"Okay," Ford said quickly, not wanting Noble to get the idea that he was at all planning to push the issue. To be honest, he was relieved. He'd felt like he had to ask, given the night that he'd just had with Cash, but there was nothing Ford wanted less at the moment than to hear Noble talk about some girl he'd fancied. If he had to stand here drinking coffee and nodding sympathetically while Noble described the way the sunlight reflected off this girl's hair or something, he really might not survive it, which was problematic because he still had a dementor locked in a wardrobe to deal with at some point today. This conversation was supposed to be tying up a loose end so that he could focus on it more completely, but Ford hadn't really expected it to go this route and now nothing was getting tied up at all. Instead, he just seemed to be collecting more frayed strings.

"Sorry it ended up this way," Ford said, cupping his hands around his coffee mug and half-shrugging his shoulders, as if it indicate that he knew this was insufficient. "All of it."