The bloke shrugged his shoulders in response to her apologies. He wasn’t really all that offended or bothered by her interpretations of his actions. After all, everyone saw things differently. However, he supposed it was in her upbringing to act in such a fashion. “Everyone wants to put their best foot forward when it comes to others,” he stated casually. “Others just find more cause to do so…” Again Drew shrugged his shoulders. “I grew up in an open house hold, so honesty and loyalty are far more important to me than catering to the whims of others, and I guess that shows in how I act as well.” It was hard to imagine growing up in a different environment than he had done so. Yet, Drew wouldn’t have changed it all for anything in the world. He loved his family despite the annoyances. He wouldn’t change them and that showed more often than not as insulting or threatening any of his family was a sure fire way to set the Hufflepuff’s temper ablaze.

A chuckle slipped through his lips at her question of all secrets in a relationship being known between two people. “What makes you think you’d learn everything about a person? I’d think that’s near impossible, as you don’t know how a person thinks or predict how they’re going to act at every moment,” Drew rationalized with a small smile and shake of his head. “Life in general would be rather dull if that was the case. I’ve lived with my mothers nearly my entire life and I pride myself on being able to accurately predict that responses to things, but they still surprise me,” he finished with a shrug of his shoulders. “People aren’t two-dimensional.”

Leaning back in his seat, Drew merely arched a brow when the brunette asked what about her he found intriguing. “Where’s the fun in revealing that?” He wasn’t going to start listing or explaining things. Truly, it was boring and nonsensical to do so. Besides, it was fun to leave such a thing hanging—like a tease almost. Perhaps she would not think so, but Drew did not mind. He had shared quite a bit of information willingly thus far, certainly he was allowed to keep some of his secrets. After all, besides right now, the two of them had never really spoken much. There wasn’t really anything to say that such a meeting would occur again. Drew supposed many of the girl’s words and actions hinted at a desired second meeting, but it was uncertain yet if such a thing would actually occur.

“Yet as I do not know what the future holds. I’m not setting myself up for something I may not be able to fulfill. I can only live my life and see where it takes me,” he responded, his lazy smile still in place.

Drew shook his head slightly at the girl’s response when she spoke about her father. He was sure there was something deeper to be read there but it was something out of his depth of knowledge at the moment. “See,” he said, making a motion with his hand, pointing, “that’s a daily routine. I can spout off something entirely similar about my own family and be correct. You’re still looking at surface stuff. It’s the inner stuff, where you’re close to the person where the surprises lay. Things they do that make you smile or shake your head … or just makes you entirely frustrated or angry,” he told her. “You need to dig deeper, and I’m guessing, and forgive me if I’m presumptuous, but I don’t believe you’re close enough to your parents to really feel that? And by close, I mean really attached to or love them unconditionally and not out of duty…” Boy, was he skirting close to the edge, however Drew had decided to take a chance and just sort of test the waters with the girl.

As he said, she intrigued him. Sure, it may have been because she was sitting there speaking to him, but that was only a start to it. If she wasn’t here, then there wouldn’t be something to kindle the spark, to keep it going. She had been interesting at the ball, and she continued to be so with just the little things she did. Drew could be observant when he wanted. He enjoyed watching people and picking up on small things—just as when she relaxed marginally earlier. He wasn’t completely sure why she had relaxed, but he had seen some tension drift away. It was something that made him question her family life, and he was waiting to see if she was lash out at him or respond in some other fashion.

However, her response to his defense of yet caused Drew to stumble. “Wait, what?” he stuttered briefly, the girl throwing him off. “No, no, now, I didn’t sign up for that. I said, I see what life throws at me, not that I go looking for things. If I surprise people or myself, that’s just extra bonuses… and currently, it’s throwing at me a pretty Slytherin girl who seems a wealth of surprises herself.” Time to regroup and turn things back.

