Gladys nodded. "I'm even worse at biscuits than I am at cakes," she confessed, as if Higgs didn't already know this from long experience. The problem with biscuits was that you needed a proper flat surface to ice if you were going to decorate them nicely. The biscuits Gladys produced were never properly flat. Cakes, on the other hand, could be improved by icing no matter how badly they started out - if appearance, if not in taste. "You can share it with your housemates," Gladys suggested, if only so he wouldn't become as fat as his hedgehog. "They're not both quidditch players, are they?"
Juggling the ice cream to her other hand, Gladys let her hand rest on Higgs' arm, giving it a slight squeeze when he said he didn't think he could make Alicia happy. "If I was your mother," she said, "I would tell you that you can make any woman happy. But, since I'm not, I admit that's not true. There are lots of women in the world that you can't, because you're not compatible, or because they need something different, or because they don't need anyone at all." She patted his arm again. "But, and this is the important bit, so pay attention - that's not your fault. And there will be people that you can make happy. Your friends and family right now, and I'm sure another romantic partner in the future."