The courtyards weren't the usual place that one might find a Malfoy lurking. They were far from it, really. He didn't go outside very often, only at times when he deemed it to be absolutely necessary. The sun beaming down on his pale skin was just something that was nearly unbearable for the young Slytherin, even when the temperature left much to be desired. At the moment the November wind blew colder than he would like and chilled him to the bone despite the clear weather, and the fact that he had decided to wear his coarse dark grey coat for a quick venture outside. Placed atop his white-blond head was a hat that matched the colour of the winter coat that he had his hands jammed in the pocket of. The hands were surprisingly uncovered, but his gloves weren't far away, in fact, they were jammed into the pocket of his coat right next to his chilly hands, he just had been too lazy to pull them on.

Why the boy had wandered into the setting he so hated was dependent entirely on who was already there. After much questioning of the chubbier of the two minions, he had finally unearthed the location of his other 'follower', and took action. It was based more on the fact that he hadn't really interacted with anyone in a positive manner in a while than on any sort of pressing matter. Though if need be, he did assume that he could make up some sort of emergency. But he was hoping it wouldn't have to come to that. He was hoping his plan, however silly, would work. The plan was to casually enter the courtyard as if he had come entirely of his own merit, then just coincidentally notice that someone whom he knew was there. That would of course mean that he would feel the urge to sit by her. Lucky her, she'd have the honor of him sitting near her.

With the plan in mind, he stepped out of the door that led to the courtyards, and his grey eyes immediately squinted unhappily. The sunlight was far too bright than what the Slytherin was used to. Inside the castle it was predictably dim, and inside his house's common room it was even worse. The light seemed to not want to penetrate into the area where the 'snakes' dwelled. He never seemed to take note of how dimly lit any of the areas he occupied were until moments like these though. His pale face scrunched up in pain due to the assault on his eyes, and he raised one of his hands up and out of his pocket to touch it to his forehead like a visor.

The 'visor', however, didn't seem to help much as he would have liked it to, and as a result he found himself to be rather disoriented. He wasn't at all sure where the girl he had come to see was settled. It was unfortunate, but on the plus side it did help to keep him from moving immediately to her, and exposing the entire thing as being premeditated.

The boy still squinted, but when he heard his name he let his hand drop and his head turned in the direction that he had heard the girl's voice. His pale face was still screwed up in annoyance and pain at the rays of sunshine assaulting his poor pale everything. But he finally stepped away from the doorway he had been blocking and let the door close behind him as he crossed the space between himself and the girl on the bench.

The bench seemed to be a much more pleasurable location, and he glanced up at the tree that was forming some kind of shade for the two Slytherins. Sunlight still filtered through the leaves, but it wasn't as terribly blinding as it had been previously. The boy's nose scrunched anyway, and he finally looked down at the girl who had practically stalked down to their current location. But a look of false confusion crossed his face. "What're you doing out here?" He asked the girl, as if he hadn't had any knowledge of her being out there before he took the plunge and stepped out the door.

"I didn't know you did rounds on Saturdays." He continued and shifted a little, but didn't sit himself down yet. He was debating on it, but he wasn't entirely sure if he was welcomed or not. Though of course, he always pretended to assume that he was welcomed anywhere that his fellow Slytherins inhabited even for the moment. He had once upon a time been a leader of sorts to the poor misguided snakes, hadn't he? Like a very rich Shepard. But now he wasn't so sure if they accepted him. It was understandable if they didn't.

He wasn't after all the leader he had once been. He was quite a bit quieter now, and quiet a bit moodier, and completely neglected a majority of the tasks he was supposed to do for the various things he had been drafted into. If it wasn't for Parkinson, things would be a rather large mess at the moment. He, after all, didn't even know when they did rounds.

His blond head shook at the question, and instead of staring down at her with sunspots in his eyes blocking her face, he took the slight hint of an invitation and moved to sit next to her. Once he sat, he was rather grateful for the bench, because it was far more comfortable than standing, even if it wasn't as nice as laying in bed would be. "I haven't been up to anything important." He replied in a roundabout way to keep from really having to go into detail of his day.

