Ioan wasn't surprised when Anthony chose the seat next to him. In fact, he was pleased, as he felt the panic starting to fade a little. It was harder to feel fear when someone he cared about was close. He took a sip of his drink and leaned into the other boy's touch just a bit. It was comforting. Warm.
His parents had held and reassured him in his first weeks back from the cold hell that was Azkaban, but they couldn't understand all of his fears. They lived in a separate world for the greatest part of the year. The wizarding and muggle communities were similar enough in many ways, but completely different in others. But Anthony, Anthony would get it. He was there for it, suffered through it, and saw things that his parents never would.
"Nothing and everything," he said. "Nothing, in that I'm going back to school. Everything in that it feels like the first time. Except now I know what some of our schoolmates are really about. And some of it, some of them, scare me."
Turning the mug in his fingers, he glanced sideways at Anthony.