Ford was mildly flattered that she thought his opinion on cocktails was worth asking for. Indeed, he wasn't new to the concept (as she might have been, coming from Hogwarts where even at the Coming Out Ball nothing stronger than champagne was on offer), but that didn't mean he felt confident giving advice for what she would see at the refreshment table when she reached it. There was a world of difference between a gin and tonic and whatever it was they were serving in shades of orange and pink, with the strawberry slices propped on the rim.

"Well, at home I drink gin," he said as they continued down the path to the drinks. "But vodka is the sort of spirit that disappears in a cocktail, so if you don't want to taste anything but juice, that's what you want. I feel like I can always taste whiskey when it's in a drink, more than anything else it's mixed with. I don't know if that's really what you were asking," he reflected. Maybe she'd been after his favorite flavor, not his opinions on liquor? But honestly, she'd probably just been making conversation; it was unlikely she actually cared about his opinions on anything.

"I didn't see the ballet, no," he said. His mother had suggested it, but it was another thing that cost money, and since neither Grace nor Clementine had pressed to go it had been easy to push it off. "I haven't seen much dance, honestly. Did you?"

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