They had shared a shy hug while ugly crying behind the gritted teeth and inside their minds…
They sat like that for several long, trembling minutes.
Until heavy, rhythmic footsteps echoed in the stone corridor outside.
Selphira was walking down the hall with Victor.
She was actively teasing him. She spoke with the breezy, effortless placidity of a woman who had found the absolute perfect conversational nerve to strike, casually prodding him about an upcoming presentation Victor clearly would have preferred to never discuss again.
He replied with the stiff, carefully reconstructed dignity of a man who had already survived one excruciating public 'humiliation', and had firmly decided he was absolutely not going to give Selphira the satisfaction of a second one.
Guided by Matilda's frantic alert, the two of them were heading directly toward Sirius's door.
A brilliant, intense light spilled from the doorway at the far end of the corridor.
