The compartment door slid open, the brass findings squeaking unhappily in their tracks as the door slipped into its pocket.  The once muffled murmurs of people moving along the corridor spilled into the compartment and pulled Sasha out of a deepening contemplation.  It would have been difficult for even the most in-the-moment person to be at least a little introspective.  After all, he and his peers were starting their seventh and final year.  For someone capable of over analyzing the simplest of nursery rhyme riddles, introspection was unavoidable. 

Especially when there were so many times over the last few years when the chances of reaching and completing his seventh year seemed remote at best.  When it had been so unlikely for him to have made it to Hogwarts in the first place. 

Sasha's eyes widened in surprise when Winnie closed the door behind her.  After a moment, the surprise softened to a slight, awkward grin.  "Allo," he offered.  "Your fellow OWL students let you go?" he asked, taking perhaps a bit too much pleasure in reminding the Hufflepuff of what lay ahead.   Even if he was staring down the noses of NEWTs and A-Levels himself.  This was likely to be one of the longest, slowest, fastest years on record. 

"Are you-"  Sasha blinked at the girl, glanced around at the pages and papers strewn across the seats next to him and across from him.  He'd been half aware that the explosion of paper had deterred more than a few potential compartment-mates and still couldn't ascertain whether this was a brief drop-in or if Winnie wanted to linger.  "Here.  Do you want to sit?"  He started gathering the various legal forms, agreements, property photos and a few scattered pieces of study material into some semblance of an ordered stacking system. 

Winifred was so excited to start her fifth year. It was hard to just sit still in the train, and it wasn't long before she was wandering through compartments, trying to find something else to do and someone else to talk to. Eventually she stumbled upon Sasha, and he greeted her- friendly enough. She smiled brightly.

"I just got bored," she told him. "The train ride is always so boring. I just wanted to walk a little and stretch my legs and see who else there was to talk to." He started shuffling around papers and pages and photos and asked if she wanted to sit. Winnie smiled. "Yeah, sure, why no?" Winifred plopped down unceremoniously and leaned forward, giving all of the papers a curious look.

"That's an awful lot of stuff," she told him. "We don't even have homework yet- so I know you aren't just trying to work ahead. You don't even know your assignments! What is all that stuff?" she asked. Winifred spotted a photo of his properties and reached forward, plucking it from the stack. "Oooh! This is so pretty! Did you take this picture?" she asked. "Where is it at? I didn't know you were into photography!" She grabbed for another. "This is pretty too!"

“Well…”  Sasha shrugged and grinned sheepishly at Winnie.  “I’m taking four upper level courses outside of Hogwarts, so I’ve had homework all summer.  Homework never really stops for me.  But, those are the only homework,” Sasha insisted as he pointed to the mathematics and physics distance learning notebooks.  Even as early as his first year, the train ride had been prime pre-term-pre-Hogwarts-homework time that could be used for studying other things. 

The Ravenclaw shifted in his seat, leaning forward to check which photo the younger girl had in her hands.  “They’re photos of our…my home in Rickmansworth.    Those are the back gardens and the garden house.  I do like photography - I used to do a lot more of it.  But, most of these were taken by other people.  Mostly realtors.”  Sasha had managed to go the whole summer without stepping a foot back in that house.

Part of him didn’t every want to return, even to take pictures, and hoped he could just leave all the selling, packing and moving to others.  The other part twisted in knots every time he considered how near the time was drawing when he could finally, legally sell the estate.  The place held so many horrible memories and he avoided it as much as he could.  But, the thought of selling, of it becoming someone else’s property - someone who might paint the walls or renovate Edith’s suite into a home office - felt like an invasion.  Like desecrating a cemetery.  There were good memories nestled between those darker ones. 

“We’re hoping to start listing it in the next couple months with the goal of finding an interested buyer.  With luck, we’ll have someone lined up to sign the papers on the day I turn 18.”  Then, he’d legally be an adult in the muggle world and the trustees would release the full estate into his ownership. 

“Then, I can buy a new home.” He shrugged.  “Most of it’s boring, legal paperwork.”

"Gosh, Sasha! All you ever do is study and do homework!" Winifred just couldn't fathom doing all of the things that Sasha did. He was so smart and studious and worked so hard- and she had never really done any of those things, it just wasn't in her nature. She was studying hard now, but mostly to catch up and to stay on track with her peers. Even so, Winnie never put the kind of effort into things like Sasha did. Even over break, when she'd been in his company at the Trishna's, he seemed to always have his nose in a book. Ravenclaws. They were insane.

She perked up when he said they were photos of his home somewhere. "I love gardens," she said. "They're so pretty to look at. I've always wished I could grow things. But I hate being dirty and even when I have tried everything just dies. I'm horrid at Herbology." No surprise there. Winnie was bad at almost everything school related.

