A/N: Sadly, I can't even mimic a (decent) British accent.
Thanks to: AlgophobianSadist, Avanell, and Loslote for reviewing!
Long story short: I lost my flashdrive. And all of the stories and drafts on it. I suck.
I also don't really like this chapter, but I kinda do . . . . I'll put it like this: when I was writing it, I thought it was the stupidest thing ever. When I read over it to edit, I absolutely loved it (contradictions, eh?).
Now, a Memory refresher!
Previously on Acquaintances:
Rose Weasley, Ravenclaw, helps her cousins and brother set up for Albus Potter's, Gryffindor, party. She gets around to asking for Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin, to be invited since he helped with the spells. Party day.
Chapter Thirteen (Confused)
The person stopped and looked back, having been caught in the act. Looking at the person, Rose wondered why she even bothered opening her mouth. "Yeah, I am." Scorpius paused for a second, but then started walking toward her, stopping a few steps away from her.
"Oh, I was . . ." She wasn't sure what she wanted to say, though what came out was, "Do you want to help me look for Lynn's bracelet? It may be out here somewhere."
He was silent. "Sure."
Rose didn't like the quiet as they were searching. It was weird. Either she or Scorpius always had something to say which was why she spoke up.
"So, I see your friend has noticed my little cousin." He had to think about what she had said for a second.
"Oh," he said finally, "yeah, I don't know, I guess." She waited for him to say something else, but nothing came.
"Could you ever imagine those two going on a date or dating?" she persisted.
He cleared his throat. "Not really, but that's only because I don't really know Lily."
"Yeah, I feel the same as I don't know your friend except for the fact he made a rather poor first impression. Robert, was it?"
Rose could see Scorpius smile. "Yeah, he has a tendency to do that, huh?" The silence came once more as they looked, but they were going to admit defeat as there really weren't that many places to look for a bracelet in a deserted corridor, especially when the owner wasn't sure where she lost it.
"Having fun?" she tried again.
"Of course. You?"
"A bit, yeah. If I find this bracelet, maybe I'll go dance or something."
"That sounds . . . fun," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. Rose almost put her hands on her hips to ask why he wasn't talking, but that seemed against anything she would normally say to him, so she paused. During the pause, Scorpius spoke. "Well, I don't see it anywhere. Did Lynn say where she lost it exactly?"
"Oh, not really, she thinks she may have lost it out here or inside. She's in there now looking for it. I suppose I'll go help."
"Okay, I suppose I'll be on my way, then."
"You didn't enjoy the party?" Rose felt a little let down.
"Oh, I did, it's just–I don't think I'm in the partying mood right now. Then again, I might be back down when the party's winding away." He smiled unsurely, walking to the Slytherin common room.
Let it go, Rose, just let it go, she chanted in her mind, Let it go, Rose, just let it go. Let it–let him go, Rose, just let him. Remember, curiosity killed the cat!
"But I'm not a cat," she said to herself. Up ahead, nearly out of sight, she could see Scorpius debating on whether or not he should comment on what she had just said as his steps became slower. At last, "Why aren't you in the partying mood?" And why can't you just shut up?
Not moving near her again, Scorpius shrugged, leaning against the wall closest to him. Rose decided to move toward him a bit, fiddling with her fingers while she did so. He smirked a little, and said, "Why do you care about what's happening with me?" His companion gazed at him until the words hit her in the face, causing her to remember them.
"Well," she said in an imitation of him, "if I have to go out of my way to ask you, don't you think I want to know what's happening?"
Scorpius absentmindedly rubbed his fingers across his chin, and Rose wondered if he had some stubble like James. "That . . . was a weird way of putting it," he finally got out, grinning. Rose offered a smile of her own. "But, uh, I'm not sure why I'm not in the partying mood. My hand just started shaking, and my head–er, I spoke to Rob about it and he thinks I have all the warning signs, just like Fourth Year. But, really, he could've been trying to freak me out–boy, it kind of worked to tell you the truth –"
"I'm sorry, are you sure you're Scorpius Malfoy?" Rose interrupted, completely confused. "I didn't know he got this talkative and could barely string sentences together." The boy looked sheepish.
"Sorry, I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this because, you know–well, no, you don't because I barely even know you."
Rose scoffed, perceiving the emphasis he placed on the last few words. "Hey, that's my excuse, now talk."
"If you get to use an excuse, why can't I? I'm sure I can think of a different one . . ."
"Truthfully, I don't know." Rose felt a little hypocritical. "But now we can get to know each other so we won't have to use that excuse, right? So talk."
"I-I don't think it works that way," Scorpius said after a short bout of laughter. The auburn-haired girl noticed she had moved closer to her year mate.
"Fine, but will you at least answer the question?"
"Yeah, but you have to answer a question of mine–when I think of it, of course. It's only fair."
"Sure, if it's only fair," she mimicked, shifting her legs a little. "Okay, so why aren't you in the partying mood?"
