Shh, do you hear that?

Plenty of times like these had occurred in the past, times where Rose just wanted to let the staircases lead her somewhere new. The constant movement they had, though always causing her some level of nasea, seemed to always lead her to something fun or exciting. It had become a habit of Rose's to do this when she was looking for something more exciting for her day.

Doing the same things every day could only get you so far before they lost their appeal and became repetitive. It was unfortunate because even though she loved quidditch and enjoyed being on the team, she was having trouble finding the motivation to go and well.. practice. She knew it could hurt the team even if only little, if she wasn't properly prepared, but for this time only (or so she told herself) she would skip practice and make up some excuse for it to Christy afterwards.

Since it would be her first time skipping, she didn't think she'd get too badly reprimanded for it.

Hopefully.

This time, instead of standing on the staircase like she normally did, she decided to sit down. Maybe the movement wouldn't make her naseous like it usually did. She let them do a couple of changes before she decided she was going to move onto the floor that the staircase she was on had connected itself to. She couldn't say she was too familiar with the area she was in, but it did look familiar.

And no. It wasn't because most areas in Hogwarts tended to look similar to one another.

Unlike his sort-of-friend, Rose, Frank was not one to wander the castle whenever he didn't have to go somewhere. He'd always been one for rebellion, however, in a quiet way. If he had the chance to go against someone who always behaved badly towards others, he certainly would. He was actually on his way back from making a deal with Peeves, bribery taken care of so the poltergeist would annoy someone who he thought had been exceptionally irksome lately, when he spotted Rose sitting on one of the moving staircases.

He came to a stop, watching the stairs move back and forth a couple of times before she stood and wandered into the hallway he was stood in. Frank gave it a few moments, enjoying the idea of surprising her, before he walked up behind her and fell into step next to her, properly in her space. "What are you doing?" He asked sharply.

Rose was the person he actually felt the most uncomfortable around. She wasn't family, but he saw her enough growing up to know her, and in his opinion, she was much more like her mother than her father. Almost in the way Frank's sister was. Not precisely, and they didn't show it in the same way. But he pictured her as this prim, rule-following girl that likely looked down on him.

Then again, everyone else already did. So he hadn't exactly bothered trying to change her mind.

Rose couldn't say she wasn't like her mother. In fact, she knew she was like her in most ways, though the only real difference between the two of them was that Rose was less of a rule follower. Don't get her wrong, she obviously followed the rules more than say.. Ducky Baker(hah), but she wasn't strictly about the rules.

She's gotten lost in her thoughts as she walked, until a familiar and simultaneously irking voice called out. She jumped and looked over her shoulder to see Frank Longbottom almost right up in her face. "Merlin, Frank. Too close." She reached out to push him away from her and tried to distance herself by picking up her pace.

"I got bored, and decided I would go for a walk around the castle." She stated simply. "Is there a problem with that?" She asked, not bothering to even look at him as she continued to walk.

She couldn't say she thought badly of Frank, other than thinking he was kind of a slacker, but she also didn't think highly of him. It wasn't her place to judge what he did or who he was, but it seemed like everyone else did. Rose wondered if it ever bothered Frank. It would certainly bother her if she were the one people talked about the way they did with him.

"Anyways, what are you doing?"

A low chuckle escaped as she reacted to his sudden arrival. It was about what he'd expected, really. He wasn't aiming to make her uncomfortable, but rather to surprise her, so he of course backed off immediately, giving her perhaps a little more space than was strictly necessary as he continued to walk alongside her.

"Not a problem, no. But the sitting on that stair for a good twenty minutes -- that was a bit odd, you must admit. I was starting to think something was wrong." Frank shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. It made his shoulders fold in a little, made him look a little less tall and lanky than usual. But only a little.

"Then again," he continued, his tone lifting as he tilted his head from side to side before righting once more, "nothing ever seems really wrong for you. At least from the outside."

She asked what he was up to, and Frank wasn't quite sure what to say. He didn't feel like lying to her, but he also didn't want to start a conversation that he would then have to explain more fully than he was really ready to. So he told a half-truth. "I just got done bothering Peeves."

Rose scoffed at Frank's remark. "Riiiight, nothing's supposed to be wrong. I'm Hermione Granger's daughter, after all." Mentioning just her mother was enough. Being Ron Weasley's daughter meant there was a lot of things she could mess up. But as Hermione's child, she was supposed to be perfect. Just... Perfect.

She was far from it.

"Besides," she started, commenting on what he'd said previously. "I rather enjoy letting the castle take me where it wants. It almost always has new things happen to me or..for me, I guess." She put a finger on her lips in thought before shrugging and continuing on.

"Bothering? I doubt even someone like you could really bother Peeves. I'm surprised you're not the one who ended up bothered." She commented lightly. Rose couldn't say she disliked Peeves, but she wouldn't say she liked him either. Having fallen victim to her share of his pranks, Rose was willing to say they had a love/hate relationship. Most of the hate coming for her, of course.

"Why would you even want to bother Peeves anyways? Do you want to becoming his next target or something?"

An eyebrow lifted sharply at the tone with which Rose replied. He hadn't been nagging; rather, he had been doing his best impression of someone subtly showing concern. Or perhaps it was just Frank himself trying to show a bit of interest in whether or not she was okay. But instead, Rose was choosing sarcasm and negativity -- undoubtedly because she was speaking to Frank. Bummer.

