Victor gave a half-hearted chuckle in response, but behind it he felt mildly defensive on behalf of Christabel. It was hard to tell from one comment whether this was a genuine sentiment or only light-hearted sibling ribbing, but on the off-chance that he was serious it was hardly a kind thing for him to say of his sister in general, and particularly to someone outside of the family. But he'd asked which one, and when Victor recalled how the other sister had carried herself through Hogwarts when she had been a year below him, he was more understanding of Endymion's attitude. If Porphyria Dempsey was as strange now as she had been then, presumably her brother did hear his fair share of complaints about her behavior at parties.

"Miss Christabel," he clarified. "And I didn't intend to lodge a complaint — though the hostess might've, if she knew it was Miss Dempsey who lit her rose bush on fire," he allowed, thinking back to their first encounter at the house party. "I'm surprised I hadn't made her acquaintance earlier." Of course, there wasn't much particularly surprising about this; while he'd been in society his entire adult life, he had hardly paid attention to anyone outside his circle of friends until his sister's debut, and even then he'd only considered debutantes insomuch as they provided competition his sister emphatically did not need. He'd only started looking at eligible ladies for his own sake in the past few months. He supposed what he really meant by the comment was that he was surprised Miss Dempsey was still a Miss at this point. From his interactions with her she didn't seem the sort to blend in to the wallpaper at a social function, so how had she attracted no one's notice before this?

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