Lucius malfoy

“Really?” He asked, surprised. “He’s always seemed kind of boring to me.” 

“I mean, he probably is but he’s at least been nice for the most part,” She shrugged.

“We’re a rare breed.” He smiles gently at her, half afraid of scaring her off again. “It’ll work out.”

“You’re telling me,” she replied with a light laugh, “Yeah, hopefully it will.”

“Hey.” He puts a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t look down on you. I mean…I don’t get it…but I don’t think you being friends with Bones means you’re a shitty person.”

“Well I’m glad that there’s at least someone here who thinks like that,” she replied with a small smile as she looked up at him. 

“No. Hey. Pippa don’t do that to me.” He’s reaching out for her now, not touching her but not wanting her to actually leave. “I was just answering your question. I wasn’t trying to be mean.”

She sighed, pausing as she turned back to face him. “No, I know that you were. I don’t think you meant it in any kind of way. But that doesn’t make it easy to hear. He’s my best friend and has been there with me through everything. I can’t just pretend like that never happened because some people who have spent most of the last 7 years ridiculing me will look down on me. They already do that.”

“Definitely not.” 

“Has it been better, though? I know that one guy was a total dick to you, but what about the rest?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “I thought that Talkalot was fine but I don’t know, he’s just weird. I don’t know what to make of him.”

“I guess,” he shrugged, knowing she was probably right. “I mean, they usually come across pretty snooty to me, but it’s not like I hang out with them very often.” 

“That’s because they are pretty snooty,” she replied with a roll of her eyes. “I don’t think you can grow up that rich and be normal. It’s just not possible.”

He clears his throat. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not genuinely trying to be mean here. But pretty much everyone you spend time with. Especially that Bones guy.” He sighs. “They do nothing for you reputation except drag it down.”

“I see,” she replied quietly, not wanting to argue with him but also trying to keep herself in check emotionally. Pippa kept her focus on the ground, not wanting to let him see how bothered she was by his words because she knew he’d not really meant them in the hurtful way that Lestrange had. “I should probably get going... I don’t want to keep you from your friend.”

“That you have bad taste in pureblooded men.” He smirks at her, only half joking. “Sends the message that you’re trying to fit in. Talking to the right people. Not getting photographed running out of buildings in tears. It’s good.”

“To the right people? And who might be the wrong people according to you?” She asked, rolling her eyes slightly before his next words. “Ah... So you heard about that?”

“Lesson two. Everyone you talk to. Everyone you look at. Sends a message. You must always be aware of your surroundings like that. Choose to talk to Verity Flint over Sienna Rowle and you might start a rumor you didn’t intend.”

“And what kind of message does me talking to you right now send?” She asked, glancing down at the fact that he was without a shirt and she wasn’t exactly covered up either. 

“Eh. It’s part of the life.” He shrugs. “You get used to it. I’m just glad that I get at least some say in who it will be. So it won’t be totally loveless.”

“I don’t know that I could ever get used to that. Thankfully my parents seem to at least somewhat understand that. But they definitely seem to be more interested these days on who I’ve been hanging out with.”

One minute he’s standing and the next minute he’s on the ground with Pippa-Fucking-Parkinson on top of him. He’s anything but gentle as he bodily shoves her of of him with a growl. “Are you blind, girl?! Have you no sense of decency? Raised by heathen muggles indeed.”

Pippa quickly pushed herself off the figure and gasped when she realized who she’d run into. She pushed her hair back as she trying to figure out some kind of response but was a bit caught off guard by how scared his tone made her (as well as the fact that this time they weren’t surrounded by passersby). “I-You’re the one that just strolled onto a track! You’re the one out of place!”

“Oh god. I thought we agreed to not talk about that.” He chides, smiling despite it. “I wouldn’t call that interesting per-se. I’d call it poor foresight and bad planning. I was already planning to go to France to go to school and the American girl was a secret my grandmother made me keep and is…admittedly not that interesting. She’s always trying to set me up.”

“That must get rather exhausting, being set up like that,” Pippa replied, ignoring the comment about their initial interaction. “Especially if you don’t seem to find the other person that interesting.”

“Good.” He said the words with a nod, before summoning a snack. “But they’re for sure going to insist it’s some snooty pureblood.” 

“I mean probably, that’s kind of the whole thing,” she replied, rolling her eyes, “Perhaps there’s one that’s not that bad though. I mean they can’t all be terrible.”

“And would you?”

“Of course not,” she replied with a roll of her eyes, thinking such a thing absolutely ridiculous, “It’s so stupid.”