Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine; I'm just morphing them into my own little story, yeah?
A/N: Thanks to: Anti-Banana19, Avanell, and Paperclipgail1728 for reviewing!
Now, a Memory Refresher!
Previously on Aquaintances:
Rose Weasley, Ravenclaw, is let out of the Hospital Wing (on good behavior and improved health, of course) and is going to her dorm to freshen up before breakfast when she meets Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin. Talking (read: a banter) ensues. Scorpius tells her he was going to visit Headmistress Vector (after Madam Pomfrey) and leaves. Rose continues on to Ravenclaw Tower wondering what the Slytherin and leader of the school were going to talk about.
Chapter 8 (Humiliation)
Rose–after showering, washing her hair, and brushing her teeth–felt (and looked) relatively better. After she packed her bag for the day's lessons, she decided to go to the Great Hall and save a seat for Carmen Davies, a fellow Sixth Year Ravenclaw and roommate of hers. She didn't want any of the girls she barely knew or talked to in the dormitory pelting her with questions she didn't have answers to concerning why she had been in the Hospital Wing. They would only begin talking amongst themselves until a new person jumped in and went and discussed it somewhere else. The Hogwarts students would still ponder about it, but at least with their own theories.
Once downstairs, instead of going inside and finding a place to sit, Rose wandered into the Entrance Hall and, placing her bag a step below her, sat on a moving staircase. People walking up and down the stairs glanced at her, some amused, some not betraying anything, while others were giving her looks that said "Grow up," but didn't say a word. Really, she wasn't doing anything and as long as she wasn't in their way, it didn't matter.
Her feet propped up on her bag and crossed at the ankles, her elbows propped up by her knees, and her face propped up with her hands, Rose sat and glanced around the Entrance Hall. There were a few sleepy-eyed students milling around, talking with someone of their house–or not in a few cases–and walking into the Great Hall to enjoy the house elves' great cooking.
Maybe that's why they named it the Great Hall, she thought. The auburn-haired girl allowed herself a few seconds to laugh at her lame pun, happy that no one would hear it when she felt and heard someone sit next to her. As there was barely enough room on the stairs for herself, Rose turned to tell the person to move, but stopped. Grinning at her was, of bloody course, Scorpius Malfoy.
"Hey there, Weasley. What're you doing blocking one of the means of travel in Hogwarts? That's how you get on hit lists, you know."
Oh, you know, there are girls in my dorm wanting to ask me questions, so I bolted once I was ready for the day. Even if they didn't want to ask me questions, I'm bad at starting and holding conversations, so this is to save me the embarrassment and them the time. Rose was thinking this, but she wasn't about to tell him all of that. In fact, she wasn't going to tell him any of it.
"No, I don't know," Rose replied, "But maybe you do." Scorpius's grin, if possible, widened. "Anyway, you're the one blocking the steps; look." She motioned her head behind them, and Scorpius saw some students trying to get by them.
"Ah, sorry, my fellow Hogwartians," the Slytherin said, standing to allow the buildup of students down, "I was just conversing with my best friend, Rose Weasley. And there are more ways down to the Great Hall; find them." Before he could situate himself back on the step, Rose had grabbed his robes and yanked him down.
"What do you mean by best friend?" she hissed at him, her grip on his robes not relenting. Scorpius swallowed thickly, wondering if he was making a mistake, but plowed on.
Some students, having heard what the blond had said, were glancing in their direction curiously, so Scorpius slid his hand under Rose's and held it. There was a collective gasp before an outbreak of whispers. Rose, horrified, could see some students exiting the Great Hall just to see what was going on. "Malfoy," she said, anger in her tone conflicting with the surprise of his warm hand in hers, "let go. Now." Frenzied, she tried pulling out of his hand, but he wouldn't allow it.
"Stop squirming," he muttered through clenched teeth.
"No." She squirmed furiously to spite him. "Let go."
Ignoring her, he looked out at the crowd, waiting for the whispers to cease. Once some students saw him staring, they stopped mumbling, getting ready to run off should he pull put his wand. "That's right. Now, I'm sure some of you have heard what has happened to my best mate here. You know? How she was landed in the Hospital Wing?" The whispers broke out again, this time, though, in a tenfold.
