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As insurmountable wave of guilt took over him, Max thought vaguely back to how he had envisioned this would all pan out. And, he realized that he hadn't specifically thought much about what would happen after he had passed his information along to Melania. In hindsight that had been a very poor choice-- what kind of wizard was he to not think his actions through? But, Max resolved fully, there was one thing he was certain he had not wanted to happen: Oliver hearing a whisper of his or Melania's worries, thoughts, or concerns over this potential development. That hadn't been... he wasn't meant--- he had been wrong to bring it up here, now. And he should have been more veiled, withstood the drive to not keep secrets from Melania...

All of the sudden, Max jumped from his chair. He hovered behind it, feeling uncertain and weary of opening his mouth again, or even approaching Oliver. What if all it did was make matters worse? Could they become even worse? It was possible... he had been careful to not speak Nona's name, but Max's thought that perhaps the father was someone else began to sink quickly as he took in Ollie's blank stare, a stare that made him think this was not going to end up as a big misunderstanding.

Max watched as Oliver allowed his sister to approach him, though how aware the proximity of Melania was to the younger boy was unclear. His eyes looked far off, and Max thought it unnerving how casually he stood. After a few silent moments, he broke his gaze to glance at Melania before speaking tentatively.

"It wouldn't be right to automatically assume that I... know what I am talking about. Your sister is right, I just thought she would know what to do about properly investigating the possibility before... potentially making something out of nothing." Merlin, that sounded awful. Maybe it sounded awful because he was awful. What he was doing was awful, wasn't it?

"I saw Nona Pepper seventh year." Ollie's stoic gaze broke, a twist of subdued confusion set hard in his brow. "Is Nona Pepper your cousin?" His voice was so full of raw innocence that it made Max struggle, enough to be unable to properly respond. He looked back at Melania, at a loss for words. Unable or unwilling to give up such information, Max simply frowned at Oliver sadly.