If it hadn't been for Laurel's own reaction to her slip, Bethanie wouldn't have noticed. She had assumed, for the split second before Laurel flushed pink, that she was just trying to avoid saying 'muggle' where they could be overheard. When Laurel apologised, Bethanie was genuinely unsure what for. "I didn't think you meant it in a bad way," she said quietly, feeling that needed to be addressed first. "They are my fairy tales, they're the ones I grew up with. I know you - or we, I suppose - have different ones, and I've read those too, but I read them as an adult, I don't have the same connection to them."
She paused, to allow a waiter to show them to a table for two and hand them menus, before she picked up the conversation. "The witches don't get such a flattering portrayal in the stories I grew up with," she said with a smile, hoping it might lighten the mood somewhat. She didn't want to continue this conversation if Laurel was going to feel bad about whatever horrible thing she thought she'd said, but it was the kind of thing Bethanie was interested in.