"Yes, yes," Rowan replied dismissively. "Quite useful for mending clothes you must wear until they're suitable enough for hand-me-downs or rags, and quite useful a skill when you need a dress for the ball and must mend it yourself in addition to applying more magic on top of it to make it seem like you can afford such a gown." Her voice grew faster and stopped suddenly as she realized how close she had just been to telling him she'd been at the Minister's ball.

Instead, she slid into answering his next question, hoping it was seamless enough he wouldn't have noticed, and she gave an unladylike shrug, thinking back to what she'd said. "Said that she wanted to have a go at you this evening since Miss Carina seemed to have you all to herself the last one. And that she was planning on befriending one of your sisters to get an in with you." In truth, the entire conversation stayed in Rowan's mind like a permanent sticking charm and she was loathe to admit it had an effect on her. "Then when I accidentally pricked her ankle with my needle, she kicked me and told me to leave." In more words than that, but there was no need to repeat the choice words that had come out of the debutante's mouth.

She crossed her arms across her chest as she looked at him frankly. Was he really that sought after a man in Society, she wondered. The Malfoys were quite rich, and pureblood to boot, which certainly didn't harm their reputations when it came to debutantes and their mothers clucking after them. But that was where Rowan's family differed; not to mention what mattered to those in Society. Family name and money.

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