I don't know if I lied when I said we're not together

Although Selwyn wouldn't have hesitated to tell anyone who asked that Slytherin was absolutely the best house at Hogwarts, he did believe Salazar could have chosen a more appropriate location. Children were sleeping down here, in the dungeons, and the Common Room being right under the lake didn't help. It was cold, dreary and when the charms started to wear thin, even damp. Obviously, since Selwyn's office was right next to the Common Room, he suffered along with them.

It was also playing havoc on his eyesight. There was only so much atmosphere a person could take before they started wondering whether an invasion of the Ravenclaw tower was in order. He could make it a challenge. A demonstration of the kids' magical abilities. Maybe if he suggested it to Destrey, she'd make it a Defence assignment...

Selwyn put down his pen and rubbed his eyes. This was the real reason he didn't assign much homework. He ended up having to mark it.

It was done. There were few things, now, that could truly ruin Adrienne's mood, and luckily the dungeons just didn't manage it. They hadn't been a source of much happiness during her time as a student, but she had a perfectly good reason to be down there today despite having graduated. In fact, she didn't even knock when she came to his office door.

"Well!" she began brightly, pushing the door so it would swing to behind her. "I've got some brilliant news. It's finally sorted."

Grinning, she plopped herself down onto the chair opposite him and bounced a little from sheer relief. The stress of the past few months seemed lifted, even though she wasn't at all certain what was meant to happen next. "I don't know about you, but I could really do with a drink once you're done for the day."

Selwyn startled when the door opened; he wasn't set up for people to just come waltzing into his office without warning. He was even less prepared for the person to be Adrienne.

"What?" he began, but he wasn't sure what the end of that sentence should be.

She seemed very perky this afternoon and it set his heart racing. Not that he didn't want Adrienne to be happy, but Selwyn was never the best person at dealing with change and Addie's sudden change in demeanour put him on edge.

His lagging brain finally caught up with the conversation. Yes, a drink would be perfect just now. For the millionth time, he wondered why Hogwarts insisted on using parchment for everything while he shuffled his students' homework into a rough pile and dropped it into his out tray.

"I'm more or less done now," he said. "Do you want to go somewhere in Hogsmeade?"

He wanted to go somewhere in Hogsmeade. He really didn't want to spend more time than necessary here.

Adrienne just smiled at him when he seemed surprised, tilting her head to the side. "Hogsmeade sounds fine. I can explain on the way," she offered, pushing off of her chair once he seemed ready to head out.

Once they were outside of the castle, she turned her head to look at him. "The paperwork is finally filed. It's official. The Poliakoffs can't do anything anymore, and I have no obligation to Kaiden anymore. Is it weird that I'm excited to have my old name back? It seems strange. But I think it's actually just that I'm glad not to have his name anymore, you know?"

Selwyn couldn't decide if the walk up to the Entrance Hall was a reprieve or subtle torture. Addie said nothing, probably thinking this was a companionable silence, while his own mind was numb.

He nodded when she started explaining excitedly about why she was here to celebrate. He'd guessed that was what she was talking about earlier, because what else could make Adrienne so cheerful?

He hadn't actually expected her to get over the whole Poliakoff thing so quickly, to be honest. Now he worried that he he'd misjudged her not only over that, but over other things too. Well, mainly one other thing.

"Seems a natural reaction to me," he said distractedly. "Do you know what you're going to do now you're free, so to speak?"

She didn't mean to trip over her feet when he asked the question, but it took her by surprise to the point where she couldn't help it. In truth, she hadn't thought about that. She hadn't expected things to change, necessarily.

Righting herself, she allowed her brow to furrow in thought."Um," she began, trying to decide what it was that he wanted her to say.

A part of her resented him a bit for ruining her good mood, if only because she had been waiting so long for the annulment to be final. But perhaps he was surprised, too. Especially after the initial reason for her moving in with him. After all, nothing had really happened besides a bit of attempted flirting now and then. He had left for Hogwarts and she had focused on getting done everything that she needed to, and now where did they stand?

"I'm not sure. I want to visit my family and explain what's happened as best as I can," she decided, shrugging one shoulder. "And I'll be able to focus on work all the more, now. But, other than that..." she trailed off, shaking her head and glancing in his direction. "I guess I'm just winging it."

He looked at her, but quickly turned his attention back to the path when he caught her eye. Selwyn had thought living with Adrienne was awkward. He'd thought it would finally get better once she signed the annulment. He was so, so wrong.

"Seeing your family is probably a good idea," he said. "They didn't really know what was happening, did they?"

Selwyn had never tried to figure out why Adrienne's family didn't know what was going on. From the way she described them, it sounded like she was the only sensible one among them.

They came to Hogsmeade and Selwyn looked down the street.

"I know it's awful and chintzy, but would you mind going to the tea shop?" he asked. "I think we can both agree alcohol isn't my thing."

Perhaps it was that she had been lonely for much of her life, but she wasn't sure what to make of Selwyn anymore. To be fair, she had never truly understood him, but he had been away so much that she hardly knew how to step in time with him, much less be anything more than that girl he let live in his home for a while. She didn't know what she had expected when she showed up at his office, but it wasn't for him to agree with her when she said she might leave for a while.

It was her own fault, undoubtedly, but that didn't make her feel any less deflated.

"My parents aren't very interesting in dealing with the problems in our world. They just choose to step back after what happened with Asher. So it seemed like I would only be... bothering them with it," she mused aloud. "Better to show up with results than worry them for that long."

She gave a dramatized grimace when he suggested the tea shop, but grinned and nodded regardless. At least she could be silly about the suggestion instead of wondering what the end of their talk would bring. "Go on, then. Lead the way."

"That's," he shrugged.

Selwyn had thought Adrienne's problems came mostly from being around the Poliakoffs. Now, he was less sure. He wasn't stupid enough to insult her family, though.

He did lead the way down to Puddifoots, surprised she agreed to the suggestion. Having a tea shop in Hogsmeade was great, in theory. The execution was the problem.

He held the door open as they entered. The shop was kind of incredible, in a weird sort of way. There was so much lace; it was as though the decorator had coated the place in glue and then exploded some poor girl's armoire.

"Have you ever been here before?" he asked.

Although she was more or less walking alongside him, Adrienne kept tossing gazes in his direction while they made their way through the little village. Upon stepping into the tea shop, she felt her nose wrinkle up in silent disapproval. Whoever had thought this was a good idea? She wasn't sure if the constant but quiet scent of roses was her imagination or not, but she tried to ignore it as she looked around.

"I haven't, no," she replied, searching for a table far away from the disgustingly romantic couple to their left. To be fair, she probably wouldn't have felt uncomfortable about it if she had that, but as it were, she found it entirely obnoxious.

"I can't imagine you as one who frequented this place either, though," she pointed out, weaving between the tables until she found one sufficiently distanced. "Or were you more sappy as a student that you care to admit?"