A Place of Magic; Belonging

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Phillip Piper

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Pippin cursed as he ran over a stone through the narrow walkway on the edge of the street. This particular English street was classically cobbled. It gave him a pleasantly nostalgic feeling to wheel himself through the streets during the early morning, but he had woken up much than usual today and caught himself in the middle of the market's hustle and bustle. The footpath on this side of the street was narrow and he wouldn't risk offending anyone by running over their toes in such close quarters, so with good grace Pippin moved alongside the gutter. He tried to keep a merry spirit, but the constant jolts to his legs as he ran over what seemed like every pot hole was beginning to irritate him. Think happy thoughts, he said as he smiled to an elderly dear as he passed, giving her a friendly wave. You're nearly there.

Pippin was headed towards the town's wizarding district. It was right beside, if not in between, all the muggle shops and market stalls but cleverly hidden in the tiny back alley outside beside Lollygag's Confectionery. Occasionally a queer sort of person would exit the alley in long sweeping robes or a strange pointed hat, but otherwise nothing else was disturbed.

Finally he maneuvered himself into the tight corner and removed his wand discreetly from his dark jacket. Giving the long beams either side of the alleyway a few strategic taps, there expanded the entrance to the Wizarding World, full of life and energy ... and large misleading puddles. For the moment Pippin wheeled himself through the archway, he rolled directly into a pothole once more. "Oh, bollocks..." he said in irritation as he flopped onto the cobblestones face first. His cheeks were burning with embarrassment, but apparently no-one had seen him roll slightly down the side of a shop. All that was there was an abandoned wheelchair by the entrance of the Wizarding Markets.

Pippin managed to sit himself up and remove his wand from his pocket. "Accio wheelchair," he said as he pointed with his wand. He immediately regreted it after it came cannoning towards him at top speed. "Little help!" he managed to cry before being bowled over. In his mind he was laughing sadly at himself. What a ridiculous scene.
 
Today had quite possibly been the worst day of Antoinette's life.

She may have made an effort to avoid class on some days, but on a day when she had Charms class, missing class was almost heartbreaking. She wasn't out here in London by choice, though. Usually she was, but today it was because she had been asked by her grandfather. Well, father, really. Antoinette shuddered at the insinuation of that.
Emery Winters, Minister of Magic, had owled Beauxbatons and requested that his "granddaughter" come to London to see him at once. Not going to say no to a Minister, the Headmistress had permitted the part-Veela girl to have the day out of the palace grounds.
Only to find out that she was the result of a mistake between a young French woman who was Veela to some degree, and her very own grandfather. Antoinette had turned up at the office nine months later, and Emery, wanting to do the right thing by the beautiful baby and by his poor, barren, squib daughter, had given the girl to Pearl Greenwood, his eldest daughter.

It was no wonder why Antoinette was as messed up as she was.

A few parcels bundled in her arms - she'd gone shopping to make herself feel better. She was a 17 year old girl, after all - Antoinette stomped haughtily down the street, down to the Leaky Cauldron where she would floo back to Beauxbatons. But as she made her way there, she noticed a wheelchair, lying on top of a young boy.

Now, Antoinette was usually seen as quite a selfish person. In fact, she most often was. But today, she wasn't quite feeling like herself, especially since her familial identity had, over the last couple of months, been taken and smashed to pieces. And although she was hoping to get inside and start reading - a book of advanced Charms had been one of her purchases, along with the ingredients for a love potion and a new wizarding chessboard...and chocolate - there was something about the tragedy of this scene that made the seventeen year old stop, and move over to help the boy.

Crouching down, Antoinette smiled sadly as she crouched down to the boy. "Hey," she said quietly. "You alright?" she asked. She wasn't quite sure what to do in a situation like this, but she figured helping the poor thing out would be the polite thing to do.
 
