The silence that followed her name drowned out the crowd around them. Alfred could have followed it up with anything: a half formed excuse to leave, a brief explanation, an accusation. Nothing had the potential to surprise her when it came to him anymore.

Well, nothing aside from him touching her gloved hand and suggesting they 'stop this'.

"I don't understand." Jo hesitantly answered. What exactly was he suggesting they stop? The run ins? The awkward small talk? Then why touch her? He'd touched her on the docks that day, but that was out of necessity only. They hadn't had any positive form of physical contact since he taught her how to do a bit of wandless magic, and even that wasn't exactly a wonderful experience.

Jo kept her hand perfectly still, neither withdrawing nor moving closer. "Stop what, exactly?"

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