06 July, 1997 (10:38a.m, Friday)

Scarlett was dreading the walk down the stairs Friday morning. She could hear Adrian in the foyer talking to Lucius and Narcissa.

She had one of her last dance lessons today and secretly had hoped he'd be running late so that she could go gossip with Narcissa. She'd gotten home yesterday and found out that her aunt had taken a day trip with a friend and would be back the following morning.

She was at the top of the stairs in the shadows, unseen until Lucius looked up at her, "Scarlett, please come down. We need to speak with you."

Her heart dropped. What had Adrian said to them?

Scarlett walked down the winding stairwell and stopped beside Narcissa, who gave her a small smile- which didn't help her at all.

"Could we speak in my study for a moment?" Lucius asked her.

Scarlett nodded, "Yes sir." Was she in some kind of trouble?

She followed Lucius into the study, Adrian made an attempt to follow behind her, but Lucius turned to him, "Not you, Adrian, this is a family matter."

Adrian nodded, stopping dead in his tracks.

Scarlett sat down in the chair in front of Lucius's desk. Lucius took a seat behind the desk.

"Adrian has expressed some concerns to me. He says that you two are dating. But he believes that Theodore is interested in you and that Theo is attempting to cause problems. If there is anything going on with you and Theo I need you to end it. The Pucey family are gossips, the last thing they need to start telling is that you cheated on Adrian."

"He really told you that?" Scarlett asked.

Lucius nodded, "Something about he saw you and Theo together last night by yourselves in a restaurant."

"He left out the part where Draco and Astoria were also there and that he crashed it. He came and sat down and immediately began to argue with Theo and accused Theo of liking me."

Lucius blinked, "It seems he did fail to mention that. I see he's a liar just like his pathetic excuse of a father."

Scarlett nodded.

"I want you to end it with him. We don't need Pucey's anywhere near our name. Stupid money hungry family. He can escort you to the ball but I highly advise you to end contact with him after that."

"I already planned on it. He follows me everywhere. It's annoying."

"Good. Tell him that I no longer allow you to be on dates with him unchaperoned since you two are serious."

"But we aren't serious."

Lucius nodded, "I know. But it'll make him stop asking. What teenage boy wants to go on dates with a girl if her uncle tags along?"

Scarlett nodded, "I like your thinking, Uncle Luci."

He frowned, "Don't call me that ever again."

"Yes sir."

-

Scarlett walked out of the room and into the drawing room where Madam Sallow and Adrian were waiting.

"Did your dad talk to you about last night?" Adrian asked.

Scarlett raised an eyebrow, "Dad? Lucius is my uncle. My parents are dead."

"Oh. Well did your uncle talk to you about last night?"

Scarlett wanted to punch him. He was obnoxious. But she put a sad face on, "Yes, he says that if we're serious about each other then we need to start being chaperoned on our dates. You need to court me. Lucius says he has to come with us from now on."

She held back a smile as Adrian's face twisted in horror, "Chaperoning? What does he think this is, the 1800s?"

She shrugged, "I know, I was really sad when he told me that." She lied.

"We can always sneak around. You can Floo into my house when everyone's asleep- or I can Floo here."

She blinked, "They would find out. Narcissa knows everything, so that's not a good idea."

He rolled his eyes, "They're old, they'd never know."

Punching him really did sound like a great option.

"Okay, you two, stop talking and get in first position." Madam Sallow scolded.

Scarlett sighed and put her arms around his waist. How did she get here? A few months ago if you'd have told her that Adrian liked her she'd have been so excited. But now she wishes he'd just disappear.

She made a point of it to step on his toes every time he'd try and speak to her. She'd blame it on her clumsiness and nerves- the ball was just so close she was getting nervous.

Madam Sallow watched in horror as her best student started fumbling moves and stepping on toes.

When their lesson was finally over, Adrian picked up his jacket and limped out without saying goodbye. He was mad that she didn't want to sneak around and was mad that his toes were bruised.

Madam Sallow marched over to Scarlett, "What was that, Miss Malfoy?"