He mentioned selling his home, and Winnie couldn't help the way her head tilted in confusion and the way her brow arched in curiosity. She always was a gossip. "Sell it?" she said. "Why would you want to sell it? It's so pretty! I can't imagine selling a house so pretty. I always wished we had a big, lovely house growing up. All those purebloods have this big estates and stuff. We always had a pretty small house. Earnie and Zeke still share a room, even. I got my own, because I'm a girl. But we've only got three bedrooms and one bathroom- which is terrible. Boys are so gross."

"One day, I'm going to be rich," Winifred said matter-of-factly. "And when I am rich I will have a nice home like that with a big flower garden and a swimming pool that's inside so it stays warm and I can swim even in the rain. And I will have my very own bathroom and a dressing room and my house will be so spacious even my cat can have a room all to himself if he wants one. That would be so nice. I just got to figure out the whole getting rich part. I figure, now that I'm a seer and everything, that I should be able to become famous pretty easy. Lots of seers have become pretty famous. I could make good money doing tarot and tea leaves and stuff."

Sasha shrugged.  “It’s one of the few things I’m good at,” Sasha admitted, grinning awkwardly at Winnie.  He didn’t mean it to be self-deprecating, studying was just simple and straightforward.  It didn’t require a lot of the social nuances that were they foundation of almost every other activity at school.  And, studying was so effective at occupying the whole of one’s mind for hours.  That made it easier to avoid wishing he was better at the other stuff.  His grin broadened a moment.  “All you seem to ever do is talk to people.” 

That probably hadn’t come across the way he’d intended it to.  “I don’t mean that in a negative way,” he explained, quickly.  “Sometimes, I wish I was a little better at it.  I- never mind.” 

“I don’t like being dirty, either.  Except in a few situations.  Like horses - I don’t mind the hay smell and all that.  But, that’s why you hire someone to take care of the garden.  You get all the benefits of it looking nice while someone else gets dirty.  The only thing I ever do in my garden is pick the occasional flower.  I take it you aren’t planning on continuing with Herbology after OWLs?  Do you know what you’re hoping to take?  Or do?  Or, are you sick of that question?” 

“Only one bathroom?”  For … five of you?”  Professor Trishna’s home had felt unimaginably devoid of bathroom space and he’d had two.  One was…sufferable…on a cruise ship or in a ski chalet or some other quaint, short term situation.  “Not all boys are gross but I wouldn’t want to share a washroom with another one.  That’s - I’m sorry.”  He refrained from mentioning he’d had one whole floor of his parents’ residence to himself. 

The Ravenclaw shrugged his shoulders.  “I have a hard time going back there.  Nightmares are bad enough.  Having-“  Sasha hesitated a moment, feeling awkward and self-conscious.  He’d never quite mastered talking about this stuff with his peers without sounding whiney or emotional or like he was fishing for sympathy.  He’d spent most of previous year all but living in the Astronomy Tower in an attempt to avoid any such topic.  In the end, it meant avoiding his classmates. 

“It’s just easier to avoid memories when you’re not walled in by reminders.  I’m actually not entirely sure I want to sell it.  It seems wrong to have someone else living there where they should be.  But it’s terrifying to go back there.  I didn’t really have anywhere to live this summer so I need to find a new place.  Preferably before I don’t have Hogwarts, anymore.” 

"Figuring out the getting rich part is tough - I’m not even sure how to do it.  We’ve just … always had money.”  He was vaguely aware of how his family came into money - not all of the story was worth being proud of.  “Once you have money, it’s a lot easier to keep it and make it grow.  I basically live off the money our money makes.  My father taught me a lot about investing, though - and I really don’t know how that works in the wizarding world.  I don’t know if goblins have … off shore investment enterprises and … most of it’s knowing the right people.  Surround yourself with rich people or, better yet, marry into a rich family.”  Tarot probably wouldn’t do it, in itself.  But, reading Tarot for the right crowd? 

"I think that's a good thing to be good at," Winnie told him. "I wish I had been good at studying and homework when I was younger! I'm only just now figuring it all out. But I am glad to have had people like you and Cy and other upper years to help me. Even Josh Harcroft gave me some Transfiguration lessons that helped me so much."

Winnie bounced a little when Sasha said she talked to people. He seemed to apologize quickly, and Winnie waved it off. "I am glad I am good at talking to people! When I graduate I want to work with muggles," she told him. "Like, I want to do the stuff mum does with muggle worthy excuses or do something like that. Bridging the gap or whatever. And when I leave Hogwarts I want to live amongst the muggles for a year so I can learn as much about them as possible before trying to get in the ministry-muggle stuff. My mum says now that I'm a seer that I should focus on that- but I just love muggles too much and you all are just so fascinating!"

