The other young man's explanation about his goals promoted a peculiar mixture of emotions in the Ravenclaw.  He was surprised to hear Kohaku's sister - Ms. Biladeau, presumably, unless there was a mysterious hitherto unmentioned third sibling - had spent a fair bit of time in the hospital.  There was no basis for the surprise, of course.  It wasn't as though Sasha would have had a reason to know something that personal about the counselor.  It just went to illustrate how very one-sided any conversations they'd had had been and how, admittedly, closed off that one side had been. 

There was, also, the all-too-familiar feeling of carefully wrapping, stashing and ignoring the still raw grief that accompanied any topic involving muggle and wizarding medicine.  With that quagmire of emotions carefully set aside, it was much easier to focus on the excitement of finding someone else (and his age) who both seemed to understand the appeal of exploring science and knew about magic. 

When Kohaku spoke of being in remission, Sasha grinned.  "That's grand," he said.  "All of it, I mean.  Second year in medical school - that's pretty cool.  Where did ... how did ..."  Sasha hesitated, his brows furrowing in thought.  So, he was two years ahead of Sasha, but Sasha didn't remember him from Hogwarts.  But, his family were wizarding and he knew the Reids.  Abby.  Oh!  The Ravenclaw grinned.  "Are you a squib, too?  Did you go to muggle school?"  Sasha was, likely, one of the few wizards prone to geeking out about the prospect of a squib that attended muggle school. 

Then it was his turn.  "Survive school first," Sasha offered with a sheepish grin.  "Then, it depends on what happens with exams.  I applied to Oxford and Cambridge - but, a lot of that will depend on A-Level scores.  I'm sitting A-Level exams over spring break, before NEWTs.  If I do well enough, I'll go to either of them and study physics and biochemistry.  If not, I'll find a way to sneak into a year of A-Level prep classes and try again."

Kohaku was completely, blissfully oblivious to whatever maelstrom of emotions that the younger man was experiencing. He focused on the excitement over finding some sort of connection. Was the wizarding world truly so.... Ignorant to nonmagical people? Kohaku didn't understand how they could have been so closed off. He had heard though, that many people-- especially those his age, were much more accepting of muggles, their technology, and pop culture.

Then Sasha finally made the connection. Squib. He supposed he was, though it was a strange title. He had grown up essentially like a muggle. His sister had been treated like a muggleborn. Their father had, apparently, been a wizard. Over the holidays he had met some of the extended family-- all wizards of course. The situation was complicated-- and like complicated things often were, it was painful.

"It's--" He didn't want to explain it. "Yes, I'm a squib." The word felt foreign and wrong on his tongue.

"I did go to muggle school." He replied, though for a long time while he was sick, he had been homeschooled. That hadn't really been a choice, though.

From what he understood, NEWTS were the wizarding equivilent to A-Levels.  So essentially, this guy was doubling up. It was madness.  "I certainly hope you survive." Kohaku said wryly, "I wish you luck on getting in." He offered a warm, charming smile. A half curious, half amused expression spread across his face.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like Prince William, when he was younger?" He asked smoothly, "You look... Aristocratic." The polite way to say 'pretentious' without saying pretentious. But, it didn't look bad. Prince William had been a good looking man in his prime.

"It's— Yes, I'm a squib.”

“Not that labels mean much, right?”  Sasha offered with a grin.  Even though Sasha’s track record with getting along with squibs was better than with any other magical world … subculture … for lack of a better term.  For one who’d been known to struggle to get along with Hufflepuffs, that was saying something. 

“There were times I missed my muggle school,” Sasha admitted, feeling slightly nostalgic at the topic.  Or, perhaps, the nostalgia was more for a time when things had been a lot simpler.  Or, when he’d had - and wanted - free time.   

The Ravenclaw blushed and looked down, shaking his head, slightly.  “Only my mates - and only as a joke.  It…”  He shrugged, awkwardly.  “My mother’s family were counts and my father’s were barons.  They aren’t recognized in Germany, anymore, but they still took it a bit seriously.  We had all the … important society training stuff.”  They were hard habits to break, apparently.

