Harry was tapping his foot nervously waiting for the introduction of the instructors. Mei had transferred from her wheelchair and was sitting on the bench next to Gemma.

"Knock off the nervous twitching, Harry! You're going to bounce me right off this bench," she hissed.

"Oh, sorry!" Harry hadn't even noticed he was doing it.

Harry could hear the man who had been arguing earlier about going home each night chatting with someone in the row behind him. He thought maybe it was the mom from the family with children. From her nervous comments, he gathered that the father had taken the children home, but he wasn't sure if she was glad her children were gone or if she was missing them—maybe both, Harry thought. Then the mother whispered to the man that there was a girl with the most beautiful iridescent fish tail sitting in the row in front of them that made Harry very worried that Mei would hear her. He didn't think that would go over well. The man seemed surprised, "What? She has a fish tail? How is that even possible?!"

Harry turned his head and tried to give them a quelling look. He was surprised when it had the effect he wanted, but then he realized that something must have been happening… maybe the instructors were coming in the room? But then a noise emerged as if from a great distance that was like a fog horn: deep and resonant.

Harry tapped Gemma's hand and whispered, "Do you see anything? I hear a horn."

She wrote, "O-L-D" space "S-H-I-P" on his palm—but the way her hand was jittering he could tell that it was more than an old ship. She was just as enthralled with what she was seeing as she had been when they were up in the owlery tower.

Aminah leaned over to Harry and whispered, "What did Gemma say?"

"She said 'old ship.'" Harry shrugged as he told Aminah. "But she seems really excited like it is so much more than that."

Gemma squeezed his hand, which made him think she'd seen what he was saying to Aminah.

Aminah asked, "Old ship like a Viking Vessel or a Spanish Galleon?"

Gemma wrote into Harry's hand, "G-A-L-L-E-O-N," and Harry whispered it to Aminah.

They sat in eager anticipation as it approached, now Harry could hear bells clanging as well. This seemed like a rather grand entrance and he wondered what it could mean for their instruction. It seemed like the wind was picking up—the whispering of the aspen leaves that Hermione had described had become more frantic. Harry shivered. He hadn't dressed for stormy mountain weather. He thought about his jumper that he had stuffed back into his staff during the train ride with Hermione and Dr. Granger that morning and wondered if he should get it out again.

After a bit, when the wind didn't relent, but seemed to be bringing in even colder air, Harry noticed that Gemma was shivering, too, and so was Aminah and he could hear Mei was cursing the cold wind under her breath.

Harry took his staff out of his pocket and summoned his jumper, his winter coat, and two of his school robes from the staff. He passed them out to his friends who were mostly grateful for them (he nearly grabbed his winter coat back from Mei when she grumbled about it's sorry state) and put on his jumper.

Gemma seemed to be getting more excited as the wind picked up and Harry was eager to know what was going on.

Harry heard someone's footsteps crunching toward the center of the amphitheater, then Healer Jordan addressed them with her amplified voice. "Thank you all for gathering this afternoon to meet our instructors for our training course. We're eagerly awaiting the arrival of our guest instructors who have traveled here from great distances."

Mei was muttering: "Why all this fanfare? Is this the circus or something?"

Harry had to admit, it seemed a bit over-the-top.

"While many of your hours each day will be spent learning how to adapt to the changes that have recently occurred in your lives, and this work can often be tedious and at times frustrating, you will have moments of profound insight as well as small personal triumphs. At the Center, we have an unofficial motto taken from the words of a well-known muggle, Mother Teresa, who said, 'Do your best and trust that others are doing their best. And be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.'"

Here Mei made a snide comment about strength lying and while he could see the humor, he was feeling buoyed up by Healer Jordan's words, which really weren't all that lofty or out of reach. He wasn't sure why Mei felt like she had to cut down every good feeling, every encouragement and then the message of the words that Healer Jordan had just quoted hit him, "Trust that others are doing their best." He remembered where Mei had been a few months ago.

She's doing her best. Maybe she has to let her sarcasm out before it eats her up, he thought.

Harry shifted on the hard bench and took a breath of the fresh mountain air. It was still a bit chilly, especially when compared to the hot London air that he had just been inhaling at the top of the owlery tower with Gemma. He wondered if they were really in the Alps.

He heard someone approaching from the ramp they had all entered the classroom (if it could be called a classroom), their footsteps changing as they transitioned from the planks of the ramp to the sandy terrain of the mountain top they were perched on.

Tony asked Mei to budge up so that he could sit next to her and he felt the ripple effect as Gemma scooted closer to him. Harry moved closer to Aminah who moved down a bit.

"What are you doing coming in so late?" Mei lashed out. "And sit on the other side of me. I need to sit on the end." There was a hint of desperation in her tone and Harry wondered why.

Healer Jordan had continued as if there hadn't been an interruption, but Harry could hear the people behind them making noises of impatience as Mei and Tony continued to needle each other.

"None of your business," Tony retorted.

Harry felt the bench rock as he sat down on the other side of Gemma.

He realized that Healer Jordan was talking about one of the instructors and he had missed the first part and was just now catching on that she was talking about someone who was a great world traveler.

"… traversed the globe, fought the slave trade in Africa, survived captivity in Siberia, and helped chart the Australian outback… "

Harry felt Gemma press into him again, and realized that she needed more room. The bench seemed to be rocking more as Tony and Mei were pushing against each other.

He apologized to Aminah as he slid closer to her. She whispered back, "I'm right on the edge. I can't move over anymore without falling off."

