going to cry. Others were here. Matthew- Oh no, and The Head Boy- Oh no. Maxie's stomach lurched again- He was too weak and shook to well and truly move away but there was a nice empty spot on the floor beside him and-

The night was suddenly full of the sounds, sights and smells of a 12-year-old being violently sick.

Happy Birthday, Maxie Barton Anderson-Belfort.

No but seriously, where was Mum???????? AND DAD?????? And Patience and Ashling who always liked to bother him in the morning and stick their tiny fingers up his nose???? P A N I C.

Ronan's eyes - wide still, so wide - flew to the doorway from which two people entered this foreign place that had yellow curtains and really cold floors. "WHO ARE YOU??" HUH??? He wrapped his arms tightly around himself, confused and miserable and cold and hungry and in pain and wh- Oh.

OH. Oh no. OH NO.

This was HOGWARTS. He knew, because that was the HEAD BOY. He'd met him.... last night. At the feast. And this was Hufflepuff and this is his first day and he-

Two things happened in quick succession. First, THAT BOY (welp) who had been IN HIS BED, threw up. (In his bed). Secondly, Ronan's head exploded with confusion over WHY last night had happened and he could think of only one thing to do, which was to burst into distraught, loud, overwhelming tears. And he ran to Mr. Head boy, face already incredibly wet, and wrapped skinny, lanky arms around his middle.

"I want my mummmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyy," Rona weeped as he clung on for dear life. He didn't like Hogwarts this was a mistake could he go home he just wanted mum to tell him it was gonna be okay and last night hadn't been real and this awful pain in his head would go away and could it all just stop please please please let it stop.

.........oh boy.

Derf's instincts were to be in two places at once. One being by the boy who was, well, er, who was presently incapacitated by throwing up everything he had consumed last night at the feast and the seventh year was doing his best NOT to look at it all. Partly because he knew how embarrassing it was to have people watching you do that and also, well, it was not pleasant to look at to begin with. The second place was one that he was willingly forced into by the scrawny arms of the other first year. His own arms, instinctively, went around him and wasn't bothered one bit by the additions of snot and tears on his shirt.

He had been covered in much MUCH worse, you know.

But oh boy. How to handle all this?

Barf first. Clean that up.

Fishing into his back pocket for his wand, Derf gave it a flick and vanished the vomit...so there was that. Next would be getting Maximilian hydrated, but he needed to pay Ronan a bit of attention. While he couldn't exactly relate to the feeling of wanting his mum, he knew how it felt to just want to leave Hogwarts and go home. Only his desire to do so tended to come after some monster had come out of a portal and wanting to eat him or an inferius nearly killing him.

"Why don't..we go back to your bed...and you can write her? I can get my camera and we can take a picture of you in your dormroom to send too...." he suggested lamely while glancing back at the bed and, well, he probably needed to get the other boy out of that one. "You all right there?" he called to Maximilian. "I'm gonna get you some water, okay?"

Maxie's face was shiny with tears. not sad tears but the kind you cried while you were sick. Frustrated, embarassed tears. His throat throbbed with pain but he didn't speak up like the other boy had- he was too busy trying to get his over-sized head to stop spinning. Maxie held his head, avoiding looking at the mess he made- the boys around him- or the mess he'd made.

This was awful, really really really really really awful. Maxie groaned, falling back onto the bed with a big thump. He barely heard Ronan or the Head boy or the other other boy who had probably just wanted a good night's sleep.

What was happening? Had he caught the flu? He'd had the flu- this felt nothing like the flu!! Or like a stomach virus- Maxie's whole body was empty and cold and heavy. He crawled back into the bed without a word, curled up and pale.

"w-What?" Maxie sucked hard on his teeth, shivering. PITIFUL. "I- I'm Fine-" The Hufflepuff lied. For once he wasn't stuttering from nerves.