He wasn't at all convinced that this conversation had worked out the way he'd wanted it to, but he didn't know what else to say. She wasn't her old self, and she hadn't been cheered or encouraged by his words. The vaguely disappointed sigh and the weakness of her smile were a testimony to that fact. He had nothing else to offer her at the moment, though, and so he would just have to trust that she would be able to rally in the next few days and be ready to emerge on the other side of this in time for the gala — though why he should trust that she was capable of pulling herself out of this mire in a few days when she had failed to do so in a few months, he wasn't sure.

"A few days," he agreed, with a brief but not wholly sincere smile. After a slight pause, he asked, "Should I send anyone from the Hogsmeade house to help you pack? Or does your maid have it well in hand?"

The subject of where she would reside for the season had not been broached yet, but Thom didn't consider it a matter that needed to be discussed. Living in the same house as a married couple ought not to be the sort of thing that required discussion.