"Ah! Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you!" the girl peering into the compartment chirps. "Can I sit? Or wave to my family? Oh, there they are, hi mum! Hi Patrick!" She heads towards the window without waiting for a reply.

"Uh. Sure?"

"Thanks!" She joins Emma at the window to wave. "Bye Mikey! Bye Tommy!"

"Um, I don't think they can hear you?" Emma says, but she can't help smiling.

"That's okay! I can pretend!" She waves some more, then grins at Emma. "I'm Jenny, by the way. I'm new! What's your name?"

"Emma, nice to meet you," Emma says. "I'm new too." She glances over at the group Jenny's waving to. "Are you Muggleborn?"

"Muggles are the ones without magic, right? Yeah! You too?"

"No, both my parents are wizards. I don't know any Muggleborns." Emma looks over Jenny curiously, but Jenny's in her school robes already and looks perfectly normal.

Jenny laughs. "Now you do! I fiiiiiixed it."

The door edges open and a boy about their age peers hesitantly into the compartment.

"Excuse me," he says, "may I sit with you?"

"Hi! Yes, please, come on in!" Jenny scoots over slightly from where she's standing at the window. "I'm Jenny, this is Emma. Want to come wave?"

He comes in. There is a raven on his shoulder.

"No, thank you, that's all right," he says.

Slight hesitation - "I'm Victor."

Emma is focused mostly on her parents on the platform, but she turns to give Victor a shy "hi" before turning back to the window.

"Hi Victor!" Jenny scoots back to her original spot, but stays facing Victor, her eyes caught on his bird. "Ooooooh, is that a crow? I thought we could only have owls! Where'd you get one?"

"He's a raven. His name is Muninn. He was in the owl shop and they said it would be all right."

He sits down, pulling his bag into his lap. It appears to contain several large heavy books.

"Awww, hi Muninn!" She looks surprised by how heavy his bag is, but doesn't ask; the bird is winning. "Does he like to be petted?"

Muninn gives her what can only be described as a suspicious look.

"Sometimes," says Victor.

Jenny giggles. "He looks so cross!" Tilting her head thoughtfully, she holds out her arm. "Maybe if we match?"

After a few seconds, her arm obligingly starts to sprout feathers. They are without exception the same shade as her hair. Jenny pouts. "Rats. I'm terrible at black."

This manages to detach Emma from the window. "You're a Metamorphmagus? Really?"

"Acceptable," croaks Muninn. He hops off Victor's shoulder and lands on his bag instead.

"You can talk!" Jenny exclaims, delighted. She reaches out one feathered hand towards Muninn, stopping just short of Victor's bag. "Where do ravens like petting?" Then, to Emma, "I guess? What's a meta- metam- metathing? I thought we could all do magic."

"You can turn into things! We can't do that. Unless, um." She looks at Victor. "Are you a Metamorphmagus too...?"

She's not expecting a yes, but she wasn't expecting Jenny either, so. Who knows.

"I read that ravens can talk sort of like parrots," says Victor, demonstrating correct Muninn petting technique - gently, on the top of his head and down his back. "I don't think I'm a Metamorphmagus. I've never grown feathers."

"But isn't that magic? How else do people know they're magic?" She sprouts feathers on the rest of her arm and pets Muninn as instructed.