A/N: This is my first fanfic, so I'm really nervous. Please, review, even if you didn't like it! I appreciate all kinds of reviews, just tell me what you did and didn't like. Favorite or follow if you like it! :) ~Em

Dusty sat on a sofa in the Ravenclaw common room, flicking through her book, looking for any information on the effects of raw Fibber root. She sighed contentedly and read the passage thoroughly. Dusty already knew most of the facts stated in the book, but she wanted to make her essay better than usual so she decided to look through the book for anything she didn't already know. Long story short, she didn't find anything.

Dusty looked out the window. There was a slight breeze blowing through the trees and sparse clouds dotted the sky, which was just beginning to turn purple and had streaks of orange lining the western horizon. It was beautiful.

Dusty decided to take a walk outside, because if she did it any later it would be dark. She didn't like the dark. She walked out of the the common room and found her way down to the Black Lake. She saw some people flying on brooms at the Quidditch pitch and thought she'd drop in. She didn't play Quidditch (she didn't like heights, either) but she knew all about it and even had her favorite team and everything (the Appleby Arrows).

"Oi, McKay, only Slytherins on the pitch during practice!" Dusty looked up to see a blonde boy in green robes looking at her.

"I came to watch my brother," she lied, and felt terrible about it. But she really didn't want a fight.

"That's what you say," the boy scoffed. "You could easily be passing information to the Ravenclaw team. And I'm not going to take any chances."

"Malfoy, the fact that you think I would do something so low makes me want to hex you into oblivion," Dusty said angrily. "But I won't, not because I like you but because you're my brother's best mate."

"Come on, Scorpius, just let her watch," a raven-haired boy whined from across the pitch. "She won't do anything, she knows better."

"All right, but only because I trust you, Jamie." The boy named Scorpius turned around and continued his Quidditch practice. Dusty watched her twin brother, Jamie, maneuver his way around the goalposts, kicking away the quaffle when one of his teammates threw it in his direction. Scorpius scouted around for the snitch; he was the Slytherin seeker. The other team members were Kathryn Zabini, Harper Kirkpatrick, Marty Benson-Parkinson, Lindsay Parker, and Daphne McKinnon, beaters and chasers respectively.

"Jamie, your left is a bit shaky," the Ravenclaw shouted, and her brother nodded at her gratefully. Malfoy glared at her but continued to search for the snitch. Dusty settled herself into her seat and conjured her guitar. She fiddled around with some picking patterns and then played some songs without singing, just to get the notes right. Then she decided to play a muggle song she heard a while back. She started singing, and soon heard a voice chime in with hers. It was a man's voice, and sang sweet and clear. Dusty had never heard anything like it. At the end of the song she turned to see Scorpius, his blonde hair in his eyes, staring off into space. When he was like this, he was innocent. He wasn't arrogant, he wasn't competitive. Dusty rather liked him that way.

"That's amazing," she finally remarked, and Scorpius turned as if he had just realised she was there.

"What was?" he asked blankly, looking at her strangely.

"Your voice! The way you sing, so clearly and confidently. I could never be that good." The brunette frowned.

"You're lying, I'm rubbish at singing," Scorpius replied as Dusty scoffed.

"Yes, and I don't know how to read," she said sarcastically. "Trust me, your voice is absolutely magnificent and the fact that you deny that makes me think you're dumber than I thought." With that she got up and prepared to go to the Great Hall.

"Wait, McKay!" Scorpius called, running to catch up with her. "Walk you to dinner?" Dusty smiled slightly and nodded and Scorpius grinned back.

"You know, we don't really hang out much," Dusty mused.

"What do you mean?" Scorpius responded. "We hang out all the time."

"Yes, but it's always with Jamie, never just me and you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I have it!" Scorpius exclaimed after a long pause. "Dusty McKay, would you grant me the honor of going on a get to know you date?" Dusty looked at him strangely.

"A get to know you date?" she repeated.

"Yeah, I figure since we don't hang out ever as friends, we could go get a butterbeer and get to know each other. A get to know you date!" he explained, and she nodded.

"Hogsmeade weekend starts tomorrow, we can go then. But I can't eat with you and Jamie because I promised Rose that I'd sit with her and Albus, but I'll meet you at noon." Scorpius nodded and they parted ways, him to the Slytherin table and her to the Gryffindor one.

"Dusty, what were you doing with Malfoy?" James Potter spat, forcing extra venom into the last word.

"We were talking, not that it's your business anyway," Dusty snapped. "He's actually really nice, once you get to know him."

"I refuse to believe that he could ever be nice. What if he hurt you?"

"He wouldn't," Dusty answered simply, and loaded her plate with roast beef and mashed potatoes. Soon Rose Weasley came and sat down beside her.

"How'd you upset James?" she asked, loading her plate with food as well. Dusty looked up to see that James' face was red and he was angrily stabbing at his lamb chops with fork.

"Called Malfoy nice," Dusty replied, shoving another forkful of potatoes into her mouth. Rose bobbed her head understandingly.

"James, Malfoy is her brother's best mate, he couldn't hurt her without risking Jamie's friendship," Rose sighed as James fumed.

"Malfoy doesn't care about that! He just wants to get in your pants!" James shouted, causing every head in the Great Hall to turn and stare at him. Before James could process what was happening he suddenly had little tentacles sprouting from his face as well as large black bats flying out of his nose. Dusty turned to see Scorpius and Jamie standing up with their wands raised. Dusty grinned gratefully at them before pivoting again and approached James menacingly.

"James, we all know you don't like Malfoy; you've made that fairly clear. And you can do that, I don't care, as long as you keep that to yourself. I won't have you insulting my friends because of your problem. And I really don't know why you think it's your job to protect me, seeing as I can do that perfectly well by myself. You stay out of my business, as I've stayed out of yours." Dusty spins to go to leave the Great Hall, feeling quite pleased with herself. "Oh, and Rose, be a dear and help Potter to the hospital wing, will you?" Dusty adds as an afterthought, strolling out of the large doors into the castle halls.

"Merlin's beard, Dusty, you were great!" Jamie exclaimed, running up to hug his sister. Dusty grinned as a redness crept up her cheeks.

"Thanks," she mumbled as Scorpius approached them.

"So now I'm your friend? Oh, I'm touched," he said mockingly, placing a hand to his heart dramatically. Dusty rolled her eyes but went to give him a hug as well. He hesitated at first but then eased into the embrace, patting her gently on the back.

"Sorry, I was just expecting a hand shake or something like that," Scorpius explained, and Dusty looked up into his grey eyes, smiling softly.

"I hug my friends."