[OPEN] On Borrowed Time

Adrienne hadn't seen it coming, but she had actually been tricked by someone that she thought had been genuine with her. Given that [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] wasn't in town, she wasn't entirely sure who she could talk to about it. Granted, there were many moments where all she would do was fight with her husband. Sometimes, really, she wondered why on earth they were still bothering. But she wasn't a quitter, and it wouldn't look good for his family's reputation if they just separated without a genuine reason. It didn't matter that they had been forced into their marriage or that things had gotten worse after their very sudden and almost ridiculous engagement. People would look down on them and they both knew it.

That said, the problem she wanted to tell someone about had to do with her work. She had been told that several things were true although those things weren't, in reality, accurate at all. And it turned out that the man in charge of the Daily Prophet had taken it to be entirely her fault for not understanding.  For all she knew, her days at the Prophet were numbered, and it was entirely Ben's fault. It was entirely unlike her, but Adrienne had taken to one of the pubs in Hogsmeade, and was actually allowing herself to drink when she normally never would.

What she really needed was some new profession to take up on the side, in case everything fell apart at the paper. The last thing she needed was to be without a job at all while Kaiden was away. She would go absolutely mad without anything to entertain her, and she didn't like the idea of spending his money when she could simply earn her own. Perhaps, she mused to herself, what she really needed was a bit of time to take a break before really getting invested in looking for a new job. It was unlikely that she would come into money, and equally unlikely that someone would just come along and offer her a job. She supposed she could go back to Hogwarts, but that felt almost pathetic, and she had never truly found her niche there. Keiran was far better at teaching Transfigruation, to say the least.

For now, she just needed that break. A drink or two would be lovely, and it surprised most people, but she actually didn't mind talking to people she didn't know. She often seemed shy to strangers, but that mostly came from her school years, when she had been too focused on other things to truly worry about making new friends. As it were, no one was near her at the bar, so she pulled out a book and opened it in front of her as she took another sip of her mixed drink.

Dear oh dear.  Reading in the pub.  Didn't she know better than that?  

"Hey, Reynolds," Selwyn sidled up to her, one hand over her shoulder while the other hooked the book out from under her fingers.

"Don't you know not to do this in here?" he started.  "All you'll do is get it all sticky and dirty.  Is this a library book?  I hope it's not a library book.  D'ya know what the charms on those things can do to you if you return them in less than pristine condition?"

"I'll have what she's having," this last was to their barmaid.

(ooc: I actually laughed really hard at your reply, and saw this in my head)

Typically, at hearing her family name, Adrienne would have looked up to greet the person speaking. But her book was taken from her, ruining her interest in doing so. She lifted her head, but didn't turn towards the ex-Slytherin, instead frowning at the back wall of the bar for a moment. She couldn't even bring herself to correct him on her name.

When she did glance over at him, Adrienne lifted an eyebrow at his commentary. "You do realize there are protective spells for that? And no, it isn't from the library. It's just one of mine."

Lifting her eyebrows when he made it clear that he either intended to sit beside her or he was just irritating her for the fun of it, Adrienne wasn't quite sure what to say. Really, she just wanted her book back. She decided, however, that she really did have nothing of interest going on in her life at that point, so she could at least humor him.

"Do you always nick books from old schoolmates?"

Selwyn looked startled for a moment.


"Have you met me?"


This close to Hogwarts, and with someone his own age to talk to, it was fun to pretend he was sixteen again.

"But in answer to your question: no, I do not always nick old books from old schoolmates.  Sometimes I nick other things too."


He handed her precious book back.

"So, you've come to Hogsmeade to drink, read and look incredibly depressed.  You know that's not a good combination.  Come up the back table and tell me your woes.  If nothing else, I bet I can get us free drinks for the rest of the night," he suggested.

(ooc: Definitely thought I replied to this already. Sorry D: )

Adrienne had to refrain from rolling her eyes at his question, even though she understood that it was a joke. Over the past few years, her sense of humor had faded due to the seemingly increasing level of trouble that had been caused in the world around her. Fun wasn't something that came up very often these days. "Well, if we have," she returned, "you're lucky I'm being polite enough to chat with you. Slytherins are notorious, you know," she added, inclining her head towards him as though it was some big secret he might not have been truly privy to.

