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After settling in with Chance in Ravenclaw, Ofelia decided that since she was Sorted into Gryffindor, she should find out where it actually is. Plus, exploring the castle is an added bonus. It's not like it matters if she gets lost, or anything, she can just draw herself a door back to Ravenclaw if she gets desperate.

She expected the castle to be odd. She expected strange people to be wandering the corridors. What she didn't expect was to see a man limping along, clinging to the walls and giggling insanely.

"Hola? Senor?" she asks cautiously. "Are you alright?"

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Stopping in his tracks, House looked down with very wide eyes, clutching onto the wall for support. Man, his leg really wasn't working. Weird!

"You're very short," he commented, looking somewhere over her shoulder. "And that crocodile on your head doesn't make you look any taller. Crocodiles don't add to height," House nodded decisively.

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"I'm a child," Ofelia says. "Children are always shorter than adults."

At the talk of a crocodile on her head, she looks up, patting her head. Stranger things have happened, after all. "I can't see a crocodile anywhere..."

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"Really?" Wow, that was a bit much for House to take in right now. Even though he was, you know, a doctor and he should have known that. The hallucinogen had definitely taken most, if not all, of the higher levels of knowledge from his brain right now.

But she couldn't see the crocodile? Huh, strange. It was fairly clear to House, even though it was warping a bit and shrinking in size. "Maybe it's a magic crocodile," he confided in a stage-whisper.

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A magic crocodile? Ah, that made sense. After all, Madre and Mercedes and the rest hadn't been able to see the fairy. Ofelia nods, but keeps looking up. Maybe if she just tried hard enough she could see it...

"Does it look like it's angry? Or dangerous?" she asks, with a note of concern in her voice. "I don't mind it sitting on my head if it really wants to, but I don't want to get bitten."

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"Nope!" House commented gleefully, swaying on the spot. "It's having a good time, with the English crumpets and the tea. But it's okay, even if it gets angry it's pretty small, so... you'll be okay," he nodded sagely.

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"English crumpets and tea?" Ofelia repeats. "It's...eating on my head? Senor Crocodile," she says severely, addressing the magic invisible crocodile on her head, "my head is not a table. And it is very rude for you to not offer me any."

She looks up at House as he assures her that if the crocodile did get angry she'd be okay. "Are you sure, Senor? Have you dealt with small magic crocodiles before?"

This was a magic school, after all. Perhaps small magic crocodiles were common here.

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"Small magic crocodiles?" Chance might easily have passed by, intent on her destination and on the armload of books she's carrying, except that Ofelia's voice registers with her at once, so she stops to see what's going on.

"Who's got a small magic crocodile? Where?" Well, it's Hogwarts. She's not going to dismiss the possibility out of hand. And a small magic crocodile would be interesting to see.

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While House was hardly an expert on small magic crocodiles, he nodded anyway. "It's safe. For now." He widened his eyes, because who knew when the crocodile would suddenly decide to attack?

When the new woman came along, House pointed helpfully at Ofelia's head. "It's having a dinner party on her head," he informed her.

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"For now?" This wasn't making her feel any easier about it. "How will I know if it stops being safe?"

She gives Chance a sideways glance, not moving her head in case that makes the crocodile angry. Until she knows what to watch out for, she doesn't want to risk anything that might upset it. "Hola, Chance. Can you see the crocodile? The senor here can, but I can't. It's a magic crocodile, so not everyone can see it."

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"No, honey, I can't." Chance has encountered things at Hogwarts she couldn't see before, e.g., Constable Fraser's father. She squints at the crown of Ofelia's head. "Can you feel it at all?" It might be there, but then again, it might not. "And how's it having a dinner party?" she asks House.

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One part of House's brain stepped up to say, Why are these woman believing me? I am so obviously out of my mind right now! But that thought didn't last long, so he just grinned in a rather loopy manner at both of them.

"It has a table. A tiny table. And tiny dinner party... things. It's a fine balance," he informed them seriously. "And it'll only get angry if it spills its tea."