“So what exactly do you want with me?” he decided to ask her. They had gone over a similar subject in why she had chosen him, but he didn’t think they ever covered what she was hoping to get out of this. “Friendship? Thrill-seeking? Crash-course-in-Boring?” Yes, Drew thought himself rather boring, but most people did about themselves. “Fling?—though I’ll tell you right now, I don’t do those. Boyfriend? Assuage Boredom?” he finished, listing off things from the top of his head. He kept his tone light, but he was still testing the waters, seeing what this girl was after. If this was a one time occurrence or something she wanted to happen again. Drew wouldn’t mind more meetings, as the girl was a mystery and there was something sad underneath in her manner he wouldn’t mind unearthing…

A mild shrug was the only respond Drew gave when the witch confirmed his suspicions on her closeness with her parents. It really wasn’t something he relished in being correct on. It was hard for him to imagine not being close to one’s parents. He could understanding finding them annoying or not being as thick as thieves with one’s parents, but to be so distant to be strangers almost? He didn’t quite understand that. He really didn’t think Alice was close to her parents if what she saw was just the surface image of what her parents gave off. At home, with one’s family, one tended to see each other at their worst and best of times. They saw the different levels they had instead of the face they showed to the world. True, Alice probably knew her parents better than the outside observer, but it did not seem she knew her parents past the superficial layers either. It was not something Drew could fathom himself, so it was a topic he just let go of and stored away in his mind.

Drew had never claimed to be a smooth player. The Hufflepuff was anything but. True, it took a bit to truly shake him up, and even her putting him on the spot had not really unsettled him much. He was quick to defend himself, that was all. The Hufflepuff was far to laid back to really allow anything to ruffle his feathers to any large degree. After the lad had said his peace he had relaxed back in his seat, a picture of ease again while he turned the subject back on her.

“Sounds like you’re speaking a bit of blasphemy there in regards to your house,” he observed with a small smile, “being so candidly honest. Another surprise of yours,” he pointed out. However, he was silent as he observed her, thinking about what she had said. His smile, while lazy and carefree before, had taken on a bit of sadness as he listened to her speak. “You don’t think yourself worthy of being loved by someone?” he asked her then. “You’re just going to sit back and let things happen?”

“I hope you don’t,” he then told her seriously. “Don’t lose whatever spark you have right now that sought me out. Don’t let that fire go out, I like that fire,” he ended lamely. Drew just didn’t know how to phrase what he wanted to say. He feared that if she just surrendered then she would become what she had said: unworthy of being loved, and he did not see that in the girl in front of him. There was a strength there. She saw that she was lacking, and in this moment she was trying to rectify it.

“Is being disowned, the end all of end alls?” he asked. Part of Drew wondered how much he could push the witch with his questions before she had enough and would leave. The Hufflepuff knew his questions and comments were rather forward of him, considering he hardly knew the witch. As before, he was basically speaking about blasphemy or something close to it in the pureblood circle. However, Drew had little experience or knowledge of that world. After all, his life was hardly as restrictive, but it was also more difficult too. While he had his family to rely on and fall back on, he was still making his own place in the world and not filling some cookie-cutter shape. “I mean, yeah, it’s tough to strike out on your own, to get a job and work for something. But that’s what most people do with their lives, and as they say, anything worth doing is going to be hard. You can’t expect it to be easy or just to fall into your lap without any work. I mean, yeah, it’ll be harder with no family to fall back on, but that’s when you either become stronger or you find other forms of support, such as friends who’ll help you through things.”

“Basically, what I’m saying. If you sit and do nothing, you’re dooming yourself regardless of what you think,” he stated. “If you want to change, you need to take the first step and do something.” He shrugged his shoulders. “But you’re in your, what? Sixth year? You still have a year and half to figure something out. You don’t have to throw yourself to the curb at this very moment in whatever you choose to do.” The lad still had no idea why he was even saying half of this, or rather why the girl was seeking him out of everyone at the school. It was rather strange, as really what did Drew know about any of this? As stated, he hardly worked for anything in his life. Yes, he understood the value of family and loyalty, so it was strange for him to imagine a loveless family life that the witch before him seemed to live. Plus, he certainly wasn’t striking out on his own, so to speak. True, he planned to live on his own after graduating and train to become an auror, but that seemed hardly extraordinary.

Drew blinked at her change in topic. “Uh, thanks?” he responded, somewhat hesitantly. “My team still lost though,” he then added with a slight smirk. Granted, it had been a close match, but Hufflepuff had still been defeated. While Drew enjoyed Quidditch, he didn’t live his life around the sport—although, some practices made him wonder otherwise at times. However, after graduating Hogwarts, Drew knew he wouldn’t really play the sport again, not to mention follow it much.