Verity was screeching at him, but she hadn't yet threatened to murder him, so he thought he'd gotten the timing just about right. She couldn't really have been that upset about how short of notice he'd given her, because she apparently still thought she had time to berate him before going to change, so.

Noble laughing at her probably didn't help matters, though. Why was Noble laughing? That seemed a strange reaction, under the circumstances, but not one that Ford felt he could stop to examine too closely with all the rest of the chaos in the room.

"I told Cook about it already," he confirmed. "It's not really that important. We're friends, and he's coming to dinner, that's all," he said, again trying to sound nonchalant — though he may not have been managing it quite as well, since he was still a little rattled from the ducky thing.

He probably ought to have stopped there, because Verity was clearly already wound up, but he was feeling equally wound up and Noble's (almost certainly rhetorical) question had maybe emboldened him a bit. With a light shrug and a subtly teasing undercurrent to his tone, he continued, "I thought Quidditch players were beneath your notice, anyway. How was I to know you'd take an interest?"