A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am so glad that you guys are enjoying Max - this one has Adrian in it and then next chapter we will get a bit of Adrian and Hermione again. You can follow me on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.
Please let me know what you thought of chapter four and be on the lookout for chapter five soon!
Adrian was walking back from dinner when he ran into Headmistress McGonagall with the young man that he and Granger had rescued from the library the day before. He hadn't really thought much of the other wizard up until that point, having been knee deep in research for his mastery all morning.
He wondered what business they would have here in the staff quarters, but he was not obvious enough that he would let his curiosity be noticed. He knew there were other ways to get the information you wanted rather than just gawking at them, drawing further attention to yourself.
Instead, he retreated to his own quarters, the portrait of a wood nymph swinging in a tree greeting them when he gave the password. Once he was inside, he pressed his ear to the door, straining to hear any sort of noise.
He could hear the Headmistress vaguely explaining the concept of the portraits and their passwords. Was the young man going to be staying here then, he wondered? If he was honest, that piqued his interest even more than him just appearing in the library. He was far too young to be a professor and Adrian was sure that he didn't recognize him at all. Why would he be allowed to stay here?
McGonagall and the wizard entered what he figured out was the room right next to Adrian's, but the walls were very thick stone, and unfortunately, Adrian couldn't hear anything else being discussed.
Instead, he retreated to his bedroom to remove his cloak and tie. Unbuttoning the top of his shirt, he returned to his sitting room, lighting the fire in the fireplace and pouring himself a measure of firewhiskey. He intended on unwinding for the evening, maybe reading through the most recent edition of Quidditch monthly, or reviewing his law books. It was hard for Adrian during the week, isolated in the castle without a way to hang out with his friends. Normally, he would be out at the pub with Marcus or Cassius, but now he was rarely able to convince them to come all the way to Scotland on a weeknight. It led to many boring nights in.
Before he could even get settled on the settee, though, he was hearing a knock at his portrait door. Narrowing his eyes, Adrian stood up and made his way to the entrance. When he swung the door open, he was surprised to see the strange wizard smiling widely at him.
"Hello!" he said brightly. "You're Adrian, right?"
Taken aback, Adrian wasn't sure why the wizard was being so friendly with him. It put him on edge. "Yes, I'm Adrian Pucey," he confirmed, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And you are the wizard that appeared in the library."
"Yes, I'm Max," the other wizard introduced himself. "I just wanted to say thank you for helping get me to the hospital wing. Rather embarrassed that I passed out."
Adrian was not used to being thanked for things, especially something that he wouldn't have really helped with if Granger hadn't just twisted his arm. "Yeah, no problem," he answered, cautiously.
The two of them stared at one another for a moment, before Adrian realized that this Max wasn't going to go away. "Would you like to come in?" he asked, finally. If he was going to be forced to socialize with him, he would at least do it sitting on something comfortable and with his drink in hand.
"I thought you'd never ask," Max answered, climbing through the portrait hole quite eagerly.
"Whiskey?" Adrian offered, though he already went to pour one. He handed it to Max, before sitting back down on the settee. He looked over the other wizard and found that there was something oddly familiar about him, though he couldn't quite put his finger on where he might know him from. There was nothing too remarkable about his looks, though he was tall for a wizard. "Do I know you from somewhere? Who is your family?"
Max hid a smile behind his glass. "I don't think we've met and I doubt that you'd know my family," he said, though there was something about his amusement that put Adrian on edge.
"What did you say your last name was?" Adrian questioned.
"I didn't, but it's Purney," Max explained. "I'm from a school in Kenmare. Not good enough to go to Hogwarts, myself, but I'm the best in my class. They sent me here for a few weeks to observe the teaching methods."
Adrian was a little bit aware of the county schools that dotted the UK, but he'd never heard of this kind of an exchange program with Hogwarts. Maybe it was a good thing though. He'd long thought that it was unfortunate that so many witches and wizards never got the opportunity to have the kind of top notch education that Hogwarts provided.
"Kenmare?" he asked, noting the other wizard's complete lack of an Irish accent. "You must like the Kestrels then?"
Max's eyes widened a bit in shock. "Oh, um, no not really," he answered, unsure of himself. "I'm more of a Falmouth man myself. The Kestrels have been trash for so long, there's almost no point in following them."
"But they just won the Cup six years ago," Adrian countered, thinking that was an odd statement to make. Of course, they weren't historically good, but they weren't trash either.
"Oh, well, six years seems like such an eternity at this point," Max waved him off. "In any case, I prefer the Falcons. My dad brought me up on them."
Well, Adrian supposed that they had that in common at least. "Falmouth is my favorite team as well," he told the other wizard. "They weren't always, but my buddy Marcus plays chaser for them, so it's hard not to support them."
