The afternoon sunlight streamed through the ceiling overhead and spilled into the courtyard of the ship. Katrina, who had been reading her Potions notes, looked up at the sound of footsteps. A young married couple, behaving intimately as they chatted and laughed, was walking toward her. The sour feeling in the girl's heart made her curl her lip. "You finally decided to get out of bed?"
"Prepare something for us to eat first," Albert said to the house-elf.
"Where's Alice?" Isabelle asked.
"I just fed her. Mum's watching the child for you." Katrina wore an expression that said, You actually remembered you have a child to look after.
"Then I'll go check on Alice first."
Isabelle kissed Albert on the cheek and headed toward the sitting room.
After pulling out a chair and sitting beside Katrina, Albert picked up the newspaper from the table and casually asked, "Any explosive news?"
"If you mean what happened last night, then the commotion you caused really did make the front page of the Daily Prophet." Katrina closed her notebook and looked at Albert as he raised a hand to cover a yawn. Frowning, she asked, "Are you all right? Why do you still look so tired?"
"I'm fine. Just a little overworked."
Albert drew his wand and gave it a light wave, brewing himself a cup of health tea. After taking a small sip, he slowly began leafing through the newspaper on the table.
"Overworked?"
Katrina looked Albert up and down with a strange expression.
"Looks like you..."
"You seem to be thinking something rude?" Albert suddenly interrupted.
"No," Katrina said stiffly.
"Don't overthink it. I'm in excellent health—stronger and healthier than plenty of wizards, even—so you have absolutely no need to worry about my condition or think about all that nonsense, unless..."