Albus trains his eyes to the flagstones again, a bit bashful now.

"Well, I'm not really all that brave or anything. I sort of thought about the ground swallowing me up, or - um. A three-headed dog eating me whole while I was ... trying to get the words out," he confesses. "It wasn't easy, you're right.

"But I - it's important, so I knew I had to talk to you. Instead of writing a reply letter, even."