“Oh!” Jemima exclaimed, a little taken aback at his generous answer; but quietly delighted, the more she thought about it. She sighed in profound relief, and smiled bashfully. “I knew you’d be nice.”

He hadn’t laughed – had offered to help – had invited her to peruse the rest of the museum with him, and that was possibly even better. Something leapt in her chest, a pleasant little thrill; and it might have been a pity-invitation but getting to spend time alone in his company outside of the art exhibition was so much better than wandering those rooms again. Except, oh, she shouldn’t, because young ladies were not supposed to agree to being alone unless they were promenading in broad daylight in the park, right? Although – it was daylight, and it was a public museum, so it couldn’t look that bad... and besides, all of magical society who mattered would be too busy admiring the exhibition to notice anything else.

And, well, they were already practically alone, weren’t they? Maybe this meant he – liked her? “I suppose I had seen most of the exhibition already...” Jemima said in shy agreement, her smile growing a little more conspiratorial.

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