Percy laughed, and not the annoying, sort of nasal-wheeze that used to echo down great hall, but his real laugh. "Of sorts," he repeated, nodding his head slowly. "I'm a hero in one country, and a fiend in another. Should I be caught by the wrong sort of people I'd be thrown in prison."

"Hmm, very wise, else you insult me accidentally. You have a careful mind, but I assure you, less you call me Bernard Black I wouldn't be much offended." He let the cigarette fall to the ground and stubbed it out with the toe of his pump.