"Really, Mama, I'm sure it would just bore you," he responded, affecting a smile he didn't really feel the emotion behind with a good deal of difficulty. This was probably true, if he stuck to just talking about work, so it wasn't even really like he was lying — but he would have lied to her, he decided, if he meant he could get out of this conversation gracefully. He'd underestimated the amount of mental energy it took to just talk with Mama; he couldn't keep this up when he hadn't slept and he was still preoccupied with the dementor in the wardrobe in Muggle London.

Speaking of which. "I've got some errands to run after work, so I might be a little late for dinner tonight," he told her, hoping she accepted that at face value. He didn't know how he was going to get the dementor-wardrobe out of the inn, but he knew he had to do it before tomorrow morning, so after work seemed like the best time to try and tackle it. He was only going to get more delirious as time went on if he tried to go two nights in a row without sleeping.

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