The
two men sat on the bench, waiting for their dates to arrive. Each man
was jittery, constantly standing up and sitting back down again,
constantly patting his robes as though searching for something.
"What if she says no?" one said.
"She won't," the other assured him.
"What if she says no?" the other said.
"She won't," the first assured him.
They waited, fidgeting some more.
"You know," the first one said eventually. "You could find out for me."
The other stared at him. "Yeah... If you find out for me."
A third man Apparated precisely between the two.
"Got everything?" he asked.
"Yeah,"
they said, holding out small boxes. The new arrival reached into a
pocket, paused, and frowned, patting the outside of his robes.
Eventually, he stood up and waved his wand at himself. A small box
leapt from one pocket and landed neatly in his hand.
"Right," he said. He looked at the other two. "We're doing the right thing, aren't we?"
The two looked at the older man. "We were just discussing that. Maybe we could each ask one of the others..."
"Yeah,
because that's guaranteed to go well," the older man said. "Look, it's
simple. James did it. Arthur did it. My father did it."
There was a trio of faint pops as three women Apparated together, and three hands shoved three boxes into three pockets.