Lestrange was smiling at this turn in the conversation, in a way that seemed more genuine than he had so far tonight (maybe not entirely genuine — Ford wasn't sure he knew the other man well enough to say that for sure — but more genuine, anyway), which made Ford's shoulders feel a little lighter. And it occurred to him, now that he wasn't talking, that probably this was not the ideal conversation topic, and it might lead them back towards something dark in a moment or two... but when Lestrange was smiling it was hard to think about that too seriously. Besides, having fun for a minute and then swerving back towards something dark was a fine alternative to what they had been doing before, which was just openly wallowing in it all. Actually, of all the times to talk about morbid things that normal people didn't tend to talk about, this was probably the best one — it wasn't as though anything they said was going to trigger a mental break in Lestrange when he had already broken down so dramatically tonight.
"Like it was a clue?" Ford asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't tend to read detective stories, and he still hadn't managed to get his hands on a copy of the Poe stories that Lestrange had recommended. He felt as though perhaps the purpose of the ouija board in the story might have been obvious if he'd been more versed in the medium, but as it stood he wasn't sure he was following. "Or — oh, were they trying to talk to ghosts to solve the crime? But if they were Muggles surely that couldn't have been admissible in court," Ford pointed out with a skeptical eyebrow raise (losing sight of the fact that this was presumably a work of fiction, and that detective novels didn't really concern themselves with what would or wouldn't stand up in court). He'd been involved in a few back-and-forth paperwork battles over what the testimony of a ghost could or couldn't be used for, legally speaking. If the wizarding world, who knew with a certainty that ghosts existed, was still undecided about a lot of this, he couldn't imagine Muggles would make any important decisions on the testimony of someone they couldn't see or hear.
"Like it was a clue?" Ford asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn't tend to read detective stories, and he still hadn't managed to get his hands on a copy of the Poe stories that Lestrange had recommended. He felt as though perhaps the purpose of the ouija board in the story might have been obvious if he'd been more versed in the medium, but as it stood he wasn't sure he was following. "Or — oh, were they trying to talk to ghosts to solve the crime? But if they were Muggles surely that couldn't have been admissible in court," Ford pointed out with a skeptical eyebrow raise (losing sight of the fact that this was presumably a work of fiction, and that detective novels didn't really concern themselves with what would or wouldn't stand up in court). He'd been involved in a few back-and-forth paperwork battles over what the testimony of a ghost could or couldn't be used for, legally speaking. If the wizarding world, who knew with a certainty that ghosts existed, was still undecided about a lot of this, he couldn't imagine Muggles would make any important decisions on the testimony of someone they couldn't see or hear.
Set by Lady!