Adrienne's fingers curls around the spine of the book, holding it to her chest as he spoke, a bit surprised to find that he actually seemed curious about what might be the matter with her. Equally, she supposed, there was a chance that he was merely prying. But it wasn't as though she had anything better to do, and it wasn't like she had many friends who weren't at work just then. Or, well... It wasn't really true to say that she was close to very many people at all, recently. Life, work, and consequences of the Marriage Law had gotten in everybody's way, it seemed.

So after a moment of hesitation - though she tried not to let it show on her face or in her posture - she gave a slight nod and reached for her drink. It was a sort of amber-colored liquid, a combination of things that came together into a drink the bartender called a Golden Snitch. In truth, she found the name a bit ridiculous, but couldn't quite blame the owner of the pub for choosing something related to the most important sport in their world. Besides, the thing was darn good, so she couldn't really go about commenting on it.

"Is that an actual bet you want to make?" She asked as she stood to walk with him to the booth of his choosing. "Because I would actually quite like to see you try."

Selwyn snorted.

"Fairly sure I have a enough notoriety of my own to counteract any Slytherin reputation," he replied.

He grabbed his own drink - a golden liquid that made him dizzy on the first sip, presumably leading to its name - and lead the way to one of the more secluded tables.

Her question made him laugh. It had been ages since he'd had some proper fun.  Just because he was an adult now didn't mean he had to act like one all the time.

"Uhhh, depends on the stakes," he said. "I'm a bit out of practice, you know."

"That's true," she replied, her tone overly serious for the conversation. "But I wasn't about to say it like that was I?" Adrienne added, a surprisingly cheeky smile working its way onto her face.

She had half been hoping that he would turn her down, but that was solely because she had never been the kind that was open to bets or games like that. She had never found the reasoning behind them to be very sensible, but somehow now that she had graduated, she was amused by them. Perhaps it was boredom? Adrienne wasn't sure she cared to think too long about it.

"Is it not like riding a bike?" she asked automatically, thinking back to her mother's side of the family. "Can't you think of something you want?" she asked, sinking into the seat at the table he had selected.

Selwyn snorted again at that.  The analogy was almost entirely backwards.

"No, not like riding a bike," he said. "Not about what I want, really, either."

He took a much larger gulp of the drink this time, and waited for his head to stop swimming before replacing the glass where he thought the beermat might be.

"You wanna know the deal?" he asked.

He didn't stop for confirmation.  She was a Ravenclaw; she wanted to know.

"Here's the deal," he whispered as he leant across the table.  Selwyn could tell he was tipsy at least.  He wasn't usually this unguarded sober.  "It's always on."

"I spend 99% of my time repressing my instincts, but the allure thing?  That's always on.  It's part of me, you didn't think I could turn it off, did you?"

"The challenge... the challenge is whether I can focus it on the barmaid without getting you affected as well."

Adrienne frowned a bit at his response, trying to figure out where he was headed. He seemed to have a low alcohol tolerance, but she had to admit that she had been taking her drink exceptionally slower than usual, and thus much slower than he had. Perhaps it was just circumstances, she mused silently. She blinked and straightened up as he leaned towards her and spoke in some sort of riddle.

Her eyebrows pulled together and she turned her chin away from him slightly, though her eyes didn't leave his. When he finally specified what exactly he was referring to, she tried to ignore the fact that her eyes widened slightly.

"I- I mean... I hadn't thought about it," she faltered, shaking her head as she tried to find some reason why it really wouldn't work on her. "I'm married, technically," she landed on finally.

Of course, that was a terrible reason, considering she didn't even get along with Kaiden on a normal day, nonetheless on a good one. But Adrienne had become a rather oblivious sort, and now that it was being so bluntly put in front of her, she felt all the more aware of the fact that he was telling the truth. "I'll be fine, though," she returned, partly for her own benefit - though she wouldn't admit it.

"Go ahead," she added, gesturing towards the woman in question. "It'll be... interesting."

He'd sat back and grinned when her eyes widened, satisfied she understood what he meant.  And with his ability to shock her, too.

"It's okay, I probably shouldn't have told you," he replied, somewhat more composed.  "It's not like it's your problem."

He picked up the drink and studied it, but didn't taste it again.  It was, he couldn't really say strong, because it didn't take a lot to get Selwyn drunk.  It was something, though.

"Later, first tell me how one manages to be technically married?"

He lifted his eyes to meet hers as he slowly set the glass back on the table.