Inwardly Rabastan couldn't help but cringe. Naturally the first person he'd meet going back would be Basil. He'd probably even ask to share a carriage. He looked around again, hoping no-one from his year was around to see them. It wasn't that Basil wasn't a good friend or a pureblood it was simply that he was not the sort of person Rabastan would have instinctively chosen as a friend. There were house prejudices of course and running around with a Hufflepuff in tow hardly did anything for his reputation.
He squirmed a bit at the mention of letters. He'd got them, he just hadn't written back. He'd hoped Basil would get the message that he wasn't interested in continuing their acquaintanceship but it seemed that was not the case. "Basil..." He said, glancing up at the boy but he found he didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. Basil would take it badly. Rabastan hardly wanted the cause a scene on the platform. "I was in France...with my family. I couldn't be reached. But really, it wasn't that interesting"