Vera looked so surprised, and for a moment Sera was sure she would say no. She knew Veronica too well to not be able to tell when Vera was clearly looking for an alternative plan. Seraphina almost offered to just let the other woman go, because she obviously did not want to get tea — but then Veronica was agreeing, and offering a location for their tea. She could have suggested anywhere, and Sera would have said yes. But the Ivy Leaf Tearoom actually sounded rather lovely, and Seraphina had not been there.

(Or — she did not remember having been there. As she was learning, it was hard for her to say until she got somewhere, and getting tea was a perfectly acceptable hobby for a boring socialite.)

Seraphina was worried that she would be overly-enthusiastic; she had so anticipated rejection that now she didn't know how to react. She smiled at Vera, and it was tinged with the same air of desperation that her tone had held when she asked. "That sounds lovely!" she said — knowing, again, that it was too much. She wished she could remember Veronica's last name; she still hadn't managed it, though, so instead Sera reached out and finally took her bookmark back. She tucked it into her coat pocket and looked back up.

"This way, right?" Sera said, starting down the street back in the direction of the Diagon Alley entrance. She knew it was the right way; she just didn't know what else to say to Vera. How did one bridge fifteen years, especially when one was not supposed to have been anywhere for that amount of time? She could only imagine what Veronica thought of her now. It was no wonder that she had seemed so baffled that Sera was even talking to her.

Dwelling on that wasn't going to help Seraphina at all. So she decided to try a little harder to get the conversation moving: "What brings you to London today?"