“Everybody has significant numbers. You just need to know where to find them, and which ones are important, and then how to, um, how to put them all together, sort of,”

He looked at her dubiously. It sounded like a long and involved process, and for a few little things that may or may not be true. “See… I knew there was a reason I didn’t take Arithmancy. That sounds way too complicated.” He would never have the patience for something like that. As she explained the basics, he listened politely and nodded his head, but he wasn’t really taking in anything that she was saying. If she said that was how it worked, he’d have to just believe her.

“Relax, love,”

Flinching a little at the endearment, he tried to cover his discomfort with a little chuckle. It came off as rather weak. He couldn’t help it. No one used words like that in relation to him—except his mother. And only when she was trying to get something out of him. The darlings or dears or sweethearts were just a tack to throw him off balance, and he had learned to be wary of them. Of course, consciously, he knew that Lindsay probably hadn’t given it a second’s thought. She probably said that to everyone. He was the only strange bloke that it bothered… “Er,” he said, trying to dissipate the awkwardness he was feeling. “That’s easier said than done.”

“Just – um, how about... why don't you just write down your full name and your birthday, and the same for anyone in your family that lives with you, and, um, if you want to, close friends.”

“Does… does it have to be my full name?” he asked, tugging at his collar. He really didn’t like spreading his full name around. The only ones who actually knew it were his parents, his siblings, and Nat. And… whoever Nat had told. So, presumably, the whole school. Still, he didn’t want to advertise it. Maybe she would accept the acronym he usually wrote if he had to include middle name in whatever form he was completing. It wasn’t like there was enough room in a form to put his entire name, anyway. It was shortened by necessity. “I mean, I don’t go by my full name, so… you should just use the name I always use because that would be more significant, right?” He was kind of grasping at straws, he knew, but he didn’t want to be saying embarrassing things in front of all the Hufflepuffs. They were talkers.

“Do you have a very big family? I don't remember if you told me before.” 

“My family’s complicated,” he said. “Right now, actually, the only one I live with is my mother. And she’s only there about half the time. I have some half-siblings somewhere, and I have had some stepfathers. My father is dead. His family was all Muggles, but I don’t know them. Or anything about them, really.” He thought a second. “I don’t know anything about my mother’s family either.” It would not surprise him if they were all dead, actually. Bad things tended to happen around his mother. A lot of ‘accidents’. He really didn’t want to go snooping around and trying to drudge up some relations. It was probably safer to not know. “I hope that’s not important.”