He sighs.

"Yes, I'm Victor Evans," he says.

"So that's where you—" he starts, looking at the scar.

"He doesn't like to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"Because my parents died," he says, which is a reason if not the only one.

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"So you were raised by muggles, too?" Dayo asks Victor, trying to change the subject.

"Yes. My Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. They don't know very much about magic, so I didn't learn anything about it until last month when I got my letter."

"Muggle pals!" he says, offering a fist for a fist bump.

He blinks, then hesitantly bumps it.

Ron also blinks at this bizarre display of muggleness. "What are muggles like?"

"Well, what are wizards like?"

"Well they're all different!"

"So are Muggles."

"...okay, I guess. What about the ones you lived with?"

"I think they're afraid of magic," he says. "And they like everything to be neat and orderly."

"How about you?" he asks Dayo, as the train starts moving.

"It's only Mum, and she's great and I love her very much and she treats me like a real person and listens to me and is great."

"What do you mean, 'like a real person'?"

"Teachers don't treat me like a real person, for example. They treat me like a nuisance that happens to be able to talk. They do that to all kids, sure. Mum doesn't."

"Oh. Yes, I think I see what you mean now."

"My mum's nice about that, I guess. But it's kinda hard 'cause—I have five older brothers."

Victor is not sure he can imagine what having five older brothers is like. It sounds... busy.

"Hard how?"

"I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left—Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good grades and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."

He reaches inside his jacket and pulls out a fat gray rat, which is asleep.

"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff—I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's ears go pink.