The Hufflepuff was actually glad that Sasha asked what she planned to do after her OWLs. Nobody had asked her that. Most people didn't seem to think she would do well enough with her OWLs to go any further. "I'm not so great at Herbology, so probably not. I really wanted to do Divination and Muggle Studies for sure. I'm getting much better at Charms," she told him. "So maybe that! And my Aunt Leola told me to think of potions as cooking so I'm getting pretty good at that. And History of Magic. But I'm not really sure. It depends on what classes I pass." Hopefully she would have a few. At least three. Preferably four.

Winifred blushed when Sasha seemed so... astounded... by the fact they only had one bathroom. "Yeah, just the one. Dad does an okay job of keeping everything clean- but you know, him being a squib, makes it harder to do it quickly or easily, and I'm just no good at magic. But I guess at least we have one. I know that in some countries they have to go outside." Silver linings were not always her strong point, but Winnie was feeling especially optimistic now that her fifth year was starting.

Her smile faltered a little when he started talking about nightmares and avoiding memories. Winnie didn't fully understand that... Her brothers annoyed her, but she loved them. Her entire family was really close-knit. She couldn't imagine being terrified to go home- or having anywhere to live. "Oh wow, Sasha," she said quietly. "Well I hope you find something. You could find of those people who sells houses to help or something. They've got magazines- I've seen them in Hogsmeade and in Diagon Alley."

Winifred didn't know anything about investing. She laughed when he mentioned marrying a rich family. "Oh I wish!" she exclaimed. "But I'd have to find someone who wants to marry me first! And lots of rich families are snooty purebloods and that sort of person would never want to marry me. I'm not pure or prissy or anything. But maybe. You know. I could marry a wrock star or something. That would be a lot of fun. I mean, being rich would be great, but mum and dad always tell me that won't make me happy. But I think it would help, to not be so poor."

"Do you think you'll buy a muggle house or a wizard house?" Winnie asked. "That's a really big decision to make first off. I couldn't imagine leaving the wizard world forever. Maybe something in between?"

”...but I just love muggles too much and you all are just so fascinating!”

Sasha’s eyebrow arched and he grinned at Winnie.  “You know, I am a wizard, right?  I’m not even really…never mind.”  He couldn’t quite tell if Winnie had included him in the fascinating group of muggles because he was muggleborn.  Or, was it him specifically, what with his muggle sciences and all that.  Either way, he knew she wasn’t being purist or condescending - she wasn’t like that.  From her, he found the generalization amusing. 

“Well you know,” Sasha shifted the stack of papers onto the seat next to him.  “Muggles may not have magical ability but that doesn’t mean they’re oblivious to the idea.  Many believe in magic; some even have magic in their religions. Divination, especially.  There are quite a few muggles who study and try to divine and do fortune telling.  I bet a lot are better at it then I am.  It’s one of the things I really want to study.”  That alone was one of the primary reasons he still took Divination, even though he was rubbish at it.  "I don’t know if spending a year with muggles and sight are really mutually exclusive.” 

Sasha could only partially understand Winnie’s confusion about post-OWLs academic life.  He knew all-too-well of the emotional toil choosing between classes could exact.  However, he couldn’t comprehend that decision being made for him on account of not passing a class or OWL examination.  He opened his mouth, intent on asking Winnie if she was exaggerating or just being overly worried but thought better of the question. 

Score one point for thinking before he spoke!  It was a habit he was hoping to foster more. 

“If you need more help, I’d be happy to offer it.  I plan on volunteering to be a tutor, again, and I’d rather not be paired up with that peculiar Hufflepuff.  The one with the green hair?  I’m sure you’re better than I am at Divination, so I couldn’t help there.”   

“I’m sure you’ll find someone who wants to marry you.”  Yes, Winifred could be energetic.  Sometimes, terrifyingly so.  It always looked like the noisier kids were the more popular ones.  “My sister always says that, too.”  Of course, it seemed to him he’d heard that said more often by those without money than with.  “A lot of wealthy wizarding families might be purist, but there are plenty of wealthy muggles out there.  Several of my teammates back home would probably enjoy meeting you.”

Which did make him wonder: where did he want to live?  Professor Storm had asked a similar question over the summer.  Winnie was right; Sasha couldn’t imagine leaving the wizarding world completely.  No more than he could abandon the muggle world.  As much as anyone was likely to be, he was the product of both worlds.   “I don’t think I could have a fully wizarding house.  I have too many friends and connections in the muggle world, and I’ll have new classmates when I change schools.  I don’t know.  Maybe both?  A mostly wizarding home somewhere near London or Germany or Godric’s Hollow, and a muggle flat somewhere like Cambridge?"