"Er, not really," came the muffle sheepish reply. Pippin hated moments like this. He spent every day of his life trying to make other people's lives better, not getting in people's way and always offering a kind word, yet things like this happened to him so that people felt obliged to help the poor crippled boy. Pippin wasn't paralysed but weakened from birth. Somehow he felt like this was cheating the system; yes he couldn't walk, but he felt (mistakenly) that this wasn't a valid reason for inadvertently forcing others to help him like this. "If you'd just give this thing a tug, that'd be wonderful." he told his currently unseen helper.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a pile of shopping on the stone walkway. Mentally Pippin decided that he would carry this woman's shopping for her when she pulled the wheelchair from him. Carry wasn't quite the word to use in this situation; he would probably sit the shopping in his lap and take it anywhere it needed to go for her. She must a kind person to ask like this, he thought with a smile. Pippin gripped the handles of the chair and began to push. "Sorry to make you stop like this!" he said with effort. This wheelchair was heavy. "It's terribly embarrassing," said Pippin in his soft but merry voice. "I haven't fallen like this since I was a little boy," he laughed as he struggled with the bars that were heavy on his chest.
 
"Okay," Antoinette replied, kindly, and gave the wheelchair a tug. Heavier than I thought, she mused, as she budged it slightly - before it fell back down. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, flushing. Moving her feet to give herself a greater sense of balance, she pulled the wheelchair up with all her might, pulling it away from the boy and up - before stumbling backwards and landing on her backside. With a small groan, Antoinette straightened up and moved back over to the boy. "Do you need a hand up?" she asked. Contrary to popular belief, the Veela girl had been taught manners and decorum. Nobody at Beauxbatons would believe that Antoinette Greenwood had the capacity to be kind, or polite, or even care about other people. They knew her as a bit loose, the girl who worked through boyfriend after boyfriend, loathed and despised by most of the female population.
Which was odd when you thought about it, as she had entered Hogwarts as a small, shy, but beautiful eleven year old, concealed behind heavy books and stylish glasses, lost behind a mane of long, blonde hair. She's been haughty, yes, but she'd have much rather contented herself with a book than with a boy.
And that had all changed once she graced the halls of Beauxbatons.
But underneath the icy, maneater exterior, there was a lost and confused little girl, a young Ravenclaw who strived to know everything she possibly could. Although she was haughty and a know it all, underneath the ice there was a kind heart. It just happened that not many people knew that side of her.
 
"Oh dear, are you alright?" said Pippin in alarm as the poor woman whom he now realised a girl a bit older than him fell and she managed to pull the wheelchair from his body. "Are you hurt at all?". After a moment of frantic peering around the metal wheels, the girl stood and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, thank you!" he replied as he was asked whether he needed a hand. Pippin took her hand politely and managed to pull himself up to an appropriate seated position on his wheelchair finally. "Sorry. That was a bit of a mess, wasn't it?" he said with a smile and pink cheeks.

Pippin traveled to the markets every day to relieve his boredom and now knew all the regulars who came and stopped for a chat. Sometimes a few new witches and wizards who didn't live in the area would come in, looking a bit lost, but he soon gave them a helping hand and showed them around. Pippin was the unofficial guide of this little hobbit hole and so knew most everyone's faces. Not this girl, it seemed. He'd not seen someone so pretty before in his entire life. The thought made the sweet-tempered teen blush all the more. "Do let me thank you for your help somehow," he told her. "It was very nice of you to stop. Please, what's your name?"
 
"No, no, I'm fine," Antoinette said, with a small smile. "Just my pride, but that's easily mended," she joked, a more at-ease smile on her face. She honestly didn't think she'd have ended up smiling today, of all days, but how could she not? The boy was such a sweetheart, extremely polite and adorable. "I suppose it was, but I'm glad to see you're okay," she added, cheerfully.

"You don't need to do anything, really," she added quickly, biting her lip a little. "I'm just glad I happened to be around." She wasn't glad for the circumstances for which she was in the wizarding district of London, but she didn't need to mention that to the poor boy. Antoinette didn't really have any intention of mentioning that to anybody, if she was to be perfectly honest with herself. After all, she didn't exactly want it to be common knowledge that she was the result of a slightly intoxicated mistake between her "grandfather", the British Minister of Magic, and some unknown half or mostly-Veela woman. It was bad enough having the reputation she already had. She didn't want people to know it was hereditary.

"My name's Antoinette," she said, extending a hand to the boy. "What's yours?"
 
"I'm Pippin," he said as he took her hand in a gentle handshake. "Pleased to meet you." Although he was not pleased to have met her in such shameful circumstances. Sometimes he felt terribly pathetic if ever he fell because of the looks of pity on many people's faces as they rushed to help him. Once, in fact, he had ever been kicked by an extremely unpleasant person who thought him some sort of squib. The man had been told off for his actions but Pippin had managed to discreetly turn his ears green, which made him feel slightly better.

