A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows after last chapter! I am so glad you like my little Slytherin trio and their schemes. We are back to Adrian POV in this chapter. 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 seven and be on the lookout for chapter eight soon!
After his unusual chat with Granger in the library, Adrian couldn't get the idea of how odd it was that Max would be allowed to walk down to Hogsmeade Village alone. Granger had mentioned it casually - maybe just to distract him from the fact that she had been spying on Max.
He still wasn't sure if he could believe her that she hadn't been watching Max because she was interested in him, but he was sure he didn't want to examine why that irritated him so much.
Even if it hadn't been her reasoning, Adrian did find it odd that Max was allowed to go to Hogsmeade at all, especially when the eighth year students could not. Surely the Headmistress could not have okayed this? And just what was Max doing in the village?
Fortunately for Adrian, he was exempt from the rule that kept students in the castle unless it was a Hogsmeade weekend, and he was able to come and go as he pleased. Sometimes he even went down to the Three Broomsticks for dinner, just for some different scenery where first years didn't openly stare at him in confusion, wondering just what his purpose at Hogwarts was.
It had taken him approximately thirty seconds to decide to follow Max into the village and get to the bottom of his purpose there. After all, he had been so very eager to be friends the other night in Adrian's apartments...surely, he wouldn't mind some company in the village as well.
Stopping by his rooms on the way out, he grabbed his walking cloak and headed to the grand staircase and then out the door. It was a cold day, but sunny, so Adrian didn't hurry on his walk, content to breathe in the briskness. It was a nice change from the stuffy old castle.
The village was quiet without students milling about, so Adrian peeked into a couple of likely places that Max might be. He wasn't at the Three Broomsticks, nor had Rosmerta seen him. He wasn't at Tomes and Scrolls or Honeydukes either. Adrian was nearly out of places to look when he remembered the Hog's Head down at the other end of the village. He almost didn't go there because someone unfamiliar with Hogsmeade was unlikely to stumble upon it. Still, he knew that he had to check, or he'd be regretting it the rest of his days.
The Hog's Head had been an old haunt of the Slytherin Quidditch team when Adrian had been a student because Aberforth Dumbledore didn't seem to care too much about legal drinking age. Adrian's feet carried him in it's direction without thinking. Even if he came up empty handed, he knew that he could at least grab a pint for old time's sake.
To his dismay, though, when he walked into the dingy old bar, he was not met with silence that would have been typical for that time of day, but rather four rowdy voices laughing and chatting away. Adrian's eyes narrowed when they settled upon his three friends - Marcus, Cass and Graham - sitting at a table with none other than Max! The bloody traitors!
Just how did they come to know one another, Adrian wondered? Suddenly, the mysterious wizard who'd shown up at Hogwarts seemed far more sinister than Adrian had initially considered.
Walking over to the table, he made his presence known immediately. "What the fuck is this then?" he questioned. "You can't come visit me for months and then I find you here at the Hog's Head with this guy? You couldn't send me an owl if you were going to be stopping by Hogsmeade?"
Cassius waved his pint in the air, halfway drunk already. "Oh, you know Marcus had a little bit of a problem with the floo. Said the wrong place, and so we went and followed him," he explained, waving to the barkeep for another round.
"And then we decided, oh we might have a couple of pints while we were here for old times sake," Graham explained. "We were going to owl you, to let you know to come down, but it looks like we got a little carried away," he said, punctuating it with a hiccup.
"Pull up a chair, Ades," Marcus encouraged with a smirk.
Adrian did as he was bid and took a welcome drink of the beer that was placed in his hands. "And, Max, you just happened to stumble out here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know that you were permitted to leave the castle."
Max looked guilty. "Please don't tell Headmistress McGonagall," he nearly begged. "I said I was going to the village to purchase some potions supplies, and I just wanted to have a pint while I was here."
There was something about his story that didn't quite add up, but Adrian wouldn't question it more, not then at least. Maybe he just didn't really have permission from the Headmistress.
Leaning forward, Adrian pressed his arms against the table. "So what were you guys talking about?" he asked, eager to hear what they would come up with. "It seemed like you were having a laugh when I came in."
Marcus looked at Max and then at Adrian. "Oh, we were just talking about Granger," he said.
"Yeah," Cassius agreed. "Apparently Malfoy is looking to get it in with her. He mentioned it to Graham when they ran into one another over Yule break."
Adrina recoiled at the suggestion. Malfoy was one of the handful of eighth year students who had come back that year, and he seemed to have his hand perpetually up Astoria Greengrass's skirt. The thought that he might try to get with Granger was...bringing up some uncomfortable feelings for him. Feelings he couldn't quite identify.
"Why would he do that?" Adrian wondered out loud. Privately, he hoped that Malfoy wasn't just trying to mess with her. Although he didn't particularly care for Granger, he thought that it would be pretty cruel (and in Malfoy's playbook) to make her think that Malfoy had real feelings for her, sleep with her, and then abandon the poor witch. He didn't want to see her hurt.
