Nate had appeared while William was adjusting the angle of the merman and his trident, which was convenient because William had no qualms about asking him where the chimera was supposed to be pointing, but Nate also appeared to be comforting the distraught girl in typical Hufflepuffian fashion, so William felt mildly guilty about pulling him away from that to look at statuary.
He considered hanging around until the business was taken care of, but that could take a while, judging by the girl's tearful explanations - "And grandmere haz zee last, she vill never understand..." - and William honestly felt uncomfortable lurking behind a statue listening to a little girl cry.
"Eet vill never be zee same!" the girl wailed, shaking her wand and jabbing it furiously through the motions of an illusion charm. The glittering jewel she'd drawn appeared, but the colour was washed out and the girl's wand glowed more than her attempt at an illusion. William began walking toward them, brow furrowing slightly. The wand was bent; she'd shaken it with such vigor that the Spell-O-Tape was beginning to loosen, the patch job coming apart. There was still enough of the core intact to produce spells, but William didn't like the feel of the magic still sparkling around the girl's hand as she cast the spell again, this time through louder sobs.