"I honestly don't know," he repeated, but I talked to Robert and Lynn a bit and they both came to the same conclusion."
"Um, are you pausing for dramatic effect, or do you have no intention if telling me what the conclusion was?" Rose asked when he kept silent.
"Eh, maybe a little of both, I don't know. They think I fancy someone because, as Rob put it, I have all of the same symptoms from Fourth Year when I liked Valerie Stinson."
"Wasn't she a Seventh Year at the time?"
"Your point being?"
"Never mind."
"Exactly."
"What're you doing thinking of Jennette when you should be having fun? Leave those problems for the weekdays," she said, pulling the conversation back to where it started.
"Jennette?" Rose's eyebrows lifted at his confused tone. "Oh, I wasn't thinking about Jennette."
"Really? But I thought–your date –" Come to think of it, Rose hadn't seen them hang out much around the castle together and, if they had, she hadn't noticed. Then she recalled that day in the library. "That date was kind of terrible . . ." Had he been talking about his date with the Fifth Year?
"The date was awful," he said, confirming the Ravenclaw's thoughts. "All she wanted me to do was help her with a speech she needed to prepare for class. I was bored and being used."
"Just like you used me to get a date with her?"
Scorpius scoffed. "No, not at all."
"And why not?"
"I got a detention and a mind-numbing date, and you got nothing but cheers."
"Those cheers were for you," Rose corrected.
"Because of you."
Rose relented, "Fine. Now, do you want to talk about this bird you fancy? Who is she?"
The Slytherin gazed at her suspiciously for a moment. "No," he said shortly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed."
She nearly stepped forward to grab his arm. He sensed this and stopped to stare at her. "What? Why?"
"Because you ask too many questions and I'm tired."
"Well," Rose began irately, "I have a lot more questions. If it's about the girl, I'll lay off, okay? How about that day in the Entrance Hall?"
"What about that day in the Entrance Hall?" Scorpius asked jadedly.
"Since it was just a ploy to get that Hufflepuff, did you really have to embarrass me? Would you have embarrassed anyone else if you hadn't seen me?"
"Er, probably."
"Yes or no?"
"What?"
"Yes or no? Yes, you would have embarrassed someone else, or no, you wouldn't have?"
"Weasley –"
"Malfoy," Rose interrupted.
"I'm not answering that because I already did. Do with it what you will. Now, can I go to bed?"
Let it go, Rose, just let it go, she chanted in her mind once more, Let it go, Rose, just let it go. Let it–let him go, Rose, just let him. Remember, curiosity killed the cat!
"But I'm not a cat!" she shouted.
"Okay, what's this about you and cats?"
"Nothing," Rose said hurriedly.
"G'night."
"Good–who's the girl?"
"Weasley –"
"I'm sorry, but I actually have someone of the opposite sex talking to me about their love life!"
"Weasley –"
"No one–the males, of course–in my family will talk to me about the girls they fancy."
"Weasley –"
"It saddens me, really. Then they have the audacity to ask for advice?"
"Weasley –"
"I mean; what kind of shit?"
"For crying out loud on Merlin's fucking pants, it's you!"
"W-What? Was that some exclamation to get me to shut up or are you serious?"
"I can't believe you broke me so quick. But your damn mouth–fuck. Now I owe Robert five Galleons. You'd probably think as a Slytherin I'd be better with secrets. I should really take those "secret" lessons from Antonio," he rambled.
"I'm sorry, I'm confused," Rose said, somewhat offended.
"You're the reason I'm not in a partying mood. I told Robert and he told me to tell you, but really, when would I do that without it coming off weird? On a date at Hogsmeade? Or, maybe, before to get you to agree to the date? Then he pulled me into this bet, and yeah."
"Uh huh . . ."
"And then Lynn! Little Lynn of all people! She was going to tell you for me, but I made her promise not to–hey, I could teach her all sorts of wrong material, but I'd probably feel bad about her failing–and I tried to ditch the party to go think, you know?" Rose nodded, mostly because he looked lost and puzzled. "Then you find me out here because of –"
"Lynn," Rose finished. Scorpius nodded, running a hand through his hair.
"So, really, this is your entire fault. And why don't we throw Lynn in there somewhere, too, huh? Now, if we can forget about this chat, boy, am I tired!"
"How is this my fault?"
"If you hadn't hung out around me so much –"
"You hung out with me!"
"Because I found you dangling in a hallway!"
"Because of you!"
"What?"
Rose looked sheepish. "Well, your house mates, anyway."
"So you found out who did it?"
"I don't know, but I gave a description to Vector, so I'm sure she'll find them."
"Oh. Cool."
"Yeah, I thought so too. Anyway," the Ravenclaw said, "just because you found me dangling in a hallway didn't mean you had to talk to me so much!"
"I only wanted to know what happened!" Scorpius retaliated, picking up where they had left off as she had.
