"I'm not afraid," he protested lightly, though the idea of getting found out doing something so silly wasn't exactly appealing, either. And this was a Ministry party, sort of, so he knew all of his coworkers and his boss and his boss were here somewhere, and he really couldn't afford to get into any trouble at work. He'd been considering trying to press his boss for a raise, after having taken on more than his fair share of the workload that month (and after learning how to conjure a patronus, even if it was noncorporeal), and that conversation wasn't going to go half as well if a week prior his boss had caught him pelting dancers with nuts from a balcony.

The nut she'd tossed sailed out in a wide arc, then fell down unhindered to the dance floor below. It bounced off the uncovered head of a middle-aged gentleman, and Ford's hand shot to his mouth to stifle a chuckle at the immediate red mark he could see through the man's thinning hair.

"Oh, no," he said, through light laughter. "We're going to be in trouble now. Quick, before he starts looking for us," Ford said, angling his body towards her and taking a small step in, as though they were deeply engaged in conversation. "Look this way and pretend I said something funny."