"A week ago. You? You're a pureblood, right, you've known forever."

"But I got my letter about the same time, yeah. How'd you take it?"

"My letter arrived in the hands of the Deputy Headmaster, so it was. Pretty great to finally, erm. Figure it out. All of it. Or, well, I guess not all, he never mentioned Obliviators."

"I mean. There are a lot of magical people and places and things, so he probably couldn't have covered it all."

"Yes but we did tell him about the Hulk incidents."

"… Hulk incidents?"

"So you know how your magic acts—or used to act—up when you felt strong emotions?"

"Yeah? – Oh, is that the bad behaviour you were talking about?"

"Kinda. I was—bullied a lot. I'm a metamorphmagus. Sometimes those things... went together."

"– Ah." Pause. "I don't know what 'Hulk' means, though."

"Oh, right. It's—do you guys have comic books?"

"Uh, not under that name at least?"

She explains the concept in broad strokes, "and there's one comic book character who becomes a huge green muscled person when he gets angry."

"That's. Um."

He pauses, not seeming to know what to say, and then – "Oh, there's my mum, be back in a sec."

She waits.

He goes over to her, waits politely so he can talk to her, and points at Sadde partway through the conversation, and then takes the list off her and waves.

"Got it," he says, showing it to Sadde.

"She's not coming with?"

"I can ask for her to? But I probably don't need her, Diagon Alley is pretty safe if you don't stray down any dark alleys."

"Yeah, we've been told, but mum wants to know about magic as much as I do, so she's shopping with me."

"Mm," he agrees. "It makes sense to be careful anyway, since you're not used to magic."

"I'm used to metamorphmagic," she says, and a snake's tongue slithers out of her mouth. "Ssssss."

"– You mmmight want to be careful doing that," he says, "but cool."

"Why?" she asks with a regular tongue.

"Some people have a bit of a thing against snakes and parselmouths – people who speak parseltongue, snake language – and that might be a bit close to it."

"Snakes are sapient?"