"You didn't have to keep coming back!"
"Actually, I kind of did since you wouldn't tell me anything. Hence this being your entire fault."
"You act as if it'll kill you to fancy me."
"It possibly will since you don't fancy me back," Scorpius said in a quiet tone.
"What?" Scorpius ignored her, walking toward her until he was in front of her. She had to raise her head a bit to look in his eyes because of the mild height difference.
"You don't fancy me back," he repeated.
"And how would you know?"
Her question went without an answer, however, as Scorpius bent his head a bit until his lips met with hers. When she didn't pull back to curse or hex him, his right hand slowly came up to settle gently against her waist while his left hand went to the back of her neck to hold her head steady. Rose wasn't sure what to do, but when their lips had met, her eyes had closed, and she had responded. She placed her right hand on top of his left arm while her left pulled Scorpius closer by his shirt and stayed there. She thought she heard a noise behind her, but didn't bother thinking about it because her hormones were too busy being happy.
Scorpius had intended for this to be a short little peck, but Merlin, when she had reciprocated and put her hand on his waist, he kept on. He decided he didn't like the slow pace, and went a little faster. He was pleased to note she eagerly matched the pace against his lips. Somewhere, Scorpius managed to push Rose against the wall they were standing by and he heard her emit a soft moan. This provoked the Slytherin fairly much as his right hand gripped her waist tighter. Just when Rose thought he was going to allow tongue, he pulled back from her and went to the other side of the hall.
"You don't like me," he said matter-of-factly.
"What? How would you even –" she started a little breathlessly. But she didn't know what to think about his accusation. Was he right or wrong? The pair was interrupted by one of the doors to the party opening.
"What're yuh out her' fer? Al'cuh-stuff inside! Very guh'd!" A rather drunk girl stumbled toward them with a large smile on her face.
"What? The Daisyroot Draught isn't that alcoholic! How many cups did you drink?" Rose glared at the girl. "I knew I should have put a sign with a maximum number of cups to be consumed of that drink!"
"Oh, yeah, like people would have abided by that sign," Scorpius said. "If it were me, I would have knocked it over or something, and, from the looks of her, so would she." Rose turned to glare at the boy.
"Muh fren' brought stuff 'n' mix'd it wif da al'cuh-stuff," the girl explained, apparently having not heard Scorpius.
"Wait–you look kind of familiar," the Ravenclaw spoke up again.
"Co'r' I do. I'm pop'lar! I'm in mag'zines! No, 'hat's not righ' . . ." The girl stopped to think. It looked as if it pained her to do so. "I'm in newspa'ers!" She hiccupped.
"Is she really?" Scorpius asked her out of the corner of his mouth. Rose shrugged. She couldn't tell what House the girl was in for she wasn't wearing her robes, but a pretty red dress; it was a party after all. "Are you going back to your House?" he asked the intruder. "If you are, I'll escort you."
"No! I seen yuh two out her' and wanted tuh tell yuh tuh com' inside and puh-arty!"
"Oh, sorry, I was actually leaving, but I'm sure Weasley'll be there in a moment." The girl shrugged as if to say "Suit yourself" and staggered back to the door and inside. "I, um, see you later, Weasley." Rose didn't try to stop him this time. Did she fancy him? She wasn't sure for she couldn't help but think over all of the times they had talked, wondering why she hadn't noticed then that he had begun to fancy her.
And now she didn't even know where they stood. Would he come bounding up to her one day as if nothing had happened? Would he just ignore her? Would he be cordial? What about her? What would she do? Did this mean they were acquaintances? Friends? Friends with benefits? Well, she supposed this all depended on her feelings–what she felt and whatnot.
Just fucking great.
The door opened again, the music floating out. "Com' inside and puh-arty!" the drunken girl said again. Ignoring her, Rose went through the door to find Al or James or Hugo or Lily or Carmen or someone to dance with. She started when there was a pop and confetti landed on her and other people's head or practically in their drinks. Speaking of drinks, she was not going to get drunk and forget everything for she had to overanalyze this bit by bit later on and then overreact to the what she learned–if she learned anything from it, that is.
Little Lynn Holt, on the other hand, watched as the auburn-haired girl stomped her way through the crowd, and smiled, reaching into her pocket to pull out her bracelet and drag it onto her wrist.
A/N: Please review! I hope the summary makes sense now (if it doesn't, just say so in a review, and I'll clear it up next chapter)! Originally, the kiss wasn't supposed to be in there, Rose was supposed to be drunk, and Robert and Lily had a talking scene, but it was too long yet again, so I had to chop it down. Sorry. I hope the kiss scene wasn't too awkward or anything; it was a first for me. And I have no idea how drunk people talk, so I just made something up.
Oh, and do you guys want me to write in who harmed Rose in the next chapter? I didn't because I was hoping you guys would figure it out, but, if you didn't, just leave a review and tell me, and I'll try to squeeze it in somewhere.