Blossom didn't take his eyes away from the window when the red head entered.  He didn't want to see who it was.  With his luck, it was a wealthy Mudblood who would give him some strange disease.  He was well acquainted with strange diseases.  In his early childhood, one had robbed him of his ability to eat meat, turning him into a strict vegetarian.  Eating meat made now him violently ill.  The problem was he still loved the smell of it.

He shifted the wooden box that he was holding.  The corner of his eye caught the shape of an odd object that his new neighbour was holding.  He turned his head just enough to get a look at it.  What the oddly shaped case might continue he had no idea.  Likely it was some bizarre Muggle device.

She had spoken and in doing so had let him know that there was a girl in his compartment.  Blossom debated whether he should ignore her or reply.  It would likely be a very long ride if he had to ignore her for the whole trip so he turned to face her.  If she turned out to be some horrid creature, he could always find a new seat.

"Hello," he replied.

Her clothing was just a shabby as his, he was surprised to see.  Whether that commonality was good or bad remained to be seen.  His face was beginning to turn red as he spoke again.  "I'm Blossom."

"Are you ill?" Blossom asked in a cautious tone, not wanting to touch Deidre just in case she was.  She looked ill.  She was flushed and her eyes were half closed, as if she were about to lapse into unconsciousness.  It would be just his luck if she was ill, with something that Muggles and mudbloods could survive but would prove horribly contagious and incredibly lethal to real witches and wizards.  He'd heard of something like that while he'd been making his way through King's Cross to find platofrm 9 3/4 and board the train.  Bieber Fever, they'd called it.  He'd overheard a girl telling her friend that once you caught it, you never recovered.

"N-No . Im Just a bit nervous first day of school and all." She explained quickly. She withdrew her hand "I was just trying to be polite. You don't have to shake it.  It is just a lot to take in." She muttered softly "Cause I'm home schooled."

Diedre felt the train lurch and beginning to pull out of the station. "Is it your first time going to this school too?"

Blossom nodded.  "Yes, it's my first year too."  There was a long awkward silence, filled with the click-clack, click-clack of the train car.  He tried to come up with a polite way of asking the question that was on his mind but there weren't any ways  to ask it that didn't sound blunt.  Finally he settled for something that didn't too intrusive yet might still give him the information he needed.

"My surname is Rose.  What's yours?"

"It is a very old and well respected name in the wizard community," Blossom said rather stiffly.  He was mildly offended that she thought his name was 'pretty'.  "You wouldn't know that though, would you?  Being Russian and all, you likely wouldn't recognize a good English wizard's name."

Deidre shook her head, blushing even more.  "No.  Is that bad?"

"Well, yes," Blossom answered.  "You see, the wizard world is made up of layers.  There are the Pureblooded families on top, like the Roses, the Blacks and-"

"So you're like royalty?"

Blossom paused, his mouth open, astonished that she had cut him off.  "Something like that," he finally said.  "There are some families that are more important than others."

"Does that mean I should curtsey to you?  Mum said I should have manners."

"It means you shouldn't interrupt while I'm talking,"  Blossom growled.  "It's rude and shows poor breeding."

"I'm sorry, sir... master... whatever title is appropriate, Rose," she said, biting her lip and looking genuinely sorry.

If Blossom had been a less kind person underneath, he might have taken advantage of the situation.  "Mister is the usual title, unless the wizard has some other position, like professor or minister," Blossom said archly.  "You would be Miss Timscowsomething.  What was that name again?"

"Timkowski."

"Miss Timkowski.  As I was saying, you have the Purebloods and then you have the... less than Purebloods.  After that, at the bottom you have the Muggleborn and below them are squibs, who are Muggles born into Pureblood families."  He was getting a chance to educate the ignorant and wasn't even being rude.  His father would be proud.

"That makes sense, I guess.  So Purebloods are better at magic than the rest?  Or they're like royals, so they have rich family backgrounds and a lot of history."

"Both," Blossom replied.  "There are those who think Muggleborn shouldn't even be trained."

"But if you don't train them, what happens?"

What did happen to them?  Blossom wasn't sure.  "Something terrible probably."

"They'd likely be called witches and be stoned to death," Deidre said, looking sad.  "Or locked up."

"They couldn't do that to a real witch,"  Blossom said.  "Nothing is more powerful than magic."

"What do you mean by normal people?"  Blossom asked.  "You mean Muggles?  They aren't normal.  They don't understand magic.  We're normal.  Well, I'm normal.  I can't say for certain about you."  Blossom wasn't sure whether he meant it as a joke or whether he really meant it.  Here he was in an enclosed space with a Muggleborn and they hadn't done anything more unpleasant that just talk to him.

Diedre sighed you know common garden variety average people. People that don't use magic."

"Wizards and Witches refer to them as muggles." Blossom explained.

"Muggles." The young red head replied as she said the word if sampling it. "It almost sounds unpleasant or dirty sounding. Like Ick or Sludge. Is that the polite term or is that wizard slang for something less than complimentary?"

Blossom blinked.  "There are worse terms," he said, trying to decide if 'Muggle' was like 'ick' or 'sludge'.  He didn't think so.  "Names you don't use in polite company.  Calling a non-magic person a Muggle is no worse than calling this a window or that a door.  It's just what they are.  That is something you will learn.  You aren't a Muggle, you're a step up." 

Well, half a step anyway.

Diedre nodded and looked thoughtful. "Thanks for the information. I am just so nervous. My parents really we not that keen on me going here, but some one from the ministry told them its for the best. My family really doesn't come from money or anything so I am worried I will get teased about that as well. Not that I am complaining it was really nice to have had someone donate some of the items I needed for school, but..." She chewed on her lip. "I haven't been to school before period so I am terrified I am going to say the wrong things to people and maybe even get lost."