Sina blinked at them; her eyes were widened, largely for the affect. They could not seem to get a story together; Thomasina supposed that made sense, given their situation. If she was in a better mood, she would likely have felt bad for them — neither of them had the confidence to pull this off. But the longer she had the pair cornered, the better she felt — something was building back in her. It felt like power.

"And why," Sina said. She did not bother to speak in an undertone. If more people wanted to join in on her line of questioning, let them! "Were the two of you away from the party?"

The Ministry worker was a Greengrass, she thought — one of those pureblood families of the middle class with a mess of daughters, but if there were sons then they could not be the Potts family.