"Hasn't your mum ever taught you not to talk back to a man?" James spat back.
He scrambled to his feet, wincing slightly as he realized that his arse was most certainly bruised. To distract himself from that, he glared right back at the girl.
"And you've killed my owl!"
Ignoring the fact that Hal sounded very much alive. Also ignoring that Al had just caught up and had darted off toward the noise of the distressed bird.