Get It? Cause I Hate People?!

Piper sat at a bench in Hogsmeade, brooding. When was she not brooding? This time it was because she had finally had a chance to see her little brother Jerris, the only person in the whole world who had never disappointed her.. And when she had woken up that morning, planning on hanging out with him, she found a note from Renny saying she had taken him out to the park.

Her sister could be insufferable even when she was being nice.

So Piper had gotten dressed, Slytherin style and scrounged around for some money, eventually nicking some from her sister's room. She pulled on her short boots and called her 'friend' Megan. Megan was a seventh year Piper had caught smoking in the bathroom. Megan seemed to think Piper could ruin her reputation with it and now apparated Piper everywhere.

"You owe me. I want to go to Hogsmeade."

"Fiiine."

Within a minute, Megan had apparated outside Piper's door. She grabbed a key and slammed the door shut. "'Bout time. To Hogsmeade."

And now, here she was, thoroughly irritated. A little kid walked by, and stopped. "Do you have change?" They asked in a nasally voice.

Piper paused. "No. But see that trashcan?"

"Uh huh."

"It's enchanted. If you go talk to it, rub it, and ask it for money, it'll give you some."

The little boy raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Piper raised a hand. "I solemnly swear."

The little kid turned and ran to the trash can, rubbing it and asking it for money. Piper reached into her pocket and flung a knut at the kid's ankle. It reached down and picked it up. The boy squealed and began talking very animately to the trashcan, causing people to stop and look, while Piper went back to brooding.

Jeremy strolled merrily out of Honeydukes, tossing up an Every Flavored Bean and catching it in his mouth, sometimes swallowing without chewing and sometimes being brave enough to risk the taste of it. His jacket pockets were stuffed with various candies, and the front pockets of his jeans were bulging with joke shop items. Jeremy chewed cautiously on the bean, his usually-smiling face twisting into an expression of intense dislike at the flavor: rotten eggs. He spit it out on the ground and pushed dirt on it with his foot.

Jeremy looked for a place to sit. His dark brown eyes scanned the area in the center of all the shops. They paused on a young boy talking rather enthusiastically to a garbage can. Jeremy tilted his head, a wondering smile on his face. He approached the boy, kneeling down to his height.

"What are you doing?" He asked, in a way that sounded simply curious and nothing else. Not condescending, not rude. It was like asking someone to explain the rules of a game to you so you could play it.

"I'm talking to this trash can," explained the boy. "It's enchanted and if I keep talking to it, it'll give me money."

Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "Who told you that?"

The boy pointed to a girl sitting on a bench. She seemed to be sad or angry, or perhaps just very serious. Jeremy thanked the boy, giving him two galleons and telling him to go back to what he was doing. Smiling, the fifth year approached the girl and sat next to her on the bench. For a couple of minutes, he didn't say anything. He just kept staring at the boy and smiling. Then, "It's nice what you did for that boy," he turned his deep brown eyes to face her. "Most people would just tell him to bug off." Jeremy smiled kindly at the girl. "I'm Jeremy. Or Sebastian. Whatever you prefer. You are?"

Piper was satisfied with the trouble she had caused the boy. He looked about the age of the new Hogwarts students, so come fall, all of his classmates would know him as that weird boy who tried to talk to trash cans. She had ensured the boy would end up bullied, she was sure.. until some boy came and futzed that all up.He gave the boy some money and the boy scampered off to get some candy. She scowled. Now kids would think the boy had lucked out..

The boy who had messed it up walked over to Piper and sat next to her. She chewed on her lip, still glowering and looked out the other way, glaring in the opposite direction. At his words, she scoffed and rolled her eyes- did he honestly think that had been her way of being nice? She had been trying to ruin the boy for life and get him away from her, not trying to give him a cute passtime.

"Most people would just tell him to bug off." She glanced over at him, "Oh, like the way I'm about to tell you to?" He continued on, smiling at her. Why was he smiling at her? She was being unpleasant. He introduced himself. She scowled at him, looking him up and down, before glancing away again, saying, "Piper."

Completely disregarding the fact that this girl wanted nothing to do with him, Jeremy was determined to make himself her friend. He watched as she simply glared some more. She glared off into the distance, she glared at him, too. Jeremy idly wondered if she knew how to smile, but only time would answer that question.

The boy ran a hand through his choppy, uneven, dark brown hair, still smiling. To be honest, he found this girl to be quite amusing. He liked her already, though he could tell that the sentiment was not returned in the slightest. I'll just have to change that, now won't I? thought Jeremy with a soft chuckle to himself.

"You know," Jeremy said to the girl, rolling his eyes playfully. "Even if you told me to bug off, I wouldn't go. I'm here to keep you company, whether you like it or not." He winked, holding out his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Piper."

Piper stared at this boy, wondering what was up with him. Why was he so persistent to be in her good books- no one got there. She wondered if he was trying to get with her and felt a cold trickle in her stomach. Ever since the incident with her uncle, the incident that tore her family apart and ruined her relationship with her sister forever, she had been guarded, especially from males. She did not like being touched, because it reminded her of what he had tried to do to her. If this boy had bad intentions, he was going to get what he had coming.

But she could not deny- even the Wicked Witch of the West could not deny- the boy had a comforting smile, and he was easy on the eyes. Still scowling sourly, she said, "Well, company had never been welcome by me, and that doesn't mean I'll be nice." He offered her a hand and she stared down at it, her lip curling back. She turned away, crossing her arms.

Jeremy's expression fell slightly, his smile wavering. He could obviously tell that this girl wanted nothing to do with him - that much was quite apparent. Jeremy could deal with Piper's anger and dislike for him, but he rather got the feeling that she was rather uncomfortable with him. He scrunched up his nose, scratching his head. He hadn't meant to cause her any discomfort. He merely felt that they could both benefit from a stimulating conversation. Piper had looked rather lonely, despite what she may have thought.

Seeing that Piper was not going to accept his hand, he withdrew it, placing it in one of his jacket pockets. "I'm not asking that you be nice," he informed her, grinning. "I've got nice enough for the both of us." He paused, realizing how stupid that sounded. Jeremy had made a fool of himself too many times to care about when he said something stupid in a conversation. And he talked so much that there was never a chance for there to even be an awkward silence.

Just as quickly as he stopped, he started back up again. "So what's got you in such a foul mood today?" His tone was playful, teasing. He hoped he hadn't offended Piper, but at first glance, she seemed like the type that would get easily offended.

At his words, Piper tuned to stare at him, as though she could not believe just how cheesy he was being. Finally, she snorted- she was not sure if she was laughing at him or not. It was partially that, she could tell, but it was almost as if she was laughing at the irony of this conversation. It seemed it was between a person determined to make a friend and a person determined to scare everyone away.

She snook her head, grinning a little more pleasantly, though she still did not look over at him. She was laughing because of the situation, not because of him, and she wanted that to be painfully, obviously clear. People did not make her happy and she was trying to demonstrate he was not going to get anything positive out of her. Nope, not today.

At his question, the grin on her face soured and slipped off. She fidgeted away, not sure he liked his prying nature, but he had already proved that he was rather persistent. She figured it would be better to derail him now.. And it gave her the opportunity to complain about Renny. She hardly ever passed those opportunities up. She sighed and said, "I was supposed to see my brother today for the first time in a long time, but my dumb sister ran off with him before I could even say hi."