Terrell bowed, giving the man a frozen smile. Distantly, she heard herself say ‘I will be right back then, sir!’ in that piping, irritating voice, but her mind was already in something else. The thought of leaving him alone in the room didn’t particularly please her, but if he wanted to attack her, he would have done so already, and lingering would only heighten his suspicions. She couldn’t even take him down by herself: nor by magic, as she didn’t have a properly working wand, nor by force, as he was a lot taller and stronger than she was (not that that was very difficult at all). Still, plenty ‘buts’ and ‘what ifs’ cluttered her mind as she walked through the door, only rushing once she was out of earshot.
“Giles?” she called out, using Abe’s alias name. She found him talking with a group of elderly ladies that frequented the Prince Albert, for no other reason –she suspected –than to flirt with the sometimes charming old man. “Sorry, ladies, I’m going to have to take him away for a second!” And to him, in a lower voice- “It’s urgent.”
Keeping her expression a careful neutral as to not alert the customers, Terrell lead Aberforth away from the noise, and looked up at him with eyes that –in sharp contrast with her expression –were as hard as steel. “There is a Ministry man upstairs,” she said in a low voice. “Selwyn. Think he recognized me, not sure.”