Merlin felt a vague ache start in the back of his head, some place behind his ears - he winched a little but lowered his hand, casting a glance around the place before looking back at the stranger; it definitely wasn't anything else.
Merlin couldn't remember Stephen from school, but then he'd been in another year in an entirely different house so that wasn't really unusual; the fact that he'd never felt or heard this around the boy before was though. Even with the gaps between them Merlin would have been likely to have felt this.
"No, I don't... don't think so..." It as strange when the man spoke. Merlin heard... "..fluttering? ...feathers?" he shook his head again, embarassed this time. "I'm sorry. There's just... a sound when... can't you hear it?" he understood that he might have sounded fragmented, but he couldn't help it with all the interference in his head.