Josh waves at Naomi, and he and his parents finish their shopping trip in relative peace.

And eventually, there is a train station.

Naomi is one of the first people on the train -- she wanted to get in as much practice as she could, seeing as her parents wouldn't let her use her wand at home. 

Fortunately, it did give her lots of time to read up on wizarding history. She read all about the founders of Hogwarts, skim through a chapter that listed Headmasters and their major accomplishments, skim through an even longer chapter listing notable alumni ... she's not even a tenth of the way done with Hogwarts: A History and it's been a month. 

Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century was more concise -- organized like an encyclopedia, but frustratingly vague in certain places. She's not sure who this "You Know Who" is but she thinks he has something to do with the war Josh was talking about -- which she doesn't understand because didn't it end twenty years ago? Why would people still be mad about it?

That's the kind of thing she can ask someone, though. For now she'll sit in her compartment and get used to her robes and practice charms. Wasn't this wand supposed to be good at charm work, come on ...

Josh has been reading up on his Muggle history. It's important, his mother has always said, to let people know that you're open to their perspective. It shows that your respect them, value them, and want their friendship. So he's done his research, and he thinks he understands what electricity does, though he's still confused about how it works.

It takes a while, but he finds her compartment through the tried-and-true method of knocking on each door.

"Hi! How are you!"

"Hi! Good!

... I completely forgot to look for you on the platform, oh my god, I'm sorry -- I guess I was just really into the books? You can have Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century back, I'm done with it, and also maybe Hogwarts: A History but that one's long and not all of it is useful. Oh! How was the rest of your summer?"

"I learned everything there is to know about Muggles. Electricity, Napoleon, the Beatles...I studied all of last month."

"Probably not everything," she laughs. "Do you know what computers are now, or should I explain?"

"Please explain computers, I got electricity and how it makes radios work. We just use magic."

So she explains! This is what computers do, how they're used, how they work (she talks about transistors and "offs-and-ons"), what kinds of information they work best with ...

"My parents work for a company that makes them," she finishes, "and so they get lots of old ones and I get to play with them, it's fun."

"That sounds fun. Da never brings anything fun home, he takes the joke shop very seriously. Mum doesn't really work, even, just talks to centaurs and things."

"She talks to centaurs? That's so cool! What do they talk about, does she tell you?"

"Mostly just wanting their land back. Pretty boring, if you ask me. I guess you don't have centaurs, though. Muggles probably can't even see them."

"Maybe! Muggles can't see lots of magical creatures apparently, I was reading about how You-Know-Who used dementors. Muggles should really know about them, actually, it was really stupid of people not to tell them they were at risk."

"People don't like to admit they've made mistakes. No one expected him to use them, he never did the first time around."

"First time? There was a second time?"

"I guess those books are old. There was one war against Voldemort that ended ten years ago, and everyone thought he died. He didn't, and then he came back, and there was another one that ended last year."

"Oh, so Voldemort is You-Know-Who. Okay."

"Anyway, Dementors aren't a big problem anymore. There are still parts of his army left, and my mom is really worried about the goblins, but things are back to normal."

"Why is she worried about the goblins?"

"She thinks there might be another rebellion. My dad says there won't be, because the goblins are smarter than that, but she thinks that they care too much about the Sword to let it go." 

"What kind of sword? Why would they start a rebellion over a sword?"

"Goblins say that people who make something own it; you can't buy something permanently, just borrow it. They want it back." 

"So they should just give the sword back, then?"

"Gryffindor had it, it belongs to the school, and anyway, there's magic on it so it will go to any "true Gryffindor" or some tripe. You know how rumors are." 

"That seems silly, but I also don't know much about magic, so I don't know how to tell the difference." She sighs loudly and bounces her knee, burying her head in her hands. "I don't know anything about magic, about what's possible or not, and I'm scared of the war because my parents didn't tell me. The headmistress told them I'd be safe and they believed her, but they didn't tell me, I hate it."