Alli also cuts the timing close, out of a combination of laziness on her part and scatterbrained-ness on her mother's. She's hurrying onto the platform when she sees Miranda. "Heyyyy Silverlight! How were hols?"

"Are you just going to call me that now?" asks Miranda, stepping onto the train and waving Alli on after her.

"It amuses me! I'll stop if it really bothers you, though." She thinks about that for a second. "Pretend-bothers or mild exasperation may be fair game."

"It doesn't bother me that much. Anyway, hols were fine, yours?"

"I did pretty much nothing. Except for eating chocolate Easter bunnies. So, pretty awesome."

"Sounds fun. Where do you suppose the others have gotten to?"

Off they go! Is that Jenny?

Emma squirms. "We were here early anyway," she mumbles. "Hey. Glad you made the train."

"We cut it really close. How were your hols?"

"Mine were pretty good. We went to Madrid for a couple of days, it was nice."

"Madrid! That's so cool! I just had piles of family to hug," Jenny says. She does not look particularly upset by this. In fact, she's noticeably cheerier than when she left school.

"I was... mostly just reading. Some studying. That meeting was probably the most interesting part of hols," Emma sighs.

"Right. Meeting. That happened. How was it?" Alli feigns sadness. "I never got a report!"

"Did you want one? I took notes."

"Don't copy your notes or anything, I'm just vaguely curious. A summary sounds good."

"Politics, Emma's parents complaining about a Dementor getting on campus, me refraining from saying anything, her dad might try to get ahold of an Auror escort for me to go hunting with."

"Thanks. See? Now I'm all caught up."

"Why did you refrain, anyway? I forgot to ask. Just the reporters?"

"Things sounded - complicated. I'm smart, but I'm eleven and I haven't had any politics lessons, and I wasn't sure I could avoid making something worse."

"I am a little scared at the thought of meetings that need politics lessons."

"Well - like - people were talking about whether we should invite foreigners into Britain to help us do things since there aren't enough British wix left. If I had said any facts, I think people would have thought I was arguing for a side, and I didn't know how to control which side."

"Wait, no, I'm confused. Enough for what?"

"Oh, my parents have been complaining about that, shops are closed or understaffed and everything is harder to get ahold of. Enough to do - anything. That's why we have the American teachers I guess?"