Atticus nodded at her before offering a small smile. At least Poppy was enjoying her debut and not spending the entire evening playing matchmaker - if she was friends with Miss Mountbatton, which at this point he could only assume was true, surely Poppy would be attempting to match her with all the eligible bachelors she knew. He could only hope that she wasn’t spending her evening dancing with eligible bachelors to match her friends with. And she wondered why he constantly worried over her. .

He laughed then, not in the bit surprised that Merlin had come up in conversation some way or another, between himself and Miss Mountbatton, and between her and Poppy. “I do. I have an owl, Merlin, who I’ve had since my first year at Hogwarts.” Atticus looked at her and smiled fondly. “He is my pride and joy, although I do hope to have children in the future that will take his place.” And spoiled that owl was; he’d brought Merlin tonight without thinking and the owl, starved because he was on his diet and Basil hadn’t been immediately nearby to feed him, had dive-bombed some of the food. A house elf has taken him home before Aunt Georgiana could murder him for potentially ruining her daughter’s debut.

While he wanted children they seemed almost a lifetime away, leaving him to continually spoil his owl. “He has a very… interesting personality, and perhaps our next meeting you shall meet him.” A bold statement, but Atticus was going to assume he hadn’t mucked this dance up yet. His fingers tightened against her as he turned her. “And do you have any animals in your life, Miss Mountbatton?” He asked. Atticus didn’t think he could court someone who didn’t remotely like animals.

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