By rights, he ought to have been a squib anyway since both of his parents were. They were the two people who were most ashamed of him in the world. They had hopes that their child might be a witch or wizard and so it was, but for the fact that their child was unable to walk. Somehow their perfect chance of living in the magical world through their child was dashed in their minds. Pippin was imperfect, and so they ignored him. They ignored his acceptance letter to both Beauxbatons and Hogwarts Scotland. Once, nastily, he was told by his mother 'There aren't any ramps in Hogwarts you silly boy. Of course you can't go.' So every morning he traveled to the wizard markets to learn spells when he could and all there was to know about the wizarding world that he would never be a part of.

Pippin couldn't help but ask. "I've not seen you around the markets before. Do you go to school near here?"
 
"Likewise," Antoinette responded, truthfully. Although it probably hadn't been the most comfortable of meetings for the boy - Pippin. It had served to brighten up Antoinette's otherwise horrific day, and that was an amazing feat.

She knew that she was supposed to return to Beauxbatons once the meeting with her grandfather had finished, but by then her favourite class - Charms - was over, so what was the point in heading back? All she'd have to do was mope over textbooks. Staying out that bit longer was far more ideal. Besides, she was seventeen, and therefore legally an adult. As if the school could tell her what to do, anyway. Okay, maybe she was obligated to obey the headmistress, but what she didn't know couldn't hurt her. Besides, shopping and now talking to Pippin was a much better option than returning.

"Um...no, actually. I live near here...but, ah, I go to school in France. Beauxbatons," she explained. "I used to go to Hogwarts...but I changed schools," she explained. "Ah, I didn't like it much," she threw in as a vague explanation. "What's your story, then?"
 
Pippin blinked, taken aback. Never once in his life was he been asked that question before. He wheeled himself into a more comfortable position and blinked. Some asked 'What school do you go to?' then suffered through an awkward explanation, and some said 'So what are you doing with yourself these days?' which was somehow worse. This way, Antoinette had given him the opportunity to speak how he chose about his circumstances, and that alone had endeared her to him immediately.

He had been quite puzzled by her obviously detail-omitted explanation of where she lived and the school she went to, but who was he to pry? Pippin thought it best to leave this alone, for despite the fact that she was being kind and cheerful now, somehow he could tell that she had had a very bad day. "Well, I don't go to a wizard school, but I'd like to some day." This was a strange explanation, for he was obviously old enough to attend. "My parents were too worried about me fitting in, so they decided teach me at home instead." With a jolt, he realised that that had just been the biggest lie he had ever told in his entire life. He'd just said the exact opposite of the truth in every way. With his heart naively on his sleeve, Pippin looked suddenly guilty.

"I like to visit the marketplace for tips on magic and socialisation. I wouldn't go out much otherwise." Trying to shift the focus from himself, he asked about her day so far, genuinely caring about the answer. "Had a rough day?" asked Pippin kindly.
 
The boy honestly couldn't have been that much younger than her - maybe 13 or 14 - and yet he didn't go to a wizard school, though he really wanted to. The thought of that very nearly broke Antoinette's heart. "I see," she said, quietly. Parental issues. Oh boy, could she relate to that or what. She wasn't quite sure Pippin was telling the whole truth, but then again, Antoinette hadn't been exactly truthful either. Well, it wasn't as though she was lying...more the fact that she wasn't telling him everything.

She could tell, though, that he was uncomfortable, so she happily went with the shift of topic, although she did not plan on going in to too much detail about what happened. "Oh, you have no idea," she began, a little dramatically. "I learnt some rather...interesting information...about my family's history."

((ahh sorry it was short...and lame...and took a while))
 
"Gosh, that's rough." said Pippin sympathetically. Antoinette hadn't even told him what the information was yet, but he could tell that it had simply ruined her day. As far as he knew, interesting wasn't a positive insinuation in this aspect. "I know how that feels." Pippin wasn't jesting, he certainly did. A similar thing had happened to him some years ago when he was exploring the darker regions of the marketplace, and met someone whom he soon realised was an uncle. Apparently his entirely family were pure bloods on both side but for his two parents who were squibs. Not only had they been erased from the family tree but he as well. To make matters worse, his extended family wouldn't have recognised him anyway for his parents had never spoken of him to the rest of them. That was a bit of a bugger, he remembered.

