"Not a fan of hugs?" he asks, faux-shocked, as if he's never heard something so ridiculous, but truthfully, he thinks, he understands it, based on what Ned's told him about his past now. An absent father, and a mother that had died, probably hadn't given him much opportunity for hugging. And it makes sense now, too, that Ned had gone to boarding school, and he highly doubts he got many hugs there, either.

"Well," he says, snuggling Ned a little closer, trying to be as affectionate as possible without stifling him -- because he knows that for someone who isn't usually a fan of hugs, too much contact can be just as bad as not enough -- "There's a couple things I'm good at. I think hugging is one of them. I don't get much of a chance to do it, though, because would you believe it, but people're not usually fond of getting hugged randomly, especially at work. I've almost done it a couple times, but it just never goes over well."