Pulling a walnut shell out from underneath her thighs Ailsa nonchalantly let it fall to the floor as she settled herself more comfortably, propping her ankle up on the chaise in advance of using it in the tale later on. Ewart was an exceptional listener – he never looked anything less than rapt and very rarely interrupted her, and even then it was to make excellent interjections or to ask interesting questions.

Half the women she knew complained incessantly that their husbands mostly ignored them and Ailsa had always been horrified by the very thought. What was the point of getting married unless it was to somebody that loved your voice as much as they did every other part of you? How on earth did people live in the same house, share a life, make children for Merlin’s sake unless they were always on the same page?

Ailsa had always liked to think she and Ewart complimented each other particularly well; when she didn’t know something, he usually filled in the blanks and she was confident before she even asked her opening question – to set the tone – what his answer would probably be.

“Have you ever heard of a creature called a lethifold?”

He was after all, and whatever the accursed Ministry might think, a true thinker and scholar.

---

oh MJ mama likes ;)