"Why in Merlin's name would I do that? I avoid these people. They can suffer on their own time."

"How much of this are you following?" Miranda asks Jenny. "I don't think it ever occurred to me to give you, like, an introduction to blood prejudice..."

"Some...?" Jenny says uncertainly. "I mean, I know Slytherins don't like Muggles, I was warned, just not... details."

"It's not even just Slytherins, actually, there's blood purists in any House, but it should be a lot quieter these days, because the bad guys in the war were very into blood 'purity'. So - there's Muggles. There's Muggleborns, like you, or Renée. There's half-bloods, who have one magic and one Muggle parent. There's Squibs, who have one or two magic parents but aren't magic - they aren't quite Muggles, but they can't do spells or make potions or produce accidental magic anything. And there's 'purebloods', who have two magic parents and are magic, and if all their grandparents and all their great-grandparents and so on and so on were also magic then they are extra pureblood and some of them are huge racists about it. If Renée walks down a street in Muggle London sometimes she gets yelled at by stupid people for being black, and that would never happen in Diagon Alley, but she will get yelled at for being from a Muggle family. I get less of that, but still some, and Karen wouldn't get any at all unless she was hanging out with ultra-snobs."

"...Are black people the equivalent of Muggleborns for Muggles? What?"

"You don't go into Muggle areas much, do you."

"Nnnno."

"They sound similar," Jenny agrees sadly. "We even get it too, a little bit. I mean, I look however I want, duh, but my brothers are really obviously Irish redheads, we got yelled at sometimes." She looks around the group. "How can they tell, though? It's not like Muggleborns have a 'redheaded with freckles, I be So Irish' sign on their heads."

"The purebloods who care about this sort of thing know who all the other pureblood families are," says Miranda. "And what people from those families look like and often a lot about the individuals in them. They can get really obsessive. Renée could probably have pretended to be from a long line of witches back in Nigeria if she'd kept quiet about anything to do with her home life, since she came here when she was like five, but she'd have had to start very early on the pretending - every magic person within six years of her age found out while she was in school if they cared. She didn't pretend in Australia, either, but it's not as bad there and anyway she would have thought pretending was giving in to the bigots. And there's little things people pay attention to - accents and how you dress and so on."

"People are awful," Jenny mumbles sadly, hugging herself. Then she sidles closer to Emma.

Emma puts an arm around her and pets her. There, there.

"Oh, geez," Alli says, looking at Jenny's face. "I feel like I just kicked a kitten. Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know you didn't know." She looks at Miranda and Karen helplessly.

"It's not your fault," Karen says. "It's not like you called her an m-word and that's why we're explaining."

"Uh," says Miranda, "about that, Jenny, if someone makes references to - mud, around you, they are being racist."

Jenny blinks at her. "...okay," she says. "Thanks." She looks at Karen. "Should we explain about Muggles? Or, if you're not planning to meet Muggles ever I guess it wouldn't matter."

"I mean, I might meet Muggles someday? It just - doesn't come up that much. My family aren't blood purists, we're just boring and don't go to the post office watching people put stamps on things for fun when we could sit around at home playing board games." Pause. "Stamps are real, right? My cousin wasn't having me on?"

Jenny giggles at that. "Of course stamps are real! We have to pay for mail somehow."

"That's not obvious if you're used to owls," Miranda points out.

"...oh, hey, it totally isn't. Sorry, Karen! Yeah. Stamps. Paying people to carry mail instead of owls." She grins. "They're like owl treats for humans!"

"...They are not like owl treats for humans. Some of them you have to lick, but people don't like doing it, it's just how you make them stick to the envelope," Miranda clarifies for Karen. "Stamps are IOUs from the post office. You buy them and the post office owes you a letter-sending."

"Ohhhh. That actually makes sense kind of!"

"Oops. They are not literally like treats. They're just what you give the creature in question in exchange for mail carrying," Jenny says contritely.

"My mum says I can't have my own owl while in school because there are plenty of school owls to use," Karen sighs. "Amber lets me pet her though!"

Alli raises her hand. "Hi, help. Aaaand Amber is whose?"

"Amber is my barn owl. Renée said I could have my own owl if I would use her to write every week at least."