Sunshine & Shadows (D. Malfoy) ON HOLD

6 - Study Session Number One

Pippa fiddled with her side braid as she waited in the library for Malfoy to join her. They'd agreed to meet at six, so she naturally showed up ten minutes early, just in case. Her nerves were flying through the roof as she thought of facing him for the first time since yesterday's embarrassing incident.

The clock dinged six o'clock and Pippa instinctively looked up, but no one entered. Maybe he's just late. She snagged the book on top of the tall stack she had collected when she first entered. Her fingers tapping anxiously on the tabletop, she slowly sank to the text as she read about Ashwinder Eggs, glancing up at the clock every few minutes.

At a quarter to seven, Draco Malfoy found his new Potions partner asleep on top of a stack of books. Because it was after hours, she had long since abandoned the school robes. Instead, she wore a pair of skinny jeans and an oversized yellow sweater. Her long dark hair had been swept into a messy braid, and the tips were still blue.

He rolled his eyes, balled up a piece of parchment, and threw it right at her head. "Oi, Wilson. It's a little early for bedtime, hm?"

Pippa's head snapped up with a start. For a moment, it looked as though she had no idea where she was. Then, her big brown eyes widened as she saw the time and stood up rather quickly.

"What happened? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

His brow furrowed. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"You're forty-five minutes late. I thought maybe something might have happened to you."

The concern in her voice perplexed the Slytherin as much as it annoyed him. "Nothing happened," he said cooly, taking the chair opposite her. "I was just having a good time in the common room, and to be honest, I didn't want to come and spend my free night with you."

"Oh," was all she replied. She found it hard to say anything else. In fact, she felt quite stupid. It had always been a natural instinct of hers to worry about others first, but why she wasted that worry on a bully like Draco Malfoy was something she couldn't understand. Her cheeks reddened as she lowered herself back into her seat.

Always blushing, he thought in irritation. Silly little thing.

"So?" Malfoy asked impatiently, motioning to the mountains of books surrounding them. "Are we just going to read these all night? Or does the badger have a perfectly outlined schedule for us to work hard at completing?"

His attitude rubbed Pippa in the wrong way. She hadn't done anything to him today. Why's he so bothered? Either way, she plowed on with her plan.

"I was thinking we'd split the work evenly. I actually did have some ideas, now that you brought it up." She spoke very quickly as her anxiety got the best of her. "I already started the research on the discovery of Ashwinder Eggs and their history in the Wizarding World, so I thought you could do their uses in Potionmaking today. Please? But, um, if you want the other topic instead, we could switch and you could take my notes, I really don't mind-"

"I don't really care which part of the report I do," he interrupted. "Let's just get the work done so we can get out of here."

Pippa glanced down and pulled at a string on her sweater sleeve. "Um, okay."

Malfoy grabbed one of the books and began to read, not offering her another word or glance. She sighed and picked up her quill write.

After at least twenty minutes of silence, an exasperated voice interrupted her detailed note-taking.

"Wilson, don't tell me you're writing our essay in purple ink."

"All right, then. I won't tell you that I'm writing our essay in purple ink."

Malfoy's expression was pained. "Snape's not going to accept a half-purple report. You'll have to rewrite it all, and besides, it looks like a five-year-old picked out your ink. Don't you have any dignity at all?"

Pippa neatly arched a single eyebrow, a skill she had picked up from Dove. She continued to jot things down as she spoke. "I always write in different colors. Before I hand essays in, I use a color-changing spell so they're all in black. I've been doing it for three years now."

"Seems like a waste of time and energy."

"The colors make me happy and the charm's quite easy," she said with a shrug. "It's not a waste to me. It actually helps me learn. If you don't switch things up, they're bound to get boring, right? Even changing the color of my ink gets me excited again."

"Well, I think it's stupid," he muttered.

"Well, that's your opinion."

They both returned to their work. Malfoy glared down at his book, and Pippa kept pulling the loose thread on her sweater. She knew she'd regret it later, but she couldn't help it. Her mind and heart were in combat, battling out ownership of her next words.

"I heard you were making fun of me at dinner last night." As soon as she brought it up, her heart began to pound wildly in her chest. She wished she could shove those words back into her mouth. What was she thinking? "I wish you wouldn't have."

He laughed under his breath. "You weren't there to witness it personally? Shame. I was hoping you liked the encore. Crabbe was very convincing when he started to sob like a child. Who told you about our little play?"

"Harry," she answered. I didn't sob like a child. I didn't even cry until I was alone at the lake. "He found me outside last because I skipped dinner. I'm glad I did. It was sort of sweet. He was ready to beat you up, actually. I told him not to, but I'd watch out, just in case."

"Well, I'm sorry to inform you of this, Princess, but Potter doesn't scare me, and I don't need your warnings," he shot back, practically spitting Potter. Looking back, bringing up Harry probably wasn't wise, especially if she wanted Malfoy to like her, although those chances seemed slim. "So if that's a threat, it's useless. You're just not intimidating at all."

"It's not a threat. I'm just making idle conversation. Turns out you can say something to me that isn't directly insulting. Good to know." A bright smile came across Pippa's face. "Amy owes me two Knuts. Thank you very much, Draco Malfoy."

Malfoy pinched the bridge of his nose and asked, "can we just get back to reading in absolute and utter silence, Wilson?"

"You bet!"

Pippa opened the library's copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for the third time that night.

"Oh, one more thing." Pippa didn't look up as she spoke, but Malfoy did. "I'm personally not the revenge type, but Cedric says that you're going to pay for your little stunt when Hufflepuff plays Slytherin. Just an FYI. I'd hold tight to your broomstick. Bludgers are pretty unpredictable, and so are seekers."

hello! i hope everyone's having a good week and that you liked this chapter :)