Cassius shrugged his shoulders. "I sure as hell don't know, but who cares?" he asked.
"You remember what Malfoy was like during Quidditch," Marcus said with a grin. "Maybe he finally realized that his constant complaining about her was really just a hard-on for her."
Adrian nearly choked on his beer at that statement. The thought of Malfoy, with his ferrety face, slobbering over Granger was just...too much to bear. "Please, you are putting me off," he said quickly. "I'd rather not think of it."
"Just because you don't like Granger, doesn't mean that other people don't," Max piped up from his spot in the back.
He found that to be a rather odd statement. Why was Max so obsessed with what went on between him and Granger? "I'm not suggesting that they can't," Adrian said, with a frown. Although he'd really rather Draco Malfoy didn't. "But I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh, are you jealous?" Cassius teased. "Granger only goes for Quidditch players. You probably have a shot if you want it."
"Yeah, I mean, I don't really know how you'd follow up after Krum," Marcus said with a shrug. "But I am sure you'd be a vast improvement over Weasley. He was barely even a real keeper."
"Did she really date Krum?" Max asked, sounding fascinated. "He's such a good seeker."
"Yes, for the Yule Ball," Adrian said, absentmindedly, remembering the odd relationship between the Bulgarian man and Granger that had formed while they were at school. He had always wondered how genuine it was - or was Granger the only person who treated Krum like he was a normal person.
"Oh, they dated that whole year and afterwards, too," Cassius said, eagerly. "Apparently she even stayed with him in Bulgaria for a summer."
"How do you even know that?" Adrian wondered, knowing that Cassius was a terrible gossip.
"Witch Weekly," he said with a shrug. "Apparently, he still holds a candle for her, but she just isn't really interested in anything more than friendship."
Privately, Adrian thought that was smart. They obviously lived in different countries, and even with improved transportation, it would be difficult to have a close relationship. Krum was unlikely to give up Quidditch and after school Granger would probably move to London to work at the Ministry...
Granger would be wasted not having a job and instead just serving as a WAG for the tabloids to salivate over.
He snapped back into the conversation when Flint began talking about Granger's legs. While Adrian couldn't dispute that she had very nice legs - typically tantalizingly displayed by her school skirt...leading him to wonder what she had on under that skirt (not that he'd admit it) - he was not about to sit here and listen to his friends talk about her for hours. He slammed what was left in his beer glass and stood up.
"If you lot are just going to spend the afternoon talking about Granger, I'm going to head back to the castle to do something more interesting," he announced, standing from the table.
"Oh, don't go yet!" Max called at his quickly retreating form.
It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He was beginning to feel like Max was obsessed with him. Seeking him out that first night had been understandable, but to find him at the Hog's Head with Adrian's three closest friends made him even more unsettled. Coupled with the fact that he couldn't seem to stop talking about Granger and what he thought of her...
Something about Max Purney was not right. And he was going to get to the bottom of it.
But, Adrian knew that he wouldn't be able to do it on his own. When he got back to the castle, he made a snap decision and instead of returning to his own quarters, he diverted his path up the stairs to the seventh floor. He stopped when he got to the portrait of the Fat Lady, and knocked on it.
It took a moment, but eventually the portrait swung open and revealed Ginny Weasley. "Pucey. What can I do for you?" she asked, sounding a bit suspicious.
It was understandable...he really had no reason to interact with any students, especially not when he wasn't in the library. "Um, I was wondering if you could go get Granger for me?" he asked, suddenly questioning his great idea. This might be a terrible idea, especially if Granger didn't share his suspicions.
But then he remembered how odd she found Max heading to Hogsmeade to be.
Weasley squinted at him for a moment, as though she was trying to figure out his motives. But then she shrugged her shoulders. Turning her head, she shouted back into the Common Room as if she was on the Quidditch pitch. "Hermione! You have a visitor!"
It didn't take long for Granger's head to pop out of the portrait hole. Her pretty brown eyes widened when she saw it was him. Stepping out of the door, she shut it behind her, obviously wanting to keep their discussion quiet. "What do you want, Pucey?" she asked, looking adorably confused. "I promise I will bring the book back by Monday morning. I don't need a reminder."
Adrian felt a little bad that she thought he was coming to berate her over a book. "Actually Granger, I was wondering if we could talk about our mutual...friend, Max," he said, casually. "There is something about him that just doesn't really sit right about his situation with me, and I wondered if you might...feel the same."
He held his breath, waiting for her to just say something. Eventually, she gave him a tiny smile. "Alright, Pucey, where to?" she asked.
He returned the smile. "Let's just start going this way. I promise to have you back before dinner," he said, before heading off in the direction of the astronomy tower, hoping that they wouldn't cross paths with the mysterious wizard.