August was reading; he had been writing some of the activists he knew about the new steps towards suffrage. They were good steps, largely, but August was worried that in the long-term they would result in some people being disenfranchised — he was most concerned that employers trying to pressure their employees to vote in a certain way. But he was reading Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women mostly because it was a classic, rather than for studying as he considered the question of suffrage.

He started at the sound of the floor lighting, and sat up rigidly in his armchair. He reached for the wand on the table, because he had not anticipated guests today, but let his fingers dangle limply above it when he recognized his unexpected guest as Miss Victoire Malfoy.

"Miss Victoire," August said. He reached for his cane with half a mind to stand up to greet her — except that she'd come here unexpectedly, with a charming smile and the story of a dare. He sat back in the armchair, let the cane lie.

This was odd, but he could not imagine removing her.

"You can stay for ten minutes. What was the dare?"