"Mm," he said in response to Noble's question, keeping his eyes on the top of the book in his lap. He didn't respond to his mother's first question, because he assumed it was less of a question and more of a way to chastise him, but he didn't regret waiting. They were already starting to be weird about this. He could sense it in the air, even if neither of his sisters had spoken yet. They were making this out to be a whole thing, and it wasn't supposed to be that at all — this was just a friend, he was just being friendly and doing a thing that friends did for other friends. Lestrange might invite him to dinner sometime in the future, and it wouldn't mean that Ford was going to end up marrying his younger sister.

"Cassius Lestrange," he answered, still carefully looking at his book — until his mother called him ducky. This caused him to startle, not because it was unusual for her to say things like that or to use silly pet names he'd outgrown ages ago, but because it had just occurred to him for the first time that she might call him ducky in front of Lestrange, which sent a pang of panic through him. He stared at the wall across the room as dread settled into his stomach. This was not going to be fine. This was going to be a disaster, but it was too late to cancel.