With the duct-taped duffel over her shoulder, she set out for Kings Cross Station. It took little over an hour at a leisurely pace. Once there, she found platforms nine and ten, but nothing lay between but the partition. Well, obviously, she thought to herself, it would be far too obvious, so many wizards congregating in a public muggle place. So there must be some way that only magicals can get through. And she set herself to watch and wait. Being early, Paise had to wait quite some time. As last she saw a man and woman walk directly into the partition and vanish, their three sons following right behind. So that's the trick. A bit nervous at the prospect of walking straight into what appeared to be a solid wall, she tried to distract herself with thoughts of the family she'd just seen. The middle boy had been about her own age; maybe they'd be classmates. And, inadvertently holding her breath, Paise darted at the partition between the two platforms and came out on platform nine and three- quarters. She let out her pent up breath. There were already quite a few people here, making an odd scene in their mixture of robes and mismatched muggle outfits, with a great scarlet steam engine in the background. She didn't realize she was still standing directly in front of the magical entrance to the platform until four redheads her own age burst through the barrier at full speed, laughing gleefully. She spun around just as the first trolley rammed into her, knocking her to the ground. There were two more right behind the first, but the kid on the right shoved against the other's trolley to stop it hitting Paise and went over on top of it, while his own trolley hurtled on without him. The girl in back managed to slow hers down somewhat, but it still hit the boy whose cart had toppled. It all happened in the blink of an eye, and then the first boy who'd hit hear was at her side.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concern written across his face, "I'm so sorry- are you hurt?"

Paise shook her head, though in truth her right hip and leg were in serious pain. "No, I shouldn't have stopped there," she responded, voice tight, but that was the only outward sign she gave of the pain as she carefully rolled and pulled her left leg up under her. The boy offered a hand to help her up, and Paise took it. She didn't know if she could have stood without the help. She was turning to the other boy, the one who'd stopped the second trolley from running her over, as the girl spoke with controlled fear in her voice, "Fred, get Virgil's Mum and Dad quick; he's hurt bad."

The last boy responded instantly, heading back through the barrier, and returned a moment later with a man and woman. "He's having trouble breathing," the girl told them as she moved aside. Working efficiently, the man knelt at his son's side and was feeling his ribcage as the woman- another redhead- removed a tiny box from her pocket and grew it to the size of a large trunk. She began rummaging through its contents, pulling out odd things in bottles and strange-looking instruments. Paise was intrigued as the man muttered, "Occulus internia," and pointed his wand at the boy's- Virgil's- chest. The area around the wand tip became transparent, so the bones and organs inside could be seen.

"Two ribs are broken," announced the man, "And one punctured his lung." As he turned and looked to his wife, Paise followed his gaze and was startled to see that she had a little cauldron set up over those fuelless bluebell flames. She paused in grinding something with mortar and pestle to hand the man a bottle from the chest. He then administered the drink to Virgil. "You know better than to all come running through the barrier like that! I expect you to behave more responsibly, especially since you're going away to school now."

"I'm sorry Dad," though his face was still stark white behind his freckles, the tenseness in Virgil's face was noticeably lessened since the draught from the bottle.

"Sir," Paise wanted to step forward, but didn't trust her leg, "Sir, it was because of me. The first trolley knocked me over, and he jumped into the other, to stop it running me over." The three other kids nodded in confirmation, and Paise noticed for the first time that the two boys standing were identical twins. She took a deep breath. Why was she so nervous for these people? She did not need their approval, but she was startled to realize just how much she wanted it.

The man looked down at his son. "You should have said something- that was a fine thing, to do that for the boy." Virgil tried to shrug, then grimaced despite the painkiller he'd just taken. His mother poured the medipotion she'd just been putting together into a mug as his father set the ribs back into their correct places, using his wand. Virgil winced as he did so but made no sound, and then accepted the mug from his mother. About to drink, he broke off suddenly as he smelled its contents, "Mum, you put kandoph in here! I'm going to Hogwarts; I don't want to spend the day sleeping!"

"I'm sorry, m'dear, but you're not going anywhere today. You'll probably be able the day after tomorrow."

"But, Mum!" the boy who'd stood the pain so well seemed now on the verge of tears. "Please Mum? I'll be fine, really. I-" She just shook her head, and he fell silent. Heaving a sigh, he downed the potion and was asleep in seconds. As Virgil's mum gathered his trunk and trolley and his dad floated him horizontally in the air at waist height, Paise took a few careful steps to the side, not allowing the pain to show through to his mediwizard parents.

"He'll be all right?" she asked.

Virgil's dad turned to her, "He'll be fine. Are you alright?" Paise nodded yes. She most certainly couldn't afford mediwizards to heal her leg. Virgil's mum took care of Fred's bruises from where the girl's trolley had hit him, and then they were gone and the crowd of onlookers Paise had hardly noticed was dispersing.

I didn't even get to thank him, she thought