Charley shifted in her seat as an unsettling silence dropped into their conversation unannounced. Oh, she could be good at being quiet when the need arose, there were always times when silence was a good friend of hers. Just not here during a conversation, with tea and cake. If silence would have had a real face to show, the urchin would have glared at it to scare it into disappearing.

Instead, she had to settle for taking another bite of the cake to fill her mouth with something other than more words.

"Wha—" The urchin's mouth dropped, half-full of uneaten cake still. Had the lady really asked her when her parents bit the dust? Charley let out a short, sputtering laugh, and almost gagged on the cake in her mouth. She closed it, chewing quickly until she could talk without choking herself again. "I en't an orphan!"

Her mouth twisted in some odd way, the term could almost apply, really.

No, it couldn't!

"Mum and Pa are out there," she said defiantly, her chin pushed out a little ways in rebuke. "They just don't answer the mail, not last Owl I sent. An' they musta been traveling or summat when Hogwarts was over, 'cause some professor said they couldn't find 'em. I was s'posed'ta wait in some stuffy office 'til they could, but they didn't do nothing for me. It's just me and me right now, but I'll find 'em!"

Charley knew in her heart that was true, even if her mind had misgivings. It was silly to listen too hard to minds, though. They saw things in weird ways, like thinking some whispers had to be about her when they stopped as soon as she entered the room. Or by still believing in monsters or ghoulies enough to make her lie up sleepless on the first, dark nights she found a new place to stay. Minds were too silly to be trusted some days, and most nights too.

She made a point to sip at the hot tea now that the cup was refilled, looking up at Benevolence while trying to judge how much the lady believed her.

Or by how much Charley could even trust her past tea and cake anyhow.

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