"It's not," Ford insisted easily, though of course it was. It was in the same vein as that line in his letter, about wanting to be scared even though Ford had told him already that mostly these things were just silly, with Muggles mucking about trying to make what they believed were ghostly sights and sounds without even a touch of magic to help them. He didn't know what to make of it, really. Some Muggles were fascinated by death and spirits and things on principle, so he supposed the same might be true of Lestrange, but it was strange for a wizard who could just walk down the street and find an actual ghost to talk to to still find it so interesting in the abstract. Then again, Ford privately thought Muggles knowing nothing much about death was why they were so terribly invested in religion, and there were wizards who were just as fanatic about that, so what did he know? He'd rather spend an evening with someone who was a little over-interested in death than someone who wanted to talk to him about Jesus; Ford was quite content to go on Christmas and Easter and mostly avoid thinking about it the rest of the year.

He rubbed his thumb against the stem of his wine glass and considered what else to say. There were things he could talk about here, things that he knew a little bit about from work but mostly from his casual interest in the Muggle occult, that Lestrange might find interesting if he was really that intrigued by death. Ouija boards, knocking on walls to get questions answered in yeses or nos, phantom sounds on gramophones. What he really wanted, though, was to be out of the Three Broomsticks and talking out of earshot of everyone in Hogsmeade (though he had no particular reason he could have pointed to as to why; just a vague feeling that it would be better). So, instead of bringing up any of those things, he asked, "Are you almost ready? If we hurry we can get to the manor before sundown."

He took a drink of his wine, nearly draining it, and added with a playful smile, "It might be spookier to wander around in the moonlight, but I think we ought to find the place first, then go wandering."