This was... not what he'd expected, though perhaps that wasn't saying much. He hadn't known what to expect when he'd realized it was November who had left the book in his house, but certainly not this. Aldous' words from his letter weeks ago drifted back to mind as his sister wrapped her arms around him: November is more fragile than either of us. He felt guilt rising in his stomach as she started crying, because he was sure that this was his fault even if he didn't know what had caused it. Was she so distraught over how cool he'd been to her in their parting moments, weeks ago, or was it more than that? Had she been miserable since losing Macmillan as a potential source of comfort? Ben had always thought she was happily married to Gaius Malfoy, but what if that wasn't the case? He remembered how desperate he felt when Melody confronted him about all of the allegations from Witch Weekly, as though by virtue of being married to her he'd lost all rights to ever enjoy a conversation with a woman ever again. Could November be feeling the same way? He thought if that was the case someone in the family would have noticed it, but maybe not. She wasn't typically open about her emotions — which made the fact that she was crying on his shoulder even more jarring.

After a moment of being too startled to do anything, Ben reached up to put one hand on her back and the other lightly on her hair, returning the embrace. He still had the book in his hand, now awkwardly pressed onto her back, but he didn't know what else to do with it. He felt like he ought to say something to comfort her, but his throat was too tight and his mouth was too dry to manage it.