Because the details of it were really quite boring. He had laid around until the rest of the Slytherins started to rise from their beds, then he had sat around, skipped out on a proper meal, sat around more until he finally hit the stage of wandering around trying to find something-- anything to keep himself from being so terribly lazy and pathetic.

"I can do rounds you know, I'll show up this time." He added after a short moment, though he really wasn't that sure if he was telling the truth or just saying it to lie to both her and himself. It was a pretty obvious lie though, since the time he had been promoted to other positions he hadn't ever really showed up for them. Even before that, he hadn't actually bothered, so it was a surprise that he had made it as far as he did. "I've been busy lately, but I haven't got anything at all to do tomorrow. What time are they again?"

It was sort of pathetic that they had become so little to him that he couldn't even remember the times that they typically started. Pathetic and it made him seem so completely useless. But asking about it was maybe a step in the right direction. Maybe it was a sign he'd show instead of completely disappearing when it was time to show any sort of responsibility again.

It was highly doubtful though, since as of late he seemed to be allergic to the mere notion of 'duty.'

He gave a nod at the location and time he had been given and tried to file it away in the back of his blond mind, but it seemed to get caught up in spiderwebs and bleach-blond looking roots as most things seemed to anyway. It was funny, that he sometimes seemed so intelligent when really most things that were said didn't actually make their way to the point of being comprehended.

He usually just nodded and agreed and everyone assumed he understood or would remember. This was one of those times when really, he'd have to ask one of the fat boys where he should be.

Luckily another topic arose and pushed even worrying about the previous one out of his mind. The topic that came up made quite a bit of sense to him, really. There was the very distinct possibility of it being true. It had been very nearly impossible to get into the Room of Requirement as of late, and that was no doubt the reason.

Though that was substantial proof that the group had probably reformed, he didn't mention it, mostly because he didn't want to explain why he had been creeping around at night searching for the room again.

That was just too pathetic.

"So what do you propose we do about it?" He asked, his long and pointed nose scrunching slightly in thought. They didn't have Umbridge to completely back them in this matter, and that was a little disappointing. Though, the others didn't seem to care for her much, he had always been quite amused by the strange little woman. Her office had especially amused him, with the strange amounts of kitten paraphernalia.

He had quite liked it, really, but he didn't admit that to anyone. He wasn't supposed to smile when confronted with kittens, it was Slytherin-law. "Catch one of them and force them to admit it again? We'd have to get permission to use immoral approaches."

He gave an obviously disinterested shrug at the young woman's words. Did he actually want to chase them down and give them all detentions? Not really. That sounded to him like quite a bit of work. More work than he wanted to do. "You're giving them too much credit, Pansy." He said, her first name slipping from his lips as if he had finally acknowledged her as a human and not just a pureblood.

Had he? Well, yeah. He had known for a while that she was a human and not just a name, he had discovered it sometime around when he realized that he wasn't very good at the murder and destruction thing. He had realized quite a bit in regards to other people then, but he hadn't actually shared those thoughts with anyone. It'd really just make it seem as if he had lost his mind. He'd seem like a completely different person, like he had stared himself in the face and came back a changed man.

Meaning, that of course, he'd lose all his followers.

Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, fourth year with the pigtails. Whatever. He wasn't quite ready to lose them yet. While he had isolated himself majorly the past few months, it always seemed like he had people to go back to if he needed them. He often told himself that the concept of him needing any of the usual three hangers-on was absolutely ridiculous. He told himself that he didn't need anyone or anything, or even the slightest bit of emotional support, but he wasn't sure if he really believed that. He really was quite pathetic after all.

"They're idiots, the whole lot of them. They think that now that they've learned a few tricks they can start a revolution. Well, look where all those self-righteous revolutions have gotten the rest of them and their followers." The boy continued, but then his lips finally pursed to keep himself from what could have escalated into some sort of emotional response. "If you'd like to go to Snape, we can do that."