Elsie hadn't known what to expect, not really. Even for all her book smarts, she wasn't terribly real-world smart, clearly. Of all the things she thought he would say, that was not it, but maybe she should have? It wouldn't have been any easier to handle, she realized, but looking at it now, it was... logical. For once, Tyb got points for that. It wasn't like she hadn't considered it herself over the last few weeks, but it always ended up getting dismissed just as quickly as she thought of it.

It still hurt.

Closing her eyes just for a brief second, Elsie took a deep breath, trying to hold it all together. Her shoulders slumped and she clutched the book in her hands tighter in an effort to ground herself. If she let the emotions overwhelm her now, she'd be sunk. When she looked at him again, she knew she couldn't argue. "Right." Her voice caught and she tried to push it all down. It wasn't as if she had an argument here. She couldn't possibly ask him to choose between quidditch and her, that was ridiculous. He'd worked so hard to be where he was and he deserved it. To have Lucinda threaten to take it all away was certainly eye-opening.

"If that's what you want, that's-." Elsie fumbled for the right word, biting her lip, trying not to open the flood gates. "It's alright." She said finally, for lack of anything better.