"Says you with the bottle of..." What was that swill Leon was drinking again? "...liquor in your bag. At least I keep my unhealthy indulgences to a minimum. I can keep the same pack of twenty for weeks. I'm sure you're doing far more damage to your liver."

He blew some smoke in Leon's direction and smirked. When you had a strict monthly allowance, a pack of twenty had to last you several weeks...unless you wanted to slum it with the common brands, which Avery certainly did not.

"Perhaps I'm a fool for love," he replied, turning a couple of pages ahead in his book. "And I have a theory about your aggression towards me; it's a lot like the tree falling in the woods, isn't it? If I make a pass at Leon Shaw and nobody is around to see it, does he still pretend to be homophobic?"

Avery smiled to himself over that clever little line and flipped his book back, looking for Leon's family line. "I know enough, and what I don't know I'm sure I can find out from worthy sources." And it helped a lot when your family counted as one of those sources.

"Valentine is an American wizarding family, so obviously you won't have heard of it. The entire line is dead...well, apart from my family's little branch." Avery took another drag of his cigarette and looked down his nose at Leon. "Anyway, we're still purebloods. That's all that matters really."