"I think," he said, his voice unconsciously dropping a bit lower, "that you're a fine nurse. No, healer, wouldn't it be? .”

Sabrina raised her eyes from Gavin’s hand as he spoke, and was struck by the look in his eyes. What was going on here?

“Hardly,” She said, her cheeks beginning to grow warm. “Just… helping.”

"Whichever it may be, you did a good job," he told her.

There was something about this situation, her playing nurse to his game of brave man that made her feel ridiculously feminine. She really had to get a grip! She was a career woman, for goodness sake, not some stupid school-girl. Still, she didn’t let go of his hand.

Then Cairlin came in and Gavin was acting like a truant, caught out in some mischief.

"Oh, I'm alright. Just being a bit of a klutz,"

“You brother thought it would be a good idea to wipe up scalding tea with his bare hand,” Said Sabrina, dryly. “I’ve numbed the pain and chilled the skin a bit, but I thought I could whip up a potion if you had the ingredients.”

"In fact," he cleared his throat a bit, "I should go and have, uh, let mum...ya know, be mum?"

Sabrina glanced at Caitlin. Obviously this family worked just like hers: you took your boo-boos to Mummy.

"It was nice to meet you."

Sabrina smiled, some laughter in her eyes. “You too,” She said. “We must do this again some time, but see if we can do it without burns, scalds, poisonings or similar disasters!”

"Do your best to keep this one," he nodded at his sister, "from hogging the conversation."

Sabrina glanced at Caitlin, po-faced. She shrugged, pointed at Gavin and then used the same finger to trace a spiral on her temple. Clearly, Gavin was nuts.

Wringing out the defrosting dish-cloth, Sabrina went to the table to finish mopping up the spill. “Your brother’s sweet,” She said casually. “It’s funny, but unless they had siblings at Hogwarts, I never quite envisioned families for my classmates. I mean, it’s silly, I know, but take you for instance. I kind of knew, in the back of my head that you had family, but…”

She took the cloth back to the sink and rinsed it out. Draping it over the tap, she leand against the counter and smiled at Caitlin. “People’s family are so much in the background at school, aren’t they? My friend Phil at Norwich, for example. I ride the bus home with her almost every day, but I bumped into her in the Sainsbury’s with her mother and father and I was shocked! They seemed so unlike her!” She shook her head. “I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but… well, not just somebody’s mum and dad. Phil is so outrageous, and they were so…” She searched for a word. “Normal. Just normal.”

Sabrina sighed. “I don’t know what I’m saying here quite, but it was just so nice to meet them. Like your brother. He’s just so… so solid. A good man, do you know what I mean? Nothing special, just…” She threw up her hands.

“Maybe it’s my imagination, or something, but don’t you think Wizards can be a bit weird sometimes? Where as Muggles like your brother are just so… so.. I don’t know.”

She looked at Caitlin, knowing that the voiceless girl couldn’t really help her.

“Safe?” Sabrina tried. “Is that what I mean? Whatever it is, I like it.”

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