Mandy was inconsolable, and she heard Daphne before she saw her. Her hands were clutching a ballpoint pen and her notebook, a half-drunk bottle of port corked on the ground. Little sniffles and curse words were intertwined and she looked up at Daphne with wet eyes.
"I've mucked it all up," she cried, exasperated. "I didn't mean to, but I did. Spoke with Brendan Vaisey, who went to Cassius Lestrange, who came to me. And Pansy. And Pansy asked me to lie, but after I'd already talked to Cassius, and," her chest was rising and falling in panic.
"Well, you know, when they get involved, the old names, oh fuck," she laughed abruptly and reached her hand down for the port, missing on the first two swipes, "Daphne, I shouldn't talk to anyone. I'm a liability. You ought to stay away from me."