Roy watched Nolan as he joined his group of friends. He was welcomed much more warmly than he had been by most of his muggle friends on his return from his first year at Hogwarts. Roy shook his head as he remembered Nolan and their neighbor coming in from a game of football, going on about a former friend of theirs who had accused Nolan of using magic to cheat. There was a lot going on in the world with the Muggles, but it was tiny things like that where one truly felt the effects. He felt bad for Nolan. It was normal for half-blood wizards to grow apart from their Muggle friends once they started spending every year deep inside the world of magic, but it seemed the process had been accelerated for his younger brother.
Then there of course was the chaos of his mother and eldest brother’s lives. As Obliviators, their jobs had gotten more and more stressful over the past few years. A can of worms had been opened. It was impossible to just remove all knowledge and records of magic now, so they had to focus on keeping more vital information from reaching the Muggle public eye. The heavy criticism falling on the Ministry from all parts of the world didn’t help their stress. Meanwhile, his father was using his role as a journalist to try and defend his family and their community, all the while ignoring claims that he’d “sold his soul to the devil for a piece of ass.” Roy found the whole thing ridiculous. Just a bunch of fear-mongering cowards. Their refusal to just live and let live would eventually force the Wizarding World to defend itself. The Muggles were actively provoking a dragon that had respectfully chained itself up.
He could see it now. A mob of Muggles of forming in London, pitchforks and torches in hand. It was really a comical thought, like something out of old monster movies. The witches and wizards up on the platform in their pointy hats and flowing robes (who really dresses like that in the city anymore?). Shouts and cries, calls for blood. And then Harry Potter would step forward, or maybe Hermione Granger, and with a wave of the wand all the pitchforks and torches turned to flowers. And that was that. He chuckled a bit, when Fletch’s hooting brought him back to reality. He had forgotten he was even holding the cage. But the owl was right. Life went on.
Roy boarded the train, wading through an even denser crowd of students moving in all directions through the corridor trying to find their friends. Over the sound of the other students a familiar sound caught his attention. Someone was singing a particularly annoying song. He rolled his eyes and worked his way over to the cabin where the raven was singing. He was disappointed to hear the song stop before he reached the cabin as it meant he wouldn’t be able to give David a hard time for it.
He walked into the compartment to find Remington and Ava, joined by David and a younger girl he didn’t quite recognize. Ava was petting both the raven and an owl that probably belonged to the girl. The other girl seemed to be going on about how much she enjoyed Hogwarts. “Special, huh?” he asked, laughing. “Is that what you call it?” he smirked. “Special was what my mum called it when my brother got Fletch’s owl pellets to sing and dance. But then again, special was what she called my talent with a paintbrush...” He shrugged, “I guess special can mean whatever you want it to.” He turned to Ava and smiled, “You look like you could use another bird. I’d let Fletch out, but Singer and that owl seem to be having such a good time I don’t want to expose them to his bad attitude.” He assumed that Ava still remembered him. He’d met her once or twice before at the beginning of the holidays. As he talked to Ava, he glanced over at Remington and David and grinned in greeting.
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