"Hermione had troubles back in school, to be fair," he pointed out unnecessarily. Of course Rose already knew that. But he didn't want to try and argue against her preconception of him, as Rose had always seemed like the type to really stick to her convictions.

Her explanation was interesting, though. He nodded slightly, taking in that idea. It was a bit romanticized for his usual liking, but she did seem genuine about it. "I suppose. Though one might hope that it would lead you to Quidditch practice rather than into a conversation with me. Don't you think?" Because of course he knew the Quidditch schedules. Who didn't, when students would flock outside at the same time each week? It didn't occur to him that it might come off just as badly as everything else he'd said so far.

"Oh, trust me," he replied, actually letting a bit of pride appear in the form of a smirk, "I'm not the one who's going to be bothered by Peeves today. Maybe tomorrow, though."

"Yes, I know that." Was all the Ravenclaw bothered to say about Frank's remark about her mother. Her mother might have had her share of problems, but she had made it past everything, was very smart and managed to get her headmaster to give her a time Turner so she could take more than the normal amount of classes.

And she managed to make it work.

Rose couldn't even fathom the idea of doing the same as Hermione. She had been so much more than Rose was, than she'd ever be. But right now was not the time for her self doubt. Especially when her company was Frank, of all people. She flinched at the mention of her practice. She'd forgotten even he would know about that. Rose bit her lip in thought for a moment.

"I.. thought I'd skip out on practice today. Just this once." She said rather bluntly. There was no use in beating around the bush, and even if she did, she was sure he would be able to see right through it. After all, Rose was a bad liar. "I wasn't feeling practice today, I'll just tell Christabelle I wasn't feeling great or something. I'll figure it out." She shrugged as if it were nothing, though she knew she'd probably end up giving herself away.

Rose raised an eyebrow at Frank. "Today? So then, who is?" Her curiosity was now being peaked and she couldn't help but wonder what Frank was up to.

All right, then. Frank understood immediately that her parents were off-limits, which was fair enough. He didn't want to talk about his parents, either. There was a lot of history for both of them, as everybody seemed to know, but he'd sort of thought that if she were fine with it, maybe he could talk to Rose rather than other people. Talk to someone who understood, since he couldn't really do so with Alice unless he wanted it to become a big deal. It wasn't her fault, though; Ace was passionate, and that was a good thing, really.

So he let that line of conversation drop. Frank was much more interested in her lies. Even her future ones. Anything out of the ordinary for someone who he thought was so structured? Fascinating. He waited until she was done with her questions to back track to that part. "Or," he replied brightly, a smirk pulling at his mouth, "you could tell her the truth." Frank waited for her to visibly react or start to ask what he meant before leaning just slightly toward her. "You were traipsing through the halls with yours truly."

His shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Then again, you'd have to explain your desire to spend time with me. Which I'd be interested to know the truth of, considering you could've walked the other way or told me to piss off. But," he continued faster than she probably expected, "you asked about Peeves. I heard that Malfoy's been a little excessive lately. And what Malfoy isn't, really? So I made a deal with Peeves to bother him for me."

Frank wasn't sure why he wanted to tell her the truth. It was probably a mistake, in hindsight. But he didn't want to cover it and make it clear to her that he was hiding something. That always made people more interested in digging or gossiping. So he just let it linger, turning his attention back on the hallway in front of them.

"It's not like I hate you, Frank." Rose half laughed. Her attitude toward him could probably be better, but he'd brought it among himself. That being said, she didn't dislike the Gryffindor, just found him to be an annoyance. But only sometimes, like when he talked.. or was around.

Right.

"Besides, it wouldn't be too unbelievable that I was with you. Not that I'd want anyone to know about that." She backtracked. "You're not too bad company, I could be in far worse." She wasn't sure if she was admitting to liking giving him around in a subtle way, or if she was digging herself into a hole where Frank would always be if he felt like it, but she couldn't take back her comment now.

She made sure to get her bit about being around him before responding to his answer about Peeves. " Now there's something I can agree eirh," she stated with a firm nod. "Malfoy's a right git and I hope Peeves ruins his day, or days." There was only one Malfoy so far that she didn't hate, but she reserved the right to dislike him, and that was Scorpius - for multiple reasons.

Rose not actually hating him was something of news to Frank. A little, at least. Hate was a strong word, that much was true, but he definitely didn't think that she liked him. That, too, seemed like a word that didn't fit them. He felt quite such that she was trying a little too hard to confuse him on the matter of her opinion, and it was certainly working if his bemused expression was any indication.

However. It did occur to him that it would likely make Rose highly uncomfortable if he acted like he did not, in fact, know better. So obviously he had to use it against her, at least a little.

"Shh," he hushed her sharply, looking around dramatically. "You really don't want people to overhear that you like me, Rose? Perhaps you shouldn't go broadcasting it like this."

Of course, the Malfoy thing was entirely valid, and he spared her whatever blustering attempts at covering herself that he knew were coming -- or tried to, anyway, by instead saying even more nice things about himself. Because that, surely, would help rather than making matters worse. "Well, Peeves is quite a fan of mine, so of course he was willing to do as I asked in favor of irking Malfoy for as long as he can stand it. Though, I don't wager it will very for all that long, actually."