Max's smile grew infinitely larger, and Adrian groaned internally. Merlin, he hoped that Max wasn't some sort of Flint fanboy, or he'd never hear that end of it.
"That would be really cool - to have a friend who played professional Quidditch," Max said. "You must be able to get tickets whenever you want."
"Yeah, he can get really great seats too, to home games," Adrian explained. "Normally, a few of my other friends from Slytherin will go to games, but I haven't been able to make it out to many while I've been stuck out here at Hogwarts."
Max nodded in agreement. "Yes, it must be really difficult to be so far away from your usual set up," he agreed. "Hermione told me that you were here for some Ministry project."
Adrian couldn't stop himself from snorting. Of course Granger would have already sought out the wizard, wanting to be such a perfect representative of Hogwarts. It was so typical of her to be such a do-gooder, it really got under his skin. "I'm sure that she didn't have anything nice to say about me," Adrian said. "But I would take everything she says with a grain of salt. She's a Gryffindor after all."
"She said that the pair of you argue about books," Max explained. "It was suggested that you don't allow her to remove books from the library because you enjoy bothering her."
He shook his head, wondering at the audacity of the witch. As if he would do anything solely to bother her. "Well, Granger certainly has her opinions on things," he said, charitably. "I'm meant to be repairing the library after the battle last year. It's my job to ensure that the rare books don't become more damaged than they already are."
"So...you don't let her borrow them?" Max asked.
Adrian stood up so that he could pace back and forth in front of the fire. Obviously, Max just wasn't understanding what he was saying. "Of course I don't," he said. "But it's not as if I do it to annoy her. I assure you, I do not care about Hermione Granger enough to do something just to vex her."
Max looked down into his glass, which was nearing empty. "It seemed like Hermione really liked books," he said, sounding confused. "And she seemed trustworthy enough. I bet she would take care of the rare books."
"She's such a swot - she probably loves books more than her own friends," Adrian said meanly, letting some of his repressed frustration with the witch bubble over. "And while she could probably be trusted not to damage the books, there can be no special treatment, even for a witch like Granger. She's skirted the rules for years, and it's annoying to the rest of us who don't get those kinds of privileges."
The other wizard's frown deepened even further, and Adrian thought it was odd. Granger must have made a huge impression on him if he was getting upset on her behalf. But, Max also needed to learn the truth. Granger got a pass from all their Professors and the Ministry, too. It was irritating that just because he was a Slytherin he was held to a different standard.
"That's unfair," Max said finally. "Hermione was so nice as to visit me in the Infirmary, to check and see if I was okay. I think that she is probably really close with her friends."
"Potter and Weasley?" Adrian asked, rolling his eyes. "They are even worse and have been skating through auror training without the necessary qualifications. They've left her up here to fend for herself."
Max drank the rest of what was in his glass. Adrian offered him another pour, but he declined.
"It sounds like she might be lonely then," the younger wizard said with a frown. "Same as you. Perhaps if the two of you put your animosity behind you, you could be friends with one another."
That made Adrian laugh out loud. The thought of him and Granger even being friends was just too ridiculous to consider. They had absolutely nothing in common with each other, and she got on his nerves. He was sure that the feeling was mutual. Granger wouldn't lower herself to befriend a Slytherin. "That's a bit of a pipe dream, mate," he said. "Listen, I don't know why you want Granger and I to bury the hatchet, but it's just not going to happen. Neither of us like each other and neither one of us wants to like each other."
It was bad enough that Adrian had to see her basically everyday in the library, standing on tiptoe with delicate fingers reaching out to grab a book. He didn't need this unknown wizard to come swanning into his life and telling him that Granger was a great witch, when he knew the truth.
Max, however, looked utterly distraught at his pronouncement that he wasn't friendly with Granger, and really, it just struck him as odd. Why did he care so much who Adrian was friends with?
It was clear that their conversation had reached its natural conclusion, and Adrian walked the other man to the door. After saying that they would see one another around, he let the portrait close behind him, unable to shake the suspiciousness of Max Purney off. There was clearly something that was not right about him. Too many things were not adding up, and if he was honest, it made Adrian's hair stand on end.
He hadn't explained how he'd gotten into the library in the first place, and he'd never heard of an exchange with a local school. But, Headmistress McGonagall had been the one to show him to his quarters, so she must at least know more about the mysterious wizard. And then there was this apparent obsession that the other wizard had with him and Granger. It was off-putting to say the least.
Realizing the time, Adrian sighed and returned to his room, knowing that he wouldn't get anything done that evening, for fun or for his mastery. But even as he was tucked in bed, he couldn't shake off the worry that something was going on with Max. He wasn't sure what it was, but as long as the other wizard gave him a wide berth, Adrian decided that he would try not to let it bother him.