"What was what?" Scarlett asked innocently.

"You have never performed that bad before."

She shrugged, "I'm just nervous."

"No you're not. You're worried he's going to embarrass you."

"Okay, maybe a little bit of that too. He's not as great as I thought he was to begin with."

The older lady nodded, "Well, there's always that boy you danced with the first lesson. What was his name? Theo?"

"Theo. We aren't necessarily on good terms right now."

"Because of Adrian, I assume?"

"Adrian is a part of it, yes."

"Let me give you some advice, Miss Malfoy, get rid of Adrian. He's not right for you. He can't dance. He's going to ruin your big moment. If you haven't realized it yet, he doesn't like you. But Theo did. You two's smiles were contagious when he danced with you. But you and Adrian are awkward. It's like you couldn't wait for it to end, and you shouldn't feel that way on your day."

Scarlett nodded, "It's too late. I can't drop him now. I should've stuck with Theo to begin with but I was stupid."

Madam Sallow gave her a sympathetic smile and then walked past her.

Scarlett ran her hand through her hair. What had she gotten herself into?

She sighed and turned, headed for the door. But she stopped, outside of it she could hear Draco and Astoria talking.

"Do you think she's going to go through with taking Adrian to the ball?" Astoria asked.

"It's not like she has much of a choice, it's a weird situation."

"Well maybe you can talk to Lucius?" Astoria tried.

Draco sighed, "I can't, Tori. I already have. Whatever she does is on her at this point. She should've listened to us to begin with. We told her that he was bad news. We even gave her a heads up after what he told Theo. She didn't listen."

"Drake, don't be like that," Astoria started, she sighed, "she was just excited that someone liked her. Theo scares a lot of boys away, you know that."

"Well they're all stupid for thinking Theo seriously has a chance with her. He'd never go for her. He knows she's off limits. I don't think he seriously likes her. He just flirts with her because he can."

Scarlett rolled her eyes, starting to back away from the door- she decided to use the other door so they wouldn't know she'd heard. But as she backs up, she backs into something.

"Off limits, hmm?" A voice mumbled behind her.

"Oh shit, Theo, you scared me!" She whispered.

He shrugged, she turned around to face him, "Are you stalking me now? I tell you we're friends and you go back to your usual antics?" She asked.

He scoffed, "Is that what you think?"

She nodded.

"Well, then yes, I have gone back to my usual antics."

She rolled her eyes, "I'm gone to Diagon Alley, I was going to ask Astoria to come but she and 'Drake' are gossiping."

"Is this your way of inviting me?"

"Obviously."

"You've finally realized that I'm more fun than Tori?"

"No I just don't want to hear about Draco anymore."

Theo scoffed, "Not a fan of Drakey?" He asked sarcastically.

"It makes me want to vomit."

He laughed.

She picked up her sweater off the floor and pulled it over her tank top and headed for the door that led to the grounds, "Think we can find a taxi to take us to London?"

"Probably, why don't you want to take the Floo?"

"I'm kind of forbidden to hang out with you right now." She told him.

"What did I do?" He asked, following her out of the door. The two stepped out onto the marble path.

She turned back to him, "Pucey told Lucius that he thinks you like me and now Lucius is worried that Adrian's mum is going to start telling people that I'm cheating on Adrian."

Theo scratched his neck, "Well, I mean you kind of did..."

She swatted him, "Shhh!"

"Old Luci is right to be worried, I am gonna steal you from Adrian." Theo joked, reaching up and tugging at a piece of her hair.

"Yeah and then Draco will murder you."

"A small price to pay for a beautiful lady."

"Oh, shut up."

"What? You don't believe that I can be a better boyfriend than him?"

She shook her head, her smile never leaving, "I never said that."

"When you break up with him I deserve a chance."

"Never going to happen, Nott."

authors note:
my fiancé proofread the last chapter
and was like "oh so you condone
cheating now" 🧍🏼‍♂️ guys pls don't
do what scarlett does. she's not
setting a good example right now.
we're working on character development
right now.