If this was, as she said, a "classic" Hogwarts prank, it was certainly news to him. This had never been a thing he encountered in his own Hogwarts career, and wondered vaguely when it had started. Perhaps all that rubbish about Hogwarts Hussies in the papers all those years ago hadn't been based solely on idle speculation.

A history lesson on this particular prank, however, was not going to get them out from underneath it. "Oh," Alfred said simply, glancing up at the mistletoe again as if to check and see whether they both hadn't somehow misinterpreted what it was. It remained, of course, quite staunchly mistletoe.

"Er," he said rather awkwardly, returning his attention to Miss Zelda as his cheeks flushed scarlet. "Sorry." Not, of course, that this was his fault, but he did think it was rather more unfortunate for her than for him — she was younger and (at least in theory) more innocent than he was, which made sharing a kiss a much bigger ordeal by default. She was also the one who was mostly likely to have someone whisper about this tomorrow, if there were anyone to see when it happened — because she was an impressionable young lady, and he was a sailor, and already known for being strange. Passersby might almost expect something like this from him (though he hoped not), but it could not help but show rather negatively on her, he was afraid. Oh, dear.