Harry whispered to Gemma that Aminah was on the edge, in case she hadn't seen Aminah's fluttering note. She tapped the back of his hand with a "yes" as the bench continued to rock.

With all the commotion, he missed even more of the introduction of the new instructor catching only that he was a muggle Lieutenant of the British Royal Navy.

As the rocking got more vigorous and Mei and Tony's hissing and whispered insults louder, Harry began to wonder how strong the bench was and if it could withstand the onslaught of the two.

There was a loud noise, like an explosion. Something stung his thigh. Gemma grasped his hand and suddenly Harry felt himself being launched backwards as the bench toppled beneath them. He heard people screaming in surprise and pain. His back collided with the ground and against something hard and sharp as well as something soft and yielding. Someone fell against his legs.

Voices were crying out in alarm. People nearby were asking him if he was okay and grabbing him, trying to pull him up, and then letting go when they realized that he was pinned down. Someone's hand groped his face, fingers pushing into his mouth uncomfortably. He turned his head away, sputtering in disgust.

"Sorry, mate."

He tried to sit up, but the person (Gemma?) was still sprawled across his legs and he realized that he must be pinning down Aminah as she was groaning underneath him and trying to extract her arm and shoulder.

"Sorry, Aminah. Gemma is on top of me," he explained. He was still struggling to get up and release her from under him. Gemma was also trying to sit up.

"Get off me, you armless wanker!" Mei's screech cut through the chaos and a hush fell around them. Harry heard a floundering that put him in mind of a very large fish.

Tony's guttural response was so raw that it cut into Harry's innards and what was at first a hush, was now utter silence that erupted into alarmed calls to help out and the sound of people running. An ominous singed fishy odor hung in the air.

Beneath him, Aminah was still. Only Gemma continued to move and was finally able to get to her feet.

She tugged at Harry's hands and he sat up and then tried to help up Aminah. Tony's cry had dissolved into heaving sobs that were muffled as if he'd been pulled into an embrace. He couldn't hear Mei anymore. Crunching footsteps and curt voices barking instructions filtered in through the cries.

Harry pulled his legs off the toppled bench and kneeling, felt for Aminah who still seemed to be lying down. She was crying quietly and when his hand found her arm she yelped in pain and Harry recoiled. Gemma was standing next to Harry now, her hand squeezed on his shoulder.

"Aminah, are you okay?"

"My arm's hurt," she said, her voice laced with pain.

"Just stay still Aminah, don't try to get up." Healer Jordan had knelt next to her on her other side.

Tony's sobs had quieted to hiccups. It sounded like he was still on the ground. Harry thought that he heard Mei was crying, too, and it sounded like another necklace had broken. Someone exclaimed, "Pearls!"

Man, we're a mess, Harry thought.

His back felt bruised.

"Aminah, stay still. Your shoulder is dislocated, I'm going to put it back in place," Healer Jordan assured her with a gentle voice. There was a magical pop and Aminah cried out in pain.

Healer Jordan explained to her, "I'm going to ice your shoulder with a spell to help with the healing."

Godric Burbage was speaking to Mei and another voice that Harry didn't recognize had addressed Gemma briefly—her hand left his shoulder and she seemed to turn away from him—and then he gathered that they were speaking in sign language, because he couldn't hear anything, except for the sound of hands meeting occasionally.

"Harry, how about you? Are you hurt?" Healer Jordan asked.

"I'm fine," Harry replied, though his back hurt where he had landed on the rock. He didn't think it was the kind of injury that would merit looking after.

People in the room seemed to be talking amongst themselves now. The bench was still lying on the ground, presumably because Aminah was still resting. Something moved past Harry that made a whirring sound and stirred up dust. He wondered if it was a levitating gurney.

Harry turned to Gemma, reached out and found her back. He could tell she was still talking in sign language by the way she was moving. She stopped and laid her hand on his arm. He could hear the person she had been talking to move away from them.

"Are you okay," he asked her.

She tapped his arm twice, "yes," and took his palm to write, "Y-O-U" space "O-K?"

He nodded.

Healer Jordan made her way past Harry, checking in with the people who had been sitting behind the overturned row and then he could hear her talking to Mr. Burbage. It sounded like Mei had been helped back into her wheelchair and that Healer Jordan and Mr. Burbage were attending to her injuries. Harry wondered how badly she was burned, he tapped Gemma's arm to get her attention.

"Is Mei hurt?"

"Yes," she tapped on his arm.

"How badly?"

She wrote a question mark in his hand which he took to mean that she didn't know. He wasn't sure where Tony was.

"Is Tony okay?" he asked. She drew another question mark on his hand.

Harry slowly lowered himself to the ground again to check in with Aminah who was still lying down. "How's your arm feeling now?" he asked her.

"It's better," she said.

"I'm really sorry about landing on it."

"Like you could help it!"

Healer Jordan addressed the room with her amplified voice, "Folks, I'm sorry to say that we're going to have to reschedule today's events until tomorrow as we need to attend to the injured. We'll meet again tomorrow morning at 9 am. You may retire to your rooms or explore the Center, nonresidents may leave the Center to return tomorrow. Please review and abide by the Center's safety and privacy procedures. Meals will be served at the scheduled times. Anyone who was injured should stay here until we've had a chance to assess the injury. We apologize for the inconvenience and unexpected nature of this event."

Harry was surprised that there wasn't a collective groan, then remembered that most of the people here were adults.