"Except folks who are different themselves, I guess," she adds, agreeing. Sensing Lauren's inevitable melancholy, she keeps her own ball rolling. "I scared people—other children, their parents..." She laughs, straightening up. "Not even with just my magic! Sometimes it was my lack of manners, or silly things like that. My lack of ladylike qualities."

She gently knocks her knee against his. "Never understood things of all that nature. They found me daft."