Ford was a bit at a loss when she said it was a pleasure to make his acquaintance, because he had hardly expected to be on the receiving end of anything like affability from the likes of her, and even with the qualifier of all things considered this was a warm sentiment. He might have stood there stupidly trying to figure out how to string a sentence together in response for a minute or more, except that Barnaby Wye made an offer that was so irresponsible it shook Ford straight out of the reverie. "We can not," he snapped immediately, then waved a hand in Wye's direction to give the implication of trying to physically knock some sense into him, though obviously he stopped short of actual inability-to-contact. Realizing as he did so that this was terribly ungentlemanly, he shot an apologetic look at Miss Chevalier. "I'm sorry, Miss, I'm here with my sisters and I couldn't leave without them." Particularly not to be seen escorting a beautiful woman with a torn skirt around Hogsmeade, alone except for a ghost. This was a bit of a conundrum, though, because he also couldn't in good conscious leave her to her own devices if she wanted an escort — not after Wye had offered, damn him. "Do you apparate?" he asked hopefully.

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