Ben startled at the noise of apparition and whirled to face Macmillan. His hand went to his wand briefly, but he didn't draw it. There was only one person there, and it was definitely Macmillan, which was wrong. It wouldn't have been outside the realm of possibility for his second to come alone, if he'd decided to call it off, but Macmillan being here alone was inexplicable.

"Where's your second?" he called, then sniffed nervously. Was this some sort of a trick? They couldn't start without a second. There was a procedure to this, a structure that had to be adhered to. Unless Macmillan had some other, more insidious plans?