Kohaku shrugged. Labels could mean a lot. Words had power. Language was stronger than people thought, though he wasn't going to say anything on that. He would hold his tongue-- Sasha was being friendly, in all his posh white boy glory.

If the horse and his mannerisms didn't give away his wealthy, privileged upbringing, then his words confirmed it. Kohaku nodded carefully. Rich people were often the sensitive, prideful sort. Maiko's grandparents had money, but they were also stingey and a bit... Full of themselves. Egotistical. And willfully ignorant to problems within their own family. They were not pleasant to be around, though they provided a house for them to rent. A house in a neighborhood that they wouldn't normally be able to afford.

"You're-- you're serious, aren't you?" As he smiled, his eyes twinkled with amusement. "You're actually nobility." Kohaku couldn't help but let out a friendly laugh. "You've got that noble look about you. Princely. And a princely horse to match." Sasha looked uncomfortable about it all though, so he tried to reign it in. "Ah, important society training. I'm guessing that as you get older, you're discovering how little it matters when it comes to real life?"

Well that was not the route he intended to go.

"I'm not trying to be offensive." He added hastily, cringing at the harshness of his previous words. "Coffee? Do you want to go get coffee? Or tea?" He hoped the invite would get Sasha's mind off of his careless words. "Maybe not now, but later." They both had animals with them after all.

"Officially, technically, no," Sasha insisted.  "Not since the Weimar Republic, at least.  We ... became other things, I guess."  No need to go into what that was.  "My parents had a tendency to cling to the romantic notion of it, though.  I suppose, in the right circles..."  Eventually realizing he wasn't helping himself, Sasha let his voice trail off. 

As to the rest of it, Sasha glanced at Kohaku with an unsure grin and shrugged his shoulders.  He wasn't even entirely sure if princely was intended as a compliment but found himself hoping it was.  He really wished he had something witty or sly or intriguing to say but, after a moment of frantic searching, "Wobias says thank you.  But, you should see us when I'm in formal competition tux and top hat," was all he could come up with. 

Lame. 

Wobias did make quite an impression in the Dressage ring.  The stallion had always been a convenient and safe outlet for Sasha's vanity.  It was one of the many reasons he'd braved the consequences of bringing the Friesian back when they were supposed to be picking up a top Hanoverian. 

"Ah, important society training. I'm guessing that as you get older, you're discovering how little it matters when it comes to real life?  I'm not trying to be offensive."

Sasha shook his head and waved a hand, dismissing the need for an apology.  "I actually figured that out a long time ago.  It does come in handy when you need to do some serious schmoozing towards people who are really full of themselves.  In most cases ... I'm pretty useless at a party.  Unfortunately, knowing you don't understand a foreign language and learning how to speak it are two very different things." 

To be honest, Sasha half expected the typical 'hunh ... interesting' and let's move on response.  He was (rather pleasantly) surprised when the young man offered to meet up for coffee.  "I would enjoy that," Sasha admitted, readily.  He tugged a piece of paper from the pocket of his coat and jotted down a few lines.  "My mobile and email," he offered, handing both over.  "I'm not living at home, so I don't have a phone number.  Though, my mates keep reminding me those have fallen to the wayside since I started school.  I'm staying at the Mayfair hotel, downtown but I'm fully mobile."  He handed the slip of paper over to the other young man. 

Sasha wasn't offended. Good. Perhaps he wasn't the easily offended type. Or he was immune to Kohaku's foot-in-mouth disease.

He took out his phone and quickly inputted Sasha's contact info, fingers numb from the cold. He couldn't even bother putting in the guy's last name. He could barely pronounce it or remember it, let alone know how it was spelled. So, Sasha was in the phone as "Prince William."

"I'll text you, we'll figure out when and where to meet." Kohaku said, "It was nice meeting you."

End