His apology was... unexpected, and seemed a little out of place given their current conversation. They had been gambling, taunting each other, and then suddenly the subject of Ben Crouch came up up, and—well, she hadn't thought about him in a long time. Not that he was the forgettable sort, but memories of those months of trauma blended together and were pushed to the back of her mind, and he was part of those memories.

It would have been so easy to accept his apology and move forward, but one of her fatal flaws was her chattiness and she knew it.

"I never have ill intentions with people," she said, just so he would know. And it was true: whenever she'd hurt someone, it was never on purpose. Ben included. She'd gotten him in trouble on more than one occasion, ruined his good name, and he'd always been good to her. Then there were people like Mr. Gladstone, whose heart she'd broken, and Lucille, who she'd practically abandoned out of shame. She never meant to hurt any of them. "I'm glad you've figured that out, though. I guess you're not so terrible."

The dealer flipped over the last card and motioned for she and Arthur Pettigrew to reveal their cards. Bella did so, and then laughed.

"Not so terrible as a person at least. Are you sure you know how to play this game?" she teased.

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