Maybe he really didn't like her. Maybe he wasn't in love with one of her sisters - definitely he wasn't in love with one of her sisters - but that didn't mean that he couldn't be in love with someone else. Maybe he said this was stupid because, even as countless small parts of their body touched on this little bed, he was thinking of someone else. Looking at her, and seeing a different person's face - just like Mr. Williams had.

She was picturing this girl, now. Pretty - classically pretty - and shorter, the petite sort of girl that men were into. She would be good at all of the debutante things, like Xena. She had no interest in swords. She would not kiss men on boats. Their only similarity, Zelda thought, would be that they both thought adventures deeply romantic.

With this track of thought, his question startled her into immediate truth. "I don't know," she said, "I still want my job. Maybe I'll be an animagus by then. I don't know about anything else." The thought of herself married made her feel like she was pressing her brain up against a wall. The thought of children - too many children - also hurt. She could not be tired all the time like Katia. She really wanted her life to be the same, or similar enough that it would be familiar to her.

She didn't know how he, or anyone else, factored into that.

But there was still that suspicion. Zelda couldn't help but ask, softly, "Is there - is there another girl?" she asked, "The only time... I liked someone once, but he was in love with someone else, and he never told me."

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