"Dammit, Malfoy, what are you doing?"
"Oy, there would have been whispers about this when you walked in to eat anyway; it's in the Hogwarts Herald," he whispered back. The Hogwarts Herald was a newspaper a few Sixth Year Hufflepuffs had started two months prior in September. Somehow, they had managed to get the school's owls to deliver a copy to everyone when they were delivering mail in the morning. As the newspaper grew more and more popular, it began selling for the small fee of five Sickles. The professors hadn't minded, but once they learned there was a profit, they alerted Headmistress Vector, and she cornered the creators, telling them sixty percent went to the school funds. Having no choice, the creators agreed with her.
"You read that rubbish?"
"You don't read that rubbish?" She glared at him and scoffed. "Anyway," he called out loudly, "no one knows who did this to Rose." Rose, hearing her name being said by Malfoy's deep drawl, shivered unexpectedly. Stupid hormones, she thought. Scorpius didn't notice, or at least, to her relief, ignored it. "No one knows," he repeated, "so justice hasn't been served." He stood, bringing Rose with him. She quicky kicked her bag down a step so she wouldn't have to stand on it. For the first time since Malfoy's sudden dialogue, she looked at the student body, recognizing a few faces of people she had to endure classes with. Blushing, she realized there were people behind them trying to get by. Why wouldn't the moving staircase do as its name hinted to and knock him off balance? She wouldn't mind if he was knocked unconscious, then she would have an excuse to leave; just nothing too bad: she would feel guilty later.
"I'm sorry, it's just this idiot here . . ." She trailed off when she saw they were paying no attention to her. Sighing, she turned to the front to glare at her captor's face.
"Scorpius Malfoy will not stand here while that . . . that . . ." Caught up in the moment, Scorpius couldn't think of a word to describe the villain.
"Good-for-nothing toad," the captive Weasley said absently, actually meaning to describe him.
The Slytherin turned to her. "Thanks, best friend." To the crowd, he continued, "That good-for-nothing toad is out there, doing who knows what to another helpless person."
Rose tried jerking her hand away again. "Oy, I am not a helpless person!" Didn't they just have a chat concerning that earlier? Expecting her reaction, Scorpius had gripped her hand tighter.
"I know you're not," he said earnestly to her, gazing into her eyes. She would have thought he was just talking to her if he hadn't been talking loud enough for everyone to hear. "But thanks to that masked person, everyone thinks that. Well, she's not!" he cried out, and cheers erupted. "Justice must be served!" The cheers became louder. Scorpius, using the hand that was holding Rose's, thrust it into the air triumphantly.
The cheers died down when the students saw he had something else to say. "So, if you've heard anything about this, or seen anything, please, come forward to a professor or me. Or Madam Pomfrey," he added. "That's all, thank you." Once again, cheers were audible as was applause. Some people began going into the Great Hall talking about the speech while others just stood about. Scorpius moved back to allow those behind him to get down.
"Okay, what the hell, Malfoy?" Rose exclaimed when no one could hear them. He let go of her hand and smiled. She only glared at him, rubbing her wrist delicately. "Was the whole best friend thing necessary?"
"Well, Weasley, sorry about that," he began about her wrist, but he stopped when he saw someone approaching out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, morning, Professor Witz," he said politely.
"Detention, Mister Malfoy," she said with no hesitance, "next week in my office."
"But Professor, you didn't hear my speech?"
"Oh, I heard it; I just don't think it needed to be said in the middle of breakfast before classes. Next week in my office," she reminded him and left. Scorpius glowered.
"Thanks, Weasley: you got me a detention."
"What?" she spluttered. "I did no such thing!"
"So maybe you didn't. It still involved you."
"Because you let it!" Rose took a deep breath. "Okay, you can explain now," she said, rolling her eyes, and the blond was pleased to note she was pink with humiliation.
"As I was saying," he started off when another interruption came in the form of a young Hufflepuff. She marched straight up to Malfoy and, for a moment, Rose thought she was going to slap him, but she didn't.
"Malfoy," she said, her hand clutching her bag's strap, "are we still on for tonight?" Peering at the blond, she saw he was frowning.
