"Oh, no," Alfred said with a laugh. "If you were at Hogwarts with me, you'd be old." He didn't think of himself as old, particularly, but the truth was that there was a different standard in place for women. Alfred could waste time sailing around the world and ignoring society until he was well into his forties without much notice, and even then he might only be labeled as eccentric. A woman, on the other hand, could only get as far as twenty- five or so before the civilized world gave her up for good.

"You'd be married," he joked. Or maybe not — but either way, the dynamic would be different, he thought. "Or, at least, you might not be quite so willing to come over and show off your tattoos."