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"I don't feel anything," Ofelia informs Chance, then looks at House again. "Maybe it's really some kind of illusion and someone's playing a trick on you? Or on me?"

Because surely even if it was invisible she'd feel it. And a table as well? Miniature magic crocodiles at a magic school, sure. Ones that have dinner parties on people's heads? Sounds more like an illusion. How would it balance?

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"Only one way to find out," says Chance, matter-of-fact, and reaches to pick up the invisible crocodile from Ofelia's head, if there is one.

There isn't.

She looks at House. "There's no reptile there, nor any furniture," she informs him. She's starting to wonder about him. She clears her throat. "I'm Dr Chance Silvey, and you are ... ?"

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By now, House has come to terms with the fact that he is quite high (though he still thinks the hallucinations are real - selective rationality at its best), and he has also remembered his name. Though perhaps the latter was prompted by Chance introducing herself as a doctor.

"I'm Dr. Greg House, and I'm completely high!" He throws his arms up in the air in exultation, staggering a bit as he loses his grip on the wall. "But the crocodile is there," he says seriously, "I know because it told me so. And crocodiles don't lie. Or, wait... was that elephants..."

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"Hola, Doctor," Ofelia says seriously, then looks from House to Chance and back again. "What do you mean by high? The hallway is all flat...isn't it?" She looks around, puzzled.

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Chance's eyes narrow. Later, remembering ('I'm Dr. Greg House, and I'm completely high!'), she'll laugh, but right now she doesn't see anything funny at all. A protective hand on Ofelia's shoulder, she says, "The hallway's its same old self. Dr House means he's taken something that makes him feel funny. A drug, probably."

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"The hallway is not flat," House replies, sounding rather insulted. And indeed it's not, to his eyes, because there are some rather interesting mountain ranges growing just a little bit down the hallway. "I took a potion, I think," he slurs, swaying and bracing himself against the wall with his shoulder. "And it was orange. And it's raining! Indoors!"

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"Oooooh!" A medicine, then. Ofelia nods sagely, feeling like she understands now. "Doctor House was feeling sick, and so he took some medicine. And it must have been on of the medicines that makes you see things as well as making you feel better."

She looks up at House again. "What was the potion for, Doctor House?"

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Impressed by the little girl's levelheaded reasoning, Chance is nonetheless unconvinced by Ofelia's faith that House must have had a good reason for getting high. "He may not be able to give a coherent answer," she cautions Ofelia.

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Had he been sober, House might have been able to give a decent answer. Something about how he was experimenting with pain relief potions and ended up putting something he probably shouldn't in there. Or he would have lied, which was more likely.

"I can't walk!" He declares instead, sounding inappropriately happy about this fact. "And I think I have a peg-leg. But I'm not sure. I don't think I'm a pirate."

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Ofelia tilts her head to one side. "I don't think you have a peg leg," she says seriously. "Because you're wearing shoes. I don't think a shoe would fit on a peg leg. And pirates wear eyepatches and go 'Aaaarh!' so you mustn't be a pirate."

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Yeah. Definitely incapable of a coherent answer. "He could have a prosthetic leg," Chance points out, "but I really don't think that's what's going on here." She looks up at House. "Dr House, did you get high intentionally, or is this an unforeseen side effect?" Not that she expects a coherent answer to that, either, but maybe he'll say something she can half-decipher, and if he needs help she might consider doing something about it.

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Oh, wow, maybe he wasn't a pirate! He didn't have the eyepatch, so he must not be! That was a relief - somehow. House wasn't exactly sure why.

And now the older woman was asking him questions about whether he intended to get high or not. Ironically, this was the one time he hadn't been trying. "Nope!" He answered, popping the 'p' sound in an exaggerated fashion, inadvertently giving a negative to both answers. "The plants all look alike." There was her answer; it was just a mix-up. He might have provided more, if he hadn't looked at the to his left and seen an enticing looking door. Mumbling, "Oooo, pretty," he promptly turned around and tried to walk through the door, and ended up just walking into the wall.

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