On the train they get.

They will not all nine of them fit in one compartment. Karen and Miranda stick with Minor, where's he going?

Near the back, chattering about lightning.

Yup that's Minor all right.

"It's sort of a pity you did Runes early because now we won't be in your class."

"Yeah but if I'd waited I wouldn't know runes yet."

"You could've picked up some other language in that time!"

"I did that too!"

"Yeah, of course you did."

"I don't have any Italian, though - how was Italy -"

"It has neat old buildings and they eat tomatoes there!"

"Are they any good?"

"Tomatoes? They're all right but I'm not going to ask the kitchen elves to incorporate them."

The snack cart comes; Minor conserves his not-really-limited pocket money just on principle. 

Mid-afternoon he ducks his head in to make sure all is well.

"Hi Timothy."

"Hey! Have you been dissuaded from the mischief you were no doubt intending by this reminder there are authority figures on the train?"

"We will desist from our plan to reroute to Wales!"

"Good, good, that's strictly prohibited." And he goes on to the next compartment.

"I've been looking forward to this year for forever, all seven of us at Hogwarts."

"Pity it'll only last the one year."

"Will your parents be lonely? Mine are starting to mutter about having another kid, they miss me when I'm gone."

"Maybe a little bit, but I think they're also glad to not be interrupted all the time and make more progress on their own projects. And Timothy and Michael'll probably be getting married pretty soon and then they'll have grandchildren to fuss over."

"It's really hard to imagine Michael getting married. It's sorta hard to imagine Timothy getting married too but differently."

"Michael'll have to settle down a bit first. But girls at 20 don't want the thing he'd doing right now so I bet by 20 he'll have stopped doing it. Timothy'll probably marry as part of a scheme, it seems the sort of thing he'd do."