"I hope it's nothing nasty though," said Pippin in a worried tone. There was nothing life a family crisis to ruin a perfectly good morning. But once again he was afraid of pushing it. After all, he didn't even deserve an explanation after he had so blatantly fibbed to her. "Will you tell me what school is like?" Suddenly Pip became animated. As he asked, he leaned down to pick up her shopping for her, sitting some on his lap and some in the carrier underneath the wheelchair and just one bag for Antoinette to carry. He meant to walk (wheel) her shopping home in gratitude.

(( Don't sweat it m'dear, ))
 
Antoinette offered Pippin a sympathetic look and smile. Looks like we both have it pretty rough. Of course she was feeling sorry for herself, why, she was attractive, well groomed, went to a good school...
...yet there was an emptiness in her heart, that she tried in vain to fill with romance, or with knowledge. And honestly, finding out you were living out a lie for seventeen years was a horrible, horrible thing. Earth shattering.

"Oh, nothing too serious. Not like it's going to affect anyone else, really," Antoinette lied, with a shred of truth - okay, maybe it would somewhat affect her 'parents', but they knew. They'd always known. And she was an adult now anyway, so it didn't really matter. "Aw, you don't have to do that for me," she muttered kindly, before starting to answer his question. "School is...well, school can be a bit of a downer sometimes, but...most of the time it's really nice. The classes are really interesting - Charms class is my favourite - and the people are nice," she said, lying a bit on the last point - but she pretty much deserved her reputation anyway.
 
Pippin blinked in confusion when she said that her situation wouldn't affect anyone else. "But ... it's affected you, hasn't it? You're someone." It probably sounded like a silly sentence to her, but he was astonished by her consideration. "Oh look, now I'm going to worry," he laughed softly but only half joking. Antoinette had looked at him with sympathy before, but he wasn't entirely sure it was the usual 'Poor-little-boy-in-a-wheelchair' sort of way. She was a very curious person, but sometimes she looked so sad that he wanted to hug her. "Well I'm glad things sound alright for you at school. Today shan't be so terrible if you can go home and owl your friends, won't it?"

Not that Pippin would know. All of his friends were shopkeepers and adults. Whatever the case, it sounded as though school was an exciting place. "It sounds wonderful at Beauxbatons. Imagine that; if ever you were sad you'd have plenty of things to do instead, and immerse yourself in games, learning and friends." But what was all this Charms stuff? "I'm thinking you don't just learn cleaning spells and such ... what subjects are there to take?" He didn't mean to ask so many questions, but rarely came shopping in this district, and generally he was too shy to approach.
 
"Yeah...friends," she agreed, thinking to herself in a slight panic what friends do I have? She knew a lot of people, but was anyone close enough to be considered a friend? She didn't think so. To think, back when I started at Hogwarts I was determined to become Minister of Magic one day. "D-don't worry about it, though. Everything's going to be okay." She couldn't help but offer a smile to Pippin - he was so kind and sweet, and Antoinette honestly felt selfish worrying about such a - what seemed to be a trivial concern. Besides, she didn't want the kid to worry. It looked as though he already had enough on his plate without having to think about anyone else.

"Definately the learning part, yeah," she admitted, biting her lip. "I...well...I don't actually have many friends," she admitted. "I usually just lose myself in books. Always cheers me up," she explained. "Let's see, there's Defence Against the Dark Arts - everyone likes that one. Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology and Potions...umm, History of Magic, Astronomy - but most people don't like those. History's interesting, though. Then there's elective subjects, like Divination and Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies. I take Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, which are tricky but interesting. Oh, and Beauxbatons has an etiquette and deportment class, too." Antoinette paused, realising she'd been rambling. "Oh, sorry. I hope I haven't confused you?"
 
"But-!" said Pippin involuntarily. "You're so nice!" Instantly he berated himself. How rude of him to be commenting on other people's social lives. But in his own mind, he had a point. It was obvious that Antoinette was an extremely kind person. She'd helped a crippled boy out of the gutter, for goodness sake! She was beautiful, and she read a lot so she must be smart. What then could make people avoid her? Pippin just didn't understand. "Excuse me, that was rude of me. I just meant that there would surely be someone out there who liked you honestly."

