Alton tilted his head ever so slightly as he watched James. The barely older boy was talking now about how he hadn't gotten to try out for the Quidditch team. Alton sympathized, he hadn't gotten to either. But James was making it sound rather egocentric, blaming it on the changes around the school. See, Alton didn’t try and do that, he knew exactly why he had missed tryouts and he certainly wasn’t trying to pass it over as someone else’s fault. But he was used to people around here doing that and therefore didn’t bother trying to point this out. He knew better than to challenge anyone on their own faults; no one ever took too kindly to it.

When James apologized for going on like that Alton raised his eyebrows. Now there was something that people didn’t do anymore. He gave a casual shrug as a response.

“It’s alright,” he replied. “I’ve heard worse.” Which was certainly the truth; he had heard so many rants and “sob stories” he had lost count. Of course, with that said, Alton was suddenly feeling slightly awkward. There was nothing else that needed to be said now, at least not that he could tell. Oh, how he hated forced conversations.