Charlotte, having woken up just before dawn, had been nothing if not tense all morning. As was the case, it would have been ill-fiitting for her to not be present during the women's events while the men took in the monthly hunt. And so she'd shrugged off the notion of playing sick, and made her downstairs to mingle, pearls perfectly in place, silk free of creases.

What she wouldn't have given to be on her own and sleeping in.

Finally, having escaped the crowd of witches when tea had been called by slipping through a corridor with the excuse to attend to a few owls, Charlotte had spent the last few minutes taking in the relative quiet of the parlor. She had been studying a book on the chair when she was having to sit up when the crowd of wizards, sweaty and generally as gleeful as could be from the morning's activities passed through. She went unnoticed by all but one, and would have given anything in the world to blend into the ivory sofa.

"I was hoping I'd see you, today."

"Um," she found herself murmuring, half-cursing herself for having nothing of any substance to utter. Slipping up from the sofa, she was having a hard time meeting his eye, she finally weakly inquired, "How is the hunt progressing?"