He was soon distracted from his embarrassment by the pure multitude of things he could learn at a school for wizards. Some things he recognised, some he didn't... for example, what were the Dark Arts? There are ... bad spells? he thought in amazement. Despite his intense interest in this thing called Charms, and eagerness to take Care of Magical Creatures, his curiosity prompted him to ask "What's this about Dark Arts? Are there evil witches and wizards?" To Pippin, everyone was good unless proven otherwise. Deceit didn't even register in his innocence. "You've not confused me, don't worry about that." he smiled at her impishly. "Just made me more curious." Maybe that isn't a good thing. You can never go to Hogwarts or Beauxbatons.
 
Antoinette shook her head, with a small sigh. "I'm glad you think so, kid," she said, a small smile on her face. "A lot of people don't think so. I guess you just show different faces to the different people that you meet, no?" She leaned in a little closer, as if she was telling an important secret. "Not many people see this side of me." It was true, most people saw the haughty coquette, the maneater who, when she wasn't taking hearts, was buried behind novels, a picture of innocence. You had to build a name for yourself, you had to make yourself indestructable. So Emery had told her.
But nobody was indestructable, and, to be honest, the kid had thawed her icy heart a little.

"Yeah, there are evil witches and wizards. There's a group called the Death Eaters, who are really evil and horrible people. They don't like muggles or muggle-borns." I'm not sure what they think of half-breeds, but I guess they wouldn't like me either. "They all followed a really dark wizard called...Lord Voldemort. But he's gone now. And the Aurors are working to get rid of the bad guys," she explained, with a light smirk. "But yeah. Well, maybe you could visit Beauxbatons one day?" Antoinette suggested. "I could show you around."
 
Lord Voldemort ... thought Pippin with a sudden shiver. Doesn't he just sound ghastly. "Maybe that man who kicked me was a Death Eater," thought Pippin out loud. Realising what he said, he explained this to Antoinette. "Oh, sorry. Just that once when I was knocked down in the street, there was a man in dark robes who kicked me down again and called me a 'filthy squib'. Perhaps he was one of those bad wizards," he told her. "You'd not do anything like that, I know. But why not show people this side of you?" Oh shush, you fool. "I'm sorry, I've said too much." Poor Pippin was blushing like mad.

At the mention of visiting Beauxbatons, his eyes lit up; then died. Mother would beat him for sneaking away like that for a day if she found out where he had been. Pippin's head drooped slightly. "I would love that, but it wouldn't be fair to mother and father. They wouldn't like me visiting." An understatement of the century. "But you can tell me more about magic if you'd like!" he said eagerly. Hopefully she wouldn't be disappointed at his not being able to visit her.

Suddenly Pippin realised that he had no idea where they were going with Antoinette's shopping. "Perhaps I might write to you at Beauxbatons. If things aren't going so well, it might be nice to get a letter from someone near home."
 
Antoinette let out a gasp. "Aw, that's horrible!" How could someone do that to Pippin, Antoinette didn't understand. That was simply disgusting. "He might have been. They don't like anyone who's any different. Anyone who's not pureblood, most likely." At this, Antoinette bit her lip. "I'm glad I haven't met any. They might beat me up for being a...a...a half-breed." This wasn't a fact she readily admitted to just anyone, but Pippin seemed pretty trustworthy. "I'm part-Veela." She looked away, colour rising in her cheeks. She was more than a little ashamed of it. She'd been conceived in the most unglamourous circumstances, born to a mysterious Veela woman called Evangelina. And that's all she knew about her real mother.

"That's a shame," she said, truthfully. She could see the kid wanted to learn, and it was a real shame he wasn't able to go to a magical school. "But I'd love to tell you more about magic! Ask me any questions, I'll try to answer them. And it's always good to have a pen pal," she grinned, perhaps over-eager. But as she suspected she wouldn't write to her "grandfather" in a while, it would be nice to get letters from someone.
 
Pippin's eyes widened in awe. Antoinette was part-veela? His mouth opened to a round 'O' of surprise. "Wow! No wonder you're so beautiful!" he said in sweet childish naivety. She didn't seem to like the idea of this though. Why is she looking so ashamed? "Do ... do veela have any cool powers?" he asked in amazement. He knew that part-goblins were small and strong, and that part-giants were ... well, that was a given. Yet once again his attention was turned to the subject of school, and how he couldn't go. Pippin's heart was sinking the more he learned about it and everything he was missing. He didn't go to muggle school - he didn't go to wizard school, so was he neither? Where did he belong?

