Juliana mused over the phrase easy targets. Did that opinion work in her favor, or not? She wanted people who read the article to believe it, because the story that was contained within held nothing particularly scandalous about her and Mr. MacFusty, but floated possibilities about other people. Turning their attention towards those other people and away from her had been her goal, but if those who read it were inclined to just discount the entire thing out of hand, it wouldn't do half as much good. It might still work, because at least it would make anything Marianne Finch had to say on the subject less interesting, but it might not entirely stem the trickle of rumors, or restore her mother to her good standing in the social circles of catty middle aged English witches.

(Really, she had done all of this for her Mama, not for herself; she didn't care if she ever got invited to another party again as long as she lived).

"Did you know him well, before he married?" she asked innocently. "He was too old to have been at Hogwarts with you, wasn't he?"