No response. But that look told him otherwise. He'd totes done it before! Or at least had thought to do it before, joking of course, nothing serious, WHO could be serious about that? Besides Gavin, of course.

Zeke arched his eyebrows too, though not in the same way Sabel did, his was in surprise. Mmhhmm. "It's in the realm of posibilities," he decided. Whether or not Sabel would tease him... well... he could only guess. But then he continued, and Zeke couldn't help but blink out his disbelief. No way. "You're sure you're not having me on?" He hadn't had a positive letter home since his second year... or actually, maybe he did have one last year, it was hard to remember these things now.

Following Sabel's gaze to the forest, Zeke squinted for a moment at a patch of darkness, it was difficult to tell if anything was moving in there, but he hadn't heard anything to suggest otherwise. Just a casual and oddly quiet stroll along the edge of the forest. Sabel's comment or praise or whatever that was, didn't fly with him. "Death was never an option though, this is school... not the real world, you wouldn't let us die." He'd said so himself in the first club meeting. Had this been a duel to the death, he would likely be dead.

Of course it was in the realm of possibilities. The lad was all the wiser for being able to recognize, and say so. He got that same grin as before for his troubles. Why yes, yes it most certainly was. But not in this case. Not today.

"I can show it to you when we get back, if it'd ease your nerves." It was kind of adorable how much the kid wanted good word to reach his mom. Perhaps it was a normal kid-parent thing, but because he knew the family and knew Emily especially, it was rather endearing. He wasn't about to be one to kibosh that.

And then his smile was all but gone. He had this terrible habit, of taking things seriously and to heart. This, was no exception. "In the real world, people just don't let other people die either."

That lingered heavily in the air for a long moment, before a puff of breath from Sabel pushed it away and into the depths of the forest. "I'm not pulling your leg though. You did exceptionally well."

The fourth year knew in that moment that he had Sabel on that point, he might not be a Ravenclaw, but he picked things up easy enough, and realms of possibilities was just ONE of those things.

Still, the offer of actually SEEING this so-called letter, was incredibly tempting, "I can help you spruce it up, y'know... if you've missed something important." Like more praise, and how he was a model student even if his grades would not be as high as previous years. Maybe he still had time to fix that though... maybe.

It was funny though, that Sabel didn't see his point. It wasn't even so much about Sabel not letting them die, as it was about the actual experience. "Oh I know that," he clarified, "but say I take a trip to Knockturn Alley by myself, and that Peverell dude wants to kill me, I'd probably be super successful at dying. So, maybe I did well enough against Kyroh, cause we were evenly matched, but I knew I wouldn't die, so I didn't really do well in the grand scheme of things." Was he making sense? Maybe, maybe not.

Zeke withdrew his hand from the coat pocket to rub the nape of his neck to relieve some of the tension there. Exceptionally well though... Zeke couldn't help but smile. He had a long way to go before he could count on not dying out in the real world, but, for now he would try to be pleased about the outcome.

Sabel laughed, shaking his head. "Of course you could. I'm sure you'd have some very interesting input too." And he was sure Emily would be able to figure out in a pinch what they had both been up to. He was all for speaking well of Zeke, but he wasn't for making it look like the kid had conned him into it.

Then, all halarity was immediately set aside. It was like riding on a rollercoaster, except this time they hit the dead bottom. It was a wonder the cart didn't go off the tracks. Sabel turned, his hand catching Zeke's shoulder and stopping him dead. "How do you know that name?"

And there wasn't a chance he believed that Emily would have even mentioned it to her son. All at once, two summers ago came reeling back to the forefront of his mind in a sickening wave. His shoulder throbbed and sickly green light coated the edges of his vision. As brief as it was, it was potent enough.

Interesting ideas was one way to put it, though he knew he couldn't advise and influence the piece too greatly, or else Emily just wouldn't buy it. But maybe a tweak here or there could be done. He'd have to see what Sabel wrote about him first of all.

Everything was FINE, one minute, GREAT even... and the walk was nice and relaxing and ... BAM.

HOW did he know that name? ........

He'd have answered straight away, except that Sabel suddenly didn't look too well. Like, he looked a little... flat. "Are you okay?" he asked instead, happy to avoid conversations of befriending Dark Wizards for the time being. Though, he knew NOW they weren't REALLY friends...

No. He was not okay. But no, Zeke didn't need to know that. In fact, the mere situation of the kid asking him that question was a point he should probably have looked at and evaluated. It wouldn't do to let the students see, to let anyone see really. If he had cared particularly about that, at that moment, more than anything else, he might have schooled himself.

As it was, he cared more about something else. He cared more about how the kid knew that cursed name, and why he was avoiding the question. "Zeke. How do you know him?" Of him. Him. Did it really matter?

.... no? He was okay? Not okay?... Zeke was, unsure of things right now.

He KNEW the dangers, he knew Peverell was a wanted man, he wasn't stupid. But somehow everybody always sought to question him about it. There was no right way to put this into words, there was no way to avoid the paranoia that might follow... MLE types, was it really that bad?

"I... ran into him a few times." Ran into was probably to most appropriate way of putting it. The first had been by accident, the second by being in the right place at the wrong time... and the last, because he'd looked for him.

Now, he was definitely not okay. Far from it. The very idea of Zeke being anywhere close to that man, let alone running into him. Well, it made his stomach turn. His own run in with Peverell.....

"Does Emily know?" Because that, was important. She needed to know if her son had been in contact with the kingpin of Knocturn. "When was the last time you 'ran' into him?"

Was this a common thing? Was it happening often? What if Peverell was using Zeke to get to Emily? To the MLE? To the Ministry?

If green was a skin color, he would probably be it right about now.

... did his mum know? "Yeah... I mean, she was there that one time that he snatched me," he nodded, but quickly elaborated before he was forced into solitary confinement for his own safety. "He let me go when he saw it was me though, it was at that Halloween thing in Diagon Alley... five years ago?" Something like that. Not really THAT big a drama.

As for the second question? ... "Not for a long time," which was perfectly true and honest. "Since we moved to Prague I think," which was long ago enough. Though, now that they were back in London....

Snatched? Right from under Emily's nose? Or probably from behind her back. But why would the man have let Zeke go? That perhaps, was more troubling than if a rescue mission had been called up.

For a long moment, Sabel considered the boy in front of him. It was probably a very good thing that he had the mother he did. Peverell was dangerous, not stupid. To take the MLE Department Head's kid would have been to declare outright war on the Ministry. A war approved or not, Emily would have had it. And there were enough in the MLE that would have supported her.

Letting out a breath, Sabel pulled his hand back. "You stay far away from him, you hear?" He was surprised at how quite and almost gentle his own voice was. He felt anything but. "That man...just...avoid him at all costs."

And with that, he turned and started walking again. Perhaps there would be a footnote in that letter to Emily.

Intense, is what this was, and it was far from what he had expected when they started this walk. Perhaps in future he should edit out such details in conversation, even hypothetical conversations.

As much as he just wanted to shrug all of this off, like it was no big deal, because it wasn't. He was here, nothing had happened, and all was well. But... the fact that Sabel cared enough to warn him away from the guy didn't go unnoticed. "Okay," was all felt comfortable with saying. Okay, he would stay away, but he had no control over the variables that might mean their paths would cross. But dying wasn't on his list of things to-do in the summer.

When Sabel started walking again, so did he, this time in silence. Was it time to head back up to the castle now?