"Good morning." Lucius smiled at him, "You're here to buy books too?"
He and Arthur didn't really have a reason to fall out, as there was no conflict between them, so they still maintained a friendly demeanor.
Besides, since Harry got along well with the Weasley family, Lucius had forgotten about the "disgrace of pure blood" stuff.
Hey, the Malfoy family's bottom line is flexible.
"Yes." Arthur clearly had a bit of awkwardness in the chat.
He and Lucius were just colleagues at the Ministry of Magic, not really familiar, more like acquaintances who nod at each other when they meet.
Now that Lucius was dragging him into awkward small talk, he really felt a bit... uncomfortable.
Fortunately, even though Lucius didn't much like the Weasley family's attitude toward Muggles, he didn't show it on the surface, so Arthur could still get along with him for now.
"Yo, Weasley." Draco approached Ron with a sly grin, "Look, we meet again."
"Want to taste 'Cleaned Up' again, Malfoy?" Ron retorted, unwilling to show weakness.
"Draco..." Lucius poked his son with his magic wand, "Be polite."
"Oh." Draco reluctantly responded, remembering the advice from his ancestor before they left.
The ancestor had said, Harry was taken care of the most by the Weasley family at first, so as a result, he would have a good relationship with them now.
The wisest choice was to avoid conflict with the Weasley family as much as possible.
The ancestor also pointed out, why must there be conflict? Why hold on to the so-called pride of pure blood?
The best strategy, isn't it to make more friends and fewer enemies?
To be fair, Draco was a kid who would listen, especially to his own ancestor.
Moreover, with his father Lucius's threats dangling over him, Draco quickly chose to follow his heart.
Being friendly with the Weasley family? No problem!
"Let's go, Hermione is waiting for us." Ron patted Harry's hand.
"Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, Hermione should be withdrawing money at Gringotts." Ron replied.
"Well then..." Harry turned to Lucius, "Mr. Malfoy, would you join us?"
He swore he was just being polite to Lucius.
But he never expected Lucius actually agreed.
"Alright then." He said.
They followed through the Broken Cauldron Bar's entrance and into Diagon Alley.
The Malfoy father and son followed behind, Draco looked at his dad and felt a kind of illusion.
He seemed to see envy in his father's eyes when he looked at the Weasley family.
Yes, that's right, he saw envy...
Of course, he wouldn't know why his father envied this "family with more children than they could support."
Lucius, of course, wouldn't tell him that he could afford as many children as he wanted—unfortunately, he had only one.
After a while, they finally arrived at Gringotts.
Harry saw Hermione's parents standing awkwardly by the counter that ran the length of the marble hall, seemingly waiting for Hermione to introduce them.
"Hermione! Uncle Askin! Auntie Claire!" Ron cheerfully raised his hand to greet them.
Seeing the Weasley family's silhouette, Askin Granger and his wife looked relieved.
"Ron, my goodness." Askin rubbed his chest: "Is this the magic world? Really amazing—aren't you going to introduce your family to me?"
After mutual introductions, Mr. Weasley happily said, "Ah, you're Muggles—we absolutely must have a drink together! What's that in your hand? Oh, you're exchanging Muggle currency."
"Molly, look!" He turned his head excitedly, pointing at the ten-pound note in Mr. Granger's hand.
"Arthur!" Auntie Molly reproached, feeling her husband was a bit too unguarded.
"Granger, we meet again." Draco, still looking villainous, suddenly appeared in front of Hermione.
Hermione looked at him with disdain: "Want to taste 'Cleaned Up' again, Malfoy?"
Hearing Hermione's words, Draco was stunned.
That's not right, why are you saying the same thing as Ron?
Lucius wore a pained expression, he could imagine how much his son must have been disliked at school.
But at least they hadn't offended Mr. Potter.
"Miss Granger, hello." Lucius had to move Draco aside, as if his son was in the way, "I'm Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, and I apologize for his rudeness to you at school."
"Oh..." Hermione was a bit at a loss, if Lucius had come at her sternly, she might've been able to retort—but Lucius started with an apology, leaving her at a loss for words.
"It's alright, it's alright." She said, "It's all in the past, I already... yeah."
"Are these your parents?" Lucius looked with interest at the well-dressed Grangers, "They're Muggles, right?"
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy." Hermione nodded.
"I think Arthur is right, later we should definitely join your father for a drink in the bar." He said with a smile.
Arthur opened his mouth from behind, wanting to tell Lucius to go cool off somewhere else, but didn't know how to say it.
After all, you don't hit a smiling face, and neither side had really fallen out...
Forget it, Arthur thought in resignation, let him do whatever he wants.