The bubble of stress pressing in on him exploded into the air at hearing her next words. Tybalt, who'd just taken another draught of Firewhiskey, spluttered aloud in shock, having to cover his mouth with the back of his hand to stop himself from a fit of choking. He set his glass down with a loud clink. And then let out an abrupt laugh, despite himself.
"There is that," Tyb agreed in jest, suddenly feeling remarkably and inexplicably lighter about the whole catastrophic thing. He slumped backwards in his chair, the movement of his shoulders mirroring his laughter, letting the tension in them dissipate amidst all the surrealism of this scene.
It was a undoubtedly a joke on her part; and in all seriousness on his, not at all what he wanted the future to look like, if he was forced to choose. But - at least he knew that, now? He didn't want to have to be consigned to secrecy for the rest of his life, settling for stealth and sneaking about, whether or not there was a chance of a torrid affair or curly-haired Gryffindor babies.
Not that he had an actual plan for an alternative, yet. But there was, maybe, a seed of one.
A little while after his grinning had faded into pensiveness, he glanced at Mrs. Cavanaugh again. Weirdly, he kind of liked Elsie's cousin, he did. She had stormed in without warning and laid waste to everything and yelled at Elsie (and he hadn't forgotten that, couldn't forgive her that) but she was clearly doing what she thought was in Elsie's best interests. And she seemed like a cool person. Completely terrifying, but also cool.
He opened his mouth again, returning to something from that was still weighing on his mind, though this time he submitted it as a simple question rather than a plea not to. Doing anything in the long run, really, depended on how ruined things turned out now. "Are you going to tell her parents?"
"There is that," Tyb agreed in jest, suddenly feeling remarkably and inexplicably lighter about the whole catastrophic thing. He slumped backwards in his chair, the movement of his shoulders mirroring his laughter, letting the tension in them dissipate amidst all the surrealism of this scene.
It was a undoubtedly a joke on her part; and in all seriousness on his, not at all what he wanted the future to look like, if he was forced to choose. But - at least he knew that, now? He didn't want to have to be consigned to secrecy for the rest of his life, settling for stealth and sneaking about, whether or not there was a chance of a torrid affair or curly-haired Gryffindor babies.
Not that he had an actual plan for an alternative, yet. But there was, maybe, a seed of one.
A little while after his grinning had faded into pensiveness, he glanced at Mrs. Cavanaugh again. Weirdly, he kind of liked Elsie's cousin, he did. She had stormed in without warning and laid waste to everything and yelled at Elsie (and he hadn't forgotten that, couldn't forgive her that) but she was clearly doing what she thought was in Elsie's best interests. And she seemed like a cool person. Completely terrifying, but also cool.
He opened his mouth again, returning to something from that was still weighing on his mind, though this time he submitted it as a simple question rather than a plea not to. Doing anything in the long run, really, depended on how ruined things turned out now. "Are you going to tell her parents?"
