Birthdays never really meant all that much to Hiram. He had always grown up with really just about anything he wanted and early on his parents had pressed into him the idea of giving back instead of actually receiving gifts on things like his birthday. Even his friends if they asked what he wanted would usually get the whole "just donate to a charity in my name" spiel.
Since it happened to fall on the day they were leaving this year, Hiram really was not expecting much of anything. People were pretty occupied with making sure all their things were together and it's not like he expected any sort of celebration on the train. So he settled into his compartment, pulling out his Charms notes to revise while he waited for the rest of his friends to show up.
He had not expected to hear Portia's voice in his compartment. Looking up, his mouth went dry and he looked around the compartment a bit bug eyed to figure out just who she was talking to. It became apparently obvious that for some reason she was talking to him and that revelation made Hiram's heart skip a beat as his palms started to sweat. "Is everything all right?" he managed to stammer out even though his tongue felt much too big for his mouth.