once again, on sunday, april 18th, dthegreat has pulled through for me again and has pointed out more typos; for this, I owe her a world of gratitude.

P A R O X Y S M

Written by: seleneswan

Disclaimer: It'll never happen, no matter how hard I wish.

chapter title/theme: seeking solace
genre: friendship/humor
words: 1274
rating: K+

warning/caution: (none)

005. seeking solace

Rose Weasley was a curious person, he mused. Quite honestly, he wasn't sure how she had ended up on his mind, but she had an inane ability to worm her way into his head and latch on to his brain, refusing to leave.

Not quite parasitic, but getting there.

(He ought to get that pest control spray that Muggles use. What was it called…? Ah, yes. Raid.)

Nonetheless, he continued with his train of thought, despite the looming threat of parasitism.

She was smart, he decided quickly. That was for sure. She was intelligent, very much so. But for such an intelligent person, her common sense seemed to evade her much more than was necessary.

His own father had told him that her father, Ronald, had that lack of logic more frequently, too. He supposed she had her mother's brains but her father's stupidity, all rolled in to one.

If she didn't implode soon from the two polar opposites, he would be vaguely surprised.

She was a fighter, stubborn. He hadn't quite known her long enough, but he knew from the start that once she wanted something, she would get it, no matter what it took. Like that time with the escape attempt from the Great Hall during the Sorting to go watch fireflies.

God forbid anyone invent rules that should be followed. (And he was most certainly not a hypocrite for thinking that). For all that rule-breaking, he wasn't entirely sure why she wasn't sorted in to Gryffindor. She could at least be clever about sneaking away and use some dark path where no one can see, but instead, she chooses to walk out in plain sight.

He pondered this for a moment as he walked down various hallways. Walking always helped him think better.

Then again, hiding in plain sight, they say, is the best place. Escaping probably works the same way.

Which meant she was clever. Unbearably so. Possibly (he strained the word possibly in his mind) even cleverer than Slytherins, like himself, who were noted to be sly and clever.

Which led him to the question of why she wasn't placed in Slytherin. Dumb question, he supposed. It's in her blood to not be placed in Slytherin, ever.

And she could never be a Hufflepuff. They were too…ordinary. Much like leftovers. Nothing special. Fine, they said that they were loyal and kind, but everyone knows that's just an excuse. He sniffed, pushing his hand through his hair impatiently.

What was he doing?

He tugged slightly on the strands, before dropping his hand to his side heavily and stopping.

Why was he thinking about her?

He let out a frustrated noise, shoving his hands in his pockets when he smelled chocolate. He looked up momentarily, head swiveling around. He barely saw her for a moment when she walked swiftly passed him, but not before murmuring the witty remark. "Malfoy. We're mature people. Use your words."

In retaliation, he just let out another unintelligible non-word noise. She just laughed, walking farther away.

Belatedly, he realized that she was the one that smelled like chocolate, and that tucked under her arm was a large crystal pitcher, filled with melted chocolate.

He frowned.

What on earth is she doing…?

And more importantly, WHY DOES HE KEEP THINKING ABOUT HER. Ahem.

Without really registering what he was doing, his feet were moving him forward after her. He pushed past some random people, a House Head, and a couple making out, ignoring the protests behind him.

She turned in to the Great Hall, and he followed, his steps slowing as he peered in from the doorway. She made her way to one of the tables where, spread around, were various foods. Every moment or so, a house elf would pop in and add another food item.

Taking it upon himself to get to the bottom of it, he walked over. "What the bloody hell are you doing?"

She sputtered for a moment. Without heeding her protests and the jumble of nonsensical words spewing from her mouth, he reached for a pretzel and popped it in his mouth, chewing.

She sniffed, reaching in to her bag and pulling out some parchment and a quill. "I don't see why that's your business." She muttered as she rummaged through her things.

He sat down on the other side of the table, plucking a marshmallow and ignoring her response, waiting.

She wrote down some things, and proceeded to pour the pitcher full of chocolate in to a serving-sized bowl. "Well, since you are obstructing my work with your presence and eating my experiment," she paused and looked at him pointedly. "I am finding my one true love."

Scorpius, who was munching on some nuts, started coughing. "What?"

She snorted, rummaging in her bag once again, unearthing a hair tie. She finger-combed her hair before pulling it up in a bun. "Comfort food." She smiled wickedly, excited.

He still had a slightly blank look on his face. "You know. Food. That comforts. Which I love." She sighed, explaining the whole thing. "You see, I'm testing out every combination of some food dipped in chocolate, because chocolate is the mother of all comfort foods, and then writing down my thoughts about it to narrow down what I truly love. For the hypothetical hard times when I may desperately need comfort."

He grappled with the idea for a moment, struggling. Finally, he remarked, "That's dumb."

She ignored this, and proceeded to dip a strawberry in chocolate, eating.

"Mm, that's good." She mumbled through seconds. "Winky!" she called, and a house elf appeared. She turned her back to him, talking about strawberries to the house elf, when he noted that there were a few spoons laid out.

Smirking to himself, he scooped the chocolate to the brim of the spoon, waiting. As she turned back around, he pulled the spoon back and let it fly.

The moment wasn't in slow motion by any means. The chocolate flew off of the spoon, landing with a small smack on her cheek, and then dripping downward.

Rose was paralyzed, but then she moved, slowly. She reached up to her face, attempting to wipe it off but only managing to smear it around. "Malfoy." She hissed, but there was a telltale glint in her eye that made him wary. "This is war."

That was all she said before she picked up the bowl, reached across the foods, and dumped the whole thing on his head.

Everything after that was a flurry of motions. He tossed the white chocolate while she retaliated with the orange slices.

Grapes. Pretzels. Pistachios, almonds. Blueberries, and then cream puffs. The list went on.

Shrieks and laughter were all that were heard, and then Scorpius went for the gold. Holding the pitcher, he dumped the whole thing at her, but a lot managed to end up on the floor. She took a step, slipped in chocolate, and began to fall forward.

Reflexively, he reached across the table to catch her elbows, smearing some chocolate from him on to her.

She was still for a moment, and then her head drooped forward, concealing her grin. And then she began to laugh, giggling, chuckling, snickering, laughing. She threw her head back then, laughing like a crazy person.

A small grin formed on his face as he mentally added lunatic to his list of characteristics about her.

Rose Weasley was curious, indeed.

A/N: Fast update! :D This one was easy, because I love to write about food (you should try it; it's so much fun!). Although this one was less about eating and more about playing with it, food is food. And well...when I saw the theme, I like freaked out because, uh, hello, FOOD. Ahem, anyways. Hope you like it as much as I did (because, like, food. Need I say anymore?)

Review, please~ (: