Thom's question had not been merely an inquiry into her physical health (which, as he suspected, seemed to be fine), but rather into... her emotional well-being, for lack of a better word. It seemed the two of them had been increasingly out of sync since their marriage, and while Thom had been eager to blame the growing gap between them first on her nerves, as a new bride, then on her pregnancy, and finally on her grief, he had finally run out of excuses to use for her, in his own mind. The baby had been gone for months, and while it was regrettable, it was one of those things that just happened to people on occasion. He had moved on, and there was no reason for Hannah not to have done the same, and yet here she was, still ensconced in the country home and turning down invitations to parties. It had crossed his mind lately that perhaps there was something wrong with his wife, but he had too little experience with such things to know how to delicately broach the subject. If she was going to ignore his question about her health, that would be the end of the discussion on the matter, at least for today.

Well, it would at least be the end of that particular branch of inquiry. There was still a good deal to discuss regarding her social habits of the past and present, and what his expectations of them for the future would be. He had thought carefully about how to broach that particular topic, and was hopeful that he'd have more success there than the previous one.

"The Quidditch season opens in a few days," he reminded her in a pleasant tone. "I wanted to see whether you'd put any thought into what you intend to wear to the Puddlemere gala. I can send out for a vest and tie to match."

Very diplomatic, and very carefully crafted. He'd decided it was best to speak as though there was no question of her attendance, because there really wasn't, and he didn't want to make it seem as though she had the freedom to just sit out the entirely of the social season — at least, not without some legitimate reason besides her desire to keep lurking around the country estate. If she protested, he would push back — after the debacle at Ursula Black's house party he had no intention of hosting his first event of the season with an absentee wife — but he hoped it wouldn't come to that, and hoped his second sentence conveyed his goodwill reasonably well. He was ready and willing to support her through whatever this... thing was that she was going through, and would stay by her side through the entire event if that was what it took, but he did need her to at least make an effort.