If this Zoe has any sense, Martin thinks, she'll have found both Harry's so-called intrusion and his subsequent concern over it very charming. He hides a rather fond smile under another sip of his beer.

"Experience isn't everything," he says gently. "Speaking as someone who had very little for a long time, it... it doesn't really come down to men or women or whatever else. Every person is sort of their own experience, and I think if it seemed Zoe was grateful to you, and that she likes having you around, then... that's all you need."

He shrugs; he still feels like he's not the best person to be dispensing wisdom here, but when he'd been a terrified virgin who'd never even tried to get a boyfriend he thinks he'd have been grateful for a kind word, no matter how offhand. "You'll have to let me know how it goes at the party."