Discreetly he rubbed his eyes heavily with his face turned from her. He wanted to know more about magic, yet he didn't want to know. What if he received another invitation to a different school and had to watch it torn in front of his eyes again? Pippin practically scrubbed the falling tears from his eyes and gathered his nerve to answer her. "I-" he tried. "I'd love for that, thank you. I'd like to know how you turn rocks into flowers, or learn more about centaurs and stuff like that." He tried not to cry ... please don't cry, not like this. His eyes were watering, and he couldn't look at Antoinette.
 
Antoinette blushed, quite profusely, at the compliment. "Awww, thank you," she said, sweetly. "My mum was a Veela...I just have no idea who she is," she admitted, sadly. "And yeah, I think full Veela have proper powers, they can turn in to scary birds when they're really angry," Antoinette explained. "I can't, though." She shrugged. "I guess that's a good thing, I don't think it would be very nice to do so. So I just get the looks." She gave an ironic smile at this. Until she'd found out about the Veela thing, she'd been working on a book, a guide for girls on flirtation and relationships. She'd prided herself on how she didn't need to be a Veela to attract guys. Only to find out that that had been a lie.

Pippin looked obviously distraught, which just about broke Antoinette's heart. Crouching down slightly, she levelled her face to his. "Hey, it's okay," she said, softly, as she awkwardly put her arms around him. "D-don't cry." She wasn't exactly great at comforting people, but she wanted to do what she could for poor Pippin. "I'll teach you everything I can, okay? I'll send you letters and come and visit, and once I graduate I can teach you everything I know," she rambled, desperately wanting to comfort Pippin. As odd as it sounded, Antoinette actually liked helping other people. She'd advised Stephen on what to do with that Becky girl - as it was she'd have to write to Violet and ask how that was going - and she'd helped a couple of first years with their charms work. It was just that with her reputation, most people went out of the way to avoid her.
 
Pippin just couldn't sob in front of Antoinette. She'd had such a hard day, and it was so callous to be thinking himself like this ... but he just couldn't stop the falling tears, now matter how fast he wiped them away. He covered his mouth and closed his blue eyes, feeling Antoinette's arm around him. That too almost broke his heart. "Oh, don't." he said in a stricken voice. "Don't worry about me. I should be grateful for ... for being able to come here and talk to ... to witches and wizards when I can." he said with occasional hitches in his breath. "I-It's so nice of you to say you'll write for me, but I-I'm afraid you won't be able to come over." He decided at last to give her an explanation of this. Pippin pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes, quite ashamed at his tears.

"You see, my parents are very strict with me because I'm not like other children. They're squibs, and they would have so liked for me to go to Hogwarts or a place like that ... but I'm not," he paused awkwardly at this. "I'm not ... normal, so they won't let me go. I'm sure Hogwarts or Beauxbatons wouldn't be able to take care of me like this anyway. Mother hits me if I mention it, so I've been very bad to talk to you about it." A tear managed to leak down his face as he said this. "But I so want to learn. They'd take my letters if I told them, so ... perhaps I'll just write to you with a few nice things to make you feel better."

Not knowing that some people might not like it, Pippin reach out and took her hand in his small one to comfort her. "You can come and see me here any time you want, though. If there's anything you ever want to ... to talk about or, say or... if you just want to chat." He had finally managed to stop the tears, and he gave her a small smile.
 
"Oh." That was all she could say at this. She felt she should have said more, but really she couldn't find the words. "I...I'm sorry. That's horrible," she said, simply horrified about the way his parents treated him. She gratefully squeezed his hand, almost feeling tears well up in her own eyes. "I mean, you could come to the markets here and I'll teach you a few tricks, and in a couple of years I'll hopefully be working at the Ministry, so you could come visit me there," she added. "I mean, if you're allowed to. I really hope you would be, that's so unfair of your parents to treat you like that, I mean I've just met you and all but you're a really awesome kid, and I mean it," she said, truthfully. "And when I'm Minister of Magic, I'll do everything I can to make sure you and anyone else who's unable to go to school is able to get the same education as everyone else," she said, holding her head high. It had been years since she'd been the haughty twelve year old, determined to follow in her "grandfather's" footsteps, but that girl was still there. And if her father was Minister of Magic, then surely Antoinette could be the next one.

