It was a personal matter, [ John says, softer now. Here are the deepest secrets. At least they are mutual. John has seen the wizard's soul, and that alone makes it all right for Harry to have seen John's greatest shame. But their relationship, antagonistic as it is, has always been been built on mutual understanding and trust.

John doesn't want to go down that dark line of thought, not tonight. Leave the self-flagellation for later. He gets up instead, disposes of some of the empty take-out containers. On his way back, he diverts to his sidebar. ] What is your poison, Harry? Figuratively, I mean. I'm out of arsenic, unfortunately.

I have, in a sense. My contractor has a file on you. Extremely impressive, if volatile.