"I fought in a war many years ago with tremendous personal losses," Nightingale says. "Imagine 99% of your sect being struck down at once. The future of British magic almost entirely extinguished." He throws back the rest of his tea and pours another cup. "For decades, it was just me and my housekeeper, Molly, rattling around a too-big house." He pauses here, wondering how to explain her. "Molly is... under my protection. She is a non-human creature, although she resembles one, and was rescued before the war from a terrible situation." A sigh. "And so when I returned, we drifted like ghosts. She cooked and cleaned, I did my job when I was called upon. A pale imitation of life for us both."