"Yeah, Lynn, we're still on for tonight," he replied. "Now run along and have a hearty breakfast, yeah?" At this, he placed his hands on her shoulder, turned her toward the Great Hall, and gave her a little push.
"Didn't know you were into younger ladies, Malfoy," Rose said.
Scorpius gave her a look. "Didn't know you were into other people's business, Weasley." He hastily went on when she opened her mouth. "I'm not dating her, you silly bird, I'm tutoring her."
"Oh, what has the world come when Scorpius Malfoy willingly helps someone?"
"Who said anything about willingly?"
"Of course you had to be coerced into it. Now, could you please tell me what this whole embarrassing pitch was about?" Before Scorpius could even open his mouth, someone tapped him on his shoulder.
"Nice," a tall, dark-blond Slytherin Rose didn't know said, smirking at Scorpius while he pointlessly clapped noisily. "We came about in the middle of it, I think, right, Antonio?" The dark-haired boy behind the dark-blond rolled his eyes.
"Are you busy, Scorpius?"
"Yes, he is," Rose said angrily. So far, none of the people who had come up to the two acknowledged her. It was good in the case of Professor Witz, but still.
"Well, sorry," the tallest of the four began until Antonio cut him off.
"Yeah, we'll just get going, right, Robert?" Glaring at Rose, Robert just nodded. "You can explain later," he said to Scorpius. Brushing pass them, the two left.
"Those are my mates," he explained.
"No, just clarify," she said, wondering if someone else was going to interrupt.
"Well . . . hello, Jennette!" he said swiftly.
"Jennette?" Glancing where Scorpius was, she saw yet another person standing with them. "Jennette" was smiling flirtatiously at Scorpius, her lips a glossy light pink. Her hand came up to run through her brown side ponytail before using a finger to poke Scorpius's shoulder. He smirked.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Apparently, you are good at elocution," she said, her voice light with teasing.
"Told you not to doubt me," Scorpius said with a shrug.
"So how about tomorrow night we go on that date, huh?"
He nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good." Jennette stepped up to kiss him on the cheek. Striding back, she looked him in the eye.
"Okay." She playfully pulled on his tie before smoothing her own yellow and black one. Giving him one last smile, she sauntered off to the Great Hall. Rose was sure Jennette was walking a certain way to make Scorpius look at her and, true to his hormones, he was.
"I can't believe I had to see that," Rose said, rolling her eyes once Jennette was out of sight. "Apparently, Hufflepuffs love you."
"Yeah, whatever you say, Weasley," he said, bending to scoop up his bag. Then he paused. Rose watched as he stepped down to grab her bag, and came back up to hand it to her. She took it, confused at his action. "See you later." And he jumped down the steps once more to get breakfast.
"Wait, Malfoy!" Rose yelled out, realizing he still hadn't elucidated, though she had her suspicion and it involved Jennette.
"Hey, Rose!" Turning at her name, Rose saw her cousin, Albus Potter, making his way to her.
"Hey, Al," she said tiredly, as she tried to shrug her bag on her shoulder. Before she could protest, Al had taken her bag and thrown it on his own shoulder. "Thanks."
"No problem," he said dismissively. "I would have been here earlier, but all those people kept coming up to talk to you two."
"Malfoy," she corrected. "They all came to talk to him. It was like I wasn't even there."
"What the hell was that all about, anyway?" he questioned as they went down the steps.
"It could be "embarrass Rose day" or Malfoy just fucking used me to get some girl," she growled, trying to cool her red face down.
Al frowned. "What girl was he trying to get if he had to, er, "use" you?"
"Jennette something-or-another."
"Jennette Fallon?" Al asked, awe etched on his face. Rose only shrugged. "Fifth Year Hufflepuff?" he went on.
"She's a Hufflepuff is as much I know." Al whistled.
"I'd embarrass you too if it got me a date with Jennette Fallon," he said.
"Albus Severus Potter!"
"Kidding, kidding!" he quickly reassured her. "I could just use some helpless little Firstie, you know."
A/N: Ah, this was one of my favorite chapters! Just something to get you smiling! Hope it worked! Please review, I want to know what you thought about it! And I know: unoriginal newspaper name. I couldn't think of anything else!
=D