"She isn't in coalition with anything," Lou pointed out, honestly surprised that no one else seemed to share his reluctance to go chasing after something that was as obviously dangerous as it was pointless. He realized he'd said this first phrase a little loudly, and lowered his tone for the rest of his brief speech, to try and prevent the Sphinx from hearing. It seemed rude enough that they were all talking about her right in front of her face as though she wasn't there, and he hardly wanted to go and offend her before the rest of these idiots had even made up their minds. "She didn't say anything about the fog, and according to the caretaker she just arrived this morning. If the two are connected —" a big if, in his mind — "It might only be insofar as the deterioration of magic might have allowed her to escape from wherever she was, and gone roaming. Asking her what caused the fog might be as fruitful as trying to ask that troll who wreaked havoc on Honeyduke's."

He also thought the concerns the two younger members of the party expressed regarding the safety of the nearby Muggles was, although quaint and very noble, pretty stupid; she'd said she wanted the church, not to go rampaging through the village. Besides, without magic, what made this group any more equipped to deal with the lion woman than the Muggles? The Muggles might even be better at defending themselves from the threat than a group of hot-blooded Ministry hard-chargers, who were used to having magic to aid them, and now didn't.