"I...guess I can tell you what happened, then," she said, taking a deep breath. "Today I discovered that my grandfather...actually happens to be my father, and I'm the result of a mistaken night between him and a French Veela. That's why I'm upset," she added, with a smile. It was okay, a little disturbing maybe, but she'd get over it. It was more humiliating than anything. "I was raised by...well, I guess she's my half-sister, not my mother. She's a squib, too." Biting her lip, Antoinette looked down at the ground. It wasn't just any day she told anyone about her family life.
 
Antoinette was going to be Minister for Magic? "Amazing!" exclaimed Pippin, forgetting all about his earlier tears. It had warmed his heart when she had squeezed his hand like that ... it meant that she was alright and not too distraught. But what was this about an equal education? "But ... is someone like me allowed to learn magic? I'd have to admit that it would be much easier to get around," said Pippin, speaking of his heavy wheelchair and struggles with moving into certain places. "And I'd like to see if they have some better medicine. Sometimes it hurts to sit like this all the time."

Yet his question lost importance to a secondary problem ... namely Antoinette's. He fell silent as she began to speak of the news she had received today.

"My goodness!" he said eventually after a small silence. "That must have been quite a shock, you poor dear." He was still holding her hand, and he gave it a small squeeze just like she had. "Somehow your grandfather sounds like someone important though. Would I know him?" he queried although he was trying not to pry. Pippin was wheeling slowly with one hand, reluctant to let go of hers. If he had had a big sister, Pippin wished she could have been like her.
 
Antoinette grinned. "It's a dream I've had for a long time. I don't know if I'll ever make it, but I want to." She resolved to study harder than ever. Surely charisma was a way to get through the ranks of the Ministry, however. And that was where the Veela charm would come in handy. Maybe because she was female she wouldn't get the same opportunities, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. Besides, she had connections...even if the connections would be ridiculed if it was found out she was the Minister's illegitimate daughter, not his granddaughter. She was smart, beautiful, and well connected. She was sure she had a good chance. "And of course you are!" she exclaimed. "Anyone with magical ability should be allowed to learn! And magic's getting more and more advanced, I bet there would be potions and spells that could make your life a lot easier," she added. She'd create some herself if she could - but she was only a sixth year. There was only so much she could do.

"Yeah, it's okay, though. I'll get over it," she said, smiling for Pippin's benefit, as well as her own. I just need to convince myself that it's okay, and it'll be so. Angus had to go through a similar thing...though the day she compared herself to Angus, she'd jump off the top of the Beauxbatons palace. "Yeah. He's important. He's...well, he's the current Minister of Magic." While normally Antoinette would have boasted of such a fact, knowing what she did now, boasting didn't seem like such a great idea. Shrugging, she looked back at Pippin with a grin. She wished he could have been her "brother", not Angus.
 
Pippin had thought that her grand- Er ... her father, was an important person person, but not that important. "You're the daughter of the Minister for Magic?" he said in astonishment. Suddenly he laughed, a merry sound that seemed to brighten up the cloud-covered sky. "I feel like a V.I.P. just for walking beside you!" he joked to Antoinette, matching her grin from before. "Now I'd feel honoured if you were to teach me some magic. I'll risk whatever comes my way to learn from you,"

This was overwhelming! He'd spent the morning in such a sad mood and had even 'tripped' and fallen onto the cobblestones; and now he had a new friend! Someone close to his age who was an accomplished witch. Beautiful and ambitious, and very kind as well. "Maybe ... " said Pippin hesitantly. "If you had the time, of course ... you could teach me how to make things fly?". This was Wingardium leviosa of course. Shop workers he'd seen could do all sorts of things like that, though Pippin liked to help by carrying boxes to and fro because he didn't know how to make things levitate.

"I know how to do this, though ..." he said with a sparkle in his eye. With a small amount of difficulty, he leaned down as he passed to pluck a pebble from the pathway. Pulling out his wand, he gave it a tap and said "Floria Mutatio". There was a puff of air, and there he held a small daisy which he gave to Antoinette. "Mrs Lattenborough taught me that one. The little lady at the vegetable stall, next to the hopping pumpkins."
 
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