"We have no family connections, Colin." There was a weariness in Simon's voice.
"I know! We have no connections, no outstanding talent. We're just the sort of... the sort of filler they can throw away once they're done with us."
Colin's gaze fell on Percy Weasley's byline in the newspaper.
"But this young man really is remarkable. He said what we don't dare say, and saw clearly what we've never been able to see. He really is different from those pure-bloods."
Simon remembered his mother's fiftieth birthday three months earlier.
His younger brother, who worked at an insurance company, earned four times his salary.
The house his brother lived in had central heating, a dishwasher, a computer, and satellite television.
His brother had asked him, "Do you know what a balance sheet is?"
He had said he didn't.
His brother had asked again, "Then do you know what market risk hedging is?"
He had said he didn't.
Finally, his brother had sighed, patted him on the shoulder, and said:
"Are you really not going to consider working in the Muggle world? My company happens to be hiring insurance salespeople. You'd earn more than you do now, and... honestly, you'd have better prospects, too."
How was he supposed to answer?
How could he answer?
He no longer knew how.
Seven years of education at Hogwarts had allowed him to fit perfectly into the wizarding world, while leaving him completely disconnected from the Muggle world.
He couldn't use a computer, didn't understand the Internet, didn't know what a "CV" was, and didn't know what the Muggle interview process was like.
He didn't even know how to open a current account of his own at a Muggle bank.
And in the wizarding world, he was merely a Muggle-born wizard with no family connections