Alva looked annoyed at Hermione's slight in the protocol, but Merrick laughed. His wife glared at him, "Oh, stop it. You threw good manners out the window when you started questioning her like that. She's an intelligent girl from a good family. If both Rodolphus and Bellatrix weren't both dead set against it she'd have some kind of marriage arrangement with some scion with a higher social standing than us." He took a bite of dessert. "And we agreed to encourage our children to find love. So quit, this one has claws."