River was on the ground, bracing herself against the brick-wall. Her hair was askew, falling out of it’s neat bun, the rose crumpled. Her heart was beating faster and faster, her vision splitting and reuniting every few seconds, heat rose in her chest, in her face, and felt a rush of strength and rage that she had never experienced before. “Yes… put that wand away and fight me like a man!” She lunged forward with her arms spread, attempting to hug and wrestle her opponent again. “Ugh!” Jack caught her around the shoulders as she lunged, “Get off!” He tossed her back down, “What’s wrong with you? Been drinking?” River spilled back to the ground like a rag doll. Her head hit the pavement, dazed, she looked at the dark ceiling of the underground. Her heart began to slow, the color rushed out of her face, that primal strength abandoned her arms. One hand fell to her chest, where, with a start she groped around for a moment, tearing the lace away as her weak fingers searched for... The charm… I forgot the charm… I left it on the side of the skin… and… my medicine I forgot… to take my… medicine… tengo malo pata*... my medicine! “Jack, I… I think I’m dying…” Jack raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her, “What? A little dramatic. Get up, you need to go sleep it off.” Her dark toned face was as pale as the white of the skull makeup, but that would be hidden. “I forgot to… I didn’t drink I… I didn’t take my… medi… med… mmmm….” hear breath slowed as well as everything around her (seemed to) slow down. She began to feel thing less, she was unaffected. “It is… It’s okay… at least I’m not alone...” her eyes looked to the blurry face above her, and her eyelids fluttered then closed. Jack’s eyes widened, “Fucking christ! What kind of medication? What are you doing chasing me down alley in your condition?” He raised his wand again, pointing it down at her, “Locomotor Mortis,” she floated up to about shoulder level and followed along in his wake as he moved at a brisk pace back toward the entrance to the Underground. The pair burst into the muggle subway station like that, attracting stares and much pointing and muttering. To the muggles, apparently, it seemed to be some sort of side show. River was vaguely aware of what was happening, the sensation of floating, Jack’s breath in her ear, the streets passing by… The street was even busier, but even in muggle New York there were enough oddballs out on halloween that most thought it was a good laugh. Some were even throwing coins in their wake, and one man went so far as to stuff a five dollar bill in Jack’s pocket as he went by. They thought it was an amazing trick, almost like real magic. The school wasn’t too far, but by the time Jack got her through the doors quite a few people had seen his less than subtle bit of magic. He wasn’t concerned with that, however, he was calling out for help. It was lucky, then, that Professor White happened to be nearby. “What’s happened?” he asked, looking down at the floating girl. It took him a second to recognize her through all of the makeup, but he knew her quite well. “Miss Rivera, what’s happened?” “She says she didn’t take her meds, after flipping out and attacking me.” He left his prank out of the story. “Of course she did,” White muttered, pulling his own wand out and waving it over her. She started floating toward the stairs. “You may go, Jack.” “No. No sir, I mean. I’d rather stay with her until she wakes up.” White looked back at him a little harshly, but allowed it anyway, “Very well, come on. Get the doors, please. Accio Amulet,” he waved his wand in a vague sort of way, but the charm worked. Not surprising, from the charms teacher. When she opened her eyes, she knew where she was, but it wasn’t the place she was supposed to be. She recognized the shelves of bottles and books, the desk, and that odd bird. She was in doctor white’s office. With a massive headache. And someone else, at first their face was a blur [i]‘at least I’m not alone’[/i]… She thought, but as her vision cleared she realized it was not professor White… nor any of her friends… “Jack…?” She squinted, hardly believing who’s concerned face was hovering above hers. She groaned as she lifted a hand to her face, rubbing her eyes and temples, trying to banish the migraine. “What are we doing here?” “Forgot to take your meds. Can’t even take care of yourself, can you? Is that why you hang out with those two brainiacs? Just like my sister and that… Lark. Running around with that puffed up ‘genius...’” He seemed to be talking more to himself than to her now. He stopped himself and suddenly switched the subject to her. Apparently he was loath to leave her right now, “So what’s the potion for? Seizures? Is that what happened?” “I forgot my m-m-m--” She jolted up, or tried to, she only got up a couple of inches before she hadn’t the muscle momentum to actually rise. She fell back down and covered her eyes with her hands “Soy tan estúpido.” The only thing that could explain her headache, laid out in white’s office… but that didn’t explain Jack. Jack didn’t like her or her friends, he was even insulting them now, so what was he doing here? Did he find me… somewhere? She tried to recount the evening, she remembered leaving NYAMA feeling triumphant, dressed up and ready to take on the world… the rest was a blur. “What’s that? I don’t speak Spanish, I told you already.” “Huh…?” River managed to prop herself up onto her elbows. [i]I don’t remember him telling me that… and I don’t remember how I got here… He must have… oh god… he must have brought me here after I… I… passed out?[/i] “I ah… I have a… chromosomal… disorder… I was, born that way, all mixed up I… I’d have died without magic and medicine.” She drew her knees into her chest and looked at the floor. She’d never talked to anyone outside her family, or Doctors, about her disorder. “... or without your help.” She didn’t remember his helping, but he had done it, so that mattered... “I don’t know what a cromysmal is, but I guess it’s what makes you go all shaky,” he briefly mimicked her seizure, locking up and trembling. “You’d think brainiac one or two would have reminded you to take it.” River looked up at Jack’s antics, twitching ridiculously. She couldn’t help but smile, she couldn't help but feel completely relieved. “Is that what I look like?” She let down her guard little by little. “Well… they might have… but they don’t know. I haven’t told anyone about it… Professor White knows because… he’s… he’s my doctor. I… I don’t like to talk about it. I’m… I feel like a freak of nature.” She looked down again, the mirth dropping off her face. “Only freaky when you don’t take your potion. Just keep on top of that and you’re…” The door to White’s office burst open behind his back, he jumped up with his wand, but only yelled, “What?” Professor Margaret Greenwald strode into the office, looking fit to curse them both. “Put that down, you’ve caused enough trouble today!” Jack lowered his wand, but stood his ground defiantly, “I didn’t do anything!” “No? Muggles all up and down the street outside saw your little levitating act. They took pictures! Pictures! And they put them on the intro net! Do you know what that is?” “No,” Jack muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets, wand and all. “It’s a collaborative effort to assemble all knowledge in the world. Foolish as it is, it now has proof of magic.” “So? Can’t we erase it?” “No, the Department of Sorcery has tried, so have the British and the Russians. Nothing can be removed, and sometimes we can’t even find the people who put them on.” “Whatever,” Jack said, defensive, “Muggles aren’t so bright, they’ll think it was a Halloween trick. No biggie.” River paled, she tried to interject: “And… But… He was [i]helping[/i] me.” Professor Greenwald paid her no mind, she had attention now only for Jack Hale “We’ll see if you think no ‘biggie’ in detention. For the rest of the year! That is, if you don’t get arrested.” She turned with a sweep of robes and left the room. Jonas White poked his head in. “She found you, then. You’re mine until you graduate, it looks like.”