"Uh — sure," Ben agreed, moving to the seat she'd indicated. This wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind, talking to her from across the room with two different plates of food set in front of them, but at this point he supposed he'd have to take what he could get. At least they were in the same room. She hadn't shut the door in his face. That was progress, however slight, from the day after he'd told her he'd loved her. He'd had to physically hold the door open during their next conversation to get across everything he wanted to say, before she shut him out.

"Are the, uhm — the potions helping any?" he asked. He didn't really know what to say. It would have been stupid to ask how her day had been, or anything like that, when he knew she hadn't left the room. What he wanted to say was I love you, and I want to try and make this work, I mean it, but she didn't want to hear that. He'd have to show it to her, first, before she'd be ready to hear it. So that was what this was about: being here, trying to show it, until she was ready to hear it.